1.
On Good Friday, 2009, my Joy-Ride became
mine. In the five years that have since
passed, we have traveled many roads together…nearly 50,000 miles, 20 states, 1
province and 5 trips from the border state of Texas to another (Canadian)
border state (New Hampshire/Maine). Our
trips have been quite the Joy-ride, filled with bumps, hills, plains, valleys
and mountains but it’s been neat experiencing this adventure with my faithful
car. I’ve always said home is wherever
my car is parked and my pillow is laid.
2.
Now to switch gears to the Good Friday that took
place nearly 2,000 years ago. Christ’s
march to the cross at Calvary was one of the most decisive turning points in
human history. It changed the way we see
God, the way we relate to God, how we can know God and where God lives. Instead of being isolated in the holy of
holies where only the high priest could meet with God, Christ paved the way to
have an individual relationship with the one true God in which He makes our
bodies, His temple (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), and the priest no longer has to
mediate for us because Jesus Christ Himself is our Mediator. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 “For there is one
God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ
Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
3.
Though it is called Good Friday, it had nothing
to do with me. There is nothing good in
me. Romans 3:10 says “There is none
righteous, no not one..” Romans 3:23
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If I’m such a failure, what’s the Good News
about? Well, though Romans 6:23 starts
out with “the wages of sin is death” it finishes with “but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
And only He could pay that price because though I’m not perfect, He was,
so His payment was suffice. Hebrews 9:22
says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness and in Jesus
shed blood, He was finally able to say “It is finished.” (John 19:30)
4.
Because
of what Christ did on the cross, taking on my sin and shame, I can be forgiven
and restored in right relation with Him.
2 Corinthians 5: 17-19 says “Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold,
all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who
has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry
of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world
to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the
word of reconciliation.”
5.
So much good comes from utter brokenness. Through Christ’s broken body, I can break
free from my enslavement to sin and the flesh and be called His. It so often takes brokenness to be healed. Romans 6:6-7 says “knowing this, that our old
man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that
we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from
sin.” Galatians 2:20 says “I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Through brokenness there is a way to freedom.
What about you? Have
you been broken before? Broken over the
wretchedness of this world? Broken over
the weight of your own sin and guilt?
Well, may I invite you, this Good Friday, to hear of the Good News of
Jesus. That He came, He lived, He loved,
and then He died, not for any wrong He had done, but because of His great
mercy, He saved us sinners by paying the debt of our sin that we could not
bear, and replacing our shame with His coat of righteousness (Titus 3:5). Have you received this gift yet? When Jesus
died on that cross conquering death, He did not stay dead, but rather He rose
again conquering sin and death. And
someday He is coming again to redeem His children and bring them Home (John 14:
2-3). Will He call you His own?
Acts 16: 30-31
“What must I do to be saved?” So they said,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved”
Until next time,
In Christ,
Joy Lynn
