Jesus Makes Us Whole

Whether you grew up in church or this is your first time, it is to our benefit to be reminded of what we are celebrating and why what Jesus did is relevant to us today.

There are two moments prior to and during Jesus’ crucifixion that made me really key in on what we will talk about today.

Something specific happens that was so significant it overshadows the pain of crucifixion.

Look with me at Luke 22:39-44

Luke 22:39–44 CSB

39 He went out and made his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. 40 When he reached the place, he told them, “Pray that you may not fall into temptation.” 41 Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” 43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. 44 Being in anguish, he prayed more fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.

It is obvious that Jesus doesn’t want to experience what is coming and certainly, the pain of what he is about to endure is part of it.

However, there is something he says while on the cross that reveals more than just the physical pain that he is enduring.

Mark 15:33–34 CSB

33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

We believe that Jesus is part of the trinity.

He is referred to as the son of God and He was with God in the beginning, when all was created.

In the moments just prior to him breathing his last breath, when his friends and family had abandoned him, he experienced something that all of us are born into.

For the first time in all of history, Jesus experienced separation from God the Father.

As he took on the sins of the world, he had to endure it alone.

Mark (Mark 15:34)

while he bore the sins of the world, God could not be with him; and he was literally abandoned not only by his disciples but also by his Father.

What caused Jesus so much anguish in the garden was the knowledge of what was going to happen on the cross.

Not the physical pain, but the separation from God.

You may not have realized this before today, but we are born separated from God and Jesus’s purpose in coming to earth was to rejoin us with God.

He came to Make Us Whole.

This is the focus of our message today.

Jesus experienced what we all experience in order that He could overcome it.

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus have made us whole.

To fully understand that statement we have to look back at our redemptive history.

I’d like for you to go on a little adventure with me today through scripture.

Your story, my story, and the stories of every man, woman, and child all start at the same place.

As children, a lot of the stories we read began with “once upon a time”.

Our story begins with “In the beginning”.

Let’s go back to the beginning and see what caused us to all be born separated from God.

Our Separation Began With Sin.

Genesis 3:1–10 NLT

1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ” 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. 8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

By choosing to sin, Adam and Eve separated themselves and all of mankind from God.

Our mistakes, and our sins make us feel guilty and our natural response is to avoid what makes us feel guilty.

But rather than running from sin, we run from God.

This is what happened with Adam and Eve and the same thing happens with us today.

That’s what is being shown in verse 8 of Genesis 3.

Genesis 3:8 NLT

When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man* and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees.

Our sin causes us to hide from God, to run from him, to be separated from Him.

God’s desire isn’t for us to be separated.

God created us to know Him and to have a relationship with Him.

But the sin in our lives puts a barrier between us and separates us from Him.

We can’t experience the pure bliss of knowing God because of that separation.

Yesterday we had the oppertunity to help Ben, Anna, David, and Sarah move their belongings to their new home.

In between loads, I stepped away for a moment to just take in what God had done in their lives.

Ben walked over and basically said that he was at a loss for words.

He is in awe of what God has done in their lives.

Now, they spent over a decade living with family and not having a home of their own, but God finished the work he told them that he would do.

They only got to experience this joy because they have a relationship with God and have learned to listen to his voice.

This is the kind of relationship that God created us to have!

God wants us to know Him and there is inexpressible joy for us in knowing Him!

Unfortunately, all of us are born in sin and therefore separated from God.

But as the kid's video this morning pointed out, there is good news!

Jesus came to repair the broken relationship.

Unlike you and I, there is no sin in Jesus.

He didn’t have the same separation that you and I have.

We see that fact all through his ministry and specifically when he would say things like we see in John 5:19

John 5:19 CSB

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son likewise does these things.

Jesus came to bridge the gap that exists between God and his people.

God Has A Plan To Bring Us Back.

Right after Adam and Eve sinned, God began the work required to bring us back.

There are a couple of key moments that show God’s work to restore the brokenness.

One of those was the First covenant.

The First Covenant

God enacts this covenant right after he frees Israel from slavery in Egypt.

After God led Israel through the Red Sea and across the wildness, He brings them to the foot of a mountain.

Exodus 19:3–6 CSB

3 Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob and explain to the Israelites: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, 6 and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”

God shows His power in freeing the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt.

God tells Israel that He wants them to be His Holy nation.

In other words, God wanted to reunite himself with his people.

God is communicating that he wants to bring us back to himself.

He is restoring what was broken.

In order for that to happen, God said that they needed to listen and obey.

God held up his end of the covenant, but Israel didn’t.

Israel turned down the relationship that God wanted and settled for a list of rules to be followed.

They were still running from God.

They wanted to be in charge.

They were choosing to stay separated.

We are still running today.

Just like we talked about a few moments ago, we still choose sin and run from God.

Thankfully, God was not done yet.

He later sends prophets to tell the people that one day he would enact a new covenant.

The New Covenant

One of those prophets was a guy named Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 NLT

31 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. 33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

God tells Israel that He is going to do something even greater than what He did in the wilderness.

He is going to reveal himself to his people and instead of the law being only in their minds, he is going to move it into their hearts.

God makes a promise that one day He will restore the broken relationship! He will Make Them Whole!

God’s desire to know us is so great that He did the unthinkable.

He came to earth, born as a helpless baby so that he could experience life as we do.

The Birth and Life of Jesus.

Luke 2:1–7 CSB

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. 2 This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, 5 to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

God sent Jesus, his son, to reveal to the world who God really was and what it looks like to live in a relationship with God.

He came to show us how much the father loves us.

Jesus came to do what we could not.

He did what Adam and Eve couldn’t do.

He resisted Satan’s temptation and choose to stay connected with God.

Mark 1:9–13 CSB

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. 10 As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.” 12 Immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels were serving him.

Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan and they choose to listen to him instead of God.

Jesus faced the same temptations as Adam and Eve, and Satan tried to twist God’s word to confuse and mislead Jesus, but it didn’t work

Jesus accomplished what we could not, he lived a life that was sinless.

In doing so, Jesus revealed to the world the kind of relationship that God desires to have with all people.

Jesus loved people like no one has ever loved.

He saw those that were overlooked.

He healed the sick.

He stood up for others.

Jesus came and loved us completely and took upon himself our curse of separation so that it could be dealt with once and for all.

Jesus Died and experienced separation so that we don’t have to.

This brings us back to where we started.

We were separated from God by sin, but Jesus came to deal with sin for everyone.

He was the perfect sacrifice and paid the price for the sin of all people.

Illustration on cause and effect.

Because of the sin in our lives, we are separated.

Because of Jesus’s work on the cross, we have the opportunity to Be Made Whole.

Romans 3:21–26 NLT

21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

Jesus Makes Us Whole

Jesus has made a way for us to be made whole again.

When we are separated from God there is a part of us that never feels quite right.

There is always this sense that something is missing.

We may not always notice it, but there are moments in our lives when we feel alone, ashamed, forgotten, or just not quite right.

We feel those things because we were created to be in a relationship with God and until we are reunited, we aren’t whole.

It isn’t until we choose to put our faith in Jesus and enter into that relationship that we can be made fully whole.

This is why Jesus came.

This is what we are celebrating at Easter.

We are celebrating that God has done what He said he would do.

He has made a way for us to be reunited.

Jesus came to live, die, and raise himself from the grave so that we could really know God.

In a few moments, we are going to have an opportunity to do something really special that Jesus did with his disciples during his last meal with them.

I’ll explain it in a few moments, but before I do I want you all to know that if you are feeling God tug at your heart letting you know that you need to begin a relationship with Him, right now is a great time to do that.

I’m going to pray in just a moment and if you are here today and want to trust Jesus by placing your faith in Him, you can do that.

Beginning your relationship with Jesus is really simple.

Recognize that you are a sinner who is separated from God.

Believe that Jesus is the son of God and that He came to forgive you.

Submit and commit your life to trusting and following Jesus.

As I pray through this in a moment, if you feel led to do so, pray along with me and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to be your savior.

Let’s pray.

If you prayed that prayer today, grab me or Mrs. Bethany after the service.

We would love to welcome you to the family of God and talk with you about your decision.

If You prayed that prayer, you are no longer alone and God wants to work in your life and he uses other believers to do that.

When Jesus gathered his disciples together for one last meal, they were celebrating the festival dedicated to The Passover.

It was a way of remembering that God “passed over” the sons of Israel during the last plague when delivering Israel from slavery.

But he did and said some things that were new to the disciples.

They didn’t know it yet, but Jesus was revealing to them that He was about to do something that would have the same effect on all people.

He was about to save them all from the separation that we talked about today.

After they had finished eating, he took the bread, broke it, and said this is my body, broken for you and for all.

Then He took the cup and said, this is my blood, poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

He told them to do this often to remind them of what He was about to do.

Today, I want to invite all of you to join us in what we call the Lord’s Supper.

As we take the “bread” and “juice”, we do it to remember that Jesus bled and died for the forgiveness of our sins.

Please come.

Serve...

Pray...

After taking Lord’s Supper, dismiss Bethany and JR & SR high students.

Song:

Announcements:

Tithes and Offering - We moved it this week to the back of the room so you can drop it in on your way out.

Cenla interfaith - We have six people signed up to go and room for a few more if anyone is interested.

Video following Announcements.

Wrap up the main idea of Easter.

Because we are celebrating, we are going to have an egg hunt as a celebration activity.

Mrs. Bethany is going to come up and tell us what to do.

I go down to the back door.

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