Jesus Can Hold the Peg, So can you

Good morning/afternoon!

Sermon Title : Jesus Can Hold the Peg, So can you

Occasion : English Sanctuary Service

Location : Paya Lebar Methodist Church Sanctuary

Good morning/afternoon!

Let us Pray…

This morning, we are going to start on a new sermon series call “So Can you”

What is that, Pastor?

You know the acronym that was so popular in the 1980s, “WWJD?”

<Slide>

Which is short-form of “What Would Jesus Do” and is actually coined by Charles Sheldon, an evangelical preacher in the 1800s,

who pointed his listeners to the way Jesus lived His life when Jesus walked among us…

encouraging them to model their lives after Jesus…

In a similar manner, we hope that in this sermon series,

As each of the pastors take a look at a particular aspect of the ministry of Jesus we hope to gleam principles from it that we can apply into our lives…

And as to the title of the series,

it is inspired from a popular cooking series in the 1980s which featured Martin Yan

<slide>

Who was able to cook very elaborate dishes but the main point is that he always encouraged the audience and viewer that they can imitate him and cook just as well as he did…

And he did that by closing the shows by saying something like this in his Hong Kong accent…

“As you can see… just a little pepper and salt… fry a little only… and we can create this very delicious dish… it’s so simple… you should definitely try it at home… because if Yan can cook… so can you… Goodnight everybody”

<title slide again>

In the same way, over the next few weeks,

even as we draw inspiration and learn from our great high-priest,

as we look to God to help us be more Christ-like,

remember the words recorded for us in that says

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”[1]

In other words, over the next few weeks,

As we look into the bible and the records of His earthly ministry,

We will gleam from those sources to find out how we can be more Christ-like and if we ever get a sense that we cannot do something…

We will be assured with the words “if Jesus can do it, So can you”

<Pause>

So what are we going to touch on today?

Today, I am going to preach on a difficult topic…

I wish I don’t have to, but I felt that it is necessary, and I hope that you will be able to journey with me as we listen to what I think is important for us to hear today…

And I hope after sharing, you will still be willing to shake my hand at the door later…

I am going to talk about how Jesus was holding on to the peg…

But what does that mean?

I’m not going to tell you yet, but I would like to invite you to sit back and watch this video that our Audio-visual ministry had prepared for us…

<show video>

I hope it’s clear from the video just now that today,

we are going to talk about forgiveness …

then some of you will ask…

so what has this got to do with Jesus holding on to the peg?

You see, the first point that I would like to share with you this morning is that:

1. Jesus held onto the pegs so that we can be forgiven of our sins

And that we know He did that by dying on the cross for us by holding on to the pegs on the cross so that He can pay the ransom for us and purchasing us with His precious blood…

This, we remember every time we come together to celebrate the Holy Communion on the first week of the month…

And more intentionally during the Easter weekend in about a month’s time…

Wait… wait… wait…

Pastor, are you ok or not?

What do you mean by holding on to the pegs on the cross?

Wasn’t he nailed onto the cross?

Wasn’t he held onto the cross by the nails?

Well, yes, technically that is correct….

But in reality, Jesus was able to come down from the cross any point of time…

Listen to his words, recorded for us in that says

“18 No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again…”[2]

So when the chief priests and teachers of the law mocked him by saying “He saved others… but he can’t save himself” in , their words were correct but just in a different order… it should be he cannot save himself because he wanted to save others…

In other words, Jesus chose to be on the cross for us, to die for our sins not because He had no choice…

But precisely because He had a choice,

He chose to do whatever it takes to save us,

and that meant hanging onto the pegs on the cross on Calvary so that we can be forgiven…

Ok, pastor… I can buy that…

But why are you talking about that right now?

We are all Christians you know?

Yes, most of us are Christians,

but I thought it would be a good reminder for us every now and then,

that while our salvation may come rather easily for the most of us…

It is by no means without cost… it is just that it had been paid by someone else…

And at a very high cost…

Now, I know there are some whose salvific may be a little more difficult,

Because of situations at home or at work,

But even compared to the things that some of our spiritual siblings have to go through,

Especially those in the Middle East, North Korea for example…

The things we go through are relatively mild…

And because of that, sometimes we forget how privileged we are…

And what it really means to be forgiven…

I thought as well they this is perhaps as good a time as ever,

Why?

Because right now, we are currently in the season of Lent,

Which is the season in our church calendar just before the Easter during which the Christians prepare for the Easter…

Now, the preparation for Easter is not just during the Holy Week,

But traditionally, it is a season that extends 40 days (excluding Sundays, which are seen as mini-celebrations) before Easter,

This season begins on Ash Wednesday, which this year was on the 6th of March,

A little more than a week ago…

Traditionally, some churches commemorate Ash Wednesday by having a service during which members are invited to write on small pieces of cards or paper a sin or something that they want to seek forgiveness for,

Then the card is placed in a grate which is burned with palm branches collected from the Palm Sunday the year ago, [UMBW]

And the ashes are then placed on the foreheads of worshippers,

A process called the imposition of ashes…

And it is traditional to wear ash-coloured clothes just like my shirt and tie…

And the purpose of this is to remind worshippers of the mortality and vulnerability of man to sin, and therefore our need to seek forgiveness from God,

This therefore begins a season of self-denial and fasting for worshippers,

And why is this important?

I believe that the practice of self-denial and fasting is fast becoming forgotten and almost archaic in today’s world whereby the prevailing message of the world is “how can I get the best deal out of this?”

“What is it I can get out of this? Or how can the church benefit me?”

I suspect… in today’s world, these self-serving and self-gratifying thoughts are so prevalent that it almost become unthinkable for some of us that some people are doing something purely because he or she thinks it is the right thing to do…

I suspect that not many of us are capable of stepping aside so that someone else can go in front…

Even if you are not naturally inclined towards the culture of the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), with the prevalent culture around you being so…

It is likely that you will be influenced by it somehow...

Therefore, I think that our Spiritual forefathers were brilliant in putting in the Church Calendar,

A season such as where we are right now,

To fast, self-deny, clear our minds and lives of anything that can distract us from God...

To undergo a spiritual process of detoxification…

So that we can sharpen our minds to God...

And a good place to start in a process of detoxification is to be reminded of how privileged we are as Christians…

The problem for us living in today’s day and age, an age I always term as the instant noodles, 3-in-1 package society, is that because we are so good at summarising,

We are so good at reducing things to the bare minimum that many a times,

We lose the original flavour and nutrients…

We like to quote verses such as which says

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[3]

But do you know how radical this statement is in the past?

I know in our society, we are so free to give each other our names…

In fact, whenever we meet someone new at a function, or an event, the first thing we say is “hello, I’m so-and-so, what’s your name?”

In his book recalling his interactions with the Masai tribes, Vincent Donovan shares that he didn’t get to know the name of the people in the tribe he was in while he was there…

In fact, one of the elders of the tribe only revealed his name to Donovan as he was about the leave the tribe, after spending many years in the tribe as a parting gift to him,

And the elder shared that his name was only shared to his friends…

For the Masai people, their names were a very sacred part of them…

Can you imagine that?

Even the names of human beings are treated with such high regard, shouldn’t the name of gods be treated with higher regard?

What about the Jews?

“in ancient cultures, to know the name of someone was to know something very essential about that person”[4]

“The name of a person or deity is especially closely associated with that person or deity, so that knowledge of the name is connected with access to and influence with—even magical control of—the named.”[5]

“The knowledge of the name can thereby have effective power. Magic and incantations attempt to use this knowledge through techniques which exploit the influence of the name”[6]

That is why in the ancient world, many Gods do not reveal the names of their names…

For knowing the names of the Gods gives you the power of control over them…

In fact, a look at the Jewish text the Mishnah which I quote here…

“These are the ones who have no portion in the world to come:

(1) He who says, the resurrection of the dead is a teaching which does not derive from the Torah, (2) and the Torah does not come from Heaven; and… he who pronounces the divine Name as it is spelled out.”[7]

Can you imagine that?

In the ancient world, you can’t even mention the name of God and you can’t even know the name of God…

But our God had so freely given his name to us…

How many times have we called upon Jesus name since the start of the service?

How privileged we are…

But how many times have we mistreated the name of our God?

Even a look at today’s world, you see that many religions still hold such high regard to the name of their deities…

Just look at this report…

Practitioners of other faith are so protective of the names of their gods,

Going through such great lengths to protect the sovereignty of their Gods…

To be clear, I’m not saying that I’m condoning their actions,

but it’s for us to do a little reflection on how privileged we are…

How many times have we heard the name of our God being misused… as curse words…

Or even been guilty of it ourselves…

And do you remember the punishment for anyone who misuses the name of God? records for us, that anyone who misuses the name of God will be stoned…

tells us that whoever misuse the name of the Lord your God… will not be held guiltless…

So when it is declared in that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,”[8] it is an extremely radical provision by God not because of the works of man,

or the ability of man to be able to manipulate God by incantation or murmuring or chanting of his name…

but it is a unilateral provision by God,

and extension of grace to us who are absolutely unworthy of this grace so that we can come back to God…

<escalate>

For we need to remember that our God is above all things the creator of all things…

And He who was able to speak creation into being is not going to be subject to manipulation by mere human beings…

And yet because He loves us so much…

He was not willing to let us go, but He was willing to forgive us of all our sins…

Not just the misuse of His name… but all the times we have decided to turn away from God… rejecting Him and His counsel…

And this forgiveness of the times we have been ashamed of him or rejected him is also radical because…

tells us of how because Israel, His people rejected Him and His decrees, God “removed them from his presence” ()

tells us “Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them”[9]

And in [KJV] the Lord said “whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny”

So when Peter denied God three times when Jesus was in the Sanhedrin,

It was of a potentially grave consequence…

But it was the will of God for us to be reconciled with Him,

And even though many things we have done deserves nothing short of eternity away from Him,

Deserves nothing short of being cast away from Him forever,

And because what we read just now,

Of how if things were left in their natural state,

We will forever be in our guilt-stained state…

But God said “No!”

That wouldn’t do…

<pause>

And Jesus was sent to die on the cross for our sins….

<escalate>

But the cross was certainly not an easy one to bear…

Not only was it painful physically,

it was emotionally, relationally….

So painful that Jesus prayed

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.”

So painful it was on the cross, because it was the taking on the shame and guilt that He did not deserve

And yet He was willing to hold on to the pegs because He loves you…

And together with God the Father, God the Holy Spirit,

The Trinitarian God has decided to forgive you of your wrong-doings so that we have a way to come back to God once again…

And when He said on the cross,

“Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing,”

It was absolutely true because we wouldn’t be willing to come back to God ourselves,

because we, by ourselves wouldn’t be able to see the need to come back to Him and seek forgiveness…

The very recognition that we need to come back to him is what John Wesley calls the prevalent grace which he explains to be

“the first dawn of light concerning his will, and the first slight transient conviction of having sinned against him… the beginning of a deliverance from a blind, unfeeling heart, quite insensible of God and the things of God”[10]

In other words, it is because of the amazing work by Trinitarian God on the Cross,

Through the forgiveness of original sin in mankind,

We are all able to receive the prevenient grace of God…

And we will all have the chance to turn from the ways of the world…

Back into the Kingdom of God…

So, our first point today in which we are reminded that

Jesus held onto the pegs so that we can be forgiven of our sins

Is something that is not as trivia as we have allowed it to become in our lives…

It is something that is radical and earth-shattering…

And if you allow God to come into your live to forgive you of our trespasses,

It is life-changing as well…

And to bring home the message of how radical this is…

Perhaps we need to look upon what some of the ancient religions look upon mankind…

According to Mesopotamian religions, Egyptian ancient religions and others from the Ancient Near East,

Why man was created by their gods was to take over the drudgery work of the gods… in other words, slaves

And they are also to serve the gods through the performance of rituals and through provisioning the deities in the temples…[11]

In fact, one of the sources, namely the Enuma Elish has this in the account…

“The noise of mankind has become too much, I am losing sleep over their racket. Give the order that suruppu-disease shall break out [and destroy them]"[12]

But not our God…

Our God does not seek to destroy us, but seeks a loving relationship with us,

Wooing us, inviting us into an ever closer relationship with God…

And through the work of the cross,

Provided a way for us to be forgiven of the many times we rejected Him and turned away from Him…

The book of Psalms show us so many times, our Christian heroes were able to pour out and express their raw emotions to God and God continued to commune with them…

Our God is one who love us despite us first before we love Him…

Our God reaches out to us before we are willing to even listen to Him…

Our God reaches out to us to forgive us of our sins, even our rejection of Him and He did it by

holding on to the pegs of Calvary…

That is the radical act of love and forgiveness Jesus displayed for us…

This is his amazing love for us…

And this, being the season of Lent, as we prepare for Easter Sunday, is perhaps appropriate for us to reflect upon God’s amazing love for us and his radical act of forgiveness for us on the cross…

How he held onto the pegs of calvary, to forgive us of our sins…

So, what do we do in response?

Well, one thing of course is that if you haven’t come to God and received forgiveness in your life, the invitation is to do so…

But another thing we should do in response is that as Jesus had forgiven you, you should forgive others as well…

So, the second point I would like to share today is:

2. As Jesus can hold onto the pegs to forgive us, you can hold the pegs as well by forgiving others…

Of course I do not mean for all of us to have to die on the cross like Jesus literally,

But I’m sure there are other forms in which we can hold the pegs and forgive others…

This is the mandate Jesus gave to us in when he said “Forgive, and you will be forgiven…”

You know a while back, my children starting arguing with one another when they got into the care on their way to school…

They were really at each other’s throat,

Trying to put the case across that the other sibling was being unreasonable and irresponsible…

That they should be sacrifice for the greater good and not be so calculative…

It went on for a while and the kids were in a really foul mood…

Reconciliation didn’t look like it was possible…

Then upon investigation,

my wife realized that they were quarreling over who should be the one bringing home the sealing peg after they are done with breakfast…

when the kids realise that they are quareling over something that weighs perhaps less than 20g,

they burst out laughing, realizing how silly they were acting,

being angry early in the morning over a tiny little peg…

All these will be solved if someone would just hold on to the peg…

Before I continue let us now have a look at part 2 of the video…

Well, perhaps in your circumstances, the pegs are a little more significant…

Perhaps it is someone who had embezzled you of your money?

Perhaps it is someone who had done you or your family member great harm?

Perhaps someone had ruined your reputation or embarrassed you?

Someone robbed you of an opportunity…

Perhaps it is a wrong a relative had done to you sometime ago and you cannot find it in yourself to forgive the person…

Listen to this…

In our passage today, after Peter replied Jesus that Peter indeed love Him,

Other than asking Peter to shepherd the church,

As recorded for us in v18-19, Jesus spoke about the martyrdom that Peter would experience...

In terms of applying this passage to us,

I don’t think God is asking us to give up our lives…

But there are many other ways of dying to ourselves…

And sometimes this includes dying to our pride and dying to our rights in order to forgive others…

In December 2016, a bomb went off in the Botroseya Church in Egypt and this beautiful 10-year-old girl, Maggie Moemen was severely injured and died shortly after…

Her mother, Dr. Nermin Samir shocked the world by declaring her forgiveness towards the people who killed her daughter on national TV rather than calling for threats and revenge…

On April 2017, one of the men guarding Saint Marks’ church in Alexandria, Egypt stopped a suicide bomber who was trying to enter the church was killed when the bomber decided to detonate the bomb there and then, killing the guard…

During an interview with the national TV, the widow of the guard addressed the people behind the bombings that “God forgive you and we also forgive you. Believe me, I forgive you”

To which the non-Christian news anchor was shocked, visibly affected, took a long pause before saying “these people have so much forgiveness… these people are made from a different substance.”

Friends, the forgiveness of God is the radical weapon we have that is able to tear down the gates of Hades and the same weapon is in your hands…

I know it is not easy, and all of us struggle with it…

Especially when our loved ones are hurt…

But do you know something?

By forgiving someone, we are actually liberating ourselves from the clutches of being bonded to a spiraling path of destruction because by forgiving others, we are freed from having to revisit a painful or irritating incident that we run in our heads over and over again…

So,

As Jesus can hold the pegs to forgive us, you can hold the pegs as well by forgiving others…

So, during this season of Lent, perhaps you may want to think about someone or an incident that you can bring resolution to and extend forgiveness, because if Jesus can hold the pegs, so can you…

And do not wait too long before you do that because you may not have the chance if you wait…

But what if you had missed your chance? What if like the person in the video, you waited too long or because of circumstances, you don’t have the chance to extend forgiveness?

My pastoral response is this…

Your friend or your relative who had already gone back to the Lord is now in a position of bliss…

The Lord’s grace is upon Him or her…

Today, the Lord wants to deal with you…

This bring me to my third point which is to

3. Receive the forgiveness Jesus bought for you, through the pegs

In today’s passage,

Peter was noted to have been asked by Jesus three times whether Peter loved Him,

To which Peter replied in each of the three times that Peter did…

Even at the very first time, Peter had already said that he did loved Jesus…

But why did Jesus continue asking the 2 other times?

Some scholars suggest that Jesus had to ask Peter the question 3 times to reciprocate the number the times Peter denied Jesus…

I personally believe there is truth to that…

But I also believe that Peter had to hear the question 3 times, because Peter was someone who was very brash, always the leader, always the one in front…

The one who relied many a times of his own strength…

He was the one who proclaimed he will never leave nor deny Jesus, was the one who drew the sword and cut of the ear of the high priest’s servant,

The one who was first to answer questions people ask…

So Peter had to be brought to a point at which he was able to come to a point at which he was able to confront his emotions, come to terms with his position of need and thereafter receive the forgiveness of God…

I suspect many of us are like Peter…

We are holding on to things in our lives that we are not meant to bear…

You are not willing to receive forgiveness, whether it is from God or from other people… or worse yourself?

Somehow by not being willing to receive forgiveness,

Perhaps you feel like you have an upper hand…

You appreciate the feeling of suffering for through it, you feel as if you are earning your forgiveness which makes it more genuine…

Friends, do not unnecessarily burden yourself but receive liberation from our Lord who had died for you on the cross…

When Jesus said on the cross, “it is finished,” friends, it is finished indeed…

Do you don’t have add any more suffering to the cross…

I think it is important for you to hear this…

Do not unnecessarily prevent yourself from receiving God’s shalom peace…

Do not let yourself be constrained by the things of the world…

Do not let the lies of the evil one get to you…

The work of the Lord on the cross is enough to liberate you…

To grant you forgiveness…

Today, the Lord wants to set you free from all these unnecessary things that are weighing you down!

The Lord wants to liberate you from your sins, and your shackles and your burdens…

Receive His forgiveness… be liberated today…

“Come to me all who are heavily burdened and I will grant you rest…”

<Altar call…

- Those who have never heard of the Gospel… you are hearing of the availability of the forgiveness of God and you are hearing of the invitation of God to come into His kingdom for the very first time…

- Those who find it hard to forgive others…

- You have already received the forgiveness of God for your sins… you are already secure in God, but you find it hard to receive forgiveness…>

[1] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), .

[2] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), .

[3] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), .

[4] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 148.

[5] H. B. Huffmon, “Name,” ed. Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst, Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (Leiden; Boston; Köln; Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: Brill; Eerdmans, 1999), 610.

[6] Martin Rose, “Names of God in the OT,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1002.

[7] Jacob Neusner, The Mishnah : A New Translation (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988), 604. m. Sanhedrin 10.1

[8] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), .

[9] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), .

[10] Sermon LXXXV in, John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, Third Edition., vol. 6 (Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1872), 509.

[11] John H. Walton, as Ancient Cosmology (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011), 78.

[12] J. H. Walton, “Creation,” ed. T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker, Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 156.