What sense can we make of the Cross today?

What sense can we make of the Cross today?

(Lent Course talk)

The Cross is at the very centre of all that it is to be Christian.  It is arguably the most important thing in the history of the world. Right from the killing of animals to give skins to Adam and Eve to hide their shame, through God’s accepting Abel’s animal sacrifice and not Cain’s offering of grain, to Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac but God substituting a ram for Isaac (not the Lamb of God promised), to the Passover, the Levitical Sacrifices of the Day of Atonement, and the words of Prophets – the Cross of Jesus is the central event of the Bible. 

But what does it mean? What did it achieve?
There are too many facets of the Cross to cover in a short session, and I would wager more books have been written about the Cross and what Jesus achieved than on any other subject in all of history.

Scripture teaches that everyone has sinned (except Jesus) and not only that, but that we are all ‘depraved’ – 26 verses of Scripture declare that even from birth all of us are lost and our hearts are inclined to evil, even from birth we are all in desperate need of a Saviour.  Indeed, we are so lost that of our own power and choice we would never seek out God “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God” (Romans 3.10-11).  That God hates this sin because He is Holy is clear from even the most cursory reading of the Bible.  God detests sin, when we sin we become enemies of God.  As Saint Paul said

“⁸But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! ⁹ Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. ¹⁰ For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! ¹¹ And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him.” (Romans 5.8-11)

Note carefully how Paul says that Christ died for us whilst we were sinners. And that because of this death we will be saved through Him (Jesus) from wrath – that is the anger and just judgement of God against sin. Note that we were enemies who are reconciled by the death of Jesus and that because of His resurrection (His life) we are saved.  This is something we should rejoice about!

Jesus on the Cross died for us.  He removed the wrath of God against sin.  He brought us into a right relationship with God (that is made us righteous) and He frees us from condemnation and gives us assurance of salvation.   In the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16), which point towards Jesus, we see two aspects of what Jesus did on the Cross.  These two aspects of the Cross have two special words to describe them: Propitiation and Expiation. 

The first goat becomes a substitute for the people’s sins and is killed – much as the Passover Lamb was killed in the place of the Hebrews in Egypt.  On this goat goes all the just judgement against sin, all the righteous anger of God.  As Isaiah makes clear in his famous prophecy of the Cross in Isaiah 53 “He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him and we are healed by His wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished HIM for the iniquity of us all.”  Thus Jesus is our Propitiation – He takes the death we deserve and the punishment we deserve and the wrath of God on Himself.

After this the priest would place his hands on the second goat’s head and put all the people’s sins on the goat and sends it into the wilderness where it can never be found. This is called Expiation – at the Cross Jesus takes our sins away from us by putting them on Himself, on the Cross “God made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5.21) – not just a sinner but sin itself, all our sin was placed on Him.  In return, when we believe in Him we were given His Holiness, His Righteousness, His perfect standing with the Father.

So what does this practically mean for us who believe that Jesus is LORD, God, and Saviour?

-          Firstly, it means that we have no reason to fear God or His righteous judgements against sin.  As Saint Paul said “Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 8.1).  People often think Christians are all gloomy and think of nothing but their sin, that they live lives where they are depressed by guilt.  People think that Christians carry so much baggage around.  But on the Cross Jesus took all of our sin, all our guilt, and all our baggage away. Christians should never feel condemned or fear Hell and judgement.  Jesus took our condemnation on Himself and so satisfied the Triune God’s need for Holy justice. (Condemnation and conviction are two different things)

-          Secondly, it means we have nothing that can stop us knowing God and speaking to Him whenever we like.  In the Old Testament sacrifices had to be made all the time so that people could get right with God and have a relationship with Him.  Now Jesus has been sacrificed once and for all for the sins of the whole world so that those who believe in Him are given a place in God’s family and are adopted as the Father’s children.  As it says in Hebrews 10.10 “By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all”

-          In the Old Testament a covenant was made and signed in Blood.  On the Cross Jesus begins the New Covenant with His own Blood “This cup is the new covenant established by My blood; it is shed for you” (Luke 22.20).  God never breaks His covenants, God always uphold His end of the deal.  This is why with Abraham and on the Cross He was the one who did all the covenant making – He knew we could not keep up our side but He will keep up His.  Because of the Cross we have complete assurance that God will always love us, that He will keep all His promises, and that He will give to us all His gifts.  We should never have to doubt God.

“³¹ If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?³⁶ As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8.31-39)

What ‘Laws’ do Christians have to keep?

What ‘Laws’ do Christians have to keep?

Do we have the keep The Law – all the law of the Old Testament?

(Lent Course talk)

This is a very good question! But the answer is not so easy (when is it ever?).           

It is very clear from the Gospels that Jesus kept The Law perfectly (He was sinless – and is the only person who can claim that) though He had no time at all for the regulations that humans like the Pharisees had added onto the law in an attempt to ‘help’ people keep them all.  He said that until The Law was fulfilled and all had been accomplished not even the smallest part of it would pass away till earth and heaven did (Matthew 5.1-18). 

But as soon the early church began at Pentecost and the prophecy of Ezekiel 36 was fulfilled (new spirit and new hearts with God’s law written on them for all believers) it became clear that the OT law no longer applied.  Paul reveals the meaning of Jesus’ saying in Matthew about fulfilling The Law – in Galatians 3.19 Paul tells us that OT Law was only in use till Jesus came and finished His mission.  Now Jesus had ascended to Heaven the OT Law no longer applied - any of it. Paul tells us that the Law was a ‘teacher’ or ‘leader’ whose task was to lead people to Christ by making them realise they need a Saviour because they sin so much (Galatians 3.14-15).  If you try and live by the OT Law and break even one commandment of the 613 then you are guilty of breaking them all (James 2.10) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6.23).  The Law no longer applies because we are saved and made Holy by faith in Jesus – Jesus upheld the whole Law without sin and takes our place for us (Romans 8). You cannot separate out the OT Law from the Old Covenant – and we now live under the New Covenant not the Old (praise the Lord!).

Does this mean we can do whatever we want because the OT Law no longer applies?  As Paul would say ‘BY NO MEANS!’ The NT is full of lists of vices and sins that Christians should avoid – and for some of them the offender should even be excommunicated from the church if they commit. It is also full of lists of virtues we should aspire to. The whole OT Law pointed to Christ, it was the shadow and He is the Substance.  It reveals what He would do, how He would save us, and it reveals His heart.  Christians are called to follow what Paul calls ‘the Law of Christ’ – Love.  But love cannot be commanded by laws. If we truly love God and love each other there are many things we won’t do.  But we 'don’t do them' because of love, not a law or command, and we don’t think for a moment that doing them makes us more holy or close to God – only faith does that.  

Why Commination?

Why Commination: or denouncement of God's anger and judgements against sinners?

What is the purpose of the Book of Common Prayer service of Commination?  Why is it an important service?  What does it teach?  Why should we still do it in the 21^st century?

These are good questions about a service that can make some people today feel rather uncomfortable.  It is my belief that Commination is a powerful, relevant, and Gospel centred service that presents Biblical teaching on God, humanity, eternity, and the Good News of Jesus Christ.  The following are my personal views on the service of Commination, Biblical church teaching, and the Gospel.

Commination literally means ‘the action of threatening divine vengeance’ – as the service itself explains:  “a denouncing of God’s anger and judgements against sinners.”  The idea of God being angry may make us uncomfortable, but it is very Biblical.  God’s anger or wrath at sin and sinners is mentioned around 600 times in the Bible.  The most frequently mentioned attribute of God is His complete Holiness.  Because God is Holy, He cannot stand to be near sin – He hates and despises it.  Importantly, Scripture does not say ‘hate the sin, love the sinner’ – that was Ghandi.  God is perfectly just, we are all sinners, we all deserve judgement and the death penalty because as Saint Paul said “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6.23).  That the service of Commination is based in the Bible can be seen by the over 75 verses of Scripture that it quotes – with many more alluded to.

In his worship song ‘Here I am to Worship’ Tim Hughes wrote these lyrics “I’ll never know how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross.” For me this is the essence of the teaching of the Commination service – until we understand God’s hatred of sin, and all He had to overcome to restore us to a right relationship with Him, we will never know how much He loves us.  Commination begins by displaying God’s anger and judgement against sin.  Importantly though, even at the beginning, it says that God’s anger and judgement is only a curse “against impenitent sinners” – it is only those who don’t repent to Jesus who face such judgement.  For the next part of the service the ‘curses’ of Scripture are read, and like the 10 commandments, we are all guilty of breaking them.  Explaining that the Day of the LORD is coming – judgement day – the service compels the believer to fear God and turn away from sin and not to “despise the goodness, patience, and long-sufferance of God.” 

Boldly the service proclaims that through Jesus there is forgiveness of any sins “For though our sins be as red as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow; and though they be like purple, yet they shall be made white as wool.”  It declares Jesus to be on our side “Although we have sinned, yet we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus the Righteous; and He is the propitiation of our sins” Propitiation is a word which means the removing of wrath against sinners.  We are then reassured that Christ is ready to receive us whenever we come to Him in humility, no matter what we have done or how many times we have done it  - “(Jesus is) most willing to pardon us, if we come unto Him with faithful repentance.”

Scripture teaches that everyone has sinned (except Jesus) and not only that, but that we are all ‘depraved’ – 26 verses of Scripture declare that even from birth all of us are lost and our hearts are inclined to evil, even from birth we are all in desperate need of a Saviour.  Indeed, we are so lost that of our own power and choice we would never seek out God “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God” (Romans 3.10-11).  If we are ever to truly get right with God, to make progress in our faith and discipleship, to be moulded by the Holy Spirit into the likeness of Christ, we must first look in the mirror, deeply, and recognise how fallen we are.  We are far worse than we like to imagine but Jesus is far stronger than we could ever hope.  This is why towards the end the Commination service declares “Spare thy people, whom Thou hast redeemed; enter not into judgement with thy servants, who are vile earth, and miserable sinners; but so turn Thine anger from us, who meekly acknowledge our vileness, and truly repent of our faults”   Also worthy of note is that it is not our own doing that we are saved, we are not saved by ‘good works’ or keeping The Law.  We are saved by the grace of God – “whom Thou hast redeemed… Through the merits and mediation of Thy blessed Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”

As I hope you can see, the service of Commination, though an uncomfortable one, is full of the Good News of Jesus. It is designed to, at the start of Lent, bring us to our knees, to acknowledge our sinfulness, to fall on the mercy of God and not our own strength, to see the judgement against sin and so be encouraged to fight valiantly against it, and to know the assurance of forgiveness through Christ.  The message is more relevant than ever and just as important as the day it was written.  But does this make this particular service, with all the thee’s and ‘Thou’s, the ‘brethen’ and the inclusion of all peoples under the gender-inclusive ‘men’ – not to mention numerous words that are no longer used or sound very different to modern usage – worth using in the 21^st century?  I believe so.  In general I believe all church and prayer should be done in a language easily understood by the people present.  But, occasionally there can be good reasons to use the ancient versions that can still be understood if we concentrate. Even better, someone should update the language of the service without compromising at all on the doctrine or judgement it conveys.  Who knows, one day I may get round to it!  In the mean time it is still useful to use the old English for many reasons:

Firstly, hearing Scripture and prayer in such a ‘beautiful’ or ‘ecclesial’ form of English can hammer home the point it is making by the use of language which doesn’t just become meaningless because we use it so often.  Secondly, the service of Commination links us to the foundation of the Church of England; it connects us to the Reformation.  The service of ‘ashing’ which now seems so traditional did not exist in the Church of England until the late 19^th century.  Following the Reformation it was banned because people at that time built up many superstitions around it – not helped by everything in church being said in Latin, the very poor understanding most people had of Biblical teaching, and the spurious teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. J.C. Ryle in his "Against Ritualism" lists ashing as one of their un-Anglican practices.  I believe Ryle has a good point, though in this case, given the Biblical precedence of repenting in ash and sackcloth I think the practice can be redeemed - if combined with Commination.   Thus I do not necessarily object to ‘ashing’ if done biblically but I believe it is important for Anglicans to retain their identity as a church of the Reformation, a church which is grounded on and in Scripture, and a thus a church which rejects ritualism.  

For these reasons outlined above, the use of the traditional service of Commination is an excellent practice and fits very well if done before a biblical and reformed, none ritualistic, ‘ashing’ followed by the Lord's Supper.  The sermon should make very clear what 'ashing' is and is not!