Sin - "It has a Price"
by Scott Zambelli
One Friday evening, my church was holding a special worship service. My wife and I found this particular night to be very rewarding...being allowed to separate ourselves from the daily grind and have time set aside to focus on true worship with our congregation. During this time, we were warned against the human tendency to "sing along" and were asked to allow ourselves to be open to the music and our interaction with God. During that service, my mind kept going back to the cross that was upon our stage and I felt something stirring as to what it is truly made of.
Just as we tend to "sing along", I believe we tend to see a cross made of wood, gold, or any other material we are looking upon at any given time. I was continuously reminded that the cross that Jesus chose to bear was not one of wood. Instead, it was one of sin...our sin. While this is one of those things that I already "knew", it was on Friday evening that I somehow knew it on a deeper level...like so many things I learn while allowing God to speak into me.
At one point during worship it was mentioned that it was our sin that hung Jesus on the cross.
A second point of realization that I had was with the actual need for the sacrifice of Jesus. While we all know that it was to purchase our salvation...I came to realize that it was also needed for God to show is love for us. This is because true love requires sacrifice...I think in some way it demands it. I've been thinking about this a lot over the last few months. But I feel in my heart that in order for God to have complete love for us...he had to make a sacrifice for us...just as we have to sacrifice for Him.
That sacrifice was the crucifixion. It was not a sacrifice that was given up by only Jesus. Instead, it was a complete sacrifice given by God - as the Holy Trinity. A sacrifice that was given with all of God's body (Jesus), mind (Father), and soul (Holy Spirit).
How did these three parts of God each give a part of themselves in this sacrifice?
Before I begin, I need to reference the key scripture to which I will much of this line of thought is based upon. It is Micah 6:8, and it reads;
"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
I know the sacrifice I am trying to comprehend goes much deeper than anything that I am able to understand, much less to put into words. However, I feel God has placed this message within my heart and I will give it my best efforts.
The sacrifice of Jesus is more obvious in that it is a sacrifice we can identify with. It is the breaking of the body and the spilling of blood. It is the giving up of one's self so that a loved one can continue on. On the surface, it is a sacrifice of Love. While I believe this to be true, I believe it is only a portion of love. We do not get the complete picture of love until all three aspects of the sacrifice are taken into account.
Jesus did give his life for us...and he did it because he loves us. But the truth of his sacrifice is that it is a sacrifice of Justice. It was to pay the wages of our Sin. It was only through the carrying out of justice that God's Holiness could be satisfied.
One definition of justice is "the administering of deserved punishment or reward". According to God's law, the punishment for sin is death. That is a punishment each and everyone of us is desrving of. Therefore, justice demands a life as payment. Unfortunately, each of us has sinned and cannot pay for someone else's tab since are also in debt. Fortunately, God sent us the one man who did not have sin to save us. Since he was without sin, he was able to make payment on our behalf. Thus, he fulfilled the requirements of justice.
What of the sacrifice of the Father? What did He give?
We think of God as being so powerful. But there is a "potential weakness" within Him. This "potential weakness" is only a percieved weakness...at least by the world's standards. However, for those who truly understand it, they know that it is God's greatest strength. What I am speaking about is Mercy (another aspect of Love).
God loves us so much that He is willing to open up His heart to us (through his Son) and allow us to tear it apart. He is willing to bear the wounds and wear the scars that we inflict. The Father's strength does not come from His ability to build all of Creation.
No.
His strength comes from the mighty waters of Mercy that are pouring out of His heart and onto us. It is even demonstrated to us literally in John 19:34 where it is written;
"...one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water."
It was His complete love for us that gave Him the very desire to save us...to have Mercy upon us. It was the Father's sacrifice to give up his Son to sin and feel our hatred inflict scar upon scar upon His heart. This is the Father's sacrifice...a sacrifice of Mercy.
The Holy Ghost had to sacrifice in a much different way.
There is little written about the part of the Trinity known as the Holy Spirit. Other people are far more qualified about this than I, but this letter is about the feelings I am having along my journey to know God. I feel as though the Holy Spirit is the part of God that is most vulnerable to being scarred by sin. I think his sacrifice came from leaving the protection of heaven and coming down to this world of flesh to help guide us back to the Father. It is through the constant quenching of the Holy Spirit that he must endure. Guiding each and every one of us through all of our sins and directing us to the Lord's home. I believe the sacrifice of the Holy Spirit is a sacrifice of Humility.
To bring all of this to some closure, what I have come to realize is that we human's are so shallow in our ability to Love. A complete love is made up of the three ingredients listed above; Justice, Mercy, and Humility. As people, we each place our own emphasis on the one or two qualities we prefer. In doing so, we only learn one aspect of Love and never truly experience it as it was meant to be.
So, I guess that's it in a nutshell. Well...maybe a really big nutshell.
This all began in a worship service, transformed itself into art, and ultimately ended up as words on this page. I pray these words help give you insight and direction in your relationship with God.
If you are interested in purchasing products featuring this artwork, please click on any of the pictures above.