Posted on in Knowing God

Christ, The Suffering Servant

The day we now call “Good Friday” refers to that unique moment in history where the Lord of all creation paid an excruciating price to save His creation from the horror of their own sin for the sake of love. As I think about this, I find myself asking the question:

Do I really understand this whole ‘Jesus died on a cross for my sins’ thing?

Many of Jesus’ disciples were expecting their Christ, whom they had given up everything to follow, to establish His physical kingdom and rule right then and there with them at His side (Luke 22:24; Acts 1:6), and they could never understand why He would tell them He had to die first. What kind of King is this who initiates His rule by dying on a cross? What kind of God is this who takes on our form, so that He could bleed for His rebellious creation?

“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” (Matt. 16:21)

The Scriptures clearly prophesy about the Messiah ruling and reigning from Jerusalem as as the earth’s eternal and righteous king (Isa. 9:6-7), but not even those who vigorously studied those prophecies recognized or understood that He would come first as a suffering servant (Isa. 42-53). You see, Jesus not only died for our sins, but He suffered for our sins. That changes things.

“Then Paul…explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead…” (Acts 17:2-3)

When you actually take time to research the brutality of a Roman crucifixion, you are left wondering why such price had to be paid. I mean, it’s one thing to take a bullet for someone, but to give yourself over to be horrifically crucified for someone else’s crimes? God could have came through Christ when capital punishment was quick and relatively humane, but instead He chose to come at a time when the death penalty involved tremendous suffering and humiliation. I feel that I speak for more than myself when I say that I all too often take the cross of Christ for granted. We have such a low view of sin, lacking true conviction for our crimes, that this whole cross thing doesn’t compute for us. If sin has so calloused and twisted the human condition that Jesus had to suffer a savage death in order to reverse the curse we invited on ourselves, then we better take it seriously.

Jesus was not only tormented physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. He experienced full on rejection, betrayal and mockery by the ones He loved, and ultimately He experienced the greatest punishment of all, the feeling of being abandoned by His Father (Matt. 27:46; Ps. 22:1). Though fully God, He chose to put on a full and true humanity so that He could suffer for you. The debt of our sins was so great that only God could pay it off, yet the transaction could not take place unless God took on our flesh to genuinely experience the punishment we deserve. All at once God in Himself felt what it was like to crush His only Son and be forsaken by His Father. His open wounds opened up the door for us that we could never open on our own, and He will forever be acquainted with our grief.

Though the final cause of death when being crucified was supposed to be suffocation, the blood and water that poured out of Jesus’ spear-pierced side revealed that heart failure was the actual cause of death in His situation (Jn. 19:34). His heart literally broke for you in hopes that one day you would look upon His sacrifice and believe in Him for salvation, knowing that you are loved by God.

Summary: God had to come in the flesh through Christ Jesus, so that He could justly redeem all who would believe in Him (Rom. 3:26). The One who brought redemption had to be God because only God could offer a sinless sacrifice and bare the full weight of punishment (2 Cor. 5:18-19). He had to become fully human because He had to actually shed blood in order to atone for our sins (1 Pet. 1:19; Heb. 2:9). Christ had to suffer 1) to fully pay for our sins that we might be reconciled with God 2) to sympathize with us and become our High Priest 3) to demonstrate His love and 4) to serve as an example for those who are persecuted or mistreated for the sake of doing the will of God.

…and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Heb. 9:22)

If Christ has won your heart, or if you want to know more about Him, then I implore you to find a local church to connect and celebrate with this Sunday.

Posted on in Kingdom Life

Fat Sheep: Confronting Laziness in the Church

I’m convinced that one of the most besetting sins we face in 21st century America is laziness. Its presence becomes evident in our lives when we face the daily temptation to hit the snooze button on our alarm clocks as well as the snooze button in our devotion to Christ, and it always leaves behind the bitter taste of regret in our hearts. I’m pretty sure I won’t be laying on my death bead wishing I would have spent more time sleeping, watching television, or mindlessly browsing the internet.

Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep.” (Ezek. 34:20)

The Bible clearly condemns laziness (Col. 3:17, 23; Eccl. 9:10; 1 Tim. 5:8; Prov. 10:4; 12:11; 12:24; 13:4; 20:4; 26:15; 2 Thess. 3:6-10), for even from the beginning God placed “man in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). Although Adam was in paradise before sin had taken over, he was given the responsibility of work, to accomplish the tasks that were given to him. That is why there is something so rewarding about putting in a good day’s work. I’ll be the first to say that I am thankful for sleep, and I am NOT a morning person! I’m very familiar with the difference between WAKING UP and GETTING UP. I enjoy being able to spend time resting and recuperating away from the cares and responsibilities of life, and I believe that rest is absolutely important and biblical when it’s put in the right context, but it should not be our everything. If we continually allow more and more rest time to be used to feed our souls with godless pleasures and vain activities, there can come a point where our desire to rest becomes lethargy. I think rest can include recreational activities, hobbies, vacations and more, but if the primary element isn’t to reflect and connect with the Lord, then it can become spiritually unhealthy. As we grow older, we are bombarded with countless distractions and responsibilities that make it even harder to spend precious moments with the Lord and redeem the time we have for His kingdom, thus we have to make up our minds. We must CHOOSE to conquer lethargy each and every day (Mark 1:35; Matt. 26:41).

I’m convinced that America is not only more physically obese than it has ever been, but its churches are full of sheep who are more obese than they’ve ever been. Many have adopted a wrong thought pattern that expects someone to come lay hands on them, and all of a sudden all their issues are dismissed and they are completely in tune with God, while avoiding the cost of discipleship. Laziness always fears the process. We can’t “Jesus Take the Wheel” through life while we sit back and avoid making the decisions that God expects us to make in order for us to learn. To be a disciple actually means to become a “disciplined learner” which implies the consistent application of that which is learned. Much of God’s people today can be categorized as “fat sheep” because they hardly exercise their faith through obedience or hold a healthy diet of the Word and prayer. We question why we are so easily entangled in the same sin we’ve dealt with for years, yet if we could glance in the spirit for a moment, we would see that our flesh man is monstrously stronger than our spirit man. In order to grow stronger physically, we must learn to press against increasing resistance in a persistent manner; therefore, if we are to grow stronger in the Spirit, we must learn to press against the resisting flesh which wars against us. Don’t allow your life to be governed by what you “feel” like, or you will never accomplish the tasks the Lord has entrusted to you. You must learn to muster up enough resolve say yes and be committed even when your flesh is screaming no (Isa. 64:7). I’m convinced that the cure for laziness is having a clear revelation of Christ, His beauty, His cross, and the rewards of walking in fellowship with Him. We must see how our daily lives are deeply connected to our destiny. As we overcome laziness, I believe we will see stronger marriages, stronger churches, and a stronger Body of Christ that will light up the darkest night!

“Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Eph. 5:14-15)

Laziness will suffocate the flame of God upon our hearts little by little until there is nothing but a faint shimmer of heat left inside of us that only bears the memory of a real fire. We must declare war on the spirit of lethargy, which speaks of much more than simply being tired. There is a difference between being physically weary and being spiritually passive. If you are weary in your mind and body, then by all means learn to rest! Learn to eat right, exercise regularly, sleep enough and budget time away from work. But if there is not a willing spirit in you to follow Christ with all your might, then He calls us to repent because we are lukewarm! It’s okay to have down time, but if chilling out becomes your excuse to compromise your convictions, then you need to get back to the fire! We shouldn’t want and nor can we afford to take vacations from God. This is my encouragement to you today Christ follower, get out of your bed, rise up and walk!

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wealth, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Cor. 9:24-26)

But solid food belongs to those who are full of age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Heb. 5:14)

Posted on in Kingdom Life

The Great Wedding Feast

“The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son.”  (Matt. 22:2)

Humanity’s greatest crime against God is not merely the fact that we are sinful, nor that we choose to sin,  but it’s more about what we do with His invitation. I believe this parable in Matthew 22 gives us one of the clearest pictures of what we were created for and why so many miss it. It is glaringly obvious that Jesus told it to illustrate how the Jewish leaders rejected their Messiah, but it is also told to show that the same invitation has been extended to us today.

“When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!” (Matt. 22:3)

God wants an equally yoked companion, a pure bride who would love Him with the same intensity that He loves her, with her entire heart. Thus, He offered an invitation to the children of Israel to be His chosen people. They were His original guests, but still, they rejected Him. Even after sending His own Son, God made flesh, to hand deliver the invite, they crucified Him.

“But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way…” (Matt. 22:5)

I’m convinced that the primary reason why many reject the gospel invitation is not because we would rather go commit some heinous crime, but because we would rather go our own way. We generally think of ourselves as good people, and we have our own expectations for our life. The temptation is not always to go out and blatantly commit adultery as much as it is to just choose to be a normal, average, comfortable citizen. Then, as we try to swim with the murky flow of the culture around us, we lose sight of our purpose and identity, and we eventually drown in our compromise. I believe that so many would rather go their own way because we haven’t understood that the invitation is to a FEAST. We were never invited to join a lifeless system of moral regulations, but when Christ is truly our Lord and Savior, following Him is a feast that satisfies the very soul of our being. The Church has spent many generations calling people to “sell everything” and “buy the field” without really showing them WHY IT’S WORTH IT. I have found that it becomes tremendously difficult to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against us if we haven’t built our life upon the revelation of the preciousness of Christ, our Chief Cornerstone. He is the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price worth selling everything for. He has prepared a FEAST FOR US! When I see how undeserving, helpless and hopeless I am on my own, I find that complete surrender to Him is the only thing that makes sense.

“The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honor. Now go to the street corners and invite everyone you see.” (Matt. 22:8-9)

Notice in this parable that the worthiness of the guests did not depend on their ability, achievements, wealth or social status, but on their willingness to accept the invitation or not. We are invited because He is worthy, and we are accepted because of our willingness to choose Him.

“But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding.” (Matt. 22:11)

In the Jewish culture of that time, the father of the groom was responsible for providing the wedding garments for ALL those that were invited, and by wearing these valuable garments they were expressing their agreement with the marriage covenant that was taking place. The Father went to the greatest of lengths to purchase the “best robes” for us, which would permit us to experience the “feast” of relationship with Him, but instead we continue to wear our filthy rags. The bad news is that we can never afford to buy the necessary garments to be accepted into the feast, but the good news is that we don’t have to provide our own garments! He has purchased them for us! All He is looking for are people who are willing to take off what they have been wearing and put on what He has provided! What a beautiful exchange.

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness…” (Isa. 61:10)

The issue that begins to arise now is that many who actually receive the invitation initially and come to the feast, end up rejecting it in one of two ways: 1) They try to purchase their own garments of approval 2) They take advantage of it by using the invitation to get into the feast, but they aren’t willing to change their clothes.  Imagine purchasing an extremely costly engagement ring for the one you love, and after they say yes, they spend the rest of their life trying earn enough money to buy their own ring so they can feel more worthy instead of trusting in your love to begin with and moving forward in the relationship, OR they never wear it so they can remain “available” to others while still claiming all the benefits of being your fiance. Both responses deeply grieve the heart of the Bridegroom, who didn’t offer His proposal on a knee, but a tree.

This same grievance of rejecting His invitation happened in the garden and it still happens today. But I believe there is a people arising from the highways and the byways who have heard the call and are responding with their all! They will lay it all down, forsake all their excuses, not settle for temporal comfort and put off all their old clothes, so that they might go to the feast, bringing many with them on the way. If you are reading this, know that you have been invited, your wedding garments have been purchased, now your response is up to you.

“For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matt. 22:14)

“How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation…” (Heb. 2:3)