“THE GREAT EXCHANGE”
Ash Wednesday
February 10, 2016
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might
become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
If you’re a baseball fan like me, this is the time of year when you
really start thinking about baseball. The major league teams have
been quite busy assembling their rosters ever since the end of the
season last October, choosing the twenty-four men who will be a part
of the team during the six-month season that will begin in about eight
weeks. These teams normally spend the off season arranging trades
with other teams--trying to obtain for themselves what they need the
most while giving up as little as possible. And that is really the
point behind all negotiable exchanges. In all of our business
dealings our primary purpose is to acquire for ourselves the things
that we need without giving up any more than we have to in exchange.
And if both parties involved in a business deal are what we would call
good business people, the outcome of their dealings would be an
exchange that is for the most part balanced, with each party’s gains
and losses coming out just about equal.
In the text before us this evening God tells us about the greatest
exchange in all of history--an exchange that has taken place between
Him and us, His people. It’s an exchange that makes it possible for
us to live and die in hope, knowing that we will live in glory
forever. And yet, from a purely business perspective, it is an
exchange that is totally unbalanced and completely one-sided. There
are those who would look at this exchange and conclude that God must
not be much of a businessman, having agreed to something as one-sided
as this. But the whole point is that this exchange is not a business
deal; it is His gift of love to us. It is the kind of love that shows
us what love is all about--what love really is. The world talks a lot
about love, but it doesn’t really know what love is. Love is not
something that is “made” every half-hour by promiscuous characters on
movie and television screens. It is not something that people “fall”
into and out of as often as the weather changes. If we really want to
understand what love is, we need to take a good look at this great
exchange that has taken place between our Savior and us.
What did Jesus give up for us in this exchange? Well, first of all,
He gave up His divine honor and glory, leaving His heavenly throne to
come into our world of sin and misery. And if that isn’t enough, He
gave up comfort and wealth, being born, living, and dying in the
humblest poverty. And if that still isn’t enough, He gave up human
pride and respect, being born under circumstances that everyone around
Him assumed to be scandalous. And if even that isn’t enough, He gave
up His dignity and all of His rights, allowing Himself to be subjected
to the most humiliating and degrading treatment that the world could
devise. Finally He went the full length, going all the way to the
cross and giving up His very life for us. That’s love beyond anything
that we call love. That’s love that identifies so intimately with the
one who is loved that the Lover bears all of the burdens of the one He
loves. It’s the love that Jesus had in mind when He said to His
disciples: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down
his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
And what did Jesus receive from us? He exchanged divine glory,
comfort, wealth, pride, dignity, and life for what? What did He get
in return for everything that He gave up? For one thing, He received
life in this world and all of the grief and misery that goes with
it--grief and misery that is rightfully ours because we deserve it,
but that He did not deserve at all. In addition to that, He received
our responsibility to live according to the will and Law of God.
Remember that Jesus is God. If anyone is above the Law, He is. And
yet He took our place under the Law. And that’s not all. He received
from us the guilt of our sin. He took upon Himself everything that is
wrong with us--everything that separates us from our God and from one
another. All of this became His, not due to a bad exchange agreement,
but because He is so concerned about our salvation that He freely and
willingly accepted it all. Nobody else loves like that!
Now what about our end of the bargain? What did we give up in this
exchange? We have given up our guilt and our condemnation. But with
that we also got rid of a lot more. We got rid of any sense of
worthlessness that we might have. After all, how can we say that we
are worthless when Jesus says that we are worth suffering and dying
for? We also got rid of fear. We needn’t fear judgment because
Christ has satisfied the righteous anger of God against our sin. It
always troubles me when I hear Christians talk about misfortunes in
their lives and say something like: “God must be punishing me for
something.” God doesn’t punish people who trust in His Son; His Son
has already been punished in their place. He may discipline us in
love as any loving parent does, but He doesn’t punish us in anger.
And we don’t need to fear death either, because our Savior overcame
this last enemy by rising from the dead. What we have given up in our
exchange with our Savior is the futility of trusting in our own merits
to justify us before God.
And what do we gain from this exchange? We gain two things. First,
we receive the forgiveness of our sins and peace with God. Our slate
is wiped clean, just as if we had never sinned in the first place.
But what good is a clean but blank slate? So what if nothing bad is
charged to us. Is anything good credited to us? This is the other
thing that we have received: the perfect righteousness of our Savior
Jesus Christ. When God looks at us who trust in Christ, He sees us
not as the sinners we are, but as His dear children, declared to be
perfect through the merits of our Savior.
This is the kind of exchange that takes place between the Savior
Jesus Christ and those who trust in Him. He takes from them
everything that is wrong with them and makes it His own. In return He
gives them His perfect righteousness. That’s what we focus our
attention on during these sacred days of Lent. And that’s why we
sinners can boldly address God as “our Father who art in heaven”
(Matthew 6:9 KJV) while the perfect Son of God cries in agony from the
cross: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46;
Mark 15:34). Sure it’s an unfair, lopsided exchange--but it’s not one
that He has agreed to in ignorance; it is one that He has agreed to in
love. Having received this gift of His love--this great exchange--we
are motivated and strengthened to share His love with one another and
with others. These Lenten days give us yet another opportunity to
center our thoughts on this great exchange, which is summed up well in
a verse from one of the carols of Christmas:
“He serves that I a lord may be;
A great exchange indeed!
Could Jesus’ love do more for me
To help me in my need?”
(The Lutheran Hymnal #105, stanza 7).
Amen.
May the One who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
making us kings and priests before His God and Father, lead you to a
life of repentance and trust. May He also be glorified in the lives
of you, His people. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.
Amen.