Week 5 - The Power of the Cross
Worship
As you begin your quiet time today, I encourage you to listen to “Angus Dei” by Jesus Image. You can find the playlist of all the music from our daily devotional with the links to your preferred platform here.
Scripture
Colossians 2:11-15
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Colossians 3:1-5
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Devotional
In every relationship we have a record of debts - an accumulation of ways that our sin has directly hurt, offended or impacted the other person. The closer the relationship - often the bigger this record is. In order to have a healthy relationship, especially a healthy marriage, forgiveness needs to be a very significant part of the relationship, because it’s very difficult to have a relationship when there’s a big elephant in the room - a record of debt.
Our relationship with God is like this, times infinity. Because all of our sin is ultimately against God - because all sin is rejection of and rebellion towards him. This is why David says in Psalm 51 ‘against you, and you alone have I sinned’. The bible says that this record of debt stands against us with it’s legal demands. This is not a passive debt - because God is not passive, he’s not a weak doormat - he’s a just Judge.
It’s very sobering to think about the legal demands of the debt that we have to God. Romans 6:23 tells us that “the wages of sin is death”. Ok - so there’s a death penalty for what we’ve done against God. What else? We get some insight into the final legal judgement against sinners in Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Ok wow. The legal demands of this record of debt is not good.
From my experience, modern Christians shy away from the reality of God’s judgment against sin. I think in an attempt to not scare people, or be negative, many end up diminishing the beauty of the gospel because they water down the true biblical consequences of sin. And yet - it’s only when we fully comprehend the extent of our predicament that we can even begin to comprehend the wonder of God’s love for us. If we don’t know the true cost of our sin - how could we possibly understand the price Jesus paid to pay for our debt?
The story doesn’t stop at simply delivering our verdict. The bible, in talking about our debt, in light of the cross says “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
That record of debt has been canceled, set aside by God. Jesus takes the debt from us, and allows it to be nailed to the cross with him and he pays the debt. That is what Jesus is going through on the cross - he’s literally going through hell for us. Experiencing the full weight of the Father’s just condemnation on sin, in our place.
It’s worth sitting in this for a minute.
What Jesus has done for each of us is amazing. And it changes everything! This is why the bible then encourages us to set our minds on things above. We did not only die with Christ - we were raised with him! This is what baptism is all about, death and resurrection with Christ! Now, because our verdict has changed, we are to called to dwell on the resurrected Christ, our eternal liberation and also our future hope, for “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory”. Wow it just gets better and better.
So what do we do, in response to this? How do we set our minds on things above? We are to put to death what is earthly in us: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. This is living in the power of the cross - liberation from bondage to sin. As Jesus said to many of those he healed ‘go and sin no more’. Enjoy the fruit of the cross!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thankyou for your indescribable love for me. Thank You for sending Jesus to die in my place and pay the debt that I owed to you. I’m blown away by how you not only allowed your death to count as mine, but more than that you have resurrected my life with yours! Thank You Lord that I now have eternal hope because of what you’ve done for me. I never have to worry about eternity, about my future or fear anything except you - because of what you’ve done for me. Thank you Jesus!