Resurrection: Life Worth Living

Resurrection: Life Worth Living

Pastor Rollan Fisher  

Focus: What makes life worth living is that there’s a resurrection coming.  

• The Resurrection that Was

• Life that Is

• The Resurrection that Will Be

The Resurrection that Was

Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our past can be absolved. 

This means that our former sins do not need to define us. 

We can be forgiven and healed because of the cross of Jesus Christ. 

This is the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭1‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you." So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."”

Therapeutic Deism is what people gravitate towards for pragmatic solutions, but the premise of all interaction with Jesus is whether or not he is who he said he is and whether or not the testimonies about his life, miracles, death, burial and resurrection are true. 

“There is a virtual consensus among scholars who study Jesus' resurrection that, subsequent to Jesus' death by crucifixion, his disciples really believed that he appeared to them risen from the dead. This conclusion has been reached by data that suggest that (1) the disciples themselves claimed that the risen Jesus had appeared to them, and (2) subsequent to Jesus' death by crucifixion, his disciples were radically transformed from fearful, cowering individuals who denied and abandoned him at his arrest and execution into bold proclaimers of the gospel of the risen Lord. They remained steadfast in the face of imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom. It is very clear that they sincerely believed that Jesus rose from the dead.”

-Gary R. Habermas, The Case For The Resurrection Of Jesus

This testimony was altogether different from those who sincerely believe in various causes, systems and religions today.   

“there is an important difference between the apostle martyrs and those who die for their beliefs today. Modern martyrs act solely out of their trust in beliefs that others have taught them. The apostles died for holding to their own testimony that they had personally seen the risen Jesus. Contemporary martyrs die for what they believe to be true. The disciples of Jesus died for what they knew to be either true or false.”

-Gary R. Habermas, The Case For The Resurrection Of Jesus

Life That Is

The resurrection of Jesus Christ informs my present.  

This means that with everything that life throws at me, the resurrected Jesus can be with me to help me today. 

The present trials and stresses, trade wars and physical wars, job losses, health challenges, family challenges and the like - they are all in the purview of God. 

“Were you ever in a new trouble, one which was so strange that you felt that a similar trial had never happened to you and, moreover, you dreamt that such a temptation had never assailed anybody else? I should not wonder if that was the thought of your troubled heart.

And did you ever walk out upon that lonely desert island upon which you were wrecked and say, “I am alone—alone—ALONE—nobody was ever here before me”?

And did you suddenly pull up short as you noticed, in the sand, the footprints of a man?

I remember right well passing through that experience—and when I looked, lo, it was not merely the footprints of a man that I saw, but I thought I knew whose feet had left those imprints. They were the marks of One who had been crucified, for there was the print of the nails. So I thought to myself, “If He has been here, it is no longer a desert island. As His blessed feet once trod this wilderness-way, it blossoms now like the rose and it becomes to my troubled spirit as a very garden of the Lord!”

— Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “The Education of the Sons of God” (Metropolitan Tabernacle: June 10, 1880)

We have access to this relationship through repentance from our sins and faith in Christ’s redeeming work at the cross.  

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭16‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."”

Because Jesus is resurrected and with me, I can answer his call to share the gospel (which means “good news”) and see him bring change to this fallen world.  

“The joyful news that He is Risen does not change the contemporary world. Still before us lie work, discipline, sacrifice. But the fact of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline and make the sacrifice.”

-Henry Knox Sherrill 

The Resurrection that Will Be

The resurrection of Jesus Christ determines my future. 

This means that everything that I do today will matter forever. 

Paul the apostle got a revelation of Jesus Christ and spoke about what he called the light and momentary troubles of this life. 

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

It is this perspective of the eternal that fortifies our present and gives us an unshakeable hope in the future. 

“Few people seem to realize that the resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone to a worldview that provides the perspective to all of life.”

-Josh McDowell

We will all die, but Jesus gives us the opportunity to live again, eternally healed and at peace with God.  

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”

This gives us, as the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” goes, “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow”.  

“No matter how devastating our struggles, disappointments, and troubles are, they are only temporary. No matter what happens to you, no matter the depth of tragedy or pain you face, no matter how death stalks you and your loved ones, the Resurrection promises you a future of immeasurable good.”

-Josh McDowell

Why does he say this?

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭1‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."”

And so we posture ourselves accordingly before the Lord of Heaven and Earth. 

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭12‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“"Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

Turn to Jesus today. 

Let him make you new so that you might rejoice in the resurrection that was, as he meets you in the life that is and brings you into the glorious joys of the resurrection to come!

Join us next week as guest minister Pastor Jim Critcher speaks to us about:

Walking with God

Hearing the Voice of God

Being Led of God (in and through community) 

It will be a tremendous catalyst for your growth in Christ!  

Come and invite all of your friends - you don’t want to miss it!

• Second City Church 

Designed for Goodness: The Road to Redemption

Designed for Goodness: The Road to Redemption 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Hebrews‬ ‭10‬:‭35‬-‭36‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.“

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Focus: Jesus is worthy of a life-long, persevering pursuit of love ending in an eternal reward.  

• The Problem 

• The Diversity of Solutions 

• The Cross

• The Perseverance (of Christ)

The Problem

Paradise was lost and we’re all searching for answers:

We strive for love, identity, acceptance, joy, peace, a sense of belonging, significance and lasting accomplishment ….all of which seem elusive because of the world in which we live. 

Genesis 3:22-24 ESV

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Sin around us and sin in us. 

Proverbs‬ ‭19‬:‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.”

The Diversity of Solutions

Self-help programs and intellectualism can inspire our habits but do not change the heart. 

Our hopes are misplaced:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses

I tried to hide by pointing to the hypocrisy of religion:

“Think of people you consider fanatical. They're overbearing, self-righteous, opinionated, insensitive, and harsh. Why? It's not because they are too Christian, it's because they are not Christian enough. They are fanatically zealous and courageous, but they are not fanatically humble, sensitive, loving, emphatic, forgiving, or understanding- as Christ was... What strikes us as overly fanatical is actually a failure to be fully committed to Christ and his gospel.”

Timothy Keller (Author), The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

The Cross

God’s divine solution for the issues of our day is the cross of Jesus Christ. 

Titus‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

A suffering Savior found me. 

“It is not enough for the skeptic, then, to simply dismiss the Christian teaching about the resurrection of Jesus by saying, “It just couldn’t have happened.” He or she must face and answer all these historical questions: Why did Christianity emerge so rapidly, with such power? No other band of messianic followers in that era concluded their leader was raised from the dead—why did this group do so? No group of Jews ever worshipped a human being as God. What led them to do it? Jews did not believe in divine men or individual resurrections. What changed their worldview virtually overnight? How do you account for the hundreds of eyewitnesses to the resurrection who lived on for decades and publicly maintained their testimony, eventually giving their lives for their belief?”

-Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

Our true hope is based on God’s promise:

“We modern people think of miracles as the suspension of the natural order, but Jesus meant them to be the restoration of the natural order. The Bible tells us that God did not originally make the world to have disease, hunger, and death in it. Jesus has come to redeem where it is wrong and heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are not just proofs that he has power but also wonderful foretastes of what he is going to do with that power. Jesus' miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts, that the world we all want is coming.”

-Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

The Perseverance (of Christ)

Jesus is worthy and empowers us to persevere to the end as we love and fix our eyes on him.  

Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.“

Over the long run, the question then becomes not just whether what we espouse about Jesus is true, but whether these truths are worth enduring service to Christ to the end in the midst of the trials and fallenness of life.    

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We have witnesses and testimonies that abound regarding the greatness, the goodness and the faithfulness of God.  

Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.“

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Because of this great love of Christ, let us determine to remain in Jesus and burn in love for him until the end.

Second City Church  

Designed for Goodness: Who Told You That?

Designed for Goodness: Who Told You That?

Focus: We fall into misshapen identities and become tortured souls when we do not allow God to define us.  Jesus wants to cover us in ways that nothing else can. 

Who Told You That?

The Blame Game 

Covered By God 

Who Told You That?

Learning to distinguish between beliefs that you maintain that were established by God versus absorbed by the world is key to walking in freedom in Christ.  

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬-11 ‭ESV‬‬

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 

Who told you that? 

When the serpent tempted Eve, he did so based on the fact that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was:

1. Good for food

2. A Delight to the Eyes

3. To Be Desired to Make One Wise

There was nothing inherently wrong with Adam and Eve’s nakedness.  

Their perception of it began to change and become distorted after they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, taking moral autonomy into their own hands.  

They fell out of the good identity, security and peace of God that comes from trusting in Yahweh’s divine wisdom that is unique to him as Creator.  

”Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

-St. Augustine, Confesssions

The beliefs that you absorb can be distorted by the enemy’s influence in the world and can be wide ranging affecting how you relate with:

1. God

2. Your Relationships with Others (Who am I if I’m unattached?  Who am I as defined by my family, colleagues and friends?)

3. Your Idea of Success (What must I achieve to be important?)

4. Your Work (i.e. - What is satisfying work and a job worth doing?) 

5. Money (How much is ever enough?)

6. Your Pursuit of a Meaningful Life 

We need to learn to believe the report of the Lord. 

"The great church father Augustine taught that true freedom is not choice or lack of constraint, but being what you are meant to be. Humans were created in the image of God. True freedom, then, is not found in moving away from that image but only in living it out. The closer we conform to the true image of God, Jesus Christ, the freer we become. The farther we drift from it, the more our freedom shrinks."

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/october/bonds-of-freedom.html

God comes and asks Adam and Eve:

Who told you that you were naked?

It’s an important question for us all on various topics.  

Who told you that?  

For example: Who told you that about marriage?

As opposed to the confusion in the world today, marriage that God ordains is between a man and a woman, which was meant to be complete, complementing and good.  

Adam forsook his headship role in covering and leading while Eve forsook her priestly role in going to God for clarification, to fortify her trust in the battle.  

What resulted was the fall with sin entering the world and us reeling from the results ever since. 

Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves for themselves to try to make up for their mistakes and loss of peace. 

Adam and Eve thought that they would be empowered to be like God with their eyes being opened to determine good and evil, but what they got instead was insecurity, shame and instability. 

Whenever we attempt to usurp God’s authority with moral autonomy, this is the result. 

The Blame Game 

When we are confronted with the consequences of existential autonomy, our proclivity is to find someone or something to blame for our unhappiness. 

Genesis 3:12-19

The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” 

Sin around us and sin in us is the issue. 

What should Adam have done and how did he abdicate his role? 

Who told you that?

Husbands, your job is not to fulfill all of your wife’s dreams.  

It is to lead her to the person, plans and purposes of Christ.  

Your job is to lead your family in fulfilling God’s dreams. 

Wives, your ambition is not to get everything you desire, but to help your husband and family obey Christ and all that he’s called them to be and do. 

Frustration and regret in life result when we try to create life for ourselves vs. what God is trying to create. 

Said another way, it becomes our dreams vs. God’s dreams. 

Again - who told you that?

Who told you that about your value, identity and worth?

What is meaningful work?

God cursed the ground, but we curse our work. 

Meaningful work is doing whatever God has given you to do for his glory.  

It can be homemaking, business, being a barista, an entertainer, a medic, a minister or a person in law or politics. 

The point is that you shouldn’t think too highly of yourself for any position and know that your work is simply your means of provision, your environment to cultivate and place to make disciples in God’s eternal purposes.

Don’t be too proud.  

‭‭Romans‬ ‭12‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.”

Your titles and positions do not equal your worth - being created in the image of God does. 

(Identity and the circles from Weight of Glory)

People hold out from work because they think they are meant for a particular role or position as they have a picture in their minds of who they think that they should be.  

God has times and seasons for us to fulfill his purposes (Remember Joseph in Genesis 37-50).  

It is as you embrace his available provision that he uses that time to shape you into who he has designed you to be and ultimately do what God, in his goodness, has designed for you to do.   

I Timothy 5:8 ESV

“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Do what is significant in Christ. 

God is not impressed with our titles, roles or positions, especially if in the pursuit of them, we forsake who he’s called us to be and what he’s called us to do - in our homes, in the church, in our communities and the world.  

There is freedom when we embrace this and stop the comparisons between us and others who are not called to walk in our shoes (John 21). 

The question is: 

From whom are we trying to get validation and do we have our eyes on the eternal things that really matter?

“Either we will offer our work to God as worship, or we will worship the work of our hands.”

-JOE RIGNEY

*In the age of influencers, you need to remember that God called you to be faithful, not famous. 

Taking the place of honor - what did Jesus teach?

*Honor and recognition should be a by-product of obedience and glorifying God, not ourselves (Remember that Jesus said “whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted - Matthew 23:1-12). 

We blame our work and our responsibilities for our unhappiness - not acknowledging them as good.  

Yet any work that you do with diligence, integrity and do unto the Lord is good and is considered worship to God. 

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭ESV

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

‬‬

Part of the repercussions of the curse of the fall is not only the difficulty of childbearing and work, but the way that we distort and demean their value.  

Child rearing can be challenging but is a gift.

Yet how many of us despise the beauty and importance of this stewardship in the home? 

Work can be frustrating, but if seen as our field to cultivate for God and our field to build relationships and make disciples, it can all be rewarding. 

This means that whether you are a doctor, lawyer, teacher, homemaker, barista, artist, entertainer, consultant, scientist, researcher, academic, businessman, coder, mechanic, child-care worker or politician, all of your work is valuable if it is done with eternal perspective and as worship to God.  

The judgements reflected a (fall) from what Adam and Eve were originally intended to be and do. 

God’s redemption is a return to these good and fulfilling things. 

Covered By God 

What we truly need - the salvation of our minds, bodies and souls - is found through a reconciled relationship with God in Jesus Christ.  

We’ve made false coverings to hide our sin and shame, but God has come looking for us.  

Genesis 3:8-10

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 

God told you that…

*The only way to fight back against the lies of the enemy is to be transformed by the renewing of your mind - to see God’s will that is good, pleasing and perfect (Romans 12:1,2).

Jesus did this by properly interpreting and applying the words of God to every area of his life where the devil was attempting to distort and enslave him (Luke 4:1-13). 

There are none who seek God but God has come looking for us (Romans 3). 

“Of Course God does not consider you hopeless. If He did, He would not be moving you to seek Him (and He obviously is)... Continue seeking Him with seriousness. Unless He wanted you, you would not be wanting Him.”

-C.S. Lewis, Letters of C. S. Lewis

The good of God is that the gospel was foreshadowed in the midst of the curse:

Genesis 3:14,15

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 

The cross and resurrection were God’s source of salvation because he was, in Christ, putting to death both the lies of the enemy and the penalty for following him into sin. 

Though the enemy would continually try to nip at our heels to undermine the truth of God, Jesus, the true offspring would eventually crush Satan underneath his feet.  

‭‭Romans‬ ‭16‬:‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

Repentance (changing our mind and going towards God in a different direction) and faith in Christ (leading to regeneration by the Holy Spirit), gives us the ability to return to our God given relationships, identity and roles.  

Genesis 3:20,21 ESV

The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 

God makes his own covering for us, covering over our failings and sin. 

In the case of Adam and Eve it was garments of skin, the foreshadowing of a blood offering that would pay the penalty for humanity’s rebellion. 

Jesus would be the fulfillment of that guilt offering and covering for us as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.  

Jesus lived a perfect life of humility, submission and obedience to Yahweh’s good design. 

Jesus then died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, so that as we repent and put our trust in his substitutionary work, we could be forgiven of our sins and be new creations in him. 

Jesus then restores our holy identity to us and  gives us the ability to call true value and eternal purpose out of one another. 

This is what Adam did for Eve naming her with the word which in Hebrew means “life-giver”, where before her sin only introduced death. 

God restores our identity, security and sense of purpose in Jesus Christ.  

And this is what God calls good.  

Designed for Goodness: Spiritual Warfare

Designed for Goodness: Spiritual Warfare

Focus: Spiritual warfare is real and we need to learn to recognize and resist it to keep in step with Jesus. 

Recognize 

Resist 

Redeem

Recognize 

Spiritual warfare is real whether we like it or not. 

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

-Keyser Soze in the Usual Suspects (paraphrasing a previous quote by James Baudelaire 😆) 

“The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he is the good guy.”

—Ken Ammi

We need to learn to recognize the spiritual tactics of the enemy if we are to overcome the devil and glorify God in our lives. 

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

Resist

Once we recognize the tactics of the enemy, we have the ability to resist and overcome his schemes. 

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

-Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Names of the devil and their meaning - 

• Deceiver

• Accuser

• Adversary

• Satan

• Father of Lies

The devil’s main tactics - ACCUSATION and DECEPTION. 

These accusations and deceptions are aimed at your relationship with God and other God-ordained relationships in your life.  

But more than anything else, the devil will always attempt to undermine God’s word.  

If the devil can either keep you away from God’s word or distort it in your mind and heart, everything else begins to break down because we are deviating from God’s good design. 

For example:

God is not a cosmic killjoy. 

He put Adam and Eve in the garden and said they could eat from any of the trees except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

This is what God actually commanded:

Genesis 2:16-17 ESV

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

We will all be tempted.  

We begin to go astray when we:

1. Like Eve, add to God’s commands.

2. Take away from God’s commands, choosing to pick and choose what is both preferable and convenient for us.

3. Ignore the promises of God that speak to benefits of trust in him and the detrimental consequences of disobedience.

All sin has its root in the hubris of thinking ourselves wiser than God, attempting to identify ourselves in manners that we think better than his own good design. 

Biblical literacy is on the decline. 

We will have no foundation for trials and challenges if we do not have God’s word filling us (Matthew 13). 

Redeem

We will know Jesus and experience his redemption in our lives when we learn and submit to God’s whole counsel.  

“Now, what happens if you eliminate anything from the Bible that offends your sensibility and crosses your will? If you pick and choose what you want to believe and reject the rest, how will you ever have a God who can contradict you? You won't! You'll have ...A God, essentially, of your own making, and not a God with whom you can have a relationship and genuine interaction. Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know that you have gotten hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination. So an authoritative Bible is not the enemy of a personal relationship with God. It is the precondition for it.”

-Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

Reading the Bible Well (Ask these questions):

1. What does it say (in context)? (Literacy - Know what God has done)

2. What does it say about God? (Theology - understanding of who God is)

3. What does it say about me?  (Sanctification - understanding who God has created you to be and what he has created you to do - setting you apart to God)

4. What does it say about the world around me? (God’s Biblical Worldview - how God has ordered the world - what has happened, what is happening and what is to come)

A prayer that you can pray as you engage God with his Word each day:

Lord, I thank you for this time in your word today.  I pray that you would open it to me so that I might know you better.  Please give me your wisdom and revelation, your understanding and insight that I might see how all of your words apply today, the world around me and my situations in life that I might please and obey you in everything.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen. 

The more you understand the Word of God, the more you will know Jesus and understand the Father’s heart, expressed through the Holy Spirit.  

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

This is because the gospel tells us that:

Designed for Goodness: Rest

Designed for Goodness: Rest

Focus: We will find true peace when we define our work and find our rest in Jesus. 

• God’s Relationship with Work

• Beauty Rest

• Enjoyment in the “Rest” of Christ

God’s Relationship with Work

God has shown us that rest after meaningful work is good.

Day 7 - Rest and Enjoyment

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

All of the previous six days lead to a good God and his rest. 

God sets the example for us for work and rest.  

What God begins, he finishes. 

This is encouraging because if he started a good work in you, he intends to work with you to bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). 

God finished his work and then chose to rest - so should we.  

There will always be more to do.  

However, God set measurable goals, completed them within an allotted period of time and rested on the seventh day once he completed his work.  

God’s example shows us that we should avoid the extremes of both idleness and workaholism. 

One can be idle when they are content with living an unproductive life that is fueled by laziness.  

Laziness is desiring rest without meaningful work. 

Workaholism can be an opposite extreme. 

Workaholism is being driven to work without end. 

Why are we lazy? 

We lack vision for god-ordained, meaningful work.  

Yet when we realize that God made us for relationship with himself and to fulfill a divine calling, we live with joyful purpose in Jesus (Ephesians 2:10). 

Why are we workaholics?

We try to find value in things other than the loving God who made us. 

Yet when our sense of value and self-worth are anchored not in what we do, but ultimately in Christ to whom we belong, then we can work within limits and rest at the appropriate time. 

A good standard is that God labored for five days, made preparation (worked) for what would follow on the sixth, and rested on the seventh.  

This is a good pattern of life for us.  

*The point is that God blesses the work that he gives us to do, but he also blesses rest.  

God’s rest was foreshadowing the Sabbath. 

With the use of the same word “blessed”, we know that just as there was intended increase with Adam and Eve’s work, so there is also intended increase and multiplication that will only take place when we choose to rest by faith in God.  

Think about cellular repair in the body that takes place each night only in the deep sleep stages of NREM (non rapid-eye movement) sleep.  

Each time that we Sabbath and rest, we are reminded of this. 

*GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY AND MADE IT HOLY - BECAUSE ON IT, GOD RESTED FROM ALL HIS WORK THAT HE HAD DONE IN CREATION. 

Here we have the first mention of the word holy - which meant and means to be set apart or consecrated to God for his purposes.  

*When we do not follow the rhythms of God, we break down physically, mentally and emotionally because we are not communing with him, following his wisdom or ways. 

The question is:

What have I chosen to worship instead of God that pulls me away from his pattern, relationships and places where he has commanded his blessing?

We need to turn from these things keeping us from God’s rest. 

The follow-up question also is:

What is rest in God? 

Is it just a day to hang out and binge watch tv?

No. 

*The Sabbath must be directly attached to God (relationship), what he has done (his work) and what he is preparing to do after the Sabbath rest (his purpose for our lives).   

*Why we say this is because what immediately follows the seventh day’s description of God’s rest is the explanation of the purpose for which he put Adam in the garden - to work it and keep it. 

Beauty Rest

God created what was both beautiful and satisfying - which we are able to embrace when we enter his rest.  

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

In Genesis 1:1-2:3 you have the generic word for God utilized to describe the deity as the transcendent Creator.

In Genesis 2:4, we now have the introduction of God’s personal name Yahweh (translated as Lord because of the ancient Jewish tradition). 

God introduces his name so that we know he is personal and involved in the affairs of his creation.   

God set the universe in motion and has been interacting with it ever since.  

God prepares, then he provides. 

Before there were bushes or plants in the field, God was intent on creating that which would be sustainable. 

*Could it be that the promise that you are waiting on in God has to do with his preparation of the processes and the person (you) who will be equipped to manage that which he creates?

You can see signs of what God will do by the mist that came up to begin watering the ground. 

Follow God’s trail. 

God made humanity of the dust of the earth (this is why dust around the house today is still largely comprised of our decomposing skin cells 😆) and breathed into us the breath of life.  

Just as life began with him, the life that is truly life is sustained through him. 

People have a saying today, “Out the mud…” which implies the grind that people are in to get from the bottom to the top of their field or craft.  

However, before God went into detail about mankind’s work, God emphasized his own rest. 

The reason why this is so important is God took time to not only rest, but to delight in his work.

Life is literally stripped of enjoyment when we go from one task to another, becoming an endless to-do list without the reward of celebrating that which we have accomplished in and through God.

It is hard to appreciate and fully engage the beauty of God’s creation when you do not take time to rest.  

This is why even before we work, God intends for us to set up our boundaries of rest in him.  

*Rest is a part of worship and results in us giving praise to God.  

This rest allows us to see clearly the beauty in the world that Yahweh created and intends for us to cultivate.  

*God planted a garden and made out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.  

God is the author of both beauty in creation and what will both satisfy and sustain us.  

We will know the fullness of beauty and satisfaction when we find our rest in God.

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”

-John Piper on Christian Hedonism

We should look to cultivate beauty in our homes, our environments and one another.  

*Yet we see that beauty is defined by God, not our culture’s distorted standards that are often driven by lust, ethnocentrism and greed.   

What this means, for example, is that you can be modest and display God’s beauty at the same time.  

There is beauty to be found in all the shapes and sizes of the the people of the world.  

It means that your home does not have to be the largest or filled with the most opulent things to create beauty there. 

So what should be our standard for beauty?

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭27‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.”

As we dwell in the house of the Lord (church) and gaze upon his beauty, we learn what is holy and made by God to be both beautiful and good. 

King David made the above declarations and found his rest in Yahweh even in the midst of trouble.  

“Christ didn’t say, ‘I will give you rest from sorrow.’ He said, ‘I will give you rest in sorrow.’…He didn’t promise insurance from trouble, but assurance in the midst of trouble.”

-Billy Graham

*As we inquire in the temple, we also see both the problem of human sin and God’s plan for ultimate rest in the salvation provided by Jesus.  

As we will see later, along with the tree of life that extended the years of humanity, there was also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden, which once Adam and Eve ate of it, began to distort God’s vision of beauty and provision in the earth.  

Yet before this, there were rivers that flowed. 

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.”

The rivers brought life and vitality to the environments that they passed through.

From these environments came the materials and eventually tools with which we would begin to create, like God, that which is both beautiful and nourishing.  

(I love the architecture of Chicago - I find joy just walking downtown in the city and the boat tour is one of my favorites.) 

This is the good design of God and he creates rivers of life and vitality for you from which to cultivate life in him. 

“Most people yearn for one thing more than anything else: inner peace. Without it they have no lasting happiness or security.”

“In the most restless age of history, Christ can give you rest.”

-Billy Graham

Enjoyment in the “Rest” of Christ

Enjoyment is found when we rest in the good design and salvation of Christ.  

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

What this describes is the priestly role originally given to humanity that was lost and can be regained in Christ. 

All of academia, art, entertainment, business and industry find their value as we cultivate them as Yahweh’s vice-regents to express God’s goodness in the earth. 

GOD PLACED THE MAN IN THE GARDEN TO WORK IT AND KEEP IT. 

This means to cultivate it and guard it. 

This is a clear indication that God has a plan and a purpose for your life that is greater than your own.  

Fulfillment will be found when you are in ongoing fellowship with God and are stewarding that which he put you on the planet to guard, cultivate and create.  

Your life, marriage and parenting are ultimately not about fulfilling your dreams, but God’s dream for you as you steward his creation and glorify him (this what we would later see with Joseph in Genesis 37-50).  

Chariots of Fire quote:

“When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.“

-Eric Liddell

Yet you can struggle if your only perceived value is in what you do and your performance rather than who you are.  

This is especially challenging for performers who know how to turn it on and off based on their audience. 

You begin to ask questions about yourself like:

Do I really matter? 

Can I be around if I’m not performing well, struggling with my own issues or sin?  

Am I a burden that God and others will not bear?

If we do not learn to rest from work in Christ, we will be too busy to process these issues because we are always on the go. 

The good news is that in the gospel, we rest from our own works and put our trust fully in Christ’s redemptive work at the cross for our acceptance, healing, purpose and worth. 

Stop trying to prove your worth by your work.  

A genuine humility is what should mark Christians, considering others as better than ourselves.  

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

If this reality seeps in, an ungodly competition can die and in love, we can truly be servants of Christ and one another. 

Each Sabbath, it is a time to reset, allowing God to begin our weeks with a priority of worship and heavenly perspective on the earthly days to come.  

These days become consecrated and filled with fellowship with God rather than endless drudgery and unfulfilling toil.  

In Revelation, we see the redemption of all things brought about by Jesus, where God once again makes his dwelling place with mankind as in Eden.  

We will experience this by entering into the Sabbath rest of God.

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV

“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”

‬‬

Jesus is called the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

God gives us companionship and a complement. 

Let me be clear, whether married or not, it is not good for you to be alone.  

In marriage, there is God’s provision of both a helper and complement for men.  

The word helper here in Scripture was the same word used of the Holy Spirit in other places, and by no means implied inferiority or lesser value. 

Your brothers and sisters in Christ, your roommates in the city, can help you find rest in God.  

*So many people feel like they would be better without consistent, committed, covenantal relationship where you are sharing life in Jesus (Acts 2:42-47), but end up missing the rest of God because they are putting more effort battling the demons that assail them on their own. 

This was not God’s good design.  

You were meant for companionship. 

You were meant for godly fellowship with Jesus and his people.  

I don’t need more of me in my world.  

*You were meant to have others who are not your facsimiles, but different from you, to encourage, help, complement and challenge you to become the person God has called you to be and do all that God has called you to do in Christ. 

God does this not only through marriage, but his church, which the Lord calls his bride (Ephesians 5). 

*When we allow God to place us with these people, this is when we find rest for the constant wandering and sense of purposeless in our souls. 

What is that thing that God put you here on earth to do?

For Adam, it was working and keeping the garden, naming the animals along the way.  

There was agriculture, botany and zoology all in his purview.  

What is that high call for which JESUS laid hold of you (Philippians 3)?

*We always start by imitating God (Ephesians 5:1).  

Philippians 2:13 lets us know that when the Holy Spirit is working in us, not only will the Lord speak to us as his sheep (John 10), but God will cause us to will (desire) and act according to his good purpose in Christ Jesus.  

Being “in Christ” is a constant theme throughout the New Testament epistles (letters). 

To come into Christ, we must repent of our sin, turning away from our distorted thoughts of beauty and what will most satisfy our lives, and turn to Jesus who alone can in those areas bring us into what is ultimately good.  

When we put our trust in what Jesus did for us on the cross, being a substitute to take the penalty for our rebellion, we can also lay down at the cross that which has become distorted and misshapen in our lives, find forgiveness for our misgivings to become new creations in Christ, being remade in his image. 

What was dead can come alive again. 

And here we find our rest. 

This is possible because of the sinless creator, Jesus, who lived the perfect life we should have lived, died on the cross the sacrificial death we should have died and because of his innocence, three days later was raised from the dead to give eternal life to those who would trust him and once again call him Lord.  

“In Christ Jesus” - knowing Jesus and making him known through a commitment to the Great Commission and discipleship  is the key. 

Resting in him who is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, gives us a good work to do but also allows us to find eternal rest in him.  

Appendix:

People at times stumble when they think of the time that God took to do his work.  

Was it a literal 24 hour period, or within the genre and purpose of the narrative, should we leave room for the Hebrew meaning of the word which can also have the meaning of era, period of time which would open the door to the idea of an old earth?  

What we do know is that:

‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

• Second City Church

Designed for Goodness: Creation

Designed for Goodness: Creation 

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus:  God’s design for life (and creation) is good - we see this when we define it as he does.

• The Search for the Good Life

• The Law of First Mentions 

• A Good God
  

The Search for the Good Life

God’s design in creation is good - we see this when we define it as he does.

The problems of the world arise when we attempt to redefine what God has already said is good.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭5‬:‭20‬-‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!”

People today misappropriate the word good.

“The word "good" has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man.”

-G.K. Chesterton

We need a new standard for goodness, by what God created and what God said is good.  

What equates to a “good life” in God?

With family

With work and career

Experiences

Finances

Suffering

Success

We deviate from what God says is good and suffer accordingly.  

Jesus spoke to practical matters of our day and to things that are to come:

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭19‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭29‬-‭32‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”

In the New Testament, we see goodness as a fruit of, or what is produced by the Holy Spirit in a follower of Jesus (Galatians 5:22).

You know what is good by the God intended results that it has produced.  

“The astonishing paradox of Christ's teaching and of Christian experience is this: if we lose ourselves in following Christ, we actually find ourselves. True self-denial is self-discovery. To live for ourselves is insanity and suicide; to live for God and for man is wisdom and life indeed. We do not begin to find ourselves until we have become willing to lose ourselves in the service of Christ and of our fellows.”

-John R.W. Stott, Basic Christianity

What was God’s original good design, intent and purpose in a thing?

The Law of First Mentions

In God’s design, he is showing us what is good. 

He communicates his intent and design through the law of first mentions in Scripture.  

God’s world and everything in it was created for goodness.

Day 1 - Light and Dark

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”

This is a reference to the origin of matter, space and time.  

People over the years have stumbled with the creation account because they missed the intent of the narrative.

The purpose of the narrative was to identify Yahweh as the sovereign creator and to explain what God did, not necessarily all of the exhaustive details of how he did it.

In the same way the whole of Scripture is a timeline of God’s specific relationships with specific people at specific times.

It is not meant to communicate the totality of human history.

What you can know through the Scripture is who God is, what he expects and how to relate to him based on his revealed nature as chronicled in the specific declarations and interactions.

And in doing so, he is showing us what is good.

God is able to determine what is good because as omnipotent (Elohim), omniscient, omnipresent creator, God is all-wise in regard to his creation, knowing its design and how it best functions.  

Before anything else, there was God.

God is eternal, which means that he is without beginning or end.  

In all that we will ever encounter, God is the only uncreated person or thing.

Loss is a part of human experience.  

Only in God is there permanence. 

In everything else, there is a beginning and an end until we find ourselves reunited with God.  

Day 2 - Sea and Sky

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬-‭8‬

“And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 

On day 3, we have the first mention of God declaring something good.

What God creates is always good.

The form or environment can be neutral (i.e. - music, fashion, language, money), it is how God populates it with content and meaning that determines its goodness, worth and value.  

Day 3 - Fertile Earth

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.”

God introduces boundaries and it is the first time that God declares that what he is creating is good.

The introduction of vegetation, seeds and fruit that would bear after its own kind is a principle God embeds in creation.

What kind of seed are you sowing in your life?

Day 4 - Lights of Day and Night

On this day, times, seasons, days and years are introduced.

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.”

God embeds processes, rhythms and seasons of life into creation and says that they are all good.

It may take sowing seeds, time and process for you to see what God is creating in you and through you, but you will see the good fruit if you keep at it.

Those who despise their seasons of life are both missing what is good and bucking against God’s divine design.

“The horror of the Same Old Thing is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart — an endless source of heresies in religion, folly in counsel, infidelity in marriage, and inconstancy in friendship. The humans live in time, and experience reality successively. To experience much of it, therefore, they must experience many different things; in other words, they must experience change. And since they need change, the Enemy (being a hedonist at heart) has made change pleasurable to them, just as He has made eating pleasurable. But since He does not wish them to make change, any more than eating, an end in itself, He has balanced the love of change in them by a love of permanence. He has contrived to gratify both tastes together in the very world He has made, by that union of change and permanence which we call Rhythm. He gives them the seasons, each season different yet every year the same, so that spring is always felt as a novelty yet always as the recurrence of an immemorial theme. He gives them in His Church a spiritual ear; they change from a fast to a feast, but it is the same feast as before.

Now just as we pick out and exaggerate the pleasure of eating to produce gluttony, so we pick out this natural pleasantness of change and twist it into a demand for absolute novelty. This demand is entirely our workmanship.

This demand is valuable in various ways. In the first place it diminishes pleasure while increasing desire. The pleasure of novelty is by its very nature more subject than any other to the law of diminishing returns. And continued novelty costs money, so that the desire for it spells avarice or unhappiness or both… But the greatest triumph of all is to elevate his horror of the Same Old Thing into a philosophy so that nonsense in the intellect may reinforce corruption in the will… The Enemy loves platitudes. Of a proposed course of action He wants men, so far as I can see, to ask very simple questions; is it righteous? is it prudent? is it possible? Now if we can keep men asking ‘Is it in accordance with the general movement of our time? Is it progressive or reactionary? Is this the way that History is going?’ they will neglect the relevant questions. And the questions they do ask are, of course, unanswerable; for they do not know the future, and what the future will be depends very largely on just those choices which they now invoke the future to help them to make. As a result, while their minds are buzzing in this vacuum, we have the better chance to slip in and bend them to the action we have decided on.”

-C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, Harpers SanFrancisco, 2001, pp.135-139

Day 5 - Fish and Birds

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭20‬-‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.”

The law of first mentions means that theologically, we know what God intended to be good, fruitful, beneficial and leading to the flourishing of both creation and humanity by his original design.

We see what is harmful, detrimental and deteriorating when we deviate from the model.

From this original design, creation is guarded, tended to and cultivated to be a sanctuary in which God dwells by his Spirit with his creation. 

On day five, we see God’s first mention of the word blessing.  

Blessing was directly associated with increase and multiplication.  

In God we and creation are intended to live in blessing and flourishing.

Day 6 - Land animals and Mankind

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭24‬-‭31‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

Both men and women were created in God’s image.

He gave them distinct (defined) gender, identity and purpose saying that it is all good.

God also provided for them in this calling.

When we walk with God, we find the strength, satisfaction and security of walking in the defined image of God.

Blessing is directly attached to God’s commissioning of mankind to steward the earth as vice-regents as he would, representing him in the earth.

What we can see is that God put Adam in the garden because he desired unbroken fellowship, for Adam to have an identity worth preserving, a work worth doing (cultivating the earth as his vice-regent) and a life worth living in a holy community.  

This is the essence of worship.

A Good God

Understanding God’s divine order brings us back to God through Jesus and the eternal life that God knows is good.

‭‭John‬ ‭10‬:‭7‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.””

Whereas walking contrary to God’s commands and ways is ultimately succumbing to the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy our lives, Jesus is the good shepherd who looks to return us to God’s good design and abundant life - life eternal in him.  

Though we once were rebels deserving death and hell when living according to the flesh (Galatians 5:16-26), Jesus voluntarily laid down his life for us at the cross in sacrifice so that as we turn from our sin and put our trust in his triumphant resurrection from the dead, we can be forgiven of our past and brought into new life in Christ.  

Ultimately, we can all see that God’s design for life is good - we will see this when we define life and creation as he does.

Second City Church

Reasons to Believe: Part 3

Reasons to Believe - Part 3

Helping People to Believe

 Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: Jesus came to seek and save the lost - and so should we.  

The Process 

The Problems 

The Perspective that Leads to Jesus 

The Process

Everyone is in process. 

You are part of a line of people helping people to come to faith in Jesus Christ.  

Jesus said that there is spiritual food to eat that you will only taste when you join him in making him known (Philemon 6). 

John‬ ‭4‬:‭32‬-‭38‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

When loving people intentionally with the gospel, you are either doing the hard work or reaping the fruit of the hard work of others - nothing is in vain. 

Without someone doing the hard work, there will be no reaping.  

Engels Scale 

The Problems

When God is in pursuit, he helps address the obstacles that we have keeping us from him with his intentional love, wisdom and grace. 

I had objections to the faith but God was in pursuit. 

Issue #1: 

I had skepticism in a world of options. 

Skepticism works, until it doesn’t. 

“You cannot go on 'seeing through' things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”

C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

Luke‬ ‭19‬:‭1‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

Intentional friendship matters in helping people meet Jesus.  

It is how Jesus treated Zacchaeus and how we are to treat others. 

Issue #2: 

I had motive for a lack of morality. 

"I had motive for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics, he is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do, or why his friends should not seize political power and govern in the way that they find most advantageous to themselves. … For myself, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political." --Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means (London: Chatto & Windus, 1946), pp. 270, 273

John‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬-‭21‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

Issue #3: 

I had to allow Jesus to cross my intellect and my will. 

Who’s to say?

(In response to my questions following are Timothy Keller quotes):

“If the evolutionary mechanism of natural selection depends on death, destruction, and violence of the strong against the weak, then these things are perfectly natural. On what basis, then, does the atheist judge the natural world to be horribly wrong, unfair, and unjust?”

Would God ever cross me?

“To stay away from Christianity because part of the Bible’s teaching is offensive to you assumes that if there is a God he wouldn’t have any views that upset you. Does that belief make sense?”

“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.”

What about suffering?

“The basic premise of religion—that if you live a good life, things will go well for you—is wrong.  Jesus was the most morally upright person who ever lived, yet he had a life filled with the experience of poverty, rejection, injustice, and even torture.”

-Timothy Keller

The Perspective that Leads to Jesus 

We don’t have to figure out who God is - Jesus is self-revelatory. 

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”

‬‬The blind men and the elephant is a wonderful analogy.

Jesus is self-revelatory truth and was the solution. 

John‬ ‭9‬:‭39‬-‭41‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, "Are we also blind?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, 'We see,' your guilt remains.”

At the end of the day, we need to turn from sin and in repentance and faith, turn to Jesus at the cross (Matthew 3; Galatians 5). 

‭‭Jesus is God who became flesh to live the sinless life that we should have lived.  

He performed signs, wonders and miracles demonstrating his compassion for the hurting and to show his authority over creation. 

Jesus went to the cross sacrificially so that as we turn from our rebellion to put our trust in Christ, we might have forgiveness for our sins and be made new creations in him. 

This is a fresh start where literal times of refreshing come from the Lord (Acts 3:19-21). 

As Christ makes us whole through relationship with himself, he then gives us the privilege to offer his same healing to others whom he loves and who will come to believe as we share the truth of his Word.  

Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV

“And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.”

I got baptized at a campus retreat and thereafter in each of the places that I had been searching and contemplating, was in hot pursuit of classmates, friends and family members that they too might know the love of God that had captured me.  

Several of you have been responding to Jesus over the past several weeks.  

Those responding and friends asking what to do next: 

Acts 2:36-47 gives us a picture of what to do thereafter. 

• Get baptized (speak with us)

• Go through the One to One with the friend who brought you, or we can connect you with one of our leaders who will

• Purple Book Class

• Community Group

The ministry team fair is also a practical way that you can serve and help people get exposure to the love and life of God!

Reasons to Believe: Part 2

Reasons to Believe - Part 2

Disciples, Thinkers and Reasons That Helped Me Believe   

 Pastor Rollan Fisher

These are thoughts not my own that helped develop a testimony that I am able to live out today. 

I Peter 3:15 ESV

“but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

Focus: We all need reasons to believe and God abounds with both Biblical and extra-Biblical reasons to embrace his hope offered to the world in Jesus.  

I navigated through:

• Philosophies

• Pundits

• Problems with Suffering and supposed

• Promises from God.

I was a pre-med major coming into school, not following God, but open to truth based on where the breadcrumbs lead.  

Thank God that though growing up, I had seen a lot of institutional hypocrisy, I met followers of Jesus as a student who lived like they actually had an authentic faith and relationship with Jesus. 

I determined at university not to have predetermined notions of the world, but allow the facts to lead where they may.  

The facts that I discovered are summarized, not exhaustively, in these categories:

In essence:

(There’s a) Reason  

(For) Suffering (and)

The Bible (tells us)

Our Deepest Need (is)

Christ 

With the short time that we have, I’d like to share with you some of these thoughts. 

1. Reason

There was too much evidence in the arena of physical science for me to think there was not an intelligent catalyst to the material world.  

“We don’t have a single example in the history of science in which information has ever come from anything other than intelligence.  There is no property of physics or chemistry that can account for the information we see in DNA.”

-Cambridge Philosopher of Science, Stephen C. Meyer 

I also found that there are philosophical pitfalls of unbelief. 

“Atheism turns out to be too simple.  If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.”

C. S. Lewis

Logic led me to think that my arguments against absolute truth were faulty.  

“Imagine a person who comes in here tonight and argues 'no air exists' but continues to breathe air while he argues. Now intellectually, atheists continue to breathe - they continue to use reason and draw scientific conclusions [which assumes an orderly universe], to make moral judgments [which assumes absolute values] - but the atheistic view of things would in theory make such 'breathing' impossible. They are breathing God's air all the time they are arguing against him.”

Greg L. Bahnsen

It went further into the idea of epistemology - how do we even know what we know.  

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?”

C. S. Lewis

1. Suffering 

I acknowledged that much of my and other’s thoughts towards suffering were understandably emotional and not logical. 

“While Western atheists turn from belief in God because a tsunami in another part of the world caused great suffering, many brokenhearted survivors of that same tsunami found faith in God. This is one of the great paradoxes of suffering. Those who don’t suffer much think suffering should keep people from God, while many who suffer a great deal turn to God, not from him.” 

–Randy Alcorn

Pain used to be a puzzle, but the more I heard the good new of Jesus, the more I saw it as providing a new pathway to peace.   

“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

C. S. Lewis

The fact that I found in the Bible a God who suffered for me undercut my oppositions and paved the way to my acceptance.  

1. The Bible

My thoughts towards the trustworthiness of the Bible also began to change. 

First about its authority:

“When someone tells me ‘We can’t trust the Bible because it was written by men,’ I like to gently point out that their conclusion doesn’t follow their premise. Just because something was written by men doesn’t mean it’s not trustworthy. If that were the case, we would have to throw out encyclopedias, dictionaries, automobile manuals, et cetera—all written by men. Men are capable of communicating truthfully, especially when they have God’s help, as the Biblical authors did.” 

–Charlie Campbell

Secondly about its contents:

“Despite the horrors the Canaanites were committing, the new atheists complain that God was immoral for stopping them. Yet on nearly every college campus I visit, an atheist declares, “If there is a good God, He would intervene to stop evil in the world.” Well, here is a case where God does intervene, and the atheists are complaining about it!” 

–Frank Turek

Finally, there was the unparalleled testimony of Jesus:

“The Old Testament contains over 300 references to the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Computations using the science of probability on just 8 of these prophecies show the chance that someone could have fulfilled all 8 prophecies is 10 (to the 17th power), or 1 in 100 quadrillion.” 

–Fritz Ridenour

But even it were true,

Don’t people dislike others trying to impress their views upon them? 

I found that people sharing Jesus with me who was beginning to revolutionize my life, mind and soul was the most loving thing that anyone could do.  

Certain atheists have agreed: 

“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward—and atheists who think people shouldn’t proselytize and who say just leave me alone and keep your religion to yourself—how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

“I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”

- Penn Jillette, self-proclaimed atheist

I was encouraged that even great scientists such as Einstein were impacted by Christ’s life:

In a 2007 Time magazine article, it was reported that in a long ago interview Einstein was asked:

To what extent are you influenced by Christianity? 

“As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.”

You accept the historical existence of Jesus? 

“Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life.”

On top of all of the historic facts of Christ’s sinless life as recorded in the gospels, sacrificial death at the cross and verified resurrection from the dead, the good news of Jesus became supremely personal to me.  

1. Our Deepest Need

“The deepest reality is personal; the deepest need is spiritual.”

~ Ravi Zacharias

I knew because of the way that I was living that if there was a heaven, I would have no personal basis for entry and if there were a hell, I deserved to be there.  

The difficulty of trying to come to God on my own became pronounced to me once I considered it, but this only further validated the veracity of the gospel’s truths. 

“If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete, in simplicity, with people who are inventing religions. How could we? We are dealing with Fact. Of course anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about.” 

–C. S. Lewis

But because of Jesus, there was hope.  

And through his gospel, I was changed. 

I Was Changed 

John 3:1-7 ESV

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'”

‭‭

John‬ ‭8‬:‭31‬-‭37‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you.”

‭‭

John‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

‭‭

Jesus is the only way because of his identity as the incarnate Son of God - meaning he is God in the flesh - and because of the irreplaceable deed that he accomplished for us on the cross.  

“All religions and philosophies say, ‘This is the way.’ Only Jesus says, ‘I am the Way.’” 

–Tim Keller

1. Christ 

There is a uniqueness and liberating reality in Jesus. 

“There are only two kinds of religion in the world…They all say, “Do, do, do.” Only Christianity says, “Done.” Christ has done it all.” 

–J. Vernon McGee

When I found that I couldn’t force it or be the man that I knew I ought to be on my own, that I fell short of God’s standards and glory, the truth of the Scripture came alive to me. 

Galatians‬ ‭3‬:‭24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”

‭‭

God was offering me forgiveness, acceptance and adoption by faith in not my goodness, but Christ’s.  

I was all in but had to deal with the apathy that still permeated my campus, our culture and world.  

People say:

*Religion is for some people, not for others, just like some have an interest in swimming or golfing and others do not. 

The truth is because there is one creator and judge, he makes demands on all of our lives, calling the whole world into a reconciled relationship with himself through Jesus Christ. 

Acts 17:30-31 ESV

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."”

‭‭

When I accepted this reality, the world and my understanding of it came alive in a new way - and I felt like I was finally able to experience what was truly life.  

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

C. S. Lewis

No matter where you find yourself this morning, you can respond to Jesus Christ.  

If you have questions, we are here on Sundays to help you, resource you and help you navigate the questions that have life transforming impact of eternal consequence. 

Book Giveaway

Lee Strobel references 

• Second City Church

Reasons to Believe: Part 1

Reasons to Believe - Part 1

Questions I Asked Myself 

Focus: I realized growing up that I was wanton, left wanting but also wanted by Jesus of Nazareth.  

Wanton

Left Wanting 

Wanted by Jesus of Nazareth

We’ll look at these topics through Questions I Asked Myself as I tried to figure out and give purpose to my existence.  

I want to also introduce you to a man named Timothy Keller, who, through Jesus, helped me answer many of these questions. 

Wanton 

I found that because of my experiences and what I saw in the culture as normal, in much of my early development I was wanton.  

Definition:

Wanton

1. (of a cruel or violent action) deliberate and unprovoked

2. DATED : sexually unrestrained or having many casual sexual relationships

I discovered when I came to college that I was searching for something that only God could provide.  

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. ... If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthy pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. ... I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and help others to do the same.”

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

When I encountered not just church, but Jesus through the Bible, a new world was opened up to me. 

John‬ ‭6‬:‭26‬-‭51‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." 

So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 

They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."“

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Let’s go a little further to see where this wanton life left me and ultimately, leaves us. 

Left Wanting 

Jesus clearly says that we are left wanting in the world without him.  

What do I mean?

What is the common human condition?:

People in the world are searching for positive attention and affirmation. 

TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and selfie culture only affirm this. 

You can see it in the halls of academia where people are determined to prove themselves, you can see it on Greek row, you can see it on the lawn when the weather gets warm and in the bars people frequent with their time and money hoping someone will take them home and make them actually feel alive for a night.  

Everyone is asking the following questions:

Who will tell you that you are desirable, valuable, competent, worthy of love, affection or esteem?

-We all want to feel loved

-We all want to feel valued 

-We all want to feel accepted

-We all want to feel fulfilled 

-We all want to feel desired

-We all want to know we’re not living a lie but are living in what is good and  true - even if it means the pursuit of wanton pleasure. 

What stops us from experiencing this?  

We fear that despite all of our fronts and bold faces that we put on, if people knew how deeply insecure we are, so uncertain about truth, our present or our future, they wouldn’t love or accept us.  

What Jesus said was profound to this point and was echoed by a man named Timothy Keller:

“To be loved but not known is superficial. To be known but not loved is our nightmare. Only Jesus knows us to the bottom and loves us to the sky.”

-Timothy Keller

Yet we try to fill ourselves with superficial love that function as things to prop us up while masking our real condition. 

I found props in the party scene feeling that I was liberated by an unrestrained sexual and philosophical ethic, only to realize that it led me into a greater bondage to sadness, self-loathing, insecurity and fear.  

When I was introduced to the Bible, I found that my props were, against my initial judgment, being turned on their heads for good reason. :

“The Christian sex ethic was understood by the apostles to be a nonnegotiable part of orthodoxy, one of the core beliefs of Christianity. What Christians taught and practiced about sexuality was as much a necessary implication of the gospel and the resurrection as were care for the poor and the equality of the races. This makes it impossible to argue, as many try to do, that what the Bible says about caring for the poor is right but what it says about sex is outmoded and should be discarded.”

-Timothy Keller

This mattered because:

I was hurting and I hurt people along the way. 

I eventually felt guilty about it but couldn’t find a way out.  

“The secular framework . . . has nothing to give the wounded conscience to heal it. It has nothing to say to the self who feels it is unworthy of love and forgiveness. Anyone who has seen the depths of their sin and what they are capable of will never be mollified by the bromide of ‘Be nice to yourself—you deserve it.’”

-Timothy Keller

When Jesus said that he was the bread of life, not only was he making a promise to live the perfect life that we should have lived, die the sacrificial death we should die on the cross, in our place, and rise from the dead, he was also promising to bring us into a life that truly satisfies our souls.  

“[These are] Christianity’s unsurpassed offers—a meaning that suffering cannot remove, a satisfaction not based on circumstances, a freedom that does not hurt but rather enhances love, an identity that does not crush you or exclude others, a moral compass that does not turn you into an oppressor, and a hope that can face anything, even death.”

-Timothy Keller

But is Jesus reliable? 

I found that historically, who I wanted to be had its roots in Jesus. 

“The humanistic moral values of secularism are not the deliverances of scientific reasoning, but have come down to us from older times . . . they have a theological history. And modern people hold them by faith alone.”

-Timothy Keller

“Jesus is one of the very few persons in history who founded a great world religion or who, like Plato or Aristotle, has set the course of human thought and life for centuries. Jesus is in that tiny, select group. On the other hand, there have been a number of persons over the years who have implicitly or explicitly claimed to be divine beings from other worlds. Many of them were demagogues; many more were leaders of small, self-contained sects of true believers. What is unique about Jesus is that he is the only member of the first set of persons who is also a member of the second.”

“Everything in the Hebrew worldview militated against the idea that a human being could be God. Jews would not even pronounce the name ‘Yahweh’ nor spell it. And yet Jesus Christ—by his life, by his claims, and by his resurrection—convinced his closest Jewish followers that he was not just a prophet telling them how to find God, but God himself come to find us.”

-Timothy Keller

Why hadn’t I come to God before?  

It ultimately came down to a lack of developed trust that God intends good for me and for the world.  

“If you want to understand your own behavior, you must understand that all sin against God is grounded in a refusal to believe that God is more dedicated to our good, and more aware of what that is, than we are. We distrust God because we assume he is not truly for us, that if we give him complete control we will be miserable. Adam and Eve did not say, ‘Let’s be evil. Let’s ruin our own lives and everyone else’s too!’ Rather they thought, ‘We just want to be happy. But his commands don’t look like they’ll give us the things we need to thrive. We’ll have to take things into our own hands—we can’t trust him.’”

-Timothy Keller

Wanted by Jesus of Nazareth

The truth is what we are all truly seeking is in Jesus and the good news is that Jesus is seeking us.  

But what if I feel undeserving?

What frees me and encourages my heart in all of this, even when I know that I’ve been undeserving is this? :

Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

”For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.“

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“The gospel is that I am so sinful that Jesus had to die for me, yet so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. I can’t feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone.”

-Timothy Keller

To experience this fulfillment, we must see Jesus in a new way.  

But what if I’ve already been turned off by what I’ve heard?

“Only if your god can outrage and challenge you will you know that you worship the real God and not a figment of your imagination. . . . If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.”

-Timothy Keller

How’s that working for you?

Remember, Jesus said:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." 

We must see him as he is and he must become LORD and SAVIOR of our lives.  

“When you come to Christ, you must drop your conditions. You have to give up the right to say, ‘I will obey you if . . . I will do this if . . .’ As soon as you say, ‘I will obey you if,’ that is not obedience at all. You are saying: ‘You are my adviser, not my Lord. I will be happy to take your recommendations. And I might even do some of them.’ No. If you want Jesus with you, you have to give up the right to self-determination. Self-denial is an act of rebellion against our late-modern culture of self-assertion. But that is what we are called to. Nothing less.”

-Timothy Keller

We invite you this morning to be reconciled to God through the cross of Jesus Christ - turning away from sin and self-determined living that you might find in the Creator the life that is truly life. 

We’d love to walk this out with you in the coming weeks and months as a part of our Community Groups and services!

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity - The Crowd

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity

The Crowd: from Followers to Traitors

Pastor Rollan Fisher

NOTES PREPARED BY PAUL BARKER

Summary Statement:

They followed when the benefits were flowing but abandoned Christ when they saw the cost.

John 6:1–3, 5, 8–12, 14–15, 66–69 (ESV)

1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.

5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”

14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Introduction: Setting the Scene

When the chapter opens, the crowd is relentless in their pursuit of Jesus, following him around the Sea of Galilee and up a mountain. 

But when the chapter closes, all but the twelve are walking away from him. 

The crowds follow Jesus when the benefits are flowing but abandon him when they see the cost.

The Benefits of Following Jesus

1. Healing for their bodies (6:2).

One notable benefit of following Jesus is physical healing. 

The crowds that flocked to him were driven by his miraculous healings. 

Jesus restored their bodies, providing health and wholeness to those who sought him. 

This power to heal was one of the central reasons the crowd followed him so persistently.

2. Bread for their bellies (6:5–13).

The crowd, originally drawn by the miracles of healing, soon witnessed another astonishing display of Jesus’ power: The feeding of the 5,000 with just five barley loaves and two fish. 

Not only did Jesus provide food for the masses but he also provided it in abundance—so much that they all ate until they were fully satisfied (John 6:12). 

This miracle demonstrated another benefit of following Jesus: he meets the needs of his followers, not just barely, but abundantly.

Isn’t that what we all desire? 

While we want our needs met, we also long for more than mere survival—we desire fullness, a life where we aren’t just scraping by but are thriving. 

We want more than just our hunger to be satisfied; we seek the good life, where our provisions overflow and our hearts are full.

3. Freedom from their oppressors (6:14–15).

As Jesus multiplied the bread, the crowd likely remembered Moses, who provided manna in the wilderness.

Just as Moses led their ancestors out of Egyptian slavery, they hoped Jesus would be the prophet who would free them from Roman oppression. 

They wanted freedom from subjugation and the ability to control their own lives.

When they realized Jesus had gone to Capernaum, they pursued him again, driven by the desire for healing and provision and the hope that he would deliver them from political oppression. 

The Cost of Following Jesus

When the crowd finally caught up to Jesus, he knew their hearts. 

They were still seeking him for the tangible benefits—healing, provision, and the hope of liberation. 

But instead of giving them more miracles, he offered them a profound teaching:

6:32–35: 

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

The crowd still pursued Jesus for the physical benefits, desiring this miraculous “bread” always. 

But Jesus shifted their focus to something far deeper: their spiritual need. 

The manna their ancestors ate only sustained them temporarily, but the bread Jesus offered would bring eternal life.

6:51: “. . . And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The bread that Jesus will offer is his life, freely given for the life of the world. 

He will die so that we may live.

Jesus goes on to say that to access this new life, you have to eat his flesh and drink his blood—a shocking statement that led many of his disciples to say, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (6:60).

6:66: After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

The crowd that has been so relentless in pursuing Jesus decides that this teaching is too hard for them.

They can’t accept it. 

They can accept Jesus when he is freely healing the sick and providing for their needs.

But who is he to say that he is the bread of life? 

And what does he mean that we need to eat his flesh and drink his blood?

They have been following him for the benefits. 

But when the teaching gets hard, they run away. 

And we see the extent of this betrayal at the crucifixion.

Matthew 27:20–23: 

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

From a crowd that is relentlessly pursuing him to a crowd calling for his death. 

They follow him when the benefits flow but abandon him when they see the cost.

But before we judge the crowd harshly, if we’re honest with ourselves, we may be more like the crowd than we want to admit.

Application

1. Healing for our bodies (completeness).

We all sense that sickness, disease, and deformity are not how things are meant to be and that if the world were as it should be, we would be whole and complete in our bodies. 

The pursuit of healing, in many ways, is a search for this wholeness or completeness. 

And so we follow Jesus, hoping that in doing so, we will feel whole and complete in our body and mind.

2. Food for our bellies (comfort).

Of course, when we are in want and need, we hope to have our needs met, but the real desire is that we will have more than enough resources to live a comfortable life. 

We want more than our hunger satisfied; we want to be full. 

We want more than the bills paid. 

We want the good life.

3. Freedom from oppression (control).

The crowd hopes that Jesus will free them from the oppression of the Romans so that they can have agency and control over their lives and situations. 

Similarly, we all want to feel like we have agency over our lives and situations. 

We want to be in control.

There isn’t anything inherently wrong with these desires. 

If you are sick, it is good to desire healing. 

If you are hungry, it is good to desire bread; if you are oppressed, it is good to desire liberation. 

The Bible also tells us that these are things that God desires to do for us. 

He desires to heal, provide, and deliver. 

However, these desires can become disordered when we seek them above all other things.

The problem is not with the desires but with their order. 

Like the crowd, we often seek the benefits of following Jesus more than Jesus himself. 

And so, when the benefits dry up, and we realize that following

Jesus will cost us something, we abandon him.

Gospel Reflection

In this sermon series, we’ve discussed all the positive ways that an encounter with the cross has transformed people’s lives. 

We’ve seen the sinner become the evangelist, the curious become a convert, and the bystander becomes the cross-bearer. 

But as we reflect on the trajectory of the crowd—followers to traitors—we see that an encounter with the cross does not always lead to positive transformation. 

And that’s because the cross is offensive.

How is the cross offensive?

1. The cross tells us that we are worse than we want to admit.

The cross tells us that we’re not just sick, hungry, and oppressed but that we’re dead in our sins. 

We need more than a prophet who will heal our bodies, provide for our needs, and free us from oppression. 

We need a Savior.

The cross tells us that we are worse than we want to admit, but it also reveals to us the greatness of God’s provision. 

The bread that Jesus will offer is his life, freely given for the life of the world. 

He will die so that we may live.

2. The cross tells us that we have to die.

To feed on Jesus is to feed on his sacrificial death and, in doing so, to participate in that death.

Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24–25).

3. The cross tells us that we have to die, but it is in this death that we experience resurrection life.

We want the benefits of following Jesus but don’t want it to cost us anything, but that is not the message of the cross. 

Rather, the cross demands a complete reorientation of life.

When Jesus’ external benefits seem to have dried up, and we are faced with the cost, will we respond like the crowd and abandon Jesus? 

Or will we respond like Peter? 

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Four Questions

1. How is God glorified in the text?

This text reveals that our God is not only the God who heals, provides, and delivers but he is the God who saves. 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16–17)

2. How is our heart transformed in the text?

So often, we allow our heart’s desires to become disordered, and we find ourselves chasing after the benefits of following Jesus more than Jesus himself. 

Our hearts are transformed as we remember that Jesus is the Bread of Life, the satisfaction for all our longings and desires.

3. How is the mission accelerated in the text?

In this text, we see two different responses to Jesus’ teaching: those who walk away and those who stay.

As we engage with the text, we must grapple with the question, “How will we respond when faced with the cost of following Jesus?” 

This text is a call to discipleship; a call to count the cost, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus.

4. What is the gospel application of the text?

In this text, we encounter a teaching of the cross of Jesus. The cross tells us that we are worse than we want to admit, but it also reveals to us the greatness of God’s provision. 

Romans 8:32

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

• Second City Church

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity - Simon of Cyrene

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity

Simon of Cyrene - from Bystander to Cross-Bearer

NOTES PREPARED BY PAUL BARKER 

Text: Mark 15:21 (ESV)

And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

Focus Statement:

He was a neutral bystander until a face-to-face encounter with Jesus converted him.

The Text in the Story of Redemption

This story reflects the mindset of the Roman Empire: “We can kill, seize, and do whatever we want. We are the final authority, answering to no one. We control the fate of Jesus and the Jews."

While some Jews adjusted to Roman rule, many awaited a Savior to deliver them. 

The Jewish faith has long anticipated a King who would set things right and restore Israel. 

From youth, they were taught that a prophet like Moses would come (Deuteronomy 18:15), from David’s lineage, establishing an eternal throne (2 Samuel 7:12–13). 

He would bear the government (Isaiah 9:6) and baptize in the Holy Spirit (John 1:33).

In Caesarea Philippi, Peter received the revelation that the long-awaited Messiah was finally here and that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mark 8:29).

Yet, after this revelation, Jesus told his disciples he would suffer, die, and rise again—a concept that clashed with their expectation of a victorious king. 

They expected a king with a sword, not a cross. 

Crucifixion symbolized defeat. 

This is why, each time Jesus predicted his death, the disciples resisted and were confused:

• Mark 8:31–33: Peter rebuked Jesus after hearing about the cross, focusing on human concerns rather than God’s plan.

• Mark 9:31–35: After Jesus spoke of his death, the disciples argued about who was the greatest, and Jesus had to reorient their thinking: “Whoever wants to be first must be last.”

•  Mark 10:32–41: Following the third prediction of his death, James and John sought positions of power, which angered the other disciples.

Like us, the disciples had to learn that God’s path to redemption came through the cross. 

At Jesus’ weakest moment, God’s greatest power was revealed. 

This “Path of Sorrow” is also the path of life, hope, and restoration. 

The cross is so central to God’s plan that Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34).

Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus’ cross, embodies Mark 8:34. He shared in its shame, pain, and death — and thereby shared in its life. 

Simon was forced to carry the cross, but today we must choose to take up our own. 

As Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

We live in a time when much of life is spent as spectators. 

We watch the news from a distance, scroll through social media, observe others’ lives, cheer on our favorite sports teams, and, sadly, we may even approach church the same way—merely as spectators. 

It’s easy to understand why: spectating feels safer and more comfortable than the risk of participation. 

But what if simply watching isn’t enough? 

What if the cross demands something more?

Our story today is just one verse. While it is short, it leaves us with intimate details describing Jesus’ journey to the cross. 

This brief passage shows a man changed from a spectator to a cross-carrier.

Luke 23:26 

And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.

The cross calls us from being spectators to being participators in the life of Christ.

Setup

When reading about the life of Jesus in the Gospels, we might wonder what it would have been like to witness those moments firsthand: to see Jesus open blind eyes, to witness him feeding the multitude, or to hear the Sermon on the Mount. 

But what would it have been like to witness Jesus carrying the cross?

Verse 26 describes the Roman soldiers leading Jesus and two other condemned criminals to their execution.

The soldiers acted under the authority of Pontius Pilate, who had just sentenced Jesus to death after being pressured by the crowd (Luke 23:18–25). 

At this moment, Jesus is fulfilling Isaiah 53:7: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” 

Despite having the power to escape, Jesus willingly follows the divine plan. 

As he said in Luke 22:22, “For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”

Though Jesus was being led to the cross, his suffering began long before. 

In the first-century Roman empire, criminals typically carried the crossbeam to the site of their crucifixion, which could have been as much as three-quarters of a mile, now known as the Via Dolorosa, or Path of Sorrows. 

By this point, Jesus was likely physically exhausted. 

Luke 22:63 mentions that the soldiers had beaten him while in custody, from Thursday night until his trial before Herod and Pilate the next day. 

This explains why Jesus needed help carrying the cross.

As the soldiers led Jesus away, they seized a man named Simon of Cyrene and forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. 

Simon was from Cyrene, a Roman colony in northern Africa with a large Jewish population. 

It is possible that Simon was a Jew in town for the Passover Celebrations. 

Mark provides another detail in his account (15:21). 

He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. 

These were likely disciples in the early church.

More important than all of those details is that he was forced to carry the cross of Christ. 

The soldiers seized him against his will. 

He did not volunteer. 

Luke uses the word epilambonomai, which means to lay hold of, often by force or aggression. 

Simon was carrying a cross as he walked behind Jesus. 

Could you imagine the range of emotions he would have felt: Fear, fatigue, anger, confusion, sadness? 

Simon has gone from spectator to participator. 

He was now sharing this moment with Jesus.

He shared in the shame of Christ. 

Carrying a cross was not a badge of honor but a sign of defeat and ridicule. 

Throughout this chapter, people are mocking Jesus (vv. 11, 36).

As someone who carried the cross for Jesus, he was now open to the same type of verbal abuse.

He shared in Christ’s suffering. 

Carrying the cross would have been considerable pain and difficulty. 

The crossbeam could have weighed 75 to 125 pounds (34 to 57 kilograms), and carrying it for that distance would have been physically taxing.

Luke used the same word in Acts 21:30 when the Ephesians seized Paul in the temple, “Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and epilambonomai Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.”

He shared in Christ’s sorrow. 

This path was filled with sorrow. Evidence of this is seen in the following verse, where we see women mourning and lamenting. 

It was a heartbreaking moment for many. 

Not everyone agreed with the chants to crucify Jesus. 

To carry the cross of Christ was to walk amid sorrow.

In some ways, this story leaves us with more questions than answers: What was Simon doing in Jerusalem?

What happened to him after he carried the cross? 

Did he ever come to believe in the message of Jesus?

History has attempted to answer some of these questions. 

In Paul’s closing to his letter to the Romans, he wrote in Romans 16:13, “Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine.” 

It is believed that this was possibly the son of Simon referred to by Mark (15:21). 

In his Tyndale commentary on Luke, Leon Morris writes, “It has been conjectured that he was won that day by the bearing of him whose cross he carried” (page 342). 

Could it be that just as Simon participated in the cross of Christ, he came to experience the life of Christ?

What does this story reveal about the human condition?

While this story is unique to a particular moment in history, many of us live in a world with oppressors and persecutors, the rich and powerful who seemingly do whatever they want with no apparent consequences.

Others—like Simon in this story—are powerless, voiceless victims. 

In response, people often look for a rescuer: a politician, celebrity, or leader to make things right. 

The same hope existed in Jesus’ time.

What does this story reveal about the nature of the kingdom of God?

The lesson the disciples had to learn is that God’s kingdom differs from the world’s ways. 

His way of redeeming the world was a cross. 

In Jesus’ weakest moment, he brought about our rescue—though not in the way anyone expected. 

The Path of Sorrow is also the path of life, hope, and restoration. 

Ultimately, it was not the Romans, religious leaders, or even the crowd who were in control—God sovereignly reigned over all things, even when it didn’t appear that way. 

As Jesus reminded Peter, going to the cross was part of God’s plan, not man’s (Mark 8:33).

What is the gospel application in the text?

The cross is central to God’s plan. 

The same cross that Simon carried would be the cross on which Jesus died, declaring, “It is finished!” 

Simon of Cyrene shared in the shame of the cross; he shared in the suffering of the cross; he shared in the sorrow of the cross, but in doing so, he was also able to share in the power of the cross.

When we follow Jesus as his disciples, we must be prepared to share in the shame of the cross, the suffering of the cross, and the sorrow of the cross. 

Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 up for me.” 

Something happens to us when we actively participate in the cross: we no longer see ourselves as victims of shame, suffering, and sorrow; instead, we become overcomers as those who share in the life and power of Christ. 

The power of God’s love on Calvary leads us to the cross.

In our story, Simon was forced to take up the cross. 

In our lives today, we must choose whether or not to do the same. 

Will you take up the cross and follow him?

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity: The Centurion

THE CROSS:  And What It Means for Lost Humanity 

The Centurion:  From Skeptic to Believer

Matthew 27:50–54 (ESV) 

“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Luke 23:44–47 (ESV) 

“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”

“Truly this was the Son of God!” 

Leon Morris, in his commentary on Matthew, states, 

“The centurion’s confession, ‘Truly this was the Son of God,’ was the same confession the disciples made earlier (Mt 14:33). The word “Truly” points to certainty; he was not making a tentative suggestion. He understood that the death of Jesus showed him to be the Son of God. (The Greek grammar attests that the centurion’s confession was, “This was the Son of God,” not “This was a son of a god.”) It was clear that there was something in the death of Jesus, together with the attendant phenomena, that showed that he was not just another man. He had a special relationship with God.

How did the Centurion come into the conclusion that Jesus was the son of God?

What did the Centurion witness? 

What does it mean for Jesus to be “the Son of God”? 

THE WITNESS OF JESUS: 

A display of the Son’ obedience and trust to his Father. 

Jesus’ silence speaks loudly of His deep resolve to obey His Father to go all the way to the cross…and that silence reverberated loudly in the heart of the Centurion.

What may seem to us as God’s silence is Him quietly and faithfully accomplishing His will in our lives.

THE WITNESS OF NATURE: A display of God’s power and might. 

Mt 27:51b/54

“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Luke 23:44-45 ESV

“It was now about the sixth hour,[a] and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.”

THE WITNESS OF GRACE: A display of God’s mercy and love 

Mt 27:51 ESV

“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.”

Hebrews 10:3 ESV

“But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.”

Hebrews 9:12 ESV

“He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”

Hebrews 10:19–20 ESV

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh”

The cross transforms the way we approach God because it opens the way for us to know God. 

THE WITNESS OF FORGIVENESS: A display of God’s constant love

Luke 23:34 ESV

“And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”[a] And they cast lots to divide his garments.”

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity : Nicodemus

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity

Nicodemus - from Curious to Convert

NOTES PREPARED BY PAUL BARKER

Focus Statement:

He came at night because he was curious, but it was the revelation of the cross that converted him.

John 3:1–15 (ESV)

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

John 19:39–42 (ESV)

39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. 40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Introduction

Have you ever watched a child, just learning to crawl, scoot his way to the other side of the room to pick up an object that caught his attention? 

Or what about a toddler, who hasn’t quite mastered opening doors yet, determinedly twisting and turning a door knob out of curiosity because of what was on the other side?

While parents can get exhausted by this endless curiosity, they still delight in watching their children overcome obstacles as they explore and learn about the world around them. 

Curiosity is beautiful because it often leads to seeking answers to questions, finding solutions to problems, and receiving the satisfaction of a longing. 

But, more often than not, it can end in frustration and tears. 

While curiosity is wonderful, it has limitations.

John 3 recounts an intimate dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews.

What’s interesting is that while the gospel writers almost always portrayed Pharisees as the opponents of Jesus, Nicodemus does not come in an adversarial posture. 

He isn’t trying to confront or catch Jesus with cleverly worded questions. 

Instead, like so many others, Nicodemus sees the signs and wonders Jesus is doing and is curious. 

And so, he comes at night, away from the prying eyes of witnesses, to seek Jesus out.

Nicodemus is curious. 

However, as we examine this dialogue more closely, we discover that Niocdemus’ curiosity has limitations to his following Jesus.

The Limitations of Nicodemus’ Curiosity

He was limited by his reservations.

3:1,2: Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night . . .

What is the significance of Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night? 

Why did John think this detail was essential? 

In one sense, this demonstrates the genuineness of his curiosity. 

If Nicodemus hoped to challenge or trap Jesus, he would have come in the light of day when there would have been as many witnesses as possible. 

But the fact that he comes at night demonstrates that he genuinely and earnestly seeks answers to his curiosity. 

He wants to know, “Who is this man who performs such awesome signs?”

However, while coming at night demonstrates the genuineness of his curiosity, it also shows its limitations.

He comes away from prying eyes at night, most likely because he doesn’t want to be seen. 

Nicodemus isn’t just a Pharisee; he is a ruler of the Jews, meaning he is part of the Sanhedrin, an elite group that advises the high priest. 

Nicodemus is part of the Jewish inner circle. 

He’s an important man with a significant reputation. 

What would people think if they discovered this powerful and learned man seeking out Jesus?

Would they think less of him? 

Would he lose his position of power and influence? 

Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the cover of night, avoiding the onlookers and the crowds. 

He is curious about Jesus, but not to the point that he is willing to risk his reputation or standing among the Jewish people as a teacher and leader.

Nicodemus’ curiosity causes him to seek Jesus, but his reservations limit his seeking.

He was limited by his preconceptions.

3:2: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Nicodemus, a learned man at the center of Jewish life, addresses Jesus, a traveling healer with no formal training, as Rabbi, “teacher.” 

Here, we see that Nicodemus has genuine respect for Jesus. 

The signs Jesus performed piqued his curiosity and led him to seek Jesus out and accept him as a “teacher from God.”

However, Nicodemus’ acceptance of Jesus reveals a respectful but partial belief in him. 

As the dialogue continues, we will see that his preconceptions limit his acceptance (and understanding) of Jesus.

The Challenge to Nicodemus’ Curiosity

3:3: Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

At first glance, Jesus’ reply might seem unusual in response to Nicodemus’ statement. 

Why would he answer in this way? 

The answer can be found at the end of John 2, where we are told that many believed in Jesus because of the signs he performed. 

Yet, Jesus did not entrust himself to them, “because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”

Jesus knew what was in Nicodemus, too. 

He saw Nicodemus’ curiosity but also understood its limits.

Rather than “entrusting himself to him,” Jesus challenged him with a statement that confronted Nicodemus’ reservations and preconceptions.

As a Pharisee, Nicodemus would have believed that being born a Jew ensured entrance into God’s kingdom. 

But Jesus was telling him that to see the kingdom of God, he must be born again. 

There’s a wordplay in the original language. 

The word “again” can also be translated as “from above.” 

When Jesus uses this word, he implies both ideas:

• You need to be born again: Being born a Jew is not enough; a second birth is necessary.

• You need to be born from above: This second birth is not something you can achieve through effort, status, or lineage—it comes from God.

Nicodemus misunderstands Jesus’ double meaning, focusing only on the physical idea of birth. 

He scoffs at the notion of entering his mother’s womb a second time, asking, “How can a man be born when he is old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus then clarifies his point by stating, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” 

Here again, he challenges Nicodemus’ assumptions, indicating that entering God’s kingdom is not about physical birth or status but about something only God can do.

In Nicodemus’ worldview, he believed he already had everything he needed to enter the kingdom of God — his birth, status, and religious life were all in order. 

But Jesus was saying that something deeper was required. 

Confused and unable to reconcile this with his understanding, Nicodemus asks, “How can these things be?”

Jesus concludes their conversation with a striking statement: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Nicodemus would have been familiar with the story Jesus referenced from Numbers 21:4–9. 

In this account, God’s people were near the end of their forty-year journey in the wilderness when they began complaining once again. 

Unlike previous occasions, when God responded graciously, this time, he sent poisonous serpents among them. 

In desperation, the people cried out for deliverance. 

Instead of simply removing the snakes, God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent. 

Anyone bitten by the snakes would be saved by looking at this image of the serpent, trusting in God’s provision for their healing.

Jesus uses this story to foreshadow his own crucifixion. 

Just as the Israelites were saved by looking at the bronze serpent in faith, so too will people be saved by looking to Jesus in faith, who will be “lifted up” on the cross.

Cross Encounter

The next time we see Nicodemus is in John 7:50. 

The Pharisees and chief priests want to arrest Jesus, but Nicodemus defends him, saying, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” 

Maybe he is still curious and seeking answers, or perhaps he is a secret convert. 

But we see that he’s still limited by his reservations—he’s willing to defend Jesus but not publicly accept him.

But when we see him in John 19, the story is different.

19:38,39: After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.

Nicodemus is no longer hiding. 

Apparently, he’s no longer limited in his seeking by his reservations or limited in his understanding by his preconceptions. 

Rather, he is willing to risk everything by participating in the burial of the one who has just been crucified. 

So, what happened? 

What has changed for Nicodemus?

The Bible doesn’t provide us with the details of Nicodemus’ journey from curious to convert, but something must have happened when he saw Jesus hanging on the cross. 

Maybe he remembered Jesus’ words: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Perhaps the words, so shrouded in mystery since that night when he came to Jesus, now became clear to him.

Just as the Israelites had the venom of poisonous snakes coursing through their veins, Jesus is revealing that Nicodemus—and everyone else—have something far more deadly running through them: the poison of sin. 

It wasn’t enough for Nicodemus to be born a Jew. 

It wasn’t enough for him to be a Pharisee, a teacher of Israel, or a member of the Jewish elite. 

None of these things could save him. 

None of these things could open his eyes to the kingdom. 

None of these things could grant him eternal life. 

The poison of sin could not be cured by anything Nicodemus possessed or achieved; only God’s provision could do that. 

All that was left for him to do was to look to the despised image of the cross and be healed.

Application

The cross reveals the true extent of the problem of sin. 

When we look at the cross and see the extreme measures God did to save us, we can no longer downplay the seriousness of sin. 

Yet, at the same time, the cross also reveals the greatness of God’s provision. 

It shows us that God “did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.” 

Through the cross, we see both the gravity of our sin and the magnitude of God’s love and sacrifice to redeem us.

Questions to Consider in Your Application:

• In what ways are you limited in your seeking by your reservations? 

• What do you seek to lose if you follow Jesus?

• In what ways are you limited in your acceptance of Jesus by your understanding? 

• What preconceptions are keeping you from following Jesus?

•  How does a revelation of the cross answer these reservations and preconceptions?

Close

Nicodemus thought he had what he needed to enter the kingdom because he didn’t realize the seriousness of the problem—only a revelation of the cross could show him that.

Curiosity can cause you to seek, but your seeking will be limited by your reservations.

Curiosity can cause you to accept, but your acceptance will be limited by your understanding.

But a revelation of the cross reveals to us the seriousness of the problem of sin and the greatness of God’s provision to deal with this problem.

It is a revelation of the cross that turns the curious into a convert.

Four Questions

1. How is God glorified in the text?

In this text, Jesus tells Nicodemus that the way into the kingdom of God is to be born from above. 

We can’t gain entrance into the kingdom through our status or effort. 

But our gracious and generous God has provided a way for us to know him through Jesus; for that, he deserves our praise and worship.

2. How is our heart transformed in the text?

As we look at the provision of God, our hearts respond in praise and worship. 

We may be drawn to Jesus because of our curiosity, but it’s a revelation of the cross that transforms our hearts.

3. How is the mission accelerated in the text?

It is a revelation of the cross that turns the curious into a convert. 

As we share the gospel with others, we should pray for them to have a revelation of the cross that will transform their hearts.

4. What is the gospel application of the text?

The cross reveals to us the seriousness of sin and the greatness of God’s provision to deal with it. 

We are reminded that new birth doesn’t come through our status or effort but through trusting God’s provision to save us.

• Second City Church 

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity : Mary Magdalene

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity

Mary Magdalene - from Sinner to Evangelist

NOTES PREPARED BY PAUL BARKER 

Focus Statement:

Mary Magdalene was the first to testify to Christ’s resurrection.

Luke 8:1–3 (ESV)

1 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.

Mark 15:40–41 (ESV)

40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

John 20:1–3, 11–18 (ESV)

1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stopped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?  Whom are you seeking?”  Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. 

The Text in the Story of Redemption

Some of the key theological assumptions that come out of the Jewish shaping of the Gospels are assumptions that the God of Israel is now bringing restoration in Jesus. 

So this sense that the story of the Gospels is not just about Jesus but is about what the God of Israel has already been doing and is now doing to bring restoration, to inaugurate the kingdom through Jesus, is an important part of the Gospels. 

So we don’t hear the Gospels as the beginning of a story, but the continuation and the culmination of Israel’s story and the redemption that God has promised Israel.

The Gospels record the next phase of the narrative arc of God’s plan for the redemption of humanity. 

They reveal who Jesus is, detailing his birth, life, death, and resurrection. 

Yet, they do more than present facts about Jesus—they also share the stories of real people whose lives were transformed by encountering him.

The authors address the needs of their communities, especially the call to believe and find life in his name (John 20:31). 

Through these stories, we too can experience that life.

This sermon focuses on one such transformed life: Mary Magdalene. 

Her dramatic testimony showcases the redemption God accomplished through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Scene One: Luke 8:1–3

Most narrative writing consists of various scenes to advance the storyline. 

In this true and dramatic account, Luke 8:1–3 is the first scene. 

It introduces Mary Magdalene and explains her past.

Luke briefly highlights Mary Magdalene among Jesus’ followers in Luke 8:1–3. 

Unlike the others in the text, whom Luke describes by their roles or relationships, he introduces Mary as a woman from whom seven demons were cast out. 

This is a humbling and painful past.

At the start of Mary’s story, her past—marked by shame, regret, and darkness—could have easily defined her. 

Many of us can relate to living with a “backdrop” we wish we could erase.

Though Mary has a background scene that she may have wished was left out of the story, it is merely the backdrop. 

The real story is about Jesus and what happened to Mary as she followed him. 

Her background scene sets the stage for her life-changing deliverance, which is the start of her new story.

Scene Two: Mark 15:40–41

Why do all four Gospel authors write about Mary Magdalene? 

Perhaps her painful beginning helps us see Jesus’ glorious work as her story progresses.

In this text, Mark calls her Mary Magdalene, but there is no mention of the seven demons or her shameful past. 

That part of her story no longer defines Mary. 

But the spotlight isn’t on Mary; it’s on the cross where Jesus was being crucified. 

It’s now Jesus’ shame and pain that the story emphasizes, not hers.

Sometimes, the critical part of a story isn’t about the past but the present. 

Jesus’ pain and shame eclipses Mary’s. 

His dying the death of a criminal on a cross replaces her past. 

She is now simply a follower of Jesus and one who cares for him along with the other disciples.

When we think about our story, what background scene is the most prominent? 

Is it our pain and shame, or is it the cross of Jesus? 

Both scenes significantly impact our lives, but only the cross leads to the power of the resurrection.

Scene Three: John 20:1–3

In scene three, we find Mary at the tomb. 

Jesus has been crucified and buried. 

The other gospel writers provide more details on why Mary is there, but in John’s account, the spotlight is simply on her presence and the stark contrast of Jesus’ absence.

She is still faithfully following but also afraid and anxious because simply following is no longer working.

Jesus had told his disciples he would die and be raised to life, but none understood it (John 20:9). 

Though Jesus’ death on the cross is central to the story, the goal is resurrection life. 

Following Jesus to his death doesn’t finish the story.

Scene Four: John 20:11–18

Scene four is the most important and climactic. 

Mary stayed after the other disciples left the tomb scene, waiting and weeping. 

She has brief conversations with two angels and a man she thinks is the gardener.

When the gardener (Jesus) says her name, she recognizes him and exclaims, “Rabboni!” which means “teacher.” 

She is a follower of Jesus, and he is her teacher.

What Jesus says next in response to her revelation and declaration sets a new background for Mary. 

She is his disciple, and instead of merely clinging to him, she has new work to do. 

The cross and resurrection have transformed her life from clinging to commissioning. 

She is no longer simply a follower; the resurrection life of Jesus commissions her to live as the very first witness to that life. 

She isn’t just meant to follow but also to go and tell. Jesus told her, “Go tell my brothers.”

A background of pain and shame no longer defines Mary Magdalene; she is no longer simply a follower of Jesus; she is a disciple commissioned to tell others about Jesus and his resurrection life.

When you think about your life, what background is behind you? 

Is it a background without Jesus in the picture? 

That background can change.

Is it a background of his cross and your following and loving him? 

That is a great background, but it isn’t the end of the story.

The final background meant for every follower of Jesus is the empty tomb and the life of Jesus commissioning us to go and tell.

Mary Magdalene’s story illustrated how the cross and resurrection are the foundation of our faith and mission. 

Through the cross, we can be forgiven of our sins and healed of our past, walk with other disciples and grow in faith as we follow Jesus, and take that new story and be a messenger of the life and transformative power of Jesus so that others can hear and be delivered as you have been.

Four Questions

1. How is God glorified in the text?

Mary Magdalene’s story glorifies God by demonstrating his power to redeem and transform lives.

Through her journey, we see God’s mercy, grace, and victory over evil on full display. 

The cross and resurrection highlight God’s faithfulness to fulfill his promises of redemption and restoration for humanity. 

The cross and resurrection narrative highlights Mary’s troubled past, which brings attention to God’s ability to transform ordinary, broken people and commission them to live for his purposes.

2. How is our heart transformed in the text?

Our hearts can be transformed when we respond to Jesus and the truth that, like Mary, our past does not define us. 

Christ’s work on the cross and his resurrection define us.

Mary’s journey reflects the hope that no matter the circumstances of our sin, shame, or personal brokenness, Jesus’ sacrifice covers it, and his resurrection empowers us for a new life. 

When we receive this truth, we are set free to live a new identity as redeemed followers of Jesus. 

This truth also brings healing and enables us to live with renewed purpose, moving us from bondage to freedom and despair to hope.

3. How is the mission accelerated in the text?

Mary Magdalene’s transformation from a delivered follower to a faithful messenger accelerates the mission. 

Her commission to “go and tell” about the risen Christ marks the beginning of the spread of the gospel message and the furthering of God’s kingdom coming on earth.

In the commissioning moment, Jesus emphasizes the power of her testimony, which is still powerful today, just as ours is. 

The personal testimony of a disciple of Jesus accelerates the mission by giving others the opportunity to hear and believe in the risen Christ and find life in his name.

4. What is the gospel application of the text?

The cross provides forgiveness of sins and deliverance from our past, and the resurrection gives us new life and power to live for Christ. 

Mary Magdalene’s story illustrates the complete work of salvation: Jesus redeems, restores, and commissions us for his mission.

Just as Jesus called Mary to proclaim the good news of the resurrection, we, too, are commissioned to testify to Christ’s victory over sin and death. 

This means embracing the call to follow Jesus and share his transformative work in our lives with others so they, too, can experience redemption and resurrection life.

- Second City Church

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity : Joseph of Arimathea

The Cross: And What It Means for Lost Humanity:

Joseph of Arimathea - from Passivity to Mission

NOTES PREPARED BY PAUL BARKER

 Focus Statement:

He was a secret disciple and member of the Council, but the cross motivated him to action.

Take faith-filled risks—even if it’s not your responsibility.

Take faith-filled risks—even if it’s costly.

Take faith-filled risks—even when it seems too late.

Text:

Mark 15:42–46 (ESV)

 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

Luke 23:50–51 (ESV)

Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action; and he was looking for the kingdom of God.

John 19:38 (ESV)

After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.

The Text in the Story of Redemption

Though the story of Jesus’ burial by Joseph of Arimathea is short, all four gospel writers include it, underscoring its importance. 

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each record the details of Jesus’ burial because of its narrative, apologetic, prophetic, and instructional importance.

First, from a storytelling perspective, Jesus’ burial is a crucial step in the narrative, bridging the events of the crucifixion on Friday with the empty tomb on Sunday. 

This short account is essential to moving the story toward its climax.

Second, the details of Jesus’ burial provide important historical facts that early Christians used as an apologetic defense against claims that Jesus did not truly die on the cross and, therefore, could not have risen from the dead.

Third, this burial fulfills prophetic scripture, as early interpreters noted. 

Jesus’ burial in Joseph’s tomb fulfills the prophecy in Isaiah 53:9, which says, “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”

Finally, the story holds instructional significance for all believers. 

Joseph of Arimathea, a relatively obscure disciple, exemplifies a journey of faith and discipleship, moving from passivity to bold action in serving Jesus’ mission.

What does Joseph’s story mean for us?

The short answer is this: If we want to move from passivity to mission, as Joseph did, we must be willing to take faith-filled risks. 

But before exploring this key idea, let’s first understand Joseph of Arimathea and why he initially acted with passivity and secrecy.

Background on Joseph of Arimathea

The gospels provide several insights into Joseph’s character and position.

1. He was a “respected member of the council” (Mark 15:43). 

The council is the Sanhedrin, the first-century Jewish equivalent of the Supreme Court. 

Though the Jews were under Roman rule, the Sanhedrin remained the most powerful and prestigious legal body in the Jewish world. 

This council tried and condemned Jesus (Matthew 26:57–68), though they needed Pilate’s approval to carry out the death sentence (Matthew 27:1-2, 11–26).

2. He was “a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action” (Luke 23:50–51). 

Though the details are unclear, Luke emphasizes that Joseph either protested the council’s decision to condemn Jesus or was absent during the trial. 

Despite his prominence in the Sanhedrin, Joseph did not share the guilt of condemning Jesus.

3. He was “looking for the kingdom of God” (Luke 23:51). 

He was one of those Jews who had not given up hope that the Messiah would come and deliver his people. 

At some point during Jesus’ ministry, Joseph encountered Jesus’ teaching and the claim that he was the Messiah. 

While we don’t know the specifics of Joseph’s encounters with Jesus, we know that the good news reached him.

4. He was a “disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews” (John 19:38). 

Although the other gospels imply Joseph’s secrecy, John makes it explicit. 

This is probably because John is interested that many more believed in Jesus than openly followed him (see John 12:42–43), like Nicodemus (John 3:1), another prominent Jewish leader who was a secret disciple of Jesus.

The Surprising Story of Jesus’ Burial

The story of Jesus’ burial by Joseph is simple but full of surprising elements. 

The first surprise is that Joseph, a secret disciple and prominent council member, was the one who asked for Jesus’ body—not a family member or well-known disciple. 

The second surprise is that this secret follower of Jesus suddenly took such a significant risk, choosing to associate himself with someone the Romans had just executed.

Third, Joseph made this bold move at a time when Jesus’ messianic mission appeared to have failed.

From Passivity to Mission

These surprises give us the key to understanding how Joseph went from passivity to mission, from fear to boldness. 

By asking Pilate for Jesus’ body and taking responsibility for burying him, Joseph took a mission-driven, faith-filled risk that changed everything for him.

Let’s examine what we can learn from this short but powerful story.

1. Take mission-driven, faith-filled risks—even if it’s not your responsibility.

The first thing we can learn from Joseph is to take faith-filled risks—even if it’s not your responsibility.

It should surprise readers from any generation that a completely unknown character in the story shows up after Jesus’ death and takes responsibility to bury Jesus. 

Why didn’t his family members or disciples bury Jesus? We don’t know the answer, but we have a few clues.

Jesus’ disciples probably didn’t volunteer to bury Jesus because they were afraid of being associated with him and being executed, too. 

However, more fundamentally, Jesus’ family and close followers probably didn’t volunteer to bury Jesus because people the Romans crucified were usually not granted the honor of a proper burial. Usually, birds and dogs ate their bodies. The only exception was for crucified people who had family members or friends with high status.

Enter, Joseph of Arimathea. As a secret disciple, he was not known as a close associate of Jesus; however, his status as a member of the Sanhedrin enabled him to gain an audience with Pilate and make such a request.

That said, it’s still remarkable that he did this because he was incurring the same risks that the other disciples were terrified of—being associated with someone whom the Romans had condemned of treason and executed.

Joseph could have easily assumed that Jesus’ family or twelve disciples would (or at least should) take responsibility for his burial. 

No one would have thought this was his responsibility, but Joseph took a faith-filled risk to identify with Jesus and provide a proper burial for him.

Application: 

• How often do we avoid taking mission-driven, faith-filled risks and remain passive because we assume someone else will take responsibility? 

We are usually experts at assigning work and responsibility to others and arguing why other people should be in line ahead of us.

2. Take mission-driven, faith-filled risks—even if it’s costly.

The second thing we can learn from Joseph is to take mission-driven, faith-filled risks—even if they’re costly.

None of the gospel writers record the consequences of Joseph’s decision. 

But we can easily imagine the costly risks that Joseph considered before he made the fateful decision to talk to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body.

First, Joseph knew that burying Jesus could cost him his respected position with the Sanhedrin. 

Less than 24 hours earlier, they had condemned Jesus to death, and now he was identifying with the man whom they condemned as a blasphemer. 

John notes that some of the religious leaders believed in Jesus, “but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42).

Joseph knew his decision could cost him his status and respect with his people.

Second, Joseph knew that burying Jesus could cost him his civic freedoms under Roman occupation. 

To the Jewish leaders, Jesus was a blasphemer, but to the Romans, Jesus was an insurrectionist, as his death by crucifixion communicated. 

For Joseph to ask Pilate, the Roman governor, for Jesus’ body was to identify with a traitor to the Roman Empire. 

Minimally, this could mark him as a person of suspicion. 

At worst, he could end up with the same fate if Jesus’ movement continued to cause problems for the Romans.

Joseph could have weighed the cost of this risk and decided that it was too risky to bury Jesus. 

But he didn’t. 

He made a bold decision and took a risk to identify with Jesus.

Application: 

• How often do we avoid taking mission-driven, faith-filled risks and remain passive because we think the cost is too high?

3. Take mission-driven, faith-filled risks—even when it seems too late.

The final thing we can learn from Joseph is to take mission-driven, faith-filled risks—even when it seems too late.

Joseph’s stand for Jesus is oddly timed. 

If Joseph thought Jesus was the Messiah, he should have made his belief public sooner—perhaps even appealing to the council not to condemn Jesus to death. 

Making a public stand for Jesus after his death seems like a bold move made too late.

Did Joseph still think Jesus was the Messiah? 

Did he know about Jesus’ predictions of his resurrection? 

Or did Joseph feel like Jesus was simply a good man—a would-be Messiah—who was unjustly executed and therefore deserved a proper burial? 

We simply don’t know. 

However, the fact that Joseph took this radical risk when it seemed too late says something about his faith and his devotion to Jesus.

Furthermore, Joseph’s faith-filled risk was honored when his tomb became the site of the greatest miracle in human history—the resurrection of Jesus.

Application: 

• How often do we avoid taking faith-filled risks and remain passive because we think we’ve missed our chance? 

• How often do we assume the window for bold, mission-driven, faith-filled action has closed and stay passive because the timing seems inopportune?

Conclusion:

If we want to move from passivity to mission, we can follow in Joseph’s footsteps and take faith-filled risks:

—even when it’s not our responsibility.

—even when it’s costly.

—even when it seems too late.

These faith-filled risks will not make sense to most people, and sometimes they won’t even make sense to us, but we can take them in faith because we follow a crucified and resurrected Savior. 

When we consider the risk that Jesus took for us, no risk we make for Jesus is too costly or too late for him.

Four Questions

1. How is God glorified in the text?

God is glorified in the text because acts of faith-filled risk glorify God. 

When disciples take Jesus at his word and do bold things for him, he is glorified in our lives, and we are satisfied, no matter the outcome.

2. How is our heart transformed in the text?

Our hearts are transformed when we know that God can take passive, insignificant disciples and make them integral players in his grand story of redemption. 

Knowing that God sees people who are afraid but have just a little faith and that he gives us opportunities to be bold and take risks for him even when it seems too late should fill us with hope and joy.

3. How is the mission accelerated in the text?

The mission is accelerated in this text when we see how seemingly small human participation (burying Jesus) can have exponentially multiplied significance when God demonstrates his power and intervenes in everyday human affairs. 

Joseph wanted to do something to honor Jesus, but his actions set the stage for something much more significant than a simple (though risky) act of personal devotion.

4. What is the gospel application of the text?

The gospel application is this—no matter how much it costs us to follow Jesus, we can be assured that it cost him more to redeem us. 

And no matter how big of a risk we think we are taking to obey Jesus, we can trust our lives and our decisions to him. 

Joseph probably believed that Jesus really “needed” him to give him a proper burial. 

Still, Joseph had no idea that God was giving him the honor of participating in a greater story that changed not only Joseph’s life but all of human history.

Hope and Healing: Life at the Pace of Jesus

‭Hope and Healing: Life at the Pace of Jesus

Pastor Rollan Fisher

 Focus: The life that we are all looking for is found when we begin to look to and live at the pace of Jesus. 

• Signs

• What You’re Looking For Is…

• Found in Christ

 Signs

We need to be able to discern the natural and spiritual signs that God is giving us to be able to keep in step with God’s plans for us in Jesus.  

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: "'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”

Life can seem like it is out of control when we are trying to do things on our own. 

One sign that we might be inadvertently outpacing God is the breakdown of our health - whether physically, emotionally or mentally. 

As we prepare to celebrate the epiphany by remembering Christ’s visit from the wise men, we need to prayerfully reevaluate the pace at which we’ve been running in life.   

God is always working on multiple levels, in multiple ways to save lives.  

The Magi were thought to be astrologers from the East who were influenced by the Jews speaking about the words of the prophets during their exile in Babylon.  

The wise men had a sense of that which (or he who) should rule their lives, but needed the Scripture to illuminate and help bring clarity to the signs that they saw.  

The wise men were looking for the one to be born king of the Jews. 

The wise men were looking for Jesus. 

The fact that God provided a star, a supernatural sign to lead the wise men to the answer of their life searchings demonstrated God’s desire to redeem not only the Jews, but the Gentiles (the rest of the known world) through the Messiah that God would send to be savior of all mankind. 

God had spoken about this through the prophet Isaiah, who ministered approximately 700 years before the arrival of Jesus, before the Babylonian exile:

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭49‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

 “he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."”

In providing the star for the wise men to follow, God would literally move the heavens and earth to get a hold of the souls that he came to save.  

“Consider how precious a soul must be, when both God and the devil are after it.”

-Charles Spurgeon

 What You’re Looking For Is…

We need to discern what it actually is that we’re looking for in life to see whether it’s worth the journey we’re on to obtain it.   

Looking within is not the key.  

“By declaring that man is responsible and must actualize the potential meaning of his life, I wish to stress that the true meaning of life is to be discovered in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a closed system. I have termed this constitutive characteristic "the self-transcendence of human existence." It denotes the fact that being human always points, and is directed, to something or someone, other than oneself--be it a meaning to fulfill or another human being to encounter. The more one forgets himself--by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love--the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence.”

-Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

When looking into the word of God, the chief priests and scribes were able to determine not only that God had spoken about the king for whom the wise men were looking, but where this king was to be born - in Bethlehem of Judea according to the word of the prophet Micah. 

What we saw is that the supernatural signs that God provided the wise men and the word of God spoken by the prophets all led to what the wise men, king Herod and the religious leaders were looking for - the Son of God who came to save the world. 

What the Magi were able to discover is that true life is found outside of their own learning, in the person of Jesus.  

Yet there is a catch. 

Like King Herod and the people of Jerusalem, once we realize that what we are actually looking for requires a new king in our lives, it can be initially troubling to us.  

“Idols control us since we feel like we must have them or life is meaningless.”

-Timothy Keller in Counterfeit Gods

Herod had the history of…

However, once we acknowledge that the things that were previously ruling us were unmerciful taskmasters (like Herod and our idols), then we are glad to let these other rulers go.  

We are saved from both literal and metaphorical hell by turning from our sins to the worship of Jesus. 

How did the wise men respond?

The wise men, once they realized who it was that they were looking for, came with their gold, frankincense and myrrh.  

*Ironically, these are the things to which people often look for the meaning of life ( financial security, the power of self-help and the avoidance of death), trying to find their value, worth and security.  

The wise men understood what Jesus would later speak to, that Christ’s kingdom and the worship of him was worth their all.  

What did the Magi sacrifice to come worship Jesus?:

Time - if starting in Babylon, the wise men, after weeks of preparation getting an envoy and possible royal permission, would travel nearly 1700 miles to make their way to Bethlehem.  

Traveling by camel, who can cover about 25 miles in a day, that would have taken them over two months to get to Jesus.  

The question is:

How are we willing to give of our time to meet with, worship and offer our gifts to Jesus today?

Gold - brought as tribute to a king who would use the gold to advance his Kingdom purposes 

Frankincense and myrrh were consecration and healing agents. 

Frankincense - as well as being a key ingredient in perfumes and essential oils, frankincense was used for worship in the temple, burned as a part of the fragrant offerings that went up to God. 

This is now what God associates with our prayers that God uses to shake Heaven and earth (Revelation 5:8). 

The bringing of frankincense represented a form of worship pointing to Jesus’ divinity and identity as healer. 

While frankincense could be used to treat gastritis and stomach ulcers, myrrh was used to treat wounds, skin conditions, digestive and respiratory issues.  

Myrrh - used to prepare the holy anointing oil for priests, the tabernacle and kings, setting them apart by the power of the Holy Spirit for God’s service. 

Myrrh was also used to prepare dead bodies for burial and foreshadowed Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. 

Myrrh would foreshadow not only Christ’s identity as the Anointed One, but his role as God’s suffering servant bringing salvation to the world through his death. 

Again, the wise men would come to understand that about which Jesus would later speak:

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭13‬:‭44‬-‭46‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Here’s the good news when we turn to the worship of Jesus to move at God’s pace:

Time - you can be everything that GOD has designed you to be and achieve all that GOD has called you to do as you live at the pace of his commands 

Gold - you will have all that you need for  necessary provision and contentment when you submit your view of finances to his word and do what he says with it. 

Frankincense - through a committed life of prayer and worship, you can be healed of the wounds received from a fallen world ruled by other kings. 

Myrrh - by living set apart to God for his purposes and joining Christ in his death, you will also live with the joy and freedom of his resurrection life.  

Found in Christ 

Hope and healing can come when you begin to look to and live at the pace of Jesus. 

If you go at God’s pace, you will find full life found only in Christ.  

Hope and healing are found in Jesus alone because eternal life is found in Christ alone. 

Matthew 2:10-12

And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”

Once the star stopped, it revealed Jesus to the wise men.  

The wise men came from far away to find Jesus with his mother, Mary. 

You can always count on two things if you are trying to find Jesus.  

If you are looking for Jesus, he can always be found seeking the lost and amongst his family, his people - the church.  

When the wise men found Jesus they were able to rejoice exceedingly with great joy because they had finally found what and who they were looking for. 

Make sure that like Herod, once you find out about Jesus, you are not trying to locate him for your own ends.  

Once you find Jesus, repentance from sin and change are an expectation.  

Once they met Jesus, the wise men were led by God’s word, this time in a dream.  

The wise men, after meeting Jesus, went home a different way and avoided the traps that were set for them in life.  

Like the wise men our ultimate goal in life should be to find Jesus, worship him, offer our gifts and live life at his pace. 

What does it mean to walk at the pace of Jesus?

It means, like the wise men, I am taking my time to find King Jesus.  

I know that the sum total of my success in life is being found in relationship with Jesus, serving him as king and loving him by obeying his commands.  

Therefore I will slow down enough to keep in step with him, giving myself to the most meaningful things in life that he prescribes because I have found in his kingdom the pearl of great price and am now giving all that I have to obtain it.  

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”

-C.S. Lewis

Because of Christ’s sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross for our wrongs and resurrection from the dead, we have the ability to be forgiven of our past deeds, turn and find what we’re truly looking for - life lived at the pace of Jesus.  

• Second City Church

Hope and Healing: Clearing Things Up

‭Hope and Healing: Clearing Things Up

Pastor Rollan Fisher

Focus: What I misunderstood, God can make clear, so that I can be redeemed and healed in Jesus Christ. 

• What I Misunderstood

• What God Made Clear Can Be 

• Redeemed and Healed in Christ

 What I Misunderstood 

Though just, Joseph did not perceive everything that God was doing clearly.  

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬-‭25‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”

Joseph was a just man, but sometimes our perception of justice can get in the way of what God is actually doing.  

We can misunderstand God’s plan which is found in the gospel of God’s grace that would be revealed in Jesus. 

*You can have the right intentions but be on the wrong path.  

What are some modern applications of this?

THERE HAVE BEEN MORE THAN A FEW FAMILY DIVISIONS CAUSED BY POLITICAL STRIFE AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS IN OUR CULTURE. 

COULD HAVE BEEN THE CASE WITH JOSEPH AND MARY

WHAT HAS CAUSED FAMILIAL STRIFE AND DIVISION BECAUSE OF POSSIBLE MISUNDERSTANDINGS FOR YOU THIS HOLIDAY SEASON?

Jesus came to bring the pathway to forgiveness and healing, salvation and redemption, even in families. 

What can I do like Joseph to help diffuse and heal situations/relationships like Joseph?

It was not because of actual sin, but Mary’s perceived sin that caused Joseph to almost miss what God was doing.  

In what way have you allowed misunderstandings and hurt to create distance in your marriage, with your family or in God-ordained relationships?  

*Healing comes when you allow for God’s intervention in regard to what you previously believed to be true. 

What God Made Clear Can Be

God can make clear what we previously misunderstood if we have open hearts and minds when looking to Jesus.  

The good news is that when we look to go astray, God steps in and speaks whether by the Holy Spirit or through his messengers. 

God is more committed to his purposes in Christ and us than we are. 

For Joseph, God sent an angel to speak to him in a dream. 

God’s communication may not be as pronounced for you and me - God may speak through a trusted friend, a Bible verse or a donkey 😆, but we need to make sure that we are not being wise in our own eyes when relating to others, so that we can be open to listening to what God has to say.  

You may have closed your ears to hearing God if you are presently exhibiting any one of the following qualities which God abhors:

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭6‬:‭16‬-‭19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭17‬:‭19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Whoever loves transgression loves strife; he who makes his door high seeks destruction.”

Don’t go dark like Megatron!

You can find your heart and ears open to God again if you take this posture:

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭18‬:‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

Joseph needed to change his mind, his heart posture and his plans - Joseph needed to come to repentance.  

*It was the word of God that allowed Joseph to see clearly - to have a proper interpretation of his circumstances allowing him to rise above his feelings and make a decision based on faith. 

Redeemed and Healed in Christ

Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, we all have a second chance for forgiveness and healing. 

*Hope can be restored when you realize that God was in the misunderstanding all along.  

Re-engaging God’s plan would bring healing to both Joseph and Mary’s hearts.

B shared with me a great quote for the Advent season: 

Jesus Christ is our perfect example. 

Though seeing clearly and being completely just, Jesus was the better Joseph that humbled himself to reconcile a world that had been set against him in sin. 

He called us to repentance and faith that we could once again have a hope to be brought back into friendship with God. 

“You can't forgive somebody without absorbing the cost. Either that person pays for it or you do. On the cross, God didn't just forgive us, he paid the cost himself.”

-Timothy Keller

Because Jesus would live sinlessly, die sacrificially at the cross to take the punishment for our mistakes and rise three days later, we have permanent access to this reconciliation with God.  

This advent season, may we find our way back to not only God, but one another, as we allow God to restore hope that our relationships might be redeemed and healed in Christ. 

• Second City Church

Hope and Healing: A New Set of Values

‭Hope and Healing - A New Set of Values

Pastor Rollan Fisher 

Focus: Hope and healing come when we detach from the value system of the world and finally find our joy in the eternal realities of Jesus Christ. 

• Values 

• Our Present Hope 

• Our Future Hope 

Values 

Hope and healing begin its work when we look to what God says will actually provide it.  

‭‭Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭22‬-‭32‬ ‭ESV

“And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel."

God the Father’s timetable is not our timetable and his goals are not always congruent with our picture of how our stories should go.  

Remember that in the advent that Elizabeth and Mary were on two ends of the spectrum of life and were able to see this (Luke 1). 

It’s a matter of values.  

A life submitted to God means that I am his servant submitted to the plans that bring glory to Jesus within his redemptive plan. 

My hope and full healing, joy and reward will be found in the eternal life to come. 

This is God’s focus, though it is not always ours.  

And in the meantime, our joys and sorrows are shaped by both our societal and personal values.  

*Just because something is part of your present value system doesn’t mean that it is right or good.  

Why?

Because we know that historical values can and have been shaped by sin to the detriment of individuals, families, societies and nations.  

Think about what the following value systems have produced in the nations:

• Self-actualization and the disintegration of the family unit 

• Greed and materialism 

• Sexual objectification and misogyny 

• Racism and slavery 

• The idea of the uber man and the Holocaust 

Victor Frankl, a respected psychiatrist in Austria before being sent to Auschwitz during the Holocaust expresses things this way:

“But today’s society is characterized by achievement orientation, and consequently it adores people who are successful and happy and, in particular, it adores the young. It virtually ignores the value of all those who are otherwise, and in so doing blurs the decisive difference between being valuable in the sense of dignity and being valuable in the sense of usefulness. If one is not cognizant of this difference and holds that an individual’s value stems only from his present usefulness, then, believe me, one owes it only to personal inconsistency not to plead for euthanasia along the lines of Hitler’s program, that is to say, ‘mercy’ killing of all those who have lost their social usefulness, be it because of old age, incurable illness, mental deterioration, or whatever handicap they may suffer. Confounding the dignity of man with mere usefulness arises from conceptual confusion that in turn may be traced back to the contemporary nihilism transmitted on many an academic campus and many an analytical couch.”

-Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

We need a renewed hope that leads to healing by reorienting ourselves around God’s values and eternal purposes in Christ. 

When we talk about hope and healing, it’s not just societal, it’s personal.  

The questions we have to ask are:

1. Is it possible to have joy and not have everything else that everyone else has?

2. Is it possible to be whole and not have everything that you thought that you wanted or needed?  

The answer is yes when you have Jesus Christ.  

Consider things understood by the apostle James:

‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”

‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?”

The world offers temporary and imperfect substitutes for what can only be and is only meant to be found in Jesus.  

Simeon and Anna exemplified great joy because in their latter years they were able to receive their reward.  

Some might have thought their lives as having been lacking, full of misery while they waited for the consolation of Israel or bore with the loss of human companionship.  

*Yet their joy was made complete because they learned through loss that these temporary comforts were not the true prize.  

You can only be freed to know true value through the cross. 

If you’ve always had things done for you, you never know true strength.  

The idea that it is a failure to not obtain your Hallmark story can come from the underlying values driven by the idols of our society.  

For example:

“One sign that you’ve made success and idol is the false sense of security it brings.  The poor and marginalized expect suffering.  They know that life on this earth is nasty, brutish, and short. Successful people are more shocked and overwhelmed by troubles.”

-Timothy Keller in Counterfeit Gods 

“I’ve often heard people from the upper echelon say, “Life isn’t supposed to be this way” when they face tragedy.  I have never heard this language among the working class and poor. This false sense of security comes from deifying our achievement and expecting it to keep us safe from the troubles of life when only God can.”

-Timothy Keller in Counterfeit Gods 

It is not bad to desire certain things that bring enjoyment in life.  

Yet we need to identify what value systems are shaping us and what has truly become Lord of our hearts and lives. 

“Whatever controls us is our Lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves, we are controlled by the lord of our lives.”  

-Timothy Keller

When Christ has truly become Lord of our values, we have a pathway to hope and healing when like the Psalmist we can say,

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭73‬:‭25‬,26 ‭ESV‬‬

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.”

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Our Present Hope

There is healing when we begin to identify what is the true lord or our present hopes and dreams. 

‭‭

Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭33‬-‭35‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed."

Christ’s arrival would cause the rising and falling of many in Israel as Jesus came to challenge their value systems, while offering true hope and healing. 

When the Holy Spirit is working in our lives, he brings his word to be a sword to pierce our souls (our minds, wills and emotions) to reveal what is truly driving us. 

God’s leadership in our lives forces us to ask the questions, if God is authoring my path:

1. What is a good life?

2. For what should we hope?

“If you ask for something that you don’t get…you may become sad and disappointed, then you go on.  Those are not your functional masters.  But when you pray and hope for something and you don’t get it and you respond with explosive anger or deep despair, then you may have found your real god.”

-Timothy Keller in Counterfeit Gods 

There is power and healing when we find that God gives our life meaning when we focus on his eternal hopes and values.  

‭‭Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭36‬-‭38‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Even in loss, Anna’s life found great meaning.  

Her devotion to worship at the temple forged a committed life of fasting and prayer that God would use to shape history. 

At the time of Christ’s arrival, she would be attuned and prepared to speak of Jesus to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. 

In this, Anna was able to experience a present hope and healing. 

Yet what could have pulled her off the path would have been idols which Keller described as: 

 “…anything more important to you than God. Anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God. Anything you seek to give you what only God can give. Anything that is so central and essential to your life, that should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living.” 

-Timothy Keller

Mid-life (or adulting) crises can be eye-opening allowing us to reorient our thinking to resign to what God says is good. 

Aging is good (Romans 8)

Doing without can be good (James 1 - the rich and poor in this world)

Suffering can be good (Romans 5)

When we have these Biblical, God-ordained perspectives, it changes the ability that we have to enter to a present hope and healing.  

Full of faith, we can once again pray like the Psalmist..

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭27‬:‭11‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

In what ways has God been faithful to you and healed your heart as you’ve waited upon him?

Rather than making a list of worst-case scenarios or things that you lack, make a list of things for which you can, like Anna, give thanks to God because he has filled you with hope by fulfilling his good promises to you.  

Our Future Hope

Our eternal hope is that in Jesus, there will be healing for the nations.  

There’s a theme of at least three significant trees throughout the Scripture.  

The first tree was the tree of life (Genesis 2:9) that brought sustenance and vitality to the world in Eden.  

But when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3) - they assumed moral autonomy while resigning to their own wisdom and fell.  

All of the damage that we see in the world whether rape, murder, familial dysfunction, ethnic strife and relational degradation are a result of this sin entering into the world.  

How do we still in our own wisdom, still eat from the first tree and allow damage to enter our lives, relationships, churches and world?  

The second tree was one of redemption where Jesus Christ not only took the punishment and shame for our sin through his sacrificial death on the cross, but reconciled us to God and one another offering us the hope of healing in all things through his resurrection from the dead.  

The final tree is one that those who repent of their sin, choose to put their faith in Jesus and love the Lord will one day eat from. 

It is the tree of life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.  

Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

Once again, in this place, we will see clearly, the Lord’s values will be our own, and Jesus will be forever exalted as the fulfillment of our hope - the author of our eternal healing. 

Practically Applying the Realities of the Nativity

Guest Speaker: Benjamin Foote

Section 1: Christmas time is here!

1. It’s the Christmas season so today as part of our Christmas series I want to talk to you about the birth of Jesus Christ and share a perspective that will hopefully enable you to celebrate this season in spirit and in truth.

2. The Christmas season is full of celebration. Namely, we celebrate the nativity – Jesus Christ, God Himself, being born into this earth by the virgin Mary. There is much to celebrate and ponder about this season and my hope is that our celebration of this incredible event spurs us to love and worship God, because that is what Christmas is all about.

Section 2: Teaser – I don’t really like Nativity scenes.

1. So, today I want to focus specifically on the Nativity scene. I think you know the one I’m talking about.Now, I don’t like this. In fact, I don’t really like most any version of this scene that has appeared in our culture.

2. In today’s message I’m going to attempt to explain why, and somehow I’m hoping you are encouraged by it.

   Now, to be clear, I am in no way trying to shame anyone who has a nativity scene set up in their home nor convince you to stop displaying or even enjoying them! Really, they’re fine. I just don’t like them. Rather, my desire is for you to see past what we typically think of and view when we hear the term “nativity scene” and instead begin to comprehend the humbling and extraordinary circumstances that the biblical, historical birth of the God of the Universe, Jesus Christ, took place in

   3. So let’s back up. This is what we typically see as the nativity. There are a few things wrong with this picture. First, the wise men were not there – most scholars agree that the wise men visited Jesus in his 2nd or 3rd year of life. But, that’s not what I want to focus on. Instead, I want to consider the inaccuracies of this scene as it is displaying a quiet, clean, comfortable, warm, peaceful, glorious night. I would submit to you that in reality, it was none of those things save the word “glorious.” It was certainly glorious, just not in the way we usually view that word.

Section 3: Luke 2:1-21

1. So let’s see what the bible says about the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. In Luke 2:1-21 we read Linus’ favorite account of the nativity. It says this:

2. Luke 2:1-21

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

1. There is so much that I love about this passage, but what I love the most is that in a quiet, very dark pasture – where the shepherds were – an angel explodes into the scene. This was undoubtedly the most remarkable thing these shepherds had ever seen, yet the angel declares that they will see a sign that night.

2. Think about that. These blue-collar workers are just minding their own business when an angel appears to them, this brilliant heavenly sight, the most incredible amazing thing they’ve ever seen in their entire existence, and essentially says, “tonight you’re going to see something really cool. You’re going to see a sign.

1. The shepherds must have been thinking, “something better than this? What other sign could top this?”

3. But the angel explains. And what this angel describes was certainly something more extraordinary, more glorious than even this angel – exploding out of thin air into the pitch-black sky – was, than even the multitude of angels that appeared shortly afterwards was…

4. What the angel says they will see is this: the Savior of the world, Christ the Lord, the promised messiah, the God of the Universe (!!!), wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in a manger.

5. I also want to note that shepherds were among the lowest class of working people during this time. They were not in a place of honor, nor did they likely ever think they would receive any kind of great honor. In modern terms this would be like your janitors, your meter maids, your garbage men – hard-working jobs that receive little praise or admiration. But the angel appears to them. The first ones to hear about this awesome occurrence, the pinnacle of human experience up to this point, were shepherds. So, hold that thought…

Section 4: Back to the nativity scene

1. And let’s go back to our perceived image of the nativity. I would argue that if the shepherds were to go and see this image that perhaps it wouldn’t have been so miraculous. This is a beautiful scene, well lit, clean, warm, comfortable, glorious, etcetera. It’s a nice setting for the Savior of the world. Humble, yes, but nice!
   

2. But I don’t think that this is what they were expecting to see nor this is what they saw. The scriptures say that Jesus was laid in a manger. A manger was a feeding trough for animals, a feeding trough that was in a time where hygiene wasn’t really on the top of peoples’ list. Very likely it was not made out of wood as wood was an expensive and precious material during this time, it was probably a porous, stone basin a filthy piece of equipment surrounded by barn animals and soaked in barn animals’ saliva, droppings, etc. I’m sure Mary found some clean hay to place in the manger, but I’m not convinced that there was a high quality selection. Also, Mary had just given birth, and thus the aftermath of that birth could have been present among the floors of the barn, which by the way was probably a limestone cave of some sort – according to Third Hour or– like this . Our three main characters were likely wearing soiled clothes, or at the very least their soiled clothes were tucked away in a corner but ever present. The smell of the scene would have been thick and unpleasant, Mary and Joseph themselves would have been exhausted and not ready for visitors.

3. Yet this pitiful, humble environment was how God incarnate, that is the human form of God Himself – Jesus, decided to enter the world. This is why such a scene would have been a sign to the shepherds, who likely knew a King was coming because of the scriptures and were probably expecting to see Him in a place fit for a king – a palace surrounded by wealth and VIPs, or at the very least an indoor venue – like an inn – but instead they witnessed Him in a dirty, dark barn, with two very poor parents, lying in a vessel marked by animal saliva.

4. In modern terms, this would be like an angel appearing to garbage men and telling them that they would see the God of the Universe, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a dumpster. That would be quite a sign, wouldn’t it? Equivalently, this is what the shepherds experienced and witnessed.

5. I actually tried to input what I believe the nativity scene would have looked like into an AI generator to give you a better picture but this is what I got [Image 4] 

1. The likelihood of the nativity scene is so different than what we commonly reference that even AI won’t imagine it for you.

Section 5: The Least of These

1. Why is this important? Why is it important to have a more accurate view of this scene? Ben, why couldn’t you just leave me alone to enjoy the image of cute baby cows gently nuzzling the porcelain white baby Jesus in the sparkly clean yellow hay that lays upon the conveniently propped-up, wooden manger?

2. To answer that we should consider another passage that strikes at the heart of both the Gospel and the work that God has charged every believer in this room and beyond to do. It is a prophecy told 30-some years after this nativity scene be Jesus Himself. His disciples had just asked him about the end of the world and what it would look like, what would happen. Among other things, Jesus tells them this prophecy:

3. Matthew 25:31-46

4. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

5. “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

6. So what does this have to do with the Nativity… Jesus was not being entirely figurative when he said that serving the least of these is serving him. He is not an easier-said-than-done Savior, he literally relates to the lowest of all people, more than meeting is where we are at, he has gone through much worse, marked ultimately by the very beginning and end of his life.

7. When we have a more accurate view of the Christmas story, this ever-important scene that we call the Nativity, we realize that God Himself, Jesus, came and was born into the lowest of all circumstances: to parents so poor they had to bring turtledoves to the temple, into a cold, dark, dirty, and smelly cave surrounded not by royalty or religious leaders, but by barn animals and shepherds. When we consider this, we realize that Jesus became the least of these, the least of all of us, on our behalf. Jesus is the least of these.

8. Christmas is a time where we often realign our focus on giving. From December 1 to December 25 there are countless food drives, fundraisers, toy donations, you name it to help those in need. But I would submit to you that we as Christians are called to celebrate Christmas all year round! And how do we do that?

9. For those of you who start playing Christmas music in October, boy do I have good news for you! You all, we all can celebrate early by serving the most disenfranchised in our community, the least of these, every day of the year. When we do that, we serve Jesus, we serve this baby: No, not that baby, this baby, The one I’m not allowed to show you. 

10. When your life is marked by your love of the least of these, your life is marked by your love for Jesus. A life saturated by love for the least of these is a life saturated by love for Jesus. That is the calling that each and every one of us has on our life,

Section 6: The Cross

1. We should all consider this calling, claim this calling, for three reasons.

2. The first is the nativity – we’ve covered that.

3. The second is Imago Dei – the fact that all of humankind was and is made in the image of God. When people are forgotten or cast aside, when they are deemed “less than” it flies directly in the face of God’s creation. Serving these communities is the clear response of the Christian, to see the image of God in everyone, and to treat all with love and respect.

4. The third reason is the cross.

1. It should come as no surprise to you that I am not a fan of crucifixes either.

2. The image that we typically think of when we think of Christ on the cross is hauntingly inaccurate. It is usually of a chiseled dude with a six pack, delicately hanging from a cross with single beads of blood dripping from his forehead, hands, feet, and side with a decency cloth wrapped around his waist.

3. I want you to hear me clearly: that is not what the crucifixion looked like. The scriptures say that Jesus was beaten beyond recognition, that his back was shredded into a bloody pulp by a whip. And I have to tell you, there was no decency cloth. 

4. I didn’t even try to input this into an AI image generator. It was grotesque, humiliating, and explicit.

5. This is the God we serve and celebrate on Christmas. A God who saw it fit to be born into a dirty, smelly, cold barn and a God who saw it fit to die a truly horrific, violent, and dehumanizing death.

6. Why? Because He cared for the least of these. He cared for you. He cared enough that when He saw that we were dead in our trespasses and sin he went on a rescue mission for our sake. In lowly circumstances he lived a sinless life yet died a sinners death, a death that you and I deserve for our rebellion against God, and then rose again three days later thereby defeating death and sin so that anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord, anyone repents from their wicked ways, believes on his saving power on the cross and victory over death, can be saved from eternal death.  That is who we celebrate on Christmas. And don’t you want to serve and worship that God?

Section 7: How?

1. So practically, how do we do this? How do we serve the least of these and thereby serve Jesus?

2. The passage I read in Matthew has Jesus acknowledging true believers by their lifestyle of serving the least of these. It follows that every follower of Jesus should be able to look at their life and clearly define how they are serving the least of these. 

3. So, I want to ask you a straightforward question. It’s rhetorical, don’t worry, but I want you to truly think about this: can you look at your life as it stands right now and clearly identify how your lifestyle serves the least of these?

4. If you are having trouble identifying how you are living this calling out, but your heart yearns for such a lifestyle, I want to encourage you that you are halfway there! I have some suggestions.

5. I’m going to list some programs that help what I think should be considered “the least of these”. These programs I am about to list are by no means a complete or thorough list, but they are a good place to start. I also want to clarify that some of these programs are ones that Second City Church is partnered with, others are not, some aren’t even strictly Christian, but they all serve communities and individuals that are loved by God.

1. Safe Families [Image 5]

1. Safe Families for Children seeks to bring the church and community together to keep children safe and families together. Safe Families for Children is rooted in faith, fueled by radical hospitality, disruptive generosity, and intentional compassion, to build a network of caring and compassionate volunteers to support families facing social isolation. Their goal is to support and strengthen families, prevent child abuse and neglect, and reduce the number of children unnecessarily entering the child welfare system.

2. Safe Families PLUS [Image 6]

1. Safe Families PLUS, in conjunction with the
   Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), provides
   caring mentors to youth ages 14 to 21 as they
   transition to adulthood. Mentors come alongside the
   youth to provide them with support that endures.
   Through consistent, one-on-one contact, mentors help
   youth explore their self-identity, talents, strengths,
   and career interests. These relationships open their
   eyes to new experiences.

3. By the Hand [Image 7]

1. Helping children who live in under-resourced neighborhoods have abundant life. By The Hand is a Christ-centered, after-school program that takes kids by the hand and walks with them from kindergarten through college, loving and nurturing them—mind, body and soul.

4. Exodus World Services [Image 8]

1. Exodus World Service mobilizes the Christian community to welcome and befriend refugees. We do this by educating churches and individuals about the plight of refugees, connecting volunteers with refugees through practical service projects, and empowering people to be champions for refugees.

5. Off the Street Club [Image 9]

1. Off The Street Club, Chicago’s oldest boys and girls club, is a non-profit youth center offering children in Garfield Park a safe place to laugh, dream, and reach their full potential.

6. Big Brother Big Sister [Image 10]

6. It is important to note that when we accurately consider the Nativity and the Cross – we realize that it is ugly. It is uncomfortable. It is painful. It is often without immediate or earthly reward. When we serve the Jesus in that manger and the Jesus on that cross, when we serve the least of these, it may be all of those things – ugly, uncomfortable, painful, thankless. But rest assured that serving Jesus in this way is not overlooked by our Savior, the God of the Universe, the Messiah who we will all meet on judgment day. Who will say, “did you serve me?” I, for one, want to answer, “yes, Lord.”

Section 8: Wrap up

1. So the next time you look at you or your neighbor’s nativity set, the next time you read the Christmas story, think and consider how wonderful a Savior we have to call our own. Think and consider how our God chose to live and die on our behalf. And think and consider how you can serve and worship Him by caring for the least of these.

Hope and Healing: Considerations

Hope and Healing: Considerations

Pastor Rollan

Focus: It does not matter what you have experienced or what you have done, there is the hope of redemption and healing to be found in Jesus. 

• Consider Our Common Need

• Consider the Historic Christ

• Consider Biblical Faith

Consider Our Common Need

We all, to varying degrees, are in need of the hope of redemption and healing. 

For what do we need hope?

Whether now or later, we need the hope that our lives can get better than they are now. 

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."

*There was a long period of disappointment and likely discouragement that Zechariah and Elizabeth experienced - the good news is that they would find hope and healing in their latter years.  

Zechariah and Elizabeth had been waiting for decades to bear a child - living under the weight of the emotional questions and with the cultural scorn that accompanied Elizabeth’s barrenness.  

We can miss God and suffer when we interpret our lives simply through chronos rather than kairos moments.  

*There was a kairos moment necessary for all components of God’s plan to arise to bring about the redemption of humanity. 

In Greek, the word kairos meant an appointed time for a special purpose.   

Think about it:

In the New Testament, the word kairos is used 86 times, as opposed to chronos (which refers to a specific amount of time) which was used 56 times.  

The Roman Empire which would facilitate the propagation of the gospel. 

At exactly the right time, God came to deliver a miracle.  

There is hope and healing released to our lives when we understand that in his story of redemption, God is the Lord of our kairos moments.  

God had both the old and the young in mind when he would bring about his redemption. 

Hope and healing would come to Zechariah and Elizabeth’s aged hearts.  

Hope and healing would lay ahead of youthful Mary as she bore Christ in her teenage years. 

It would be the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ that would heal their hearts and fulfill God’s word in which his people had long hoped.  

It does matter where you have been or what you have done, there is the hope of redemption and healing to be found in Jesus. 

This includes redemption for a lifetime of committed sins.  

There is the hope of restoration for wrongs done as you both receive and offer forgiveness. 

From what do we need healing?

Problems arise when throughout our lives, we look for our sense of value, accomplishment, peace and satisfaction outside of God.  

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

-St. Augustine in the first paragraph of his autobiography Confessions 

Hope and healing are available in every stage of life, even later in life.  

Is there a historic justification for this?

Consider the Historic Christ

The historic Jesus of Nazareth lives today, as he did 2000 years ago, to provide that very real hope of redemption and healing to the world.  

How does Jesus provide these things?

‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭67‬-‭80‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”

Your latter years can be your best years if you choose the hope and healing found in Jesus.  

We recommend Emotionally Healthy Discipleship as a tool in personal growth and development.  

What I’ve been learning about fear, always readying myself for the challenges to come tomorrow so that it steals my being in the present, enjoying and celebrating today. 

*My posture towards my post-embolism existence (many survivors of medical conditions and their families have to deal with anxiety and distress after injury) is an example of having to learn to live with the hope of serving the Lord without fear. 

Aged professional athletes often wish they had enjoyed the evolving moments of their success rather than always being about “the next thing.”

This is why Jesus exhorts us in his word:

Matthew 6:34 ESV

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

What is it that you’ve experienced that has caused you to look at the future with fear - even in Christ?

Fear of being betrayed?  Being alone? Health challenges?  Not finding your purpose?  Never having enough?

It would be because of the historic Jesus going to the cross to suffer in our place, that he was giving us the confidence that what he was determined to bring his people into was hope and healing.  

Prophesying 700 years before the arrival of John the Baptist and Jesus, Isaiah the prophet would proclaim by the Holy Spirit:

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40‬:‭3‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." A voice says, “Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

In kairos moments, God both lifts us and allows us to be brought low so that we might find our identity and salvation solely in Jesus.  

God raises us up in every valley to lift our eyes to the hope of forgiveness, but makes every mountain and hill low to turn us from our sins to the cross where Jesus paid the price for our rebellion against God that was killing us. 

Could this be your kairos hour to meet Jesus the Christ today?

Consider Biblical Faith

True Biblical faith and hope in the risen Jesus can revolutionize your life by providing the healing that you truly need.  

I changed Prince’s latter two Scriptural references to ESV for clarity and  understanding:

“In Hebrews 11, we find the definition of faith - the only word explicitly defined in the Bible.  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  Here, we see a relationship between faith and hope. Faith is here and now; hope is for the future. Faith is a material thing - something so real that it is called a substance.  It is in our hearts.  On the basis of faith, we can have a legitimate hope for the future.  But hope that is not based on legitimate faith is just wishful thinking.  

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

In the New Testament, believe is a word of motion. It is not a static thing or an intellectual position.  It is something in your heart that leads you to something new. Faith is a verb of motion: by faith we believe unto righteousness and salvation.  You can have intellectual faith and never be changed.  You can embrace all the doctrines of the Bible with your intellect but remain completely the same. But when you have faith in your heart, it leads to salvation.  

Faith is in the present; hope is in the future.  Biblical faith is in the heart; hope is in the mind.  Paul spoke about both with an interesting picture: ““But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation”

(‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬).  Two items of armor are mentioned in this verse.  Faith is a breastplate, which protects the heart, and hope is the helmet, which protects the head.  Faith is in the heart; hope is in the mind.”

-Derek Prince from his sermon Laying the Foundation, Vol. 1 Through Repentance to Faith