Set Free

The Christian life is radical. It's so absurd that the guy that wrote most of the New Testament (Paul) describes it like this...

1 Cor 1: 22-23 NLT - It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. 

You might be thinking about Christians that you know and not really see anything altogether that radical about them, but let me show at least some of the craziness that is Christianity. If you buy into these beliefs (and I believe that we have reasonable evidence to do so) they will completely change your world.

If you buy into these beliefs they will enable you to walk through any suffering without becoming jaded/cynical or being crushed to despair by the weight of it. You can find joy no matter what your outer circumstances are. You can have peace even when your world is crumbling around you.

----

So what exactly is so foolish, so radical about the cross? 

The cross says that you are not okay. The cross says that we are not mosty good people that sometimes make mistakes. Allow me to illustrate. 

Imagine that you have an invisbile tape recorder hanging around your neck and imagine that this tape recorder turns on everytime you are commenting on how other people should live. Whenever you are talking about, "so and so should be doing this, or they shouldn't be doing that." Imagine that this tape recorder filps on and records it.

Now imagine that there really is a God, and that one day you will have to stand before Him to be judged and He says to you, "I'm going to be very lenient with you. I'm not even going to judge you according to my laws that I've laid down in the Bible, I'm just going to evaluate your life based on your own morals."

Imagine that He reaches down and hits play on the tape recorder and then applies all the things that you've said about others to your own life. 

Would you be able to live up to your standard that you hold other people to? I think for most of us the answer would be no. I don't even live up to my own moral standards let alone God's.

There is a saying, you know how bad a problem is by what it takes to fix it. The cross is a beacon throughout all time, it stands on a hill outside Jerusalem as the measure of what it took to fix the problem. The cross says that not only are you not okay, this is how bad off you are. This is what it takes to fix the problem, the death of Jesus, the Son of God.

The cross is foolishness because your eternal destiny, the most important relationship that you could ever have, is with a man that lived 2000 years ago on the other side of the globe who was treated, tortured, and crucfied like a criminal.

The cross is also foolishness because it is the measure for the amount of love that God has for you. Most people (men especially...i know...I am one of them) feel that it's silly to admit that you need love and even more silly to want love from a god. But nonetheless it is a desire that is at the core of our every relationship, the need to be loved and accepted.

The cross is our beacon in time to know that we are forever loved. 

How is the cross love? 

How do you measure love? If we measured love by what amount of energy, effort and sacrifice someone would go through in order to love another I think it's fair to say that God loves you immensly, completely, and ferociously...so much so that He left His home in glory and came on a rescue mission to save you. That the being who created all things allowed himself to be slandered, wrongly accused, beaten, whipped, stabbed, and crucified in order to love you.

The cross shows how bad off we are, but simultaneously shows us how overwhelmingly and completely we are loved. But there's more than that. It doesn't end there, it actually gets even better.

Jesus' story didn't end there, He actually defeated death and rose from the grave. The author of Hebrews says it like this...

Heb 2:14-15 NLT - 14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had* the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. 

Death is not the end, death is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Christians are actually freed from the slavery of fearing death.

What would your life be like if you believed these things?

What if you believed that you really aren't that great, but also knew that you are loved completely in spite of it? You would be able to accept criticism without getting defensive. Even if it's unjust criticism you could accept it because you know that there are plenty of things you do wrong that do deserve criticism.

You would be free to take risks and go out on limbs in order to love others because you would know that you can never be completely rejected because there is someone so wonderful that is head over heels for you.

You could walk through trials and suffering and know that God isn't angry at you. You would know that no matter what happens in your life that you are still loved completely and not being punished. Because the cross stands for all of us to see you can look to it as often as you need to and see that all of the wrath we deserve, any anger from God that we feel we should be getting was poured out on Jesus so there is none left for us. You would know also that if God gave up His Son to save you, that whatever happens in your life He loves you completely because He's already shown you to what extent He will go to be with you.

What if you believed that death wasn't the end, that you didn't need to fear death because you know the one who has broken the power of it?

Your life would be reordered in such a way that being safe wasn't your top priority. 

You would be free to take risks in order to convey this message because the worst possible thing that could happen to you actually has already been defeated because of Jesus.

You would be free to grieve the loss of loved ones and not be crushed by it because you know that it's not the end. You know that they will see Jesus and together you can see them later when Jesus has made all things new.

Christianity is radical because it sets you free. In Jesus you are set free from competing for jobs and salaries in order to know that you have worth because you can look to the cross and see that you are extremely valued by the only person that really matters. In Jesus you are set free from worrying about dying or losing others to death because you know that even there Jesus will be with us and has defeated the one who has the power of death. In Jesus you are set free to love others without needing them to love you back. In Jesus you are set free to try your hardest and know that even if you fail, He never will.

In Jesus we can know that we don't need to be pefect to be loved by God because He was, and God accepts His sacrifice on our behalf.

2 Cor 5:21 NLT - 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,* so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 

Do you want to be set free like this? I can tell you from my own experience, it is a difficult, terrifying, wonderful, exhilerating adventure. Once you try it, once you know it, once you feel what it's like to experiece the love of Jesus there is no going back. You will be forever changed  and no amount of suffering, injustice, or pain that comes into your life will be able to wrest you from the love that God has for you in Jesus.

Rom 8:31-39 NLT - 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. 

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”*) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,* neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Shadow Vs Substance

Hebrews 10:1 (NIV) — 1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.

____

When I read through the Bible, I'm often tempted to look down on people of the past. "How could they not see what's so obvious?!" I think to myself...

I do this not just with the Bible, but with anything!

"Bell-bottoms? Really?"

I've recently started attending something called reGROUP. It's a ministry where people go to be honest with each other. This is both wonderful and terrifying. I am constantly saying this to myself, "I can't believe I'm going to tell people this story!"

There's healing in being open, honest, and known. It seems counter-intuitive, like if I share the worst parts of myself, if they really knew that, then I wouldn't be accepted. But as you share you find out that everyone has that, you aren't the only person with hurts, hang-ups, habits, and hopelessness.

Anyways, while I'm sharing and listening to other people share...it's always so easy to see what other peoples problems are.

While other people are talking I find myself thinking, "Well that's easy, his problem is so obvious!" But what I don't usually think about until later, after mulling things over, is that my own problems are just as easy for others to see.

We are so blinded to our own faults. Sometimes I wonder if this is a defense mechanism. Would we be able to function if we really understood how terrible we can be?

All that to say, it's easy for us to look at a passage like this and say, "Duh! It's about Jesus, His sacrifice!" Without really putting ourselves in their shoes we lose the meaning and the emphasis here.

Let's contextualize, what is it that you look to in your own life to find security? If you world comes crashing down, where does your heart run for safety? Or, if you are a Christian, what if the world ended and you had to appear before the throne and were asked, "Why should I let you in?" What would be your response?

If the answers to any of those questions was something other than Jesus and his work of redemption on the cross then we are guilty of the same thing that the people referenced in this passage are guilty of.

For the Jewish people, what they would have looked to in order to justify themselves would be their performance at keeping the law. Am I guilty of the same thing? Do I look to my performance in keeping the law to know I'm okay with God? Do I look to my performance at being a Father, a husband, a worker to justify my "righteousness" with God?"

In the text it says, "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship."

Are we doing the same thing? Are we trying to make ourselves perfect by the way we carry out some duty? This text is saying..."that will never work."

There's only one way to draw near to worship the Holy God...the man Jesus Christ. It's only by trusting in His works, His merits, His righteousness that He gives to us that we can draw near.

1 Timothy 2:5–6 (NIV) — 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.


Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Clean

1 John 1:9 (ESV) — 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

____

Jesus death on the cross is like a multifaceted diamond. Each side represents another accomplishment from the cross. Today let's talk about it's cleansing power.

I think one of the hardest things about life is that you carry your mistakes with you. It is hard to not let your mistakes define who you are, because in truth they often do.

We do lots of things to escape our past, new clothes, new haircut, new apartment/house, new friends, new car, new job. 

Our past can make us feel like we are caged, unable to surpass the limits of our mistakes. And it's not even just our mistakes that we are trying to escape. It's not just that you sin, but people have sinned against you.

People lie to us, cheat on us, abuse us physically, emotionally, verbally, etc. Even though you may be innocent, being sinned against can make you feel just as dirty as if the fault were yours. Sometimes this is even worse because we can feel "tainted" by the event and we are unable to repent of it since it's not something we did but rather something that was done to us.

The cross......

Imagine you're a kid again and Mom has a house rule, anyone that tracks mud into the house gets a spanking. Then let's say that you come into the house covered in mud. Some of the mud you got on yourself while you were throwing it at others, some of the mud is from where others have thrown it on you. When it comes time to get the spanking, Jesus is the one that takes the spanking (this is what was talked about in "The Cup" post). But that's not it, if he only took the punishment, that means you're still covered in mud and the problem isn't really solved. You're still filthy...

Jesus atonement on the cross also cleans all of the mud off of you. Mud that you got on yourself, and mud that others threw at you. It's all gone. Not only was your sin placed on Jesus on the cross, he also bore the shame that you feel for your past, the regret that you have for your past. If you've been cheated on, Jesus bore that, if you've been abused, Jesus bore that, if you've been raped, Jesus took that shame on the cross and paid for it.

You don't have to carry your past around with you anymore! Any shame, regret, negative experiences of your past, they were taken care of on calvary. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't consequences, because there are. But I am saying that the emotional weight, the psychological burden that you've been carrying, you don't need to carry it any longer. Jesus paid for that on the cross too so that you can be cleansed of all your sins, those you've committed and those that were committed against you. 

Isaiah 1:18 (NLT) — 18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

1 John 1:7 (NLT) — 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

Ezekiel 36:25a (ESV) — 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses...

1 John 1:9 (ESV) — 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Christus Victor

Hebrews 2:14–15 (NASB95) — 14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

____

Jesus death on the cross is like a multifaceted diamond. Each side represents another accomplishment from the cross. Today let's talk about Jesus as our Christus Victor.

If you were reading the Old Testament, you would be able to tell that there is a Messiah that is prophesied. 

Isaiah 9:6 (NLT) — 6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

You would also have seen that there are "suffering servant" prophesied

Isaiah 53:3 (NLT) — 3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.

But you would never have put these two together.

The Jewish people used to rule themselves. The height of Jewish power was during King David/Solomon. They went from being a powerful, mighty nation to being a nation that is subjugated by foreign powers.

During Jesus time the Romans were in control and the Jews had to answer to them. A Roman soldier could stop any Jew at any time and make him carry his supplies for a mile, the Jew had to obey. The Jews did not have any power except that which Rome allowed them.

The Jewish people all throughout their history have been used by God and God has spoken to them through prophets. However, the Jews had not heard from God in over 400 years (by the time Jesus comes on the scene) and the last thing that they heard from Him was...

Malachi 4:2–3 (NLT) — 2 “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. 3 On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

Malachi 4:5 (NLT) — 5 “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives.

The last they hear is that the Day of the Lord is coming, on that day the wicked will be defeated and Israel will rise. 

400 years of silence...

Then, a crazy man from the desert who eats insects and is dressed in camels hair (this is reminiscent of the prophet Elijah who lived in the desert and was also a little weird) comes out of nowhere says, 

"It's here! The day of the Lord is here!" 

Jesus steps on to the scene...the expectation is that he will be the Messiah who will bring the Jews out from under the Roman rule. That he will be an amazing leader that will unite Israel and lead a war effort to destroy Israel's enemies so that they can rule again.

Instead of being an awesome military leader, Jesus is embarrassingly stripped of any power, he is beaten almost to death, stripped naked, mocked, humiliated in front of the Jewish and Roman people, and nailed to a tree to die (which by the way means he is cursed).

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 (NASB95) — 22 “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.

There were people before Jesus who thought they were Messiah, when they died it proved that they weren't and their followers disbanded.

Jesus is/was different.

Satan didn't realize what he had, he might have believed he was crucifying the Messiah, but he didn't know he was crucifying the second person of the Trinity.

1 Corinthians 2:6–8 (NASB95) — 6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;

Satan took the bait, he crucified Jesus of Nazareth thinking that he was destroying/disrupting God's plans.

Colossians 2:13–15 (NLT) — 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

What Satan thought was his victory was in reality his defeat. Jesus was victorious over Satan, victorious over sin and death and ransomed those who would be redeemed.

1 Timothy 2:5–6 (ESV) — 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

Matthew 20:28 (NLT) — 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

1 Peter 1:18–19 (NLT) — 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

Revelation 5:9–10 (NLT) — 9 And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”

This can be your victory too, even though you never lifted a finger to win it. Ask Jesus to be your Savior, surrender all to him. You don't need to be perfect, come as you are.

John 7:37 (NLT) — 37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!

John 6:40 (NLT) — 40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”

The Cup

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB95) — 21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

____

What happened on the cross? I'm sure you've heard, "Jesus died for me," but what does that even mean?

What was accomplished on the cross is called atonement. You can remember it as at-one-ment, it was God reconciling us to himself. This atonement didn't just accomplish one thing, but rather a myriad of things. The atonement at the cross is like a multi-faceted diamond, where each facet is a different accomplishment of the cross. Today we're going to talk about one of the things that the cross accomplished. 

You aren't born neutral, you are actually born with a propensity to sin. Sinning is what comes natural to a baby. Think about it, did you have to be taught to be selfish? Or, did you have to be taught good manners? Do you have to teach a child that sometimes they can break the rules to get what they want? Or do you have to teach them to respect authority and listen to those that are older than themselves?

Not only do we sin against each other, but we are born wanting to sin against God. No one looks at a Bible for the first time and thinks, "Oh, how wonderful!." I remember a time when I thought reading the Bible would be about as fun as reading through a dictionary.

Also no one wants to submit their plans to God, we want things our way. If I've planned out exactly how my day is supposed to go, I don't want God to change my plans or interfere in any way, I've already got this planned out and I know what I want.

We also don't want help from God, or help period. Think about it, remember Christmas. Don't you feel bad when you get a friend a gift, and they get you a much better, more expensive one than you got them? Why?!.....they didn't get it for you so that you could feel in-debt to them! (unless you have terrible friends)

We don't like to be given things that we didn't earn, and we don't like to ask for help, but this is what God requires. Our natural state rebels against this idea and does not submit to God.

Romans 8:7–8 (NLT) — 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. 8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

Every time we sin, imagine that there's a drop of wrath/judgement that goes into a massive cup that God is holding. This is the imagery that the Bible sometimes uses for the wrath of God.

Jeremiah 49:12 (NLT) — 12 And this is what the Lord says: “If the innocent must suffer, how much more must you! You will not go unpunished! You must drink this cup of judgment!

You were watching porn...drip...you stole something when you wouldn't get caught...drop... you've been talking behind your friends back....drip...you slept with your girlfriend...drop...

Sin isn't just when you do things that you shouldn't, sin is always when you don't do things that you should. So if you know you should go help your friend move, you are completely capable of doing it, and choose not to because you want to stay home and play video games/watch tv...that's a sin.

Imagine that this has been happening your whole life, the cup is getting more and more full. If you stay this course, at the end of your life on earth, you are going to have this cup of wrath poured out on you.

John 3:36 (NASB95) — 36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

On the cross Jesus did what is known as "the great exchange."

Jesus, who was sinless...

Hebrews 4:15 (ESV) — 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus became my sin on the cross. He became an alcoholic, a fornicator, a liar, a cheater, thief, a porn watcher, a pot-head. That cup that we were talking about, Jesus refers to it before he goes to the cross

Matthew 26:39 (NLT) — 39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Matthew 26:42 (NLT) — 42 Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Jesus went to the cross, he drank the cup of God's wrath on the cross.

You want to know what a real man looks like? 

Jesus was able to weep with his friends when Lazarus died, to comfort and empathize with Lazarus' family...but when he was beaten nearly to death, carried a cross on his shredded up, bleeding back to a hill outside of town, was nailed to that same cross and hung on it for the salvation of all those who believe.......he didn't shed a tear. That's what a man looks like.

The cup that has God's wrath for the sins that I've committed, Jesus drank every last drop on the cross. When that cup comes to me, it's empty!

Romans 5:8–9 (ESV) — 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

The sinless one became sin on the cross, my sin, and now when Jesus looks at me he "reckons" or "accounts" Christ's perfect life to me. When Jesus looks at me he says, "there is no sin in that man." It was a switch!

Because of my faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and his substitutionary death for me on the cross, God sees me and it's 

*Just as if I'd never sinned

*Just as if I'd always obeyed

All of my sins, all of your sins if you place your trust in him, past, present, future sins, they were all paid for on the cross by Jesus the second person of the Trinity.

You're free!

John 8:36 (NLT) — 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

Galatians 5:13 (NLT) — 13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.