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The Cross vs. Karma (2 of 5)
Series: Killing Karma – Replacing a Life of Guilt with a Life of Grace
Pastor Kerry Shook
This sermon includes the sermon outline and the full sermon transcript. Below you will see a preview of the outline and a portion of the full sermon.
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!”
Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV)
The Seven Last Sayings of Jesus on The Cross
1. “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they divided up His clothes by casting lots.” Luke 23:34 (NIV)
• Grace means releasing my bitterness
2. “Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.’" Luke 23:43 (NIV)
• Grace means giving hope to the hopeless
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Well, we started a new series last weekend that I'm calling Killing Karma and just a bit of review. We said that the word karma originated from ancient India, and it literally means action, work or deed. Now, of course, Hinduism, Buddhism, Eastern Mysticism use the word karma to describe one of their main tenants, and one of their main tenants is this: Whatever deed or action you give out in the present comes back to influence your future. For example, good deeds and good actions contribute to good karma and future happiness. Bad deeds and bad actions contribute to bad karma and future misery.
Well, this principle of karma that you get what you give out, that you get what you deserve, is in all the world's major religions. It's in the Bible. The Bible says you reap whatever you sow. You get what you deserve. You get back in the future what you give out in the present. Now that's a huge problem for humankind because we've all sowed sinful actions, and therefore karma rightfully says we deserve future punishment. It's a huge problem for mankind.
All the world's religions except for Christianity say the answer to this huge problem is: Try hard. Become a better person. Become so good that you become perfect, and you're just giving out good so all you get back is good. Let me illustrate it this way. Let's say that karma is a mountain and at the top of Karma Mountain is God and His holy perfection, and we're trying to climb that mountain to get to God's perfection. Every one of us, though, carry what I call a backpack of regret filled with heavy stones of regret because of our sins, because of our mistakes and our guilt, our failures.
Series: Killing Karma – Replacing a Life of Guilt with a Life of Grace
Pastor Kerry Shook
This sermon includes the sermon outline and the full sermon transcript. Below you will see a preview of the outline and a portion of the full sermon.
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!”
Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV)
The Seven Last Sayings of Jesus on The Cross
1. “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they divided up His clothes by casting lots.” Luke 23:34 (NIV)
• Grace means releasing my bitterness
2. “Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.’" Luke 23:43 (NIV)
• Grace means giving hope to the hopeless
----
Well, we started a new series last weekend that I'm calling Killing Karma and just a bit of review. We said that the word karma originated from ancient India, and it literally means action, work or deed. Now, of course, Hinduism, Buddhism, Eastern Mysticism use the word karma to describe one of their main tenants, and one of their main tenants is this: Whatever deed or action you give out in the present comes back to influence your future. For example, good deeds and good actions contribute to good karma and future happiness. Bad deeds and bad actions contribute to bad karma and future misery.
Well, this principle of karma that you get what you give out, that you get what you deserve, is in all the world's major religions. It's in the Bible. The Bible says you reap whatever you sow. You get what you deserve. You get back in the future what you give out in the present. Now that's a huge problem for humankind because we've all sowed sinful actions, and therefore karma rightfully says we deserve future punishment. It's a huge problem for mankind.
All the world's religions except for Christianity say the answer to this huge problem is: Try hard. Become a better person. Become so good that you become perfect, and you're just giving out good so all you get back is good. Let me illustrate it this way. Let's say that karma is a mountain and at the top of Karma Mountain is God and His holy perfection, and we're trying to climb that mountain to get to God's perfection. Every one of us, though, carry what I call a backpack of regret filled with heavy stones of regret because of our sins, because of our mistakes and our guilt, our failures.
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