PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE: “ABIDING HARD BY THE CROSS-SO SPARKS OF CALVARY CAN KINDLE OUR FIRE”.

     Matthew 27:36 says “And sitting down they were watching Him there”. Mark 15:40 says, “The women were there looking from afar off and were looking on”.  He lists them, “Mary Magdalene, Mary of James the least, and Joseph’s mother, (John calls her of Clopas), and Salome”.  Luke says, in 23: 35 and 48-49 “And stood there the people beholding. “”And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding those things which were done, smote their breasts, and all his acquaintance, and the women that followed Him, stood afar off beholding these things”.  John, some sixty years later, writes under inspiration and memory of the Holy Spirit’s guiding, “Now there stood by the Cross of Jesus, his Mother Mary, her sister Mary Cleopas, (his Aunt Mary), and Mary Magdalene” (Three Marys at the cross). The Gospel narratives seems to emphasize the impact this execution had on the spectators that day.  Matthew puts the emphasis on the guards who were “watching” the crucifixion-pointing to the fact that it was their duty to guide and guard each action that occurred. They were in a reeling position. ( The word watch is “tereo” meaning to “watch over and guard”.  But of course, such guarding involved actively observing every movement, word, and reaction of the other bystanders.  Mark points out, as the crucifixion neared the end, that the women there could take it no longer, and had moved away quite a distance, not able to bear it any longer. (“Makro then”-meaning a substantial distance yet still in sight of all occurring). Mark says, “They kept on watching from afar…and they were looking on”. The word looking is “thereo” from “theomai” meaning “to gaze, to partake of, to contemplate with analyzing”.  It is the root from which we get the word “theater”.  It means “to take in with comprehension and understanding”-“a theater is where people concentrate on the meaning of an action or a performance”.  Luke, likely writing the crucifixion from Mary’s eyewitness perspective, uses the same word-“thereo” but says that the crowds that had come together beheld, (thereo) the spectacle (Theorian).  The emphasis indicates a “happening that is hard to view and understand with comprehension of meaning”.  Viewing the spectacle of Calvary caused almost all of the spectators to beat their own breasts to dull the deep pain viewing this spectacle first hand, with their own eyes, had caused them to feel. Eyewitness viewing was that impactful.  We all must wonder what it would have been like to have been, as John writes of the women, sixty years later in his memory, that they were “standing by the cross of Jesus”.  Mel Gibson, in his Passion of the Christ, has done a theatrical spectacle quite realistic in order to transport us to their side.  That is why we find it so hard to watch-so overwhelming.  So, crushing!  In our own way we leave the presentation “beating our breasts” like they did, though maybe not literally.  That kind of experience is critical for Christians-we must never forget that spectacle!

     Charles Spurgeon, in his daily devotional, called Morning and Evening, writes, “Abide hard by the cross and search out the mystery of His wounds”.  John R.W. Stott tells us why that is a valuable exercise for the believer.  He says, “The cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us!”  That is why Jennie Evelyn Hussey wrote, in her hymn Lead Me To Calvary, sings “King of my life, I crown thee now; Thine shall the glory be; Lest I forget Thy Thorn-crowned brow; Lead me to Calvary.”  Refrain reminds us-“Lest I forget Gethsemane; Lest I forget Thine agony; lest I forget Thy love for me; Lead me to Calvary”

     Every year during this season it is a privilege, it is a mandate.  It is an imperative given by God for your Pastor to stand in this pulpit and summon you to come to Calvary.  To encourage you to “abide hard by the cross to search out that mystery!”  To encourage you to come close enough to “let the sparks from the fire fall on your cold heart, to kindle a new passion in your heart” as you relive His ultimate sacrifice for you and I. Many famous painters have taken the time and their talents to preserve and portray for us the spectacle with such vividness that it enables us to answer the question of the old Spiritual-Where you there when they crucified my Lord? with a clear affirmative-yes!  And as we revisit Golgotha annually it is my assignment to portray it in a worthy enough manner that your love for Him leads you to respond in kind.  Rembrandt van Rijm, the great Dutch Renaissance painter painted several scenes of the Crucifixion during the mid 1600’s.  They tell us that he usually included himself in each, sometimes in a subtle way, and sometimes, as in the Raising of the Cross, in an explicit way, with him being the man with the Dutch painter’s beret, helping to raise the Cross of Christ!  His way of saying, we were all there, we were all involved, we all played a part in His necessity to dying that death!  As we visit there again, whether we come, like we did last Sunday, through the words of Israel King-Sweet Singer, and view the cross from the perspective of  the Forgotten I AM, and view the cross from the perspective of the Son of God being Abandoned by the Father,  Abhorred by the Fools, and Attacked by the Fiend, (Satan), written 1000 years before it occurred, or whether, like today we return to stand beside the cross of Jesus, seeing it portrayed by the Prophet of the Gospel of Love, Isaiah, as he paints the portrait of the Suffering Servant as He endures the Stripe of Sin to Redeem us. We must come to this Holy Ground, focus all of our heart, mind, soul, and person on what we see.  Let me again share the words of Spurgeon, which he wrote of Psalm 22, but find application for Isaiah 53 as well.  “For plaintive expressions uprising from unutterable depths of woe we may say of this Psalm, that there is none like it.  It is a photograph of our Lord’s saddest hours. The record of his dying thoughts and words, the lachrymatory of his last tears…the memorial of his expiring joys.  David and his afflictions may be here in a modified sense, but as the star is concealed by the light of the rising of the Sun, he who sees Jesus will probably neither see, nor care to see David.  We should read reverently, pulling off our shoes from off our feet, as Moses did at the burning bush, for IF THERE BE HOLY GROUND ANYWHERE IN SCRIPTURE…IT IS THIS PSALM!”  That is certainly true of Isaiah report of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh, the Suffering Messiah of Calvary, as he voluntarily yielded His soul as a Sacrifice to Satisfy the Stripe of Sin for a world of sinners!  You and I so included that if we were the only ones he would have still paid the price in full!

     In this perspective I want to give you three real life examples of what “abiding hard at the Cross can do for your heart today.  The first comes from a famous Christian named Nicholas Ludwig Zinsendorf.  On May 20, 1719 he, his brother Frederick, and a dear friend and tutor Herr Riederer entered the art gallery at Dusseldorf, Germany.  They had been on a tour of Europe’s galleries to take in all the masterpieces.  As he toured the gallery he was drawn to a particular painting-by Dominico Feti titled Ecce Homo (Behold the Man).  It showed Jesus being presented by Pilate for Crucifixion, with a crown of thorns on his head.  Underneath the artist had written the words “This I have done for you.  What have you done for me?” He immediately thought of how he loved to read the Bible.  How he loved to sing hymns.  How much he did love the Lord. But somehow these things seemed so insignificant now.  But his mind went back to Paedagogium in Halle.  He thought about the time he had sat at the table listening to all that Bartholomaus Ziegenbaig, the missionary from India, had to say.  Now there was a man who was doing something for Christ.  “I will do more” he vowed as he stood in front of the painting.  “My life will not be spent for myself”.  He finished the rest of the gallery but could not get that painting out of his mind.  It transformed his life.  He founded a denomination called the Moravians that emphasized a passion heart-felt love for Christians that yielded their resources to sacrificial missionary work all over the world.  Even the great John Wesley, upon spending a trip to America with them, credited them for showing him the way to true faith and salvation…“When feeling his heart strangely warmed”.  “Sparks from the fire of the cross will do that for believers who are close enough to Ziegenbalg have a new passion ignited in their heart for the Savior.” 

     Another famous person found that same visit to that Gallery, that painting, impact her life as well.  Francis Havergal while advancing her education in Dusseldorf, Germany saw the same painting.  She saw Christ standing between Pilate and a crowd demanding death.  Pilate says, “ecce homo” “behold the man”.  That scene-Jesus whipped mercilessly, wearing a crown of thorns, purple robe of mockery.  She copied the caption-“this I did for thee.  What hast thou done for me?’  Back home when she relived that emotional moment at the gallery, she wrote a poem of five stanzas each ending with a pointed challenge-“what have you done for me?”  Reading it again, she thought it a poor poem and threw it in the fireplace.  It did not burn. She retrieved them.  Showed them to her father.  He encouraged her to save them.  Years later they became her most famous hymn.  I Gave My Life For Thee.  “I gave, I gave my life for thee; My precious blood I shed; That thou might ransomed be; and raised up from the dead; I gave my life for thee; what hast thou given for me?’

     The third famous person who was impacted by “abiding hard at the cross” was Ernest Borgnine.  He recounts the story in the March 1989 Guidepost testimony.  While filming the movie Jesus of Nazareth, by Franco Zeffirelli, playing the role of the Centurion, back in 1976 with Anne Bancroft, and Olvia Hussey.  The film was shot in January and February in Tunisia on the Mediterranean. He tells his story like this: ” It was cold, windy, and miserable.  I was uncomfortable wearing the Roman soldier’s gear, especially the ponderous metal helmet.  It made me pity those ancient soldiers.  When it came to film my part at the cross, Robert Powell, who was playing Jesus, was given the day off.  Zefferelli put a chalk mark on the cross and told me to ‘stare at it as if you were looking at Jesus’. I said, ‘okay’.  I tried.  I could not do it, I requested, ‘somebody read me the words of Jesus as He hung on the cross’.  The director agreed to do that.  I knew the words from my youth, and from reading for the part.  I stared at the chalk mark and began to think like the centurion.  That poor man up there, I thought.  I met him.  He healed my servant.  He is the son of God.  An unfortunate claim during these perilous times.  But I know he is innocent of any crimes”. As Zefferelli read Jesus saying ‘father forgive them’ I felt so ashamed!  I thought if you forgive me too, I will retire from soldiering and live out my life on that farm land outside of Rome.  Then it happened!  I no longer saw the chalk mark.  I saw Jesus, on the cross! Not Robert Powell, the actor.  Jesus! Pain-seared. sweat-stained. blood flowing from the crown.  His face filled with compassion.  He looked down at me, through tragic sorrowful eyes, with an expression of love beyond description. He cried out ‘it is finished’.  ‘Into thy hands I commend my spirit’.  His head slumped to one side!  I knew he was dead.  A terrible grief welled up inside of me.  I became oblivious to the camera.  I started sobbing uncontrollably, Zefferilli yelled, ‘Cut’.  Olivia was crying.  Anne Bancroft was crying, I wiped my eyes and looked again.  Jesus was gone!  That encounter changed my life.  Made my faith real…  Was a profound conversion experience. I have not been the same person since!  As the centurion learned 2,000 years ago, you cannot encounter Jesus like that without being changed forever!”  May that be your encounter today as we visit Mt. Calvary located in this text of Isaiah 52/53.

     Two last quotes- J.I. Packer wrote, “The traveler through the Bible landscape misses his way as soon as he loses sight of hill called Mt. Calvary”.  J. Knox Chambliss wrote, ” The Spirit does not take his pupils beyond the cross, BUT EVER MORE DEEPLY INTO IT!”  May that be your worship experience today.  “EVER MORE DEEPLY INTO HIS CROSS!” 

SERMON:  OUR SERVANT’S LOVE SATISFYING SIN’S STRIPE

                     Isaiah 52:13-53:12

                    I.     THE SUFFERING SERVANT:  HIS VITAL DEATH

                    II.    THE SILENT SUBSITUTE:  HIS VICARIOUS DEATH

                    III.   THE SURRENDERED SAVIOUR:  HIS VISCIOUS DEATH

                    IV.   THE SUCCESSFUL SOVEREIGN: HIS VICTORIOUS DEATH    

PASTOR’S PERSPECTIVE:  THE PRAYER OF CAUSALITY CAN CHANGE OUR VEXING BURDEN INTO BLESSED VICTORY!

     Several years ago the New York Herald Tribune told the story of a tragedy involving a Long Island man who began digging his own well, of all days on his birthday!  He had rigged up quite an operation with his shovel, rope, and bucket routine.  He had gotten down some thirty-five feet when his wife called him to come in and get cleaned up for his birthday dinner.  As he began to climb out, the walls caved in and he was buried under tons of dirt.  Was he perhaps cowering underground in an air pocket beside the ladder?  Ambulance and rescue crews, fire departments and derrick operators worked feverishly through the long night digging a nearby well; people roosted in trees and watched through the night.  News crews carried the story.  Periodic cave-ins hampered the rescue effort.  Everyone was wondering what it was like inside that tomb-whether it was an endlessly approaching death or had it already come to that man.  When the breakthrough came, sad to say, he had died.  What a tragedy!  His birthday turned into a burial. 

     When it came to Jesus Christ, the opposite was true-His burial turned into a Birthday on the day Jesus “became the first-begotten from the dead”.  On the very day of his burial his disciples were huddling together, behind locked doors, for fear of the Jews, and the Romans, fearing if they continued on following in Jesus footsteps, soon 11 more crosses would be raised between heaven and earth, on the hill of the skull, and most of their bodies would not end up in a rich man’s tomb, but likely in the fires of the  Valley of Hinnom.  Their fears were not ill-founded, for after all the Romans were known for crucifying so many revolutionary Jews that trees in the Jerusalem area were almost extinct!  But Jesus’ burial, and subsequent rising from the dead, turned his burial into a birthday for the Church.  The book of Acts tells us that it was the risen Christ, and the Church’s faith in the infallible evidence of His resurrection, that turned their world upside down, and caused the gospel message to triumphantly conquer the Roman world from Jerusalem to Rome, and beyond!

     The truth of the matter is that these days the Church spends her time again locked up, behind the four walls of the Church, if not fearing the world, certainly ignoring it, and their ministry to it.  One denominational worker, in the Methodist faith said, “There are 15 churches in my district; 12 could close down, and the communities would not even miss them!”  Believe me the same could be said about Baptists!  Southern Baptists too!  We huddle behind the four walls of our Church “talking about how the Great Commission just cannot be done today!”  willing to make our mandate more relevant to another day, an earlier time.  Our days are the days of the Great Apostasy after all!  Our predicament reminds me of another tragic incident that occurred just off New York City on Long Island.  A crew aboard a heavily loaded scow suddenly sensed that it was taking water and was sinking.  They tried desperately to save it, but it was a losing battle; suddenly the crew noticed some piling thrusting out of the freezing icy waters, they decided to jump overboard, abandoning the sinking merchant vessel.  All through the night they clung for life to the piling and cried out for help toward the blinking lights along the shore for help.  In the morning some early fishermen saw them clinging to the piling, fingers, hands, bodies nearly frozen to death, despairing for life.  In the ensuing rescue the terrible irony of their experience became clear:  all through the freezing night the men had clung to the piling in water that was only four feet deep!  At any moment they could have walked safely to shore!  What an image of our modern Church!  Hemmed in by our past failures; our irrelevancy; our inhibitions and anxieties…we are clinging for dear life in the cold and freezing waters of a modern culture, when right around us is the steps we can take to victory.  Carl F.H. Henry, one of the most brilliant men I have ever had the privilege to meet, and to sit in one of his classes, before he passed away, put it very succinctly.  He said, “So it was with the early disciples who huddled behind locked doors for fear of the outside world.  The risen Lord appeared to them, and He knew what power need to be applied and where in their situation.  He not only gave them the Great Commission-He breathed the Holy Spirit of power upon them, and He transformed his burial into their birthday!  We live with slammed doors, shut doors, sealed doors, and we need nothing so much but to hear the voice of Him who calls…’I am He that liveth, and was dead…I…have the keys of hell and death’ (Rev. 1:18)” (New Strides of Faith p. 106). 

     That key is Prayer.  Albert Einstein was fascinated by the power and paradox of prayer.  So was C.S. Lewis. On one occasion Lewis responded to an objection about prayer by Kurt Vonnegut.  The objection went something like this:  “I don’t think it all likely that God requires the ill-informed (and contradictory), advice of us humans to run the world.  If He is all-wise, as it is said He is, doesn’t He know already what is best?  And if He is all-good won’t He do it whether we pray or not?”  In reply, Lewis said that you could use the same argument against any human activity, not just prayer.  “Why wash your hands? If God intends them to be clean, they’ll come clean without your washing them…Why ask for salt?  Why put on your boots?  Why do anything?”  God could have arranged things so that our bodies nourished themselves miraculously without food, knowledge entered our brains without studying, and umbrellas magically appeared to protect us from rainstorms.  But God chose a different way of governing the world.  He chose a partnership which also relies on human agency and choice.  Our involvement and prayers help change what happens.  He says so in His word.  Lewis borrowed a term from Blaise Paschal to describe what happens when we pray, and God answers by His power.  He called that the “dignity of causality”.  We partner with God in causing things to come to pass!  Carl F.H. Henry says, that kind of activity of prayer, and enduement of the Holy Spirit, can “change our vexing burden into a blessed victory!”  Oh how we need to join Jesus in the Ministry of Prayer.  Remember “without Him we can’t!  Without us-He won’t!”   Pray-Pray-Pray!

SERMON: CHRISTIANS WORTH THEIR SALT

Matthew 5:13

I.     THE PRECIOUSNESS OF SALT

II.    THE PROPRTIES OF SALT

                       A.  Salt Penetrates

                       B.  Salt Preserves

                       C. Salt is Palatable

                       D. Salt Purifies

III.   THE PERFORMANCE OF SALT

IV.   THE PROBLEM OF SALT