Crossway Christian Church

On Good Friday we are reminded of the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Here we see Peter using this example of the Suffering Servant as our example on how to face suffering.

All of Christianity hinges on the events of these verses. They happened in history but what do they mean? What is their enduring significance?

Luke is not only walking us through the terrible events of Jesus' life, but showing us how these events took place by the sure and certain word of God. At the same time, Jesus continues to reveal his own righteous character and Kingly way, but in unexpected ways. Thus, all throughout this passage, we see both the excepted plan of God as well as the surprising grace of the crucified King.

The biblical authors want to be clear that they are not writing about empty philosophies or vain ideas. This is history. This is the acts of God in the course of real life. This is why the earliest Christians didn't simply preach or confess that Jesus died, but that he "suffered under Pontius Pilate." Jesus' suffering and death was a real event that involved real people. And those historical events still have consequences today.

Here is the story about Abraham and Issac. The familiarity of the story can cloud our understanding if we don't look closely. Here we review the text in the order God gives it to us. The text teaches us something about the relationship between faith and works.

Here we begin to see the treatment Jesus experiences after his arrest. And we see not only the terrible sinfulness of humanity but also the patience and grace of the living God.

Before Jesus' atoning, salvific pain at the cross, he would first suffer the indignity of betrayal and false arrest. And as he does, Jesus gives us a glimpse of his glory which should help our own faith in him. He shows us the kind of Savior he is that we might not fail to pray and enter temptation. Yet, when we do fail, we are here assured of the Savior who will forgive us and bring us back into fellowship with himself.

Deacon Installation and Commissioning Service

As we look at Christ in the garden, we should walk away seeing clearly how utterly dependent we are on him to be our Savior. We should see the depth of despair and temptation he endured as our Savior. We want to come as close as we can to Christ in Gethsemane so that we leave with a deeper sense of awe and affection for him as our Savior.

What does true greatness in Christ's kingdom look like? The great temptation - the great failing - of the church, has been, continues to be, and will forever be, to look at the world and follow its example. In this regard, we are no different than the apostles in this passage. They faced all of these same pressures and temptations. And if we are to be successful in putting to death that mindset, we must heed Jesus' words in these verses. Here, Jesus not only defines but illustrates what true greatness looks like in his kingdom.

In this passage Jesus explains his fulfillment of the old covenant in the new. It also sets before us the basis for one of our most cherished Christian practices - The Lord's Supper.

Jesus' words here draw us up into the larger issues of the end of all things - about his return, the final judgment, and the recreating of the universe. This passage in particular can be hard because Jesus brings together two related but distinct events - the temple's destruction and the time of his return. It's meant to teach us, not just what is ahead of us, but how the Lord Jesus should be honored in our lives today.

Jesus despises the sorts of hypocrisy described in this passage. Every disciple of Jesus is called to follow after his example. And in this context, that means living with our external actions authentically reflecting the desires and intentions of our hearts.

We want to consider our intake of Scripture and how it benefits the people of God around us. To bring into focus what we will see here in one sentence, a quote from author Gordon Cheng, in his book, Encouragement, he says, "God's word changes us, and through us it can change others too." That's what we see here from Colossians 3.

Here we look again at one of the Pillars of the Christian Life. The Pillar of Prayer. More specifically prayer for the Church, the body of Christ.

Jesus says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end" (Rev. 22:13). Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. If you say something is the ABC's you're saying it's the basics. But if you say that is the A to Z, you're saying that's everything. It's complete. The same was true in Jesus' day. Thus, he is saying, "I'm everything.' And, here we see in this focus of the gospel, Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega and everything in between.

At this time of year, we love to hear words like joy, peace and glad tidings of great joy. Especially if we are Christians, we love those words because we know what they mean for us. But we also need to be reminded of the great cost by which we have joy and peace and experience glad tidings of great joy. Our passage opens with unexpected worship of Christ, the newborn King . . . but ends with weeping, sorrow, and fear. It is these things that foreshadow the means by which God provides ultimate joy for every believer and hope for those not yet believing.

Here we see the Sadducees asking their question about the resurrection, mocking Jesus' belief and authority. We also see how and why Jesus emphasizes the importance of the resurrection.

What does it mean to live as a citizen of Caesar and a servant of Christ? Just days before he went to the cross, Jesus was confronted with this question. Here we see how we should live as a Christian and a citizen of this nation.

The theme that runs through this passage is that of authority. If we're honest most of us don't care much for authority. We even struggle with God's authority over every part of our lives. Here we see four themes of the authority of Christ.