The Death of the King

When you see this (point to the cross), what comes to your mind?

Brian Zahnd - “Every cross adorning a church is in itself a sermon—a sermon proclaiming that if Christ can transform the Roman instrument of execution into a thing of beauty, there is hope that in Christ all things can be made beautiful!”

The story of the death of Jesus is a story of redemption, of salvation, of transformation. It forces us to confront the worst parts of ourselves and invites us to surrender them at the foot of the cross to allow the life of God to fill us and transform us.

One of our core values at this church is life transformation. And I believe that when Biblical teaching collides with our hearts, our minds, our self-perceptions and our behaviours, life transformation happens.

What does the cross teach us?

1. That God has a plan

Anyone here old enough to know what Colnel John, “Hannibal”, Smith’s famous catchphrase was on the greatest show of the 80’s - the A-Team? “I love it when a plan comes together.”

Everything feels chaotic - the foundations of our western society are no longer solid and some people feel like the ground is moving under our feet.

The cross is the evidence that God has a plan - Jesus was “slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8)

That plan utilized the hardship, the pain, the sacrifice of Jesus in order to accomplish God’s purpose - our salvation

God uses all the good things in our lives to fulfill his purposes - and all our hardship and pain.

Romans 8:28–29 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

God’s purpose is to guide you towards being more like Jesus - to love others like Jesus loves them- to love God like Jesus loves the Father. Everything you have been going through has been part of the plan to help you become more like Jesus.

God had a plan for humanity’s salvation that culminated in the cross but took centuries to come about so take heart - if you are in the middle of a torrential storm that is threatening to drown you, it’s okay. You are right where God wants you to be: on the journey to become more like Jesus in your faith, in your conduct and in your love.

2. That God is gracious

Romans 6:23 NIV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What Paul means is that our sin - all the ways we don’t honor God - all they earn us is spiritual death.

A lot of people think God deals with us like he keeps a ledger with assets in one column and liabilities in another - or good things in one column (like helping our neighbor, tipping well, being a good husband or wife) and bad things in another column (like stealing time from work, or speeding, or sleeping with people we shouldn’t have). And they assume that if our good things outweigh our bad things, God will be okay with that.

But God works differently than that. He set a line in the sand and it doesn’t matter if you are over the line by a toe or the line is far away that it is a dot to you, you are over the line. And there is a cost to being over the line.

But instead of leaving us helpless, because we are all over the line, Jesus went to the cross and paid that cost for us, not so that we can dance over the line as much as we want, but so that we can be forgiven for going over the line. Instead of giving us the punishment for going over the line, Jesus took the punishment for us.

That’s why it says in the Psalms,

Psalm 111:2–4 NIV

Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.

I don’t know about you, but when I sin - when I do stuff I know goes against what God desires for me - I feel weighed down with guilt. But the good news is that because Jesus went to the cross, because God was gracious to me, I am forgiven and the weight is lifted off my shoulders.

Do you want to have that weight lifted off your shoulders? Turn to Jesus. Believe in what he did at the cross . Know that you are forgiven in Christ, not because you are good enough, but because God is gracious to you and has made forgiveness available through faith in Jesus.

3. That God loves you

We all want to experience love - it’s why we cuddle with Mom and Dad when we are little kids (or 16 year old apparently). It’s why we try dating in our teen or young adult years. It’s why we have date nights in our 30’s and 40’s and why we hold hands as we walk together as seniors. We all want to feel loved.

What can get us into trouble is when we go looking for love in all the wrong places and we expect a divine and perfect love from flawed, messed up people instead of remembering that we are loved unconditionally and eternally by our God who is love defined.

The apostle John tells us in one of his letters that God is love. That means the love we have for each other is a shadow, a weaker copy of his love for us. No matter how much love one person has for another, God’s love is always bigger.

But maybe you haven’t felt very loved by God lately. Maybe your experiences lately have you feeling abandoned, in pain and struggling. That’s why it’s important to remember the cross. It is the constant reminder that no matter how I may feel, God showed his love for me powerfully on this day.

This is the ultimate act of love and Jesus did it for you.

John 15:13 NIV

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

By going to the cross and dying on your behalf, Jesus powerfully declares to you how much he loves you. Some people love you, but not enough to help you move. Some people love you, but not enough to loan you money. Some people love you, but not enough to share their netflix password. But Jesus loves you so much, that he literally died for you so that you could experience eternal relationship with God.

I love my wife and she loves me. I don’t know why, but she does. And that love has transformed my life and continues to transform me. It has softened some of my rougher edges. It has called me to pursue deeper holiness. It has given me a new perspective on how to see the world and it has stretched my patience. That’s what love does - it transforms us.

God’s eternal and perfect love for you - revealed most powerfully by the cross - will transform you, if you let it. It can give you confidence, peace, courage, joy, power and so much more. How do you experience his love?

Through faith. By believing that this story that Greg read is true and

Romans 5:8 NIV

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Conclusion

Jesus’ death on the cross reminds us that God has a plan for you, that he gives you grace, and that he loves you. May this Easter weekend, you experience the awe-inspiring, life transforming power of the cross all over again.

Pray.