Good Friday 4/02/21 - 6 pm - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Why This Day Matters!”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 22
New Testament Scripture: Hebrews 10:16-25
Gospel Lesson: John 18:1-19:42
Every year has 365 days. Well actually 365.25 days to
account for leap year every four years, but essentially, we all have 365 days a
year. Some of these days are more important than other days to us. Days like
birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and etc. tend to be the most important days
to many of us. I do not know many families that have there whole extended
family over on July 10th every year unless that day is important to
the family.
Do not get me wrong, every day is important, but most
people have days that feel more important than others. I for example, love July
4th, but I would not say that July 4th in anywhere near
the same as Christmas or Easter. If we think about it, while I am talking, we
can think about various days each year that are extremely important. I think of
days like Thanksgiving, Labor Day, my wedding anniversary, etc. I have never
heard anyone say though that the most important day of there year is Good
Friday, but this day is significant. This is why my sermon title for tonight is
called, “Why Today Matters!” Is Good Friday more important than a random day of
the summer where nothing important is going on? Yes, I would say so. We all
have days that seem like a regular ordinary day, and days that are massively
important. Yet today, Good Friday matters.
Why does Good Friday matter? Today matters because on this
day almost two-thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, God’s only
son, died on a cross for our sins and the sins of the whole world. On this day
nearly two-thousand years ago Jesus paved the way for us to be forgiven four
our sins and reconciled to God. We are incapable of living on earth without
sin, and we are incapable of being like fully like God, and as result, God sent
to son to earth to die for us, so that we might be reconciled to him. This was
God’s plan to redeem humanity from before time itself.
After making a covenant with Abraham and others in the Old
Testament, and after sending one prophet after another, like Isaiah and
Ezekiel, God finally fulfilled his ultimate will on earth through Jesus Christ.
On this day, Jesus is arrested, mocked, spit on, whipped, scourged, nailed to
cross, and dies an agonizing death. Was God required to this? No, this is what
God wanted to do to offer us the way to be reconciled for our sinful and fallen
nature. It must break God’s heart to see us, his humanity that continues to be
so wicked to each other. It must break God’s heart to see the sin, the pain,
the cruelty, and the suffering of this earth.
Yet in God’s infinite love, mercy, and grace, he sent his
only son to earth to take all of our guilt and all of our shame upon himself.
On the cross Jesus bore our every mistake, and our every wrongdoing. We do not deserve
it, and yet God’s love and grace is so abundant, and God’s desire to be in
relationship with us is so abundant that he would send his only son to die for
us. Jesus, in being God in the flesh on earth, was the only one who ever walked
this earth that was sinless. It is for this reason that Jesus was and is the
only one qualified to be an all-sufficient savor. Jesus was and is the only
person that ever walked this earth who was eligible to die for our sin. Since
we all have sin, how can we die for the sins of others? Only God can do what he
did through Jesus Christ. God did not have to do this, but he planned before
time to this, so that humanity could be reconciled to him. This is “Why This
Day Matters!”.
As I have mentioned in some recent sermons, recorded human
history goes back about 6,000 years, and for that whole time and beyond,
humanity has never been able to live right. There have been examples that were
much better than others, but never have we as humans been able to live the way
that God wants us to live fully. So, do we need a savior? Do we need Jesus? I
believe that we do, because are not able to live fully the way God wants us to live
and love. As a result, God spoke to Abraham and many others, God spoke through
the prophets of old, and ultimately sent his only son to earth do for us that
which we cannot do for ourselves.
This day does not mean that we are awful, but it does mean is
that we need the grace of God through Jesus Christ. In repenting and turning
from our sin, and in turning to Christ, we are forgiven. All of our guilt, all our
shame, all our sin, and everything that we have ever done is gone, and washed
clean. Does this change our human nature toward sinning? No, it does not, but
everyday that we walk with Christ, follow him, and seek to be more like him, we
will continue to be made in Christ’s image. As we draw closer to Christ, we
become more like him, and God continues to make us more holy and more
righteous. When we are more holy and more righteous, we are more like God, and
so we are then less sinful, and God can use us to transform the world.
Today, when Christ dies, the scripture tells us that veil
in the temple in Jerusalem was torn. The veil that separates everyone but the
high priest from the most holy place in the temple, the holy of holies, is torn
when Christ dies. This means that we are able to fully be reconciled to God. On
this day, Jesus died for the sins of the world, past, present, and future. This
is “Why Today Matters!”
Until Jesus’ resurrection on Easter, his death does not
official offer us full forgiveness and reconciliation with God, as Easter
Sunday proves that Jesus is who he said he was. The great love of God this day
was on full display for us, as he gave everything for us. The Apostle Paul says
it well of Jesus in Romans 5:8 however, where he says:
“But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, NRSV).
Further, today’s events of Christ’s death and crucifixion were
also prophesied in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible scriptures, as well. For
example, in our reading for tonight from Psalm 22, we hear once again in 22:1a:
“My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?” (Ps. 22:1a, NSRV).
According
to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus said these prophetic words in 27:46, shortly
before he died on his cross.
In
our scripture reading for tonight from Hebrews 10:16-25, it says once again in
10:19-22:
“Therefore, my friends, since we
have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and
living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his
flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:16-25, NRSV).
The
Apostle Paul says that we can approach God, and the “Holy of Holies,” only through
the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. This is “Why Today Matters!”
This is why every year we read the large Good Friday Gospel of John reading,
and we go over all the details of this day. Every year we tell this story, of how
God sent his son Jesus Christ to earth to teach us to love, heal, and forgive,
and to die for us all, nearly two-thousand years ago.
Even
though for the past six-thousand years of recorded human history that we have
not been able to fully live right, we can have hope through Jesus Christ, that
every day we can become more like Jesus. We will we make a perfect world? No, I
do not think so, but we can certainly make it much better than it is right now.
We can turn to Christ, we can love others, we can change Sidney, and God cans
used us to change the world, until we go to be with Christ, or he returns in glory.
This is “Why Today Matters!” Happy Good Friday friends, for today is a good day
for you, for me, and all of humanity. Amen.
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