I Will Clothe You
John 19:23 - 24, 1 Pet 5:5, Psa 109:18, John 5:19, 30, 1 Pet 2:24, Gal 3:13, 26-27,
March 3, 2003
I. I am going to steal a story from Max Lucado and it is one that I have never experienced. But it is important to understanding what I am going to be talking about today.
A. The Maitre d’ wouldn’t change his mind Max says. He didn’t care that this was our honey moon.
B. It didn’t matter that the evening at the classy country club restaurant was a wedding gift.
C. He could care less that my wife had went without lunch to save room for Dinner.
D. All of this didn’t matter in comparison to the looming problem that he saw, and that was that I wasn’t wearing a jacket!
E. I didn’t know that I needed one. I thought a sports shirt was sufficient, I mean it was clean, AND TUCKED IN!
F. OH, but Mr. Black tie with the French accent wasn’t impressed.
G. He seated everyone else, Mr. And Mrs. Debonair were given a table, and Mr. And Mrs. Classier than thou were seated too, but not Mr. And Mrs. Didn’t wear and Jacket.
H. If there had been another option I wouldn’t have begged, but I didn’t and it was late, and we were hungry, and the other restaurants were closed or booked.
I. There has to be something that you can do. He looked at me and then at my wife and then let out a long sigh that puffed out his cheeks.
J. All right he said, let me see. He disappeared into the cloak room and emerged with a jacket. The sleeves were too short, and the shoulders were too tight and it was an ugly Lime Green color, but Max says that he put it on anyway, But he does say that he took it off when the food came...my kinda guy!
K. Now, this story makes a point, and it is one that concerns our relationship to God.
L. He needed a jacket but all he had was a prayer. The Maitre d’ was too kind to turn him away, and too loyal to lower the standard.
M. So the very person who required a jacket gave him a jacket, and a seat at a table.
II. The same thing happened at the Cross, Seats at God’s table are not available to the spiritually sloppy, but aren’t we all that way?
A. Don’t we all have some unkept morality, and aren’t we all a little untidy with the truth sometimes?
B. Aren’t we all careless with people at times, isn’t some of our spiritual clothing jumbled?
C. The standard for sitting at God’s table is high, but the love of God for his children, as we have been taking about for the last few weeks, is higher so he offers us a gift.
D. The gift that he offers us is not a Lime colored jacket, it is a robe. Not just any robe, but a seamless robe. A robe worn by his Son Jesus.
E. The bible doesn’t say a lot about the clothes that Jesus wore. They must have been pretty plain. They were not humble enough to inspire sympathy, and they were not glamorous enough to turn heads, or even be written about much.
F. Really there was only once that anything was said about Jesus’ clothing, that had much meaning at all.
(John 19:23 - 24 NIV) When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. "Let’s not tear it," they said to one another. "Let’s decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did.
G. Jesus’ robe must have been his finest possession. It was a Israelite tradition that a man’s mother would make a robe like that for him, as a gift when he left home.
H. We don’t know if Mary had done this for Jesus, but we do know the robe or tunic was one piece, without seams, and woven from top to bottom.
I. This is the one thing that God thought was important enough to tell us. So why is that important?
J. The bible many times describes our behavior as the clothes we wear.
1. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:5 to be "clothed with humility."
(1 Pet 5:5 NIV) Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
2. King David in 109:18 talks about people clothing themselves with cursing.
(Psa 109:18 NIV) He wore cursing as his garment; it entered into his body like water, into his bones like oil.
K. Clothes can symbolize character, Donna wrote an article in the paper not long ago that I think every woman and teenage girl should read about clothing.
L. But, the point is that Jesus was like his robe, uninterrupted perfection. Jesus’ character was unified, it was coordinated, it was without fault.
M. Jesus’ character was like his robe, it was woven from the top...to the bottom. Jesus wasn’t led by his own thoughts, he was led by his father’s desire.
N. Listen to the way that Jesus described it.
(John 5:19 NIV) Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
(John 5:30 NIV) By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
O. The character of Jesus was like his clothes, seamless, flawless, with no weak points.
1. Jesus’ character was woven from top to bottom, or from heaven to earth.
2. God the father’s thoughts were Jesus’ actions.
III. But there was a time that it wasn’t that way. Now I am going to say something that you might not agree with at first, but before you disagree out loud you need to know that I wouldn’t say this if I was not going to have a very strong argument to back it up.
A. There was a time when Jesus was on Earth, that he wasn’t perfect.
B. There was a time when Jesus’ character was not in line with the father’s thoughts.
C. When Jesus was nailed to the Cross His seamless robe of perfection was removed, and he put on the clothing that we were talking about earlier, the imperfection, the clothing the represents indignity.
D. Just like his real clothing was removed so was his real character.
1. When someone was crucified they were stripped and hung on the Cross naked.
2. Jesus was stripped in public before his mother and hung in public for all the world to see. He was shamed before his family.
E. The indignity of being a failure was placed on him.
1. For a few hours the religious leaders were seen to be the winners.
2. For a time Jesus was shamed before his accusers.
F. But those things were not the worst.
1. The thing that made Jesus imperfect parallels him losing his clothes and it makes a good story, but the bottom line is that his putting on the indignity of sin is what made him imperfect.
2. And the thing that is really important is that the sin that he took on himself was not his it was ours.
(1 Pet 2:24 NIV) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
3. The thing that Jesus was clothed with on the Cross was sin, and it was your sin and my sin, not his sin. It was the sin of every human being that has or will ever live.
G. Have you ever passed a prison work crew on the road? Have you ever noticed that the don’t look up at you? Have you ever stopped to wonder why?
1. I think it is that they are ashamed.
2. And what they feel when they are on the side of the road is what Jesus felt on the Cross...shame.
3. For the first time since the beginning of time the perfect was imperfect, and the shame of imperfection was on him.
H. Every part of crucifixion was meant to shame the person not only to hurt them.
1. Crucifixion was usually only for the worst criminals, like slaves, murders, and assassins.
2. The condemned person was marched through the streets while carrying their crossbar and wearing a sign around their neck that said what their crime was.
3. At the sight of the execution they were stripped and mocked, and Jesus was not only shamed before people he was shamed before heaven.
4. Since the sin of an adulterer and a murderer was placed on him he felt the shame of every adulterer and murder that had ever lived on Earth before all of heaven.
5. Though he had never lied he took on the disgrace of a liar.
6. Though he had never cheated he felt the embarrassment of a cheater.
7. And since he had placed on him the sin of the whole world he felt the shame of the whole world.
I. The writer of Hebrews talks about the "disgrace that he bore".
J. No he wasn’t guilty, and he hadn’t committed a sin, or broken a law, and no he didn’t deserve to be sentenced to death.
K. But, we were guilty, and we had committed a sin and we had broken a law, and we did deserve to be sentenced to death.
L. We were in the same position that Max Lucado was in with the Maitre d’, we had nothing to offer but a prayer.
M. But, Jesus went a lot farther than the Maitre d’ can you imagine the Maitre d in the story taking off his tuxedo jacket and giving it to Max and putting on the Lime Green jacket that Max had to wear?
N. Well that is what Jesus did. His robe was a symbol of his character, and when the soldiers took off his robe it was not only a symbol of him being shamed before the people there, it was also a symbol of his shame before heaven, because he took on our sin.
O. And the soldiers may have cast lots for his robe but they were not the ones that were really getting it we were.
P. Jesus was stripped of his robe so that we could put it on, just like he was stripped of his character so that we could put IT on.
Q. Jesus offers us his seamless, flawless, perfect robe, and puts on our patchwork coat of pride and greed and selfishness, just like he took off his flawless, perfect character, and offers it to us.
(Gal 3:13 NIV) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
R. For the time that he was on the Cross Jesus was not perfect, because he had to become imperfect to offer us his perfection. To offer us His perfection, He had to take it off and put on our imperfection.
IV. At some point in our lives every one of us comes face to face with the Cross.
A. We walk up to that Cross dressed in sin, and imperfection, and we have a choice.
B. We can lay down all our imperfections and put on the robe the Jesus left laying there, or we can keep the imperfection that we have.
C. It is our choice, and we have to make it. If our pride makes us believe that we can in some way fix up what we have to the point that we can make it good enough for God.
D. Or, if our pride makes us ashamed to bare what we are to everyone who might see while we make the change.
E. Or if our shame makes us feel that we can’t pick up the gift that Jesus offers us, then we will walk away just as covered in sin and imperfection as when we came.
F. But, if we are willing to swallow our pride and refuse to give in to our shame we can leave clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
(Gal 3:26-27 NIV) You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
G. Does that mean that Baptism saves us? No, Baptism is the picture we show others so they can see that we have been saved.
H. The choice to pick up and accept what Jesus offers saves us, You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, the bible says.
I. Baptism is a symbolism that shows we have put on new clothes.
J. And that when God looks at us from that point on he see the perfection of his son, not the imperfection of who we really are, because we are seen by God as being in Christ because we have accepted his gift of salvation.
1. It wasn’t enough for him to prepare you a feast.
2. And it wasn’t enough for him to reserve you a seat.
3. It wasn’t enough for him to cover the cost and provide if you will the transportation to the banquet.
4. He let you wear his own clothes so you would be properly dressed for the occasion.
5. And he did it just for you, and all you have to do is pick up his robe of righteousness and put it on, and he will clothe you.
6. It here waiting for you all you have to do is come and pick it up.
