Tag: Good Friday

Categories
Good Friday Luke Sermon

What makes Good Friday good for us? – Luke 23:32-49

https://www.facebook.com/thegatheringcommunity/videos/541409313182647/

Good evening everyone!

My name is Jinson Thomas and I am one of the pastors at the Gathering Community Church. I’m humbled at the opportunity to share God’s Word with you all on this Good Friday.

One of the questions that many people including Christians are quite perplexed with is the question

“Why is it called Good Friday?”

How can it possibly be good if Jesus was murdered on this day? “It’s not good but bad Friday” some would say.

On top of that, some of you would say – how can this be Good Friday with all that is happening around the globe due to COVID-19?

How can it be Good Friday when I’m locked up at home? So this evening I’d like to give us 3 reasons for why Good Friday can be good for us!!

1. God’s forgiveness is available for all sins (v34)

And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

What is astonishing is that Jesus is pleading before the Father for people who were responsible for putting Him on a cross!! And I think sometimes we are so used to seeing a cross on a church building or sporting it as a fashion accessory, that we forget what it meant in Jesus’ time to be crucified.

The cross wasn’t used to symbolize a religion or a fashion statement but instead, the cross symbolized condemnation and humiliation! It was a death row for the worst criminals who committed the most heinous crimes in the Roman world.

It was also done publicly to make an example of the criminal so that no one would even think of following the footsteps of the one who was killed. In fact it was so cruel and inhumane that even Roman speakers of the time would criticize it by calling it “the most cruel and disgusting punishment”.

The Son of God (Jesus) who committed no sin faced the horror of “the most cruel and disgusting punishment”.

Forgiveness isn’t cheap. It comes at a high cost.

Just to give you a picture of the pain that Jesus endured:

i) It involved immense Physical Pain: The pain was so unbearable, intense and agonizing that they made a word to describe it – “excruciating”. It wasn’t instant death but slow & painful death!

Victims would have to endure extreme pain for long periods of time before they eventually suffocated and died. We can never downplay or minimize the physical pain that Jesus experienced on the cross.

ii) Not only did it involve Physical pain but also Psychological Pain: That’s the last thing that you would want to face while already dealing with the immense physical pain.

The only voice that Jesus heard all around him were insults from the very people He came to save. V34 says that they cast lots to divide his garments which tells us how his garments were stripped off him making him vulnerable & adding to his humiliation.

iii) However, more than the Physical & Psychological Pain – what affected Jesus the most was the Spiritual Pain: AlthoughJesus was like us in every way, yet He was unlike us because he was without sin.

He was the only person to live a life of perfect purity and sinlessness. But on the cross for the first time, he experienced the massive weight & guilt of sin. “He who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21)”.

Not only did He experience the massive weight of sin but He was also being punished for our sins. No one like to be a scape goat for anyone and here we see Jesus becoming the scape goat for the entire world.

The passage from Isaiah that we just read earlier today is a reminder of the same thing:

Isa 53:5,6 – But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray;

    we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.

I want us to understand that Jesus wasn’t treated as a criminal merely due to wicked Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers of that time. He was treated as a criminal because you and I have committed numerous crimes against the One True God.

We are the very ones responsible for putting Jesus on the cross. Brothers and sisters, my intention is not to guilt us or over-emphasize on the gory details of Jesus’ agony and suffering but I want us to realize this truth that

Forgiveness isn’t cheap. It comes at a high cost.

God absolutely has the authority to forgive sins but because He is also a just judge, a payment has to be made. Someone has to pay.

I came across a beautiful story that spoke about forgiveness and justice being displayed in the courtrooms in UAE a few months back. An Asian couple found themselves in the middle of a huge legal problem because they overstayed their visa for a number of years.

They were asked to pay an enormous amount as a fine (around 12 Lakh rupees). When the judge asked them to pay the fine, they weren’t able to pay it. Now even though the judge had compassion on the family, he couldn’t write off the fine because it would cause an uproar and protest against the whole justice system of the UAE.

For some reason, the judge asked them the name of their son. The parents replied that they’ve named him “Zayed”. Now Zayed also happened to be the name of the founder of the country. On learning this, the judge said Zayed shouldn’t have to pay the fine. But justice requires someone to pay. To everyone’s amazement the judge himself paid off the entire amount (12 Lakh rupees) to close their case.  Forgiveness isn’t cheap. It comes at a high cost.   

When God saw that we weren’t able to pay the enormous mountain of a debt due to our sins, He provided a way for us to be forgiven through the perfect sacrifice of His Son Jesus so that the payment is made for people who cannot pay for themselves.

Maybe some of us as we are hearing this are finding it hard to believe. You’ll say “brother, I know what you’re saying but you have no idea what I’ve said and done in the past few weeks. You have no idea how ugly my past is. I’ve done so many things that I’m ashamed to even talk about”.

The amazing truth is that because of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross, if you come to Him and surrender yourself to Him because of His perfect sacrifice, forgiveness is available for all your sins no matter how many they are & how worse they are.

That’s amazing news for us even in a time of lockdown and uncertainty – to know that irrespective of what happens tomorrow that God can forgive all my sins. He can look at me and say “You are not guilty”. That’s great news.

But not only is Good Friday good because God’s is able to forgive all my sins but also that :

2. God’s grace is extended to the lost, the last and the least (v43)

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Within the event of Jesus suffering on the cross, there is a mention of a small incident of two criminals who are hung on either side of Jesus. One of them dishonours Jesus just like the crowd beneath, but the other one honours Jesus as King.

The first one doesn’t even acknowledge his sin while the other one confesses his sin – he acknowledges “we are receiving the due reward of our deeds”. The first one didn’t have any hope of being saved, while the other one even at the last moments of his life trusted that Jesus could save Him.

And Jesus does save him in v43 – “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Wait a minute! First of all, this is a guilty criminal out here. He’s done some really bad things and messed up his life. Upon his own admission, he knows that he deserves the punishment he is receiving.

And plus he lived his whole life in wickedness and now at the final moments of life, he is asking Jesus to save him? I mean there are the other “not so bad” people that need to be saved first, right? This guy is the least likeable guy. He is the back-bencher in morality.

No one expects him to be saved. Why fill up God’s kingdom with people who don’t appear to be cut out for it? Why should Jesus even bother?

In our judgmental hearts, this is a crazy thing to digest mainly because we don’t understand God’s passion for those that are the lost, the last and the least. In Luke 15, Jesus talks about the parable of the Lost Son.

God is pictured as the loving Father who when he sees his lost son returning from a distance, runs and embraces him who wasted all of his father’s inheritance on his selfish pleasures.

Time and time again throughout Scripture we are told of this storyline – it’s not the powerful, the rich, the super talented, the influential that God choses and saves. It’s none of those but the total opposite.

Why? Because people who understand their sickness and infection are the ones who will go to a doctor and ask for help. People who understand their weakness and brokenness in sin are the one who will turn to Jesus desperately for help.

Sometimes people who have known me for just a few years presume that I’ve been a religious, pious, nice guy all my life. But the truth is quite far from that. In my teenage years I remember thinking that God & religion wasn’t something I was cut out for mainly due my increasing sin patterns. Even when I did go to church, I went for all the wrong reasons.

I was that guy sitting at the last bench because I didn’t think I was worthy of sitting right in front. For a person like me who had continuous evil thoughts running through my mind, I had mouth filled with cuss words and lifestyle of being an enemy of God, I knew I couldn’t reach God so I stopped trying.

I was so lost in my sin that I thought I was beyond help. But I thank God that He didn’t give up on me but rather pulled me out a deep pit through Jesus’s sacrifice. The amazing truth is that Jesus came looking for me even when I wasn’t thinking about being found.

I was lost, the last and the least among those that people expected to be saved and yet that happened by God’s grace.

And so I share my story to let you know that if you feel like you’re far away from God, if you don’t see yourself as a typical religious churchgoer, maybe you look at yourself and think you’re the last person that God would think of…let me encourage you to know that Jesus is nearer to you than you think. The scope of God’s grace isn’t limited to people who are at a certain level of good. God’s grace extends to those that are lost, the last ones and the least ones.   

But not only is God’s forgiveness available for all, not only is God’s grace extended to the lost, the last and least but also

3. God’s presence is accessible by all who believe (v44-46)

It was now about the sixth hour,[d] and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

Jesus’ commitment to complete His work on the cross has ensured that we now have full access to God as our Father. And this was highlighted by the curtain or the veil of the temple tearing in two.

The curtain in the temple separated the Most Holy Place from every other place in the temple. The Most Holy Place is where God would dwell in. No one was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place except for the High Priest and that also once a year on the Day of Atonement.

On the Day of Atonement he couldn’t enter it in any manner he wanted. He needed to wear special priestly garments, offer a sacrifice for his own sins and then burn an incense to cover the whole room – and only then would his life be spared! That’s a big deal! God’s presence is a serious thing.

By ourselves if we went into the presence of God, we would be totally consumed. We would die. And now the amazing news is that Jesus has opened the way for us to freely and directly access God’s presence! It’s not limited to one day a year. It’s not limited to only the High Priest.

It’s not limited to going to a single location. God can reveal His presence to us no matter where we are.

Even in a season like COVID-19 where we are locked up at home & quarantined– the amazing truth for believers in Jesus is that we can experience God’s presence in a very scriptural and personal way.

I was encouraged by the interview of a woman who recently recovered from COVID-19 where she testified to being all alone in a hospital room.

Even the medical professionals had kept their distance to avoid receiving the infection. In a room which no one could enter, Jesus was there with her. While she was reading Scripture on her bed, in a very personal way Jesus reminded her of His presence – “Never will I leave you.

Never will I forsake you (Heb 13:5)”. Wait a minute! But I thought Jesus died and was buried? How can Jesus still be with her 2000 years later? If Jesus’ story ended with him being buried in a tomb, it wouldn’t give us any assurance of His everlasting presence.

Instead we know that Sunday is coming. Sunday is coming when Jesus would rise victoriously from the dead & that’s why He can make the most audacious promise to never leave us nor forsake us and still keep it!

Brothers and sisters, let me encourage you to know that Jesus Christ can be present with you right now through His Spirit. Jesus Christ cannot be locked up. No lockdown can stop Jesus from meeting you in your loneliest of times.

Would you come to Him and cry out to Him today? 

That’s what makes this and every Good Friday good! Because of Jesus, God’s forgiveness is available for all sins (every bit of them), God’s grace is extended to the lost, the last and the least. God’s presence is accessible to all who believe.

Would you join me to respond to God in prayer?

Categories
Mark Sermon

3 Lessons from the Grave – Mark 15:40-47

Good morning church! I’m humbled with every opportunity I get to share from the Word because unlike any other skill set – when we preach we also preach to ourselves as we preach to the church. I know I need these truths from God’s Word like all of you. So it’s humbling! As a church we have been studying the gospel of Mark over the last year.

We are on the last few passages of this gospel and as we arrive at the closing passages of this gospel, we see themes of abandonment – disciples abandoning Jesus, we see betrayal – Judas, we see humiliation in the manner of torture and mocking, we see injustice where Jesus is being chosen as more deserving of death than even a murderer, and finally we see the death of the Son when he is hung on the cross. And we find ourselves today in that in between time – those three days between Jesus’ crucifixion and His Resurrection. Let’s turn to Mark 15:40-47 [Read]

I know for most of us we are probably very excited about the Resurrection story. And we want to jump right to it as quickly because we might wonder “how can a passage like this encourage me?” And so even as I prepared my notes, I kept asking this question “What can the story of burial tell me about Jesus?” Because all of Scripture is talking about Jesus so what can we learn. What is the hope mentioned in this passage? The title of my sermon is 3 Lessons from the Grave.

Christ invites unlikely people to follow Him

V40 & 41 : Mentions the names of Mary Magdalene (Mary from Magdala), Mary the mother of James the younger (the mother of James son of Alphaeus) and Salome (who was the mother of James and John the sons of Zebedee) along with many other women who were followers of Jesus. Now we might think that’s normal but it wasn’t normal for women to have that kind of participation in ancient Jewish culture. It was a patriarchal and oppressive culture.

 A woman’s place in society was to be only at home, responsible for bearing children and taking care of them. Men were not greet women in public. Women had very little access to property or inheritance. Whatever a woman earned would go the husband. Men were allowed to legally divorce a woman for any reason by just handing out a written notice of divorce, however a woman couldn’t divorce a man. Even in terms of religious practice – men were encouraged to pray certain prayers daily and study Scripture while women were not permitted to do the same.

 In fact so bad was the situation that an unfortunate prayer that men would pray would be on the lines of “Praise God that he has not created me as a woman”. Women were not given the kind of dignity and freedom and opportunities as men. It was very oppressive.

It’s in that context we see Jesus totally flip things around and interact with them with dignity and love. Something that women never experienced in their time and culture. How did these women experience love?

  1. He showed Compassion: Mary from Magdala was actually a demon possessed woman at one time. Mark 16 and Luke 8 mention that she was cured of evil spirits by Jesus. Seven demons came out of her! She was in a terrible condition when Jesus found her and yet Jesus showed her great compassion by delivering her from the demonic spirits.
  2. He revealed His Transforming power: Mary – the mother of James son of Alphaeus and Salome mother of James and John were mothers of disciples of Jesus. I really think it was the changed lives that they saw in their children that drew them to Jesus. Parents know about their kids inside out. And if anything changes about them, they are the first to notice that too. Similarly, you can imagine what it would’ve been for them to see their sons change up close.
  3. He gave them the Privilege to serve: Women had a very low status and place in society. If a group or organization was made, they wouldn’t necessarily approach women to join it. And here we see Jesus inviting them to follow Him, get to know Him and also “minister” to Him! Luke 8 says they provided for Jesus out of their means. They were given an opportunity to serve the Son of God. And it’s not because Jesus couldn’t help Himself. He is the Son of God! But He allowed them to participate in serving Him so that they could experience the joy of fellowship with Him and the privilege to serve Him.   

We see how Jesus’ interactions with women was counter-cultural at the time. They were the unlikely ones but they were still invited to follow Him. When I think about my testimony…I grew up in a Christian home and we went to church regularly but it was mostly to satisfy the social norms and my parents. By the time I reached my teens I began questioning if church was really important to me.

I thought I knew the gospel – I thought Jesus died for us in general – I assumed for the good people especially but my life changed when I realized that He died for me! Really? Me? I’m the worst! I’m so unlike what a good Christian should be? I don’t even look like a proper Christian? And He died for me!!! Astonishing. And that’s true of every believer seated here.

How many of us knew that we were going to believe in Jesus someday? How many of expected that to happen? How many of us looked like the perfect person going to church and had the perfect life? None of us could’ve ever imagined but yet Christ invited unlikely people like us to follow Him.

This changes the way we look at the people in our neighborhoods and our colleges and our workplaces. One of the verses that brother reminded us last week on prayer was 1 Tim 2:1 – which tells us to pray for all people! Which means that even the ones that annoy us, hate us, frustrate us…the ones which we consider are “hopeless cases” are the unlikely people who Christ invites to follow Him. Why? Because it’s not their efforts but His grace and power to save them.

 For some of here who don’t know Jesus yet because you think that you are an unlikely choice…you think that you don’t look like or behave like a so called Christian, let me tell you that Christ invites and he infact pursues the unlikely people and candidates. You are in the right place to follow Jesus!

Christ produces willing sacrifice by knowing Him

 In verses 42-46 we are told of a man named Joseph of Arimathea. What do we know about him? He is a respected member of the Jewish council. He’s a wealthy, high standing, leading member of the council. And it also tells us that he was looking for the kingdom of God.

Which meant that he was looking forward God bringing His heavenly reign on people’s hearts and minds. He believed that God was going to do something to bring His rule and reign over all of us. In a similar account in Matt 27, it refers to him as a disciple of Jesus. And we see him do something that the other famous disciples of Jesus didn’t do…

  • He took courage and asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now we might think – oh, because he was an influential man he could talk to Pilate and exert some influence. But we forget that the death of Jesus was a public event that was seen and promoted by all of the Jewish leaders. Joseph was risking his reputation by asking for Jesus’ body. Not just that but he was also risking his life…because he was declaring his allegiance and friendship to the man they killed. It’s with reason that the writer mentions that “Joseph took courage”. It was a big deal.
  • We also see him wrapping Jesus in an expensive linen shroud and then placing Jesus in a newly cut tomb. What I also read was that rock cut tombs were quite expensive in those days – people would purchase that for themselves and their family and he uses that very same tomb to bury Jesus. Why? Because I think he knew Jesus as much more than a Teacher or Leader…he knew him as family! Jesus knew him and had close fellowship with Joseph. Jesus had invited him into a familial relationship – way deeper than just friendship or acquaintance. Because if he knew Jesus only superficially, he would never willingly sacrifice his reputation, his expensive shroud, or his expensive tomb or even his life. It was that relationship that mattered at that point.

I was reading the story of CT Studd yesterday. In the 1800’s, he came from a very wealthy family with a huge empire and at the same time he was a budding English cricketer. Some people compared him as the Andrew Flintoff of that time. He got saved when a visiting preacher came home one day and shared the gospel. Right then “peace and joy entered his soul….the Bible which he thought was very dry to him before became everything”.

A few years after he got saved, his brother George became seriously ill. And it was at that time that he was confronted with this question “What is all the fame and flattery worth…when a man comes to face eternity?” He actually admitted that the last six years of his salvation was in a backslidden state. It’s at that point where he said he knew cricket and honor would not last, and nothing in the world would last but it was worthwhile living for the world to come”.

So he gives up his cricketing career and becomes a missionary to China. After his father died, he sold off his inheritance worth 24K pounds at that time and gave it to various charities and mission organizations. Some people might see this and be like “Are you crazy? Why are you wasting your life? Why are you wasting your inheritance?” His famous quote was “If Christ be God and He died for me, then there’s no sacrifice too great for me to make for Him”.

Those are the words of a man who knew Jesus up close. Sometimes we get into this zone thinking…oh – but if I need Jesus, then I’ll need to give this up and it’s so hard. And we always think in terms of what we are going to lose instead of who we are to gain. The reason why we struggle to give up is because we don’t enjoy close fellowship with Jesus. Let this truth stir up our hearts once again…unless we know Jesus and love him and enjoy obedience, we will always struggle to give up stuff…we will always think about what we are to lose.  

Christ enables holiness when we die with Him

V44-45 tells us that after enduring 6 hours on the cross, Jesus breathed his last and died. He didn’t faint on the cross neither was his body exchanged at the last moment before his crucifixion – two worldly theories out there…Jesus died and his corpse was given to Joseph on his request.

What is the significance of Jesus’ burial for us as believers? Jesus’ death on the cross meant that he bore the full wrath of God and the full payment was made for your sins and mine. But what his burial means is that the position of your sin and your old life in the sight of God is “Buried”! Who get buried? A dead person. That burial tomb is a reminder of where your sin & your old way of life lies.

That famous verse in Romans 6 asks this question “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (Our baptism is a picture of our union with Christ) 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For those people who think that grace is an excuse to continue in sin, how does Paul remind them of the gospel? He points to the fact that when they believed in Jesus, they were united to his death and burial – which means that your old life and my old life has been buried! That’s the position. That’s where it remains.

Christian, you are no longer the same person! You may be in the same body but if you’ve believed and surrendered your life, that old person has been buried and now you have a new life in Christ. And so the picture of the tomb for a believer isn’t a discouragement but rather an enablement – enabling you to live a holy life unto God. God’s grace enables us to live in holiness. We aren’t living in holiness for God’s grace rather we experience God’s grace which results in holiness.

It’s like a thief who stole a huge sum of money and got caught and landed up in jail. Due to the enormous amount he stole, he deserves lifetime imprisonment. Now there’s a really kind wealthy businessman in the city who hears about this thief and has compassion on him. He decides to pay the full penalty of the thief and release him out of jail. Now he’s no longer viewed as a thief or because he has been set free.

 The wealthy businessman takes him in and gives him a new life. The man sometimes comes to the businessman and tells him how he has temptations of stealing again and other times it’s the guilt of the past. Guess what the businessman does? He pulls out the receipt of the payment that was made on his behalf with the seal that says “Penalty is fully paid. He is Free”. Will that discourage him or enables him to live honestly? It enables him to live honestly.

Brothers and sisters, our time with the Word – especially gospel passage like Romans 6 and others. Being part of a Gospel Community where other believers are telling you this is vitally important. Why because we tend to forget that we are not thieves anymore and so we need to be reminded “Penalty is fully paid. You are free”…Here is the receipt. And that will bolster our spiritual lives and our walk!