Several special days occur in May, such as May Day, Cinco de Mayo, Occidental Community Church's picnic and Mother's Day. A huge thank you to all moms! In honor of mothers (and fathers since Father's Day is next month) I want to focus on a verse in the Old Testament that describes the parental side of God. Zephaniah 3.17 "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
Nothing is more comforting to a child than the mere presence of mom or dad. God is always with us. His presence is never passive, but active. We see this in the actions described in this verse. God is mighty to save. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work within us. We may face difficult challenges and possibly face defeat or failure, yet God is with us and He is able to save. God can turn any negative into a positive.
Parents take great delight in their children. At birth, moms and dads count toes and fingers numerous times. They even will wake the baby up, just to make sure everything is ok. They delight in their child at birth and that continues even into adulthood. Parents delight in their children even during the teen years. If you are a parent of a teenager, I simply refer you back to the preceding paragraph. God delights in us. He made us, redeemed us, called us. We belong to Him. God rejoices over you each and every day.
God also quiets us with his love. A child can get all worked up. It is the soothing love of a parent that will calm the child down. God's love is much deeper than any parent's love for their child. It would be hard to imagine how much God does love us except for the fact that He sent His Son Jesus to earth to die on the cross for our sins. The reason for this gracious act is that God loves us.
When my children were young, I would carry them in my arms and lean them upon my shoulder. I would often sing to them to quiet them as well as calm my own nerves. Singing is a wonderful way to express emotion and prayer requests. God rejoices over us with singing. I wonder what song God sings over you? Whatever song it is, it expresses God's heart for you! God rejoices over you. He is with you. He is able to save, in fact mighty to save. God takes great delight in you, loves you and rejoices over you in song.
Why not take a few moments right now and thank God for being your "heavenly Father."
Blessings,
Pastor Pete
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Who Put Jesus on the Cross?
This is one of the most important questions we can ask, because how we choose to answer it will affect us personally.
We might think that it was the Jews who put Jesus to death. The Jewish religious leaders had Jesus arrested and condemned him to die. They made their rounds, first taking him to Pilate who promptly sent him to King Herod. When Herod sent him back, Pilate began to worry. Three times Pilate stated that he found no fault in Jesus. In presenting Jesus, Pilate announced “Here is the man!” and the Jews shouted back “crucify him!” Later, Pilate proclaimed, “Here is your King!” and the people, spurred on by their religious leaders, shouted out again, “crucify him!” We could lay the blame on the Jews or the Romans. We are quite apt at the blame game.
We could lay the blame on Satan! Certainly, if anyone was ever worthy of punishment, it would be this former head angel who once did God’s bidding but now seeks to spoil all that God does in regard to the human race. Satan is depicted as a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Jesus described Satan as a murderer and the Father of Lies. We can easily lay blame on him and have our conscience soothed.
We could also blame God. Wasn’t it God’s will that Jesus should die for mankind? The Prophet Isaiah said (Isaiah 53.10) that “it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.” Just like He did with Abraham, God provided the lamb for the sacrifice. God provided Jesus to be the “Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev. 13.8). I’m sure we can feel fairly comfortable now for it is certainly God’s fault.
We could certainly lay blame on Jesus too, for he was a willing participant. In John 10.18, Jesus said that "he lays down his life on his own accord!" He wanted to do it! Why should we take the blame for something that Jesus wanted to do?
Though all of these things are true, they do not give the complete answer.
Isaiah 53.5 ff says that it was for “our transgressions...iniquities...” In other words, it was for our sin that Jesus died on the cross. Your sin and my sin. None of us can escape this, for we are at fault. You might think, “I wasn’t even there, so how can I be blamed?” The Bible states that "all have sinned" and that Jesus died for the sins of all people. While Jesus died for all, it is only applied to those who put their trust in Him.
If we cannot accept the blame, we will not accept the responsibility for our sin that helped put Jesus on the cross. If we do not accept the responsibility, we will not see the need to come to Jesus, but will continue through our life as if Christ’s death is just some religious event and Easter another religious holiday. Though it was our sin that Jesus suffered for, Jesus offers us forgiveness of sins and newness of life. Just as He died for us, He also lives for us, that we may experience the power of God in our lives. And get this: when we ask Jesus to save and forgive us, He does. Here's the beautiful part. Then we stand before God as holy and blameless. We can shift the blame and stand condemned, or we can accept the blame and be declared blameless by God.
May you live in God's grace that grants you forgiveness and God's hope that belongs to all the Saints!
Blessings,
Pastor Pete
We might think that it was the Jews who put Jesus to death. The Jewish religious leaders had Jesus arrested and condemned him to die. They made their rounds, first taking him to Pilate who promptly sent him to King Herod. When Herod sent him back, Pilate began to worry. Three times Pilate stated that he found no fault in Jesus. In presenting Jesus, Pilate announced “Here is the man!” and the Jews shouted back “crucify him!” Later, Pilate proclaimed, “Here is your King!” and the people, spurred on by their religious leaders, shouted out again, “crucify him!” We could lay the blame on the Jews or the Romans. We are quite apt at the blame game.
We could lay the blame on Satan! Certainly, if anyone was ever worthy of punishment, it would be this former head angel who once did God’s bidding but now seeks to spoil all that God does in regard to the human race. Satan is depicted as a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Jesus described Satan as a murderer and the Father of Lies. We can easily lay blame on him and have our conscience soothed.
We could also blame God. Wasn’t it God’s will that Jesus should die for mankind? The Prophet Isaiah said (Isaiah 53.10) that “it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer.” Just like He did with Abraham, God provided the lamb for the sacrifice. God provided Jesus to be the “Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev. 13.8). I’m sure we can feel fairly comfortable now for it is certainly God’s fault.
We could certainly lay blame on Jesus too, for he was a willing participant. In John 10.18, Jesus said that "he lays down his life on his own accord!" He wanted to do it! Why should we take the blame for something that Jesus wanted to do?
Though all of these things are true, they do not give the complete answer.
Isaiah 53.5 ff says that it was for “our transgressions...iniquities...” In other words, it was for our sin that Jesus died on the cross. Your sin and my sin. None of us can escape this, for we are at fault. You might think, “I wasn’t even there, so how can I be blamed?” The Bible states that "all have sinned" and that Jesus died for the sins of all people. While Jesus died for all, it is only applied to those who put their trust in Him.
If we cannot accept the blame, we will not accept the responsibility for our sin that helped put Jesus on the cross. If we do not accept the responsibility, we will not see the need to come to Jesus, but will continue through our life as if Christ’s death is just some religious event and Easter another religious holiday. Though it was our sin that Jesus suffered for, Jesus offers us forgiveness of sins and newness of life. Just as He died for us, He also lives for us, that we may experience the power of God in our lives. And get this: when we ask Jesus to save and forgive us, He does. Here's the beautiful part. Then we stand before God as holy and blameless. We can shift the blame and stand condemned, or we can accept the blame and be declared blameless by God.
May you live in God's grace that grants you forgiveness and God's hope that belongs to all the Saints!
Blessings,
Pastor Pete
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