Divine Gratuity

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“For you know that it is not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect.” —1 Peter 1:18, 19

On the hills outside of Jerusalem shepherds guarded the lambs that would be sold to petitioners coming to the Temple to make their sacrifices for sin. They had to be careful with their charges—an injured or marked animal was useless. A perfect lamb was more valuable than the shepherd who watched it—shepherds were the lowest of the low in the society of that time. Max Lucado speculates in Six Hours One Friday that some of those shepherds might have wondered at the futility of so many dead lambs, so much shed blood—rituals that led to more dead lambs and more shed blood year after bloody year. I wonder if any of those shepherds discovered for himself, on that terrible day when Christ died on that cross, that Jesus was THE Lamb who would die once for all, shed His blood once for all, and provide forgiveness once for all time for anyone who asked? I wonder if any of them discovered that there would never have to be another lamb sacrificed for sin?

Did any of those shepherds do as we do: lift our heads to look into the face of Jesus Christ and be thankful, thankful for something we can’t adequately describe, but about which countless volumes have been written?

Romans 6:23, one of the most recognizable verses of Scripture, says: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The word gift in the original language of the text is charisma. It means a divine gratuity and that captures my attention.

We reward people for services rendered well by giving them an extra percentage, a tip, a gratuity. But they had to DO something to GET something. The better they do their jobs the more they get from a grateful public. We withhold the tip if we don’t get what we want delivered in the way we want to receive it.

But God gives us something for doing nothing—it’s a gift—no sacrifice or service necessary on our part. And it isn’t just any old something—it’s forgiveness at the cost of the lifeblood of His Son. It was given long before we ever knew what it was, long before we appreciated it, long before we asked for it. We never did anything to earn it, nor could we have earned it no matter how hard we worked, or how much time we had been allotted to work off the debt—even if we could! 
James Kennedy writes, in Cross Purposes, Discovering the Great Love of God for You: “We need to remember that apart from His protective blood shed on the cross, we have no hope. In providing that blood, it was necessary that the Lamb should die. Substitution. Propitiation. The innocent dying for the guilty. This was God's omnipotent plan—that pure innocence should die for utter depravity. So Christ came to be the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world” (page 57).

And So It Begins

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“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” —Genesis 3:15

I have a set of old rusty keys. I also have some nice shiny ones. They come in handy. And, oddly enough, they connect to Calvary.

As far as the historical record is concerned the story of the cross begins in Genesis with the first couple and the first sin. But God’s plan to deal with what He knew was inevitable actually was in place before time was established and history was first recorded. This is suggested in Revelation 13:8 when John refers to the “…the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

It’s a pity. If there had been no sin, there would have been no need for a Saviour to come and take our punishment upon Himself; no need for a cross upon which He would have to die.

James Kennedy remarks in Cross Purposes, Discovering the Great Love of God for You, that we seldom, if ever, hear the word sin used today—not even from some of our pulpits. Many people go so far as to deny that such a thing as sin exists. We have invented more acceptable terms to describe it—and excuse it. Kennedy once used the following example to illustrate sin’s existence.

“I remember…saying,...‘ I wonder if I may see your keys. Do you have a key ring?’ The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a key ring. I said to him, ‘If there’s no such thing as sin, sir, tell me, why do you have these?’ He was speechless. He has keys because he has locks. And why does he have locks? Because he has things locked up. And why does he have things locked up? Because there are people who would steal them if he didn’t. And why would they steal them? Because they’re sinners. That’s why” (page 23).

It’s hard to argue with the logic.        

Adam and Eve decided to steal God’s glory by competing for His position by doing what He had forbidden them to do. Satan had made this claim, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). The first couple fell for the lie. We’ve been falling for the same lies ever since.

Their decision made Calvary necessary. Our decisions, as sinners who have followed the path of our ancient ancestors, made Calvary necessary. From the beginning of recorded history God promised the coming of a Saviour (Genesis 3:15). Satan would try to destroy Him, but He who would conqueror death on one glorious Resurrection morning would also conqueror Satan and sin on one strangely glorious dark and deadly Friday.

Perhaps our need to reduce the cross in our worship, and in our practice, is related to our desperate need to deny the sin in us that made the cross necessary.

But all of us must confess to having keys—and the locks that make the keys necessary. Every time we lock or unlock a door we are reminded of sin.