Only a Shadow
Preached by Jason Abbott
April 9, 2017
While I was pastoring in Missouri, we had a Vacation Bible School for kids from around the community each summer—a lot like the VBS we do around here. And one year the central narrative for it focused on the story of David and Goliath, how God saved his people through an unlikely hero. Thus, as we taught this theme, we’d focus on how this unlikely savior, David, pointed us forward to the ultimate, unlikely Savior, Jesus Christ.Anyway, I was asked to play a courageous Israelite soldier during the week. So I donned a pretty convincing costume, complete with a bona fide short sword. Moreover, I really lived the part; I would rarely break character when in costume, so the kids were pretty enamored with me. I was the toughest guy in VBS to them. No one could stand up to me . . . at least, until we introduced Goliath.It was about halfway through the week when I gathered the kids into a tent and told them about the giant Philistine. All week I’d seemed so powerful to them and so strong, but now I was shaking in fear because of this scary, horrible giant. And the kids’ eyes got wide as they listened. Then about midway through my tale, we played audio of Goliath calling us out and taunting us while simultaneously backlighting an adult man against the side of the tent—so his shadow looked huge! And playing my part, I cowered before the shadow.Friends, I am not proud of what happened next. Children scattered in fear. Kids cried out for their mothers. There may have been one child who wet his pants. It was mass, fearful hysteria. (I think we gave the children an extra-long snack time in order to calm things down a bit.)I wonder, however, if we’re not sometimes a lot like the kids in my story—so preoccupied with the tent shadow that we forget there’s no real giant behind it, so taken with the shadow of death that we forget that real death has been crucified with Christ. We forget that real death (separation from God forever!) is finished by Christ’s perfect life and sacrificial death for us.Well, let’s read our sixth saying of Jesus from the cross. You’ll find the text on page 1035 of the brown Bibles found in each row; and if you don’t have a Bible of your own, please take one home with you as a gift from us to you. Let’s find out about the finished work of Christ.
John 19:28-30
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
As we move forward, we want to understand what Jesus means by finished. And, I’m going to argue he means that at least two things are finished by his death on the cross: (1st) that saving works are finished—Jesus has earned righteousness for us, and (2nd) that damning sins are finished—Jesus has undergone punishment for our sins. So let’s look at each.
1. Saving works are finished.
Have you ever noticed that we—and by “we” I mean all human beings—have a natural tendency to value ourselves and others by the things we do. In short, our default system of evaluation is a works-righteousness system. If we’re good—at sports or school or career or fashion or whatever—then we’re more valuable. When, however, we’re not good, we imagine we’re not valuable.We often don’t recognize this about ourselves because it’s 2nd nature to us and because it’s all around us all the time. Let me give you some examples of this in order to show you what I mean:
All of you’ve been in a room when I’ve walked in. You might have glanced at me or even said hello, but I didn’t command your full attention . . . did I.
Yet, have any of you been in a room when someone famous walked into it? I’ll bet you gave the person more than a glance. I’ll bet you were well aware of his or her presence the entire time. Why?! Because he has what I don’t, because she’s accomplished something I haven’t . . . works righteousness—valuing someone according to what they have or what they’ve done.
Here’s another example:
Many of us here are on social media: Facebook and Instagram and Twitter, where we’ll post updates about what we are doing and where we are going and what we are eating. We also post pictures of ourselves.
Here’s a question. How many posts do you make about brushing your teeth or about going to Weight Watchers or about eating a peanut butter and jelly? When’s the last time you posted that picture where your belly is hanging over your jeans? Why not?! Because it doesn’t make you look very exciting or glamorous, works righteousness—valuing yourself by the things you do or how good you look.
Friends, this is the human condition. This is how we naturally see the world. This is how we naturally see others and see ourselves. We think works will save us in the end. We think works will make us valuable. We think our accomplishments in life will bring us peace and happiness. But they won’t because they can’t.At perhaps the height of her career as the uncontested queen of pop music, Madonna did an exposé with Vanity Fair. To her credit, she was very vulnerable and honest during the interview. She didn’t hold back at all. She had crazy money; she had worldwide fame; she was producing platinum albums; yet in her interview, she confessed her constant insecurity. She explained:
My drive in life comes from a fear of being mediocre. That is always pushing me. I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being but then I feel I am still mediocre and uninteresting unless I do something else. Because even though I have become somebody, I still have to prove that I am somebody. My struggle has never ended and I guess it never will.1
Friends, Madonna is right. She will never get to stop proving herself worthy as long as her sense of value is in her accomplishments. As long as her meaning is in her works, she will find no finish-line and no rest.Yet, maybe you think that Madonna is an isolated case—just the exception. If so, let me give you another example of the futility of trying to find our salvation in what we do. Let me provide another really vivid example of the utter emptiness of works righteousness.Most of you know who Tom Brady is. Brady has won more Super Bowls than any other quarterback in NFL history. He’s won 4 Super Bowl MVP awards along with 2 league MVP awards. Brady is, arguably, the most celebrated athlete on the most celebrated team in the most celebrated sport on the earth. Nonetheless, after he had won his 3rd Super Bowl ring, this was his confession in an interview with Chris Wallace on 60 Minutes. He said:
Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what it is.’ I reached my goal, my dream, my life. [But] I think, ‘God, it’s got to be more than this.’ I mean this isn’t…this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be.2
Accolades, yet emptiness! Always this suspicion that there must be more—something greater! Yet, it’s never enough.It might seem strange at this point for me to say that Madonna and Brady haven’t set the “accomplishment-bar” too high for themselves but infinitely too low for themselves. They work toward the goal of being the best at a given moment and then do it again after they’ve reached that moment. But what if every moment leading up to that moment was the goal? What if perfection at a specific moment wasn’t the goal? Rather, what if perfection in every moment and in every activity and in every thought was the goal or the standard?Well in that case, they’d recognize that their works would never measure up. They’d recognize that they could never reach the goal or the standard or the finish for which they’ve longed. But . . . do you recognize this?!In the Garden of Gethsemane—knowing on the very next day he would die on the cross—Jesus prayed this to his Heavenly Father:
I glorified you on earth having accomplished [or finished, same root word in Greek] the work that you gave me to do (John 17:4).
What does it mean to finish or satisfy the plan of an infinitely holy God? Well, it means Jesus had met the perfect standard of God perfectly. Every moment, every activity, every thought . . . holy and perfect!Thus, when Jesus says: “It is finished.” from the cross, he’s talking in part about his saving works. He has fulfilled all righteousness for those who will trust in him for salvation. His righteousness is imparted to us through faith in his works. We can’t add to them or take away from them. They’re simply ours through faith!So friends, when we do works as Christians thinking we’re adding anything to Christ’s work, we are actually insulting and despising the work of Christ for us. We’re acting as if the work of Christ isn’t sufficient for our salvation; we’re acting as if we must complete something Christ left unfinished. No! We can add nothing to his work. It’s finished. Our righteousness is in Christ alone. Do you believe this?Well, let’s turn now to what else finished means. Namely that:
2. Damning sins are finished.
In the 2nd letter Paul sent to Corinth, he wrote this about Christ’s work:
For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (5:21).
This shows both sides of the “it-is-finished” coin. We just talked about how God’s righteousness in Christ is now ours. But notice what Jesus gets from us—namely, our sin and rebellion. This too is finished or paid for by Christ’s sacrifice. When we trust in Jesus for salvation, our sins—past and present and future—die with him on the cross. They are vanquished.Now some have tried to use this truth as license to sin as much as they can. Like Christ’s sacrifice for our sins is simply a free pass to engage in debauchery and immorality now without having to pay later. But that’s nonsense!Think about it in this way. If I began to use my wife’s sacrificial love for me as a way to indulge my every desire—if I began to use her love as a way to party and philander while she stayed at home with our 5 kids—then you’d rightly say: “She loves him, but he doesn’t love her.”In the same way, anyone who would look at Christ’s death for his or her sins as a free pass to sin and sin without having to deal with the consequences likely hasn’t really received his love at all. Experiencing the love of God will change us. And if it doesn’t, we must ask whether or not we’ve really received his love.Now please don’t misunderstand me. Christians will sin. I’m not saying that if you sin you’re not a Christian. I’m simply saying those who use Jesus’ sacrifice as an excuse to sin call into question the reality of their own faith. In other words, it is their actions and attitudes which accuse them . . . not I.Friends, have you experienced the finished work of Christ over your sins? Have your sins been crucified with Christ? Or, do you continue to let them rule over you—to give them a power in your life they no longer have? If so, don’t! Friends, if you follow Jesus, sin is finished and defeated. Like Goliath’s shadow upon that VBS tent, it has no real power over you. Your sin is finished in Christ!As we close, we’re going to sing a song which ponders these words of Jesus from the cross—words of victory, words foreshadowing celebration. Just meditate on these verses.There's no deed that can redeem us.
There's no rite, no magic word.
Only by the work of Jesus
Can salvation be secured.
There's no sacrifice to offer.
There's no penance to complete.
Freely drink of living water.
Without money come and feast.
It is finished! He has done it!
Let your weary heart rejoice.
Our redemption is accomplished.
Raise a shout with ragged voice.
And go bravely into battle
Knowing he has won the war.
It is finished, lift your head
And weep no more.3
Amen! Pray with me.
1 Vanity Fair, April 1991. You can see the full interview here.
2 You can watch part of the interview here.
3 Dustin Kensrue, It Is Finished, 2013.
