Little over a year ago while driving down the interstate there was a suitcase on the side of the road. It had sat there for over a week, and I just had to investigate.
One of the very few treasures that made me chuckle was these gloves. These gloves made me go back in time, all the way back to college. We had intramural football. My buddies and I were average, maybe a little below average football player.
I knew what I needed to be great was a pair of gloves. Yes, these would make me much better. The cheapest I could find were around $70 which is way too much on a college budget. So, I kissed intramural football greatness goodbye.
That is the thought that made me laugh at myself. The gloves, NOW FREE, would have made no difference in my ability to catch the ball (unless I lathered on some stick ‘em). My best with the gloves is horrible.
Those gloves on the hands of Jerry Rice? Now you are talking. That would be perfect. It is not the gloves that make the receiver, it is the receiver who makes the gloves. I would need Jerry Rice hands, arms, legs and the gloves to be better. This is the exchange I need- his for mine. This is unrealistic and silly to consider.
How does this relate to Jesus? One of my favorite New Testament passages in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Martin Luther called this passage, “The Great Exchange.” Why?
“For our sake, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
For the believer an exchange took place. Christ is my righteousness. Christ is in my place. Christ took my sorrow and shame (and there was and is plenty of it) and gave me His perfect righteousness. This is the exchange. realistic change. Christ in my place. I will take that all day!
This week we begin a new sermon series on Hebrews. For those who desire to see how the entire Bible fits together, this is a study for you.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son, today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
“I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”?
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.”
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
10 And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, 12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed.[a] But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,
“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
Years ago, a statement made by a pastor one Sunday morning really stood out. He said, “To the guests here, we are not a gathering of a people who have it all together. We do not live perfectly. This is the point for why we gather. To praise the one who did live perfect and through Him we are made perfect.”
This is often missed by both, those who are Christians and those who are not. It is quite easy for those who are outside the faith, to look at those in the faith, and accuse them of hypocrisy. Because we are not perfect. We sin, and Scripture confirms this very thing.
The New Testament writer Paul said, “The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Tim 1:14-15
I have felt those words. Some say, “I have no regrets.” This is not me. There are actions in my past that I hate. There are things that I have done that I despise and at times still weep over them when they come to mind. Paul’s words that he was the chief of sinners were only true because I had not yet been born.
Then there is that beautiful phrase, but Christ! There is a gracious, patient and merciful love in Christ which cannot be described by words.
For you those of us who are in the faith, we are perfect. Not by our doing but because we are IN CHRIST. It is your position in Christ. He is the source of your perfection. And He is worthy of our praise.
I have not been one who follows the Royal Family in England yet there is one story that retains my attention. This is not an in-depth interest but when I see a headline I will read it. The story of which I am referring is Mr and Mrs. Prince Harry leaving the Royal family which happened a number of years ago.
When he and his wife left, they lost several things like titles, a place in the Royal Palace and they left a family with a net worth of $60 Billion.
They left this life in England to go to California and do podcasts, write a book and have occasional acting appearances, leaving behind all the financial security imaginable to be everyday working stiffs.
Think about this: They now have to make arrangements for internet service, pump gas, grocery shop, change oil in the car, arrange and plan for health and car insurance.
As a believer, did you ever consider this in terms of Jesus?
The book of Hebrews begins:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Jesus left infinitely more in comparison to what Harry left.
These opening words of Hebrews are deep but today consider just one thing. Jesus, very creator God, enters the fallen creation to encounter hunger, thirst and fatigue.
ALSO, for the saved, he faced death. The wages of sin is death. For those who are of the faith, He encountered this death, in our place. On our behalf. God FOR US!
Looking back on that one time when I lost two decades of writing. If, at some point in daily living, you struggle, like me, with accepting forgiveness, then let this be a lesson for both of us.
this writing has been read by the author
Several months ago about fifteen years of almost every word that I had written, vanished. They were lost. Gone! After hours of searching turned into days and then days of searching turned into weeks, hope waned. There were many thoughts and notions on how to retrieve those lost writings but with no positive result, I gave up.
This was no welcome defeat. Soon entered the typical stages of grief which is said with some humor but also a great deal of truth.
Mentally, I thought back to some of, what I considered, my better works. These writings can never be rewritten. This birthed sadness. In an age where seemingly everything on the internet never gets lost or deleted, some of the best of me, was lost and deleted.
Hate is a word not strong enough to describe what I think of my past sin. I despise what I was. I absolutely abhor it. There are moments that I reflect upon my past rebellion and ponder how I could ever conceive being associated with such degeneracy.
Equally, it is a constant struggle to believe that purification, justification and forgiveness was freely given to me. I can teach it. I can explain the theological truths of what is called propitiation. I love that word. Some English Bible translations have replaced propitiation because it was believed too complex of a word to be properly understood.
Propitiation means, wrath absorbing. God, being perfectly pure and holy, has a wrath against mankind. God’s righteous wrath is a topic of which many prefer not to hear. I can teach and explain how this wrath was appeased through Christ. He absorbed (propitiated) God’s wrath for believers.
Inasmuch as I can expound this thought and others as they relate to God’s saving grace, there are times where believing He can do that for ME is too difficult to accept.
I believe in God’s forgiveness. I believe in God’s grace. I believe in God’s mercy. I can’t believe it is for me. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!
Then I think on fifteen years of writings. Gone. Deleted. Where are they? There is absolutely, no trace of them. As far as the east is from the west, so far as these pages been removed from existence.
Sound familiar? If, at some point in daily living, you struggle, like me, with accepting forgiveness, then let this be a lesson for both of us.
God removes sin.
How can God remove sin? Does He just sweep it under the rug because we are all buddies now? No! He does it because, the wrath I deserved, He placed upon Christ. Ever question or ponder why Christ had to endure such extreme suffering? It is clearly because He was propitiating a holy wrath for unholy sin.
For our sake, God made Him who knew no sin, to become sin, so that IN HIM we may become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
There will be a time where I will face judgement. Anyone who is reading this, you will also. It is inescapable. Not certain exactly what I will be thinking at that time. Maybe about all those despicable things I did. How great it would be for me to report that those despicable things I hate were JUST those things I did twenty and forty years ago. Not true.
Sadly, I don’t always love my wife like Christ loved the church. I say inappropriate things. I think inappropriate things. At times I treasure inappropriate things. Oh, at times, how I weep at my constant rebellion. Will I be thinking about such things at the judgement?
Here is the reality, just as much as all my writings are gone, so IS all my sin. All if it: past, present and future. That is how the propitiation of Christ works[1].
In one sense there is great sadness over the loss of all those past writings. In another, upon great reflection, a real life lesson unfolded reminding me something I once did, can literally be gone.
As far as the east is from the west, so my sin has been removed from me[2].