salvation

A borrowed manger – a borrowed donkey – a borrowed tomb

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 “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” Luke 19:30-31 ESV

Lent is now over and some of us come to Palm Sunday and Easter as times when we need to be in church. We know those are especially important days to God, so we show up in church. But the next week, we may or may not come back. We have finished our vows for the 40 days of Lent and now God sort of releases us. But the story of Easter, isn’t about seven weeks or seven days. It actually begins in Bethlehem, in a borrowed manger. That manger wasn’t much more than just a worn wooden trough where the cows were fed, but Jesus needed to borrow it for a little while. Then when Palm Sunday came, Jesus sent two of His disciples into a village to borrow a donkey. That animal wasn’t much more than just a simple beast on which He chose to ride for an hour. But, just like the manger for that hour, Jesus needed that donkey. Though Jesus needed, the donkey and the manger, both of them were returned to their owners. But when Jesus looked at you and me, thank God He decided that He wanted to do more than just borrow us. Jesus wants us to become permanent members of His family, and He has no plans to ever return us! So, on Friday of Holy week, Jesus offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins and purchased us by HIs own precious blood. He did all the work. We have only to believe. When Joseph and Nicodemus, came at the end of the day, they pulled those terrible nails from the hands and feet of Jesus, wrapped Him in another kind of swaddling clothes and laid in in a borrowed tomb. That must have seemed an abrupt and sad ending to the loving life Jesus had lived, but the story wasn’t over. Jesus didn’t need the tomb for long. Very early on Sunday morning, when it was still dark, Mary and the other women came to the tomb looking for Jesus. But they were amazed by angels and they found the tomb empty. Jesus didn’t need that tomb any longer, because He had risen and He has come for you and for me. What will you do with the gift He has given? He has paid the price so you can belong to Him forever.

Have you said, “I do.” to Jesus?

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 ESV

On our block, there are twenty people I call my neighbors, and in my directory, I can find a dozen others, that I call our friends. But over the years, the names on all my lists have changed except for one: my wife, Nancy. If, like us, you had a traditional wedding ceremony, you said words like these “Do you _____ take ___ _for better or worse, for richer, or poorer, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful as long as you both shall live?”  In the exchanging of vows, we entered what the Bible calls a covenant relationship. The same is true with God, and for us to be more than just the friends and neighbors of Jesus, there must be a moment when we say, “I do.” In the wedding ceremony there are more than vows, there is also the moment of the exchanging of rings.

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My wedding band remains on my finger, as a public statement that I belong exclusively to Nancy. She has a say in my affairs that no one else does. It symbolizes our inner commitment. In Christianity, God has a ring for us to put on called baptism. Once we have said, “I do” to Jesus and confessed Him as Lord, we put on His ring by being baptized. Though the water doesn’t make us a believer, it shows God, as well as my friends and neighbors, that I have accepted Jesus as my Lord, that He is in charge of the affairs of my life, and I gladly put on His ring. But, as the commercials say, “wait there’ s more!” After the vows and the exchanging rings, there comes a moment when the minister turns to the groom and says, “You may now kiss the bride.” For most of us guys that was no problem. We were delighted to do so! In the Christian life, Jesus also has something like that kiss, called communion, The Bible says that as often as we do it, we remember His death until He comes. The death of Jesus was His ultimate act of love, to pay the price for our sins so that we could go to Heaven and live forever with Him. Yes, eternal life is wonderful. Heaven has streets of gold, jewels in the walls and beautiful places for us to live, but best of all, it is an eternal covenant relationship with Jesus. If we have fallen in love with Jesus, that relationship all begins at an altar, with a vow, “Jesus is Lord.” A ring, “following Him in baptism” and a kiss, “remembering His death in communion. Jesus is a wonderful, loving, and eternal Lord. Have you said, “I do” to Him?

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Lifting Up the Serpent

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And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:14-15 NKJV

In today’s digital age, only a few of us remember reading the Sunday paper. For me one of the great luxuries of a Sunday afternoon, was to peruse the headlines, then the sports section and finally the funny pages. My favorite was a comic strip named “B. C.”, by cartoonist Johnny Hart, who specialized in light humor sprinkled with a hint of Biblical wisdom. One of his most memorable scenes was a panel of the club wielding cave woman who had just whacked a dazed snake over the head. It gave us a humorous reminder of the reputation that serpents have maintained ever since Eve took that first bite of the apple. Today’s verse reminds us of a story from the book of Exodus when God sent Moses out into a crowd of folks dying from snake bites, carrying a bronze serpent on a staff. Since those snakes are a representative of evil and sin it makes me wonder why Jesus was willing to become like that.

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The answer goes all the way back to Genesis, to a conversation that God had with Adam, Eve and the serpent after the man and woman had sinned. Interestingly, God didn’t begin with Adam or Eve. Instead, He started by pronouncing judgement on the serpent, and ending by saying, “He shall bruise your head, and you will bruise His heel.” So, even before Adam and Eve were given their list of consequences, God set in motion a plan for their redemption. That redemption was pictured in Exodus, when because of the people’s sin they came under attack by a slithering horde of venomous snakes. Then, right in middle of the death and chaos, God sent Moses out into the crowd with that serpent, so that anyone who would look towards it would be healed. That seemed pretty bizarre to me the first time I read it, but I realized later that it gives us a perfect picture of what Jesus did for us. While we were spiritually dying from the venomous bite of sin, God sent His Son out into the crowd of us mortally wounded sinners and allowed Jesus to be lifted up on a cross. On that dark and terrible afternoon, with blood dripping from His wounds, and drunken soldiers gambling for His clothing, He was lifted above the chaos, so that a thief dying next to Him, a Roman executioner and a cowardly disciple named Nicodemus, could look to Him and be forgiven and transformed. Jesus took the poison of sin from our bodies and accepted it into His own. God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus to die in our place, so that anyone looking to Him in faith could be healed. For six terrible hours He hung there, but now for eternity His is lifted up to Heaven offering sinners like you and me eternal life, if we will only look up to Him!