Untitled Sermon (20)

Jesus has spent the last 3 1/2 years with a vast array of people. He had called a crew of 12 disciples that traveled the countryside with him; from those he had 3- Peter, James, and John, that formed his closest inner circle. He had Mary, Martha, and Lazarus- the siblings that often spent time with Jesus in their home in Bethany; of course there was Mary Magdalene; and I bet there were more familiar faces that Jesus saw often during his journeys.

But on this day, Good Friday, Jesus finds his last moments before death hung between 2 thieves. Jesus finds himself not dying surrounded by those who he spent his life with- but next to criminals while his family and friends watched- well, at least those who had rejoined from the night before when everyone abandoned or denied him.

Here hangs the King of the universe 3 crosses, one savior, one hope for humanity; and this scene teaches us that the KOG is built on Salvation and Grace.

I once heard a preacher say that when we look at the three crosses we can see 3 H’s- Haughty, Holy, and Humble. The haughty man on one side who mocks Jesus with words of hate; the holy man on the other side who reaches out for salvation; and the holy man in the middle who gives his life for everyone else.

This in and of itself is the greatest picture of grace. Jesus dies in the middle of sin, the holy one of God hanging in a death he did not deserve in the middle of people who wrongly accused him; next to the most broken and sinful society had to offer. This is a picture of grace.

The Scriptures tell us in Romans 5:6 that “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Jesus goes to the cross, not for the holy, righteous, and upstanding citizens of this world- but for the evil, hard hearted, sinners of the world. And most of us can recall that the Scriptures themselves tells us “all of sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

To say that the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of salvation we are declaring that we are a people that need saving. In other words, until we realize our need for being save Jesus can never be our Savior.

If we have a small view of our own sin, we will ultimately have a small view of our Savior.

Too many times the church can forget our great need of a Savior. It can be so easy to drive by the bar, or the abortion clinic, or watch the reality TV shows or see the dysfunction around us and say “those people need Jesus” But we should also come into the Sanctuary, into the Sunday School Room, into the prayers closest and declare “WE PEOPLE NEED JESUS!”

May we never forget the story Jesus told in Luke 18:9-14

Luke 18:9–14 ESV

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

May we always beat our breast and cry out for our need for a Savior, because a small view of our sin results in a small view of our Savior.

There is also a great truth we must realize in the words of the first thief. He turns to Jesus and says “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” And the truth is, Jesus could not do both. If Jesus would have chosen to save himself- and make no mistake he could have- he could not save us; and in order to save us he had to allow himself to die. There was no way he could do both.

Millard Erickson once wrote that the cross was the prefect symbol for the atonement of God. For it represents the intersection of God‘s love and God’s holiness. The holiness or God requires payment for sin; and the love of God provided the payment- right at the heart of where Jesus hung.

Because after all, the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of Grace. Radical grace.

Cinderella’s castle at Disneyland was packed with kids and parents. Suddenly - all the children rushed to one side. It’s a good thing it was a castle and not a boat, or it would have tipped over. The pristine princess had entered the room. Cinderella. A gorgeous young girl with each hair in place, flawless skin and a beaming smile. She stood waist-deep in a garden of kids, each wanting to touch and be touched. The other side of the castle was now vacant, except for a boy maybe seven or eight years old. His age was hard to determine because of the disfigurement of his body. Dwarfed in height, face deformed, he stood watching quietly and wistfully, holding the hand of an older brother. Do you know what he wanted? He wanted to be with the children. He longed to be in the middle of the kids reaching for Cinderella, calling her name. But can’t you feel his fear, fear of yet another rejection? Fear of being taunted again, mocked again? Don’t you wish Cinderella would go to him? She did! She noticed the little boy and immediately began walking in his direction. Politely but firmly inching through the crowd of children, she finally broke free. She walked quickly across the floor, knelt at eye level with the stunned little boy and placed a kiss on his face. Max Lucado tells this story in his book, The Gift For All People. He concludes "The story reminds me of another royal figure. The names are different, but isn’t the story almost the same? Rather than a princess of Disney, these essays are about the Prince of Peace. Rather than a boy in a castle, our story is about you and me. In both cases a gift was given. In both cases love was shared. In both cases the lovely one performed a gesture beyond words." But Jesus did more than Cinderella. Oh, so much more. Cinderella gave only a kiss. When she stood to leave, she took her beauty with her. The boy was still deformed. What if Cinderella had done what Jesus did? What if she’d assumed his state? What if she had somehow given him her beauty and taken on his disfigurement? That’s what Jesus did. 'He took our suffering on him and felt our pain for us ... He was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did. The punishment, which made us well, was given to him, and we are healed because of his wounds' (Isaiah 53:4

Part of it might be hard to comprehend, even hard to accept. That it was that easy for the second thief. All he did was ask, and that is all he needed. Here was a man sentenced to die; because of his crimes- so obviously he was a bad dude. We have no record to tell us if he had ever known anything about God. He accepts the Lord Jesus and soon dies- no attending church, no paying tithes, no praying for others, no mmemorizing verses, no baptism- NOTHING!

This can be perplexing for us.

Preplexing for the unbeliever- because there has to be more than than, right? It cant be that easy! THere has to be more. After all, our judicial System requires punishment for wrong doing; someone has to pay. But make no mistake, friends, there has to be a payment for sin; but your sin payment has been paI’d by someone else. The Gospell does not mean that your payment has been excused- no it means that your payment has been displaced; from you onto Jesus.

But this same grace can also be hard to comprehend and accept for the selfrighteous as well- for the same reaso- IT CANT BE THAT SIMPLE! I’ve gone to church every Sunday for 40 years; I have paid thousands in dollars in tithes; I read my Bible every day; and that thief gets the same salvation I do with nothing?!?

The exact reason Paul told us it is by grace we have been saved, lest no man can boast. It has to be a Kingdom of grace, because if it is not a Kingdom of grace it is not a Kingdom for all. If it is not about grace then some peo0ple have an advantage over others.

But the Gospel is this simple- Romans 10:9.