15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
The Scripture readings for tonight’s service are portions of Psalm 22; Zechariah 13:1, 7-9; and Mark 14:32-41.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
One of the common objections that pagans have against Christianity goes something like this: The Christian god is nothing more than a spoiled brat. He gets upset when humans decide to eat a piece of fruit, and you silly Christians believe the only way to make him happy is for him to torture and kill his own child. The pagans will then say that if god were truly loving that he wouldn’t threaten us with eternal punishment simply because we don’t follow his contrived rules. They think that god should just love and accept us for who we are and not who he expects us to be. He’s simply too demanding and stubborn. If he wants to forgive us, he should just get over his rules, ignore our deficiencies, and move on.[1]
That type of thinking is all the evidence you need to know that person has no clue what Christianity actually teaches. So, let’s try an analogy – just know this analogy isn’t a complete picture of Christianity either. The hymn we just sang, “Salvation Unto Us Has Come,” does a great job giving a fuller picture than this analogy does, but the analogy helps address that objection, so here it is:
Imagine a mom and dad who have a perfectly loving home with several children. In this home, there is no anger or selfishness. The children never fuss or complain. They all treat each other and with perfect, complete love and respect.
Then one day, a virus attacks the children, and it causes them to harm themselves and each other in horrible ways. They also fight against their parents. (Please know, the analogy already breaks down here because it doesn’t place any culpability on the kids for contracting this virus. We are entirely guilty for all of our sin. But, again, it’s not a full picture.)
In that instance, could those parents simply let that virus eat away at their children? Could they just decide to love their children the way they are while the virus progresses, and the conditions keep getting worse? Could those parents ignore how that virus mutates the genes of their kids and spreads to others too? Could they just let that virus fester and kill their kids along with all their descendants while the kids get more and more violent and dangerous? No!
The parents would hate the virus. They would be angry at the destruction and devastation it brought to their family. They would do anything they could to annihilate the virus. But those parents know two things. First, they know that the virus has run so deep that killing the virus would also mean the death of their children. Second, they know that only way to abolish the virus and stop the suffering it brings is for one of the parents to receive a treatment that sucks all the virus out of their children and puts it all into one of the parents. It means that one of the parents will have to die, but the children will live and be cured. So, of course, one of the parents, out of love for the family willingly volunteers to be the cure and die.
Now, this analogy doesn’t present all the aspects of what Scripture teaches, but it addresses the “God-is-a-child-abuser” objection against Christianity that I mentioned earlier.
Dear saints, the virus of sin is horrific. Sin isn’t just something floating around out there that periodically causes pain. No, sin is a completely devastating infection coursing through your veins. Your sin causes hurt and harm to others and to yourself. Sin kills you.
Yes, God loves you just the way you are. But it would not be loving for God to leave you just the way you are. Instead, He loves you in such a way that He will not allow sin to drag you into eternal suffering. In Christ, God came down to draw all the infection of sin from you. Jesus took all that sin and disease from you (Is. 53:4; Mt. 8:17). In 2 Cor. 5:19, 21, Scripture tells us, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them… For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
When the virus of sin first infected humanity in the Garden of Eden, God promised to send the Savior (Gen. 3:15) and draw all the disease of sin out of you. In love for you, God kept that promise when, in the fullness of time, the long-promised and long-awaited Christ came to willingly suffer all the pain and torment that the virus of sin brings.
In Christ, God was at work keeping the promise He had made. But even though humanity first heard that promise in the Garden of Eden, Scripture teaches that even before He created all things, God knew that humanity would choose to contract that virus and He knew what it would take to cure you. So, Scripture comforts you by clearly stating that Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8 [KJV]; 1 Pet. 1:19-20).
When God poured out His just anger and righteous wrath against the virus of sin, He first placed it all upon Himself, on Jesus (Jn. 1:29; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Jn. 2:2) to spare and rescue you from that punishment. And when Christ suffered God’s punishment for your sin, He knew exactly what He was doing (Mk. 14:36, 39). No one took Jesus’ life from Him. He had the authority to lay it down and to take it up again (Jn. 10:18).
He knew that He was the Shepherd who would be struck for your sake (Zech. 13:8; Mk. 14:27). He willingly took the blow of God’s punishment and laid down His life for you (Jn. 10:11). Christ did this so that you would call upon His name and be His people (Zech. 13:9).
It was not out of hatred for His Son, but out of love for you that God the Father punished Jesus on the cross. The Good Shepherd willingly took all of God’s wrath against your sin in order that you would be His forever. He was punished so that you would be restored and forgiven, brought back to your proper place as a child of God. Because of what Jesus has done for you, you can confess, “The Lord is my God.”
Christ has opened the fountain that cleanses you from the virus of sin and uncleanness (Zech. 13:1). Because Jesus has taken your punishment God is not ashamed to say, “[You] are My people” (Zech. 13:9). Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] I have intentionally used lower-case references to God here because this argument does not – in any way, shape, or form – represent who God truly is.
The Scripture readings for tonight’s service are Psalm 103:1-5, 8-14; Isaiah 53:10-12; Galatians 3:10-14; and John. 3:13-21.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
To a certain degree, everyone has the wrong belief that if they have done something wrong they can make up for it. Some believe that happens through Karma. If enough bad things happen to them, it will eventually be paid back in good things happening to them and will all balance out. Some believe they can make up for bad things through luck. If a black cat crosses your path, you spill salt, walk under a ladder, or break a mirror; you just have to find a four-leaf clover, a heads-up penny, or some other nonsense. Yes, even Christians fall into this wrong belief. When we feel the guilt of our sin, we think that if we do enough good works, pray the right prayers, redouble our efforts, or simply resolve to do better, then God will have no choice but wink, smile at us, and ignore our sins.
This type of thinking and belief is totally wrong! Across the board, it’s wrong. All of those false beliefs attempt to deal with the brokenness that sin brings to creation. And they all fail to bring relief. Because of sin, we are polluted and need cleansing. Because of our sin, we are out of step with creation. Because of our sin, we are banished from God’s holy presence. We can’t just climb a ladder up to heaven, no matter how well we think it’s constructed. We can’t wash away the defilement that clings to us. We can’t approach God in His holiness. We need something that those false beliefs can never give. What we actually need is atonement.
Atonement is one of those $3 theological words, so we need to define it. The way I will often teach my Confirmation students its meaning is to break down how it is spelled and change how it is pronounced – at-one-ment. To atone something means to cleanse it from the pollution of sin. But atonement doesn’t stop there. Atonement makes a person holy. And with this cleansing and infusion of holiness, atonement gives a person beneficial access to God’s presence (Dr. Kleinig).
This is why Christianity is completely different from any other religion. Christianity teaches that God Himself, and God alone, atones for the sins of the world (1 Jn. 2:1-2) through Jesus’ suffering and death. A good way to understand Jn. 3:16 is, “For God loved the world so that He sacrificed His only-begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” We need this because at the end of Jn. 3, Scripture says, “Whoever believes in the Son has,” present tense, “has eternal life; whoever [rejects],” more literal understanding, “whoever rejects the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (Jn. 3:36). Because we are born sinners, we stand under God’s holy and righteous wrath.
Now, God’s holy presence is both life-giving and death-dealing. It sanctifies and blesses everything that is clean, but it annihilates everything that is unclean and unholy. Since human impurity is incompatible with God’s holiness, getting close to the holy God is dangerous.
Think of gasoline and fire. The two cannot exist together. As soon as the two come into contact, the gasoline is completely burned up and consumed. Think of God’s holiness as the fire and, because of our sin, we are more combustible than gasoline. This is why we need God Himself to atone us.
Scripture records several instances where unclean, polluted sinners are instantly consumed in God’s holy presence – Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, when they offered unauthorized fire before God (Lev. 10:1-2); the clan of Korah, when they thought they could change the worship practices that God had given (Num: 16:1-36); or Uzzah, when he reached out and touched the Ark of the Covenant which was forbidden (2 Sam. 6:6-7).
So, to be in God’s holy presence, we need to be changed, and that change can only happen because of what Jesus has done as He suffered on the cross. He changes us. He doesn’t change God. Christ changes us so that we are cleansed from the pollution of sin, that we are granted forgiveness and mercy, and that we can safely enter God’s holy presence.
Each of our Scripture readings tonight talk about this change. Our Psalm tonight (Ps. 103) remembers that God forgives your iniquity, heals the pollution of your diseases, and redeems your life from the pit. But God doesn’t just stop there. Because you are cleansed and can come into God’s holy presence, He crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, and satisfies you with good so your youth is renewed like the eagle’s (Ps. 103:3-5).
Our Old Testament reading (Is. 53:10-12) says that it was God’s will to crush Jesus in your place. Jesus’ suffering and death makes an offering for guilt. Christ bears your iniquities and makes you accounted as righteous. And that text makes it clear that, even though Jesus will die in the place of sinners, He will have His days prolonged and see you whom He has made to be children of God.
The Epistle reading (Gal. 3:10-14) says that Jesus redeemed you from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for you as He suffered and hung on the tree of the cross. Christ did this so that the blessing God gave to Abraham might be given to you who are cleansed through faith in Christ like your father Abraham was (Ro. 4:16).
And our Gospel reading (Jn. 3:13-21) says that, in Jesus, God came into the world not to condemn you, but in order that you might be saved and atoned through Jesus’ work.
Jesus’ suffering has bought and purchased you so that you belong to God. He came, not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom price for you (Mk. 10:45).
Dear saints, your price has been paid. On the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (Jn. 19:30). But Jesus continues grant you access to God. 1 Jn. 2:1-2 says, “If anyone does sin, [you] have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is,” present tense – meaning He is and remains, “the propitiation,” (i.e. the one who makes atonement), “for not just your sins but also for the sins of the whole world.”
All the benefits of His suffering and death are continually delivered to you because He is your advocate with your heavenly Father, now and forever. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Pastorsamwise 
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