Day 30: "We Who Celebrate with Awe"

DAY 30

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FIVE: MONDAY 13 APRIL 2020

“We Who Celebrate with Awe”

Grant we pray, Almighty God, that we who celebrate with awe the Paschal feast may be found worthy to attain to everlasting joys, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

- Prayer for Monday in Easter Week, The Book of Common Prayer

It is a memorable scene: the corridor lined with doctors and nurses, applauding, cheering as a single patient who has survived the coronavirus is wheeled to the front door of the hospital to be greeted by tearful family members who have been barred from each other’s presence throughout their nightmarish journey through the unfamiliar terrain of this pandemic. If one word could encapsulate it all it would, I think, be “CELEBRATION!”

Planning a celebration might seem an inappropriate thing to do when viewing the cavernous rooms filled with coffins in Italy or hearing the daily death count in New York City, yet just last week as Christians we twice held a celebration, on Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday: we call it “The Celebration of The Lord’s Supper.” But this Paschal feast that we ‘celebrate with awe’ is more somber than celebrative, is it not?

Our “Celebration of the Lord’s Supper” looks forward to “The Marriage Supper of the Lamb” described in Revelation 19:6-10, that will be anything but constrained, as all of history from creation to the cross culminate in Jesus and His bride, His church, being together forever, a wedding festivity unlike any you’ve ever attended: “’Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready…Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.’”  And we will be there!

Reflective question: In what ways can you celebrate family, friends and faith during this time?

Reflective scripture: Philippians 4:4 – “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Reflective hymn: “We’re Gonna Party” – Chris Tomlin (1972-        )

We’re gonna party, I can feel it down inside. Party, I was dead, now I’m alive.

Gonna outshout the heavens now, gonna sing loud and outshout the sea,

gonna celebrate the life I’ve found, I’m found, I’m found.

I was blind but now I see, I was lost but He rescued me,

He saved the day and He set me free, set me free, now I’m free.

Day 29: EASTER: "The Gates of Everlasting Life"

DAY 29

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FIVE: SUNDAY 12 APRIL 2020

EASTER

“The Gate of Everlasting Life”

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin  by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

- Prayer for Easter Day, The Book of Common Prayer

Jesus speaks of not even the gates of hell being able to prevail against his church, gates which, in Dante’s “Inferno,” have inscribed above them these frightening words: “Abandon all hope, you who enter here.” Posited opposite this grim reality is the distant gate to which the  pilgrim Christian is directed in Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress” above which he finds these hopeful words, “Knock, and it shall be opened to you,” echoing the words of Jesus. It is an Easter invitation.

This stark division is portrayed in a beatitude found in the Book of Revelation, 22:14-15: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and anyone who loves and practices lying.”   

We have become too comfortable in our avoidance of the uncomfortable, yet the dichotomy of life is a reality – good/evil, right/wrong, light/darkness, truth/falsehood, God/Satan, the gates of hell/the gate of everlasting life. Jesus lines it out this way: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14. This is what Easter is all about – a resurrection that leads to life.

Reflective question: Rising from death, Christ has “opened to us the gate of everlasting life,” that begins when we are born again. Have you entered in?

Reflective scripture: Psalm 100:4 – “Enter his gates with thanksgiving.”

Reflective hymn: “Close to Thee – Fanny Crosby (1820-1915)

Lead me thro’ the vale of shadows, bear me o’er life’s fitful sea;

Then the gate of life eternal may I enter, Lord, with Thee.

Close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee, close to Thee;

Then the gate of life eternal may I enter, Lord, with Thee. 

Easter Sermon Insert: "Things We Cannot See"

THINGS WE CANNOT SEE

Patuxent Presbyterian Church

California, Maryland

Sunday 12 April 2020

Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

EASTER SUNDAY SERMON NOTES

Old Testament: Job 19:23-27               

Epistle: Acts 7:54-60                    

Gospel: John 20:24-29

All of humanity lives in a context of things we cannot see:

There is a trinity of unseen traits essential to meaningful human existence:

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:13

The unseen brokenness within us manifests in ways that work against this trinity of traits, a brokenness that hurts us and others: “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality….idolatry….hatred….anger….selfishness….envy….” Galatians 5:19-20

But there are also the unseen broken remnants of God’s image in all persons which, when  healed by the Holy Spirit, yield the unseen fruit of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control….”  Galatians 5:22-23

And what about brilliance and the incredible invisible ability to create out of nothing great works of art, music and technology, first ‘unseen’ within the person who created them?

So it should not be difficult at all to segue from the vast realm of unseen things with which we are familiar to spiritual things with which we are unfamiliar. Indeed, is faith any different than hope or love in its constitution and function in our lives?  

In our Easter Gospel lesson the risen Lord appeared to the incredulous disciples who, though in a locked room, found Jesus standing in their midst. Here’s the gist of their dialogue: Thomas:  “…Thomas…declared, ‘Unless I see…I will not believe.” Jesus: “’…blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”

In our Old Testament Lesson Job, knowing he will someday die, declared what he would see:

“’I know that my Redeemer lives…And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh shall I see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes…’”   

In our Epistle Lesson Stephan cried out as he was dying, stoned to death by his detractors:

“But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ’Look,’ he cried, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’”  Acts 7:55-56

MONDAY MORNING

At the end of our lives as we are dying we will see what we have believed and trusted in.

What will you see?

Day 28: “Waiting on the Third Day”

Day 28

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FOUR SATURDAY: 11 APRIL 2020

HOLY WEEK: HOLY SATURDAY

“Waiting on the Third Day”

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Prayer for Holy Saturday, The Book of Common Prayer

We are in the midst of a time of waiting unlike any of us have ever known, immersed in a pandemic of unknown duration. As time goes by it’s getting harder to ‘feel’ normalcy, to know what it will be like when it is all over. While the projected number of deaths keeps climbing, something within us has already, in a subtle way, died, so that even when this is over there will remain hanging over us an invisible pall, an existential awareness that it could happen again.   

Juxtaposed against this present darkness is an internal dynamic given us by God, the capacity for waiting. It can’t be explained, but it certainly can be experienced, even as a strong inner yearning. As we wait for a ‘third day’ during this pandemic, we know that our eternal ‘third day’ has already come, in the words of the Creed, “The third day He rose again from the dead.”

There are times in our lives when something within us has died – it can be a dream of a personal goal in life that never materialized or, once realized, was shattered for whatever reason; a relationship we coveted that went bad; a personal failure that caused the image we have had ourselves to die. We look in these places for life but find none. In all such places Jesus has a ‘third day’ waiting for us, not a restoring of what was lost but His life coming into those areas that have died so we can know what it is to ‘rise to newness of life’ in Him.   

Reflective question: Where in your life are you waiting for a ‘third day’ this Easter?

Reflective scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:20,22

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,…so in Christ all will be made alive.”

Reflective hymn: “Because He Lives” – Gloria (1942-) and Bill (1936) Gaither

God sent His Son they called Him Jesus;

He came to love, heal and forgive.

He lived and died to buy my pardon;

an empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow;

 because He lives, all fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future,

and life is worth the living just because He lives.

Day 27: “Given into the Hands of Sinners”

Day 27

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FOUR: FRIDAY 10 APRIL 2020

HOLY WEEK: GOOD FRIDAY

“Given into the Hands of Sinners”

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. - Prayer for Good Friday, The Book of Common Prayer

He was a ‘friend’ of my father’s, as much as any semblance of genuine friendship can be known within the walls of the California State Prison in San Luis Obispo, California. I shook his hand and we sat and visited for awhile. He told me how in prison he had become a Christian, not in the ‘jailhouse conversion’ sense in hopes it might help his possibility for parole, for there would be none. Driving away after visiting with my father, I was aware of how odd my right hand seemed, and to this day I can still sense that unexplainable, uncomfortable ‘feeling’ – my hand had been, in the shaking of hands, held in a hand that had mercilessly slaughtered a roomful of innocent individuals, including a pregnant woman who begged for her life and that of her unborn child. His name was Charles “Tex” Watson, a member of the infamous ‘Helter Skelter’ Manson gang.     

For awhile after that day I thought that in placing my hand in his as we shook hands my hand was somehow different from his, until the Holy Spirit convicted me deep within with an awareness that my hand was no different, as though somehow Jesus died ‘more’ for him than for me because of the horrendous nature of his crimes, or as though somehow those who cried out “Crucify him! Crucify him!” were somehow more culpable.

Only as we grasp and are grasped by the reality that when Jesus was ‘given into the hands of sinners’ it includes our hands can we then be numbered among the beneficiaries of His death.   

Reflective question: In what ways are you responsible for the death of Jesus?

Reflective scripture: Isaiah 53:5 – “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

Reflective hymn: Ah, Holy Jesus- (Johann Heermann 1585-1647)

Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended,

that we to judge thee have in hate pretended?

By foes derided, by thine own rejected, O most afflicted?

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?

Alas, my treason, Jesus hath undone thee.

‘Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee; I crucified thee.

Day 26: “A Pledge of Eternal Life”

Day 26

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FOUR: THURSDAY 9 APRIL 2020

HOLY WEEK: MAUNDY THURSDAY

“A Pledge of Eternal Life”

Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Prayer for Thursday of Holy Week, The Book of Common Prayer

It was a hot Southern California summer evening, Friday July 3^rd, 1959 to be exact. My grandmother had invited me to what they called a ‘camp meeting,’ church every night for a week, in her Pilgrim Holiness Church. Every night I went, this 16 year old, baptized and confirmed Presbyterian who didn’t know Jesus and was wandering in the cults and the occult. Then that evening, a simple salvation message, an invitation to come forward and accept Christ, and my life was changed forever – yes FOREVER, for a ‘pledge of eternal life’ was implanted in the deepest part of who I am by the Holy Spirit, and it has marked me from that day to this.

On this Maundy Thursday, sitting in the upper room with Jesus, tasting the bread and the fruit of the vine, being told it is all for us, that every individual who believes in this bread and this cup “has everlasting life” (John 6:25-59), is a confrontation with eternal life in the context of time. These Sacramental symbols held in our hands that all too soon shall return to the earth are portents of things to come because they communicate something that is ‘now,’ eternity, eternal life that begins, not when we die, but when Christ enters our very physical bodies.

You might not have a specific date as do I, but you can know that in the deepest part of who you are there is something alive, something lasting even beyond your own physical death.

Reflective question: Do you know Him, Whom to know is life eternal; do you know that there is embedded deep within you this ‘pledge of eternal life’ through Christ?

Reflective scripture: John 17:3 – “’Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.’”

Reflective hymn: “Just as I Am” – Charlotte Elliiott (1789-1871)

Just as I am, without one plea but that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come.

Day 25: “The Sufferings of the Present Time”

Day 25

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

HOLY WEEK

WEEK FOUR: WEDNESDAY 8 APRIL 2020

“The Sufferings of the Present Time”

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Prayer for Wednesday of Holy Week, The Book of Common Prayer

Diagnosed at 59, she bore with a quiet grace the silent encroaching paralysis that would eventually render her speechless and immobile as Parkinson’s Disease claimed her life. In all those years until she died at 80, she never complained – not once, and when she died her central American caregivers in the nursing home where she had lived for too long, came into the room and wept, asking if they could bathe her, fix her hair and dress her. “Miss Maxine,” they said, “never ever complained.” She knew Jesus, and she was my mother.

The ‘sufferings of this present time’ are just that – of this present time, located in the context of chronos or marked time that by definition will pass. The universal symbol of suffering, Job, put it this way: “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” Job 19:25-27.  

Reflective question: Will you offer up to Jesus all that you have ever suffered or are suffering now, ‘the sufferings of the present time,’ and in the offering see how He can touch and transform all into something good for you? Romans 8:28 remains a trustworthy promise.

Reflective scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Reflective hymn: “What a Day That Will Be” – Jim Hill (1930-    )

There is coming a day when no heartaches shall come,

no more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eye.

All is peace forevermore, on that happy, golden shore, what a day, glorious day, that will be.

What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see,

When I look upon His face - the one who saved me by His grace.

When He takes me by the hand and leads me thro’ the promised land,

What a day, glorious day, that will be.  

Day 24: “An Instrument of Shameful Death”

Day 24

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

HOLY WEEK

WEEK FOUR: TUESDAY 7 APRIL 2020

“An Instrument of Shameful Death”

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Prayer for Tuesday of Holy Week, The Book of Common Prayer

The waitress taking our order recognized me from when I spoke for a Christmas banquet for the inmates of the women’s prison in Wilmington, NC.  She proceeded to share with me how she had come to know Christ, and how it had changed her life. In prison she was befriended by a woman who shared Christ with her, leading her to a personal relationship with Him. That woman went on to share Christ with many others, some of whom also became Christians, until she was executed for one murder confessing to six: her name was Velma Barfield, and while she breathed her last breath on ‘an instrument of shameful death,’ it was for her ‘the means of life’ – it ushered her into the eternal presence of Jesus Whom she had met and come to love.    

It doesn’t really register with us, this cross of ours, around our necks, on the walls of our homes, on and in our places of worship, but the modern day equivalent would be the electric chair which took Velma Barfield’s life – that would certainly get our attention. At every glance it  would remind us of a shameful death, but  the cross as ‘an instrument of shameful death’ we’ve made out of gold and encrusted with jewels through the centuries, resulting in its losing any semblance of its original state as rough hewn wood, with painful splinters at the touch.   

Find a cross in your jewelry, on your wall, or in a picture, and spend some quiet time just looking at it. Ask Jesus to show you what it means to Him, and in the showing find what He wants it to mean to you: ‘an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life.’

Reflective question: What has He shown you? Write it down for future reflection.

Reflective scripture: Hebrews 12:2

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame,…”

Reflective hymn: “Hallelujah! What a Savior – Philip P. Bliss (1838-1876)

Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood –

Sealed my pardon with His blood: Hallelujah! What a Savior. 

Day 23: “Walking in the Way of the Cross”

Day 23

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

HOLY WEEK: 

MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020

“Walking in the Way of the Cross”

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Prayer for Monday of Holy Week, The Book of Common Prayer

It was mid-afternoon and I had laid down to rest in my small cell at the Benedictine monastery of Einsiedeln, Switzerland, a place of spiritual renewal for over 1,000 years where I had gone for an extended weekend retreat. I happened to glance up and realized there was a crucifix above my head on the wall. Instinctively I reached up, took it down and, grasping it tightly with both hands, held it tightly to my chest and began to weep. I was overwhelmed with an awareness of what He had done for me on the cross. I said nothing, but there was rather an internal meeting of my sinful nature and His saving nature, a conversation too deep for words.    

What does the cross mean to you? Perhaps you wear one – large glitzy crosses are common hung around the necks of rock stars and gang members. However, ‘walking in the way of the cross’ has nothing to do with wearing a cross but rather with how we live, how we ‘walk’ from day to day in the presence of the Triune God and in the presence of all those persons with whom we interact in a given day.

‘Walking in the way of the cross’ yields invisible internal consequences nothing in this world can offer, for as we walk ‘in the way of the cross’ we find in it ‘the way of life and peace.’

Reflective question: What does ‘walking in the way of the cross’ mean for you at this time in your life? Try explaining it to someone else and listen to what you say.

Reflective scripture: Galatians 2:20 (KJV) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”   

Reflective hymn: “Near the Cross” – Fanny Crosby (1820-1915)

Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me;

Help me walk from day to day, with its shadows o’er me.

In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever,

‘Till my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river.

Day 22: “Walking in the Way of His Suffering”

Day 22

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FOUR: SUNDAY 5 APRIL 2020

HOLY WEEK: PALM SUNDAY

“Walking in the Way of His Suffering”

Almighty and ever living God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon himself our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

- Prayer for Palm Sunday, The Book of Common Prayer

The movie theater was half-filled, and all those present were pastors. We had been invited to a private preview screening of Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” and as the screen offered us scenes in the life of Jesus leading up to this week, to Holy Week, those around me could be heard to be eating popcorn, unwrapping candy and drinking sodas.

Until…..until the dramatic, unsparing scene of the scourging of Jesus filled the screen in a way that was unavoidable to the eye unless one looked away. This all-to-realistic brief and unsettling visual participation in the suffering of Jesus turned the theater absolutely silent.  

No loud “hosannas” here, Hebrew for “Save us.” No “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” to strengthen Him in His suffering.  Jesus knew that walking into Jerusalem would be for their salvation, but not from the Romans, rather from the greater enemies of sin and death.

Paul wrote to the fledging church in Corinth, “Just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives…” (2 Corinthians 1:5). This mystery of His sufferings flowing over into our lives is matched by the equal mystery of knowing we shall also ‘share in his resurrection.’   

Reflective question: In what ways do you experience the benefits of Christ’s suffering?

Reflective scripture: Philippians 3:10 – “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…”

Reflective hymn: “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” (Paul Gerhardt 1607-1676)

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinner’s gain;

Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.

Lo, here I fall my Savior, ‘Tis I deserve Thy place.

Look on me with Thy favor; assist me with Thy grace.   

Palm Sunday Sermon: “The Emotions of Lent: Joy”

“The Emotions of Lent: Joy”

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

Sunday 5 April 2020

Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

PALM SUNDAY

Old Testament: Zechariah 9:9             

Gospel: Matthew 21:1-11              

Epistle: Hebrews 12:1-3

It happened in Matthew 21:1-11, was prophesied in Zechariah 9:9, fulfilled in Hebrews 12:1-3.

Key text: Hebrews 12:2

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

A PALM SUNDAY WORD STUDY

JESUS “THE AUTHOR… OF OUR FAITH” ON THE CROSS

Author – literally ‘to begin’ + ‘to lead’

JESUS “ENDURED THE CROSS, SCORNING THE SHAME” OF THE CROSS

Endured – the preposition ‘under’ + the verb ‘to stand, to remain’ to remain under the cross.

Scorning – the preposition ‘against’ + the verb ‘to understand/to judge,’ judge against the cross.

Shame – from the verb ‘to dishonor, to make ashamed.’ It was here He reversed the entrance of shame into human existence at the fall in Genesis 3:10.

JESUS DID IT ALL BECAUSE OF “THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM” ON THE CROSS

Joy – from the verb ‘to rejoice, to be glad, to be favorably disposed’: a joy found in …

1. the basis of joy, the birth of Jesus -“….good news of great joy…” Luke 2:10

2. the salvation of a soul -“…rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents…”  Luke 15:7

3. the security of our salvation – “…rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:20

4. the Holy Spirit gives it to us – “…the fruit of the Spirit is…joy…” Galatians 5:22

JESUS BECAUSE OF THE CROSS “SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE THRONE OF GOD”

Sat down – from the verb ‘to be seated’ i.e. because He had completed His work He now could take a seat – “It is finished” He cried from the cross – John 19:30.

JESUS IS “THE FINISHER OF OUR FAITH” BECAUSE OF THE CROSS

Finisher – ‘to complete, to perfect, to finish i.e. as in a race’- 2 Timothy 4:5.

Our lives of faith are framed by Jesus who began something in us that we have yet to experience being completed in heaven: “…Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

MONDAY MORNING

Q: Has Jesus begun to author faith in you, to lead you in a relationship with Him? With what adjectives would you describe it?

Q: With which of the four locations of joy, above, do you most identify? Why?