Dear Family at Christ Community,

    On Sunday, we will receive the grand assurance of our pardon from the 3rd and 4th stanzas of the Fourth Suffering Servant Song in Isaiah 53:4-9. In these poetic verses, Isaiah declares our redemption through Jesus’ undeserved suffering and death that exalts us to undeserved peace and healing in eternal life. Jesus chose to die that we may live! The Lord’s Table reminds us of the depths of Christ’s love for us as He gave His body and shed His blood for us that we would walk in newness of life free from shame, guilt, and fear. The broken bread and overflowing cup asserts yet again that Christ was victorious on our behalf breaking the bondage of our slavery through Satan’s chosen means: death. Christ humbly took on flesh and died the brutal death of crucifixion so that we wouldn’t have to taste of death as the just wages for our sins. Eugene H. Peterson describes the crucifixion as the chosen means of our redemption despite Satan thinking it was the sure declaration of Christ’s and our defeat in Traveling Light: Modern Meditations on St. Paul’s Letter of Freedom:  

Jesus Christ, God with us, enters this world of determinism and necessity, a world where nothing works out the way we want it or plan it or expect it. Crucifixion is God participating in the interplay of biology and economics and politics and psychology and religion, not standing aloof from it, and accepting the verdict: “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” But the submission is not dumb cowardice; it is freely chosen strategy.

    Pray for the Holy Spirit to nourish you in the peace and healing that you didn’t deserve and can lay no claim to in and of yourself. Praise Jesus for choosing to die the death that you did deserve for your sin past, present, and future. Give thanks to God for receiving Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf as eternally sufficient. Offer to others the opportunity to witness the impact of this redemptive peace and healing in your life!

In Christ,
Cameron