Welcome to Men and Mills Community Church on Good Friday. Thank you guys for coming out to the late service being part of, you know, Easter is a big day here at Men and but good Friday. I think the creative folks would probably tell you we probably spend more creative energy on this evening than any other. Because there's a mystery about tonight.
There's a profoundness to what we're remembering in an odd way celebrating, but also commemorating and mourning. And so that's what we're going to be doing over the next hour here is reflecting on the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, and the significance that it has for each and every one of us, because while it is an incredibly well-documented historical fact, it's so much more. And so I want to invite you in to the story as we walk through it. As we begin, can I ask you if you would turn off your cell phones, make sure that they're on vibrate?
It is going to be a service of remembrance, so that would help. We're going to start tonight, the way that in the sense the Holy Week story does, Jesus rises to Jerusalem and he sends his disciples ahead of him, to get a room where they are going to celebrate a Passover meal. And so we're going to start our celebration tonight, our commemoration tonight, in that same fashion. So we're going to do that by having communion together.
If you've ever had communion here with us at Mendum, here's what's going to happen. Some ushers are going to come forward. In fact, they're already here. And they're going to serve.
My friend Dave is going to give them these plates, and on these plates will be a double cup, if you will. They'll be stacked. They'll just take one. On the bottom cup will be a little piece of bread, and on the top cup will be a little cup of grape juice.
If you would separate those elements, and you could just hold them, reflect while the band plays. Once everyone in the room's been served, the ushers will come back forward, and then my friend Dave will come up and he'll lead us in the taking of the elements. So with that said, welcome to church on Good Friday. Oh, your blood, crimson streak, oh your death is healthy, a cross man to kill is my victory.
It's in grace, I've cemented today, it's running through my veins, I can't escape its grip in you. My soul is safe, you cover everything, know your love, let for me. Oh, your blood, in crimson streak, oh your death is healthy, a cross man to kill is my victory. Where you're sent, makes us alive again, makes us alive again.
Who takes away the whole, makes us alive again, makes us alive again. Oh, your blood, in crimson streak, oh your death is healthy, a cross man to kill is my victory. And on the night that Jesus was betrayed, it's a bread. He blessed that bread, and he broke it, and he gave it to each of his disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you.
As a community tonight, Good Friday, let's take that bread together. Then the Lord Jesus took the cup, and blessing again that cup, he pronounced it to be the cup of the new covenant in his blood, which is to be shed for many. And tonight on Good Friday as a community, Jesus calls us to do this in remembrance that he's right here with us tonight. Let's take this cup together.
Let us stand in worship, the living God, the King of Kings, who's in our midst tonight. Let's stand together. Father's love for us, beyond all measure, should give his only son, he'll catch his treasure. I'm searing, the Father turns his face away, so much more than chosen one.
Any sons to glory, my sin upon his shoulder, near my mopostineth, I've paid my ransom. This Easter season, if you're part of the community here at Menom, you know that we've been looking at battles. Each of us are engaged in them, trying to figure out how to find victory, and the peace that Jesus said he came to give, and ultimately to die for. Now make no mistake about it, and I think we forget often, especially here in Morris County, New Jersey.
You and I are in a fight, a pretty epic war in fact. Did you know the Scriptures, we don't look at them this way often, but they're filled with battle imagery. For the Lord your God, is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory. Paul wrote over and over, no, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession. Now it's one thing to read of these victories, but it's another one to reflect on them, because think about it. Here's the thing about wars.
In war, even for those victorious, there are casualties. If you read the Scriptures you know that God has led the Israelites into many battles, and many times they were victorious. But the truth is, when the armies came home there were still many mothers who had lost their sons. You see in battles people die in the fighting.
Victory comes at a substantial cost. And tonight we commemorate that price. Because you see the war that Jesus came to wage and win, and the one he ultimately came to die for, was not, and it gets confused a lot, but it was not the cultural one, and it was not even an enemy out there somewhere. The war that Jesus came to win was a battle for our hearts and our minds and our souls.
Now Jesus, as much as this was a disappointment to the people of his day, and the truth be told, sometimes it's a disappointment to us. Because we'd like him to fight the fight out there. See Jesus came to win the battle within the battle in here. Because listen, when he wins this battle, when we find the victory and the peace and the transformation that he promised, well then the world out there, and by the world out there, I mean our marriages, our homes, our offices, our churches, our cities, our towns.
They all get changed. They all taste the victory of Jesus. See, the path to peace is paved with an all too familiar cost. Victory is an epic battles, peace, freedom, joy, and life come at a very steep and predictable price.
And it's a truth we remember this weekend, that Jesus lived and he died, and then he was resurrected. Here's an all too painful truth. Without the cost of death, there will never be life. A truth and a death not merely limited to Jesus's.
Because Paul discovered something about himself and about you and I, that we often like to skip over. He told the church in Kalesi, for you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ, put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, he told the church in Galatia. I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live.
Now where we're Paul getting an outlandish idea that it wasn't just Jesus that needed to die in order that we might live, but that we too might need to die. That Jesus's death was a reality for us to share and experience for us to have, not merely a truth that he studied. My guess is it came from meeting the ones dead and now alive Jesus. Because Jesus viewed his own destiny, to be glorified in and through death as an expression of a profound universal truth.
One, we need to experience two. For Jesus, and for us, the pathway is the same to life. It runs through death. Here's what he said.
As he prepared for the cross, he taught those that would follow him. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed, but if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anybody who loves their life will lose it.
While anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. See, what if the events that we're going to gather for together over this weekend are not merely to be commemorated and celebrated, but to be experienced? I read this week of a renowned scholar's preacher, Philip Hitt Watson. He said about this passage of scripture, there in all of humanity have been two great revolutions, only two that have changed human life forever.
The first revolution, he says, began when somebody first noticed the strangest thing. Normally when you bury something in the ground, it's a way to get rid of it, but if you do it with a seed, something different happens. The seed becomes, it transforms, it changes into something it was not. It becomes a plant or a tree, and then it produces fruit.
Now it is just getting life, it's actually giving life. But you see, it could never happen if the seed hadn't died first. He postulated this interesting thing. He said, imagine the day when some prehistoric person first took a seed and buried it.
It must have seemed pretty dumb, deliberately throwing away something edible in a hungry world, but then a few days later. A tiny green chute comes up through the dirt. Because this meant something. This was a revolution.
It meant human beings no longer needed to be nomads wandering from place to place in search of food. It meant there would be villages, towns, crafts, architecture, tools, and civilizations. It meant now there would be home. Human civilization, he said, was built on just this one observation.
But then he noted there's a second revolution. And it's not just agricultural. This, Jesus said, is also the way all of life works. Only it isn't a seed this time.
It's you and me. If you love your life, you lose it. Note that when Jesus said, was not a command, it's just the way things are. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains a solitary grain of wheat.
But if it dies, it becomes a rich harvest. To die, to be buried in the earth, which looks like it's the end, it turns out to be before its glory. Now, the center of this weekend, our service tonight, and perhaps all of time, stands a strange symbol. The cross.
It's a first century gallows, if you will. It's a 20th century electric chair. It's a symbol of death. Now, Jesus spoke of the cross, the one that he was going to die on, where he would pay the penalty, do our sins, adjust God, and we want justice, adjust God, extracting sins do.
But in this case, it was the innocent willingly paying the price to the guilty. But did you know that Jesus often spoke of a sin? You see, we commemorate and celebrate this one, but we often ignore, or forget about the second. You want to know why?
Because the second cross is ours. Five times in the three synoptic gospels. Jesus said this. If anybody would come after me, let them deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
You see, it turns out. There's a cross with your name on it. No, it's not one that any of us need bear in order to be saved or forgiven. Jesus bore at great expense that one.
That work is finished. But in order to experience the victory, the peace, and the freedom, and the joy, Jesus promised us and died for, there's something very deep in each of us, which must be put to death, in order that the new life available in us might spring forth. Now listen to me, I'm talking about something very profound here. I am not talking to you about giving up chocolate for Lent.
I'm talking about the deepest issues of your heart, those things that need to be taken to Calvary. And that's what we want to do tonight. We want you to answer the story. We want you to pick up your cross.
Because in order for you to live, there's something inside of you that must die. It's the only way. Now for some of you tonight, when I say these things, you know exactly what it is that needs to be put to death. You don't need to do a lot of self-examination.
You are wrapped up in something or with someone that is so clearly outside of the bounds that God would have for you. When I tell you something in your life must die in order for Christ to live, you know what it is. And maybe tonight you could hear the voice of God, just like the prophet Elijah did when he hid in the cave of his fear and shame. Elijah, what are you doing here?
Maybe for others. The question is so simple. I mean I know we all know we're not perfect, but nothing jumps to mind quickly. I mean what could God be asking to die in my life?
What would God have He bring to the second cross? I think the answer can be found to both of those questions actually. For those of us that are wrapped up in sin and wondering where it came from. And those of us that can't quite figure out where it is, where are the things in us that need to be crucified.
I think you can find those answers in something the ancients called the Seven Deadly Sins. Only about two hundred years after Jesus' crucifixion a movement began among his most of our followers. They chose this life of extreme asceticism going off into the desert out of the cities, renouncing all the pleasures of the senses, rich food, baths, rest, anything that could make them comfortable. And instead they've chose to focus their energies on praying and singing psalms, fasting, giving alms to the needy, preserving love and harmony with one another, while keeping their thoughts and desires for God alone.
Now imagine living out in the desert doing this would give you some amount of time to start to reflect on some pretty deep issues. And it was within those early communities of Jesus followers that an idea took hold. And it was this, that vice and every kind of sin, the sin that Jesus died for, actually when you really focus on it, came from just a handful of deeply rooted broken patterns in the human condition. These sins, these are the deadly sins that need to get carried to the second cross.
These are the sins, the seeds of sins that give birth to every other sin in our lives. For many of us, our experiences with church, if we're honest, has been one more focused on sin management, sin containment. It's much akin to picking the Dan lining out of your front lawn, knocking the head off it, and wondering why it's back a week later. See, over the years we've mistakenly thought our highest objective was to get people to stop cursing and lying and gossiping and fornicating.
But what these early communities of believers discovered was the message of Jesus, that sin is a heart issue and it's killing you. What they realized is that we could kill some or all of these seven core issues, maybe, maybe you could move a man from being miserable in his sin withdrawal and just longing for advice, and you could turn him into a man who was fully alive in freedom and was splendid with joy. A man that actually knew what victory felt like. There's this scene, see a Lewis, many of you know him, he wrote a book called The Great Divorce, and it portrays this death and resurrection so powerfully.
He said that a man was approached by an angel. Now the man was carrying a lizard on his shoulder, and the lizard represented a spirit of lust, which is one of these seven deadly sins. It was a habitually mismanaged sexual issue that had turned itself into a calcified habit in his life. It dominated his time and his thoughts.
The man hated the lizard, but he also couldn't abide the thought of living without it. And so the angel comes and offers to kill the lizard. The man recoils. I mean, that's not crazy.
He wasn't doing anything that drastic. I mean, he doesn't want the lizard dead. He just went like it manageable. He'd prefer a gradual process, if you will, of lizard management.
But the angel tells him, the gradual process is of no use to you. Death is the only way. The angel will kill the lizard, but he can't do so without the man's permission. The angel will kill the lizard, but he can't do so without the man's permission.
Well, eventually in his misery and despair, the man finally consents. There is in the writing this horrible burning and the man and the lizard fall to the ground both apparently dead, but not. Because the man begins to rise more solid and strong and glorious than ever before, and the lizard rises as well, only transformed into a spirited stallion. Though he must die to sinful sexuality, it's not destroyed.
It too was redeemed. Here's what Lewis concluded. He said nothing. Not even the best and the noblest of us can go on as we are now.
And nothing, not even what is the lowest and most bestial, will not be raised again if it would submit to death. If it's sown in the natural body, it can be raised a spiritual body. Lust is a poor weak, whippering, whispering thing compared with the richness and the energy of desire which will arise when lust has been killed. And so tonight, as we dig into these seven deadly sins through testimony and song and the passion story where you will see all of them at work, hopefully you'll see them at work in your story too.
Tonight we invite you to the second cross. Yours. Where are these things at work in your story? What do you need to bring here to your cross?
What in you must die in order that you might truly live? I can do this. On my own, I can achieve. I was made for greatness.
I will do whatever it takes to reach the top to be the best to win. I don't need help. I'm educated, strong, wealthy. Everything I have, I have worked for.
I've earned it. I deserve it. I am talented. I use my gifts to help others.
I serve the church. Do you see me? Do you notice me? Of course you do.
Without me, this ministry. Organization. Company, family. Wouldn't be what it is.
It's a good thing I'm here. I am pride. Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus lived when Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in honor of Jesus.
Martha served while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took out a pine of pure nard and expensive perfume and she poured it on Jesus' feet and then she wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to be trade-priced, objected. Why wasn't this perfume sold in the money given to the poor?
It was worth the years' wages. Judas didn't say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself in what was in the bag. Now the festival of unleavened bread called the Passover was approaching, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.
Then Satan entered Judas. Judas called Iscariot, one of the twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard, and he discussed with him how they might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money.
Judas consented and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them. Later, while Jesus was still speaking, a crowd came up, and a man who was called Judas, who was one of the twelve, was leading the crowd. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, Judas, are you betraying the son of man with a kiss? When Jesus said, Lord, should we strike with our swords?
And one of them struck the servant of the chief priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, no more of this, no more, and he touched the man's ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and the elders who had come for him, Am I leading a rebellion that you need to come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple, the temple cords, and you did not lay a hand on me.
But this is your hour. This is your hour where darkness reigns. I am a collector. I am restless.
Always striving for more. My money, my stuff, it's all mine. It's not for others. I'm not going to share.
Will enough ever be enough? Not likely. I acquire. I keep.
I possess. I hoard. You are not my responsibility. If you want what I have, you should have worked for.
I'm under no obligation to care for you, to help you, assist you, support you. What's mine is mine. And if you're not careful. What's yours will be mine too.
I am greed. For all the wealth of mine was mine to squander. And towers of ivory rose beneath my feet. For palaces of pleasure mine to wonder.
The sum of it would leave me incomplete. Though every soul would hold my name in honor. The truest love was always by my side. My praises sung by grateful sons and daughters.
My soul would never still be satisfied. It's not enough. It's not enough. I could walk the world forever, till my shoes were filled with blood.
It's not enough. It's not enough. Though I could live for all to lift them higher. I spent the century seeking light with it.
Though I indulge my every dark desire. Sourcing every avenue I've saved. It's not enough. It's not enough.
I could walk the world forever, till my shoes were filled with blood. It's not enough. It's not everything. I crave contact.
I yearn for intimacy. At any cost, at any price. It's about fulfilling my needs, my wishes, my wants, my desires. I will cross boundaries, break vows, ruin friendships, destroy families.
I'll do what I must to get what I want. My longings must be satisfied. There is no end to my carnal appetite. It is no longer about, it has never been about, love.
Giving, sacrifice, gentleness, compassion. Because it has always been about me. It will always be about me. You?
You're here to meet my needs. I am lust. On the way, Jesus told them, all of you will desert me. For the scriptures say, God will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.
But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there. Peter said to him, even if everyone else deserts you, I never will. And Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, Peter. It was very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.
No, Peter declared emphatically. Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you. And all the others vowed the same. Later that evening, Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.
It was then that all the disciples deserted him and ran away. It took Jesus to the High Priest home, where the leading priest, the elders, and the teachers of religious law had gathered. Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and went right into the High Priest courtyard. There he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.
One of the servant girls, who had worked for the High Priest, came by and noticed Peter warming himself by the fire. And she looked at him closely and said, you were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth. But Peter denied it. I don't know what you're talking about.
He said, and he went into the entryway. Just then a rooster crowed. When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, this man is definitely one of them. But Peter denied it again.
A little later, some of the bystanders confronted Peter and said, you must be one of them because you're a Galilean. Peter swore. A curse in me of online. I don't know what you're talking about.
Immediately, a rooster crowed. A second time. Suddenly, Jesus' words flashed through Peter's mind. Before the rooster crowed twice, he will deny three times that you even know me.
And then he broke down and he wept. I have no desire to serve others. I do enough already. Your poverty is not my problem.
I just don't want to be responsible. I will do nothing. I expect something in return. I am a slacker.
A sponge. I do nothing. A deadbeat. I don't use my talents.
I am an enemy of growth. Stay on the couch a little longer. Look for a job another day. Work on my marriage later.
I will my children next time. Nothing is urgent. Nothing is necessary. I love idleness.
Dormancy. Ethogy. I don't believe in going the extra mile. I'm apt not to care.
It's easier to not care. To not give. Not serve. Not love.
I will remain where I am. As I am. I will not change. I am sloth.
In short, Jesus ready stands to save you for the peace. I want more. I consume more. Yet is never enough.
Excess is my desire. More food. More money. More video games.
More stuff. More than I can afford. More than I can contain. More than my share.
More and more. And all for me. Things matter more than people. Personal gain over permanent relationships.
Personal gain over charity. I get and I get and I am never satisfied. Never content. Never pleased.
Never fulfilled. When will this hunger in me be satiated? Never. I am gluttony.
And then the whole assembly rose. And let them off to Pilate. They began to accuse him saying, We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payments of taxes to Caesar.
And he claims to be a messiah. A king. So Pilate asked Jesus. Are you the king of the Jews?
You have said so. Jesus replied. And then Pilate announced to the chief priests and to the crowds, I find no basis for any charge against this man. But they insisted.
He stirs up the people throughout all of Judea, by his teachings. He started in Galilee. And he's come all the way here. On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean.
And when he learned that Jesus was indeed under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased. Because for a long time he had wanted to meet him. And from all that he had heard about him, he hoped to see that evening, him perform a sign in front of them all.
He plied him with many questions that evening, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, and vehemently were accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers began to ridicule and to mock him to his face. They dressed him in an elegant robe.
They sent him then back to Pilate. That day, Herod and Pilate became friends. Before that, they were actually enemies. Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people.
And he said to them, You brought me this man as one who was inciting people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence. And have found no basis for any of the charges you have against him. And neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us.
As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him, and then I will release him. But the whole crowd, they shouted away with this man. Release Barabbas to us.
Barabbas was one who had been thrown in prison, actually for an insurrection in the city, and also for murder. And wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them a second time. But they kept shouting, crucify him, crucify him. And for the third time, he spoke to the crowd, why?
What crime has this man committed? I have found in him, no grounds for any death penalty. Therefore, I will punish him, and then I will release him. But with loud shouts, they insisted.
They demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. And so Pilate decided to grant them their demand. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and for murder. And the one they asked for, he gave them.
And then he surrendered Jesus to their will. I want what you have. What started as a spark, a small flame has become a full-blown fire. The green-eyed monster is alive in me.
I desire your life, your family, your house, your car, your money, your joy. Surely you have no trials, no troubles. Don't ask me to rejoice with you. I can never truly be happy for you.
Are resent your successes. Those things you have worked for, been blessed with, I covet your rays. Your marriage, your children, your health. All I do is compare.
You, to me, me, to you. And I always, always come assured. I am envy. Not what we should be.
We haven't sought what we should seek. We've seen your glory, Lord, that looked away. Our hearts, our bands, our eyes are dim. Our finest works are stained with sin.
We've emptiness has shed low, all our ways. Deschise Christ, shining to our night. Drive our dark away, till your glory fills our eyes. Jesus Christ, shining to our night.
Find us to your cross. We find light. We often go astray. Chase the world, forget your grace.
You have never failed to bring us back. Feel the depths of what you've done. Death you died, the victory won. You made our way for us to know your love.
Shine in to drive our dark away, till your glory fills our eyes. Shine in to, mind us to your cross. We find light. I've our dark away, till your glory fills our eyes.
Shine in to, mind us to your cross. We find light though. I want it my way. Being right matters.
No matter what. See things my way. I am right. I hit, I hurt.
I will make sure you pay. I will hold on to resentment. Fury, anger, rage. I will not wait for justice.
I will exact vengeance. When you don't believe what I believe, when you don't do what I say. When you go your own way, I will not stand for it. You bring this out of me.
It's your fault, not mine. I can't change you, so I rise. I just chew. I storm.
I reach my boiling point. I will settle the storm. I am rough. Tonight is the first time I saw all those elements put together.
And it was more powerful than I thought. More convicting for me than I thought. As I sat through it, I guess there was a few things that came to my mind. The first was, I would watch one of those core issues.
I like to think my issues are, I don't know. Maybe I am a little greedy. I am a good person. I watch those things and I am like, yeah, I have that.
And I watch next and I am like, yeah, I have that too. It's like I drew two conclusions tonight. The first is I have a deep sin problem. I have things in me that must die so that the life of Christ could live.
The second thing that occurred to me was, maybe when framed the way it's been framed tonight, you and I could understand the brutality of the death that Jesus suffered. As I watched all of these things go by, I kept thinking, almost hearing a little voice in my head going, and you think you could atone for sin. You think being a good boy would make all of this okay? I just kept seeing Jesus taking on all the sin of the world.
Kayla, Kayla, my son were driving here tonight and we were listening to some worship music together and we were just talking about this night. I said, Kay, could you imagine what it was like for Jesus? He knew he was going to be crucified. Imagine the fear, because he was fully human.
Imagine the fear of crucifixion and the weight of the sin of the world. But there's a pathway to grace and forgiveness. Jesus paid for all of this brutally, all that was due, you and I, he took. The Scriptures say, if we would but repent and believe, if we would confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe, we'd be forgiven.
The Scriptures say, if we confess, our sins would be removed from us, as far as the east is from the west. And so that's what I want to do with you tonight. I want to confess. And so what's going to happen is I'm going to go through each of those seven issues that all of us are struggling with to one degree or another and up on the screens they're going to see a little prayer of confession and then your part is what's in the bowl.
Your is the response where together we just have this mass confession of the healing we need. Join me, would you? Jesus, you came not to be served, but to serve and give your life as a ransom for many. Your Word tells us that we should have the same mindset.
We don't. Though you were in the form of God, you did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. We do. You made yourself nothing taking on the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form.
You humbled yourself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Father, we confess. We're proud. Solomon told us whoever loves money never has enough.
Whoever loves wealth is never satisfied. Jesus warned us, watch out. Be on guard against all kinds of greed. You said that we could not serve two masters, but Jesus we confess.
Oh, how we have tried. Father, we confess. We're greedy. You disciple John warned us, everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, it comes not from the Father, but from the world.
Your Word says that we would walk by the Spirit, we wouldn't gratify the desires of the flesh. Timothy told us to flee from them. Paul told us to abstain from them, but the truth is God, all too often. We have set our eyes and our hearts upon the things of this world.
Father, forgive us. We are lost. The Apostle Paul warned us, be very careful than how you live. Not as unwise, but as wise, making the most out of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. You warned us that when someone's been given much, much will be expected. When someone's been entrusted with much, even more would be required. Yet, we've been so painfully slow, idle to invest all that we've been given.
Father, forgive us, for we are slothful. The Prophet Ezekiel warned us that this was the sin of Sodom, that she and her daughters were arrogant and overfed and unconcerned, and they didn't help the poor needy. You told the Philippians, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ because their God is their stomach and their glory is in their shame, that their mind was set on earthly things, and so too, Lord has ours. Because enough for us has never really ever been enough.
We just keep building bigger barns. Father, we confess. We're gladness. Wisdom teaches that a heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
You see, love is patient and love is kind. It does not envy, but we do. You told the Israelites, do not cover your neighbor's house, do not cover your neighbor's wife, and anything that belongs to your neighbor led to Lord, all we do is compare and covet. Father, we confess.
We are envious. You told us that the fruit of the Spirit was peace and patience, gentleness, and kindness. And yet we're angry. The Psalmist said to refrain from anger and turn from wrath, that it would only lead to evil.
Lord, all too often, we have been so slow to listen and so quick to anger. Morophan, then not, we've let the sun go down on our anger, and we've given the devil a foothold. Father, we confess. We're wrathful.
No, my child, you were once a slave to all these things, in bondage to your desires, but no more. On this day, for one moment in time, the great I am took on a new, less glorious meaning. I am pride. I am lust.
I am wrath. I am greed. I am sloth. I am gluttony.
I am envy. I am. You are not. For you, I became all these things.
I bore them in my body, broken. For you, despised, rejected. A man of sorrows receiving the justice due to the sin of the world. It was me who died in agony, so that you might live in peace.
Now live as a slave to fear and death no longer. For you are a child of God. For here, the great he sent and shame, the guilt of every man, the need of all I've done. Nailed into your hand, and escape its land.
To be my soul, listen again. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German theologian and pastor, who himself was martyred and found his own cross. Tried to overthrow Hitler, he wrote this. He said, the cross is laid on every Christian.
As we embark upon discipleship, we surrender ourselves to Christ and union with his death. We give our lives to death. And thus it begins, because the cross is not the terrible end to another wise God-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. Because when Christ calls man, he bids him, come and die.
Jesus, we celebrate you. We honor you. We revere you. We behold you.
We love you. We hear you. And so we come through Christ, our King, and the Church of Man who's had.