Parkwood Baptist Church

“As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.  And He sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for Him; but the people there did not welcome Him, because He was heading to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51-53)

“And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem.” (Luke 13:22)

 “While He was on His way to Jerusalem…” (Luke 17:11)

“Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, ‘Behold we are going up to Jerusalem…'” (Luke 18:31)

The plan to redeem us through the sacrifice and suffering of Jesus was planned from the beginning.  The Prophets had proclaimed it throughout Scripture.  The plan involved the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us.  It was God coming into our world and fully experiencing life “as we know it”.  This included submitting to the sometimes “inconvenient” will of the Father.  Last week we saw Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.  This was the enemy offering Jesus alternative plans to the one He had come to fulfill.  A more “convenient” way to get things done.  We need to know that the temptation to go a different way than the cross was constantly before Jesus.  After the temptation in the wilderness He was still tempted to go an easier way.  It was a decision He had to keep in front of Him daily.  Everything that He did and said was one step closer to the cross.

In the Scripture above Jesus has “resolutely” set out for Jerusalem.  The decision was made and it was not popular.  When people began to realize where Jesus was headed they expressed their disapproval by withdrawing their support.  To go to Jerusalem was to go straight into the hands of those who wanted to kill Him.  Even the disciples thought this was a bad idea.  The plan of God does not always make sense to us.  Jesus is, once again, turning things upside down.  How does it accomplish the purpose of God to walk into the arms of the enemy?  In Scripture we see that a sacrifice of obedience to the Lord requires a constant “resolve”.  This is why Jesus said that to be a disciple of His required us to take up our cross “daily”.

Maybe at this point in your lenten journey you have already experienced the temptation to “give in” on the committment that you made to the Lord during this time.  It is beginning to be more “inconvenient” than you expected.  Take a moment today to think about the resolve of Jesus to go to Jerusalem for you.  He decided every day that everything He said and did would take Him a step closer to the cross.  Each time you think of your sacrifice…think about His.  That’s what this lenten journey is all about.

Don’t grow weary…resolve to go to Jerusalem with Jesus.

“God saw all that He made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

“The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:13-16)

This is our second sabbath pause during the lenten season.  The sabbath days are not counted in the 40 days of lent because they are days of worship (feast days).  We pause today to reflect on why God would go to such great lengths to reconcile us to Himself.  Why does He love us so much?

The Scriptures above remind us that God created us from the very beginning.  We were His masterpiece!  He spoke light into being and commanded the land and waters to separate.  But when He created mankind He got His hands dirty.  We were hand made and then He breathed life into us.  When He finished it all He stepped back and said…”very good”!

So, when we chose our own way God began pursuing us to show us His love.  Why?  Because He made us, loves us and wants a relationship with us.  King David reminds us that God’s involvement in the creation of mankind has continued.  We are each “knit” together…God’s handiwork.  God did not create the world and walk away.  He is creating all around us and, more importantly, He created you.  He created you with a purpose in His Kingdom.  You are “ordained” to be!  He loves you and He came to earth to suffer and die so that you could live and have fellowship with Him.  Jesus said:

“I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full”. (John 10:10)

Today meditate on the vastness of God’s love for you and your value to His Kingdom.  Accept the truth proclaimed by David…you are fearfully and wonderfully made.  What are some things that you can do to show your gratitude to the Lord.  Worship Him today…the One who created you.  Sing with the psalmist;

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy Name” (Psalm 103:1)

You are loved!

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.” (Psalm 22:1, 2)

What does it feel like to be totally abandon?  Jesus reached back hundreds of years to find words to describe how He was feeling as He died for us.  The physical pain of His death was just a small part of His suffering that afternoon.  He had been betrayed, denied and left alone.  Now in these words we hear that He experiences the ultimate consequence of our sin…separation from God.

This is the part of the cross that Jesus never wants us to have to go through.  He calls us to sacrifice and suffering, ridicule and persecution but He will never abandon us.  He knows how that feels and He doesn’t want us to ever experience it.  He said:

“I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

Today, take a moment to sit quietly and read through Psalm 22.  Think about the broken fellowship Jesus experienced with  God so that you would never have to.  Write a prayer of thanks to Him that He will never leave you or forsake you.

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23, 24)

Yesterday we looked at the necessity for “willingness” to be a part of sacrifice.  We say with the prophet Isaiah, “Here I am, send me”.  It is the beginning of discipleship.  We are submitting to the leadership of Jesus.  Jesus talked about what it meant to come after Him in the verses above very plainly and the first requirement is to deny ourselves.  Yielding our heart and life to Him involves sacrifice.  It means that we give up our rights to govern our own lives and allow Him to direct us.  It does not mean that we deny our individuality or our unique place in His creation.  Quite the opposite, we turn from our selfish ideas of what we should become and embrace what we were created to be.  Paul said it this way:

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

This discipleship begins with sacrifice but it is followed by obedience.  Jesus not only asks us to deny ourselves but to “take up our cross daily and follow”.  Jesus knew why He had come…to demonstrate his love for us by dying on the cross and restoring a broken relationship.  But He also came as an example for us to follow.  He did more than demonstrate love, He calls us to “follow” His example!  The cross is not only what Christ did for us but something He leads us to.  “This is how you should love”.

Jesus turns the definition of life upside down.  If you want to save your life you will lose it.  If you think this is all about you and what’s best for you…you missed the point.  True life, a fulfilled life, a life of love can only be experienced when it is given up.  Jesus went to the cross for us and now bids us to follow.  Are you willing?  Jesus said this:

“Greater love has no one than this, that He lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

“For God was pleased to have all His fulness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19)

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on the cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8)

The definition of sacrifice is more than just “giving up something”, it must be paired with an attitude of “willingness”.  Jesus was not forced to do something that He did not want to do.  He “humbled” Himself and willingly gave up His rights and privileges as God’s Son.  This does not mean that the horrors of the cross were something that Jesus desired.  He did not enjoy the cross!  It means that He was willing to face it and endure the suffering that came with it because of His great love for us.

On our lenten journey we must go as willing travelers.  We must use this time to evaluate our lenten attitude.  Are we “subjecting” ourselves to the inconvenience of giving up something in our observance or are we “submitting” ourselves to our Lord through sacrifice despite the discomfort?

When Isaiah found himself in the presence of God in Isaiah 6:1-8, he was confronted with his own sinfulness and humbled himself before the Lord.  God cleansed him and issued a call for someone to “go” on mission for Him.  Isaiah’s sacrificial response was “Here am I, send me” (vs. 8).

Today, are you willing to submit yourself to the Lord and His call upon your life?  It will involve blessing and sacrifice but both require an attitude of voluntary obedience based on our love for Jesus.  When meditating on Christ’s sacrifice for you make sure He knows that you are willing and available…pray simply…”Here am I, send me”.

“And God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3)

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and 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 to save the world through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  This is the verdict:  Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19)

God is light.  His  very presence brings light.  The very first words recorded from the mouth of God are “Let there be Light!”  The Scripture describes a world without God as a world of darkness.  Our sinful condition has brought darkness into this world and, the prophet Isaiah says, we are “walking in darkness” living in the “shadow of death”.

But God has, once again, brought light to us.  He was not satisfied to let the world He created stay forever in the dark.  We were helpless.  We were lost.  We could not save ourselves.  But, because of His great love toward us, He pierced the darkness of this fallen world by sending His one and only Son.  Once again He has spoken…”Let there be Light!”

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Do you get this?  We were not pursuing God.  He came after us!  He is the One who brings light into our darkness.  What is even more unbelievable is that when God showed up to rescue us we still rejected Him.  In fact, we did more than reject Him…we crucified Him.  Jesus says in the verses above that we preferred darkness.  We are not comfortable in the light.  It reveals our weaknesses.  It exposes our selfish lifestyles and we do not like that.  We would rather stay in bondage than be set free.

“The light is so bright.  It hurts my eyes.  There must be a catch.  I can’t trust…I can’t take the risk.   Please, just turn the light off and leave me alone.”

All of us are resistant on some level to the light of Jesus.  He calls us out of our comfort zone and into the light.  Today, as you meditate on what God has done for you, allow Him to bring light into your life.  Confess your sins to Him.  Come out of the darkness and…Let there be Light!

“Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)

Yesterday when you read through the verses above, did you see how many times the word “our”, “we” and “us” are mentioned?  These verses written almost 800 years before Jesus are not only a prophesy about the Messiah and His “inconvenient” act of sacrifice; they also describe the human condition as the sole reason for it.  In other words, this Scripture is talking about Jesus and…you.  The true impact of the crucifixion cannot be experienced unless we realize our personal involvement in the death of our Savior.  It is only when we embrace that it was “for our sake” that we can see the power of the cross.

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

The Lenten season not only reminds us of our mortality but it also reminds us of our need for supernatural intervention.  It is when we realize our desperate situation that we run to the cross as our only hope.  It was our pain that He took.  It was  our sufferings that He bore.  It was for our transgressions that He was pierced.  It was for our iniquities that He was crushed.  We are to blame.  It is because of our sin that Jesus died.  “All we, like sheep…”  No one is exempt.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23,24)

Today take time to reflect on your part in the crucifixion of Jesus.  Humble yourself before the Lord who gave Himself up for you.  Thank Him for taking the consequences of your sin in your place so that you might have peace and healing.  Allow His forgiveness to encourage you this day.  Sing or speak the words to this hymn written by John Newton in the late 1700’s:

Amazing Grace!  How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” (Isaiah 53:3)

The prophetic description of Jesus in Isaiah 53 is beautiful yet uncomfortable to read.  We do not like to hear that Jesus was despised and rejected.  What does it mean to be a “man of sorrows”?  What does it mean when it says that He was familiar with suffering?  How do you get familiar with suffering and why?

This is the part of our redemption that we turn away from…”hide our faces”.  But, if we are to experience the fullness of God’s love for us we must take time to look at the ugliness of the cross that Jesus bore for you and me.  Jesus became familiar with suffering.  He got to know it so well that Isaiah calls Him the Man of Sorrows.  Our Savior left a place that was free from suffering to suffer for us.  The Scripture describes heaven as a place where God will “wipe away every tear”, where there is no mourning or pain (Rev. 21:4).  This is what Jesus gave up to redeem us.  This is how much He loves us.  He was willing to step down into the pain and grief of this world and become acquainted with our broken lives so that we could be reconciled to God.  Jesus is familiar with your suffering.  He really does know how you feel.

“For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people”.  (Hebrews 2:17)

As we begin this week of our lenten journey take opportunity to read the whole chapter of Isaiah 53.  You may be tempted to look away but resist it.  Today come into the presence of the Man of Sorrows.  This is what He did for you.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will again say it again; rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” (Philippians 4:4-8).

Today is the first of 6 Sundays in our lenten journey. These are not included in the 40 days of sacrifice. The 7th Sunday after Ash Wednesday is Easter. Therefore, it is the Sabbath of the Sabbaths as we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection.  On these Sundays we will take a sabbath pause in our meditation on the sacrifice of Jesus and meditate on the blessings received due to that sacrifice.

Today we worship through Paul’s words above.

#1. We rejoice in the Lord for He is near.  Because of the sacrifice of Jesus we can enjoy fellowship with our Creator and Lord.

Sing to the Lord today!

#2.  Don’t worry about anything…pray about it…with thanksgiving.  Because of the sacrifice of Jesus we can be thankful for all things and take our cares to a God who cares for us.

Try this exercise:  Take out a blank sheet of paper and get a timer.  In 5 minutes write down as many things as you possibly can that you are thankful for.  “Anything worthy of Praise”, as Paul says, no matter how small or silly.  If you don’t fill the paper try it again.

You are blessed!

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on'” (Mark 12:41-43)

This is one of the most well known and beloved stories about giving in the Bible. With typical grace and a shocking twist Jesus shakes the logic of the routine worshiper of His day.  In fact, because we are so familiar with it that we face the danger of not allowing it to seep in and accomplish all that it is meant to do in our hearts.  We walk away with the point…”when giving, it’s not about the amount”.  But, what is it about?  I believe that there is a principle of sacrifice here that could do us well to meditate on in this lenten season.

It is not just about how much she gave.  In other places Jesus challenges His followers to give more and blesses those who give more.  It is not about “how” she gave.  We are not told that she came dancing down the aisle to put in her coins.  For all we know, it may have been through tears.  It is also about where the gift came from.  For the widow, these coins were more than a gift…they were a sacrifice.

The rich gave from their wealth but she gave from her poverty.  This is when this parable goes from familiar to uncomfortable.  We are a rich people that can afford to give quite generously and that is not bad.  When we have more than we need or when there is a little extra in the till we give.  This would be giving out of our wealth.  Let me point out that Jesus doesn’t condemn this generosity.  He merely points out that this widow’s gift is worth more because it was a sacrifice.

What defines something as a sacrifice?  In meditating on the sacrifice of Jesus we think of words like difficult, painful, selfless, heart wrenching and grief.  We tend to remove the pain and “inconvenience” out of giving (sacrifice) in order to make it a little easier to do.  The difference between a “sacrifice” and a “gift” is that one is given out of wealth and one is given out of poverty.  Today, as you meditate on the sacrifice that Jesus made for you, think also about your calling and what you have “sacrificed” for Him.