Matt 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

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Tobias Fletcher
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1 Connect to the Cross Like a Child Mark 10:13 16, of 6 Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. New identity sense of self and worth coherent, stable, honest, encouraging, and inclusive Matt 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Freedom from the pressure to perform (internal and external) New perspective on suffering Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Why did he die, and what does it matter to us? Jesus says, If you re going to know me, you have to be spiritually childlike. You must become as a little child if you re going to enter the kingdom of God. That s difficult to understand, and then James and John show they have no idea what Jesus is talking about because they do a little bit of a power grab. They get Jesus aside, away from the other disciples, we would like the top two places in your court. We want to be first in line. When the rest of the disciples hear about that, they get mad, and Jesus, in order to clarify what he has been teaching, tells them about his death. At the very end, Jesus says, All this is because I came not to be served but to serve and give my life a ransom for many. What we re going to do is we re going to work backwards. We have to look at his explanation of his death, and then go back to see what it means then to be childlike. The text tells us what he came to do, to give his life; why he came to do it, as a ransom for many; and how we can personally connect to it, by becoming little children. 1. What he came to do It says the Son of Man came to give his life. To give your life means, I came to be killed. Successful founders of world religions overcame their enemies. Unsuccessful founders were crushed by their enemies. Jesus is the one successful one who was crushed by His enemies. Common sense. How could this person be the Messiah? How could he be the Son of God? How could this person be the One bringing in the kingdom of God? He dies a disgraceful death. He dies a premature death. He s defeated. He s destroyed. Generally, somebody who dies, somebody who s destroyed by his enemies, it s a sign of weakness and defeat.

2 Connect to the Cross Like a Child Mark 10:13 16, of 6 Why is Jesus an exception? Something happened to his disciples. Something happened that, changed the cross from a proof of defeat into a badge of honor, a bottomless source of joy, and a consolation for absolutely anything. The cross became such a source of joy and power in their lives. Their lives were so changed, they were so attractive in the way they lived that they attracted droves of people, and they were so fearless in the way they spoke and preached, no matter what the cost and persecution, they influenced by serving not lording. Something happened to the disciples that changed the cross from a proof of defeat into a bottomless source of joy and peace, turned their lives inside out, upside down. What was it? When they understood why he died, it changed their lives. When they understood why the defeat was really a triumph, then the cross became a source of enormous power. Do you believe Jesus died in such a way that it changed your life? Has it turned you inside out? If not, it s because you may know that he died. You don t really understand why he died. 2. Why he came to die Why did he die? Why did he give his life? He gave his life, verse 45, a ransom for many. Rich metaphor. Ransom = Greek word lytron. Not kidnapping lytron took its origin from the practice of warfare where it was the price paid to bring a prisoner of war out of his captivity and slavery. No POW camps so You either died in battle, or else you were put into slavery. You were put into abject bondage and terrible, grinding slavery. It was the punishment. The only way you would ever escape that was if someone from your other country or someone else came and paid a (usually) enormous ransom price to the captors. The metaphor is critical for us to understand what Jesus has done for you. The cross The question is why did he die? Two part answer It was an objective and subjective reason. An objective thing is something that happens outside of me. It happens to me. The subjective happens inside me. It happens in me. Objective: He died to pay the debt Subjective: He died so we could experience liberation freedom A. He died to pay the debt. Why did he die? A ransom. Objection. Why did God need for Jesus to die? Why couldn t he just forgive us? Why does the God of the Bible seem to need to be appeased by human sacrifice like some old primitive god? Illustration: totalled car, get a policeman, guy says, I can t believe I did this. I regret that I have done this. I m so sorry I ve done this. Will you forgive me?

3 Connect to the Cross Like a Child Mark 10:13 16, of 6 The policeman turns to and says, Just let it go. You say, Give me the baseball bat. The policeman says, You re being vindictive. Just let it go. I t s impossible to just forgive, to just let it go. The policeman says, Just let it go. Do you know why it s impossible? Every wrong has a cost. There s damage.someone pays for the car. S omebody has to bear the cost of what happened. It does not go away. It doesn t go into the air. There s no such thing as a wrong that s not paid for. forgiveness really means bearing the wrong, absorbing the cost. Nobody can just forgive, so it s impossible to just have it go away. In the objection people give, they say, Why does God need Jesus to die? Why can t he just forgive? Why does God seem to need to be appeased by a human sacrifice? He doesn t, because it doesn t say, Jesus went to give his life a ransom for many. He doesn t go from us to God to appease an unwilling God. He came to offer this sacrifice. He came to pay this penalty. He came to pay the debt himself. He came, which means it s God putting this forth. It s not the Son suffering to appease an angry, unwilling Father. God in the Father and God in the Son both suffered infinitely and paid the price. Why? T he Son took the cup of divine justice. He refers to it here. We know the Son experienced Fatherlessness on the cross. Don t forget the Father experienced Sonlessness on the cross, which is every bit as bad, and he did it together. What this means is Why did Jesus die? To pay the debt. God paid it himself. A god who just forgives is not a holy god, a god who won t forgive is not a loving god, and a god who can t forgive is not a wise god. He didn t know how to satisfy both love and justice. In the cross we have absolute wisdom, absolute love, and absolute holiness all fulfilled and satisfied at once. He paid a debt. Jesus Christ satisfied the holy love of God and opens the way to a relationship with him. It s objective. It happens outside of us. Do you see why he had to die? B. He died to free our hearts. What s interesting about this image, this metaphor, is it s not strictly objective, your debt is paid. He also died to subjectively set us free. Gandhi, Buddha Eastern religions and Christianity agree on why we re all enslaved. All these religions believe the normal state of every human being is to be spiritually enslaved To selfishness. Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity agree that some people are obviously selfish, but you need to look beneath the surface to see where all the rest of us are. Why are good people good, Why are they being so nice? Why are they seeming to be so unselfish? It s for selfish reasons. They need to be needed. Why are you in this relationship? You say, Because I m just loving this person. You need to feel attractive. All these religions agree, that deep down inside our egos are insatiable. We need affirmation, approval, comfort, and power to try and prove to ourselves, we don t believe: our own value.

4 Connect to the Cross Like a Child Mark 10:13 16, of 6 Everything we do, even the nice things, they ll say, are ways for you to use the people you re helping to be sure you re okay, to say, Look, I m a caring person. I volunteer at the soup kitchen. I m not like a lot of other people. You don t say it out loud. All of them will say, You need to be liberated from selfishness. They would even agree that the cross of Jesus is a wonderful picture of sacrificial, unselfish love. Great example, but don t agree about a debt that had to be paid. If the cross is only an example, it s not a liberating one. If it s only subjective, it s not subjectively liberating. When you look the cross and take away the payment, and hear Jesus say Father forgive them, they don t know what they are doing. I love them even though they are crucifying me. The example is crushing or crazy. Crushing because it is so beyond reach. Guilt of never being able to live up to the example. Makes you feel worse, not free! If I see him forgiving people, if I see him forgiving his enemies, it s not liberating. It s crushing. If I see him forgiving me, if I see him up there praying for my forgiveness, if I see him objectively paying the debt, then subjectively it begins to liberate me. Illustration: Let s just say a couple of us are walking along the canal, and I say, Do you know? As your pastor I just want you to know how much I love you. Let me just show you right now, and I throw myself into the Canal and drown. Do you say, Wow! How he loved us? Is that a wonderful example of sacrificial love? No, of course not. You re going to say, Oh my word, the poor man was mentally ill or something like that! Do you see? You re appalled by it, or maybe you re offended by it. What if we re walking along the Canal and you fall into the Hudson River and you re swept away through the icy current and I jump on in and I die saving you? Unless a debt is paid, there is no experience of liberation. How does it, though, if I do see the payment? How does it liberate me? Buddha and Gandhi are right about the fact we all have this deep problem with the ego. We are living selfishly. We re driven. We can t take criticism. We need to have people love us. We re over dependent on our children. We re over dependent on our parents, our friends, on our looks. We re just driven. We re insecure. We re living selfishly. The Bible says our problem isn t self esteem in general. It s that we re alienated from God. We re cut off from the ground/source of our significance. The cross does not give you a proposition. It gives you a true story, a ransom story. All of the religious philosophies basically say, you are valuable, you are loved. Jesus proves it, by paying. Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. to give his life as a ransom for The word for is the little Greek word anti. It means in the stead of, or in place of. It means to substitute himself. What he s saying is, I took your place substitutional sacrificial love.

5 Connect to the Cross Like a Child Mark 10:13 16, of 6 There are several bridges that go across the Potomac River at 14th Street. One of the 14th Street bridges is named Arland D. Williams. Do you know why? In January 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 taking off out of Washington National probably had ice on the wings or something, started to lose altitude, hit the 14th Street bridges, and went into the river. When the helicopters got there, it was sinking in the frozen Potomac, and only the tail was sticking out. Only 6 passengers were still alive. 50 yr old Arland D. Williams was one of them. The people in the rescue helicopter lowered the harness, and they lowered the lifeline to Arland. Every time they pulled it someone to safety there was somebody else on the line. Every time he gave his place/opportunity of salvation to somebody else. Five people were saved. The last time they went back, the tail was gone. He had sunk. He had died doing what? Substituting himself, giving them his place of deliverance. He took their destruction that was coming upon them. He gave them his rescue. Why does that move us? Because that is the most loving thing we know. Substitutionary sacrifice, grabs our hearts with its beauty. Jhn 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one s life for his friends. Jesus Christ says, that is the story of the cross. When we see the loving, gracious, substitute, sacrificial death, then we can experience being set free from our selfishness. Now you know how beautiful, valuable you are to him, how much you mean to Him. This unconditional love, sets us free from self. 3. How we can personally connect to it You have to become a little child. What does that mean? He s not saying, Be spiritually childish. There are a lot of us who are that. He s saying, Be spiritually childlike. Children are dependent. You have to feel helpless. You have to go, not just know Jesus died to pay your debt, but you have to rely completely on what he has done and not on yourself, not on anything you ve done. You have to rely completely on him. Children expect to be accepted. They expect to be loved. A 4 year old walks in and is sure everybody is interested in what she or he wants to say. They re positive everyone will find them completely interesting. They re totally sure of acceptance. If you have too high a view of yourself, you re not dependent like a child. You re not spiritually childlike. If you have too low a view of the love of Jesus, you re not spiritually childlike. Think too highly, I don t need his help, or I can do some of this myself no longer dependent. Think to low of His love you won t think He will accept you as His own.

6 Connect to the Cross Like a Child Mark 10:13 16, of 6 Only in the cross do you have a God who says, I ve seen you at your worst, and look what you ve done to me, and yet at the very same moment says, Look at how much you mean to me. Look at how valuable you are, and I m the One who counts. This is the one thing you need in your life. You need to see why he died. You need to see the meaning of ransom. You need to see it through the eyes of a child. To the degree you see it, you will be transformed, set free, alive, a new person. Titus 2:14 NIV who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. Receive a Servants heart of substitutional sacrificial love willingness to drink little cups to see others saved. If you let me serve you, you will become a servant. If you let me love you you become more loving than ever. You ll go out in the world as a servant. When you re around a servant you feel valued. You feel affirmed. You feel listened to. You feel helped.

Symbols 1 of How God Saves Us

9 Easy Reading Edition November 22 28 Date Symbols 1 of How God Saves Us SABBATH NOVEMBER SABBATH DATE 22 READ FOR THIS WEEK S LESSON: Romans 2:1 29; Romans 3:19 26; 2 Corinthians 5:18 21; 1 John 4:7 11.