You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand. Well, there's been a
lot going on the past three years or so with the pandemic and everything else,
but there's been some change, and now for Resurrection Sunday twenty twenty three,
there's a lot to look back on. Much has changed, Unfortunately,
it's this particular focus in holiday is about sacrifice. The world is in a
weird place, and in the United States it's not immune to this. It
may even be the leader of it. And that is selfishness and separating yourself
from the needs of others, making you the star of your own movie,
and separating yourself from everyone else on the planet that you deal with. And
selfishness is at the opposite end of sacrifice, which, of course, in
this season Resurrection is a focus the pay for your sins. This all comes
into focus in a different way. So on this Resurrection Sunday, I'd like
to focus on sacrifice, the purpose of my sacrifice, of course, and
the sacrifice that I expect from you. And you might be surprised as to
what that actually is, but see this all through the lens of a post
pandemic world, and how a lot of folks took the pandemic and turned it
in an opportunity, as an opportunity to be more selfish, more about what
you want, what you want in your life, not need the needs,
but what you want versus what the community can do together. What a town,
what a city, what a state? What a nation can do together
if it sacrifices, rather than being selfish. Now, I want to clear
up a couple of things. When I went to my death, I went
to it knowingly Mark eight thirty one, fully understanding that I would suffer on
a cross, and yes, that I would be raised from the dead Luke,
twenty four, forty six. However, some people question whether this was
a real sacrifice, since I knew the eventual outcome would be my resurrection.
And this is a misplaced notion. I know as a human your thoughts are
the ultimate sacrifice is your life. And yes, even Scripture talks about that
there is no greater love than someone who would lay down their life for another.
But I'm a different and special case because my sacrifice, the things that
I felt and experienced surpass and transcend just the flesh and the physical death.
So when you question, or you hear people question whether this was a real
sacrifice because I did know that outcome would be my resurrection. Think about these
things a bit. My death on the was not just about ending the life
of my physical human body. I suffered many things. I suffered emotionally and
physically, and in doing that, as an omnipotent, perfect God, I
was tortured and humiliated by my own creations. That transcends again just losing life,
just ending a beating heart, ending the breath. It's different to take
those things on. My sacrifice was not made any less significan again, by
the fact that I knew I would be raised from the dead. Physical restoration
does not make prior events, the things that I went through any less sacrificial
or traumatic. In any way, A sacrifice is not less valid because it
has a good outcome. That's not the way it works. In John sixteen
twenty through twenty two, I use the analogy of a woman in childbirth to
illustrate the anguish my disciples would experience upon my death. I reassured them over
and over that their sorrow, their pain, their suffering, would be turned
to joy, and that the ultimate outcome was worth suffering for. However,
the joy of childbirth and you can ask any womanness does not disaffirm, does
not take away, does not abolish the pain and suffering involved in the birth
itself. That'd be silly to think the mother's agony was real. The pain
was real, and that reality exists even for mothers who are entirely confident that
the birthing process will end in joy and the health of a child. Even
with that focus, even knowing all of that, doesn't change in any way,
shape or form, the pain set before someone, the pain that is
experienced. There's a lot of pain that comes with growth, a lot of
sacrifice that comes with growth. And even though you know on the other end
of it there will be that growth, that newness, that outcome, it
still takes place the pain, the loss of something, the sacrifice, And
to try and put that in the category of smoke and mirrors that it because
the outcome was so great, it's still felt, still experienced, it's still
incredibly incredibly real. And you put on top of that that I'm the one
and only, true, righteous and sinless God taking on not only the sins
of the world, but the humiliation and the body breaking even psychological effects of
the relationship that was going on between the father and me at the time.
All of this plays in. All of this plays a part of the sacrifice,
And to say that the sacrifice was only about the physical is to miss
the entirety of what took place on that cross over two thousand years ago.
It's resurrection Sunday, we're focusing on sacrifice and the meaning of it, the
purpose of my sacrifice, and this sacrifice I expect from you. And in
a time when the world is incredibly selfish, in a time where the world
is focused only on themselves, and I saw this even grow throughout the pandemic,
and now on the other side of the pandemic, the lasting unfortunately selfishness,
strangely enough, that came through it all. Instead of bringing people together
with the desire to help one another and partake in the care of one another,
people grew very selfish, which is the exact opposite of sacrifice. So
we got into a bit of the question about my sacrifice was it real?
Because I knew ultimately my body would resurrect, And when it comes to that,
knowing that me enduring the pain, the humiliation of these things is different
than the way you would be experiencing that. So even enduring momentary insults in
dignity, disrespect. It's a sacrifice in and of itself. And this is
true when the victims are humans, are finite, sinful humans. Even you
taking that on would be a sacrifice and a pain. And then when you
look at it and you pull back, that sacrifice is amplified when the victim
is the perfect and sinless son of God. Now added to the emotional pain
caused by the injustice, along with the physical pain, something that can be
overcome, yes, but not undone. It's not a race. It doesn't
go away. When I came to Earth, I experienced everything that human beings
normally do. As human beings, you have physical, spiritual, emotional pain,
and so did I. The brutality of my death absolutely was not an
easy thing, even though I knew I was going to be resurrected. But
my death was about atonement for sin, and the infinite sacrifice of me lowering
myself accomplished that atonement. It couldn't be done without it. But the significance
of taking that on when I wasn't, when I didn't have to, never
having to have any of that pain, humility, any of that that changes
the sacrifice, and I think it's very easy for humans to look at it
from a strictly human standpoint, because to you, the worst thing is just
death, so you think. But truly the biggest pain is when innocence,
when perfection, unmarked and marred, takes on those things, takes on the
sin. I never would have needed to feel any of those things or have
any of those experiences if not for the importance of the day you celebrate today
on Resurrection Sunday. Maybe you're new to the program today. What better way
to be introduced on a Resurrection Sunday as Christians all over the world celebrate what
is often referred to as Easter. And that's not to nod to our Orthodox
family members who celebrate on a different day, but I will tell you that
if you're new to the program, it is something worth spending the time to
listen to before you jump to any conclusions. Of course, I love hearing
from you, and we give you an opportunity to do that. The number
is eight hundred five to zero one five three four. That's eight hundred five
to zero one five three four. And you can call with theology questions dealing
with God, religion, spirituality, world views, the Bible, of course,
or if you're going through something in life. We refer to them on
the program as life situations. And we use the term situation because it's deeply
human for people to go from good to bad situations or things in life and
think they will never ever go back. But if things can go from good
to bad, I assure you they can go from bad to good. And
that's one of the things that we celebrate on the program as well. So
Christians around the world today celebrate Resurrection Sunday. It's important to remember that My
sacrifice on the Cross covered the sins of the world. However, as believers,
you're called to a different kind of sacrifice, one that requires you to
deny yourself and take up your cross daily to follow me. You go back
to our Jewish brothers and sisters in the beginning, and you'll see talk of
animal sacrifices or burnt offerings, and those had a purpose too, pointing towards
the payment that would come later when the Mashiekh would arrive. And it was
looking differently at the impact, whereas now, as a Christian believer, you're
looking back at the payment. But sacrifice is involved it's just different than the
sacrifice I gave. You may find stories from places throughout the world where during
this time there are believers that are doing things that may not make sense,
and I assure you they don't make sense to the faith and what's taught in
scripture either. They nail themselves to crosses to sacrifice, not to die,
but to be up there and sacrifice the lack of pain, now consuming the
pain of that to show the devotion. And I don't ask for that nowhere.
I did that. That was my sacrifice. But in Luke nine twenty
three, you see that there's a different type, says Then he said to
them all, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up
their cross daily and follow me. Now you can read that and say,
okay, well, that's a physical cross that I've got to take up and
I've got to do that daily. No, it's not the context, it's
not the meaning the purpose of that, to have a physical cross on your
back, or to certainly not have the need to nail yourself to one.
Don't need to duplicate what I did in any way, shape or form,
Otherwise I wouldn't have had I wouldn't have needed to do it for you.
So Luke nine twenty three, when it talks about to deny yourself, to
take up your cross daily and follow me, this means that God calls you
to a daily sacrifice, not to lay down your life, not to die,
but to take up your cross. You're called to make tough decisions,
not to take the easy path in life, not to stand for what is
bad, what is ungodly, but to stand up for what is righteous and
godly and just, rather than what is self serving. And that's become quite
odd in today's world because people are focused on being self serving. They're focused
selfishly on their own wants, not even their needs, their own wants,
and you need to break that. As a person of faith, you need
to break from that that is a worldly thing. Romans twelve one says,
Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to
present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice except to God, which is your
spiritual service of worship, really letting you know, reminding you that it's not
about some grand gesture, it's not about one big thing that God needs from
you. It's about a daily progression of dying to yourself and giving in to
the will of God every day. We've talked about on the program many times
how it's human nature to want to do a grandiose gesture. How many times
do you hear people say things like, oh my gosh, I would die
for my children, or children saying I would die for my parents. Those
are grandiose gestures. And indeed it is said in scripture that there's no great
your love than being willing to give your life for another. Let's hope that
that's never a need in your world. Let's hope that in your life you
won't have to make that decision. But what about the day to day To
hear a kid say, you know, I would die for my parents if
they were ever in jeopardy is a wonderful thing in the arena of selflessness.
But what about mowing the lawn, what about taking out the trash, doing
the dishes? Will you do the daily stuff? Will you do the things
each day to show your love, dedication, and willing to sacrifice. And
that's what where I think humans get lost in. You know, there's day
to day stuff that may seem boring and not as important or powerful as a
grand gesture. But God doesn't want your grand gestures. All I want is
your daily devotion, waking up each day and putting Me first, and in
your head saying I am going to in all things try and glorify God today.
And that doesn't mean some weird spiritual regimen or dropping down to your knees
in prayer in the mini you know, in the middle of a zoom meeting
or something. This is about. This is about dying to self, putting
others first, putting God first. Your sacrifice to God is not just a
physical one. It's a spiritual one as well. You're called to give yourself
fully to God, offering your bodies as a living sacrifice, pleasing and acceptable
to God. And how much more powerful is that than the grandest of gestures.
My job, my job, my calling was to do that. My
calling was to die for the sins of the world. Mine is the grand
gesture. What I call you two is to the day to day. Yes,
it may seem like more of a grind, and it is, but
it's a different type of sacrifice. It's a sacrifice of pushing forward, moving
forward, but constantly in that state of giving. It is very easy to
get lost and think like the world does. The world is so much about
I believe this. I believe that look what good I'm doing. Look at
these charity works that really they are trying to tell you something about who they
are rather than really living it in a pattern, when someone lives something not
just for a quick selfie or moment to say, look what I've done,
but to live it on a daily basi, how powerful is that? You
must also remember that there's a price for everything, but never take anything for
granted. Never. Sacrifice is important because all of your sacrifices point to your
appreciation for the important things in life. Praise and worship to God is one
of those as well. You folks calling in have been very patient. We
will take your calls shortly, I promise. Right now we are discussing appropriately
for resurrection Sunday. That as you continue to experience the changes that many were
brought on because of the pandemic and three years of dealing with all of that
and every other hoops that came that made you were made to jump through,
a lot of people turned to being selfish, really not worrying about their job
and other people around them, sort of becoming hermits and not connecting, and
with that became this new kind of attitude of selfishness. No, it happened
a lot with work, but it happened with other things too. People were
like, you know what, I spend a lot of time with people that
I don't want to you know, sort of half friends but not real friends.
Or I spend a lot of time doing this. Nothing wrong with work
life balance, Nothing wrong with building parameters boundaries in your life, or looking
to see if the people in your life for the ones you want to be
around. Nothing wrong with any of that. But on this resurrection Sunday,
I want to talk about the opposite of selfishness, and that is sacrifice.
We talked about my sacrifice, the meaning of it, the misnomer that it
wasn't really a sacrifice because I knew I was going to resurrect, and therefore
the thought is, well, it can't be a sacrifice because you're just going
to come back to life. Well that's very human perspective, because you think
death is the biggest sacrifice, and if you were brought back to life,
it's not one. That's a pretty huge misunderstanding. But understanding going through my
sacrifice is one part of it. The second has to do with your calling,
what you're called to do, and that is a different kind of sacrifice.
It's not the big grand gesture, it's the little things. It's the
daily things. Your sacrifice to God isn't physical, It isn't death in that
way. It's spiritual. To give yourselves fully to God. Yes that means
your body too, but your spirit. You're offering yourself as a living sacrifice,
pleasing and acceptable to God, says Scripture. To be focused on God,
to worship God in all things that you do. That is power.
You know, your spouse, your partner, your friends, your parents,
your children, aren't looking just for the grand gestures their work, looking for
the day to day. Not using like I love you as a greeting type
of thing, you know, where you use it so much every day that
it becomes weak and watered down, but using it every day by connecting,
by looking into someone's eyes and telling them you know, I love you and
these are the things I love. The way you smile could be one day.
I love your eyes, and how honest they are could be another day.
It's not just I love you, but these are things that I love
that daily embracing God calls you to that as well. Hebrews thirteen fifteen says,
through him, then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to
God. That is the fruit of the lips that give thanks to His name.
How lovely and how powerful is that, the fruit of your lips.
To put God's name on your lips, to praise that, to thank God
for the things that you receive, and even more importantly, most of the
time, the things that are taken from you, the removal of the things
that shouldn't be in your life. To thank God for those things, to
have appreciation to God on the daily. The practicality of that, the reality
of that, more than the grand gestures, is powerful unto itself, and
it's very easy to get wrapped up in these big, big gestures. But
sometimes those gestures aren't for good at all. They're for you, or they're
for the people seeing. You've heard me talk in scripture about those spiritual leaders
that would stand on the hilltops to pray, and I said, that's about
them. You're to go in your prayer closet. It doesn't have to be
a closet, but it means you're to pray in a way that glorifies God
and separates those things. Not for the glory of yourself or look, I'm
praying, but when you can to do them in a place that's private,
and as you strive to do the hard thing in life, the right thing,
sacrificing what you may want to do for what you should do, then
you're glorifying God. So push yourselves each day to follow in Christ's footsteps,
denying yourself, taking up your cross, and sacrificing in all things to the
glory of God. KFI six on demand