The Purpose Driven Death

Rick Warren wrote the classic "The Purpose Driven Life." Here Paul writes of the ultimate Purpose Driven Death. God has given each of us a reason to live. That reason only comes through the most purposeful death in the history of the universe. Jesus' death on the cross.

Jesus died the Purpose Driven Death.

Paul is in the middle of making his impassioned plea to the Galatians to reject the counterfeit gospel that false teachers have brought to town. These so-called brothers infiltrated the churches of Galatia like a sleeper cell (Gal 2:4). Their perverted message has caused many to go spiritually AWOL (Gal 1:6).

The apostle tells his readers that this isn't the first time he's dealt with this issue. He actually had to get in Peter's grill once in Antioch (Gal 2:11-14). Yeah, THAT Peter. The Apostle Peter. 

Pete sided with "the circumcision party" and tried to rebuild ethnic walls that Jesus tore down. Paul insists that the one and only way anyone is made right with God is through the perfect life and death of Jesus. NOT through obedience to rules (Gal 2:15-21).

You see, Jesus died the Purpose Driven Death.

The Apostle Paul tells us, "I do not nullify the grace of God" (v21). "Nullify" is the Greek verb αθετεω/atheteo. It means to reject the validity of something, to declare it worthless, to set it aside and ultimately deny it. I love sports analogies. Two come to mind. 

The first is a blocked shot in basketball. The defender denies the shooter's chance to score by swatting his attempt away from the basket. Rejected! 

The other is the Heisman Trophy. The figure on the top of the award is giving the classic football stiff arm, shoving the would-be tackler away in order to keep running. That's where we get the phrase "giving the Heisman."

Paul is saying we swat away Christ’s grace like Bill Russell when we try to save ourselves. We give the Gospel of Jesus the Heisman when we try to make ourselves righteous through our own good works. In other words, it is possible to reject the grace of Jesus. Christ's offer of His completed work at Calvary can be denied.

Think about that for a moment. Jesus lived 33 sinless, God-pleasing years for you and me. At the cross, He bore the crushing weight of every sin ever committed, past, present and future. If that's not enough, He endured the absolute and utter rejection of His heavenly Dad who could not look on the sin He took on Himself. 

Jesus died a slow, brutal, bloody, painful, tortuous death. For you. For me. And now we're going to say "no thanks." We're good. We've got this. I appreciate it, Jesus, but I'm OK. Sorry you went to all the trouble.

Paul refuses to stiff arm the amazing free gift that we don't deserve. He embraces Jesus' Purpose Driven Death.

The apostle makes the hypothetical statement that embodies what the actions of Peter and the teaching of the false brothers conclude. "If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose" (v21). 

He says let's just pretend for a second that it is possible to save ourselves. Let's just imagine we could successfully complete a self-salvation project. Well if THAT'S the case, then that bloody Friday outside the walls of Jerusalem was a colossal waste of God’s time. If THAT'S the case, then the cross is only a horrific case of divine child abuse.

But it's not. Perfect Jesus died the perfect death. For you. For me. He bore our griefs. He carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our sins. He was crushed for our iniquities. His cross brought us peace. His stripes brought us healing. God placed on His shoulders every ounce of our sin. 

Centuries before Jesus' death, Isaiah proclaimed the Purpose Driven Death (Is 53:4-6). In the decades following the cross, Paul wrote, "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2Cor 5:21). The apostle confirms Jesus' Purpose Driven Death.

Let's put it this way. The grace of Jesus is without any cost to us. There is nothing, absolutely NOTHING we can do to deserve it. It is free. Yet the cross of Christ cost Him everything. It's price is beyond any human comprehension.

Jesus' grace. Free.

Jesus' death. Priceless.

Jesus died the Purpose Driven Death.

©2012

Jay Jennings