Quote from Forum Archives on March 19, 2003, 4:13 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

Today I'd like to share with you a message in the Lent series
published by Christianbook.com. This message is appropriate
because it helps us to see our need of Christ, and why God had to
descend to reach us, and the extent He was willing to reach ---
all the way to death, only to arise again!

As we continue in the season of Lent, let's continue to think of
the humility of Jesus Christ, as I've mentioned earlier this
week. Take a look at Philippians 2:1-11 to see what the apostle
Paul had to say about the humility of Christ, and His ultimate
position. The body of Jesus experienced pain, suffering, and
even death. He never saw real decay, for He arose victorious
from it all, that we, too, may be victorious over sin and the
death of the soul that comes from our sin nature. I praise God
that He has triumphed.

May God bless each of us as we seek to serve God and our fellow
brothers and sisters in our families and communities.

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

Wishing you a blessed and holy Lent!
You have received this message because you have signed up to
receive daily devotions from Christianbook.com during Lent. We
have chosen excerpts from one of the array of devotionals
available at Christianbook.com. We hope that this service
enhances your journey through the season of Lent and prepares
you for the festal shout on Easter morning: He is risen!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The following is excerpted from "Bread and Wine, Readings for
Lent and Easter" (The Plough Publishing House, 2003).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

March 19, 2003
The Divine Scandal
By Emil Brunner

But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and
foolishness to the Gentiles (1 Corinthians 1:23).

The message of the cross goes to the root of our ills, and it
alone can cure them radically. Just for that reason it spells
folly and scandal. How? In the Bible it is not we who find a
way to God; it is God who comes to us. It says nothing about
practicing mystical introspection, of otherworldliness, of
cultivating the interior life, with a view to reaching
ultimately the divine ground of the soul. It is not a question
of our own performances and exercises as a result of which we
might hope to become pious and well-pleasing to God. That, in
the last analysis, is self-praise. The central point of
scripture is that God has mercy on us who are stuck so fast in
the mire -- if I may be pardoned the expression -- that we
cannot help ourselves.

Still more serious than its folly is the offensiveness of the
gospel's message. The Greeks sought after wisdom; the Jews
desired by their good works to merit favor with God. Has not
the thought come to you: Well, what then remains for us to do?
What room is there for our own exertions, our own sense of
responsibility?

All man-made religion stands in opposition to the gospel. It is
an ascent toward the eternal, perfect God. Up, up -- that is
its call. God is high above, we are down below; and now we
shall soar by means of our moral, spiritual, and religious
endeavors out of the earthly, human depths into the divine
heights.

God is too high and the evil in us too deep for us to reach
the goal this way. Our souls become crippled and cramped
by trying to rise to the highest height. The end is despair, or
a self-righteousness that leaves room neither for love of God
nor for love of others.

But God has in his mercy shown us a different way. "You
cannot come up to me, so I will come down to you." And God
descends to us human beings. This act of becoming one of
us begins at Christmas and ends on Good Friday.

God goes to the end. He reaches the goal. To be sure, this
end is exactly the opposite of what we fix as our goal. We
wish to climb up to heaven; God, however, descends --
down to where? To death on the cross. This is why Jesus
Christ had to descend into hell. He had to go the way to its
very end. Our rightful end is hell, that is, banishment from
God -- godforsakenness. Only there has God completely
come to us, there where he has taken upon himself
everything, even the cursed end of our way.

Jesus Christ has gone into hell in order to get us out of there.
For with everything he does, that is his goal, that he may get
us out, reconcile us with God, and fill us with God's Spirit.
He had to despair of God for us ("My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?") so that we do not have to despair of God. He has
taken this upon himself so that we may become free of it.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If you enjoyed the abridged version of today's devotional, you
may want to purchase " Bread and Wine" at:

www.christianbook.com/html/static/69264.html?p=1016376

Sincerely,
Your Friends at Christianbook.com
www.christianbook.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. Do you enjoy hearing about great deals and what's hot off the
presses? If so, we hope you'll forward this email to your friends
and share the good news. For even more good news, sign up for
our fun, free newsletters and get the scoop on your favorite areas
of interest:
www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/newsletter

We try to keep our customers informed about things we think they
may find interesting, like new products, special sales, and new pages
and features on our site. We hope you enjoy hearing from us, but if
for any reason you'd rather not receive email from us in the future,
just click on this link:
www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/unsubscribe_email

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
platinum.yahoo.com