sjymchriste

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: The Unfair Exchange - Luke 23:13-25

"He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will."

Barabbas is a violent criminal and surely worthy of crucifixion. The crowd, however, shouts for Jesus to assume Barabbas's punishment, and Pilate acquiesces to appease them and avoid a riot. The only reason Pilate surrenders Jesus to the will of the people is because Jesus has already surrendered His will to the Father.

It is commonly asked, "If Jesus is indeed God, why doesn't he show himself today?" I can't help but think it's because for two reasons. One, people will still treat Him as a criminal and try to crucify Him today. Two, He continues to extend His mercies in giving time for people to repent. In this mockery of a trial in which Jesus appears to be helpless, He is actually in complete control. And the next time He returns, it will be much more obvious that He is still in control.

For in His first coming, He came as the suffering Servant. The Man of Sorrows. In His second coming, He will come as the conquering King. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess He is Lord. And for those who did not repent, will be men of much sorrow.

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: Preparation in Prayer - Luke 22:39-53

Jesus knows that the perfect Lamb of God is the only sacrifice that can satisfy God's justice and love, but He is not eager to face His wrath. He sweats droplets of blood foreshadowing the blood He will soon shed on the cross. Despite this, Jesus exhorts his disciples to prayer so that they may be spiritually strengthened and not succumb to their desires and temptations.

Strengthened from His night of prayer, Jesus displays calm faith in the face of danger. The disciples, however, panic, with one responding in violence cutting the ear of the high priest's servant. This contrast is a reminder of the power of prayer to give us spiritual alertness. So even in moments where darkness seems to reign, we can respond as Jesus did in having faith and confidence in God's strength, not our own, to carry us through.

[sjymchriste]

church is different now

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: Jesus Paid It All - Matthew 27:35-53

Ironically, the mocking words that are directed at Jesus are all true. He is indeed the King of the Jews. He is the Son of God. He can save Himself and others. The fulfillment of all these words will come to pass in their proper time, but, for Good Friday, Jesus’ task is to endure suffering. On the cross, He willingly and publicly bears our guilt and shame. Let us not look to any morals or good deed to make us right with God. Jesus completed that work for us on the cross--it is finished!

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: Needing Jesus - Matthew 26:26-35

The Lord’s Supper is a sacred ordinance of the church that was instituted by Jesus Himself on the night He was betrayed. The Gospel was given to us by physical emblems of food and drink to remind us that as they nourish our physical bodies in this life, the broken body and shed blood of Jesus provides the spiritual nourishment we need to gain eternal life. 

While God’s grace has shone the light of His truth into our hearts and brought us out of eternal condemnation, we should never presume we are free from temptation. Peter pledges to die for the sake of Christ ignoring the possibility of moral failure. Sin still resides in us, and we need to put it to death every day as we take up our crosses and follow Jesus. 

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: Matchless Worth - Matthew 26:6-16

The woman at Bethany expressed her full devotion by pouring perfume on Jesus’ head. She could not have known the significance of her offering--much less so the disciples, who scorned it as wasteful. Jesus rebukes their critical attitude and says the woman has done a beautiful thing by preparing Him for burial. 

But in stark contrast to the woman’s extravagant devotion toward Jesus, Judas Iscariot was only interested in what he can gain from his relationship with Jesus. The chief priests offer thirty pieces of silver, which was not a large sum of money. Clearly, neither the chief priests nor Judas think very highly of Jesus' worthy and are only concerned with the short-term profit they can make. They were tragically blinded toward the matchless worth of knowing Jesus Christ and the eternal blessings He offers. But the woman at Bethany knew that these blessings cannot be measured or bought with any of her possessions. So naturally, she offered what was most dear to her knowing it paled in comparison to the value of knowing Him. 

[sjymchriste]

can you be happy with brown grass?

Heard a speaker say this in a live stream recently so wanted to write it down so I don’t forget. “The grass isn’t greener on the other side. It’s greener on the side that you water.” 

[sjymchriste]

As we were singing, I started to remember the story behind this Matt Redman classic. So before the song ended, I wanted to confirm and know for myself. The story goes like this: 

Heart of Worship

Over 20 years ago, a young songwriter named Matt Redman was the worship leader at Soul Survivor church in Watford, which is not far from London, England. The pastor there was Mike Pilavachi, and the church was one of many in the U.K. contributing to the growth of the modern worship movement. They were in a season that would typically be considered “blessed” or “an exciting time” for the church: the worship music was cutting edge, the style was building momentum in churches across the country, and the church had the requisite equipment to sound great. Many in the church were in their teens or 20s, so it was a very young crowd that would be drawn to modern music. With great credit to the pastor, Pilavachi discerned that amidst the music and fervor, something was missing. Maybe it could be described as an authenticity in worship, maybe the lines were blurred between worshiping God and loving the music. Whatever was happening, here is how Redman describes it:

“There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing,” he recalls. “He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we’d lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.”

What followed was probably a few very awkward services for a typically upstart young crowd. No drums. No guitars. No microphones. In fact, no sound system. No worship “leader” at the front with a band and a loud sound where you can feel your heartbeat with every thump of the kick drum. No musical set of 4-6 songs planned.

You can imagine that the group initially didn’t know what to do sitting in the room with nothing but their Bibles and temporary silence. Redman himself felt especially sheepish; he was the worship leader and didn’t have anything to do! But it was an incredible time of reflection for Redman to help build his character and identity as the worship leader he is today.

“That made me ask some questions. What are my motives when I’m up there on the stage? Am I doing this as service, or am I trying to build my own little thing? It was a great moment for me, as a musician and as a worshiper, to refocus… “

Several challenges emerged in the form of questions for the congregation. Are you are a producer in worship, or a consumer? Pilavachi asked, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?” After some awkwardness, eventually heartfelt prayer and a cappella singing would spring forth. Gradually they reintroduced the instruments. But not only did the congregation encounter God in a new way, and not only did they understand more deeply the heart God calls us to have in worship, the song Heart of Worship was born out of that time. And the lyrics are familiar now, over 20 years later, all over the world:

“When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come. Longing just to bring something that’s of worth, that will bless your heart. I’ll bring you more than a song, for a song in itself is not what you have required. You search much deeper within, through the way things appear, You’re looking into my heart. I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about you, Jesus.”

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: The King of the Jews - John 19:1-22

Pilate thinks that Jesus is at his mercy, but He knows better. Any authority that Pilate has was given to him by God. While it may seem Jesus is a victim of circumstances whose fate is in the hands of a Roman official, ultimately He is the One who obliged to the cruel and unjust systems of the world in order to save sinners. 

Pilate declares Jesus’ crime is that of being the king of the Jews which is stated on the sign fastened on the cross. Although the Jewish leaders protest the way Pilate has phrased it, he refused to change the sign--thereby publicly and prophetically, though unintentionally, declaring Jesus’ true identity as Israel’s Messiah. Similarly today, the world may deny and reject Jesus’ authority for now. But in the end, every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: The Dignity of Servanthood - John 13:3 - 13:15

A teacher’s desire for their disciple to imitate them should come to no surprise. Yet what Christ exemplifies seems counterintuitive: we must become servants. It is difficult for us to respond to this call because it goes against our self-centered nature. But each disciple of Jesus is fully equipped to His calling because we have each personally experienced Jesus’ love and service. Look to Christ as our example and embody His love as we serve the world around us. 

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: Out of Death, Life - Matthew 16:25

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” 

[sjymchriste]

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[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: True Discipleship - Matthew 27:57 - 27:66

The hopes of a glorious and triumphant Messiah seemed to have been shattered for Jesus’ disciples. But even though things seemed grim and the battle was lost, Joseph of Arimathea takes it upon himself to formally request Pilate to hand over Jesus’s body so that he can bury Him in his own tomb. It is one thing to follow a charismatic leader when he is at the height of his popularity, but it is another to pick up the pieces when that leader has been vanquished. But Joseph honors Jesus behind the scenes even when there is absolutely nothing to gain. He inconveniences himself with such a laborious task at his own expense. It’s one thing to serve when there is a guaranteed return. But true discipleship is to serve simply for the sake of love and expecting nothing in return. 

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: Public Shame - Matthew 27:27 - 27:44

The details of Jesus’ painful path to the cross is criminal. But for Roman soldiers in first-century Palestine, the brutality was just part of their job. The ugliness of the human heart is on full display as the soldiers treat Jesus’ suffering as a sport and He is publicly shamed.  It is in some people’s nature to stand high and mighty and mock those who are in a state of weakness. It was the same for Jesus as He was dying on the cross. The people felt the liberty to hurl insults at Him. “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself!” “Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” But even during this scene of misery, Jesus braced the suffering. He didn’t try to prove His power and majesty to anyone. Rather than responding and trying to prove your worth to those who bring you down, may you draw strength from our Savior who endured insult and scorned shame for our sake. Our value is in Him.

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: Blood Money - Matthew 27:1 - 27:10

Thirty shekels of silver was the exact price paid to the master of a slave if and when his slave was gored by an ox. It was certainly not a lot of money. The same coins used to betray Jesus are used by the religious leaders to purchase a field from a potter as a burial ground for foreigners. And after confessing he had betrayed innocent blood, it was in that field that Judas hanged himself.  Pilate declares himself to be guiltless of the blood of an innocent man and the crowd accepts the consequences by saying, “His blood is on us and our children!” Like Judas, some will betray their friends for selfish gain. Like Pilate, some will attempt to wash their hands of His blood by their own efforts. The blood of Christ, spilled on the cross, demands a response. Let the saints make a different choice: to repent of sins that nailed Jesus to the cross and allow ourselves to be cleansed by His precious blood. 

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: Jesus on Trial - Matthew 26:57 - 26:68

The scene of Jesus’ trial is filled with lawlessness in what is supposed to be a court of law. It is held in the high priest’s home instead of the temple courts. It takes place at night instead of the day so that unvetted witnesses can be brought in to provide false testimonies. And accusers follow up their lies with torture and blasphemous insults. And while the entire trial is rife with injustice and corruption, Jesus endures with His eyes set on the cross. Though this suffering may seem like something only Jesus can bear, in truth there will be times when God’s people must also endure unjust hostility as we stand for truth. This was only the beginning of Jesus’ prophecy when He proclaims, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” He endured so that we can also endure. 

[sjymchriste]

Passion Week: The Hour Has Come - John 12:20-23

In the Gospels, there are outsiders who boldly and shamelessly approached Jesus all the time. The blind, the poor, the lepers, and the prostitutes. But for the Greeks, they felt that there were ethnic and cultural barriers that disabled them from being able to approach Him. So instead, they approached Phillip who was one of the few of Jesus’ disciples that had a Greek name, not a Hebrew or Aramaic one. Phillip, who also was unsure, goes to Andrew, another disciple with a Greek name and they try to decide what to do. Because Greek people understood, they were most likely not welcomed by Jews, and therefore felt they were not welcomed by God. So they go through all these indirect motions in the hopes to get a hearing with Jesus. This was the sign for Jesus because it indicated the beginning of a community that refuses to be a mono-ethnic tribe, but rather the global multi-ethnic people of God. He was acting to save the entire world. This is Romans 1:16 when Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”