(This message series is inspired and excerpted from He Loves Me! by Wayne Jacobsen.)
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32 ESV)
Who Needed the Sacrifice?
“Church! Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They’d just make me feel worse!” – A prostitute from Chicago as quoted by Philip Yancey in What’s So Amazing About Grace?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 ESV)
“What kind of Father satisfies his need for justice by the death of his own son? Couldn’t he have just forgiven us without taking it out on an innocent victim? …If the cross served God’s need to be appeased by a human sacrifice, especially that of his own Son, we are left with a host of disturbing questions. Raise them with others, and most will escape answering them by claiming that God’s demand for justice is beyond our comprehension. But I am convinced the dissonant perspectives about God that result from an appeasement-based view of the cross cause many to shy away from the intimate relationship he seeks with us.
Instead, the unanswerable questions should invite us to reconsider our distorted view of the cross. Since Adam’s fall we have come to picture God not as a loving Father inviting us to trust him, but as an exacting sovereign who must be appeased. When we start from that vantage point we miss God’s purpose of the cross. For his plan was not to satisfy some need in himself at his Son’s expense, but rather to satisfy a need in us at his own expense.” (p. 96)
I know you’ve heard this before, but have you really considered how your personal view of the cross affects your relationship with God?
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. [9] But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8-9 ESV)
“Living by appeasement is a frightful game, especially when you play it with the all-knowing God. Though I don’t believe for a moment that God plays it, many of us were taught that he does, and thus we alternate between trying to do enough to please him and trying to hide from him when we realize we can’t.
…Instead of feeling safe with him, they [Adam & Eve] felt compelled to hide from him. Notice that God neither hid from them nor was angry at their disobedience. Instead he just showed up to be with them. They were the ones cowering in shame, hoping the bushes would cover what their fig leaves couldn’t.” (p. 97)
He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” [12] The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” [13] Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:11-13 ESV)
Who are the people in your life who show up to tell you that you are naked? (i.e. “you’re; unworthy, unwanted, incapable, and/or “the biggie” not living for God they same way they do)
Where do you still try to appease God in the sacrifices you make or in blaming others to alleviate your guilt?
“The creation was stained, and God parceled out the consequences of that failure. Already spiritually dead in the relational brokenness that resulted, their future physical death would follow. God threw them out of his Garden because he did not want them to eat from the Tree of Life and live forever in that sinful condition. By preserving eternity in holiness, God prepared a safe haven for their eventual rescue.
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. (Ezekiel 18:20 ESV)
‘The soul who wins shall die’ is a proclamation of mercy, not anger. It means that sin must have an end, and we an opportunity to regain what we forfeited.
…Knowing good and evil didn’t provide the joy Adam and Eve thought it would. Because they came to know good and evil outside their trust in God, they had no power to resist evil and choose the good. They, as have all generations after them, found themselves captive to evil passions, with destructive consequences and the overwhelming sense of shame.” (p. 98)
Reflect on the truth that the true God is the one who wants to sacrifice for us instead of demanding our sacrifices for him.
“We needed a sacrifice for our shame so that we would be free to love him again. At the cross, God provided the undeniable proof of just how much he loves us. Understanding that opens the door for us to do what Adam and Eve could not do that fateful day in the Garden—totally trust our lives to the living God.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [2] For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2 ESV)
For Your Personal Journey:
Can you recognize the effects of shame in your life? What effort will you expend to make yourself look better to others, to yourself, or even to God? In your relationship with God, do you think more of what you have to do for him or what he has already done for you? Ask him to show you how appeasement distorts your relationship with him, and ask him to free you from it so you can participate in what he wants to do in you.
Next Week: The Hen and Her Chicks
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