No Wonder They Crucified Him!

I’ve been working lately on a sermon series for Lent which will begin this coming Sunday titled, “No Wonder They Crucified Him.” We like to think of Jesus as the “good shepherd” and the one who welcomes the little children, and those are powerful images of him, but he is also the one who came to cause division (Luke 12:51). When we get right down to it, Jesus gave us some hard teachings and he expects us to not only accept them, but to embrace them! And it is unfortunate that just when we think we've conquered one teaching, another comes into focus. You’ve probably learned as I have that I don’t have the strength to walk past that Fatboy without drooling and wishing it were mine! So, how do we remain followers of Jesus Christ when we don’t have the power to totally surrender our lives…to walk away from temptation…to give all we have to the poor…to daily deny ourselves and pick up our cross? I believe the key is not what I can do, but rather what He can do thru me. “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty” (Zech. 4:6). If you’re still struggling with your sinful nature or trying to conquer the world in your power, start over. Paul writes to us, “You however, are not controlled by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9). This is not a hard teaching we need to learn, it’s the bottom line!