- Following Through
- God’s Sure Word through Isaiah
- The Israelites’ Blindness
- Our Unreliability
- God’s Dependability
- Our Peace of Mind
- “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” - Phil. 4:7
Monday, March 28, 2011
3/27/11 - Lent 3 - Isaiah 42:14-21
AS GOOD AS DONE
Sunday, March 20, 2011
3/20/11 - Lent 2 - Romans 4:1-5
THERE'S NOTHING QUITE LIKE IT
The Way This World Works
If a person wants to retire at a certain age with a certain amount of money in the bank, what does that person have to do? Buying a lottery ticket is not the right answer, is it? And waiting for a long-lost relative’s inheritance to drop out of the sky isn’t either. If a person wants to retire at a specific time with a specific figure in hand, that person will have to plan for it, right? That person will have to work hard and work long hours and work in the right way. That person will have to spend wisely and save as much as possible. That person will have to put in a lot of effort. Many of you have done that already. Many of you are working towards that goal. But all of us understand that something like that doesn’t happen without bending your back and getting your hands a little dirty and keeping at it for a long period of time.
If you wanted to lose ten pounds, what would you have to do? You might have to exercise a little more and you might have to eat healthier foods and you might have to watch your weight on a regular basis for a few weeks. A diet pill alone won’t do it for you. An exercise video won’t help if it stays on the shelf. Even a lap-band procedure in which they can surgically tie your stomach a little tighter can only do so much if you continue to eat fatty foods and refuse to get off your couch. If you really wanted to lose ten pounds you would have to put in some work in order to get those results.
If you wanted to do something as simple as quench your thirst you would first have to find some sort of drinkable liquid in your refrigerator or at a store, you’d then have to get a glass or a cup or a bottle in which to pour and drink that liquid, you’d have to physically bring that container up to you mouth, and finally you’d have to swallow it on your own. No one is going to do those things for you. And so if you really wanted to quench your own thirst then you’d have to personally do something about it.
Because that’s the way this world works, doesn’t it? If you want something, you have to do something to get it. You have to put in the time and the work and the effort to produce results. You have to earn it. And if you don’t put in the time and the work and the effort to earn it, then you certainly cannot expect to get what you want.
The Example of Abraham
That is the way this world works; but that is not the way our salvation works. Our salvation is just the opposite. In order to get to heaven what we do doesn’t count; what we try doesn’t matter; what we attempt doesn’t make a difference. In fact, we not only don’t work for our salvation, we can’t work for it! We aren’t even allowed to work for it! And the harder we try, the farther away we get. There’s nothing quite like it. There’s nothing quite like salvation through faith. Because salvation through faith truly is “free” in every sense of the word. And since this concept is so foreign to the way things function in this world, the apostle Paul spends quite a bit of time explaining this truth in the middle chapters of the book of Romans. And to do so Paul uses Abraham as the prime example. Abraham was credited with righteousness, he was officially recognized by the Lord as having perfection, not because of what he did, but because of the one in whom he believed.
If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
Here’s Paul’s point: this great man Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, a faithful servant of the Lord up to the point of even sacrificing his own son because God asked him to, a caring and compassionate man, a generous man, a well-respected man… even a man like Abraham wasn’t capable of gaining the righteousness required for entrance into heaven by what he did. And if he couldn’t, neither can we. But just like Abraham, we are only saved through faith. Which means nothing we ever do can contribute to that salvation in any way.
Chinese Finger Trap
Have you ever run across a Chinese Finger Trap? It is a cylinder only about six inches long and made out of tiny strips of bamboo. The “trap” happens when you put your two forefingers in each side and attempt to pull them free. When you pull your fingers apart, the strips of bamboo tighten around your knuckles and you are unable to release the trap. Only if someone informs you that you have to stop trying can you get free. You have to relax your hands and allow your fingers to actually come closer together so that the trap will loosen enough to a point where you can slowly twist your fingers free.
The quicksand found in the Moab Desert around the Colorado River works the same way. The harder you try to get out of it, the faster and more fanatically you try to struggle to safety, the farther down you sink. The trick is to do nothing, to relax your body and simply lean one way or the other to find solid ground or wait for someone to help.
We can even take it into the financial realm. Because of the way this country works, it can be a wise decision to declare bankruptcy at times. If you are in a financial bind it can actually be better for your credit and for your future to stop attempting to get out of the hole you are in and officially admitting on paper that you can’t do it on your own.
Although all three of these analogies can’t fully describe our spiritual condition, they are similar to the way salvation works. The harder we try and the more things we attempt and the closer we think we can get to the solution on our own only makes things worse. We, in effect, have to realize that we can’t do anything by ourselves; we have to rely on someone or something else to fix our self-imposed dilemma. And that “something else” on which we rely for our salvation is our Savior through faith. Because faith supplies what we are lacking.
Supplying What is Lacking
By the very fact that we are sinful human beings, we lack a number of different things. And the first thing that we spiritually lack is the ability to even want what God says. From the very beginning we didn’t want what God wanted for us. We didn’t know him and we didn’t want to know him. We weren’t forgiven and we didn’t want to be forgiven. We weren’t saved and we didn’t want to be saved. An unbeliever doesn’t want what Christ wants. But faith does. And when the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts through the written Word of God or the spoken Word of God connected with baptism, we suddenly wanted what Christ wanted. We longed for what Christ longed for. We believed what Christ achieved. Faith supplied what we lacked. Faith changed our outlook on life and our very attitude towards God himself. There’s nothing quite like salvation through faith.
But even though we now want what God says, we still lack the ability to understand what God says. We and anyone else can read or hear what God tells us in his Word. But to truly understand it, to be able to logically figure out the what and the why and the how and the where and the when… that’s a whole different story. Tell me: how does the Triune God work exactly? Yes, he’s “3 in 1” but that doesn’t make any logical sense at all because there aren’t three parts of God or three characters played by one God; the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are all 100% God but different than each other. Explain that to me? Or describe for me how Creation happened according to Scripture. Apparently God created this universe out of nothing. Really? Out of nothing? There has to be “something” to start with if you are going to make something else. But not in Genesis chapter one. Not when God created this world. There was nothing at all. And then in six days there was everything that we see and hear and taste and touch and feel. How is that possible? And if you simply tell me that it’s true because the Bible says so, that’s fine but that doesn’t help my mind any! My brain still yells out “Ridiculous! Preposterous! Impossible! Baloney!” But that’s exactly where faith comes in. It supplies what our minds lack. It tells us that these things are true even though we cannot figure them out or logically explain them or scientifically prove them. There’s nothing quite like salvation through faith.
But even though we can want and know what God says through faith, we will always still be spiritually deficient in this way: we lack the ability to do what God says. For example: the first commandment is “You shall have no other gods.” That means that we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things at all time in every way. Have you done that? Have you always given the glory to God without having a prideful thought? Have you always loved God more than you’ve loved yourself? Have you always trusted in God more than you trusted in your own abilities or something else in this life? And what about the last commandment: “You shall not covet?” You shall not want anything you can’t have. Have you always been content with whatever you’ve had? Have you always been satisfied? Have you never been envious about what someone else had that you didn’t? I don’t think anyone of us in this room is delusional enough to think that we have the ability to actually do everything God tells us to do. But that’s where faith comes in again - not to give us the ability, but to act in place of that ability. Remember what Scripture said about Abraham? “He believed and it was credited to him as righteousness.” The faith that God gave Abraham counted as if Abraham had done everything required of him! And the faith God has given us in our Savior counts as if we have done everything required of us! Isn’t that amazing? The gift of faith carries as much weight in the sight of our Lord than does the ability to do everything that he demands! There’s nothing quite like salvation through faith. And it’s all free.
All for Free
You have been given the gift of faith. Whether you were baptized as an infant or your heart was worked on by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God later in life, you now believe that Jesus is your Savior. And so right now you enjoy freedom from the punishment of sin - because you did nothing. You now have peace of mind from all troubles and worries in this life - because you did nothing. You have the guarantee of eternal life with your Lord after death - because you did nothing. And one day soon you will experience that eternity of perfection, a heavenly worship service, a gathering of saints and angels, and the glory of the Lord himself in a place that truly is a “Paradise” - because you did nothing for it. There really is nothing quite like salvation through faith. Enjoy it. Enjoy the fact that you can live this life with the knowledge that you have heaven for free! Most people in this world don’t have it. Most people in this world don’t know it. Most people in this world don’t want it. You want it. You know it. You have it. And there’s nothing quite like it, is there?
Amen.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” - Rom. 15:13
The Way This World Works
If a person wants to retire at a certain age with a certain amount of money in the bank, what does that person have to do? Buying a lottery ticket is not the right answer, is it? And waiting for a long-lost relative’s inheritance to drop out of the sky isn’t either. If a person wants to retire at a specific time with a specific figure in hand, that person will have to plan for it, right? That person will have to work hard and work long hours and work in the right way. That person will have to spend wisely and save as much as possible. That person will have to put in a lot of effort. Many of you have done that already. Many of you are working towards that goal. But all of us understand that something like that doesn’t happen without bending your back and getting your hands a little dirty and keeping at it for a long period of time.
If you wanted to lose ten pounds, what would you have to do? You might have to exercise a little more and you might have to eat healthier foods and you might have to watch your weight on a regular basis for a few weeks. A diet pill alone won’t do it for you. An exercise video won’t help if it stays on the shelf. Even a lap-band procedure in which they can surgically tie your stomach a little tighter can only do so much if you continue to eat fatty foods and refuse to get off your couch. If you really wanted to lose ten pounds you would have to put in some work in order to get those results.
If you wanted to do something as simple as quench your thirst you would first have to find some sort of drinkable liquid in your refrigerator or at a store, you’d then have to get a glass or a cup or a bottle in which to pour and drink that liquid, you’d have to physically bring that container up to you mouth, and finally you’d have to swallow it on your own. No one is going to do those things for you. And so if you really wanted to quench your own thirst then you’d have to personally do something about it.
Because that’s the way this world works, doesn’t it? If you want something, you have to do something to get it. You have to put in the time and the work and the effort to produce results. You have to earn it. And if you don’t put in the time and the work and the effort to earn it, then you certainly cannot expect to get what you want.
The Example of Abraham
That is the way this world works; but that is not the way our salvation works. Our salvation is just the opposite. In order to get to heaven what we do doesn’t count; what we try doesn’t matter; what we attempt doesn’t make a difference. In fact, we not only don’t work for our salvation, we can’t work for it! We aren’t even allowed to work for it! And the harder we try, the farther away we get. There’s nothing quite like it. There’s nothing quite like salvation through faith. Because salvation through faith truly is “free” in every sense of the word. And since this concept is so foreign to the way things function in this world, the apostle Paul spends quite a bit of time explaining this truth in the middle chapters of the book of Romans. And to do so Paul uses Abraham as the prime example. Abraham was credited with righteousness, he was officially recognized by the Lord as having perfection, not because of what he did, but because of the one in whom he believed.
If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
Here’s Paul’s point: this great man Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, a faithful servant of the Lord up to the point of even sacrificing his own son because God asked him to, a caring and compassionate man, a generous man, a well-respected man… even a man like Abraham wasn’t capable of gaining the righteousness required for entrance into heaven by what he did. And if he couldn’t, neither can we. But just like Abraham, we are only saved through faith. Which means nothing we ever do can contribute to that salvation in any way.
Chinese Finger Trap
Have you ever run across a Chinese Finger Trap? It is a cylinder only about six inches long and made out of tiny strips of bamboo. The “trap” happens when you put your two forefingers in each side and attempt to pull them free. When you pull your fingers apart, the strips of bamboo tighten around your knuckles and you are unable to release the trap. Only if someone informs you that you have to stop trying can you get free. You have to relax your hands and allow your fingers to actually come closer together so that the trap will loosen enough to a point where you can slowly twist your fingers free.
The quicksand found in the Moab Desert around the Colorado River works the same way. The harder you try to get out of it, the faster and more fanatically you try to struggle to safety, the farther down you sink. The trick is to do nothing, to relax your body and simply lean one way or the other to find solid ground or wait for someone to help.
We can even take it into the financial realm. Because of the way this country works, it can be a wise decision to declare bankruptcy at times. If you are in a financial bind it can actually be better for your credit and for your future to stop attempting to get out of the hole you are in and officially admitting on paper that you can’t do it on your own.
Although all three of these analogies can’t fully describe our spiritual condition, they are similar to the way salvation works. The harder we try and the more things we attempt and the closer we think we can get to the solution on our own only makes things worse. We, in effect, have to realize that we can’t do anything by ourselves; we have to rely on someone or something else to fix our self-imposed dilemma. And that “something else” on which we rely for our salvation is our Savior through faith. Because faith supplies what we are lacking.
Supplying What is Lacking
By the very fact that we are sinful human beings, we lack a number of different things. And the first thing that we spiritually lack is the ability to even want what God says. From the very beginning we didn’t want what God wanted for us. We didn’t know him and we didn’t want to know him. We weren’t forgiven and we didn’t want to be forgiven. We weren’t saved and we didn’t want to be saved. An unbeliever doesn’t want what Christ wants. But faith does. And when the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts through the written Word of God or the spoken Word of God connected with baptism, we suddenly wanted what Christ wanted. We longed for what Christ longed for. We believed what Christ achieved. Faith supplied what we lacked. Faith changed our outlook on life and our very attitude towards God himself. There’s nothing quite like salvation through faith.
But even though we now want what God says, we still lack the ability to understand what God says. We and anyone else can read or hear what God tells us in his Word. But to truly understand it, to be able to logically figure out the what and the why and the how and the where and the when… that’s a whole different story. Tell me: how does the Triune God work exactly? Yes, he’s “3 in 1” but that doesn’t make any logical sense at all because there aren’t three parts of God or three characters played by one God; the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are all 100% God but different than each other. Explain that to me? Or describe for me how Creation happened according to Scripture. Apparently God created this universe out of nothing. Really? Out of nothing? There has to be “something” to start with if you are going to make something else. But not in Genesis chapter one. Not when God created this world. There was nothing at all. And then in six days there was everything that we see and hear and taste and touch and feel. How is that possible? And if you simply tell me that it’s true because the Bible says so, that’s fine but that doesn’t help my mind any! My brain still yells out “Ridiculous! Preposterous! Impossible! Baloney!” But that’s exactly where faith comes in. It supplies what our minds lack. It tells us that these things are true even though we cannot figure them out or logically explain them or scientifically prove them. There’s nothing quite like salvation through faith.
But even though we can want and know what God says through faith, we will always still be spiritually deficient in this way: we lack the ability to do what God says. For example: the first commandment is “You shall have no other gods.” That means that we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things at all time in every way. Have you done that? Have you always given the glory to God without having a prideful thought? Have you always loved God more than you’ve loved yourself? Have you always trusted in God more than you trusted in your own abilities or something else in this life? And what about the last commandment: “You shall not covet?” You shall not want anything you can’t have. Have you always been content with whatever you’ve had? Have you always been satisfied? Have you never been envious about what someone else had that you didn’t? I don’t think anyone of us in this room is delusional enough to think that we have the ability to actually do everything God tells us to do. But that’s where faith comes in again - not to give us the ability, but to act in place of that ability. Remember what Scripture said about Abraham? “He believed and it was credited to him as righteousness.” The faith that God gave Abraham counted as if Abraham had done everything required of him! And the faith God has given us in our Savior counts as if we have done everything required of us! Isn’t that amazing? The gift of faith carries as much weight in the sight of our Lord than does the ability to do everything that he demands! There’s nothing quite like salvation through faith. And it’s all free.
All for Free
You have been given the gift of faith. Whether you were baptized as an infant or your heart was worked on by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God later in life, you now believe that Jesus is your Savior. And so right now you enjoy freedom from the punishment of sin - because you did nothing. You now have peace of mind from all troubles and worries in this life - because you did nothing. You have the guarantee of eternal life with your Lord after death - because you did nothing. And one day soon you will experience that eternity of perfection, a heavenly worship service, a gathering of saints and angels, and the glory of the Lord himself in a place that truly is a “Paradise” - because you did nothing for it. There really is nothing quite like salvation through faith. Enjoy it. Enjoy the fact that you can live this life with the knowledge that you have heaven for free! Most people in this world don’t have it. Most people in this world don’t know it. Most people in this world don’t want it. You want it. You know it. You have it. And there’s nothing quite like it, is there?
Amen.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” - Rom. 15:13
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
3/9,16,23/11 - Midweek Lent - Luke 23:39-43
FROM ONE KINGDOM TO THE NEXT
The Scene of the Crucifixion
It was a Friday morning, the day after the annual Passover celebration, and a crowd had gathered outside of Jerusalem. But this gathering didn’t have anything to do with the Feast of Unleavened Bread that had just begun; nor did it have anything to do with their preparation for the Sabbath day that would start at dusk. What drew these people outside the walls of the city at that late morning hour and into the afternoon was an execution. Three people were facing the death penalty that day at the hands of the Roman government, and it made for good entertainment. Two men, probably murderers or at least dangerous criminals of other heinous crimes, along with a man named Jesus were on the receiving end of this communal display of capital punishment. Of course, this Jesus was not a murderer and he was not a man who had led a rebellion against the government; he was not really a “criminal” in any sense of the word, but he was there to face death anyway because the Jewish leaders had strong-armed Pontius Pilate into giving them what they wanted.
Whatever the guilt or innocence of that day’s condemned, however, it must have been an unpleasant scene. Grown men screaming in pain, women sobbing uncontrollably, people in the crowd shouting obscenities at those they hated; the Jewish leaders taunting and mocking the man in the middle, the soldiers dividing up the clothing of the suffering right in front of them, a lot of blood, a lot of hate, a lot of time to suffer.
A Bold Statement of Faith
But then, in the middle of this horrible spectacle of public humiliation and the most severe of corporal punishment, something amazing happened. Something unexpected. Something that most people there that day probably didn’t see or hear because it wasn’t anything noticeable at first glance. Before the mysterious darkness covered the land while Jesus suffered, before the splitting of the rocks and the ripping of the temple curtain and the rising of people from the tombs when Jesus actually did die, another miracle happened. Another effect of God’s power occurred. And it was just as spectacular.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The miracle that happened here before Jesus died was faith. And what a bold confession of faith it was! A man not only condemned to die but a man in the middle of experiencing it, a man who had just admitted that he deserved to be right there, a man who had confessed his failures and took full responsibility for his sinfulness, but a man who then turned to his Savior calmly and confidently: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” There was no fear there. No worry. No complaint. Just a solid and unshakeable trust that this person being crucified in between two criminals was also the one true God. And even though the man who was speaking knew he was unworthy of any kindness or compassion, he also knew that his God who was hanging right next to him was capable and willing to show him mercy when he entered his eternal kingdom. And in response to his dying plea, Jesus promised him, “I will not only remember you when I come into my kingdom; you’ll be right there with me. Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Our Fear, Worries, and Complaints
The same kingdom that welcomed the criminal later that day awaits our arrival as well. And the same promise guarantees our entry. We can be just as sure as the criminal was. We can be just as calm. We can be just as confident. We just usually aren’t, are we? Sometimes we aren’t as sure or as calm or as confident as this man was on the brink of death. Sometimes when we are dealing with the difficulties and the problems that plague our own lives we worry about the future and we complain about the past and we fear that maybe the Lord won’t work this out for our good after all. And so instead of simply trusting that the Lord will take care of everything and confidently saying to our Savior, “Jesus, remember me in your kingdom,” we more often than not think something like, “Jesus, I really need for you to take care of this for me right now in this way for this reason.” Or “Jesus, why are you letting this happen to me?” Or “Jesus, things don’t look too good from my perspective; I think I’ll take it from here and try to make it right.” We struggle to fully trust that everything will be OK. We have difficulty accepting the fact that God knows what he’s doing even when all indications point to the contrary. We worry, we complain, we fear. And we forget that God’s promises will never fail.
The criminal on Jesus’ right hand side didn’t forget that. The criminal on the cross clung to those promises. He banked on those promises. He wasn’t worried about what might happen. He didn’t complain about his current state of agony. He wasn’t afraid about what was to come. This criminal was a Christian. A new Christian but a true Christian. And he looked forward to enjoying God’s kingdom whenever his time would come.
The “First” Kingdom Leads to the “Final” Kingdom
This criminal certainly entered God’s kingdom later that afternoon. After the pain and after the humiliation and after the transition of death was done, he immediately began to enjoy the peace and the glory and the perfect life of eternity with his Savior. And he still is to this day. He is living in the heavenly kingdom of the Lord with all of the saints and the angels waiting for us to join him. What this former criminal might not have known while he was hanging on the cross, however, was that he had been experiencing the “kingdom” of God before he ever died.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come…” we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. But when Scripture speaks about God’s “kingdom” it isn’t always referring to the final kingdom of heaven. Sometimes it signifies other places where our King rules. That’s what a “kingdom” is after all, isn’t it? The area over which a king rules. And one of the places over which our King of kings rules is a believer’s heart through faith. Many different parables about the “kingdom of God” or the “kingdom of heaven” are pictures of this specific reign in a believer’s heart. And Jesus even says earlier in the book of Luke, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). This kingdom is what the criminal was experiencing before he ever experienced death. Christ had convinced him that he was his Savior. Christ had persuaded him that the forgiveness he was in the middle of dying for was actually for him. Christ had established his kingdom in this man’s heart and ruled there through faith. And this “first” kingdom that the criminal experienced on earth is what led to his entrance into the “final” kingdom that he is now experiencing in Paradise.
A Criminal's Kingdom
We, of course, are experiencing this “first” kingdom right now as well. Christ has convinced us that he is our Savior. Christ has persuaded us that the forgiveness he has died for is actually our own. Christ has established his kingdom in our hearts and is ruling there right now through faith. Yes, we still worry and complain and fear what may happen in this life. Yes, our faith might not be as strong as we’d like it to be, but Christ’s Paradise is not only open to the strong. Christ’s Paradise is not only open to the firm and the capable and the unshakeable. Christ’s Paradise is open to criminals. Which means it’s open to a criminal like me! And it’s open to a criminal like you! The final kingdom of Paradise is open to all the criminals-sinners who are enjoying his first kingdom on this earth through faith. You believe in Jesus as your Savior right now by the grace of God; you are a member of this first kingdom of God. And so you will experience his final kingdom in heaven. Because the promise your Lord gave to that criminal one Friday afternoon is the exact same promise he still gives to you: “I will not only remember you in my kingdom; you will be right there with me. Because one day you will be with me in Paradise.”
Amen.
The Scene of the Crucifixion
It was a Friday morning, the day after the annual Passover celebration, and a crowd had gathered outside of Jerusalem. But this gathering didn’t have anything to do with the Feast of Unleavened Bread that had just begun; nor did it have anything to do with their preparation for the Sabbath day that would start at dusk. What drew these people outside the walls of the city at that late morning hour and into the afternoon was an execution. Three people were facing the death penalty that day at the hands of the Roman government, and it made for good entertainment. Two men, probably murderers or at least dangerous criminals of other heinous crimes, along with a man named Jesus were on the receiving end of this communal display of capital punishment. Of course, this Jesus was not a murderer and he was not a man who had led a rebellion against the government; he was not really a “criminal” in any sense of the word, but he was there to face death anyway because the Jewish leaders had strong-armed Pontius Pilate into giving them what they wanted.
Whatever the guilt or innocence of that day’s condemned, however, it must have been an unpleasant scene. Grown men screaming in pain, women sobbing uncontrollably, people in the crowd shouting obscenities at those they hated; the Jewish leaders taunting and mocking the man in the middle, the soldiers dividing up the clothing of the suffering right in front of them, a lot of blood, a lot of hate, a lot of time to suffer.
A Bold Statement of Faith
But then, in the middle of this horrible spectacle of public humiliation and the most severe of corporal punishment, something amazing happened. Something unexpected. Something that most people there that day probably didn’t see or hear because it wasn’t anything noticeable at first glance. Before the mysterious darkness covered the land while Jesus suffered, before the splitting of the rocks and the ripping of the temple curtain and the rising of people from the tombs when Jesus actually did die, another miracle happened. Another effect of God’s power occurred. And it was just as spectacular.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The miracle that happened here before Jesus died was faith. And what a bold confession of faith it was! A man not only condemned to die but a man in the middle of experiencing it, a man who had just admitted that he deserved to be right there, a man who had confessed his failures and took full responsibility for his sinfulness, but a man who then turned to his Savior calmly and confidently: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” There was no fear there. No worry. No complaint. Just a solid and unshakeable trust that this person being crucified in between two criminals was also the one true God. And even though the man who was speaking knew he was unworthy of any kindness or compassion, he also knew that his God who was hanging right next to him was capable and willing to show him mercy when he entered his eternal kingdom. And in response to his dying plea, Jesus promised him, “I will not only remember you when I come into my kingdom; you’ll be right there with me. Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Our Fear, Worries, and Complaints
The same kingdom that welcomed the criminal later that day awaits our arrival as well. And the same promise guarantees our entry. We can be just as sure as the criminal was. We can be just as calm. We can be just as confident. We just usually aren’t, are we? Sometimes we aren’t as sure or as calm or as confident as this man was on the brink of death. Sometimes when we are dealing with the difficulties and the problems that plague our own lives we worry about the future and we complain about the past and we fear that maybe the Lord won’t work this out for our good after all. And so instead of simply trusting that the Lord will take care of everything and confidently saying to our Savior, “Jesus, remember me in your kingdom,” we more often than not think something like, “Jesus, I really need for you to take care of this for me right now in this way for this reason.” Or “Jesus, why are you letting this happen to me?” Or “Jesus, things don’t look too good from my perspective; I think I’ll take it from here and try to make it right.” We struggle to fully trust that everything will be OK. We have difficulty accepting the fact that God knows what he’s doing even when all indications point to the contrary. We worry, we complain, we fear. And we forget that God’s promises will never fail.
The criminal on Jesus’ right hand side didn’t forget that. The criminal on the cross clung to those promises. He banked on those promises. He wasn’t worried about what might happen. He didn’t complain about his current state of agony. He wasn’t afraid about what was to come. This criminal was a Christian. A new Christian but a true Christian. And he looked forward to enjoying God’s kingdom whenever his time would come.
The “First” Kingdom Leads to the “Final” Kingdom
This criminal certainly entered God’s kingdom later that afternoon. After the pain and after the humiliation and after the transition of death was done, he immediately began to enjoy the peace and the glory and the perfect life of eternity with his Savior. And he still is to this day. He is living in the heavenly kingdom of the Lord with all of the saints and the angels waiting for us to join him. What this former criminal might not have known while he was hanging on the cross, however, was that he had been experiencing the “kingdom” of God before he ever died.
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come…” we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. But when Scripture speaks about God’s “kingdom” it isn’t always referring to the final kingdom of heaven. Sometimes it signifies other places where our King rules. That’s what a “kingdom” is after all, isn’t it? The area over which a king rules. And one of the places over which our King of kings rules is a believer’s heart through faith. Many different parables about the “kingdom of God” or the “kingdom of heaven” are pictures of this specific reign in a believer’s heart. And Jesus even says earlier in the book of Luke, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). This kingdom is what the criminal was experiencing before he ever experienced death. Christ had convinced him that he was his Savior. Christ had persuaded him that the forgiveness he was in the middle of dying for was actually for him. Christ had established his kingdom in this man’s heart and ruled there through faith. And this “first” kingdom that the criminal experienced on earth is what led to his entrance into the “final” kingdom that he is now experiencing in Paradise.
A Criminal's Kingdom
We, of course, are experiencing this “first” kingdom right now as well. Christ has convinced us that he is our Savior. Christ has persuaded us that the forgiveness he has died for is actually our own. Christ has established his kingdom in our hearts and is ruling there right now through faith. Yes, we still worry and complain and fear what may happen in this life. Yes, our faith might not be as strong as we’d like it to be, but Christ’s Paradise is not only open to the strong. Christ’s Paradise is not only open to the firm and the capable and the unshakeable. Christ’s Paradise is open to criminals. Which means it’s open to a criminal like me! And it’s open to a criminal like you! The final kingdom of Paradise is open to all the criminals-sinners who are enjoying his first kingdom on this earth through faith. You believe in Jesus as your Savior right now by the grace of God; you are a member of this first kingdom of God. And so you will experience his final kingdom in heaven. Because the promise your Lord gave to that criminal one Friday afternoon is the exact same promise he still gives to you: “I will not only remember you in my kingdom; you will be right there with me. Because one day you will be with me in Paradise.”
Amen.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
3/13/11 - Lent 1 - Matthew 4:1-11
THE BATTLE WAS OVER BEFORE IT BEGAN
Jericho and Ai
Do you remember what happened to the city of Jericho? It was the first city the Israelites came to after they crossed over into the Promised Land for the very first time. And although it was surrounded by large impenetrable walls, the Lord promised to give it into the Israelites’ hands. And so he had them march around the city walls for seven days and on the seventh day he commanded his people to shout and blow the trumpets. When the people of Israel did what the Lord told them to do, the walls of Jericho came crashing down and the Israelite army marched right in. The battle was over before it every really began. There were certainly some skirmishes and a little bit of resistance, but when a city’s walls crumble to the ground and an entire army is blocking any chance of escape, the outcome is inevitable.
Of course, the victory against the next town was just as guaranteed for Joshua and his people. The next city after Jericho was a place called Ai. Ai only had about 6000 men to fend off an attack and Joshua brought 30,000 warriors against it. After luring the men of Ai out of the city to meet them in battle, Joshua and 25,000 of his soldiers began to retreat as if they were losing. But as they drew the people of Ai further away from their city, 5000 Israelites came out of hiding behind the city walls, rushed through its gates, and burned the city to the ground. By the time the men of Ai saw what was happening behind them, it was too late. Joshua and his army had turned around to crush the much smaller army and the soldiers of Ai were suddenly caught in the middle. And even though the people of this little town didn’t know it until it what happening, the battle was really over before it began. Joshua knew beforehand how big the city was; he was the one who chose the battlefield; he orchestrated the fake retreat; he set up the ambush; he had the superior numbers; and, most importantly, God himself had promised him the victory and even gave him the strategy to do it. Joshua knew they would win before he ever stepped into battle.
Jesus’ Control over His Battle with Satan
The battles that Joshua and the Israelites had with their enemies in the Promised Land are really not all that different from the battle Jesus had with his arch enemy the devil in the desert. Jesus knew how strong Satan was beforehand; Jesus chose the battlefield on which they would meet; Jesus determined what was done during the battle itself; Jesus had control of the most powerful weapon used in the fight; and most importantly, Jesus knew he would win. We are familiar with the three main temptation that Satan threw against Jesus that day, but don’t overlook the very first verse: “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit out into the desert specifically in order to be tempted by the devil! Jesus knew exactly what was happening! Jesus knew exactly why he was there! He purposely went out into the wastelands so that he could undergo the devil’s attacks. Jesus wasn’t surprised. Jesus wasn’t taken off guard. He meant to do this. He fully intended to pick this fight. And if Jesus had planned for this fight, that means the battle was over before it every really began.
And the battle itself shows us that too. Every time Satan tried to tempt Jesus to do something wrong, how did Jesus respond? “It is written…” “It is written…” “It is written…” The Lord used the Word of God to fend off every one of Satan’s assaults. And if there’s anyone who knows the Word of God well enough to utilize it under the most extreme of spiritual harassment, it’s the one who wrote the Word, the one whom the Word points to, the one whom Scripture even calls “The Word made into flesh”! Satan was fighting against the master! The devil was contending against the Almighty! And so he was outmatched in every way from the start! This battle was over before it began.
And if the devil didn’t know that before he went out to the desert, he certainly understood that when he left. Because listen to how this battle ends: “Jesus said, ‘Away from me Satan!’… Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” There wasn’t a final sucker punch that the devil got in before he left. There wasn’t a last angry word that he mumbled under his breath before he stomped away in anger. There wasn’t even an argument or a complaint on the devil’s part. Because God himself had told Satan to leave; and so this fallen angel had to leave - immediately. Jesus had allowed Satan to tempt him not only with these three temptations but for the entire 40 days he was out in that desert. But enough was enough. And when Jesus was done that means the devil was done. And with one simple command the Lord cast his arch enemy out of his presence until a time he felt like giving the devil another shot. Jesus was in complete control. He began the battle when he wanted it to begin. He arranged the battle in the way he wanted it arranged. He ended the battle when he wanted it to end. This fight was over long before it ever began.
Our Inability to Battle Alone
But please don’t get the wrong impression: the devil is not stupid! And he certainly isn’t weak! Compared to the Lord in this battle in the desert he looks a little inadequate; but compared to us he’s a powerful and dangerous enemy. And we can’t take him on our own. Oh, we’ve tried haven’t we? We’ve tried to take on the devil and his temptations by ourselves. And we have paid the price! Just look back in your life and think about how many temptations you have succumbed to. And they always seem to be the same kind of temptations over and over again. It’s amazing that after Satan has gotten the upper hand on us so many times that we can still convince ourselves that we’ll be OK in certain situations when we have never been OK in those situations before. We talk ourselves into thinking that although we have fallen into this particular temptation in this exact same setting in the past, we’ll be strong enough this time to fend it off. And so we keep putting ourselves into positions that have caused us to fall before. And we allow ourselves to be around people that have influenced us in a negative way before. And we let ourselves be surrounded by temptations that cause us to think things we shouldn’t and other temptations that cause us to say things we shouldn’t and still other temptations that cause us to do things we shouldn’t.
I don’t know why we keep doing that to ourselves… We should know by now that our weaknesses are just that: weaknesses. And we cannot march right out into the desert to take the devil on face to face and think that we can come out of that battle unscathed! We are not strong enough. We are not capable enough. And we certainly are not dedicated enough to God’s Word that we would be able to survive a confrontation with the devil without falling into sin. It hasn’t happened before; why would we think it’s ever going to happen now?
The devil is tricky; he knows how to hit you where it hurts. And the devil is ruthless; he hates you more than anything or anyone else has ever hated you before, and so he will never let up. He is out for blood, your blood. And he will not be satisfied unless he can tempt you all the way down into hell itself.
We cannot let our guard down. But it happens all the time, doesn’t it? We can get so secure in our own strength, we can become so confident in the firmness of our own faith that we stop watching out for temptations that might harm us and we stop avoiding possible temptations that get too close and we stop guarding against the temptations that we don’t even know are there yet. It’s a very dangerous thing to become lax in our defense against the devil. And that spiritual laziness has caused us a lot of problems in the past. And if we think we can continue to do that in the future, the battle is going to be over long before it ever begins.
Lent Always Begins with This Battle
This is the first Sunday in the season of Lent. And the gospel reading assigned for this Sunday every year, as it has been for centuries, is the story we are reading today: The Temptation of Christ in the Desert. It never changes. Every year on this Sunday we always read this gospel story. Why do you think that is? Why do we always begin the season in which we focus on the sufferings and death of our Lord with this battle between Christ and the devil? Because it’s an interesting story and we don’t know where else to fit it? Because we probably should talk about the devil sometime and this is as good a place as any? No! We read this story at the beginning of Lent because it is the first official act of our Savior suffering what we have to suffer and coming out on top. This story is about Jesus grabbing us when we were standing out in the open, susceptible to every arrow in Satan’s quiver, and thrusting us behind his back as he steps in to take the brunt of the attack. This is Jesus doing what we cannot do - and doing it for us. This is Jesus throwing off as many temptations as have dragged us down. This is Jesus defeating the devil as many times as the devil has defeated us. This is Jesus winning the fight against sin as many times as we have lost it. This is Jesus fighting for us. But it came at a price.
Jesus suffered. Jesus truly did suffer! Jesus was worn out after this battle and completed exhausted after these 40 days were over. Scripture says that the angels even had to come and serve him after this battle was over. Because he was still a true human being. He wasn’t immune to the rigor and the demands of fighting an intense spiritual war. But that was the point: Jesus had to suffer temptation for us. He had to suffer as a human being. And he suffered severely. But he won. He won!
And so I can’t think of a better way to begin the season of Lent, can you? Here we watch Jesus fight for us; in a few weeks we will watch him die for us. Here he withstands the onslaughts of Satan; soon he will crush Satan’s head. Here he wins a great victory; but at the end of next month we will celebrate the greatest victory Jesus won over the devil as he gives up his breath on the cross and then takes it back as he rises from the tomb. The story of The Temptation Jesus in the Desert is the beginning of Jesus’ suffering; and so it is also the beginning of our forgiveness.
The Rest of the War
As Christians living almost 2000 years after these events took place, the war is now over, but the battle rages on. Satan knows that he is defeated, but he is not going to give up until he is permanently locked away forever in the hellish dungeon the Lord has created for him. And so it is prudent for us as Christians to be alert and stay on our toes. We have to keep our heads on a swivel so that we don’t get blindsided. And of course that doesn’t mean we just hitch up our pants and make it a point to “be stronger” and “try harder” and “act better.” No that means that just as a child hides behind the legs of his parents when a stranger is in the room, we hide behind the legs of our Lord when temptations are near. We let the Lord take care of it for us. We protect ourselves with his Word and guard ourselves with his gospel. We trust in the one who defeated the devil in the desert and conquered him on the cross. We rely on his power and his strength and his ability to overcome these enemies of ours, because the fact of the matter is: he already has. The battles we fight here are over before they ever begin. They may harm us at times and they may hassle us to no end, but in the End it won’t matter. Because ever since we were brought to faith in our Savior, we have always been on the winning side. The Lord has already won. And so we have too.
Amen.
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” - Romans 16:20
Jericho and Ai
Do you remember what happened to the city of Jericho? It was the first city the Israelites came to after they crossed over into the Promised Land for the very first time. And although it was surrounded by large impenetrable walls, the Lord promised to give it into the Israelites’ hands. And so he had them march around the city walls for seven days and on the seventh day he commanded his people to shout and blow the trumpets. When the people of Israel did what the Lord told them to do, the walls of Jericho came crashing down and the Israelite army marched right in. The battle was over before it every really began. There were certainly some skirmishes and a little bit of resistance, but when a city’s walls crumble to the ground and an entire army is blocking any chance of escape, the outcome is inevitable.
Of course, the victory against the next town was just as guaranteed for Joshua and his people. The next city after Jericho was a place called Ai. Ai only had about 6000 men to fend off an attack and Joshua brought 30,000 warriors against it. After luring the men of Ai out of the city to meet them in battle, Joshua and 25,000 of his soldiers began to retreat as if they were losing. But as they drew the people of Ai further away from their city, 5000 Israelites came out of hiding behind the city walls, rushed through its gates, and burned the city to the ground. By the time the men of Ai saw what was happening behind them, it was too late. Joshua and his army had turned around to crush the much smaller army and the soldiers of Ai were suddenly caught in the middle. And even though the people of this little town didn’t know it until it what happening, the battle was really over before it began. Joshua knew beforehand how big the city was; he was the one who chose the battlefield; he orchestrated the fake retreat; he set up the ambush; he had the superior numbers; and, most importantly, God himself had promised him the victory and even gave him the strategy to do it. Joshua knew they would win before he ever stepped into battle.
Jesus’ Control over His Battle with Satan
The battles that Joshua and the Israelites had with their enemies in the Promised Land are really not all that different from the battle Jesus had with his arch enemy the devil in the desert. Jesus knew how strong Satan was beforehand; Jesus chose the battlefield on which they would meet; Jesus determined what was done during the battle itself; Jesus had control of the most powerful weapon used in the fight; and most importantly, Jesus knew he would win. We are familiar with the three main temptation that Satan threw against Jesus that day, but don’t overlook the very first verse: “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit out into the desert specifically in order to be tempted by the devil! Jesus knew exactly what was happening! Jesus knew exactly why he was there! He purposely went out into the wastelands so that he could undergo the devil’s attacks. Jesus wasn’t surprised. Jesus wasn’t taken off guard. He meant to do this. He fully intended to pick this fight. And if Jesus had planned for this fight, that means the battle was over before it every really began.
And the battle itself shows us that too. Every time Satan tried to tempt Jesus to do something wrong, how did Jesus respond? “It is written…” “It is written…” “It is written…” The Lord used the Word of God to fend off every one of Satan’s assaults. And if there’s anyone who knows the Word of God well enough to utilize it under the most extreme of spiritual harassment, it’s the one who wrote the Word, the one whom the Word points to, the one whom Scripture even calls “The Word made into flesh”! Satan was fighting against the master! The devil was contending against the Almighty! And so he was outmatched in every way from the start! This battle was over before it began.
And if the devil didn’t know that before he went out to the desert, he certainly understood that when he left. Because listen to how this battle ends: “Jesus said, ‘Away from me Satan!’… Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” There wasn’t a final sucker punch that the devil got in before he left. There wasn’t a last angry word that he mumbled under his breath before he stomped away in anger. There wasn’t even an argument or a complaint on the devil’s part. Because God himself had told Satan to leave; and so this fallen angel had to leave - immediately. Jesus had allowed Satan to tempt him not only with these three temptations but for the entire 40 days he was out in that desert. But enough was enough. And when Jesus was done that means the devil was done. And with one simple command the Lord cast his arch enemy out of his presence until a time he felt like giving the devil another shot. Jesus was in complete control. He began the battle when he wanted it to begin. He arranged the battle in the way he wanted it arranged. He ended the battle when he wanted it to end. This fight was over long before it ever began.
Our Inability to Battle Alone
But please don’t get the wrong impression: the devil is not stupid! And he certainly isn’t weak! Compared to the Lord in this battle in the desert he looks a little inadequate; but compared to us he’s a powerful and dangerous enemy. And we can’t take him on our own. Oh, we’ve tried haven’t we? We’ve tried to take on the devil and his temptations by ourselves. And we have paid the price! Just look back in your life and think about how many temptations you have succumbed to. And they always seem to be the same kind of temptations over and over again. It’s amazing that after Satan has gotten the upper hand on us so many times that we can still convince ourselves that we’ll be OK in certain situations when we have never been OK in those situations before. We talk ourselves into thinking that although we have fallen into this particular temptation in this exact same setting in the past, we’ll be strong enough this time to fend it off. And so we keep putting ourselves into positions that have caused us to fall before. And we allow ourselves to be around people that have influenced us in a negative way before. And we let ourselves be surrounded by temptations that cause us to think things we shouldn’t and other temptations that cause us to say things we shouldn’t and still other temptations that cause us to do things we shouldn’t.
I don’t know why we keep doing that to ourselves… We should know by now that our weaknesses are just that: weaknesses. And we cannot march right out into the desert to take the devil on face to face and think that we can come out of that battle unscathed! We are not strong enough. We are not capable enough. And we certainly are not dedicated enough to God’s Word that we would be able to survive a confrontation with the devil without falling into sin. It hasn’t happened before; why would we think it’s ever going to happen now?
The devil is tricky; he knows how to hit you where it hurts. And the devil is ruthless; he hates you more than anything or anyone else has ever hated you before, and so he will never let up. He is out for blood, your blood. And he will not be satisfied unless he can tempt you all the way down into hell itself.
We cannot let our guard down. But it happens all the time, doesn’t it? We can get so secure in our own strength, we can become so confident in the firmness of our own faith that we stop watching out for temptations that might harm us and we stop avoiding possible temptations that get too close and we stop guarding against the temptations that we don’t even know are there yet. It’s a very dangerous thing to become lax in our defense against the devil. And that spiritual laziness has caused us a lot of problems in the past. And if we think we can continue to do that in the future, the battle is going to be over long before it ever begins.
Lent Always Begins with This Battle
This is the first Sunday in the season of Lent. And the gospel reading assigned for this Sunday every year, as it has been for centuries, is the story we are reading today: The Temptation of Christ in the Desert. It never changes. Every year on this Sunday we always read this gospel story. Why do you think that is? Why do we always begin the season in which we focus on the sufferings and death of our Lord with this battle between Christ and the devil? Because it’s an interesting story and we don’t know where else to fit it? Because we probably should talk about the devil sometime and this is as good a place as any? No! We read this story at the beginning of Lent because it is the first official act of our Savior suffering what we have to suffer and coming out on top. This story is about Jesus grabbing us when we were standing out in the open, susceptible to every arrow in Satan’s quiver, and thrusting us behind his back as he steps in to take the brunt of the attack. This is Jesus doing what we cannot do - and doing it for us. This is Jesus throwing off as many temptations as have dragged us down. This is Jesus defeating the devil as many times as the devil has defeated us. This is Jesus winning the fight against sin as many times as we have lost it. This is Jesus fighting for us. But it came at a price.
Jesus suffered. Jesus truly did suffer! Jesus was worn out after this battle and completed exhausted after these 40 days were over. Scripture says that the angels even had to come and serve him after this battle was over. Because he was still a true human being. He wasn’t immune to the rigor and the demands of fighting an intense spiritual war. But that was the point: Jesus had to suffer temptation for us. He had to suffer as a human being. And he suffered severely. But he won. He won!
And so I can’t think of a better way to begin the season of Lent, can you? Here we watch Jesus fight for us; in a few weeks we will watch him die for us. Here he withstands the onslaughts of Satan; soon he will crush Satan’s head. Here he wins a great victory; but at the end of next month we will celebrate the greatest victory Jesus won over the devil as he gives up his breath on the cross and then takes it back as he rises from the tomb. The story of The Temptation Jesus in the Desert is the beginning of Jesus’ suffering; and so it is also the beginning of our forgiveness.
The Rest of the War
As Christians living almost 2000 years after these events took place, the war is now over, but the battle rages on. Satan knows that he is defeated, but he is not going to give up until he is permanently locked away forever in the hellish dungeon the Lord has created for him. And so it is prudent for us as Christians to be alert and stay on our toes. We have to keep our heads on a swivel so that we don’t get blindsided. And of course that doesn’t mean we just hitch up our pants and make it a point to “be stronger” and “try harder” and “act better.” No that means that just as a child hides behind the legs of his parents when a stranger is in the room, we hide behind the legs of our Lord when temptations are near. We let the Lord take care of it for us. We protect ourselves with his Word and guard ourselves with his gospel. We trust in the one who defeated the devil in the desert and conquered him on the cross. We rely on his power and his strength and his ability to overcome these enemies of ours, because the fact of the matter is: he already has. The battles we fight here are over before they ever begin. They may harm us at times and they may hassle us to no end, but in the End it won’t matter. Because ever since we were brought to faith in our Savior, we have always been on the winning side. The Lord has already won. And so we have too.
Amen.
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” - Romans 16:20
Sunday, March 06, 2011
3/6/11 - Transfiguration - Exodus 24:12,15-18
A MOUNTAIN TOUR OF OUR SALVATION
As people living in this part of the country, surrounded by some of the most unique and remarkable natural wonders of God’s creation, we are very familiar with the beauty of mountains. The impressive size of each one even from a distance; the majestic views from the summits; the towering peaks; the dark valleys; the long climb up; the quick descent down; the distinct characteristics of each mountain that make every one of these rock formations different from the another. That’s why so many people come out to tour these mountains, right? Whether by jeep or by atv or by bike or by foot, many different people from many different parts of the world want to see and experience for themselves what these mountains have to offer.
This morning we are presented with some important mountains in the pages of Scripture. And they are important not because of their height or because of their location; they are important because they have to do with our salvation. Would you mind if we took a little tour of these mountains today? And this is not meant to be “cute” in any way. Scripture is not cute. But it is clever. And it is always interconnected. And so when we have the chance to talk about our salvation in tangible terms like the Bible does here by going from one mountain peak to the next, we should probably take advantage of that simple outline. And so if you would, we’ll start our tour of these Mountains of Salvation in Exodus 24 on Mt. Sinai. From there we will make the long trek to the Mount of Transfiguration. We’ll then spend some time on a place called Calvary and then we will end our trip taking in the view of what Scripture calls the heavenly Mt. Zion. It’ll be an interesting journey, one that will summarize our salvation in picturesque langue.
SINAI
Our first stop is an important one. It’s a place that will really set the stage for every other mountain we will see this morning. It’s the mountain of Moses, Mt. Sinai, the place where this man of God saw the burning bush before he went back to Egypt as well as the spot where the entire nation of Israel stopped after Moses led them through the Red Sea. It’s a big mountain, a famous mountain, but we can’t go up there. We are not allowed. Only Moses and his right hand man Joshua are allowed to go up onto this mountain. Listen to what happens on this mountain at the beginning of the Israelites’ journey through the desert.
The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.” When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
It’s an imposing scene, isn’t it? The backdrop, the skyline of this place is a little bit intimidating! A thick cloud covers this massive location for six straight days and then the glory of the Lord appears at the top of this peak like a raging fire, blazing in full fury. As well it should. Because this is the Mountain of the Lord, this is where he is, this is where he has come down to be with his people - and the sight is terrifying. Other parts of the book of Exodus even describe thunder and lightning crashing down around this mountain along with the heavenly trumpet blasts of God. But that isn’t even the most frightening thing about this stop. More alarming than the sights and the sounds is what happens when Moses goes up onto this mountain away from our view: because there in the clouds God gives him the law. God etches in stone what we are supposed to do, what we must do. The commands, the decrees, and the directives that are required of us are officially revealed in unequivocal terms on these rocky heights. And you know as well as I do: these laws are the beginning of the end. Because they reveal our inadequacies and hey expose our sins. There is a standard set on this mountain that we cannot keep; a bar that we cannot reach. These simple commands are our undoing because the penalty for failing to keep even one of these words of our Lord is eternal death.
And so this mountain is not only a mountain of power and impressiveness, it’s a mountain of guilt and reality. Because the reality is: we are guilty. There’s no hiding on this mountain. There’s no shade or tree cover that can mask what we do or even what we think. And there’s no excuse either. There’s nothing that will satisfy the one who gave us these commands in the first place. God is not lenient when it comes to his law. He is not tolerant of anyone who does anything against his commands. The fire and thunder and clouds and smoke should prove that he is serious about what he tells us to do.
We aren’t allowed, but I don’t think any of us would want to go up onto this mountain even if we were invited! But we can’t skip over it either. This is a necessary first visit. Because without this mountain and what happened up there, the other mountains would be meaningless, their beauty would be dulled, their majesty blurred. Mt. Sinai gives us a perspective as we move ahead to different peaks and enjoy clearer skies. And so with those dark clouds and demanding commands in mind, let’s gladly move on to the next rise in the distance: the Mount of Transfiguration.
MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION
There’s quite a bit of distance in between Mt. Sinai and the Mt. of Transfiguration. 1500 years in fact between the two. But as we arrive at the mountain on which Jesus pealed back some of his humanity to show his disciples a little bit of his glory, we can already see that it presents a far prettier view: there are no clouds here, there is no fire, and we aren’t afraid to go up to the top! Moses is here again, but not to receive the law this time; instead he’s here to talk about the gospel with the prophet Elijah and with Jesus himself. The glory of the Lord is here too, but shining in the face of Christ and radiating from his clothes. The Father speaks as well on this mountain, but not commands and directives, rather commendations and encouragements about his Son. There is a different feel to this stop: it’s vibrant and exciting as Jesus reminds us about who he really is under that normal looking skin and behind that average looking face. He is the Almighty God, powerful, pure, and true. And he has to be. Jesus has to be the perfect God on top of this mountain in order to keep all those decrees handed down from the mountain we just left. A mere human being can’t fully obey every one of those laws from Mt. Sinai; but a human being who is also the one and only God can. And on top of the Mount of Transfiguration we can actually see what this God-man Jesus is capable of doing.
Peter and James and John are up here too, of course. They experience this transfiguration - this physical transformation - of their Lord. They see Moses and Elijah. They hear God the Father’s voice. And they love it! They can’t get enough of it! They are basking in the presence of the glory of God and a couple of the saints who have gone before them! In fact, they don’t want to go back down. This is another “Mountain of the Lord” after all! This is where God has come to be with his people. They want to stay up here. And we do too! Because down at the bottom of this mountain is pain and trouble and difficulty. Up here on the peak we get a peek of divine magnificence that neither we nor the disciples will see again until heaven. It’s ironic that we didn’t want to go up on Mt. Sinai, but we don’t want to go down from here! It’s too good! It’s too thrilling!
But we have to go down. We can’t stay. We can walk slowly away from this scene if you want, that’s alright, but we must keep moving. Because another valley awaits. And another mountain. And although Christ’s perfection and brilliance on the Mount of Transfiguration is breath-taking, that isn’t really the reason why he came. He didn’t come for glory. Jesus came for the pain. In fact, Jesus makes the climb down with us and leads the way to the next destination: Mt. Calvary.
CALVARY
Calvary can hardly be considered a “mountain” in the technical sense of the word. It’s more like a foothill or an outcropping on the outskirts of Jerusalem. But there is a prominent rise to the landscape and a defined area on top of which we have a chance stand. Of course, this third “Mountain of the Lord” stands in stark contrast to the Mount of Transfiguration that is not too far behind us. Because Calvary is an uninviting place; it’s an ugly setting. There are no trees or rivers or lakes up here - and even if there were they would be overwhelmed by the sense of death hanging in the air. Jesus is again on top and at the center of this mountain, but not Moses or Elijah. They can’t be here; this is not their time; this is not their place, not even for a cameo appearance. This is the time and the place for Jesus to do what he came to do: to suffer severely and to die all alone. And even though it might be a little bit upsetting for us to watch this, we have to. We have to spend a few minutes here and see what happens to our Savior.
There is some blood… a lot of blood. There is some screaming… a lot of screaming. There is name calling, there is ridicule, there is crying - in hate from some and in mercy from others. There is a sizeable crowd here too: quite a few of them interested in the gruesome spectator sport of an execution, while others are disgusted by what it happening to their Lord. We should cringe a little bit too. It’s not pleasant watching the one we just saw transfigured a few moments ago, now disfigured by nails and whips and clubs and thorns. It’s a little bit unsettling. We almost want to look away. This mountain is certainly not the place where we feel like taking some pictures; it’s a bare hostile hill that we’d just as soon forget.
But we won’t be able to forget this scene, will we? How do you forget murder? How do you forget government-sanctioned torture of an innocent man? How do you forget the death of God? You can’t. And you shouldn’t. You shouldn’t forget what you see up here. Because what Jesus is doing on this mountain has everything to do with what happened on that first mountain! On Mt. Sinai the law of God was handed down to sinners. And the consequences of betraying that law? Here it is. The punishment of Sinai is Calvary. And Jesus is taking it for you. And not just death, but the final death in hell while he hangs on this cross, an eternity of horrors in a matter of minutes, a complete rejection from his Father and all of the agonies that come with it. And so no wonder the sky is turning black as Jesus undergoes this sentence! No wonder rocks are splitting open as Jesus dies! No wonder the Roman soldier at the foot of the cross is admitting that Jesus is truly the Son of God when he see these things! Because we can see it too! We have just seen the sacrifice! We have just witnessed Jesus stepping in to take upon himself everything that we had coming upon us!
But now it’s over because Jesus is being taken down from that cross as a corpse. And a couple men named Joseph and Nicodemus are carrying him off of this mountain and they will soon place him in a cave. We aren’t going to follow them to that tomb. We aren’t going to wait around for what we know is going to happen on Easter Sunday. But we do have to come down from this place they call “The Skull.” Because there is nothing left to see here. And there is certainly nothing left to do. The work has been done. And Jesus did it all. It’s now time for us to travel on towards that final site of our tour: Mt. Zion.
MT. ZION
It’s not a short walk in between these two peaks either. From Mt. Calvary to Mt. Zion there are quite a few ups and downs, twists and turns, smooth paths and gravelly slopes. But as we get closer to the end destination a glorious panorama of dramatic beauty comes into view. A mountain so tall and so majestic that there’s hardly a way to describe it. And as we look back where we have come from, we notice that Sinai is so far in the distance it’s nearly indiscernible, the Mount of Transfiguration is a fond memory but pales in comparison to what is now in front of us, and Calvary is still clearly visible but somehow it looks a little better from this angle. Looking back on it now from this side of the mountain it has a shine about it, a gleam, a majesty that it didn’t have from first glance. Because now we see that little hill in a different light. Which makes sense since the resurrection of Christ is reflecting off this side and his ascension adds to the wonderful hue. It’s good to look back. It’s good to remind ourselves about Calvary’s beautiful ugliness. But then it’s good to turn back towards Mt. Zion and look up.
Mt. Zion is a term that is used to describe the hill in the city of Jerusalem on which the Old Testament temple used to sit. And because of that, the term “Mt. Zion” is also used in the prophecies of Scripture to describe the New Testament Church at large as well as the final congregation of believers in heaven. Mt. Zion is the exact opposite of Mt. Sinai. Sinai is all law; Zion is all gospel. Sinai is fear; Zion is joy. Sinai convicts, Zion celebrates. Listen to what the writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews says about the differences between these two mountains: “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them… But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant (Hebrews 12: 18-19, 22-24).
This is the view at hand: Mt. Zion in all its glory. We are allowed up there, but not yet. We are invited, but not before it’s time. And so we’ll have to stay here at the foot of this mountain until the day the Lord decides. Take a good look; take as many pictures as you want; keep this scene in mind because you’ll be right up there at the top in the end. In fact, keep all of these mountains in mind. Sinai almost prevented us from ever seeing this place; the Mount of Transfiguration pointed us in the right direction; Calvary got us here. And now we wait to ascend Mt. Zion, the final “Mountain of the Lord.” And once we get up to the top of this mountain we will never have to come back down. It will be a peak upon which we will reign with our Lord. It will be a summit on which we will stay. And so as you continue your travels here on this earth, travel well. And know that one day soon we will all be gathering back at the top of this mountain never to leave again.
Amen.
“God, the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.” - 1 Tim. 6:15-16
As people living in this part of the country, surrounded by some of the most unique and remarkable natural wonders of God’s creation, we are very familiar with the beauty of mountains. The impressive size of each one even from a distance; the majestic views from the summits; the towering peaks; the dark valleys; the long climb up; the quick descent down; the distinct characteristics of each mountain that make every one of these rock formations different from the another. That’s why so many people come out to tour these mountains, right? Whether by jeep or by atv or by bike or by foot, many different people from many different parts of the world want to see and experience for themselves what these mountains have to offer.
This morning we are presented with some important mountains in the pages of Scripture. And they are important not because of their height or because of their location; they are important because they have to do with our salvation. Would you mind if we took a little tour of these mountains today? And this is not meant to be “cute” in any way. Scripture is not cute. But it is clever. And it is always interconnected. And so when we have the chance to talk about our salvation in tangible terms like the Bible does here by going from one mountain peak to the next, we should probably take advantage of that simple outline. And so if you would, we’ll start our tour of these Mountains of Salvation in Exodus 24 on Mt. Sinai. From there we will make the long trek to the Mount of Transfiguration. We’ll then spend some time on a place called Calvary and then we will end our trip taking in the view of what Scripture calls the heavenly Mt. Zion. It’ll be an interesting journey, one that will summarize our salvation in picturesque langue.
SINAI
Our first stop is an important one. It’s a place that will really set the stage for every other mountain we will see this morning. It’s the mountain of Moses, Mt. Sinai, the place where this man of God saw the burning bush before he went back to Egypt as well as the spot where the entire nation of Israel stopped after Moses led them through the Red Sea. It’s a big mountain, a famous mountain, but we can’t go up there. We are not allowed. Only Moses and his right hand man Joshua are allowed to go up onto this mountain. Listen to what happens on this mountain at the beginning of the Israelites’ journey through the desert.
The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.” When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
It’s an imposing scene, isn’t it? The backdrop, the skyline of this place is a little bit intimidating! A thick cloud covers this massive location for six straight days and then the glory of the Lord appears at the top of this peak like a raging fire, blazing in full fury. As well it should. Because this is the Mountain of the Lord, this is where he is, this is where he has come down to be with his people - and the sight is terrifying. Other parts of the book of Exodus even describe thunder and lightning crashing down around this mountain along with the heavenly trumpet blasts of God. But that isn’t even the most frightening thing about this stop. More alarming than the sights and the sounds is what happens when Moses goes up onto this mountain away from our view: because there in the clouds God gives him the law. God etches in stone what we are supposed to do, what we must do. The commands, the decrees, and the directives that are required of us are officially revealed in unequivocal terms on these rocky heights. And you know as well as I do: these laws are the beginning of the end. Because they reveal our inadequacies and hey expose our sins. There is a standard set on this mountain that we cannot keep; a bar that we cannot reach. These simple commands are our undoing because the penalty for failing to keep even one of these words of our Lord is eternal death.
And so this mountain is not only a mountain of power and impressiveness, it’s a mountain of guilt and reality. Because the reality is: we are guilty. There’s no hiding on this mountain. There’s no shade or tree cover that can mask what we do or even what we think. And there’s no excuse either. There’s nothing that will satisfy the one who gave us these commands in the first place. God is not lenient when it comes to his law. He is not tolerant of anyone who does anything against his commands. The fire and thunder and clouds and smoke should prove that he is serious about what he tells us to do.
We aren’t allowed, but I don’t think any of us would want to go up onto this mountain even if we were invited! But we can’t skip over it either. This is a necessary first visit. Because without this mountain and what happened up there, the other mountains would be meaningless, their beauty would be dulled, their majesty blurred. Mt. Sinai gives us a perspective as we move ahead to different peaks and enjoy clearer skies. And so with those dark clouds and demanding commands in mind, let’s gladly move on to the next rise in the distance: the Mount of Transfiguration.
MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION
There’s quite a bit of distance in between Mt. Sinai and the Mt. of Transfiguration. 1500 years in fact between the two. But as we arrive at the mountain on which Jesus pealed back some of his humanity to show his disciples a little bit of his glory, we can already see that it presents a far prettier view: there are no clouds here, there is no fire, and we aren’t afraid to go up to the top! Moses is here again, but not to receive the law this time; instead he’s here to talk about the gospel with the prophet Elijah and with Jesus himself. The glory of the Lord is here too, but shining in the face of Christ and radiating from his clothes. The Father speaks as well on this mountain, but not commands and directives, rather commendations and encouragements about his Son. There is a different feel to this stop: it’s vibrant and exciting as Jesus reminds us about who he really is under that normal looking skin and behind that average looking face. He is the Almighty God, powerful, pure, and true. And he has to be. Jesus has to be the perfect God on top of this mountain in order to keep all those decrees handed down from the mountain we just left. A mere human being can’t fully obey every one of those laws from Mt. Sinai; but a human being who is also the one and only God can. And on top of the Mount of Transfiguration we can actually see what this God-man Jesus is capable of doing.
Peter and James and John are up here too, of course. They experience this transfiguration - this physical transformation - of their Lord. They see Moses and Elijah. They hear God the Father’s voice. And they love it! They can’t get enough of it! They are basking in the presence of the glory of God and a couple of the saints who have gone before them! In fact, they don’t want to go back down. This is another “Mountain of the Lord” after all! This is where God has come to be with his people. They want to stay up here. And we do too! Because down at the bottom of this mountain is pain and trouble and difficulty. Up here on the peak we get a peek of divine magnificence that neither we nor the disciples will see again until heaven. It’s ironic that we didn’t want to go up on Mt. Sinai, but we don’t want to go down from here! It’s too good! It’s too thrilling!
But we have to go down. We can’t stay. We can walk slowly away from this scene if you want, that’s alright, but we must keep moving. Because another valley awaits. And another mountain. And although Christ’s perfection and brilliance on the Mount of Transfiguration is breath-taking, that isn’t really the reason why he came. He didn’t come for glory. Jesus came for the pain. In fact, Jesus makes the climb down with us and leads the way to the next destination: Mt. Calvary.
CALVARY
Calvary can hardly be considered a “mountain” in the technical sense of the word. It’s more like a foothill or an outcropping on the outskirts of Jerusalem. But there is a prominent rise to the landscape and a defined area on top of which we have a chance stand. Of course, this third “Mountain of the Lord” stands in stark contrast to the Mount of Transfiguration that is not too far behind us. Because Calvary is an uninviting place; it’s an ugly setting. There are no trees or rivers or lakes up here - and even if there were they would be overwhelmed by the sense of death hanging in the air. Jesus is again on top and at the center of this mountain, but not Moses or Elijah. They can’t be here; this is not their time; this is not their place, not even for a cameo appearance. This is the time and the place for Jesus to do what he came to do: to suffer severely and to die all alone. And even though it might be a little bit upsetting for us to watch this, we have to. We have to spend a few minutes here and see what happens to our Savior.
There is some blood… a lot of blood. There is some screaming… a lot of screaming. There is name calling, there is ridicule, there is crying - in hate from some and in mercy from others. There is a sizeable crowd here too: quite a few of them interested in the gruesome spectator sport of an execution, while others are disgusted by what it happening to their Lord. We should cringe a little bit too. It’s not pleasant watching the one we just saw transfigured a few moments ago, now disfigured by nails and whips and clubs and thorns. It’s a little bit unsettling. We almost want to look away. This mountain is certainly not the place where we feel like taking some pictures; it’s a bare hostile hill that we’d just as soon forget.
But we won’t be able to forget this scene, will we? How do you forget murder? How do you forget government-sanctioned torture of an innocent man? How do you forget the death of God? You can’t. And you shouldn’t. You shouldn’t forget what you see up here. Because what Jesus is doing on this mountain has everything to do with what happened on that first mountain! On Mt. Sinai the law of God was handed down to sinners. And the consequences of betraying that law? Here it is. The punishment of Sinai is Calvary. And Jesus is taking it for you. And not just death, but the final death in hell while he hangs on this cross, an eternity of horrors in a matter of minutes, a complete rejection from his Father and all of the agonies that come with it. And so no wonder the sky is turning black as Jesus undergoes this sentence! No wonder rocks are splitting open as Jesus dies! No wonder the Roman soldier at the foot of the cross is admitting that Jesus is truly the Son of God when he see these things! Because we can see it too! We have just seen the sacrifice! We have just witnessed Jesus stepping in to take upon himself everything that we had coming upon us!
But now it’s over because Jesus is being taken down from that cross as a corpse. And a couple men named Joseph and Nicodemus are carrying him off of this mountain and they will soon place him in a cave. We aren’t going to follow them to that tomb. We aren’t going to wait around for what we know is going to happen on Easter Sunday. But we do have to come down from this place they call “The Skull.” Because there is nothing left to see here. And there is certainly nothing left to do. The work has been done. And Jesus did it all. It’s now time for us to travel on towards that final site of our tour: Mt. Zion.
MT. ZION
It’s not a short walk in between these two peaks either. From Mt. Calvary to Mt. Zion there are quite a few ups and downs, twists and turns, smooth paths and gravelly slopes. But as we get closer to the end destination a glorious panorama of dramatic beauty comes into view. A mountain so tall and so majestic that there’s hardly a way to describe it. And as we look back where we have come from, we notice that Sinai is so far in the distance it’s nearly indiscernible, the Mount of Transfiguration is a fond memory but pales in comparison to what is now in front of us, and Calvary is still clearly visible but somehow it looks a little better from this angle. Looking back on it now from this side of the mountain it has a shine about it, a gleam, a majesty that it didn’t have from first glance. Because now we see that little hill in a different light. Which makes sense since the resurrection of Christ is reflecting off this side and his ascension adds to the wonderful hue. It’s good to look back. It’s good to remind ourselves about Calvary’s beautiful ugliness. But then it’s good to turn back towards Mt. Zion and look up.
Mt. Zion is a term that is used to describe the hill in the city of Jerusalem on which the Old Testament temple used to sit. And because of that, the term “Mt. Zion” is also used in the prophecies of Scripture to describe the New Testament Church at large as well as the final congregation of believers in heaven. Mt. Zion is the exact opposite of Mt. Sinai. Sinai is all law; Zion is all gospel. Sinai is fear; Zion is joy. Sinai convicts, Zion celebrates. Listen to what the writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews says about the differences between these two mountains: “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them… But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant (Hebrews 12: 18-19, 22-24).
This is the view at hand: Mt. Zion in all its glory. We are allowed up there, but not yet. We are invited, but not before it’s time. And so we’ll have to stay here at the foot of this mountain until the day the Lord decides. Take a good look; take as many pictures as you want; keep this scene in mind because you’ll be right up there at the top in the end. In fact, keep all of these mountains in mind. Sinai almost prevented us from ever seeing this place; the Mount of Transfiguration pointed us in the right direction; Calvary got us here. And now we wait to ascend Mt. Zion, the final “Mountain of the Lord.” And once we get up to the top of this mountain we will never have to come back down. It will be a peak upon which we will reign with our Lord. It will be a summit on which we will stay. And so as you continue your travels here on this earth, travel well. And know that one day soon we will all be gathering back at the top of this mountain never to leave again.
Amen.
“God, the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.” - 1 Tim. 6:15-16
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