Death to Life
When I reflect upon the times I’ve had the privilege to preach before a congregation and my favorite or most important messages, one that comes to mind is a message I gave last year during Good Friday at a church in Ada, Ohio. Pastor Patrick conducted most of the service, but he wanted to give me the opportunity to deliver the message.
Something many may not realize is the great importance in Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and I gravitate towards Good Friday especially. I grew up in a traditional church where our Good Friday services were called the Tenebrae service (meaning “darkness” in Latin). I remember lights slowly dimming as the service progressed. I recall choking up as we read the words of the crowd in Matthew 27 and John 19 who called for Barabbas to be freed and for Jesus to be crucified. The voices still echo of a congregation, usually so jovial and boisterously singing hymns like “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus,” were instead mournfully singing, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” It was a time of reflection and understanding the price of our sins and what Jesus endured.
I reflected upon these memories as I spoke that Good Friday in Ada. I explained the importance of remembering that day. It’s so easy to focus on Easter, to want to rush to the Resurrection. However, it’s a disservice, it’s blasphemous even, to overlook or downplay the role we played in the Crucifixion of our Lord and the reason why Jesus died on a Cross.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Easter. Easter is hands-down my favorite holiday (and not just because of my sweet-tooth). But there is no Easter if there is no Good Friday or Maundy Thursday. When we ignore the beatings, the mocking, the agony Jesus suffered on our behalf, are we any better than Peter who said to Jesus, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you” (Matthew 16:22, ESV)?
“How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” written by Stuart Townend is a powerful worship song that details the importance of understanding Jesus didn’t come down to Earth just to hang out and then randomly declare us forgiven of sins. Townend writes powerful lines such as, “it was my sin that held Him there / Until it was accomplished / His dying breath has brought me life / I know that it is finished” and “Why should I gain from His reward? / I cannot give an answer / But this I know with all my heart / His wounds have paid my ransom.” He demonstrates a true understanding that Christ’s suffering and death is integral to our understanding of salvation.
Paul also makes the connection in Romans 6:5-11:
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (ESV.)
We look at the Crucifixion with eyes blinded by tears, for we remember the wages of sin is death, and God Himself willingly paid the price that we deserved. We realize sin isn’t just a minor blemish or oopsie, it separates us from our Holy Father. But understanding the Crucifixion also makes us more understanding of the wonders of the Resurrection. Jesus bore all the sins of all His followers, and His resurrection demonstrates that not even Death itself has mastery over Him. Jesus holds victory in His hands, and as a living sacrifice, has freed us from our sentence to Hell and restored our relationship with the Father. The darkness, the sobriety, the recognition of our sins underscores the Light, the joy, the recognition of what Jesus has done for us. From death to life. It reminds us that as we go through our own Good Fridays when we endure hardship, suffering, or are reminded of our sinfulness, that Jesus bore it at an even greater degree while sinless and holds victory and salvation, preparing a place for us in the Father’s house. We can feel hopeful while suffering, we can rejoice while weeping.
Easter/Resurrection Sunday is so wonderful as it’s the culmination of what Jesus taught and foretold. Easter recognizes Christmas and Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but also provides the lasting hope: Jesus died for our sins, but lives that we might live in Him! There is no more need to despair in our sins, for we have been forgiven, and the Resurrection proves that we have victory in Jesus, our Savior forever!
As we continue into the season of Lent, progressing through Holy Week towards Easter, and even afterwards, we are given the wonderful opportunity to reflect upon all aspects of the Gospel. We are reminded to explain and share the full story of Jesus to others. We don’t worship Jesus because He was a nice guy or simply because He rose from the dead, but because He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who became the Mediator, dying on our behalf for our sins, rising from the dead to show victory over it, that we may be restored to the Father and receive eternal life. And we recall that Easter isn’t the end of the story. We now live in the truth and hope of Christ coming again, and have been given the mission to be people who “publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” (Isaiah 52:7). Rejoice in the Good News and tell all that Jesus reigns!
Unconditional God
I love how much easier it is to be connected with friends and family via the phone. While social media felt tedious for the brief time I had it, I enjoy one-on-one calls and texting jokes to my siblings. Of course, I especially love calling while on a road trip. However, as many of you can recall, calls weren’t always a guarantee. Sometimes, your phone would randomly lose signal. You would race around the house or office, hoping to reconnect. You brought your phone up as high as your arms could stretch, as if handing it up to God so that He could make it work again.
I especially remember being in college and would call family as I went on walks. I can never stand still when on the phone, I have to be doing something else! Ohio Northern University has a beautiful campus with some wonderfully winding paths, with one even leading through a wooded area. The only problem: the campus was flat (even dubbed ‘the tundra’). Any breeze would either hurt the signal or make it difficult to be heard over the phone. I had to find the right time and place if I wanted to be heard.
Thank the Lord it is not that way with Him! For polytheistic religions, the gods were only able to preside over certain aspects of the world. One may be called the god of storms, another is the god of agriculture, another is the god of the sun. In Greek Mythology, certain gods only had “control” over specific cities: Apollo had influence over Delphi and Delos, Athena over Athens, and Aphrodite over Cythera and Cyprus (to name a few). The gods were considered powerful, but they had a limited range of power.
This explains the lead up to a battle in 1 Kings 20. In the time of King Ahab, a prophet reveals to him that God will give victory over Syria and its king, Ben-hadad. Ahab (surprisingly) obeys, and as Scripture says, “And each struck down his man. The Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them, but Ben-hadad king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. And the king of Israel went out and struck the horses and chariots, and struck the Syrians with a great blow” (1 Kings 20:20-21).
Embarrassed and dumbfounded, the king of Syria tried to rationalize why they lost. He came to this conclusion by the help of his servants: “Their gods are gods of the hills, and so they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they” (1 Kings 20:23). God speaks through the prophet again to Ahab and again tells him to fight against the Syrians. Who do you think won? God of course! God assures Ahab: “I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD” (1 Kings 20:28).
A strange passage to consider as we enter spring (in my defense, it takes place during spring!), but it speaks to a timeless truth: God is not constrained by time or space. I’ve said this before, but we are not constricted to only pray in church or only during the hours of 9am-5pm. We do not have to constrict our prayers to only being about the weather, about financial security, health, or knowledge/wisdom. We can come to God anywhere at any time to ask for anything.
This seems obvious, but the reality of our God as Unconditional seems to get clouded when we deal with particularly weighty matters. When we are especially concerned about the state of the nation, do we find ourselves going to God in prayer, or do we find ourselves going to politicians? This was the issue Ahab found himself in later in the chapter when he eventually befriended Ben-Hadad instead of wiping him out. Why do we find ourselves frustrated over our sin and scared to repent to God for the umpteenth time? There is no cap to His forgiveness! He doesn’t say, “this is the third time this month she has asked to be forgiven over a sin like this, I have hit the maximum number of times I can forgive her”!
Just as the power of God is unmatched, so is His love. There is a reassurance in knowing God will not leave our side. Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We have no reason to fret over Him walking away from us just as we have no reason to fret that He is unable to make the grass grow! The love of God is not conditional upon our wavering faithfulness, but on Christ’s perfect faithfulness which is given (“imputed”) to us when we accept Christ as Savior and Lord. His care for you is not dependent upon the weather, the time of year, or wherever you are. He is always loving you perfectly!
When we as a church are dealing with questions, difficulties, or uncertainties, may we not feel that God is distant from us. God is not only with us when things are going well, but He is especially with us when we are in pain or suffering. As we enter Spring: the reminder of new life and new beginnings, may we recall the New Life we have received in Christ. This New Life has no expiration date, no “only good in these locations,” no “only acceptable if you’ve done this many good things.” This New Life we have received by faith in Christ is for us to keep. The connection we have with God is unbreakable. The power of our God is immeasurable. In a world with fair-weather friends, ever-shifting politics, and worldly predictions that almost never seem to come true, always remember the words of Jesus, “I am with you always, [even] to the end of the age.”
