The Victory of the Cross
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
But if we want a full understandign of what took place on the cross we cannot do so without battle imagery.
Col. 1:15-
23 Newbigin is able
31
Cosmic Reconciliation= Penal Substitution + Christus Victor
Christ, who is God’s power, righteousness, blessing, grace and life, overcomes and carries away these monsters, sin, death and the curse.
Rutledge, Fleming. The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ (p. 357). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition. Cosmic Reconciliation= Penal Substitution + Christus Victor
If there were to be any doubt about this, would be the clincher: “To this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Kurios both of the dead and of the living.”
Each of the domains envisioned by Paul has its slaves: Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness (dikaiosyne). () No one is capable of being captain of his own soul, master of her own fate.45 Each of us is worked upon by unconscious impulses of which we are not even aware and over which we have little control.46 Paul, unlike the typical American, does not think in terms of autonomous human beings. Paul proudly identifies himself as a “slave of Christ” ().
What Paul means by this is that, since we were slaves to Sin, righteousness had no place in us, no dependable foothold.49 The clear implication here is that there is no way for the human being to move from the domain of Sin to the domain of God’s righteousness unless there is an invasion of the kingdom of Sin from outside. The domain of Sin leads to Death; its goal and purpose (telos) is Death. There is no way out of this downward-moving spiral of dissolution. But here is the good news: “You have been set free from [the domain of] Sin and have become slaves to God; your fruit is holiness and the telos is eternal life” (cf. ).50 Being a “slave of righteousness” and a “slave of obedience” will sound intolerable to most modern ears.
The famous ending of chapter 8 (“Neither death, nor life . . . 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 ”) is not an all-purpose, generic piece of religious uplift. Paul can promise this only because he has a genuinely revelatory piece of news to declare. A new world has come into being through Christ the Kurios. Concluding his letter to the Romans, Paul asserts with the confidence that only the gospel can give, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (16:20).
As we move on, however, a synthesis will be proposed; Jesus is preparing to enter the lists not only as the utterly undefended commander of the Lord’s hosts but also as the one who will stand alone on the front line in our place, absorbing the full onslaught of Sin, Death, and the devil.
Cosmic Reconciliation= Penal Substitution + Christus Victor
And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him. ()
The incarnation itself was widely understood during most of the Christian era to be God’s invasion of Satan’s territory.
Cosmic Reconciliation= Penal Substitution + Christus Victor
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
explains that Jesus died to “destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
The primary reason Jesus died, the main goal of the cross and resurrection, was to defeat sin, death, and Satan. In our rightful zeal to defend the truth of penal substitution, we must remember to always place it into this larger picture. Penal substitution is the means to the end, not the end itself.
These are militant words- they are not soft and they are not weak, they are not comfortable, they are war and battle and struggle, and imposition.
Kingdom means an actual reign. But a reign that is taking ground.
We know that today, when someone speaks the name of Jesus or tries to live for him in any real way, she will find herself in a battle; it will not be neutral.
Saved- from what and for what?
Came to save the lost, to set captives free, and to liberate.
Lord- this is not just adding something extra to make it sound fancy “Jesus Christ our Lord”
______________________________________________________________________
CHRISTUS VICTOR
What happened at the cross is mysterious , and beautiful and when we look at it we get our best glimpse of the power and the love of God.
And so in this series we have been turning the diamond of the cross. Looking at it from different angles and allowing the light to hit it and our hope is that as we will gain a greater understanding of what took place at the cross.
And this is important…not simply so we have a better theology, or can speak with greater wisdom, but ultimately so that we know him more, worship him more deeply, and follow him more passionately!!
Col. 2:13
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
PRAYER
When Christians think about the power of God displayed, they tend to go directly to the resurrection. But in many ways Scripture tells ius that we are rushing it!
Christus Victor is a latin term that means that Christ is Victorious
CHRISTUS VICTOR - Christ is Victorious
So the entire point of the CV is this....you can write it down.....He Won!!
No longer does the enemy have any claim in victory; over your life, over creation, only Jesus does.
Take every movie you have ever seen where evil has been winning, and the good guy of girl kicks the door down, to see the villain cower in the corner.
That is Christus Victor
We were enslaved to sin and death and Jesus came in Rambo style, but far more intelligent and took out the powers of darkness.
PAUSE
“The work of Christ is first and foremost a victory over the Powers which hold mankind in bondage: sin, death, and the devil. . . . The victory of Christ creates a new situation, bringing their rule to an end, and setting men free from their dominion.”
There are some truths that if you grew up Christian you just accept, then you get older and you realise that they are some pretty far our beliefs:
God loves us. We are sinners, God hates sin.
God deals with sin. But that is not all.
BUT scripture that you and I are not the only players in this drama. That Jesus has moved in on darkness. And as John writes in , the darkness has not overcome it.
And what I’d like to point out this morning is that this Victory of the Cross is Victory for us, in us,
The Cross is Victory FOR us, IN us, and OVER us!
The Cross is Victory FOR us, IN us, and OVER us!
I. The Cross is Victory for us (v.13-15)
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
it is victory over the Accuser (Devil)
Scripture makes it clear that evil has made its way into God’s perfect creation and that it has a hold.
If you need proof that evil has a hold I offer you..........everything as proof!!
our media our news our relationships, our ability to take the gifts of God and manipulate them, our own intricate issues all point to the fact that evil has a hold.
And the issues are so deep and invading that a bandaid wont do it. And anything outside of a deep deliverance and healing will not suffice. Something untainted from without must come within to mend and rectify.
Scripture refers to the evil at work as that of the Devil, accuser, evil one, the tempter, prince of the air; which implies that his reign is temporary.
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
And we see more than a hint of his future in
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
That the devil, the accuser who has been around since Adam and Eve.
That the devil, the accuser who has been around since Adam and Eve.
Offering us what we’ve always wanted if we take on the position of God.
In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4, The same Devil that went after Jesus in the wilderness trying to get him to bow down to him to follow the same path as the rest of humanity... to worship him. That is Kingdom talk.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“ ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’ ”
Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Why, becauseThat is the devil seeing Jesus moving in on his territory.
And so he offers him the same promises of
The Bible makes it clear that when Jesus stepped into history, he did not do so onto neutral ground!!
We know that today, when someone speaks the name of Jesus or tries to live out faith in any real way, she will find herself in a battle; it will not be neutral.
And it is evident maybe more than ever that there is fundamentally a spiritual battle going one where there seems to be a blindness to the dangers of ignoring boundaries and foundational beliefs.
Why the push back!
Why because the devil does not like to give up ground:
He doesn’t like it when truth comes in because truth strangles lies.
He doesn’t like it when pure love shows up, because perfect love casts out fear.
And he doesn’t like it when forgiveness arrives because he is the accuser, and when you have ben forgiven there is nothing to accuse you of!!
These are his weap0ns.
When the truth of the gospel, the love of Christ, the forgiveness offered takes over your life.....the devil is being disarmed of his greatest weapons!
lies, fear, and shame!!!
They have no reign over us.
Why because as our representative, Jesus took the shame, took the bullet as it were.
What does the text say..?
At the cross Jesus nailed
he forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
I love movies where just when you think the good guy is going to get it.....villain has the hero cornered, and the gun is drawn, he holds the gun sideways because it is extra scary and then he pulls the trigger. And.....nothing. He pulls it again....nothing. And then he pulls it like 10 times click click click.
No bullets, and then he begins to panic because he begins to understand that the only weapon he had is useless.
That is what Paul is saying here!! Every tool that the devil has been stripped of its power. He has been disarmed, shamed, triumphed over.
And he can grin and he can threaten, and he can accuse, and Jesus would remind us to look to the cross, where it is revealed that Jesus was in complete control, in fact he was doing the nailing!!! nailing our debt to the cross and removing the power of the devil over us.
He is holding an empty gun.
Because of the cross, the devil’s accusations have become lies. He has gone from an accuser with a case against us to an annoyance!!
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.
And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”
Zech. 3:
It was a vision given to Zechariah of the guilt of the people. And in the vision Joshua who was the high priest at the time, was standing before God, and the Devil is standing next to him, ready to accuse him. This is a common theme in scripture, that the devil is standing next to humanity and simply wants to look at God the father and at us as his created and say…look at your horrible creations. They don’t love you, they do not worship you, they are all our for themselves parading as little Gods.
And then what Satan does is this, he does his best as he did with Adam and Eve and everyone since to convince us we do not need God and then stands over our should saying how could you reject God....shame on you!
And in Zechariah God says, shut up Stan, Jerusalem is my chosen. And with you and I God looks at Satan and says shut up satan, you are so annoying.
You have no bullets in your gun and not truth in your accusations.
Your lies , fear and shame, don’t stick anymore.
They are powerless, all of that stuff you want to throw on my children has already been nailed to the cross.
You do not get to decide Satan…I decide how this works.
II. The Cross is Victory in Us (, Col. 1:13-14)
While it seals the devils fate, it changes ours!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
In removing his power over us, we have been made free.
There are cosmic rules.
In the same way that Newton figured out that when an apple detached from a tree, it falls down, always! Not up, not to the side, but down.
There are rules in our universe, it is what makes science possible.
In the same way there are cosmic rules.
And one of them is that all sin and sin leads to death.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Sin naturally takes us takes us to destruction
The devil loves this.
Sin has lead Israel to where it was.
After years of not obeying, sin had taken its natural toll.
They are no longer their own nation, they are overrun by the most powerful nation in the world, and you can imagine that the devil and his minions are so pleased with themselves. This is where thy find their twisted joy .Stealing killing and destroying!!
And then Jesus steps into this realm of darkness.
And in small ways, he is pointing to something new and powerful, a taking over of deaths rule, in peoples bodies, in their sinfulness, shining light in dark places.
If as Paul writes in in
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
Then this is a push back, an answer....moving in on the territory of sin and death and its rule.
if all of creation is as if in labout pains then this is a push back, and answer
casting out demons - who all seemed to know who he was, but not sure what he was doing here.
This is our place.
III. The Cross has sealed the fate of the Accuser (v.15)
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
When Paul speaks of God disarming the rulers and authorities, the picture is of a Roman general’s triumphal parade. The conquered foes were stripped of their armour and paraded in shame through the streets in chains. When Christ willingly gave His life on the cross to pay for our sins, Satan and his evil forces were stripped of their power over us. They can no longer rightfully accuse us, because Christ has paid the debt of our sin. They can no longer hold us captive through the fear of death, because Christ won the victory over Satan and over death on the cross. His victory was confirmed when God raised Him from the dead. And we who believe are raised with Him, seated in heaven with Him ().
III. The Cross is Victory Over Us
We overlook words like kingdom, Lord, saved.
These are militant words that require a response.
Paul especially goes out of his way to use the word kurios (Lord) to describe Jesus. The problem is, that it has become so familiar!!
It is just a fancier way to pray!
But to refer to Jesus in this way, a man who grew up in the back woods,
It is just a fancier way to pray!
For Paul the word LORD carried some real weight!! Words like dominion, or mastery, have their root in the same Greek word kurios--
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
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. 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. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:
This brings us to the word kurios in the last verse of chapter 5.41 Paul habitually uses this word to describe and identify Jesus. It is overly familiar to us, and we scarcely notice it. We rattle off the words “through Jesus Christ our Lord” at the end of prayers without thinking about it; it seems like nothing more than saying “Jesus Christ” in a fancier way. For Paul, however, the word kurios carries prodigious weight. Paul demonstrates this in a striking way by his use of the word in chapter 6. The word translated “dominion” (RSV, KJV, NRSV) or “mastery” (NIV) is from the root kurios, meaning “lord.” This presents another challenge for English translation. The link between the noun and the verbal construction does not appear in English unless we translate the verbal form as “lord it over.” If we do that, Paul’s train of thought leaps out at us. This is the way it works: In , Paul says, “Death no longer lords it [kurieuo] over him [Christ].” Then he says, “Sin shall not lord it [kurieuo] over you” (6:14). Finally he concludes, “The wages of Sin is Death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Kurios” (6:23).
These are militant words/ they are words of victory..... they are not soft and they are not weak, they are not comfortable, they are war and battle and struggle, and imposition.
Kingdom means an actual reign. But a reign that is taking ground.
Saved- from what and for what?
Came to save the lost, to set captives free, and to liberate.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Lord- this is not just adding something extra to make it sound fancy “Jesus Christ our Lord”
Therefor e since you have been
But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
great labels, better than the ones we usually give ourselves.----but what is the point------the growth of, the expansion of the kingdom, the proclamation of the salvation and rule of Christ in our lives.
Real rule!
Author David Bryant says that Christ is more often a mascot than a monarch. Imagine a football stadium of 40,000 to 50,000 screaming fans. If the team is falling behind or losing momentum, often the coach calls a timeout. And this is when the mascot comes into view. The crowd needs to be stirred more enthusiastically for the team’s victory, so out comes a person in some kind of an animal suit, usually, and he does cartwheels, dances with fans or does other tricks to get the people excited for a couple of minutes. The mascot’s main job, Bryant says, “…is to stir up a certain kind of passion. But it's not really about him. It's really about the team, and even more about the fans. The team designs the plays, runs the patterns, throws the blocks, reaches the goal, claims the credit. The fans jump with joy, declare their superior identity over the losers…Then we all go home satisfied.”[14]
Bryant insightfully continues to say,
“In so many of our churches, I fear, Jesus is regularly deployed as our mascot. On Sunday we ‘trot Him out’ to cheer us up, to give us new vigor and vision, to reassure us that we are ‘somebodies.’ We invite Him to reinforce for us the great things we want to do for God. We look to Him to reinvigorate our celebration of victories we think we're destined to win. He lifts our spirits. He resuscitates our souls. He rebuilds our confidence. He gives us reasons to cheer. But then, for the rest of the week, He is pretty much relegated to the sidelines. For all practical purposes, we are the ones who call the shots. We implement the plays, scramble for first downs, and improvise in a pinch. Even if we do it in His name, we do it with little reliance on His person.”
Is Jesus just a mascot or is He monarch of our lives? Our ministry? Is He on the sidelines during the week and do we just bring Him out on Sunday to cheer us up for a few minutes? Is He Lord over your time? Your free time? Your money? Your friendships? Your internet and television viewing habits? Let’s worship Him as the Supreme Son. Worship Him as revealer, ruler, sustainer, head, victor over death and reconciler. Let’s magnify His name! The bigger He gets in our lives, the better we become. May He increase as we decrease (
) and sing with the hymnwriter, Be Thou supreme, O Jesus Christ, Thy love has conquered me; Beneath Thy Cross I die to self,and live alone to Thee.[16
And it comes the same way that our salvation did. In the unexpected, humility that brought about victory in the first place.
For our battle is not against flesh and blood.
The cross looked like defeat. And it was the tool of God’s Revolution. Whenever the Kingdom has been pushed forth with force it has done damage; it becomes Christendom; a human kingdom using Jesus as a mascot, rather than Jesus as its ruling king .
the metaphor of an invasion of occupied territory is indispensable for several reasons, not least because it shows how we, the tyrannized inhabitants of a territory held by enemies (variously identified as Sin, Death, and the Devil), can only be liberated by a movement “from another quarter”
And that is true in the public, in our worship church, and in our individual lives as well.
Conclusion
The Powers and principalities may not know it, but their foundations have been undermined and cannot last. The creation itself has been and is being invaded by the new world, the age to come.
Band of Brothers
Every historian will say that the war was won on D-Day. That the storming of Normandy signified the end. It still took a year to completely finish the war.
Now in the Pacific Ocean, there were Japanese soldiers into the 1970s who refused to surrender. Unwilling to accept the truth that the war was over and they had been defeated.
That is all the devil has left.
And he will yell, and scheme ,but his final day is coming.
The cross has set the course for the devil. It has removed his power over you and proven him to be powerless even over death.
“The cross is the place where the decisive battle between Christ and sin took place, where the powers of Satan brought all their strength to the attack, and where they were defeated. It is the place where the wages of sin were accepted on behalf of the whole human race.”
“The work of Christ is first and foremost a victory over the Powers which hold mankind in bondage: sin, death, and the devil. . . . The victory of Christ creates a new situation, a revolution bringing their rule to an end, and setting men and women and ultimately creation free from their dominion.”
But don’t miss it, every time a king conquered he requires a response, will you accept my rule, or continue to live as though I never came.
Fortunately, the prince that calls us to submit to his rule is the prince of peace, mighty God everlasting father.
And his invitation is for you and I to no longer live under the rule of He who reign with fear, shame and lies.
Matthew
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
for we walk by faith, not by sight.
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Psam 23
To submit to good shepherd, who restores our souls, and leads us to paths of righteousness, who comforts and sustains.
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The cross is victory, it is victory for us, in us and over us.