Hebrews 4, 5
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need….
7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Tonight we are celebrating Good Friday. We've just read through the stories of Jesus's passion, all the way up from his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, through his many trials, to his crucifixion and execution, and then finally, his burial in a borough tomb near where they crucified Him. As we read through a story like this, and we see all the grisly details, you have to wonder what in the world is good? About Good Friday? Right? That seems like a weird name. This is this was really bad. It was insults. They slapped him up for no reason. Whipping. I mean, Pilate was just trying to make the man look miserable. So when the Jews saw him, they would go oh, that's fine. You punished him enough.
That wasn't enough. nailed Him to a cross. And He was already so tired and exhausted. He didn't take the normal amount of time to die. He actually did it pretty fast. So beaten and broken, was he? What is good about Good Friday. Here tonight, we've gathered with a very somber service. They call it the chief service, you had to enter quietly.
No announcements or greeting, shaking hands or smiling. We saying Oh, Sacred Head now wounded, over and over, over again. Kind of got a mournful to write more than full service. You could almost say that a time like this is a little bit like a funeral for Jesus, right? Sort of like Look what they did to the Savior. It was terrible beating and breaking and dying. That is the price of your sin. We should mourn and weep and cry. But that's not what Good Friday is for. That's misunderstanding what we're doing tonight. There's another way of telling the story of the crucifixion. This one is a little more of looking at from the father's perspective. I imagine God up in his office in heaven. He's sitting there reading the newspaper because he's old school like that. And an angel walks into the office and says, Did you hear the news? And he does one of those dad things like the news. What news? The news about your son? Oh about Jesus. He's been down there for like 33 years. They must love him by now. They're killing him God. Watch. And he runs out to the window and he looks down and he sees the cross. You know those videos on TV on the internet of like mom's like the most mild mannered mom turns into mama bear when her kids in danger, right? You know how that works. The nicest, kindest person is suddenly raging. Though I think I like the ones where the most unathletic dad today suddenly turns into a ninja to grab the kid out of danger.
This telling of the story, God is looking down and says, I sent you my son What have you done to him?
That's not what Good Friday is about. It's not about looking at the cross and crying. It's not about mourning, or grieving. Because the cross is the remarkable moment. When Jesus the Son of God in human flesh, tricks death into swallowing life. The cross, the amazing moment when darkness tries to engulf light. And the grave tries to grab hold of the Creator. The cross is not a time for mourning. It is the glory and triumph of Jesus. I want you to think back. There's a story in the Gospel of Matthew, and the Gospel of Mark, James and John, send their mom to Jesus and say, Jesus, we want you to do whatever we say. He goes, What do you want? Let my son's sit at your right and your left hand when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus goes, you don't know what you're asking? What is the people who will be at my right hand and my left is a position prepared for them. And then in both gospels, you get to the scene. They have Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head. And that says, And they crucified him, with two robbers, one on his right, and one on his left.
Because the cross is not a defeat, it is a victory. It is not shame. It is glory. It is the part of the work that Christ came to do. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross transforms that piece of wood that misshapen, rough cut splintery thing into the tree of life. It has no leaves, bears no fruit. You don't have to water it or figure out its root system.
But it still offers the fruit of salvation, through the water and blood that poured out of Jesus's side. It is still Jesus being lifted up and drawing all of humanity to him, to offer them a life that lasts forever. The death of Jesus Christ turns this instrument of torture into the most glorious throne. Better than gold, silver, jewels, better than anything we could look at the cross of Jesus Christ becomes the throne and power of God. It is no longer judgment. It is the grace and gift of God sent out into the whole world offered for me and for you. What is good about Good Friday. I'd say that sounds pretty good, doesn't it? And what Jesus does when he comes as our high priest who came in human flesh, who lived among us and was just like us, he comes to take our place in death, and guide us through to life that lasts forever. And that is what Hebrews tells us. And it says to us when we need it. Let us then with confidence, draw nearer to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That is why the cross that is why God came as a human. To live with us. To suffer with us to feel our weakness and pain and know what it means to be human. And then to go to the cross and turn it into the throne of grace, the source of help that we need whenever we don't measure up whenever we needed from him. The throne of grace is a place that we can go with confidence knowing our Savior will give us love no matter what.
And don't we need it? Because God's word will call us sinners. We place ourselves up against the standard of what God demands. And we know we fall short. And when we hear those words, we can only do one thing. Go to the throne of grace confidently knowing our Savior will forgive us when our hearts convict us When we look at our actions, and our consciences cry out against us, when our memory brings up that same sin over and over every day, you know exactly what I mean. We place ourselves before the throne of grace, we ask for forgiveness. When your basket isn't good enough, when you've tried everything you could, when you pulled every trick, tried every pulled out every stop, looked up every top 10 suggestion list to get it done, and you still fall short, and you just can't do it. We can come to the throne of grace, and ask for forgiveness, with the promise that Jesus Christ always gives it because you went to the cross, to win it for you, to die for you. The cross is the throne of grace, the tree of life for the broken the sinner, the needy, for the terrible for you, and for me. And we have to be careful to make sure we remember it.
One of the challenges we Christians face is not seeing God as a place for the broken and the weak. But as someone for the strong, and it's everywhere. I remember listening to a psychologist and expert in addiction. If sin isn't an addiction, I don't know what is an expert in addiction, who was talking about people who are struggling with these things. And talking about how wonderful AAA treats people who fall off the wagon. You know what they do, they fall off the wagon, and they encourage you to come back. And it's like a big moment. It's a pro social time when they say Welcome back. You're here, we love you. And then the psychologist said, it's kind of the opposite of Christianity, where God is supposed to solve all your problems. You look a little surprised by that, right? That's what the world thinks of Christianity these days. That's why we see the cross. So many, not as the throne of grace, but a terror. Why the people who are broken leave the church instead of coming to for the grace of our Savior. Why when problems crop up, they don't cry out helped me they think God rejects me. Isn't that a good thing that that's not how the cross works. That the grace of God is there. No matter how many times you fall off the wagon, to try to get rid of your sin, then you can come confidently before the throne of grace to Jesus Christ, who forgives you, who loves you, who died for you and always welcomes sinners. Our service tonight actually gives us a little practice of that. If you don't know. If you look ahead to what we're doing. There's some kind of weird stuff going on. And I want to explain it. There is the after our prayer section, we're going to do as part where we adore the cross as it enters into our sanctuary. And then there's the reproaches. This is an ancient part of what the church has done. The first recording of it is in the eight hundreds ad. But many people think it goes earlier than that. And Martin Luther put together this version for Lutherans when he published his first Good Friday service. And what it does is it actually gives us practice, hearing God call you a sinner.
And then turning to God and saying, grant me grace. Three times it takes the words of scripture that God spoke to Israel and then asks us to turn to the cross and say, give me grace. We have the chance to boldly and confidently approach the throne of grace knowing that Jesus who died there is not a threat. Not someone who demands but a king who always gives us grace when we sin In his name amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai