Easily Excitable

I wanted to write something meaningful and groundbreaking for today because there is no more important series of events in the Christian faith than Holy Week. 

But, the more I thought about it, I arrived at this conclusion (well, duh): 

What could I possibly say that’s more groundbreaking than Jesus’ death and resurrection? 

What is more meaningful than the Gospel message? 

What is more earth-shattering than this? 

God knew from the start. 

That statement right there might be the most shocking part of this whole thing. 

God knew what would become of His creation. 

He knew what it would cost Him to redeem it, and yet, He still created us and longs for a relationship with each of us.

He started humanity in perfection, but for all of time, the human race has desecrated the creation of God. As a result?

The earth and all who dwell on it are broken.

We all can see that. We know the anger and rebellion of mankind.

We see the school shootings, starvation, riots, genocide, 

-The cyberbullying, overdoses, and terminal illnesses,

-The natural disasters and the vitriol that marks our news.

We see the brokenness and we know that something is wrong: it is this that keeps us up at night, that makes us fear for our families and be afraid to let our kids out on their own.

And yet this brokenness isn’t some far away problem or just some story on the news.

This issue is in me: it’s inherent in my flesh.

My most natural inclination is to make an idol out of the most important and precious things in my life. 

I am drawn to ruining and wrecking all that is good. 

I have murdered in my heart, 

Lusted and stolen, 

Lied and cheated. 

My ‘seemingly small’ mess-ups are really the same things that have plagued our world from the start: sin.

My sin has made me foul: 

It has separated me from my Creator, from my Father.

God has given me everything I have: He woke me up this morning, gave me the ability to run and lift weights, He has filled my life with love and sunshine and beauty. 

And yet, in my humanity, I rebel.

The Creator, Sustainer, Giver of all good things-

The God who loves me infinitely-

He is a perfect God, the Holy God. 

And because He is perfect in all things, perfect in His love AND perfect in His holiness- 

He cannot be with me, and I cannot be with Him because of my sin. Because of the blemishes of my wickedness, so long as I am in my sin, He cannot be with me- 

Now or in eternity. 

There is a debt to a Holy God that I simply cannot pay. 

Nothing that I do, no excuse I could make, no amount of good deeds can make up for what I have done. 

My parents, with all of the provisions they made for their kids, were powerless to save themselves, and they were powerless to save me too. 

I don’t understand sin totally, really.

See, my finite, tiny brain knows wrong, but I like to write it off as small or inconsequential.

But I have only my perspective.

I don’t have the perspective of God. I can’t see the ramifications of my sin, the way it ripples out to cause chaos in the ones I know and the world I inhabit. 

If every single one of my sins caused waves that crashed into others’ lives, both the people I know and the people I don’t, shouldn’t I pay that penalty? 

When I cause death, shouldn’t that come at a cost? 

Because the wages of sin is death: when I work my rebellion, it kills, even when I don’t see how. 

That? That is why sin is a big deal. 

Make no mistake: unless our sin was taken care of, we would be thrown into eternal damnation: an abyss with no hope of ever seeing the Father. 

Yet in God’s mercy, He made a way. 

The wages of sin is death, and someone had to pay the balance. 

In blood. 

A sacrifice was required. See, the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament wouldn’t do. The blood of a ram can never totally cover the sin of man. 

Death came into the world by man, so the path to life must be through a Man as well.

Only, it couldn’t just be any man: a Holy God can only accept a perfect, unmarred, unblemished sacrifice. 

In short, the sacrifice? It would take a perfect Man. 

That perfect Man was Jesus Christ.

This is the Gospel. 

God- the Creator of the world- came to live among mankind. 

He chose to sweat, stub His toe, weep, and swat at gnats. 

God descended to earth, to mankind- to do what we could not. Born of a virgin and fulfilling every prophecy, Jesus lived the perfect life. 

In a broken world, He remained unmarred by sin. Tempted and tried, He never chose rebellion. 

Never once did He go astray. He chose not the temptations of the flesh: He had free will and yet chose to do the will of the Father. 

Every time. 

And then, at the appointed hour

The King of Kings, the Messiah, the perfect Sacrifice- Jesus Christ- was spat on, disgraced, whipped, mutilated, and crucified. 

The Messiah, prophesied of old, dead. Nailed to a tree.

Blood watered the ground as it rolled down from God Himself, dead at the hands of those He created. 

Sacrificed on a hill, the perfect Son of God became the perfect payment for my sins. He took upon His shoulders the death I deserve.

If death was the end, Though, there would be no Easter. 

That would be it: Jesus would have been just another crazy who claimed to be the Messiah and amassed a following as a result. 

But, praise God, this isn’t the story. 

As the sun rose on the third day, the Son rose as well. 

Jesus Christ was victorious: He defeated death and rose to life. 

Fully God and fully man, our Savior has won the victory. 

And should we believe this, 

Should we cast ourselves on this grace, we can be changed. We can count on an eternity with our Father because of the sacrifice of the Son. 

Washed in the blood of Christ and given His perfection, we can stand in the presence of God.

We can go running to Him, both here today and for eternity, knowing that we are accepted as His son or daughter. 

Life is so difficult. 

Sin wrecks lives. 

Death breaks our hearts. 

Satan sows chaos and discord. 

And yet, the victory is won. 

Whosoever would believe this: it is a call to all- an open invitation to whomever would answer the knock and receive Jesus Christ. 

He is enough.

His work is complete. 

He reigns forever and ever. 

We praise Your name, Jesus, and we fall at Your feet in worship to the Author and Perfecter of our faith. 

All glory and honor to you, forever and ever. 

Amen.