From Religion to Relationship

From Religion to Relationship

Old Made New: Pt. 10

Pastor Tim Brisson

Intro

welcome to 420

Group example - firing scriptures and saying YOU ARE FORGIVEN - JESUS MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR YOU

Easter

Good Friday - Disciples WHY?

Holy Sabbath Saturday - WHY?

Sunday, empty tomb - WHY?

Appearances to Mary, Peter, and others - WHY?

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

WHAT DOES THE CROSS MEAN

WE USE THE WORD SACRIFICE

PENAL SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT

THE PREDOMINANT VIEW OF THE CROSS SINCE THE REFORMATION AND LUTHER

so a neighborhood kid breaks my window, and I punish my child?

HOW DOES PUNISHING EVEN ONE INNOCENT FOR THE GUILT OF OTHERS EVER MAKE SENSE

Shouldn’t Father God at least be as nice as his Son Jesus?

DID JESUS REALLY HAVE TO DIE - AS A SACRIFICE?

What is a sacrifice?

Joe Vs. Volcano

if it is not Jesus Vs. Volcano, what kind of sacrifice is it?

PSA IS JUST ONE OF MANY DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE CROSS THAT THE CHURCH HAS HELD OVER THE YEARS

WE HAVE DISCUSS CHRIST AS VICTOR

TONIGHT WE WILL DISCUSS THE CROSS AS LOVE

I WILL PULL A THEOLOGICAL RABBIT OUT OF A HAT, AND YOU WILL LEAVE TONIGHT VIEWING THE CROSS AS THE ULTIMATE ACT OF LOVE

FIRST LETS REFRAME SACRIFICE

FIRST RESPONDER EXAMPLE

THE ULTIMATE 911 CALL

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

Leviticus 16 (CSB)

1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of two of Aaron’s sons when they approached the presence of the Lord and died. 2 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell your brother Aaron that he may not come whenever he wants into the holy place behind the curtain in front of the mercy seat on the ark or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.

3 “Aaron is to enter the most holy place in this way: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He is to wear a holy linen tunic, and linen undergarments are to be on his body. He is to tie a linen sash around him and wrap his head with a linen turban. These are holy garments; he must bathe his body with water before he wears them.

5 He is to take from the Israelite community two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.

6 “Aaron will present the bull for his sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household. 7 Next he will take the two goats and place them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

8 After Aaron casts lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other for an uninhabitable place, 9 he is to present the goat chosen by lot for the Lord and sacrifice it as a sin offering.

10 But the goat chosen by lot for an uninhabitable place is to be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement with it by sending it into the wilderness for an uninhabitable place.

11 “When Aaron presents the bull for his sin offering and makes atonement for himself and his household, he will slaughter the bull for his sin offering. 12 Then he is to take a firepan full of blazing coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense, and bring them inside the curtain.

13 He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, so that the cloud of incense covers the mercy seat that is over the testimony, or else he will die. 14 He is to take some of the bull’s blood and sprinkle it with his finger against the east side of the mercy seat; then he will sprinkle some of the blood with his finger before the mercy seat seven times.

15 “When he slaughters the male goat for the people’s sin offering and brings its blood inside the curtain, he will do the same with its blood as he did with the bull’s blood: He is to sprinkle it against the mercy seat and in front of it.

16 He will make atonement for the most holy place in this way for all their sins because of the Israelites’ impurities and rebellious acts. He will do the same for the tent of meeting that remains among them, because it is surrounded by their impurities. 17 No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the most holy place until he leaves after he has made atonement for himself, his household, and the whole assembly of Israel.

18 Then he will go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He is to take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on the horns on all sides of the altar. 19 He is to sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse and set it apart from the Israelites’ impurities.

20 “When he has finished making atonement for the most holy place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he is to present the live male goat. 21 Aaron will lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the Israelites’ iniquities and rebellious acts—all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the man appointed for the task.

22 The goat will carry all their iniquities into a desolate land, and the man will release it there.

23 “Then Aaron is to enter the tent of meeting, take off the linen garments he wore when he entered the most holy place, and leave them there. 24 He will bathe his body with water in a holy place and put on his clothes. Then he must go out and sacrifice his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering; he will make atonement for himself and for the people.

25 He is to burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar. 26 The man who released the goat for an uninhabitable place is to wash his clothes and bathe his body with water; afterward he may reenter the camp. 27 The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the most holy place to make atonement, must be brought outside the camp and their hide, flesh, and waste burned.

28 The one who burns them is to wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may reenter the camp.

29 “This is to be a permanent statute for you: In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month you are to practice self-denial and do no work, both the native and the alien who resides among you. 30 Atonement will be made for you on this day to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord.

31 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must practice self-denial; it is a permanent statute.

32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as high priest in place of his father will make atonement. He will put on the linen garments, the holy garments, 33 and make atonement for the most holy place. He will make atonement for the tent of meeting and the altar and will make atonement for the priests and all the people of the assembly.

34 This is to be a permanent statute for you, to make atonement for the Israelites once a year because of all their sins.” And all this was done as the Lord commanded Moses.

SO TODAY THIS IS OBSERVED AS YOM KIPPUR

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

EVERY SEPTEMBER

ONCE A YEAR, BEFORE THE JEWISH CALENDAR NEW YEAR, THEY OBSERVE A PERIOD OF INTROSPECTION AND REFLECTION

THEY DO 4TH STEP INVENTORY

LET’S FOCUS ON THIS

30 Atonement will be made for you on this day to cleanse you, and you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord.

WHAT IS THE BLOOD BEING USED FOR? CLEANSING - BECAUSE IT IS LIFE, THE BLOOD RESTORES LIFE

THE PURPOSE OF THE SACRIFICE WAS NOT THE DEATH OF THE ANIMAL

THE ANIMAL HAS TO DIE TO GET THE BLOOD

LIKE IN GENESIS, GOD COVERS ADAM AND EVE’S SINS WITH CLOTHING MADE FROM AN ANIMAL HIDE, THE ANIMAL HAD TO BE KILLED, BUT THE TAKING OF THE ANIMAL’S LIFE WAS NOT THE POINT, LIKE THE JOE VS VOLCANO SACRIFICES OF SUPERSTITION

BUT ALSO THE PLACE OF ATONEMENT, THE ALTAR, IS CLEANSED, ALONG WITH THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY

33 He will make atonement for the tent of meeting and the altar and will make atonement for the priests and all the people of the assembly.

A ONCE A YEAR DEEP CLEANING

LET’S SEE WHAT THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITERS DEVELOP THIS IDEA AS BEING FULFILLED IN CHRIST

Atonement = Cleansing

Hebrews 9:23–28 (CSB)

23 Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us.

25 He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. 26 Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself.

27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

YOUR SALVATION OPERATES IN THE PRESENT - YOU ARE NOW CLEANSED OF SINS - AND AS A BELIEVER YOU ARE ASSURED OF SALVATION IN THE SECOND COMING WHEN ALL OF CREATION WILL BE JUDGED

THIS IS WHAT THE WRITER OF HEBREWS SEES LEVITICUS POINTING TOWRDS

Hebrews 10:1–4 (CSB)

1 Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year. 2 Otherwise, wouldn’t they have stopped being offered, since the worshipers, purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

3 But in the sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

THERE IS NO MENTION IN LEV 16 ABOUT APPEASING THE WRATH OF GOD OTHER THAN NOT ALLOWING AN UNCLEAN PERSON BEFORE THE ALTAR, AND ESPECIALLY, THE MERCY SEAT

PURIFICATION WORKS ON US IN THE PRESENT ON OUR CONSCIOUSNESS

WE ARE CHANGED WHEN WE ARE CLEANSED, PURIFIED, SANCTIFIED, MADE HOLY

WE ARE NOT TO KEEP REMINDING OURSELVES OF OUR PAST

WE ARE TO LIVE AS A HOLY PEOPLE

AND PERSEVERE BECAUSE JESUS WILL JUDGE THE WORLD IN THE END

PLEASE READ HEBREWS CH 9-10

BUT WHAT ABOUT WHERE THE PURIFICATION HAPPENS

CHRIST IS NOT A SANCTUARY MADE WITH HUMAN HANDS

PAUL PICKS UP ON THIS

Mercy Seat

Romans 3:21–26 (CSB)

21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction.

23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

RIGHTEOUSNESS = GOODNESS

NOTE THE USE OF “DEMONSTRATE” TWICE

JESUS AS MERCY SEAT

JESUS BECAME THE SINGLE PLACE IN TIME WHERE GOD’S PLAN OF REDEMPTION COMES TOGETHER ON THE CROSS

AND JESUS DEMONSTRATES HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, HIS GOODNESS, HIS LOVE BY VOLUNTARILY PLACING HIMSELF ON THE CROSS

EXPERIENCING THE WORST THE WORLD HAD TO OFFER - A SHAMEFUL DEATH

LIKE A FIRST RESPONDER, JESUS CAME INTO OUR FALLEN WORLD, AND THROUGH HIS BLOOD PURIFIED US - HIS COMMUNITY - HE CLEANSES US OF OUR SINS

LIKE THE SCAPEGOAT - HIS ACTION DEMONSTRATES LOVE - HE VOLUNTARILY CARRIES AWAY OUR SINS

BUT INSTEAD OF TO A DESOLATE PLACE, HE CARRIED IT INTO DEATH AND THE TOMB

AND GOD, IN HIS MERCY, WILL PASS OVER US IN JUDGEMENT, SEEING THE BLOOD OF HIS SON AS BLOOD OF THE LAMB

THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION FOR BELIEVERS

AND THE EMPTY TOMB AND THE ASCENSION SHOW GOD’S CONTINUING LOVE FOR HIS SON

THE CROSS AS LOVE

BUT PAUL MENTIONS ‘DEMONSTRATE’

WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CHANGED BY THIS DEMONSTRATION

WE ARE TO LOVE EACH OTHER AS CHRIST LOVED US

Love

John 15:9–13 (CSB)

9 “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

11 “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. 12 “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.

CAN YOU SEE JESUS’ SACRIFICE IN THIS LIGHT NOW?

Romans 8:35–39 (CSB)

35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

CAN GOD STOP LOVING US?

1 John 3:11–16 (CSB)

11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, 12 unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

13 Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.

15 Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. 16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

CAN GOD STOP LOVING US?

SO WHY CAN’T WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER THE SAME WAY

1 John 4:16–21 (CSB)

16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.

CAN GOD STOP LOVING US?

SO WHY CAN’T WE LOVE ONE ANOTHER THE SAME WAY

The Cross as Love = We love because he first loved us

Richard Rohr

Christianity is a lifestyle - a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared, and loving. However, we made it into an established "religion" (and all that goes with that) and avoided the lifestyle change itself. One could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish, and vain in most of Christian history, and still believe that Jesus is one's "personal Lord and Savior" . . . The world has no time for such silliness anymore. The suffering on Earth is too great. - Richard Rohr

This quote perfectly amplifies John above

TONGHT’S TITLE

FROM RELIGION TO RELATIONSHIP

THE CROSS COMPELS US TO LOVE OTHERS LIKEWISE

TO CHANGE OUR LIFESTYLE

TO BE TRANSFORMED IN LOVE

AND TO TRANSFORM OTHERS WITH LOVE

Jesus’ atonement, his cleansing of us, His becoming the mercy seat, the single location in history our atonement, was an act of love

Easter is the ultimate 911 call from Heaven

We love because he first loved us

NEXT WEEK IS JIM FITZ

Chip Night