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Jesus' Passion and the Sovereignty of God · Centrally Speaking

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Centrally speaking, is the Central Schwankfelder Churches podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: It speaks about issues that would be of interest to our society.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: In particular, it addresses how a Christian worldview intersects with Western secular culture.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: In the spirit of the church's founder, we take the perspective of the middle way, which is in agreement with the historic Christian Church.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Dr.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Drake Williams, Minister of Mission and Theology at the Church.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Our website is www.cscfamily.org.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, today we're speaking about Jesus' passion and the sovereignty of God.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm very fortunate to have a good friend and colleague, Reverend Dr.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: David McKinley, with us today.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: He's been the senior pastor here at Central Schwankfelder Church since 2005 and has been involved with ministry for 30 years.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: So thinking of the number of years, David, that uh you've been in the ministry, we look forward to hearing uh your thoughts on uh on the passion and God's sovereignty uh as uh you start now this 31st year of uh ministering at the time of holy week.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: So welcome.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Dr.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: Drake.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's a pleasure to be here.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: So let's uh talk about uh uh the passion and uh so important for Holy Week.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: I know some might read uh about the passion, they might think of uh this being uh an out-of-control event, maybe a good man, Jesus, uh who's in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: Is that the way that we should be thinking about the passion, uh, as some sort of haphazard random event, uh or uh is there some other way to think about it, at least biblically speaking, as you reflected on it over these years?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: It's a great question, Drake.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I think on on the one hand, uh the passion of Jesus, his suffering that he encountered prior to his death was from a human standpoint the most unjust and heinous crime that's ever been done.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: Here, the perfect individual who never sinned, never did anything wrong, is betrayed by his closest friends, is tried unjustly, and is subjected to incredible torture and mistreatment, and then dies as a criminal.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: Crucifixion was reserved for the worst of the worst.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: If you were a Roman citizen, you could not be crucified if you committed a capital offense.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: It was reserved for Rome's enemies and for the worst of the worst.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so, on the one hand, Jesus dying the way that he did was uh the worst thing that could ever have happened on the earth.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: But then there's a flip side to it.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: From the divine perspective, it was God's plan so that our sins could be atoned for and Jesus would be our substitute.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so these things seem to be, may seem to be out of uh uh control, but there's uh some divine plan that uh seems to be going on uh within it.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: What leads you to believe that uh there is some divine plan?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh what are some signs of uh God moving Jesus to the cross rather than him just sort of being caught up in uh uh the the factors uh of the day?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: So from the words of Jesus himself, so there were many times throughout his ministry that he would make the statement, My time has not yet come.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: Take for instance when Mary, his mother, asked him at the wedding of Cana, approaches him and said, They're out of wine.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, Woman, what do I have to do with you?
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: My time has not yet come.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: And we know, of course, uh from that testimony in John chapter 2 that he goes ahead and turns the water into wine, and uh that it's such good wine that they ask the host, Why have you saved the best for last?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: So Jesus repeatedly in his ministry talks about how his time has not yet come.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: He would repeat this in John chapter 7 to his own brothers who approached him and said, You know, if you want the world to see what you're doing, why don't you go to the feast in Jerusalem?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: He said, My time has not yet come.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: And he said that again and again and again, up until he prays in John 17, and he said, Father, the hour has come.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: He might as well have said, My time has come.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: Glorify me with the glory that we had before the world was.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: Another aspect of this understanding that there is uh a bigger plan involved than just what human beings did to Jesus is other commentary in the scripture, like for instance in Luke 9.51, it says that he set his face like flint toward Jerusalem.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: And that is a common phrase of in biblical times of to act with determination.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: And so there came a time when Jesus decided that it was it was time to go to Jerusalem, to suffer at the hands of sinful men, to be betrayed, and to eventually go to the cross and die and then be raised again.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: And he would tell his disciples this ever since the confession at Caesarea Philippi.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: He he would tell them that it's necessary for the Son of Man to go to Jerusalem, be betrayed, suffer, die, then be raised.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: And the disciples didn't want to hear of this, they didn't understand it, and they they didn't want to believe it.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but we know that that's the way that history took place.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: And so one of the signs is from Jesus himself.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: Another one of the signs is from the apostles, and there's uh a verse in Acts chapter 4, verse 27.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: This is after Peter and John have been arrested uh for healing the lame man, and uh then they appear before the religious leaders, they defend themselves, uh, they're released, and they go back to the large group of the disciples, and they're praying.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: And part of the prayer is when they heard it, Acts chapter 4, it says, For truly in this city, verse 27, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: So there's everyone that was against Jesus, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: So the apostles recognize that even though these bad things have happened to Jesus, he was raised from the dead, and it was all a part of God's plan.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: He orchestrated the whole thing so that he would receive the most glory from it.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: These are good points to bring up, uh David.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: Think of uh how much of the narrative of the Gospels uh seems like it's events, but now these little snippets come in, like you said, Luke 9.51 or Acts 4, and they they point out that there's something else that's that's taking place too.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: So already you've read referenced uh the gospels and you've referenced Acts.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: How about the Old Testament?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: Is there anything from the Old Testament, uh passages like 700 years prior to that uh um uh at least alluded to uh a messiah who would who would be suffered or who would be crushed, uh like um we see at the crucifixion?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, certainly.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: So uh what many Old Testament scholars call the proto-uangelion, in other words, the first occasion of the gospel in sacred scripture is of course Genesis chapter three, where after the fall, then God tells the woman, it's through your offspring that then that your offspring will crush the serpent's head and he will bruise his heel.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: So there's a reference there to Christ's substitutionary atoning death on the cross.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: Also, if you read the passage of the suffering servant in Isaiah chapters 52 and 53, particularly in chapter 53, verse 10, where it says, It pleased the Lord to crush him.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's a reference to uh Jesus going to the cross as a part of God's plan.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's not that the father enjoyed seeing his son die a horrible, painful death, but that it was a part of his plan that this would happen so that our sins could be atoned for.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: And that in itself is the greatest act of mercy and love and sacrifice that's ever been made.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not just solely represented in the gospel writers or in Acts, but uh this seems like a plan that goes back, if you want to say the proto-evangelium of found in Genesis 3:15 or Isaiah 53.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's you're 700 to 2,000 years earlier that there's been a plan.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's been happening all along.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: And the apostles especially saw that uh the death and resurrection of Jesus was the fulfillment of God's plan that was long preached throughout the Old Testament.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: That uh you read through the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, they point to the Old Testament sacrificial system as as the precursor to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: So if this has been forecast or predicted for a while, and it's something that the gospel writers and acts and others uh represent as being um intentional or being deliberate, how would that affect someone's faith as you see it?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I think that uh the cross is a great reminder uh that just as Jesus gave of himself, that it's a great message of perseverance and that life is not about our happiness or about our comfort, but rather it's about redemption and transformation provided by God Himself to us, his sinful creatures, that uh it's God's way in which we can be reconciled to him and have true fellowship that was once experienced in the garden by our first parents, then can resume through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: So uh there's that.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, it also is a word toward that things ultimately work out.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: What I mean by that is that you know the sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which we can lay our heads and rest easy at night, knowing that the world is not spinning out of control, that God is not up in heaven wringing his hands, that uh things are not, you know, out of balance, but rather the Lord is on his throne and everything uh is moving toward his desired plan.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: I think of Romans 8.28.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we know that all things work together for the good, for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: Ephesians 2.10 tells us that we are his workmanship created for good works, that he has prepared for us to walk in beforehand.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: So as a Christian, I take great comfort and great delight that God is orchestrating my life, and that uh even if I were to die tonight, I know that um my life has fulfilled God's plan for me and that he's working all things together for my good and his glory.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_02: With all this talk of uh sovereignty or plan, might that lead somebody to think that one's not responsible for choices and actions?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: And you have any thoughts on that?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I I think that we are a hundred percent responsible for our actions, that we can never lay uh our own decisions, even sinful decisions, at the feet of of God and blame Him for anything.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, I act uh sometimes out of my flesh.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I act uh sometimes out of my selfish desires.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: And so uh and life is filled with hard lessons that teach me uh that I have to die daily to self and I have to walk uh with Christ and live for him.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's that's where the the battle is is denying yourself and doing things God's way instead of my way.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so yes, I I'm fully responsible for my foolish choices or poor decisions, but thankfully there's redemption, uh, there's confession of sin and there's forgiveness uh that God uh allows for.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well, how then does uh this pattern of Jesus' life, uh along with the plan of God, the sovereign plan of God, how does that affect an average person's life, um, a Christian's life?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, when God calls a man, he bids him to come and die.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: And so we live for the Lord.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: We don't live for ourselves.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: And as Paul would say, when we die, we die for the Lord.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: So uh there is a there is this sense that uh my life does not belong to myself.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's not about what I want or what my goals are, but everything is in submission to God and his will.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, there's that uh passage in the book of James where it says, don't say that you're gonna go to this city and earn this amount of money and do this or do that, but only if the Lord wills.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: And something that I've heard you say in our conversations uh uh during our friendship, Drake, is that uh when we're planning something, you you always say, Lord willing.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_03: And that's the truth.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: We we operate always with uh an idea that that God's gonna have his way, and we're walking in that.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: And we uh we allow for that in that we we we build it into our daily routine.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: And uh we know that he has a perfect plan.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: We're blessed because we get to be a part of it.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: Just reflecting back on uh one of the events in Jesus' passion, uh Garden of Gethsemane, and him praying, uh, Lord, not my will, but uh but yours be done, and praying it a second time, it seems that it fits very much in line with just what what you've been sharing, sharing today.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there you even see Jesus saying, uh, Father, let this cup pass from me.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_03: In other words, if there's another way that your will can be accomplished other than going to the cross, let it be.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: And and but but thankfully he said, Yet not my will, but yours be done.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so we know that it was a few moments later that Judas shows up with the soldiers, Jesus is arrested, and uh the rest is history.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're thankful that Jesus was the bravest, most courageous man that ever lived, and that he uh faced the cross and saw it as necessary and was willing to do it.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: And that in itself just an incredible feat.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, just what he went through.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_03: I I read somewhere recently that uh the Roman cross that he would have carried would have weighed oh well over 200 pounds.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: It would have been quite and and he carried that uh until he couldn't.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: And then, of course, as the story goes, Simon of Cyrene carried it for him.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: Can you imagine after you have uh endured a flogging, a Roman flogging, which a lot of people didn't even live through, uh, but Jesus did, and then having to carry something that weighed a couple of hundred pounds at least, and going and and then going to die.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, but all based on uh the Lord's will that had been planned out for for years.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: And that's I think that's just an amazing prayer that Jesus says, uh, not my will, but but yours be done.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: But if he didn't do that, then the effect of ours sins forgiven, power for living, and hope for eternity is is all gone, isn't it?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: It's all gone.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there would be no hope.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh thankfully, through Christ, we can have eternal hope.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's why uh worship this holy week uh and this Easter time, we should be filled with gratitude that our worship should have uh in large part a sense of gratitude for what Jesus has done for us.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: But you want to share about uh the times that we're gonna be worshiping together uh during holy week.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: So on Thursday, April 17th, which is Holy Thursday at 7:30 p.m., we'll have our tenebrae service at Central Schweinfelder Church.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_03: This is at 7.30, and it's called the Service of Shadows, where the ministers will be reading uh passages from the gospels and the lights will be dimmed and candles will be lit, signifying that there are seven shadows that then culminate to Jesus being laid in the tomb and the organs strepitus being played, which is symbolizes uh the stone being rolled in front of the tomb and the light of the world being extinguished for a time until, of course, he was to be raised from the dead.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: So that's on Thursday night, 7:30.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's the most unique service, I think, in in our worship calendar.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: Then uh on Friday, Good Friday, there'll be a prayer service, a guided prayer service uh featuring you, Dr.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: Drake.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: You'll be reading passages from Schwankfeld's Passional and Prayer Book.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'll be participating in that service as well.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: That's in our sanctuary Friday at noon.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then, of course, on Sunday we have three services: 7 o'clock dawn service on the front steps, outdoors, a weather permitting.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: If weather is not permitting, we'll switch to the sanctuary.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_03: But weather permitting, we are outside on the front steps at 7 a.m.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: Then a breakfast at 8 a.m.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_03: Then our traditional service at 9 a.m.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: And then the contemporary service at 1045.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure everybody's welcome to these, and uh, we'll be talking further about uh this great Easter message uh for what Jesus did uh for you, for me, and for those who place their faith and trust in him.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Greg.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining us today, uh David, and uh happy Easter.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_03: Happy Easter to you, thank you.