Kingdom's Keys Fellowship
Where God's Kingdom Meets Man's Heart.
Pentecost 93 Judgment, It Should Have Been Us
Pentecost 93 Judgment, It Should Have Been Us.
“You better watch out you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town. He’s making a list and counting it twice, he’s looking for those who are naughty or nice, Santa Claus is coming to town. He knows when you’ve been sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been good or bad so be good for goodness sake….” Remember that song around Christmas time? As cute as the song is it’s not the best way to think about God and the way He judges. Unfortunately God is equated with Santa Claus, so the world says, ‘Be good, get gifts.’
The way the human mind works is to avoid coming under judgment of any kind. The idea being that if I can avoid any kind of open judgment then I can believe I am a good person and put on a show for others. I can really earn my way to Heaven. Even though I know I am not and have not been good from time to time, no one really knows that. For the most part we have a kind of balance sheet mentality. The black side is good and the red side is bad. If I have more points on the black side I’m good because they cancel out the lesser bad things. I can say to myself, ‘Self, you are good more than not.”
The problem is ‘balance sheet mentality’ opens me up to judging others with my personal balance sheet. They don’t measure up and probably never will. That is the nature of human judgment. It is done with a set of standards I make up. It’s all about pride and ego-assertion. I may even use Scripture for some of them but I am still in control of who passes and who doesn’t. This is what Jesus is talking about when He tells us not to judge others because that is the way we will be judged. He knows our self-denial about what we think and act like, that we can’t even measure up to our own standards. His Cross saved us from ourselves.
While we were still sinners and didn’t care except for ourselves, Christ died alone, rejected, betrayed and isolated by the world’s ‘balance sheet.’ On the Cross He showed what our death would be like apart from God; individual, personal and alone. On the Cross He showed us He is the key to life and death, the beginning and the end, the way, the truth and the life. On the same Cross He also showed His love for us by allowing Himself to be a visible victim of total human rejection by things visible and invisible, spiritual and secular; state, culture, family, religion, friends and human society.
The Cross was by human standards the lowest and most degrading death a person could suffer as punishment. Jesus, the pure, perfect and holy presence of God, was the only One worthy to be a sacrifice in our place. With Jesus you can be absolutely sure that what you see is what you get. Never any hiding, no hidden agenda, no remorse, no regret, no inner secrets, no avoiding truth about who He is and what He is like in His heart. There was no self-denial in Him, no avoidance, no self-doubt or indecision, no shame or guilt within. Thus He and He alone could bear the wrath and judgment of God each of us deserve. He loved us so much that He was willing to be that sacrifice for us. He took the judgment due us. As Paul said in 2Cor.5:21, “God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God (Message Bible), “ and “God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God (NIRV).” Let’s ponder that a bit……..stay tuned
“You better watch out you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town. He’s making a list and counting it twice, he’s looking for those who are naughty or nice, Santa Claus is coming to town. He knows when you’ve been sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been good or bad so be good for goodness sake….” Remember that song around Christmas time? As cute as the song is it’s not the best way to think about God and the way He judges. Unfortunately God is equated with Santa Claus, so the world says, ‘Be good, get gifts.’
The way the human mind works is to avoid coming under judgment of any kind. The idea being that if I can avoid any kind of open judgment then I can believe I am a good person and put on a show for others. I can really earn my way to Heaven. Even though I know I am not and have not been good from time to time, no one really knows that. For the most part we have a kind of balance sheet mentality. The black side is good and the red side is bad. If I have more points on the black side I’m good because they cancel out the lesser bad things. I can say to myself, ‘Self, you are good more than not.”
The problem is ‘balance sheet mentality’ opens me up to judging others with my personal balance sheet. They don’t measure up and probably never will. That is the nature of human judgment. It is done with a set of standards I make up. It’s all about pride and ego-assertion. I may even use Scripture for some of them but I am still in control of who passes and who doesn’t. This is what Jesus is talking about when He tells us not to judge others because that is the way we will be judged. He knows our self-denial about what we think and act like, that we can’t even measure up to our own standards. His Cross saved us from ourselves.
While we were still sinners and didn’t care except for ourselves, Christ died alone, rejected, betrayed and isolated by the world’s ‘balance sheet.’ On the Cross He showed what our death would be like apart from God; individual, personal and alone. On the Cross He showed us He is the key to life and death, the beginning and the end, the way, the truth and the life. On the same Cross He also showed His love for us by allowing Himself to be a visible victim of total human rejection by things visible and invisible, spiritual and secular; state, culture, family, religion, friends and human society.
The Cross was by human standards the lowest and most degrading death a person could suffer as punishment. Jesus, the pure, perfect and holy presence of God, was the only One worthy to be a sacrifice in our place. With Jesus you can be absolutely sure that what you see is what you get. Never any hiding, no hidden agenda, no remorse, no regret, no inner secrets, no avoiding truth about who He is and what He is like in His heart. There was no self-denial in Him, no avoidance, no self-doubt or indecision, no shame or guilt within. Thus He and He alone could bear the wrath and judgment of God each of us deserve. He loved us so much that He was willing to be that sacrifice for us. He took the judgment due us. As Paul said in 2Cor.5:21, “God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God (Message Bible), “ and “God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God (NIRV).” Let’s ponder that a bit……..stay tuned
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