1 Corinthians 1:17-31

From a worldly perspective, Christ’s death signaled His defeat. After all, dying in agony on a cross hardly seems like the path to victory. But it was! And He did it all for us. Because Jesus triumphed over death, we can be victorious in life. Just consider what He won for us by sacrificing Himself on the cross.

Our Eternal Salvation: The cross was the means of our salvation. Without it, we’d have no hope of heaven. If Christ hadn’t died in our place, we’d have to stand before God and receive the just punishment for every sin we’ve ever committed.

Power over Sin: Jesus not only paid the penalty for our sin; He also brought us present victory over it. When He was crucified, our old sinful nature died with Him (Rom. 6:6). The power of the “flesh” was broken, and Jesus now lives His triumphant life through us. That means we are no longer enslaved to sin and can choose obedience to God.

Defeat of Satan: At the crucifixion, the list of decrees against us was nailed to the cross, and the Devil lost his power over our lives (Col. 2:13-15). None of his accusations can stick, because God holds nothing against us anymore. And now every time we yield to the Spirit within us, Satan is defeated once again.

Christ met all our needs on the cross. By making us a part of His family, He gave us a sense of belonging. When He died in our place, He affirmed our value. And by coming to live His life through each believer, He gives us the ability to live a victorious, obedient life

There is a great amount of anticipation leading up to Easter Sunday. Even for those who are “Christmas and Easter” church-goers or for those who simply sit at home and dream of Easter baskets, chocolate rabbits, and colored eggs, anticipating Easter, on the one hand, is like waiting for the door to finally be unlocked, unhinged, and opened onto a verdant spring meadow. On the other hand, Easter is stepping out onto that meadow and closing the door behind on the long, cold, dreary winter.

Yet, for many, the day comes and goes and then what? Easter is over again until next year. For many, winter still hovers above and the grey of death has not given way to the springtime. The candy is eaten, the brunches are over, and everything seems to return to normal. All that anticipation ends in just one day—with grand celebrations and powerful sermons, and perhaps with even a first playful roll in the springtime grass—and then it’s over. Or is it?

The celebration of Easter is insignificant if the celebrations do not point to the continuing reality of the risen one. Indeed, in many church traditions, the season of Eastertide, which lasts until Pentecost, asks this very question: How do we perceive the continuing presence of the risen Lord in our reality? Indeed, how do we? Is it simply the annual remembrance of a historic event from long ago?

If we’re honest, many of us do wonder what difference the resurrection has made in the practical realities of our lives. We still argue with our spouses and loved ones; we still have children who go their own way. We have difficulties at work or at school. We still see a world so broken by warfare, selfish greed, oppression and sin. Like the two men on the road to Emmaus recounting the events surrounding Jesus, perhaps we wonder aloud at what we hoped Christ would be.(1) Things seem pretty much as they were before Easter Sunday, and the reality of our same old lives still clamor for redemption.

This is often the way we feel if we have only understood resurrection as an event long past that only speaks to a future yet to come. We feel this way if we do not connect Jesus’s prayer for God’s will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven” with the reality of the cry, “He is risen, as he said.” The glimpse into the kingdom of God that we get in the life and ministry of Jesus is ratified through the resurrection. New creation, new life, resurrected living is now a possibility for those who follow Jesus.

The risen Jesus told his followers, “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.” Jesus’s resurrection is not a promise for escape from the world or a life free from trouble, but rather it commissions those who would remember his resurrection to be his “raising” agents in the world. He sends us out with the extraordinary news that the dead can be raised to new life for death and evil do not have the last word! And as we begin to live in light of the resurrection, we can gain insight into its significance for the practical realities of everyday lives. As N.T. Wright has concluded: “Jesus is raised, so he is the Messiah, and therefore he is the world’s true Lord; Jesus is raised, so God’s new creation has begun—and we, his followers, have a job to do! Jesus is raised, so we must act as his heralds, announcing his lordship to the entire world, making his kingdom come on earth as in heaven.”(2)

We are sent out beyond Easter Sunday into Eastertide because everything has changed.

Margaret ManningMargaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington. 

(1) Luke 24:21a.
(2) N.T. Wright, Surprised By Hope (New York: Harper Collins, 2008), 56.

Morning    “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.”

Psalm 22:14

Did earth or heaven ever behold a sadder spectacle of woe! In soul and body, our

Lord felt himself to be weak as water poured upon the ground. The placing of the

cross in its socket had shaken him with great violence, had strained all the

ligaments, pained every nerve, and more or less dislocated all his bones.

Burdened with his own weight, the august sufferer felt the strain increasing

every moment of those six long hours. His sense of faintness and general

weakness were overpowering; while to his own consciousness he became nothing but

a mass of misery and swooning sickness. When Daniel saw the great vision, he

thus describes his sensations, “There remained no strength in me, for my

vigour was turned into corruption, and I retained no strength:” how much more

faint must have been our greater Prophet when he saw the dread vision of the

wrath of God, and felt it in his own soul! To us, sensations such as our Lord

endured would have been insupportable, and kind unconsciousness would have come

to our rescue; but in his case, he was wounded, and felt the sword; he drained

the cup and tasted every drop.

“O King of Grief! (a title strange, yet true

To thee of all kings only due)

O King of Wounds! how shall I grieve for thee,

Who in all grief preventest me!”

As we kneel before our now ascended Saviour’s throne, let us remember well the

way by which he prepared it as a throne of grace for us; let us in spirit drink

of his cup, that we may be strengthened for our hour of heaviness whenever it

may come. In his natural body every member suffered, and so must it be in the

spiritual; but as out of all his griefs and woes his body came forth uninjured

to glory and power, even so shall his mystical body come through the furnace

with not so much as the smell of fire upon it.

Evening   “Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.”

Psalm 25:18

It is well for us when prayers about our sorrows are linked with pleas

concerning our sins–when, being under God’s hand, we are not wholly taken up

with our pain, but remember our offences against God. It is well, also, to take

both sorrow and sin to the same place. It was to God that David carried his

sorrow: it was to God that David confessed his sin. Observe, then, we must take

our sorrows to God. Even your little sorrows you may roll upon God, for he

counteth the hairs of your head; and your great sorrows you may commit to him,

for he holdeth the ocean in the hollow of his hand. Go to him, whatever your

present trouble may be, and you shall find him able and willing to relieve you.

But

we must take our sins to God too. We must carry them to the cross, that the

blood may fall upon them, to purge away their guilt, and to destroy their

defiling power.

The special lesson of the text is this:–that we are to go to the Lord with

sorrows and with sins in the right spirit. Note that all David asks concerning

his sorrow is, “Look upon mine affliction and my pain;” but the next petition is

vastly more express, definite, decided, plain–“Forgive all my sins.” Many

sufferers would have put it, “Remove my affliction and my pain, and look at my

sins.” But David does not say so; he cries, “Lord, as for my affliction and my

pain, I will not dictate to thy wisdom. Lord, look at them, I will leave them to

thee, I should be glad to have my pain removed, but do as thou wilt; but as for

my sins, Lord, I know what I want with them; I must have them

forgiven; I cannot endure to lie under their curse for a moment.” A Christian

counts sorrow lighter in the scale than sin; he can bear that his troubles

should continue, but he cannot support the burden of his transgressions.

For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong.

Acts 27:23

Image BlockedStorms and darkness, combined with imminent risk of shipwreck, had brought the crew of the vessel into a sorry predicament; only one man among them remained perfectly calm, and by his word the rest were reassured. Paul was the only man who had enough heart to say, “I urge you to take heart.” There were veteran Roman soldiers on board, and brave sailors, but their poor Jewish prisoner had more spirit than all of them. He had a secret Friend who kept his courage up. The Lord Jesus sent a heavenly messenger to whisper words of comfort in Paul’s ear, and as a result his face shone, and he spoke like a man at ease.

If we fear the Lord, we may look for His timely intervention when our case is at its worst. Angels are not kept from us by storms or hindered by darkness. Seraphs do not think it is beneath them to visit the poorest of the heavenly family. If angels’ visits are few and far between at ordinary times, they will be frequent in our nights of tempest and storm. Friends may leave us when we are under pressure, but our awareness of the members of the angelic world will be far more apparent. Strengthened by loving words brought to us from the throne via Jacob’s ladder, we will be able to do daring feats.

Dear reader, are you facing an hour of distress? Then ask for particular help. Jesus is the angel of the covenant, and if you earnestly seek His presence, it will not be denied. The encouragement which that presence brings will be remembered by those who, like Paul, have had the angel of God standing by them in a night of storm, when anchors slipped and shipwreck threatened.

O angel of my God, be near,

Amid the darkness hush my fear;

Loud roars the wild tempestuous sea,

Thy presence, Lord, shall comfort me.

The family reading plan for April 10, 2012

Proverbs 28 | 2 Thessalonians 2

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

Jesus is the only person who has an empty tomb. Everyone else who’s died has returned to the dust, but Christ is alive and seated at the Father’s right hand. Because He overcame death, His followers are also guaranteed empty tombs someday. When Jesus returns for His church, those who have died in Him will be resurrected into glorious bodies. And believers who are alive at that time will instantaneously be changed.

Knowing this, we naturally wonder, What kind of body will I have? The best way to answer that is to see what Scripture reveals about Christ’s body after He rose from the dead. He didn’t come invisibly in the form of a ghost but rather had a literal, physical body. He talked, walked, and ate with His disciples. Yet although He was recognizable, He was somehow different, and at times it took His words or actions to jog their recognition.

Here’s one thing I can tell you about the resurrection: you will look better than you do today! God is going to give you a strong, glorious, eternal body which is perfectly fitted for your life in heaven. Believe me, you will not be disappointed, because God has far more in store for us on the other side than we can ever imagine. You will be more alive there than you could ever be here.

A more important issue we must face is how to get ready for that day. This life is just a puff of wind compared to our eternity. It’s my personal opinion that the way we live here on earth will determine our capacity to enjoy heaven. The time to begin living for God is now

Morning    “The place which is called Calvary.”     Luke 23:33

The hill of comfort is the hill of Calvary; the house of consolation is built

with the wood of the cross; the temple of heavenly blessing is founded upon the

riven rock–riven by the spear which pierced his side. No scene in sacred

history ever gladdens the soul like Calvary’s tragedy.

“Is it not strange, the darkest hour

That ever dawned on sinful earth,

Should touch the heart with softer power,

For comfort, than an angel’s mirth?

That to the Cross the mourner’s eye should turn,

Sooner than where the stars of Bethlehem burn?”

Light springs from the midday-midnight of Golgotha, and every herb of the field

blooms sweetly beneath the shadow of the once accursed tree. In that place of

thirst, grace hath dug a fountain which ever gusheth with waters pure as

crystal, each drop capable of alleviating the woes of mankind. You who have had

your seasons of conflict, will confess that it was not at Olivet that you ever

found comfort, not on the hill of Sinai, nor on Tabor; but Gethsemane, Gabbatha,

and Golgotha have been a means of comfort to you. The bitter herbs of Gethsemane

have often taken away the bitters of your life; the scourge of Gabbatha has

often scourged away your cares, and the groans of Calvary have put all

other groans to flight. Thus Calvary yields us comfort rare and rich. We never

should have known Christ’s love in all its heights and depths if he had not

died; nor could we guess the Father’s deep affection if he had not given his Son

to die. The common mercies we enjoy all sing of love, just as the sea-shell,

when we put it to our ears, whispers of the deep sea whence it came; but if we

desire to hear the ocean itself, we must not look at every-day blessings, but at

the transactions of the crucifixion. He who would know love, let him retire to

Calvary and see the Man of sorrows die.

Evening   “For there stood by me this night the angel of God.”     Acts 27:23

Tempest and long darkness, coupled with imminent risk of shipwreck, had brought

the crew of the vessel into a sad case; one man alone among them remained

perfectly calm, and by his word the rest were reassured. Paul was the only man

who had heart enough to say, “Sirs, be of good cheer.” There were veteran Roman

legionaries on board, and brave old mariners, and yet their poor Jewish prisoner

had more spirit than they all. He had a secret Friend who kept his courage up.

The Lord Jesus despatched a heavenly messenger to whisper words of consolation

in the ear of his faithful servant; therefore he wore a shining countenance, and

spake like a man at ease.

If we fear the Lord, we may look for timely interpositions when our case is at

its worst. Angels are not kept from us by storms, or hindered by darkness.

Seraphs think it no humiliation to visit the poorest of the heavenly family. If

angel’s visits are few and far between at ordinary times, they shall be frequent

in our nights of tempest and tossing. Friends may drop from us when we are under

pressure, but our intercourse with the inhabitants of the angelic world shall be

more abundant; and in the strength of love-words, brought to us from the throne

by the way of Jacob’s ladder, we shall be strong to do exploits. Dear reader, is

this an hour of distress with you? then ask for peculiar

help. Jesus is the angel of the covenant, and if his presence be now earnestly

sought, it will not be denied. What that presence brings in heart-cheer those

remember who, like Paul, have had the angel of God standing by them in a night

of storm, when anchors would no longer hold, and rocks were nigh.

“O angel of my God, be near,

Amid the darkness hush my fear;

Loud roars the wild tempestuous sea,

Thy presence, Lord, shall comfort me.”

Your gentleness made me great.     Psalms 18:35

These words are capable of being translated, “Your goodness made me great.” David gratefully ascribed all his greatness not to his own goodness, but to the goodness of God.

“Your providence” is another reading; and providence is nothing more than goodness in action. Goodness is the bud of which providence is the flower, or goodness is the seed of which providence is the harvest. Some render it, “Your help,” which is just another word for providence, providence being the firm ally of the saints, aiding them in the service of their Lord.

Or again, “Your humility made me great.” “Your condescension” may perhaps serve as a comprehensive reading, combining all these ideas, including humility. God’s making Himself little is the cause of our being made great. We are so little that if God should display His greatness without condescension, we would be trampled under His feet; but God, who must stoop to view the skies and bow to see what angels do, turns His eye yet lower and looks to the lowly and contrite and makes them great.

There are still other translations. For example, the Septuagint reads, “Your discipline. “Your fatherly correction—”made me great,” while another paraphrase reads, “Your word increased me.”

Still the idea is the same. David ascribes all his own greatness to the condescending goodness of his Father in heaven. May this attitude be echoed in our hearts this evening while we cast our crowns at Jesus’ feet and cry, “Your gentleness made me great.”

How marvelous is our experience of God’s gentleness! How gentle His corrections! How gentle His patience! How gentle His teachings! How gentle His invitations! Meditate upon this theme, believer. Let gratitude be awakened; let humility be deepened; let love be quickened before you fall asleep tonight.

The family reading plan for April 9, 2012

Proverbs 27 | 2 Thessalonians 1

Mark 15

With hundreds of Old Testament prophecies related to the expected Messiah, it shouldn’t surprise us that God used many people–believers, non-believers, and even some unquestionably wicked individuals–to ensure that the Savior’s earthly life would unfold according to plan. For example, Caesar Augustus ordered a census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, Christ’s birth city (Micah 52; Luke 2:1-4).

What’s more, God used some of the most powerful men of the day to bring about His Son’s sacrificial death. The Pharisees’ and Sadducees’ trumped-up charges helped turn the crowd against Jesus (Mark 15:10-11). Pilate condemned Him, and the Romans carried out the actual crucifixion; they even bartered for His clothes and chose not to break His legs, as predicted (John 19:24, 36).

During the dark days between Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, the disciples must have believed the Messianic program had been derailed. But God’s goal wasn’t to bring political revolution as some believed. He sent His Son to redeem mankind: Jesus paid the death penalty for our sins.

Before the foundation of the world, God had planned for the salvation of every tribe and nation. Throughout history, He orchestrated events to fulfill His purpose, using even the ungodly to move His plan forward.

Many have had a hand in advancing the Savior’s story, but the ultimate responsibility is the Father’s. He gave His only Son over to death on behalf of the world He loved (John 3:16). Both the righteous and the wicked who took part in the Easter story were following God’s script

It is similar to the parent who defers the questioning child with the evocation to “go ask” the other parent. Professors who have dedicated their lives to the study of a particular subject are not fond of venturing into unrelated territories. So the student who asks a theological question in economics class is told to ask his theology professor, and the student who asks an economic question in theology class is told to ask his economics professor. The admonishment is laced with the not-so subtle, though common and accepted, language of specialization, privatization, and compartmentalization—namely, stick to the subject at hand and keep these things properly separated.

Professor of theology William Cavanaugh is aware of the academic phenomenon of deflecting such questions, the cultural milieu that encourages compartmentalization, and the natural tendency of students to rebel against it. He sees in students an authentic discomfort with the idea that we need to compartmentalize our lives, a bold awareness that our culturally growing drive to keep politics from theology or theology from finance and religion from law doesn’t actually work. “I think they have a very good and real sense,” notes Cavanaugh, “that in real life things are not separated: that the way you buy has a lot to do with the way you worship and who you worship and what you worship.”(1) Cavanaugh encourages this awareness by commending the kinds of questions that recognize compartmentalization as unlivable, and by doing the historical work that shows this notion of separable entities as a modern, credulous construction in the first place.

Compartmentalization may well be a way of coping with a world that wants to keep the confusion of many religions out of the public square, but it is evident that it is not a very good coping mechanism. Each isolated discipline wants to discuss on some authentic level the good or benefit of all as it pertains to their subjects. And yet they somehow want to bracket any and all questions that might lean too closely toward things of a spiritual nature—purpose, meaning, human nature, morality. While such restrictions might successfully allow us to avoid stepping too closely to religion, in the fancy footwork it takes to do so, we end up sidestepping the actual subject as well.

On the opposite side of these contemporary fences, spirituality is restricted to private realms, personal thoughts, or a single day in the week, and thus becomes far more like one of life’s many commodities than an all-encompassing rule of life. Separate from the world of bodies and societies, the world of hearts and souls is not seen as appropriate or even capable of informing our understanding of business or capitalism, the principles behind our daily choices, how we live, what we buy, or what we eat. The presuppositions here are equally destructive of the true identity of the thing we have compartmentalized. Held tightly in such compartments, the Christian way ceases to be a “way” at all.

So what if our categories are wrong? If our compartments merely confuse and obscure, failing to be the coping mechanisms we think they are, will we remove them? And what does life look like without such divisions? What if Christianity is not a category of thought at all, a set of beliefs, or a religion that can be privatized without becoming something else entirely? What if the life of faith is not about what we think or what we do, but who we are? Such a way would exist over and above every category of thought, every compartment and realm.

In fact, long before theology was ushered out of the public square, out of politics, economics, and the sciences, it was considered to be the highest science, the study of the rational Mind behind our own rational minds. It was the discipline that made sense of every other discipline, the subject that united every subject. Such a perspective is inherently foreign to the contemporary mindset. But it cannot be shooed away like a meddling religion or deferred like an unwanted question without dismissing some sense of cohesion—and without dismissing Christ himself. His very life is a refutation of compartmentalized thought, belief, and action. His cross was neither public nor private; it spanned both, and every century following its own.

In dire contrast to the harried and highfalutin rules of compartmentalization, Jesus’s rule of life was undivided and down-to-earth, pertaining indivisibly to hearts and souls, bodies and societies. He paid theologically-informed attention to every day and everyday lives, and the institutions, ideologies, and systems that shaped them. He went to his death showing the inseparable nature of the spiritual and the physical, who we are, how we live, and what we believe. Those who follow him to the cross, through Good Friday and each day beyond it, do so similarly.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.  

(1) William Cavanaugh with Ken Myers, Mars Hill Audio Journal, Volume 95, Jan/Feb 2009.
(2) Richard J. Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), 27.

Morning    “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?”

Psalm 4:2

An instructive writer has made a mournful list of the honours which the blinded

people of Israel awarded to their long expected King.

1. They gave him a procession of honour, in which Roman legionaries, Jewish

priests, men and women, took a part, he himself bearing his cross. This is the

triumph which the world awards to him who comes to overthrow man’s direst foes.

Derisive shouts are his only acclamations, and cruel taunts his only paeans of

praise.

2. They presented him with the wine of honour. Instead of a golden cup of

generous wine they offered him the criminal’s stupefying death-draught, which he

refused because he would preserve an uninjured taste wherewith to taste of

death; and afterwards when he cried, “I thirst,” they gave him vinegar mixed

with gall, thrust to his mouth upon a sponge. Oh! wretched, detestable

inhospitality to the King’s Son.

3. He was provided with a guard of honour, who showed their esteem of him by

gambling over his garments, which they had seized as their booty. Such was the

body-guard of the adored of heaven; a quaternion of brutal gamblers.

4. A throne of honour was found for him upon the bloody tree; no easier place of

rest would rebel men yield to their liege Lord. The cross was, in fact, the full

expression of the world’s feeling towards him; “There,” they seemed to say,

“thou Son of God, this is the manner in which God himself should be treated,

could we reach him.”

5. The title of honour was nominally “King of the Jews,” but that the blinded

nation distinctly repudiated, and really called him “King of thieves,” by

preferring Barabbas, and by placing Jesus in the place of highest shame between

two thieves. His glory was thus in all things turned into shame by the sons of

men, but it shall yet gladden the eyes of saints and angels, world without end.

Evening     “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation; and my tongue

shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.”

Psalm 51:14

In this solemn confession, it is pleasing to observe that David plainly names

his sin. He does not call it manslaughter, nor speak of it as an imprudence by

which an unfortunate accident occurred to a worthy man, but he calls it by its

true name, bloodguiltiness. He did not actually kill the husband of Bathsheba;

but still it was planned in David’s heart that Uriah should be slain, and he was

before the Lord his murderer. Learn in confession to be honest with God. Do not

give fair names to foul sins; call them what you will, they will smell no

sweeter. What God sees them to be, that do you labour to feel them to be; and

with all openness of heart acknowledge their real character. Observe,

that David was evidently oppressed with the heinousness of his sin. It is easy

to use words, but it is difficult to feel their meaning. The fifty-first Psalm

is the photograph of a contrite spirit. Let us seek after the like brokenness of

heart; for however excellent our words may be, if our heart is not conscious of

the hell-deservingness of sin, we cannot expect to find forgiveness.

Our text has in it an earnest prayer–it is addressed to the God of salvation.

It is his prerogative to forgive; it is his very name and office to save those

who seek his face. Better still, the text calls him the God of my salvation.

Yes, blessed be his name, while I am yet going to him through Jesus’ blood, I

can rejoice in the God of my salvation.

The psalmist ends with a commendable vow: if God will deliver him he will

sing–nay, more, he will “sing aloud.” Who can sing in any other style of such a

mercy as this! But note the subject of the song–“Thy righteousness.” We must

sing of the finished work of a precious Saviour; and he who knows most of

forgiving love will sing the loudest.

In the name of the Lord I cut them off!   Psalms 118:12

Our Lord Jesus, by His death, did not purchase a right to just a part of us, but to all of us. He pondered in His passion our complete sanctification—spirit, soul, and body, that in every area He Himself might reign supreme without a rival. It is the business of the newborn nature that God has given to the regenerate to assert the rights of the Lord Jesus Christ.

My soul, insofar as you are a child of God, you must conquer all the rest of yourself that remains unblessed; you must subdue all your powers and passions, and you must never be satisfied until He who is King by purchase also becomes King by gracious coronation and reigns in you supreme. Seeing, then, that sin has no right to any part of us, we are involved in good and lawful warfare when we seek, in the name of God, to drive it out. Since my body is a member of Christ, shall I tolerate subjection to the prince of darkness?

My soul, Christ has suffered for your sins and redeemed you with His most precious blood; do not allow your memory to store up evil thoughts or your passions to be the occasion of sin. Do not allow your judgment to be perverted by error or your will to be led in chains of iniquity. No, my soul, you are Christ’s, and sin has no right to you.

Be courageous concerning this, O Christian! Be not dispirited, as though your spiritual enemies could never be destroyed. You are able to overcome them—but not in your own strength—the weakest of them would be too much for you; but you can and shall overcome them through the blood of the Lamb. If you wonder how to dispossess them since they are greater and mightier than you, go to the strong for strength, wait humbly upon God, and the mighty God of Jacob will surely come to your rescue, and you will sing of victory through His grace.

The family reading plan for April 6, 2012

Proverbs 24 | 1 Thessalonians 3

Matthew 26:36-56

If you want to experience victory in the conflicts you face, consider how Jesus fought and won His battles. The pivotal battle of His life was fought even before He arrived at the cross. Praying at Gethsemane, He wrestled with the knowledge that He would bear the terrible weight of sin and endure spiritual separation from the Father.

In His special place of prayer, Jesus got alone on His face before the Father and cried out. And when He left that garden, He walked out a victor over Satan, whose sway over mankind was about to be broken on the cross. Jesus would still drink the cup of suffering and separation, but He knew that in the end, He would triumph (Heb. 12:2). That’s why He could face His opponents with courage and authority. When Jesus went to confront the arresting party, He was in full control of the situation, so much so that the Pharisees and soldiers “drew back and fell to the ground” (John 18:6). He allowed them to arrest Him, determined to do His Father’s perfect will.

If you’re in the habit of regularly spending time alone with God, you will come to know His heart and mind. Then, when you encounter major decisions with lifelong consequences, you’ll be able to discern the guidance He offers through His Spirit.

When you fully surrender, you place the consequences of your decision into the hands of an all-knowing, all-loving, all-powerful God who holds the past, present, and future. Even when you face staggering trials, you can do so with courage and power that will glorify God and shame the Enemy

As a young man growing up in Scotland, like many others, I was exposed to Christianity and the symbol of the cross. It was a point of confusion, a mystery at best, and at worst, an object of scorn and disgust. I did not know what it meant or why religious people thought it important, but I knew I wanted nothing to do with it.

Alister McGrath, Professor of theology, ministry, and education at King’s College, London, writes: “Just as God has humbled himself in making himself known ‘in the humility and shame of the cross,’ we must humble ourselves if we are to encounter him. We must humble ourselves by being prepared to be told where to look to find God, rather than trusting in our own insights and speculative abilities. In effect, we are forced to turn our eyes from contemplation of where we would like to see God revealed, and to turn them instead upon a place which is not of our choosing, but which is given to us.”(1)

In other words, nothing in history, experience, or knowledge can prepare the world for God’s means of drawing near. At the cross, something we are not expecting is revealed, something scandalous unveiled, something we could never have articulated or asked for is given to us. Philip Yancey, the renowned author, offers more on this: “Here at the cross is the man who loves his enemies, the man whose righteousness is greater than that of the Pharisees, who being rich became poor, who gives his robe to those who take his cloak, who prays for those who deceitfully use him. The cross is not a detour or a hurdle on the way to Kingdom, nor is it even the way to the Kingdom; it is the Kingdom come.”(2)

I think many of us have significantly distorted ideas about the purpose and meaning of the cross. When many people think of “sin” or the human condition before God, what comes to mind is perhaps something like the image of a child caught with his hands in the cookie jar. Such an image might well be understood as disobedience or maybe even naughtiness, but is it really that important? It is certainly not bad enough to justify extreme reactions. As a result of such a metaphor, our moral reflections on sin tend to foster incredulity or disgust. The response seems totally out of proportion to the offense.

But let us shift the metaphor. Supposing one day you go for a routine medical examination, and they discover you have a deadly virus. You did not do anything. You were not necessarily responsible, but you were exposed, and infected. You feel the injustice of it all, you are afraid, you are angry, but most of all, you are seriously sick. You are dying and you need help.

Whatever the cross and the gospel are about, it is not a slap on the hands for kids refusing to heed the rules of the cookie jar. It is not mere advice to get you to clean up your life and morals. It is not mere ideas to inform you about what it takes to be nice. It is about treatment, a physician’s mediation; it is about providing a solution and discovering life.

The cross may seem an extreme and offensive measure to the problem of sin and death and sickness—but what if it is the very cure that is needed? McGrath describes our options at the cross of Christ. “Either God is not present at all in this situation, or else God is present in a remarkable and paradoxical way. To affirm that God is indeed present in this situation is to close the door to one way of thinking about God and to open the way to another—for the cross marks the end of a particularwayof thinking about God.”(3) Shockingly, thoroughly, scandalously, the cross depicts a God who throws himself upon sin and sickness to bring the hope of rescue miraculously near.

Some find it shocking, some overwhelming, some almost too good to be true. It is, however, for all.

Stuart McAllister is vice president of training and special projects at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Alister McGrath, The Mystery of the Cross, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 104.
(2) Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, (Grand Rapids:  Zondervan, 1995), 196.
(3) Alister McGrath, The Mystery of the Cross, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 103.

Morning    “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp.”     Hebrews 13:13

Jesus, bearing his cross, went forth to suffer without the gate. The Christian’s

reason for leaving the camp of the world’s sin and religion is not because he

loves to be singular, but because Jesus did so; and the disciple must follow his

Master. Christ was “not of the world:” his life and his testimony were a

constant protest against conformity with the world. Never was such overflowing

affection for men as you find in him; but still he was separate from sinners. In

like manner Christ’s people must “go forth unto him.” They must take their

position “without the camp,” as witness-bearers for the truth. They must be

prepared to tread the straight and narrow path. They must have bold,

unflinching, lion-like hearts, loving Christ first, and his truth next, and

Christ and his truth beyond all the world. Jesus would have his people “go forth

without the camp” for their own sanctification. You cannot grow in grace to any

high degree while you are conformed to the world. The life of separation may be

a path of sorrow, but it is the highway of safety; and though the separated life

may cost you many pangs, and make every day a battle, yet it is a happy life

after all. No joy can excel that of the soldier of Christ: Jesus reveals himself

so graciously, and gives such sweet refreshment, that the warrior feels more

calm and peace in his daily strife than others in their hours of

rest. The highway of holiness is the highway of communion. It is thus we shall

hope to win the crown if we are enabled by divine grace faithfully to follow

Christ “without the camp.” The crown of glory will follow the cross of

separation. A moment’s shame will be well recompensed by eternal honour; a

little while of witness-bearing will seem nothing when we are “forever with the

Lord.”

Evening    “In the name of the Lord I will destroy them.”    Psalm 118:12

Our Lord Jesus, by his death, did not purchase a right to a part of us only, but

to the entire man. He contemplated in his passion the sanctification of us

wholly, spirit, soul, and body; that in this triple kingdom he himself might

reign supreme without a rival. It is the business of the newborn nature which

God has given to the regenerate to assert the rights of the Lord Jesus Christ.

My soul, so far as thou art a child of God, thou must conquer all the rest of

thyself which yet remains unblest; thou must subdue all thy powers and passions

to the silver sceptre of Jesus’ gracious reign, and thou must never be satisfied

till he who is King by purchase becomes also King by gracious

coronation, and reigns in thee supreme. Seeing, then, that sin has no right to

any part of us, we go about a good and lawful warfare when we seek, in the name

of God, to drive it out. O my body, thou art a member of Christ: shall I

tolerate thy subjection to the prince of darkness? O my soul, Christ has

suffered for thy sins, and redeemed thee with his most precious blood: shall I

suffer thy memory to become a storehouse of evil, or thy passions to be

firebrands of iniquity? Shall I surrender my judgment to be perverted by error,

or my will to be led in fetters of iniquity? No, my soul, thou art Christ’s, and

sin hath no right to thee.

Be courageous concerning this, O Christian! be not dispirited, as though your

spiritual enemies could never be destroyed. You are able to overcome them–not

in your own strength–the weakest of them would be too much for you in that; but

you can and shall overcome them through the blood of the Lamb. Do not ask, “How

shall I dispossess them, for they are greater and mightier than I?” but go to

the strong for strength, wait humbly upon God, and the mighty God of Jacob will

surely come to the rescue, and you shall sing of victory through his grace.

Humility comes before honor.     Proverbs 15:33

Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. If we empty our hearts of self, God will fill them with His love. If we desire close communion with Christ, we should remember the word of the Lord: “This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”1

Stoop if you want to climb to heaven. Is it not said of Jesus, “He who descended is the one who also ascended”?2 So must you. You must grow downwards, that you may grow upwards; for the sweetest fellowship with heaven will be enjoyed by humble souls and by them alone. God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,”3 with all its riches and treasures. All of God’s resources will be made available to the soul that is humble enough to be able to receive them without growing proud because of it.

God blesses each of us up to the level and extent of what it is safe for Him to do. If you do not get a blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one. If our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a victory in His holy war, you would snatch the crown for yourself, and in the next battle you would fall a victim. He keeps you low for your own safety!

When a man is sincerely humble and never tries to take the credit or the praise, there is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace and equips us to deal efficiently with our fellows. True humility is a flower that will adorn any garden. This is a sauce that will season every dish of life and improve it in every case. Whether in prayer or praise, whether in work or suffering, the genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

1Isaiah 66:2 2Ephesians 4:10 3Matthew 5:3

The family reading plan for April 5, 2012

Proverbs 23 | 1 Thessalonians 2

Colossians 2:13-15

What does the cross mean to you? Many people in the world today view it as a symbol of Christianity, but stop and think about what it represented in Christ’s day. Nobody wore a miniature cross around the neck or displayed one in a place of worship. The cross was a torturous means of execution, and the mere thought of it was repulsive.

Yet believers throughout the ages have chosen this as the sign of their faith. In fact, to remove the cross from our teaching and theology would leave nothing but an empty, powerless religion. The subjects of death, blood, and sacrifice have become unpopular in many churches because they’re unpleasant and uncomfortable topics. We’d prefer to hear about the love of God, not the suffering of Jesus.

But let me ask you this: How could anyone be saved if Christ had not been crucified? Some people think all you have to do to receive God’s forgiveness is ask Him for it. But a sinner’s request can never be the basis for His forgiveness. He would cease to be holy and just if no penalty was imposed for sin. According to Scripture, there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood (Heb. 9:22). Christ had to bear the punishment for our sin in order for God to grant us forgiveness.

Every time you see a cross, remember what it really was–an instrument of execution. Then thank Jesus that He was willing to be crucified so the Father could forgive you of sin. Though the scene of your redemption was horrendous, Christ turned the cross into a place of great triumph

The world of belief-systems and worldviews is a complicated playground of stories, storytellers, and allegiances. What makes it most complicated is perhaps what is often our inability to perceive these interacting powers in the first place. That which permeates our surroundings, subconsciously molds our understanding, and continuously informs our vision of reality, is not always easy to articulate. The dominate culture shapes our world in ways we seldom even realize, and often cannot realize, until something outside of our culture comes along and introduces us, and the scales fall from our eyes.

Further complicating the great arena of narratives is the fact that we often do not even recognize certain systems for the metanarratives that they are, or else we grossly underestimate the story’s power. Whatever versions of the story we utilize to understand human history—atheism, capitalism, pluralism, consumerism—their roots run very deep in the human soul. This is why Bishop Kenneth Carder can refer to the global market economy as a “dominant god,” consumerism, economism, and nationalism as religions.(1) These deeply rooted ideologies are challenged only when a different ideology comes knocking, when a different faith-system comes along and upsets the system that powerfully orders our worlds.

This is perhaps one reason Christian scripture calls again and again to remember the story, to tell of the acts of God in history, and bear in mind the one who is near. For into this world of belief-systems and worldviews, God repeatedly tells the story of creation and the pursuit of its redemption; Christ comes and proclaims a kingdom entirely other. The narrative we discover introduces us not only to a new world but a world that jarringly shows us our own.

The signs and scenes of Holy Week alone challenge many of the cultural norms we have grown accustomed to unthinkingly, turning upside down ideas of authority, power, and glory, presenting us a kingdom that reverses everything known. What kind of a king crouches down to his subjects to wash their feet? What kind of a leader tells those under him that the way to the top requires a dedication to the bottom? What kind of meal promises to lift us to another kingdom where we are ushered into the presence of the host? What kind of host claims he is the meal? “And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.'”(2)

Holy week asks the world to remember the last moments of a rabbi and his disciples—a meal shared, a lamb revealed, feet washed by one who is both king and servant. But so it also introduces us to another story, invites us into a kingdom entirely different than the one before us, and connects us with the God who reigns within a realm that is both here and now, and also approaching. In the Lord’s Supper, we are literally “taking in” this kingdom, which unites us with Christ in such a way that feeds us to live as he lived.

When the apostle Paul called early followers not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect, he was reminding them that there are overlapping and contradicting stories all around them, but that the story of God must be their orienting narrative. In other words, we are not left the option of living unaware of all the subconscious ways in which we are formed by the world. Living into the kingdom of God means recognizing the power of God’s story beside every competing narrative. We destabilize these foundational stories by living into God’s reality in Christ by the power of the Spirit. Likewise, as we live further into the story of God’s reign, with our very lives the world sees the subversive power of a narrative that moves far beyond the systems of “consumerism,” or “nationalism” or “pluralism.”

We cannot escape the world’s formative stories nor should we want to escape the particular place where we have been given the gift of time.(3) But the story of Christ’s last days on earth presents a narrative that upsets any convenient embracing of lesser kingdoms. The more we find ourselves drawn into this different kingdom, a world breathed by the Father, proclaimed by Christ, and revealed by the Spirit, the unchallenged, unseen storylines of the world come sharply into focus. The more we taste and see of the kingdom of God, the more we taste and see of the kingdom of earth as well. Like Paul, at times something like scales fall from our eyes and the Spirit compels us to stand up and see anew, going further into the unlikely reign of a suffering servant, where we are mysteriously given strength in his wounds.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Kenneth Carder, “Market and Mission: Competing Visions for Transforming Ministry,” Lecture, Duke Divinity School, Oct. 16, 2001, 1.
(2) Cf. Luke 22:19.
(3) Jesus himself prayed, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but I ask that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15).

Morning   “On him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.”    Luke 23:26

We see in Simon’s carrying the cross a picture of the work of the Church

throughout all generations; she is the cross-bearer after Jesus. Mark then,

Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a

cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts

you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.

But let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that in our case, as in Simon’s,

it is not our cross, but Christ’s cross which we carry. When you are molested

for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you,

then remember it is not your cross, it is Christ’s cross; and how delightful is

it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus!

You carry the cross after him. You have blessed company; your path is marked

with the footprints of your Lord. The mark of his blood-red shoulder is upon

that heavy burden. ‘Tis his cross, and he goes before you as a shepherd goes

before his sheep. Take up your cross daily, and follow him.

Do not forget, also, that you bear this cross in partnership. It is the opinion

of some that Simon only carried one end of the cross, and not the whole of it.

That is very possible; Christ may have carried the heavier part, against the

transverse beam, and Simon may have borne the lighter end. Certainly it is so

with you; you do but carry the light end of the cross, Christ bore the heavier

end.

And remember, though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it

gave him lasting honour. Even so the cross we carry is only for a little while

at most, and then we shall receive the crown, the glory. Surely we should love

the cross, and, instead of shrinking from it, count it very dear, when it works

out for us “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

Evening    “Before honour is humility.”    Proverbs 15:33

Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. If we empty our

hearts of self, God will fill them with his love. He who desires close communion

with Christ should remember the word of the Lord, “To this man will I look, even

to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” Stoop

if you would climb to heaven. Do we not say of Jesus, “He descended that he

might ascend?” So must you. You must grow downwards, that you may grow upwards;

for the sweetest fellowship with heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by

them alone. God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. “Blessed

are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” with

all its riches and treasures. The whole exchequer of God shall be made over by

deed of gift to the soul which is humble enough to be able to receive it without

growing proud because of it. God blesses us all up to the full measure and

extremity of what it is safe for him to do. If you do not get a blessing, it is

because it is not safe for you to have one. If our heavenly Father were to let

your unhumbled spirit win a victory in his holy war, you would pilfer the crown

for yourself, and meeting with a fresh enemy you would fall a victim; so that

you are kept low for your own safety. When a man is sincerely humble, and never

ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise, there is

scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be

blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow

men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden. This is a sauce with

which you may season every dish of life, and you will find an improvement in

every case. Whether it be prayer or praise, whether it be work or suffering, the

genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.   Isaiah 2:3

It is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to rise above this present evil world to something nobler and better. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches are apt to choke everything good within us, and we grow fretful, desponding, perhaps proud and carnal. It is good for us to cut down these thorns and briers, because heavenly seed sown among them is not likely to yield a harvest.

Where will we find a better scythe with which to cut them down than communion with God and the things of the kingdom? There are places in the world where the lowlands are a breeding ground for sickness. Doctors will often suggest that their patients head for the mountains where they can breathe the clear, fresh air. Heeding such advice, the valley dwellers leave their homes among the marshes and the fever mists to inhale the bracing elements upon the hills.

It is to such an exploit of climbing that I invite you this evening. May the Spirit of God assist us to leave the mists of fear and the fevers of anxiety and all the ills that gather in this valley of earth, and to ascend the mountains of anticipated joy and blessedness. May God the Holy Spirit cut the cords that keep us here below and enable us to climb! We are too often like chained eagles fastened to the perch, and even worse, unlike the eagle, we begin to love our chain and might even, if it came to the test, be loath to have it snapped.

May God now grant us grace, if we cannot escape from the chain as to our flesh, yet to do so as to our spirits; and leaving the body, like a servant, at the foot of the hill, may our soul, like Abraham, reach the top of the mountain, so that we can enjoy communion with the Most High.

The family reading plan for April 4, 2012

Proverbs 22 | 1 Thessalonians 1

Romans 3:23-26

In our culture, sin is no longer considered an issue. Although some people might admit to making mistakes or being wrong, few will actually say, “I have sinned.” The Lord, however, takes sin very seriously. Until we learn to see transgression as He does, we will never understand what happened at Christ’s crucifixion.

The cross was God’s perfect answer to a terrible dilemma. Because the Lord is holy and just, He hates sin and must respond to it with punishment and wrath. Yet He also loves sinners and wants to be reconciled with them. The cross of Christ was the place where God’s wrath and love collided.

The only way to rescue fallen mankind from eternal punishment was to devise a plan whereby the Lord could forgive sins without compromising His holiness. There was no way to overlook transgressions; His wrath had to be poured out–either on us or a substitute. But there was only one possible substitute: the perfect Son of God.

So Jesus came to earth as a man and suffered the Lord’s wrath for us as He hung on the cross. Sin was punished, divine justice was satisfied, and now God could forgive mankind without compromising His character. His wrath was poured out on His Son so that His love and forgiveness could be lavished upon us.

Because of human limitations, we’ll never grasp all that happened while Jesus hung on the cross. We can begin to comprehend only the physical suffering He endured, but in the spiritual realm, Christ bore so much more–the very wrath of God. This costly redemption plan proves God’s great love