Good Friday...

Good Friday…

I’m sure it didn’t seem very good to the disciples as they lived it. Their leader, the One whom they believed was the King, the Messiah, the answer to their deepest needs, was arrested in the wee small hours of the morning. Those disciples who sneaked back and watched from a distance, saw their Master and friend mistreated, scorned, mocked, and then, as the sun came up on the scene in front of Pilate’s court, they heard the worst thing imaginable: “Crucify Him!” How could they? Jesus was the Son of God! And why wasn’t He stopping them?!

Then, beatings, more mocking, pain and agony… Their Savior, struggling to carry a heavy cross, the tool of His own execution, up the “Hill of the Skull”… Cries of pain as He was nailed to the cross… And after all the intensity of the crucifixion, the comparative silence for the next hours as Jesus hung above the crowd. Just the occasional mocker, amid the quiet, muffled tears…

No, I don’t think that story sounds very “good…”

That is the story we commemorate at our Good Friday Services. It is a sober time, an emotional time, but necessary. Without the grief and pain and loss and death on Good Friday, Easter Sunday would have no meaning.

And yet it’s also true that without an empty tomb on Easter Sunday, Good Friday would be anything but good. It is only because we know that Christ conquered the grave that we can have hope in the midst of the grief of the crucifixion!

Was Christ’s crucifixion “good?” At the time it sure didn’t seem to be. Yet for you and I it was the best thing that could have ever happened! Because of Jesus’ death, we can be forgiven and have the hope of heaven!

Back in the Box...

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal..” – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

            

I have been blessed and challenged as I’ve prepared for our current sermon series on Sunday mornings, based on the book, “When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box.”  It is a very practical reminder that life is short, and it matters what we do.  So often, the ‘eternal’ things of life take a back seat to the ‘temporary,’ instead of the other way around.

In the verses above, Paul reminds us that most of the things that we experience in this life will not last.  They are just so much dust and ashes, they (and we) are ‘wasting away.’  And yet we treat them as so important!  In reality, in eternity, it won’t matter what kind of car I drove or clothes I wore or whether I had the latest technological gadget.  These temporary things can certainly be tools with which we ‘play the game’ of life, but they’re not how we win.  We win when we’re rich toward God, when we invest in eternal things, when the eternal takes priority over the temporary.

The things that will last forever are much fewer than all the temporary stuff of life.  When we invest in God and His Word, in growing our own souls, and in serving those around us, we are participating in the eternal.  How are you investing in the eternal, becoming rich toward God?

In these days when things are uncertain and everything seems to be ‘wasting away,’ be encouraged that you can truly be renewed day by day as you fix your eyes on what is unseen - what will last.  Because when the game is over, it all goes back in the box.

Troubled Times...

I’m sure you’re like me, wondering what in the world is going on! 

Revolts, wars, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, the threat of economic and nuclear meltdown…  It’s enough to make us want to crawl under a rock and hide!  And it’s enough to make us wonder where God is in the midst of it all…  There are many attempts at answers to those questions, and many are helpful.  The bottom line is that you and I aren’t God.  We don’t know and won’t know everything.  The issue is not knowing more, but trusting more. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” 

Our own understanding is limited.  Let’s trust our God who loves us and is all-powerful.  Submit to Him, especially in times of crisis. 

And as you submit, let’s remember these words too…

Psalm 46…“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging…Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exalted in the nations.  I will be exalted in the earth.  The Lord almighty is with us…”

Certainly the earth has given way and the waters have roared and foamed and the mountains have quaked over the last few weeks in Japan.  And yet we can still be confident that God is not dead.  Take the time to know deep in your soul that even though it is devastating and you don’t understand, you KNOW THAT HE IS GOD…  And then perhaps the most important thing – "the Lord Almighty is with us."  Even in tragedy, in the valley of the shadow of death, God is with us.  And that makes all the difference.

Below I have pasted an article from H.B. London at Focus on the Family, addressing some of these same issues.  Good words from a great man of God…

Also, if you would like to make a donation to Nazarene Compassionate Ministries for disaster relief in Japan, visit www.ncm.org/JapanCrisis.

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THE LENTEN SEASON —AND THE COMFORT IT BRINGS H.B. London (focus on the Family)
The world is troubled today over the natural disaster in Japan. Panic seems to be the word people are using in reference to the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant. The radiation levels are rising. The United States has begun evacuating American citizens. So much of what is happening around the world is out of our control. The massive revolts of Muslim people. The uncertain stock market. How do we deal with all of this?
The answer comes as we prepare for Easter.

"As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 'Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?' Jesus said to them: 'Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains'" - Mark 13:3-8).

The disciples must have been troubled by Jesus' words. There wasn't much good news in His message. We don't hear much good news today either and people are troubled. As we look around us, we see so much uncertainty — spiritual wickedness in high places, war and rumors of wars on practically every continent, moral decay at every level and a mind-set that seems to say, "What does it matter anyway?"
But are things hopeless? By no means! You see, Easter is the time of the year when we are reminded of who Jesus really is — that the One who has turned our darkness to light 20 centuries ago is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 18:8)! We need not hang our heads in defeat because there is One who has already secured our victory (I Cor. 15:57)!  We can look forward — and upward — to the One who is alive, who defeated sin and death and Satan, and who lives and reigns forevermore. He is still the One! His name is Jesus!

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid"
(John 14:27).