Day 21: Freedom in Christ

Day 21 - Freedom in Christ

Reading:  John 8:36, 1 Peter 2:24,  Romans 6:5-14

The first part of this passage is stating we have been united with Christ in his death.  Meaning, our old sinful nature has been crucified, our old sinful self is dead. It is important to see our sin as dead so we are no longer slaves to that sin.  Sin no longer has power over us.  But just as our sin died with Christ, we are also given new life with Christ. And the power of Christ now lives in us. And if Christ lives in us, we live to please God and not ourselves.

So if I’m dead to this sin, why do I still feel the temptation to sin?  It’s a battle of the Living Spirit within you and the flesh.  God still gives us choices, he doesn’t make us robots. Our flesh with our old life has been trained with old sinful habits, it’s influenced by the world, and the devil still seeks to tempt us. BUT the living power of God that now lives in us is fighting the flesh. And when we surrender to God and His will, when we commune with him daily, when we allow God’s Word to influence our thoughts, actions and emotions the battle with the flesh becomes less intense.

Romans 6:5-14 is a powerful passage. And it might be easy to understand that Christ’s death set us free but it’s hard to truly live out in our lives. At least for me it was.

I gave my life to Christ back in my last year of college. My old sinful self was quite nasty.  It was selfish and prideful.  I did things to my body I shouldn’t have.  I treated people the way I shouldn’t have.  I have one sin in particular that I’ll never forget.  But when I gave my life to Christ I knew that I was a new creation.  The old was gone and the new had come.   Jesus had forgiven my sin.  I knew he could forgive all sin.  So I allowed him to help me fight my battle against the flesh and my old sinful ways.  On the surface, life was good and I was being a good Christian.  But I never felt free.  I always wondered how I could live such a blessed life with such an icky past.  Until one day, a sermon changed my life.

He explained the brutality of the cross and why Jesus went through all the pain and suffering.  He did it because of his deep love for us and he wanted to set us free.  But freedom just doesn’t mean forgiveness it means breaking the chains of sin that holds us captive.  I still had these chains.  Then our pastor went on to challenge us to take these burdens and physically lay them at the foot of the cross, to let them go and give them to God.  I still couldn’t.  But then he pointed to the cross.  What he said next changed it all for me.  “And when you don’t. When you selfishly hold onto those burdens. You make a mockery of the cross.”

...mockery of the cross.

Think about that. I did and it changed everything for me. What Jesus went through was horrific and he did it so you and I could live in complete and utter freedom.  And when I didn't except this gift of freedom he so sacrificially and selflessly gave me, it showed my heart didn't truly understand, maybe even respect, him and all he gave up on the cross. It showed a scoffers glance.  So I laid my past down, I laid my sin down, I laid my burdens at the cross.  The weight has been lifted and I live in freedom.

Jesus didn’t just die to forgive us.  He died to completely set us free.  Free from sin. Free from death. Free from the chains that hold us captive.

  The power of sin is broken and we live in the freedom of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus broke the chains of sin and death. We are no longer slaves to sin. Sin no longer has a stronghold. We have been set free and given new life.  We get to live in the freedom of God’s grace. His wounds have healed us.

So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. - John 8:36

Day 20 - Ascension and Great Commission

Day 20 - Ascension

• Reading: Matthew 28:16-20, Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:1-11

Over the last 40 days Jesus appeared to his disciples several times teaching them about what was written and the Kingdom of God, but now it was time for him to go home.  It was time for him to take his rightful place at the right hand of God the Father. 

A lot can be taken away from these messages but we’ll focus on his commission, promise, and his goodbye.

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  Matthew 28:19

Jesus chose to use his last words to encourage his disciples to go out and spread the Word, to share the Gospel, to preach who He was and is.  They were not to sit and study, reminisce, or do life just with each other.  They were to go out and be on mission for Jesus-spreading the gospel beyond the Jews into the end of the earth.  And it’s because they listened that we have heard this Good News.  It’s because they took Jesus’ command seriously that we have the opportunities as Gentiles (non-Jews) to receive this salvation. 

This commission was not just for the disciples.  It is for us as well.  We are to heed this command. God created us all with unique gifts.  We may not be evangelists but we can all use our gifts to be on mission for Jesus.  It’s our duty as lovers of Jesus. We are to be living out the Gospel.  But don’t worry, Jesus knew this mission would be hard. Almost impossible without a helper.  So he promised the disciples and he promises you and I a Helper.

This promise of a Helper goes back to John 16:7: “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”   We’ll dive deeper into the power of the Holy Spirit in later days, but here Jesus reiterates and confirms His promise.  Acts 1:4-5  "Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before.  John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." 

Jesus knew the mission he set before them could not be accomplished without the work of the Holy Spirit in and around them.  Jesus knew that they really could do nothing effective for the Kingdom of God until the Spirit came.  This is an important concept for us to remember as well.  Just as God promises this gift to his disciples, he promises this gift of the Holy Spirit to us as well.  And just as the disciples needed the Holy Spirit to do the work of God, we need the power of the Holy Spirit to be on mission for God.

“After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud...” Acts 1:9.  Jesus didn’t just reappear and disappear as he did during the last 40 days.  He deliberately and physically rose into the heavens while the disciples watched.  They needed to know that this was it.  Jesus was finished in a physical sense down on earth.  He taught and discipled his people all that they needed to know.  He was now entrusting them to spread the Good News to the ends of the earth. They were now to be on mission. 

Day 19 - Jesus Appears To The Disciples

Day 19 - Jesus appears to the disciples

• Reading: John 20:19-23, John 20: 24-31,  Luke 24:44-48

Yesterday we read about the empty tomb and the angels who declared “that Jesus has risen.”  Today we talk about the Risen Savior who visits his disciples – his friends.  In fact, verse 19 tells us that Jesus came the same day He resurrected, and He declares a message of peace.  First off, he could have gone anywhere!  He was the Risen King!  Yet, he decided to be with his people, his disciples.  And he goes with the calming and reassuring message of peace. I wonder if Jesus came with a message of peace because what he just went through gave us true peace.  He conquered sin and evil so we could have peace with God.  He destroyed the separation between God and his people. We now have direct access to God and the God of peace now dwells within us.  He gave us the ultimate peace!

And as he speaks this message, he shows them his body.  God was going to use these disciples to change the world.  They were going to be his messengers that preached His Good News across the nations.  When Jesus appeared with his message and his body, he was confirming all that he shared when he was among them.  He was validating all that he foretold that he came to do.  He wanted his disciples to know without a doubt that he died but now he lives and he lives because he is God.  A God who came down to set his people free.  These disciples need to see and feel those scars. They needed to touch the risen body because Jesus would someday soon be sending them on the hardest mission yet - to preach the Gospel to all the nations.

Jesus not only appeared to the disciples that day but several times after. Luke 24:44-48 highlights a little of what he may have been doing. A bible study.  “He was opening their minds to understand the scriptures.” What was written in the Law of Moses (first 5 books of the Bible), the prophets and the Psalms.  He took what we have been doing but on steroids and with complete accuracy because he is who was written about.  Can you imagine that?!  Jesus himself, talking about himself, and what he himself fulfilled, because he was the very thing that we needed to be made right before God. He was and is the answer! 

But here is the beautiful thing, as Jesus opened the minds of the disciples to understand all that has been written, we have the Holy Spirit in us to help us understand. I truly believe the Holy Spirit helps me every time I read and then type a message on this blog.  I didn’t even like writing before I started learning all these truths about Jesus over the last several years, and yet when I type the Holy Spirit helps it to flow and make sense!  I know I am physically doing it as there are plenty of typos and grammatical errors, but on many days the message is beyond my capability.  Thats what’s so awesome about the Holy Spirit alive in us!  But let’s save this message for another day.  Day 25 to be exact ;)

May we not merely gain knowledge.  Instead, as we learn, may we grow and confess and change more into the people we’ve been created to be by the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us. - Francis Chan⠀

Day 18: Gospel Accounts Of The Empty Tomb

Day 18 - Gospel accounts of the empty tomb

• Reading: Matthew 28:1-7, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, John:1-18

The four Gospel accounts of the empty tomb are different.  At first this might frustrate you. To be honest, it still does for me a bit, however, it does give me confirmation that the four Gospels were written independently and not copycat versions.  It gives me the notion that they are just four different viewpoints of the same story.  It’s like if you go watch a theater play with four friends and you come home by yourself and tell your husband what you watched, you are going to miss pieces.  But, if you meet up with your husband with your four friends, the four of you will find bits and pieces of the whole story to tell to create a more thorough picture of what the play was like.

Except here we are talking about the resurrection of our Jesus! The Messiah, not just a mere play.  And people are retelling a life altering, body shocking, mind blowing experience! They literally just watched a man they loved, respected, cared for and followed for nearly three years get brutally crucified

Needless to say.  These four accounts are different, but different in such a good way that gives us hope of authenticity.  Yet similar enough, where we can put an accurate picture together between the four Gospel accounts.

So let’s try and do just that.

First we know there are women.  We don’t know exactly how many but we know there are a group of them.  Even the Gospel John references more than one woman.  We read about only Mary Magdalene but references “we” in John 20:2. 

The women went out at sunrise on Sunday.  Why then? They kept the Sabbath as the law required.

The women went back to prepare Jesus’ body for burial with spices.

There was a massive stone, and it was rolled away. Most accounts say it was already rolled away except for Matthew.

There were Angels. Matthew and Mark mention one angel, Luke references 2.  Each account has the story of the angels slightly different.  But each mentions two things which are the two key points to remember in the different accounts.  1). There were divine, heavenly angels and 2) they came to bring a message. “He isn’t here! He has risen from the dead!” (Queue music, He arose, He Arose! hallelujah Christ arose)

Matthew references the guards falling into a dead faint.

The women ran back to tell the disciples the Good News.

Then each account ends a little different:
Matthew references Jesus meeting the women as they ran back to the disciples. Mark simply states they were bewildered and didn’t tell anyone except the disciples. Luke tells us that the women rushed back to the disciples and Peter ran off to see the empty tomb.

And I love John’s account.  The women run back and tell Peter and “the one who Jesus loved”. aka John.  I love how he is humble enough to not mention his name but puts a little note in there that he outran Peter.  #winning.  I can only assume this is a little biblical humor or jab at his brother in Christ.  Sounds a little like my sisters and I.  Humble yet competitive.

And then John tells of a beautiful account of Mary Magdalene and Jesus. Maybe the other women were still there as Matthew referenced and this is the same account.  Again, who knows?  But we do know again the women ran back to tell the Angels’ Message to the disciples. And with this message I imagine the floodgates of Jesus’ predictions of his death and promises of his truth begin to resonate and begin to make a little more sense.

The empty tomb, the angels, the resurrection, is what makes the Gospel story beautiful.  It is the Gospel story.  Without it we really have no hope.  This single act is what changed the course of history for Christians.  Without it we just have the death of Jesus, but with it, we have a Savior who conquered evil.

Day 17 –New Covenant Begins

Day 17 –New Covenant Begins

• Readings:  Matthew 26:26-30, Mark 13:22-26, Luke 22:14-20

A quick recap, we know the old covenant and sacrificial system are out.  It wasn’t the final solution but only pointed to our hope for true salvation which is Jesus.  We know that the New Covenant is promised to us and it points to Jesus.  We also know, it is by faith that we now have the new covenant. 

But at what point does this New Covenant begin?

Answer:  The Last Supper

The Last Supper is the inauguration of the New Covenant. 

Up until the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Jews celebrated Passover.  The Passover goes all the way back to the Exodus from Egypt.  They celebrated this week long festival to honor God and remember His provision and deliverance as they fled slavery in Egypt.  Everything eaten at the Passover meal was symbolic.  For example, Bitter herbs represented the bitterness of slavery.   But when Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples, he gave the celebration a whole new meaning.  He no longer focused on the suffering of Israel in Egypt as slaves but on the sin-bearing suffering of himself.  His suffering as the fulfilled and promised Messiah.

At the beginning of the passage, Jesus shares and breaks bread with his disciples and commands them to eat in remembrance of him.  But they are not just remembering him; they are remembering his body that was literally broken, pierced and beaten for them.   Then Jesus takes the cup, refers to the cup as his blood, the very thing that confirms the new covenant for his people.  The cup (His blood) that is poured out (aka shed on the cross) as a sacrifice and this sacrifice is what now will forgive our sins.   

It is with this meal that the New Covenant begins.  We no longer rely on an animal sacrifice but put our faith in Jesus and his death to purify us of our sin.  And it’s because he is God that this sacrifice secures our redemption forever. 

And that my friends, concludes the New Covenant.  Now we just get to live in the promise of the New Covenant.