The Power of the Cross

Text: John 12:20-33

Focus: The Cross

Function: To reveal the compelling power of the cross.

Form: Story Telling

Intro:

Most of us are aware of the study going on during Study Hour about understanding the mission of the Church in the 21^st Century and the changes in perception since 9/11.

There is a graph on the wall that is quite relevant. It comes from what appears to be a study that Brother Mike Fletcher took you through. Good stuff. When I was interviewing here, I saw those posters and realized that God was laying a good foundation for our congregation.

I mean, adding to the sound foundation that you have already started.

On the graph there are 2 letters that represent churches with vision as a priority and churches with administration as priority.

As I was looking at it last week, I realized something about myself.

And that will introduce the main point of the sermon. The main point is overcoming the temptation to solve the problems of culture, the church and the world without the significance of the cross.

The Cross of Christ is powerful.

And when I considered those two letters last week, I realized something about myself.

I enjoy visionary leading. It excites and energizes me.

And that fits because tasks of administration are not my favorite. Kathy, on the other hand, loves to manage. That is why we have such a great marriage.

But I realized something about myself that I am not to proud of. (Sorry for ending on a preposition, but I like it, and if I were in charge of the English language, it would be acceptable.)

Here is what I realized. That during times of either conflict, struggle or insecurity, I switch away from my default mode of trying to cast vision to doing basic administrative tasks.

During those times I am very careful to cross my t's and dot my i's.

In a very real sense, it is a temptation to forgo faith in what God is doing and place my trust in human ability.

But you see, without the Spirit of God at work, without the divine, without the power of God behind us, the Church is simply another institution.

And that is the temptation that Jesus is facing at this time.

My muse, Byron Flynderson finds a significance in the approach of the Greeks.

This is prophecy fulfilled.

Jesus, who came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel is now being sought out by Gentiles and others.

His ministry is expanding. His circle of influence is growing. It appears that everything that He and the disciples have been working for is coming to fruition.

There is a whole sermon, a whole series of sermons in the request of these Greeks: “Sir, we want to see Jesus!”

It is good preaching stuff.

The desire to know God is wonderful!

But look at the odd response of Jesus.

It appears that He does not answer the request at all. We don't know if they saw Him. Given the inclusive nature of Jesus, my guess is that they did.

But Jesus turns the request into something much different.

Let me re-read Jesus odd answer:

²³Jesus answered them, “The hour has now come for the Son of Man to receive great glory. ²⁴I am telling you the truth: a grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless it is dropped into the ground and dies. If it does die, then it produces many grains.

²⁵Those who love their own life will lose it; those who hate their own life in this world will keep it for life eternal. ²⁶Whoever wants to serve me must follow me, so that my servant will be with me where I am. And my Father will honor anyone who serves me.

²⁷“Now my heart is troubled—and what shall I say? Shall I say, ‘Father, do not let this hour come upon me’? But that is why I came—so that I might go through this hour of suffering. ²⁸Father, bring glory to your name!”

Why would Jesus answer the request to be seen by Gentiles with a lament about His immediate future.

My muse points out that perhaps this is again another temptation to take matters into His own hands without dependence of God.

His fame and popularity is spreading and again a chance to be the Messiah without the cross is presenting itself to Jesus.

We are familiar with the events in the Garden of Gethsemane when again Jesus wrestles with the terrible events that are about to transpire and the spiritual and eternal fate of all of humanity rest in that moment.

And Jesus says, then, as He does now: Nevertheless, God, Let Your will be done, not mine.

I have often considered that moment and just exactly what was hanging in the balance.

Jesus, the divine Lord of Salvation was faced with the temptation to forgo His destiny and instead of an act of self-preservation, one that no one would blame Him for, He chooses the cross.

I notice a change in Jesus demeanor at about this point in all the gospel accounts.

As the cross is approaching, its significance and terror are weighing on Him with a bigger and bigger burden.

Listen to Luke 9:⁵¹As the time drew near when Jesus would be taken up to heaven, he made up his mind and set out on his way to Jerusalem.

I like the King James: “He set His face toward Jerusalem.”

The passage exposes the act of the will, the knowledge of the impending sacrifice, the personal choice of Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice for us.

And because of that burden, His answer to Philip about the foreigners who want to see Jesus is a reminder of the terrible purpose for which He is born.

And I love how God helps Him during these difficult times.

It reminds me that we too, are not alone.

During this prayer time, in front of the disciples God answers Him again from heaven.

And Jesus understands the significance of this temptation to find another way.

He knows His purpose.

And it is obvious that He knows something that we did not yet know.

I can't quite put a finger on it because I am not God and don't ever plan to be.

But Jesus speaks of the great cosmic battle between good and evil and tells us that this is necessary in order for the powers of evil to be judged and to lose their power.

I believe that God could have thrown them down without the terrible sacrifice that God made for us.

But for some reason, it wasn't His plan.

His plan was the cross.

His plan was the power of the cross.

Now we believe that because of the cross we have victory over sin, the temptation to sin and even death itself.

It is a mystery that even the angels did not yet understand.

But Jesus knew it and even though the temptation was to forgo the plan and trust in human ability and power, He choose the cross.

He knew something that we did not yet understand.

We read it in verse 32: ³²When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.

It is the power of the cross, the power of self-denial, the power of living for and loving others that builds the Kingdom of Heaven here and now.

He calls us to it in verse 25: ²⁵Those who love their own life will lose it; those who hate their own life in this world will keep it for life eternal.

But we must remember that it is in His power that this happens.

Remember the preacher who is often tempted to rely on himself in times of struggle?

He, me, is missing the point of the power.

Brother Flynderson says it this way:

Every believer, every minister and congregation, is tempted to realize the kingdom of God apart from the cross of Christ. Although the gospel is the "power of God unto salvation" we are constantly tempted to win the world by evangelistic methodologies, group dynamics, management systems, institutional agendas and the like, as if there is a better way, a more effective way than the cross. The message of the cross, by itself, seems ineffective, weak and foolish, and so needs our marketing initiatives. Yet, it is not the dynamic welcoming congregation that draws people into the kingdom, but rather the Son of Man lifted up.

I thank God for Lent, each year, every year. It often reminds me to go back to the basics and place my faith in the God who created His Church, the Kingdom of Heaven here and now.

Let us relish in the power of the cross knowing that the message of Jesus sacrificial love for all of humanity is the power of God to change and transform the world.

And here is where I want to respond. I notice that whether or not Jesus is basking in the glory of human acceptance and glory, or, if Jesus is silently contemplating the pain of His mission, the pain of His struggle, the sacrifice that He is about to make.

He continually keeps His mind focused on God.

Because this prayer focuses us on God's power and not our own. Because this prayer focuses us on God and not ourselves, I think a good answer is to respond with the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. #733 in our Hymnal.

Savior!

Intro:

Savior.

Savior, He can move the mountains.

Savior, our God is mighty to save.

I love that last word of verse 17.

I love that name given to us for Jesus.

Savior.

My savior.

MY Savior.

I love it on Lay Sunday when someone from the congregation is preaching.

We are having one here in two weeks when Joe McRoberts is preaching.

I had this one layman preach for me once and having him preach, for this church was quite a stretch for them.

He was what he and I affectionately referred to as a NOM.

The Church was near Anderson, Indiana, and the headquarters of the Church of God, Anderson.

They have a sort of unique belief system based on what they perceived might have been an abusive practice that happened at the beginning of the reformation.

They officially believed that the first time you came to church, you were a visitor and the second time and every time afterwards, you were a member.

The denomination built the doctrine as a reaction against any church withholding sacraments as a way to control its population.

And although that might have been an over reaction, I loved the idea that promotes inclusion of everyone, no matter what.

But since they effectively preached the doctrine church membership was not a biblical requirement, we occasionally had people who worshiped with us for years whose conscience would be pierced if they were forced to join.

And that was a bone of contention for some. So when this man preached on Lay Sunday, he drew a crowd and a lot of excitement for our little church.

And I will never forget the introduction to his sermon.

He preached John 3:16 and he asked us to count on our fingers with him the first 9 words to the verse.

Do it with me: FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE.

And he kept coming back to what God has given us in Jesus Christ.

It was a truly inspiring message and I was relieved at how powerfully he shared the good news.

God gave.

And, most importantly, God gave us a Savior.

Savior!

John 3:16 is probably the most famous verse in the entire bible.

So let me mess with your thinking about it for a while.

Nothing negative or heretical.

But I often wonder if Christendom has gotten the verse wrong, or misquoted it.

What I mean is that I wonder if we have unintentionally implied the addition of two words to this great verse.

When I was a kid, we used to sing a gospel chorus that had this line in it: “Whosoever will means me!”

Whoever believes will have eternal life.

Praise God.

But I wonder if we have implied two words right after “whoever believes.”

I wonder if we have implied “whoever believes and repents....”

Or, maybe it is like this: “whoever believes like us...”

But it is not there. And, in this verse, it is not implied.

I often wonder who we do not quote John 3:17 as much as we quote John 3:16.

“For God did not send His Son into the word to judge the world, but to be its Savior.”

Both phrases, “whoever believes like us” and “whoever believes and repents” take the verse out of context of its original intent. They take it out of context of the hope and power of the good news.

Now, I am pretty sure the addition of “like us” is one that we are not to common to admit, or ever accept.

That phrase indicates that God speaks only to us and the rest of the world better take notice of how right we are.

I don't think any Christian body would intentionally mean that.

But unintentionally, well maybe that is why there are so many denominations.

But the addition: “and repents” is an idea that we would probably have a serious debate about right here in this room.

There is certainly place for it in scripture.

On at least two other occasions you have heard me use the phrase about repentance: “Change your thinking” or “change your mind.”

I use it especially when speaking about the fact that God's kingdom isn't merely some sort of construct whereby when we die we will go to heaven. But God wants us to change our thinking that His kingdom is already here, it is already making positive influences and changes in this world.

I changed my thinking to realize that God wants us to be already engaged in doing justice and loving mercy.

Repent, change your thinking is certainly a biblical concept.

But it isn't part of this verse.

And I often wonder, by forgetting, or ignoring, or mis emphasizing verse 17, we might have added ideas to the good news.

For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world... Nope, God sent Jesus to save the world.

Savior!

The Savior.

My Savior.

Our Savior!

Well, what about judgment?

The text makes it clear.

Judgment is based on the fact that people refuse to listen to, to love, to embrace the light that has come into the world.

A light is a powerful thing in a dark place.

It becomes the center of focus and the place of security.

Jesus says this: men loved darkness more than light because their deeds were evil.

Those who continue to do evil hate the light.

The judgment is not even the fact that they disbelieved, the judgment was that they were choosing evil over light.

Everyone who loves the good loves the light.

So many of the advent songs make more sense in light of Lent.

I go back to my favorite, O Holy Night.

“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a clear and glorious morn”

It is the picture of the dawn of universal restoration breaking upon the land and everyone who wants to see good triumph over evil in this world has a genuine and tangible reason to hope.

For all of them, a Savior is born.

For all of them, Jesus is that Savior.

And that is exactly what Jesus is telling this man, Nicodemus, in this passage.

It is significant. This man represents the old guard of control that has kept the people of God down.

This man represents a system that oppresses people.

And he, being a part of that system, apparently can see its faults and comes to Jesus himself to seek the truth.

And Jesus' message is clear hope again. God cares for good triumphing over evil.

Jesus predicts his betrayal and death in this passage, but tells Nicodemus that even His death cannot conquer God's salvation.

So, we end with verse 14. For as Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

You all know the sign of the medical profession. There is a brass pole with a snake on it.

It comes back to this.

The people of Israel were suffering from a breakout of poisonous snakes. 23,000 had died from snake bites.

God tells Moses to form a brass snake on a pole and raise it over the camp.

In order to live, all people have to do is look at the snake and they will be healed.

Jesus predicts the same from Him on the cross.

Lift me up, on the cross, and all people have to do to be saved is to look at me and live.

CONCL:

The Upside Down Kingdom

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Focus: The Kingdom of God

Function: To help people embrace the difference of living in the heavenly kingdom.

Form: Stories.

Intro:

The Title of this sermon comes from Don Kraybill's book, The Upside Down Kingdom.

Brother Kraybill also wrote “Amish Grace” which was made into the movie of the same title. It was about the forgiveness extended to the family of the man who murdered 5 Amish girls at the Nickel Mines School in Lancaster, Co.

I would drive by those schools and marvel at how vulnerable they seemed. The very first EMS driver to get into the school was a member of my church. Although the girl that he transported, one of the worst victims that survived the shooting, ended up surviving all the way, he was never right after that. The trauma of that event ended his career.

When that book and movie came out, the world wondered at how Christians could offer such a blanket forgiveness in the face of such evil.

But we are Christians, our world is not the same as others. We are representatives first and foremost of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus said: among the world's kingdoms, their rulers LORD it over them... ...but you, in order to lead, must be servants of others.

We lead by love. We lead by service toward others. We are the first to forgive, the first to reconcile, the first to honor others above ourselves.

Today's passage is about how foolish that may seem to those who live outside of the heavenly Kingdom.

Several years ago, just after one of my children was married, my wife and I traveled the 45 miles to visit them.

There was a big TV and a state of the art Sound System connected to it. The TV filled the room.

And we were all watching, together, one of those hour long news/story/investigative shows. It was in 2003, when 9/11 was still fresh in everyone's minds.

A Kansas missionary couple stumbled into a terrorist group affiliated with Osama Bin Laden.

They were kidnapped and that began a one year ordeal that ended with the death of the husband and the rescue of the wife.

She consented to the interview only if she could share how her faith took her through the incident.

They filmed her response inside of her home. On the refrigerator was a picture of one of her captors.

The camera man focused on that picture.

When the question came up, she told the reporters that she both loved and cared for this man and was actively praying for him, still.

I was weeping for how the Love of God could transform the human heart into one of compassion instead of hatred and bitterness.

I wept for joy!

But, as I looked around the room, there was one person who was visibly angry.

I heard a word that I cannot repeat here, but it had to do with what is coming out of the South end of a North bound bull.

I don't want to make light of this situation, however.

The room got tense and I was asked the question by this person.

Now, this person is a Christian and I am not going to judge this person.

But, the person asked me, as a pastor this question: “Is that what it really means to follow Jesus?”

No sooner did that question come out of the mouth than the news source tried to explain away her Christian love as a psychological aberration.

They said it could be what is called Stockholm Syndrome. That is a psychological dynamic that describes an emotional bond between captors and hostages, but it always has 3 components. 1). The hostage has positive feelings toward their captors, 2). the captors have positive feelings toward the hostages, and 3). both groups have negative feelings toward the police, rescuers or those in authority.

Now, the captors murdered her husband and tried to kill her. She never had any negative feelings toward the rescuers or those in authority and she didn't agree with their cause.

She agreed with her cause. She agreed with Jesus' cause. Love one another.

The news source's explanation served to changed the nature of the conversation, so I never got to answer the question, that night, if that was what it takes to live out our Christian lives as citizens of the heavenly kingdom.

To bad.

Although, I sense the other person was not quite ready to accept the idea of unconditional love and forgiveness.

However, the first thing I thought of, after the news source tried to explain away the miracle of this woman's love and forgiveness, was this passage of scripture.

The wisdom that we have is foolishness to those who are outside of Christ.

And it spurs from the Cross of Christ.

In verse 22 he states: Some need miracles in order to believe, others want a logical faith in order to believe.

But to learn to lead by dying? It made no sense to most of his audience.

However, the message somehow was used by God to transform hearts and create belief.

For the most part, it was because there was consistency with the message preached and the actions of those who followed.

They refused to take up arms in retaliation. They refused to hate their enemies.

The prayed for and blessed their enemies.

And the love that they showed changed the hearts of some of their enemies.

Oh I wish I always had that kind of faith!

But we are weak.

I once heard a person say this: “A Christian is one for whom the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has made the ultimate difference in everything that they do.”

I believe that it comes from this passage.

Because of the cross, we too can put others before ourselves and live out sacrificial love.

If this selfish old world were to have its way with us, we would agree that living selfish lives is a moral good.

That is even the power behind our economic system.

That kind of pressure is not only selfish, but it is shortsighted.

It is shortsighted because it looks only for the immediate return instead of the long term blessing that we can have for and toward others.