Grace Under Pressure

In 1991, Anthony Wright was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and stabbing death of a 77 year old woman named Louise Talley. Wright escaped the death penalty only because as the jury deliberated, they couldn't unanimously recommend execution. But then, in 2016, after Wright had served 25 years in prison, it was revealed that the clothing that had tied him to the crime scene was in fact, not his. And that some of the witnesses against him had lied. And that DNA testing actually proved that another man, a serial criminal by the name of Ronnie Byrd, was the real perpetrator.

It was revealed that Wright had made his confession only after being threatened with bodily harm if he refused to sign it. So in the end, two detectives were convicted of lying under oath during Wright's original trial, and the conviction was overturned. And in 2018, Anthony Wright was awarded a settlement of nearly $10 million in a civil suit against the City of Philadelphia. Justice is important, law is necessary, and I am grateful for police officers who protect and serve. But Anthony Wright's story reminds us that human justice sometimes fails.

You know, it's one thing to knowingly do something wrong and get busted for it. Like, I don't know, for example, lying to your dad that a neighbor kid had borrowed your library book when in reality you had misplaced it. Or, I don't know, maybe hiding out in a friend's barn for over an hour after your mom had said it was time to go home, or throwing a cowboy boot through the living room window while playing keep away with your brothers. Just some exciting chapters from my childhood. You know, to get grounded by your parents or issued a speeding ticket or written up at work is not fun.

But when you know you're guilty, it's hard to argue that you're being treated unfairly. But have you ever been accused of something that you really didn't do as a kid? Did you ever get in trouble for something that one of your siblings did? Ever been blamed at work for a mistake that somebody else made? Have you ever had inaccurate and derogatory assumptions made about you being falsely and unjustly accused?

Just hits differently, especially when those accusations carry heavy consequences. The story of Easter actually hinges on false accusations that resulted in a wrongful execution. So between now and Easter, we're going to unpack seven statements that Jesus spoke as he hung, bleeding and dying on a cross. Jesus last words from the cross convey truths about God that we need to take to heart. And I want to begin this journey this morning by asking this question.

How does God respond to being falsely accused and harshly mistreated. We find a powerful answer to that question in the Gospel of Luke. We're going to unpack Luke chapter 23, verses 32 through 43. If you have a Bible or device, you want to turn to that text, that would be great. Luke 23.

But before we dive in, let me back up long enough to set the stage contextually at the point where we're picking up this text. Jesus has already repeatedly called out the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious leaders, and they've decided they're tired of it and, and they have plotted to kill him. They have accused him of insurrection and blasphemy, among other things, and they have stirred up the crowds against him. At this point, Judas iscariot, one of Jesus 12 disciples, has succumbed to greed and he has conspired with those Jewish leaders to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Peter, one of Jesus closest friends, has just seen him get arrested, and he's become fearful that association with Jesus could mean trouble for him.

So Peter has turned his back on Jesus and fled and has refused to acknowledge that he even knows him. At this point, Jesus has been through a mockery of a trial full of ridiculous and conflicting charges. At this point, Pilate, the Roman governor who knows Jesus is innocent, has chosen rather than free him to appease the crowd by handing Jesus over to be crucified and releasing a convicted criminal in his place. At this point, Jesus has been stripped and mocked and beaten and spit on and scourged. Roman scourgings employed a device called a flagram.

It was a wooden handle that was attached to multiple strands of leather, each of them tipped with stone or glass or bone or shards of metal that were designed to tear away flesh. Roman scourgings were horrific, often fatal. So at this point, Jesus has been beaten within an inch of his life. He's wearing a woven crown of long, sharp, spiky thorns that have been pressed deeply into his scalp. And he's been forced to carry a heavy, splintered wooden cross toward a place of execution.

Along the way, he has collapsed in exhaustion, in dehydration, and, and shocked. So a man from the gawking crowd has been plucked out and forced to carry the cross the rest of the way for him. That's what's happening as we pick up Luke chapter 23 at verse 32, where we read this. Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

Jesus, who up to this point in time has spoken only truth and shown only love, has been condemned to death alongside two convicted criminals. They're taken to a common execution site outside the city called the place of the Skull. The Aramaic word for skull is Golgotha. The Latin word is calvaria, which is where we get the English transliteration calvary. So whether you read Golgotha or Calvary or the place of the skull, they're all references to the same place.

At Golgotha, Jesus and these two criminals are stretched out on crosses and metal spikes are driven through their wrists and ankles and into the wood. The crosses are then hoisted upright and they are bone jarringly dropped and into holes in the ground. We sometimes picture cross as being very tall, but victims often hung just inches above the ground, where onlookers could add to the abuse and where wild animals could tear at their bodies. Crucifixion killed through blood loss and suffocation as the pectoral muscles spasmed and cramped and the pericardial sac filled with fluid around the heart. Crucifixion was designed by the Persians, but it was later adapted by the Romans as a slow and excruciating way to humiliate and kill their enemies.

Jesus was crucified like a criminal, like a political extremist, like an enemy of the state. Despite having done nothing wrong, Jesus never sinned. You remember that question I asked you just a minute ago? How does God respond to being falsely accused and harshly mistreated? Well, here in Luke 23, we find an answer to that question.

Jesus said, father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Would you read those words of Jesus with me? Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. That's such a powerful statement. Jesus, who is 100% the victim of a horrible injustice and who would be 100% justified in judging and wiping out everyone doing these things to him, prays instead.

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing. Jesus offers forgiveness where condemnation is deserved. Let's take a little bit closer look at what he said, and I'm grateful to my friend Craig for some study he's done parallel to mine in this text and has shared some of his work with me as well. Jesus said, father, Jesus, God the Son, who as a member of the Trinity, has been one with the Father and the Spirit from eternity past, speaks to his Father relationally in prayer. And his prayer is A specific request.

Forgive. The word translated forgive means to release. It means to cancel a debt. When we sin, we offend God's holiness. We hurt other people, and we create a deficit in both relationships that needs to be settled and made right.

So from the cross, Jesus asks God to forgive them. Who are them? Well, in the most immediate sense, them was the religious leaders who rejected Jesus as their Messiah and conspired to kill him. Them was the crowd who demanded his crucifixion. Them was the friends who betrayed or abandoned him.

Them was Pilate, who knowingly sent an innocent man to his death. Them was the Roman soldiers who beat Jesus and spit on him and jabbed thorns and nails into his body. But the them Jesus prayed for is much bigger than that. We read in scripture Romans chapter 5, that God demonstrates his own love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Paul wrote in another of his letters that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

Just a few moments ago we read together From Isaiah chapter 53 these words. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

The punishment that brought us peace was on him. And by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus offers forgiveness where condemnation is deserved.

The big picture story of Scripture is that Jesus, God the Son, put on a mortal human body, lived a perfect, sinless life and then died on a cross to pay the debt of all of humanity's sins, including ours, mine and yours. So the them that Jesus prayed for is also us. We, you and I, are them. As Jesus physically suffered the penalty that our sins deserve, he asked God to forgive us, to cancel our debt and release us from guilt. And then he added this, for they do not know what they're doing now.

Was Jesus suggesting that the people he prayed for realize they were killing him? Or that they didn't know murder was wrong? Or that this whole thing was just a big misunderstanding and that everybody involved was actually totally innocent? No. But rarely, rarely do we fully understand the impact of our wrong choices.

You know, in our pursuit of success in financial security and a good life for our families, we often don't recognize it, as money gradually becomes our ultimate object of worship. We try to raise well rounded kids, but we may not initially realize that we are cramming our calendars so full of travel, sports and music lessons and dance and gymnastics that we are squeezing time with God and with each other out of the picture. When unmarried couples decide to move in together and share a home and a bed on a trial basis, they may not realize that they are compromising the holiness of the very marriage they think they're preparing for. See, I suspect that if the Jews and the Romans had realized that they were crucifying the very God who had created them, they wouldn't have gone through with it. We're often wrong without realizing it.

But no matter our intentions, no matter how aware we are of our guilt, Jesus asked the Father to cancel our debts as he suffered the punishment for our sin. Jesus, who was innocent, prayed for forgiveness for those who were guilty. But there was still more injustice to come. Luke 23 continues like this.

And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, he saved others. Let him save himself if he is God's Messiah, the chosen one. The soldiers also came up and mocked him.

They offered him wine vinegar and said, if you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was a written notice above him which read, this is the King of the Jews. So as the sinless son of God hung, bleeding and dying for their sins, Roman soldiers rolled dice for the right to claim Jesus clothing as a souvenir. It reminds me a little bit of the sad scenario we see sometimes when a person begins a long slow decline in a terminal illness and greedy, self centered relatives, oblivious to their suffering, come out of the woodwork and begin to circle like vultures in hopes of snagging some of their stuff. The Jewish rulers who had condemned Jesus to death mocked him.

If he were really God's son like he claimed, none of this would be happening to him. The soldiers taunted him too. If you're so powerful, prove it by saving yourself. Even the sign posted above Jesus head on the cross was sarcastic. It referred to Jesus as the King of the Jews, which the people who wrote it clearly didn't believe.

And then Luke zooms in on the three men on the crosses. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him. Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us. So as Jesus is speaking words of forgiveness, one of the criminals crucified alongside him joins in the crowd in taunting him.

But the other criminal rebuked him. Don't you fear God? He said, since you are under the same sentence. We are punished Justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.

The second criminal was more perceptive, more self aware, more humble. And he corrected the first buddy. He said, you and I, we've sinned. We are reaping the consequences of what we've done. But not Jesus.

He is dying the same death we are. But he has not done anything wrong. And having heard the gentleness and the humility of Jesus prayer for his killer's forgiveness, that criminal offered a prayer of his own directly to Jesus. He said, jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. This man got that he was guilty of sin, but Jesus was not.

That Jesus wasn't dying for his own sins, but to atone for the sins of many others, including him. And because he believed that that man asked Jesus to remember him. And that request prompted Jesus second statement from the cross. Jesus answered him truly, I tell you, today you will be with me Paradise. On the basis of that man's faith, on the basis of the redemption that his own death was about to accomplish, Jesus made a remarkable and hopeful promise today.

He said, not someday, not centuries from now, not at the end of time, but imminently. Today you will be with me. You're going where I'm going to a place called Paradise. Now, like the word baptized, paradise is a transliteration. It's a rewriting of a Greek word, paradisos into English and it's used only three times in the entire New Testament.

One of those is obviously here in Luke 23, but it's also found in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, where the apostle Paul experiences a vision and he describes a place called paradise that he also calls the third Heaven. It's a place where he experienced God's presence in a mind blowing way. We also find paradisos in Revelation chapter 2, where Jesus says, to the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradisos God. Incidentally, there's an ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint. And in the Septuagint, the word paradasos is used in reference to the Garden of eden.

In Genesis 3, when we put this all together, it seems clear that Jesus promised this particular criminal that that very day they would both die physically and then be reunited in the presence of God. Jesus offers forgiveness where condemnation is deserved. And that promise reminds me of something that Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians, chapter 5. I love these words. Paul says, we are always confident and know that as Long as we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we live by faith, not by sight.

We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Paul is saying, because God is a spiritual being, we cannot fully be with him as long as we're trapped in these temporary bodies in this physical world. But when believers in Jesus die, when we breathe our last breath and we leave these bodies, we are instantly with the Lord. Now, even then, we await the return of Jesus. We await resurrection to our new bodies in a new heaven and new earth.

But believers get to be with Jesus immediately when we die. That means that my dad and my little brother and my grandparents and my aunts and uncles and many Christian friends whose funerals I've either attended or officiated are not suspended somewhere in spiritual cryo sleep. They are with Jesus. And I praise God for that.

So in light of this promise, in light of this reality of What Luke chapter 23 describes, there are a couple of really practical life challenges that I want to share with all of us this morning. Challenge number one is this. It's a challenge to follow the example of Jesus. Jesus issued some really bold, tough challenges. In fact, a little bit later this year, we're going to dig into a a series just built around some of the hardest, most challenging things that Jesus taught.

But when Jesus taught hard things, he didn't just say, do this. He backed up his teaching with his life. For example, Jesus said, you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. That is conventional wisdom, right? We see that played out daily, particularly when it comes to politics.

Jesus said, that's what you've heard. Love your neighbor, hate your enemy. But I tell you, I have a new way for you. And here it is. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Now, that is such a radically countercultural statement that it is easy for us to read that and think, yeah, right, come on, Jesus. Who actually does that? But as we've seen today, Jesus does that. Even as he died in one of the most humiliating and agonizing ways imaginable, he lovingly prayed for the very people who put him there. So whether you're dealing with an annoying neighbor or a bully or an exhausting ex or an inconsiderate co worker or an Internet troll or an unpleasant relative or a toxic boss, Jesus has shown us what to do.

Pray for them. It's really hard to hate someone and wish them harm when we're also praying for them. And one of those that Jesus prayed for, we saw that right here in this text. One of those enemies that Jesus prayed for came to faith right before he died. I want you for just a moment to picture in your mind someone in your life that you think of as an enemy.

Could be someone that causes you stress, maybe even intentionally.

Could be someone that you just so strongly disagree with. And it seems like every time you're in the same space you just have sharp words and it all blows up. Could be someone you've once been really close to, but there's been some sort of a falling out. I don't know who you're picturing in your mind right now, but let me ask you this. Have you ever considered that God might want to use you to help bring that enemy to faith?

Up here on the stage we've got these two aquariums, and just below them there's a basket of some multicolored plastic balls. If you've been around with us for the last couple of weeks, you know that we've chosen on those balls to write the names of some of our ones, people who are in close proximity to us, but not to God. There's a giant number one out there in the commons that is gradually filling up with those. It could be that your response to this message today is that you need to write the name of someone who currently is enemy status in your life on one of those plastic balls and begin praying for that person. Here's a second challenge.

Give your guilt to Jesus. You know, Jesus prayed this, father, forgive them, for they do not know what they're doing. Prayer for people who were not innocent. It wasn't just betrayal. It wasn't just lashes and thorns and nails that killed Jesus.

Ultimately it was our sins. Paul explained the power and the significance of the cross like this. In Romans, chapter three, Paul writes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That means that we are all, 100% of us, guilty of sin. And he says in verse 24, all are justified freely, meaning we are declared righteous in God's eyes by his grace, by God's completely undeserved kindness through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance, in his patience, he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. What Paul is saying is that Jesus sacrifice retroactively covered the sins of people of faith who had already lived and died before that moment. Verse 26. He did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time so as to be just, so as to guarantee that all sin does in fact get punished by paying the penalty himself and to be the one who justifies who declares righteous those who have faith in Jesus.

The apostle Peter quoted Isaiah 53, which we've already looked at a couple of times together today, when he wrote these words about Jesus. Peter says he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. By his wounds, you have been healed.

As Jesus prayed for our forgiveness, he didn't ask God to bend the rules. He didn't ask God to make an exception to his perfect justice at the cross. Jesus. Jesus upheld both God's perfect holiness and his perfect justice by paying the price for our sins with his own life. And he offers forgiveness to us as a gift that we receive only by putting our trust in that sacrifice.

So let me just ask you, in response to what Jesus has done and what he has invited us to, have you owned what Jesus declares about all of us? That we're sinful and in need of forgiveness? Have you accepted that label in your life? That's a critical place that our relationship with Jesus begins. Do you believe Jesus is who he says he is, God in flesh who came to save us?

Are you repenting? That's a Bible word that means to turn away from. Are you actively turning away from the sin in your life that you know sent Jesus to the cross in the first place? Have you declared with your mouth? Are you declaring with your life that Jesus is Lord and Savior?

We celebrated several of these earlier in the service. Have you surrendered to Jesus and united yourself with him in his death and burial and resurrection by obeying him in baptism? Jesus offers forgiveness where condemnation is deserved. And he invites us into that life.

So will you trust him? Will you follow him?

And what is your next step in that process? Would you pray with me? Father God, we come together this morning at your invitation, not as a society of people who have it all figured out. We're not here, Father, because of our virtue. We are not a gathering of upstanding citizens.

Father. We are sinful people. We are broken and messy. Our actions have not lived up to our good intentions. Father.

We are screw ups on many levels. And yet you invite us anyway. Not because you've decided to just look the other way, but because you yourself have put on flesh and you have suffered and died in our place in the way that our sins deserve so that we wouldn't have to.

God, we thank you for your grace, that kindness that we absolutely don't deserve, that you show to us anyway. We thank you for your mercy, for your willingness to empty and humble yourself in order to suffer and die in our place. And God, we thank you for your invitation on the basis of what you have done, on the basis of who you are, to be included in your family. We're thankful, God, for the opportunity to shed the guilt that we carry, to clothe ourselves with Christ, to be buried with him in baptism and to rise with him, to walk a new life. God, we are thankful for the privilege that you extend us of being your children.

And we thank you for the incredible sacrifice that you made in order to make that possible. God, thank you for these moments together. We pray in Jesus name, Amen. I'm going to invite our Next Steps team to go ahead and make their way up here to the stage. And as we wrap up today, I just want to make sure you're aware of some practical next steps that you might take.

Every month we offer a three part series of classes called Next Steps. Our Next Steps Follow Jesus class has been taking place concurrent with this service, but next Sunday these always happen. At 11 o' clock we have our Next Steps Engage Class, which is a great place for you to find some information about becoming more connected here at gcc. We'd love for you to be a part of that. You can at any point in time.

This is true for all of our friends online especially, but any of us here in the room text the word next the 317-707-9997 or you can use the QR code on the screen. Just let us know what's on your heart, what God is stirring within you. We'd love to begin a conversation and help you to navigate some of those next steps. We also want you to know that these friends who are right down here in front of the stage, we love you and we are available if we can answer questions, if we can pray with you, if we can help you to discern what is it that God is calling you to do next. We would love to be a part of that process with you and have a conversation right here.

And then the last thing I want to mention to you, this is not an every week thing, but in a couple of weeks we have a campus cleanup day Saturday morning, March 21st. This will be a couple of weeks prior to Easter. This is a big campus and we've always got some sprucing up and some cleaning up to do after the long cold winter. And if you could be with us from nine to noon that Saturday morning just to help us with some landscaping and some other things that will need to be done in order to get everything ready for all the company that will join us for Easter. We'd love for you to come and be a part of that.

It's always a pleasure and a privilege to be with you guys. The invitation that Jesus offers to us remains open. So if we can be of help to you, please reach out to us. We love you. God bless you.

Have a great week.