Despite its gruesome quality, its obvious conflict and its raw violence, the cross was an instrument of peace. The Anglican scholar, Bishop Stephen Neill, stated, “In the Christian theology of history, the death of Christ is the central point of history; here all the roads of the past converge; hence all the roads of the future diverge.” The cross is God’s way of reconnecting us to Him. The Prince of Peace gave His life to create our peace with God.

We need a newness of life before we can presume to do a work for the Lord. For Jesus to accomplish his work through us today, he first has to renew us. If Israel had received him they would have become a new nation. Instead they prepared their plots to kill the Prince of Peace and brought desolation down upon their own heads and their nation. God wants to put new wine in new bottles.

As the cab ride unfolded he knew he’d not make it for the 11:00 a.m. start time of the service. Fire trucks and ambulances and traffic accidents all played their role to have him deposited on the church steps just at the moment when the sermon was being announced. He burst into the church and to the surprise of everyone was able to get into the pulpit right at the exact moment he had to preach.

God’s purposes for you and me flow out of His love for us. It is just that simple: God loves His creation. When He breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, we received a life-giving spirit. We have been distanced from Him by sin, but we are not unloved. Paul makes it clear that even though we were “dead in trespasses and sins” God loved us. So many people have tried to plumb the depth of logic for God’s reasoning in loving us.

Haugland said that although he was lost, he knew God was there and that back home friends and family were praying for him. He said, “I knew God was my Shepherd.” He gave this, in his own words, as the secret to his survival:

It was amazing how it worked. I would be at the point of complete exhaustion and ready to give up and just fall down and die. I felt I could not lift even one foot in front of the other any longer to hold onto the struggle of life. Then I would say, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” And it would happen! God would provide. I would look, and there – just within my reach on the next step – would be edible berries or chewable grass. Just beyond the next tree, I would stumble onto a little stream of pure water. And thus God sustained me and kept me going.

It is amazing the kind of lengths God will go to in order that we find him. In this case, He diverts the efforts of an evangelist to meet one solitary traveler who was spending the hours of a long journey by reading the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. It’s a familiar story of passing a long trip with a good book. It also illustrates that God is never stuck for a way to reach people.

We run the same kind of risks today. We can lapse into the ritual performance of spiritual duty and be robbed of the joy of serving the Lord. There is a world of difference between coming to church and following the order of service as opposed to experiencing the touch of God as the Spirit moves in all our lives and a body of believers responds to the inner working of the Spirit. The difference is as graphic as the difference between a funeral and a family reunion. Somehow Paul had to point them back to the core of the faith and get them back on the road to growth rather than the descent to spiritual death. So he took them back to their roots, literally to the beginning of their life as a people under Abraham.

Hawking provides the answer in this manner, "When life's expectations are reduced to zero, one really does appreciate everything that one does have." Stated another way it's this, "contentment in life is determined in part by what a person anticipates from it." So how great are your expectations? To a man like Hawking, who thought he would die quickly, everything takes on meaning. Whether it's a sunrise or a walk in the park or the laughter of children and suddenly, each small pleasure becomes precious. By contrast, those who believe that life owes them a free ride are often discontent with the finest of gifts and the most active of lives. 

I believe there are well-meaning people who feel they know the Gospel. They have a grasp of the truth and its power, but it’s something that is largely inactive. It’s tucked away for a time of greater convenience. Can we grasp what Jesus is saying? Truth that is not acted upon will be lost to us. It applies to countries and churches and individuals and the examples are too numerous to count. 

I am always amazed at how people view themselves. They satisfy their desires as they celebrate their birthdays and their milestones along the way. The body gets its way all the while the soul insists that eternity is most important. We seek education and refinement and improvement. People seek to satisfy the physical and sometimes totally neglect the spiritual part of them that lives on forever. 

Some would say, “Well pastor, sometimes I mess up, I make mistakes. Some days I don’t feel so hot! Does God send me back to this jurisdiction of sin and death?” Does he revoke my passport? Am I disowned and deported? Does God accept extradition papers from Satan? We are not in the family of God based on what we have done, we are there by virtue of a new relationship with our Heavenly Father.  We are adopted as His children and children make mistakes. Do we condemn our children when they make mistakes? No, we restore them.

A little group of Greeks came to Jesus. They wanted to see Him. When Jesus heard they were there I believe He also looked ahead to the hosts of the redeemed that He was on His way to die for. It must have been an exciting moment. By faith Jesus could see the devil wrapped in the chains Jesus had broken from humanity. He saw sin nailed to the cross; exposed for all of its ugliness and corruption. He knew the price, but He saw a new nation march out of slavery into a Promised Land purchased with His own life.

There is a powerful lesson in David’s example. He gave the final years of his life preparing for the next generation. That does not mean that David neglected his kingdom because he was obsessed with the temple. Folks, we have to strengthen what we have and keep it strong because the next generation needs all the help it can get. But we also have to prepare diligently so that the next generation carries the vision to new frontiers.