The Process of Transformation
Romans 12:1-2
Mike Dickson
March 1, 2009

Love One Another
1 John 4:7-12
Curtis Allen
February 22, 2009

Paradigm Shift
Luke 24
John Loftness
February 15, 2009

Proactive Fellowship
Romans 1:8-12
Michael Dickson
February 10, 2009

Spectators at a Crucifixion
Luke 23:26-56
John Loftness
February 8, 2009

The topic of this passage is the crucifixion of Jesus.

It’s hard to see what Luke sees in this passage because we bring our pre-conceptions of what happened.

Many of us have the movie “The Passion of the Christ” in mind as we read.

But Mel Gibson’s focus in making the movie would not be the same as Luke’s.

Gibson focuses on the brutality of the event.

Luke mentions the crucifixion event briefly.  Verse 33: “And when they came to the place that is called the Skull, there they crucified him…”

Luke wants you to see something here.  He wants you to see Jesus’ execution through the eyes of those who were there.

Eight spectators at Jesus’ crucifixion.

1. Simon of Cyrene (Verse 26)

What does he want us to see? 

Jesus is a criminal sentenced to death and so weak from his sleepless night, his hostile interrogations, three legal proceedings, the mocking, the beating while blindfolded, and finally the flogging that he cannot carry his own cross.  He wants us to see a man, weak and exhausted.

2. The women of the crowd (verses 27-31)

What does Luke want us to see?  Jesus is more concerned about the judgment others will face than he is about himself in his hour of greatest pain and need.

In verse 31 he compares his present experience of judgment to the burning of green wood and this future judgment to the tinder dryness of dry wood.  When Jesus was with them, the nation still had life in it, it was still green.  But after he leaves, it will become dry and completely lifeless. How much hotter will it burn!  As Darrell Bock writes: “If God has not spared Jesus, how much more will the impenitent nation not be spared when divine judgment comes?”

3. The Executioners (verses 32-33, 36-37)

What does Luke want us to see?  Jesus remains merciful—even to those who have so viciously betrayed him, falsely accused him, executed him.  People who deserve the judgment for the most horrible crime of human history.  He’s quick o forgive and slow in judgment.

4. The Jewish Rulers (verse 35)

The rulers mock him.  They revile three claims to Jesus’ identity:

• “Savior”—And the irony is that by not saving himself, his work of salvation begins.
• “Christ”—And the irony is that it takes the death of the king as a representative of his people for him to exercise his saving rule.
• “Chosen One”—a reference to Isaiah 42, the servant of the Lord, whom the Lord calls, “my chosen one.”  The irony about this chosen one is revealed later in Isaiah 53.  The chosen one has to die as a guilt offering to cover the sins of his people.  He was chosen to die!

What does Luke want us to see?  The rulers see Jesus’ death as a vindication of their claim that Jesus is a phony.  They think that he is under God’s curse for his sins.  But in reality he is under God’s curse for the sins of the world. It’s his death that makes him Savior, King, Chosen One.

5. The Criminals (verses 39-43)

What does Luke want us to see?  Jesus’ death opens the way to heaven.  You can join him by humbly asking.

6. Nature (verses 44-45)

What does Luke want us to see? Nature mourns at the injustice of the crucifixion of the Son of God.

And so should we.

7. The Centurion (verses 46-47)

Luke wants us to see, as he has pointed out repeatedly through Jesus’ trial, that Jesus died an innocent man.  He died the death of a criminal, yet he was righteous; he was innocent.

8. Joseph and the women (Verses 50-56)

What does Luke want us to see here?  Jesus really died.  And those closest to his body after his execution acted just like people do who have to handle a dead body—the sought to give it a proper burial.

He really died. 

If he didn’t, chapter 24—in fact the entire gospel—makes no sense.

Now you know the story.  You’ve seen it through Luke’s eyes, and he wrote it under the inspiration of the Spirit.  So this is how God wants you to see it.  You’ve become a spectator to the crucifixion of Jesus. 

What do you see?

The women on the death march saw a tragic figure, the victim of Jewish injustice and Roman corruption.  The Jewish rulers saw a phony.  The soldiers saw the victim of a cruel irony.

What do you see?

One criminal only could only repeat the taunts of Jesus’ mockers.  The other criminal saw someone who was headed to a heavenly kingdom and he asked Jesus to take him there with him.  The Centurion saw an innocent man.

What do you see?

Here’s what Luke wants you to see: God’s chosen one, chosen to save people from the penalty of God’s wrath: His death for yours, his judgment for what you deserve. 

You’re responsible now.  You’ve got to choose.  What will your reaction be as a spectator to his crucifixion?

Whose Trial?
Luke 22:63-23:25
John Loftness
February 1, 2009

1995.  The LAPD thought it had put OJ Simpson on trial, but Simpson’s attorney’s turned the tables and put the LAPD on trial.  But the real, unpredictable effect of this sad event was that the US justice system had been put on trial. 

This passage is about how Jesus was put on trial.  For his judges, the trial had unintended consequences.  While the high priests and Pilate and Herod thought they were putting Jesus on trial, Jesus revealed how he would put them on trial and in the end, bring the entire human race to the bar of justice.  But before universal justice could be achieved, a horrible injustice had to take place.

Five Trials

1.) A Trial By Jailers.  (22:63-65) 

They mocked Jesus’ claims to be a prophet.  They never took his words seriously.  He had already prophesied their mistreatment of him.  See 18:32.

2.) A Trial By Priests and Elders.  (Verses 66-71) 

verse 69, he makes a statement that they find damning: “But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

In saying this, Jesus claims to be the king of Psalm 110.  Here is how the psalm opens: “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.’”  And then later, this Lord“…will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.  He will execute judgment among the nations…”

The imagery of sitting at God’s right hand is to be in the place of executing God’s rule and God’s judgments in God’s very presence. 

The Council concludes that they can convict on two counts: a claim to be king and a claim to a unique relationship with God.

But notice what has happened.  Darrell Bock puts it succinctly: “By appearances Jesus is subject to the judgment of the leadership, but ironically he says that in reality they are judged by him.”

3.) A Trial by Pilate (23:1-5)

To the Romans, someone who resisted the payment of taxes and who claimed to be king would be a serious threat.  But there is no evidence to back their claims.  If Jesus had been fomenting rebellion, Pilate would have heard about it.

But he’s got a problem.  Rome is packed with Jews celebrating the Passover and the high priest has a mob backing him.  Pilate doesn’t want a riot.

4.)  A Trial by Herod (23:6-12)

Herod has long been interested in Jesus, but more as a religious curiosity and wonderworker.  He’s delighted to get the chance to interview Jesus and maybe persuade him to do a miracle.  But Jesus won’t even give him the dignity of answering his questions.  He remains silent. Even as the chief priests and their lawyers chide him and accuse him before this ruler of Galilee. 

So Herod and his guards turn their tactics: they mock him and insult him.  They put royal clothes on him and treat him like a mock king.  But that’s about all Herod can do.  He sends Jesus back to Pilate concluding that he has no reason to convict him of any crime.

Even a corrupt king of the Jews cannot find any reason to convict Jesus.

5.)  A Trial by the mob. (23:13-25)

The High Priest has already brought Jesus before Pilate accusing him to be an insurrectionist.  Now he inspires the crowd to ask for a real insurrectionist instead of Jesus.

Barabbas was a bad man.  While the mob would have thought of him as a freedom fighter, we would call him a terrorist.  Matthew calls him a “notorious prisoner” and John notes that he was a robber.  Mark says that in his acts of political rebellion he had murdered.  So while he may have been a freedom fighter, this man was no George Washington—he was a thug.

And the ultimate irony is in his name.  “Son of the Father.”

The Jewish leadership, the Jewish king, the Jewish mob were calling out for the Son of God, the ultimate “Son of the Father,” to be executed in the place of a vicious, violent criminal.

Pilate presses the crowd and they increase their demand:  “Crucify!”

The Romans had a number of means of execution in their judicial system.  Crucifixion was the harshest.  It was reserved for crimes of treason and for corrupting a criminal trial in a capital court case.  It was a vicious means of execution intended to put fear in the populus.

What do a trial in a courtroom and what we call a trial that comes through affliction have in common?  They both prove what is real and true and what is false and corrupt.

Jesus’ trials proved he is the Son of God sent as a sacrificial lamb to pay for the sins of his people.

The priests and the elders put Jesus on trial for his claim to be king, and in the end they are proven to be corrupt usurpers with no claim to religious authority.

Pilate puts Jesus on trial and in the end, he is proven to be more committed to his position than to justice for an innocent man.

While we may never have a thought of putting the Son of God to death, all of us put him on trial.  We question whether he is real and true.

• Like the jailers, we might have only a superficial knowledge of Jesus.  All we know is that when Jesus gets involved it makes people upset, so we reject him—we even mock him.

• Like the priests and the rulers of the people, we might reject Jesus because he threatens our position in life, he calls us to lay down our privileges and prestige and possessions—he calls us to repent, to change the way we think and life, and we want to drive him away from us rather than submit to his demands.

• Like Pilate, we might consider Jesus a problem to get around, a situation that needs a solution—so we attempt to explain his claims away and distance ourselves from him all the while saying that we admire him.

• Or like Herod we may consider Jesus a religious curiosity, who might do some amazing tricks, but not someone to submit to and even worship.

• Or like the crowd, we might prefer our current relationships—even if we know they are bad—and choose a Barabbas over the Son of God?

We all tend to put Jesus on trial.  We’ll do anything we can to find him wanting.  Anything we can to avoid his claim on our lives.

But we neglect to see: He sits on a throne this very day. 

We fail to see that while we are judging him—having no authority to do so—he is judging us.

The High Priest, and Pilate, and Herod, all thought they could judge Jesus and he turned the situation around and showed that he in fact was to judge them.

And he in fact will one day execute judgment on the whole world—on you and me.

We need the Son of Man to come.  We need his judgments, which are sure and right.  He never gets the evidence wrong.  He establishes a perfect law and applies it flawlessly.

We need to submit to him even if it costs us our position and our possessions and our prestige.  We need to find a way to be in right relationship with him.

But how is this possible if already we see that our past acts leave us condemned before the judge who sees all perfectly?

Next week we’ll find out.  Next week we will continue in chapter 23 and peer into the cup of God’s wrath and see how this Judge obtained justice for us.

But for today, a question:  How do you judge Jesus?  Do you avoid him, or attack him—mock him, or reject him?  Do you bargain with him, thinking you can talk him over to your side?

Or do you let him judge you and out of worship submit to him as King of kings and Lord of lords?

Pray That You May Not Enter Into Temptation
Luke 22:31-62
John Loftness
January 25, 2009

The heart of the passage is this: How Jesus dealt with the temptation to escape his calling to suffer.

The goals of this sermon:
To be amazed at who Jesus is and what he did.
To follow in his footsteps.  If he needed help as a man to overcome in temptation, how much more do we!

1. Peter and Temptation
The passage begins with a rather ominous warning for Peter: “Satan wants to sift you like wheat.”  We would put it this way: “Satan want to take you apart piece by piece.”  “He wants to shred you.” 

Jesus is leaving, and Peter is a leader among the disciples and Satan wants to take him down.

Jesus says that Peter is going to fail, but that his failure won’t be final because Jesus has prayed for him and that Jesus will be a source of strength after his spectacular failure.

Peter protests: “I’m ready to die for you Jesus.”

In verses 35-38, Jesus warns them that once he’s gone all the protections and provisions that they had will be removed.  They will be vulnerable and defenseless.  They need to gather supplies and prepare to defend themselves.

Verses 54-62.  In one night, Peter was warned.  Peter protested the idea that he could be disloyal—in fact he asserted that he would be loyal to the death.  And a few short hours later he’s tempted.  And he fails.  Spectacularly.

What went wrong?

The answer is found in Jesus.  How did he relate to temptation?

2. Jesus and Temptation.

Before he goes off to pray privately, Jesus gives them instructions: “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

And then he goes a short distance from them to face his greatest trial.

His greatest trial was not Judas, who would betray him.  It was not his often clueless disciples.  It was not the fickle crowds or even the murderously jealous high priests.  It wasn’t even Satan, who had since his temptation in the wilderness three years ago been waiting for an opportunity to tempt him big time. 

His greatest trial was what his Father was asking him to do.

Verse 42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me…”

If you know your Bible well, you know this cup.  It is the cup of God’s wrath.  Here are a few of the many verses that refer to it:
• Psalm 11:5-6
• Psalm 75:8
• Jeremiah 25:15

So what does Jesus’ prayer reveal?  His FATHER –the one with whom he had experienced eternal, perfect fellowship in love and harmony and delight.  His FATHER—the one with whom relationship was so close that the two persons—God the Father and God the Son—were actually—in essence—one being.  This very Father is asking him to drink the cup of wrath that for a thousand years he had been telling his prophets he was preparing for his enemies!

It’s one thing to be tried by your selfish desires; it’s one thing to be tried by Satan.  But to have your Father, your heavenly Father, ask you to experience the wrath that you not only did not deserve but that every human being who had ever stiff-armed God did deserve—This Father asks you to drink it down to the dregs.  That is temptation as has never been known before this moment in the garden and never will be known again.

He expresses his desire: “remove the cup from me.”

But then, verse 42 again, he expresses his resolve—“Not my will but yours be done.” 

“I will take what you desire over what I desire” even if the injustice of the arrangement is from the standpoint of his righteousness—outrageous.

He works it through in prayer.  He gains the strength he needs to drink the cup that was designed for his enemies by praying.

He rises to find his disciples—the disciples he had asked to pray regarding the temptations they were about to face as he was arrested and tried and executed—and they are asleep.  They are exhausted from the events of the week—the talk of danger and betrayal and death.  Sorrow is exhausting.

“Why are you sleeping?“ he asks.  “Have you no idea what you are about to face?”

It must have been a very lonely moment for Jesus.

And then he repeats the command that he gave them: “Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

3. Temptation and you and me.

Why did Peter fail?

He did not do what Jesus did.  He did not pray that he might not enter temptation.  He took a nap instead.

At first glance, this is a rather odd expression—“…not enter into temptation.”  You would expect: “Pray that you may not give in to temptation.”  Or, “Pray that you may not sin.” 

John Owen points out that to “enter” temptation is a state of one’s soul that lies somewhere between the experience of temptation and the practice of sin.

He says that we enter into temptation when our minds are entangled by the confusion that comes through entertaining thoughts of sin.

In Owen’s words:

“When we [allow] a temptation to enter into us, then we ‘enter into temptation.’  While it knocks at the door we are at liberty; but when any temptation comes in and parleys with the heart, reasons with the mind, entices and allures the affections, be it a long or a short time, do it thus insensibly and imperceptibly, or do the soul take notice of it, we ‘enter into temptation.’”  (John Owen, On Temptation)

Some ideas for how to watch and pray that you not enter into temptation

1. Pray like a child of God. 
2. Pray like a forgiven sinner. 
3. Pray having studied yourself. 
4. Pray having studied your circumstances.
5. Pray for resolve when the temptation becomes intense. 

Apply
1.  Sit down alone and ask God to reveal to you any ways you have entered into temptation.
2.  Pray according to the five points listed above.  Develop a habit of praying daily—with specifics as you have studied yourself—that you not enter into temptation.

Books
John Owen, Overcoming Sin & Temptation.
Edited by Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor.  (Crossway Books, 2006)
http://www.wtsbooks.com/sitesearch/search.php?keywords=Overcoming+sin+and+temptation&x=0&y=0

Kris Lundgaard, The Enemy Within: Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin. 
  (P&R Publishing, 1998)
http://www.wtsbooks.com/product-exec/product_id/218/nm/The+Enemy+Within%3A+Straight+Talk+About+the+Power+and+Defeat+of+Sin+(Paperback)

Living Like a Psalmist
Psalm 24
Bob Kauflin
January 18, 2009