Expansion

Matthew 28:1-20

Jesus has come to announce His kingdom on earth.

It was in the most radical, attention-gaining way possible, that the most people possible would come into it. (God loves you so much, He would do anything to make certain you have the very best opportunity possible to know of His love for you, and that you may be with Him forever.)

The image of the cross is burned into the consciousness and across the history of mankind. There is no getting around the cross. While it may be possible to dismiss the cross, it is not possible to deny it.

With the cross now in the past, (the greatest event in human history,) something even more radical has happened. Jesus is alive! He is raised from the dead!

First, the work of salvation was necessary. Jesus had to die to make it possible for all to enter His kingdom. Now the work of expansion is here, to make it possible for the whole world to hear about the opportunity God has created by offering His Son – that ALL may now come into His kingdom.

With every means available to God to convey His message, how would God choose to communicate the most important news in the history of the world? He began by telling a small group of the women who followed Him. This would be an absurdity and an embarrassment to Christ if not true. (In those days, a woman was not permitted to be a witness in a court trial, and they were generally thought of as property.) It would be these women Jesus would trust to first share the news of His resurrection. There would be no supernatural parting of the skies, or volcanic demonstration, or anything of the sort – but the small voices of these women who had first witnessed the risen Savior.

That message of faith has been conducted across the centuries without corruption, but not without difficulty. God’s message is opposed by satanic forces everywhere it is delivered. How has God continued to choose to deliver this most important message in the history of mankind? It is by the small, faithful voice of those willing to share it.

-Pastor Bill

Separation

Matthew 27:32-66

We have studied ‘why’ Jesus died, now we see ‘how’ He died.

Of course we understand He is dying the death each of us deserve to die. He is dying in my place, to pay the price for my sin. Never has it been more clearly demonstrated that “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

Jesus’ death on the cross is not a free ticket to continue in sin knowing we are forgiven, but is a tragic reminder of the horrific, abominable nature of sin, and what comes of it.

Until you see yourself on the cross, you do not understand the price that was paid to set you free. How can you then live any longer in sin? How can sin appeal in light of the cross, and the cost?

We live such sheltered lives in our modern culture. We are so far removed from death it shocks us to the core when we are confronted by the necessity of it. How little we think of the slaughter-house that provides us meat? We have nothing culturally to relate to when it pertains to warfare or any of the sort of brutality that is caused by sin. Jesus reminds us who we really are.

And Who He really is.

You see, there was something that took place at the cross which goes far beyond even the physical brutality which we are making ourselves aware of. It may be the physical brutality which has the greatest affect upon us emotionally, and certainly it should affect us greatly, but it is the separation from the Father which we need to pay the closest attention to. In taking my sin, and the sin of the whole world upon Himself, Jesus made Himself a curse, and He became separated from the Father in that moment. It was plainly terrible for Christ, and His terror serves as a warning.

For those who choose to remain in their sin instead of enjoying and employing Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice for it, there will be an eternal separation from God. Of that, we must all be terrified. Oh how wonderful is the salvation of Christ which removes the middle wall of separation!

-Pastor Bill

Beauty

Matthew 27:1-31

The contrast between light and dark is so strong sometimes it hurts the eyes to look at.

This is one of those cases.

The degree of ugliness on display here is so difficult to fathom, especially in light of the great beauty the ugliness is set over against. This is hard to look at, and harder still to study and understand.

One thing remains clear, and is still on display in the world today: Human nature, left to its own devices, is incredibly ugly.

All we see in nature, of the brutality and killing and suffering looks terribly small and comfortable in comparison to man left unchecked.

But what could possibly make man more than merely an animal of great ferocious proportions as the evolutionist presents man to be? Well, only love and devotion.

It is love and devotion, pure and unadulterated, also on display here in great contrast to the crassness, baseness, brutality and ugliness of man. Christ is so beautiful in the midst of this ugliness that it shocks our consciousness, and brings into even sharper focus how truly ugly we are.

I’m forgiven because Christ was forsaken. (By me, and all who are as I am.)

Who would forsake such love? Who could forsake such beauty, and glory, and wisdom – such love and devotion to the task of loving me? Well, that would be me, many times over.

Every time I fail to commit myself to the beauty and wonder and truth only found in Christ, I bring Christ right back here to this place of brutality, and I repeat the process all over again. Knowing this, how could I be so ugly? Why would I ever turn from such beauty?

-Pastor Bill

God on Trial

Matthew 26:57-75

Putting God on trial is the silliest, stupidest, most fallacious, felonious, ridiculous, terrible and blasphemous action ever attempted by man.

We could also say putting God on trial only strengthens His cause.

It has been a peculiar notation of human history that whenever God is on trial, His cause is strengthened, and His ministry grows.

Persecution does not deter Christ, it engages His power.

The trial of Jesus performed here is a sham – as are ALL trials of Christ. This was a court of religious leaders who had a pre-determined judgment, and only used the legal framework of religious leadership in order to seek to satisfy the minds of the people they ruled over.

Had Christ been hauled over to Pontius Pilate without a trial, the people may have thought this a travesty of justice. However, with this trial taking place behind closed doors, the people would be left to trust the judgment of the Sanhedrin, while knowing there HAD been a trial. Knowing there HAD been a trial – and Christ HAD been found guilty – then He must BE guilty. (The religious leaders had to trust this would be the view of the people, and apparently – it was.)

It is morally impossible to try and convict someone you KNOW is not guilty. Jesus was a special case. Not only was He NOT GUILTY of what He was accused of, He was NOT GUILTY of ANYTHING.

And so, false testimony had to be arranged. (As it always is whenever Christ is on trial.) Jesus cannot be accused of any guilt, and yet people hold him guilty all the time. In this case, He is found guilty of speaking a Spiritual truth. On this basis, Jesus is found guilty of blasphemy, which is the highest form of irony. It is the religious leaders, and Caiaphas, (the High Priest,) in particular, who are guilty of the blasphemy of which they accuse Christ. Nothing ever changes when it comes to placing God on trial.

-Pastor Bill

Passion

Matthew 26:36-56

Paul writes, “without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.” (1 Tim 3:16)

In other words, when it comes to the nature of God and His operation among men, there are some things we will never understand. God is higher than we are, and His thoughts (and plans) are higher than ours.

In Philippians 2, when Paul writes of Jesus putting off the Godhead, (and the supernatural powers thereof,) in His coming to earth – we can never really fully understand what that means. It is a mystery how Jesus could be God, and yet not, in His appearing as The Son of Man. He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, and He made Himself of no reputation. He took on flesh.

Therefore we know: Jesus suffered as a man.

In this passage Jesus enters His suffering, which has been referred to theologically as ‘His passion.’ Passion is a word we normally associate with conviction, but in this case it goes further to denote a conviction which goes unto suffering.

The dispassionate world says some pretty hard things about this from a total lack of understanding about what is taking place and from a lack of any attempt whatsoever to understand the Godhead. Now when we say the Godhead is a mystery, it does not mean we should not seek wisdom and understanding, it simply means we will never come to the fullness of it. God desires to be known. It is why Jesus came.

But when people make God out to be some kind of monster because He allows His own Son to suffer and die – they miss the point entirely. They place God on a human level, judging themselves to be more graceful and merciful than God. This is foolishness.

What we know - but cannot fully understand - is that Jesus suffered as a man suffers. He felt the pain and anguish and humiliation exactly as we would. His desire was for The Father to design another way for mankind to be saved from God’s justice, but there was no other way. But always remember, this is God in flesh, suffering and dying for His creation. He would sacrifice Himself for the sin of mankind. That is passion.

-Pastor Bill