Sidney UMC - Fourth Sunday of Easter - 05/03/20 - Sermon - “He Himself Bore Our Sins In His Own Body On The Cross"

Sunday 05/03/20 - Sidney UMC

Sermon Title:          

               “He Himself Bore Our Sins In His Own Body On The Cross”

Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 23

                                           

New Testament Scripture: 1 Peter 2:19-25

Gospel Lesson: John 10:1-10

          He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed. Alleluia!

          I greet you again this morning, with the Easter Sunday greeting, as we are in the Fourth Sunday of this season of Easter. We will be in this season of Easter until Pentecost Sunday, which this year is on Sunday May 31^st.

          The past couple of weeks, we have had gospel readings where Christ appeared to his disciples and other early followers, following his resurrection on Easter morning. Or to put it another way, for the last two Sundays, we have had gospel readings on Jesus appearing physically alive, post-resurrection. I believe that Jesus had these post-resurrection appearances, to instruct, to encourage, and to further prepare his disciples and his first followers to create the Christian Church, which was officially created on the day of Pentecost.

          This morning however, we do not have a post-resurrection or post-mortem appearance of Jesus in our gospel lesson. Instead, we have one of Jesus’ “I am” statements about his authority and sovereignty as our Lord and Savior.

          I am going to tie this gospel lesson in later into this message for this morning, but I am also going to be focusing on our reading for this morning from 1 Peter 2:19-25. Before jumping into that however, I want to mention our reading from this morning from Psalm 23. I especially want to mention this reading around this current Coronavirus Pandemic. As I was writing this sermon, I saw that the most current Covid-19 or Coronavirus deaths in the United States were almost 62,000. I cannot begin to imagine the grief of the families and the friends of these victims.

          Simultaneous to this, we have small businesses that do not want anyone to get sick or die but are at risk of losing everything because they cannot work. So, we have people grieving the loss of people that are sick and have died from Coronavirus, and we people grieving that they cannot work, provide for their families, and live the life they were living prior to this global pandemic.

I believe within in this though that the timeless words of Psalm 23 are a great comfort through any struggle we are going through. I am going to re-read Psalm 23 to you, and I pray that you are comforted again, as you hopefully were when it was read a few minutes ago. Again, Psalm 23 says, from the New King James Version:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;
For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever” (Ps. 23, NKJV).

          Through this Coronavirus Pandemic, the God of the universe is very much with us spiritually. Yet, we live in a broken and a sinful world. We live in a world where there is a suffering, sickness, violence and death. We live in a world where many people work hard, where many people grow tired, stressed, and where many people get sore and weary. As Christians, we are called to care for the vulnerable, the least, the last, and the lost, and I do believe that we can indeed work to build a better country and a better world. The perfect world, the kingdom of God in its fullness, however, will only fully come to fruition when Christ returns to this earth to usher in the fullness of God’s kingdom. There is so much that we can do for others between now and then, however.

          In looking at our reading once again from 1 Peter 2 for this morning, this takes me to the heart of my sermon. The Apostle Peter tells us in 1:2:24, which is where I got my sermon title from, that:

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed”                    (1 Pet. 2:24, NRSV).

          To me, this verse of scripture is so powerful, and of course this is the Apostle Peter after Pentecost Sunday. Before the day of Pentecost, Peter is still scared and not ready to preach and live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

          It is interesting to me that the Apostle Peter asserts that Jesus, physically in his own body, bore the sins of humanity of the cross. In doing this, through Jesus Christ, we can repent of our sins, be forgiven of those sins, and as Peter says, live for righteousness. By Christ’s suffering, his shed blood, and his death on a cross, we are healed. We do not have to do anything to earn what Christ did for us, we just need to repent, to accept him as Lord, and to live for him every day.

          The confusion that some seem to have though, is this, if Jesus truly did bear our sins on the cross, then why aren’t our lives always perfect? I mean we know Jesus, but there is still suffering on earth and bad things still happen. How can this be?

          The reality is this, after the fall of humanity with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, in the Book of Genesis, the scripture tells us that this life on earth would be hard sometimes. It is true that salvation through Christ is a free gift, yet, we have this Coronavirus Pandemic.

          God is indeed with us, as we heard this morning in Psalm 23, but we still live on this broken earth that is full of so much suffering. Much of this suffering I believe though happens because of our sin, our sin against each other, and because of the things that we sometimes do to each other. On earth, we are not in heaven, although as Christians we can work to make this world more like the kingdom of heaven, until the day that Christ ushers it in fully. Despite our best efforts though, we will never make this world fully perfect, even though we will try to do so.

          As I was looking at this powerful verse from 1 Peter 2 about Jesus bearing our sins on the cross, I thought about our lives here on earth more. While eternity with Jesus one day will be free of struggle and suffering, this earth is certainly not like that. For those of us who were able to get an education, to get ahead in life, or who can worship in a beautiful church like this one, how did this all happen? Certainly, by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, but as we try, we can use the gifts and graces that God has given us. We must engage and God is with us.

          On this earth, so much has been done for us. The connection I am making here, is that while Christ bore our sins in his own body on the cross, many here on earth have borne others burdens in their own bodies, minds, and souls. Some of us can say that our parents, our grandparents, and many others sacrificed greatly so that we could get ahead in life. Granted all good things come from God in Jesus Christ. Even though God gives us everything, we are required to work and toil here on earth. Salvation and eternity in Christ are free gifts, but life here on earth is not always perfect. I wish it were but then pandemics come.

In Genesis 3:17b-19a, it says of life on this earth after of the fall of humanity:

“in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Gen. 17b-19a, NRSV).

          Does this mean that life here on earth is always terrible? No, not at all. Christ died for us, and bore our sins on the cross, but we will remain on this earth until Christ comes again, or we go to be with Christ. To reemphasize this, lets look more closely at our reading from this morning once again from 1 Peter 2:19-25. One again saying of suffering on earth it says:

“For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly.  If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls”                         (1 Pet. 2:19-25, NRSV).

          Part of our faith journeys that we have with Jesus Christ, is having joy, peace, and comfort, even though this earth is so broken. We can have peace that even through a Global Coronavirus Pandemic, because Christ is with us.

          My parents worked hard, endured stress, long hours, conflict, busyness, and other challenges, so that me and my brothers and sisters would be able to be provided for. So that I could get an education, and be what God called me to be. My parents have faith in God, but we are called to work, serve, and sacrifice. This does not mean life is all bad, as I think that life is generally pretty good, but the scripture does call us to bear one another’s burdens.

          You see, through it all, through all the trials, the tribulations, the struggles, the suffering, Christ is with us. He knows us, understands us, and even suffered for us. We can have joy in Him, and we can hold our heads high in a world that is broken.

          As the church, we can radically love others, share Christ with them, and work to build a better world. We can live lives of victory, even if the whole world feels like it is falling apart. Through a global pandemic, through suffering, God is with us. We are to love and care for each other, even if we live in a broken world. “Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross,” to free us, so that even in a broken and a sinful world, we might live lives of hope, grace, peace, faith, and victory.

          In briefly looking once again at our gospel of John reading for this morning, Jesus is teaching and explaining to us who he is. This gospel reading is before his death and resurrection, and in this gospel reading Jesus says:

“Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep” (Jn. 10:7, NRSV).

          Jesus is telling us that life and life eternal is through him. Jesus is saying that he is the gate that leads to life, and we are the sheep. Once again Jesus says in John 10:1-10:

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10:1-10, NRSV).

          So, if Jesus is the gate, and we are the sheep, and if through him we have salvation and eternity, why doesn’t Jesus fix life right now? Why doesn’t Jesus just end this Coronavirus Pandemic? These are good questions. Jesus did not come to earth so that everything would just be perfect instantly. Jesus came to offer us spiritual transformation, new life, new hope, and life abundantly. The world is still broken and sinful, in large part because we have free will to choose how we live. Free will is a challenge, because we can do good, or do harm.

          Our new life in Christ is us being transformed and continuing to become more like Christ, and Christ then uses us to transform the world. The world is still broken, but we have Jesus, salvation in him, and his love, hope, mercy, and grace. Through him we can make the world better, knowing that he loves us, knowing that we have eternity with him, and knowing that while there is suffering on this earth, we are not alone. We have Christ, we have each other, and as we suffer or do not suffer, we go through this journey of life together. Jesus bore our sins, but we are also called to bear each other’s sins.

          Jesus died for us and may his love and his peace sustain individually and together through whatever this world throws at us. For we are free through him, even if the world is still so screwed up. Live for Christ, love others, and know that he is with us. Amen.