61E TRANSCRIPT Jesus saw hidden truth in Cross not anger Why being little won
www.crazygoodgod.org
Nancy Teague
nancy@crazygoodgod.org
April 5, 2023
Hey, welcome to Crazy Good God podcast. I’m Nancy Teague and glad to have you along!
00:15 Easter is coming! Why is Easter important? Is more happening than Jesus dying for our sins and rising from the dead so mankind can get saved?
Here’s a few questions.
· Is God offended at us?
· Who was Jesus hanging on the cross?
· What enabled Jesus to endure the cross?
00:37 Now isn’t easy to be offended, even over small things? When offended we might grumble, think ill thoughts, get angry, maybe lash out. So the reasoning might go since we get offended and angry, then God must get offended and angry. We must offend Him, after all we’ve been told He’s coming to judge the earth. My goodness, what a false conclusion of God that blinds us from seeing the beauty and celebration in the cross.
By the way - check out Episode 60 for what God’s judgment really is!
01:14 God is unoffendable and the cross is proof of that.
Hmm, maybe this will offend you. There is joy in the cross. What?! No way! Would you agree traditionally this is how many do Easter? Good Friday - the focus is on the Cross – we are immersed in the horror done to Jesus. We’re overcome with grief, remorse, regret, guilt, condemnation. But thankfully we know Easter resurrection day is coming - joy, gratitude, relief, and possibly commitment to be better. Phew! But, next year repeat.
01:56 Why does Easter, the major celebration of Christianity, include such LOW guilt producing, remorse, repentance, condemnation but then the HIGH of joy-filled He is risen? With always repeating the LOW over the cross how can the Gospel truly be glad tidings?
If the Gospel is glad tidings, then what are the glad tidings in the Cross?
In Hebrews - ‘Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the JOY set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame…’ Gosh if there’s JOY HOW CAN GOD BE OFFENDED AND ANGRY? Well, WHAT IS THIS JOY? IT’S US!
02:48 Perhaps you think us being His joy at the cross is a stretch? Let’s check out the incredible rejoicing over us. “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men.” This is Jesus - a very happy fellow! And that joy continued right to the cross. In fact, JESUS SAW US, HIS JOY, RESTORED INTO OUR TRUE IDENTITY IN HIM and it empowered Him to endure.
03:32 Speaking of glad tidings, it’s even in Communion. Jesus said, ‘do this in remembrance of Me’. Religiosity says before you take Communion confess your sins, acknowledge your guilt, be sorry, ask forgiveness. But Jesus said at the cross – Father, forgive them. It is finished. Jesus’ sacrifice perfected forever all and God remembers sin no more. Communion – partaking of Jesus’ finished work is cause for great rejoicing and thankfulness! It is seeing we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Not wretched, not sinners, not guilty - we’re one new man, holy and blameless!
04:44 Who was Jesus when He died?
· the Author and Perfector of our faith
· the King of kings
· God incarnate
· The Faith – He’s the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen
· He’s Hope – the anchor of our soul
· Creator of all things
· THEN HE DIED! Think about that.
04:44 But Jesus also was on the cross
· A Loser
· A mockery
· All LIES personified. His disfigured body expressed all the destructive lies men have believed.
· Jesus marred showed our false identity
· Total rejection (except His heavenly Father)
· Less than – among thieves thus less than respectable
· Disdained
· Vulnerable – naked, shamed, humiliated
Jesus became all of this for us. He totally took on humanity’s confusion. Then, He died! Think about that.
FOR THE JOY, US SET BEFORE HIM, RESTORED US BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD! ALL LOSS, PAIN, HUMILIATION HE ENDURED FOR US, HIS JOY.
05:49 The cross, the most profound statement of GRACE, JOY, and CELEBRATION! The cross, the culmination of God’s will and Jesus’ WILLING intention to do God’s will. This must be why Paul said, “I have determined nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” But we are looking on the surface. Look deeper and see the happy riches in the Cross!
06:22 What paradoxes. BIG MUST BECOME LITTLE TO BECOME VICTORIOUS. LOVE MUST BECOME HATE TO FULLY MANIFEST LOVE THAT NEVER FAILS. THE GREATEST LOSER OF ALL TIME WAS ACTUALLY THE GREATEST WINNER OF ALL ETERNITY! JESUS WON US, THE ABSOLUTE JOY OF HIS HEART.
We can see the horror of the cross, but He wants us to look deeper. May you see the beauty and joy of the CROSS because it IS JUST AS JOY-FILLED AS JESUS’ RESURRECTION! Through Holy Spirit revelation may you never again celebrate Easter in religiosity’s LOW place.
Until next Wednesday, Bliss to you and never forget God is absolutely crazy about you!
References: Is 52:7 Lk 2:8-10 4:18,19 Heb 12:2 Pr 8:30,31 1Cor 11:24 Lk 23:34 Jn 19:30 Heb 10:9,10,17 2Cor 5:21 Eph 2:15 2Tim 1:9,10 1Tim 6:15 Jn 1:1,14 Heb 11:1 Heb 6:9 Jn 1:3 Rom 6:6 2Cor 5:21 Rev 13:8 Eph 1:18