Highlights From Sunday...

Thought I might share some of my favorite thoughts from Sunday.

John 12:27-30 The Affect Of The Cross On Jesus

What does Jesus think about the cross? Jesus tells us in verse 27...

"Now is my soul troubled."

In other words," because I am now so close to that moment when I will bare the sins of the world I am deeply disturbed. I am really struggling with this."

The same Jesus that the bible tells us...

"Created all things" and "holds all things together" (Col 1:16-17)

Opened blind eyes

Made the lame walk

Caused the deaf to hear

Fed multitudes with a little boys sack lunch

Raised Lazarus from the dead

Will have people on the earth hiding under rocks and saying,"hide us from the wrath of the Lamb."

Will defeat His enemies at the end of the age and the blood will flow to the horses mane....

But... right now He confesses His troubled soul. As the cross approaches Jesus is more and more troubled.

"But," someone might say, "Doesn't Hebrews say that for the joy that was set before Him"

Yes it does the rest of the verse says "He ENDURED the cross DESPISING the SHAME."

Jesus wasn't looking forward to the cross. He was looking forward to the effects of the cross which is our fellowship with Him and the cleansing of our sin. But He hated the shame the entire time.

"What shame?" .... That is a good question! To answer that, let's find out what Jesus is not afraid of.

Jesus is not afraid of...

The devil- "One angel binds Satan" (Rev 20)

The Romans- "You would have no power unless my Father..."(Jn 19:11)

Physical suffering- "He says don't fear those who kill the body" (Matt 10:28)

Being powerless- "He emptied Himself" (Phil 2)

Being mocked- "Blessed are you when men insult and persecute you" (Matt 5:11-12)

Death- "No man takes my life" (Jn 10:18)

Jesus is troubled by two major things...

A) The weight of sin-

Jesus had lived in eternity past with God the Father in perfection. Jesus had been around our sin since Adam fell in the garden. He had watched every creature that He had made become the prisoner of the most insidious poison of all. Sin. He knew that sin is the reason death even existed. It was at the root of every pain in this world. He saw how it affected mothers, fathers, babies, and all levels of society. Yet, He only knew these things as an outside observer. He, Himself had never personally touched by sin itself. And now.... He is about to drink it in. Perfect purity is about to be defiled by the mud stained, blood stained sin of this world. And for the first time ever God Himself would feel the sting of sin and death.

Not only that. But now look at the sin that He would take. He took Adam's sin in Eden and every sin of Adam. He took the murder of Able. He took the lies of Abraham, and murderous hearts of the 12 sons of Jacob. He took the sins of the children of Israel in the wilderness as they rebelled and worshipped the golden calf and rejected the God who spared them from slavery. He took their constant backsliding once they got into the promised land. He took the sins of their sinful kings. Kings like the Saul who consulted a witch, and David who was a lying, murdering adulterer, and Solomon who kept sex slaves and wives like livestock and built temples for their false gods. He took the sins of countless other kings that rebelled against the only one who loved them purely....

He took the sins of Peter as he denied the Lord and swore with profanity that he did not know the man. He took the doubt of Thomas. The murderous persecution of Saul of Tarsus. The corruption of the 7 churches of revelation including their lack of love for Him, their desire to control people, the worship of other gods, their lack of love for one another, their hypocrisy, and their lukewarm hearts that keep Him on the outside of the church knocking to get in. And....He He took your sin and my sin.

2 Cor 5:21 "For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

B) The Wrath Of The Father

After thinking through the suffering that has been caused by sinners sinning, and the damage that we have done to our selves, our planet, and God's original intent for us; Do you think God might be mad about sin? He is!! To be blunt. God the Father is mad as....hell! He has stored up His wrath at all "unrighteousness and ungodliness of men" (Rom 1:18) God's anger at the damage done by the crusades, and the countless lives lost in Iraq and America over things like oil, and power, and the horrors of the holocaust has been stored up and is waiting the release of an object to judge. Jesus the Son. Is that object.

And as Jesus considers this... He says, "Now is my soul troubled."

How does Jesus respond to this pressure? He confesses it openly. "My soul is troubled" but then He says, "What am I going to do about it? How will I respond to this trouble? Should I ask the Father to save me from this hour?"

Then at the end of vs 27-28 He makes the most incredible statement. "But, for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father glorify Your name!"

"I will not avoid it. It will cost me everything. But Father I want the world to know Your true nature. Be glorified through my death." In other words... "Give me the cross!"

"Keepin It Real"

In the opening of Jon Pipers book “Brothers We Are Not Professionals” he makes a statement that has really left an impression on my heart. “Brothers, we are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ…. The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake.”

He then goes on to quote some verses and ask some questions. I will give them here.

There is no professional childlikeness (Matt 18:3)

There is not professional tenderheartedness (Eph 4:32)

There is no professional panting after God (Ps42:1)

Our business is to weep over sins (James 4:9) Is there professional weeping?

Our business is to strain forward to the holiness of Christ and the prize of the upward call (Phil 3:14)

to pummel our bodies and subdue them lest we be cast away (1 Cor 9:27)

to deny ourselves and take up the blood spattered cross daily (Luke 9:23) How do you carry a cross professionally?

We are to be filled not with wine but with the Spirit (Eph 5:18) How can you be drunk with Jesus professionally?

Is there a way to be a professional clay pot (2 Cor 4:7)

How do we carry in our bodies the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested professionally? (2 Cor 4:9-11)

We have become the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things (1 Cor 4:9-13)

Our citizenship is in heaven, and we wait with eager expectation for the Lord (Phil 3:20)

Our goals are an offense, they are foolishness (1 Cor 1:23)

We are aliens, and exiles in this world (1 Pet 2:11)

…The strong wine of Jesus explodes the wineskins of professionalism.

There is an infinite difference between the pastor whose heart is set on being the aroma of Christ, the fragrance of death to some and eternal life to others (2 Cor 2:15-16)

God, please give us a heart that thirsts for You! One that burns with the life giving gospel, and breaks for those ensnared by sin. Rebuke us when we stray and cause us to return to the simplicity of loving You and loving the world around us. May Your grace keep us close to the cross, humble, even broken before You. May we reject every fig leaf of self righteousness and religion and cling whole heartedly to the righteousness You give us by faith. Send us into the world under the power of Your love and not from selfish ambition, or the desire to be known, or the need to be needed. May every idol of success fall before You and our only desire become to see You smile and say "Well done! You have loved Me well!"

The Pressure A Pastor on Easter

I thought that this week I would post my sermon from Sunday. Some of the scripture reading is assumed because when I gave the sermon people had their bibles open but i think you will get the bulk of the content of it. Hope you enjoy as we let His resurrection impact us like it did the disciples! It's a long post but one I think yo will enjoy if you take the time.

Luke 24
The pressure is on this Easter because of the increasing need in our culture to see something new. We don't like to watch the same movies twice or hear the same song on the radio more than once every hour. This day carries more pressure than any other day for Pastors. If there was a superbowl for pastors this would be the day. It is the one day out of the year when people who don't normally attend church will dress up in their Sunday best and make the effort. Many family and friends who don't think of themselves as religious and therefore don't participate in what Nacho Libre calls "churchy opportunities", will be dragged by guilt, coercion, or curiosity to accompany believing friends to church. But will the pastor have some new thing to say? Will the pastor have some new insight that will make the story come alive?


Also the pressure is on because of the bible. The apostle Paul says that this single event in history is the hinge pin upon which the door of all of Christianity swings. I cor 15:14 says, " If Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain." and then he even takes it a step further and says that we then, "are misrepresenting God...you are still in your sins...those who have died in Christ have perished...and we are the most pitiful people on the planet." Wow! Thanks Paul! No Pressure.

So we have before us two things that will be our guide and one thing that makes up the lack. I will use words to try to convey the reality of what happened outside the gates of Jerusalem 2000 years ago. The bible, written by eyewitnesses will be our tour guide in seeing how these events unfolded and looking at what it meant to people in the days when Jesus lived. And, the Holy Spirit will breath life into what I am saying so that the words don't just penetrate the mind but assault the heart.

Lets set the stage a little. Jesus, considered a celebrity prophet by some, and a menace by others, has been brutally killed. Some people want to argue this point but the evidence from early resources is enough to really give us a picture of how dead Jesus really was. Jesus was kept up for 36 hours beaten by fists, rods, and a Roman whip called the cat of nine tails. This would have caused major trauma and bleeding to the body. He was then forced on a death march, carrying the cross arm of the cross called the "Patibulum", outside the city and up a stone quarry hill that the locals called "Golgatha" or skull mountain. He was so weakened that physical strength failed the maker of the universe, so that He collapsed under the weight of a wooden beam He had created. Another was forced to carry His cross and Jesus was forced to the top of the hill. His hands were then nailed with hammer and nail to the cross arm that had been carried from the city. He was then either raised by the patibulum or fastened with the patibulum to a tree or a pole (called the stipe) that was planted firmly in the ground by the Romans. His feet were then nailed to the cross to give Him something to stand on. And there the He hung. For six hours he endured unthinkable pain and suffering and then He died. Now because of the feast of Passover the Jews who had Him killed wanted both Him and the two thieves that were crucified with Him to be taken down from the cross because there was a law from Deut 21:22-23 that prevented bodies from being hung on a tree over night. The death of the two thieves was expedited by breaking their legs which would keep them from being able to stand on the nails through their feet to breathe and respirate themselves. But when they came to Jesus they found Him to be dead already. Just for confirmation they took a spear and pierced His chest cavity on the side. When the soldiers did this, blood mixed with water came out. This indicates that bag of water that surrounds the heart, called the pericardium, had been ruptured by the point of the spear. When that happens, if you weren't dead already, you are now. So, Jesus died.

Now, when you think of Jesus death try to avoid thinking of it in the story book way, or the Hollywood way. This is the very real and tangible death of a person. I don't know if you have ever watched someone you love die or been around a family shortly after a death but it is a surreal experience. When you see a dead body there and the life has gone your mind can begin to play tricks on you. You look at the lifeless body and think that you see movement or you keep waiting to see the chest expand as though the body were taking in a breath. It is a strange experience seeing the body of a lifeless person. Jesus died. There was no expanding of His chest. There was no slight movement. 3 hours after the death of a person "rigor mortis" begins to set in reaching it's peak at 12 hours after death. Jesus was dead. And He needed to be placed in a tomb quickly before the Sabbath began at sundown. By the time the sun went down His body was already beginning to stiffen.


Now, pause for just a moment and consider what finality this brought to the disciples and those that followed Jesus. You see, for us, death brings with it an inescapable conclusion. Whatever plans we had, are gone. Whatever hopes we had for the relationship, are dashed into pieces. Whatever was left unsaid will forever be left undone. Death is final.


This explains the actions of the disciples. The Romans had crushed their hopes and now the leaders of Israel could easily dissuade anyone from following the disciples and their messianic movement. The disciples had left everything to follow this man they thought was messiah. Some had left their business, some their families but all had put their life on the line and all were wondering what the next step was. It has not even entered their minds that Jesus could be raised from the dead. Not only that, but these guys are struggling with an even more deadly internal battle than the ones without. They most likely feel deceived or like they had made some sort of mistake by thinking that He was the messiah. "How come I couldn't see this coming? How did I miss it?" Luke gives us their state of mind as they hid together wondering how they could go back to their normal lives. When the two Marys and Joanna come in to tell the disciples that the tomb was empty. In Luke 24:11 The bible tells us that they thought the idea of Jesus being raised from the dead "seemed to them as an idle tale" and that they "did not believe them". In the room that was filled with disciples only two, Peter and John went to the tomb to even check it out. The rest were unbelieving or indifferent. After hearing that the tomb was indeed empty two of the disciples decided to leave town. They were making their way to a small village outside of Jerusalem, about 7 miles away. These disciples believe that this chapter of their lives has closed like some sort of bad dream. To them, Jesus was dead. Listen to how they talked with Jesus on the road.


24:21 "But we HAD hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel"


Even after the two men encountered Jesus on the way to Emmaus, Jesus appeared again to some of his disciples while they were talking about what had happened on the road and Peter's encounter with Him. But when Jesus appears they think it is the Spirit of Jesus not actually a resurrected Jesus. Jesus actually has to comfort them that He isn't just a ghost.


24:37-40


Then the bible says that they were still trying to wrap their minds around a physical resurrection and struggling. Then Jesus did something to prove to them He wasn't just a ghost. He did what they saw Him do on many occasions before. He ate.


24:42-43


Can you put yourself in their shoes? Can you feel the finality of the death of Jesus? So Jesus has to explain that this was always the plan that God had for mankind. He had to explain that the scriptures from thousands of years previously had been pointing to this one moment in history. It was written in the Torah, in the prophets, and even in the Psalms. Then Jesus enabled them to see the Old Testament scriptures through a different lens and told them what the rest of God's plan was. He told them;


vs 47- That repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in Jesus' name to all the nations.

vs 48- That they were the witnesses to the world (which implies that they needed to take this message to the world and record it for those around them)

vs 49- That the Holy Spirit would clothe them with power from on high.



Now, the fact of the resurrection did something in the hearts of the disciples. Their reasoning went something like this...

"If this is true, then this changes everything!"

And one by one all the hopes they had for a messiah were alive again.


It meant for them...

...That all that they had given up to follow Jesus was now worth it.


...That everything that He had taught them wasn't just good advice, it was the word of God


...That their lives had a great purpose not just the occupying of space.


...That the relationship between God and man just became more intimate and the God could be known personally.


...That the God of the Old Testament was REALLY a God of love.


...It meant that God loves those that don't know Him personally.


...That heaven is real, and so is hell.


...That God was calling all the world to repent and receive the forgiveness of their sins by allowing Jesus' punishment on the cross to be the substitute for theirs.


...That God had now made Himself available through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to all men who let Jesus pay for their sins.


...That prayers really do get heard, the sick do get healed, the lame do walk, the blind do see, and the dead are raised.


...That He is ruling on a throne in heaven!!!


...That He is coming back to take up His throne on earth.


...That the king who died on Friday was alive for evermore!!!


...That there will one day be a new heaven and a new earth and we will live happily ever after!!!


...That if you don't know Him, He is calling to you today saying, "Change your mind about your sin, let Me pay for it for you, receive My love and forgiveness, and know me personally."

I wish I had something new to say. But this is the good news that has been reaching the world one soul at a time since the first Easter 2000 years ago!