Something Beautiful - Good Friday 2017

“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