MPC, 29th March 2002.Romans 5:6-8 - "A Victorious Cross"
Maurie Cropper MPC, 29th March 2002.
Well, the annual Academy Awards, or the Oscars as it's commonly known, are over. We had winners who cried, and losers who grinned.
Victors who raised their Oscars high into the air, and the vanquished who must have worked hard not to hang their heads.
Everything was big. Everywhere it was dazzling. It had it all. A mix of drama, humour, and pure self indulgence. References about race and colour… and the usual endless thankyous, thankyous, thankyous.
And if you didn't catch it this year, don't worry… it'll all happen again next year. Year after year, it's the same sort of self-absorbed stuff that increases hat sizes overnight.
But usually behind the hype of the Academy Awards are some memorable movies. Memorable for different reasons.
Now I'm not one that likes too much blood. So previous Oscar-nominated movies like 'Braveheart'… depicting Scottish clansmen revolting against the English, showing fighters in kilts chopping off the heads of their opponents… are a bit too much for me.
And so was the movie the 'Piano'. It's about a young Scottish mum who through an arranged marriage ended up half-way around the world in 19th century New Zealand. Her passion was piano playing. The part I particularly wasn't fond of was when in a fit of punishing rage, her eccentric English husband chops off one of her fingers.
And you wouldn't believe what happened to me.
As he raised the axe my imagination kicked into top gear… and the next thing I knew I found my head in my lap… and Helen beside me asking: "Are you okay?" I'd all but fainted.
And then there's the 1998 release of the World War II movie 'Saving Private Ryan'. As soon as I read the rating that included "…for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence" ..I thought no way. But then a whole bunch of guys were going to see it… and I didn't want to be thought of as a 'wimp'… so I went along.
And what you guys didn't know was that I sat there with my eyes closed for the first fifteen minutes.
But it was the last two minutes that I have never forgotten.
If you've seen the movie, you'll know among those landing on 'D Day' were four brothers. Within a few days three were dead. A plan was devised to find and save the remaining brother… Private James Ryan. So a squad of eight men under the command of Captain John Miller are sent to get Private Ryan home alive.
As I said, the last two minutes of the movie are the most memorable. It's fifty years later. And there's an incredibly moving moment.
Private Ryan and his family are standing in a war cemetery. Kneeling before the grave of his rescuer Captain John Miller… James Ryan, crouching down, says: "Everyday I remember those things that you said to me on that bridge… and I've tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that at least in your eyes I've earned what all of you have done for me."
Then his wife comes up to him and he says: "Tell me I've led a good life. Tell me I'm a good man." And she replies: "You are." And the movie ends.
So here's this guy. He's near the end of his life and he's wondering if he's been good enough. He's not convinced. He's even a little scared. But he's desperate to know if he's been good enough. He's worried sick and he needs to know.
Have you ever found yourself in that sort of state… worrying that you're not good enough? Wondering if God will accept you on the grounds of how good you've tried to live your life? Would someone telling you that you've been a good person really be enough to convince you? Or does knowing what you know about yourself always leave doubts to whether God would accept you? And if that's the case ..do you worry to what can be done about it? Is there an answer? Well, yes, there is.
Let me read you something. It comes from Romans chapter five, verses six to eight.
The Apostle Paul writes:
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
There are a number of differences between those words and those of Private Ryan.
It's a fact that there are lots of known examples of people who have done the most heroic things to save good men and women. Acts of bravery, extraordinary courage, carried out with undaunted determination. Fearless beyond belief.
I guess a classic example of such heroism can be found in those Victoria Cross recipients like Roden Cutler. There's been over 1350 of them. From Alexander Dunn during the charge of the 'Light Brigade' on the 25th October 1854… to an un-named SAS soldier in the last few weeks serving in Afghanistan. People who have carried out unbelievable acts of bravery to serve and save others.
Take the example of Donald Brown, who in 1916 fought and died in the battle of the Somme, in France. This guy was amazing. On three separate occasions he rushed at and captured different enemy machine-gun posts. His bravery citation said: "… the utter contempt for danger and coolness under fire of this officer did much to keep up the spirit of his men."
Records of incredible bravery speak for themselves… But while people have dared to even die for good people, Christ did the unexpected. For while we all were still sinners, while we were still thumbing our noses to God, while we were still rebelling against God's right to rule our lives… God demonstrated his love for us in allowing Christ His Son to die for us.
You and I know that lots of people are under the impression that everyone is born good and somewhere and somehow along the way they simply go bad, and then from bad to worse.
The Bible tells it differently.
The Bible says that because God's original two people, Adam and Eve, rebelled against Him… we're all born tainted with a rebellious streak of our own. We all have wanted to run our own lives; determine our own destiny. None of us are born good.
So here's the first difference. The perfect Son of God died… not for people born good – for no-one has been born good... He died for people who were born bad.
The second difference, between those last words of Private Ryan and those from Romans is this: Private Ryan's sense of worth was dependent on him having lived a 'good life'. In his thinking the death of Captain John Miller and the other men would have been all in vain, their deaths would have been futile, and made no sense at all, if he wasn't able to pay them back by being a good man.
But our bible reading doesn't say that our worth is found in our goodness. What it does spell out as fact, is that Christ died for a world full of helpless people, powerless to rise out of their sinful condition of rejecting God's right to rule their lives. Therefore our worth cannot be based on any good we do… it can only be based on the Cross of Christ.
A further difference is that having come to near the end of his life Private Ryan now bases any hope for the future on that same good life. But hope that is based on what you have done has to be precarious. Precarious, because what happens to your hope if you do something bad? It goes out the window. And you end up with no hope at all.
But a hope that is based on the Cross of Christ is true, it's trustworthy, it's real, it's reliable, and it's relational in that it's based on our relationship with God in Christ.
And did you notice how unconfident and how unsure Private Ryan was? He wasn't even confident in his own evaluation of his life as being a 'good life'.
Unconvinced he turns to his wife for approval and says: "Tell me I've led a good life. Tell me I'm a good man."
So where should our confidence and assurance come from? Should it come from our partners... our careers... our friends?
Let's take another look at those bible verses. See what it says:
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Everything about those verses smack of God being in control.
He chooses the time. What took place was His doing. No-one told Him what to do or when to do it. Even man's ungodliness doesn't prevent God from carrying out his plan. Our confidence and assurance should come from the fact that God is in control.
Because just at the right time God committed Christ to the Cross as a demonstration of His love for us! How assuring is that!
As Christians, our worth, our hope, our confidence, our assurance, our victory… is dependent on what Christ has done for us on the Cross, and nothing else.
What makes me right with God is none of my doing.
What makes me right with God is the Cross of Christ.
If you haven't yet placed your trust in the Cross of Christ don't dally, don't put it off… and definitely don't be fooled into thinking that you can get right with God through being a good person. It simply isn't true. Not for the Private Ryan's of this world… not for you and not for me!
The Cross of Christ is the only way in which we can be reconciled with God.
The Cross of Christ is a 'victorious cross'.
It's what our worth is based on. It's what our hope is placed in. And it's what our confidence in a life to come with God, is anchored to. So don't let go of it. Don't lose sight of it.