THE SUPREME SACRIFICE --
THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST SERIES, PART 10

Romans 5:6-10, Ephesians 5:1-2, 1 Corinthians 15-3-4 (NASB)
David Bruce Linn, Pastor-Teacher
3 September 2006
All Rights Reserved

In the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Admiral James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise face an implacable foe named Khan. Kirk had apprehended this space criminal and deposited him and his crew on an uninhabited planet as their punishment. One of the twin suns of that planet exploded causing its green lushness to turn to barren desert. The banishment for the convicts turned into a living hell of burning heat and sand storms.

The story picks up as another starship captain, not recognizing the planet, sends an away team to locate the source of life form readings. The criminals overpower the Federation team and through a clever ruse take over the starship. Years of burning anger turn to revenge as Khan and his crew begin chasing Admiral Kirk all over the galaxy. The advantage in the fight between the two adversaries sways back and forth until both ships are crippled from phaser fire and photon torpedoes. Khan has no hand left to play except to detonate a huge self-destruct bomb which will destroy both ships. Kirk goes to flee but finds that his engines are off line. He cannot move.

It seems that Kirk is now being forced to face a scenario which was part of his Starfleet Academy training. Potential starship captains were required to take what is called the Kobayashi Maru test. The Academy had a simulator with a complete replica of a starship bridge with all of its view screens and communications. The cadets would go off on a simulation of commanding a starship which they think will just be a nice cruise where they can show off their book learning. Suddenly a distress call is received from a ship just inside enemy space. The unassuming cadet approaches the stricken craft and follows all the right protocols for telling the enemy that they are merely trying to save stranded and injured crewmen. The enemy takes it as an act of war nonetheless and sends a fleet of warships.

The cadet does everything in his or her power to avoid the conflict and save all of their lives but there is no way out. The enemy attacks with overwhelming force and in a sequence of devastating strikes they are all killed. All the cadets think that the Kobayashi Maru scenario is terribly unfair because it permits no solution which permits them to save everyone and fly away. And that is just the point. Such scenarios do indeed arise in real life and the test changes from how well one can command a starship to a test of character.

Kirk now faces that scenario in his battle with Khan. The part of the engines which needs repair is in a compartment behind a clear radiation shield. The science officer, Spock, disappears off the bridge and goes to engineering. He enters the compartment behind the shield, opens a protective cover, and while being blasted with radiation he manually repairs the damaged part of the engine system. The ship's engines come back on line and the Enterprise zooms away unharmed as Khan's ship explodes in space.

Everyone cheers until they realize how the repair happened. Kirk rushes to engineering and through the clear protective shield he sees his old friend in the compartment flooded with radiation. Spock has been blinded, is staggering, and the flesh of his face is hanging off in strips. He has only a few moments left to live. He hears the voice of his old friend, Jim, calling to him through the intercom. Spock struggles to speak as his life ebbs away and says: "I never faced the Kobayashi Maru test. What do you think of my solution?" And then he dies.

1. WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND CHRIST'S SUPREME SACRIFICE

A crucial aspect of the supremacy of Jesus Christ is expressed in Romans 5:6: "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." In order to understand the significance of Christ's death we must see how bad off we are said to be from God's point of view. The Greek term for "helpless" or "without strength" means "weak and sick" at the same time. It is not a picture of someone with a head cold but someone with a high fever who is sweating and convulsing on a sick bed, unable to walk or even talk.

We are further called "ungodly" meaning that we have no natural inclination toward God. The inclination we do have is toward wicked things as seen in verse eight where we are called "sinners," meaning people who unerringly "miss the mark" of right living, whose lives are an offense to God, and who are infected with a deadly spiritual ailment for which we can find no cure.

So when God looked through time and saw his beloved created people dive into the cesspool of sin at the first temptation he also saw the whole human race in a hopelessly ruined condition. In short, he saw an entire race of helpless ungodly sinners self-destructing. The ticking time bomb of God's holy final judgment threatened to blow them all into eternal death. What possible way out of this scenario could there be? One might imagine a moment in eternity past when the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, looked at the Father and the Spirit and said: "I think I will have to die for them all. What do you think of my solution?"

He did not do this right away, however, but at a moment in time which he knew to be the pivot point of human history. The Greek word for this kind of moment is kairos. Most of us know the term kronos, from which we get our words chronometer and chronograph. A kairos moment is a point in time when things come together for something to happen which could not happen at any other time. We sometimes call these divine appointments. At just the right time Christ laid his life down for the sins of helpless mankind.

There are two ways in which supremacy is revealed by Christ's sacrifice. First of all, of all sacrifices, death is the greatest. We call it the supreme sacrifice when one human being lays his life down for the sake of others, like many Congressional Medal of Honor winners. Christ did not shrink back from making this great a sacrifice.

But much more important than that aspect of supremacy is his existence as the Supreme Being. No created, fallible, flawed being could have paid for the sins of the entire race of mankind. It is a combination of his holy perfection and his exaltation which make his sacrifice the highest which could ever be made and sufficient for the sins of all, as explained in Hebrews 7:26-28: "For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." No repeat need be made of such a sacrifice, and because it is supreme nothing can be added to it. It can be received only by faith.

Verse seven in Romans 6 tells us that it is rare for anyone to die for others, even when they are good: "For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die" (Romans 5:7). This is the scenario which the fictional character Spock faced. He could, by laying down his own life, save the lives of hundreds of productive crew members, their spouses, and children. At one point in the death scene Spock repeats a noble thought which he had previously discussed with Admiral Kirk: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...or the one."

But the word of God is saying that the entire motivation for Christ's sacrifice came from his love. God was not equity rescuing when he made the supreme sacrifice, as the next verse says: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Our lostness and ruination was complete. We had nothing whatsoever to offer God in exchange for our salvation. We were made righteous before God entirely as a result of Christ's supreme sacrifice: "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him" (Romans 5:9). For those who have believed in him the time bomb of God's wrath is no longer ticking. Let the celebrations begin!

2. THE SUPREME SACRIFICE OF CHRIST CALLS FOR A RESPONSE

Obviously, the most important response to the sacrifice of Christ must be to receive the benefit of his supreme sacrifice about which Paul wrote in the next verse: "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Romans 5:10). Reconciliation means that our relationship to our heavenly Father is restored. That is the most valuable possession anyone can have, it is received by faith alone, and it was paid for with the highest price which could ever be paid.

But because the point of it all is a relationship to God, our faith must change the way we live every day. Paul urged this upon all believers in Ephesians 5:1-2: "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma" (Ephesians 5:1-2). Specifically, God's plan is for us to live in the supreme sacrifice of Christ and to model it by the way we live.

We are enjoined to express the same motivation as God, which is love. I could speak about how the sacrifice of Christ is the path to spiritual power. It is so easy to forget this in the shadow of the cross, in the breath-stealing shock of loss. The greatest spiritual power ever released was done on the cross by Christ's supreme sacrifice. Yet that is not the motive offered to us. Perhaps the Lord knows that all merely instrumental motives are doomed to fail. Even if we can walk in great spiritual power by living lives of sacrifice for others we may eventually grow weary of the daily sacrifices to which God calls us.

Every time my wife and I see a large sailboat we say: "Oh, wouldn't it be nice to have one of those!" Then we start to think about trailering, dockage, set up and tear down, maintenance, insurance, and the time commitment. So even before we start the pleasure is overshadowed by the sacrifices necessary just to get the thing onto the water. And if we see ministry only in terms of the benefits it gives others we will end up quitting because that is not a sufficient motive for the long haul. We will eventually decide that the benefits are not worth the sacrifices.

The motive the Lord gives us is simply love and worship for God. If every day we have love and worship in our hearts we have sufficient motivation to be a living sacrifice for God that day. It is the motive which gives us staying power for all the daily personal costs of discipleship.

I am struck that the principle of kairos as it applied to Christ also applies to believers and our sacrifices for God's kingdom. Christ made the supreme sacrifice for us "at the right time." Our kairos moment will come as well, maybe many times in our lives. God will so superintend the circumstances of history so that we find ourselves staring at our personal Kobayashi Maru scenario where family, life, country, church, truth, or loves ones are at stake. What will we do? My prayer is that we will all lay our lives down like Christ and say: "What do you think of my solution?"

So the kingdom of God needs financial sacrifices to be made. Are you giving regularly, every week, to the work of God? I urge to learn the path of love and sacrifice by giving some regular portion of what God gives you. What about your gifts and abilities? You can hoard them for your own purposes, but what will that gain you in the end? The joy of the Lord is found by laying them before Christ and saying: "Lord, use these as you will for your own glory." And perhaps most difficult in today's world, what about your time? This most precious commodity is being burned to ashes day by day whether we like it or not. A sacrifice for kingdom ministry is an investment which pays off eternally. No other use of time can compare with that.

3. THE STORY OF CHRIST'S SUPREME SACRIFICE MUST BE TOLD

Finally, whatever church growth experts may say about the clever presentation of the word of God, Paul said that presenting the supreme sacrifice of Christ is the most important thing we can say to anyone. He wrote to the Corinthian church: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures..." (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

We need to tell the world. The final atonement Christ made for our sins by his death is unique among world religions. There is no other like it. One way to share the good news of Christ is to ask your friends of different religions what they do with their sins. Listen carefully, and then you will have the opportunity to share as of first importance the supreme sacrifice of Christ. Christ alone provides the final cure for sin--forgiveness, healing, wholeness, holiness, and peace.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." Let that be the mark of God's church, the gathering of those who understand the meaning of the supreme sacrifice of Christ, and who are prepared to make it themselves. If you have not yet received Christ by faith, I hope that you will see what was done for you and choose life.

[clip from videotape version, START: 1:36:28 Kirk leaves bridge to find Spock, STOP: 1:40:22 at the beginning of Spock's funeral]