Indescribable

Recently I was reminded of a couple stories I heard in children’s church when I was young. The teacher liked to read from a book of Christianized stories. I don’t recall whether any instruction accompanied the stories, but what I realize now is how deficient they were in explaining the gospel. (As a side note, I shudder to think what kids might remember from my classes when I was on summer ministry teams during college.)

The first story, in brief, was that a fire swept through a barnyard and a mother hen protected her chicks by tucking them under her and sacrificing her life for theirs. The second story was of a drawbridge operator who brought his son to work one day. When he heard the horn of an approaching boat he discovered that his son was out on the gears that would raise the bridge. He had to decide whether to save his son or the people on the boat, and he chose to sacrifice his son.

Aside from the questionable choice to read such stories to children, there were definite misconceptions about how Jesus’s death on the cross came about and how we were saved through that sacrifice. A few corrective lessons come to mind.

1) The cross was no accident or last-minute decision. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:4 that “God chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.” And in Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Similarly, Peter wrote, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories” (1 Pet. 1:10-11). The cross was not “plan B.”

2) Jesus was not an unwilling participant. God knew from before creation that mankind would need rescued from our sinful state, and the Trinity determined the plan before we knew we needed it. Jesus knew the time of His death was coming but still prayed “Thy will be done” (Luke 22:42), and then “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).

3) We are not innocent bystanders, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24). We weren’t just floating through life minding our own business, but instead were (and are) actively sinning against the God who created us. And though we did nothing to deserve it, God loved us enough to make a way for us. “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

4) And flowing from that verse, Jesus didn’t have to convince God to save us. Sometimes gospel presentations make it sound like Jesus loved us first, and only because Jesus gave His life does God the Father love us. Thomas McCall wrote,

“God is for us. It is not part of God that is for us—as if some divine persons or some divine attributes were opposed to me while others are for me—it is just God who is, in the impassible simplicity of the trinitarian life, radically for us. The death of Jesus does not make it possible for God to love us. The death of Jesus makes it possible for us truly to know God’s love, makes it possible for us to love God.” [See TGC’s bookreview here.]

I heard a quote from Thomas McCabe’s Faith Within Reason (which I have not yet read so I’m not sure if I’d recommend or not) that is worth pondering:

“[God] is just waiting to welcome us with joy and love. Sin doesn’t alter God’s attitude to us; it alters our attitude to him, so that we change him from the God who is simply love and nothing else into this punitive ogre... God never changes his mind about you. He is simply in love with you. What he does again and again is change your mind about him. That is why you are sorry. That is what your forgiveness is.”

It’s so easy for us to misconstrue the gospel because we try to break it down into bite-sized ideas. When we do that, we minimize the glory of the whole arc of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. We need to remember that our metaphors are just that—tiny, flawed pictures of something magnificent and awe-inspiring.

“How deep the Father’s love for us! How vast beyond all measure, that He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure!” (Stuart Townend, 1995).

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Forgiven Indeed

In his book The Yellow Leaves, Frederick Buechner related the following:

“Frank Tracy Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church... told me that once when he was taking a shower, he distinctly heard a voice from somewhere saying, ‘Why do you take your sins so much more seriously than I do?’ His first reaction, he said, was to burst into laughter. His second was to burst into tears.”

I had mixed feelings of my own when I read that. On one hand, sin is extremely serious. The smallest of offenses against the perfect, holy God is worthy of the death penalty, and in fact led to the death of Jesus Christ. And yet Scripture proclaims,

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:13-14).

For those who follow Christ, all our sins, past, present, and future, were nailed to the cross and removed “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). So while each time that we sin is a reminder of the penalty we owed, it is also an occasion for God’s grace to abound to us over and over again.

“But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many... Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom. 5:15, 20).

Those who are faithful Christians don’t take sin lightly, or think of it as “no big deal.” We don’t “continue in sin that grace may abound” (Rom. 6:1). But I believe that many of us hold onto the feelings of guilt and shame long after we’ve confessed our sins to God. I heard myself saying recently, “I know God doesn’t hold it against me, but I hold it against myself.” At times like that, God may truly ask us, “Why do you take your sins so much more seriously than I do?” If He has forgiven those sins, who am I to stand in judgment against those same sins? If His grace has “abounded all the more,” who am I to reject it for myself?

Of course, just knowing that truth doesn’t mean we always take it to heart. We have an accuser to loves to remind us of all the times and ways we have failed to love God and others. He wants to keep us wallowing in the mud so that we’re too distracted to serve God. And if we think of ourselves foremost as sinners, we may forget that we have the ability to say no to sin because of God’s grace.

From the vantage point of the cross, my sins are no longer on my record or my shoulders. Jesus’ shoulders bore the weight so mine do not need to. His hands were nailed to my sin, so my hands are now free.

Lord, help us to see ourselves as the new creations You have made us to be. Where we are forgiven, help us to forgive ourselves. Where we are tempted, guard us against the lies and lures of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

“The Lord passed before [Moses] and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness’” (Ex. 34:6).

© 2024 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Not Me

Last Sunday at our church, Ron Thomas preached on Luke 9:

“And He said to all, ‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses His life for My sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (9:23-25).

As Ron pointed out, we have accepted a rather watered-down version of Christianity in the modern world. We settle for being “Christian-ish” rather than fully committing to Jesus as our Lord. During the sermon another passage came to my mind:

“After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God’” (John 6:66-69).

Do we truly believe Christianity is about life or death, or is it merely a lifestyle choice? If it is a lifestyle, then we have no grounds for asking others to make the same choice, no reason to share the gospel—for what is the “good news” of telling others to give up their comforts and pleasures? But if it is a matter of eternal life or death, our choice to obey Jesus as Lord really does matter. We don’t give up things that we enjoy simply for the sake of giving them up. We give up seemingly good things when we know that there is something supremely better to come. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” (Jim Elliot).

When the world is enticing, Lord, help us to choose holiness.

When people hurt or disappointment us, help us to seek only Your face.

When culture judges or ridicules, help us to look only to You for approval.

When life is hard, help us to look to eternity.

“The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17).

***

You can listen to Ron’s sermon here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/8612/12235779

© 2023 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Take Up Your Cross

The world tells us “Be who you are! Do what makes you happy!” But Jesus taught something much different:

“If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:24-25).

Each one of us has a cross to bear. Your cross is that area of life where you want to just throw in the towel. It could be difficult relationships with parents or children, or unwanted singleness; it may be the physical suffering of a chronic or terminal illness, or multiple miscarriages; perhaps it is gender dysphoria, same-sex attraction, or other enduring temptation. Each person’s cross is a little different, but each is a heavy load. To follow Jesus requires us to carry that load while living in obedience to His Word. If we choose comfort and pleasure over taking up our crosses, we are in danger of condemnation. “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). Some have chosen to reinterpret or ignore portions of Scripture in order to avoid the burden of their crosses. We are meant to be people who—

• forgive those who hurt us 
• trust Him in the midst of loss and sorrow 
• believe that He has made us who we are and is with us in our struggles 
• turn to Him instead of self-medicating with whatever pleasures we can find

We can tend to forget that Jesus knows what suffering is. Easter is sometimes the only week we focus on all that Jesus went through in His death. He didn’t go to the cross eagerly. He wanted to avoid it if He could, but ultimately, He trusted the Father’s plan to bring perfect good out of the greatest evil.

“Then He said to them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with Me.’ And going a little farther He fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will’” (Matt. 26:38-39).

Even when the decision was made, Jesus didn’t breeze through the torture and crucifixion with a smile on His face.

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46).

Let’s not forget that Jesus also endured suffering during His life up to that point. Though we don’t know much about His childhood, He faced the same temptations and struggles that every child does (Luke 2:41-52). As He began His ministry, He endured specific temptation by the devil (Luke 4:1-13). During His years of ministry He put up with constant questioning and schemes from the Pharisees and Sadducees, doubts from those who heard His teaching, and eventually betrayal and abandonment by His own disciples. He went through all this so He could fully identify with us.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:15-16).

So when Jesus calls us to take up our own crosses and follow Him, it is not an abstract concept or a command from one who has never been there. And because He bore His cross, we are enabled to do the same.

“Therefore… let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:1-2).

© 2022 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

All You Need Is Love

Borrowing an idea from a sermon by Sam Allberry, the world readily agrees that “all you need is love.” What they don’t agree on is what exactly love is. Society might even agree that “love is patient and kind… it is not arrogant or rude” (1 Cor. 10:4-5). But those words mean different things. For the unbeliever, love means:

• I can do whatever I want and you can’t judge me.
• I can pursue whatever and whoever I think will give me pleasure and fulfillment.
• You must benignly accept whatever I believe.
• You must allow me to become whoever and whatever I want to be.

Some non-Christians might be familiar with John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” And if they heard 3:17 they might applaud the first half of it: “ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world—” but the passage does not stop there:

“but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed” (John 3:17-20).

God didn’t send Jesus into the world simply to say “I love you, so you can do whatever you want and we’ll all celebrate for eternity.” God sent His Son because we all have been walking in the darkness of sin and unbelief. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). God never said “Anything goes.” He set up standards of behavior, and every one of us have failed to meet those standards. Jesus even expanded those standards to include our thought life (Matt. 5:22, 28).

Jesus didn’t come to remove all the measures of morality and holiness. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:19). He also didn’t come to say, “Can’t we all just get along?” Rather, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34).

Because of God’s love, Jesus proclaimed, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). The answer to our depravity is not tolerance and acceptance, but repentance. True love is found in turning to the One who bore our sins on the cross so that we might be reconciled with God.

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses… God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14).

He didn’t say, “There’s no such thing as sin or evil, so you’re all good.” Sin is so significant to God that the only way it could be dealt with was to offer His own perfect Son on the cross in our place. For us to accept the world’s view that “love means anything goes” is to cheapen Jesus’ sacrifice and the glory of the God who is love.

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10:12).

As we celebrate Easter, may we not make the mistake of embracing love as a kind of mushy sentimentality or an innocuous tolerance. Let us remember the true cost that Love paid to make us part of God’s eternal family, and may that spur us to share the good news of true love with the world.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are… By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:1, 16).

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Eyes and Hands

I wrote the following poems around 1996 and just came across them again. They seemed appropriate for Holy Week.

Your Eyes

In my mind’s eye
I see you there,
Hanging on that rugged cross.
You don’t die like other men.
“Forgive them for they
Know now what they do.”
You lift your head,
Your eyes meeting the eyes
Of each one gathered there.
Each one turns away
Unable to bear your gaze,
And then your eyes meet mine.
Instantly I know you know.
You know my sin
Because you bear it there.
I am ashamed and
Start to turn away,
But then I remember,
“Forgive them for they
Know not what they do.”
I look back to your eyes.
You meant those words for me.
Even as you bear my sin
You ask the Father
For my forgiveness.
I meet your gaze
And I know
I am forgiven,
And I bow my head
In thanks.

 

With Open Hands

With open hands I come to You
I give You all my fears.
With open hands, release to You
The cares of all the years.

I tried to give them up before,
But held them in tight fists.
I come again to You once more
To give You all of this.

With open hands I come to You,
Hoping only to receive
The Holy Spirit, promised to
All those who will believe.

With open hands and open heart
And open life I give
To You alone, to cleanse each part
That in Your life I live.

© 2021 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture are ESV and all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Fix Your Eyes

I’m in the midst of reading a couple books on prayer. In Pray Big: Learn to Pray Like an Apostle, Alistair Begg writes,

“All that matters may be brought before God, but what we bring before God is not always what matters most. When the eyes of our hearts are opened to our future, it changes our lives now—it reorders our priorities and our prayers. We pray less about the practical details of this life, and first and foremost about the spiritual realities of our eternal life” (29).

All too often we pray anemic prayers because we are distracted by the things of this world and we miss the things of eternity. That led me to think about what is most needed as churches gather together this Easter Sunday, perhaps with many visitors. The prayer I wrote in my journal included this: I pray that You will work in each of us to fix our eyes upon You as the author and perfecter of our faith... Let us not be distracted by words or music or flowers or people, but let us be captivated by Your glory.

After writing that down, I had to go back to Scripture to read the context of Hebrews 12:1-2 (NASB):

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

When I’ve read those verses in the past, I’ve always had this mental image of a marathon runner nearing the finish line, with crowds of people on both sides. In fact, the “cloud of witnesses” has dominated the picture. But the whole point is that we would fix our eyes on Jesus as our motivation for endurance. While the crowd can be encouraging, our eternal security depends on Christ alone. Don’t get me wrong—our relationships within the Body of Christ are important and will continue throughout eternity, but people can also distract us from what God wants to do in our lives and in others at any given time.

Easter Sunday may be especially prone to that distraction. Most churches have extra decorations and special music, people tend to dress up more than usual, and there may be unusual events planned. The intent is (hopefully) good—we want people to engage with the message of the Gospel. But I wonder if sometimes our extra efforts actually distract people from focusing on God. It can appear that we are working to promote our church rather than fixing our eyes on Jesus.

Easter is justifiably a celebration of all that we have because of Jesus’ resurrection, both individually and corporately. Beautiful decorations and music are entirely appropriate. However, if I’m honest, I prefer the solemn simplicity of the Good Friday service at my church. There are fewer parts and, for me, fewer distractions from the One we are there to worship.

An Easter sermon by John Henry Newman comments,

“At Christmas we joy with the natural, unmixed joy of children, but at Easter our joy is highly wrought and refined in its character. It is not the spontaneous and inartificial outbreak which the news of Redemption might occasion, but it is thoughtful; it has a long history before it, and has run through a long course of feelings before it becomes what it is… Accordingly, Christmas Day is ushered in with a time of awful expectation only, but Easter Day with the long fast of Lent, and the rigours of the Holy Week just past: and it springs out and (as it were) is born of Good Friday.”

For those of us who come from church traditions that generally ignore Lent and may not think deeply about Holy Week, his comments may seem foreign to us. We can appear to jump into the celebration of Easter without experiencing the depths of Good Friday. The Easter Sundays that have meant the most to me were those that followed serious contemplation of the cross, Jesus’ death, and my sin that nailed Him there.

Let us not rush forward to Sunday’s celebration without living through the darkness of Friday and Saturday.

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross... Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 2:13-24, 3:2-3 ESV).

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Listen to Dennis Jernigan’s song, “It Was My Sin.”

© 2019 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

At the Foot of the Cross

Today I joined with the group of churches that carry a cross from Mint Hill Baptist to the town center, stopping for Scripture readings along the way. As there were hundreds of people participating, there were many conversations taking place all around us as we walked along. The friend I was with asked, “Do you suppose this is what it was like?”

As I was thinking about it later, I imagine that both Palm Sunday and Good Friday were filled with people who didn't really know what was going on. There were bystanders watching as Jesus passed who had no idea who He was and just went about their business for the day. There were other people who were curious enough to follow the crowd in hopes of seeing or hearing something interesting. There were many who had false ideas about who Jesus was—some wanting to kill Him, others wanting something from Him. And there were a small number who would come to faith in Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

I was reminded of a camp I worked at while on summer ministries. One night the youth enacted the crucifixion (though greatly sanitized). The mother of the teen who played Jesus was there, and she said later it was all she could do to keep from running up to get her son off the cross. The cross takes on new meaning when you know the person hanging there.

For those who drove past us today and for those who walked with us, I’m sure there were a wide range of thoughts and beliefs, from annoyance to skepticism to curiosity to faith to overwhelming gratitude for the One who took our place.

“But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8

© 2017 Dawn Rutan.  

Four Views

Pilate:Truth? What is truth? He says he is a king, bearing witness to the truth. Someone said he claimed he was “the way, the truth and the life.” The way to what? What truth? What life? None of it makes any sense. The truth as I see it is that these Pharisees have been a pain in my back since I got here. If I don’t do what they want, it could mean my job or even my life. If I release him, I’ll have a full scale riot on my hands, and I can’t afford that. This Jesus is right about one thing—I don’t have any real authority. If it isn’t the Jews telling me what to do, it’s Caesar and his lackeys. Even my wife thinks she controls me. The truth is that this whole thing is a mess. This is no way to live—fighting for control and living in fear. There ought to be some other way. No matter what I choose, I lose... I’ll hand him over. And if there is a God, I hope he has mercy on my soul!

Barabbas:Well, this isn’t what I expected. I was supposed to die today, but here I am out on the streets while my two buddies are hanging up there on crosses. I was ready to die. At least, as ready as anyone could be. I knew with all the trouble I’d caused that it would catch up with me one day. I saw my own father die on a cross, and I knew I’d follow in his footsteps. But now I’m free... Well, not really free. I’ll never forget the faces of all those people I hurt and robbed, and that girl who died. I deserve to be up there on that cross. Those other two guys were nothing compared to me. What did he say to Marcus? “You’ll be with me in paradise”? Really? Is it possible? It can’t be that easy, can it? I’m not sure who this man is, but there’s something different about him. He shouldn’t be up there in my place. I should be the one dying. Jesus, forgive me!

Peter: Why did I do it? Why did I deny knowing Him? I’m such a coward. I really thought I would defend Him to the death. I tried in the garden, but when He told me to stop I just lost my nerve. What would have happened if I’d stuck by Him? Would I have been arrested and beaten too? John wasn’t hurt. He stayed. He didn’t run and hide. When that rooster crowed and Jesus looked at me... I thought He would hate me. But there was no condemnation in His eyes... only love. He knew. He even told me what I was going to do, but I didn’t believe Him. Well, my pride has tripped me up before. Me and my big mouth. It seems like every time I got something right I immediately fell flat on my face. I walked on water, and nearly drowned. I figured out He was the Christ, then He told me to get my priorities straight. He invited me up on the mountain, then I babbled something about setting up tents. But no matter what I said, He still loved me. And now He’s in the grave, and I’ll never hear that voice again, telling me that it will be okay, reminding me that His love doesn’t change. Forgive me, Lord! Have mercy on me, a sinner!

Thomas: They’re saying they’ve seen Jesus alive. I’m not sure what to believe. Could they have been hallucinating? None of us ate much those first few days, so maybe it affected them somehow. Maybe they saw a ghost. But they said He ate some fish. I’m afraid to hope it’s true and just get disappointed again. I’m not sure hope is worth the pain. But these guys seem so sure of what they saw. It’s not just the women saying it. If it is true, will I get to see Him too? Or is it just for those who never doubt? Is it wrong to want some proof? I want to believe, but I’m scared too. It just seems too good to be true... My Lord and my God!

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29 ESV).

© Dawn Rutan 2016

The Weight of Sin

In one of his messages this week Alistair Begg commented, “My sin must be absolutely horrendous if it takes the death of God’s only Son to fix it.” A couple different songs contain lines like “It was my sin that held Him there.” 

While we accept that to be theologically correct, I don’t think most of us really believe it. Part of our difficulty comes from our experience of the American system of jurisprudence. We believe in proportional punishment. A minor crime receives a smaller punishment than a major crime. However, that is not the case in all cultures or times. Remember that the two men crucified with Jesus are identified simply as thieves, although we don’t know the exact nature of their crimes. One of them stated clearly “We deserve our punishment” (Luke 23:41).

That doesn’t make sense to our modern ears. It’s natural to start comparing sins. Most of us aren’t guilty of any of the “big” ones. We might lie occasionally, steal a few office supplies, and get a little envious of our neighbor, but nothing worthy of death. Or so we think. It’s hard to even conceive how Jesus bore the punishment that we deserved, because we don’t really think we deserve it. Many who call themselves Christians would say that their salvation is because “I’m a pretty good person. I may not be Mother Teresa, but I haven’t done anything really bad.”

The problem is that God’s definition of sin bears little resemblance to the laws of our country. Many of our laws can be broken with very little consequence. (When’s the last time you exceeded the speed limit?) But God’s rule book demands absolute perfection, because He Himself is absolutely perfect. Anything less keeps us from even coming into His presence. The smallest of sins creates a barrier that we cannot cross, and therefore God had to create a way to cross it for us. David said in Psalm 51:4 (ESV): “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment.”

The other piece of the puzzle is the question of why any death was necessary to pay for sin. Logically, it seems like God could have just said, “Okay, I’ll just write off the sins of anyone who repents.” The short explanation is that God set up the rules for this universe, and He decreed that sin must be dealt with by the shedding of blood. Hebrews 9:22 says, “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” Why He did so is a mystery, not unlike the question of why He allowed sin to enter the world to begin with. We can speculate, but only He knows the real reasons.

It seems to me that an awareness of the weight of sin is something that grows as we grow in relationship with God. Unbelievers can sin with impunity because they have no conviction of sin. I can remember a time when I didn’t particularly care about sin or its consequences. Now even small things bother me much more because I don’t want anything to interrupt that fellowship with the Father. The conscience is more easily pricked by the Holy Spirit when we are actively seeking His guidance. At the same time, the enemy turns up the heat of condemnation to try to distract us from growing in faith and turn us away from the ministry set before us.

A right view of sin is necessary if we are to truly understand the importance of Easter. If my sin is unimportant or inconsequential, then the cross is meaningless. If my sin does not deserve death, then Jesus’ death and resurrection are merely a dramatic end to His few years of teaching on earth. However, if I deserved death but received forgiveness instead, then Easter should be a day of great celebration. “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

(Public domain)

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.