February 13 2011    Reading:  1 Corinthians 2.1-12

Theme: The Cross and life in Christ

1 Corinthians 2.2 ‘Jesus Christ...... and Him crucified...........’

The Rev. Tom Allan, was a very well known, very well loved minister in Scotland away back in the fifties. In 1962 he appeared on Scottish television on one of those programmes they used to have on a Sunday evening, and the interviewer asked him about how he had become a Christian. “Tell us what happened on Easter Day in Rheims in 1945”, said the interviewer - and Tom Allan, who had been in the RAF said: “I remember waking up that morning and a friend of mine, an American Officer, came to my room in the hotel where we were billeted in Rheims. He said it was Easter Day, would I care to come with him to an American service. I had no desire to go—none whatever. But because I had such a high regard for this man he had great charm and integrity, though he was not a particularly Christian, he was a man of very high principle - so I went with him to this American service. As far as I recollect I was the only R.A.F. person there. The congregation was composed entirely of American Servicemen. An American Chaplain took the service. I don’t remember anything at all of what he said. But at one point in the service a G.I. in the choir-loft got up and sang that old spiritual,

“Were you there when they crucified my Lord?’ Now I had heard that sung hundreds of times ; indeed I’d sung it myself. But on that day in Rheims, as that soldier was singing, I realised for the first time - really for the first time - not as a theory but on the pulses of my life, what the Cross was about and what the Christian faith was about. I realised for the first time that day that Christ had died for me.”

Last week, we explored something of the heart of Christian faith, the wonderful way in which at the Cross, Jesus, the Lamb of God, took all the sin of all the world, ours included, upon His own shoulders, as our Redeemer. We heard the good news that Jesus Christ took our sin, our condemnation on Himself. He took our place. The One who was sinless stepped into that searing place of judgment and took that judgment upon Himself......... so that now when we turn to the living God, when we turn to the Father,   despite our sinfulness as men and women, we find, love, and mercy, forgiveness waiting for us because Jesus, the Lamb of God has taken away our sins, and the sins of the world.......We find peace with the living God.

This week - we return to explore again the heart of Christian faith...... to think on these things - that Jesus, the Lamb of God has taken away our sins, and the sins of the world at the Cross, but risen from the dead, Jesus also shares His life with us.

Not only do we find our sins taken away at the Cross, but also this that Jesus creates shapes, new life within us, by His Spirit. The New Testament declares that He becomes the new centre, the new source, of life for us.

So, what is this new life like ?

Well, some have thought that it means that we become more or less perfect right away.

If Jesus is at work within us by His Spirit, some think, perhaps we should sprout a pair of wings on our back - and start behaving like perfect angels.

So, it’s worth asking what the New Testament has to say about this.......

As Jesus by His Spirit, works within us, do we become perfect angels overnight ? Or, at least, within perhaps over the next week, or stretching it a bit - over the next month ?

Well, you know, what is wonderful is that the New Testament is absolutely true to life, is absolutely real in what it teaches ...... no, of course, we don’t become perfect angels...... overnight, next week, or over the next calendar month.......

No - the Lord Jesus chooses to work in us by His Spirit - as a work in progress.

What He does will only be completed beyond this life, but the foundations of what the Lord is doing have been laid !

Or to put it in other words - the New Testament teaches that we are sinners, but Jesus Christ is working in us,

we are sinners, living in the light of His holiness.

Sinners, living in the light of His holiness.............

Let’s explore this a little further................

You see, we know God has made a way for our sin and guilt to be taken away at the Cross, we know that our sin has been dealt with, transferred away - and we will know what wonderful peace of mind, peace in soul, stillness in conscience. that brings.

But our experience of Christian life is often this, that those burdens that weigh on the heart, those sorrows return, and we find our conscience deeply troubled once again.

We have known rich times of the close presence, grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus,

but we might well ask ourselves, if God has put in place a remedy....... for sin and guilt, why is my heart so troubled, so heavy laden once again ?

These are deep things indeed. But the mystery is this - when we find ourselves burdened in heart, weighed down in conscience once again - this the holiness of the Lord Jesus working within us......... this is Christ’s holiness working in us, is the source of this great sorrow at our sin.............. Just as a blaze of light will flash across a dark landscape and, in the darkness, suddenly we see everything in an instant so, as the light of His holiness works in us so we see our own dark sinfulness.

And, turning to Him, we find mercy, and healing - and, and listen, our trust in Him, our dependence on Him is deepened, deepened once again. For, where sin is, grace, the grace of Jesus Christ is there all the more.

It is deeply striking how much of all this is to be found if we go back once again to the profoundly precious words of Jesus in the parable of Pharisee and the tax collector. Though we have thought about this parable before, it still has so much of its secret treasures to offer us.

In Luke 18 the Lord Jesus tells a parable, about two men, "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee  and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men- robbers, evildoers, adulterers- or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'  That’s the Pharisee. "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' Jesus says: "I tell you that this man, the tax collector rather than the Pharisee, went home put right with God. Let’s think about these two for a moment: the Pharisee. He knows what he has and hasn’t done - he hasn’t robbed, he hasn’t committed adultery, he has fasted twice a week, and given a tenth of what he earns to the Temple.

He knows what he has and hasn’t done.

Now the tax collector. This is not a man who knows what he has and hasn’t done, like the Pharisee. This is a man who knows what he is, and what he isn’t.

This is why he stands at the back of the Temple and prays in quite a different way from the Pharisee; He stands at the back of the Temple, Why ? Because he is a sinner, and he isn’t holy.............

He knows that this is the place of the living, Holy God, and in the light of that holiness, the tax collector knows he isn’t holy, he is a sinner. In the Lord’s presence - he knows himself !

That’s why the tax collector says: God have mercy, God have mercy  on me a sinner !’ Unlike the Pharisee, he has nothing to bring before God, there is nothing he can bring. He is not holy, he is a sinner. All he can do is to come before God, as he is !

So look here, in the presence of God’s holiness, the tax collector knows he is a sinner, he knows the truth.........

This is why he throws himself utterly upon God.........

because he trusts in God who is mercy......... Jesus says:

this man, who is a sinner, who stands in the light of who God is,

he is put right with God.

We should take this parable of Jesus very seriously - for we see the power of the holiness of God working in this man, the tax collector, we see in this man, standing in the presence of God, the burden, grief and sorrow that sin brings with it. In the blazing searching light of the holiness of God the tax collector knows God’s holiness and sees himself as he is – we see ourselves as we really are…….. sinful, sinful men and women. This is the action of Holiness, searching our souls...................

So the tax collector, knowing his own guilt and sinfulness, does the only thing he can do, he turns and throws himself absolutely on the love and mercy of the living God. This is his prayer: have mercy on me a sinner ! And, Jesus declares,  the Lord God hears his prayer, and this man finds mercy, his trust in God, his love for God, immeasurably deepened

When we find ourselves burdened in heart, weighed down in conscience once again - for us, now, this the very holiness of the Lord Jesus working within us......... this is Christ’s holiness working in us - the source of this great sorrow at our sin..............

and as the light of His holiness works in us so we see our own dark sinfulness.

But like the tax collector of old, turning to Jesus Christ, we find mercy, and healing - and, and listen, we find our trust in the living Jesus Christ, our love for Him deepened, immeasurably deepened. This is His work in us........ For, where sin is, grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is there all the more.

AMEN.