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The Centrality of the Cross

 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…1 Peter 2:21

Called – purpose – follow. Three basic needs of life have their origin met at the cross.  Being called by God meets fully the greatest human need – to belong. Through Christ opening the way for me via the cross, I become one of a most honorable association – God’s elect.  We all have the invitation but so many turn away.

I have been called for a purpose.  A certain purpose in fact.  Now the Lord is speaking to me not in specifics so much in what I will do in life, but how I will do life.  Called for this purpose encourages me in what my God has taught me about Himself.  God is intentional.  Everything He does is not by chance but is intentional.  He has intentionally called me with a purpose in mind.  A purpose that brings glory to Him and for me: confidence and well-being. Why? Because I have the peace of assurance that comes from knowing it is of His will.

Every one of us must have purpose or we find no fulfillment in life.  In fact, some find no reason for life. Lack of reason and purpose drive some in selfish desperation to end life.  The believer living with the increasing grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ need never suffer this. The cross declares purpose and intent. Oh dear one, let your heart hear this most satisfying word, Christ has called us for this purpose.  Unlike the lost of this world, we don’t have to search for our purpose.  Our purpose has searched for and found us. 

What is this purpose? It is to follow in Jesus’ steps. This is the third basic need of life – a path of life to travel down. We’ll look deeper tomorrow.

Lord Jesus, I praise You for lifting me up and out of a life of endless searching and lost wandering.  Lord I once was wondering and wandering.  Now I am called and assured of life.  Thank you.

The Centrality of the Cross of Christ

Christianity has inherent in it a calling of conformity for our lives.  Central to this is the Cross of Christ.  These next seven days, we’ll devote our attention to 1 Peter 2:21-23.

For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.  (1 Peter 2:21-25 NASB) 

This passage, particularly the first verse reminds us of the absolute necessity of the cross to the Christian faith.  It should help us to see the vanity of any form of Christianity where the cross is omitted, whether in a congregation, ministry or the life of the individual believer.  The cross is an absolute of our faith.  While some forms of Christianity and some segments of Christ’s church intentionally obscure the cross, eventually there will be a discovery of the foolishness of attempting to remove its offense, or they will perish in a religion of comfort and self sufficiency.  The very offense of the cross is incorporated into God’s plan for the salvation of the individual. Wishing to satisfy the crowd, if left unrepented of leads to the misplacing of the cross where some may not find it again having fallen victim to becoming “Gospel hardened”.

To be Christian is to live the cross.  We see that expressed as Peter faithfully records the inspired Word of God pointing out three truths regarding every true believer with three simple words: called, purpose, follow.

We are called. This is also referred to as being of the elect of God, or His chosen.  It is another way of referring to the church…the called out ones.  We did not initiate our current relationship with Jesus nor were capable of enlisting out of some desire we created within ourselves.  No, we were called by someone outside of ourselves.  This the Holy Spirit did when He first awakened us to our sinful nature and called us out of the darkness into the Light of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  He does this through the Gospel.  The Gospel is the good news of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.  The cross is central to our being called for without the cross; there would be nothing to hold before us as hope for our sin.  We are called through Christ into the kingdom of heaven.  At that point, the cross of Christ is no longer an offense to one’s pride but is viewed by the humbled heart as that instrument of hope where Jesus paid it all.

Lord, may I never remove Your cross from my own like, either by careless neglect, arrogant intent, or misplaced intentions. Jesus, keep me near the cross, there a precious fountain, free to all a healing stream, flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.

The Conspiracy of the Cross

 And wishing to satisfy the multitude, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he delivered Him to be crucified. (Mark 15:15 NASB)

It’s rare to find a man who will stand it alone. The demands of peer pressure, popularity, political expediency or personal harm most often will sway the strongest of men or women to buckle in, even to their own shame and disappointment.  Pilate, with his own career on thin ice, made the decision – release the scoundrel Barabbas and deliver Jesus over to the torturers. To give Pilate some credit, one could make the observation that this was not his first choice.

Wishing to satisfy the crowd – everything decided and done was for the satisfaction of everybody but one- Jesus. The conspicuous omission of any consideration toward Christ is incredible. It was as though He didn’t even exist as the conspiracy of the cross took on a life of its own.  Not a single concern for His welfare was entertained by either the Jewish leaders, Pilate or soon to enter into the picture, Roman cohort of soldiers.

Like Pilate, we are daily faced with the dangerous temptation as believers to satisfy the multitude or remain faithful to Jesus.  Believing teens are often beaten down by the tyrant of peer pressure to satisfy the multitude at the expense of consideration for Jesus. 

The conspiracy against Christ continues today – pastors who have forsaken the integrity of their calling as ministers of the Gospel to satisfy the multitudes.  How limp some pulpits have become in order to satisfy the multitudes. How sanctuaries have become full with multitudes being satisfied on a diet of self help and personal enhancement talks rather than the preaching of Christ and Him crucified.  And so the church has become a prayer-less church…who needs Christ if we are capable of ourselves. This too has all been planned and calculated. It will end sadly as any conspiracy against Christ and His life given on the cross for sinners.

Jesus stood alone.  How good it is for the troubled soul to ponder this reality, Jesus stood alone.  The healing for our guilty hearts is, Jesus stood alone for us. This is powerful.  This is life giving.  Jesus stood alone.

Lord Jesus, thank You for standing alone that we may life. We ask for strength and we ask for forgiveness when we have not stood with You but acted against You.  May Your church repent of her conspiracy against You.  In too many places Your cross and Your blood have been taken out in order to satisfy the crowd, to tickle itching ears.  Lord how Your church needs revival, both in our personal lives and in Your corporate body. Lord by Your Holy Spirit, restore unto us the joy of Your salvation we pray.  Amen.

The Conspiracy of the Cross

 But the chief priests stirred up the multitude to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. And answering again, Pilate was saying to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”  And they shouted back, “Crucify Him!” But Pilate was saying to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify Him!” (Mark 15:11-14 NASB) 

The private and unrepented envy of the chief priests spreads across the scene and becomes the fuel of the mob mentality.  Human behavior is predictable. We might sometimes be surprised by what one man or even ourselves can and will do to another, but should we be?  The Lord Himself knows our hearts.  He tells us the human heart is deceitfully sick to the point of who can know it.  He does. Human Envy in the human heart would be the assurance that Jesus would end up on the cross.  Like a snowball headed down hill, this was only going to end in one way: God’s predetermined plan for man’s salvation would be fulfilled – Jesus, His Son nailed to and dying on the cross of Calvary.

The crowd now involved in the conspiracy of the cross became complicit in their following the influence of the envious priests.  They were given a choice…twice. They wanted Jesus crucified.  They wanted to be rid of Him having become convinced this is what was best for all. Mob mentality doesn’t listen to the questions of reason, it takes on a life of its own and pushes forward.  Jesus would be crucified.  Man the sinner and his sinful behavior would make sure of it.  It was just a matter of time.

Pilate asked a question we are all faced with at some point in life.  He was led to ask the question because of the action of the chief priests.  We are brought to answer the question because of the Holy Spirit.  “”What will I do with Jesus?”  What will you do with Him?  Have you received Him as the one and only Savior from your sin?  This is an important question Pilate asks.  So too for each of us to ponder…what will I do with Jesus?

The Conspiracy of the Cross

For he was aware that the chief priests had delivered Him up because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the multitude to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead.  And answering again, Pilate was saying to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” (Mark 15:10-12 NASB)

Now through Pilate comes the nugget of truth.  No matter how else they presented themselves, Pilate knew what was behind all of this taking place before him seeking his authority. Somebody or his own intuition tipped him off.  Jesus was standing in front of him because of envy.  Boil it all down and what is it that would delivered man’s salvation to its fulfillment? Envy.

How could anyone be envious of Jesus?  Envy is that selfish ability of the flesh to suffer the richness in the life of another person. Envy is the revenge upon another for the possessions he has that the envier does not.  Usually it’s one of the five p’s that an envious person holds over another whether it be a physical possession, a personality quality, a position, popularity or power. What is it that Jesus possessed that the Jewish leaders did not?  They were losing control.  They saw Jesus draw people unto Himself.  They noticed His power to change lives, while their strict religious rituals produced nothing. They heard authority in His words and He had not even gone to their schools. 

The conspiracy of the cross was driven by envy.  Envy can turn normally calm people into a rabid mob.  The chief priests stirred the crowd to demand for the release of Barabbas.  Pilate implicated himself in guilt when he angered the chief priests by asking what to do with the One they had never called the King of the Jews.  What a cauldron of man’s hatred toward one another was boiling in the conspiracy of the cross.  And for this Jesus was to die.

Friend, are you a captive to envy, not perhaps toward Jesus, but envious of your neighbor? Is it his home, his job, his family, his possessions, his spouse, his health, his faith, his blessedness in Christ that you envy?  The chief priests envied Jesus because they didn’t possess what He had and it drove their conspiracy.

Dear sufferer of envy, your cure is the riches you have in Christ.  Do you not remember that you have the riches of heaven in Him?  All that He has is yours. It became yours when by faith you were made an inheritor.  Do you need to go before the Lord before granting rest to your eyes tonight and confess this malady upon your soul to restore rest to your soul? He wants to give to you all that the Father has given Him.

Lord, I realize every time I envy my neighbor I am offending You as well. Help me Jesus to remember that whatever I do for the least of them I do unto You. Expose or Lord all our little conspiracies and help us to see Your riches which we have in You are far greater than anything we could even envy for.

The Conspiracy of the Cross

Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. And the man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the multitude went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”(Mark 15:6-8 NASB) 

It’s surprising the things of normal discipline and conviction that fall victim to the advancement of an agenda or surrendered in compromise for the fulfillment of a cause. Conspiracies are like that.  The Jewish leaders suffered this malady in what they sought for Jesus. Surely they realized they were departing from their own better judgment to have a convicted murderer freed in order to be rid of this bothersome Jesus.  Yes they believed Him to be guilty of blasphemy, but without a proper trial? Weren’t they afraid of becoming guilty of committing a crime against humanity or Roman law?  Apparently not for in their conspiracy they were committing a crime even against themselves, never mind the laws of the land and the norms of civility.

Pilate asked if they wanted him to release for them the King of the Jews. They were willing to accept anything but that option.

Are we not also as the Jewish leaders?  Do we not also surrender our better judgment and even what we expect of others when it becomes a personal matter for us? 

Is not Satan constantly at work in his conspiracy against our souls, our families and our churches?  Do we not even join in knowingly at times even helping him in his life destroying work? No you might say.  

• How about when we enable our adult children in their sin?  Have we not become accomplices with the devil when we support our erring children, especially adult children who have chosen a life style that treats the blood of Jesus as common? Have we not even joined in with them in ways that condones their sinful choices for the sake of keeping the love relationship intact?
• Have we not added to the hardships within the church when leaders and pastor might be faithfully and lovingly administering biblical discipline to restore a wayward soul, and we have spoken publicly against them in our misplaced empathy and sentimentalism?
• Have we not endangered the peace of our own souls when we have chosen popularity over the words of Jesus? When we have loved man, especially ourselves, more than Jesus? John 14:15

Lord Jesus, “Thy will be done on earth”, even when it means us having to suffer popularity, promotion or peace with others.  May we be held by Your great love for us so that we can love You above all others and resist the comfort of compromise.

The Conspiracy of the Cross

And Pilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And answering He said to him, “It is as you say.”  And the chief priests began to accuse Him harshly.  And Pilate was questioning Him again, saying, “Do You make no answer? See how many charges they bring against You!” But Jesus made no further answer; so that Pilate was amazed.  (Mark 15:2-5 NASB)

We see another cost of the conspiracy of the Jewish leaders…involving someone else in the web of sin being spun. This someone else was Pilate. Conspiracies have a vortex of deception sucking others into itself.  The problem of once getting into the center is the deceptive calm that is just as bad as the storm spinning violently around its axis.

Pilate was needed by the Jewish leaders to bring fruition to their conspiracy to rid themselves of Jesus. They needed this man they despised in order to restore peace to their religious enterprise. The only one they despised more than Pilate was Jesus.  They grudgingly tolerated Pilate and the Roman Empire he represented, but Jesus was more than they could bear. Because Roman law deprived them the authority to put Jesus to death, they feigned an accord with Pilate, if for but a few hours, to take advantage of his authority to do what they could not.

Pilate had nothing to gain. He would soon find out, by even getting close to the turmoil, he would become involved in the greatest crime of injustice ever upon the face of the earth. He would be known as the man who sentenced Jesus to be crucified.

Pilate seemed to have reciprocal distain for his Jewish subjects. He rubbed salt into the wounded relationship he held with them by asking Jesus, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ He would use this teaser again later to antagonize the Jewish leaders even more. Jesus’ answer angered the Jews and raised issues in Pilate’s mind.  Would this supposed king demand authority alongside of his own? Pilate had nothing to be concerned, for the King before him and the kingdom of which He ruled was of another kind that Pilate could not understand. Jesus would rule in the hearts of people won over by His grace.  Pilate could only dream of such a governorship.

Pilate was amazed at the silence of Jesus to the accusations piling up against Him by the chief priests.  There was no need for Jesus to answer for He knew His part in the conspiracy against Himself.  All these people surrounding Him and all these things being said were as Luther wrote tools used of God to polish the “Stone” to be laid as the foundation for the new temple to be built.

Pilate while ignorant to the reality of what was going on about him and the gravity of his involvement was by no means then innocent in the crimes to be committed against Jesus. Even though all of this was, as we know, used of God in His plan to bring payment for man’s sin, none of the conspirators or those they involved could claim innocence. We need to remember this when our old nature tries to justify something we have said or done, or perhaps even planning to do by reasoning God used it anyway for His glory. As true as that may be, it is still sin.  To claim it for God’s glory is to cheapen His grace and reflects a lack of repentance.  Without repentance there is no forgiveness of sin. We should never been wanting to make God’s grace in Christ cheap. In doing so, we too are part a conspiracy.

Lord, may I not excuse or justify sin as a means for You to be glorified and forgive us when I have. Again we pray today, ‘Deliver us from all evil.’

The Conspiracy of the Cross

 and binding Jesus, they led Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate.

(Mark 15:1 NASB)

At last the religious establishment had caught their prize. They are about to have the satisfaction of ridding themselves and the world of this persistent pest named Jesus. How they have waited and wanted this day and now it came. Without being rude, it reminds me about the farm dog that chased cars and the hypothetical question the farmer asked, “I wonder what he would do if he caught one?”

Every conspiracy entangles its participants in two detriments to their own well-being: the deception of having control to direct fate, and the commission of offenses, some of which are crimes.  This conspiracy and the intentional actions by the conspirators toward its fulfillment are laughable if we were to forget Acts 2:23.  What would the Jewish leaders do when they caught the Savior of the world? 

…binding Jesus.  They tied up God.  They tied up the One they saw turn water into wine, restore sight to the blind, cast out demons, make the mute speak, heal the sick, and even bring the dead back to life.

…they led Him away. This scene redefines ridiculous and borders on repulsive. God in the flesh bound up by man with a man made material being led away by men. In this conspiracy the offense against Divinity is man the sinner leading Holy and Perfect God around by a string. One of the crimes is the one committed against human reason: they believed themselves to now be in control!

…delivered Him up to Pilate.  Here again, the Pharisees et al, take the Source behind all earthly governing authorities (Romans 13:1) to Pilate for his assistance.  There is a conflict of interest here on Pilate’s part. He allows himself involvement in a conspiracy against the One who has established his office and its authority. But Pilate is ignorant in unbelief.  He too is deceived.

This all reminds me of something. How ridiculous it is to believe we are in control of our lives under our pitiful power, when trying to steer it in the direction we would like it to go, even if it’s against God’s wishes for us.  And when it does go in our desired direction, we boast of our success and gain confidence in ourselves.  We too are deceived.

We forget that God is all knowing and nothing in our lives occurs without His awareness and His permitting it to occur, even if it is rebellion.  God in His great power allows it to happen.  This is why it is wise to pray, “deliver us from evil”, the very evil in our old flesh.

Just as the case with the over confident captors of Jesus, God who is all knowing and all loving has a plan to match His power.  What was their conspiracy, God in His predetermined plan included its use for the salvation of man.  He is that powerful, wise and loving.  He can and does use even our sin for the furtherance of His desire to save souls. Yes dear one, even your rebellions against Himself, He uses for the sake of saving another soul, maybe even yours perhaps.

Over the next seven days we’ll be looking through Mark 15:1-15 as we consider the Conspiracy of the Cross.

And early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes, and the whole Council, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate.  Mark 15:1

The last two days of Jesus’ life were filled not only with a mocking of Him but they were a travesty upon any representation of justice. But it began long before then. While we might chafe under the injustices occurring at the trial(s) Jesus had to endure before the cross, we learn in the gospels of repeated plans to seize Him. These plans and attempts were thwarted by either fear of the people or the power of Jesus to escape. The trials the day before His crucifixion were but the closing events of a conspiracy against Christ that had begun a long time earlier.

We know from the divine perspective that it was God’s predetermined plan (Acts 2:23) all these crimes would be perpetrated upon Jesus, but from the human angle, why were the religious people so bent on their opposition to Him.  Jesus explains what it was about Himself that earned the ire of the religious establishment of His day, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ (Matthew 11:16-19 NASB).

He just wouldn’t play their game. He not only turned over the money changers tables in the temple (Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46), He flipped the entire religious establishment on its ear.  The same is true today when a church entrenched in the life choking agenda of a self righteous few is exposed to a ministry of the life giving Gospel of Jesus. The religious power mongers back then represent even what we see today; man’s desire to make God into an image he creates in order to worship according to rules allowing him to live as he wants.  This is idol worship – a god dressed up as Holy God.

They consulted together. When the paradigms of a religious entity are challenged, unless there is repentance, the natural response of the sinful human heart is to conspire to rid itself of the threat. What was to happen to Jesus in the hands of man wasn’t by chance; it was planned in the war room of evil deep inside the human heart. Yet even in this God works.  He enrolled the wicked in His predetermined plan for the salvation of man.  He did with Pharaoh to save Israel, and He would do it again with Israel and the Romans soldiers to save us.  It only adds to the wonders of His power and His love.

The conspiracy of the cross seems like such an undignified way to save man’s soul. 

Lord. The undignified manner in which salvation was to be brought forth to save me robs my pride of its over-inflated opinion of self. Thank you.

As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.

(Isaiah 53:11-12 NASB)

It can be said of the Book of Isaiah that it essentially the Bible in one book. It holds before the reader the bad news of our sin, our rebellion and our hard heartedness.  It offers Good News of a coming Savior.  The news ending chapter 53 is good.

Our two verses overflow with words of rich balm for the aching soul. My heart hears that God is satisfied.  They speak of a work done and completed on the sinner’s behalf by another with whom God was satisfied – justify the many, bear their iniquities, bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.

What relief this is to the sinner crushed under the load of sin when hearing that the extracting, demanding toll for sin is met.  This is called the Gospel – the Good News.  This is why it is called Good News for the sinner: Jesus Christ has justified the many.  Justified is that judicial proclamation of the Lord upon a sinner the instant he comes to believe in the merits of Christ – not guilty. This is the sinner’s benefit from Jesus horrific work on the Cross – the justification of his position before God.  It does not mean that we are not guilty of committing sin – the Law proves that we are most certainly that.  What it means is that God “sees it”, the offering of Jesus Himself and is satisfied with Him as payment for guilty man. The demands for holiness have been met in Christ for you and for me.  This becomes mine by faith.

Dear reader, do you believe these words today?  Do you truly rest with a saving faith that believes Jesus bore your iniquities, that the Cross is history?  Jesus poured out Himself to death as the living sacrifice for your sins.  This Good News is not meant to make you feel guilty but to believe and rejoice that Jesus has done all that is needed regarding your sinful nature and every sin you have, are now and ever will commit.  Do you know that you can go before the judgment seat of Holy God with confidence to speak openly of your transgressions against Him because Jesus has interceded already on your behalf?  While we go with the verdict of guilty in our hearts, we know what the Judge will declare for the sake of His Son Jesus, “not guilty”.

Are you resting fully in the Christ of the Cross?  Not just the Jesus of the manger, or the Jesus of the miracles, or the Jesus of good deeds, wise decisions and a good example, but the Christ of the Cross.  Is your life set free from sin and guilt because you know and believe in your heart that the Christ of the Cross is the One Isaiah spoke of to come for you?

If not, would you take the time right now to prayerfully read and re-read this chapter until the Holy Spirit of the living God pours forth the blessedness of its truth.  Ask Him to reveal to you your sin and so help you to see your need for this Jesus.  Praying each time you read that the Spirit would bring you to know and believe in Jesus, who is your Savior to be.  That He would reveal to you everything written is on your behalf and that He awaits you. 

I will be praying too, waiting to hear from you of the good news of the salvation of your soul.

Lord, to You be all the glory.