Today is Good Friday. It is the day we remember Jesus’ sacrifice upon the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.It is one of the most Holy Days of the year. In my estimation (its my personal opinion) Good Friday is the second most important day on the Christian calendar behind Easter and ahead of Christmas. Although, I need to say that ranking these days is somewhat silly. It is not really about the individual days, but about what happened on those days.   

We call it “Good” Friday. Why do we call it good? Our Lord died upon the cross. What is good about that? It is good because Jesus died for us. Jesus predicted his death and when the angels said, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” (Luke 24:7) It is good because it is good for us.

So we call it good, but is that an adequate description of this day? You come home after a long difficult day and your spouse asks you, “How your day was?”

Your response is “good.”

They reply, “just good?”

You say, “Yep.”

What you are implying here is that your day was not all that good. My point here is that good might just be too ordinary term to describe this day. Maybe we should call it Great Friday or Incredible Friday. It’s not just good, it is more than that.

When we think about it, it really was not the nails that held Jesus to the cross. Jesus could have come down off that cross at any moment. As powerful as the Roman army was, they were no match for the Son of God. Acts 2:23 says Jesus was handed over to death by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge. The only thing that held Jesus on the cross was his love for you and his obedience to the Father.

Crucifixion was an incredibly cruel and demeaning form of execution. It was typically done along a major road leading into the city. It was done publicly to serve as a deterrent against crime. Most importantly for the Romans it served as a deterrent against revolutionaries rising up to challenge their authority.

The cause of death in crucifixion was typically suffocation and cardiac failure. A more complete description can be found several different places online. Here is a link to one such article. All I can say is wow.

Tonight at Lord of Life, along with many churches in many different places, we will remember the 7 words (or statements) of Jesus on the cross. Each of these words hold special significance and meaning. They tell us something new about Jesus’ character and his sacrifice.

Please join us at 7pm at the corner of LaFox Rd and Rt. 38.

Today is April 1, 2010. Many recognize today as April Fool’s Day. Even more importantly, today is Maundy Thursday. And that is no joke!

We celebrate Maundy Thursday on the Thursday before Easter during Holy Week. It doesn’t necessarily fall on April 1 every year, but is dependent upon the date of Easter. Maundy Thursday is the day Jesus shared his last supper with his disciples. It was also on this day he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives.

There have been many artists who have depicted this meal in painting and sculpture. The most famous is Leonardo DaVinci. Most however, falsely depict this meal as it has Jesus and his disciples sitting around the table on chairs. The reality is they would not have sat at chairs but rather reclined around the table on the floor. But that is another matter.

The Gospel of John has the most detailed account of the events of this night. The events of Maundy Thursday take up more than five chapters, almost 1/4, of the Gospel of John. He begins the account in chapter 13 and continues into the beginning part of chapter 18. John has more to say about the events of Maundy Thursday than he has to say about Good Friday and Easter combined (less than four chapters). Yet, the Gospel of John is the only gospel that does not document Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper, the one thing we might most associate with Maundy Thursday.

You might ask why we call it Maundy Thursday. Maundy is not a word that we are accustomed to use. There is some debate, but the most widely accepted explanation is that it is derived from the Latin word mandatum from which we get our English word mandate. In John 13:34, Jesus says, “A new command (mandate) I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. “

Maundy Thursday represented an incredible turning point in the story of the Gospel. This would be the last time Jesus would interact with his disciples until after the resurrection. This is likely the reason John gives such a detailed account of these events. Jesus knew what he would share with his disciples on this night would stick with them for a long time, longer than they realized in the moment.

On this night Jesus shared the traditional Jewish Seder with his disciples. Last Sunday at Lord of Life, we re-enacted the Seder. To understand the Seder dinner helps us understand the so much better the events of this night. If you have never participated in a Seder I would highly recommend doing so. Lord of Life will likely host the Seder again next year. So make sure to keep an eye out for it.

Tonight, Lord of Life will observe Maundy Thursday as we will worship at 7pm and receive the Lord’s Supper. It lead us into the Easter Triduum, which are the 3 day of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday when we remember Jesus passion, death, and burial, but end with the celebration of his resurrection. Additional worship opportunities at Lord of Life will include Good Friday at 7pm and Easter Sunday at 8:30 or 10am.

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel. Deuteronomy 17:18-20

The book of Deuteronomy was written long before the nation of Israel would have a king. But God in his divine wisdom knew that the day would come. So he offers these words of instruction to Moses to be passed down from generation to generation for the time when the first king would be appointed.

The final word of instruction is for the the king to write on the scroll a copy of the law. He is then to read this copy on a daily basis to learn to “revere” the Lord and to obey everything that is said. At the end God holds out a promise that if the king does this, he will be successful and God will prosper him.

Here is what I noticed. First, the king is told not just to read the scroll, but to write down the scroll. For many years I was in the habit of reading the Bible. In the last year I have started journaling. This has made a big difference in the application of God’s Word in my life. I had never journaled before, because I didn’t really understand what journaling was. In my mind, journaling wasn’t much different than writing a personal diary. That did not seem very exciting for me. The turning point for me was reading The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordeiro. It helped me to understand for the first time what journaling was. Since then I have taken to the practice and it has been very beneficial for me. Not am I just reading the Word, but I am taking away more practical application.

Another thing the king is told is to keep a copy of the scroll with him. We live in a day an age where it is easy to have the Word of God with us all the time. I recently did a review of a number of iPhone Bible apps. My iPhone is with me all the time, so that means I always have the Bible with me. Many of us carry around similar electronic devices that we can literally take the Word wherever we go. However, we should not be content just to know that we can always look something up. Your iPhone battery might die. You might drop it and break it. There is not guarantee that the written Words on a page or computer screen will always be with us. So carrying the Bible with us is no substitute for placing the Word on our heart and committing it to memory.

The third thing is to read it. Its not just enough to possess the word, but we need to open it up or turn on the screen and read it. The king is instructed to read it every day. Did you catch that. He is instructed to read that everyday. Not just some days. Not just on the days that you are feeling down and need a word of encouragement. Not just when you are looking for answers. But everyday.

I am no king. But I am a leader at Lord of Life. I am the head of my family. I have tremendous influence over other people. I may not influence as many people as the king, but nevertheless I have a tremendous influence over many people. No doubt you have influence over others as well. It might be only one or two people, but we all have influence.

I remember in seminary a professor telling our class that as pastors we should know the Bible better than anyone in our congregation. I have taken that to heart. It is sort of what God is saying here to the king. The king should know the Word better than anyone else in the kingdom. He needs to live and breathe the Word that nothing he does is apart from the Word.

What separates those who are instructed in the Word and those who are not is not brainpower. The only difference is a matter of time. Those who are instructed have simply spent time at the feet of the Savior listening to him. There is nothing keeping you from being proficient and effective in the Word other than time spent.

So have you opened the word yet? If not why don’t you shut off the computer and open it up. Or if you don’t want to turn off the computer screen, then check out www.youversion.com or www.biblegateway.com.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

“Easter is a feast and is celebrated as the feast of freedom. For Easter is the beginning of the laughter of the redeemed and the dance of the liberated . . .

Since earliest times Easter hymns have celebrated the victory of life by laughing at death, by mocking at hell, and by making the lords of this world absurd. Easter is God’s protest against death. Easter is the feast of freedom from death.” -Jurgen Moltmann

This video has become a favorite Good Friday Tradition at Lord of Life. I could watch it over and over.

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Christ is risen!

Do you know the response?

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

I read an interesting story earlier this week about this common Easter Greeting:

Dr. George Sweeting tells of an incident in the early 1920s when Communist leader Nikolai Bukharin was sent from Moscow to Kiev to address an anti-God rally. For an hour he abused and ridiculed the Christian faith until it seemed as if the whole structure of belief was in ruins. Then questions were invited. An Orthodox church priest rose and asked to speak. He turned, faced the people, and gave the Easter greeting, “He is risen!” Instantly the assembly rose to its feet and the reply came back loud and clear, “He is risen indeed!”

This weekend is the highlight of the year for us as Christians. It is this week we celebrate the greatest victory ever. Christ is Risen! He is alive. It is a time of joy. It is a time of celebration. It is a time to smile.

We have great reason for joy. Because Jesus is alive, we know that no matter what we endure or experience, Jesus has overcome. There is no power, or force, or authority to be found anywhere in the universe that has power or mastery over us. Jesus defeated the one thing in this world that is most certain. And now because he lives, we who believe, will live new lives too.

Maybe you are feeling defeated today. You can relate to the disciples. No doubt those disciples felt defeated on Friday and Saturday. If only they had known what Sunday would bring.

That is what faith is about. It is about living on Saturday, knowing Sunday is coming.

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!