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THE
FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT MARCH 21, 2004 “Not
My Will” Fr. John Spencer “God made him who
had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God.” (II Cor. 5:21) Paul is not saying
that Jesus became “a sinner,” but that God made Him “sin.” Sin separates us from God, and,
without the remedy of the cross, that separation is eternal. God sent His Son Jesus to restore us
to fellowship with God. This is
what we mean when we say that Jesus came to save us from sin. On the cross, Jesus
WAS sin. He endured separation
from God at that time, so that we don’t have to endure eternal separation
from God. Just as Christ became
sin for us, we become righteousness in Him. Paul doesn’t say that we become “righteous,” but that we
are made “righteousness.” In
Christ we are a new creation. When Christ became
sin for us, it was a one-time thing.
If we are in Christ, if we have acknowledged our sin and repented of
it, if we have abandoned our own righteousness and accept His righteousness,
then we “have become,” “are,” and “are becoming” a new creation. The old things have passed away, and
all has become new. Christ’s
sacrifice was perfect and is complete; our new creation is an on-going
process. In our confession of
sins we ask God to forgive us our sins and FREE US FROM THEIR POWER. In the words of the hymn (O For A
Thousand Tongues), “He breaks the power of CANCELED SIN, He sets the prisoner
free.” How do we make this
real in our personal lives? How
do we experience this as a day-by-day reality? WE CAN’T. We
need to allow Christ to make this real in us. Sin is not a thing,
it is a master. When we sin, we
become slaves to sin. Paul says
in Romans 6:16, “Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone
to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you
obey–whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to
obedience, which leads to righteousness?” and in Romans 7:25 “Thanks be to God–through Jesus
Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law,
but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” (Romans 6, 7) HOW DO WE RESIST SIN? HOW DO WE OVERCOME ITS POWER? HOW CAN WE BE FREE FROM THE BONDAGE INTO WHICH WE ARE BORN? The answer is both
good news and bad news: the bad
news is that WE can’t overcome the power of sin or free ourselves from its
bondage. The good news is that
there is a way out of the bondage and slavery of sin – we are freed from sin
by “being” a new creature in Christ Jesus. Paul’s letter to the
Romans outlines this process. (Romans 6) We
are baptized into Christ’s death – we die with Him and in that death we die
to sin; we are raised with Him into a new life. If we are “in Christ Jesus,” we are already a part of the
new creation. Even though we are
all dying and our physical bodies have in them the seeds of death and decay,
we are born into new life in Christ and are given not only a new spiritual
life here and now, but also the promise of a resurrected body, one like
Christ’s resurrection body, in the future. We can’t do
this. We are powerless to help
ourselves. Whether Jew or
Gentile, poor or rich, fat or thin, educated or uneducated, we are all in
bondage to sin and the bondage is something that is beyond our power to
break. We must turn to God and
accept the sacrifice of Jesus, which is the only thing that can free us from
sin’s slavery. In this context,
what does the passion mean? Jesus lived with passion his whole life. It is
apparent everywhere he goes. It is manifest in his teaching, in his living,
in his prayer life, and most of all in his Passion. In the film, The
Passion of Christ, the opening in the Garden of Gethsemane is THE
KEY. Jesus conquered Satan,
evil, death, and the grave before he ever left the Garden of Gethsemane. How? How could he do it? In the film, there
is a scene with Jesus stomping the head of the serpent. This is a fulfillment
of the prophecy in Genesis 3:14,15:
“The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done
this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your
belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he
shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Let me say again:
Jesus conquered Satan, evil, death, and the grave before he ever left the
Garden of Gethsemane. How? Matthew
26:38-42: “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, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’ And he came to the disciples and
found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not watch with me
one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, ‘My
Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done.’” The
beginning of the Passion is this prayer, ending in “your will be
done." When Christ resisted
that final temptation in the Garden of Gethsemane, the temptation to say,
“this is too hard, I can’t do it,” and prayed instead, “Father, not my will
but Thine be done,” He was empowered to drink the cup, to endure the
flogging, mockery and crucifixion. How do we conquer? o
Sin? o
A rebellious heart? Do we want God's will, or our
own? As someone has said,
"Many want to serve God - but only in an advisory capacity. Is your faith your
passion? Or are you, like the
disciples, in the Garden? Is your faith alive, awake, alert? OR
are you asleep in the Garden? Is your prayer,
"Father, please do this thing for me?" Or is it, "Your will be
done." Jesus won His
victories through prayer and His prayer was, “Father, Thy will be done.” We overcome sin by 1. becoming a new
creation in Christ Jesus through repentance and faith, 2. being rooted in
Christ, 3. living as a new creation.
We break free from sin in the spiritual realm, as Jesus did, by
praying for God’s will rather than our own. Then we will be empowered to live out Christ’s life in
this world, as He was empowered to “drink the cup.” The Lord's Prayer
foreshadows his Passion: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth, as
it is in heaven.” When you pray
those words, do you really mean it?
Do you really mean you want God to do HIS WILL in your life? Do you
understand the level of absolute, unwavering submission that requires? Are you ready for your final test? How do we conquer: Are we trying to
conquer in the flesh, by our own strength, willpower and determination? Or are we trying to
conquer in the spirit, by submission and obedience to God’s will? Again: Jesus
conquered Satan, evil, death, and the grave before He ever left the Garden of
Gethsemane: He conquered his own soul. HEBREWS 12:1-3 “Therefore, since we are
surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything
that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with
perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on
Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him
endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from
sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” That's how he could
do It. How do we resist sin? How do we conquer sin? If you want to see
sin conquered, If you want to see a New Creation being born, if you want to
see the face of God, If you want to see the depth of God's love, Don't stand
on a mountain and look out, Stand at the foot of the cross, and look up. RESPONSE: The Maundy Thursday vigil: If you've
never taken part, don't deprive yourself any longer!
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