Satisfying Justice and Removing Guilt....

At the church where I serve, we have been spending our time together looking at what we believe as a church as it is contained in the doctrinal statement of our church. And as we go through this statement, our hope and prayer is to accomplish four specific things.

First, our hope and my prayer is that we would be able to explain what we believe as a church in a clear and straightforward manner. Second, our hope and our prayer is that we would be able to explain what we believe as a church by spending our time together focused on a few passages that best capture what we believe as a church.

Third, our hope and our prayer is that we would be able to explain why what we believe as a church matters. And fourth, our hope and our prayer is that we would be able to explain what we believe as a church in a way that reveals how relevant what we believe is to our day to day lives.

This week I would like for us to look at the fifth statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This fifth statement addresses what we believe as a church about the concept of salvation. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “How can we be rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separates us from God? How can I be restored to the relationship with God that I was created for, but walked away from?’ So let’s look at this fifth statement of our doctrinal statement together:

We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.

Now as we have talked about throughout this series, to fully understand what is being communicated in this statement, we first need to understand what all the church mumbo jumbo talk words in this statement mean. So, as we have done throughout this series, I would like for us to break down this statement into parts so that we can come to a better understanding of what is being said here.

First, let’s take a minute and unpack the phrase “We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute”. As we discovered when we looked at what our doctrinal statement said about humanity, all humanity throughout history has had this selfish and rebellious bent within us that has driven us to reject the relationship with God that we were created for and that leads us to do things out of that selfishness and rebellion that hurt God and others. And as a result all humanity is in need of rescue because we reflect Adam, who serves as our original representative.

However, it is because of this principle of Adam as our representative that we can have hope that God would provide another representative, that could represent us and live the life that we were created for in relationship with God and one another. And as we discovered last week, that other representative, that second Adam, so to speak, is Jesus.

Jesus represented what humanity was created and designed to be when it comes to how we are to live in relationship with God and in community with one another. Jesus came to humanity to represent humanity and explain to humanity what it means to be truly human.

But not only is Jesus our representative. In addition, Jesus is our substitute. Jesus is our substitute in that Jesus took our place on the cross. Jesus Christ entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus life. Instead of us dying on the cross to pay the penalty for our selfishness and rebellion, Jesus substituted, or took our place on the cross to pay the penalty for our selfishness and rebellion.

This is what is referred to in the second phrase of the doctrinal statement, which says that Jesus “shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins.” When we say that Jesus death on the cross was perfect and all sufficient, we are saying that Jesus death, once and for all, provided the opportunity for all humanity to experience the forgiveness of their selfishness and rebellion and the relationship with God that they were created for. In other words, Jesus death on the cross provided the opportunity for every sin that humanity would commit past, present and in the future to be paid for.  

In addition, by being perfect and all sufficient, we are saying that Jesus death on the cross is the one and only way that deals with our selfishness and rebellion against God so as to satisfy God’s justice when it comes to the punishment for selfishness and rebellion. This makes Christianity different than any other religious systems.

While other religious systems emphasize what we can do to become right with God, only Christianity bases our relationship with God on what God has done for us. This is what is referred to in the final sentence of the doctrinal statement, which says “His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.”  When we talk about Jesus atoning death, this phrase refers to His willingness to pay the penalty and punishment that our selfishness and rebellion deserve.

Jesus death on the cross satisfied God’s right response of justice and judgment against the sinful rebellion of humanity. Now the big fancy church mumbo jumbo talk word for this is the word propitiation. The word propitiation simply means that God’s right and just response to our selfish rebellion and sin was satisfied through Jesus death on the cross.

But not only does Jesus death on the cross satisfy God’s right and just response to our selfishness and rebellion. Jesus death on the cross also provides us expiation. Now expiation is a big fancy church mumbo jumbo talk word that refers to the removal of the guilt that comes as a result of the selfish rebellion of humanity. You see Jesus death on the cross provides us salvation because Jesus death alone satisfies God’s justice and removes humanities guilt that results from selfishness, sin, and rebellion.

This is the core message of the Gospel, the “Good News” that we have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. God chose to use Jesus to reconcile or reunite all of the creation that had been separated from God due to sin, back into proper relationship with Himself. In addition, God chose to use Jesus to redeem or purchase us from slavery to our selfishness and rebellion and place us back into relationship with Himself.

Now you might be thinking to yourself, “Well Dave, how can we know that Jesus death is perfect and all sufficient? How can we know that Jesus death on the cross really does what Jesus said it does”? That is a great question. And the answer to that question is found in the resurrection of Jesus.

You see, Jesus resurrection and ascension provide the proof that God the Father accepted Jesus sacrificial willingness to live the life that all humanity refuses to live and die the death that all humanity deserves to die for our selfish rebellion. Jesus resurrection also reveals the victory that He accomplished over selfishness, sin, and death that was brought about by the rebellion of humanity. Jesus death and resurrection provides us rescue from an eternity separated from God as a result of our selfish rebellion.

And in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of 2 Corinthians, we see the Apostle unpack this reality for followers of Jesus throughout history. We will begin to look at that section tomorrow…