For the Joy

Good evening, my name is Mark, one of the Twin Lakes pastors, and thank you for joining us on Good Friday. We're gonna be sharing in communion in just a moment, so make sure you're prepared for that. But for the past several weeks, we've been in a series called Like Jesus, following his footsteps through the Gospels. And tonight, we arrive at the cross.

Now, this may surprise you coming from a pastor, but I have honestly struggled to think about the crucifixion in the days leading up to this one. And don't misunderstand me, I'm beyond grateful for what Jesus did for us on the cross and dying for our sins, but this story comes with its own sadness and weight. After all of the sad events that our world has experienced in this past year, I think I may have what might be called sadness fatigue, if that makes any sense, and perhaps you do too.

Thinking back just a year ago for the same Good Friday service, we were just weeks into the first COVID lockdown. I remember arriving in this auditorium and I was greeted by hundreds of your pictures. It was such a striking scene to see them printed out and taped to the pews. I vividly remember walking these aisles and stopping and looking into your faces and thinking about how connected we are as a church family.

Little did we know what the next year would hold, and I certainly never imagined that a year later we would be streaming this Good Friday service too. The pandemic is one of a number of hard challenges that we've faced, and I certainly don't need to inventory all of them. But we all know far too well that this past trip around the sun has not been an easy one, and so we come to the cross tonight already sad, already weary because of this past year.

With each song and scripture that we've heard, we're called to enter in through our imagination to approach the moment on that day when it seemed like all hell had broken loose and all hope gone. Well, that's exactly why we need to be here tonight, because you feel like you've been living in some dark days. The cross is where darkness is overcome by light.

As John's gospel says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." That is just as true today, but maybe you feel you're not so troubled about the things going on around you. You're relatively well. What really bothers you is not what's going on out there, but what's going on in here. You're weighed down by sins.

Well, again, the cross is where sin was overcome by love, because this is where Jesus, according to Isaiah 53, took upon himself our pain and bore our sufferings. This is where he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. This is where, by his wounds, we are healed.

Now, let's just soak in this for a moment. This means that the worst moment in history was actually part of the best moment in history. I mean, it blows our minds, but remember, back in that day, by all appearances, it was over. Jesus was done. His followers scattered, his movement crushed. Even the sky went dark that day.

Creation plunged into literal darkness while the creator himself suffers and bleeds, while the crowd mocks him relentlessly, while jaded soldiers throw dice for his clothing, and all of them are completely blinded by their sin and by the darkness that enveloped them, just as we are, until the light of Christ opens our eyes. And what a moment!

I mean, when we can see the cross, not just for its blood, but for its beauty. As you probably know, the cross was a symbol of just complete terror and agony. I mean, human cruelty at its very worst, but through Christ, think about it. The cross becomes the ultimate symbol of hope.

So, let me ask you, do you need to experience hope tonight? Hope in something that is dark and difficult. Maybe it's the memory of an experience that haunts you to this day. Perhaps there's a regret or a series of regrets, and you simply cannot get over it. I want to invite you to remember that no matter how dark things may be, no matter how dark they might be in your life right now, the light of Jesus cannot be extinguished.

I mean, if God can turn the brutal death of his own son into the greatest news of all time, I'm confident that his grace can reach into even the dark places that are inside each of us. So, it really is good to linger here near the cross, because it's at the cross that the light of Jesus overcomes darkness and the love of God overcomes sin.

The New Testament book of Hebrews says, "For the joy set before him, he endured the cross." Did you catch that? For the joy, he endured the cross, the joy of redeeming us, the joy of reconciling us to the God who loves us beyond we can even imagine.

And I know there are people, maybe you're one of them, and you seriously question, how in the world could God ever love me? I mean, Mark, you have no idea the messes that I've made in my life. Well, you have no idea the messes I've made in my own.

Or maybe you think like this: maybe you go, well, okay, I suppose that God has to love me somehow because, well, he's God and he's obligated. So, it just comes with the job description. But he could never actually like me. It reminds me of when I was a kid and we would hold on to our coins or the spare change my father would give us, and then we would use it to buy baseball trading cards.

Each pack would come with a stick of gum and then there'd be five cards of major league baseball players. Almost every single time, you'd open up the package and with anticipation, you'd look and maybe there'd be like one player that you recognized or even better, you were excited about. But most of them, they were players you didn't even know of.

I mean, it's like Joe Schmo gets called up to the big leagues long enough to get his picture taken and that's about it. You're like, okay, I guess I gotta get some more baseball cards. And we did this over and over again, hoping that someday we would be lucky enough to discover a Willie Mays card or a Mickey Mantle.

As I think about it today, all this buying and hoping for hitting the jackpot, it's kind of like gambling for kids. But my point is this: too many of us, far too many Christians, we go through life feeling like those less desirable players. As if to really save the people that God really wanted, you know, he had to kind of include the rest of us in the package.

But you know, nothing could be further from the truth. You are his joy. You're the reason he endured the cross. You are the one he loves. And that is true always, no matter what our circumstances are, even if in this past year, you were let go by your company.

Or at some point in your marriage, you were let go by your spouse. Or growing up, you were let down by a family member or perhaps even recently, you were let down by a friend. Whatever the case, he loves you more than you can even imagine.

I remember one time I was speaking at a conference and I met a man in his mid-30s. He'd never met his father. He tells me that for his entire life, he wonders what his father is like and would his dad even like him? What would he think of him? Would his dad be willing to meet him if that were to be possible?

Sure enough, eventually that day arrives. He tracks down his dad. But sadly, he discovers that his dad had no interest in being found, not ever. How do you deal with that kind of rejection? Or however it is for you that you feel unloved?

Well, if you can relate to any of this, the cross is proof of how deep God loves you. It is his ultimate statement of love for you and for me, and nothing can ever change that. As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8, "For I'm convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus." Amen.

This is why he came. This is why he died. So will you join me tonight? Will you join me at the cross? And will you bring with you whatever burdens you? Maybe like I mentioned at the beginning, maybe you just feel this abiding sadness, like grief is just a part of every day.

Well, Jesus is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And so he's able to meet us in our sadness with compassion and mercy and tender care. Would you go to him tonight? And for all of us, there is the issue of our own sin. And maybe in particular, you feel just weighed down by a specific sin that just seems to have such a grip on you.

I want to remind you tonight that all of us have gone astray, every single one of us. But the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Thank you, Jesus. Our job is to simply trust that he is more than enough, that his grace is greater than all our sins.

In a moment, we're gonna remember this by celebrating communion together. René and Laurie are gonna lead us in partaking from their own home. But first of all, we're going to hear a beautiful instrumental piece called "Near the Cross." And I'm gonna ask the Lord right now through prayer to fill us with the light and the love of Christ as we gather together at the cross.

Let's pray. Gracious heavenly Father, we are humbled by your love for us. In fact, I pray, Lord, that you would overwhelm us with the lengths that your son would go so that we would never doubt, never need to doubt, Lord, the depths of your love, of your grace, of your forgiveness.

And so, Lord, would you just fill us in this moment with the awareness of that? May you carry us away. And Father, may we never, ever get tired of remembering what Jesus did for us. We thank you, we praise you, and we receive all that you have for us as we remember His sacrifice on the cross. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.