PAID IN FULL
DR. JIM DIXON
1 PETER 2:22-25
APRIL 10, 1994
On this communion Sunday, our scripture is taken from the book of 1 Peter 2:22-25. In this passage, Peter describes what Christ has done for us on the cross. “He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”
Let’s pray together before we have our message. Dear Father, in the midst of this beautiful and cold day when the snow clings to the branches of the trees, we thank you that we can come into this warm sanctuary and sense your presence. We ask that you use this time, dear Father, to draw us closer to you. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight. In Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen.
Dennis Scott plays basketball in the NBA. He plays basketball for the Orlando Magic and is one of Shaquille O’Neal’s teammates. It was Thursday, March 3, when Dennis Scott received the tragic news that his father had been shot, murdered at his Washington, D.C. apartment. Dennis Scott was devastated. He was also perplexed, because who would want to murder his father? Four days later, Monday, March 7, the authorities contacted Dennis Scott and told him that somehow there had been a mix up in the morgue. His father’s body had been confused with the body of another man. His father had not been shot or murdered. Rather his father had died from a heroin overdose. This was equally perplexing to Dennis Scott because he never knew his father to take drugs. In fact, his father worked at a drug rehabilitation center where he sought to help other people who were addicted to drugs. In the newspapers, Dennis Scott was quoted as saying, “Perhaps there was a side to my father that I never knew, and perhaps it was a dark side.”
Biblically, what is true of Dennis Scott’s father is true for all of us. There is a hidden side to all of us, a dark side, a side that we seek to hide from the world, a side that we even seek to hide from ourselves. This past week, I was talking to my next-door neighbor. He told me that he had not been able to attend the service at Fiddler’s Green on Easter Sunday. He said he had been in Nebraska. He said he was visiting relatives there. While he was in Nebraska, he went to a little country church on Easter Sunday. He said in that little country church the pastor handed out pieces of paper and asked for everyone to write down a sin that they wanted to confess, then bring the piece of paper up front and put it on the cross.
While it is an old fashioned thing to do, in a sense, it is a beautiful thing because that is where we need to leave our sin. If we passed out paper this morning, what would you write on the paper? What sin can you think of? Perhaps you would mention some improper thoughts, attitudes or actions that you have been having. Perhaps you would write down something that you did that you knew you should not have done or something you did not do that you knew you should do—a sin of commission or a sin of omission. Maybe you would identify some chronic habitual sin in your life, or maybe just maybe, you would not know what to write down. Maybe you would look at the piece of paper and leave it blank. Maybe you really cannot think of a sin, and that is possible in the society in which we live.
Because we live in denial, we have hidden our dark side from ourselves. We are not aware of the magnitude of our sin. Sin is not a popular concept in today’s world. From theologians to philosophers to sociologists, the concept of sin is no longer popular. It is not even politically correct, but in our hearts we know that what the Bible says is true. All have sinned. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The Bible tells us that apart from Christ we are a lot like our national government. We have a massive debt. The national debt in America in the year 1900 at the turn of the century was $1.2 billion. Sixteen percent of the gross national product could have paid it off if every citizen in America were at that time willing to fork over $17. But in 1992, the national debt had reached $4.1 trillion, 69.5% of our gross national product. To pay it off, every citizen would have had to pay $16,310. Today, the national debt is so great that many economists tell us it can never be paid off. It is a debt too great to repay.
The Bible says that is the human predicament, apart from Christ, we have this debt of sin, a debt too great to ever repay. What do you do in the world today when your debt is too great to pay back? In the world today, you file for bankruptcy in accordance with the bankruptcy laws. An individual might file chapter 7 or chapter 13. A business might file chapter 11. Bankruptcy laws have not always existed in our world. In the Greek and Roman world, when someone had a debt so great they could never repay it, they were sold into slavery. Sometimes they never found their freedom again. Prior to 1850 in America and in Great Britain, there were debtor’s prisons. Men and women who could not pay their debt were thrown into debtor’s prison; sometimes they never came out. Apart from Christ, that is our predicament. That is what hell is all about. It is what judgment is all about. But the Bible says there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). They have “passed from death to life” (John 5:24).
Last Sunday at Fiddlers Green, we focused for a moment on the phrase “paid in full” from the cross. When we come to the communion table, that is what we celebrate. Every communion, Jesus Christ has paid the debt in full. What a celebration for those of us who believe, who have come under the umbrella of the cross, who have received His grace and mercy.
You have all heard of Black Friday. Black Friday is a term well known in American history. Sometimes it is a confusing term. Some people think of October 24, 1929, when the stock market crashed, ushering in the Great Depression. Some people think that was Black Friday. But October 24, 1929, was a Thursday, or was it a Friday?
Historians tell us there were two Black Fridays. The first was September 24, 1869, when Jay Gould and James Fisk, Jr. tried to corner the market on gold. Seeking to buy all the gold in New York City, they ushered in economic disaster, plunging multitudes of people into financial ruin and debt. The second Black Friday was September 19, 1873, when the New York Stock Exchange experienced its first crash, bringing about what historians today call the panic of 1873. When you think of Black Friday, you think of millions of people going into debt.
Every communion service celebrates, in a sense, Good Friday. What do you think of on Good Friday? You should think of millions of people coming out of debt. Paid in full. That is what we celebrate, coming out of debt. Ten days ago, people celebrated Good Friday. In a sense, we celebrate it today and every day we celebrate what Christ did on the cross as He removed the debt for all of us who believe in Him, for all of us who love Him as Lord and Savior. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19b). Do this in remembrance of Me. Why did He say that? Why did He not say, “Do Christmas in remembrance of Me?” We celebrate Christmas. I think that is great. But Jesus never commanded us to celebrate His birth. Why did He not say, “Do Easter in remembrance of Me?” We celebrate Easter. I think that is great. But He did not command us to celebrate His resurrection. He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
The bread and the cup, the body and the blood, the cross, in remembrance of Him. Why is that? Why does He want us to focus on the atonement? Why does He want us to focus on the cross? I think He wants us to understand and even celebrate grace and mercy. He wants us to understand the depth of His love. He wants us to understand the magnificence of His forgiveness. Martin Luther once said, “The closer you are to God, the more aware you are of your own sin.” In a sense that is true because as you come into His holiness and into His light, you cannot help but be aware of your own fallenness. You know how it is when a bright light shines through a window. You suddenly see dust in the air as the sun rays come through the window. You can see dust in the air or dust on the furniture—not in your house but in other people’s houses. The light exposes the dust.
To some extent, this is true when you come into the light of Christ. It is only as you are aware of your own sin and Christ’s sacrifice for your sin and it is only as you have come to Him in repentance and received Him as Savior and Lord that you can have joy. It is only then that you really can have the joy of forgiveness. It is only then that you can have the fullness of love for the Lord when you understand what He has done for you. Jesus said, “He who has been forgiven much, loves much” (Luke 7:47).
My hope and prayer as you come to this communion table this morning is that you are close enough to God to see the truth of your own sin. My hope and prayer is that you have faith in Christ and can come here in celebration of what He has done for you—His body was broken for you. His blood was shed for you— and that you understand the magnificence of His grace and His mercy, His forgiveness, and His love. We have passed out of death into life. We are bound for heaven. There is no condemnation. The Spirit of Christ has come to dwell within us. We have a kingdom to live for, and all of this, all of this, is through Christ.
Let us look to the Lord with a word of prayer. Lord Jesus, thank You so much for coming into our world and dying for us. Thank You for the atonement. Thank You for giving Your body for us. Your blood was shed for us. We confess, Lord, that we are sinners, and we are so grateful for Your mercy and Your grace and Your forgiveness. We are so grateful that you paid our debt in full. Lord Jesus, this morning we celebrate that grace. We say thank You, and we commit ourselves anew to You. We do these things, Lord Jesus, in your great and matchless name. Amen.