The biggest sinner ever...

Pastor's Article for the Park Rapids Enterprise, November 10, 2018

What do you remember from last week’s article? Genesis 3? Eve? Snake? Tree? Good and evil? Eye disease? Our sin being the very thought that we know what is best and that we can make the decisions on good and evil. The disease of open eyes that cause us to compare ourselves to fellow sinners and think ourselves more worthy than they of redemption.
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There was one other thing. Near the end of my article. “The one who knew no sin, was made sin for our sakes, in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Do you see those words? Read them out loud.

“The one who knew know sin…” Christ, not even knowing sin. Never came to his mind. His eyes being ones who see sinners. Sinners everywhere and he loves them.
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Christ “…was made sin for our sakes…!” Literally made into it. Became it. Christ, in his life among the lost, his life among the ashamed and shameful, became your sin. He was there on the tree at Calvary, not there to condemn the world but save it through himself, and Christ soaked up your sin, your self-righteousness, your eye disease of fake knowledge, and became it. In some way, Christ became the worst of all sinners for your sakes. When he says, “It is finished”, every last drop of sin was soaked up by the sponge of his life in order that he might take our pride and arrogance upon him for your sake!

All of this Christ did “…in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” Quite literally Christ did it for the sake of the “right-ness” of God. The truth of God. The goodness of God. God’s justice being weighed and measured, Christ did the very thing needed in order to take care of our sin.

In his death on the cross, Christ becomes the new focus of our eyes. Instead of going through life saying, “At least I am not that guy”, we go through life looking at the cross and saying, “For my sake, for my sin, this was done.” A change of gaze becomes the work of the Spirit in us. Away from our own ability to save ourselves from the very thing we love, ourselves, and turning us to the very one who loves us even in our sin - Jesus Christ, who is yours because he has given himself to you.
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