THE CRUCIFION: THE END OF THE BEGINNING
JOHN 19:28-37
PALM SUNDAY APRIL 4, 2004
INTRODUCTION: Here’s why The Passion of Christ is rated "R".
The "R" of course is because of the violence, the gore. In movie terms "R" stands for RESTRICTED, but in this movie "R" stands for RELEVANT, for REALISTIC, for it REALLY happened for a REASON because we were REBELIOUS we needed a REDEEMER, we needed to be RECONCILED, we needed to be RECOVERED, we needed to be REGENERATED. Jesus needed to be REJECTED so that we could have a RELATIONSHIP not just a RELIGION.
The "R" is to REMIND us to REMEMBER what Jesus did to REMOVE our sin to RENDER Satan powerless, to RESCUE us from eternity in hell.
The "R" rating is to show that Jesus was RESPONSIBLE for giving you REST. As a RESULT of his death Jesus RETIRED your debt. The "R" rating means that some will be REPULSED, some will REFUSE to believe, some will be RELUCTANT, and some will think you are RIDICULOUS in believing that a death was REQUIRED. The "R" rating means that the RESULT of sin has been REVERSED and now through faith in Christ your REWARD is eternity and you are now RIGHTEOUS before God because you have RECEIVED him as the RULER of your soul. What a REVOLUTIONARY and RADICAL solution to REDEEM mankind. REJOICE!!
--Author unknown --
TRANSITION THOUGHT: Today is Palm Sunday, the last Sunday before Easter. On Easter, we will celebrate the power of the RISEN LORD. It is always hard for me to make the journey from Palm Sunday, with its shouts of “Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” to the “HE is Risen.” The problem is that right in the middle of these two statements is the Crucifixion. This is also called the Passion and it is R Rated! Today we are going to conclude our discussion of the Crucifixion, for this Lenten season anyway. I want us to focus on what is meant when Jesus says: “IT IS FINISHED.” We could talk about all the prophecy fulfilled, and we have done this to some degree. But I thought of greater importance to us today, is the immediate impact the Crucifixion is to play in our lives and what Jesus and others had to say about it as our lives are affected. SO JUST HOW DID THE WORK GET COMPLETED AND HOW IS IT FINISHED? ALL OF THIS IS THE END OF THE BEGINNING.
THESIS SENTENCE: JESUS FINISHED THE WORK FOR OUR SALVATION!
AS I WRESTLED WITH WERE TO START WITH THIS END OF THE BEGINNING AND WITH “IT IS FINISHED,” JOHN 14 CAME TO MY MIND. HERE THIS TEXT: JOHN 14:1-7.
I. THE END OF THE BEGINNING IS A MATTER OF DIRECTION JOHN 14: 1-7
A. DIRECTION IS A PROMISED PLACE
1. For Jesus to complete the work that had to be done, He called the disciples to trust Him.
2. Trust is an interesting dynamic. He knew that they trusted God, so He told them to transfer that trust on to Him.
3. This trust would revolve around the work that Jesus had done and was GOING to do.
4. He was going to prepare a place for them. Not only was this true, but after going, He was coming back to get them, so that they could be where Jesus would be! 5. A place is prepared by Jesus and unless He went, the place would not be prepared. The real issue is not the place, but the pathway provided.
B. DIRECTION IS A PROMISED PATH
1. The disciples didn’t seem to upset about Jesus leaving, as much as they were confused about where he was going.
2. In verse 4, Jesus has already told them they KNOW the way.
3. In all actuality, THEY DID KNOW THE WAY!
4. The work that Jesus had to complete was the way to get those that KNOW HIM to the Place HE has prepared!
5. The Great News is that He is the Way…
6. Verse 6 makes something very, very clear to us. “No one comes to the Father except through me.”
7. As I wrestled with this understanding of Jesus completing the Task of the Cross and of being able to say, “IT IS FINISHED”, I realized that a part of the task was preparing the way for us to follow to the Place He had Prepared.
ILLUSTRATION: In November 1975, 75 convicts started digging a secret tunnel designed to bring them up at the other side of the wall of Saltillo Prison in northern Mexico. On April 18, 1976, guided by pure genius, they tunneled up into the nearby courtroom in which many of them had been sentenced. The surprised judges returned all 75 to jail.
Campus Life, September 1980.
OR --
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the first African Secretary General of the United Nations, has more than a passing interest in politics. His grandfather, Boutros Ghali, the only Christian prime minister of Egypt, was shot by an assassin in 1910. Cairo crowds hailed his Moslem killer, but the family did not intend anyone to forget the grandfather. They adopted his given name, Boutros (Peter), and anointed the new grandchild with the same given name. The family then built a church in Cairo to honor the martyred patriarch. "On his tomb were the words ’God is witness that I served my country to the best of my ability,’" says Boutros-Ghali. "For a boy to grow up with such things creates an impact. I felt I would betray the tradition of our family if I didn’t play a political role."
Stanley Meisler in Los Angeles Times Magazine, in Reader’s Digest.
TRUTH: Jesus task was to prepare a way for us to reach the Father! When He said, “It is Finished,” the path way was complete. A HIGHWAY TO THE FATHER HAD BEEN CONSTRUCTED!
QUESTIONS: Do we trust Jesus as the only way to get to God the Father? ARE WE PLANING A TRIP ON GOD’S HIGHWAY NAMED THE JESUS BY PASS?
As we continue on this journey of understanding WHAT WAS COMPLETED, and how “IT IS FINISHED,” I went in search again of just what Jesus had to complete. JOHN 15 came to by mind: Hear this reading of verses 5-17: READ TEXT!
II. THE END OF THE BEGINNING IS A MATTER OF LOVE JOHN 15:5-17
A. LOVE IS A CONNECTION vv. 5-6 (7)
1. Jesus taught the importance of connection in these powerful verses.
2. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. We are connected to Him. 3. If we lose our connection, we will be thrown into the trash pile and burned. 4. But this is not what Jesus desires; He desires that we stay connected to Him. 5. When He states, “It is Finished,” he is saying that the connection is now in place. We can be connected. YOU don’t have to call Bellsouth or AT and T!
B. LOVE IS A SACRIFICE vv, 13-16a
1. Maybe the question is how do we get connected.
2. The answer isn’t a pretty one. And I am not talking about the part we have to play.
3. Verse 13 starts to make this very clear. Jesus would lay down His life to connect us. This is because of His incredible love for us.
4. I don’t know how we add this to the equation, but in laying down His life for us, he transferred upon us the title of friend versus servant.
5. He states that Friendship is a result of shared information and He has shared everything He has learned from the Father. A part of this information is that He must lay down His life.
6. This sacrificial truth is one of Love! When Jesus states, “It is Finished,” what he is saying it that I have laid down my life for my friends, just as the Father had revealed for me to do!
C. LOVE IS FRUIT vv. 16-17
1. Again, the question may be why? Wasn’t there any other way Lord? 2. For Jesus, the answer would be, there was no other way.
3. The reason would be He wants us to bear fruit. If He had not proved HIS love, and no greater love exists than this, to lay down you life for your friends, then He could not command us to Love one another. His example brought home the truth of Love and compels us to follow.
4. In following this example of Love, we will bear fruit!
5. Verses 16 and 17 make this clear, “He chose us to bear fruit and loving one another is the way to do it!”
6. When He said “It is Finished,” what He was saying is He has set the example for us to Love one another and in so doing, we will bear fruit which brings God the Father all the Glory. HE has brought Glory to the Father (verse 8).
ILLUSTRATION: William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons, told a touching story. The little daughter of the Princess was seriously ill with diphtheria. The doctors told the princess not to kiss her little daughter and endanger her life by breathing the child’s breath. Once when the child was struggling to breathe, the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, "Momma, kiss me!" Without thinking of herself the mother tenderly kissed her daughter. She got diphtheria and some days thereafter she went to be forever with the Lord. Real love forgets self. Real love knows no danger. Real love doesn’t count the cost. The Bible says, "Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it."
Source Unknown.
OR-
Bryan Chapell tells this story that happened in his hometown: Two brothers were playing on the sandbanks by the river. One ran after another up a large mound of sand. Unfortunately, the mound was not solid, and their weight caused them to sink in quickly.
When the boys did not return home for dinner, the family and neighbors organized a search. They found the younger brother unconscious, with his head and shoulders sticking out above the sand. When they cleared the sand to his waist, he awakened. The searchers asked, "Where is your brother?"
The child replied, "I’m standing on his shoulders."
With the sacrifice of his own life, the older brother lifted the younger to safety. The tangible and sacrificial love of the older brother literally served as a foundation for the younger brother’s life.
Hebrews 2:10-12 and 14-17 describes Jesus Christ’s willingness to be like the older brother to us: "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy [Jesus] and those who are made holy [Christians] are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers...
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he (Jesus) might destroy him (Satan) who holds the power of death – that is the Devil -- and [that Jesus might] free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death... For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people." Contributed by: Dana Chau
TRUTH: “It is Finished” is the completion of a connection of friendship/ a relationship that will enable us to bear fruit through our connection with Jesus, which is to bring God the Father Glory.
QUESTIONS: ARE WE CONNECTED? HAVE WE ENTERED INTO THE RELATIONSHIP THAT ALLOWS US TO GLORIFY GOD BY BEARING FRUIT?
THUS FAR WE HAVE LOOKED AT WHAT JESUS HAD TO SAY ABOUT HIS OWN DEATH. AS I CONTINUED TO WRESTLE WITH THIS IDEA OF COMPLETION AND THE MEANING OF “IT IS FINISHED,” ONE OTHER TEST CAME TO MIND: PHILIPPIANS 2: 5-11. HEAR THIS TEXT.
III. THE END OF THE BEGINNING IS A MATTER OF OBEDIENCE PHILIPPIANS 2: 5-11/ JOHN 19:28-37
A. OBEDIENCE IS HUMILITY
1. The Apostle Paul explains to the Philippian church what it meant to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus.
2. Humility is the Key word. He defines this through Jesus who “Did not consider equality with God something to be grasped (verse 6).”
3. He goes on to define this with a contrast, speaking of Jesus, “But made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness (verse 7).”
4. I believe the key concept of humility for Jesus, and for us all, is this understanding of “Servant.”
5. Jesus was willing to give up all the Glory and Splendor of Heaven, the very power of His Godhood, to become a human, a child actually, born of a woman, born under the law.
6. The extreme is that He went from all power to NO POWER.
7. He did not have to be in control, God the Father was!
B. OBEDIENCE IS DEATH ON THE CROSS
1. The Apostle Paul does not end with this understanding of the incarnation, God becoming man.
2. Surely that should have been enough. But no, Jesus was not only obedient to this transformation, but completed His obedience by Death and that on a Cross. 3. I don’t think our minds truly grasp it all: Jesus, God, becoming a man, giving up all of the power and majesty of Heaven, now powerless, even to dying on the cruel cross of Calvary, because this was The Father’s redemption plan.
4. The Apostle states it this way: “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross (verse 8)!”
C. OBEDIENCE IS THE COMPLETION OF THE WORK
1. Jesus completed the work God had given Him to do.
2. “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (verses 9-11).”
3. The completion of obedience, the completion of the God plan, “It is Finished,” is the transition from servant, obedient to Death on the Cross, to Exalted One to whom all will bow and confess that He is Lord bringing Glory to the Father.
4. John wrote, “Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (verses 28-30).”
5. Jesus completed the work of our salvation!
ILLUSTRATION: Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson writes, “The words “It is finished” are also a cry of victory in the sense that Jesus completed, he accomplished what God had sent him in this world to do. In this sense, it is like the athlete who enters a marathon race with the single-minded intention of both reaching the finishing line and coming in first. It is like the student finally reaching the goal after years of study comes graduation and a degree. It is like the author or artist, who after years of research and struggle finally complete their masterpiece, their most significant and enduring work. It is like undergoing major surgery and recuperating completely. For John the words of Jesus, “It is finished,” are the epitome of Christ’s life and ministry; the words are spoken by the King of kings on his throne, which was the cross. Jesus won the victory over sin, evil and death by willingly, and lovingly allowing himself to submit to these powers. In so doing, he defeated them.” Contributed by: Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson
TRUTH: It is Finished is the actuality of Jesus completing the task of pure obedience which led to His exaltation, His complete authority over Heaven and Earth!
QUESTIONS: Have we bowed the knee? Have we confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord? Do we have the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus? Do we know complete obedience to God the Father?
CONCLUSION: Was there any other way Jesus could have brought about our Salvation without His death upon a cross? The answer of Scripture is that there was no other way to buy back sinful humanity than Jesus death on the cross, His pure and sinless life, and a life of complete obedience to God the Father. The final question for us today is what will we do about the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ? Will we allow it to transform our lives or will HE DIE IN VAIN?
BENEDICTION: REVELATION 1: 5-6
