Usable For God
Read: John 19:1-9
Movie Director Christopher Nolan brilliantly weaves together intricate themes in his films like Inception, Interstellar, Oppenheimer, The Dark Knight, He employs complex storytelling with philosophical depth and moral tension. We are wowed by his ability to do that
This is a story. A dark story with several layers and themes.
→ But look at Jesus! Jesus is completely in control of this situation–even personally orchestrating the dark and complex circumstances that lead to His ultimate death.
In the crucifixion narrative we’re diving into we get to dive into various characters. Today we’re looking at a series of characters who think they’re winning by maneuvering Jesus, but in reality Jesus is luring not only them but the devil himself into a checkmate on the cross! The villainous characters we’re going to see today get used in the plan of Jesus, but used unbeknownst to them through their resistance to and plotting against Him.
Jui-Jitsu
There are ONLY TWO ways to be used by God. Willinging or unknowing!
How is God using you?
You have the opportunity to not only see Jesus and all of reality rightly, you can be used in hands mightily:
DON’T BE A PAWN IN GOD’S PLAN
BE A TOOL IN HIS HAND.
John not only focuses on the events of the crucifixion but highlights the personalities surrounding the crucifixion and their relationship to Jesus.
PILATE
THE COMPLEX LAYERS OF GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY
[1] Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. [2] And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. [3] They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. [4] Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” [5] So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” [6] When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” [7] The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” [8] When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid.
Notice two things about Pilate:
Pilate is disgusted by the Jews seeking to crucify Jesus. That’s why he’s ordered the crown of thorns. But he’s cornered by these Jewish enemies of Jesus. There’s a theme underlying this exchange. He’s subtly trying to also put the Jews down by calling Jesus King of the Jews and beating him. The Jews can exercise power over Rome by starting a riot that he can’t suppress. Empowers have asked governors before Pilot to commit suicide so their soldiers didn’t have to be bothered about doing it. There is a real power struggle between the Jews and Pilot.
[21] So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” [22] Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
The Jews are offended and want control of the inscription. But Pilot is retaking some of His own control. He may not want to crucify Jesus–backed into a corner by their threats–but if he’s going to be forced into it, he’ll use it as a way to mock these manipulative Jews.Pilate is looking for a way out. But he’s also trying to satisfy their blood thirst without crucifying what he believes is an innocent man.
God is utterly more sovereign than you think.
Here’s a highly common non-Christian idea that Christian’s believe: God doesn’t fully know the future and isn’t genuinely in control of the events of history
Israel’s future is directly shaped by Moses’ prayer life. The future really is open.
God is more like the force from Star Wars able to be weilded
This is the mindset of New Age, Buddism and the Occult not ancient biblical Christianity
Sovereignty
The term sovereignty is a theological word that speaks to God's absolute and inescapable rule and dominion over every single atom in the universe. As R.C. Sproul rightly noted: if God is sovereign there are “no maverick molecules.”
Skyler story
We see Jesus hugeness in his portrayal in this passge
JESUS
THE FULL NATURE OF HIS AUTHORITY
[9] He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. [10] So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” [11] Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
When things couldn’t look more chaotic and catastrophic Jesus continues to demonstrate complete confidence that He is the One in control. The only person truly in control of the situation is Jesus. Later He carried His own cross which would have been a feat–especially after having been scourged. They tore up his back with endless lashings using a whip and hooks made of bone fragments. Jesus is completely in control.
Jesus is worthy of your trust in:
Your singleness or divorce
Your parenting
Your health diagnosis
Your financial situation
Your current season
We are warned of the corruption that comes through those who oppose Jesus in this scene.
JEWISH ENEMIES OF JESUS
SIN TWISTS OUR MORAL-VISION
[12] From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” [13] So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. [14] Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” [15] They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” [16] So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
This is how twisted Jesus’ enemies were. There is a great theme of twistedness in this passage. They twist the crown of thorns with which to puncture the skull of Jesus. They also twist the truth toward Jesus’ demise. They can’t Kill Him, and Pilate doesn’t find guilt in Him, so they manipulate Pilate by trying to intimidate Him suggesting Jesus is a revolutionary opposing the authority of Caesar. This was really a backhanded way of threatening Pilot.
Our sin twists our lens and worldview. It makes us do insane things.
Have you ever watched a serial killer documentary or something like that and thought, “How do people get so dark and twisted?” Make no mistake, sin has the insidious power to contort our moral vision so thoroughly that up and down are reversed in our minds. Every time you hear of sickos like them, it should remind you of the logical conclusion and the ultimate end sin is trying to take you toward.
John Owen “Sin darkens the soul, and chokes its understanding. It perverts all things.”
Stephen Charnock “Sin is not only a blemish in the eye, but a film over it.”
Jeremiah Burroughs “Sin first blinds, and then hardens.”
→ The Puritans knew what modern culture forgets—sin doesn’t just make us guilty; it makes us blind.
Ryan Shot A Rattler When I first moved here, before I knew this dude who has been instrumental in our church, my first impression of him was his finding and killing a rattlesnake. He full blown took a gun and shot it! It was such an intense thing they posted it on social. Legendary! You’d think that’s overkill. It’s not. Not when there’s kids involved. Not when your family is the line.
John Owen “Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or gentle strokes. He who hath once smitten a serpent, if he follow not on his blow until it be slain, may repent that ever he began the quarrel. And so he who undertakes to deal with sin, and pursues it not constantly to the death.”
UPCOMING SERIES:
Have you noticed how many stories today are obsessed with the end of the world—from Hollywood blockbusters to TikTok preppers to kids’ books about “The Last Kids on Earth”? Art reflects reality, and whether it’s Elon Musk warning about an A.I. Armageddon or a pandemic that shook the globe, we’re living with everyday apocalypse vibes. The Bible doesn’t leave us guessing—it gives both clarity and confidence, pointing us to Jesus as our true survival guide in the end times.
The Walking Dead
A Survival Guide for the End Times
The Mind Virus
A.I. & the AntiChrist
When the Nightmare Ends
The Jewish enemies remind us of our twistedness of sin.
THE SOLDIERS
YOU CAN BE USED UNKNOWINGLY
[23] When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, [24] so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
So the soldiers did these things…
These soldiers are unknowingly fulfilling prophecy from the old testament:
Psalm 22:16–18
[16] For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
[17] I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
[18] they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
Jesus is brilliant. Other Gospel writers tell us He actually quotes the opening verses of this psalm (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34). He was cuing his disciples to finish reciting the whole psalm–the way rabbi’s disciples were taught to do. What would these soldiers have done as they heard this part of the psalm read as John quotes it here?
There is a contrast in this chapter:
THE SECRET DISCIPLES:
YOU CAN BE USED WILLINGLY.
[38] After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. [39] Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. [40] So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. [41] Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. [42] So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
These two men are not used like pawns in the plan, but they made themselves available and usable by God–willingly serving the Lord Jesus in His death.
There are only two options:
01. Give Jesus glory in your ignorant treason.
02. Give God glory by your willing surrender
How to Be Useable:
BE INVESTED In the King’s mission through giving.
BE INVOLVED In a group. A team. (New Here Move)
BE INSTILLING Truth in next generation (Your Home is the battlefield Text Kids to 30777)
BE INVADING the darkness with your testimony.