Dear Church Family,
I used the following quote from my college professor Bob Webber during Sunday’s sermon (it was not in the online version), “The crushing blow to all evil is found on the hard wood of the cross and in Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Here God enters into the suffering of the world, literally, embraces the sin and suffering of the whole world, taking it into himself on the cross and destroying its power over us in his resurrection.”
I cited this text to call us to live under the reign of grace. Paul tells us in Romans 5:21 God’s grace reigns “through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Dr. Webber’s rich words remind us that in Christ the Holy God came to our fallen world. At the cross Jesus embodied our sin and suffered the wrath of God so that the power of sin would be destroyed. I got chills just tying those words! Implicit in the quote is that either Jesus has stood in our place on the cross or one day we will suffer the punishment we deserved.
Praise God for the doctrine of Penal Substitutionary Atonement! [You did talk about this at the dinner table on Sunday, right?] To refresh your memories in a few words, Jesus took our place (substitute), suffered for our sins (bore the penalty), and as a result, our sins are covered by His sacrificial blood (He atoned for our sin). Without this truth we are without hope.
I love how Dr. Webber vividly declares the victorious nature of the cross. Jesus’ death and resurrection gave the “crushing blow” to sin in the lives of God’s people. We will see this truth in the coming weeks in Romans 6. Our mortal enemies of sin and death have been defeated – the empty cross and the empty tomb prove it.
Dr. Webber told us many times in his class on “The History and Theology of Worship” that true worship is a heart-felt response to the redemptive work of Jesus in His death, resurrection and ascension. In light of the “crushing blow” of Savior dealt to sin and death, may we live all of our lives in worship to our great God.
Living by grace to His glory,
Pastor Gillikin
PS. I must take a minute to admit I made a mistake during Sunday’s sermon. Mary and Joseph were not the first people to have a “gender-reveal party.” A few months before that Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, was told by the angel of the Lord his wife Elizabeth would bear a son. The name ‘John’ means ‘God is gracious’ and indeed God would show his ‘hyper’ grace to His people. [This pastor who shares that name remains ever grateful for the grace of God.] The point of the “gender reveal party” was to focus on the Sovereign God who sent His only Son as Jesus – “the God who saves” – to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.