Why Did Jesus Die on the Cross? (1 Peter 3:18)

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Why did Jesus die on the cross?

So the year's 1942.

I'm going somewhere with this.

The year's 1942, and Captain John Miller of the U.S.

Army, just to make it easier for everyone, I'm going to call him Tom Hanks.

Tom Hanks and his squad have been given a very dangerous mission.

They're to go behind enemy lines, and they're to find and bring home Private James Francis Ryan.

Let's just call him Matt Damon.

They've been given this mission because Private Ryan's three brothers have been killed in conflict, in in yeah, in the war.

And even though this is a fictional story, it's a true to history policy of the U.S.

Army that no single family could be wiped out in a given uh conflict, even the Second World War.

And so now the clock is ticking.

They've got to go find Private Ryan, they've got to bring him back home before he too is killed in action.

And so as the story progresses, we're taken through the harrowing experience of landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day.

We see Tom Hanks take his squad through a war-torn France.

We see them navigate intense battles and moral dilemmas along the way until finally, finally, they reach Private Ryan.

And in one last heroic self-sacrifice, Tom Hanks lays his life down to see Private Ryan sent safely home.

And with his dying breath, he leans into Private Ryan.

And do you remember what he says?

Earn this.

Earn it.

In other words, let my sacrifice, my laying down my life for you, be an inspiration for you to live an even better and fuller life than you would otherwise.

Earn this.

Now, going back to our first question: why did Jesus die on the cross?

I wonder if we took a survey, there'd be any number of answers for this.

Well, Jesus died to be a great example of love.

Jesus died to show us the power of nonviolent resistance to oppression.

Jesus died out of conviction for truth and how we should treat one another.

And you know what?

All those things are true in their way.

And there's a time to talk about that.

But if we hang our hats there as the significance of the cross, then we end up saying the cross is really about us earning it, isn't it?

The burden of the cross isn't just on Jesus, it's on us.

Why?

Because if Jesus died to be an example of love, then we better roll up our sleeves and get love in other people.

If Jesus died to be an example of the power of nonviolent resistance, then we ourselves better be ready to suffer.

If Jesus died to himself be an example of conviction for truth, how we should treat one another, then we should be treating each other real well, don't you think?

How are we doing?

Do you feel like you're earning it?

It's an interesting thing.

Because I think if we asked Jesus' disciples, those who spent years of their life following Jesus, living with Jesus, eating with Jesus, taking in all of Jesus' teaching, knowing who Jesus is, if we asked them why did Jesus die on the cross, I wonder if they'd give us a very different answer.

I wonder if they wouldn't say it's about us earning it.

In fact, we could ask one of Jesus' disciples named Peter, who years after Jesus' crucifixion, and as Christians proclaim his resurrection, years later, he's writing as a pastor to Christians spread around the Roman Empire, Christians who know suffering very well for themselves.

And he writes this.

Let me say that again.

Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that he might bring us to God.

Peter, why did Jesus die on the cross?

To reconcile sinners to God.

That's what Peter would tell us.

That's why Jesus died on the cross.

Christ also suffered, Peter says.

Some translations say, Christ also died once for sins.

That's a bit of a tricky word, isn't it?

Sin.

Maybe that's not our favorite word.

Maybe for some of us we've had an experience where the word sin was used like a bludgeon across the head.

And maybe for us that's a very difficult thing.

But the way that Peter is using this word is very precise.

This word sin comes from an archery term, to miss the mark.

We know what the mark is, but we've shot wide of it.

And the degree to which we've missed the mark is the degree to which we've sinned.

We've fallen short.

Things are not the way they're supposed to be.

That's what Peter's trying to describe here.

And we know that to be true, don't we?

I mean, get cut off in traffic and tell me everything's the way it's supposed to be, right?

How about more seriously, we turn on the news and we see violence and warfare.

We see famine and devastation, don't we?

Day after day.

Tell me things are the way they're supposed to be.

We know they're supposed to be better.

Good.

And when we read in Scripture that God created a good world and put us, his image bearers, in it, it resonates with what we know to be true.

We know this world is good.

It was created good, and yet we've missed the mark.

We've fallen short.

And we see all of the devastating consequences that follow.

See, Jesus died entering into that suffering, entering into that devastation personally.

The Son sent from the Father, not retreating away from the devastation of the world, but healing it from within.

Christ died once for sins.

God did not abandon us in sin.

He pursues us in grace.

Ultimately, he pursues us in Christ.

And how does he accomplish this?

Peter would tell us this.

He accomplishes this through substitution.

The righteous for the unrighteous.

Did you catch that?

That's a gift.

That's an exchange.

And when Peter talks about the unrighteous, who do you think Peter is thinking about?

Sort of a faceless, nameless, anonymous group out there?

The unrighteous, the people we don't associate with?

I don't think so.

Because Peter's writing about the cross here, isn't it?

Isn't he?

What's Peter up to as Jesus is heading towards the cross?

We read it earlier today, didn't we?

He is busy telling everyone who asks, I got nothing to do with that guy.

He's busy saving his own neck, isn't he?

He's busy lying through his teeth.

Don't associate me with him.

If we know what it is to try and save our own neck, even at the cost of our own honesty, then we know something of what it is to be in Peter's position.

See, when Peter writes about the unrighteous, I don't think he's talking about them.

I think he's talking about himself.

This is his hope.

His only hope is that the righteous one, the sinless one, the spotless Lamb of God, that only he could accomplish what Peter could not accomplish for himself.

His only hope is our only hope.

That is, if we can identify even a little bit with Peter.

See, we cannot meet God's righteousness.

We have missed the mark, and things are not as they're supposed to be.

But Jesus, the righteous one, has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

And what is that?

Peter answers.

He might bring us to God.

That's why Jesus died on the cross, that he might bring us to God, that he is at work reuniting and restoring and renewing our relationship, making peace between sinners and their creator God.

That's what Jesus is up to on the cross.

God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.

Jesus died on the cross to reconcile sinners to God.

So what do we do with that?

Two things.

Number one, I'm going to use a very churchy word again.

We repent.

Repentance sounds like a heavy churchy word, maybe it is.

But repentance really means to turn around and turn toward.

Maybe we know what it is to do that in life.

Maybe we've had our own 180 moments.

To repent is to acknowledge that claiming self-lordship or pursuing life on our terms leads to all kinds of devastating consequences when we miss the mark, that we cannot do for ourselves what needs doing, and yet we can turn away from that and towards the Savior who gives himself to us freely.

The Savior who, on the cross, deals with our sin, pays our debt, makes peace between sinners and God.

We can turn towards that Savior right now.

And if we repent, if we turn towards Him, then a second thing can happen.

We can rest assured.

Because through the cross, God in Christ has accomplished His mission.

Our salvation from sin, our reconciliation with our Heavenly Father.

He has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

He's done it for us.

So, friends, what do we hear Christ say on the cross to us?

Do we see him on the cross even right now?

Glancing at us?

What does he whisper?

Earn this?

No, he doesn't, does he?

It is finished.

Jesus would say, Receive this, the righteous given for the unrighteous.

Let me do what you cannot do for yourself.

And we receive this gift by putting our trust in him as our Lord and Savior.

Put not your trust in what you can do for God, but in what God has done for you.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing, it is a gift from God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast.

Friends, if we know the Savior who reconciles us sinners with God, then we can respond in the words of an ancient Christian letter like this: O sweet exchange, O unsearchable operation, O benefits surpassing all expectation, that the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous one, and that the righteousness of one should justify many transgressors.

That is the gift of the cross.

And that is the gift for you and for me to be reconciled to God in Christ.

Why did Jesus die on the cross?

To reconcile sinners with their God.

Today, be reconciled to God through faith in Christ.

Amen.

Thank you for listening today.

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