"Who is in the Driver's Seat?" (Philippians 3:10-14) Purpose Driven Series Sermon Three

1. Which seat is the right seat?

Some people have said that Jesus is their co-pilot in life. Sounds good … maybe … but is this a good analogy for where Jesus should sit in a person’s life?

When we were in Hawaii last year, we took a small aeroplane from the main island of Oahu over to the little island of Molokai. This is where there was a leper colony in the 19th Century, and where a small number of people affected by leprosy still live. I have been interested for many years in the life and work of Catholic priest Father Damien, who served the people of Molokai for over twenty years.

In the plane over to and back from Molokai, I got to sit in the co-pilot’s seat. Now this was exciting, because in between taking my video of the flight, I could watch how the pilot operated this small aircraft. My headset was also tuned into the tower giving various flight-path instructions to the pilot. I had sworn for many years that I would never travel in a single engine plane, because if that one engine stopped, then there wasn’t another option. But the allure of visiting Molokai, which I had wanted to do for fifteen years, got the better of me. Without much hesitation, the much braver souls … Raelene, Judy and Clive … said they would come too!

Although the view from the co-pilot’s seat was fantastic, I realised that if the pilot had a heart attack or lost consciousness, then the passengers behind me better not think I could do anything useful up front to save the plane. Even if I knew anything about aviation, I was just too far removed from the pilot’s seat and all the instruments and levers to be any help at all. Likewise, if we keep Jesus in only the co-pilot’s seat, we may be just placing him too far away from the action to actually help us very much.

Jesus in the co-pilot’s seat may work okay when things are going well, but at the first crisis, we might just need greater inner guidance and direction than can be gained from across at the co-pilot’s seat.

Sam recently sold our little white Suzuki for us. He told us about one lady who went for a test drive – with Sam in the front passenger seat. Sam said with the way this lady drove, he actually feared not only for the welfare of the car but also for his life. Now this wasn’t a driving instructor’s car where there are duplicate pedals on the passenger side, so all Sam could do was pray. Sam wasn’t going to be able to do much else to help from the passenger side.

Thus, the co-pilot’s or front passenger’s seat will not cut it! We need to have Jesus firmly in the driver’s seat of our lives – if we firstly want to avoid disaster, and secondly want to excel in life (which of course is synonymous for finding our real purpose).

2. Paul’s change of mind

In the reading before us, from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we get a real picture of the importance of Jesus to each and every life. In the verses that lead up to what we have read, Paul has talked about his former life – even though he was successful and influential by human standards, that all added up to nothing compared to his newly found relationship with Jesus. In fact all his former agendas and associations have been completely left behind due to, as it were, placing Jesus in the driver’s seat of his life. His all consuming focus is now centred on sharing this possibility of new life across the world. This former persecutor of Christians has turned around so completely that he was prepared to go to jail if this is where his new focus and resultant activity took him. We read in verses 8 & 9 –

"… I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith."

Over the last two sermons in this series, we have found that God is the centre of the universe and therefore our approach to life should move beyond self-interest to seeking God’s unique and special purpose for our lives. For indeed God has chosen us to be in relationship with him, and found ways, beyond all disruptions to his plans, to redeem us through Jesus, and adopt us as his children, and give us a family inheritance sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3-14).

Now it’s time to get our life in order by sorting out who’s driving it, and if this is still primarily ourselves, then finding ways to let Jesus take over.

Song: “I’m Only Jesus” sung by Tim McGraw - Jesus awaits us allowing him into our life, and just can’t understand why we wouldn’t, given what he can do for us.

3. Steps to having Jesus in the Driver’s seat

(a) Knowing Jesus

Have we trawled enough through the pages of the Gospels to really soak up who Jesus was and is? Have we imagined what Jesus is saying to us in the pages of the Gospel accounts? If we have, then we would surely open our lives to Jesus (as did the people referred to in the latter verses of the earlier song). To fully trust Jesus enough to be in the driver’s seat of our lives, we need to continually reassure ourselves of his integrity and greatness revealed in the Bible. Unsure about Jesus – delve into his life! Just like the seeing-eye guide dog is the eyes of the blind person, we need to have Jesus as our eyes – interpreting for us all of the world’s complexity, so that we can best weave our way through toward living out our purpose.

Yet knowing Jesus is not only intellectual, but also deeply personal. We need to come to love Jesus as our brother, Saviour, friend and Lord. We can love him for the radical change he can make in the circumstances of our lives. Those that responded with the most love to Jesus were those who recognised and felt their lostness and then so appreciated the acceptance that Jesus showed them, for example the unwelcome prostitute who bathed Jesus’ feet with her tears and anointed them with ointment and found forgiveness (Luke 7) and the hated tax collector Zacchaeus who converted from being a oppressive fraudster to a happy and generous benefactor (Luke 19).

(b) Knowing the power of Jesus’ resurrection

As Paul tells us, Jesus’ resurrection invests new life into us. This brings power to live in new, much more effective, much more satisfying, much more joyful, ways. We need to appreciate the living effective Jesus working through us in our daily interactions, through the various challenges that cross our path, and in all of our attempts to be on mission for God. We would need to ask ourselves the question, ‘Do other people experience the life of Jesus when they interact with us’? Would our neighbour say, ‘Now there is a different sort of person … they seem to have purpose, hope and peace’!

(c) Sharing in Jesus’ sufferings

Does this fill you with excitement … I guess not! This does not primarily mean going to a cross and emulating what Jesus did. For what Jesus did was a monumental one-time act to save us and all the people of the world. Yet in following Jesus there is often a cost. Sometimes sadly, as we heard recently, with the over 100 million Christians who are being persecuted for their faith around the world, suffering and even death is a real possibility as a result of publicly following Jesus. Of course, this is what Paul himself experienced.

Having said this however, this text in Philippians 3 is more about becoming involved in Jesus’ causes even at the risk of suffering and sacrifice (in what is sometimes a hostile world). Simply, what Jesus stood for, is what we stand for! We must be prepared to demonstrate our union with Jesus. If this is our mindset, then we are in a position to have Jesus in the driver’s seat – because our intentions and Jesus’ own priorities come into alignment and are compatible.

Jesus sacrificed everything in the cause of people being free to fully experience God. Is this where our mindset is? We should be so grateful and so enlivened by what Jesus has done for us, that we want others to experience at least the beginnings of this process as well.

We should want to be more like Jesus – obviously so. Interestingly, there is a curious tentative type statement in verse 11 that suggests that, even though Paul knew his salvation was secure, he knew he had a long way to go in becoming like Jesus … in fully knowing the power of Jesus’ resurrection and embracing Jesus’ suffering and mission. Paul’s own new life it would appear was a work in progress! Paul had a deep concern that he would be effectively engaged in representing the reality of Christ’s resurrection as the future unfolded. This introduces the notion (that follows in verse 12) of the life of faith being a journey.

(d) Pressing on

And so through all the doubts and challenges and tests that come our way, we should seek to keep our focus on Jesus. All of the faults and contradictions in our lives won’t be solved overnight. Just as Paul might have been criticised for being arrogant or dictatorial or unsympathetic at times, we will all have to face up to various uncomfortable assessments of ourselves at times. The important thing is that we seek and embrace personal growth with enthusiasm. Despite any shortcomings that could be raised against him, Paul was the greatest missionary the Christian gospel has ever had. We too, as we are, are filled with potential for transforming neighbourhoods and communities, and more so as we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s transformation. In his commentary on Philippians, HA Kent suggests that Paul is describing the Christian life as a “relentless centring of energies” on the course that is ahead.

Yet, those doing this series in their small group will hear Rick Warren on video commenting that knowing our true purpose will actually simplify our life. Because we have a more specific focus, we will not find ourselves trying to do too much, or being so frantically active, or so easily distracted, or dabbling in so many different things, or constantly changing interests, or wasting as much time, or doing meaningless activity. We become very selective what we do according to the parameters of our God-given purpose. Groups can have fun discussing that proposition!

(e) Looking forward through the windscreen

If you’re going to take a ‘road trip’, you better have Jesus in the driver’s seat. And if you’re going to take the ‘road trip’ of life, you better have your eyes fixed on the windscreen, much more so than on the rear-vision mirror. Now the rear-vision mirrors on cars are very useful to see what’s coming up behind or when reversing. But when checking on what’s coming behind, you just take brief glances, lest you don’t notice that the car in front of you has put on its brakes. Most of our driving is done looking forward through the windscreen.

This is like life needing to be lived looking forward. We occasionally need to look back in the rear-view mirror to learn from where we’ve been, but essentially life is lived in the present preparing for the future. Whereas there can be a sense of making up for the past, those mistakes in the past cannot be allowed to weigh us down in the present. Past sins should not absorb our thoughts or impede our progress. That is one of the main reasons Jesus died on the cross – to free us from the guilt of the past (so we wouldn’t remain prisoners to our sin).

To dwell on the misdeeds of the past is to waste Jesus’ act of mercy on the cross. Have you thought of it that way? We don’t like to waste food or money or any of God’s good gifts. To resist God’s forgiveness is to waste Jesus’ pain on the cross!

I have made many mistakes in the past … letting people down, failing to witness with integrity, serving my own ends; but I’ve had to let these things go in the wonder of God’s forgiveness, so that they didn’t restrain my usefulness in the present, and so they didn’t prevent me engaging in my true purpose. We don’t have to let the past determine our future or get in the way of God’s good plans for us; better to see these things as done with and settled.

The beginning of Psalm 32 reads:

"Oh what joy for those who disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight. Yes what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt."

Let go of your guilt and be free!!

With Jesus in the driver’s seat, our old destinations, similar to the ones Paul walked away from, are now off-limits. There will be no more turning down the dead-end streets of self-centredness, bitterness or wastefulness. No more off-road ventures into rubbish tips. We allow Jesus to design our itinerary, and see us through the bumps and pot-holes.

Live life looking through the windscreen – with Jesus in the driver’s seat!


The goal Paul is travelling towards is referred to as “the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (v.14). In this context, this is not just ‘salvation’ or ‘eternal life’ that Paul is referring to, but more so God’s heavenly purpose for Paul on earth. As Jesus taught us to pray (Matt 6:10b):

"[May] Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven".

We will discover our purpose in life and God’s best for us as we look forward through the windscreen and allow Jesus to take the steering wheel. We each have a unique contribution to make, and collectively we can make a special contribution to our local community with Jesus in the driver’s seat. We become the physical hands and feet of Jesus on earth as he pilots our life in good directions.

"We Are Not Here By Accident" (Ephesians 1:3-14) Purpose Driven Series Sermon Two

A. INTRODUCTION – A Divine Appointment

Having determined that it all starts with God and that God is the centre of the universe, we can then begin to unwrap where we as human beings fit in. The opening verses of Ephesians give us a lot of insight into this to go on. We can see here that it is no accident that we have come to know God and thus are sitting here today trying to deepen that relationship. To be here is to honour a ‘divine appointment’. We are meant to be here! [Sometimes we might have to say that we were meant to be here, even when we weren’t actually here!]

During the week I had a dentist appointment. This meant that I had to show up at a certain place at a certain time in the interests of my dental health. Our participation in a church community is a ‘divine appointment’, where we have shown up here at this time in the interests of our spiritual health. Indeed, the whole of our life has become somewhat of a ‘divine appointment’, whereby we see each moment of life’s journey in its connection with God at the centre of all things.

In a helpful paraphrase of Romans 12:3 the “Message” reads in part, “The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us”.

B. TEXT OF EPHESIANS

So, what do we discover in Ephesians chapter 1 which is of great importance to our human and spiritual identity? If God is the centre of the universe where does my life fit in?? What do you see here???

[And this is a very important quest for us. This is because a lot of the people living around us are living without the sort of foundation that we are reading in this text. And we can be so easily swayed to these alternative life orientations that are so prevalent if we are not absolutely clear what we are really about. We can so easily shift so subtly if we are not careful. Young people … in the search for popularity … we can so easily become followers instead of leaders.]

(1) GOD CHOSE US

In creating us, God chose us to be in a loving relationship with him. God destined us to become his eternal children. This was all done, “…according to the good pleasure of God’s own will” (verse 5b); or as the NLT translates, “This is what God wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure”. God loves us intently – God’s whole purpose in creation was to have us to love. Those who are doing this study series in their small group will look at Psalm 139 to discover how vivid our very origin was in the mind of God. God has chosen us to be an object of his love.

This is not to say that we have been ‘chosen’ and that others haven’t! God has high hopes that all will respond to his invitation. But this does say that God has turned his heart towards us at our conception, set his mind toward seeking us out, and done everything he can to connect with us. We don’t have to convince God to accept us, we don’t have to wonder whether God will welcome us or not; God has already chosen the unchangeable path of loving us, patiently awaiting us to respond in faith. And God has ‘chosen’ us, not just for a single moment of decision, but rather we are ‘chosen’ with all of God’s purposes for our lives in mind. We are not chosen to be ordinary and ineffective, but are chosen to be “holy and blameless” (v.4), which at least in part suggests that we excel in our Christian life.

Because of the way we have been designed, we actually can never be complete as a human being without God in our life. I know many have tried it, but I don’t know anyone who’s pulled it off! We have an inbuilt place in our lives that only God can fill – without God there is a void. Many people have tried to fill this space with other things, but never successfully, and often very destructively. Whether its money, material possessions, worldly success, power, sex or drugs – these cannot take the place of God. Carl Williams tried all of these and we see how he finished up! Such was the nature of our creation that we need God; and not just to survive, but more so to fulfill our life’s God-given purpose.

(2) JESUS PROVIDED FOR OUR REDEMPTION AND ADOPTION

You think you’re well off the mark from the way God would have you be! Well, Jesus has provided for our ‘redemption’. ‘Redemption’ refers to the process of buying back that which has been lost to another interest. The Ephesians would have been familiar with the Greco-Roman practice whereby slaves were freed by the payment of a ransom. Such slaves were in bitter bondage to their particular masters, until a benevolent benefactor could sponsor their freedom. Or we go to ‘cash converters’ to buy back that piece of jewelry we had to sell off in a time of economic crisis, but find someone else has paid over the money for us and we can have our prized possession returned freely.

God has bought us back from the ownership of whatever has entrapped us destructively or unhelpfully and separated us from him. There was a price to pay for such a transaction as this, and of course Jesus paid that price in full. We don’t have to buy our own way out – indeed we would never have the capacity so to do – rather … we just accept that Jesus has already liberated us.

The forgiveness that Jesus offers breaks us free from the negative power of guilt and delivers us from our feelings of shame. To feel ‘guilt’ is to realize I have done wrong. To experience ‘shame” is to have that sensation that somehow I am wrong – that I am diminished in my personhood. Jesus brings the remedy for both conditions. As we truly regret the times where we have hurt others (or ourselves), acted inappropriately or unthinkingly, dishonoured God or generally gone in the wrong direction, then God, rather than condemning, and for the sake of a relationship with him, forgives us.

You will notice in verse 8, that God’s grace was not reluctantly measured out in little portions. The ‘grace’ that makes such redemption and forgiveness possible was actually “lavished” on us generously (with such hopeful expectations concerning our response).

Another benefit we read about in this passage is receiving “adoption as [God’s] children through Jesus Christ’ (v.5). This denotes that, although we have been born of human parents, we are becoming part of God’s family unit (alongside Jesus) with all of the same privileges you would expect as a natural member of that family; which includes, as we shall see, sharing in the inheritance to be had. Thus, our home is in heaven (just as much as Jesus’ home is in heaven). The life orientation and objectives of heaven are our life orientation and objectives.

(3) THE HOLY SPIRIT SEALS OUR INHERITANCE

As just mentioned, this adoption into the family of God allows us to share in God’s inheritance to his children. Some of us may receive a little something when our parents have both passed away, but we will usually have to wait before we receive such benefits. God on the other hand can’t wait to give us everything that he has to share with us – it’s ready for us to enjoy and utilize now.

What does it mean to be “marked with the seal of the … Holy Spirit” (v.13)? At the time “seals” were affixed to certain goods in transit to indicate particular ownership and thus protect or guarantee its contents for that owner. “Seals” were also attached to documents to prove their genuineness. So, you get the point? To be “marked with the seal of the … Holy Spirit” is to be deemed to be under Divine ownership, where all the ‘contents’ so to speak of a life are under the influence and protection of God. Also, anyone who sees such a “mark” or “seal” will know who the package, or in this case the person, actually belongs to. A Jesus follower will be more and more recognized as such, as the Holy Spirit works in their life.

When the human environment brings us a little too much complexity, the Holy Spirit reassures and guides us toward truth that will keep us in Christ. More than this, the Holy Spirit inspires us to participate in God’s mission in the world, to understand where God is active and get involved – rather than being fatalistic about the world’s woes, we seek to be part of the solution. In this way we would be demonstrably sealed for eternity by God’s Holy Spirit. Is our ultimate response to God’s grace to sit quietly in our chair and think how lucky we are … surely not!

The end point of all this is touched on in verse 12 (and then again in verse 14) – “… so that we … might live for the praise of [God’s] glory” – or, ‘so that we might live in such a way as to bring praise and glory to God’. Whereas we cannot actually make God any greater (or any better than he already is), we can, through the way that we live out our ‘redemption’ and ‘adoption’ and are known as God’s person, significantly testify to God’s might and wonder, and thereby enhance God’s reputation. More on this in a later sermon in this series! There is a real accountability for us to wrestle with here.

C. CONCLUSION – Trinitarian Formulation

We have read here of God’s great planning. God is the architect, not only of our life, but also of our salvation. Jesus is the agent of our salvation through sacrificing in the cause of our redemption and adoption into the eternal family of God. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation through making us fruitful. We are not here by accident … hardly! I hope and pray that we have all been able to respond to God’s great provision to each one of us!!! God is reaching out to us from the centre of the universe lavishing us with grace and offering us a great inheritance.

"It All Starts With God" (Genesis 1:1-3,26-31) Purpose Driven Series Sermon One

The Questions We Ask

We would surely be caused to think from time to time – why am I here – what is the purpose of life? Now we may start to answer these questions simply from the standpoint of our own lives. And this in itself would reveal a problem, whereby we would never really come up with a satisfying or suitable or correct answer to our question. This is because we would in so doing be setting ourselves up personally as the centre of the universe … everything revolves around me! All of life’s happenings and all of the actions of others are judged purely on how they affect me. It is my needs – and whether they are met or not – that determines how I feel about life. These are the thought processes of those that see themselves as centre of the universe.

This way of thinking tends to lead to the desire of accumulating possessions and power, and having every little urge appeased, often to the detriment of other people. This way of thinking tends to lead toward seeking success as the world defines it ahead of anything else. Yet, we know, with the fickleness and uncertainty of the world, this would also be a self-defeating pursuit. So we seek to understand our purpose from the limited perspective of one life, and thus miss it all together. Of course we are not the centre of the universe, none of us are! We just often act, me included, as if we are!!

Sometimes we draw boundary lines around our immediate family and declare this unit to be the centre of the universe, but that’s not right either. Sometimes nations draw boundaries around themselves and see their own interests as the central concern in the universe, and seek to keep others out, and that too is not right. If relatively wealthy countries judge their ability to give aid to poor countries on the basis of whether they can afford it (or on what they would have to give up), then this is a sign of being far too parochial and self-centred.

The purpose of our individual and collective lives is of course found beyond us – it all starts with God! For those of us who have responded to God’s gift in Jesus, and are active members of God’s kingdom on earth, then we need to understand that our purpose for everyday life is indeed found in God. Otherwise those who are yet to make this step of accepting God through Jesus will not have any helpful reference points through which to make such a decision.

Let me put this simply – God is the centre of the universe! Everything we believe and do should therefore be referenced to God. In this way we will truly find out why we specifically are here; or at least, how we can make a positive contribution to the human community and all of God’s creation. For, according to Genesis chapter 1, the first responsibility given to human beings was to take responsibility for all of what God created. This is God’s world, be we are the appointed managers. When things go wrong, we should know where to look (to see where the problem lies)!

We have read an account from Genesis that describes how life originated. Out of the creative and loving mind of God came everything that is good. God carefully created the whole context in which human life would be lived. God’s Spirit swept over the face of the waters and brought everything on earth into being. This would be the same creative Holy Spirit that sweeps into our lives when we accept Jesus. The “light” that came to shine through the darkness reminds us of the light of Jesus that should shine through us. And then subsequently God gave human beings the responsibility for caring for all of the creativity described in the rest of this passage.

We know that God also gave each of us freewill as to whether we would take up this responsibility properly or not (whether we serve the cause of light or darkness); and the perpetual abuse of this freewill has meant that the world is often in a perilous state racked with greed and violence. Yet the charge of Genesis 1:26, concerning taking responsibility for the broader environment in which we live, has never changed or been amended. This is a charge to consider the big picture of life, God as centre, God’s creation as the context of life, and the valuable part we have to play!

I love jigsaw puzzles – the whole challenge of putting them together; of considering the colours and patterns and objects that allow hundreds or thousands of pieces to be brought together into a single unity. We could see God’s big picture ideal for planet earth like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The full picture doesn’t appear at once, it is revealed over time. Yet when all the pieces do start to come together, it all looks rather good. But sometimes pieces go missing, and there is only frustration and disappointment. Sometimes certain parts of the jigsaw prove to be more challenging or very difficult, and some might give up at this point.

Rather than seeing our individual lives as a separate entity, we might be better to understand our lives as being one piece of God’s big picture jigsaw puzzle – a unique piece, no other piece like it, with certain qualities that really add to the beauty of the picture; and of course an indispensable piece, for if our piece goes missing – the picture will never be complete. Our lives, like the jigsaw puzzle, are interconnected – people rely on us for certain sections of the picture to come together. And the picture itself originates in the mind of God.

We do have the capacity to fulfil our role, because we have been created ourselves in God’s likeness, thus having the capacity for great good. We were not made sinners deserving death – upon our creation we were deemed “very good”, and therefore up to the task. And so once we access the forgiveness gifted to us at the first Easter, we again have the capacity to cooperate with God in restoring God’s creation.

Yet, as humans in a very complex world, we tend to easily get tied up in knots or overwhelmed with the affairs of life. Also our own particular desires about what we want to get out of life become a very persuasive distraction. And then the personal agendas that we can bring into our family and church life can make corporate decision-making very tricky. So let’s try to simplify all this!

God is really the centre of the universe, and our life will only work out properly if we acknowledge this and adopt this as our very framework for living. Easily said and nodded at, but harder to put into action. I recall hearing on tape an impacting sermon by John Smith of God Squad fame, when on making a moving and passionate plea for a response, the congregation started clapping – probably reacting to this preacher’s great oratory. But Smith was caused to remark … that it was a lot easier to clap than take the action he was recommending.

We have to make a clear and absolute decision that God is in the centre as far as we are concerned! We then pray as if God is in the centre. We then go to our jobs and places of study acknowledging that God is in the centre. We talk to our neighbours or interact at the shopping centre believing that God is in the centre – and we are a crucial part of God’s big jigsaw type picture.

We gain a tremendous of feeling of peace and hope when we know that God is in the centre, and we sense that we are chosen vessels of blessing for one another. Thus, participating in a church community is not a duty to be endured, but rather the most natural and beautiful outcome of our God-centredness. Witnessing to our faith and trust in God is no longer the most fearsome thing imaginable, but rather the most natural output of our relationship and friendship with Jesus.

I’m sure that it wasn’t easy for our musicians to play and sing at the front entrance of the community centre at last week’s Point Cook Market … but they did it, and did it wonderfully, and received very warm comments from those who heard. This very sort of activity should be the most natural consequence of God being in the centre of our lives.

Answering the Questions

So we return to our original questions about why we are here. The meaning of life is found in these statements of truth:
· God created everything, including the human community, and deemed it all “very good”
· God desired that we would choose for ourselves to love him, so God gave us freewill, and the opportunity to voluntarily associate with him
· God called us to take responsibility for all this creation, to be good stewards of all God’s good gifts, to manage God’s resources well
· When the challenge became too great, and failure occurred, God provided Jesus to offer a path of forgiveness and salvation
· God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us live out the life of Jesus every day.

It all starts with God; not only that … it all continues with God, and will end with God.

What is the purpose of our life? This is what we will continue to wrestle with, not just in theory, but also within the cut and trust of daily life … for we do not have the luxury of putting our life on hold while we perfect the answers to this. The answers will be discovered as we trust in God to give us understanding of our daily challenges and what they mean for each one of us.

But here are some starting points to get us thinking:

· Getting to know God through Jesus
· Understanding God’s mission in the world
· Cooperating with God and participating in community
· Fulfilling our piece of God’s huge jigsaw puzzle
· Loving our neighbour (being a summation of everything)
· Touching the lives of others in the name of God (with redemptive intent)
. Realizing our potential

Good Friday Message for 2010 (Luke 23:32-43)

The second criminal that was heard to speak from a nearby cross said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (v.42).

This of course was a huge contrast to the first criminal who was heard busily deriding Jesus. What caused this second man to say … “Jesus, remember me…”? What led up to him being able to say these words to Jesus? Here was someone who was expressing, in the clearest terms, confidence and trust in the person of Jesus. In this man on the adjoining cross, we see someone who was thoroughly regretful for the life he had lived, and for the actions he had taken.

But what had made such a difference in him? Well, let’s think about Jesus, and what he had said from the cross. In the midst of his own personal suffering, and the mockery and torture being inflicted upon him by the religious leaders, Roman authorities and the crowd, Jesus was able to say (in v.34), “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing”. Who of us could have said this?

Who of us, in this situation of innocent suffering, treacherous betrayal and blatant rejection, could have said “Father, forgive them…” about those who had initiated such injustice? But indeed Jesus did just that! This was such a remarkable statement!

It wasn’t as if Jesus’ opponents were unaware of the brutality they were inflicting, they just didn’t recognise who they were actually doing it too – they were brutalising God! Jesus’ pain was God’s pain too! Oh God’s outrageous love for his creation … that he could respond to this scene with the same level of mercy that brought Jesus to earth in the first place!

In these sincere words, Jesus showed himself to truly be the Son of God, God in human flesh, representing so impactingly God’s heart of mercy, even for those so destructively working against God in their lives. This criminal from the nearby cross heard this, and understood these words to have come from a Divine source. Even in this his most darkest hour, this dying man would have to reach out, and just hope it wouldn’t be too late to connect with this Jesus.

In the greatest irony of all, Jesus’ innocent death on a cross, despite being such a horrible injustice, was going to bring salvation to the world. Jesus was going to endure the worst humanity could conjure up, and then transform it into the path of forgiveness, even for those who put him there. This is the depth of God’s gift to us. In a sense, Jesus takes upon himself our worst, and offers us forgiveness in return. This is the power of the cross we consider today.

Jesus was tempted again here (v.35), just as he had been some three years earlier by the “devil” in the wilderness, to divert from God’s plan – this time by the so-called “leaders”. But Jesus had determined through prayer in the ‘Garden of Gethsemane’ to take the way of the cross – if this was what was needed to activate God’s plan of salvation. Some in the crowd had their eyes and ears firmly closed and refused to recognise the significance of what was happening this day. One particular person however, saw and heard all he needed to – to respond, to repent, and to be able to experience a total change in his future prospects.

From where this poor criminal hung, how good it would be to hear Jesus’ response that day! He probably had feelings of having wasted his life, and felt such a sense of pain at the desperation that had led him to break the law and finish up here like this (in such misery). And then to hear the words back from Jesus … “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (v.43)! This is such a huge turnaround!!

This man had really only simply asked to be remembered whenever it was that Jesus would reign in the future. He would not have had much idea about the detail of what he was asking for, where or when this would be; all he knew was that he believed in Jesus (which of course is the most important thing anyway). But Jesus surpassed this simple request and promised him instantaneous peace and joy in God’s intimate presence. Today his suffering would end, and his experience of “paradise” would begin. This broken person, pain-ridden, gasping for air and dying, could only cry for pardon; and pardon he immediately received – and a whole lot more with it!

So, where are we in this scene? Are we in the crowd … not really seeing, hearing or understanding, but rather just shouting “Crucify him, crucify him”? Do we continue to deride Jesus in our unbelief? Or are we drawing close … understanding our culpability and our need, reaching out to the one who is literally dying to save us?

Will we gain that sense of living in God’s paradise even here and now … because we have come to know Jesus, and accepted him as our Saviour? For in this way we will be liberated from the hopeless task of trying to make everything right by ourselves, and freely enter new life in the Spirit of God.