Remember last week, when we were focused on Christmas in August? Well, if you thought we were pushing the season then, that’s nothing like what we’re doing this morning. You see, for the next fifteen minutes or so, we’re going to be jumping past Halloween and Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Day. I mean, we’re leaving both Fall and Winter in the dust and focusing on what we’ll be remembering on Good Friday, April 3rd, 2026. And of course, I’m talking about the crucifixion.
Now, as y’all probably know, the reason we’re doing this has nothing to do with wishing away both football and cold weather. No, it’s just the next topic in the sermon series we started a few weeks ago, you know, the one entitled I BELIEVE: Exploring the Apostle’s Creed. You see, we’ve already talked about what it means to say “I BELIEVE in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth” and “I BELIEVE in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.” And then last week, we sort of narrowed our focus on who Jesus was and what he did, starting with how he “...was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” And this morning we’re going to continue this focus by considering what it means to say “...he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried...” In other words, during the service today, we’re looking at the crucifixion, a story that most of us have heard at least a hundred times. Just see if this rings any bells:
The soldiers took Jesus to Golgotha, which means “Place of a Skull.” There they gave him some wine mixed with a drug to ease the pain, but he refused to drink it.
They nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled to see who would get his clothes. It was about nine o’clock in the morning when they nailed him to the cross. On it was a sign that told why he was nailed there. It read, “This is the King of the Jews.” The soldiers also nailed two criminals on crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.
People who passed by said terrible things about Jesus. They shook their heads and shouted, “Ha! So you’re the one who claimed you could tear down the temple and build it again in three days. Save yourself and come down from the cross!”
The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses also made fun of Jesus. They said to each other, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the Messiah, the king of Israel, let him come down from the cross! Then we will see and believe.” The two criminals also said cruel things to Jesus.
About noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until around three o’clock. Then about that time Jesus shouted, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”
Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, “He is calling for Elijah.” One of them ran and grabbed a sponge. After he had soaked it in wine, he put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus. He said, “Let’s wait and see if Elijah will come and take him down!” Jesus shouted and then died.
At once the curtain in the temple tore in two from top to bottom.
A Roman army officer was standing in front of Jesus. When the officer saw how Jesus died, he said, “This man really was the Son of God!” [Mark 15:22-39, CEV]
Now that’s from the Gospel of Mark. And if you looked at Matthew, Luke and John, outside of Jesus’ last words, you’d find something very similar.
And I’ll tell you, that’s going to be our focus this morning. You see, we’re going to consider both the meaning and significance of the crucifixion, in other words, what actually happened and why it’s important for us right here and right now. And to do that, we’ll use the Apostle Paul’s interpretation of what occurred when Jesus “...suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried...”
And even though the official day set aside to remember it is still seven months away, I think that’s pretty important for us to do at any time, because, in my opinion, Paul was crystal clear about its meaning. You see, for him, the crucifixion of Jesus dealt with sin, and I’m talking about our sin. In other words, when Jesus died on that cross, it was for us, not him. Of course, to understand what Paul had in mind, we sort of have to get into his train of thought about the nature of and remedy for sin.
For example, Paul defined sin as simply worshiping the creature rather than the creator. Now, for him, that’s what sin is. And I’ll tell you, I think that’s what he was talking about when he wrote this to the Romans:
From heaven God shows how angry he is with all the wicked and evil things that sinful people do to crush the truth. They know everything that can be known about God, because God has shown it all to them. God’s eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made. That’s why those people don’t have any excuse. They know about God, but they don’t honor him or even thank him. Their thoughts are useless, and their stupid minds are in the dark. They claim to be wise, but they are fools. They don’t worship the glorious and eternal God. Instead, they worship idols that are made to look like humans who cannot live forever, and like birds, animals, and reptiles. [Romans 1:18-22, CEV]
Now I want you to notice, in this passage, Paul focused on idolatry, you know, the worship of statues and bushes and sticks and that kind of stuff, something people used to do all the time back in the day, but not so much now. You see, for him, idolatry was at the core of human sin. But I’ll tell you, I don’t think an idol has to be the statue of an animal or a person, you know like a golden calf. I believe our tendency is still to worship and to follow and to idolize what was made rather than the maker, And I think that can be seen by the enormous trust we put in our own knowledge and wisdom. In other words, people tend to worship themselves, assuming that what they think, God thinks; and that what they hate, God hates; and that what they want, God wants for them. Now, for Paul that’s what sin is.
And according to what he wrote, sin affects us all, and I’m talking about every man, woman and child. Of course, this wasn’t some idea he just came up with himself. No, for Paul, this was something people always knew, and I’ll tell you, I think that’s why he wrote this:
The Scriptures tell us,
“No one is acceptable to God!
Not one of them understands
or even searches for God.
They have all turned away
and are worthless.
There isn’t one person
who does right.
Their words are like
an open pit,
and their tongues are good
only for telling lies.
Each word is as deadly
as the fangs of a snake,
and they say nothing
but bitter curses.
These people quickly
become violent.
Wherever they go,
they leave ruin
and destruction.
They don’t know how
to live in peace.
They don’t even fear God.” [Romans 3:10-18, CEV]
Not exactly something you’d put in a Mother’s Day card, right? Now that’s what Paul wrote; sin affects us all. In other words, regardless of how good we think we are, we are all sinners. In spite of our best effort, we still wind up worshiping the creator, usually ourselves, rather than the one who made us. And as a result, we end up separating ourselves from God and from one another. Simply put, as he also said to the Romans, “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” [Romans 3:23, CEV] And I’ll tell you, if that weren’t bad enough, get this: for Paul, there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s beyond our control. No wonder he wrote, “What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die?” [Romans 7:24, CEV] This, my friends, is the human condition
But here’s the good news. It’s right there where the crucifixion becomes important to us. You see after, establishing what sin is and who it affects; for Paul, through the death of Jesus Christ, we have died to sin. And I’ll tell you, I that was his point, when he wrote this:
We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin. We know sin doesn’t have power over dead people.
When Christ died, he died for sin once and for all. But now he is alive, and he lives only for God. In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God. [Romans 6:6-7, 10-11, CEV]
In other words, when Christ died, we died too; for Paul, it was as simple as that. You see, since death breaks the power of sin, I mean, using his own words, “we [already] know [that] sin doesn’t have power over dead people,” [Romans 6:7, CEV], because God is perfect in both his power and love, man, we were in Christ there on the cross. I’m telling you, when Jesus died, so did we; therefore, with respect to sin, we are dead men and women walking. The power of sin has been broken. Now, for Paul, that’s what the crucifixion was all about, it dealt with human sin, with our sin.
And because it did, that’s why it’s significant; that’s why it’s important to us right here and right now. You see, because it broke sin’s power, we are now free. We are now free from having to worship the creature rather than the creator and we are now free from this burden that everybody seems to carry around. Like Martin Luther King, Jr. said at the end of his “I Have a Dream” speech: Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! Man, that describes us, you and me. And I’ll tell you, I think that’s important for two reasons.
I mean, first, we are free from bondage to the past. I mean, we are free from that rut we create for ourselves when we allow our opinions to be based on what we’ve always believed and when we allow our vision to be shaped by what we’ve already seen and when we allow our mission to be determined by what we’ve already done. And we are free from some of those crippling assumptions we carry with us from the past, and I’m talking about those emotional anchors that hold us back by convincing us that, since we are products of the past, we can never move beyond the mistakes we’ve made and that we can never be more than the expectations other folks have laid on our shoulders. And we are free from having to use those distorted values and attitudes and assumptions that we’ve inherited from the past to hurt ourselves and others anymore. Man, we are now free from all that garbage. Why? Because through the crucifixion, the power of sin is broken and we’re free from bondage to the past. That’s one.
But I’m telling you, that’s only half of it, because, second, right here and right now, we’re also free to live in the present, and I’m talking about really live, live in the way God has called us to live. You see, because we died in Christ, we’re now free to dedicate ourselves to God, to listen for his voice speaking through his word and to seek out his will as we go about our daily living. And we’re free to separate ourselves from the values of this world, to stand against all those who tell us that mercy is a sign of weakness and that greed can be beneficial and that feeling hatred is ever justified and to affirm qualities that are often pushed to the side, and I’m talking about things like humility and patience and kindness. And brothers and sisters, we’re free to love others as we’ve been loved ourselves, to lift their needs above our own wants and to actually put into practice what Jesus taught his disciples when he told them and tells us to turn the other cheek and to walk the second mile and, my gosh, to offer a coat when only a shirt is expected. In other words, we are free to become the people that God has called and inspired and empowered us to be. Why? Because through the crucifixion, the power of sin is broken and we’re free to live in the present.
Of course, having said all that, I recognize we have a long way to go before we get to Good Friday, April 3rd, 2026. I mean, we’ve got to get past pumpkins and turkeys and garland, streamers and hearts and shamrocks, man, we might even have to wade through a whole bunch of snow before we make it to the cross. But you know that certainly doesn’t mean that we can’t focus on the crucifixion as we make the trip. In other words, we can recognize that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ dealt with sin, our sin, and because of that, it sets us free. You see, this is something we can carry with us all year long, because we believe that Jesus “...suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried...”
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