Bearing Jesus’ Burdens

Bearing Jesus’ Burdens

Ephesians 2:12

At times you think Jesus must have been with the writers, don’t you? We’ve been talking about the state of those people actually, because that’s what we started on in Ephesians 2:11, I think it was, where Paul was distinctly talking about the Gentiles. He said, “You Gentiles who were called the uncircumcision by those who are called the circumcision.” And we mentioned that it was a 'them and us' kind of situation. It was speaking from the viewpoint of the Jews, speaking to them who are outside the salvation the Jews experienced as opposed to them, the Jews themselves. And of course, we likened to our own situation with those whom we say are not Christians.

So, what is their state? What is the state of the majority of our buyers [buyers who are stocking their store] that we visit? Well, it’s here in today’s verse, if you’d like to look at it. It’s Ephesians 2 and it’s the next verse that we’re studying. Ephesians 2:12, “Remember that you,” he’s speaking to the Gentiles, “You were at that time separated from Christ.” Now, what does that mean? “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ.” There’s a commentator called Barnes [Albert Barnes, 1798-1870, American theologian] and he wrote notes and they’re known as Barnes Notes on the Bible and he says this, “The word here 'separated from Christ' is a translation of the preposition” [the Greek preposition] “choris”. And so actually what is says is, “You were without Christ. You were 'choris Christou'.” So it’s without Christ.

He makes this comment, “'Choris', implying separation of the subject from the object. That is separation of the Gentiles from Christ. Separate from Christ. Having no part in him, far from him.” And then he says, “A different word for without is 'apon' and that was not the one that was used. But 'apon' means the absence of the object from the subject, the absence of Christ from the non-Christian. This would express Christ was not present with you.” And so Barnes is making the point, just as a scholar, that the Greek proposition here means that the non-Christian is – in fact, the translation is good that we have, even though that the verb 'separated' is not there, “You non-Christians are separated from Christ, but Christ himself is still with you. Whereas if it had been the other word 'without' it would have meant, “Christ has left you. You have nothing to do with Christ.”

So it’s interesting that the Greek here says, “You are separated from Christ." Christ himself is still there but you have separated yourself from him. But he is not separated from you. And of course, it ties up with the whole truth that we’ve been sharing that "we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus," and we are 'in' him. We may not know that; we may not recognize that. And therefore we live under all the consequences of not having Christ, but Christ has us.

I was joking with my wife, I asked her last night – I’m sure she wondered why. She said, “It’s those phrases that ring in your mind.” I said, “What did that passport inspector say to you several years ago when we were coming back from France, all of us together?” And of course, he recognized the English accent and he said, “Ah, our English ladies may leave us but we never forget them.” And I remembered it of course as, “Our English ladies leave us but we never leave them.” But that’s it. We can leave Christ. He actually not only does not leave us, but cannot leave us. He cannot leave us. We can pretend we’re without him; we can pretend he isn’t here. He cannot! He knows that we cease to exist the moment he expels us from his own power and his own influence.

Barnes, in more typical theological fashion explains it like this, “You were without knowledge,” he says, “You were separated from Christ.” At that time of course, Paul is talking about you Gentiles were separated from Christ, “You were without the knowledge of the Messiah. You had not heard of him; of course you had not embraced him. You were living without any of the hopes and consolations which you now have from having embraced him. The object of the apostle is to remind them of the deplorable condition in which they were by nature; and nothing would better express it than to say they were "without Christ," or that they had no knowledge of a Saviour. They knew of no atonement for sin. They had no assurance of pardon. They had no well-founded hope of eternal life. They were in a state of darkness and condemnation, from which nothing but a knowledge of Christ could deliver them. All Christians may in like manner be reminded of the fact that, before their conversion, they were "without Christ." Though they had heard of him, and were constantly under the instruction which reminded them of him, yet they were without any true knowledge of him, and without any of the hopes which result from having embraced him. Many were infidels. Many were scoffers. Many were profane, sensual, corrupt. Many rejected Christ with scorn; many, by simple neglect. All were without any true knowledge of him; all were destitute of the peace and hope which result from a saving acquaintance with him. We may add, that there is no more affecting description of the state of man by nature than to say, he is without a Saviour. Sad would be the condition of the world without a Redeemer - sad is the state of that portion of mankind who reject him. Reader, are you without Christ?”

But all the implication is that that’s their attitude to Christ. But there’s nothing in it that says that’s Christ’s attitude to them. So in a sense, they are separated from Christ as far as they themselves have been able to separate themselves by a lie, but they are never separate from Christ himself.

Now I think, coming to what I think is the most touching and the most convincing part of the truth. Colossians, of course, Colossians 1:15, “He,” Christ, “Is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” That is the simple eternal fact, that every one of our buyers is in him, and it is in him that they hold together. And of course the situation is almost indescribable. Some of those buyers are in that finger of Christ, and yet they refuse to believe that. They act as if that isn’t the case at all. This one [Pastor indicates a finger on his hand] is Hitler, and he doesn’t simply destroy this one [Pastor indicates another finger], he is – my wife reminded me yesterday -- looks up how many Jews there are in Ireland, how many Jews there are in Germany, how many Jews there are in France, and he sets out to destroy every bit of this body that he can get his hands on.

I don’t know how, and you can’t say – I suppose you shouldn’t say the dear Man [referring to Christ], I suppose it’s not respectful enough -- but I don’t know how the dear Man bears it. I don’t know how Christ bears it. But that’s it you see. And that’s why we read that piece about the lie -- the idols. They live a lie.

So the dear hearts that you meet every day, they’re living a lie. They’re living not in reality at all but they’re living a lie that they have created, the lie that as Barth says, “They are on their own.” They are on their own; they are separate from everybody and everything else. And it is a downright lie. And of course, they live in the consequences of that lie. You can see the situation we’re in when you face the truth, "We are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." So we think, “Oh, we’re here with things that God wants to do through us. We’re here with things that Jesus wants to achieve through us. We’re here to do things and take part in things that our Creator has determined from before the foundation of the world and he has fitted us for, and he himself is actually going to supply the strength and the guidance for them. So it’s a free ride for us.”

The non-Christian -- oh it’s a desolation. It’s a loneliness; it’s a wilderness; it’s a desert. "How am I going to make enough money out of this little shop to keep me alive so that I can die in some kind of security or semi security; or -- as my parents used to think -- so that I have enough money to pay for my funeral. But that’s it. How am I – what am I going to do tomorrow? What am I going to do for vacation to bring some brightness into this life? How am I going to face the things that Blair [Tony Blair, British prime minister from 1997 to 2007] is going to initiate next year? How am I going to face the financial difficulties that I can see looming up ahead? How am I going – How? How? Where? What?" The life is filled with questions that have no answers.

Oh, of course, I agree with you they don’t wear their heart on their sleeve. They keep a stiff upper life as the British do. And they go on courageously. And they even joke, because what else can you do in the midst of such a hideous situation? It’s a hideous situation. Anybody knows it, "Here I am a little insect on this planet flying through space and all I read in the newspapers is there are millions of such planets and that nobody has any idea what it’s all made of, and here I am spinning around. All I can do is smile, or laugh, or joke about it. If I didn’t laugh, I’d cry." And of course, that’s their situation.

We should see it in all its stark reality and in all its horror, and see 'we' are living a party life. We are living – we are living the life that we did as little children with our mums and dads, except for those moments when we also believe the lie that we’re not part of Jesus. But we have a life of ease, and security, and happiness, and freedom from anxiety and angst, compared with these dear souls.

And yet in the midst of it all there is that dear person who is not just, “Oh, you can depend on me. I’ll be there for you,” we say to each other so bravely. But we always know we’re not part of them; we don’t have to face everything that they face every moment. We can come to them when we choose to help them. Not Christ! Everything we go through, every pain, every agony, every loneliness, every anxiety, every fearfulness, he bears it. If he didn’t bear it, it would destroy them.

If man had to face – honestly it’s a paradox. But if man had to face honestly the lie that he is on his own, he would have a heart attack right then. The whole organism would receive such shock that it would be unbearable. Christ bears the bigger part of the shock. He let’s some of the angst through to them, so that they will know that things are not the way they should be.

So every time we look at that dear heart in the store, or the fellow that pumps the gas, or the others, that’s their situation. They are on the edge of an abyss, and they know they are. They just shrug it off and joke about it. "What can you do? You have to somehow get through the day. You have to somehow get to the point where you can close your eyes and forget." And so they have that within them, covered over by the kind of life we all know they live: covered over by the little delights, a packaged tour, or the little delights of maybe a good sale last week, or, maybe the son or daughter getting married. Momentarily that’s a lift. But underneath, all the time is the desolation and the loneliness that the wretched lie causes. And of course, they don’t know the way out, and they have no idea that Jesus is in them. They have no idea that they are in Christ. They have no idea of what they are doing to Christ. They have no idea of what Christ has in mind for them.

They would – they would whoop it up if they knew that the life they were here to live has already been lovingly planned by their Father, the Creator. And his own Son is looking forward to living that life through them and in them. It would change, transform their lives.

And I’m with all of you who say, “But Pastor, it’s hard to get from, ‘Would you like two blue earrings or a yellow necklace?’ to that.” I don’t think that’s the way God has for us. I think it’s through his Spirit’s revelation, confirmed perhaps by a word from you at the right moment. But it’s his Spirit’s revelation.

But the whole indication of God’s dealing with us here in this world is that he will not put us all to sleep and do the job, that his whole purpose is to bring us into a conscious awareness of who he is, and what he is like, and a desire, a free will desire, to be that ourselves. That’s the whole indication of his whole gospel. So he certainly is not going to bring that to them through some blind decision of his own that is not related at all to the exercise of the free wills of us human beings here on earth. And it seems to me, that’s where we come in.

If we do not pray and we do not care about them, then nobody else on earth really does: the odd godly father and mother, the odd godly father and mother. Even then it’s only the odd ones, because many of us here have good parents, but we really know it’s not in these terms, normally, that they think of us. They normally think of us just as their own children that they love dearly. So if 'we' do not pray for them, if we do not pray for them and care about them, I don’t see how God gets to them at all, in accordance with his own obviously, declared purpose of bringing us all into a 'free will' submission to himself.

So I’d ask you to think about it. It’s difficult to see how Jesus bears it. It really is. It’s difficult to see how he bears it. But that he still does, every moment, every day. And I think it is real truth. I think it’s not just fanciful to think of the sculpture in St. Peters, [at the Vatican in Rome] "La Pieta." I think it is that. We’re either nailing him to that cross, or like Mary and the others, we’re lifting him down from it. We’re easing the thing. I think that is right. We’re either making his burden heavier, or we’re in some way allowing him to give us the grace to lighten his burden, which is presumably part of what he means by, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.” Let us pray.

Dear Lord, when we think of the reality that you have shown us we can only bow low and commit ourselves to, in some way Lord Jesus, bathe your brow, ease your wounds, or in some way stop more wounds being inflicted upon you. And we see Lord, that you are the one that suffers from all sides. You suffer while we destroy each other, and then if we do succeed in destroying each other, it’s you we destroy so you suffer then also.

So Lord, we bow to you now and can only thank you and then live our lives out in gratitude to you, and take your yoke upon us and learn of you, and begin to bear the burden that you bear day after day before your Father, because you 'ever live to make intercession for us' at the right hand of God. So Lord, we see that we can at least, do that. We can faithfully intercede for the men and women that we meet and encounter each day. And we thank you for the opportunity to encounter them and to meet them. And we would Lord, be faithful and do what you have done, as much as you give us the grace and ability to do it, to put ourselves in their place, and to see what they face, and then to beseech you to reveal truth to them that they may cease to live a lie and may begin to live in the truth in you.