Altar’d: Freedom
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Throughout this season of Lent, we have concentrated on the subject of surrender. If we are desiring personal and spiritual transformation, it begins with surrender. I believe it was the first sermon in this series where I quoted John Piper on his explanation of surrender.
“The picture of surrender is that once we were enemies and our lives were at odds with God. We did not submit to him. We were not surrendered to him. We were our own masters, doing our own will, robbing God of not only everything he’s given to us, but our souls as well. Then a miracle happens: We’re born again, and everything turns around. We don’t want to withhold anything from God anymore. We are eager to be totally at his disposal: to do anything he wants at any cost. We want to do it in the power that he supplies, so that in everything he gets the glory. That’s what it means to be saved from the old way.”
The title of today’s sermon is Freedom - that is what we find when we surrender to God, Freedom.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Who doesn’t want to live in freedom? Yet until you surrender, you remain in bondage. Bound to old wounds and old wrongs. Bound to sin and bound to shame. This is what we need to bring to the altar.
If you have been following along with our daily reading of the book Altar’d - you may recall the author Susan Kent describing the following in the introduction:
In the Old Testament, God’s people brought a sacrifice to the altar. They were given instructions on what to bring and how to offer it. Some of the offerings were brought to proclaim their obedience or to be consecrated for their work. Some offerings were brought as a surrender of their firstfruits, or to offer their thanksgiving. Other sacrifices were made as an atonement for their sin. In the New Testament, Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice surrendered on the cross, but Jesus also surrendered Himself daily. He surrendered His life to show others the way to restoration with the Father through humility and service.
Today begins week 5 of this series and we will be looking at the sin offering. Next week, Palm Sunday, we will close by examining the guilt offering. The sin offering and guilt offering are closely related.
“If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt, when the sin which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting.
For the ancient people of Israel, the sin offering covered unintentional sin or a sin that they were not aware of, or one a person may not yet have faced, but then they do become aware of it.
The sacrifice is a sacrifice of atonement and there is forgiveness of sin.
Each of the sacrifices we have studied so far reveal the love that God has for His people without diminishing His Holiness. How is one able to draw near to a Holy God with our propensity to do what is wrong in His eyes. God provides a way.
Through surrender at the Altar - the place where people encountered God, our Lord provided a means of His grace. As we have learned so far, God instructed His people to give:
a burnt offering as an atonement for sin in general and to show that the people are “all in”.
a grain offering as an expression of devotion to God, recognizing His goodness and providence.
the peace offering was to consecrate a meal between two or more parties before God and share that meal together in fellowship of peace and a commitment to each others’ future prosperity.
and today, the sin offering.
All of these offerings restored relationship, albeit temporarily, between the person and God and the person and their neighbor. I say temporarily because it was never one sacrifice for all time, but had to be repeated. The priests were kept busy receiving and offering sacrifices for the people. Animals were used as substitutes for the people and a lot of blood was shed - because the penalty of sin is death.
Each offering served a purpose. So what was the purpose of the sin offering? This offering was necessary because sin weighs us down when it is not dealt with and becomes a barrier in our relationship with the Lord. Unconfessed sin does not just go away - it has to be dealt with if God is to be just and we are to be in right relationship with him.
Picture it this way. we have painted quite a few rooms in the past few months. When I go to Sherwin Williams and pick up a gallon of white paint, I take it to the counter and show the color swatch that I am interested in. I watch as they take the paint can over to the mix station, remove the lid, and select the code for the color I want. A small stream of color squirts into the can, which is then sealed up and shaken together in the machine.
When the lid is removed, what was a can of white is now a whole different color.
Now since God is holy - since he is the ultimate expression of pure love, righteousness, justice, goodness - He cannot be one with that which is sinful or it would change who He is - just as the injection of a few drops of color changes the composition of the whole gallon can. We must be pure to enter into his presence. Sin must be dealt with, the penalty must be paid, in order for God to be one with us.
I’m jumping ahead, but you can see why Jesus died on the cross. To pay the penalty - to void out the sin.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If we are desiring transformation, we must surrender everything to the Lord - including our sin. All of it. The sin we know of - that which we can easily recognize. Also, the unintentional sin. The sin that we may not have been aware of. And there is the sin that is back there, in our past, sin that we have not yet have faced. Maybe we have told ourselves - what is past is past, why go dig up what is buried?
Because unconfessed sin don’t just go away. What needs to come out will come out one way or another. Skeletons need to be dragged out of the closet and properly buried if you are to be set free.
We see this very truth played out in the story of Jacob.
Jacob was a guy with a colorful past. The grandson of Abraham, the son of Isaac, Jacob was born as a twin - his brother Esau came out of the womb first and Jacob right after him, his hand holding Esau’s heel. His name Jacob, means “He takes by the heel”, it also means “he cheats.” He lived into his name.
According to the way of the ancients, a father’s blessing of the first born son was a big deal. A spoken word would determine the life to be lived. When the patriarch of the family was ready to pass on the promise and destiny of his family to the next generation, he would lay hands on his oldest son and give a blessing. Once spoken - it was irrevocable.
Jacob tricked his father, Isaac, whose eyesight had become very poor in his old age, to thinking he was Esau. Isaac blessed Jacob, and Jacob become the one who would carry on God’s covenant with Abraham.
May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”
His shortsighted trickery resulted in unintended consequences - Esau threatened to kill him and Jacob had to quickly flee to a far away territory, Paddan-aram, and live among his mother’s family.
During his flight to his new home, he stopped to camp for the night, and in his dream, God spoke to him.
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Jacob continued his journey and settled in with his extended family - marrying two of his cousins. His uncle Laban was a cheat as well - so for the decades, this dysfunctional family took advantage of each other.
Until the day that God called Jacob to return home.
It was time to face his past. Not just to face his brother, but also his sin. A transformation needed to occur. He needed to stop being his own master, doing his own will, and surrender to God.
This is what occurs in our passage reading we heard read this morning. Jacob was heading home. At first he was hoping to let by gones be by gones, he sent out some servants ahead of him to bring gifts to his brother, but then he received word back that his brother along with 400 men were on there way to meet him.
The weight of his sin, and the thought of the consequences of his actions, was too much to bear. He dropped to his knees and asked for the Lord’s deliverance. He doesn’t confess - but he does ask for help.
That night, he sends his family across a river and he stays back alone - probably intending to wrestle with God in anguishing prayer, but God decides to come in the form of a man and actually wrestle Jacob. Many theologians see this as a pre-incarnate visitation of Jesus in the Old Testament. God in the flesh. Jacob wrestles all night with this mysterious stranger, trying to get the upper hand, grappling with all his might. Determined to win. As daylight began to break, the mysterious man has had enough - and with one touch, wrenches Jacobs hip out of joint. I read that the hip is one of the most secure joints in your body. It takes a lot to dislocate that joint, more than a touch. Jacob realizes who he has been wrestling with. Instead of fighting to get free of his opponent, he now clings to him. The man says “let me go” and Jacob replies, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”
This is surrender. And with surrender comes Freedom.
Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Have you striven with God? Have you let go of your life and clinged to Him?
Have you confessed your sin, all of it, and sought His blessing?
I heard this definition of confession this week:
“To confess is to agree with God about what is true”
We are going to set aside some time this morning for confession. I invite you to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you in your mind right now any sin that is in need of confession - no matter how much time has passed. May He bring it to the present to be dealt with right here and right now.
One of the speakers as a conference I once attended, his name is John Tyson - on the last night of the conference, invited folks to confess unconfessed sins.
He told them they had 2 choices - humble yourself now and deal with God or you will be humiliated - for it will come out, it will be dealt with
That is the law of the universe. All wrongs will be made right.
Deal with it now with God, bring it before him, only the Grace and mercy of God can forgive it. Freedom is available - God offers it when we just surrender.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Your first responsibility is deal with God, get right with him. Once you have striven with the Lord, you are free and able to then, where appropriate and possible, go to those you need to make amends with. Jacob found peace with Esau after he surrendered.
On the cross, Jesus paid for all past sins in the present. God is not looking to punish you and condemn you when you confess. You confess so that you may be healed and transformed.
Let’s start this time of confession with the prayer of …
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Pray where you are or come up to the altar railing. Let’s go before the Lord.