“Mission Accomplished”

Introduction

I remember when my sister Madisyn came home about a year ago, and one Saturday morning I believe, we were very hungry, and we decided to go to McDonalds. We got to McDonalds and because we both did not look our best, we decided to go through the drive-thru. We placed our order, but when we got to the window to pay, the employee told us that the person in front of us decided to pay for our meal. We felt so good at that moment because we did not have to pay for our meal, because we were told that it has been paid for, and I believe that that is what this text is trying to tell us today. That we had a sin debt, but thanks to Jesus, it has been paid for. Jesus was sent here to earth to pay for our sins, and The mission has been accomplished, and I believe today that that is why we oughta be shouting and giving God glory, because once, we were sinking deep in sin, but thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the mission has been accomplished.

Text Context

In this text, John writes to us today to give us a perspective on the Crucifixion of Jesus. At the height of his ministry and miracles, many Jews came to believe in Jesus the Son of God. Jewish leaders feared Jesus because of his growing ministry. With the help of Judas, Roman soldiers arrested Jesus and he was put on trial for claiming to be the king of the Jews and according to Roman law, the punishment for rebellion against the king was death by crucifixion. The Roman governor Pilate was hesitant when it came to the punishment for Jesus, because he could not find any wrong in Jesus, but he wanted to give the people what they wanted, and that was the death of Jesus. He handed Jesus over to be crucified. Jesus had a crown of thorns thrust on his head and carried his cross all the way to Calvary. Crowds had gathered to mourn and watch Jesus' death. Jesus was nailed to the cross between two criminals and his sides pierced by a sword. He was mocked, beaten, and while on the cross, he says seven phrases. All these seven sayings have a different message that speaks to us, but today we are looking at this sixth word. I believe that in John 19:30, Jesus teaches us the power of a single word. Those words: “It is finished” have power. There has never been a single word said that has impacted history more than what Jesus said in this verse. When Jesus did all that he needed to do at the cross, he declared that that work was finished. This sixth word speaks to the sufficient sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for our sins. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for us, so that we would have eternal life. This sixth word translated into Greek is “Tetelestai”(te-te-luh-sty). That word “Tetelestai” means “paid in full”. So when Jesus said “It is finished”, he was saying that our debt has been paid in full. My sister and I felt so good and grateful at that moment because we knew that the restaurant could not charge us for something that has already been paid for. That means that the enemy cannot hold charges over you, because thanks to Jesus, it has been paid for. Jesus’ death is such a remarkable event, because it not only gives us hope as believers, but it fulfills Old testament prophecies. See, Jesus’ death was not something that just happened out of the blue, but his death was a prophecy. It is prophesied that Jesus is going to die all throughout the Bible, but I believe the prophecy that we are familiar with is Isaish 53:5, which says “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” And now, because of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, all of the promises and prophecies of God are fulfilled. Jesus died and fulfilled it all, that one day, that Good Friday, every old testament prophecy is fulfilled and every sin is paid for. And so the main message here is Jesus did what he was supposed to do. Because of Calvary, the mission has been accomplished.

Body of Message

This sixth word is so powerful today, and for a few minutes, let me show you how.

A word of COMPLETION

When Jesus said “it is finished”, he was saying that mission that he had been sent here to do, the prophecy that he had been sent to full, the task that he had been given to complete was done. This word means more than just "I survived." It means "I did exactly what I set out to do."

Many of us leave this world with unfinished business. There have been many times where we may have planned to do something, but failed to do it. We said to ourselves that when we get home, we are going to do that homework assignment, we are going to do that chore, that task, but we look up and we’ve gotten so distracted by TikToK and Instagram, that it completely slipped our minds. There are some of us who made a New Year's Resolution in January, but now it is April and we look up and see that we completely forgot about it.

Unfinished business is like the pen dropping from the writer’s hand or when the paintbrush falls down before the painter finishes his painting. It isn’t really a good feeling when you don’t finish something. I can personally testify that when I don’t finish something that I set my mind on finishing, like homework or a chore given to me by my parents, I don’t feel good knowing that it is not finished.

We have to understand that we are called for a purpose and it is our job to complete that purpose. When God first created human beings, he gave them a task, which was to be fruitful and multiply and he gave them all of the resources to do so. Many of us have planned to finish something, but we didn’t, but we can be sure that we serve a God who does not start something that he will not finish.

Many of us have set out to achieve some goals. We have been praying for God to do something in our lives and God has made us some promises and I came to encourage you today that God finishes what he starts. He finished the Creation in Genesis 2:1. He finished the new Heaven and Earth in Revelation 21:6. And right here, right now, he finished the Redemption in John 19:30. Jesus was sent here to finish something. He was sent to accomplish something.

It feels good to finish something. It feels good to know that you have understood and completed the assignment that has been given to you. And that is what Jesus did. And I like this because Jesus completed his task, despite the adversity that he faced. In his lifetime, Jesus dealt with various challenges. He dealt with betrayal, rejection, temptation, physical suffering, and even the anticipation of death, but he knew that he was sent here on this earth because he would have to finish something. He was sent here to save humanity from sin and offer a path to eternal life through his death and resurrection.

EX: In Mexico City, there was an athlete by the name of John Stephen Akhwari(Awk-war-re) of Tanzania. He was a marathon runner. He had won marathons in Africa, running with times under 2 ½ hours. He easily qualified for the 1986 Olympics of Mexico City. But in Mexico City, Akhwari encountered an obstacle he had never faced before: the altitude, which caused his legs to cramp severely. Still, he kept running. Then, about halfway through the race, he bumped into some other runners and fell. He dislocated his knee, scraped up his leg, and hurt his shoulder as he fell. But he didn’t stop. With terrible injuries and cramped muscles slowing him, he kept going and finished the race. He was one of seventy-five people who started the race, and the last of fifty-seven to finish it. When he finally entered the arena for the final lap, only a couple thousand people were there to see him complete the race. He finished dead last, more than an hour behind the winner. Although it seemed that Akhwari had lost the race, everyone who saw him finish knew he was a winner. In an interview later on, a reporter asked, “Why didn’t you quit when you were hurt and bruised, bloody, discouraged? Why didn’t you quit?” His answer: “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.”

And I believe that that is the same thing with Jesus. Jesus was sent here to finish something. He was sent here on assignment, and we oughta thank God that even though he faced those challenging things, he finished the task. And that is the same mindset that you and I have. We have to understand that God sent us here on earth to complete a task and finish an assignment, and we have got to do just that. This is a word of Completion.

A word of CONQUER

I find the Crucifixion and the story of it very interesting. You will get different perspectives and different versions of it. Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us that when Jesus cried out, he cried out in a loud voice. Now, that may mean much to you, but it does to me. Jesus is hanging on a cross and he is dying, but the Bible tells us that he cries out in a loud voice. Jesus is on the brink of death and he is shouting. The question for us is can we still shout, even when we’re in a bad situation. Can we still praise God, even if we are going through pain. Can we still worship, even if we’re wounded. Here is Jesus on the near point of death, and he cries out.

One may think that this cry is one of defeat and abandonment. This is not a cry of defeat. This is not a cry of pity. This is a cry of victory. We have to understand that Jesus was a conqueror. We oughta be grateful that this is a cry of accomplishment. Jesus did not wave the white towel of defeat, but rather he waved the banner of victory. The fact that Christ has conquered death means that believers have also been granted victory over death. Sin and death cannot and does not have victory over you as a Christian, no matter the obstacles you face, or the failures you’ve had, or the flaws you have, sin cannot have the victory, because Jesus died on the cross and defeated it. Therefore, sin cannot have victory over you, because of the death and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus has conquered sin and death, but the question is: If Jesus really defeated death and sin, then why are still fighting the enemy daily? Well, that is because even though Jesus had died and defeated death, he still wants you to walk in that sin lifestyle, and I have to let you know brothers and sisters that that will happen to us. We will be tried and tested, in an attempt to walk in that sinful lifestyle, but because Jesus defeated sin and death, that oughta enable us to not walk in sin anymore, but to walk in righteousness, love, kindness and live in this world as a light to shine out all places of darkness with wisdom and righteousness.

The fact that Jesus conquered death gives us hope and assurance. It lets us know that we too are more than conquerors and we can handle anything that the enemy throws at us, because our Savior conquered death. But can I suggest to you that this fight was fixed. Jesus already knew that he would be mocked, beaten, and crucified. He predicted that he would be crucified and would rise again three times in the book of Mark, so he knew that he would die and rise again, so when Jesus went to Calvary, he died, knowing that three days later, he would achieve victory and rise again.

EX: My grandfather loves to watch WWE. Every Monday night, he’s watching Monday Night Raw. Every Friday night, he’s watching Friday Night Smackdown. He likes to watch wrestlers like Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and a lot of others. And I’ve seen him watch it so much and sat down and watched some with him so much that I have my own understanding of wrestling. And it is considered that professional wrestling is staged. It is already predetermined who will win. The wrestlers go out and wrestle for entertainment purposes, but the point of the battle is not to decide who will win, but to give the crowd a very exciting show. The winner of the match does not battle for victory, but he/she battles from victory. They battle, knowing that they’ve already won.

Jesus went to Calvary, already knowing what was going to happen and he knew that in the end, he would conquer death and rise on Sunday morning with all power. This is a word of Conquer.

A word of COMFORT.

I couldn’t leave this place without letting you know that when Jesus says “It is finished”, it is a word of comfort. We have comfort at the cross, because Jesus did what he was supposed to do. And because of this, we can have comfort. We oughta thank God that Jesus dealt with discomfort so that we would be comfortable. He got rejected so that we would be accepted. There is comfort at the cross, but the thing is we have to turn to the cross.

If we can be honest, when we need comfort or hope, we have a tendency of turning to the wrong things. We will turn to people, we will turn to social media, we will turn to bad things and influences, but see the answer is not to turn to those things, the answer is to turn to cross. The cross gives us grace and hope. The cross has comfort. The comfort comes from the fact that Jesus paid it all. That’s really the sermon in one sentence. The main message here is that Jesus paid it all. Jesus took all of the sins of the world and he died so that we would live eternally.

EX: There was this show that my mom used to watch called “Home Town”. It was a show that featured a couple from Laurel, Mississippi, and they went all throughout the South fixing people’s homes. I came in on her sometimes in her office and I saw her watching it, and the show was interesting to me. I liked to see the before-and-after pictures of the homes. It was very cool. They remodeled the whole home from the outside to the inside. They took what was bad, messed up, and dirty, and turned it into something good and beautiful. Makeover shows are compelling for one reason: we love to see the bad turn good. To watch something that was falling apart be restored and renewed is encouraging and hopeful.

It’s the same way with Jesus. We were all once sinking deep in sin, we were all once living in sin, but on one Friday, Jesus took something that was living in sin, and made it brand new, and because of that, we can have eternal life.

Jesus took something that was falling apart and made it brand new. Jesus took something that was covered in sin and made it clean. Brothers and sisters we oughta thank God for the cross and for the comfort that it gives. We oughta thank God that he made the decision to send his son down to earth to save humanity, and because of this,w e have comfort. We don’t have to live in sin anymore, but we are made brand new.

EX: When I was a freshman in high school, I took a class called Civics. And when I was in Civics, we learned about a landmark Supreme Court case that happened in 1954. It was called the Brown v. Board of Education case, and what it did was end segregation in public education. We learned about The Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery in 1865. The Fifteenth Amendment that gave the right to vote in 1870. We even learned about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which gave equal opportunity to all. Now these did not stop all of the bad that was happening, but to this day, people can still refer to all of these landmark decisions to help validate the rights of people.

Over some thousand years ago, there was another landmark decision. Jesus Christ hung on a cross between heaven and earth, and he paid the price for your sins and my sins. That was a landmark decision. So when the enemy tries to convince you that your needs will not be met, you can refer to a landmark decision—“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” That’s a landmark decision. When Satan shows up and tries to mess with God’s plans for your life, you can appeal to a landmark decision. Over some thousand years ago, there was a landmark decision that says that the mission is accomplished. There was a landmark decision that says that you are more than a conqueror through him who loves you and died for you. And we oughta Thank God that that landmark decision can be used today to validate our rights as believers.

Conclusion

Good Friday is a day of reflection. It is a day that we look back on that one Friday, when the mission was accomplished. When Jesus said “It is finished”, it is a word of Completion. That means that Jesus did what he was supposed to do. He completed the task that he was given. It is a word of Conquer. That means that this was not a cry of defeat, this was not a cry of pity, but this was a cry of victory. Jesus conquered death and he died knowing he would get victory. It is a word of Comfort. That means that we have hope and comfort at the comfort, and the comfort comes from the fact that Jesus took us when we were sinking deep in sin and made us brand new. The mission has been accomplished.