Today and tomorrow, we are going to explore two ideas that my seem strange to place together: freedom and glory. As we will hear, the whole creation is waiting to see us – the children of Father God – finally revealed in our “glorious freedom” (see Romans 8:21). In the Scriptures, glory and freedom are linked together in some key passages. Here we will discover that true glory is produced when the children of God use their freedom to love and serve others (even our enemies).
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In Christ, through faith we have been delivered from Wrath. God’s wrath is simply His turning people over to the consequences of their own sinful choices. Jesus has delivered us from both God’s present and future wrath.
Colossians 1:13-14
He (Father-God) delivered us from the Dominion of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His Beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Through the self-sacrificial work of Jesus, Father-God has delivered from the Dominion of Darkness where we were spiritually dead and transferred us to the Kingdom of His Beloved Son where we are now spiritually alive. Although we were held captive both by nature and by choice, Father-God has set us free in Christ from His wrath so that we may now serve Him through the power of His Spirit. In Christ, we have truly been set free. Father-God desires that we use our freedom to love one another and others in the fellowship the Spirit brings.
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Today is the day that we remember and mourn and rejoice in the events that changed everything. All of history comes to its Crux in the Cross of Jesus. As we think on these things, the words that Jesus speaks from The Cross give us insight into what He experienced and what He accomplished for us.
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On May 19th Tim Keller passed into the Lord’s presence. Almost immediately and appropriately, articles and remembrances were posted honoring his life and work, the size and scope of which cannot be denied. Just a day before, our dear brother Phil Allen also “graduated” into the Lord’s Presence on May 18th. There will be no articles written in Christianity Today about Phil. But his life is a reminder that size of service is not of first importance to the Lord. What really matters is faithfulness.
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The order and readings for the Passover celebration are called a Haggadah and it means “the telling.” Passover is a story that has been retold for thousands of years. It is a story of miraculous redemption – from slavery to freedom, from despair to hope, from the darkness to the light. The power and grace of the Lord God is the focus of this story. The timelessness of this story comes from God’s intimate relationship with His people. As He cared for the children of Israel in ancient times, He also cares for all who are His today.
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Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you;
you received it and have taken your stand on it.
You are also saved by it,
if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you
—unless you believed for no purpose. (1 Corinthians 15:1-5)
The three days in which we remember, contemplate and celebrate Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection are the crux (from Latin meaning “cross”) of the year for followers of The Way – the Church, the Body of Christ. In these three days, Father God working in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit changed everything. The message of what He did for us in those days is the very heart of The Gospel – the Good News that we have been saved and set free.
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