"THE SACRIFICE" - Text: Luke 23:44; 46 (ESV)

"THE SACRIFICE"

Midweek Lenten Worship IV

March 14, 2018

Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church

Glenshaw, Pennsylvania

TEXT:

When they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on His right and the other on His left.  It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  Then Jesus calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!"  And having said this, He breathed His last.

Luke 23:33; 44; 46 (ESV)

            Tonight we reach the climax of the way of the cross.  Jesus is crucified and dies.  This event is so rich in meaning that I suppose a pastor could preach on it his entire career and never run out of things to say.  The crucifixion and death of Jesus make up the height of God's judgment against sin and the depth of His love for sinners.  The crucifixion and death of Jesus is God's wrath against our sin forever being put to rest.  The crucifixion and death of Jesus is our salvation being accomplished once and for all.  Aside from these most important themes there are countless others that could be considered.  For example, we see here just how cruel human cruelty can be, and how sadistic a crowd of people can become under the right circumstances.  Here we see how God can speak through miracles in nature to draw attention to His righteous wrath against sin.  We see in the crucifixion and death of Jesus the grief of His mother, the fear of His disciples, the mockery of the religious leaders, the savagery of the Roman soldiers, and a host of other human characteristics and emotions.

            I'd like us to focus tonight on one of these secondary themes.  The one that I have in mind is the example of our Lord in how He handled His death.  His death was far more traumatic and far more unpleasant than what is normally experienced by the average person.  You and I must experience death as a fact of life--the ultimate consequence of sin.  It is inevitable for all of us--something that we all have coming to us, so to speak.  We might be taken by surprise as to the timing, the cause, and/or the circumstances of the death of a friend, a loved one, or an acquaintance, but we can't really say that we are surprised by the fact that that person has died.  In fact, we are so confident that we're going to die that we spend a lot of our hard-earned money on life insurance to provide for those who survive us.  We may even go so far as to make pre-arrangements for our funeral and burial.  But Jesus' death was different.  As the perfect Son of God death was not a fact of life for Him; it was a voluntary act on His part.  Yet in His death the Savior showed us how to die.  Especially important in this example is the fact that He died without struggle or complaint and that even in dying Jesus recognized life as a gift of God to be returned to God.

            In this age of great medical technology death has become a lot more complicated than it once was.  We are confused by being encouraged on the one hand to hang onto life for as long as we possibly can and on the other to give up when the so-called "quality of life" isn't what we'd like it to be..  Because of this, people these days have to struggle with themselves over whether they should hold onto life or to "let nature take its course," as they say.  People don't seem to be willing to face the fact that their longevity is beyond their control--that matters of life and death rest in God's hands and no one else's--and they can't do anything about it.  People may die older than they used to on the average, but I'm not so sure that they die any more gracefully than they used to.

            By contrast, look at the death of Jesus.  In spite of the fact that He was being executed as a common criminal--in spite of the humiliation of it all--in spite of the fact that He was suffering under God's judgment against the sin of all humanity for all time--He still died gracefully and willingly.  No one snatched His life from Him; He willingly laid it down as a sacrifice to God to make atonement for our sin.  But He is not in any way guilty of suicide or masochism, as if He wanted to die like that and enjoyed the experience.  In Gethsemane He pleaded with His Father to find some other way to deal with man's sin.  But there was no other way to be found.  Since there was no other way and since He loves us with an everlasting love and was wholeheartedly devoted to the cause of our salvation, He willingly did whatever was necessary for you and me to be redeemed, even if it meant going all the way to the cross bearing our sin.  If only we could handle that kind of crisis with that kind of grace!

            Related to the matter of how gracefully we surrender our lives is the matter of what (or whose) we consider our life to be.  In an age when we struggle with such things as abortion and genetic engineering and physician-assisted suicide, can we honestly say that we really see our life as a trust from God--something that belongs to God--or do we see it as our own personal property?  Since our life is the most valued of everything that we have, it is only natural that we are extremely possessive and protective of our lives.  We constantly hear people say things like "What I do with my life is my own business and nobody else's" or "Why should it matter to you what I do?  It's my life, isn't it?"  These statements and others like them indicate a belief on the part of those who make them that their life is their own very personal and very private territory--that it is theirs and theirs alone--that what they do with it should be of no concern to anybody else.

            Consider the final words of Jesus before His death:  "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit."  He spoke as One who was returning something to its rightful Owner.  He was not possessive even about this most precious of all of God's gifts.  In word and deed our Savior taught us that everything that we have--even our very life itself--is a gift of God--a gift for which we can give thanks by dedicating it to the One who gave it, using it to the glory of the One who gave it, and finally returning it to the One who gave it.  We hear this message of our Lord nowhere more clearly than we do here at Golgotha, as He lays down His life willingly for our salvation with a prayer of thanksgiving to the One who gave it.

            Death is inevitable.  It looms in the future of all of us and there isn't a thing that we can do to avoid it.  But how we handle it is up to us.  We can struggle against the inevitable or we can accept it as a fact of life.  We can guard our life as our own personal and private property or we can willingly return it to the One who entrusted it to us for a time and we can do so with a confident prayer of thanksgiving.  In His death Christ has shown us how to die.  What's more, in His resurrection He has shown us that death is not the end.  In all of this He has made it possible for us to die not in despair but in hope.  In His Gospel He gives us His peace and confidence in life and even as we face "the last enemy" (1 Corinthians 15:26), so that we, like Him, may commit ourselves into the loving care of His Father and ours.

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.

"The Things of God" Text: Marck 8:33 (ESV)

"THE THINGS OF GOD"

Second Sunday in Lent

February 25, 2018

Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church

Glenshaw, Pennsylvania

TEXT:

Turning and seeing His disciples, [Jesus] rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

Mark 8:33 (ESV)

     It's amazing to see how different people can look at the same event and see entirely different things.  Take war, for example.  Every war that our nation has engaged in throughout its history has had its advocates and its detractors.  Some people look at a war and what they see is a wrong that needs to be righted or people who need to be protected or a greedy dictator who has to be stopped.  The ugly realities of war fade into the background for these people because what matters to them is the greater good--the preservation of liberty--the ending of tyranny and aggression.  There are others, however, who will look at the same situation and see something entirely different.  These people, when they look at the very same war, see nothing but destruction and bloodshed and death.  Don't try to tell them why all this of is necessary because they won't understand.  They don't see anything in this but human beings killing one another.

            In today's Gospel we find a situation somewhat similar.  Here we see two people (Peter and Jesus) looking at the same thing (Jesus' approaching suffering and death) and seeing two entirely different things.  All Peter saw when he heard the Savior speak about His death was the ugliness of it all:  He saw the Lord of all being rejected by all--humiliated, mistreated, and put to death as a common criminal.  The events of which Jesus spoke were terrible as far as Peter was concerned so he boldly assured Jesus that if it were up to him, he would never let any of this happen to his Lord.  But when Jesus thought of His approaching death He saw the fulfillment of His mission: the redemption of sinful humanity.  He saw His redeeming love: the offering of Himself as the atoning Sacrifice for the sin of the world.  He saw the completion of His Gospel: reconciliation between the just God and His rebellious creatures.  In short, Peter looked at the death of Jesus from a human perspective and saw only the concerns of men while Jesus Himself looked at His death from the divine perspective and saw in it the salvation of sinners.  Let's try to understand why Jesus reacted so strongly to Peter's comments and let's try also to learn from Jesus the difference between "the things of man" and "the things of God."

            One of the biggest "things of man" is the instinct for survival.  Peter hears Jesus talking about His death and he doesn't like what he hears.  Think about that.  Do you see yourself in this at all--even just a little?  How do you typically react when someone dear to you says something to remind you that he or she is not going to be here forever--especially if that dear one happens to be terminally ill?  If you're like most people you do everything you can to stop that person.  You might say something like:  "No, don't talk like that!  You'll be around for a long time."  That's what Peter is doing to Jesus in this passage and Jesus responds by identifying Peter's words as being Satanic. That's pretty strong.  I am convinced that this preoccupation with survival--this avoidance of suffering and death--is the reason why the cross is so unpopular (and the crucifix even moreso).  These are vivid reminders of the suffering and death of Jesus and, from a human perspective, suffering and death are bad things--things to be avoided at all costs.  Whether we realize it or not, it is Satan who directs our eyes away from the suffering and death of Jesus.

            Another big concern for humans is their own selfishness.  Peter doesn't want to hear about Jesus' death because he knows that when Jesus dies, he's going to lose a dear Friend.  So you see, it's not just Jesus that Peter is concerned about; it's Peter.  And it's the rest of the disciples, too.  After all, this wasn't a very disciplined or well-organized group to begin with.  Just think how chaotic things would be if their Leader and Lord--the One who held it all together--wasn't there anymore to guide them and keep them on track.  Who would comfort them when they're upset or strengthen them when they're worried or correct them when they get out of hand?  These are also "the things of man"--things that are the cause of great concern to people who look at death in general and the death of Jesus in particular only from a human perspective.

            So what are "the things of God"?  What is it that Jesus sees in His suffering and death that Peter fails to see?  Jesus looks at His death and sees the glory of God.  He realizes that God will be glorified in this whole morbid scenario.  But how can that be?  How could God possibly be glorified by such a miscarriage of justice as His own innocent Son being put to death as a common criminal after an unfair trial?  The answer is simple:  In the death of the innocent Son of God, God's justice is satisfied.  His wrath against the sin of humanity is appeased.  His judgment against sinners is carried out.  Because of the death of Jesus there is peace between God and man--peace that was not possible before because we were aliened from Him.  But Christ was obedient for us and carried the guilt of our sin to the cross.  Because of this, there is now forgiveness for us, the offenders.  And since it is God's glory to forgive and justify sinners, He is glorified in the death of the One who willingly became our Substitute under His judgment.

            There's a word for all of this--this forgiveness and justification of sinners that was accomplished in the death of Jesus.  That word is "Gospel."  Literally it means "Good News."  The message of Jesus' death is Good News for us who would otherwise be condemned to an eternity separated from the grace of God because of our sin.  It gives us life.  As a matter of fact, it is news that is so good that we can't just keep it to ourselves--not if we truly understand it and appreciate it.  This is Good News to be shared with everyone, because those who hear it and receive it in faith receive all the blessings of salvation that have come to us.  This, too, glorifies God because, remember, it is His glory to save sinners.  This is the glory of His redeeming love, that He might restore His erring ones to full fellowship with Him and, consequently, with one another.

            In today's Gospel we encounter one event--the death of Jesus on the cross--as seen from two different perspectives: the human perspective of Peter, who has in mind "the things of man"; and the divine perspective of Jesus, who has in mind "the things of God."  Certainly nothing has changed in our world since this interchange between the Lord Jesus and His disciple.  Today we still have those who think that focusing on the suffering and death of Jesus (as we do especially during this season of Lent) is a morbid and unhealthy preoccupation with grief and misery.  But we know that "the things of God" are to be found in meditating on our Savior's passion.  For us who believe in Him the death of Jesus is the death of sin--the death of Satan--the death of death--the death of hell.  Our focus on that center cross at Calvary is not an unhealthy obsession with sorrow but rather a quiet and solemn joy as we contemplate the incredibly great blessings of salvation that God has given us by taking our place under His own judgment and thereby reconciling us to Himself so that we might have His gracious gifts of forgiveness and everlasting life.

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.