WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.100 --> 00:00:04.900 Brothers and Sisters in Christ grace to you and peace from God our 2 00:00:04.900 --> 00:00:06.300 father in the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 00:00:06.300 --> 00:00:07.200 Amen. 4 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:11.000 The word of God that engages us this morning is the reading from John 5 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:13.700 chapter 12, we heard just moments ago. 6 00:00:13.700 --> 00:00:18.100 My wife's family lives out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 7 00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:23.400 So we make the trip from there from here to there about two to four 8 00:00:23.400 --> 00:00:27.800 times a year something like this could be the reason why so many guys 9 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:32.700 end up living within closer driving ways to their in-laws. Taking 10 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:36.300 a call to make your wife happy isn't the worst reason to accept a new 11 00:00:36.300 --> 00:00:38.000 call. But none the less 12 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:42.100 we we've done it so many times that it's a relatively easy drive for 13 00:00:42.100 --> 00:00:42.300 us. 14 00:00:42.300 --> 00:00:46.600 We know the different land markers and if you've ever driven East far 15 00:00:46.600 --> 00:00:51.500 enough on Highway 70 from here you get to Effingham, Illinois. And at 16 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:51.800 Effingham 17 00:00:51.800 --> 00:00:56.200 there is a giant cross. And by giant Cross 18 00:00:56.200 --> 00:01:02.000 I mean a cross that is about 200 feet tall 130 ft wide and I 19 00:01:02.300 --> 00:01:06.400 the internet told me that it contains over 200 tons of steel and 20 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:09.000 concrete. The thing is massive. 21 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:13.500 You can't drive that way without seeing that you can try to divert 22 00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:17.900 your eyes if you were but inevitably you'll see the cross of Effingham. 23 00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:23.900 And for us it's really one of those mile markers that once we get to 24 00:01:23.900 --> 00:01:24.400 Effingham 25 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:28.800 we're about an hour and a half into the drive depending on if I or 26 00:01:28.800 --> 00:01:31.400 my wife is driving it and it means we're committed. 27 00:01:31.400 --> 00:01:35.000 We're in this thing for the long haul and between St. 28 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:35.800 Louis and Pittsburgh. 29 00:01:35.800 --> 00:01:40.200 There are only really two major cities Indianapolis in Columbus, Ohio. 30 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:43.800 So sans traffic and things like that 31 00:01:43.800 --> 00:01:47.000 the drive is about 9 and 1/2 road hours. 32 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:51.300 You include potty breaks for three children that makes it about 11 and 33 00:01:51.300 --> 00:01:55.800 1/2 hours, but we get there we're safe and it's a wonderful thing that 34 00:01:55.800 --> 00:02:00.000 major cross at Effingham pushes us forward. 35 00:02:00.600 --> 00:02:05.700 It's one of those reminders for us that no matter where we go in life 36 00:02:05.700 --> 00:02:08.600 this trip that we're about to take the Pittsburgh that God is with 37 00:02:08.600 --> 00:02:12.500 us to comfort us to keep us safe until ultimately guide us. 38 00:02:12.500 --> 00:02:14.600 It's a wonderful symbol. 39 00:02:14.600 --> 00:02:17.800 If you go to the web page of the church that put that cross up and 40 00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:21.200 they say they put it up in hopes that people will see the cross and 41 00:02:21.200 --> 00:02:23.700 come to know Jesus and have saving faith in him. 42 00:02:23.700 --> 00:02:27.200 Some people will say it doesn't quite work like that. 43 00:02:27.200 --> 00:02:32.100 You can't just put a big cross in the middle of a highway and hope 44 00:02:32.100 --> 00:02:33.200 people come to Faith. 45 00:02:35.600 --> 00:02:38.000 But I never bet against the power of the cross. 46 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.700 The cross is powerful. 47 00:02:41.700 --> 00:02:46.700 The cross is everything it is what we base our entire Theology on. It's what 48 00:02:46.700 --> 00:02:54.600 we ourselves look to for everything for Hope, for comfort and for 49 00:02:54.600 --> 00:02:56.600 trust and assurance in our salvation. 50 00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:00.000 That amazing cross. 51 00:03:01.300 --> 00:03:04.200 We're Jesus hung for our sins. 52 00:03:06.900 --> 00:03:13.600 In our text Jesus talks quite a bit about the cross the type of death 53 00:03:13.600 --> 00:03:16.300 that he is about to die for the world. 54 00:03:16.300 --> 00:03:22.100 You see just before reading a group of Greeks potentially Gentiles 55 00:03:22.100 --> 00:03:22.900 they come to the disciples. 56 00:03:24.700 --> 00:03:27.300 And they tell the disciples we want to see Jesus. 57 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:31.500 They probably heard about him 58 00:03:31.500 --> 00:03:35.000 maybe they witnessed one of the signs one of the Miracles that 59 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:36.100 he's performed. 60 00:03:36.100 --> 00:03:39.000 They heard he's a great teachers by now 61 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:44.100 there's mess ionic promise attached to the person Jesus and they want 62 00:03:44.100 --> 00:03:44.500 to see him. 63 00:03:45.900 --> 00:03:48.100 A relatively reasonable 64 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:49.900 request. 65 00:03:50.900 --> 00:03:55.100 Simply to see the man and maybe they want to measure him up. 66 00:03:55.100 --> 00:03:58.000 Maybe they want to ask him further questions about who he is what he's 67 00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:58.500 come to do. 68 00:03:59.700 --> 00:04:01.800 But they want to see Jesus. 69 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.400 And whether or not Jesus obliges and letting them see him is not the 70 00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:12.300 point to the point where it's not even mentioned in the text. 71 00:04:13.200 --> 00:04:18.399 You see the request to see him triggers this response about the cross. 72 00:04:20.300 --> 00:04:25.000 Jesus begins to talk about the type of death that he's going to die. 73 00:04:26.600 --> 00:04:29.400 Because the talk about being lifted up. 74 00:04:31.700 --> 00:04:32.700 In John's gospel 75 00:04:32.700 --> 00:04:39.100 another person came to see Jesus back in John chapter 3 Nicodemus a 76 00:04:39.100 --> 00:04:42.700 Pharisee a ruler he comes by night. 77 00:04:42.700 --> 00:04:46.800 Probably not wanting to be seen by other Pharisees going to pursue 78 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:47.500 Jesus. 79 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:52.400 But he goes to Jesus and tells him what he's heard about him and what he 80 00:04:52.400 --> 00:04:53.500 recognizes about him. 81 00:04:53.500 --> 00:04:55.000 He's a he's a great teacher. 82 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:56.600 He must be a man from God. 83 00:04:57.700 --> 00:05:02.400 This triggers a relatively similar response from Jesus. 84 00:05:03.700 --> 00:05:07.100 He begins to tell Nicodemus how he can be saved. 85 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:09.700 And talks about being born again. 86 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:14.100 He talks about being born from water and the spirit. 87 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:21.600 And then he begins to talk about the son of man being lifted up like 88 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:23.500 the bronze snake by Moses in the wilderness. 89 00:05:25.900 --> 00:05:27.900 When Nicodemus comes to see Jesus. 90 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:34.000 Jesus begin to tell Nicodemus how he can be saved. 91 00:05:35.400 --> 00:05:39.000 He begins to point Nicodemus to the cross. 92 00:05:40.700 --> 00:05:45.800 You see really see Jesus to really see him in the fullness of his glory 93 00:05:47.200 --> 00:05:52.100 you have to witness Jesus being raised up on that glorious cross. 94 00:05:54.800 --> 00:06:00.200 The symbol so miraculous that we continue to use it today day in and 95 00:06:00.200 --> 00:06:03.800 day out to point ourselves to remind ourselves of what Jesus has done 96 00:06:03.800 --> 00:06:08.000 for us. And when people come to us asking about Jesus 97 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:09.500 inevitably 98 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.600 we point them to the cross. 99 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.200 You might try to do it with clever words that you might have a saying 100 00:06:19.200 --> 00:06:20.400 that you keep close to your heart. 101 00:06:20.400 --> 00:06:25.100 You might even have a passage in scripture like Paul in second 1st 102 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:29.600 Corinthians chapter 2 when he says I desire to know nothing but Christ 103 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:32.700 and him crucified. But inevitably 104 00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:37.700 when somebody comes to talk to you about Jesus 105 00:06:38.900 --> 00:06:41.500 when they want help seeing what he's done for them. 106 00:06:43.200 --> 00:06:45.000 You point them to the cross. 107 00:06:49.300 --> 00:06:52.200 At first what a bizarre thing. 108 00:06:53.200 --> 00:06:57.700 When Jesus was walking this Earth the cross was not a sign of Hope. 109 00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:04.200 It was a means of torture. A means of killing somebody in in the worst 110 00:07:04.200 --> 00:07:05.700 imaginable way possible. 111 00:07:05.700 --> 00:07:10.200 I often find myself talking about the cross and I try to skirt 112 00:07:10.200 --> 00:07:14.300 around the truth of the matter and I try to justify it by saying well 113 00:07:14.300 --> 00:07:17.900 this person doesn't need to know the horrific means in which Jesus 114 00:07:17.900 --> 00:07:21.600 died, but in reality, I'm trying to save myself from that horror. 115 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:32.200 Because the cross there's there's no worse way of killing a man by 116 00:07:32.200 --> 00:07:38.200 nailing him through his arms to wood by nailing him through his feet 117 00:07:38.200 --> 00:07:41.300 or ankles to that same wood. 118 00:07:42.200 --> 00:07:47.700 And hanging them by those painful wounds so that he can endure hours 119 00:07:47.700 --> 00:07:53.200 of trying not to suffocate hours of trying to hang on to whatever life 120 00:07:53.200 --> 00:07:54.500 that he can continue to have. 121 00:07:54.500 --> 00:07:56.700 Ultimately only to being suffocated. 122 00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:02.400 There's no escaping that death on the cross. 123 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:07.000 And in that death 124 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:09.900 we truly see 125 00:08:11.200 --> 00:08:12.600 the glory of God. 126 00:08:15.400 --> 00:08:19.800 Our God the word incarnate Jesus who came into the flesh. 127 00:08:21.300 --> 00:08:24.700 Who suffered that sinners death on the cross 128 00:08:26.200 --> 00:08:26.900 for you 129 00:08:27.900 --> 00:08:28.400 for me 130 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:31.000 and for the sins of the world. 131 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.400 A truly righteous and sinless man 132 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:38.900 suffering the most horrific way 133 00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:43.299 so that we can live forever. 134 00:08:45.700 --> 00:08:47.700 It's through that cross 135 00:08:48.900 --> 00:08:52.100 that we begin our life and Christianity that we begin 136 00:08:52.100 --> 00:08:56.600 our journey. It is through the cross that we're baptized. We're baptized into 137 00:08:56.600 --> 00:08:57.400 Jesus's death. 138 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:03.300 So that we can also live in his resurrection. 139 00:09:06.300 --> 00:09:09.900 You know reading this text, you know, of course in hindsight Jesus being 140 00:09:09.900 --> 00:09:14.400 God Jesus being all-powerful, omniscient, all knowing, all present and 141 00:09:14.400 --> 00:09:19.700 everything being God the creator of all things. Every time I read this 142 00:09:19.700 --> 00:09:22.600 passage and its other partners in the gospels 143 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:24.900 I'm always surprised at Jesus being troubled. 144 00:09:26.100 --> 00:09:32.800 This is God after all the one who has done everything for us for all 145 00:09:32.800 --> 00:09:37.900 of creation for all-time still facing the cross and being troubled. 146 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:43.200 I read several commentaries because I'm still trying to understand 147 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.800 Jesus being troubled in the Garden of Gethsemane Gethsemane and all of 148 00:09:46.800 --> 00:09:50.100 this. And one commentator said this it is possible, 149 00:09:51.300 --> 00:09:57.700 that Jesus is troubled because of the horror of death is intersecting 150 00:10:00.300 --> 00:10:03.800 with his obedience to the will of the Father. 151 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:10.500 You see Jesus in his true righteousness will not turn away from this 152 00:10:10.500 --> 00:10:11.500 horrific death. 153 00:10:13.300 --> 00:10:15.600 Because he knows what it accomplishes. 154 00:10:16.800 --> 00:10:20.300 You see at first the world thought it was passing judgment on Jesus. 155 00:10:20.300 --> 00:10:23.500 They they went to Pilot they went ahead and they wanted Jesus gone. 156 00:10:23.500 --> 00:10:26.400 They wanted his memory his presence out of the world. 157 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:31.500 And as Jesus is hanging there and breathing his last for a moments in 158 00:10:31.500 --> 00:10:34.500 death in the devil may have thought that it had triumphed. 159 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:39.700 They thought they were passing judgment on Jesus, but in reality on 160 00:10:39.700 --> 00:10:40.300 the cross. 161 00:10:41.300 --> 00:10:45.100 Jesus is passing judgment on the world. 162 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:50.400 He isn't simply lifted up on the cross. 163 00:10:50.400 --> 00:10:56.100 Jesus is displaying the fullness of his glory to everybody. He is 164 00:10:56.100 --> 00:10:58.800 demonstrating to you and I want a true servant does. 165 00:11:00.700 --> 00:11:05.500 A true servant denies his own glory denies his own self-preservation 166 00:11:05.500 --> 00:11:11.000 denies his own will and instead desires the will of the Father. 167 00:11:14.500 --> 00:11:16.300 A true servant of the word 168 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:19.100 is obedient to the very end 169 00:11:19.900 --> 00:11:20.400 to God. 170 00:11:22.800 --> 00:11:28.300 You know people still want to see Jesus it's it's creating us as it's 171 00:11:28.300 --> 00:11:32.500 within us the desires something higher than as something purposeful 172 00:11:32.500 --> 00:11:35.900 that gives us a reason for being here in people search for that reason 173 00:11:35.900 --> 00:11:36.600 anywhere. 174 00:11:38.300 --> 00:11:41.900 And if they come to us and we don't point them to the cross 175 00:11:43.100 --> 00:11:47.200 they'll go somewhere else to find that purpose. 176 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:49.700 You can fill in the blank. 177 00:11:49.700 --> 00:11:51.000 Maybe it's Buddhism. 178 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:52.500 Maybe it's Islam. 179 00:11:52.500 --> 00:11:53.600 Maybe it's science. 180 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:54.600 Maybe it's themselves. 181 00:11:55.800 --> 00:11:59.700 But people are going to look for something bigger in this world. 182 00:12:01.800 --> 00:12:03.000 And each and every day 183 00:12:04.900 --> 00:12:07.600 you need to point them to the cross. 184 00:12:09.700 --> 00:12:13.000 You know going to Pittsburgh isn't just a one-way trip. 185 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:16.800 It's it's two ways it at some point we have to come home. 186 00:12:19.500 --> 00:12:22.900 And the last time we went the road was clear 187 00:12:22.900 --> 00:12:23.700 it was perfect. 188 00:12:23.700 --> 00:12:27.400 The sun was shining but not too bright to where it was in our eyes 189 00:12:27.400 --> 00:12:29.200 or our kids were content. 190 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:31.300 They weren't fighting with each other. 191 00:12:31.300 --> 00:12:34.000 They were happy with what we had on the screen. 192 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:39.200 No complaints about where we stopped to eat 95% of its McDonald's. 193 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:41.800 Chicken McNuggets and kids 194 00:12:41.800 --> 00:12:44.900 it's a perfect cure for a whiny baby, right now 195 00:12:44.900 --> 00:12:46.300 they're giving away Pokemon cards. 196 00:12:47.700 --> 00:12:49.900 I was never into Pokemon but my kids love it. 197 00:12:52.100 --> 00:12:55.700 And we're driving and then all the sudden it was one of those screech 198 00:12:55.700 --> 00:12:57.300 moments were traffic came to a 199 00:12:58.500 --> 00:13:03.500 immediate stop and there's an interchange in Indiana. 200 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:04.900 I don't quite understand it. 201 00:13:04.900 --> 00:13:06.200 Whoever designed it 202 00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:11.000 maybe they don't work there anymore, but it's not a very good interchange. 203 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:16.000 It's on of those interchanges were all of these different side highways come clashing and 204 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:18.400 we're in this traffic for about an hour and a half. 205 00:13:18.400 --> 00:13:18.800 And of course 206 00:13:18.800 --> 00:13:20.500 there was an accident blocking away 207 00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:27.300 and we finally get out free again. In about 10 minutes traffic came to 208 00:13:27.300 --> 00:13:30.700 another heart-stopping halt. 209 00:13:31.700 --> 00:13:35.000 And I'm confident that once somebody got all this traffic just 210 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:36.800 grateful to be free 211 00:13:36.800 --> 00:13:40.200 we're all driving recklessly were all speeding to get on our way 212 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:42.900 and of course another accident happened another hour-and-a-half 213 00:13:42.900 --> 00:13:44.400 stopped in traffic. 214 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:51.100 What a depressing trip, and now the potty breaks are becoming 215 00:13:51.100 --> 00:13:54.100 immediate now their kids are whining and now they're no longer 216 00:13:54.100 --> 00:13:54.700 satisfied. 217 00:13:54.700 --> 00:13:56.400 I'm cranky and angry. 218 00:13:56.400 --> 00:13:58.100 We're all irritable. 219 00:13:59.400 --> 00:14:04.600 And it can be a little cliche all admit to compare life to a trip home 220 00:14:04.600 --> 00:14:06.600 for my in-laws and being stopped in traffic. 221 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:09.200 But man it fits. 222 00:14:10.300 --> 00:14:12.100 Life isn't easy. 223 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:15.500 Things happen all the time. 224 00:14:15.500 --> 00:14:20.100 I honestly don't know if somebody died and either one of those two 225 00:14:20.100 --> 00:14:24.700 traffic accidents, but judging upon the seriousness it's probable. 226 00:14:26.300 --> 00:14:30.000 And you never know when something like that is going to happen to you 227 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:35.700 somebody, you know where somebody around. Just last week my aunt died 228 00:14:35.700 --> 00:14:37.400 of cancer not covid-19 but cancer. For my mom it's the third women in her family to die of cancer. And I can only begin to imagine what's going on in my mom's mind. 229 00:14:47.500 --> 00:14:49.600 Life isn't simple. 230 00:14:52.800 --> 00:14:56.100 People can jump into the church by a baptism 231 00:14:56.100 --> 00:14:58.900 but all the time these type of things that make life difficult make 232 00:14:58.900 --> 00:14:59.900 them jump off. 233 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.900 Maybe it's something that they didn't like that was preached. 234 00:15:04.900 --> 00:15:09.200 Maybe it's a way that somebody else treated them. Maybe it's a life 235 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:09.700 experience. 236 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:15.200 And they stop believing. Maybe for a moment 237 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:19.500 but that desire to find something bigger will never leave them and 238 00:15:19.500 --> 00:15:20.500 they'll begin to look. 239 00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:25.900 And there's only one way we can point them. 240 00:15:27.300 --> 00:15:32.100 After all of that time and traffic after all of that those moments of 241 00:15:32.100 --> 00:15:34.700 irritation at some point later on 242 00:15:34.700 --> 00:15:37.200 I don't know exactly how many hours we are on the road 243 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:39.100 we got back to Effingham. 244 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:42.500 And we saw that wonderful cross. 245 00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:49.600 Which for us means just another hour and a half and we'll be safe and 246 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.300 we'll have peace and comfort back at home. 247 00:15:54.700 --> 00:15:58.300 Brothers and sisters that cross is always before us. 248 00:15:59.100 --> 00:16:03.000 It leads us into Jesus's death through our baptism, but it is also 249 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:09.600 leading us into eternal life in peace and paradise with Jesus. 250 00:16:11.700 --> 00:16:13.100 That wonderful cross 251 00:16:14.100 --> 00:16:19.100 where are God our Lord and our savior won salvation 252 00:16:20.400 --> 00:16:21.100 for us. 253 00:16:22.200 --> 00:16:25.300 Now May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep our 254 00:16:25.300 --> 00:16:26.700 hearts and Minds in Christ Jesus. 255 00:16:26.700 --> 00:16:28.100 Amen.