Untitled Sermon (10)

Introdution: Why is the cross so significant.

Have you ever contmplated the question: What possible good is a Dead Messiah? Adam Hamilton, the author of the book and the inspiration of this sermon series, “Why Did Jesus have to Die?” begins his preface by saying, “At the heart of the Christian faith is Jesus”. Jesus’s short 33 year life span shook up Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the whole world forever. If the story of Jesus was fiction, it would be a global best seller. But due to the authors and witness of Scripture, we know Jesus story is not only true but it has changed countless lives since the first century. If you want to know the complete story of Jesus you must engage all 4 Gospels that tells of all that Jesus said and did during his public ministry. Jesus was more than a descendant of David, more than a carpenter or son of a Carpenter, more than a preist, prophet, and King and more than a little baby boy of a virgin . He was God sent into this world for a reason, from his miraclous baptism and mysterious resurrection, He was sent because God loved us!

And just like Jesus himself, Jesus’s life, death and resurrection is one of the most important tenets to our Christian belief through God’s grace offered to us without price by his Son’s sacrifice on the cross. Matthhew’s Gospels informs its readers that Jesus traveled among all the cities and villlages, teaching in their synagogues, announcing the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and every sickness (Matt 9.35). While each Gospel tells of Jesus’ words and deeds, they all point to his trial, crucifixion, death and resurrection.

Did you know, as Hamilton declared, “Matthew devotes 30 percent of his gospel to the last days of Jesus? For the gospel of Mark, it is 40 percent. Luke tells his readership that “Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem”(NIV). Then he spends 62 percent of his Gospel telling of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem to be crucified and the events where He is taken up and everything that occurred after that event. And 47 percent of John’s Gospel is focused on the final week of Jesus life says Hamilton. The significance of the Gospel writers concentration on the Crucifixion & Resurrection evidences those events as the pennacle of God’s work in Christ. According to Hamilton, It is impossible to understand Jesus without understanding His crucifiixion.

So What good is a dead Messiah? Before his conversion, Paul found the idea of a crucified messiah absurd. But throughout the new testament, the authors who wrote it post -resurrection, offer at least ten metaphors to describe the meaning of his cruxifixion but these are insufficient glimpses of the saving work of Christ.

Perhaps you have tried to articulate or experess the logic of the cross and found your answer seriously lacking. Many believe in it but they dont fully understand it. For this reason, we will seek to understand theories of atonement about the work of Jesus on the cross. Was this act of sacriice accomplished for reconcilliation of man back to God. Was it some kind of ransom to be paid for liberation? Was it poweverful example of God’s victory over sin and evil through Jesus Christ? Was it an act of substition so that a just God’s punishment would be satisfied? Or perhaps it is in some degree a combination of all with the benefits and shortcomings that land us in belwilderment and the cross events seems to be just beyond the grasp of our logic. Perhaps this why the death of Jesus, his resurrection, and asencion are described as a mystery.

Over the next six weeks, I hope this sermon series helps hearers make sense of the Cross so that we might hear God speak and see the expansiveness of Christ saving work. I pray we would be able to say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 )

What Lead to the Crucifixion? — From His Proponents Perspective