POOF! I’ve just made you the presiding judge of the universe. That’s the good news. Now you have to decide if you will grant this person forgiveness. All they ask is for mercy and the chance for a new beginning with the help of Jesus? (Show series of slides of recent people in the news). If you’re like me the answer is a very qualified, “Maybe”. What if I inserted photos of people you knew, who you lived with, who had hurt you, or even your own picture? We want to answer, “Yes, but…” or “But they did…” or even, “Well if they…”
There are those we’d let off. They would either seem sincere, or nice, they would have reasons for doing what they did. They would appeal to our sense of logic or use the old excuse, “everyone does it” and we just might buy it. Then there are those we’d toss into the deepest prisons or hell itself without flinching because we believe their crimes are worthy of such punishment.
The Joke’s on us…
We laugh at human sin like a TV audience chuckles at the innuendos and immorality of sitcoms and movies even though we’d never think of doing such a thing ourselves. We live even more confused lives because on one hand we are shocked by some sins while living comfortably with others that destroy our lives. In 1973 Dr. Karl Menninger caught on to this tendency of ours decades ago and wrote a book titled, Whatever Became of Sin. Another author, Cornelius Plantinga Jr. suggested in his book that, "The heart of sin is the persistent refusal to tolerate a sense of sin, to take responsibility for one’s sin, to live with the sorrowful knowledge of it and to pursue the painful way of repentance." To push us a bit further it seems that what plagues us, inside and outside of the Church, is that have forgotten how deadly sin is. We’ve missed the fact that sin is far more dangerous than terrorist attacks, AIDS, West Nile Virus, or “stranger danger” combined. And that God cares about the sin we wallow in and find ourselves trapped in.
In one of the flashbacks in the movie we see the ending of the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. In that slow motion scene Jesus’ sandal is all you see then he bends down and draws in the sand. Suddenly the crowd of men, gathered to execute this woman tosses their stones down in disgust as they leave. From one side of the screen a scratched and bruised woman reaches out to Jesus who reaches down and lifts her up. Do you remember Jesus’ words to her? Jesus asks, “does no one condemn you?” When she says no. He says, “Neither do I. Go on your way. From now on don’t sin.” Jesus was able to do this not because she deserved it and not because the men who accused her were awful. He was able to pronounce her forgiven because he knew what he would face on the cross for her, and for us. Maybe you’ve seen the anti-drug commercial where the girl stands and watches from a dock as her friend struggles in the water and calls for help? The voice over is telling. It says, “If your friend was in trouble you’d help them. Wouldn’t you?”
Well we are in trouble, and God hasn’t stood around doing nothing. He has jumped into our world with everything he has. He has “moved into the neighborhood” as The Message translates John 1:14. He walked among men and women just like us successful, shamed, discouraged, optimistic, religious, skeptics. And he did something else. He settled the issue of forgiveness once and for all. To settle this Jesus died. If you haven’t seen it yet I recommend you see, The Passion of the Christ. It’s not a film young children should watch. But you go. I believe it’s important that you see it for it’s powerful effect of reminding us how much our forgiveness cost our God. The theme of this is a quotation from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, in chapter 53:5 “He was pierced for our transgressions” . . . or our wrongdoing . . . our sins . . . “and by his wounds we are healed”.
This is the chapter of the Bible that the Ethiopian was reading when Philip was told by the Holy Spirit to come up to him. And this readers’ mind is sharp because he wonders if Isaiah is talking about himself or someone else. Philip saw his chance and starting at that verse he told him about Jesus.
Two types of people…
There are two types of people listening to this sermon right now. There are those who are all too aware of their sins. They know that their lives are messed up. They don’t even believe their own lies anymore. They’ve become caught up in stuff that they thought they’d never do. They’ve done things that disgust them. They’ve felt physically sick because of what’s gone in their lives. The second group doesn’t believe that sin is all that serious. They know it’s there but it’s a non-issue. They are busy trying to live their lives and sometimes living life means bending, breaking and tromping on things that sound good but really don’t work in today’s world.
If there was another way to do things they would but their family, social, business life or whatever demands that they compromise. They have to “give in” to sin if they’re going to survive. They know it’s wrong but God’s going to forgive them because God loves them.
Both type of people need to see this movie. Why? Because if you’re in the first group you’ll be shamed, disgraced and broken as you watch Jesus beaten and executed. If your part of the second group you’ll begin to see that “sin” is “big deal” a “VERY big deal”. As you watch that movie you need to imagine that those scares from the whips are scars that WE put on Jesus. A Roman soldier might have use the whips but it is our sins that are being paid for. You’ll begin to understand that each lie, each porno flick you check out, each piece of gossip you share with a friend, each hurtful comment, sidelong glance, racial joke, and use of God’s name brought another scar on our Lord’s body.
Take it to heart…
To understand and experience a sense of complete forgiveness we have to understand and experience Christ’s death. We don’t have to physically be tortured or executed. We don’t have to be beaten or cursed. But we do have to own it, make it our own, and “take it to heart”. If you think back you’ll remember how certain movies touched some people so much that their life was changed by it. Remember Titanic, Star Wars, Gone With the Wind, or ET? Those who became enamored with these and other movies “took them to heart” and that’s what I want us to do. I want us to begin to take Christ’s Passion to heart. The movie may help us do that but it’s only a representation of the actual death of our Lord.
To take the Passion to heart is evaluate our lives in terms of Christ’s death. Deep in our heart are places that need to be cleaned up and made new. Admitting that is a first step. It is asking that question the Ethiopian asked about does any of this apply to me or is simply a dusty old story from the olden days? If we are tired enough of the hurt in our life and the pain that sin causes we’ll see it’s very applicable today.
Accepting Christ’s forgiveness is a second step. I don’t deserve this type of love. I’m not good enough to expect Jesus to take the punishment for what I’ve messed up. And neither are you. Not only don’t we deserve it we can’t even pay God back for it. Live the most perfect life you can and you’ll still not make a dent in the forgiveness Jesus gives us on that cross. It is priceless. It is worth more than we’ll ever know. And yet it’s offered to us freely. The only question is whether we’ll take it on God’s terms.
Putting it to work…
Have you ever ignored something that you shouldn’t have? Years ago I had an ingrown toenail. It would flare up and then seem to get better. It dogged me through college where it got in the way of a couple of PE classes. It was there on-and-off in seminary. One time I stubbed it and it hurt so bad I punched a wall. And finally when I was in Abilene I reached a point where I went to a doctor about it. He asked me, how long has it been this way. I lied. He put me on a very new, very expensive antibiotic for a week then he cut it out after the infection had subsided. It was only after he cut it out did he tell me that I had been in real jeopardy of losing my toe to the infection.
If you call yourself a Christ-follower the movie The Passion of the Christ can be a painful but powerful way to be remember just how deadly serious sin is to God. Christ-followers and those would-be Christ-followers need open ourselves to an examination by the Holy Spirit that shows us what is not pleasing to the Lord. So that when the Spirit of Jesus convicts us and lets us know “This has to change,” we immediately say, “Yes, Sir!”
Whatever flaw the Spirit of God has been reminding you of today take it with you to the theatre this week when you go to see the movie. Then as you watch what happens to Christ, tell yourself, “My lust, or my gossip, my lies, my disrespect, my hatred, my prejudice, my cheating, my… is partly responsible for what He suffers. Tell yourself that God is laying my sin on his Son. And yes, I’ve asked him before to forgive me, and yes, in so many ways I’ve become a better person for following Jesus. But the time has come for me to begin to know victory in this area of my life as well.” And even as you watch this movie determine to change. You can pray this short prayer right there in the theatre. If you’ve already seen the movie then take some time to reflect on what you saw and start with this prayer this morning. I’ve put this prayer in your bulletin for you to take with you.
Lord Jesus,
Guide me to the right person, the right minister, the right small group, the right book, the right resource, whatever, to see this sin addressed and defeated in my life. I pray that process will begin before another week has passed. Guide me Lord, and I will be obedient.
Amen
Some are still trying to decide if they want to follow Christ. The starting place isn’t your sin but whether or not you’re willing to live as He told us to. Whether we want to love God and one another. Whether we’re willing to do anything it takes to have a friendship with God. If you’re at the place where you want to make this decision then take some time to look over the prayer in your bulletin. In a very clear and simple way it tells God that you, like all of us, have walked away from God and done what we wanted to. It recognizes that Jesus’ death, His Passion, is the only thing that can make things right between God and us. It declares that God’s love is calling us and asks Christ to take over our life, to be the boss of everything we are, and in doing this to forgive us and make us His friend and follower.
Lord Jesus,
I have fallen far short of how you taught we should live. Yet Your love has always looked for me to return. I’m ashamed and sorry about my sins. In my mind I come now to Calvary and bow before your cross in humble prayer. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for taking on yourself the punishment I deserved. I ask you to become my Lord, my boss, to live inside me and begin to teach me your ways. Thank You for forgiving me and for making me new.
Amen
