"Experience Pure Love"
Sermon Transcript for March 21, 2004
By Rev. Dan Sinkhorn
Well by now I expect most, many of you at least, have seen the movie, The Passion of the Christ. But I want to assure you that if you haven’t, that Reverend Mike and I don’t count that against you. I think it is important that we say right now that this movie is a cultural phenomenon and so out of a God-given sense of responsibility; Reverend Mike and I wanted to address that during this time of Lent. But if you have chosen not to see the movie, don’t worry; it’s all in The Book. And I would urge you, rather you’ve seen the movie or not, to read the book. And if you have either seen the movie or read the story of Christ’s Passion, then you no doubt recognize that crucifixion is without a doubt a terrible, terrible way to die. It is excruciating. In fact the word “excruciating” comes from the same origins as the word “crucifixion”. And Jesus was tortured in a way that, if you’ve seen the pictures, you’ll never forget. And if you read the Scripture with your imagination, you can only imagine the terrible physical pain that Christ endured. And Scripture tells us in the Gospel of Matthew, He endured it without benefit of any painkilling drugs. We are also told that it was a shameful way to die. In the same gospel, we are told that Jesus was hung on the cross with common thieves. That Jesus was stripped bare. That he was treated like a raving lunatic. And so we also hear in the same passages that Jesus suffered incredible spiritual agony, emotional and mental stress as He wrestled with what He was about to endure and why, and deep theological implications that we’ll not understand in this life.
But while there is a place for us to contemplate that suffering that Jesus endured, that physical agony, it’s important that we keep in mind that Jesus Himself said that we should not weep for Him but weep for ourselves. Because even on the cross, Jesus was thinking about others. Even on the cross, Jesus was telling people that there was a chance so that one of those that was crucified with Him received forgiveness and redemption and would enter into paradise with Jesus that very day. Even on the cross, Jesus pleaded with His Heavenly Father to forgive His persecutors because they didn’t know what they were doing.
So the significance and lessons that are going to be learned from the crucifixion really go way beyond feeling sorry about the pain that Jesus endured. For example, when we think about the crucifixion, we need to remember that it was the condemnation of sin. That Jesus died because of sin! The Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians that Jesus fulfilled scripture--that it was foretold by Isaiah that Jesus would die for our sins. Again in a letter to the Galatians we are told that Jesus gave Himself for our sins. And in I Peter, that Jesus bore our sins on the cross—our sins. Jesus didn’t just carry the weight of the sin of his contemporaries. He carried the weight of sin of people of all generations. He carried the weight of my sin on the cross.
So may the thought of the crucifixion remind us of our own sinfulness and our need for redemption. Jesus killed sin that day! Jesus put sin to death that day. He condemned sin in the flesh through His death. That’s what we are told in a Letter to the Romans. We are told that Jesus has made it possible then for all sinners to destroy sin in their own lives, in their own body of sin, by uniting with Jesus in the baptism of His death. Paul says that if we recognize that that death redeems us, and commit ourselves to putting to death the same sin in us, recognizing that our sin is hung on that cross, then we are free. Then we have died with Christ on that cross. And so may the thought of the crucifixion remind us of our duty to crucify sin in our own lives every day by taking away the passions of the flesh.
Now, if we are going to be conscious of the crucifixion, then we need to be motivated in our efforts to let Jesus’ death help us to deal with the problem of sin. But also to help us remember that the crucifixion of Jesus was the revelation of God’s pure and amazing love for us. Jesus died on that cross that day because of love--the love of the Father for a lost world; the love of a Son for His people--His brothers and sisters. So may our contemplation of the crucifixion never neglect the love that was behind that fact because Jesus demonstrated in that what love is.
John tells us in his Gospel and the writer of I John 3 says that Jesus laid down His life for us and that that is the essence of pure love. To give His life for us was the very heart of the matter.
When Jesus was washing the disciples feet and telling people, “This is what it is all about, if you love me, you’ll do as I do. You’ll surrender yourself to the Father’s will and you will be willing to sacrifice yourself for the Father’s glory.” So may our contemplation of the crucifixion remind us of the high standard of love that we are called to show to one another because the same love that is so pure and amazing given to us through Jesus, is to be poured out from us to the world.
So as we strive then to overcome sin and to love one another, assisted and motivated by the death of Jesus on the cross, we should also be mindful that the crucifixion of Jesus is the redemption of the world. That Jesus died for all. We are told in the Letter to Timothy and Peter’s letter that God desires that all should be saved and that none should perish. We are told in I John that Jesus was offered as the propitiation or the substitute for all of us. Now, I don’t know how to reckon with that sometimes because it means that He did that for people I don’t like. It means that people who are set against us, people who, may I say, write nasty things about us in the paper. People who criticize us, people who are offending us, people who are bent on our destruction--Jesus died for them, too. Jesus died because God desires that even they would not perish. So that amazing, unbelievable, excellent love of God is expressed even to those who seem not to deserve it. Perhaps it’s because in God’s eyes we don’t deserve it. So may our meditation on the crucifixion include thinking about the needs of others, even those we’d rather not care for because Jesus is the world’s only hope. We are told in the Gospel of John, by Jesus Himself, that He is the only way to the Father. We are told in the Acts of the Apostles that it is only in His name that salvation is assured. We are told in I John that if you deny the Son, you deny the Father. II John that we should abide in this doctrine—a doctrine of both Father and Son. Jesus is God’s chosen method for redeeming people He loves so much. So may our meditation on the crucifixion move us to do whatever we can to proclaim the message of redemption to those who are lost in sin.
So the death of Jesus on the cross should prompt us to look inwardly and outwardly to address both our spiritual needs and those of others. And to what extent and effort it takes, we should be ready to do what God asks us to do and view the cross of Jesus, the inspiration of all sacrifice. Do you realize that Jesus has provided for us the only example that we need? His death demonstrates for us the mind of God’s humility. His suffering demonstrates for us the example of suffering patiently. Peter tells us in the Scripture on the slide that we must be willing to receive the same sort of punishment that Jesus received so that we patiently endure with humility for God’s plan of redemption to be fulfilled even through us. So may our reflection on the crucifixion move us to consider what His sacrifice inspires us to do because Jesus’ sacrifice was designed to inspire. So we are told in Ephesians that we should walk in love. We are told in Philippians that we should walk in humility. We are told in I Peter that we should suffer patiently when we are mistreated for doing the right thing. Told in II Corinthians and I John to give ourselves to others.
It is all about surrender. And some of you have heard me say this many, many times. But we have an alter here in our place of worship because it reminds us of the most important thing that all Christians must know in order to live a Christian life that glorifies God. The word is “sacrifice”. We must be willing to surrender. If you saw the movie, Mel Gibson did a really good job of demonstrating both Jesus’ suffering and His understandable human need to move away from what he was enduring. And yet at the same time we saw His determination to see it through! Did you notice in the movie, if you saw it, that Jesus crawled up on to that cross by His own power? No one dragged Him over and nailed Him to that cross. He, even though He had been beaten within an inch of His life, climbed on to that cross willingly and laid Himself down there. And that is what He calls us to do—to climb on to our cross and lay willingly in the place of surrender. And there it is where God will be glorified in our lives. Just as by Jesus’ example, we see that God ultimately glorified Him and raised Him to that place above all others.
So there is a lot more I could say about the crucifixion of Jesus. And I certainly have the capacity! But I’m not going to go any further. I would just like to conclude by reminding you of these points. Remember that Jesus’ death on the cross was the condemnation of sin. Remember that His death was the revelation of God’s amazing love. And remember that His death was the redemption of the whole world. Remember that His death is our inspiration to a life of sacrifice. And let me conclude by asking you some questions.
Have you taken advantage of what the crucifixion of Jesus means for you?
Have you been crucified with Christ?
Are you putting to death the deeds of the flesh?
Are you growing in love?
Are you concerned and doing something about the redemption of a lost world?
Are you inspired in your sacrifice for others, especially the lost, by the example of Jesus’ sacrifice?
In the words of the Apostle Paul, “We then as workers together with Him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” Would you read that out loud with me please? “As God’s fellow workers, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.” Amen!
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