Welcome to another session of Struggling Well, episode I should say. And we're coming to you this morning from Studio A, which is our kitchen. We had recorded up in studio B, which is my study. So, now we're back down in studio A. and we're glad that you're joining us. I know that none of that matters to you, but it is fun to say.
babe, you a little sense of humor this morning. I'm really impressed.
Very little. Very little. we're entering into what is known in the church as Holy Week. the last week of Jesus life here on this earth, his death, his burial, and his resurrection. And it's a great time to focus on what that means beyond the fact that it's a historical reality. what does that mean for us living in 2024 and an event that took place over 2, 000 years ago and yet for us today as Christ followers. It really is the epicenter of the gospel.
And I think that being a Christian a long time, I don't know how many of you have followed Christ for a long time. I think that we can get really blas about it. We forget about its importance. And a lot of times, especially where we live in the part of country we live in, now I don't know if it's this way anymore, but it used to be what were you going to wear Easter Sunday morning? And that seemed to be the all-encompassing thing. But this morning, we want to talk about not just Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. I mean, we know that in fact did happen. It's a historical event as well as an event recorded in scripture. But this morning, we want to talk a little bit too about the benefits of what that did for us and how we need to live in that. And one of the passages that has struck me in the last week or two comes from Colossians. And if I can read it to you, it says in Colossians 1 21, I'll start there. It says, "And you who were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds," that's me before Christ died on the cross and before I accepted him as pain. savior for from my sins. He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. So we know that what he did on the cross was the payment that the father required because Jesus was the only perfect lamb that could be sacrificed. So what he did was he reconciled us in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed now this is the part that has really struck me this week, if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I Paul became a minister. The verse that really has nestled itself in my heart is when Paul says that if we continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope And so this morning we want to talk a little bit about what that means to be stable and steadfast and not shifting from the hope as a result of the cross.
Yeah. In that verse, you know, the people talk about the three parts of salvation. The justification which it says there that we're holy and blameless and above repro approach before him because of what he did on the cross. That's justification made right before God. But then there's the whole process of sanctification where I am growing in my relationship with Christ. And then the third part would be glorification when I see him in all of eternity. So it I have been saved. I am being saved. I will be saved.
And Paul says it in Philippians this way to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. Not that I'm saving myself, but like you said, Suzi, I want to stay I want to continue in the faith, not shifting from the hope of the gospel. The gospel is still the cornerstone and the centerpiece of all of it.
And the question I think that I would love for you to ponder is would you call your faith stable and steadfast and not shifting? I think because of the way we are as humans prone to wander and it doesn't matter what culture, what time of the world you were born into. I think that's something that we all struggle with. there's a bazillion things. I mean every era has something that was gi enormous. I was going to say gigantic. Is that a word? Yeah, it is. Ginormous. That's not a word. Enormous is a word. I tell you, I took gigantic and bad. but every generation struggles with something that becomes larger than their life. And it's it seems very easy to shift and to become unstable and not be steadfast in your faith. And so, where are you right now? Where am I? I, you want to talk about you, babe? Where do you think you would be in this?
Well, I think the hard part is there's a lot of things in life that are unsettled right now for me and because there's no end in sight. It's how do I how do I work through that? Because it's easy I find it easy to take my eyes off what he talks about here, that is the hope of the gospel. it's not the hope that life will get the way that will be the way I want it to be. The hope that everything's going to turn out to match my desires. It's the hope of the gospel in the midst of what is the shifting tides of culture, which is the shifting tides of everyday life. you know, I think it's easy to not stay in the present, not stay in the moment. and to get crazy with what's going on in the world around me, in my own world, and in the world in the larger world beyond my everyday existence, but I don't want to shift off of the gospel.
Yeah. I love too the fact where it says in verse 23, the second part, the gospel which we've heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven. So when we look around and right now we're spring is about to pop here where we live. lots and lots of pollen but the creation itself is just expressing the God that created us. The God that loved us so much that when there was that gap between ourselves and him because of sin that he then sacrificed his son sent him. Jesus came willingly and became a human in human form and went through all the stuff that we go through as a human being and was then willing to offer his life as a sacrifice on the cross for my sin so that I could have I could be reconciled to God.
Yeah. born out of God's unfathomable and unending love for us. I mean, that's what put Christ on the cross was God's love for us. And we had nothing in us that was worthy of that, but he loved us in spite of ourselves and gave his son. And I've said this many times from the pulpit which is we don't like to sit with the cross. No. Why do you think that is?
Well, I think it's a gruesome thing. And I mean, we can get into a place where we understand how could God do this to his son? Why did Jesus do this? it seems so cruel. And it is. But I think what it gives us a picture of is two things. God's absolute hatred of sin.
Can't even look on it. And his incredible love for us.
Yeah.
And that's why I think it's worth staying right there because as he says here in these verses, he reconciled us and presents me holy and blameless before the father. I'm not holy and blameless. I'm really not. But when he sees me through his son, that's how he has to see me. And that's why Jesus had to pay that price on Calvary for you, for me, for all of our sins, past, present, and future.
The amazing thing too is in the earlier part of well 21 when it says that we were hostile and we were doing evil deeds. And yet God sent his son and Jesus was willing to go to the cross for me while I was in that state. I wasn't in a place of I was this great person. Everything was going well and Jesus said, "Hey, I'll die for her." I was while I was still in sin, he died for me.
Right. And I think that it's one of the things that we hope and pray this week as you sit with this what we call Holy Week Good Friday, which is seems like an oxymoron because There's nothing good about his death except that his death provided our pathway back to God. As you sit with it, it's more than just a historical event. I hope you're the church you go to will celebrate. I'm sure many many will Good Friday, maybe a Monday, Thursday, and then Easter that as you celebrate that, it's more than just the celebration of a historical event. It's the realization of a transforming life that you can have as you sit with and that you stay with the hope of the gospel.
Can I add a little caveat which you know I'm going to anyway? I know it's a great question.
Why do I ask permission? I don't know.
Jimmy, you mentioned something a minute ago when you said that people are afraid of the cross because it's gruesome.
And I think that's true. I remember when the Passion of the Christ came out and that whole adaptation that Mel Gibson did that was brutal. and then the series. I think it was the Bible. I don't know what the whole long series was. It went from creation to Jesus death and resurrection. Anyway, what they show when they show the scenes of Jesus being foggged and beaten and the crown of thorns, I, you know, I'm not a satist and I'm not trying to say to you, oh, you look at it so you can see all the salacious details. But what helps me and I often watch the passion that scene of Jesus being foggged and then being hung on the cross. The reason why I watch it is because I need to see the depth of his suffering for me. It we know this that crucifixion was the worst death that could be. And I need to see with my own eyes this adaptation of what it could have been like for Jesus. And he did that willingly for me. We can't sanitize it. We can't make it look better. You might wear a cross around your neck and that's Great. But that's nothing. That is actually I mean it's a great symbol. It reminds us of what Jesus did. But the cross that Jesus died on was this rugged, brutal piece of wood. It wasn't carved down. It wasn't pretty. It was heavy. And his before he went to the cross, the beating that he got, the mocking, all that. I need to see that so that I can understand the depth of what he did for me. So, I would just encourage you in these days leading up to Easter and Good Friday actually is don't be afraid of the cross and know that he did all of that so that you and I could be reconciled to God.
Have a great week.