EmmDev 2023-04-06 [Lent Reflections] Why did He have to die?

Why did He have to die?

Hi Everyone
This will be the last EmmDev in this series.
Don't forget to read the remaining three chapters over the next three days:
- Fri 7 Apr - Jesus Rises: Luke 24
- Sat 8 Apr - Jesus rises -- death dies! 1 Cor.15
- Sun 9 Apr - How it all Ends: Revelation 21

After Easter we will be going on leave and so I will take a break from EmmDevs until May 2.

I wish you a BLESSED EASTER and pray that it will be a special time of growth and closeness to God.
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You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! ... For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (Romans5:6-19)

I had planned a more technical devotion unpacking the "first Adam" and "second Adam". (You can go to "Why did Jesus die?" to see that.)
Here's a tweaked version of something I wrote back in 2006.

My son Caleb, at six years old, was a demonstrative child. When I came home after being out a lot, he would launch himself at me and hug me as hard as he could! I had to coach him to be a bit more gentle with his mother who at one stage had bruises to prove her son's love!

We are not left to doubt God's love for us. He has demonstrated it to us. (The Greek word implies "made tangible") Our newspaper's date bears testimony to the fact that Christ came into our world!

We were in no position to demand that God prove the reality of His love. We were sinners. Not only does it mean that God was not compelled to love us or show He loves us, but it also means that we are sin-blinded to the demonstration that has been given.

But consider the facts:
He came,
He died,
He rose,
He established the church so that you and I could be reached
and He is coming again.

The inescapable conclusion is that we are loved.

BLESSED EASTER!

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EmmDev 2023-04-05 [Lent Reflections] Jesus died

Jesus died

Today I am not going to try to be eloquent or poetic.
This truth does not need polishing or enhancing.
It only needs us to pay attention...

Just look at what it's saying:

• It's about Someone who called Himself the Son of God and died for that.
• An unnatural level of violence and cruelty was directed at a man who preached love and healed people.
• He forgave in the midst of pain that should have driven Him crazy.
• His presence and manner touched a wily politician (who wrote a sign that amounted to treason), a hardened criminal and a tough soldier.
• Incredible supernatural events which were also profoundly and appropriately symbolic accompanied His crucifixion.
• He gave His life, it wasn't taken.

"Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there...?"

As you read today's passage, take time to "be there."
Be horrified, be amazed and astounded and then be filled with thanks and adoration.

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals--one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself." There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. " Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was a righteous man." When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. (Luke23:32-47)

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EmmDev 2023-04-04 [Lent Reflections] What Love is.

What Love is.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1John4:9-12)

I use this passage when I do marriage prep with couples. For me, the well-loved 1 Corinthians 13 tells us how to love, but 1 John 4, tells us what love is.

According to John, God is love, and He always makes the first move:

• When we were far away - He brought us near (Eph2:13)
• While we were still sinners - Christ died for us (Rom5:8)
• When we were dead - He made us alive (Eph2:4-5)
• When we were lost - He came to find us (Luke 15:4)
• When we were blind - He opened our eyes (John 9:25)
• (And I could go on...)

God always makes the first move - He takes the initiative again and again. The Old Testament is a story of God looking for Adam and Eve, rescuing Noah, calling Abraham, calling Moses, rescuing Israel from Egypt, calling David, sending the prophets and promising the Messiah.

And we don't deserve it - God owes us nothing - but He gives us grace. The Hebrew word -- chêsed - "loving-kindness" is the word that most consistently reflects God's grace.

Norman Snaith, a famous OT theologian, said this about chêsed: "The word stands for the wonder of His unfailing love for the people of His choice, and the solving of the problem of the relation between His righteousness and His loving-kindness passes beyond human comprehension."

John uses the Greek word "agape" to describe God's love but I can't help but wonder if he would have used chêsed instead of agape if he could have mixed his languages.

Look at what God's Love -- Loving-Kindness -- Grace does:

1. It takes the initiative -- God shows His love to us long before we do anything for Him (We are undeserving)
2. It gives -- God sent His Son into the world so that we could live (He showed us what God is like -- John 10:10)
3. It sacrifices -- God sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice. (at-one-ment is how God makes us one with Him)
4. It transforms us -- We can love and become agents of grace.

500 years ago Martin Luther nailed a letter to a church door in Wittenburg. He had tried to get near to God by good works and failed. When he read the Bible he discovered that God had already made the first move: He offered us grace.

1. God took the initiative
2. He sent His Son
3. He died for our sin
4. He makes us new.

It is by grace alone that we are saved.
This is the nature of True Love.

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