The Crucifixion Shouts to You!

While listening to the radio, a program was on that was discussing the elements of Jesus’ crucifixion. In that day, each person had to deal with their own sin. On average, at the end of the day when something went wrong and you responded in a manner that was not quite right an animal would need to die. Have a bad day and an entire herd could be required. Then as now, the wages of sin, (sin – the way we work, think, talk, and act that is the opposite of how God would have us be) was death. For an Israelite person, the cost of sin or death was covered by the blood of an animal. As was custom each day a priest would climb to the top of a tower in the Temple and at 3:00 in the afternoon, a lamb would be sacrificed and the Shofar would be blown. The sound of the ram’s horn being blown could be heard throughout the city if not the surrounding countryside. On the day that Jesus was crucified, as Jesus hung on the cross, many things were happening that were subtle but yet critical to what was going on at the time.

We are told that in the ninth hour, after hanging on the cross all day, after being beaten and cursed, despised and taunted, Jesus took His last breath and cried out, “it is finished.” That time when Jesus cried out and died was 3:00 and the sound of His voice was most likely a sound that none of the people present or in the surrounding areas had ever heard. The Lamb of God was given as a blood sacrifice for the sins of the world and as was the Temple tradition the cry of the Lord sounded like a Shofar. And just to put an exclamation point on what was happening; God ripped the curtain in the Temple that separated man from God from top to bottom.

God had a plan and it was carried out with perfection. He did not need any help from anyone, any priest, or any Christian. What could be clearer? God has taken away the sins of the world and made clear our access to Him. On a single day in history, everything was changed. What does this mean to us? It would be easy to read through the account in the Bible and by not really digging in and studying what we are being told in the passage, we can just get a factual account of a series of events. Study is the first part of understanding and understanding is the first step in knowing. Do we really know God or are we just familiar with the facts? We can have an intimate and personal relationship with the Almighty God of the universe but if we never get to know Him we will only know of Him.

Check Your Heart

Rate yourself in each of the following on a scale of 1 – 10 (1 = weak, 10 = strong)

1. My commitment to Christ is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. My obedience to Christ and His Word is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3. My public example as a Christian is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4. My diligence in reading the Bible is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. My private moral life (when no one is looking) is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6. My prayer life is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7. My desire to serve God with my life is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8. My use of my talents for Christ is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9. My love for those who are different or unlovely is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10. My willingness to avoid being part of a clique is:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

I grew up in church. I learned how to look like a Christian when I was very young. I knew the right words to say to make others think I was a good Christian. I became fluent in Christianese. I knew how to play the game. This is not to say that my decision to accept Christ was not real, but if I wanted to hide my true self and my true intentions, it was very easy. I could behave like a devout and pious Christian on the outside, while being rebellious on the inside. But this is a very dangerous game.

This is the game that King Saul, in the Old Testament, was playing with God. But he got caught and lost everything. Saul decided that he would offer a sacrifice to honor God, but he was supposed to wait for Samuel the priest to do this. His disobedience cost him his kingdom. Samuel told him, in 1 Samuel 15:22, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed is better than the fat of rams.” Obedience is a matter of the heart. So the outward act of sacrifice did not honor God, since Saul’s heart was disobedient to God’s command.

On the other hand, we see David being chosen as the next King of Israel because his heart is right. Even though he was young and didn’t look like much, God tells Samuel that “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). This idea is clear throughout the entire Bible. God looks at the your heart. So even if your outward actions seem good and right, but your motives are selfish, God knows. You can fool people, but you can’t fool God.

Answer the questions in this survey honestly. If find that you are not where God would want you to be, ask Him for forgiveness and for the help to change your heart. He will forgive because of Jesus’ sacrifice and His amazing love for you. And He sent His Holy Spirit to help you become what He wants you to be.

You kiss your mama with that mouth?

Okay, so I’m borrowing Tim’s unofficial title for Wednesday night’s message, but it probably got your attention.  Anyway, I’m pretty sure you hear some pretty foul language from students at school.  The trouble is, once it gets into your head, how do you keep it from coming out of your mouth?  I’d like to know how you deal with this issue.  (You might consider the things Tim taught on). 

1 Timothy 4:12  Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

Ticket the Clique it

For some reason, cliques seem to explode into horrible monsters of exclusion in junior high—much  more than in elementary school.  Experts on teenagers tell us that cliques are a normal, everyday occurrence of adolescence.  You have all witnessed them on your intermediate school campus and even here in our youth group.  You probably have been part of one. 

 

During junior high and high school, most young people are trying to figure out who they are.  They want to become individuals.  They want to soar freely on their own wings.  Yet, ironically, they seem to depend on the approval of their peers.  Free from their parents, but enslaved to what their friends think about them.  This can make teens rather cruel to those outside their circle.  Have you seen this happen? 

 

The dictionary defines a clique as a small exclusive group of friends.  Small groups of friends only become sinful when they exclude others—rather than include others.  I’ve heard that cliques can be like kryptonite to a youth group—cliques can destroy the only thing that makes us valuable in our culture—the willingness and ability to love others. 

 

Then someone suggested that we encourage the cliques in our youth groups to become “open cliques”?  This is an oxymoron—and even worse, just plain moronic.  The only open clique is no clique.  I understand that cliques are normal for teenagers, but so is a wide variety of sinful behavior. 

 

What will distinguish us from anyone else?  If we are no different—that is, if Christ has not changed us and is continuing to change us, then our religion is worthless.  If Christ is not who we profess Him to be, then we are to be pitied more than all others.  But if Christ Jesus is God, then we must obey His command to “love one another.” (John 13:34-35)  This is not easy—for teens or older adults, but let’s allow God to demonstrate His mighty power in and through us to love one another. 

 

Matthew 5:46-47 (NIV)

⁴⁶If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

 

John 13:34-35 (NIV)

 ³⁴“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 15:5

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Unity: More than a Just a Word

Abraham Lincoln quoted Jesus when he decried that “a nation divided against itself cannot stand.” But truly, it was out of the crucible of the Civil War that this nation was physically restored. And in times of national crisis we have also seen the people unite in spirit, casting aside their ideological and petty differences to work together for a cause.

As Christians, we are fond of talking about the importance of unity, but talk alone is insufficient to bring about the singleness of mind and spirit that usurps our differences. When we talk about unity, we often refer to Jesus’ prayer for believers in John 17. Jesus prayed that we might be one as He and the Father are one. Yet we must also consider that Jesus prayed this prayer in the darkest hour of human history—in the hours before humanity’s sin crucified the Son of God. It was in the crucible that Jesus called for our united hearts, minds, souls, and strength. It was out of the fire and through the fire (and marked by tongues of fire) that the Church was born.

So, then, if we are to speak of unity in the body, if we are to pray for unity, we pray for trial, for challenge, for fire. As Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were united with the pre-incarnate Christ in the deadly heat of Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace, I pray that God in Christ Jesus will make us one. For to be one with Christ and His church is better than a life without difficulty.