Classroom: Jesus and the Cross 02-26-07
02-26-07 Brian (Canadian who lives in Britain)
Jesus and the Cross 1
I’ve been married to Audrey for 25 years. It takes about 20 years to really get to know your wife.
Melissa: I’m understanding, by that, that you’re saying women are complicated.
It’s like when Jesus was in front of Pilate. He didn’t confirm anything… he just said, “you just said that.”
My topic is Jesus and the cross, and I just want to give you a thought about what God wants to give you this week. I think God wants to just give you a little glimpse of the glory of Jesus. It might take a while to get there but I hope at the end of the week you just get a glimpse of the glory of Jesus.
I want to start each day with a short passage about Jesus – even if it’s not the main topic I’m going to speak about. The problem with talking about Jesus is that there’s too much to say. If you remember the end of the gospel of John, he explains something that is really my problem this week.
John 21:25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
And that’s my problem. There’s so much to say about Jesus, even the world can’t contain all of it. So the best we can hope for is just to get a few snapshots of him. So I’m going to start by talking about his Kingdom; and you might wonder why I’m not talking about Jesus too much – but don’t worry, we’ll get there.
Colossians 1:15-22
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
What things can we know about Jesus from this passage?
Jesus is:
¨ The image of the invisible God
¨ The Firstborn of all creation
¨ Creator of all things
¨ Maker of all authority
¨ Firstborn of the dead
¨ Fullness of God
¨ Head of the church
¨ Foundation of everything
Do you remember the motto of YWAM? “To know God and make Him known” – you’re going to be introducing Jesus to other people, so you have to know Him. How can you introduce Him if you don’t know Him? A student didn’t introduce me today because none of you know me. We got Ashraf to introduce me… and he forgot some things.
What’s the story of the Bible?
Me: It’s the story of mankind turning from God, and God reconciling that relationship.
Ashraf: It’s a love story. It’s about the Creator who lost the creation He loves and wants so badly to have it back – and what He does about that.
Tell us, what are some things your fiancé does to show you he loves you?
Mel: I can be very strange, and he still loves me the way I am.
Where is he now?
Mel: Palestine.
And how is he feeling?
Mel: He feels like a part of him is missing.
Does he phone you? Write you? E-mail you? Send you gifts?
Mel: Yes. Everything. J
So he’s taking some initiative, right? He’s communicating? Keep these things in mind. So how does the story end?
Genesis 2:8-17
What was this passage? God made the garden, and He put Adam there. And where was God? He was with Adam.
We have God’s PEOPLE
In God’s PLACE
In God’s PRESENCE
What was worship like in the Garden?
Me: I don’t think it was like we know it. I think it was just like… life.
Jason: I think worship was just to live and obey the one commandment that God gave us.
Rob: Was there any worship to begin with?
Take the picture of a bride, and how a husband feels about the bride.
In the Bible, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed. In Genesis chapter 3, they hid from the presence of the Lord.
There’s something about being exposed, that makes us ashamed, isn’t there?
Gen 3:22 – it says man has become like one of us – so God sent him out of the garden.
Who is us? I think us is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Even married couples sometimes talk like we’re one.
What was their sin? Disobedience. Rebellion against God.
Sin is putting the metaphorical elbow in God’s ribs and saying, “Hey – I know better. And actually, I’m going to go ahead and take authority for myself, thanks.” And who do we know of that also did that? Satan, The Day Star.
Genesis 3:21-23
And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--" therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
We have the first hints here that God is taking initiative, don’t we? So if we’re naked in front of our own spouse – who cares, right? But if we’re naked in front of someone who is not our spouse… we’re ashamed, aren’t we?
Question: Why can’t Adam and Eve eat from the tree of life after they’ve eaten of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil?
Now, why the animal skin? Why do they need to cover themselves?
[Why did God cover them? If God wanted the focus of that verse to be killing an animal, I would have expected the verse to say something about killing an animal – but the focus is on clothing Adam and Eve in a skin.
The focus is on Adam and Eve being clothed in a skin that is not their own – the innocent skin of an animal.]
Revelation 20:12-21:6
So we have this picture of judgment that’s coming. This book, and if your name is in the book, you will go to heaven. Then we see a picture of this great city. And who’s living there? The Bride. Who’s bride? Jesus’ bride. Now, have you ever heard somebody describe a city as a bride before? Think of the most beautiful city you’ve ever seen.
Asks Adam: Do you see Toronto as the bride of Canada?
Adam: Um, I don’t know. Maybe the ugly bride…
To me: Do you see Paris as the bride of France?
Me: No.
And where is God? With man – so God is living with people, He will be among them. So we have God’s presence restored. And where’d the city come from? Heaven? So it’s God’s city, right? And what about God’s authority? There it is – the Alpha and the Omega. He’s on the throne and He has the authority.
So we’re back where we started, aren’t we? With God’s people, God’s place, God’s presence, and God’s rule. This isn’t a tragic love story – is it? It’s a happy love story where the bride gets the groom because the groom took initiative.
[At this point in the lecture – we got completely sidetracked with a bunch of questions from the students – questions that are very hard to answer and some of which do not even have answers that we can really know. SOOOO, we spent a long time talking about these things.
2 Peter 3:3-10
Archangel Michael lost a battle against Satan
Jude verse 9]
Genesis 11 – Babylon – man wants to make a name for himself.
Genesis 12 – Abraham – God says, “I will make your name great.”
Jesus and the Cross 1
I’ve been married to Audrey for 25 years. It takes about 20 years to really get to know your wife.
Melissa: I’m understanding, by that, that you’re saying women are complicated.
It’s like when Jesus was in front of Pilate. He didn’t confirm anything… he just said, “you just said that.”
My topic is Jesus and the cross, and I just want to give you a thought about what God wants to give you this week. I think God wants to just give you a little glimpse of the glory of Jesus. It might take a while to get there but I hope at the end of the week you just get a glimpse of the glory of Jesus.
I want to start each day with a short passage about Jesus – even if it’s not the main topic I’m going to speak about. The problem with talking about Jesus is that there’s too much to say. If you remember the end of the gospel of John, he explains something that is really my problem this week.
John 21:25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
And that’s my problem. There’s so much to say about Jesus, even the world can’t contain all of it. So the best we can hope for is just to get a few snapshots of him. So I’m going to start by talking about his Kingdom; and you might wonder why I’m not talking about Jesus too much – but don’t worry, we’ll get there.
Colossians 1:15-22
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
What things can we know about Jesus from this passage?
Jesus is:
¨ The image of the invisible God
¨ The Firstborn of all creation
¨ Creator of all things
¨ Maker of all authority
¨ Firstborn of the dead
¨ Fullness of God
¨ Head of the church
¨ Foundation of everything
Do you remember the motto of YWAM? “To know God and make Him known” – you’re going to be introducing Jesus to other people, so you have to know Him. How can you introduce Him if you don’t know Him? A student didn’t introduce me today because none of you know me. We got Ashraf to introduce me… and he forgot some things.
What’s the story of the Bible?
Me: It’s the story of mankind turning from God, and God reconciling that relationship.
Ashraf: It’s a love story. It’s about the Creator who lost the creation He loves and wants so badly to have it back – and what He does about that.
Tell us, what are some things your fiancé does to show you he loves you?
Mel: I can be very strange, and he still loves me the way I am.
Where is he now?
Mel: Palestine.
And how is he feeling?
Mel: He feels like a part of him is missing.
Does he phone you? Write you? E-mail you? Send you gifts?
Mel: Yes. Everything. J
So he’s taking some initiative, right? He’s communicating? Keep these things in mind. So how does the story end?
Genesis 2:8-17
What was this passage? God made the garden, and He put Adam there. And where was God? He was with Adam.
We have God’s PEOPLE
In God’s PLACE
In God’s PRESENCE
What was worship like in the Garden?
Me: I don’t think it was like we know it. I think it was just like… life.
Jason: I think worship was just to live and obey the one commandment that God gave us.
Rob: Was there any worship to begin with?
Take the picture of a bride, and how a husband feels about the bride.
In the Bible, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed. In Genesis chapter 3, they hid from the presence of the Lord.
There’s something about being exposed, that makes us ashamed, isn’t there?
Gen 3:22 – it says man has become like one of us – so God sent him out of the garden.
Who is us? I think us is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Even married couples sometimes talk like we’re one.
What was their sin? Disobedience. Rebellion against God.
Sin is putting the metaphorical elbow in God’s ribs and saying, “Hey – I know better. And actually, I’m going to go ahead and take authority for myself, thanks.” And who do we know of that also did that? Satan, The Day Star.
Genesis 3:21-23
And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--" therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
We have the first hints here that God is taking initiative, don’t we? So if we’re naked in front of our own spouse – who cares, right? But if we’re naked in front of someone who is not our spouse… we’re ashamed, aren’t we?
Question: Why can’t Adam and Eve eat from the tree of life after they’ve eaten of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil?
Now, why the animal skin? Why do they need to cover themselves?
[Why did God cover them? If God wanted the focus of that verse to be killing an animal, I would have expected the verse to say something about killing an animal – but the focus is on clothing Adam and Eve in a skin.
The focus is on Adam and Eve being clothed in a skin that is not their own – the innocent skin of an animal.]
Revelation 20:12-21:6
So we have this picture of judgment that’s coming. This book, and if your name is in the book, you will go to heaven. Then we see a picture of this great city. And who’s living there? The Bride. Who’s bride? Jesus’ bride. Now, have you ever heard somebody describe a city as a bride before? Think of the most beautiful city you’ve ever seen.
Asks Adam: Do you see Toronto as the bride of Canada?
Adam: Um, I don’t know. Maybe the ugly bride…
To me: Do you see Paris as the bride of France?
Me: No.
And where is God? With man – so God is living with people, He will be among them. So we have God’s presence restored. And where’d the city come from? Heaven? So it’s God’s city, right? And what about God’s authority? There it is – the Alpha and the Omega. He’s on the throne and He has the authority.
So we’re back where we started, aren’t we? With God’s people, God’s place, God’s presence, and God’s rule. This isn’t a tragic love story – is it? It’s a happy love story where the bride gets the groom because the groom took initiative.
[At this point in the lecture – we got completely sidetracked with a bunch of questions from the students – questions that are very hard to answer and some of which do not even have answers that we can really know. SOOOO, we spent a long time talking about these things.
2 Peter 3:3-10
Archangel Michael lost a battle against Satan
Jude verse 9]
Genesis 11 – Babylon – man wants to make a name for himself.
Genesis 12 – Abraham – God says, “I will make your name great.”
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