Why did Jesus Willingly Go to the Cross?

Jesus went willingly to the cross for JOY. "Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the JOY that was set before Him endured the cross..." Hebrews 12:2.

What JOY drew Jesus to the Cross?

• The JOY of PLEASING His Father. "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again" John 10:17. It was the joy of the Son to fulfill the Father's eternal plan of redemption. It was Jesus' joy to do so WILLINGLY, that is, He passionately WANTED to go to the cross for His Father's pleasure and love. Have you ever known love so deep and constant that it gave joy in the doing of difficult and demanding tasks?
• The JOY of RETURNING to HIS GLORY. "And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed" John 17:5. In His earthly life as also man, Jesus' preexistent glory was veiled. There were no fiery cherubim flying overhead repeating the 3-fold "Holy!" (see John 12:41). He appeared as your average Jewish male with no distinguishing outward marks of greatness. But after the cross, Jesus would be restored to the Father's right hand in heaven-shaking glory as His majestic deity once again took away the breath of angels.
• The JOY of REDEEMING GOD-REJECTING SINNERS. "...When His soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring ; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall and be satisfied..." Isaiah 53:10-11. The joy of hearing His Father declare rebel sinners "not guilty" drew Jesus to the cross. The joy of seeing self-absorbed Satan-followers become worshipers of His Father drew Jesus to the cross. The joy of setting captives to drunkennes, adultery, gluttony, gossip, and sloth FREE drew Jesus to the cross. The joy of a CHURCH to act as His body on the earth for the forwarding of the gospel drew Jesus to the cross. And the joy of one day wiping away every tear from the eyes of His persecuted, hated, and tempted saints drew Jesus to the cross.

Jesus went to the cross WILLINGLY for the Father, for the restoration of His own glory, and for YOU and ME. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Abiding - Part 2

In order to ABIDE in Christ there are several basic truths that we must understand and be sure of. Here are perhaps the TWO most important:

1. Jesus is the VINE. "I am the true vine" (John 15:1). Israel was pictured in the Old Testament as the vine of God's planting (e.g. Jeremiah 2:21), but the nation became a wild vine and deserted the LORD and never produced the fruit she was chosen and equipped for. Jesus, however, is the true vine, He is the TRUE ISRAEL, the Son of God who pleased the LORD and produced fruit in all He did.

As the VINE, Jesus is the SOURCE OF LIFE for His branches, His people. Life for us as His people, His disciples, comes ONLY from Him. If we want to please God, to bear fruit for Him, to live life with His strength and wisdom, that fruit and life and strength can ONLY come from Jesus. HE is the VINE. FROM Him comes all we need.

2. We are the BRANCHES. "I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5). Branches live and grow and produce fruit ONLY as they DRAW LIFE from the vine. Knowing that we are the branches teaches us that our posture is always to be one of DEPENDENCE or RECEIVING. We NEVER have the source of spiritual life and fruit in ourselves. We look away to the VINE for life. And we must make our goal each day to stay connected to Jesus, our Source. This is why the Scriptures tell us that we live by "faith."

These two truths may seem so simple and obvious that they do not need to be emphasized. However, our problems are usually the result of moving away from the BASICS. How often have you depended on yourself or your friends or family or money or smarts instead of Jesus? How often have you only looked to Jesus in desperation AFTER exhausting yourself in looking everywhere else?

A fruitful life is simple: He is the Vine, We are the Branches. He gives, We receive.

Abiding - Part 1

In John 15 Jesus shares an allegory with His disciples which is perhaps the most glorious picture in Scripture of what it means to have an intimate relationship with Him.

The key word expressing this relationship is "ABIDE" or "REMAIN" (vv.4,5,6,7, etc).

To picture this to His disciples, Jesus uses the allegory of a grape vine and its branches and fruit. The vine supplies life to the branches so that fruit can be produced. This "connection" of branch to vine is a picture of the relationship a believer is to have with Jesus.

• This is a REAL connection. That is, the believer is really connected to Jesus. This is not just a concept, it is a spiritual reality, just as real as a physical branch is connected to and part of the vine.
• This is a VITAL connection. That is, life flows in this connection. The branch has no life of its own except that which comes from the vine. Abide and live. Stop abiding and die.
• This is a PERSONAL connection. The branch and vine represent real people: Jesus and believers; Jesus and you and me. This connecton involves RELATIONSHIP.
• This is a PURPOSEFUL connection. Branches are connected to a living relationship to the vine IN ORDER TO bear fruit. We are connected to Jesus for fruitbearing. This is why we will see that fruitbearing becomes evidence of who is and who is not a real branch.
• This is a CONSTANT connection. This is what "abide" or "remain" means: you stay there, you don't move around, you don't seek other connections in the place of this one. You seek to stay in the place where this relationship can draw life and bear fruit.

And Jesus makes "abiding" a COMMAND, "Abide in Me and I in you" v.4. That is, if we are a believer, a disciple, we are always to be abiding. If we are not abiding we are sinning. This abiding should always define our relationship with Jesus.

What does it mean to ABIDE in Jesus? I.E., HOW do we do it? Thankfully, Jesus tells us and we will look at this in coming blogs.

Wow! God Answers Prayer

What promises God gives for those who keep on asking, seeking, and knocking in prayer (Matthew 7:7). If you are like me, you can pray, THINKING that you are trusting God to answer, but never really expecting to SEE an answer.

Recently we have been praying for China in conjunction with the Olympics in Beijing. We were even wearing the gray wrist bands circulated by Voice of the Martyrs with "Pray for China" engraved. But our whole thinking in our praying was, "Lord, do your work IN China, giving grace to your persecuted people to be bold and courageous in their witness to Christ."

After a few days of praying I received an email from a friend who knew of a young female entering the university in our town. She needed a place to stay for a couple of nights until registration and the dorms opened. As things worked out, we had her stay in our home and thoroughly enjoyed the time with her. We hope to continue to get to know her and have her in our home during the school year. We also had some times to begin sharing Christ with her. She seemed very receptive. The young lady was fresh in the US from mainland CHINA.

However, the "DUH!" for us came a couple of days after we had hosted her. My wife looked at her "Pray for China" wrist band and a light suddenly went on, "Oh, our guest was Chinese, and we've been praying for the gospel to go forth in China! He has brought China to us! Praise the Lord!"

Praise the Lord indeed! Another lesson in the foolishness of putting the sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient prayer-answering God in a BOX. Perhaps we should begin to pray like this, "And Lord, answer this request in your own sovereign way and give me eyes to see when you do it."

The Importance of Calling to Mind

In the Book of Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah is pouring out the bitterness and pain of his heart to the LORD as he observes and experiences God's judgement on His people. In chapter 3 he says he is "filled with bitteness" and cowering "in the ashes". His soul is "bereft of peace" and he has "forgotten what happiness is." He has reached the end of his endurance and his hope has perished (vv.15-18).

Ever feel like that? You probably have NOT experienced the life and hope shattering devastation that Jeremiah endured, but you have probably been in bitter places, humbled by your own failure to the emotional ash heap. You no doubt know what it is to have sinned away God's peace and what it is to feel like your future is black with NO light at the end of the tunnel.

Jeremiah gives us in vv.21-24 the biblical solution to our personal times of darkness and despair:

"But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him."

"But this I call to mind..." When everything around me is dark; when my failures have thrown me into the ashes, when all that I cherished is being shaken...like Jeremiah I need to "call to mind" the CHARACTER and COVENANT of the LORD. My character will fail. His won't. There will be times when I will not keep my commitment to Christ. He will NEVER break His covenant and commitment to me.

Instead of sniffing in the putrid fumes of my failure, I must CHOOSE to turn my thoughts, my memory, my heart towards my Lord. I must drink in the purifying air of the CROSS. I must plug in the IV of His promises to me in Christ. When I call to mind His steadfast or unfailing love...I have hope. He WON'T stop loving me. I am His purchased possession. His mercy to me will be INFINITELY great tomorrow morning, none depleted by my foolish actions or thoughts or words.

In fact I must CHOOSE to call this to mind: this awesome LORD is "my portion"! That is, HE is what I have been given as a Christian. I have gotten HIM! He has given HIMSELF to me. My portion is not just blessings from God but the BLESSING GOD HIMSELF.

Next time you are wallowing in the mire of your own making, CALL these things to MIND. Call HIM to mind.

WHERE Does a Lavish Love Come From?

The lavish love of Mary shown for Jesus in anointing Him with a year's wages worth of precious ointment did not just show up that evening, six days before Jesus' crucifixion. It was NOT the result of a sudden emotional surge. She was not into impressing the gathered guests. WHERE did it come from?

• It came from a GRATEFUL heart. Mary had seen Jesus raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. She was in the home that evening of the anointing of one Simon, apparently a former leper, whom Jesus had healed. She had heard many stories of Jesus' amazing works throughout Israel as he sat in her home during His visits to Bethany. O, what Jesus had done for Lazarus and Simon and Mary and so many others! Gratitude flowed like a river at flood stage from her heart.
• It came from KNOWING Jesus. It was Mary who sat at Jesus' feet soaking up His unmatched teaching in Luke 10:38-42. She devoted herself to being His disciple in every way possible. His words had soaked into her soul and transformed her. She believed. And as her personal and experiential knowledge of Christ increased, so did her love. And on this night her love overflowed in a lavishness that saw no limit to its expression.

Friends, it is the will of God for this same kind of lavish love to flow from our hearts (Romans 12:1). It is this kind of love that gives irrefutable evidence that we are indeed Christ's transformed ones. It is this kind of love that makes obedience and sacrifice a joy, not an intolerable burden. It is this love that sees our greatest sacrifices as pitiful responses to His immense love and grace and character.

Does this kind of love flow towards the Savior from YOUR heart?

• Are you regularly amazed and overwhelmed at the grace of Christ to die as SIN for your sin?
• Are you growing in the KNOWLEDGE of Christ from the intake of His Word and from daily obedience to Him as Lord?
• Do you cry to Him for a greater, purer flow of love from your heart towards Him and others?

It is NO CLICHE to say, "To KNOW Him is to LOVE Him."

If you find your love for Jesus choked off...go to Him in desperate prayer, asking for His Spirit to break the dam of love in your heart. Go back to the Word with an eye looking for Jesus EVERYWHERE. Ponder deeply the biblical truths of His substitute sacrificial death for YOU.

A Beautiful Thing

In Mark 14:3-9 a woman (John tells us it is Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha) anoints Jesus with a precious ointment. This ointment was worth a year's wages (v.5)! Perhaps it was a family heirloom or security for old age. In just a few moments time it is all poured out on Jesus. Though those standing by call it a WASTE (v.4), Jesus calls it "a beautiful thing" (v.6).

Why was this anointing "beautiful"?

• Because it was LAVISH. It was VERY COSTLY (v.3). Mary gave the BEST that she had for Jesus. No leftovers, not the everyday stuff used for normal guests would suffice. Only the BEST she had. This kind of lavishness is beautiful.
• Because it was ALL POURED OUT on Jesus. Once the slender neck on this exquisite jar was broken to release its contents - ALL of its contents was poured on Jesus' head and feet. By this Mary showed the ultimate value that she placed on Jesus. There was no one else, nothing else in her life that was important enough to merit this once in a lifetime anointing - except Jesus.
• Because it DISREGARDED WHAT OTHERS THOUGHT if only it might pour its love on Jesus. Mary must have known she would face criticism for this unusual and lavish expression of love. The scolding came fast and furiously from those nearby, lead by Judas the disciple, betrayer, and thief. She wiped Jesus' feet with her hair - an amazingly HUMBLE act. I have read that a Jewish woman's hair was her glory. Mary humbles her glory, her pride, to wipe the FEET of her Lord.
• Because, as Jesus says in v.8, "she has anointed my body beforehand for burial." This act of lavish love was beautiful because it was sovereignly designed to prepare Jesus for His supreme act of sacrifice on the cross as the final and ultimate Lamb of God. While those around were planning his murder (vv.1-2), criticizing the one who loves Him (vv.3-9), and betraying Him (vv.10-11), Mary was "doing what she could" and spending her most precious possession to prepare Him for the cross.

How BEAUTIFUL is YOUR LOVE for Jesus?

• What has it cost you?
• Has it been lavish enough to draw criticism?

"O Lord, may our love for YOU, the BEAUTIFUL ONE, become more and more beautiful."