Title: God’s Word to a Sinner
Today we’re going to be focusing
on a very sweet passage from Luke 23 and the title of my Sermon: God’s Word
to a Sinner: criminals in heaven?
Let’s begin by reading from the Gospel of Luke chapter 23: verses 32-43.
“Two
others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with Jesus. And when they came to the place that is
called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his
right and one on his left. And Jesus
said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And his executioners cast lots to divide
his garments amongst them. And the
people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him,
saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he
is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up
and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are indeed the
King of the Jews, save yourself!” There
was also an inscription over him saying, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals who were hanged railed
against him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him, saying,
“Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving
the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when
you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus
said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me
in Paradise.”
Opening Prayer:
Let’s
bow together: Father in heaven, I wonder do we really believe You have totally forgiven
us? Do we take time on a regular basis
to confess our sin so that we may enjoy the freedom of Your forgiveness? I fear too often we live in a state of
“semi-forgiveness,” still living as if sin, the devil and temptation had
mastery over us. Christ, keep us from
this bout of self-doubt. Let us
experience the peace & comfort of your love and acceptance when we call out
to you. Keep us from the error &
temptation to try to earn Your pardon You already freely earned
for us at the cross.
Teach us Spirit to live
each day as those who have been truly forgiven, opening our hearts in return to
care for one another not in order to buy Your love & affection but as a way
of honor & worship & thankfulness for all the work, sacrifice and mercy
You have already done & showed to us while we were yet sinners & far
off from you.
Lord Jesus, thank you for your Word,
which reminds us of your authority to forgive. Thank you for making the ultimate sacrifice so
that we might be assured of our forgiveness when we come before you openly and
honestly – confessing our sins. Thank you for the empowering nature of
forgiveness. For we know Lord how relieved and empowered we feel when we
confess our sins to each other and then hear your word of forgiveness spoken
over us. Lead us to pay close attention to the words recorded in the
prayer you taught us: “forgive us our debts as we forgive those indebted to
us.” May all those around us and amongst us experience this, your church,
as a community characterized by the practice and discipline of continual confession
and forgiveness. In the name of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit…And all of God’s people said…”Amen”.
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Intro – Jesus’ 7 sayings
I’ve
got to say I was really excited when Brian told me we were going to be doing
the 7 sayings from the cross series.
It is very traditional amongst Anglican, Lutheran & other
denominations to teach these messages as a time of personal reflection & as
a lead up to the celebration of Easter.
Another
thing that I like about this series is it reflects a type of bible teaching
called Gospel Harmony. Now Gospel
Harmony is not a Christian boy-band knockoff, Gospel Harmony is where the information
from each of the Gospels is combined into a single narrative. Meaning you wouldn’t find all of these 7
sayings from the cross in any 1 of the individual Gospels. A couple are from Matthew & Mark, a couple
from Luke & the rest are from John. The first 2 sayings, which Mel & I are
doing, are often called the words of Forgiveness & Salvation & they are
inseparably linked together **fingers interlaced**.
As
we think back to last week & we think about God himself being made flesh
& dwelling amongst us. And that Holy
Man nailed violently to the cross, looking down on those he came to save, he
sees what? … Convicted criminals on either side of him, Soldiers who mocked
him, beat him, spat at him, yanked out his beard, nailed him cruelly to the
cross & finally gambled for the very clothes off his back. I wonder…. What was he thinking about, the
fraudulent trial the Sanhedrin used to prosecute him? Pilate & Herod who gave him over to death knowing
he was innocent? Was he thinking of
his own apostles who deserted him? Peter
who denied him? Judas who betrayed him? Or the fickle crowd who had just recently
praised him coming into Jerusalem as a King & the Messiah & now they
choose the murder Barabbas for freedom & Christ for the cross?
Or
maybe he was thinking of us, sinners who wouldn’t come for millennia’s later, still
in need of our own forgiveness. Its
ironic, this cross, which was intended for torment & death, became for
believers a path for forgiveness & newness of life. Its been said, never was such love shown by 1
person for so many others as when the Savior God, having taken on Himself the
sin of the world, died to validate the prayer He spoke over his people,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He paid the penalty for the sins that we
commit in our ignorance & even those we deliberately commit. And in forgiving us, Jesus makes a reality of
his own preaching. When He had said, “Love
your enemies;” He was now exemplifying it with his last breaths.
As I was studying this passage
this last month I read up on some famous moments of forgiveness in history
& they were all pretty good. The
prior pope John Paul II forgave a would be assassin, the Hatfields & McCoys
recently called a truce in 2003 after 100 years of their families at war,
Nelson Mandela called for forgiveness & reconciliation after years of
imprisonment in South Africa & the one that stood out for me was Corrie Ten
Boom. Corrie was a remarkable woman who
risked her own life to save others during the Holocaust. After Nazis occupied the Netherlands her &
her family began sheltering Jews in hidden areas in their home. In 1944 the Gestapo arrested them, her father
died & she & her sister were sent to a concentration camp where her
sister ended up dying as well. Just days
before every girl her age was killed they accidently let Corrie go due to a
clerical error in her file. Later while
speaking on forgiveness at a church she came face to face with 1 of her old
prison guards who asked her personal forgiveness & after a moment’s
hesitation she took his hand. Now many
can attest to the fact that at times it’s hard to forgive, many struggle to
forgive & some even think that there are people who don’t’ deserve any
forgiveness. And then the cross
confronts us with its powerful words & as Mel reminded us last week Christ
gives a powerful example for us in forgiving & sacrificing ourselves for others.
Application #1 – forgiveness &
self-sacrifice
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There
are 3 main questions that I would like try to answer in this sermon all from
verse 43 which says “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in
Paradise.” 1st is what is
this Paradise Jesus speaks of? I’d like
to flesh the history of that idea out with you.
2nd I’d like to ask whose Paradise is it & does that
influence our ideas of it? *cogs in the
mind* And 3rd how does one
reach this Paradise - Regarding the gospel & the state of American
Christianity.
History
gives a myth if not the fact regarding the 2 thieves at the cross. About 200 years after the events of the cross
the Book of Nicodemus was written stating the names of the two thieves crucified
with Christ were Dysmas & Gestas.
Dysmas was described, as the “good” thief who called on Jesus to
remember him in the afterlife & Gestas is known to be the one who taunted
Jesus along with the crowd. How
brilliantly do these 2 men exemplify humanity?
Do they not bring to mind the NT’s descriptions of the Wheat & the
Chaff, the sheep & goat? It’s funny
how the same gospel seems to harden some & soften others. How this same gospel that is life &
light to me is an odd fairytale to my Jewish friend.
In
our passage today Jesus introduces us to a specific term “Paradise.” This word “Paradise” comes from ancient
Persia (which is now Iran). And if you’re
not up to date on your Persian facts this would be the empire of Cyrus the
Great, the kingdom the OT hero Esther marries into & the invading army of
bad guys from the movie & comic book series, Frank Miller’s The 300.
This
Paradise word meant “a Royal Park” or “a King’s Garden” and right away we can
guess what images this would have brought to the minds of the 1st century
Jews. The very Garden in Eden we’ve
recently heard about from Brian’s sermons in Genesis. In the Hebrew Scriptures this term is used to
describe orchards, forests & later uses of this Paradise word began to be
used in a solely spiritual sense as a term to describe the place of happiness
righteous people would inherit in contrast to Gehenna, the place of punishment
where the wicked were assigned after death. I would urge you to spend some time studying
not only the first few chapters of Geneses but also the last few of Revelation
& see how perfectly the beginning & end of God’s Word fulfill one
another.
And
this passage also gives to us some clue as to the afterlife when compared to
the Catholic idea of purgatory where the dead might end up in a holding area 1000s
of years, Jesus seems to contended instead that there is an immediate judgment
of the dead where the separation of the righteous and wicked happens quickly
after death. Truly, today you
will be with me in Paradise. And Christ uses
all of these ideas as a gentle comfort for the consolation of a penitent
thief suffering from thirst, agony & shame when he uses this term
Paradise.
All
of this answers our 1st question:
what is this Paradise Jesus describes?
Unlike many Christians who dream of a mere return to the peace &
paradise of the Garden in Eden the beautiful picture of the End of Days will
actually be better than Eden where God not only comes down to visit his
people “in the cool of the day” but we’ll actually live with him as Heaven
& Earth will finally be brought together into a new combined Heaven &
Earth, that is the Christian’s hope.
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And
that brings us to our 2nd question: about who’s Paradise is it? This reminded me of 2 interactions I had 1
here in Sunday school & 1 at work.
The one at work was a group of people talking about their idea of
heaven. And being someone whose
knowledgeable about the Bible I joined in and I mentioned that the end of the
Bible describes a miraculous Tree of Life with multiple kinds of fruit all on 1
tree, the atheist with us laughed at the rest of us at the ridiculous of our
religion’s “mythology” & as a bit of a sarcastic person myself I told him
about the Fruit Salad Tree which is where multiple kinds of fruit trees are
grafted together into 1 tree for smaller farms & gardens. This means red, yellow & green apples can
grow together on 1 tree or even to the extreme where pears, plumbs & peaches
can all grow on 1 tree together. For those in our Covenant Theology class
you’ll recognize it’s much like the bible describes the Jews & gentiles
being grafted together into the 1 true Church.
But…Where the conversation deteriorated for me was when a girl was
saying only 1 kind of apple would exist in Heaven because she only liked
1 kind of apple & another guy said all homes in heaven would be apartment
complexes because he liked urban developments over log cabins or rural suburbs
and I realized that we were no longer talking about God’s heaven described in
Scripture but each of those people had become their own little gods & were crafting
for themselves their own little worlds where they imagined they’d like to live.
And
in Sunday school once we were talking of Revelation & the streets of gold
& the crystal seas & all that & it suddenly struck me then that for
a Christian all these points were nearly irrelevant when compared with seeing
& knowing our Lord. Because the
point of heaven is not diamond forks or emerald toilets but it about being with
God in direct fellowship, in seeing, knowing & experiencing the presence of
God 1st hand & not just by Faith.
That is why Heaven could be the worst kind of hell for a pagan who cares
nothing for Christ & the things of God & even the slummiest idea
of Heaven with Christ would be for the Christian the greatest paradise imaginable because there
where God is there a True Home exists for us believers as well.
So much like
worship & the church & the praise songs we sing – all of that for a
Christian should be much less about what I’d like to see done or what you would
prefer to do & should be more about let’s look to Scripture together &
see what it is God would like to see done here and in our communities & our
marriages & in our home lives. So Application #2 is a question. Do we know God? Do we love God in the sense
that we want what he wants? Do we take
joy in bringing God joy? Do we worship
as he’s called us to worship? Is the important part of paradise for us that
we’ll be “with Him” for Eternity?
Because if it’s not then our hope, our faith is probably resting in
something or someone else other than Him.
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Question three: how can I obtain this
Paradise? In the 2 thieves we find the
entire world displayed. The 1st
is hardened to the last – he may cry out for temporary relief from present
suffering but he’s without remorse for his sins & does not have the eye of
his heart fixed on the life to come. But
the 2nd knows his unworthiness, & is snatched as a branch out of
a burning fire, a monument to God’s Grace. This man believed in Jesus while the other
mocked, he believed in the life to come. He was humbled in repentance before Christ even
at Christ’s seemingly weakest & lowest point. And Christ though in agony had pity on this
penitent sinner. And by this we too can
rest assured that heaven is open to all penitent believers, this simple man
keeps us from despair that sinners indeed may call on the Lord & be saved
& yet the other is here as a picture too, that a man may pass into death
hard & unbelieving though the Lord was so very near him.
Our passage
teaches us that Jesus opens heaven to repentant people. This is our hope for Salvation, if we turn our
hearts & prayers to Him, we too may become “criminals welcomed into
paradise.” The thief speaks to Jesus
from the heart. But Jesus’ response is a
comfort not only to him but also to us. The
thief did not make promises he wouldn’t keep about “cleaning up his life” he
didn’t plead works of righteousness of his own. How could he? He lived a life of sin & crimes worthy of
death. If ever there was a strong
commentary on the fact that Salvation is by Grace through Faith without the works
of the Law, here it is. *pound the pulpit* The gift of salvation is not earned; it’s
given by a merciful God. Jesus says to
the penitent thief “truly, I say to you, today you shall be with me in
paradise.”
Application #3, Ask
your self this, today have you staked your life on Jesus? Today have you come
penitent & put your ultimate trust in him? Today do you know that, when your time comes,
you will be with him in paradise?
If you don’t
know, Jay solicited responses from people in this community right outside these
doors Anglicans, Episcopals, Methodists, Presbyterians all claiming the name
Christian & by & large what they have told us is this they don’t know
if they’ll go to heaven, they hope so, they’ll tell God all about the good they
did & hope it’s good enough to get them into paradise. This sad state of American Evangelicalism
reminds me of Jesus’ words about the multitude that will come crying “all this
we did in your name & his words back depart from me, I never knew you.” Calvary, only morons & liars
believe they can serve up their own works & deeds & think that’s gonna
be good enough. Don’t be a moron, when
you can rely instead on the perfect works of Christ done for you. Only hidden in his perfect righteousness, only
obtained by faith, can you find security, certainty – where you can find “good
enough” for entrance into Paradise.
Heaven is a gated community where only the perfect righteousness of
Christ is the key to get in, trust him, believe him when He says (not because I
say) because He says repent & believe the gospel.
Poem & Prayer to close - As we close I’d like to read from
the poem “O Paradise, O Paradise” from Frederick William Faber: O paradise, paradise! Who among us does not crave for rest? Who among us would not seek that happy land
where they that are loved by you are blessed? O paradise, paradise! I want to sin no more; I want to be as pure on
earth now as soon upon your shore. O
paradise, paradise. Its weary waiting
here; I long to be where Jesus is, to feel & to see him near. O paradise, paradise I shall not wait for
long; even now the loving ear may catch the faintest note of your Redemption song.
Lord Jesus, King of paradise, keep me in
your love, and guide me to that happy land of perfect rest above.
Let’s pray: Dear
Lord Jesus, how I wonder at your grace and mercy! When we cry out to you, you hear us. When we ask you to remember us when you come
into your kingdom, you offer the promise of paradise to us. Your mercy, dear Lord, exceeds anything we
might imagine. It embraces us,
encourages us, and heals us.
O Lord, though my
life is so different from the criminal who cried out to you, I am nevertheless
quite like him. Today I live, trusting
you and you alone. My life, both now and
in the world to come, is in your hands. And
so I pray & pray for this church:
Jesus, remember us
when you come into your kingdom! Jesus,
remember us today as we seek to live within your kingdom now! Amen.
