LIFE-SIZE PASSION

LIFE-SIZE PASSION Hebrews 9:15-28 With grateful acknowledgement of these sources of direction and inspiration: the Holy Spirit; the Word of God; Max Lucado, A Love Worth Giving and He Chose the Nails; Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew; Rick Warren, "What the Passion of Christ Teaches Us About God" March 21, 2004 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory Few comments about the film - The Passion of the Christ is a great film because… It is the Word of God (and it is excellent film-making) It brings to life an often understated, misunderstood part of the Gospels It is a fresh, dynamic translation of the Word It is historically accurate It provokes faith (How? Romans 10:17 - "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.") It reaches an untapped audience Transition: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." (John 3:14-15, and remember what verse follows John 3:16); "So Jesus said, 'When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be…'" (John 8:28) "'But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.' He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die." (John 12:32-33) See it. If nothing else, you will never take communion again the same way. Then see it again with a non-Christian friend and I guarantee that the opportunity that you have been praying for, to talk about your faith and your Lord, will occur. Some believers are arguing that the point is not clear enough in the film that all this suffering Jesus underwent was for sinners. Then TELL them! Such a Life-size display of the Passion tells us some important things about God The suffering of Jesus demonstrates God's purpose (Hebrews 9:15-22) The book of Hebrews gives its reader, and especially its student, a good look back at the Old Testament. From the New Testament perspective we can interpret the Old in a way unheard of by the patriarchs and prophets whose lives and ministries are detailed in its pages. One thing is clear in Hebrews-the New Testament (or, Covenant) is superior to the Old, because it fulfills it, it explains it and it supersedes it. In fact, Hebrews 8:13 says flat out: "By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear." But what the big picture of both Testaments tells us is that God had a plan for history since the fall of Adam. That plan was to redeem human beings from the sin that separated them from Him. For whatever reasons that are locked up in the heart of God, he chose to sanctify the use of blood in that plan. Knowing that one-day the God-Man, Jesus, would have to suffer mercilessly and innocently to bring about that redemption, God provided a picture, a prophetic forecast of that coming process. In the ancient times, about which God was quite familiar, covenants (or, contracts) were inaugurated with blood. You might remember Laban's covenant with Jacob in Genesis 31, which involved a blood sacrifice. God's covenant with Abraham was sealed once through that mysterious ceremony where Abraham cuts a few animals in half and in a dream vision he sees a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses (Genesis 15). God demanded that there be a blood sacrifice as part of the making of that covenant. But there is another thing that blood was used for. Blood was necessary for the atonement of sins under the Law (Leviticus 17). Sprinkled blood was the symbol for the cleansing of the guilt of sin and the purification of the people (Exodus 24). Exodus 24:6-8 - "Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, 'We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey.' Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words." Listen again to the words of Jesus at Matthew 26:27-28 - "Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the (new) covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." One author commented this way about the film: "If man's sinfulness is not brought clearly into the discussion, The Passion of the Christ becomes just another bloody thriller. But properly placed within the context of Hebrews 9:22 - "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (of sins)" -the movie can have a profound impact to the glory of God." The bloody experience of Christ at the hands of sinful human beings was more than a cinemographic ploy on the part of Mel Gibson. It was part of the plan of God to save us from our sins. God was Himself paying the debt of our sins, and simultaneously creating a new covenant with anyone who will accept the covenant. The Old Covenant was inferior (Hebrews 8:6-7) and it was replaced with the covenant that God had all along planned to reveal in the fullness of time (Hebrews 10:8-10). And He has. What makes the passion of Jesus so profound is more than good camera work, award-winning make-up and a brilliant director. What makes it so profound is that it is the climax of God's historic plan to bring forgiveness and covenant to people who condemned to a torturous eternity apart from Him. The famous Muir Woods in California are named for John Muir, famous explorer and naturalist. In his book, Travels in Alaska, Muir tells an amazing story of the Thlinkit and Sitka Indians, two tribes that readily accepted the preaching of the gospel in Alaska in 1879. He writes: The Thlinkit tribes give a hearty welcome to Christian missionaries. In particular they are quick to accept the doctrine of the atonement, because they themselves practice it, although to many of the civilized whites it is a stumbling-block and rock of offense. As an example of their own doctrine of atonement they told Mr. Young and me one evening that 20 or 30 years ago there was a bitter war between their own and the Sitka tribe, great fighters, and pretty evenly matched. After fighting all summer in a desultory, squabbling way, fighting now under cover, now in the open, watching for every chance for a shot, none of the women dared venture to the salmon-streams or berry-fields to procure their winter stock of food. At this crisis one of the Stickeen chiefs came out of his block-house fort into an open space midway between their fortified camps, and shouted that he wished to speak to the leader of the Sitkas. When the Sitka chief appeared, he said: "My people are hungry. They dare not go to the salmon-streams or berry-fields for winter supplies, and if this war goes on much longer most of my people will die of hunger. We have fought long enough; let us make peace. You brave Sitka warriors go home, and we will go home, and we will all set out to dry salmon and berries before it is too late." The Sitka chief replied: "You may well say let us stop fighting, when you have had the best of it. You have killed ten more of my tribe than we have killed of yours. Give us ten Sitckeen men to balance our blood-account; then, and not till then, will we make peace and go home." "Very well," replied the Sitckeen chief, "you know my rank. You know that I am worth 10 common men and more. Take me, and make peace." This noble offer was promptly accepted; the Sitckeen chief stepped forward and was shot down in sight of the fighting bands. Peace was thus established, and all made haste to their homes and ordinary work. That chief literally gave himself a sacrifice for his people. He died that they might live. Therefore, when missionaries preached the doctrine of atonement, explaining that when all mankind had gone astray, had broken God's laws and deserved to die, God's son came forward, and, like the Sitckeen chief, offered himself as a sacrifice to heal the cause of God's wrath and set all the people of the world free, the doctrine was readily accepted. "Yes, your words are good," they said. "The Son of God, the Chief of chiefs, the Maker of all the world, must be worth more than all mankind put together; therefore, when His blood was shed, the salvation of the world was made sure." The death of Jesus demonstrates God's passionate love for us. (Hebrews 9:23-28) How much does your soul weigh? The movie "21 Grams" gets it title from this fact: at the moment of death, the human body immediately loses 21 grams of weight. That's about the weight of 5 nickels. Of course all sorts of conjecturing goes on about whether that is actually the weight of the human soul which departs the body at that moment. How much does your soul weigh? I can't say for sure, but I do know this-it is of infinite value to God. Jesus had told His disciples that there is no greater love than this, that a man will lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Do you know what else He told His disciples? You are my friends! I am here to tell you this morning that you are friends of the living God. We know that because He proved His love for us. "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) Hebrews 9:28 says "…Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people…" Here and elsewhere in the New Testament the Holy Spirit is careful to say "many", not "all". Why? Because as strange as it may sound, not everyone will receive God's offer of salvation and eternal life! In January 2004, police were shocked by what they found inside a house in the small town of Durham, Ontario. Responding to complaints from relatives, police entered the ramshackle house and discovered two teenage boys locked in cages. Their biological aunt had adopted the teens more than a decade before. Through the years, the boys (now 14 and 15 years old) suffered at the hands of their adoptive parents. Ontario officials learned that though the boys did attend school during the day, they were sent to their cages at night. On weekends and holidays, they often were allowed downstairs for a bowl of cereal in the morning and then sent back to their cages wearing diapers, where they would spend the rest of the day. The adoptive mother was described to the court as a domineering, controlling woman whose husband was an illiterate and dyslexic handyman, who beat the boys on her command. Detective Kate Lang and Constable Tim Maw released the 15-year-old from his makeshift cage. They told him he would never be locked in there again. The teen responded, "Really?" Christ, the Lord, endured the suffering and death depicted in the film for us as a demonstration of God's passionate love for us. He paid the price for us to be set free from our prison of sin, guilt and condemnation. We can't buy that kind of favor-we couldn't ever pay Him back for it. That's why it is a gift-grace. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." It isn't only the Jews who stand guilty of the crucifixion of Jesus. All of us are guilty. Our sins put Him on that cross. The resurrection of Jesus demonstrates God's power (Romans 1:4) Romans 1:4 says that Jesus was "…declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord." When the film was being promoted those several months before its release, there was very little said about the resurrection. I was growing uneasy about whether I could enthusiastically support a film that depicted only the suffering and death of Jesus, but not the triumph of His resurrection. If the resurrection were not included in the film, how would anybody know for sure that Jesus' passion and death weren't just the punishment of another condemned criminal? But Mel Gibson did include the bodily resurrection of Jesus. I am so glad he did. Much more than that, though, I am eternally thankful that God included Christ's physical resurrection in His plan. When He raised Jesus from the dead, He vindicated all that Jesus said and did by putting His seal of approval on His life. In the bodily resurrection of Jesus, God demonstrated His power over death. But He further demonstrated His power over the enemy. 1 Corinthians 15:26 calls death our last enemy. A. W. Tozer wrote, "We understand and acknowledge that the Resurrection has placed a glorious crown upon all of Christ's sufferings!" For those who have seen the film, what about that primal scream of the Satan figure just following the death of Jesus? Was it a scream of delight or defeat? Was it the devil's victory or his vanquishment? Was that creepy androgynous being happy that Jesus was finally beaten? Or was the devil horrified with the sudden realization that the purposes of God were accomplished? It's worth the cost of another ticket to face the question and draw your conclusion. Gibson wisely leaves the question open. There was awesome power released when life surged through the corpse of Jesus after more than 60 hours of death. We can barely understand the kind of power that is released when an atom is split, or a nuclear reaction is spawned. We've seen rockets blast into space and earthquakes paralyze whole countries. But we have never, until Jesus, encountered the kind of power that makes death release its hold. It is the same power released in the beginning when God spoke and it was! That same quality of power is available to raise our new bodies for eternity. But it is also available for godly living right now. As our spirits have been reborn, and our bodies will be raised incorruptible in that day, so our souls are being fashioned in holiness and maturity after the image of Christ right now. Ephesians 1:19-20 describes it as "…his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms…" Here is what that means - you and I, as partakers of the salvation Jesus provided for us, have this added blessing. We have everything we need for life and godliness in this world! We are empowered to live for God! And it's all the result of His resurrection power. It's another part of His plan-to equip us to be His witnesses in this world. When we lay hold of that power and morph into the image of Christ more and more each day, we glorify Him and help to draw others to Him. All we have to do is lay hold of that resurrection power and allow ourselves to live for Him. He endured the passion for us. Will we be passionate for Him? Conclusion The Passion of the Christ is a great film, not because Mel Gibson is a great director and producer (although he is certainly a master); it's a great film, not because there were stellar performances by the actors (there really were); it's a great film, not because it is a cinemographic work of excellence (though it is); it's a great movie because it tells the greatest story and the greatest truth there ever was, that "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." (2 Corinthians 5:19) [Back to Top]