Written By Rev. Law Hui Seng
Posted By Teresa Han
10th April, 2009 (Good Friday)
Luke 23:26-56
Main Idea: To explain the reasons for Jesus’ death on the cross.
Objectives: a. To produce a need for the congregation to get personal with Jesus. b. To help the congregation to realize how much do we need Jesus forgiveness?
A. Introduction
- Why Jesus must die on the cross? I pray that this is not just a usual question that demands a rational answer and that is it. I pray that the answers I give and preach to you today will empower you to build a more personal relationship with Jesus, the Christ.
- My challenge to you is not to take the crucifixion of Jesus as just head knowledge. Rather, know the reasons of crucifixion; allow all these reasons sink into the deepest part of your conscience, emotion, thought, and your whole being. I pray that you own the crucifixion. If possible, allow yourself to be crucified on the cross and do that in your mental picture.
- The following reasons are the results of my reflections and I hold them dear to my heart. I pray that they will impact your lives this Good Friday.
B. The most important reason is because of man’s sin.
- No matter how non-Christians and those who do not believe in Jesus as the Savior of the world deny the purpose of Jesus’ coming to the world, this reason of sinfulness of mankind is the most important reason and purpose of His coming.
- This is what he claims, if not, he would not be insulted by the thief on the cross like this in verse 39, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” And also in verse 35, where it says, “The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the chosen one.”
- Jesus himself knew His great purpose of coming to the earth and why He had to suffer on the cross. Even at that moment of great suffering, you know, if I were there on the cross, if I had not committed any offense that deserved a shameful, humiliated death, I would be full of anger, hatred, bitterness, I would surely not control myself and did a last minute cursing before I died.
- But Jesus, out of love and great humility, he said in verse 4, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
- Brothers and sisters, as I reflect on the crucifixion, it is literally, the sin of mankind that caused Jesus to be crucified. To the Jewish people, Jesus had committed the greatest sin of blasphemy because He claimed to be the Son of God and Messiah. Even then, the ordinary people, rulers and emperor at that time could not find any wrong with him in the eye of their laws.
- But why should Jesus allow himself to be crucified. If not because of our sin, the sin of mankind, he would not go through the shameful and humiliating process.
- Can you think of Jesus’ death and suffering each time you recognize your own sin and the sin of others?
- This will help us to realize we need Jesus very much.
C. The second reason for Christ’s crucifixion is the need for Him to be identified with the suffering and death of mankind.
- You see mankind is so limited in our understanding about God and life after death. We are not able to know much about it. How God helps us to know Him and know life after death? When it comes to life after death, take for instance, we Chinese are very naïve and imagine as if life after death is exactly the same as life on earth. And therefore, we burn paper money, Mercedes car, etc.
- God knows, it is hard for limited human beings to figure out who is he and how He loves human so much. He thinks of the best way to communicate with human beings.
- You know all the ants are heading for the fire and there will be total destruction. A big human being saw it and no matter how he tried to communicate, the ants could not understand. Finally, the human being realized it and he changed into an ant, only then, he communicated with the ants and save them.
- The best way for God to show Himself to the mankind is by becoming a human being so that He can understand our suffering and death and show us who He is.
- The most hopeless and helpless problem of human beings is to do with suffering and death. There is no way for us to overcome them.
- Jesus, being human, not only he successfully shows us He is God by His miracles and resurrection, He also shows us He understand our suffering and death and He has the solution to our 2 greatest problems. The solution is not so much of taking away our suffering and death, which comes about as a result of our sins, the solution is this, the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with Him in heaven in the future.
D. The Third reason for Christ’s death on the cross is from me as a pastor who tries all the time to you to build a personal relationship.- I pray that you appreciate it as much as I do. I have been telling people every now and then, and all the more in baptism class.
- Why Jesus cannot just disappear? Why Jesus cannot just come down from the Cross? Why Jesus need to die a death shameful, most humiliating death?
- Please listen to my personal reason and pastoral reason for you.
- I want to show you human beings are so forgetful, ungrateful towards God; how human beings reject God; how human beings do not want to believe there is life after death; how human beings do not want to believe in hell and heaven, etc.
- How do you get the attention of human beings? How your dying parents get your attention?
- It is through death, horrible death, shameful death, the most humiliating death, the most unworthy death. The death of Jesus strikes us and the whole world and caught our attention. And it challenges us to consider Him as your Savior or not.
- Jesus must die on the cross in order to catch the attention of the world that He is very concern about our destiny and He has the answer to our unanswered question of life after death. That whoever believes in Him and repents and lives a righteous life, he will be promised the great salvation
E.Conclusion
Are you convinced that Jesus dies for mankind and He is the Savior of mankind?
No comments:
Post a Comment