VIDEO – Session 7 – “Putting It All Together” (up thru the phrase “There’s No Middle Ground”)
OPEN: Richard Bandler tells one story about visiting a mental institution and dealing with a man who insisted he was Jesus Christ - not metaphorically, not in spirit, but in the flesh.
One day Bandler walked in to meet this man. “Are you Jesus?” he said.
“Yes, my son,” the man replied.
Bandler said, “I’ll be back in a minute.”
This left the man a little bit confused.
Within three or four minutes, Bandler came back, holding a measuring tape. Asking the man to hold out his arms, Bandler measured the length of his arms and his height from head to toe. After that, Bandler left. The man claiming to be Christ became a little concerned. A little while later, Bandler came back with a hammer, some large spiked nails, and a long set of boards.
He began to pound them together into the form of a cross.
The man asked, “What are you doing?”
As Richard put the last nails in the cross, he asked, “Are you Jesus?”
Again the man said, “Yes my son.”
Bandler said, “Then you know why I’m here.”
Suddenly you could see a wave of recognition sweep across the patient’s face. He stepped back and shouted: “No! No! I’m not Jesus. I’m not Jesus!”
APPLY: Isn’t that interesting…even a man in a mental institution understood that the cross was part of the story of Jesus. And he understood enough about what Jesus went through that, when faced with the same potential of pain in his own life, he had no intention of experiencing it. And neither would you or I
(pause…) But Jesus did. The cross is a central part of His Story.
Now there are people who are uncomfortable with the cross.
I have heard that there are churches that have begun to remove crosses from their bldgs.
I have heard of congregations that have moved the communion table out of the worship area
And there are still others who have tried to move the focus off of the cross… and onto Jesus as simply a good man, or a Great teacher, or a powerful religious leader.
The cross makes a lot of people uncomfortable, so much so that some have even tried to maintain Jesus hadn’t meant to be crucified. That he was simply a man who got caught in a tragic and fatal power play.
But only those who are dishonest can totally ignore the fact that the crucifixion was a central part of Jesus’ Story.
For example, if you look at the Gospels, you find that each of the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke AND John - build toward the crucifixion. It was the ultimate focus of all they wrote.
In addition, you’ll find that – in the book of Matthew at least - again and again, Jesus warned His disciples of what was coming. Here in Matthew 16:21 (read along with me) “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Then later… “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him…’” Matthew 17:22-23
And again… in Matthew 20:17-19 “as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified…”
And then one last time in Matthew we’re told that “When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “As you know, the Passover is two days away— and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” Matthew 26:1-2
Again and again and again… Jesus told His disciples that He was going to be die on a cross. But (despite the fact) that the crucifixion was part of what Jesus had to do… it wasn’t something He really WANTED to do. Instead it was something He NEEDED to do
Turn with me to Matthew 26:36-44
“Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?’ he asked Peter. ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’
He went away a second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.’
When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.”
Well, now wait a minute… if this was something that Jesus didn’t really want to do then why did He? Why did this crucifixion have to be part of Jesus’ story?
Well… in order to understand that we need to examine some of the basic concepts that the Bible repeats over and over again:
* 1st God loves you. God created you in His image. You are the crown of His creation. In fact, that’s the main focus of one Bible’s favorite verses:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
ILLUS: In a letter to God, a little girl named NAN wrote: “I bet it is very hard for you to love everybody in the whole world. There are only four people in our family and I can never do it.”
It is hard to love some people. It’s hard to love the people that we work with, that we live near, that we’re related to. But Scripture tells us that God loved the WHOLE world. In that simple statement… the Bible is saying that God loved each and every one of us. NOT JUST THE LOVABLE.
Did you notice who Jesus spent His time with?
· The prostitutes… sinners… and the tax collectors
· The sick and the blind and the lame and the leprous
· The social outcasts and the physically deformed
The message? If Jesus could love people like that… couldn’t He love you?
So… the one of first things we learn from Scripture is that God does love us. He cares for us.
* Secondly – even tho’ God loves us - there is something that separates us from Him. It’s called sin. Romans 3:23 tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Our lives are contaminated, tainted, stained by our sins. By all the things we’ve said, done and tho’t.
By contrast - I John 1:5-6 tells us “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.”
God is LIGHT… and His brightness EXPOSES our sins.
ILLUS: Have you ever wanted to go out for the evening and have gotten a shirt or blouse out of your closet put it on, and then walked into a well lit room where you could look at yourself in a mirror? And there - on your shirt is this dull stain. How many of you would wear that shirt out in public? No, you’re not going to wear it? It’s embarrassing. You don’t want anybody to see you in it.. And if anybody did you see you in it you’d feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. You wouldn’t be able to enjoy their company or their friendship.
That’s what sin does to us. It becomes the dull stain on our soul. And in the presence of God, we’d become embarrassed, self-conscious and uncomfortable. We wouldn’t be able to enjoy God and His love for us.
Isaiah once came into the presence of God… and that experience so disturbed him that he cried:
"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Isaiah 6:5
So… let’s revue:
God loves us. But our sins have so stained us that we can’t comfortably come into God’s presence.
HOW CAN WE CHANGE THAT? How can we make it so that our stain of sin is removed, and so that we can have all the blessings we desire from God?
That brings us to the 3rd great truth we find in Scripture: You couldn’t do it… so God did it for you.
Whoa! Why can’t we do it? Why can’t we resolve the problem of our own sin? Why can’t we do enough to be good enough before God?
ILLUS: A man and his son were just completing the building of a new barn, and as they hung the door, they both remarked how clean and unmarred it was.
The father challenged the boy to use the barn door as a sort of record of his life and conduct. Every time the boy did an evil thing he was to drive a nail into the barn door. When he corrected the wrong, or when he had done a good deed, he was permitted to pull a nail out of the door.
The boy did this for several years. Sometimes there were many nails in the door. At other times he managed he managed to extract most of them. Finally, he said to his father, “I cannot help but see that even if I am able to pull out all the nails, the scars of the nails will still remain in the door.”
No matter how good you may live your life the scars of your past sins will still remain… unless God removes them.
Paul wrote: “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:3-5)
The story we saw on the video, pictured the problem like a great chasm between ourselves and God. And the chasm is too wide for us physically jump across or to build a bridge.
SO GOD BRIDGED THE GAP HIMSELF.
The Apostle John wrote that we should praise “him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood Revelation 1:5
Or as Peter wrote: tells us “Christ died for sins
once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)
So God has done what we could not. He brought us salvation. He has paid the price for our sins. What could you possibly DO to accept God’s grace? According to the movie that we watched at the beginning of the sermon… as the one man told his friend “It’s not enough for us to know that God has created the bridge for us to cross over… “we have to CHOOSE to cross over.”
When someone comes to me and asks me what they need to do to become a Christ… I ask them a few questions:
1. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God?
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved— you and your household." Acts 16:31
2. Do you believe that you’re a sinner?
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
3. Are you willing to turn from your past and start living FOR Him? - Repentance
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord Acts 3:19
4. Are you willing to confess Him as your Lord and Master
“…if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
5. Are you willing to be buried in the waters of Christian baptism to rise up a new creature?
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
CLOSE: There is a unique prison near the city of San Jose dos Campos, in Brazil, South America. Twenty years ago, the Brazilian government turned the prison over to two Christians. The institution was renamed Humaita, and the plan was to run this prison on Christian principles. With the exception of the 2 full time staff, all work is done by inmates. Families outside the prison were encouraged adopt an inmate to work with during and after his term.
Chuck Colson visited the prison and made this report:
“When I visited Humaita, I found the inmates smiling - particularly the murderer who held the keys, opened the gates and let me in. Wherever I walked I saw men at peace. I saw clean living areas, people working industriously. The walls were decorated with biblical sayings from Psalms and Proverbs.
My guide escorted me to the notorious prison cell once used for torture. Today, he told me, that block houses only a single inmate. As we reached the end of a long concrete corridor and he put the key in the lock, he paused and asked, ‘Are you sure you want to go in?’
“‘Of course,’ I replied impatiently. ‘I’ve been in isolation cells all over the world.’
Slowly, he swung open the massive door, and I saw the prisoner in that punishment cell:
a crucifix, beautifully carved by the Humaita inmates - the prisoner Jesus, hanging on a cross.
“‘He’s doing time for the rest of us,’ my guide said softly.”
(Sermons in this Series)
1. Fancy Footwork – Romans 10:13-15
2. Telling Your Story – I John 1:1-9
3. Creating A Thirst – John 4:4-30
4. HisStory – Matthew 16:13-26
