on thursday nights, at college home group, we've been going through john piper's what Jesus demands from the world. each chapter has great insights, of course, but i was impacted greatly by the chapter about loving Jesus. the challenge, piper asserts, is that loving Jesus is not obeying Him but actually having great affection for Him. we should desire Jesus more than any other person or thing in the world, not simply consider Him our highest priority in theory.

this is a groundbreaking truth for people who spin their wheels trying to "love" Jesus with obedience but don't like Him or like serving Him. piper points to john 14:15 ("If you love me, you will keep my commandments.") and notes that obedience is a product of love and therefore evidence. BUT obedience does not equal love.

so the key is stirring our affections for Jesus. not trying to backstroke our way into loving Jesus by modifying our behavior. i'm sure most burned out christians didn't realize this truth, if they were truly regenerate to begin with.

on a related note, loving our neighbors/enemies must involve more than just doing things for them. if it follows the rest of Jesus' demands, it's something only He can do through us. that leads me to believe that Jesus would have us actually care about and care for our neighbors/enemies... to have affection for them. surely this something only Christ can accomplish in us!



this is probably elementary to most of you. just thought i'd share!



and to go with this lesson, i wanted to post one of my new faves. check it out below...

(i didn't make this video, please forgive any typos.)

you're probably familiar with john the baptist's great insight, "He must increase, i must decrease."

i think we (believers) have a basic understanding of that truth. denying our wills to pursue and submit to Christ, while not necessarily easy, makes sense as we live the Christian life.

BUT, and maybe i'm alone here, i think denying my SELF is much more than just denying what i want. it's often about denying who i am. i think this because i've noticed, again, mainly in myself, that believers tend to justify their flesh by "wrapping" it around spiritual things. what i mean is, if my natural personality is abrasive or insensitive or prideful, it's really easy to present/defend/"stand on" biblical truth and hurt people or be a first class butt about things. i've addressed this line of thinking before, but i think God is still grinding me down about it! i know my tendency is to chalk up certain things to "that's just how i'm wired."

God has obviously wired us all uniquely and specifically and i'm not suggesting all of our personalities should dissolve so that we're a bunch of Christ-bots with no humanity in us. BUT we should be characterized by Christ and we should deny the flesh. the point is that people see Christ, not us. this is the tension i'm constantly trying to figure out. less of me, more of Him.

maybe this is elementary Christianity, but i see this being an issue in a lot of believers and specifically in ministers/pastors. because our personalities/emotions are natural, we embrace and justify them, but our sin is natural, too, and we seek to deny it. where is that line drawn? denying ourselves is made up of more than just doing what Christ wants. it means doing the things Christ wants with the attitude Christ would have. of course, the key to that is wanting what Christ wants so much so that it becomes what "we" want.

i'm reminded of Psalm 37:4

"Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart."

and Philippians 2:13

"for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

and this just in from a potential intern's application/testimony

"God is ruining my life"

(in the context and heart of his statement, i think that's a great way to look at it. his goals, dreams, ambitions, etc. are all trumped by God's will for his life.)

submitting ALL of ourselves to Christ results not just in changed actions but changed motives and attitudes. which, i have to believe, means less of our "edgy personalities" (rudeness), less of our "carefree approach" (apathy), less of our "undying conviction" (foolish stubbornness), etc. and more humble service. and that's genuine humility, not the kind i've been known to feign so people will notice! this is a vigilant task, because i believe God uses our unique and natural personalities, quirks, "wirings," etc. to do His kingdom work. that's why it's so easy to let the guard down in these areas. but i have to imagine that ministers around the world are often doing more harm than they should by not getting enough of themselves out of the way as God works.

trust me, this post is as much a confession as a charge to fellow believers. (probably more so!)

anyway... i'm not on the other side of this battle (hence the post title.) i doubt i'll ever be. i'm not sure any Christian ever really is. i'm just sayin'.

the plunge
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first, the incomparable keith green. he speaks some great words, too, when he's not singing. ("you know what the greatest healing is? it's the healing of the sin-sick soul.") LOVE IT!

and one of my all time faves for nostalgia's sake:

been doing some thinking on the "all sins are equal in God's eyes" mentality. i've found that since starting seminary, i've been prone to pick a lot more theological nits than before. i think this is both good and bad (which leads me to think about the law of non-contradiction... darn you, christian apologetics.)

anywho... sitting around in Bible studies, a lot of churched people like to say "all sins are equal in God's eyes" because they also say/know that "we (churchy people) are no better than murderers, hitler, etc."

i'm gonna try to split some hairs here, because i believe we have a false dichotomy. it's true that no one is better than anyone else in the sense that no one is righteous (romans 3:10). this means that no one has or can merit their own salvation. ANY sin separates us from God. so yes, all sins have the same effect when it comes to earning us eternal judgment.

but, the phrase "all sins are equal to God" doesn't seem accurate. in exodus 21-23, God lays out the earthly punishments/consequences for different sins/infractions. not all wrongdoing resulted in capital punishment, but some did.

so, does God see all those sins equally and knows we don't, so He allowed for gradations of punishment? OR are there actual gradations to sin in God's eyes EVEN THOUGH the "smallest" of those sins separates us from Him?

thoughts? am i way off? stating the obvious?

i need to come up with a lighthearted survey for you people...

there is a lot of transition coming for our church. it's all been announced publicly, so i can finally refer to the de-bagged cat.

here are the transitions in a nutshell: our student pastor (my boss), darren carver, will be taking on the role of pastor of discipleship. our children's minister, stephanie thames, will be moving to ft. worth as her husband will be pursuing his doctorate in biblical archaeology at southwestern. and yours truly will be transitioning from high school pastor to pastor for college and young singles.

so, lots of moves taking place in the coming months. it's pretty surreal right now because nothing is changing right away AND this is the only ministry i've served in since graduating from college just over 9 years ago. i think i've been on this student ministry staff longer than anyone in the history of the church (at least in the last 20 years since i started coming here as a 7th grader.) i don't say that to brag or in any way take anything away from all the great people that have served on this staff (maybe i shouldn't have said it all.) they are some of my greatest friends and fellow ministers and always will be. i just think it's weird to think about. it doesn't really feel like i've been doing this that long.

anyway, just wanted to let you know what's going on with me and ask that you pray for our church, those transitioning, the families and volunteers that will be affected and for the new team members that will be joining us in the future.

i'm sure i'll be posting more as the transitions become more "real."

i recently heard some staggering sbc stat on the declining number of student baptisms over the last several years. i'd be lying if i tried to quote it. trust me, it's staggering. baptisms are down across the board, but students (ages 12-17) are WAY down. of course, much is being discussed as to "why?"

not coincidentally, i'm sure, is the fact that about 40% of sbc churches have plateaued in membership while roughly 30% are increasing and the remaining 30% are decreasing. that's a lot of stagnation and decrease.

i have a few theories on this. please consider the following my very humble opinions and perceptions from my limited experience. i hope they make sense.

i've daringly broached the subject before of parents worshiping their kids and may come close to that territory again here. i am not a parent, so i tread lightly.

i think there have been trends in familial life and trends in churches that have compounded the woes of evangelical student ministry but i can't point to which is the chicken and which is the egg.

parents and students now, more than ever it seems, are so focused on academia, extracurriculars, resumé building and "giving their kids what they never had" that the church and, more importantly, the Church are being neglected.

if soccer or band conflict with Bible study, guess what's getting nixed. now, hear me... i don't think merely attending Bible study is of greater value than soccer or band. BUT i think negligent attitudes towards spiritual matters can quickly be inferred if Christian parents aren't diligent to battle them. parents are right to stress the importance of grades, scholarships, etc. but Christian parents should somehow also show/teach their kids that spiritual matters are far more important. i believe, on the whole, this is not happening. more and more parents are relying on the church to be the main disciplers of their kids, but kids whose parents don't really value discipleship are not likely to see value in discipleship.

a similarly dangerous attitude that i think has evolved in student ministry over the years is the idea that student ministry simply equals good, clean fun. on this front, parents AND churches are to blame. this is where i won't venture to guess which is the chicken and which is the egg. over the last 50-60 years, youth groups have become a place where students can have fun, be accepted and stay out of trouble. parents like this. students, generally, like this. but this is not all there is to being the Church. this is moralistic day care.

i'd be interested to see the stat of how many "sweet" youth buildings were built over the last 50 years... how many pool tables, coffee bars and video game stations were installed? (and i serve at a church with a great youth building, so "hello kettle. it's me, the pot. you're black.") line that stat up next to the declining number of baptisms. where has our focus been?

it's been on entertaining. it's been on wowing. it's been on competing with culture and it's been on attracting. many parents and churches like that and still think that's what a good student ministry is supposed to do. i've seen some fruit from that era, no doubt. but most of the students that were reached from that type of ministry stayed connected to church and ministry because someone invested into them on a deeper, more personal level. (and, of course, the holy spirit caused the growth.)

the oft used adage is, "what you win them with is what you win them to." until parents and churches get on the same page about what student ministry should really be, i don't think we'll see much change in plateaued and declining student ministries. (again, i'm hoping and praying for change in my own ministry, not just pointing fingers.)

this is why students don't know what real life in Christ is and parents are confused when their "good" kids get in to trouble or completely walk away from church. teaching Biblical values to the lost is only producing well behaved (and often resentful) unbelievers. which i understand is unavoidable as nearly EVERY crowd has unregenerate people in it. BUT if we skip the cross altogether and jump to discipleship, we've erred, not the crowd. you want kids to have manners, firm handshakes and impressive credentials, send them to boy/girl scouts. you want to teach them that apart from Christ, they are nothing, preach the cross to them in your homes AND in your youth buildings. i realize that many students don't have believing parents to set that example. but that's another reason we can't "afford" to have Christian parents who don't value the cross acting as surrogates for these students.

as i've said before, we need to stop trying to reach/look past the cross for greater fulfillment. and we certainly don't need to stop short of it (as is often the case). we need to cling to it, kneel at it and proclaim it.

i hope to be a parent some day, even though the thought of it scares the mess out of me. so, parents, please don't take offense. i can't pretend to know what that role is like. i hope i haven't spoken out of place. i'm just offering my observations and theories... in an adamant manner ; )

(as a current student minister (and former youth), though, i think i can speak somewhat credibly concerning what i've seen in student ministry over the past 20 years!)

i listened to some keith green on the way home from work today and thought about posting some to share with "everyone." then i saw that my bro posted a keith green video on facebook and knew i had to up the dosage ... especially because his is real video and the ones below are audio and still images.

these are a few of my absolute faves.

be blessed.

and a sunday school medley sing-along to round it out:

i'm wondering how closely knit the activity of nehemiah 3 and the attitudes of nehemiah 4 are.

chapter 3 is the rundown of who worked where. it reads like a genealogy from numbers or something. so and so worked at such and such ... next to them, whatshisname worked... etc. etc.

i think there are some crucial elements at play in chapter 3, the most significant being community. and i think the contagious community and efforts of chapter 3 allow for the confidence and hope in chapter 4 (where the israelites arm themselves and prepare for attack WHILE still working... some with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other!).

a problem i see with believers today is the desire to live nehemiah 4 without living nehemiah 3. let me try to explain...

recently, our high school students had a spring weekend. (most people would recognize it as a disciple now.) the reason we call it spring weekend as opposed to d-now is that it was purposed for outreach. ideally, the homes are full of unbelieving students that our churched students have invited. you can't disciple unbelievers, ya know. (which leads to an entirely different set of blog posts!)

over the years, however, we've seen less and less unchurched students attending. (i realize this does not fall squarely on our church students, it falls pretty shapily on me, as well.) for all intents and purposes, the weekend HAS become a d-now. this year we did service projects rather than recreation and our students did a great job of diving in and working hard.

experiencing that weekend, reading nehemiah and feeling the conviction upon my own life made me wonder how many believers (again, including myself) are willing to hop on a plane, cross a border or cross a town to do ministry but aren't willing to go next door, or down the hall or across the room. i feel we want to stare down adversaries and let God champion our battles like in nehemiah 4 without knowing our neighbors and working in our own back yards like in nehemiah 3.

i'm pretty sure the chapter 3 lifestyle allows for the chapter 4 victory. in chapter 3 you work side by side in community, you work where you live and you work on whatever needs to be done. in chapter 4 the community and unity from chapter 3 come to mind, i imagine, helping to drive out fear and lead to trust and increased faith in God.

when nehemiah exhorts the people to remember their great and awesome God and assures them that He will fight for them, i can't help but think of the faith we should live with. today, we believers press on and "fight" with assurance in Christ's completed work and unity like that in chapter 3 is promised through the Holy Spirit!

praying for more selflessness and neighborly willingness to fuel some hope-filled, faithful ministry!

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

2 Timothy 2:24-25

so, even when i'm right, i can still be wrong? dangit.

any time i enter into a theological discussion on here, i am wary. regardless, i have some thoughts/questions about spiritual gifts for you.

i've noticed in myself and in others that, over time, spiritual gifts seem to "change" and not just via those surveys you can take to tally your giftedness. (i understand that most of those surveys are easy to "fix" or predict because you can answer towards the outcome you think is true about yourself.) but still, we usually believe those answers to be true about ourselves. i used to score more highly in exhortation but now high in prophecy. some other gifts remain as front-runners though. my questions are these:

-do our gifts really change? does the holy spirit really gift us differently at different times of our lives OR do our preferences simply change over time and we tend to do what we like to do?

-have any gifts we find "rising to the top" been with us since conversion but simply rise and fall at different stages of life/ministry?

-does the bible mention this rising and falling of spiritual gifts in our lives?
-if not, how do we justify it?

-can we lose gifts entirely?

-are the gifts we see consistently throughout our lives the true spiritual gifts and the ones we see rising and falling just our human preferences and abilities... (a lost person can take those surveys, too, and score highly in several categories)

-would it be more beneficial to survey OTHERS about our spiritual gifts?! ha

anyway, just some thoughts. we'll be addressing some of this, specifically, at our high school retreat next weekend but i'm wondering these things myself!

if a ministry/bible study/church/etc. is "not deep enough," how would you define that? what = deep, in other words?

i have my thoughts, of course, but i'd like to hear yours!

# 1 - pretending certain scriptures only apply to non-believers

i don't regularly read stuff christians like so this topic may have been covered there and i wouldn't know it. plus that blog is on like # 7,897,583 ... so chances may be good.

i was thinking about this a week or so ago when listening to some Christians talk about the sin(s) of others. i am DEFINITELY guilty of this very often, but it's easier to notice in other people. i started thinking about Romans 3:23. i think we, as believers, tend to apply that verse to non-believers only. just because we're saved, doesn't mean WE still don't sin and fall short. we've been reconciled by Christ, but WE still fall short. i know, as believers, we want bad non-Christians to become good Christians, like us. but we often start to ignore our sin in the process.

it's the age old problem of thinking we're better than the lost because we're saved. newsflash, believers: there's a difference between ignorant (uneducated, don't know any better) and stupid (know better and sin anyway).

i don't know if this is making sense. it made sense to me before i sat down to type it out!

yesterday, i taught on revelation 3:15-20. this passage also contains a verse we like to apply to non-Christians, only.

`Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.'
Revelation 3:20

we like to use this verse as an invitation to the lost, but this message in revelation is to the church. Christ's dinner invite is to believers! i don't think there's undo judgment being passed off with this verse like we're prone to with the romans passage. but i think we're missing out on the greatest "guess who's coming to dinner?" ever!

as john piper put it:

It is addressed to lukewarm Christians who think they have need of nothing more of Christ. It is addressed to churchgoers who do not enjoy the riches of Christ or the garments of Christ or the medicine of Christ because they keep the door shut to the inner room of their lives. All the dealings they have with Christ are businesslike lukewarm dealings with a salesman on the porch.

But Christ did not die to redeem a bride who would keep him on the porch while she watched television in the den. His will for the church is that we open the door, all the doors of our life. He wants to join you in the dining room, spread a meal out for you, and eat with you and talk with you. The opposite of lukewarmness is the fervor you experience when you enjoy a candlelit dinner with Jesus Christ in the innermost room of your heart. And when Jesus Christ, the source of all God's creation, is dining with you in your heart, then you have all the gold, all the garments, and all the medicine in the world.

i know there are probably myriad other verses that Christians like to apply only to non-Christians, but these two popped up over the last couple of weeks.

feel free to list/explain more in the comments!

the word "mystery" appears more than a handful of times in the new testament and the majority of those times refer to the Gospel of Christ. i bring this up because i just taught on 1 timothy 3:16 and it got me thinking about the mysteries of God we strive to solve.

as i looked at the context of paul's letter, it occurred to me that the "why" of his letter was more relevant for my message than the "what". 1 timothy starts off with a warning against false doctrines and young men who get sidetracked with fruitless debates and speculations and then want to teach others. i realized there's a present danger for many of our students to take for granted the great (and revealed) mystery of the Gospel while pursuing lofty and "deep" discussion.

i know discussing the mind blowing concepts of God can be healthy, fun, and even beneficial, BUT i think paul's warning is there for a reason. if believers get too caught up in eschatology, whether God is inside or outside of time, or if Jesus is really, physically at the right hand of God and forsake "godly edification" and "love from a pure heart" we are not as "deep" or "mature" as we think.

when we're crying out for "deeper" Bible studies but talk trash about our parents, we're not mature. when we can quote long-dead theologians, but don't know how to show love to the unbelieving people around us, we're not deep. i'm not railing against anyone specific. trust me. this is an age old problem. (obviously, PAUL addressed it!) it's like p.j. o'rourke's quote about everyone wanting to save the world, but no one wanting to help mom do the dishes.

i know we like to dive into the mysteries of God, but the greatest mystery has been solved. it's been revealed. and when paul points it out in 1 timothy 3:16, he doesn't quote Christ or the old testament or some other Scripture. he quotes a hymn that sums up the simple yet profound Gospel!

unfortunately, we've come to equate depth and maturity with the ability to discuss tough, lofty concepts. i feel like the harder to grasp and maintain maturity is imitating Christ. even when thinking about the disciples... they seemed just as, if not more, challenged by the concepts of turning the other cheek, loving samaritans, and feeding nagging crowds as they did by Jesus and the Father being one, calming the storm, or even the resurrection.

of ALL the "mysteries" of God that paul could have extolled or referenced, he seems to be awed the most by the Gospel... by amazing grace... and so should we.

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles -- if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

Ephesians 3:1-12

so, i went to help out at God's Food Pantry on saturday with a few students and one of our interns. 20-30 families come by every saturday and receive food/toiletries free of charge that have been supplied by local churches. while the orders are being filled, someone sits down with the family to discuss life, the Gospel, etc.

usually, when i go, i mix in behind the scenes and fill orders and carry groceries out to cars. i've also been on saturdays, it seems, when there wasn't someone assigned to counsel... so most, if not all, families were just in and out with their goods. i ALWAYS wonder how much, if any, spanish i'll need to remember/use when i'm there as many of the families don't speak english. yesterday, i made up for all the other saturdays when i worked silently behind the curtain, filling orders.

apparently there is now a steady rotation of people that come in strictly to counsel and they were quick to ask who could help interpret for them as they sat with the hispanic families. i reluctantly offered my "services" because, by default, i was the most educated in spanish. the first few translations were a little rocky, but i think the gist was communicated. i found myself blanking on really simple words, not knowing the spanish words for some of the counselor's words, and totally not understanding some of the spanish that was being hurled at me at 100mph (it seemed). i felt worse, because the english speaking counselor was trying to keep it really simple and not really getting into the gospel, because a) using an interpreter was new to him and b) I was the interpreter!

every now and again, the counselors would sit with english speakers and spend much more time with them, getting into their issues and sharing God's truth and love with them as i went back to filling orders and making ridiculous messes (put too many items in a bag, it broke, so did the two jars of spaghetti sauce that were in it). just as the jars hit the ground, i was called back out to translate (huge thanks to those who cleaned it up). i had started to gain some confidence in my spanish, which i've used in puerto rico and mexico on mission trips over the years. i don't know why i always have to relearn this lesson, but when put in the position as the "go-to bilingual", i find myself remembering how to say things and getting over my fear of sounding really stupid. many of the hispanic families complimented me on my spanish, because i started every conversation with how bad it was! i wasn't fishing for compliments, honest. i've just found that if you can say something well in spanish, people often assume you can UNDERSTAND everything in spanish. not true!

as i noticed food orders being filled quicker than the english counseling could keep up with, i started speaking to families in the waiting area to relieve the back up. as i was sharing with one lady, a gentleman came over and asked if i wanted his help translating into spanish (um, yes). i could tell what the lady was telling me, but i couldn't ask the right questions to get her to see what i was getting at. definitely welcomed the help.

two more stories, then i'm done!

1) i was already realizing how little faith i had by not trusting God to give me the words in spanish that He wanted people to hear, but my lack of faith really hit me when i approached an english speaking family and began to share. i had been asking pretty basic introductory questions in spanish with great ease, but i couldn't have a normal conversation with someone in english! it was ridiculous and embarrassing. eventually, i got over it.

2) when it came time for my interpreter in shining armor to get take his groceries, he asked me if i wanted to practice my spanish on him! pretty tight! so i did. i talked to him and helped his family to their car and when i was done, he made my day. he told me my spanish was more than ok (don't remember his exact words) and, this is the best part, that i shouldn't use an interpreter any more. not because my spanish is so good (it isn't), but because when he translated for me, he could translate my words, but not my heart and when i spoke to him in spanish, he could hear my heart. SO encouraging! and SO convicting that i didn't trust God to work through me as He has been faithful to so many times before.

don't sit on your gifts and talents (even ones that you think aren't usable/profitable). God will use them how and when He wants to. just trust Him and get out of the way!

so THIS is how to do ministry...

Ignatius from travis hawkins on Vimeo.

full disclosure: i have had my hair cut at tony and guy (but NEVER highlighted) and used intro music for message series. BUT i hope the comparisons end shortly thereafter!

i've been wanting to share this with the interweb for many moons, but have just now been able to due to technical and legal obstacles. it's a video we put together for an exodus series i preached last semester.

hope you dig it as much as i do.



The Plagues (Prince of Egypt/Johnny Cash) from HWY 249 on Vimeo.

i realize my holy week posts have each been 12-24 hours late each day (i thought this post went public late last night...)



(this is a lot, but i just couldn't cut more out... it's hard enough not posting the entire chapter!)

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says, all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all ...

35 But someone will ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies ...

42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, The first man Adam became a living being;the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable ...

1 Corinthians 15:12-28;35-36;42-50

the crucifixion validates the Gospel of Christ's sacrifice. like paul says in the passage above: if Christ was not resurrected, then we have no hope and are still dead in our sin. the fact that Jesus lived a perfect life and laid it down to pay for the sin of others is amazing enough. the fact that He not only fulfilled that law/payment but trumped, conquered, and negated it is astounding.

i was encouraged by this passage earlier in the week while leading a Bible study and reminded this morning again that we are to live with the hopeful expectation of people forever changed and made alive in Christ BECAUSE of the resurrection. it's one thing to be saved from wages of sin... it's another to be made alive in Christ knowing that one day what is perishable and was sown in dishonor and weakness will be raised imperishable in glory and power! it may be difficult to separate the two, but these things are possible because of the resurrection, not the crucifixion. because Christ was raised, we too will be raised. if we aren't to be raised, then Christ wasn't raised either. and without that validation, that sealing of the deal, we are to be pitied; our Gospel is hooey, our hope is a pipe dream, we're still dead in our sins.

the law is powerful. the law is God's standard. the law wasn't just disregarded and dismissed. the law was fulfilled (praise God!) on good friday. the law was first fulfilled, THEN dismissed. we shouldn't miss that when we consider God's grace. it's not a gimme. it was paid for. it might be free to us, but it was very costly. to leave it at that, though, keeps the law in power. death remains the victor. and if you know God, you know He's not going out like that (He's not going out, ever). rejoice that we share in His victory! death is swallowed up!

53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory?O death, where is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:53-58

how often we lose sight of that ending! we worry, we doubt, we fear. but our hope is secure! the victory sealed at Christ's resurrection is just waiting to be unleashed en masse at the final resurrection! so yeah, easter's a big deal. it matters. ironically, the crux of Christianity, in a way, is not the cross... it's the empty tomb. it's proof that Christ's death wasn't a publicity stunt to drum up a following. the crucifixion wasn't a dice roll. the resurrection confirms it was God's insured, calculated, predetermined, sovereign and victorious plan to display His glory by redeeming sinners.

because of the resurrection, "just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven."

hallelujah!

22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 9:22

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him. 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, Behold the man! 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him, crucify him! Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him ...


17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Do not write, The King of the Jews, but rather, This man said, I am King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, They divided my garments among them,and for my clothing they cast lots.So the soldiers did these things ...


28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), I thirst. 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:1-6;17-24;28-30

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

1 Peter 2:24

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

1 Peter 3:18

good friday, like maundy thursday, has a few aliases and possible origins. it's sometimes called black friday, but of course we've associated that term with the consumer madness on the day after thanksgiving.

some people wonder why "good" was used to describe the day of Jesus' death. some believe "good day/friday" evolved from "God's day/friday". others believe that "good" is a gross understating of what happened on the day Jesus died.

the darkest day in the physical life of Jesus the man was the culmination of His saving purpose on this earth. "it is finished" didn't mark the swan song of a great philosopher, teacher, or prophet. Jesus wasn't throwing in the towel on His physical life. He was proclaiming the completion of His substitutionary atonement. good friday is marked by Christ's ultimate act of obedience to the Father. Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross created our only way for reconciliation to God. if Jesus had any sin of His own, His death wouldn't have paid for ours. before we believed in Him, He did this. before we considered Him, He did this. before we heard of Him, He did this. before we even existed, He did this.

that's not a picture of us finding or pursuing God. that's a picture of God pursuing us. that's Jesus condescending from Heaven to humanity to seek and save the lost. Christ's death on the cross fulfilled God's plan of redeeming us to Himself. without it, we stand guilty, condemned. through it, by it, and because of it, the righteousness of God is imparted to us. to borrow from my favorite hymn, "oh the bliss of this glorious thought!"

good friday, indeed.

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. 8 Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

John 13:3-8

i admit it. i had no idea what "maundy" meant before yesterday. i knew the events of maundy thursday, but never really understood what "maundy" meant. if you're like me, let me explain. the english word "maundy" stems from the latin word for mandate or commandment. it's associated with the night of the last supper because, after washing the disciples' feet, Jesus stated "A new commandment (mandatum) I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."

john 13 begins by explaining that Jesus knew His hour had come. with the coming events in mind, Jesus begins to serve the disciples by washing their feet.

as if His incarnation and crucifixion wouldn't be strong enough examples of humility and service, He literally kneels to wash the feet of His own followers. peter's response is only natural, that Jesus shouldn't stoop to such a menial task. but Jesus, through the self-debasing act as Jesus/rabbi/teacher washing His students' feet was pointing them (and us) even further to His role as Christ/Messiah/Savior. "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me."

if Jesus didn't come to earth in the likeness of man... if He didn't humble Himself to death on a cross... He wouldn't be the Christ... He would just be rabbi. and if we aren't washed by His blood... if we don't accept the benefit (by placing our faith in Him) of His service and submission unto death, then we have no part with Him. peter's impulse was that accepting a foot-washing from Jesus would tarnish His role as rabbi. Jesus points out that if we deny a "spirit-washing" we deny His role as the suffering, serving Savior.

likewise we, as followers of Christ, are to suffer and serve. we're to love one another as Christ loved us (through service and sacrifice).

don't skip over the events of holy week this week. today/tonight reflect on Christ's service/sacrifice on the night of the last supper, keeping in mind His ultimate sacrifice that was to follow.