This video, 'The Crowd or The Cross' is a great setup for this message.
Jesus’ dominant triumph over Satan at the cross was the prophetic ‘crushing’ of Satan as seen in Genesis 3:15 and it is a victory that we now share in as His followers. The enemy, death and condemnation were destroyed and the glory of God was revealed. He descended for us in order to bring us captive for His very glory. We have been bought out completely through the high price of the cross to continue to bring glory to Him through the gifts He has given us. Every day we need to be brought to the amazing revelation that the cross is all about the glory of God, the reason that I live and what I live for. Is it any wonder that Paul shudders at any thought in taking glory in anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ as we see in Galatians 6:14
• The cross was a demonstration of His amazing covenant love for us.
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
What are His commands...well go to John 15:9 and you will see there is a call to love others as God loved us by His Son laying down His life for us...no greater love than this.
Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD has appeared to us in the past, saying: I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with lovingkindness.
• The cross was all about our reconciliation to God
Colossians 1:19,20
• The cross was a payment for our freedom.
Hebrews 9:22; 10:12-14. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness
• The cross was all about defeating the stranglehold of Satan.
Genesis 3:15 – in speaking to the serpent, the Lord God said, ‘He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.
• The cross’ purpose was to bring the Holy Spirit and unveil His gifts.
2 Corinthians 3:7-18 It is to inaugurate the ministry of the Spirit to bring the kind of glory that will not fade
Ephesians 4:7 He led us captive in His train.
• The cross’ purpose was ultimately to bring glory to God
John 12:23-30
John 17 In the call to the cross, Jesus was crying out to God, “Glorify your Son so that Your Son may glorify You”
Glory has come to Jesus through us; We are the glory of the risen Christ.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 It is all about ownership, we are His glory. We have been bought out and a heavy price was paid. We were bankrupt.
When a place of business is bought out, you expect the next time they open their doors that it will be radically different. The greatest example of futility is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. There was a place of business in Milton called Coffee Time that I happened to maybe visit once. I don’t remember ever buying anything there but it was a place that was full of smoke...this was before the smoking bylaw... and nothing appealed to me in there obviously.
However, the place went out of business and in came Coffee Culture and it was an incredible sight. The decor was amazing, there were leather seats, free wi-fi, sports updates on the flat screen and better coffee than Tim Horton’s. When I went in there I would also see the owner too, He was never afraid to get in the mix of things.
When we come to Christ, God buys us out completely and wants to do the same radical and complete transformation of our lives.
The CROSS of Christ
• It is deeply personal.
John 15:9
As we saw in the passion of the cross, He loves us so much that He wasn’t willing to just stand by and watch us rot and die in our sins. He didn’t come to buy our minds, He came to buy all of us, buy us out completely and do a radical and total transformation.
The last time I spoke about Crossings Community Church in Acton, I shared how it used to be a crack house called Manny’s Roadhouse. There was a person in our church who was deeply moved by what took place there because for him it used to be a place of deep pain. For him, part of his spiritual journey was to go back there and see the radical change.
What we saw was a place that was completely gutted and totally transformed. When we walked in the front door, it was an incredible sight. We walked into a ‘Starbuck’ like atmosphere and we were greeted by Pastor Richard and Mary. It is now known as Roxy Coffee, a place where you can get chai lattes, cappuccinos and know that conversations may break into spiritual things. They were so committed to this transformation that Mary worked for 6 months at Starbucks just to learn what they do right!
As we walked around the place, Jay took the time to share with us his memories of a place where life was robbed, where knives were pulled and where hope was empty. God bought Jay out completely last summer and that followed with his baptism in the fall
• It is all about loyalty! The cross of Christ calls us to put Jesus above all else. Jesus and our loyalty to Him comes before our own agenda, our family and their agenda, before friends.
Matthew 16:24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
When was the last time Jesus `highjacked’ your day for His agenda? When was the last time that you didn’t get done what you wanted to do? When was the last time your day didn’t go as you expected it to?
Last Monday night, I ended up getting stuck in the GFN store. Now and then I have been called on to open the store, but this night would be different. I started pulling all the bags of recent deliveries to the store in the kitchen and you never know quite what to expect when you pull back the black curtain.
I had barely set things up when I noticed one of my neighbours down the street come in the store. She is a regular from what I understand and she came with her daughter and a friend. It was only a few years ago that she lost her husband suddenly and now does everything she can to look after her daughter and herself.
After she arrived, I met a young mother from Acton who arrived in tears because she couldn’t pay her hydro bill and needed spring clothes for her 18 month old daughter. So, I was able to combine monetary donations from the store and benevolent money to help her out, but not only that, I found a box of clothes that had a number of great outfits for her daughter.
After, my neighbor’s daughter asked if she could help out and began to sort clothes as well. Then Tommy and Lacey showed up and we working together like a fine tuned machine and so many of the new clothes were the exact fit for the needs that came our way that night. Tommy had one of her arms in a sling but she wouldn’t let that stop her!
As you know the store is also open Tuesday, it is 9:20am and we get an emergency request from another new mom who is now going for an interview at 10am and has no business clothes. Sharon and Erin were on and they found so many outfits that you guessed it, fit her perfectly and she loved it. She went straight to her interview looking like a million bucks...ok, well maybe not a million, but with incredible confidence. Then it was Pastor John’s turn to bring ladies in from the Women’s shelter as he so often does to once again help them in their need.
Why do I tell you these stories? It isn’t just for a good feeling in our hearts. While that is great, it is about giving our day, our evening over to Jesus. Sometimes it is inconvenient to open the store, we may not make it a meeting on time, we may not get to go to our Bible study that night, you may not get your supper in, you may have to rush supper possibly. I may lose time in sermon preparation, but you know what, we always learn more about our faith, ourselves when we let Jesus highjack our day!
It is all about God`s glory. Make no mistake about it, we were meant to bring glory to God. In the end it isn’t about what you and I have done, it is about what God has done and where we have been faithful enough to listen and follow through. That is really the amazing thing, that God is really that interested in my day, in what I am doing, that He wants to speak into that.
The fact that I can bring glory to God should really floor me, it is incredibly amazing.
The Takeaway
The purpose of the cross of Christ was to buy my life out completely for the glory of God. (period)
When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God; all the vain things that charm me most—I sacrifice them to His blood. See, from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down; did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small: Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Issac Watts
Questions For Discussion
1. How did Christ’s death on the cross bring glory to God? See John 17
2. Talk about your own personal ‘buyout’? When did you realize that Jesus wanted not only to be your Saviour, but your Lord?
3. When was the last time Jesus ‘highjacked’ your day?
4. In what ways can your life bring glory to God?
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