Broken / Contrite/ Crushed/God has you where he wants you
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Why the Cross?
Why the Cross?
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.
The expression, “we got them right where we want them” gets a lot of play around my house. I typically use it tongue in cheek when the team I am rooting for gets down by a lot of points and all seems hopeless.
It is suppose to mean the place from which the most good can come.
For instance, a student in a class room. A golfer on the driving range. A debit card which does not work. A teenager in their bedroom without their phone.
save yourself, and come down from the cross!”
The place from which most good can come,
Mark 15:
Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left.
mark 15:22-
Jesus, right where God needed him. As hard as it is to say and hear, the cross was the place from which the most good can come.
Joseph Mitchell to his dying sister, per Fleming Rutledge…What does Jesus dying on a cross 2000 years ago have to do with my sins today?”....”Somehow, Jesus was our representative.”
Jesus said himself that not only was he our representative but also our example. He demanded that to be his follower you must...
Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
What does it mean to take up our cross? How can we follow in Jesus’ example?
For you have no delight in sacrifice; if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
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At least 7 other places throughout the OT does it mention the need for a heart religion and not outward religion. Or as the message says,
Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.
Make Zion the place you delight in, repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls.
What God wants is not our sacrifice for sacrifice sake, but God wants us to be in a position where his grace can do maximum impact. And that happens when we are broken / crushed / and fully ready to depend on God and not ourselves.
But that is counterintuitive. The world sees hope in strength.
Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
God sees strength in our weakness.
but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
2 cor
For the past decade I have been wrestling with how we become receptive to God. What can we do to put ourselves right where God’s grace can have maximum impact.
I’ve seen how it happens through external circumstances. It has been said that there are no athiests in foxholes…I’ve also seen very few around a deathbed, or in the cancer centers, or after the pink slips, or during the divorce, or after the betrayal. These events often crush any self-dependence and drive us toward God-dependence.
External Circumstances that bring about being broken / crushed:
illness
death
loss
But why does it always take tragedy to draw close to God? That seems cruel of God! And then I realize that God has made a way for us to develop dependency. We just rarely ever know about it or take advantage of them. That to me is one of the greatest things we need to rekindle in the church.
Internal Decisions leading to the same
sabbath
fasting
gratitude
generosity
sabbath
fasting
Lenten practices
Lent, the perfect opportunity to place yourself right where God wants you. To intentionally soften your heart and become receptive to the good words, the good desires, and the good power which flows from God’s Spirit at work in and through you.
Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.
