Dying with Jesus

Prayer

Jesus Died for Sin Once and for All

Throughout Lent we’ve been looking at what it means to be Good News People, people who have heard the good news of Jesus, received it, believed it - received it as an invitation to live in a whole new way of life, the way of Jesus Christ. To follow him into abundant life. Tonight, as we reflect on the final events of Jesus’ life - the last supper with his disciples, his arrest and trials, finally, his execution - his brutal death on a cross.

Tonight we want to see the Good News in Jesus’ crucifixion, why tomorrow is known as Good Friday. And what Jesus’ death on the cross invites us to do, how do we live in response to it? As we’ve been going through the series I’ve been reminded why it’s so essential for us to keep coming back to this story, to keep coming back to the Gospel - because we need this message, all that makes it such good news, to make its way deep in our minds and hearts.

That’s the whole idea here, of what I mean by Good News People - that this news is the very foundation of our lives. It’s what gets us up and going every morning. It’s our anchor through all the storms of life. It’s what moves the mundane aspects of our life into opportunities to be part of God’s great kingdom work. To be a part of lives changed because of Jesus Christ. Because unless the story of Jesus is good news to us, we’ll never be motivated to share the good news with others. After all, you share the news you’re genuinely excited about.

Want to start with reading through Romans 6:1-14, here we’re going to see what the cross is all about, and why it’s good news for us. Spoiler alert, it’s simply this: Jesus Christ died to sin once for all. He defeated it completely. It is finished. And the invitation is that we would be united with him in this, that we, too, would die to sin. That’s going to be our focus this evening. Romans 6:1-14:

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

So, I want to break this down into two parts - first, the good news part - Jesus Christ died to sin once for all. Second, what does it mean, what does it look like for us to join with Jesus in dying to sin? First, Jesus dying for our sin. Now if we miss this, we miss the good news. Growing up, going to Catholic school, every Friday during Lent we would make our way from the school to the church for the Stations of the Cross. Catholic practice of walking along with Jesus towards the cross, each “station” being one of the events (his arrest, the trials, being flogged, etc.). Every time we would do this, I would have a deep sense of sadness, I hated what they did to Jesus, how unfair it was, how cruel it was. I wanted the story to be different - I didn’t want Jesus to have to suffer as terribly as he did, especially since I knew he was innocent. It was unjust and I didn’t like it.

But here was the problem - It wasn’t good news to me because what I didn’t see was what Jesus was doing - that he was doing this willingly. That he was doing this for us. For me. For our sins. As Paul writes, “The death he died, he died to sin once and for all.” That’s such a short statement, but to just take a moment to consider what that means, to say that Jesus died to sin once and for all.

To think that when Paul says “to sin”, he’s taking about all sin. Every single last offense against God from the tiniest white lie to the most egregious, most inhumane acts ever perpetuated by one person against another (or against a whole group of others). There was a story recently of a man in Kansas who wanted to hold a Black Mass in the Kansas State Capitol. He’s a Satanist - Black Mass is a worship service dedicated to Satan. Central part of the service is to pervert the Catholic Mass - to take the consecrated host (in the Catholic tradition, the belief in Communion is that the bread becomes the actual physical body of Jesus, the wine becomes his blood - that’s what they mean by consecrated host). Whether you believe that or not about the bread and the wine, intention is there, to mock and denigrate Jesus, to openly worship Satan over Jesus. Jesus died even for that blatant of sin.

Whatever the sin in your life, Jesus died to it. It’s included. And it’s not just the whole scope of the sins that we commit, but over the whole scope of time - once and for all. Every sin from the moment Adam and Eve sank their teeth into the forbidden fruit (then lied about it, and blamed each other) until the moment that the heavens open up and the trumpet sounds and Jesus himself returns - however many thousands of years that may entail (only God knows). To just stop for a moment to consider what that says about you, your sin. My sin.

I don’t know if you’re like me in this, but there are times I’ve shied away from God because of my awareness of my sin. Somehow, in my mind, I think - I know I’ve disappointed God (sure disappointed myself), and so in my warped thinking, the better strategy is to avoid him. I live in the guilt of it, rather than trusting that Jesus died for all my sins. The ones I committed long before I came to faith in Jesus, all the ways I fell short today - and the sins I’m going to commit tomorrow, and the day after that and the day after that, all of them.

So there’s no reason to shy away. Quite the opposite, it’s all the more reason to keep coming back to Jesus. Even when I’m sure I’ve disappointed him, he died for those sins as well. Once and for all.

Finally, to take seriously that Jesus covered sin completely is take seriously that it covers every single person that has ever existed from the dawn of humanity. Every single person - all eight billion living now, across the globe, from the seemingly most innocent people to the most vile, evil people, those who belong in the “Evil Hall of Fame.” There is no one who is unforgivable. There is no one beyond the reach of the saving grace of Jesus. And when you consider the terrible things people do, that says a lot.

And honestly, as we receive this news, it will transform not just the way we see ourselves, but others. As a spiritual exercise, try this one day. As you go about your day and you look at others, see them as people for whom Jesus died. For them, for their sins. That Jesus loves them (as he does us), that much.

I promise you it will transform the way you see others. It’s hard to be judgmental or critical when you look at others in the way Jesus sees them (sees us) - as people precious enough to lay his life down for. If only they knew that for themselves (maybe they do - or maybe they don’t and we might get to share that with them). If only we would truly, truly trust that for ourselves. Jesus died to my sin. To receive this beautiful, amazing, humbling gift, this gift of love, to simply receive it. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you.

Dying with Jesus

This receiving the gift is how we begin to live into the invitation that this good news offers us, to join with Jesus in dying to sin. This is the primary point of Paul’s teaching here - he begins countering the argument that someone might make that if God’s grace is what covers our sin, then we should sin more, so God’s grace would increase. Paul is like - don’t be a dummy! The whole reason Jesus went to the cross was to die to sin - and when we trust in him, when we receive the good news that Jesus died for us, we share in that. We are baptized into his death - so we can join with him in rising to new life (which is what we’ll be looking at on Sunday!).

So that’s the big question, what does that mean? How do we join with Jesus in dying to sin? Paul is really helpful here in what he teaches.

Paul writes in verse 11, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” So, what’s the same way? What does it mean to count ourselves dead to sin? Paul is encouraging us to have the same mindset as Jesus, that sin, sin in me, I want to die to that, once and for all. I want it gone. Out of my life. I don’t want sin to have a hold on any aspect of my life. I want to be set free from sin and its evil desires in me.

We should find sin in us so egregious that we are committed to join with Jesus in dying to sin. Now, because we can fall so easily into the trap that we should just be able to muster the willpower to do this, to act good in and of ourselves - let me make clear that is is a long, slow, gradual process. Sin is deeply ingrained in us, habits are well formed. We can only do this through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. God working in us. We want to remember that we always do this in and through the grace of Jesus Christ. Please hear that.

Remembering that (grace!), we want it to be a central commitment of our lives that we join with Jesus in dying to sin, that, we, too, have been crucified to it. We should look at sin, “You’re dead to me.” Take the attitude - I don’t want to harbor anger or malice toward others. It should bother me when I’m impatient or too easily critical of others. When I give in to lust. When I talk about others behind their back. When I let fear control my actions - or I’m too concerned with what others think of me. When I let the stuff of the day become greater priorities to me than being with Jesus, they become too important to me, more important than Jesus. I want those thoughts, those attitudes, those actions, dead in me.

So that’s the first part of it, counting ourselves dead to sin - the other side of that coin is what we instead live for. Like Jesus, in the same way, we want to live to God. We want to count ourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus. As Paul writes here, “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.”

So the way we live to God is to offer ourselves to him, openly and fully - every part of ourselves. My eyes - Lord, may I look on others, not with lust or envy or judgment, but may I see them as you do, in love. I offer my tongue, not to tear down but to build up, to encourage - as Paul says, an instrument of righteousness. That’s true of every aspect of who we are - our hands, what we do, our mind, how we think, our stomachs - our appetites. Our hearts, given over to Jesus in love.

Several years ago, when I was doing my spiritual pilgrimage to the Holy Land, God began to reveal to him how critical of heart I can be, I can be too suspicious, closed off too quickly to others at times. It was a humbling revelation (I don’t want my heart that way!).

The main sites to visit can get really crowded (lots of pilgrims and tourists), so one morning I got up early to make my way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - built over Golgotha, the hill on which Jesus was crucified. You go up a flight of stairs, there’s an altar there, hole in the floor beneath the altar.

I was reflecting on what God had been revealing to me as I made my way into that part of the church - going to altar, putting my hand through the hole, you can touch the rock beneath. The place that the cross of Jesus stood. The place where he hung on that Friday afternoon, held aloft by the nails in his hands and feet. But more accurately, held aloft by his love for us, his willingness to die to sin, once and for all, so that we might be free from its grip. Tears struck as I prayed that that critical spirit would be put to death in me. That I would unite with Jesus in dying to that in in me.

This is the invitation of the cross. This is what it means to be a Good News Person, to share in Jesus’ crucifixion, to die to sin in order to live toward God.

As we come to a close, we’re going to have a time of silent prayer and reflection. Invite you to take the nail as you pray. As a symbol of what in you you want to be crucified with Christ.