Acts 1:1-11 "The Establishment of the Church"

                If I were to hand you a manuscript or book that was some twenty-eight chapters long and told you that it contained drama, action, near-death experiences, epic scenes of destruction, violent storms, boats crashing, numerous prison scenes, villains being transformed into heroes, and a whole host of other suspenseful items, you might would think that you were looking at the script for the newest summer blockbuster movie coming out of Hollywood.  Well, what if I told you that what you were looking at was actually the story of the establishment of the bride of Christ, the story of the establishment of the Church.  Beginning today and continuing into the foreseeable future, we are going to be looking at the book of Acts.  The book of Acts is in essence, the continuation of the gospel accounts, particularly Luke’s gospel account.  After all, this book is the second volume of Luke’s historical account of events.  We know that it’s Luke’s work from the literature itself, which we will see in just a moment.  The first eleven verses of the book of Acts are the bridge between the completion of the gospel accounts and the next 30 years of the history of the church.  So, let us look upon God’s word this morning…. (Read Acts 1:1-11)

Now, as I see it, there are three very important things that these verses provide for us both in our interpretation of the rest of the book and our understanding of how we are to live in light of all that has taken place thus far in the narrative of Jesus.  After all, there are those throughout history who have given the book of Acts the alternate titles of “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” or “The Continuing Ministry of Jesus Christ” just to name a few.  The first thing that these verses (as well as the rest of Acts) provide for us is an emphasis on the history of what has and will take place.  Luke tells Theophilus (which is either a person with that name or the general Greek title which means lover of God) that he has “dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.  He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”   These proofs were his various encounters and appearances before the disciples in the days since his resurrection.  We so often overlook this fact, and to a certain extent it goes without saying, but all of these events are historical.  All of the events of Scripture really actually happened.  James Boice, on this matter very accurately says in his commentary on Acts that, “Christianity is a historical religion.  It is a religion that is not based primarily on an idea or a philosophy.  Most of the religions of the world can exist apart from their founder…however, if you take away the history of Christianity, it evaporates.”  In essence, the moral teachings of Jesus are worthless without the historical events of the cross and the empty tomb; a battle that unfortunately is being fought this very day in some circles of Christendom.  We have to remember that as we read and discuss the book of Acts (and for that matter the rest of Scripture as well), that it is history.  This is the establishment of the Church.  It’s the historical account of how the power of God worked through a small group of men (who as we will see in a moment were just as lost as ever) and established a continent-wide (and ultimately world-wide) faith.  As Derek Thomas says, “The principal reason for the church’s growth must lie [outside of men]—in the supernatural activity and sovereign power of God.”

                A second thing that these first eleven verses of this book give to us is an expectation of the return of the Lord.  We’re told in verse 9 that as Jesus was speaking to the disciples that “he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.  And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes.”  Now I want all of us to try and imagine this scene here.  Keep in mind that a cloud was a common sight at the time of God’s coming to His people.  Think of the pillar of cloud in the wilderness, the cloud descending upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud that came down upon Jesus at the time of his transfiguration.  I have to think that Peter and James and John, who were all present at Jesus’ transfiguration, had to be looking at the other disciples and saying to them, “Alright, y’all (they had southern accents) have to watch this.  Y’all won’t believe what comes next.”  Then, all of a sudden, Jesus doesn’t come back.  Then, two men appear and say to them, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?  This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”  It sounds very similar to our resurrection text from last Sunday when the two men/angels said to the women, “Why do you seek the dead.  He is not here, but has risen.” (Luke 24).  Jesus is gone from here.  He has left, but we are given information now about his return.

                You see, all the predictions about how Christ will come again are useless.  We’re told very specifically that Christ’s second coming will take place exactly as this ascension took place.  Now, for as long as any of us can remember, we’ve been taught that Jesus would come again.  When we were children, we were taught that in a very elementary form, and as we have gotten older, we have learned more and more what it might look like and what it means for us today.  However, I want all of us, if we can, to try and put ourselves in the mindset of the disciples.  “We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is returning to judge the world, because we are told about it elsewhere in the New Testament.  The disciples also had been told that one day Jesus would return to render judgment.  But when the disciples were told that ‘this same Jesus’ would be coming back, they thought of the Jesus they loved, not a judge.” (Boice, p. 20).  You see, the disciples would not have simply wanted to work hard and fulfill Jesus’ commands because they feared his judgment at the time of his return.  They would have wanted to please him so that he would be joyful over their efforts during his absence.  When I give my children a task to do like cleaning their rooms, they don’t rush through it while I’m gone hoping that when I get back I don’t judge them harshly.  No, they want to please me.  They want me to be proud of the job that they have done in my absence, and that’s the way that we are to labor until such time as Jesus comes again.  We’re not to work in an effort to escape punishment, but in an effort to bring about joy to the one who has given us the task in the first place.

                The third and final thing that these verses give us is a missionary mandate.  These verses give us the way that we will bring about joy to Jesus when he comes again.  Not only that, but it gives us a hint as to how we are to go about doing that.  Verses 6-8 read, “So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’  He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”  You see, these words about being Jesus’ witnesses to all areas, even to the ends of the earth, are not just the theme of the book of Acts, but they are a mandate for use as well.  This is a call to take God’s Word, the good news of the gospel, out into the world for everyone to hear.  However, I want you to see the process here that the disciples go through in reaching this.  It’s not as if they just hear these words and immediately take this message out into the world.

                First, we find in verses 4 and 5 that Jesus told them how they were going to be able to accomplish whatever task they were to do; he told them that they were soon to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  We’ll look at this a little more closely in a few weeks, but for now we will just say that the disciples know that it is coming.  So, they’re feeling joyful knowing that they are soon to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  So, they ask the question that we just read about when they are going to see the restoration of Israel.  They ask when they’re going to re-establish the kingdom of Israel.  They’ve waited for years since the Messiah was born.  They’ve waited out three years of earthly ministry.  They’ve now waited out three days of thinking that their Savior was dead and gone.  Now, they feel that things are about to quickly change (which they are just not how the apostles are thinking).  Jesus tells them that it’s not their place to know when he will establish his kingdom.  All that they need to be concerned with is taking the good news of the Risen Lord out into the world, and that is where we still find ourselves today.  We are to continue with this same missionary mandate that the apostles were given in Acts 1.  Now, there are two wrong approaches to this that I see in today’s world that I want to briefly mention.  The first is to sit back and do nothing and wait for Christ to eventually establish the new heavens and new earth.  This is really just using Christ as an excuse for not fulfilling his commands, which ultimately makes no sense at all.  The second reaction is the urge to be downtrodden that Christ’s return hasn’t happened yet.  It’s to sit and wonder what is taking so long.  However, we have to remind ourselves that Jesus’ words to the apostles here are just as applicable to us.  It’s none of our business to know when Jesus will come again.  All we need to be concerned with is taking the good news of the Risen Lord out into the world. 

                The church doesn’t exist to provide programs.  The church doesn’t exist for networking.  The church doesn’t exist to give us Christian friends.   The church doesn’t exist for many of the common reasons that we might think of today.  The Church exists to proclaim the Word of God.  The Church exists to shout aloud to all those who have ears to ear the good news of the gospel.  It doesn’t matter how great and wonderful the worship of a church might be, if the ultimate result isn’t the taking of that message out into the world then it isn’t operating as the Church is intended to.  Friends, don’t let this church or any church or any Christian that you know be one who doesn’t serve the purpose for why we exist.  We exist, first and foremost, to proclaim Christ and him crucified and resurrected.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Luke 24:1-12 "The Empty Tomb"

                Over the past month, we’ve spent time looking at the scene of the cross.  We’ve specifically been looking at the people gathered around that most polarizing and significant event in all of human history.  We’ve seen Satan at work, we’ve seen prophecies fulfilled, and we’ve seen a hardened criminal repent and called Jesus Messiah.  A few days ago, at our Maundy Thursday service, we walked through the events of Jesus’ final day prior to his crucifixion.  We looked at his foretelling of Judas’ betrayal, his gathering with his disciples in the upper room, his mental torment in the garden, Judas’ actual betrayal of him, and finally his breathing of his last breath and giving up his spirit.  Now, in the immediate aftermath of all this, we find in the various Gospel accounts that several things happened.  First, as Jesus breathed his last breath, the curtain of the temple was torn completely in two from top to bottom.  Secondly, a Roman soldier who was part of the battalion that crucified Jesus, after witnessing all that had happened up close, proclaimed that “Truly this man was the Son of God.”  Third, we find that many of those gathered around Jesus were in stunned silence.  Some could not believe what they had just seen, while others were waiting for something else to happen.  However, that something else never came (or at least it didn’t come when they were expecting it to).  And finally, we find that since the Sabbath is fast approaching, that two men, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, asked Pontius Pilate for Jesus’ body so that he could be properly buried.  All of this ultimately ending with Jesus’ lifeless body being placed in a tomb with a large rock rolled in front of the only entrance, and Roman guards are placed in front of that rock.

                Now, it’s been three days and nothing has happened (at least nothing that anyone knows about).  It was no secret where the body of Jesus was laid, and so people were free to come and see the tomb and care for it, just as long as they didn’t try and remove the boulder.  Well, a group of women went on the first day of the week (i.e. Sunday) to place spices around the entrance of the tomb.  This was a common practice similar to our laying of flowers on a gravestone.  The spices served two purposes, they were decorative, and they also helped to mask any odors that might resonate from the tomb.  When the women got to the tomb, they found that that rock had been rolled away.  With their curiosity peaked and fearing that someone had stolen Jesus’ body, they looked into the tomb.  However, they did not find Jesus lying there, but instead found as Luke says “two men dazzling in appearance.”  We know from Matthew and John’s accounts of these events, that these two men were actually angels.  They see the somber faces of the women and they say to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen.  Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”  We’re told that the women then remember Jesus’ words.  So they rushed off to tell the eleven remaining disciples and word begins to spread from that point.

                How quickly sadness turned to shock.  How quickly shock turned to mourning.  How quickly mourning turn to fear, and fear to confusion and then rejoicing.  While those three days must have felt like an eternity of never-ending sadness, it seemingly was erased in a matter of moments as the angels informed these women what had taken place.  Can you imagine what it must have felt like for these women to have all of that sorrow and all of that guilty seemingly lifted from them in a matter of seconds?  Imagine that feeling you got when the Gospel finally became real to you.  Remember back to that moment when the Holy Spirit finally penetrated all of the callousness and all of the layers and defenses and walls that you had built.  Think back to that point in time when you saw Christ for the first time.  I have to imagine that it felt something like that for these women.  Spending a day watching Jesus be beat and put to death there on the cross; seeing his body taken away and buried in a tomb; sitting around for three days in disbelief that “it” was all over.  Only to have two angels say to you that, “He is not here.  He has risen.”

                Despite how overjoyed these women must have felt upon hearing these words, it can’t even compare to what we should feel today as we read them and hear them proclaimed some 2000+ years later.  This is the resurrection of our Savior.  On this very event the church is built.  Other worldly religions have similar strong ethical systems, concepts of paradise and the afterlife, and writings that are held as sacred.  However, only Christianity has a God who became flesh and died for His people.  Only Christianity has a God who after dying for His people was raised again in power and glory to rule and reign forever and ever over His people.

                It’s estimated that there are 2.18 billion Christians worldwide according to the latest survey.  Each Sunday, many of these folks gather in church buildings not unlike this one to worship.  Sure, some are much larger and some are much smaller.  Some are meeting in school buildings and rec centers, but the focus is still the same.  Some services of worship are very traditional and have remained unchanged for hundreds of years, while others are more modern and at times resemble theatre performances to some.  However, the One who is worship is the same throughout.  You see, the point isn’t how we worship, although that is important biblically speaking.  No, the main point is who and what we worship.  We worship God.  We worship the one who created and sustains each and every one of us.  However, one Sunday per year, Easter Sunday, nearly every Christian worships and proclaims the empty tomb and the resurrection.  Now, setting aside the fact that these things ought to be praised every day and not just one day a year, we have to ask ourselves why this empty tomb and resurrection is so important.

                Obviously, we don’t have time here today to go into every single aspect of why the resurrection is important in full detail, but I want to quickly state for you several of the primary reasons why we ought to cling to and praise the empty tomb each and every day.  The first reason is because it changed the direction of the world.  Instead of heading for destruction, we are head for redemption.  The power of God is working in this world to destroy sin, create newness of life, and prepare the way for Jesus’ second coming.  Secondly, we know that death has been conquered.  We know that we too will be raised from the dead with Christ to live forever.  Thirdly, we, as Christians and the bride of Christ, have been given authority to witness into the world.  We will see the early stages of this unfold as we begin our series on the book of Acts starting next Sunday.  Fourth, the Lord’s Supper, the sacrament that we celebrated both last Sunday and Thursday evening, finds its meaning in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.  Fifth, we find comfort in our times of sorrow and tragedy through the empty tomb.  When we suffer the pain of loss, the resurrection lets us know that death is not the end and that there is hope for the future.  Sixthly, we know that because of the empty tomb that Christ is alive at this very moment, sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, ruling and reigning over his kingdom.  And finally, the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us as we try to live and work our way through this fallen and sinful world as we seek to serve and worship Him.

                Friends, I want to challenge all of us in here to do something this year.  Maybe it’s something that you have always done, or maybe this will be something that is new to you, but I think that it is a right response to the glorious and life-giving news of the empty tomb.  I want to challenge each and every one of us to live every day like today.  I want us all to live each day celebrating that the tomb was and is empty and that our Savior has indeed risen.  You see, it’s not as if the tomb is any more empty today that it was yesterday.  It’s not as if the tomb will be any less empty tomorrow than it is today.  The simple fact of the matter is that the tomb is forever empty; that death is forever conquered.  All of those reasons that we listed a moment ago for the importance of the empty tomb are forever.  There’s no limit to the amount of time that they are true.  They are true yesterday, today, and forever.  In just a few moments, at the end of the pastoral prayer, I want all of us to join together by saying the Lord’s Prayer.  And I want you to pay special attention to the last line in that wonderful prayer, “for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and glory forever and ever.  Amen.”  Friends the tomb is empty, and it will remain empty from this day and forever more.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Luke 23:39-43 "The Two Criminals"

                Over the past few weeks, we’ve looked at how some of the people surrounding the cross treated our Savior as he was nailed there to that tree.  We’ve look at how the people gathered around him hurled insults at him.  Mind you, these are no doubt some of the same people who lined the streets shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David.  Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  Some of the same people that cheered as Jesus entered Jerusalem on the day forever celebrated as, just as we do today, Palm Sunday, were the very same ones who hurled insults at him only five days later.  We’ve also spent some time looking at how the officials of Jerusalem, the chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, and Roman soldiers, all joined in with their mockery of Jesus as the promised Messiah and coming King.  We’ve seen how all of these groups verbally and physically abused Jesus during his final moments of life upon this earth.  However, today we’re going to look at a little bit different type of witness to Jesus’ crucifixion.  We’re going to look at the two criminals who were there right alongside Jesus, one on his right and the other on his left, at the time of his crucifixion.  We’re going to see how we find ourselves as examples of each of these men, and we’re going to see how this shapes our interpretation of the cross.

                When we look at the each of the two criminals individually, we see both differences and similarities within them.  They are both men who have been convicted of a crime (most commonly thought to be theft).  As a result of their convictions, they were both sentenced to be crucified, and their crucifixions were carried out alongside that of Jesus.  Very quickly, it’s of note that Jesus’ crucifixion alongside criminals is yet another fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy that finds its completion here at the cross.  As a matter of fact, Mark 15:28, after stating that Jesus was crucified with criminals, reads, “And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘He was numbered with transgressors.’”  In addition to this Old Testament fulfillment and these already listed similarities, both criminals, at the very moment of this account are experiencing the physical pain of the crucifixion.  It’s not simply that they are both going to be crucified, but that they are both in the midst of the most painful part of being crucified.  We’ll see that this point is significant in just a moment when we explore a little of their mindset during this account.  However, despite the similarities that existed between these two men, there is one glaring difference between the two:  their perception of Jesus and who he really is.

                We see that the first criminal has nothing really positive to say to Jesus.  He says to him, “Are you not the Christ?  Save yourself and us!”  Now this doesn’t necessarily, at least on the surface, seem like anything derogatory towards Jesus.  However, I want to remind you very quickly of the language of the scribes and the people that we looked at a few weeks ago.  In their mocking Jesus, they all said to him, “If you are the Son of God, then...”  We made a connection between this line of questioning and that of Satan in his temptation of Jesus, where he too used this same phrase.  Well, “If you are the Son of God…” isn’t that far off from “Are you not the Christ?”  Both questions, or statements, in essence deny Jesus’ claim to be the promised Messiah.  They both deny Jesus’ authority that he rightfully has as the Son of God.  No doubt Satan was working all the way up to the end of Jesus’ life through the actions of those around him.  He was constantly attacking not only Jesus the person, but everything that he had been teaching and all that he came to do.

No one likes to suffer; that’s not news.  This isn’t even the first time this year that those words have been said from this very pulpit.  However, suffering has a way of showing the true intentions and true nature of a person.  This first criminal, as we said earlier, was suffering.  He was suffering the physical pain of the crucifixion, and he was probably also suffering the emotional pain of knowing that he indeed was about to die.  His priorities were not; however, on what came next for him, but on what he was enduring at that very moment.  He tells Jesus to “save [himself] and [them].”  And don’t think for a second that he’s talking about a spiritual or heavenly salvation; he’s just wanted to be spared the pain of death.  He was thinking about things from an earthly perspective because that’s all he’s concerned with.

Now, I want to press pause on the first criminal for just a moment if I can, and look very quickly at the other criminal there on the opposite side of Jesus.  We’re told in our text that after the first man questioned Jesus that, “the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deed; but this man has done nothing wrong.’”  You see, this man, who was enduring the same physical pain as the first, doesn’t see things the same way.  Make no mistake, he knows just as well as the first criminal that his time on earth is coming to an end, but his outlook is radically different.  Last year during our Maundy Thursday service (which is this Thursday just to remind you again), we were all blessed by hearing a phenomenal song about this event.  The song, entitled Thief, was originally written and performed by the Christian band Third Day.  I want to take just a second and read you the lyrics of this song.  It goes:

I am a thief, I am a murderer
Walking up this lonely hill
What have I done? I don't remember
No one knows just how I feel
and I know that my time is coming soon.
It's been so long. Oh, such a long time
Since I've lived with peace and rest
Now I am here, my destination
guess things work for the best
and I know that my time is coming soon
Who is this man? This man beside me
They call the King of the Jews
They don't believe that He's the Messiah
But, somehow I know it's true.
And they laugh at Him in mockery,
and beat Him till he bleeds
They nail Him to the rugged cross,
and raise Him, they raise Him up next to me
My time has come, I'm slowly fading
I deserve what I receive
Jesus when You are in Your kingdom
Could You please remember me
and He looks at me still holding on
the tears fall from His eyes
He says I tell the truth
Today, you will live with Me in paradise
and I know that my time is coming soon
and I know paradise is coming soon.

                You see, I think that this song, written from the viewpoint of the second criminal, so beautifully sums up the meaning of this passage.  The two men who were being put to death were guilty, and they were deserving of their punishment.  However, Jesus wasn’t guilty; he wasn’t deserving of any punishment but only praise.  Sure, he had been found guilty, but as we all well know, this was a false conviction.  This criminal, who is seeing his life come to an end, somehow knows that this man who others are hurling insults at is not a criminal or a heretic, but is indeed who he claimed to be.  He knows that this man is the Messiah.  This criminal lifts his head up and looks at Jesus and says to him, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  To which Jesus responds to him by saying, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”  This man is a criminal; he has already in his words to the first criminal admitted his own guilt.  Yet, when he asks Jesus to forgive him of his sins, Jesus tells him that he will dwell in Paradise; he tells him that his sins are forgiven.  I can’t for the life of me imagine what joy and emotions must have surged through that man’s mind and heart as Jesus spoke these words to him.  Or can I?

                Looking back quickly at the first criminal, we saw hardness of heart.  We saw a sense of self-preservation above all else.  We saw, in essence, a reflection of the world, not to dissimilar from the world that we find ourselves in today.  However, when it comes to the second criminal, we see something totally different.  Now, as we’ve said, their sins were similar, their circumstances the same, and their fates looked like carbon-copies of one another.  The difference between these two men, however, is Jesus.  The difference was the fact that one man looked to himself and the world around him as the ultimate reward, while the other looked to Christ as the ultimate priority in this world.

                So, what does this mean for us?  Well, it means a few things.  The first, as we already said, this is even more Old Testament prophecy fulfilled.  Second, just as Jesus forgave the sins of a criminal being put to death, he has the power to forgive our sins as well.  No matter how great and numerous our sins, there is nothing that the blood of Christ can’t wash away.  And finally, this is the picture of what conversion and a new life in Christ is like.  When we are concerned only with ourselves, when our number one priority is to see to it that we are taken care of, then we are like the first criminal.  However, when we become fundamentally and primarily concerned with Christ, it’s like we are a completely different person.  When we, as Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” that’s when Christian conversion takes place.  That’s when the Holy Spirit begins his work of regeneration and growth.  That’s when, as the apostle Paul says, the old self dies and the new self is born.  Romans 6:6 says, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”  When our eyes are opened and our minds focused upon the One True God instead of ourselves, then the salvation that was earned there upon that cross becomes our reality.  It becomes ours, and we will all come to know that reality in Paradise.  We will all come to know the joy that the second criminal felt when Jesus told him that he was to dwell with him in Paradise forever.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Mark 15:16-27 "The Romans Soldiers"

                One of the greatest joys of my life is being a father.  Each of our three beautiful children are truly gifts from God.  Each of them have changed my life in their own special way, and each of them have come into this world with their own unique personalities.  I’m going to pick on one of them for a second this morning as a means of explaining something about our text:  our beloved middle child, our oldest son, Thomas.  You see, Thomas is in more ways than one the spitting image of his daddy.  However, there is something that Thomas has that his daddy didn’t have:  an older sibling.  Now, Thomas doesn’t really listen to folks all that well.  Sure, he listens to me and his mama after we’ve told him to do something several times or after we’ve threatened him with something, but for the most part he just does his own thing.  However, there is one person that he will listen to no matter what:  his big sister.  Thomas will listen to Ashby and do absolutely anything she tells him to.  It’s really quite scary that one little girl holds so much power.  Now, the connection that I want to make here between my son and the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus is in this:  when Thomas gets in trouble, his excuse is that his sissy told him to do whatever it is that he is guilty of doing.  He simply says that he was just following orders.  Well, many times this same exact excuse is used when dealing with the Roman soldiers in our text.  Folks have tried to take some of the blame off of them since they were just doing what a superior told them to do.  We could also just as easily use that same excuse of ourselves many times today, but we’ll deal with that in just a moment.

                The Roman Soldiers were indeed following orders.  They were following the orders of Pontius Pilate, who, might I add, was very reluctant himself to have Jesus crucified.  After Jesus had been sentenced to death, someone had to carry out the sentence.  It was part of their job as soldiers of Rome.  Now, we’ve all been there.  We’ve all had things that we had to do as part of our jobs that we don’t/didn’t enjoy.  Just like I mentioned a moment ago, I don’t like disciplining my children.  However, it is my job as a father to teach them how they are to act, and sometimes that means doing things that I don’t particularly enjoy.  The same could be said also for any job in the secular world.  Now, before we just brush off all responsibility from the Roman soldiers, I want us to look a little more closely at their exact actions there at the scene of the cross.

                We’re told at the beginning of our text, after the crowd confirms that they want Barabbas release and Jesus crucified, that the soldiers take Jesus inside the Praetorium, the governor’s headquarters.  Once inside, they strip him of his clothes and place a purple cloak on him.  They then fashion a crown of thorns all twisted together with spikes that are suggested to be somewhere between 1 to 2 inches in length.  After making the crown, they didn’t just place it on his head, but drove it deep into his skull.  They put a staff in his hand and then mockingly knelt before him saying “Hail, King of the Jews!”  All the while, they were spitting on him, hitting him, and beating him with a whip-like instrument.  After beating him, they removed the purple cloak, and placed his original clothes back on him.  No, these weren’t men who were reluctant to carry out their orders in the least.  These were men who were displaying the same anger and hatred that we saw last Sunday coming from the scribes, chief priests, Pharisees, and the people of Jerusalem.  However, just like the groups that we looked at last Sunday, these Roman soldiers were fulfilling Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah.  The prophet Isaiah spoke of the Messiah being spit upon and struck in the face.  So, his being spat upon, beaten, and openly mocked were all fulfillments of prophecy about the Messiah.

                Now, the beating and the punishment that Jesus received was obviously so severe that he couldn’t carry his cross by himself.  He had to have the help of someone from the crowd.  The soldiers selected a man named Simon to assist Jesus.  If you’ve ever reached the point of complete exhaustion, then you know that it isn’t pleasant.  It seems like every year there are high school and college age football players who die from dehydration, heat stroke, or exhaustion.  These kids, ranging anywhere from 15 to 24, who are in peak physical condition, are asked to push their body to a level that it simply cannot go.  The human body does indeed have a breaking point, and I have to believe that Jesus’ physical body was there.  However, there was still work to be done.

                Jesus, along with the Roman soldiers and rest of the crowd, finished their ascent up the mountain.  Once they had reached the top, the Roman soldiers offered him a mixture of wine, gall, and myrrh.  This mixture was in essence a pain killer, and was commonly given to those being crucified in order to numb at least some of the pain.  However, Jesus refused it.  He took on fully and consciously all of the pain of the crucifixion.  This no doubt draws the comparison of his taking on fully and consciously all of the sins of mankind as well; a point that we don’t have time to fully discuss, but is very much in need of being pointed out.  After reaching the top of the mountain and the place known as Golgotha and refusing the pain-killing mixture, the Roman soldiers then divide Jesus’ garments and cast lots to see who received them.  In this, we find another fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  It fulfills the words of words of David, inspired by God, who wrote in Psalm 22 on the crucifixion of the coming Messiah.  Psalm 22:18 reads, “they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”  What comes next is the placing of a sign above Jesus’ head that stated his crime.  The sign read “ The King of the Jews.”  This wording was indeed his crime, seeing as he had been convicted of claiming himself to be the king, but it was also mocking him a little further as well.  The soldiers then placed him in the midst of a few criminals (who we will look at on Palm Sunday next week), and then proceed with the events that we looked at last week.  In essence, it’s as if the soldiers take a break so that the people and the chief priests can have a turn at mocking him.  It’s also worthy of noting that his being placed with criminal fulfills yet another Old Testament prophecy; it’s a fulfillment of Psalm 69.

                Ultimately, we are left asking ourselves what significance we can take away from the role that the Roman soldiers played in the scene there at Calvary.  Well, we’ve already seen that they fulfilled Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah.  That is first and foremost their primary role in these events.  In fact, later on, in one of the texts that we will look at during our Maundy Thursday service, we will see that they fulfill yet another prophecy when they offer him wine vinegar to drink shortly before he dies.  However, there is something else that I think we can take away from the example of the Roman soldiers.  I mentioned back in the beginning of the sermon that we often excuse our actions by saying that we are/were just following orders.  Now, I want to take a few moments and flush that idea out a little bit more.  I opened by giving you the example of my son saying that it’s never his fault, but the blame always rests with the person who told him to do something, typically Ashby.  You know, as humorous as this may be, it gets pretty old.  It gets even older when people continue to do this well into their teenage and adult years.  However, it is an ever-growing problem in our society:  people not taking responsibility for their actions.  Now, I’m not going to get into this completely, but I want to speak to the faith side of this argument and growing epidemic.

                Let me ask you this, “If your boss asked you to do something as part of your job and you knew that it wasn’t in line with your faith or your morality, would you still do it?”  In other words, if you knew something to be morally and spiritually wrong, yet a superior asked you to do it, would you do it?  Well, the reality of this is that many of us can’t say definitively what we would do.  We would like to be able to say that we would stand up for our faith, but we also like our houses, cars, vacations, and we really like being able to eat and pay our bills as well.  For many of us, and I’m guessing that it would be more accurate to say all of us, we have not made the choice that most coincides with our faith every time.  We’ve hidden behind this same notion of just following orders.  We’ve tried to shift the blame from ourselves to the ones who told us to do whatever task it was that was not in line with our faiths.  So you see, we have no position to be able to sit here and cast aspersions on the Romans soldiers.  Now before you say, “Well, I never did anything like kill someone when I followed orders.  When they followed orders, it lead to Jesus being killed.”  I want to think about what was accomplished in both situations.  Regardless of what the outcome might have been in your case, in the case of the Romans soldiers it lead to the crucifixion of Christ, which is the achievement of our salvation.  Remember what we said last Sunday, God used that hatred and violence and those horrific events to save us from our sins.  I’m pretty sure that when we found ourselves “just following orders”, it lead to the spread of evil.

                Friends, I’m not going to stand here today and tell you that you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for not dying upon your sword when asked or ordered to do something that was morally questionable.  I realize that we live in a fallen world in which the worldly and earthly desires of the flesh so often reign supreme.  However, I’m just asking for each one of us to own our faith.  I’m asking each one of us to take responsibility for our actions.  Don’t shift the blame for your lapse in faith to busy schedules, demanding bosses, or anything else.  Your faith is your own.  Many folks say that their faith is a personal relationship between themselves and God.  Well, I’m not going to address some of the issues with that statement, but I will point out one very truthful statement about it.  If the primary parties that are involved are you and God, then there is no excuse for being separated from Him.  It’s not as if God is every too busy for His children.  God is omnipotent and omnipresent.  There is no limit to His reach.  Friends, own your faith.  Wear your faith.  Show your faith.  Don’t allow your faith to remain hidden because you were simply just following orders.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.