Generosity of Jesus: The Cross

Tanner Heath   -   August 13, 2020

Is there something that you denied for a long time (possibly never even trying it) before accepting that it is actually really good?

• How did you argue against it? What made you finally try it?

Read the Scripture: Luke 23:33-34

• Reflect on the sermon. Is there anything that stood out to you? How are you encouraged or convicted?

Who are the characters in this Scripture and how are they presented?

• How does the context of the passage affect our understanding?

What is communicated in this passage about the situation of humanity?

• Why did Jesus have to die? Consider these Scriptures together.

  • Jesus said earlier, “For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment” (Lk. 22:37)

    • Consider the response of the criminal, “But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong” (Lk. 23:40-41).

    • Paul writes, “For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:9-12).

  1 Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

  • • Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”

      • Deuteronomy 21:23, “his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

In what ways does this moment of death lead us to a place of hope?

• John records Jesus saying, “John 10:17-18, “ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

  • Christ is the resurrection and the life. The pangs of death cannot hold him. By the power of God he can justify the sinner, redeem them from sin, and reconcile them to God.

    • Christ, by his power, can say to the criminal, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43).

  We must also hold this moment of crucifixion in tension with his resurrection. There is a hope in his death when we look forward. The angles responded to the frightened women at the tomb of Jesus, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen” (Lk. 24:5-6)

What does this moment reveal about the character of Jesus and the power of God?

• As Jesus was crucified he cried unique words, “And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34)

  • Christ sees us in our ignorance

    • The work of Christ did not make sense to the scoffers. “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:21–23).

1. 1. He is totally and wholly concerned for the ones he is saving

• • Jesus should have been crying out in desperation for his pain. Instead, he is concerned for the good of his enemies. “6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6–8).

• The people soldiers mocked by Jesus by saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews” (Lk. 23:37-38)

  • The great irony is that God was not revealing his power by establishing his kingdom on earth. Instead, he was doing something far greater — he established a kingdom where death will never reign again.

Why does this moment at the cross demand a response? How is Christ asking you to live in obedience to what he did on the cross? Is there a way you can live in imitation of him?

• A response is demanded If we hold the the life of the crucified Jesus, this includes all of his teachings and miracles, in tension with his power found in the resurrection.

  • There was no neutral person. Consider Simon of Cyrene, “And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus” (Lk 23:26). This innocent bystander was wrapped up in the death of Christ.

  • The criminals on the cross were either mocking Jesus or praising him.

  • After Jesus gave up his Spirit there was a Roman centurion who was forever left changed. “he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” 48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts” (Lk. 23:47-48).