Sermon (Click Link to Listen)
Good Friday Reflection 2018
On Good Friday, like no other day in the Christian’s year are we faced
with not only the the stark reality of the cross…. but also its apparent
contradictions.
It shame, horror and ‘defeat ‘ is coupled with its glory, sacrifice and
triumph….an apparent contradiction …a paradox.
Our Jeshua’s life and teaching were tightly wrapped in paradox:
We lose our life if we keep it… we gain life when we lose it.
If any one wants to be first let them be last.
Happy are the poor….
Happy those who mourn….
We labour to rest…….
We take on the yoke of discipleship in order to be free.
We walk by faith and not by sight.
We must give to receive…..
We yield to conquer and in serving we reign.
This is the radical reality that Jesus and His Cross draws us into.
The incarnate God, whose Word Created all that IS… washes feet.
These actions are real in Truth, profound in a pristine humility.
There is no avoiding the terrors of the cross for Jesus.
Despite His death dreads and fears in Gethsemane He knew in the
core of His being this is why He was here. His long awaited hour had
come.
He, ”who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we who are sin, might
in Him, become the righteousness of God.”
For the joy that was set before Him…………………..the joy of liberating
this world from Satan ……
the joy of releasing a humanity bound by the dictatorship of sin….
a humanity at whose creation He had breathed His own DNA……
To secure all of this He endured the cross …..and the existential
desolating aloneness of being separated from His co-suffering Father-
God.
”My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken me”
It was a broken heart that ultimately took life from Him.
For on this cross the Lord Jesus, our Pascal Lamb:
* was judged instead of us
*…was condemned instead of us
* …was punished instead of us
*…was crucified instead of us.
He took our place so that we could take His place as Beloveds of
God.
We will never know how much we are loved by God until we
appreciate how much the Father loved His only Son.
Let there be no doubt in our minds in relation to the destructive
dehumanising nature of sin and God’s attitude to it. The bleeding,
naked, scourged, bruised, distorted, humiliated, and revolting body of
Christ is what sin truly and finally looks like when its work is done.
When the Lord Jesus, Who knew no sin, stepped into the Adamic sin-
saturated waters of the Jordan to be baptised; it was not to be cleansed
and forgiven but to get dirty… by taking the guilt, the burden of our
sin totally upon Himself. Through baptism He sunk to become one
with us….so that in our baptism we became one in Him.
‘’For as in Adam all died, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’’
We are now in Jeshua Ha Mashiach.
In Jesus we also journeyed to the cross.
In Jesus our old nature was crucified, die and buried.
In Jesus we were raised to a new and resurrected life becoming
temples of the Holy Spirit, a royal and holy priesthood.
Already in Jesus we are adopted children of God and actively alive to
Him.
We are joint heirs with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenly
places.
Jesus Christ in us,the hope of glory.
For we NOW through His death we have a great high priest who
knows the heights and depths of each of us. Who indwells us, and
knows all that we wrestle with…. And now with the all sufficiency of
His free grace tells us to look to Him the starter and finisher of our
salvation.
The crucified and soon to be resurrected Christ Jesus is faithful
and preserves that which we entrusted to Him.
Yes we are still works in progress sustained daily by the the Love of
God that is in Jesus. We are NOT with Hope.
It does ‘’not appear yet what we shall be but we know that at His
appearing we shall be like Him.”
Amen