The cross without the resurrection leads to nothing more than another grave site.  Because of the resurrection all things are being made true, and so we are not simply beneficiaries of the resurrection, but we are called to participate! 

The message we all have been waiting for, how does sin, chaos, and the cross work on an individual level?  There is no better way to explain this, than telling a good story that encompasses the other layers we have been talking about.  Today we will learn how sin and chaos work to dehumanize individuals, but the cross of Jesus is the project of rehumanization. 

In this weeks sermon we are working our way down through the orders of magnitude in the way of sin and the cross.  This week we discuss how sin and chaos both create and manifest themselves in mob logic; while the cross creates community for the good world.  

This week in our Lenten series on sin and the cross, we consider the impact and influence of sin and chaos expressed through political, economic, and social systems.  Then we take a glimpse into the logic of the Cross and how they create a counter intuitive way to live within our worldly systems. 

Over the next four weeks we are going to take a deep dive into sin and the cross.  Each week we will be discussing different effects of sin and the cross on different arenas through the universe.  This week we are taking a look at sin and the cross from a cosmic level.  

This week we pivot from our series through John to begin a glimpse at the Cross of Christ through Lent.  Today, we simply cover the motive behind and the plan of God for the Cross; while sharing a couple of brief lists as to what the cross is not and what it is.

In today's sermon we look at a unique passage out of John 3.  It is unique because John is the only Gospel writer who will tell us the story of Nicodemus, and it is the only place where the idea of "born again" is used. More importantly, this story is less about a confrontation between Jesus and a Pharisee, and more an invitation from Jesus into the realm of uncertainty.

In our final week discussing the cleansing of the Temple, we talk about the ethic of exclusion and how it has plagued the people of God since the beginning.  After exploring the ethic of exclusion we're invited to be an example of God to the world by employing his generous offer of embrace. 

For the next two weeks we are going to take a look into the cleansing of the Temple.  In this week's message we are going to take the time to simply frame in the story. We are going to delve into some history and some really old ideas to better understand the context Jesus entered. 

This week, we are still in the same passage as we discuss change.  Often we, as the church, take it as our responsibility to change people.  We need to change their lifestyle, we need to change their political beliefs, we need to change their moral beliefs, or we need to change their social beliefs.   But that is not what we are called to do, we are called to introduce people to Jesus and leave it up to him to do the rest.