Luke 23:26-43
Tonight we look at the two people who came closest
to sharing the experience of Jesus
because they also died on a cross alongside him.
The suffering of these three tells us something important
about suffering itself, will it make us better or bitter
about looking to Jesus for salvation, how simple that is
and about assurance in the face of death, how sweet that is.
These two men shared the same suffering as Jesus
but in the one case it made the man bitter
and in the other it made him better
in the sense that he found acceptance from Jesus
and a sure hope beyond his death.
Don't think that the mere fact of suffering qualifies you to go to heaven
or to find some special blessing from God.
Suffering is unpleasant and cruel, let's not be pious about it.
But literally the crucial test, as we go through suffering, is
do we become better or bitter?
We don't know anything about these two men beyond what we read here:
they were both criminals, possibly terrorists, not innocent men
unlike the man besides whom they hung.
As one of them said to the other:
41 'We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.
But this man has done nothing wrong."'
That's the reality, the contrast, two guilty men and one innocent man
yet when all three died two had hope and the other only bleak darkness.
Two men close to the innocent Christ -
Wouldn't you think they would both be moved by his suffering?
Why didn't they both turn to him and seek salvation?
But they didn't.
One talked mockingly of Christ saving him. (39)
His suffering had made him so bitter.
It makes me shudder to think you could be so near to the Saviour
and yet miss salvation.
It makes me shudder to think of the times
I have let my suffering make me bitter
and put me in danger of rejecting Jesus.
Think of some time when you have suffered.
Some moment of disappointment, rejection, bereavement
of physical pain or emotional anguish.
It could be relatively trivial, like your car or your computer breaking down
and yet it created trouble for you.
It could be something like an attack or a break in
and maybe you bravely said
it was little enough compared to what others suffer
but it still meant a lot to you.
It could be the pain of illness that clouds your life
or fear and worry about illness.
Then ask yourself
Did that tragedy, be it big or small, bring you closer to Jesus
or did it create a distance?
Did it make you more humble, more sympathetic to other's troubles
did you learn patience through the set back
or did you send out invitations to a pity party
and put the blame on someone else, or even on God?
It depends who is at the centre of your life. Is it God or is it you?
If it's you who are the controller of everything in your existence
then you are bound to lash out when you suffer, as that man did.
HOW SAD IT IS IF SUFFERING MAKES US BITTER
BECAUSE WE ARE TRYING TO RUN OUR LIVES INSTEAD OF MAKING JESUS KING
HOW SIMPLE IT IS TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN BY TURNING TO CHRIST.
If in some way you do fear God, as the other criminal said
if you do bring him into the reckoning
then there is another way of reacting to suffering.
It can turn you to Jesus, as it did with the other criminal.
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said,
"since you are under the same sentence?
42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
As someone has put it:
'While everyone else sneered at Jesus' kingdom and kingship,
he alone begged to be a citizen of that kingdom,
and his naturalisation papers were instantly processed.'
(Peter Kimber SU Encounter with God notes 3/97)
This is a model for what it means to become a Christian.
You don't need a load of theology, to become a Christian.
You don't need to reach a standard of goodness to become a Christian -
You don't need elaborate prayers to become a Christian.
Living as a Christian will demand much in terms of thinking out our faith
and reforming our lives and keeping close to God in prayer
but becoming a Christian is a simple thing.
It is simply, like this man, looking away from yourself to Jesus.
It is simply like the publican in the temple
crying out 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'
Or it is as Paul said to the distressed jailer at Philippi,
'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.'
Do you see the similarity in all those situations?
It is people crying out, Lord, I have nothing, you have everything.
Remember me! Help me! Save me!
It was one point of light on the darkest day in world history
that this wretched man, this disgrace to civilised society
who deserved everything coming to him
is somehow moved to see beyond the placard and the jeering
about Jesus claiming to be king
to see that he really is the king and to sense that his death will not be the end.
How good this 'Good Friday'
if someone here was to cry out to Jesus for the first time:
'Jesus remember me!' Be king in my life.
HOW SAD IT IS IF SUFFERING MAKES US BITTER
BECAUSE WE ARE TRYING TO RUN OUR LIVES
INSTEAD OF MAKING JESUS KING
HOW SIMPLE IT IS TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN BY TURNING TO CHRIST.
How sweet it is to look forward to meeting Christ beyond this life.
Here is another point of light on a dark day:
43 Jesus answered him,
"I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
Assurance of life beyond death, of acceptance by God,
to be with Christ today, the day of their deaths
not in some remote time to come, in paradise.
Paradise literally means a garden
the restored creation in which the righteous dwell.
If you want to be technical
it is the place where our spirits are in relationship to Christ
while we wait for the resurrection of our bodies
but we don't need to be technical,
it is enough to be sure that when you die you will be with Jesus
that death has lost it sting.
Is this not a true test of whether we are Christian believers or not:
that whatever we feel about the process of dying
we are not afraid of what lies beyond death
because how could we be afraid
of being welcomed by Jesus in paradise?
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