Sermon: "The Resurrection & Forgiveness"

2nd in the "The Resurrection" series.
Delivered April 15, 2007 by Rev. John Schmidt.
Other sermons in this series - 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

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Okay, let's join our hearts for a moment in prayer.

God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this time that we are together to worship. We believe that your word has unique power as you use it by your Holy Spirit and so we pray that your word would have that power in us that you would work through your Holy Spirit in our lives so that we might respond rightly to you because you are our God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

A man becomes a Christian and as he becomes a Christian he recognizes that he has an enormous burden on his soul, because of the kind of relationship that he has had with his father. For ten years he did not talk to his father and because of that he feels that regret and would love to do something. He knows he's the one that's been keeping his father distant. He would love to do something to reunite with him, but he can't, because his father has already died. A mature Christian woman is struggling with how she can be reconciled to her sister. Her sister has this long list of offenses in her mind, some real and some imaginary and they have tried to work it out and even today they try to work it out and yet as she struggles to find some kind of way to bridge and to express her desire, her sister says there is no need; stay away, my life is better without you. A young Christian woman gets involved more and more in Christian service. When she is doing service for God she feels close to God and yet those times when she is not serving she feels more distant. She is far too busy and feels like maybe she has to cut back, but there is that sense that if I cut back on my service I let the church down and I let God down, but there is no joy. It's 1:30 in the morning and a Christian man leaves the computer. It's the third time that week he has snuck out of the bedroom to look at Internet porn. He despises himself and wonders whether God can forgive him again and he knows that he has to change. But how can he change something inside of himself that is so deep and so powerful?

Each one of these people has problems a lot like ours. These sorts of problems are common enough in our Christian lives. Let's not pretend right now that we are the sort of Christians that have easy problems that have easy solutions. These kinds of problems are real and they are real for many of us. What does the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ have to say to people who struggle with real life issues like that? We are in a five-week series right now on the resurrection where we are looking at just that issue. How the resurrection of Jesus Christ impacts real life and today we are going to look in to the Book of Colossians, the second chapter. You see in the Book of Colossians Paul focuses a lot on the cross and the resurrection. He is dealing with a community that has believed in Jesus Christ, but among them has grown up a teaching that sort of believes that yes its good to have a faith in Jesus Christ, but you need Jesus plus some deep understanding of things, about spiritual powers and angels, that there are certain things you can eat and certain things you shouldn't eat and shouldn't drink, because that's going to make you more in tune with God, that there are special days that you have to do special ceremonies in order to grow as a Christian. So yes, Jesus is important but all of these other things they are very very important and without them you don't have it all. Paul writes to correct that kind of thinking and so he writes a letter in the Book of Colossians where he says that Jesus is all we need. God has done it all in Jesus.

In Chapter 2 that I am about to read, Paul focuses in on what God has accomplished in Jesus Christ. Now we don't have the screen today, but in your pew Bible on page 834, Colossians, Chapter 2 they are the verses that I am going to read. Colossians, Chapter 2 and I am going to begin at the 6th verse.

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."

Let's stop right here. This describes the situation. Paul is calling these people back to their original faith in Jesus Christ. See then, just as you received Christ as Lord in faith, continue to live that way in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith that you were taught at first and overflowing with thankfulness, because the problem comes out in the next verses. In that community there is an empty philosophy that has no real answers that is circulating around and can captivate these people and draw them away from the fundamental truth about what God has done in Jesus Christ and Paul wants them to pull their eyes and their thoughts away from this and focus them on Christ. Let's look at the next few verses.

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given that fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."

Now let's stop there. In contrast to this idea that Jesus is only part of the answer, he focuses in on the fact that in Christ, the fullness of God lives in bodily form. If you want to see God, look at Christ. If you want answers from God, come to Christ. If you want to experience the power of God, come to Christ. And so in him, we have had this spiritual union with him where as we believed in Christ and were baptized in to his name something was cut in our connection with a former way of life. We were buried with him and then we were raised in to a new life in spiritual union with Jesus Christ. It all focuses in on him.

Now these verses alone are enough for a whole sermon and I am not going to talk anymore about them, because I want to focus in on the next few verses. These verses 13 to 15 are unique, because in these verses God is the subject of each of these sentences. In these sentences we see decisively what God has done for us through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ and we see that God has done it all. So let's take a look at that.

"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

Verse 13 begins with us in the state of being dead. There is nothing we can do to ask God to do it, to make God do it, to help God do it. We are in a state where we are so separated from God, our selfishness, our distance from God, our hostility and all the load of all of the things that we have done in life, all of these things are so significant that we are dead and unable to do anything. And so while we are in that state, God sovereignly of his own free will out of his love does something. He makes us alive in Christ. God has done it all. He makes us alive in Christ and forgives us all our sins, because that's the critical thing that has to happen for us to have a relationship with a God who is utterly above all of who we are, who us utterly pure. He's got to deal with our impurity and our hostility and our sinfulness and our distance. And so, he works out a way to actually forgive us and to establish that relationship. And so then Paul goes on and gives us a series of images of just how God did that.

In Verse 14 it says, "Having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and stood opposed to us." Having canceled the written code; the picture here is of an IOU or a bond or a promissory note. We are listed on this as being in debt and it stands against us and holds us as debtors and the picture here is that this is written on wax and what God does is he smears it down and eliminates all the characters on the tablet and makes it absolutely smooth. He wipes it away. He cancels it; all of the debt that stands against us. He wipes it away. And he goes on and he says, and he takes it away at the end of Verse 14, nailing it to the cross. Now there is nothing in financial transactions in the ancient world where they would take some kind of debt notice and then nail it to something as a sign that it was paid. Paul isn't thinking any longer about that IOU. He is thinking about a different kind of notice. When people were put on the cross the accusations against them were written on to a board and was nailed to the cross with the person. It was an explanation as to why they were being crucified and it was a warning to others. It was called a titulus. In John 19, Pilate has one of these written and they put it up on Jesus' cross and it says, "Jesus King of the Jews." This is why he is dying. This is the charge against him. Jesus was not put on the cross because of Pilate's charge. Jesus wasn't put on the cross because of Roman law. Jesus was put on to the cross because of the accusations of God's Law and God's standards and God's own desire for purity. And so, the image Paul has here is that when Jesus was put on the cross, God himself had a titulus and he nailed it on to the cross with Jesus Christ and on that accusation was a list of my sins and yours. All the things that we have done that have fallen short of what God calls us to do. All of the things that we have done that has been hostile; all of the things that we have done that have been selfish, all of the things that we have done that have willfully turned away from God, He lists it there and at the bottom is the verdict of God's own holy law, you must die for this. You must, there is no other solution. That's what the law of God does. It holds up God's standard and says; if you don't do this you will die. And so, God's own accusation against us is nailed to the cross with Jesus. We must die.

What the miracle is here is that when Jesus died, we did too. When Jesus died the law did its worst against us. The law was fulfilled when we died, as Jesus took our place. And so, what that means when it goes back in Verse 12 and other places to say that we have been raised with him. It means that now in spiritual union with Christ, we are in a new life beyond the accusation of the law. The law has nothing more to say. The law has said that John Schmidt deserves to die for the kind of person he is. John Schmidt died and John Schmidt now lives because Jesus lives and the law can no longer condemn me. I am forgiven permanently. Did I do anything to merit that? It's a miracle of grace. Jesus in my place.

But it's not only forgiveness that God works out on that cross, because Paul pushes his imagery in to one more verse; in to Verse 15. "And having disarmed the powers and authorities he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross." Jesus didn't do anything halfway on the cross. He did it all. So not only did he deal with the penalty of sin and our need for forgiveness, he also on the cross deals with the power of sin and our need for freedom. And so it says here that he disarmed spiritual powers. The picture here is that we in our state before Christ are influenced by Satan, or influenced by the way the world thinks and it's not a choice that we make, but it's something that just happens to us. It's a natural part of who we are. And then Jesus on the cross triumphs over those very powers. He disarms them and then Paul uses an image taken from Roman life where a Roman general would conquer another people, then he would wrap them up in chains and march them down the streets of Rome showing the absolute victory of Rome against their enemies. And it says that through the cross of Jesus Christ and through his resurrection, God has not only disarmed these powers, but has made it absolutely obvious, his total victory to the world. Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead proves that sin can't hold Jesus. Resurrection proves that the power of death can't hold Jesus. Resurrection proves that no spiritual power of any kind can stand against him. The whole world order is shifted. Jesus Christ is Lord and we as his people are free at last. That is what the resurrection says.

So let's think about those people that I mentioned earlier. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ means that that man that was never able to reconcile with his father is still fully and finally forgiven, no matter how great a responsibility he had for the pain that he gave to his father, no matter how many times he could have dealt with it and was asked to deal with it, but refused to, no matter how hard his heart was, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ he is forgiven. The law says that he should die for what he did to his father. He has died and he now lives. God has done it all.

The woman who has been refused forgiveness by her sister is called to understand that the lack of human forgiveness doesn't mean that God hasn't forgiven her completely and fully. If God does not accuse you who else can? She is forgiven completely. God took that guilt away, nailing it to the cross. God did it all.

The young Christian who is wearing herself out needs to confront that part of herself that still believes that she can add something to what God has already done for her in Jesus Christ. Her sense that somehow when she is serving God she is more acceptable to God, is part of her problem with God. A seminary professor of mine told us one time that every morning he wakes up and as he is taking shower he reminds himself that on his very worst days he is fully acceptable to God only because of the death of Jesus Christ and on his very, very best days when he is ready to congratulate himself he is only acceptable to God because of the cross of Jesus Christ. Sure, we are called to serve, but our service is never going to deal with this issue of our debt before God. It's far too big, but God dealt with it. He nailed it. He took it away by nailing it to the cross with Jesus Christ. God did it all. And for the man who is repeatedly caught in the same sin, he hears an amazing message of grace. God has the capacity to forgive him again and even again. Every time he repents and truly turns back to God, God chalks a new line or a new starting point. The past is forgiven and put far away from us. It's been taken away, nailed to the cross, God has done it all. But his life still needs to change. He can't stay where he is.

In fact, every one of the people that we mentioned has something in their life that still needs to change. Whether it's that sense of regret and recrimination for things that we can't undo, whether it is the responses of other people as they accuse us, whether it's our own sense of unworthiness or sin that keeps cycling through our lives without any change. In each of these cases there is a need for change and in each of these cases the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to the power to change. Every sin, every power that draws us away from God is led out in chains as part of the victory procession of Jesus Christ. He has triumphed and we share in that victory. We are not only forgiven, but we are free. We don't have to keep on sinning. We don't have to live the same way anymore. God has done it all. Forgiven and free. God has dealt with the penalty of sin and has dealt with his power, the power of sin in Jesus Christ and Jesus' resurrection from the dead is full and final proof that what God did was sufficient. God really has done it all. And yet many of us here realize that it's a lot more complicated, this issue of change and freedom. If you walk with Christ for any amount of time you realize that what I have just said just doesn't happen automatically and I want to let you know right now I agree and that's why I am preaching several weeks on this issue. We will come back to that. But we can't investigate that until we look at what the fundamental truth is and that's what we hear this week. We can confidently say this right now. Every sin we have ever committed or ever will commit was nailed to the cross with Jesus Christ. It is no more. We are forgiven. Every power that could ever draw us in to sin was conquered by Jesus Christ. They rule no more. We are free. This is where we begin and this is where we end, because there is no more to say. In Christ, in his death and in his resurrection God has done it all.

Let's pray. Open our minds and our hearts to what this means for us Lord. Quicken in us, make alive in us the right responses of faith. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

© 2007, Rev. John Schmidt
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org