Who Is God? Part 2 - A God that Loved Even Unto Death

Identity is an important thing.
Coaches- Clinic Derek Dooley – putting your signature on something is important – about your identity
Was 2-6 and invited Bobby Bowden to come speak to his team. Bowden affirmed all that Derek Dooley was doing and just encouraged the players to buy in to the system and keep working.
When Bowden was leaving the team meeting he called out to Derek Dooley and said thanks Daryll for having me.
Dooley said it was hard to stand in front of his team after coach Bowden called him by the wrong first name but they all got a good laugh about it.
Last week we started a new series of Sermons that are entitled “Who Is God?”
This is a fundamental question that must be answered for the Church to advance the cause of Christ.
This also a muddled and confused view with man creating God in his own image.
In other words we have created God as a middle class American God that is comfortable with us being in our comfort zone.
We have painted a picture of God as one that is okay with lukewarm Christians, a God that is happy with folks that don’t spread the Gospel, a God that is happy with folks that don’t spend their money on God and His kingdom.
This is really not God but an idol.
These are really people that gather for worship on Sunday’s across this country and worship themselves and not God.
So in laying out these sermons I stated that we have three goals.
3 Goals in our study of Who God is are the following:
1) To see and know the glory of God
2) To understand who God is and experience his glory from His Word.
3) When we understand who God is and His glory we will want to Advance His kingdom.
Today we are going to look at attribute of God that is so neglected and will take us out of our comfort zone.
This is a God that is very concerned with sin and wants to bring salvation to this world.
We will see at the end of this sermon that that this is a God that will call us out of our comfort zone and possibly to a like of suffering that leads to fulfillment.
Last week we also laid down the fact that the only way can know God is through Divine Revelation as we saw in 1 Corinthians 2.
In other words, we only know about God what He has made known to us.
Today we are going to talk about an attribute of God that is neglected in the Church but if understood properly will radically transform the way we live our lives.
We remember in the Old Testament that God was Israel’s King and that had always been the plan. Israel asked for a king like the surrounding nations and was not content for God to just be their king.
That attribute is caught up in an expectation of the Israelites.
That expectation is that one day the God of Israel – will become the King of the entire world.
This expectation is wrapped up in a promise made to David. David was promised that one of his descendents will sit on the throne of Israel forever.
The Jews had a hard time with this promise because it seemed that the Davidic line or the family of David had been cut off.
2 Samuel 7 made it clear that on of David’s family would sit on the throne forever but it seems like that was not going to happen.
When Babylon invaded almost 600 years before Christ it seemed that David’s family had been cut off like a stump to a tree.
Imagine a family tree that was cut to the stump and you can visualize what had happened to David’s family.
So what would God do? Would He keep His promise and reestablish the nation of Israel.
To get an answer we need to look at the book of Psalms. Psalms had been written over a 1000 year period and reflected the hope of Israel over that 1000 year period.
The Psalms were divided into 5 books. And the Psalm I want to look at is found in Psalm 89. Psalm 89 is in Book 3 of the Psalms. Book 3 of the Psalms paints a somber picture where the writers are asking if God is going to be faithful to His promise to them.
This Psalm was written while Israel was in Exile and the Kings of David had been killed or his descendents were in hiding.
Psalm 89: 34-39 and 49-52
34 "My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips. 35 "Once I have sworn by My holiness ; I will not lie to David. 36 "His descendants shall endure forever And his throne as the sun before Me. 37 "It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the sky is faithful." Selah. 38 But You have cast off and rejected, You have been full of wrath against Your anointed. 39 You have spurned the covenant of Your servant ; You have profaned his crown in the dust.
49 Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord, Which You swore to David in Your faithfulness ? 50 Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants ; How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples, 51 With which Your enemies have reproached, O LORD, With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed. 52 Blessed be the LORD forever ! Amen and Amen.
Do you hear the anguish of the Psalmist. He knows God is faithful to His covenant but it seems that David’s line has been cut off.
When will God reestablish this King and Kingdom?
When we turn to Book 4 of the Psalms which begins with the very next Psalm 90 we see a change in tone.
Book 4 is much more positive and brings Praise to God for His faithfulness.
Psalm 93 gets to the point. How will God be faithful to His Promise made to David?
Psalm 93 – God will be King
1 The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty ; The LORD has clothed and girded Himself with strength ; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. 2 Your throne is established from of old ; You are from everlasting. 3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, The floods have lifted up their voice, The floods lift up their pounding waves. 4 More than the sounds of many waters, Than the mighty breakers of the sea, The LORD on high is mighty. 5 Your testimonies are fully confirmed ; Holiness befits Your house, O LORD, forevermore .
Psalm 95: verse 3 also tells us that God will be their King
How will God fix this dilemma? He will be King of Israel and of the entire world.
But that still leaves a mystery – how will God be both fulfill the promise that someone from the family of David will be their king but also God will be their king?
How will God combine this idea of a Davidic King and the idea of God being King.
We should be excited because we already know the answer – Matthew 1:1 tells us that Jesus is the Son of David.
Jesus is from the family of David. Jesus will be called Christ which is NOT His last name but is a title. Christ means Annointed One – He is the anointed King of Israel.
This morning I want to show you how this all comes alive in the Gospel of Mark. I hope you will be of fire for God when you hear this message and what we are called to do.
Now you may think Mark’s gospel is a funny place to answer this question but Mark tells his story from an interesting perspective.
Mark is written by someone from Rome – according to church history John Mark was from Rome. We also know that Mark was written to the Church at Rome.
John Mark was familiar with many things Roman and their customs.
At the time of Jesus the entire world that they knew was ruled by Caesar. By the time Jesus was born the cult of Caesar was in full swing. The cult of Caesar was the religion that worshipped Caesar as a living god.
That might sound crazy to us but in the time of Jesus the Caesars saw themselves as part of the pantheon of gods that included Zeus, Athena, Jupiter, Mars, and Dionysius.
John Mark and the Christians in Rome would have been very familiar with a service that took place in Rome and that was the crowing or the coronation of Caesar.
When a new Caesar was crowned there was an elaborate service and procession that happened.
The ancient would was know for its processions through the streets. For example, before the time of Christ pagans would take the statue of Zeus out his temple and parade it through the streets in joyful triumph.
By the time of Christ the only lawful procession that you could have is one for Caesar and his coronation.
When a new Caesar was coronated as King it would follow several steps.
These steps are important because they are going to be used in just a minute:
1) Caesar – the new candidate – was brought to a building called the Praetorium. The Praetorium was where the Praetorian guard was located.
These were the elite forces of Rome –t he navy seals of their day – they were assigned to protect Caesar and were sent to the most dangerous parts of the world.
2) The Praetorian guard would surround him – all 6000 in a company would surround this new Caesar to pay tribute – Hail Caesar would be cried out.

3) The Praetorian Guard would go to the temple of Zeus and get a purple robe on him, give him a septer, and a crown of gold.

4) They would form a procession in the street and along with that procession a bull would walk with them that would be sacrificed. A servant would walk by the bull carrying the instrument of execution.

5) They would walk Caesar up a hill to the Capitoline – the Capitoline was Latin for Head Hill. The reason it was named this is because in Roman legend, when the hill was first found, a complete head was found buried their intact.

6) Once Caesar came to Head Hill- he would have his 2nd and 3rd in command stand on either side of Him.

7) Last in this step – Caesar was offered a cup of wine mixed with Myrrh and he would pour out this wine as a libation and the bull would be killed to consecrate his coronation.

The coronation of Caesar was two fold in that it crowned him as king and a living god.
He was declared literally a son of the gods.
Now imagine you are a 1st century Christian living in Rome – under persecution from a man that claims to be a ruler over you as your king and a living god.
How do you respond to that claim?
Well imagine a God that shapes historical events and sets everything up perfectly.
Galatians 4 tells us that in the fullness of time God sent His Son – in other words when the world situation was set up right God sent Jesus.
What I am about to share with you is not mere coincidence but is God’s providence in helping our brethren in the 1st century see something about Christ.
IN Mark’s Gospel we see something interesting.
Mark 1:1 starts off telling us that Mark is presenting the Gospel of Jesus as the Son of God.
We will see that in Mark’s Gospel the next time we will see that phrase son of God used by a human being to refer to Jesus, it will be at the cross of Jesus.
It will be interesting too at the cross who declares Jesus as the son of God.
Let us turn to the crucifixion account found in Mark’s Gospel – We pick up with Jesus after He has been scourged and just before His crucifixion.
Mark 15: 16-21
16 The soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium ), and they called together the whole Roman cohort. 17 They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; 18 and they began to acclaim Him, "Hail, King of the Jews !" 19 They kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. 20 After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him. 21 They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus ), to bear His cross.

1) Do you notice where they took Jesus – Praetorium – wherever these elite soldiers were stationed – an Palestine as volatile as it was would be a good place to have them – This is the only gospel that tells us that Jesus went to the Praetorium.
Remember –when Caesar was coronated he went to the praetorium in Rome.
2) Mark is the only one to tell us that all 6000 of the cohort of soldiers gathered around Him to mock Him. When Caesar was crowned all 6000 of the Praetorian guard would surround him and shout accolades to him
Now these same elite soldiers are surround the true king and making fun of Him in jest.
3) They give him a purple robe. Probably in Israel only two people were allowed to wear purples and that was Pilate and Herod. Only royalty or the equestrian class of Rome could wear purple.
They are putting the regal colors on Jesus.

4) They give him a crown of thorns with his regal garments. Just as Caesar was crowned with a golden crown these soldiers have crowned him with a crown of thorns.

5) Instead of a bull as a sacrifice – the sacrifice will be Jesus Himself. Not only is he being coronated as King but he is also being sacrificed.

6) We see that just as the servant carried the instrument of execution in Caesar’s procession we now see Simon of Cyrene carry the instrument of execution.

7) Simon’s sons are named – Why would Mark give us the names of Simon’s Sons? Alexander and Rufus? Rufus is mentioned in Romans 16 as a member of the Church at Rome and Church history tells us that both Rufus and Alexander were Roman Christians.

Mark puts this fact in this story to show the connection between the Roman Church and the crucifixion narrative – imagine being at church and there Rufus and Alexander sit on the front row.

Lets turn back to Mark’s story of the crucifixion and see what else we pick up from the story
Mark 15: 22-27
22 Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23 They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh ; but He did not take it. 24 And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them to decide what each man should take. 25 It was the third hour when they crucified Him. 26 The inscription of the charge against Him read, "THE KING OF THE JEWS." 27 They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left.

8) Golgotha – here it is translated from Aramaic to English as Place of the Skull
If it were literally translated it would be place of the Head.
Now remember that Caesar was crowned and taken to the Capitoline which is called Head Hill and Jesus is now taken to the Place of the Head.
9) Jesus is offered wine mixed with Myrrh just as it is offered to Caesar. Jesus would not take the wine.
10) Jesus is declared King of the Jews by the sign on His cross

11) He is flanked to his right and left by two criminals.

It doesn’t take long to figure out what Mark is telling us. Imagine you are in Rome at a Church service and all the sudden a messenger comes with Mark’s Gospel to be read in the assembly.
The reader gets to this section – what do you think the people would understand is going on.
They get it pretty quick – Jesus is being crowned King by the cross.
The one thing that Pilate was firm on was that the Title on the Cross would be King of the Jews.
The Romans had unwittingly proved God’s point – Pilate in the sign and the soldiers in the coronation ceremony of Jesus.
12) Now notice who is the one human being that gets it right – which man finally acknowledges that Jesus is God’s true Son.



Mark 15: 39
. 39 When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God !"
The Pagan Centurion of Rome recognizes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Now compare the coronation and enthronement of Jesus to that of earthly kings like Caesar. Jesus came to love us to the end.
Jesus came to be crushed for our iniquities – He came for the Life of the World
Now let us go back to our original proposal – God has kept His promise – A child of David will sit on the throne of Israel forever but at the same time God would be their king.
Jesus is God in the flesh – he is both the fleshly son of David and the Divine Son of God. This is dense and hard to grasp but it is an amazing game changer.
Now Who Is God?
God is Love – God is ultimate Love – God loved us so much that His power was gained by sacrifice.
Revelation 5: 11
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders ; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.
This King – this lamb – is exalted because He was slain.
This is a God that is willing to be crushed for our sin so that we can be brought back to His family and share in His divine Life.
Application:
1) Our God is so powerful that He can shape history – he used the Romans to teach a lesson to His followers that Jesus is the King and Caesar is not

2) Our King is strong through sacrifice.

This changes everything for us.
Jesus calls us to come to him and forsake all the cares of this world
Jesus calls us to come and take up our cross.
Now if our God is this type of God and not one that we have invented in our heads then we need to change?
Do you think the God of the bible is content for people that just show up on Sunday and never think again about God and His Kingdom?
Lets be totally honest and open about this? The God that was willing to become flesh and die on a cross and be beaten brutally – do you think the status quo is okay?
Do you think Church being all about our comfort and us not sharing the gospel and living comfortably in our Middle Class lives of riches and affluence not caring about the Kingdom is the true God’s wishes. That sounds more like a God that we have invented in our heads.
The God of Scripture calls us to get out of our comfort zone, get excited about worship, get excited about mission, get excited about helping the poor among us, getting excited about visiting those in prison.
Our life must change – we must no longer go with what is comfortable but what is right.
We cant just float along thinking that it is okay not so be on fire for Christ – because it is not. Christ’s blood is too precious, hell is too terrible, and Heaven is too wonderful to sit here like the status quo is okay.