Sermons from Moorpark Presbyterian Church |
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"Was It Worth It?" Hebrews 12:1-3 April 29, 2001 Janet Loughry
Look at ALL these law books. Paul Bauducco of our congregation has allowed me to borrow them. The scary thing he gets new and updated books on a regular bases. That means new and updated laws all the time. You and I are each affected in our everyday life with these and other laws. However, there is one law that perhaps you have not heard of, and I doubt is not written up in any law book. That is Sutton’s Law? Basically Sutton’s Law states, that "People will not do anything unless there is some sort of payoff. That is, they won’t do something unless there is a direct benefit to and for themselves. For some reason the Presidential pardons we heard so much about at the beginning of the year keep coming to mind. Now, you see, Mr. Sutton was a bank robber. When asked why he robbed banks, he answered, "That’s where the money is." That was his payoff, that was his direct benefit. Just two weeks ago we remembered and celebrated those events leading to Easter and then joyfully celebrated Easter and Jesus’ victory over death. Have you ever stopped to think that even Jesus Christ followed "Sutton’s Law" - in that He did not do what He did while here on earth, and on that Cross, without some sort of personal payoff? Scripture tells us Jesus did what He did "For the sake of the joy that was set before Him". Hear that Scripture now, as it comes from God, through the writer of Hebrews.... Some people wrongly imagine that because Jesus was a divine man, the physical and spiritual sufferings of the cross were somehow "less" for him. The cruel scourging, or whipping, done by the Romans was so severe that prisoners often died under those torturous blows. The crown of thorns which was thrust upon Jesus’ holy head was only another act of cruel torture. People stood at the foot of the cross and shamed him. The Romans viewed death on the cross as the supreme penalty. Deuteronomy 21:23 tells us that "anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse." The Jewish historian - Josephus- has said that the cross is "the most wretched of Deaths". As a matter of fact our word "excruciating" or "ex-cruc-iare" — literally means "from the cross." The word for the most intense pain in our English language comes from the tortures of the cross. Therefore, we must let the full force of this statement here in Hebrews, really sink into our souls: he ‘endured the cross’. Yes, the physical pain he endured was real, complete and absolute. But the spiritual pain was even greater; greater because of his pure soul, which knew no sin. The Apostle Paul said in Second Corinthians 5:21, that "For our sake he made Him to be sin who knew no sin." His pure soul "became sin" for you and for me, bringing to him an unknown pain. We must also absorb the fact that he ‘endured the cross, scorning its shame.’ That is, he thought nothing of its shame. He dismissed it as less important in the full scheme of events. But He thought it worth it for the sake of saving us. How, why, would He do this? Why would Jesus go through all that He did. One reason is because of the "joy set before Him." So what are some of the specific aspects of that joy? What were some of the payoffs for Jesus? There was the joy of a ‘reunion.’ A reunion, as it were, with the Father. John 16:18 tells us Jesus’ constant thought was that He used to be with the Father. He came down to earth on a very special mission and stayed for 33 years. He would go back again to His Father. He had the joy of anticipating God’s delight that His will had been done and His work accomplished. What an exciting thought — Heaven’s homecoming! Imagine that joy! A second reason that Jesus was able to endure the cross and despise its shame, was that He would be able to once again ‘sit down at the right hand of the throne of God’. His exaltation, or His return of rank, honor, power and character was part of the ‘joy set before him.’ So there was the joy of being crowned with honor and glory. Rather than the crown of thorns. In this there was also the joy of having all things put under his feet once again. Finally, there was the joy before Him of "bringing many sons and daughters to glory". That is making us, you and me, part of his joy. Just think about that one! Think of the most joyous experience in your life. Think of the joy you know because you are one of His children. If you have ever had the honor and joy of leading another to Christ, remember that joy. How much more Christ’s joy in bringing you and me to His glory, all as one of His payoffs for enduring the cross. Wow! Christ interceding for us and then being able to have eternal life with Him. The kicker is, you and I have been part of that joyous plan, Christ’s joy, from the very beginning. I don’t know who first told this story or who the boy is. But the story is about a 12-year old boy who asked God to forgive him of his sins and to accept him as His child. After that the boy’s school friends questioned him about the experience. "Did you hear God talk?" one asked. "No," the boy said. "Did you have a vision?" another asked. "No," the boy replied. "Well, how did you know it was God?" his third frustrated friend asked. The boy thought for a moment and then said, "It’s like when you catch a fish. You can’t see the fish or hear the fish; you just feel him tugging on your line. I felt God tugging on my heart." Was it worth it to that young boy? Was it all worth it - to you? Was it worth it to know that Jesus now appears in the presence of God, interceding for you - tugging at your heart? There are several ways to be sure and to make it be worth it:
- For some, you may need to claim this gift for the first time. You may need to say for the first time, "Yes, Jesus, I want you as Lord of my life. I want your work here on earth and on that cross to be worth it to me." - Be assured there is no part of your life - past, present, future - that is beyond His redeeming reach. - Know that your purpose is to know Jesus. Know Jesus deep in your heart so that you can glorify God - Know that because of Christ’s sacrifice - you can be forever guided and guarded by God. You can be guided and guarded by God in your personal life, family, work and social lives; in your difficult decisions - and your celebrating joyous moments. God also wants to assist you when you are discouraged, providing strength in your weakness. God also wants to enable you to forgive as you are forgiven. He wants to show you the meaning of absolute acceptance - first him of you - then you, of others. - Then know that this gift is a responsibility. We are not to keep it to ourselves. Rather we are to respond to the command to "go into the world and draw others to Christ - so that they too will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." You may be the only person God has put into the race to reach others for Jesus. If you do not listen to their cries and speak the love language of Jesus, these people, entrusted by God into your care, may spend eternity separated from Him. Then the worth of what He did would have been lost on them. Perhaps with all the school shootings that have been reported lately, you no doubt, continue to remember seventeen-year-old Cassie Bernall. She is one of the young people who died in the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, just two years ago this month. What Jesus did for her was worth it to her. Because of that worth, she confronted the fear of sharing her faith as few have. It has been written than when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris held their weapons in her face and asked, "Cassie, do you believe in God?" the girl faced the most difficult of choices: to deny her faith and possibly live or to profess her love of God and most certainly die. According to some reports, books and internet articles, before Cassie became a Christian she was considered an "outcast" herself. Just a few years prior to her death she was a typical adolescent who struggled with peer pressure; did not have the greatest relationship with her parents. She was on a common teenage path of depression and self-loathing. That path took her into the occult, including witchcraft and drugs. But when Cassie asked Jesus to replace the darkness in her life with His light, everything changed. Christ’s ministry, suffering, death and resurrection was worth it to Cassie. She became like Jesus. Cassie got what dying with Christ means. This is evidence in a poem she wrote two days prior to her death: "Now I have given up on everything else, I have found it to be the only way to really know Christ and to experience the mighty power that brought Him back to life again, and to find out what it means to suffer and to die with him. So, whatever it takes I will be one who lives in the fresh newness of life and those who are alive from the dead." It is obvious that in a short period of time, the words "God" and "Jesus" were not simply profanities, rather, they were a loving presence in her life. Her family witnessed her life change. Her friends were amazed by it. Her teachers commented on it. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris watched it -- and took note. When they spotted Cassie in the school library and asked her if she believed in God, the two killers already knew the answer. Cassie’s life had already lived the answer out loud. What Cassie could not have known when she verbally responded, "Yes, I believe in God," was that her testimony would be heard around the world long after the sound of the fatal gunshots stopped. But before she uttered her final words Cassie did know, without a doubt, that no bullet could separate her from the love of God or the eternal life He promised her when she gave her life to Him. Cassie gave her life for the name of Jesus, just as Jesus had given His life for her. It was worth it to both -- Cassie and Jesus. You and I know the world was forever changed because of the death of Jesus. Now more lives have been changed because a 17-year-old girl would not remain silent about her faith in God. Because she had said "Yes" to the tugging on her heart by the Lord. Please know, be assured, that no bullet, no remarks, no warnings or threats or jokes that may come your way, can ever separate you from the love of God or the eternal life He promised you when He gave His life for you, when you say "Yes" to Jesus and give your life to Him. From the Isaiah passage that Dave read, we learn that God was in total control of all parts and all the events leading to the cross and everything that happened on the cross and everything that happened afterward. Despite the innocence of Jesus, His suffering and death was worth it....because of you and me. It ALL was worth it to God. It is God’s desire for us to know that because He worked through the events of the cross, He marked it as the end of the old life and the beginning of the new creation. In Christ’s death and resurrection, God opened for us the way to new and eternal life. Hear this passage said in another, yet very profound way from Max Lucado’s God Came Near: He looked around the carpentry shop. He stood for a moment in the refuge of the little room that housed so many sweet memories. He balanced the hammer in his hand. He ran his fingers across the sharp teeth of the saw. He stroked the smoothly worn wood of the sawhorse. He had come to say goodbye. It was time for him to leave. He had heard something that made him know it was time to go. So he came one last time to smell the sawdust and lumber. Life was peaceful here. Life was so.....safe.... I wonder if he wanted to stay....I wonder because I know he had already read the last chapter. He knew that the feet that would step out of the safe shadow of the carpentry shop would not rest until they’d been pierced and placed on a Roman cross.... If there was any hesitation on the part of his humanity, it was overcome by the compassion of his divinity. His divinity heard the voices.... And his divinity saw the faces....From the face of Adam ot the face of the infant born somewhere in the world as you (read) HEAR these words...he saw them all. And you can be sure of one thing. Among the voices that found their way into that carpentry shop in Nazareth was your voice.... And not only did he hear you, he saw your face aglow the hour you first knew him. He saw your face in shame the hour you first fell. The same face that looked back at you from this morning’s mirror, looked at him. And -- it was enough to KILL him. He left because of you. He laid his security down with his hammer. He hung tranquility on the peg with his nail apron. He closed the window shutters on the sunshine of his youth and locked the door on the comfort and ease of anonymity. Since he could bear your sins more easily than he could bear the thought of your hopelessness, he chose to leave. It wasn’t easy. Leaving the safety and security of the carpentry shop never has been. No it was not easy. It won’t always be easy for us. It was not easy for Jesus. But it is worth it to our risen Christ. Was it worth to you? |
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