Sharing in our experience

By Pastor John Adams
Hauser Community Church

What does Easter really mean?

While many people believe in Jesus, and that he rose from the dead, most of us don’t understand what it really means.

What we celebrate on Easter is that Jesus did two amazing things for us.

He made it possible for a perfect God to forgive the wrong we have done without merely making excuses for our guilt. In the process, Jesus came to share in our experience, to bring God near to us.

Think about how important that second truth is. Before Jesus came to earth, as great and loving as God is, He was not a part of His creation and He has never shared in our experience personally.

Jesus changed all that.

If God the Son had not come to earth as Jesus, we might have been able to dismiss His call to know Him and trust Him through the up’s and down’s of life as too hard.

You do need someone to pilot the car

Imagine, you are riding with friends and a landslide strikes the car. Your friend manages to control the car and you end up stuck in the mud, but nearly on clear pavement. You and all but one friend hop out into mud, you push and struggle to free the car.

As you work, your dry, clean friend behind the wheel keeps saying, “Come on, push harder, we’re nearly there, just a few more good heaves…” while you get muddier and more exhausted.

You will probably have to remind yourself that you do need someone behind the wheel to pilot the car, or you will be tempted to drag them out to help you.

Would it change your feeling toward that friend if, instead of being behind the wheel, clean and dry, they were knee-deep in mud too, pushing and struggling along with you? They could say the same things, but now they have earned the right to urge you on, because they share your experience.

I have had several friends diagnosed with terminal cancer. Since I have not been diagnosed with terminal illness what can I say? Can I tell them, “Remember that this life is brief, that heaven awaits, that will be worth it all?”

That is all true, but like the friend in the car, clean and dry behind wheel, I have not earned the right to say them

Jesus earned the right to speak for those who suffer

When Jesus came to earth, he earned the right to speak to those who suffer. He got down in the mud with us; he went to an olive grove to pray, and poured out his heart in anguish. His pain was almost beyond bearing, even before he went to the cross to die. (Luke 22:39-44)

Because he has shared our experience of heartbreak, betrayal, anguish, suffering and even death, he can say to my friends with terminal cancer, “The path you tread is dark, painful, and lonely…I know, I’ve been there…and I will walk with you.”

Jesus can say, to anyone enduring pain, despair, anxiety, or fear, “I’ve walked that path, let me walk with you.”

He has earned the right to offer comfort in our pain, because he left the comfort of heaven to walk the muddy pathways of this life, enduring scorn and shame, anguish and torture, all for us.

As great as that is, earning the right to encourage and comfort was not Jesus only purpose. His larger reason was to do what we could not do for ourselves, to take the consequences of choosing our way over God’s will.

When he died on that Roman cross, he accepted on his own head the just judgment of a perfect God who cannot overlook even one act of rebellion.

Instead of making us pay, God the Son came in the person of Jesus to take our death penalty for us. The Bible puts it this way, “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8)

Will you celebrate Jesus death and resurrection in a personal way this Easter? He offers you a life of knowing God’s love for you personally, a life that never ends.

Will you trust him enough to receive his love for you? Will you let him offer you comfort when your heart is breaking, when despair threatens to overwhelm?

If you are not sure how, check out How to Know God Personally.

You might talk with a friend who knows Jesus personally, or feel free to call anyone at Hauser Community Church at 69411 Wildwood Road; we would love to help you. (756-2591)

Pastor John Adams has been Senior Pastor at Hauser since January 2004. He holds a Master of Divinity degree and  is married to Candy. They have two children.

Hauser Community Church is at 69411 Wildwood Rd. North Bend. Tel. 756-2591