Blog Archives
A modern day substitutionary death
One of the stories to emerge in the news recently is of a French policeman who volunteered to take the place of a hostage during negotiations. The negotiations didn’t go well, and several people lost their lives, including the policeman.
That policeman is now being honored as a true hero, as well he should. To voluntarily take someone else’s place in a dangerous situation requires courage, character, and self-sacrifice.
The woman whose place he took, a wife and mother of a 2 year old, will never be the same. She will never forget. She will live every day of her life with the knowledge that she’s alive because someone else laid down their life for her. She will know that she was freed from captivity by the actions of someone whom she didn’t’ even know. Her child will grow up hearing the story, and living in gratitude to that heroic officer.
Can you imagine what that mother is experiencing? Well, as it turns out, we probably CAN imagine that, at least to some degree. Today is Good Friday, the day we remember how someone else took our place so we could experience freedom. On Good Friday we remember that someone we didn’t know stepped into a dangerous situation and sacrificed his life for us. On Good Friday we remember that Jesus didn’t have to go to the cross, but he CHOSE to do that so we wouldn’t have to live in captivity. It took courage, character and self-sacrifice.
Today we’re inviting everyone to join us in remembering this substitutionary death. Between 3 and 9 pm you can participate in a self-paced Good Friday experience of the stations of the cross. It’s a multi-sensory, reflective, and powerful experience that will help you remember the heroic actions that Jesus took on your behalf. And it will prepare your heart for the glorious good news of Resurrection Sunday.
So please join us anytime today at 13 Firstfield Road in Gaithersburg, beginning at 3 pm. Plan to spend 30 to 60 minutes walking thru the stations. And be sure to arrive no later than 8:30 pm so you have time to complete the experience.
I hope to see you then.
-Pastor Mark
The scary side of grace…
Grace. It’s a gift. It’s remarkable…even “amazing.” Last week we came to understand why we can and must live in, and live out grace for God’s sake. But there’s a scary side of grace.
In his book, The Reason for God, pastor and author Tim Keller recounts this story:
Some years ago I met with a woman who began coming to church at Redeemer and had never before heard a distinction drawn between the gospel and religion [i.e. the distinction between grace and what is often a works-based righteousness]. She had always heard that God accepts us only if we are good enough. She said that the new message was scary. I asked why it was scary and she replied: If I was saved by my good works then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with “rights”—I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if I am a sinner saved by grace—then there’s nothing he cannot ask of me.”
She understood the dynamic of grace and gratitude. If when you have lost all fear of punishment you also lose all incentive to live a good, unselfish life, then the only incentive you ever had to live a decent life was fear. This woman could see immediately that the wonderful-beyond-belief teaching of salvation by sheer grace had an edge to it. She knew that if she was a sinner saved by grace, she was (if anything) more subject to the sovereign Lordship of God. She knew that if Jesus really had done all this for her, she would not be her own. She would joyfully, gratefully belong to Jesus, who provided all this for her at infinite cost to himself. (pp 189-190)
What’s your incentive to live a good, unselfish life? For many of us, it’s really just fear. But that’s not grace at all. Grace rightly understood means I belong to Jesus. Is that the grace you’ve experienced?
-Pastor Mark
P.S. I hope you can join us this Sunday, June 2nd at 6:00 pm for our Annual Church Meeting (Road Trip: Are We There Yet?). Unlike other meetings you may attend, this one will NOT bore you, and it WILL inspire and encourage you. You’ll even get to laugh and enjoy good food. Please register if you need childcare.
Living in faith, hope and Love 