Today is Palm Sunday, when
typically the church is decorated with palm fronds and we celebrate the
triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem.
However, I already shared a message about this day with you two weeks
ago. Today is also the First Day of
Spring – though it doesn’t feel like it out there! However, I am very happy Spring is here. I love Spring! It is the season of rebirth, and all things
spring to life after the bleakness of winter.
Today I also want to talk about life – eternal life – but I am going to
talk to you about it framed within a picture of death.
Two weeks ago we began our
sermon series “A Donkey, A Garden, A Cross, & A Tomb.” So far we have discovered that the donkey
itself was a prophecy fulfilled and that this humble animal heralded THE
Messiah. We learned that the story of
the donkey mattered because it underscored the accuracy of the Scriptures as
trustworthy. It emphasized that Jesus
the Christ was fully cognizant of His own identity as both God and man and
lived according to the Messiah paradigm.
It demonstrated that Jesus willingly purposefully approached Jerusalem
to fulfill his destiny: not of an earthly throne but a cross. And, finally, it highlighted the fact that
having fulfilled hundreds of prophecies and promises to come the first time,
Jesus’ promise to come again is rich and full and can be relied upon. He kept His promise to come the first
time. We can be sure He will keep His
promise to come the second time.
Last week, we learned of
the agony suffered by our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prepared to
drink the cup of suffering, sin, and death that was set before Him. We discussed this at length but concluded
that His love is high and deep and wide.
His love is so great that though He was under no obligation to do so, He
chose to redeem mankind. Though He does
not need us, His love is so great that He would rather die than live without
us. And so, Jesus submitted to the
Father and accepted the cup that night in the Garden where His suffering began.
There in the place of the olive press, the Christ was pressed and out of Him
flowed submission and willingness to humbly obey. Driven by His love for the Father and His
love for mankind the Man of Sorrows took the cup in His hands, lifted it to His
lips and began to drink.
This week I would like you
to join me in looking upon the cross.
Many in the world today and for thousands of years have looked upon the
cross with misunderstanding, with skepticism, with disapproval, or even nonchalance. For some the cross is an insurmountable
obstacle to faith. They cannot
understand it. They say things like –
how could of Love require such a bloody thing?
For others they look upon the cross askance saying, “What good would
that do me?” Others look upon the cross
and say, “Cursed is everything that hangeth on a tree” – quoting the Old
Testament – and they walk away shaking their heads in disapproval. For still others, the cross is merely a
talisman or piece of jewelry worn thoughtlessly as they continue in their sin
and wickedness.
These problems are not
new. In his first letter to the new
Christians at Corinth, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved, it is the
power of God.” I would like to try
to explain just a little bit why this is so.
Let’s start with a
difficult Scripture: Hebrews 9:11-15 – “11 But Christ being come an high priest
of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with
hands, that is to say, not of this building;
12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us.
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and
the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of
the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
15 ¶ And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of
death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first
testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance.”
This is an incredible
portion of Scripture worthy of careful study.
But I only call your attention to it today because of what it emphasized
– that Christ is a Mediator through the shedding of His own blood.
What is a mediator?
According to Webster, a
mediator is “one that interposes between parties at variance for the purpose of
reconciling them.”[1] Now that might seem a little hard to
understand, so let’s try the GOOGLE definition: “a person who attempts to make
people involved in a conflict come to an agreement; a go between.” Maybe that is still too hard to follow. So let’s try Pastor Rick’s explanation. Let’s say Emma smacked Abbie. Abbie is ready to haul off and smack her back
– but I come between them and say, “Wait a minute. Hold on.
What is going on here?” And I get involved to figure out the source of
their fighting and resolve it – to help them make peace with one another and
return to happily playing together. When
I do that – and play the peacemaker – I am a mediator. So for Pastor Rick, the simple definition of
a mediator is the one in the middle.
I want you to hold onto
that thought that the mediator is the peacemaker in the middle as we now turn
to the Scripture I want to focus on today.
Colossians 1:19-21
19 For it pleased the
Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
20 And, having made
peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things
unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in
heaven.
21 And you, that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he
reconciled.
This Scripture is talking
about an idea known as the doctrine of “atonement.” Atonement is almost the only theological term
of English origin. It was likely first used in William Tyndale’s English
translation of the Bible and derived from the phrase “in accord” or literally
“at one.” In most places it is
translated today as the word “reconciliation.”[2]
Shockingly, there are
people out there today even in Christendom that deny the atonement and its
place in Scripture and theology. They
deny or water down the importance of the substitutionary work that Jesus did on
the cross. This is difficult to
comprehend because it is central to our faith.
Now this is a subject that is broad and deep so much so, that I can
scarcely even introduce it today, but I want to try.
To atone is to reconcile a
broken relationship on behalf of another. The Christian teaching of atonement
is not just about the general idea of dying for others, but about an actual
terrible sacrificial death. It happened
to a man from Nazareth on a particular hill on a particular day. The significance of that death is not merely
an expression of human violence and hatred, or of Jesus” moral courage. It accomplished an incomparable work of
divine mercy for humanity. The word the
cross speaks is not a word we say to ourselves.
It is a word that God speaks to us through an inescapably concrete,
irreversible, disturbing event. The
heart of its meaning is confessed in the creed: he died for us. “He died” is a fact. “For us” is the meaning of that fact.[3]
I.
Righteous God
First, I want you to
understand that God is righteous, holy, and perfect in all ways and all things
for all of eternity. There are many
things we do not know about God but we do know these. Leviticus 20:7 – “Sanctify yourselves
therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.” 1 Peter 1:16 – “Because
it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
Matthew 5:48 – “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in
Heaven is perfect.” Daniel 9:14 – “…for
the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth….” This is hard for us to grasp because we live
in a broken scarred world as part of the human race which is shattered by
sin. Yet, we can glimpse the magnificence
of the perfect God in things like an atmosphere so finely tuned to support life
that it could not possibly have evolved which exists under the glare of a
remarkably stable star perfectly placed at the right distance to sustain life
on earth where it resides perfectly placed in the Milky Way galaxy so that we
can look beyond our own cosmic neighborhood into the depths of the far-flung
universe with awe. Yes, in these things
and many others we can clearly see the magnificence of a perfect God and His
marvelous creation. But, this is
intimidating to us because we are not righteous. We are not perfect. We are not holy.
II.
Sin & Sinners
Far from it. We are unrighteous. We are imperfect. We are unholy. From a very early age, children begin to
display incorrect unrighteous behavior.
They are broken inside. Oh – sure
– every human child has a capacity for goodness due to retaining vestiges of
being created in the image of God. But
every human child also has within them great potential for evil due to the
corruption and curse of sin.
What is sin? Sin is an “immoral act considered to be a
transgression against divine law.”[4]
This is that which violates the righteousness, holiness, and perfection of God,
particularly in the areas where He has given express command. People try to deny that sin exists. But with the vile events that occur in our
world, we are confronted with the problem of evil and the existence of that
which is unrighteous, unholy, and imperfect: from innocents are slaughtered in
the name of religion to the drug dealer on the corner that feeds your addiction
so he can make money from your pain. Yes
sin exists. And in its simplest form,
sin is a breaking of the relationship with God.
The Perfect God designed
and created a perfect universe – including perfect people. But when they disobeyed His command, they violated
the righteous, holy, perfect order of things and plunged all of time into chaos
and separating themselves from the Perfect God who loved them. This was a moment of despair for all of
creation. What could possibly be done to
restore redeem or repair this brokenness?
Some say, “Well if God is a God of Love, why didn’t He just forgive
everybody and everybody live happily ever after? That’s a nice idea, but here’s why not.
III.
Judge & Lover
God is holy. His holiness constrains, orders, and
conditions His love. His love infuses,
empowers, constrains, and complements His holiness. God would not be as holy as God is without
being incomparably loving. God would not
be as loving as God is without being incomparably holy. God’s holiness without God’s love would be
unbearable. God’s love without God’s
holiness would be unjust.
“Suppose a plan of
salvation in which God’s holiness would be stressed but God’s love
neglected. If God’s holiness should
remain unmitigated by God’s love, the supposed “salvation” could easily turn
into a distorted picture of God as angry avenger who unmercifully permits the
slaying of his own Son to even the score for the divine honor” [as some sort of
righteous Divine honor killing]. This
would be a distorted view and if God was only holy and not also love it would
be what we were left with.
Let me see if I can
explain. If Ethan here murdered
Christian – God forbid – what kind of judge would let him go free with no
penalty? Certainly not a just and fair
judge. A righteous judge is compelled to
punish unrighteousness. In the same way,
God’s holiness makes a penalty for sin necessary. If He did not require it, He would be unjust. However, God’s love compelled Him to provide
mercy to humanity. As a result, He
offered Himself to endure the penalty for the transgressor(s). “In this way, both His righteous holiness and
His perfect love could be in harmony and justice would be satisfied. It is God’s holiness that manifests God’s
love on the cross. It is God’s love that
sustains and embodies God’s holiness on the cross. There the holiness and love of God is once
for all clarified, and the love of the holy God is fully embodied.”[5]
IV.
Cross of Christ
“It is only in the cross
that Christianity finds the proper balance of God’s holiness and love. There holiness opposes sin. There God’s love provides a ransom for the
history of sin.”[6] Love was the divine motive. Holiness the divine requirement. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).” This is why the cross is so special to us as
Christians. We grasp that the Holy God
must see justice satisfied. He cannot do
else. On the cross justice for all
mankind for all of time is satisfied.
But we also grasp that the Loving God must be true to His creation. He cannot do else! On the cross, His love is displayed for all
to witness – that He would rather lay down His own life under the terrible
weight of sin than to leave us to face His just wrath. On the one hand we have the holy perfect
righteous God standing rightfully in judgement.
On the other we have mankind smashed by sin willfully violating the
holiness, righteousness, and perfection of God.
If this were all there was in the picture, then it would be a hopeless
picture indeed.
V.
Mediator –
Mediation
But such a picture is
incomplete. For between the righteous,
holy, perfect, good God, and unrighteous, unholy, imperfect, bad humanity is a
mediator – the God-man in the middle.
Jesus Christ, himself, laid down His life as a ransom – a redemption for
many!
“Jesus come to be the
sacrifice, not clarify the concept of sacrifice. He did not come to teach about the cross, but
to be nailed to it. He came that there
might be a gospel to preach.
Christianity proclaims not merely that Christ died, but that his death
had significance for the otherwise apparently absurd course of human
history.
Sin dug a gulf in a
relationship. The cross bridged it. Sin resulted in estrangement. The cross reconciled it. Sin made war.
The cross made peace. Sin broke
fellowship. The cross restored it.”[7]
The cross of Christ is the
re-uniter between God and His dearest creation.
Only on the cross could man be reconciled to God. Only in the cross do justice and love
meet. Only in the cross is the curse of
sin vanquished and the love of God triumphant.
Only in the death of Christ upon the cross could eternal life be
restored to mankind.
There are many more things
that might be said about this concept of the atonement. It is a wonderful thing to study. But the simple facts are these: God in His
perfect holy righteousness cannot ignore evil and must respond to it
justly. God in His perfect holy love
cannot ignore the sinner broken by sin.
As a result, He sent His only son to be a mediator. This mediation was accomplished on the cross
by Christ where both justice and love were satisfied and displayed and by which
atonement was complete and reconciliation between man and God was made
possible.
On this final Sunday
before Easter I ask, have you knelt at the cross so that YOU might be
reconciled to God? Have you come before
His righteous holiness and cast yourself upon His mercy and love to find your
sins forgiven? If you have not, I
welcome you to do so.
[3]
Thomas C. Oden, A Systematic Theology, p. 401-402
[5]
Thomas C. Oden, A Systematic Theology, p. 404-405
[6]
Thomas C. Oden, A Systematic Theology, p. 404-405
[7]
Thomas C. Oden, A Systematic Theology, p. 401
