How do we live our lives like Jesus?

Father, Forgive Them: From Ignorance to Empathy

Maybe the reason we feel stuck — we think “salvation” was the one-time moment that happened at baptism (when we said “Yes” to Christ).
The New Testament realizes that the “moment of salvation” is not the end, but the beginning — salvation is an on-going life that we live with Christ.
We need continual redemption — freed from the desires of flesh and sinful habits that we continue in after we became Christians.
As the cross saved us — paid the penalty of sin, made us new, reconciled us to God — it also motivates us to continue to live in the way of Christ.

What exactly Jesus is saving us from — see salvation as an on-going process in our lives (providing continual freedom from our old lives —and our sinful habits)
Where Jesus is leading us as people of the cross — recreating as new people, living as new creation (2 Cor 5:17), willing to sacrifice for the sake of others (how Jesus is the ultimate example for selfless love)

Jesus is freeing us from our ignorance.
How does Jesus free us from this ignorance? The cross reveals to us that the “them.” in “Father, forgive them” is not just the Roman soldiers or the Jewish leaders or the disciples who ran away, but us — you and me?
That honesty should lead to a level of empathy for others — this isn’t just the truth about us, it’s the truth about the world.
And this empathy allows us to forgive as freely as we have been forgiven (Eph 4:32).

Let me give you a simple exercise that will help you to start thinking this way:
1. At the end of your day, right before you go to bed, think back over your day.
2. Remind yourself of God’s incredible grace that surrounds you — but be honest about what you’ve done, what you’ve thought, what you’ve said.
3. Confess those sins before God and ask Him to reveal to you the people you should forgive or ask forgiveness from (and then follow up on that later).

This statement from Jesus reminds us that discipleship takes place in a messy world.

We shouldn’t want to be taking this journey — talking about being disciples in the way of the Cross through the 7 words of Jesus from the cross.
1. I don’t think we really fully appreciate what crucifixion meant in the time of Jesus.
2. It’s obviously a means of execution — but it’s more than that.
3. Generally, the Romans saved crucifixion for those they wanted to make an example of — specifically in a political way. It was generally reserved for those who were rebelling against Rome or inciting others to rebel.
4. So for these failed rebels, the Romans would execute them in a public way — outside the city along a major road, with a sign over the criminal’s head stating what they did.
5. It was basically Rome’s way of saying “Don’t mess with us. This is what happens to those who mess with us.”

The cross enables us to be honest with ourselves — here we can be honest about our failures.
1. Somehow, someway, that failed rebel saw victory when others only saw defeat. Saw a coronation to a Kingdom when others only saw shame.
2. He understood (how? No idea) — the hopeful aspect of the Kingdom — that what God is doing in the world requires trust, it requires the kind of hope that sees beyond present suffering.

And to this failed rebel, Jesus says the 2nd word from the cross: “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”

1. This word teaches us that Jesus is setting us free from the shame of our failures
2. In Romans 5:6-11 Paul reminds us who we used to be — here are the words he uses for us: “powerless,” “ungodly,” “sinner,” and “enemy.”
3. But it’s failures like us that God is restoring and reconciling to Himself

And to that one failed rebel, that hope came “Today!”
1. The difference between a wish and a hope is how it affects you right now in the present.
2. We have been reconciled to God.

We cannot bring about paradise by ourselves, despite how well things might be going at the moment.

It might seem that the Way of the Cross is a very lonely journey. That’s often how we describe it— in individual terms (my life, my story, my journey with God). And in many ways, Jesus is entirely alone on the cross; but, surprisingly, in other ways, He isn’t.

While discipleship is personal, it does not have to be individual — even the Son of God needs emotional support.

In this midst of this isolating world, what kind of relationships can God’s people encourage?

One of the most uncomfortable things about Jesus for us, the church in America anyway, is what He consistently says about families — and how He messes with families.

For these, for all in this world who are isolated and lonely, “family” can’t just be a metaphor for the church — the church quite literally needs to become their family.

Psalm 68:6 “God sets the lonely in families.”
1 Tim 5:1-2 “Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.”
Jesus, from the cross, tells John that their relationship is no longer teacher/student — they’re now brothers (they share a mother).

If I invite someone into my life — to treat as a family member — I’m giving that person power to hurt me. Emotionally. Spiritually. In all kinds of ways. This is why church splits often feel like a divorce. That’s what they are.
To treat someone as a family member gives up a measure of control — and that’s why we don’t do it. That’s why we isolate ourselves, sit in coffee shops with earbuds in, staring at computer screens.
So here’s your assignment for this session — take a risk with a relationship. Show hospitality. Give up control over your home and your stuff by inviting someone to share them, and when you say “make yourself at home,” really mean it.
Because discipleship may be personal, but it’s never merely individual. We’re a family of disciples, taking this road trip together, following Jesus on the Way of the Cross.