Right now at Redeemer (http://redeemerjackson.com/) Pastor Mike is preaching a series on the last words of Jesus. Today's message struck a chord with me. " Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”I have always pondered this verse. It is uncomfortable for me to see the perfect Son of Man crying out to the father like that, and especially to hear him crying out about having been forsaken. But it should make me uncomfortable. This leads me to the title of this post " A Real Hero". In the past, I have been pretty susceptible to idolatry. I would see these " great persons" of the bible, and almost worship what I thought was their greatness as servants of God. As someone put in the proper perspective for me, I was so busy looking for Great Men of God, I was taking glory away from the great God of men. With today's sermon I was reminded of such thinking. I thought of Abraham and how his willingness to sacrifice his son was seen as his supreme sacrifice. He had longed for and loved this child and now was being asked to give him up. Though Abraham was willing, God saw his heart and spared him from the actual pain of sacrificing his son.
Fast forward to today's sermon. For my sins, God sacrificed his son. For my iniquities, he abandoned Jesus to the death, wrath, and condemnation that I have so selfishly and evilly earned. Even as I type this, I know that I have no idea how bad I am and how much of a tragedy and injustice that it was that Christ was pierced for my transgressions, but that's the heart of the gospel. Instead of trying to make sense of the fact that God would save a reprobate, helpless sinner like me, I can declare to the world that God saved a reprobate, helpless sinner like me. As we approach the celebration of God's redeeming love through the sacrifice of his son, I hope others will join me in trying to truly appreciate the lengths that God has gone through to save his people!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbnI_GGalU0
