2 Cor. 5:13-21 March 10, 2002

If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

CCI: The Cross of Christ is a picture of God's love as it is poured out on humanity.

Intro: Run Lucado's video from section 1

Have you ever considered the dimensions of the cross? Paul had - and in Ephesians 3:17-19 he wrote, "It is my prayer that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, [18] may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, [19] and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God." The breadth, the length, the height and depth of God's love, these are the dimensions of the cross.

In Pittsburgh at confluence point, where the Allegheny and the Monongahela Rivers join to form the Ohio, there is a fountain in the middle of the river that shoots water 225 feet into the air. On a tour of Pittsburgh years ago, I learned that the waters in that fountain are not the waters of the Ohio, rather they have their source in the prehistoric glacial fields of Wisconsin and southern Canada. Beginning in those uncharted wastelands, there is a subterranean river that flows southeast across the North American Continent. The water in that aquifer is so pure, and so abundant, that fully half of the buildings in downtown Pittsburgh draw their water from that river without any treatment. Scientists have tried to estimate the volume of water flowing across the continent, but they do not know how deep exactly or how long or how wide or how high this river flows. But it flows, not quickly, but steadily and for the city of Pittsburgh and many others it's flow is a source of life.

In much the same way the cross of Christ flows across time and into eternity. My friend, it is wide enough to include you. Deep enough to change you. And high enough to lift you.

God created us to live in fellowship with him. His standards were very straightforward, obey me and live with me in paradise. His holiness demanded obedience. But beginning with Adam and continuing with every human being since then, we have flaunted that invitation and chosen to disobey. As a result, we have not been permitted to live with God as he had intended. Sin, has separated us first from God and then from every other person and relationship as well.

The penalty of disobedience is death. In the Chronicles of Narnia the White Witch, reminds Aslan of the deep magic the the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea put into Narnia at the very beginning. That magic says that every traitor belongs to the witch and for every treachery she has a right to a kill. Paul put it this way, "the wages of sin is death."

God's holiness demands perfection. His justice demands that sin be punished. The writer to the Hebrews said, "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." And so God instituted the sacrificial system that we find in the Old Testament. The sacrifice would cleanse the sin and restore the relationship, but only until sin once again interfered, then the process was repeated again and again. All the sacrifices on the altars and in the temple were imperfect and incomplete.

Only a perfect sacrifice could restore the relationship that God had intended for his creation.

And so, it was on the cross that the perfect man, the One who is God in the flesh, the one who knew no sin, became sin for you. It was on the cross that Jesus reconciled the world to himself. In other words, He has welcomed us as friends at a time when we were His enemies. The pain he suffered as the nails were driven into his hands; the sorrow he bore as he was mocked and taunted, the abandonment he experienced when both his disciples and his Father turned away from Him; the thrashing of his back; the scorn of the sign; the burden of the cross, and the shame of nakedness were all endured by Jesus because he chose to endure it. Jesus himself said, "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"

Why did he not ask the Father? It is because "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." It is because he loved us so much that he would rather face the cross than face eternity without us. He did it for us. He did it for you.

Do you know the tragic story of Princess Alice, the second daughter of Queen Victoria. She had a four-year-old son whom she loved very much. When he contracted the disease known as ''black diphtheria'', Alice was devastated. The disease was highly contagious and very deadly. The nurses continually warned the Princess, not being in the best of health herself, to stay away from her son. Naturally this would be difficult for any mother. Still, Alice knew she would be in danger if she ignored the warning.

One day as Princess Alice stood in a far corner of her son''s room, she heard her son whisper to the nurse, ''Why doesn''t my mother kiss me any more?'' That was more than Alice could bear. As tears streamed down her cheeks, she raced to her son''s bed, held him in her arms, and smothered him with kisses. Tragically, this turned out to be the kiss of death. Princess Alice contracted the deadly disease and in a matter of weeks, both mother and son were buried. A foolish thing to do? Stupid? Wasteful? Yes, of course, all of these things. But who ever said love was logical? To love as deeply as the cross: who ever said that was sensible?

When Lincoln's body was brought from Washington to Illinois it passed through Albany and, as it was carried through the street, they say a colored woman stood upon the curb and lifted her little son as far as she could reach above the heads of the crowd and was heard to say to him, "Take a long look, honey. He died for you." So if I could, I would lift up your spirit to see Calvary. Take a long look. He died for you. --Harry Emerson Fosdick, THE HOPE OF THE WORD, (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1933), p. 230.

As the water in the aquifer under Pittsburgh gives life through it's limitless flow from an unseen source, so God's love flows from the cross giving life from a source that will never be exhausted.

Now the choice is yours. When Jesus died on the cross, his arms spread wide enough to embrace you no matter where you may roam. Will you permit his arms to surround you and take you home to himself? Yes the cross is wide.

And the cross is deep, deep enough to change you. Old habits, I have been told, run deep. However, Jesus offers to change you from the inside out. He does not expect us to change in order to come to him, rather he invites us to come, and he will change us. That means we can not judge the sincerity of another if we don't see the changes we think we should. As Christians we are quick to point fingers at people who struggle with obvious sin or socially unacceptable sin. The person who abuses alcohol or commits adultery we shun. But we wink at gossip and gluttony and greed, these are more acceptable. It is time for us to stop pointing our fingers and to start asking God to do His work of change in our lives. Friends, we are not told to change and then come to Christ, rather we are invited to come to Christ and be changed. If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation, the old goes, the new comes. Will you permit the cross of Christ to runs deep in your heart to change you?

And then let the cross of Christ lift you. Yes, we are sinners, but we are redeemed! We have been lifted from the gutter of this life and raised to a new existence, a life that is abundant, full and meaningful. And having been lifted, we are called to reach out to others. According to Church World Service in Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe more than 20 percent of persons between 15 and 49 are infected with HIV. Having been lifted by the cross of Jesus, we are called to reach out to others. By 2010 there will be 40 million AIDS orphans in Africa that is equal to the number of Children in American schools. Having been lifted by Jesus Christ, we are called to reach out to others. Everyday in our own city, women and children must flee from abusive husbands and boyfriends. Having been lifted by Jesus Christ, we are called to reach out to others. All around you are men and women and children who do not know Jesus and are facing an eternity without him. Having been lifted by Jesus Christ, we are called to reach out.

Have you been embraced by the cross? Have you been changed by the cross? Have you been lifted by the cross? If this all sounds strange to you, then today I would invite you to come to Jesus and come to the cross, let him embrace, let him change you, let him lift you and you will be able to reach out and share the cross with others as well.