SPECIAL DAYS: Fourth Sunday in Lent, Communion Sunday

April 2, 2000 - LESSONS: Ephesians 2.1-10; John 3.14-21, NRSV

SERMON TITLE: The Power of the Cross

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. A woman died and went to heaven(1)
    1. She met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates and quietly asked, "How does one get into heaven?"
    2. St. Peter answered, it all rather simple all you need to do is spell the word, "love."
    3. That was easy and so she was enjoying the fabulous sights and sounds of heaven.
    4. One day she wandered close to the Pearly Gates.
      1. St. Peter was so glad to see her.
      2. He had an appointment with God and could she watch the gates for a few minutes.
    5. As she is watching the gates her former husband arrives.
      1. "I am surprised to see you." she said.
      2. "I am surprised to see you," he answered.
    6. "How has life treated you?" she asked.
    7. "O wonderful." was his response
      1. "You remember that beautiful young nurse that cared for you, well I married her."
      2. "I won millions in the lottery."
      3. "I bought a big mansion and was able to travel the world."
      4. "And by the way, How do I get into heaven?"
    8. She looked at him and said spell, "Czechoslovakia"
  2. I have a block of tickets that allows one to gain access to heaven.
    1. There is only one thing you have to do and that is to spell a word.
    2. How many of you can spell Czechoslovakia?
    3. But then how am I going to determine who will get a ticket.
    4. If one spells Czechoslovakia correctly out loud then you will all know how to spell it.
      1. So I will take your word for it, NO!
      2. You could write it on a slip of paper, NO CHEATING!
    5. How shall we handle the disbursement of the tickets?
    6. Well, CAN YOU spell a word to get into heaven? NO!

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MAIN BODY:

  1. To get to heaven we recognize that we do need a change in direction and destiny.
    1. On the day he opened his new store, a man received a bouquet of flowers.
    2. He became dismayed on reading the enclosed card, which expressed deep sympathy.(2)
    3. While puzzling over the message, his telephone rang.
    4. It was the florist, apologizing for having sent the wrong card.
    5. "Oh, it's all right," said the storekeeper. "I'm a businessman and I understand how these things can happen."
    6. "Unfortunately," added the florist, "I sent your card to a funeral party."
    7. "Well, what did it say?" asked the storekeeper.
    8. "Congratulations on your new location," was the reply.
    9. What do you believe it takes to get into heaven?
  2. To get to heaven we need a guide to show us the way.
    1. There is a cartoon in which two women are having coffee together.
      1. One is passionately "sharing" her witness:
        1. "He's changed my life.
        2. He communicates with me every day of the week.
        3. Anywhere I go, he's there.
        4. He lets me know how I should live and what I should think.
        5. He tells me the true meaning of life.
        6. I just love Phil Donahue!"(3)
      2. I know this is dated
      3. But, it takes more than a Phil Donahue!

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    1. There is an old song written by Lyric Author: Jessie Brown Pounds; Composer: Charles H. Gabriel
      1. The Way of the Cross Leads Home

        1.
        I must needs go home by the way of the cross:
        There's no other way but this;
        I shall never get sight of the Gates of Light
        If the way of the cross I miss.

        2.
        I must needs go on in the blood sprinkled way,
        The path that the Savior trod,
        If I ever climb to the heights sublime,
        Where the soul is at home with God.

        3.
        Then I bid farewell to the way of the world,
        To walk in it never more;
        For my Lords says, "Come," and I seek my home,
        Where He waits at the open door.

    2. What is the way of the cross?
  1. The way of the cross is described and defined in the lessons for today.
    1. First read of David's response to Nathan's description of his sin in the 51st Psalm
      1. David is on the floor before God, utterly ashamed and as dust before the glory of God. "My sin is ever before me." There was no escape.(4)
      2. The symptoms of sin are gradually replaced by the greater reality of God. "Against you, you alone have I sinned."
      3. The speaker does not look for an outside source to blame. Instead he looks to his "inward being," for the renewal of his heart.
      4. There is a deep awareness of wrongdoing, "Deliver me from bloodshed, O God."
      5. And of the rewards of reconciliation, "My tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance."
      6. Finally there is hope, in a shared plan of regeneration, "Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem."
      7. This is the way of repentance

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    1. Secondly, read the events that take place in Numbers 21 which describe Israel's experience
      1. This teaches us the necessity of learning patience and sensitivity to our situation in life and relationship with God.
      2. [7] The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us."
      3. So Moses prayed for the people.
      4. [8] And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live."
      5. [9] So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
      6. This is the way of knowledge
    2. Read what Paul has to say in Ephesians 2 which is describing the same condition at a different time and with a different people.
      1. [1] You were dead through the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.
      2. [3] All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.
      3. [4] But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us [5] even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- [6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
      4. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- [9] not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
      5. [10] For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
      6. This is the way of grace

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    1. Then we realize with John in his description of Nicodemus's visit with Jesus in John 3 that what we need to help us maintain clarity of sight and the need for sound doctrine is the cross.
      1. [14] And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, [15] that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
      2. [16] "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
      3. [17] "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
      4. [18] Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
      5. [19] And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
      6. [20] For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.
      7. [21] But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."
      8. This is the way of acceptance

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    1. It is the way of the cross.
      1. The cross has no power in itself.
      2. It is not a magic amulet.
      3. A dramatic scene in the opera Faust by Charles Gounod, occurs when Satan crosses swords with Valentine.(5)
        1. Satan breaks the young man's weapon and is about to run him through.
        2. At the last second, Valentine turns his broken sword upside down so that the blade and the hilt now assume the form of a cross.
        3. Satan stands there -- frozen, paralyzed.
        4. At the sign of the cross, Satan is powerless.
        5. This may work in opera's, but it does not work in real life.
        6. This is often the cross we carry with us.
    2. Looking at the cross will not save us.
      1. We are not in a desert wilderness being attacked by poisonous serpents.
      2. Although there may be some similarity to the conditions in which we live.
    3. We need to be reminded that the cross as an instrument of torture and death.
      1. The cross as an instrument of self-denial and release.
      2. The cross reminds me that Jesus died my death so that I might live his life.
      3. As the apostle Paul writes: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me," (Galatians 2:19b-20, NRSV).
    4. In this case we are invited to take up our cross and follow Jesus.
      1. This ought to be done with all our intelligent faculties on alert.
      2. This is an exercise in total commitment.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. Last Thursday was registration day for Pilgrim Playmates Nursery School
    1. I returned from the weekly Bible study at Linden Ridge and then the post-office at 3:20 p.m. to see a line of people who wanted to register a child in our Nursery School program.
    2. Registration did not begin until 6:30 p.m. they were willing to stand in line for 3½ hours without knowing how many places were available to register.
    3. Oh that we were willing to demonstrate that kind of dedication and commitment to make sure that we have a place in the kingdom!
  2. The way of the cross leads home.

1. As told by Robert Hansen, Sr., who found this story on the Internet.

2. From, Homiletics Magazine, Used with permission

3. Ibid.

4. From an article, Regeneration by Samuel Wells in the Christian Century, March 22-29, 2000, p. 335

5. Homiletics Magazine, Used with permission

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