My name is James, I'm one of the pastors here, and it is good to be with you here today on Good Friday at St. Paul's.
Over the last few weeks of isolation, I've seen my kids miss out on spending time with their friends at school.
And it's made me think about the influence that their friends have on them.
So my oldest son, Isaac, he comes home saying different words that I've never heard before.
His most recent one is, us.
And I don't really understand it.
I think it means good or great, but I'm still trying to figure that one out.
It was a couple of months ago, he came home asking for a Rubik's Cube.
So we got him a Rubik's Cube, and now I'm still trying to figure it out so I can teach Isaac how to do the Rubik's Cube.
But the things that Isaac's friends love, Isaac begins to love.
The way that they behave and speak, he begins to behave and speak.
And this is the same for all of us.
The story of our lives is marked by people that have shaped us and had influence on us.
I remember asking a friend back in the early 2000s what music I should buy.
You know, Christmas was coming up.
What albums should I get?
And one of the bands, I still listen to them today.
They continue to influence the music that I listen to.
Who are the people that have influenced you most?
Who are the people that have shaped your life the most?
You might think of people that have had a negative impact upon you as well as positive.
Some people may have tried to influence you away from following God,
or some people might be influencing you to grow as a disciple following Jesus.
The people that we love and are loved by shape our lives,
and they mark the story of our lives.
Today is Good Friday.
It might not feel particularly good at the moment.
Usually it can feel a little more special in this country because we have public holidays.
And our country stops for this weekend.
But at the moment, with the whole nation on lockdown,
it doesn't feel particularly good at the moment.
But today, as we step into the story of Easter,
we see Jesus, even as he is heading to the cross,
shaping people's lives.
And we see the good that Jesus brings us because of his death and resurrection.
Today, as we step into this story of Easter,
it is a good time for us to consider how much of our lives has been influenced and shaped by Jesus.
How much have we allowed the story of Easter,
Jesus' death and resurrection, be our story?
Of death to ourself and life because of Jesus.
So as we look at God's word today, let me pray for us.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I thank you indeed for this time to stop and reflect and reconsider all that you did for us
in Jesus' death on the cross all those years ago.
Heavenly Father,
it has shaped human history and it continues to shape our lives today.
Be with us as we look at your word,
that we would allow your story of Jesus' death and resurrection to be our story and to be shaped by it, Lord.
Amen.
We are in the book of Luke.
And as was read for us,
Jesus has been found guilty by Pilate.
And he is on his way to be crucified.
And as he is on his way,
he is confronted by a group of women wailing for him.
Have a look at verse 27 of chapter 23 with me.
A large number of people followed him,
including women who mourned and wailed for him.
Jesus turned and said to them,
daughters of Jerusalem,
do not weep for me,
weep for yourselves and for your children.
For the time will come when you will say,
blessed are the childless women,
the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.
Even as Jesus is being led to his death,
he is trying to warn people of the coming judgment.
Things will be so bad,
it would be better if you didn't have children.
But for Jesus to say this,
something drastic must be about to happen.
Because it was considered a curse to not have children.
So it is like Jesus saying that it would better be to be cursed
than blessed because of the coming judgment upon Israel.
Jesus had been warning people all throughout his ministry.
If you don't turn and follow God,
he won't allow you to continue forever.
Judgment is coming.
It's a sobering warning.
Jesus is saying,
I will die soon,
but your pain will extend for a long time.
Wail for yourselves.
Because if God allows his righteous son to suffer crucifixion,
what terrible fate must await the unrighteous Jerusalem
and those who cry out but crucify Jesus.
Even as Jesus is being led away,
his concern is not for himself,
but he is trying to influence and to shape people with his last words
to heed the coming danger.
Jesus doesn't get anything out of this.
He doesn't benefit from this.
He is still about to die.
His concern has been for the people.
I think many people have underestimated the impact of the coronavirus.
I think we all have done this initially,
but people continue to not heed the warnings.
I read about a pastor of a church in Florida in the United States over the last week
who continued to encourage his church to meet,
to pack people together,
to continue to shake hands and continue to hug
because, as he said,
they were not pansies.
He didn't heed the warnings.
And he was arrested because he was breaking social distancing laws.
How much worse could it have been if someone had been sick
and they didn't heed the warnings because of the virus?
Jesus calls on people to heed his warnings,
but many people didn't.
Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.
It was God's judgment on a rebellious nation and this city.
Now, we don't know if these women heeded Jesus' warnings,
but the warning still stands for us today.
Will we heed Jesus' warning of coming destruction and judgment?
And will we follow the Lord?
Jesus continues to seek to shape people's lives,
even as he is crucified.
Have a look at chapter 23, verse 33.
When they came to the place called the skull,
they crucified him there,
along with the criminals,
one on his right, the other on his left.
Jesus said,
Father, forgive them,
for they do not know what they are doing.
It's not exactly clear who Jesus is praying for,
but it's most appropriately understood
that Jesus is praying for all of those
who are responsible for his death.
The Jewish court,
the Jewish leaders,
for Pilate,
for the crowd,
but also for all sinners
who are responsible for the need for a savior to come.
That includes us.
Jesus and his self-giving love and forgiveness,
his cry of forgiveness,
is contrasted by the mocking cries of those around him.
Have a look at verse 35.
The rulers even sneered at him.
They said,
he saved others.
Let him save himself if he is the Messiah,
the chosen one.
The soldiers also came up and mocked him.
They offered him wine, vinegar,
and said,
if you are the king of the Jews,
save yourself.
In verse 39,
one of the criminals who hung there
hurled insults at him.
Aren't you the Messiah?
Save yourself and us.
Even when Jesus is mocked
and beaten
and hung on a cross to die,
he still has concern
for those who are killing him.
He says that they do not know
what they are doing.
They knew that they were killing someone.
They knew that they were doing that.
But they don't know what God is doing.
They don't know that God is working
at the death of his son
to see their forgiveness.
Because forgiveness comes to those
who don't deserve it.
Luke's use of the verbs here
paints a picture of people
who do not deserve forgiveness.
The rulers sneered.
The soldiers mocked.
The criminal hurled insults.
These are descriptions of horrible people
acting in disgusting ways.
And yet Jesus' prayer
is also for us.
Father,
forgive them for they don't know
what they have done.
They didn't know that they were killing
the son of God.
And yet here and now,
we know the cost of our sin.
It meant that Jesus had to die.
And yet Jesus still prays for us
who know the cost of our sin.
But when we are shaped
by the generous and selfless forgiveness of Jesus,
our story changes too.
Over the last week,
I read a story about a mother from the US.
Her name is Mary Johnson.
And her son, Loramium,
was killed in a gang-related incident.
He was only a young man
and he was killed.
A 16-year-old confessed to the crime
and he was sentenced to jail.
Mary Johnson, at the time,
said that she forgave him.
She said,
the word says,
the word the Bible says,
in order to be forgiven,
you must forgive.
So I said,
okay,
I have to tell him.
But I wanted him locked up and caged.
So I said,
and so she stayed in emotional turmoil,
wrestling with this desire to forgive,
but this desire for her son's murderer
to be caged.
But God worked on her heart
over those 10 years.
He slowly shaped Mary
throughout this time
to forgive completely.
She eventually met
with her son's killer again
and said to him,
look,
I told you in court
that I forgave you.
But today,
from the bottom of my heart,
I want you to know
that I forgive you.
Mary said,
he was like,
ma'am,
how can you do that?
She said,
because of who is in me.
Mary knew God's love
and forgiveness
and it shaped her story.
It took 10 years.
It took a lot of pain
and wrestling with God's forgiveness of her
so she could forgive,
but she was able to hold out
that same love and forgiveness
even to her own son's murderer.
Jesus is still seeking
to shape our lives,
to shape our tomorrow
to know his forgiveness.
Are we people
who are quick to forgive?
Are we people wrestling
with what it means
to forgive others
because we have been forgiven
so much ourselves?
Holding grudges
is not how God
is shaping us to be.
He is shaping us
to be people
to know his forgiveness
and to hold it out to others
so when they say,
how can you forgive me?
We can say,
because of who is in me,
because of who has forgiven me.
Jesus has been
seeking to shape people's lives
even as he's headed to the cross,
even as he's hanging on the cross
and we see him
continue to do that
with the criminal
on the other side
and the centurion
even without speaking to them.
After one of the criminals
mocked him,
the criminal on the other side
spoke to him
in verse 40
and said,
don't you fear God
since you are
under the same sentence.
We are punished justly
for we are getting
what our deeds deserve,
but this man
has done nothing wrong.
The other criminal
has been shaped
by seeing Jesus' character.
He has seen him,
he's likely heard his trial
or heard of his trial,
likely seen Pilate's declaration
of Jesus' innocence
and he understands
who he is
and who Jesus is.
Jesus is innocent,
but this criminal knows
how sinful he is
and what he deserves.
Jesus' reputation
and character
influences this criminal
to come humbly to Jesus.
Verse 42,
he said,
Jesus,
remember me
when you come
into your kingdom.
Remember me.
That's all he asks.
He doesn't shout
like the other criminal,
save yourself and us.
He says,
remember me.
And Jesus says,
verse 43,
truly I tell you,
today you will be with me
in paradise.
What a wonderful promise
for Jesus to give
to this criminal.
He will have all his sin,
his terrible decisions
that led to him
being crucified,
which only he knows
too well.
He will have all of that
forgiven
and he will be
in paradise.
Can you imagine
this man's joy
and elation,
even though dying,
to hear these words
from Jesus' lips?
This is who we want
to be as a church.
We want to be authentic
like this criminal.
We want to be a church
who is cultivating
a heart of humility,
seeing our pride
weakened
through the journey
of our life,
knowing who we are
just like the criminal
knew who he was
and knowing
who Jesus is
and how dependent
we are on him.
How much better
is it to know
how bad
our situation is
than to pretend
that everything
is fine?
The story of Easter
is that it shapes
how we view ourselves.
Jesus' death
on the cross
allows us
to all be that criminal,
to both know
our low position
before Jesus,
but also to cry out,
remember me,
to know me.
And Jesus' promise
for us all
is that we can be
with him
in paradise.
As Jesus was
about to die,
he called out
with a loud voice,
Father,
into your hands
I commit my spirit.
When he had said this,
he breathed his last.
Even as Jesus
is dying,
he is shaping
the lives
of people around him.
Verse 47,
the centurion,
seeing what had happened,
praised God
and said,
surely
this was
a righteous man.
The centurion,
the soldier
responsible for
ensuring that
all of these criminals
died,
who had likely
seen many,
many deaths,
he sees
what happens
to Jesus
and it causes him
to praise God.
His death
influences the centurion
to see that Jesus
was innocent,
to declare
that he was righteous
and to praise God.
This is a Roman
who is not just
praising a God,
he is not praising
a God of the pantheon
or all of the gods,
he is praising
the Jewish God,
the Christian God
that Jesus
came to reveal.
What a stunning moment
that even when
Jesus breathes
his last,
he is shaping
an enemy
to bring
praise to God.
When we see
Jesus,
the Son of God,
dying
on the cross
for us,
it leads us
to praise God.
Oh God,
how marvelous
it is
that you
have saved me.
How good
and lovely
and kind
are you
that your Son
would die
for me.
Jesus
sought to shape
and influence
all the people
that he came
into contact with
to see that
he was from
the Father
to follow him
with all of their heart.
And here,
in the lead up
to his death,
Jesus has been
calling people
to heed
his warning
of judgment,
to be forgiven
even though
we don't deserve it.
He causes people
to understand
their sin
and see that
Jesus is the only
one who can save.
And he leads
people to praise God.
Jesus,
in his death
and resurrection
from the cross,
it shapes
our lives,
it shapes
our yesterday
and it shapes
our tomorrow.
the story
of Easter,
the story
of Jesus,
as it continues
to be read
and told,
it shapes
our lives
and this is why
we continue
to come back
to it
every year.
It is why
we continue
to celebrate it
in a season
of crisis
or when
everything around
us seems normal.
I am
a product
of those
who I have
allowed to
influence me,
those who I have
allowed to speak
into my life
to change
my story
and my direction.
Who are you
putting into
your life
to influence
you,
to shape
you?
Here at St. Paul's
we take our
youth away
for a camp
every year
at the start
of the year.
One of my
favorite parts
of that camp
is seeing
the relationship
that builds
between older
brothers and younger
brothers and older
sisters and younger
sisters.
I remember
Ko, one
of our young
adults, he
loves reading
the Bible
and he loves
memorizing it.
And I remember
seeing him
sit with one
of our younger
brothers, our
younger guys,
reading the Bible
early in the
morning.
Not only are
they being shaped
by God's word,
but there is an
older brother
shaping a younger
brother, teaching
him to love
godly disciplines.
You might be
finding that you're
not spending time
with any people
because of social
distancing and
isolation, but that
doesn't mean we're
not being influenced
and shaped.
In this time, we
can be shaped by
what we watch on
TV, those people
in our house, but
we also have an
opportunity to build
new disciplines, to
be saturated with
God's word in the
Bible, so that it
can not just shape
what we read, but
our whole lives.
Jesus enters into
the story of our
lives and he
shapes us.
There is a coming
judgment, but his
death brings
forgiveness, and
it shapes our lives
to forgive others.
His righteousness
reveals our
dependence, and
his death brings
us to praise God
for all he has
done.
God's
to forgive us.
And we
want to
enter the story of
my life and
change it and to
shape it.
As Mary Johnson,
the mother of the
son who was killed,
shows, this is the
journey of our
lives.
That Jesus and his
death and resurrection
from the cross
continues to shape
our lives.
God's
maybe you are at
the start of this
journey.
Maybe today, just
for the first time,
you are realizing
that you need
Jesus' help.
If that is you, let
me encourage you to
do what the
criminal on the
cross does, to
cry out to
Jesus for help.
Because he
promises that he
will come to
him in paradise,
and he promises
that for all who
believe in him, we
will be with him
for eternity.
If this is you at
the start of your
journey, Debbie is
going to share some
details in a minute
in how you can
contact us.
We would love to be
in contact with you,
even if it is only
over the phone.
We would love to be
praying for you to
see you continually
shaped on this
journey of following
Jesus.
Or maybe you have
been on this
journey for many
years.
Maybe you have
been following Jesus
for many years.
Let me encourage
you this Easter
weekend, as we
stay inside, to
find some time to
spend with Jesus.
To read over the
Easter account in
Luke 23 and 24,
and ask Jesus,
what part of my
life am I not
letting you into?
Jesus, what parts
of my life am I
tightly holding on to
you?
Jesus, how do you
need to be shaping
my life so that I
can forgive people,
so that I can know
fully who I am, so I
can understand who I
am and how dependent
upon you I am, so
that I can praise God
for all that he is
doing in my life and
in the world today.
Please pray with me.
Dear Heavenly Father, we
thank you for your
goodness to us.
In that first
Easter, where your
son died on the
cross, an innocent
man, God and man
dying on the cross in
our place.
Heavenly Father, as we
have seen, this shapes
our lives.
Lord, thank you.
Thank you so much
that you do not leave
us to our own
devices, but that you
sent Jesus to shape
us so that we could
have forgiveness.
Not only that, that we
would be people like
Jesus, who love you,
who seek to forgive
others.
Lord, we ask that as
the world and life seems
to be on hold, our
trust and our love,
for you would not be
on hold.
Father, please continue
to grow us and shape
us, to know you and
to love you and to be
praising you more and
more each day.
This we ask in your
son's name.
Amen.