GYC 2014: At The Cross

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Cross-Check: Finding Your Personal Story At the Cross

Sebastien Braxton

1. Cross-Check: Did I Do That?

This message was presented at the GYC 2014 conference at the Cross in Phoenix, Arizona.

For other resources like this, visit us online at www.gycweb.org.

All right, anybody here for the 10th time?

So this is actually my 11th or 12th, but I don't wanna give away my age.

Just know I didn't pay the $100 surcharge.

So anyway, I just want to welcome you all to our seminar this morning.

For the next 2 days, my intention is to take us upon a journey in looking at the cross in a different way than we typically look at it, which is predominantly for theological benefit.

To say that this is what Jesus did for us, he died for me, or this is the implications in terms of the sanctuary, or the impact that this has upon the great controversy.

All those things are very important, and we should pursue them theologically.

But my intention in this seminar is to do what I've entitled it, which is a cross-check.

And when you cross-check something, you kind of go back and you compare different things to see, like, wait a minute, did I miss a detail that I didn't catch before?

Or Maybe I realized that this person was actually there at the same time in the same place.

And this is oftentimes how police catch criminals who thought that they slipped under the radar.

And in the same sense, this seminar is not so much to implicate you and myself as criminals, as much as it is to say there's a story that is being told and that story is your life and that story at 1 point was Jesus's life and his story ended in a very tragic way At least it seemed on the surface.

And what we discover is that just like Jesus found his story in the stories of others, that in the same sense, our story can be found in Jesus' story.

In fact, not only can it be found there, but we find that your story, my story, Christ's story is a tale that has already been told.

And that is my goal in these 6 sessions, is to show us that much of the things that we experience in life, much of what Jesus experienced, particularly around the crucifixion, is a tale that's already been told.

And we're gonna find, I believe, by God's grace and through the leading of His Holy Spirit, that that tale is being told again in you.

And our goal then as Christians, when we talk about uplifting the cross, when we talk about sharing the cross, it is to help others to also find their personal story in the cross.

And so with that being said, I'd like to pray to begin and then we will immediately dive into our topic.

This is abuse to a preacher, but nevertheless Jesus says, Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

Mighty God, everlasting Father, what an amazing privilege to be able to have the space, the time, the word, and the spirit to be here right now, to study that which we will continue to study through eternal ages.

It is our prayer, Lord, that as we reexamine the details, as we reexamine the general principles, as we reexamine the big story, the big picture, Father, that you will help us to find our story in Jesus' story.

We thank you for your promise to speak to us if we would come to you in humility and with openness of heart and mind.

Grant us this request, not for our sake or because of our own righteousness, but for your mercy's sake, is our prayer in Jesus' name.

Take your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 23.

I hope you brought your Bibles, we're gonna use them.

I don't know, I feel uncomfortable without it.

Matthew chapter 23, when you're there, you can say amen.

Okay, if you're not there, just say have mercy.

Matthew chapter 23, we're gonna begin in verse 32.

Alright, the Bible says, the words of Christ in red, fill up then the measure of your father's guilt.

Serpents, brood of vipers, how can you escape the condemnation of hell?

Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men and scribes.

Some of them you will kill and crucify and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.

That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth.

From the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Now, the word archetype is a technical word in certain fields.

It is a word that is used in behavioral psychology.

It is a word that is used in terms of analyzing literature.

And it's also a word that is used even in other areas that I don't want to get into, which are of no interest and use to us at this time.

But an archetype in a very simple definition is a constantly recurring pattern in life or in literature.

Now the word archetype comes from 2 Greek words.

Maybe you know this word because of the archangel, right?

So we come to 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16, and it says, And he will come with the sound of a trumpet and the voice of the archangel.

The word arch meaning first or the ruler.

But now The second part of it, the type, or what we call in Greek the toupon, is the model or the pattern.

And that's the noun form, the adjective is archetypos, which basically means this is the first model or the first pattern.

This is the principle pattern from which all others are copied.

You see an archetype are the things that stories are made of.

When you think of an archetype I want you to think in your mind of Superman.

Think of the fact that There's a hero and there's a villain, right?

And this is the archetype that the hero is always perfectly good, right?

He's so loving, he's so patient, he's always willing to sacrifice, or she.

And so you have the fact that This is who they are.

He's perfectly evil, always bent on destruction, always bent on selfishness or greed or power at any cost.

There is nothing he is not willing to do to accomplish his end.

So now this is what we call an archetype in terms of the characters.

There's a hero, there's a villain, there's the trickster, there's the outcast, right?

The person that doesn't fit in but they're like the diamond in the rough.

No 1 ever knew that they were actually the coolest person in school but no 1 just ever knew about them.

We graduate from high school, go to college and now she's the prettiest girl at the University of Maryland and we're all thinking, man why was I so mean to her in high school?

There's also archetypes in terms of images.

2. Cross-Words: Lord, Speak to Me… Please!

Lord, we pray that you give us the strength, give us the guidance, and that you would give us your spirit.

That he may revive us again, that he may speak to us, and Lord, that he may lead us as well.

We love you and we thank you for the story.

And we pray, Father, that we would find that our stories cross with yours.

And as we go into this session on cross words, Lord speak to me, please.

We pray, Father, that you would guide us in this session.

Now, in the first session, we ended with a quote talking about the slaves, black slaves in America.

And 1 of the things that shocked them was as they began to find their story in the story of the cross and they realize that going through their slavery, going through their abuse, that this was just a tale that had already been told.

That there's something that struck them about Christ.

And the thing that struck them is the first in the list of the words that we're going to address in this session.

And that's found in Luke chapter 23 beginning in verse 34.

You find that when Jesus was crucified, there are typically described as 7 last sayings of Jesus.

So supposedly, these are the 7 last things that Jesus said.

And there's a lot of interesting facts that I believe continue to build off of our first session.

All right, the Bible says, before that, let's start in verse 32.

It says, There were also 2 others, criminals, led with him to be put to death.

And when they had come to the place called Calvary, There they crucified him and the criminals, 1 on the right hand and the other on the left.

Then Jesus said, Father forgive them for they do not know what they do.

Now I want you to first understand that the precursor to this phrase is important to get the story.

You see, when we talk about cross words, we're looking at the fact that right before Jesus says this, His cross has just been thrown into the ground.

So the Bible says that as soon as Jesus is hoisted onto the cross, hoisted into a hole, and he's feeling the first pains of crucifixion, his first reaction is not a cry of pain.

Lord give me strength to bear this situation.

His first reaction is, Father, forgive them.

This is an interesting fact to know that the first words of Jesus as he's feeling the first pains is prayer.

That even the pain of crucifixion, even the suffering of the divine judgment, even drinking the cup that he wished would pass from him, his first reaction is to turn heavenward.

His first reaction is to pray and that even in his pain, prayer will not stop Christ.

And not only will it not stop Christ from praying, it won't stop Christ from praying a prayer of intercession.

See I can understand that in many of our stories.

When we find ourselves in great suffering, our first reaction is to pray that this thing will go away.

Our first prayer is, Lord, please resolve this thing.

We say, Lord, you said in Psalm 50, verse 15, call upon you in the day of trouble, and you will deliver me, and I shall glorify you.

So we claim your promise that you will deliver us from this situation but that's not Christ's first prayer.

And it is a wondrous thing to think first of all that Christ's first reaction to his suffering is to pray.

His first words are not to humanity, but his words are for humanity.

His first words are to God in recognizing that, Lord, it is not about how they're offending me.

It's not about the roughness of the soldiers.

He doesn't say Lord give me strength to forgive them.

See we have to start off in our own personal stories and recognize that when we find our story in the cross sometimes we discover that we didn't handle our situation correctly.

You see when you and I are being wronged by someone, and we're talking about cruelly wronged, we're talking about injustice, miscarriage of justice.

Our first reaction is I don't deserve this.

But we find with Jesus, he says, listen, my first thing is to pray, it is to turn to God, not to turn to the people.

Jesus has the capacity to look beyond his own pain.

Can you and I think of a time in our lives, in our stories, where we were able to look beyond our own pain and see God's.

You see, when you and I first think about our suffering, when you and I first think about our discomfort, we're not understanding that what we are feeling is only a microcosm.

It is only an ounce of what he is feeling in your injustice.

Christ doesn't say, Father, help me to forgive them.

He doesn't say, I forgive you even because you don't know what you're doing to me.

Christ doesn't say, listen, guys, Lord, give me strength so that I can maintain a Christ like demeanor in the midst of this situation.

Someone cannot forgive someone unless that person has wronged them.

So because of that Christ is looking down and he's saying okay when you and I are being mistreated when you and I are being mistreated, when you and I are being mishandled, our story says, you know what, I'm gonna tell this person, I'm gonna fight for my rights, I'm gonna confront them, I'm gonna let them know this is how you offended me.

But Jesus says what you need to do is not even let them know how they've offended God.

What you need to do is go to the Father and say, Father forgive them.

And to argue and understand that what I am suffering, they don't even understand what they are doing.

You see the first thing That Jesus teaches us here is that prayer should be the first reaction When we look at our stories in life Is there a time where we found that as soon as the pain set in as soon as the discomfort came?

Not for strength, not for energy, not for a right spirit, but for their own forgiveness.

The second thing that Jesus teaches us in this first saying on the cross, on these cross words is that Jesus remembers that he is still God's child.

He hasn't forgotten his sonship in his pain.

You see it is very quick for us to start asking God why are you allowing this to happen to me?

When we look at our stories, you see, there's something about finding your personal story in the cross that there comes a day, brothers and sisters, and if it hasn't come, I pray that it will come.

That when you and I are going through our pain, when we're going through our difficulties, we still remember that we are still sons and daughters of God.

That we still remember that we can behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.

That we should be called children of God.

That we can remember that now beloved we are the children of God.

Now when I don't see a way out of my situation, now when I feel like I just don't have the energy to go on, I must remember my sonship.

3. Cross-Hairs: Why Am I Struggling with This Sin?

Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord for your word and we thank you for the opportunity to study.

We ask that you would give us the Holy Spirit, without which we can understand not 1 principle of scripture.

Not only not understand it, but not apply it.

So we ask Lord that we would not be here because of curiosity but that we would be here because we desire to change.

And so move us forward in our journey closer to where you would have us to be.

Give us understanding, give us a focused mind, clarity, and most of all, Father, give us courage to surrender when you call, to give, and Father, to be willing to let go of whatever you would have us to bring.

Thank you for hearing this prayer, and we offer it up in Jesus' name.

So this session is continuing in our series, Finding Your Personal Story in the Cross.

And this particular session is a very important session, which I'm sure why some of you are here, because you read the title.

But with that subtitle, why am I struggling with this sin?

I imagine that for many of us sin is no stranger.

It is something that we experience on a daily basis.

We go through desires, we go through invitations to do things that are inappropriate, that are going to bring us guilt, that are going to bring us shame, that are going to embarrass us.

And yet it seems like amidst all the the rabble of the temptations and the opportunities that we have to sin There always seems to be a couple of those sins that just seem to linger a little bit longer than others in this question I Believe continues to plague many of us simply because we want to get over sin.

There's just certain sins in life that we are tired of.

Right, I want to take you to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12.

Hebrews chapter 12, we're going to come back to the story of the crucifixion momentarily.

Paul writes these words in verse 1, Therefore we also since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us.

And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

So Paul using the analogy of a race, he says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily ensnares us.

The sin that somehow just entraps us when we think that we are free, it just somehow comes back and brings us right back in.

I take you to an Adventist academy, which shall remain nameless.

When I was doing a week of prayer at this academy, when I had finished, some of the leadership of the academy pulled me aside.

And they said, Brother Braxton, we were wondering if you could help us with a particular student situation.

They said, well, we've had several of our students that are struggling with sexual perversion, with masturbation, with pornography.

And we have this 1 particular student who came to the staff completely honest, completely vulnerable, completely broken, and he says, listen, I'm gonna tell you, This is what we're doing in the dorms.

I'm participating in this, but I don't want to have anything to do with this.

And so he came to the leadership and said, can you help me?

And while they were finishing this story to me, the young man said while he was sitting there in the room in the conversation, you can only imagine the amount of shame pulsing through his veins at that point.

And he said, you know, sometimes I ask myself, why am I struggling with this sin?

Sometimes we wish that our sins were a little more candy cane.

They're a little more kind of, you know, oh yeah, sometimes I tell some lies, but you know, you know, I go back and tell people, look, I wasn't being completely honest with you and everything's okay.

Or maybe if my sin was, you know, sometimes my family becomes an idol.

And we have certain sins that we feel like these ones are worse than others.

It's 1 thing to make your family an idol, it's another thing to be unfaithful to your wife.

So you sleep with another man, you sleep with another woman, that particular sin is like, oh man, you must be really spiritually broken.

But if you come to church and you're saying for prayer time, you know what?

People are kind of thinking like, that's not even a real struggle.

Like, yeah, no one's going to remember to pray for you.

You're not going to go home and think, man, that brother's family, he's making it an idol.

But let us find out that where there's a young person that was depressed and was considering taking their own life.

Now we feel the need to pray for them as if 1 sin is greater than another.

But the reality is, everyone has a sin that does so easily ensnares them.

And when it comes to the counsel of sin, nobody's gonna come there trying to boast that, oh this is how strong I am.

You know sin, especially our darling sin, it's like that girlfriend or boyfriend that we broke up with and we said, you know, this was just a terrible relationship.

And as soon as they come around, we're not showing our chest much because we're afraid of what they might say.

We're afraid that they might embarrass us or just call us out or call us on our bluff.

Yeah, you mean like that 1 time when you did this and this because you're so spiritual.

And so for many of us, it keeps us quiet, keeps us from pursuing spiritual endeavors.

It keeps us from offering our services to the church because of the sin that does so easily ensnares us and so this young man's question I believe is a question that many young people have and I believe that many people at the crucifixion who were involved in leading Christ to that cross were feeling the same thing.

It was revealing an answer to the question that there's more behind this than just, oh, you have a lust problem, or you have a pride problem, or you have a problem with greed, or you have a problem with stealing things, or you have a problem with envy, or you have a problem with keeping the Sabbath day and respecting the sacred precincts of time.

There's more going on is what the cross suggests to us because when we are involved in sin when we are involved in breaking the law, it's not just rebellion.

It is also a type of betrayal to God Because before you and I sinned we made a commitment to him did we not Yes, or no?

Yes, we did We didn't decide to become Christians and say yeah, but I'm gonna let you know God.

I am going to sin Right no 1 starts a relationship that way can you say amen?

No, you don't you don't go into a relationship and say hey girl I want to be with you.

I want to spend the rest, but I'm gonna let I'm gonna cheat I Am NOT going to be faithful to this covenant.

So can you imagine, they're like, oh, would you like to read your vows at the wedding?

And the guy looks at his bride and he says, listen, you're beautiful, you're lovely, you're great, you're amazing.

I want to spend the rest of my life, but I'm going to let you know I'm going to cheat.

I'm going to sleep with someone that is not my wife.

How do you think that ceremony is gonna go?

You're gonna be thinking to yourself, he didn't just say that.

And we'll all just pretend like he didn't say it and go for it in the marriage ceremony.

That's exactly what will take place But this is what some people come into Christianity to say You know what when I decided to surrender my life to Christ and to give myself Over to him you and I did not sign up for perpetual sin.

Series

Cross-Check: Finding Your Personal Story At the Cross

5. Cross-Fire: God, Why Didn’t You Come Through For Me?

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

GYC 2012 Evening Devotional

Even a Glimpse

49m

GYC 2011 Seminar: If I Go, He Will Come

What On Earth Is HE Waiting On, Part 1

1h 50m

Morning Devotional

The Belly of the Beast

1h 7m

Plenary

We Shall Overcome

1h 45m

Cross-Check: Finding Your Personal Story At the Cross

3. Cross-Hairs: Why Am I Struggling with This Sin?

55m

Life With the Spirit

The Greatest Spiritual Gift

1h 19m

Plenary

The Joy of the Cross

53m

Crisis at the Close

Crisis at the Close: The Trials - Part 3

49m

In His Time

27m

The Secret of Happiness

39m

Radical Vulnerability

52m

The Secret of Christian Endurance

39m

Sound Doctrine