Father, into your hands
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Love Ran Red
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”: Surrender
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Through this series we have been looking at the last words of Jesus from the cross and how these words might apply to us as though he were speaking them to us, today.
We began with:
Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
Mother behold your son, brother behold your mother; how Jesus was creating a new family…us the church
These words describe the life of Jesus as much as they do the moment of his death.
I thirst; how Jesus was a real man, who died a real death and who now calls us to serve
My God, My God why have you forsaken me?; how even in the darkest of days, because of what Jesus has done we can trust that God is with and for us
Today you will be with me in paradise; coming to understand that no one is out of Jesus reach
Today you will be with me in paradise
It is finished; but it is not over
Now, finally we have gotten to the last - final words.
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Luek
Jesus lived his life showing the world what it means to love. Describing his life of Jesus as much as they do the moment of his death. That’s why we say that Love Ran Red on the cross on the first Good Friday.
Jesus lived his life showing the world what it means to love. These words describe the life of Jesus as much as they do the moment of his death. That’s why we say that Love Ran Red on the cross on the first Good Friday.
The reason Jesus displayed what it meant to love is because he lived his entire life in surrender to God. Everything he did was as a result of his relationship with God the father.
This made Jesus a bit intimidating to people who didn’t understand him.
That’s true for us as well right.
Spiritual people are intimidating
Spiritual people are intimidating
If we were to go out and ask people on the street and they would tell you that spiritual people are intimidating. Michelle and I went to a conference last summer called Aldersgate. We met folks there who are truly spiritual, and let me tell you, some of them were a bit intimidating. I don’t have a problem praying in public, but we get scared of folks who are willing to not just pray out loud in the grocery store. Even tell them to get down on their knees right in the produce isle to pray. Or get down on our face in the parking lot in prayer. spiritual people are intimidating to people who don’t understand.
But this should tell us something about living faithfully. There is a difference in believing and following.
Spiritual people can be intimidating.
But this should tell us something about living faithfully. There is a difference in believing and following.
Believing and following Jesus are two different things.
Believing and following Jesus are two different things.
Believing isn’t intimidating. People can believe what they want. But followers are different.
The difference is a matter of surrender.
The difference is a matter of surrender.
Followers have accepted that the their leader is worth following. They don’t just believe it, they have staked their future on it. They have given up doing things that used to make sense. They’ve given up the old ways in order to do new things the way their leader directs them to.
ILLUSTRATION:
Grew up working with my family.
My first job…no one was buying me lunch or picking me up. I had to get there, I had to provide my own food, even coffee…they were cheap.
Like a new job.... this is how we handle the mail, this is how payroll works, this is how lunch breaks work.
In the same way a new life in Jesus brings about surrender of old ways.
Following Jesus costs us something.
Following Jesus costs us something.
It doesn’t cost like an admission fee, but it costs all the other ways we could do things. We simply can’t be followers of Jesus and it not cost us something. That’s why a lot of people don’t want to follow Jesus.
Some come and check out Jesus. They hear followers of Jesus talk about how they give up their free time to serve one another. How they take their Saturday morning to clean up the church, or their Thursday afternoons to peal turnips, or their Friday nights to grill chicken, their Sunday mornings to teach Sunday school. They think of how little free time they have and decide that their free time will cost too much. They are out.
Some hear how followers of Jesus look for ways to be generous with their money in order to make sure people in need have things they need, and they decide…that’s not for me, I work for mine and others should work for theirs too…Generosity just costs too much.
They may hear followers of Jesus admit their mistakes, and confess their habits and sins; and decide that they can’t pay the cost it would be to their reputation
Wouldn’t it be easier if we could all just believe and not follow?
Wouldn’t it be easier if we could all just believe and not follow?
Of course it would.... but then we would be missing the point.
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Jesus made it pretty clear here. The only way to have a relationship with God is to surrender my way to his way; to surrender my life to him.
Jesus’s surrender would lead him to the cross, where he would die for you and me. God would count his death for the debt of our sins and he would rise again to conquer death and provide the means for our eternal life, but in order to participate in this new life, we have to follow him to the cross, our place of sacrifice, and die to our way as we take on his way.
The cross is a place where Jesus died and where we die too.
The cross is a place where Jesus died and where we die too.
The cross that Jesus was called to was a real place of torturous death. His death was for our sin. Our sin is now paid. A relationship with God is now been opened to those who believe. So now what must die in us is pride, selfishness, ego, me first living because
When we follow Jesus, we submit our desires and selfish aims.
When we follow Jesus, we submit our desires and selfish aims.
to him.
But, frankly, this is too much for some - most people.
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
That’s how it was when Jesus taught this the first time. Things haven’t changed much, it’s still the reason many people don’t follow Jesus. It’s too much for some people in the church even. They like church and the family we have, but sacrifice? Not so much…I’m OK with just believing.
I would ask you if it’s too much for you?
Now don’t get me wrong here. Believing is important. You can’t surrender like Jesus did without truly believing. The kind of believing that Jesus showed us is a believing that shapes behavior.
Believing is the beginning,
Believing is the beginning,
Believing is the beginning, then we follow.
Believing is the beginning, then we follow.
and then our beliefs begin to shape our behaving…we become followers.
Jesus followed his beliefs all the way to the cross.
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
Jesus would say that if we are living surrendered as he did, our beliefs lead to our cross.
Jesus would say that if we are living surrendered as he did, our beliefs lead to our cross.
Naturally we are scared of this sort of thinking and talking. We are scared to give up our life. We are so drawn to this life that the thought of losing it is scary. Jesus proved though, that there is something more important than saving your life. Jesus’s love running red, proved that the more important thing is losing your life for a purpose.
ILLUSTRATION: You go first.
Cliff diving
I don’t mean Jesus had a suicidal act, no he sacrificed so that we would be able to sacrifice. Because it is so hard, someone had to go first so we could see that it is possible.
Because of what Jesus did on the cross, first we can die to ourselves. The Holy Spirit enables us to love others sacrificially.
Because of what Jesus did on the cross, first we can die to ourselves. The Holy Spirit enables us to love others sacrificially.
And what we find when we love sacrificially, is that we were born for this.
In order to have life, we have to lose our lives.
In order to have life, we have to lose our lives.
I talked this week about Jesus being the good shepherd and we are his sheep.
If we put sheep in a pen, what would the sheep think?…aaahhh
What would the shepherd think? Food water, safety, shelter,
Sheep of a good shepherd never feel restricted, but they feel alive.
Some of you know this.
You know that being generous helps you feel alive.
You know that serving someone else, while inconvenient, is the best way to live.
What in your life needs to die so you can truly follow Jesus?
What in your life needs to die so you can truly follow Jesus?
Today, palm Sunday should be an easy day to submit to Jesus. Today is the day we remember that he came into the city of Jerusalem as the King. People were losing their minds for Jesus...just like at a ball game or a race.
How often do we lose our minds for Jesus?
I grew up where you didn't clap in church, you didn't show emotion because you were supposed to be different.
When Jesus responds to the darkness that surrounds Him by praying, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit," do His circumstances change in any tangible way? If not, what is the point of praying such a prayer?
Read aloud as a prayer, noticing the way the psalmist's recollection of his difficulty grates against the confident advice we often hear in a culture that impatiently prefers constant optimism and a positive mental attitude. How does this prayer of David summarize the life experience of Jesus? Is it even healthy to pray this kind of prayer?
Assuming that Jesus is remembering all of verse 5 when He prays from His cross, what would you suspect regarding His emotional state as He dies - what is He focusing on as this prayer is on His lips?
Having prayed the entire text of , what do you now think about this sixth word of Jesus on His cross - were these last words a cry of resignation and despair or an affirmation of faith and hope?
C.S. Lewis wrote these words in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe regarding the innocent character Aslan dying in the place of the guilty boy Edmund, “Death itself would start working backward.” How did Jesus dying for us cause death to work backward?
Finishing this study, in what ways have you seen Christ’s suffering? Has it made you appreciate His sacrifice differently? Has your concept of sin changed? Why or why not?