“Something beautiful”
Good Friday 2017, April 14
Isaiah 53
Who has believed our message?
To whom has the LORD revealed his powerful arm?
2 My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows[a] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him
the sins of us all.
7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.[b]
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.[c]
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people.
9 He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.
10 But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.
12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
The week of Easter for me or any other Pastor is always a very hectic time
We know we will have many visitors
And we want everything to be just right
The right music
The right sermon
We want everything to be perfect
And we know that in spite of all of our best efforts
Perfection is not attainable in and of our selves
God in his creation wanted perfection also
He made man
The bible says
In his image
He made them Male and female
And placed them in a garden
A perfect
Sinless
Garden
And told them
Just love me
Be happy
And obey me
But
Because of human nature
The desire for perfection was unattainable
Or so it would seem
Because of disobedience
The perfect world was plunged into sin
Death had once been unknown and now became a reality
Sickness
Pain
Discouragement
Fear
Shame and guilt
Came on the world just as the briars and thorns
Covered the once perfect ground
And Satan
Thought he had won
But he had no idea that God still had a plan of perfection
Let me tell you the story of that perfection
Let me tell you a story of true love
Let me tell you what God did for us
Let me tell you how God made a way
For sinful humanity
To achieve perfection
God sent his son
Jesus Christ
God in the flesh to come to earth and to live and grow and learn as a man
He came to earth so that he could feel our pain
Experience our sorrow
God so loved that he sent
His best
His one
His only
Into the imperfect world that resulted from disobedience
And Jesus grew
And he experienced all of our temptations
He never sinned
But he knew temptation
And he loved
God loved
So Christ loved
He loved enough to heal people from their illnesses
He loved people enough to heal them from their spiritual brokenness
He loved enough to deliver all who would believe from the penalty of Sin
And he loved enough to know full well what this kind of love would cost
He knew full well the price he would have to pay
And still he loved
Jesus walked the earth God in human body
Fully God
And fully Man
For 33 years
And in those short years
He made it possible for imperfect people to become perfectly redeemed
Made into new creations
No longer bound by their pasts and their mistakes
But
The world
The very ones he was sent to save
Rejected him
Another betrayed him
The ones closest to him abandoned him in the garden as he prayed and sweated blood and cried out
“Not my will but yours Father”
One of the closest denied him after his arrest
Another betrayed him
The people cheered as he rode into Jerusalem
Just a few days later
The cheers turned to jeers
The Hosannas turned to kill him
Crucify him they cried
And Love held him up
And love made him stay
God’s only son- The Messiah- the Lamb of God
Was rejected by the ones he came to save
He was handed over to be tried ---illegally I might add by the Jews and Romans
And even though he was falsely accused
He would not speak in his defense
Why
Love
He knew his purpose
He knew this must happen
So he remained silent
They falsely accused him
Illegally convicted him
Punished him for crimes he did not commit
And still Love held him there
I have used some graphic illustatrations in the past on Good Friday
I encourage you to watch the passion
I watch once a year
And I cry
Because
I need to see
And I need to remember
And I believe we need to see
I believe we need to hear
We need to remember
I believe we need to understand what
Jesus did
The perfect savior
For imperfect people like me and like you
Jesus was led away
And he was beaten
With a whip
( Sound of a whip)
A cat of nine tails they call it- over and over again- I sometimes hear the sound of that whip when I remember what Jesus did for me
The skin from his back and legs was ripped away in shreds
He was humiliated
Spit on
Slapped
Insulted
Mocked
Punched
He was forced to wear a crown of thorns that cut into his head like knives
An struck on the head to intensify the pain ( strike the stage with a stick)
Then he was forced after a beating that left him unrecognizable
To carry the instrument of his own death
The cross
Along the Via Dolorosa
The street that lead to the place of the skull Golgotha
So weak from the beating
The loss of blood
Dehydration
He stumbled and fell many times
Unable to continue eventually a man named Simon was ordered to help him carry the burden
So the two of them
Both innocent
Made their way
Though the insults and the jeers and the trash that was thrown at them to Golgotha
Once at the hill of death
The place of his crucifixion
Jesus was nailed to a cross
The roman instrument of death that was so cruel
That a roman citizen could not be executed in such a way
A death reserved for only the worst of the worst-----
Jesus could have called down fire from heaven as Elijah had done
He could have called for the angels to deliver him
But Love made him stay
They laid him on his back on a rugged cross
On a back that was already stripped of skin a back so sore that even the breeze caused pain
And then they placed nails in his hands and feet
-----Sound of hammer on iron------
And still he stayed
As the pain intensified
The agony intensified
Love not nails held him to the cross
His legs were bent
Arms spread upward and outward
So that a full breath could not be drawn
Legs bent
So that when need for air became too great he could push up
Push up on feet that had been nailed to a cross
And get just a little air
Some cried out “ save yourself”
And still he stayed
Love held him there
For 6 hours he suffered
For 6 hours Love held him on the cross
And in even in this agony
He saved a sinner next to him from hell
He asked his Father to forgive those who were doing this to him
He made arrangements for his mother to be cared for
And he even refused to take a sedative – gall and wine to deaden his pain
When offered
Because he knew
He must experience all of it
In the last hour
He cried out
“ It is finished”
The work of redemption
The work of salvation
The plan of perfection was complete
The curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom
Signifying that we now though Jesus have direct access to God
The earth shook
The sun was darkened
His side was pierce and water and blood flowed out
Bodies were raised from the grave
And many said
Surely this was the Son of God
And Then
Jesus’ lifeless body was taken down
Only then
And prepared and placed in a tomb
We know he did not stay there
We know he was raised to life
We know his is alive today
And Sunday we will celebrate the resurrection
But tonight
We must remember the crucifixion
Jesus took the spit for you
He took the beatings for you
And the insults and the nails for you
Because he loves you
As I was sitting on my porch Tuesday after the rain storm we had on Monday night
Praying
Reading scripture
Smelling the freshness of the day
Birds singing
Squirrels playing
A song by Stephen Curtis Chapman came to my mind
“ Something beautiful “
He sings of how God can use the ugly things to make something beautiful
How God can take the worst and make it wonderful
The cross was an instrument of torture
And instrument of shame
But now when we look at it
It is a symbol of love
What was once ugly now is beautiful because of love
Because of love
He took the ugliness of the crucifixion
And turned it into the beauty of forgiveness’
The perfect plan
Is complete
By the perfect savior
Because of Love
We can be forgiven
Because of love we do not have to suffer the ugly things that Jesus suffered
And when we look in the mirror and we have accepted Christ as savior
We can see something beautiful
Not perfect
Not by a long shot
But because of Love
Perfectly forgiven
It is finished
Jesus died for you
The rest is up to you
Will you reject him?
Deny him?
Or accept him and let God turn you into something beautiful?
Something New?
Close from the heart
Pray
