Sunday School Moral Exemplar, Part 1

Good morning. How are you guys? So good.

All right, you guys, we are weeks and weeks into a whole series. We're studying all kinds of doctrinal questions, walking through theology proper, the doctrine of the first person of God. We're in the middle of a series on Christology, the doctrine of the Son. And in particular, we're trying to understand different theories of atonement. What that means is when Jesus was on the cross, there was a lot going on. And it is my contention that there are really three atonement theories that warrant your understanding, that are true and that are important. And if you understand what's going on in each of those, you're going to have a more fully rounded out understanding of the work of the cross.

The first that we talked about is known as penal substitutionary atonement. And for most people, the idea is that Jesus was our substitute in enduring the wrath of God against sinners. Our punishment was upon him, and by his stripes or wounds, we are healed.

Isaiah 53

That's all true. But there's another understanding of this that is also true. It is sometimes pitted against it in a competitive fashion. And it is known as Christus Victor. That is the idea that Jesus on the cross was not just declaring victory, but achieving victory over Satan. It was the defeat of Satan. We've walked through both of these. Sometimes again, they're pitted against each other. I think that they should both be embraced. They're both true.

I kind of left you with a teaser last week. Each one of these, PSA and Christus Victor, has a large major event in the Old Testament that corresponds directly to it, that is a representation of it. We already talked about this one. What is penal substitutionary atonement? What is the Old Testament event that points to penal substitutionary atonement? The Day of Atonement, right? Yom Kippur.

Leviticus 16

You read about these goats, and you got a scapegoat, and we're going to send this one off into the wilderness and banishment. The other one is going to have its throat slit. All the things that are going on in the Day of Atonement points to penal substitutionary atonement, quite obviously.

The other one though, that you have probably always thought about in terms of penal substitutionary atonement, because what else are you going to think of it as? But it is my contention that it is not—what event? What is the other event? Passover, okay?

So when you think about Passover, you're like, well, what else is it going to be, right? You take this lamb, and you kill it, and then everybody gets to live, because the lamb is dead, and they're not dead, and it feels maybe very PSA-ish, right? But I want you to stop and slow that down. Look at that thing frame by frame. What is Passover about?

Let me ask you this. Is Passover about satisfying the wrath of God against the sin of the Israelites? It is not. What is it about? Rescue, saving, and from what? From Egypt, right? That's right. Each one of these ten plagues, it's a showdown with the other gods, and it is not only a showdown with those other gods, but it is the defeat of them.

So what's going on in the Exodus, in Passover, is this: The nation of Egypt, worshiping their own false gods, has oppressed Israel, and they need to be defeated, so the Israelites can be set free. Do you see how that is much more of a Christus Victor framework? This is a defeat of the enemies of God, so that his people can be set free. That is what we really see in the Passover. The defeat of these enemies, so the people of God can be set free. Which is not to deny again—we're not denying PSA. That is what's going on in the Day of Atonement, and it is part of what's going on in the cross. But they are both true.

How are we doing? Makes sense? All right, so when we look at these things, we want to appear in a room and say, okay, what is going on? That is a depiction of that.

Another thing that really is in the favor of the legitimacy of the victory of Christ being an understanding of the cross, is that in Genesis 3, that is what's happening.

Genesis 3

That is about the defeat, the smashing of Satan, not so much about propitiating the wrath of God. It is about the defeat of the enemies of God. Both of these things are true, both of these things are real, and your understanding of the enormous work of Christ on the cross would be enhanced if you really embrace those two things.

That's my contention, okay? Now, I want to move on. We're going to talk about the third one in just a minute, but any questions first about PSA and Christ's Victor, Gil?

So there's a question, and I only bring this up because I'm curious, but I don't believe either way. I don't know which way I believe, but I hear the question: Did Jesus go to hell during, before the resurrection? Okay, great. Why would we ask that question? That's a reasonable question, and we'll maybe connect it to this in a second, but why might somebody think that Jesus went to hell? The Apostles' Creed. If you're familiar with the Apostles' Creed, we read it here every week, although you would never hear that here every week. There are different versions of the Apostles' Creed, okay?

There are four basic creeds. We talked about this a couple months ago, right? The Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian Definition, the Apostles' Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, we'll call it, okay? The Apostles' Creed was not written by the Apostles. It is meant to be a reflection of the Apostles' teaching. Nobody claims it was written by the Apostles. It was written hundreds of years later, but it's meant to be a reflection of it. But over the years, as it was passed down, there's essentially a copyist error in the Creed—not in the Scriptures, just in the Creed—where a certain line was stated one way, and then it was stated synonymously a different way, and then there was a copy where it was stated both ways.

What they say is that Jesus descended to the dead, and it says that Jesus died, and then somebody said Jesus died and he descended to the dead. Those are equivalents. One version: Jesus died. Another version: he descended to the dead. And somebody's like, "Yeah, he died and descended to the dead." And then somebody else says, "Well, that doesn't make any sense. He must have died and descended to hell." That's the progression, and we can walk through the historical documents and see how that happened. But once that happened, and people are like, "Oh, Jesus died and then he descended to hell," then we try to backfill that from the Scriptures and be like, "Well, what is the biblical basis for that?" The answer is there isn't any. If it's a copyist error, you're trying to solve a problem that doesn't really exist. All that the original version of the Apostles' Creed said is that Jesus died—put another way, he descended to death, right? Never that he descended to hell. How are we doing? Does this make sense?

But if you were trying to backfill that from Scripture, where would you go to try to say that Jesus went to hell? So there's weirdness going on for sure, but that's different. There's still a sense of, like in Matthew's gospel, he shows not just the resurrection of Christ, but the resurrection of other people. But there's something more pointed that people tend to think, "Oh, that's Jesus going to hell." Sam, I think it's—I don't remember which Peter it is, right? Uh-huh, yep. Those who are—it's pretty much, it seems like he's preaching to those in hell. Yes, okay, it is Peter. Let's go. It is—let's see, let me pull it up. It's going to be First Peter chapter 3, and this is the passage that people tend to think connects to your question, really, Gil.

So First Peter 3. Peter says:

For Christ died for sins once for all the righteous, for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive by the Spirit. Through whom he also went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it, only a few people ate and all were saved through water. This water symbolizes baptism and now saves you. — 1 Peter 3:18-20

Okay, so many different ideas play into this. Here's the thing: we want to do a full study on this, but in essence, right here, people have taken this to say, okay, what that means is that after Jesus died—what am I about to tell you isn't true, okay, but this is the common understanding of it. So this is where it's going to connect, I think, to the implication behind your question, Gil. Jesus dies Friday—well, that's another whole conversation. He's raised from the dead on Sunday. What did he do in between here? Well, according to Peter, he went and preached to the spirits in prison.

Well, that must mean he went to hell and he talked to all the dead humans that are in hell and he either said, "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, we win, you lose," or he said, "Hey, you don't have to stay, you can come with me." This is the general idea that when he went to preach, it was either an invitation to repentance or a declaration of judgment, and this is Jesus going to hell. Is this making sense? Okay, none of that's true, but that is how that's very commonly understood. And by the way, the particular wing of the penitentiary that he goes to is the wing that holds all the humans that died around the time that Noah was running around, right? Because it's very specific that it says:

He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built — 1 Peter 3:19-20

That's the general understanding of how that's commonly understood. Gary, I was going to go with Ephesians 4, verses 8 and 9.

He ascended on high, he led a host of them — Ephesians 4:8-9

Yes, okay, and so Ephesians 4 will be dovetailed with 1 Peter 3 and said, "Okay, this is some kind of posthumous salvation, right?" Well, save the Ephesians 4 for the moment. Here's what I want you to know: this is a weird passage, it's a complicated passage. But the most important misunderstanding about it is that it's not about dead human beings. That is about demons. Overwhelmingly, when the New Testament talks about spirits, it's talking about demons. Jesus is always casting out evil spirits. These are demons.

And the reason it's demons particularly around the time of Noah—do you guys remember talking about Jude and talking about Genesis 6? There's this completely freak show, Bizarro thing that happens in Genesis 6 where the sons of men see that the daughters of women are beautiful and go into them and choose to have children with them. That whole event, this demonic realm that leaves heaven to come to earth to have sex with human women—that is exactly what Genesis 6 is talking about, is what Jude is talking about, it's what 2 Peter 2 is talking about. It is the strangest possible thing. We're not going to fully chase it down right now. We've talked about it in this class before. That is what Peter is talking about here. The spirits in prison from that particular period are the demonic realm from there.

And so whatever this message was that was preached probably is not that Jesus physically goes. Because if you look at verse 18:

Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the spirit through whom he also went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built — 1 Peter 3:18-20

What he's saying is that through the spirit—everything Jesus does, he does through the spirit—he went and he preached to those demons that are held in prison awaiting the final judgment. Now every one of these things we can unpack and take a full hour, but we're not going to do it today. We've done it in here before; we might go find the tape on Jude. That might be a good place to hear some of this stuff get explored.

The Correct Understanding

But all that to say, no, Gil—when Jesus was victorious on the cross over Satan, I don't think that this happens in that window. He's not describing the time between his death and his resurrection. I don't think Jesus went and he led captives out. I'll explain Ephesians 4 in a second. He didn't go there to declare victory over them, although that is closer to the spirit of Peter—that it was not a posthumous salvation offer, right? It is something that happened probably through Noah earlier, that he preached to these that they were called into judgment and cast aside. That's a whole big thing about God's interactions with this demonic realm, but Jesus did not suffer in hell. He suffered on the cross and he did not bodily go to hell. Rather, through the spirit living in his people, these demons were judged. That's what that means.

And then the Ephesians 4 thing—just to handle that briefly—it's the other passage that people will go to and they'll dovetail it with the 1 Peter deal. When it says, we'll pick it up in verse 7:

To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. That is why it says: When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men — Ephesians 4:7-8

This is true that when Jesus ascended from the grave, he distributed gifts. This is what we understand to be the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that he has led us in a triumphal procession the way Paul's going to put it in 2 Corinthians. But then in verse 9, what does "he ascended" mean, except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions?

He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe.

So we've got realms: you've got heaven, you've got earth, and you've got under the earth. And so the question is, it's not clear textually—did he descend from earth to hell or from heaven to earth? Does this make sense? So if you go downstairs, if you're in your house and you go downstairs, well, if you're in the second floor, you're going to the first floor. But if you're in the first floor, you're going to the basement. And so he just says he went downstairs, but it doesn't say exactly which it is. But it's certainly when he says that he ascended higher than the heavens to fill the whole universe. I think, Gary, but I could be wrong, that he's describing from heaven to earth—that his descent to earth, or maybe his descent into a tomb. He comes out of his grave and then he ascends and gives gifts to men. But I don't think there's anything in Ephesians 4 that would necessitate that he's going to hell. And that's not frankly what this passage is even trying to talk about. It's talking about that he was victorious out of defeat and in his victory gave gifts.

When you ascend on high, he led captives in his train. We are the captives, right? So if you go to look at it like this, go to 2 Corinthians 4. Here's another use—Paul's use of that same kind of imagery.

The God of this age, that's Satan, has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of God who is the image of Christ. — 2 Corinthians 4:4

God who said let light shine out of darkness made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. — 2 Corinthians 4:6

Paul sees us as being blinded under the dominion of Satan. He's going to say this similar thing using even more captivity language in 2 Timothy 2:

The Lord's servant must not quarrel, instead he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth. — 2 Timothy 2:24-25

They will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will. — 2 Timothy 2:26

Paul sees salvation in Christ specifically in the language of kingdom transfer. That the nature of this Christess victor understanding of the work of the cross is what he was doing—he was defeating Satan so that we who are unhappy citizens in the domain of darkness might be set free from it and led into the glorious freedom of the children of light. That's the understanding that I have of Ephesians 4, 2 Corinthians 4, 2 Timothy 2, all those places.

It's also when Luke talks about that. He's quoting Isaiah 61 in the scroll—to set the captives free. And what's the 2 Corinthians passage that we were talking about last week about the triumphal procession? 2 Corinthians 2:14:

But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. — 2 Corinthians 2:14

So this idea of a parade and a train. Now here it's kind of in positive language, elsewhere in Corinthians it's like we are the scum of the earth, right? It looks like we're the men like doomed to die.

It's an understanding of the character of God to have a concept that those who never had an opportunity for Christ have had an opportunity to hear the gospel. Well, are you saying that everyone has had an opportunity to hear the gospel? I think in understanding the correct character of God, as in Isaiah, it is important to have a concept that those who have never had an opportunity will have an opportunity. So are you suggesting that after death there will be an opportunity to hear the gospel? Is that what you're saying? What I'm saying is it is an important concept to think that maybe he could have gone down to preach to all those—to stay in God's character of his loving kindness and balance with his justice. Well, I would be slow to make that argument.

Many have suggested that there will be some opportunity to respond to the gospel after death. Specifically those from Noah's time, etc. Well, again, those were demons, not humans. So that's not really relevant. And so I do not think—and I'm gonna be careful in this—I do not think there is any opportunity to respond in faith after death. It's possible that I am mistaken and God is altogether welcome to extend mercy because of the work of Christ on the cross. However, I know nowhere in the scriptures that it says that he will do that.

It is true that he goes—you know, the message that Jonah brings to Nineveh is like, he doesn't say repent. He just says, you're all gonna be destroyed. And then they do repent. And then they aren't destroyed, right? So God can issue a message of judgment and then follow it up with more mercy than he had ever revealed he would do. He could do that. However, he has not said that he will do that.

And I do think it's important to know that not everyone has heard the gospel. Not everyone will hear the gospel. But everyone does stand justly condemned. Hear this: we are not condemned for not being Christians, okay? The sins of the world is not that they're not going to church. The sins of the world are not that they're not Christians. The sins of the world is that we're sinners, right? We do bad things. And what Paul is going to walk through in Romans one, two, and three is that everybody—Jew and Gentile alike—are justly condemned. And no one deserves mercy, right? The whole nature of mercy is that it's undeserved.

So I would not suggest that God has painted himself into a corner whereby he is obligated to extend mercy to any. He doesn't owe any of us any mercy. And yet he is overwhelmingly, shockingly, lavishly merciful. And he may—he might be even more merciful than he has revealed. But I think, the risk of believing in a posthumous salvation is it could take the legs out of world missions. We have an obligation to travel land and sea, to give time, talent, treasure, blood if needed, in order to see the gospel go to other people. Not because they deserved to hear it, but because we didn't deserve to hear it, but heard it still, right?

So again, God can get the message to anyone he wants to, and whoever he chooses to do so, he may. But I would never want to rely on the fact that, well, if we biff this and we just don't do the job, he'll probably clean up our shortcomings. I don't know that that is the case. And so there's an impulse that—whatever rock sits in your stomach saying, well, I don't like the fact that there's people that might live and die without ever hearing of Christ—I'm like, yes, perfect. Nurture that, and give more money to world missions, and go overseas and raise up your kids. And when they say they want to go on a summer mission, don't whine at them about their internships. Send them, right? We should have an impulse that says, let's take the gospel everywhere to everyone. Not because they deserve to hear it, but because we didn't deserve to hear it, but we did.

Robin's quoting Romans chapter one:

Since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse. — Romans 1

There is enough—this is an important distinction—the gospel of God's mercy has not been shared to everyone. But the reality of his holiness and our guilt before him and his right to judge us, it's evident to everyone everywhere. That is the argument of Romans 1 and 2. It's the argument of Psalm 19:

There is no speech or language where his voice is not heard. His voice goes out into all the earth. — Psalm 19

Anybody walking around on the planet—hear this—everyone walking around on the planet has the ability and the obligation to recognize, okay, somebody made this. Obviously, somebody made this. And then from there to realize, hmm, I am probably accountable to that person. Not only that, but Paul is going to go on to say in Romans 2, every time you're mad at somebody, you're basically condemning yourself because you probably do the exact same thing you're mad about. Like you're mad that your girlfriend cheated on you, well, what about last year when you cheated on somebody else, right?

You who pass judgment do the same things. — Romans 2

As soon as you condemn the other, you condemn yourself. So built into the created order is enough information that there is a God and that we're accountable to him. Built into your own conscience is a sense of right and wrong which you violate. And basically Paul says in Romans 2, at that point, you're busted. We all know that right and wrong. That is not the same as saying that we all know where to go to find mercy. There is enough revelation in all of nature to condemn the world justly.

But the message of mercy must be communicated with human lips. How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard unless someone preaches to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? That the gap between justice and mercy is the thing that fuels and drives and compels evangelism, world missions.

Katherine asks: I know this sounds naive, but what about all those nice Jewish mothers? They all believe in God. They're waiting for their Messiah. They believe in God and they die. So what about those who believe in God? Like the man out in the field in the remote area who looked at his hand and figured that's how he found God because somebody had to make that—that had to be created. So I still don't understand how those people, if they believed in God because they didn't know they're still waiting for the Messiah.

Tim responds: Sure. So it could be a Jewish person. It could be a Methodist kid. It could be any number of things. It is that reality that we would look and we would see evidence in my own hand or in the stars above that there's a God who made the world. I'm telling you, there's billions of those people. And then the question is what happens with that knowledge?

God has the ability to get a missionary to a person, right? And he does, right? He is the Lord of the harvest. And so when Jesus says pray to the Lord to send out laborers into his harvest field, that's where they're going, right? And they might be in Detroit, they might be in Botswana, they might be in any number of places, they might be in Roanoke, but they might be the people that will be reached by you, right? We are those missionaries that should be distressed.

Katherine continues: Okay. So your question is—so it's the same dynamic, right? So do you remember, I think a couple weeks ago, I said that when we look at the cross, anyone who has lived and died prior to Christ, they were saved. Remember this? On credit, right? They were saved on credit, right? In anticipation of what Christ would do. And then whereas we are saved on debit, looking back to what he has done. Before the cross and after the cross, it's the same thing.

Anyone who will look and say, like, I have no hope, I recognize there's a standard, I recognize I don't meet that standard and I need to cling to him. It is certainly the case that prior to his coming, people trusted in the Messiah that God would send without knowing his name was Jesus or his mother's name was Mary, right? It may well be that the same thing is true today, right? That you could say, God, I don't know what to do about this, but I'm begging for your mercy.

It is not outside the realm of possibility that such a person today without knowing the name of Jesus would cry out in mercy to God and say, I need your—I don't know how you could possibly absolve me of my guilt, but would you? It would not shock me that the mercy of God is broader than he has revealed, and that that could be applied. But if that did happen, Catherine, it would be because the Spirit of God overwhelmed that person's rebellion to draw them. And what the Spirit begins, the Spirit will complete, okay?

Chris asks the final question: Yes. Without question. Chris is saying what I'm just describing—that it might be true today—is absolutely true in the past. Rahab didn't know Jesus' name, but she just knew we're going to get killed, and your God is the real God, and so can I be with you people, right? I mean, she didn't know much more. Yes, she's included in Hebrews 11. It might be. I don't know that it is, but it would be consistent that God could extend that same mercy to those who cry out to him.

The thing that gives me pause is that that will be done because the Spirit is working in that person's heart, and I suspect that the Spirit will reveal more than just that part of the story to them. But again, our great hope is in the mercy of God, and he tends to be more merciful than he's even revealed. So it's possible. It's speculative. I don't know. I wouldn't want to make the case that the Bible teaches that that is so, but it might be so.

Three Theories of Atonement

Okay, now in the next two minutes, let me tell you what I wanted to tell you, which is there's three theories of atonement. There is PSA, there is Christ's Victor, and there's one more that's a really important piece of the puzzle. It's definitely in the third place, but it's meaningful, and it is what we call moral exemplar. We always try to latinize all these things, right? It's just he's a moral example.

That the cross was not just him drinking the wrath of God, and it was not just him defeating Satan, but it was him leaving for you the model for your own life, that there is a cruciformity, a cross-shapedness to the Christian life. Here's probably the most classic statement of it. I'm just going to—we'll talk more about these next week, but let me read some of these and maybe we'll unpack them next week.

To this you were called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. — 1 Peter 2:21

That's as plain as you can make this, right? The cross is not just a completed act, it is a script to be followed.

He committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. — 1 Peter 2:22-23

And then listen to verse 24:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the trees so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness. — 1 Peter 2:24

There's something about the cross that is meant to be not just—it is meant to be a prescription for you, right? Live your life like this.

For by his wounds you have been healed. You are like sheep going astray, but you've now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. — 1 Peter 2:24-25

Peter's going to say the same thing a little bit later.

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves with the same attitude that he had on the cross because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. — 1 Peter 4:1

There's something about the cross that we are supposed to imitate. He wasn't just atoning for sin. He wasn't just defeating Satan. He was also laying down your pattern.

Here's how John puts it:

This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. — 1 John 3:16

To get it: the cross is a pattern. The cross is a lesson.

Or Philippians 2:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. — Philippians 2:5

You hear it? It's very clear—follow his example, do what he did. And then what does he point to as the supreme example of the attitude of Christ? Verse 6:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. — Philippians 2:6-8

That's the pattern. And then, of course:

God exalts him to the highest place and gives him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. — Philippians 2:9-11

That pattern—the V-shaped gospel, the J-curve, however we want to play it—Paul's whole point is: do that. The shape of the cross should be the shape of your life. Your life should be marked by lots of little deaths, all in imitation of the big death. He left us an example.

Paul's Example in Thessalonica

Here's how Paul fleshes this out. This is a little bit more creative. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul's favorite church—he loved these guys. It is his warmest, most affectionate letter. He just delights in the Thessalonians. He says this in 2:17:

Brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time in person, not in thought, out of our intense longing, we made every effort to see you. I wanted to come to you. We wanted to come to you. Certainly, I Paul did again and again, but Satan stopped us. For what is our hope or joy, the crown in which we will glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy. — 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20

So he's working with the Thessalonians. He's warning them that persecution is coming, and then he's got to leave town. And while he's gone, he's super freaked out. He's worried. He's anxious. He's suffering because they don't know: Are they still walking with Christ? Are they still living in Him? Have they succumbed to the persecution? Have they suffered so much that they've abandoned Him? And there's no emails, no texting. And so they're like, "We just don't know what's going on back at Thessalonica." And he describes it like he's dying. He is suffering. The work of the kingdom has led him into a death.

And so in 3:1:

When we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith so that no one will be unsettled by these trials. — 1 Thessalonians 3:1-3

Meaning, again, we're afraid you're going to tube. The persecution is going to get so great that you're going to tap out.

No one will be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you, and our efforts might have been useless. — 1 Thessalonians 3:3-5

He's confessing that being a missionary to the Thessalonians is a little bit like dying.

I'm just anxious and I'm worried and I'm all tangled up about it, because I don't know how you're doing. And then, 3-6, but Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us, and that you long to see us just as we long to see you. Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecutions, we were encouraged about you because of your faith.

For now we really live, since you were standing firm on the Lord. — 1 Thessalonians 3:8

If the first half was death, what's the second half? It's a resurrection, right? What Paul is describing, and again, in a little more flowery terms, is that the shape of the life of a Christian is the cross. We enter into deaths. Our joy is bound up and the well-being of others. We're going to go anywhere we can to preach the gospel. We're going to teach him, we're going to train him, and then we're going to walk away and think, "Ah, I hope it took. Hope it worked." And if not, it's going to kill me, because we enter into death, because we're followers of Christ. But when we enter into death, the great hope is that we too will be raised in the newness of life. This will be the shape of a faithful Christian's life is death resurrection. Death, resurrection, death, resurrection, death, resurrection. And that's the deal. So, welcome to Christianity.

The Cross as Pattern

The cross is not just something that's been accomplished for you, it is a pattern that is set for you. Now, we're out of time. So, we'll pick it up. There's a little bit more I want to say about that, but we'll just start it up next week. But you might just, in your quiet times, you're looking for these. Where's the cross described? Psalm. Where's it described? Christ's victory. And in terms of application, where's it described? As the pattern of our lives. We enter into his death. You'll see it, by the way, in baptism. Go to Romans 6. That's another one. But watch for this. And then you could ask yourself, "Am I willing to enter into the death, to follow the shape of the cross in my life, considering others' needs is more important than my own?" Because that was one of the big three things that was happening on the cross was to set that pattern for us. Good enough. Okay. Thanks for coming. We'll do it more next week.