October 29, 2017

Don’t Look Away From the Son of God Part 2

Mark 15:21-32

We are in the middle of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in our messages in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus’ “passion” is the Bible’s story of how he was arrested, tried and then crucified, this is the “Passion of the Christ”. Last week we started this series in Mark only because we need to be focused upon what Jesus is doing and why He is doing this. When we are aware of the sacrifice of Christ for us, then we are more acutely aware of our own sin. We talked about that last week, how when we are focused upon Jesus our own sin is magnified in our consciousness, we are convicted because of Christ.

I wanted to make clear something this week that I didn’t say last week, and that is that knowing the sacrifice of Christ, really seeing it is central to your sanctification (how Christians go through life after being converted); but it is not the entire makeup of how we walk through life honoring Christ and knowing our sins. Understanding the suffering of Jesus, knowing the pain, being fully aware of the separation that Jesus had from the Father is important to know, but it is not everything to know. We begin our journey of faith from the knowledge of the passion of the Christ, but we continue to walk with Christ as we learn more and more about who Jesus is, and who is Christ in me.

The Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are our schoolwork, that is where we hear the parables of Jesus, that is where we listen to the words of Jesus explaining what the Kingdom of God is like, that is where we continue to see Christ and that is where our sanctification continues to grow.

If you haven’t started on the road to sanctification yet, if the passion of the Christ has not jump started your faith, then today is the day you should start your journey. Allow Jesus to show you the way forward even as He stumbles under the weight of the heavy piece of wood that He will die on. Allow Jesus to introduce you to Simon of Cyrene, the Jew who was radically changed by The Son of God. Allow Jesus to put you on Golgotha (skull hill) as He drags his bloody beaten body to His place of death and His place of Victory!

Don’t look away this morning, keep your focus on The King! Don’t look away today, stay on Jesus and then walk in His light!