Sayings from the Cross #4

FORSAKEN[i]

We probably know very well what it feels like to be forsaken. It is a feeling of abandonment, of being disowned, or forgotten utterly by those you love. To be forsaken is to know loneliness and emotional turmoil. We can understand that feeling and know what it means for us.

            What does it mean when Christ says he was forsaken? That is not so easy to understand and it is not so easy to explain.

            Martin Luther sat down in his study to consider the text we are studying today. He spent hours meditating on those words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Those who served Luther entered the room and found him so absorbed in those words that they almost thought he was dead. He did not move; he did not eat or drink, but sat with his eyes locked onto this phrase. Then, after many hours of this, having been so utterly focused so that everything around him had been as if weren’t even there, he rose from his chair. He was heard to say, “God forsaking God! No man can understand that!”

            There is the mystery. How can Jesus who is God Himself feel abandoned by God the Father? Jesus said, “I and the Father are one?” Is it even possible for Christ to be abandoned by the Father?

            It has been said that Luther looked like a man who had been down a deep mine and who had come up again into the light. Charles Spurgeon said that he felt like one who has not been down in the mine, but who has looked into it and shuddered at the darkness of it. Have you ever peered into a dark room straining to see but only finding darkness?

            How can you explain something like that? I won’t pretend to know the mystery of this saying from the cross, but will lead you in some observations and draw a few lessons from it. We are going to consider the question Jesus asked; then talk about his experience; then apply it if we can.

1. Why did Jesus cry out, “My God, my God…”?

Many have attempted to explain what Jesus meant to say. Some have excused his words with one explanation or another since it is very difficult to fathom how God can forsake God. In any case, we cannot ignore that Jesus quoted in a mash-up of Hebrew and Aramaic, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” What was his forsakenness?

            Consider a few questions as an attempt to understand this:

a) Was it the horror of the human condition? We often say that all the sins of the past, present and future have been laid upon Christ and that this caused great suffering for Jesus. Somehow he perceived the total sum of the miseries brought about by all this sin. And this was a holy horror as he felt all the sin of this world as one man. He spoke on behalf of humankind when he cried, “My God, my God…”

            We can only imagine. There is truth in this summation but it is not adequate to explain his cry. You see, Jesus did not say, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken MAN?” but “Why have you forsaken ME?” This forsaking was personal.

b) Was it his revulsion to sin? The Father who lives in holy light and is holiness himself cannot bear that which is unholy. Jesus, like his Father, recoils as the sins of all the ages are placed upon him because he too is holy. Yes this is true too. But it is too easy to explain his cry away with this attempt. You see, Christ did not say, “My God, my God, why has man forsaken You, and why have You so completely left men in their sin?” Again, his cry was, “Why have you forsaken Me?” Jesus shouted, “My God, my God…” not “Father,” for in this moment, the Father he trusted in seemed to have left him.

c) Was it from physical weakness? When we become ill and battle some virus that we just can’t shake, we feel lower than is proper, and we find too that our soul sinks. Our poor battered bodies lead us to an unhappy state, even depression and sorrow. Sometimes we don’t even have a reason for our poor spirits, but we know that our bodies have conquered our souls. Was Christ so depleted of energy and will that he succumbed to the feeling of his abused body and cried out in such despair? You would think so.

            Except that moments later he shouted. The narrative says, “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit,” (27:50). Matthew does not record the words but we suspect this is the triumphant, “It is finished.” In that moment he courageously overcame his physical weakness displaying mental strength. Jesus did not allow his physical condition to wreck his awareness of the moment.

d) Was this a cry of unbelief? We all know of times when our personal pain causes us to feel like our faith has been pointless. Suffering can make us doubt God’s love and even his existence. All the while God is in our pain with us, so near that he has to whisper. The nation of Israel accused God of abandoning them, of forgetting them in their trials. But God replied, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (Is. 49:15). No, Jesus did not entertain any thoughts about the faithfulness and love of his Father. His cry was not on that account.

            On the other hand, some have said that his was a cry of faith. Jesus quotes David’s Psalm 22, a psalm that begins with intense suffering but ends on a note of praise and confident trust in God. But think about it, who quotes poetry when they are hanging on a cross? Monty Python’s depiction of several men on crosses singing “Look on the bright side of life,” expresses the absurdity of such a notion.

e) Was it a mistake? We say things in our pain that we don’t mean. Did Jesus mean what he said? Did Jesus only think that God had forsaken him? But then let me ask you this; does the perfect Lamb of God make mistakes? Jesus was not under a cloud of disillusion or delirium that he misspoke. He knew what he was saying and he knew what he experienced. We can only take Jesus at his word and conclude that God had indeed forsaken him for that moment of time.

f) Did it mean that God did not love him? Forget about it! This is far from being the case. God may have forsaken His Son but He loved His Son as much in this forsaken state as at any other time. If it were possible for God to love His Son more for enduring the cross and suffering on behalf of humankind, He would have. But it is not possible for God to love His Son more than he already does. God was not personally angry with Jesus – yet God forsook Him, allowed Jesus to die, leaving him alone on that cross.

            Some well-meaning Christians will deny that God forsook Jesus on the cross because, as I said before, God cannot possibly forsake God. That would be impossible. But so is the idea that God died. Didn’t God the Son die on that cross at Golgotha? I don’t know how God can die, and I don’t know how God can forsake God, but I believe what Scripture teaches us about this incredible event.

2. What does it mean that Jesus was “forsaken”?

So Jesus was forsaken by God. What does this mean? There are two angles we can look at: one is the experience which we can only observe in wonder; second is the theological implication for us.

a) Darkness – the 9^th Plague – A strange phenomenon occurred while Christ hung upon the cross. Matthew records that, “From noon until three in the afternoon (the sixth hour to the ninth hour) darkness came over all the land,” (27:45). Some have said this was an eclipse. A three hour eclipse? And how do you explain that at Passover there is a full moon?

            Christ had enjoyed the light of God’s fellowship like no one else. To have the light taken away was to feel darkness and know utter loneliness. In Christ there was no sin, nor anything that even hinted at sin.

            Spurgeon wrote, “Now holiness delights in God. God is the very sea in which holiness swims – the air which holiness breathes! Only think, then, of the perfectly Holy One, fully agreed with the Father in everything, finding out that the Father had, for good and sufficient reasons, turned His face away from him.” How awful! How horrible! That would be darkness.

            Darkness symbolized this experience.

            In Exodus chapter 10, God told Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt – darkness that can be felt,” (Ex. 10:21). Why would God instruct Moses to do this? Darkness then, and at Golgotha, symbolized that God’s curse rested on the land. Except for the homes of the Israelites, Egypt was in darkness for three days. Darkness that could be felt; just like Golgotha.

            This was the ninth plague. Do you know what the tenth plague was? The tenth plague took the firstborn son of every family, unless God’s people sacrificed a lamb and marked the doorposts with its blood. Then the angel of death would “pass over.”[ii]

            Centuries later, while Passover was being observed, and unbeknownst to the Jewish pilgrims that Friday, God was sacrificing His firstborn Son.

b) Legal Substitution – This is a term most often heard in football. When a player comes on the field and gets involved in a play that he should not be part of, it’s called an illegal substitution.

            In this situation, Jesus was a legal substitution for us. He took our place, we easily say, and suffered for our sins. Jesus was the only one qualified as a spotless Lamb to step into our place and endure our cross. We call this the doctrine of substitution. There are other doctrines about the atonement but I find this one hard to argue with. Consider the terminology of Scripture:

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all,” (Is. 53:6).

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” (2 Co. 5:21).

And “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree,’” (Gal. 3:13).

            When we meditate on the truth of these verses, we see where Christ took our place. Our sin was laid upon him. He became sin for us. He became a curse for us. No wonder then, that God forsook him, for Habakkuk said of the LORD, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong,” (Hab. 1:13).

            If you want to argue against the doctrine of substitution, remember that many are touched by the teaching that Christ received what we were due. Many have been saved from eternal separation from God because of this doctrine. After all, the only solution to this mystery – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” – is this: Jesus Christ was forsaken of God because we deserved to be forsaken of God!

3. What does his forsakenness mean for us?

We close with the answers to this question. There are three applications we must consider:

a) Behold, how He loved us – Jesus loves you. What more beautiful sentiment and truth is there than that Jesus loves you. Jesus stood outside the tomb of Lazarus, his friend, and wept because death had taken his friend. Witnesses declared, "Behold, how he loved him." But on the cross he did not weep, he bled and died. Before he died, he felt forsaken of God. Was there ever a love like this – that the Lord of glory should take on the form and being of man and receive our shame and death?

            Since Jesus was separated for a time from the Heavenly Father, we may cry out with Paul, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” And we can boldly reply with hearts full of praise that nothing, not one thing in all of creation, “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Ro. 8:39).

b) Follow Him – How can this truth not affect you in the deepest part of your being? How can we keep from praising His name and following after Him in life? Is there anything you would not gladly give up if it kept you from serving your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

            Moses went so far as to plead for the guilty nation of Israel and begged God to blot his name out of the book of life rather than have God’s name dishonored. How far would you go? We don’t have to go as far as Moses. But Jesus beckoned to those who would follow Him, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

c) If we should feel forsaken…If ever your heart and soul should fail you and your faith feel as weak as a kitten, if you feel that “dark night of the soul,” spiritual depression – like God is far, far away, where you feel like crying out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” then you will have gone down no deeper than Christ Himself went! Jesus has been to that dark place. That thought should encourage you since Christ was loved by the Father even in that position, and you are loved too.

             A wise older pastor went to the bedside of a dying man who for 30 years had been a gloomy soul. The pastor thought that now at last this man, someone who had loved Jesus and served him all his life, should now find peace. But the man said to his pastor, “What can you say to a man who is dying and yet who feels that God has forsaken him?” The pastor replied, “But what became of the man who died, whom God really did forsake? Where is he now?” The dying man suddenly caught on and said, “He is in glory and I shall be with him! I shall be with him where he is!”

                                                           

                                                                        AMEN

           

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[i] This sermon is adapted from the principles found in Charles H. Spurgeon’s sermon The Saddest Cry from the Cross, January 7, 1877.

[ii] Michael Card, A Violent Grace, Multnomah, 136.

Sayings of the Cross #3

“HERE IS YOUR SON”

Nothing brings us closer to the cross of Christ than the last words of Jesus. As we meditate on these words, rolling them around in our minds, and considering their importance for our lives, we can even imagine ourselves at the foot of the cross. In our mind’s eye we can almost reach out and touch the nailed feet of Jesus. Or at least I hope we can do that.

            The cross of Christ is central to our salvation. As Anabaptists we focus on the life of Jesus, his teachings, seeking to follow in his footsteps and be like him. But we cannot deny that the culmination of everything Jesus did and taught is found in the Crucifixion event. Without the Cross we just have teaching. Without the Cross we have no salvation. Without the Cross there is no resurrection, and ultimately there is no hope of eternal life.

            As Christians then, it is entirely appropriate for us to focus on the Cross of Christ, and to consider Jesus’ final words.

            This morning we have read the Scriptures regarding the third saying from the cross. It is admittedly an odd word. “Woman, here is your son…Here is your mother.” I have studied it from different angles and have not been satisfied with the various interpretations. I confess that my own application of this saying is my best attempt at interpreting a very difficult text beyond its own context.

            Why study it then? Because John included it for a reason that involves the reader of the gospel. John was not being arbitrary in selecting scenes to include in his gospel. He wrote that “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name,” (Jn. 20:31).

            Join with me as we investigate this scene and discern its meaning for ourselves. If nothing else, let us gaze upon the scene and worship the Lord Jesus who hung upon the cross.

1. Jesus’ enemies loot his stuff

a) Cold greed – We begin our investigation with the context of the scene. Pilate has condemned Jesus to the cruel death of the cross to appease the will of the people. He carried his own cross to Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”) or Calvary (Latin for skull). Jesus is crucified between two thieves. Pilate, in a successful attempt to annoy the chief priests places a title over Jesus head, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” They protest.

            Then the camera zooms in on four soldiers. The execution squad was always a group of four. It is plain to see that this execution is just another in the business of a Roman soldier. They ignore the man they nailed to a cross and instead begin to gamble for his clothes.

            How could they be so callous, so cold? How could they not know that the man they crucified on this day was no ordinary man? They were clearly desensitized to the violence of their work. By the time of Christ, crucifixion had become the favorite method of execution for non-Romans in the Roman Empire. Historians say that Rome had already crucified more than 30,000 people in and around Judea by this time. These soldiers were numb to the agony of Jesus.

b) The undergarment – Roman law gave the soldiers the right to the clothes of the executed man, “they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining,” (23).

            Most paintings of Jesus on the cross depict him with a loin cloth on him, as if it were underwear. John does not go into gory details about his wounds or the crucifixion – he is matter of fact – his readers know how horrible the cross can be. So he also assumes his readers know that Christ was naked on the cross. It was further humiliation for the victim of the cross. That they divide up his clothes is clear indication of this fact.

            You may find it appropriate that Christ was naked as he died for our sins when I remind you of the Garden scene. When Adam and Eve sinned and realized their nakedness, they hid in the garden when God came for a walk (Gen. 3:10). Somehow the shame of nakedness is connected with sin, and here Jesus is bearing that shame on the cross.

c) Prophecy fulfilled – The soldiers divide up Jesus’ clothes into four piles. Perhaps he had sandals, a belt, and a head covering. He would certainly have had an outer garment that was sewn together. But his undergarment, the fifth piece, was woven in one piece and could not be divided lest it lose its value. So the soldiers threw dice with each assigned a number to designate who the winner might be.

            John tells us that this is a direct fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalm 22:18 where David’s tormentors cast lots for his garments. This is applied to Christ. According to biblical scholars there are 332 distinct prophecies in the OT that have been directly fulfilled in the person of Jesus.

            In one sense, Jesus could not have made the soldiers do what they did. They gambled for his clothes out of their natural inclinations. On the other hand, God prophesied through David that they would do this – how amazing is that?

d) A gift from Mother? The undergarment is the key to the scene as we move from the gambling soldiers to the weeping women at the cross. According to legend, his mother gave this undergarment to Jesus. Mothers typically gave their sons a gift like this when they left home. If this is true, then as Jesus watched the soldiers gamble for his clothes, his eyes would have landed on the garment and triggered his thoughts of mother. In some translations there is a comma between v. 24 and 25, connecting the garment to what happens next. Some say “But there were standing near the cross of Jesus…” the four women and John.

            Chuck Swindoll writes, “Why now? She’s been there all along, watching and weeping. Why hasn’t He acknowledged or spoken to her? His outer garments were insignificant. But when they touched the tunic, they touched something very near to His heart – the garment made for Him by His mother.”[i]

2. Jesus’ family gathers at the Cross

a) Relative connections – In the midst of Pilate’s petty rivalries with the chief priests, the callous gambling of the soldiers, and the pain and humiliation of the cross itself, the scene is softened by Christ’s compassion for his mother.

            Standing at the cross that day was four women and the disciple whom Jesus loved – John, as we understand. Many women followed Jesus during his ministry and were very loyal. These women were related to Jesus specifically.

Mary – his mother; John does not mention her often in his gospel account. She appears at the wedding at Cana and here. When she and Joseph presented Jesus as a baby at the temple, old Simeon told her he would be great and that a sword would pierce her soul. This was the day.

Mary’s sister – Mark tells us her name was Salome and that she was the one who asked Jesus if her sons, James and John, could sit at the right and left of Jesus in his kingdom. No doubt she saw the horror of what she asked for as Jesus “sat upon his throne,” the cross, that day.

Mary, the wife of Clopas – another aunt of Jesus, she was the wife of Joseph’s brother, according to tradition.

Mary Magdalene – Jesus cast 7 demons out of her, changing her life forever.

And John, his youngest disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. All the other disciples ran away, but John came back.

b) Looking after Mother – Jesus looks down at Mary and remembers his responsibility to her as the oldest son. He has to take care of her. Jesus says to Mary, “Woman, here is your son,” and to John, “Here is your mother.”

            Jesus had brothers and sisters, why not leave Mary in their care? “In his concern for his mother he puts her in the care, not of his natural brothers who at this point do not believe, but of the other side of his family, in the person of his cousin John, where she would find a believing and supportive relationship.”[ii]

c) Why he called her “woman” – Did you notice that he called her woman? Not a very affectionate term is it?

            You remember the wedding at Cana? Mary comes up to Jesus when the wine ran out and said, “They have no more wine.” Jesus replied, “Dear woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come,” (Jn. 2:3-4). It seems like a tart reply but Jesus is not being disrespectful. He knows the law that says, “Honor your father and mother.”

            There are two sides to calling her “woman.” One is that in Jewish culture, instructions given by a dying man were like a last will and testament. Jesus was telling them his “will” and executing it at the same time. Knowing that he could not take care of his mother, Jesus entrusts her to John. As a widow she would have no support or CPP for her old age, so John would care for her. John records that, “From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

            Sharon and I heard the legends when we were in Ephesus eight years ago. When John went to minister in Ephesus, Mary came with him, and according to tradition, died there. John’s tomb is also in Ephesus bearing witness to a promise kept.

            The other side of calling his mother “woman” has to do with a theological separation. Both in John 2 and here in 19, Jesus calls her “woman” to indicate that he initiated the separation process from his mother. Jesus wants her to know that all earthly ties are over. It is not out of disrespect for her but out of necessity. More than a son, Mary needs a Savior. She was essential to the plan in Jesus’ becoming a man, but now she needs to see her place as a follower of Christ.

            Mary is not a co-redeemer as one church views her, the Queen of Heaven, but as one in need of redemption, just like we are. The sword pierces her soul and reveals to her that she is a sinner who needs Jesus to hang on that cross for her sins.

You see how difficult it is to apply this passage in a direct way to our lives? Here is my attempt at finding an application:

            There are two kinds of people pictured in the third saying from the cross. The first kind of people are gamblers. Not one person who has ever lived or lives today is really very far from the cross. Christ’s cross casts a shadow over the whole world and, as Paul says in Romans 1, men are without excuse. So in the shadow of the cross of Christ, with their backs turned to the ugly truth that Jesus, the Lamb of God, had to die for the sins of every person.

            These people are gambling that the material things of this life will satisfy their inner longings. Men and women scramble to get what they can, to get their share, and to grab whatever scraps are left lying around by poor losers.

            Some have turned towards the cross and admire it. They respect Jesus as the model of love and compassion, just as he showed to his mother while dying. What a good man he was. They may even worship him and revere him coming just short of committing their whole lives to him. They are gambling too, that partial devotion will be enough.

            The second group of people are a different sort. My second point was titled for a double meaning: “Jesus’ family gathers at the cross.” The cross is not to be respected, admired, or even revered. At the cross, with knees bent in humble submission, the sinner sees himself or herself upon the cross in the person of Jesus. At that moment of realization and acceptance of the saving work of Christ, we are adopted into the family of Christ. A new family is forged at the cross. Mary was adopted into God’s family when she put her faith in Christ for forgiveness of sins and salvation.

            Once when Mary and her sons came to drag Jesus away from this “insanity” of being the Messiah, someone told Jesus his mother and brothers wanted to speak to him. Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother,” (Matt. 12:48-49).

            The family of Jesus gathers at the cross. Recognizing the brothers and sisters of the cross, we model the compassion of Jesus by caring for one another as if we were tied by our genetics. Our whole family dynamic is revolutionized. Behold, your brothers and sisters in Christ (look around). This is your family.

                                                                        AMEN

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[i] Chuck Swindoll, The Darkness and the Dawn, 2001, 153-154.

[ii] Bruce Milne, The Message of John, BST, 1993, 278.

Sayings From the Cross #2

THE GREATEST CONVERSION EVER

Some of us might be disturbed by deathbed conversions. Consider a man named Joe. He was not a church-going man. He lived a wild life. He drank too much, gambled a lot, swore without thinking about it, and would lie if it was to his advantage. Joe never thought much about God.

            Joe had retired and was looking forward to doing a lot of fishing. But he had been having a lot of stomach problems. Too much “good living” he thought. But the doctor told him it was cancer and it had spread. Joe had six months to live.

            A pastor came to talk to him in the hospital and talked about spiritual things. For the first time in his life, Joe listened. The pastor made sense. Joe realized he had lived a selfish, sinful life, and when he died he would face God’s judgment. However, the pastor said Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty he deserved. There was forgiveness if Joe would receive it. So he prayed to receive Christ and died peacefully shortly thereafter.[i]

            If Joe had lived, would he have remained a faithful Christian? Was his conversion genuine? We are glad to hear of conversions like this and are at the same time nagged by these “last hour” conversions. Can a person live his whole life denying Jesus and at the last minute be saved? What is our understanding of salvation then?

            In the center of the Christ’s agony on the cross, in the fire of the Passion narrative, we are given a most amazing account of a sinner turning to Christ for salvation. John Calvin said that since the creation of the world, there has not been a more remarkable and striking example of faith than this thief. You could say that it was the greatest conversion ever. And it stands as a symbol of hope to all that anyone, the person about to die or the person who simply thinks they are beyond saving, can come to Christ and receive salvation. By the grace of God any sinner who repents can find salvation in Jesus Christ.

            This is a simple message that ought to blow our minds.

1. Salvation Requires a Confession of Sin

Luke did something unique with the story of the two thieves crucified on either side of Jesus. Matthew and Mark both tell the reader that, “Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left,” (Mt. 27:38; Mk. 15:27). John too says, “Here they crucified him (Jesus), and with him two others – one on each side and Jesus in the middle,” (Jn. 19:18).

            John is silent otherwise. But Matthew and Mark add that those crucified with Jesus “heaped insults” on him (Mt. 27:44; Mk. 15:32).

            There must have been a lot of shouting that day. The Crowds that had called for Jesus’ crucifixion had shouted insanely. And even at the cross itself there were shouts and insults and ridicule. Somehow shouting emboldens the cowardly and makes them sound right.

            Luke records that, “The people stood watching, and the rulers sneered at him. They said, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ, the Chosen One,” (23:35). And the soldiers who crucified Jesus mocked him too, saying “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself,” (36-37).

            There is a crescendo of abuse rising and rising, people becoming more abusive and insulting. This is the climax of the opposition to the person of Jesus, where the whole world has risen against him and called for his death. Even those dying with him mocked him.

            And then…a turning point. No change was more dramatic than that of the thief, one who had mocked Jesus with the rest, but now suddenly defending Jesus.

            What happened? What changed?

            In the midst of the cursing and yelling, the ridicule and cries of pain, the thieves hurling down their expletives at the priests and soldiers, Jesus prayed. Perhaps witnessing how Jesus handled dying struck the thief as absurd and beautiful. He must have done a double-take when he heard Jesus ask, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

            The thief turns on the other thief and rebukes him, “Don’t you fear God since you are under the same sentence?” (40). There is a realization that death is coming, and with death, an audience with God. The two thieves were under the same sentence of death with Jesus, but the one thief was struck with the revelation that Jesus doesn’t deserve this. And when he comes before God, Jesus will be vindicated. How does the thief know this? Who knows? God knows – he revealed it to the thief.

            Did Luke make this up? Some might wonder since the other gospels don’t mention the thief’s conversion. Was it added to make a point? Luke was too meticulous an historian to fabricate the event for drama’s sake. He would not do that.

            No, one thing we know for sure, the thief recognized his sinfulness and that he deserved, along with his friend, to die on the cross. “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.”

            We must recognize our sinfulness. We are under the same sentence of death as the thieves, even as Jesus – since he bore the sins of the world. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Ro. 3:23).

2. Salvation Calls for Repentance and Faith

Not only did the thief recognize his sin, he turned to Jesus. We call this repentance – turning from sin to Jesus.

            Somehow, this thief came to a point of faith. He believed that Jesus was not only innocent, he was the Christ, he was God. So he confesses that he belongs on his own cross but he also turns to Jesus for deliverance.

            We hear the conviction of his new faith in this request, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” (42). We don’t know what the thief knew. We can only go by his words uttered in this moment. Did he know of Jesus? He knew his name; he knew he was a king with a kingdom; he knew that it was a heavenly kingdom.

            I wondered to myself if this was a “Hail Mary” pass. In football, when the seconds are ticking down and the game is close, a quarterback will try to win the game with a “Hail Mary” pass – throwing it up and hoping your own player will catch it. Jesus’ response assures us it is not.

            The thief genuinely repented of his sins and turned to Jesus. A repentant person stops blaming God and others for his problems and admits his own sin and guilt. Those who live as victims will always try to pass off their failures and follies as what other people have done to them. Repentance means accepting that the blame rests with me. I am responsible for my sin and its consequences. As I fear God, that is, respect who God is and stand in awe of his glory and greatness, I will want to turn from my sin to Jesus, as the thief did.

            You might be thinking, “I am not in the same league as this thief. I am not the best person, but I am not that bad either.” But a Bible scholar by the name of A.W. Pink says we are all thieves of the worst sort, since we have robbed God. Pink wrote:

            “Suppose that a firm in the East appointed an agent to represent them in the West, and that every month they forwarded to him his salary. But suppose also at the end of the year his employers discovered that though the agent had been cashing the checks they sent him, nevertheless, he had served another firm all that time. Would not that agent be a thief? Yet this is precisely the situation and state of every sinner. He has been sent into this world by God, and God has endowed him with talents and the capacity to use and improve them. God has blessed him with health and strength; He has supplied his every need, and provided innumerable opportunities to serve and glorify Him. But with what result? The very things God has given him have been misappropriated. The sinner has served another master, even Satan. He dissipates his strength and wastes his time in the pleasures of sin. He has robbed God.”[ii]

            The thief’s hope, and our only hope, was Jesus Christ. What gives us hope in this narrative is that a sinner does not have to be a theologian to have saving faith in Jesus. You should know that Jesus is the Son of God, that he lived a life that he wants us to follow, and that he died for our sins and rose again. The thief knew that Jesus was an innocent man; he knew that he would triumph over the grave, and he had the audacity to ask Jesus to remember him in his kingdom. But Jesus loves that kind of audacity. Just ask; he dares us to just ask.

3. Salvation Happens by Grace Alone

Coming back to the reason that deathbed conversions bother us, it might be because we who have followed Christ all our lives and served him and done all sorts of things in his name, feel cheated. This thief was not even baptized. He never served on a committee or taught Sunday School. In fact, he came with nothing to Jesus – absolutely nothing to offer!

            Jesus’ answer to the thief displays outrageous grace. Jesus tells him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise,” (43). We know this truth: No amount of good works saves us. We know this, but we still cling to the idea that we can earn our salvation. If we receive a gift, a ride in the car, a free meal – we ask, “What can I give you?” Nothing! It’s grace. Just accept it.

            Jesus illustrated this truth in a parable in Matthew 20:1-16. A landowner went out early in the morning and hired workers for his 3 vineyard. He agreed to pay them a fair day’s wage. Later in the morning, he saw some other men standing idle in the marketplace, so he hired them and told them that he would pay them a fair wage. At noon and in mid-afternoon, he did the same thing. Finally, about five o’clock in the afternoon, he hired some others. When evening came, he paid all the workers the same, a full day’s wage. But the men who had worked all day grumbled because these men who had only worked one hour got the same wage that they received after working hard all day. But the landowner said, “I paid you what we agreed on. If I wish to be generous to this last man, that’s my privilege. I can do what I want with that which is my own.”[iii]

            Salvation happens by grace alone. Jesus doesn’t play fair with salvation. He doesn’t have to. When a sinner calls on him, Jesus answers.

            Did you note however, that both thieves called on Jesus? The first thief said, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” (39). He did not ask in faith, but out of mockery. The second thief rebuked him for this, and then in true faith turned to Jesus.

            And Jesus said,

“Today” – indicating that salvation is immediate. Discipleship is a process, but the gift of salvation is free and immediate.

“you will be with me” – salvation is personal. One remarkable observation that must be said is this: The thief understood that Jesus did not hang on the cross to identify with the thief in his pain, but to save him. Jesus could have saved himself, but then he could not have saved others. Somehow the thief understood that Jesus had to die for his sins. It’s personal. And then, Jesus said, you will be with me.

“in paradise” – salvation is heavenly. “Paradise” is the crucial word. Scholars tell us that it originally referred to the walled gardens of the Persian kings. When a king wanted to honor his subjects, he would invite them to walk with him in his garden in the cool of the day. This same word was used in the Greek Old Testament to refer to the Garden of Eden; in Revelation 2:7 it refers to heaven.

            Not only is this thief, this unrighteous man, going to live forever among the righteous, but something even more glorious is happening in Jesus’ promise. There is a cosmic re-creation of the Garden of Eden. Or, in other words, the dwelling of men and women would once more be with God.

            And this is a gift of grace, something achieved only by the death of Christ on the cross. There is nothing for us to boast about lest it cease to be grace.

As we close, there are three thoughts that come to mind.

            First, when my mother passed away last year, the question on my mind was “where did she go.” The Apostle Paul taught that those who fell asleep in the Lord will be raised on the last day, implying that the dead in Christ were presently sleeping. But then Jesus says “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Which is it? What happens after we die is a mystery only to those still alive. We must take Jesus at his word when he says, “Today, you will be with me in paradise,” and believe that when we die we go to be with him.

            Second, if deathbed conversions are valid because of the grace of Christ, why not sin now and believe later? Why not live how we please and turn to Christ just before we die?

There are three answers to this question:

1) If you reject the gospel now, you will harden your heart so much so that when the time comes to die you will reject the gospel at that time too.

2) To continue in sin now does not bring joy but heartache and sorrow and you will miss out on the life God has for you now.

3) Not everyone gets a deathbed opportunity to repent. Some of us will die in accidents where we won’t know what hit us.

            Third, what is the greatest conversion ever in your opinion? Is it the outrageous grace of God shown to the thief on the cross? How about the “road to Damascus” experience of Paul? Was it Augustine? Martin Luther? Louie Zamperini? Charles Colson? These are all amazing stories, but the greatest conversion you will ever know, is yours. You don’t deserve this. That’s grace. The cross of Christ is horrible and beautiful all at once. It is the cost of your sin and it is the outpouring of the love of God.

            If you believe, rejoice. If you do not believe in Jesus, receive him now.

                                                            AMEN

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[i] Story adapted from Steven Cole’s sermon intro in “A Deathbed Conversion”

[ii] A.W. Pink, The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross [Baker], p. 32

[iii] Steven Cole’s summary of Matthew 20:1-16

Called to Holiness #18

A STRATEGY FOR SURVIVING DIFFICULT TIMES

Faith can take a beating in difficult times. During our struggles we face the toughest questions about God: Where is God when life hurts? Does God care about my troubles?

            Meanwhile, Satan moves in to take advantage of the pain we are experiencing and create more doubt. His methods are so subtle and sly that we don’t always recognize that it is him causing our confusion. Satan will take our questions about faith in God and trip us up. He will even deceive us into ignoring him and leaving us to wallow in blame and shame for the way we feel about God.

            Peter tells us that the devil is like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

            Kevin Richardson is known as the “Lion Whisperer.” Richardson works with lions and has even lived with, fed, and slept with lions in the wild. He has spent his life getting to know lions and what he has learned is that you cannot rely on static rules but on instinct.

            There are risks to living with lions. In one incident, the lions were in a good mood. Two 400-pound lions threw Richardson to the ground and another female jumped on him. He emerged with his face red. As he left, one lion smacked his shoulder with a paw. Richardson has been clawed and bitten often. It is the nature of lions to scratch each other and they regard Richardson no differently. The key to his relationship with lions is that he knows these lions and knows the dangers.

            Personally, I would not turn my back on a lion. And if you live with wild lions that are looking for a weakness, for a moment when your guard is down, or a good place to ambush you, you will want to be on constant alert.

            Satan is like a roaring lion. He will attempt to destroy your faith anyway he can. So Christians need a strategy for surviving difficult times. Peter gives us this strategy in his concluding words: To grow a strong faith in difficult times we must humbly trust in God while resisting the devil’s attacks.

1. Release your Anxiety

Peter’s strategy begins where we left off last Sunday, with humility. It has been said before, but it bears repeating: humility was not an attractive quality in the ancient world. Humility is counter-cultural – that is, humility is not the normal reaction to life’s problems and challenges. But it is the example of Christ when he was on trial before the chief priests and Pilate. Humility was Christ’s attitude in coming down to live as a man. Humility then, is our approach to life too as disciples of Christ.

            But why is humility so important in the face of anxiety? Peter said, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you,” (5:6-7).

            Anxiety is a reaction to trouble. We are overcome with worry, we get anxious about solutions and results, and we experience biological side-effects. The Greek word translated “anxieties” comes from a word meaning to divide. Anxieties divide our minds, so that we cannot concentrate on anything else. Worries and anxieties distract us from the productive things God wants us to do and consume us by diverting all our thoughts into channels of fear.

            Why do we need to humble ourselves in difficult times? Because at the heart of anxiety is the proud notion that I can handle things by myself. We put ourselves in the driver’s seat because we need to be in control. But then we are shoving Jesus aside, the One who we say we trust for everything, and we are really saying, “I don’t trust you.” We then rely on our own abilities to get out of the mess we are in. We throw up a prayer perhaps, just to make sure God is included. Peter’s response in our vernacular is: Get over yourself and let God be God.

            Cast all your anxieties on God, Peter commands. That same expression is found only in one other place in the NT, Luke 19:35. The disciples bring the colt that Jesus requested just before his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and they “threw their cloaks on the colt.” They cast their cloaks on the donkey to make a saddle for Jesus. The meaning is quite powerful. Throw your anxieties on God because he is strong enough to bear them.

            Jesus taught that anxiety about life is one of the blocking agents that can choke out God’s word. For God’s word to be fruitful in our lives we need to forget our daily worries and trust in God’s faithfulness (Mk. 4:19).

            There’s a story about a boy who was walking along the road carrying a heavy load. A man came along in a horse-drawn cart and offered him a ride. The boy climbed in the cart, but he kept the heavy load on his shoulders. When the man asked him why he didn’t put the load down on the cart, the boy replied that he didn’t want to burden the horse![i] That’s the reality – we carry our burdens needlessly.

            F.B. Meyer once said, “Treat cares as you treat sins. Hand them over to Jesus one by one as they occur.” We may have to do this repeatedly all day long, confessing our lack of faith, praying at times, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”[ii]

            So the first step in our strategy for surviving difficult times is to RELEASE YOUR ANXIETY. Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus,” (Phil. 4:6-7).

2. Resist the Devil

Sometimes you should run, like when the Bible says, “flee sexual immorality” (1 Cor. 6:18), and then there are times when you need to stand your ground. This is where you stand.

            Peter said, “Be self-controlled and alert,” (8a). Another way of saying this is “be sober.” To be sober is to be free from intoxicants both spiritual and physical. A physical intoxicant would be “loving the things of this world.” A spiritual intoxicant is anything that creates apathy in your spiritual life and draws you away from God.

            Why is this a prelude to resisting the devil? Because Satan uses our healthy passions and turns them into obsessions, he uses good things for bad purposes, and he uses the commonly accepted worldview of pleasure to blind us to the dangers of materialism and hedonism. Be alert to the devil’s schemes! When a lion is on the prowl – don’t sleep.

            “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour,” (8b). Let’s unpack this sentence:

“Your enemy” – Peter uses the plural “your” here so that he is talking to the church. The enemy of the church is Satan. He opposes the work of God in the church. Everything that God wants to build, Satan wants to unravel.

“the devil” – The term “devil” is the Greek translation of the Hebrew satan, which means “adversary” or “opponent.” This spiritual adversary, shadowy in the OT, was developed in the period between the OT and NT, then appearing in the NT as Satan or the devil. “Devil” means “slanderer” and he will lie to you, whispering his destructive words in your ears. (Job 1).

“prowls around” – Peter pictures him roaming through the earth stealthily, as in search of prey or plunder.

“like a roaring lion” – A figurative expression that tells us Satan is a dangerous foe. It comes from Ps. 22:13, “Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.” And Paul used the “lion” expression to describe his deliverance from his enemies, “And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth,” (2 Ti. 4:17).

“looking for someone to devour” – The devil has only one intention – to destroy you. The word “devour” means “to gulp.” He means to deal with you as quickly as he can and move on.

            The response to such a dangerous opponent is surprising. A lion’s roar can be a fearsome thing, melting hearts like butter. Peter says not to fear but to resist him.

            This is the only place where Peter talks about spiritual powers of darkness in his letters. He does not want to cause his readers to lose focus of the gospel nor to ignore the true enemy of the church. C.S. Lewis famously said there are two dangers in talking about the devil: There is the danger of seeing Satan in everything – sickness, sin, car trouble. And there is the danger of ignoring him altogether – we then blame people, government, spouses, ourselves and God, while Satan chuckles to himself because he gets none of the blame.

            He is real and we need to resist him. Here is what Peter does NOT mean by resisting Satan:

1) Resisting Satan does not mean attacking him. Paul was reluctant to take him on in Acts 16:16-18.

2) Resisting Satan does not mean mocking or belittling him (Jude 8-9).

3) Resisting Satan does not mean “rebuking,” “binding,” or otherwise trying to “defeat him.”

            Resisting Satan simply means that we refuse to submit to him and standing fast against his attacks with God’s help. Peter wrote a lot about submission in his letter – submitting to rulers, masters, spouses, church leaders and so on, in faith and because of our faith. The key to this spiritual struggle is faith. Jesus said to Peter that Satan wanted to sift him like wheat but Jesus would pray that Peter’s faith would not fail (Lk. 22:31-32). Satan’s attacks are against our faith, so the key to standing fast is faith, or believing God.

            When Satan lies to you about who you are, telling you that you are no good, a sinner too far gone, worthless, a lousy Christian or what have you, Peter says RESIST THE DEVIL. Don’t listen to him; listen to Jesus and who he says you are.

3. Remember God’s Grace

Rather than trying to find Satan behind every bush, Peter reminds us to focus on God’s grace. Identifying the source of evil, confusion, and deception in the person of Satan is important, but looking to Jesus and trusting in his grace will make Satan flee already.

            In Peter’s reminder we find many grace principles:

a) By God’s grace you are not alone. Peter said, “…you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings,” (9b). Whatever you have suffered, others have suffered too, and have come out of it. Many men struggle with pornography in silence because of the shame of it; some women struggle with self-image and how others perceive them. But when we open up to each other we find that we share each others’ struggles. The fact of the matter is that exactly: we all struggle.

b) By God’s grace we know the God of grace. He is not the God of a little bit of grace. He is not the God of a lot of grace. He is the God of all grace. His grace is like the ocean, a limitless supply that keeps breaking over our lives time and time again. It will never run out. But we need to humble ourselves, cast our anxieties on him, and ask for his gracious help in times of trouble.

c) By God’s grace we are called to his eternal glory in Christ. You didn’t come to Him by your own strength or effort. He called you. He didn’t call you to condemn you, but to bring you to His eternal glory in Christ. You will dwell in His presence throughout eternity. In your trial, look ahead to what God has promised for those whom He has called, and you can trust Him to bring you through it.

d) By God’s grace your trial will not last forever. In some of my darkest times in my life, 1 Peter 5:1-11 was my lifejacket. I would cling to the promises of God, especially that my inner turmoil would not last forever. And lo and behold the clouds of darkness passed over and the sun shone again. “After you have suffered a little while…” These trials are temporary.

e) By God’s grace he will make you stronger than you were before the time of testing. God “…will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.” The word “restore” can also be used in the context of mending fishing nets or preparing them for use. God is fixing the holes; he’s mending us in the trials, making us more effective, making us stronger. Nothing exposes sin or behavior problems like a trial. And through those trials God can address them, making you firm and steadfast in your walk of faith.

            The God of all grace does this for you. “To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”

            REMEMBER GOD’S GRACE. This is our best weapon against the ungracious barbs of the devil.

There are two lions in the Bible. Okay, in truth, Peter says that the devil is like a roaring lion, a metaphor of his ferocity. The other lion could be said to be metaphorical too, but the word “like” is missing. In Revelation 5:5, John hears one of the elders in heaven say, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed,” (Rev. 5:5).

            When John finally looks at the place where the Lion sits, he sees a slain Lamb, standing in the center of the throne. This is a scene of victory and hope, a scene that pictures everything that Peter has described in his letter. This scene of the Lion of Judah, the Lamb that was slain, is the motivation for standing fast against the devil and resisting his attacks; it is the motivation for living a holy life, the life to which Christ has called us.

            Whatever you are struggling with today, be it spiritual or physical, mental or emotional, financial or relational, remember that there is a Savior who has suffered everything you have. You are not alone. You are not forgotten. You are important to Jesus. Release your anxiety to him. Resist the devil. And Remember God’s grace.

To him be the power for ever and ever. AMEN

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[i] George Mueller used to tell this story.

[ii] (Tried by Fire [Christian Literature Crusade], p. 173)