Good Friday 2021

<Restore My Soul – V1>

Do you ever have a sense that something isn’t right?

You look around, you see the way people treat each other, you hear the news and read the stories, and it just feels wrong.

I believe most, if not all, of us are longing to get back to “normal”—the way things were before lockdowns, masks, and social distancing.

If we are honest, though, the “normal” we long for was still broken. Even though we didn’t wear masks in the store, we still battled selfishness and materialism.

We may not have been asked to maintain physical distance from others, but you had days in your home where you felt like you and your spouse were miles apart, even when you were in the same room.

Even though we could gather more freely with family, those celebrations were often marred by conflict about life choices or political persuasions.

Tonight, as we come to this place, we find ourselves in the middle of a broken world.

We don’t need to get back to normal; we need a restoration that goes much deeper than that.

Maybe for you, it isn’t about this broken world around you…you simply feel broken.

When you are alone, in the quiet moments, you feel like there is something wrong with you that no one understands and that no one could ever overcome it.

Maybe it is something your parents told you growing up or the way your former spouse treated you.

Perhaps a teacher told you that you would never amount to anything or your classmates made fun.

Or, it may be something else that happened that no one knows about but you. A hidden sin; a secret thought that leaves you feeling broken. A habit that you can’t break that leaves you feeling like a failure and empty.

If any of that describes you, then tonight is for you.

You see, Good Friday is all about brokenness.

This is the day where Christians around the world stop to commemorate the time when God was broken for us to take away our brokenness.

Tonight, we look again at that story.

Perhaps you’re hearing it for the first time. Likely, though, you may have heard it over and over again. I challenge you tonight to hear it with fresh ears.

Scripture teaches us that the brokenness around us is originally our fault.

God created us for a unique relationship with Him. Genesis tells us that everything God made, He simply spoke into existence.

Yet, when it came time to make man, God showed great care:

Genesis 2:7 CSB

Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

Instead of speaking, God stooped low to shape us from the dust.

Even in the face of a God whose love was so great to make us in his own image, we decided to turn our own way.

We disobeyed his command; we turned each one to his own way.

Time and time again throughout history we tried to find our way back, and time and time again we failed.

All the while, God had been reminding us that we needed him to put us back on the right path.

Instead of listening, we kept turning away.

That’s why, when the time was right, God stepped in like never before in history.

He knew that there was no way that you and I could escape our brokenness on our own, so he sent Jesus to take that brokenness for us.

That is what makes this Friday so good; that Jesus, as God in the flesh, would come and take my brokenness upon Himself.

It wasn’t enough for Jesus to simply tell me the right way to go, because prophets had been telling God’s people for years who they should be.

It wasn’t even enough for him to show me what was right, because He lived over 30 years doing exactly what we should do, tempted and tried just like we are, and he never chose to go his own way.

Even those closest to Jesus still didn’t get it, though, and they could not follow the example he gave.

No, Jesus had to do more than just teach or show us.

You see, we are reminded tonight in the quiet, dark, sober moments that the Bible clearly teaches that “the wages of sin is death.”

For you and me to find healing from our brokenness, Jesus had to be broken and die.

The night before Jesus died, he shared one final meal with those who were closest to him.

We commemorate that meal with a ceremony we call “Communion” or “the Lord’s Supper”.

Tonight, as we reflect on Christ’s death, we invite all those who have been genuinely saved and who are walking closely with Christ and his church to take the elements of the Lord’s Supper with us.

There is nothing magical or mystical about this ceremony; these containers have little pieces of bread and little cups of juice.

However, for us they symbolize the very body and blood of Christ, broken and shed for us.

That’s why we ask that if you are not yet a Christian, or if you are living in unconfessed sin, that you refrain from taking the elements of the supper with us.

Instead, use the time to ask God to forgive you, to draw you into a right relationship with himself.

When Jesus had His final meal with His disciples, He said this:

Luke 22:19 CSB

And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Jesus knew what was about to take place.

The hours that followed would be the most unjust moments of history.

Luke continues to give us the account.

After dinner, Jesus took his disciples to a garden to pray.

While there, he was arrested and taken through a series of trials.

At the very first trial, we read…

Luke 22:63–65 CSB

The men who were holding Jesus started mocking and beating him. After blindfolding him, they kept asking, “Prophesy! Who was it that hit you?” And they were saying many other blasphemous things to him.

The breaking of Jesus’ body had begun.

After a series of back-and-forth examinations on trumped up charges, Jesus finally finds Himself back before the Roman governor Pilate, who can find absolutely nothing wrong with Jesus.

Yet the people demand Jesus be put to death by crucifixion.

Pilate conceded to the angry mob, and handed Jesus over to die.

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that Pilate first had Jesus scourged, a process that would have further broken the body of the one who had done nothing wrong.

He would have been repeatedly whipped with braided whips that had bone or metal shards woven into them.

This beating would have torn all the way through to the bone on Jesus’ back, exposing an already beaten and weary body to more than many could have handled.

As if the scourging wasn’t enough, Matthew says the soldiers continued to mock Jesus:

Matthew 27:27–31 CSB

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole company around him. They stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” Then they spat on him, took the staff, and kept hitting him on the head. After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.

As they led Jesus to the place of crucifixion, he staggered and fell under the weight of the cross.

His body had already been broken for us, but it wasn’t over.

Using the timeline we find in the Gospel of Mark, we find that Jesus hung nailed to a rough cross for six hours.

During this time, he would have to fight against the searing pain shooting through his wrists and feet so he could lift himself up to catch a breath.

As he would lift himself up, those open wounds would again rake across the rough wood of the cross.

Finally, Jesus’ body was broken to the point that it could no longer bear the strain.

It is hard to say for sure exactly what was the cause of death. He may have gone into shock, had a heart attack, or even suffocated to death because of his exhaustion.

Regardless of the physical cause of death, I can tell you today what was the ultimate cause for Jesus’ body to be broken:

Isaiah 53:5 CSB

But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.

It was our brokenness that caused Jesus’ death.

It was my sin that put him on the cross. It was my death he was dying. It was me.

He died to take my sin!

That’s why we are here tonight…that’s what makes Good Friday good! That God would love me enough to be broken because of my brokenness.

Have you caught a glimpse again of how his body was broken for you?

If so, sing this song as we prepare our hearts to take the Lord’s Supper.

<<Old Rugged Cross>>

I would encourage you to open the top layer of the communion set you have in your hands and remove the bread.

Remember Jesus’ words… (Luke 22:19)

It wasn’t just Jesus’ body that was broken. Throughout the story of His beatings, trials, and crucifixion, Jesus was bleeding.

As gory a picture as that paints, remember the words from the writer of Hebrews:

Hebrews 9:22 CSB

According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

You and I could not be forgiven had Jesus’ blood not been shed for us.

His blood was the fulfillment of all the pictures from the Old Testament of lambs and goats and bulls being slaughtered for sins.

His blood being shed was the fulfillment of the words that John the Baptist spoke of Jesus at His baptism when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

We read elsewhere in Scripture that Jesus bought us with his blood…

1 Peter 1:18–19 CSB

For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

Those drops of blood were paying the price for your sin and your failures and your brokenness.

That’s why, in just a minute, we are going to take a cup of juice as a part of the Lord’s Supper.

Again, there is nothing magical about this; it is just a cup of grape juice.

Yet, for us, it symbolizes the very blood that Jesus spilled for us.

It should have been us! It should have been our blood that was shed for our sins, but instead, our Savior was broken for us.

With that in mind, prepare your hearts as we sing together…

<<There Is A Fountain>>

Again, reflect quietly on what Christ has done as you take your cup. We will drink them together.

Remember Jesus’ words (Luke 22:20)

Tonight, we have come together to reflect on Christ’s death.

We have spent time talking and singing about how His body was broken and His blood was shed for us.

What difference does that make for you?

You have heard about how he took your sin upon himself.

He loved you enough to rescue and ransom you, even though it cost him his life.

Are you living like that, or do you still live defeated in your brokenness?

There’s a good kind of brokenness that keeps us humble, but there is a bad kind of brokenness that keeps us defeated.

Christ died so you could pursue the relationship with him that you were created to live.

He broke the power of sin and paid the price for it so that you wouldn’t have to.

He died to take the shame and guilt and pain away so that you would be free to live for him.

What is holding you back?

We began this time tonight with a simple verse from a song that is likely new to you.

We are going to sing that song again to allow you some time to process.

If you are new to Christianity, you may need to talk to God while we’re singing. Commit to turn from the life you have been living and turn to following him.

If you’re here tonight, though, and you know Jesus as Savior and Lord, make the words of this song a prayer as you sing them.

Commit to take what he has reminded you of today and live a life worthy of the price that was paid for you.

Commit to be grateful for what Christ has done and focus on death for your sin in every moment.

Remember as well that this is not the end of the story. Tonight, we have commemorated the death of Christ, but this is not the final part of our celebration.

It is critical for us to reflect on the cross of Christ, but we don’t want to leave out the rest.

We will be back Sunday to celebrate the fact that Jesus who died on the cross raised from the dead to show that the penalty had been paid and to give us new life in Him.

We want Sunday morning’s service to be a great time of celebration and encourage you to come back with us.

With that said, let’s sing…

<<Restore My Soul>>

Pray and dismiss.