The Great Exchange!

For Good Friday, April 7, 2023:

Mark 15:39 NLT: “When the Centurion who stood facing Jesus saw how he had died, he exclaimed, ‘This man truly was the Son of God!’”

This is Good Friday. We remember when our Savior was falsely accused, betrayed, endured a mock trial, numerous beatings and was sentenced to die by crucifixion. If it wasn’t for the Great Exchange, there would be nothing good about this day.

In the Great Exchange, the sins of the world were piled on Jesus, and he took all sin to the place of the dead. Then, since mankind was without sin at that point, we were deemed acceptable to spend eternity with our Father in heaven. We are given this eternal gift because of our faith in Jesus. Jesus took sin away from us and exchanged it for our heavenly residence! No, it’s not an even trade. Seems like believers are the beneficiaries of Jesus’ extreme generosity!

Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb. Just as prophesied, we would see him again in three days. Truly this man was the Son of God!

You can’t keep a good man down!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship

Miracles!

For Thursday, July 7, 2022:

Mark 3:7-8 NLT: “Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him. They came from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from east of the Jordan River, and even from as far north as Tyre and Sidon. The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him.”

If you worked in a newsroom, you’d say, “Jesus is news! Almost anything he touches could be the lead story on tonight’s news.”

Of course the crowd followed Jesus to witness miracles. Jesus had just restored a man with a deformed hand. He did it on the Sabbath, explaining, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” Jesus knew the correct application of the law, and he corrected the Pharisees.

His greatest miracle was the final act of his life, taking the sins of the world to the place of the dead. Believers, those with faith in the Son, suddenly gained a reservation in the hereafter, a guarantee to spend eternity in the Lord’s presence!

Large crowds should still come to hear about the miracles of Jesus. We talk about it every week!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship, 3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406

The Great Exchange -2-

March 17, 2014 Monday Message:

(Happy St. Patrick’s Day!)

The Great Exchange

“At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned (forsaken) me?” Matt. 27:46 NLT

On the cross, this is Jesus’ final appeal to God in heaven. Notice that he’s not bemoaning the fact that Peter denied him three times or that Judas had betrayed him. His cry, in the strongest words (anaboao,) is to God alone. Why would Jesus choose that moment to quote Psalm 22?

The words are appropriate, but the Psalm is a different situation. Time after time the Israelites turned their back on God, grew far from God. When things went wrong, their perception was that God had abandoned them. But the truth was the opposite; the Israelites had forgotten about God. That was certainly not the case on the cross.

On the cross, a Holy transaction took place. God the Father regarded God the Son as if he were a sinner. As Paul later wrote in 2 Cor. 5:21 LB, “God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!” A literal translation might be, “Jesus who knew no sin, God made sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” We sing about this in the popular contemporary Christian song, “Jesus Messiah.”

It’s not our “works” that get us into heaven; it’s the work Jesus did FOR us in the Great Exchange.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets every Sunday, at 10:30am, in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This week Pastor Michael Pilla continues: Jesus – who’s Son? See you at Church!

Jesus Pays the Price

March 10, 2014 Monday Message:

“God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.” 2 Cor. 5:21b MSG

Remember when you were in school? If the teacher was sick, they called in a substitute.

When God saw that mankind was sick with sin, he called in a substitute, his son Jesus.

The price for redemption from our sin is eternal separation from God. But instead, God – who loves us – decided to pay the debt himself, so that we could have eternal life - with Him - in heaven.

Christian theologians call this, “The Great Exchange,” and it happened on the cross. Jesus took the sin of the world upon himself, and suddenly the followers of Jesus were clothed in garments of white, pure and innocent. The Bible says that not only is our sin forgiven, but that there will be no record of it.

“The Great Exchange” and “Substitutionary Atonement” are close cousins, and we’ll spend more time with these concepts as we approach Easter/Resurrection Sunday.

Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets every Sunday, at 10:30am, in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis. This week Pastor Michael Pilla teaches Jesus’ position on resurrection and heaven. Don’t miss it!