Agony

We are here to remember Jesus, our Savior, to remember how He endured so much for us on the Cross. We are here to remember Good Friday. But to do that we are not going to look at what Jesus was doing on that Friday but rather what He was doing on the evening before. We’re going to look at Jesus at prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. And we’re doing that because a careful look at what happened in the Garden will help us all to understand a little better what happened at the Cross.

Listen to how Luke describes Jesus at prayer.

And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Luke 22.39-44

Agony. It’s a word that carries quite a picture with it. This is a kind of pain, but a pain that has been ratcheted up. Jesus is in agony. Why? That is what we are going to consider this evening.

Good Friday

We've gotten together this evening to remember Jesus and what He did on that first Good Friday. We've gotten together to meditate on the Cross.

What do you think about when I say that? What comes to mind when you are reminded of the Cross?

One thing that will come to mind is the love of God. And here's a familiar verse that fits with that.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son… John 3.16

The Cross is about the love of God.

Out of His deep love for a very lost world, the Father fulfilled what Abraham only foreshadowed many years ago when he put his only son, Isaac, on that altar and raised the knife to kill him. The difference, of course, is that, unlike what happened with Abraham, there was no angel to stop the Father from plunging the knife into His Son. There was no substitute caught in some thicket. Jesus was the substitute. The Father willed the death of His Son, Jesus, an expression of His love for the world.

That's one thought that comes to mind when we are reminded of the Cross.

Here is another.   

A Good Friday Sermon

​And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ Mark 9:47-48

I don’t know what Jesus was feeling when He said those words. But I do know that He was describing something that He would experience. He was describing the hell He would suffer. And He endured that hell while He was on the Cross.

What I’m going to do tonight is remind you of some of what the Scriptures have to say about hell. And I do this not to make sure that you have orthodox views of the afterlife. I’m going to do this to help you to understand better what Jesus did for you.

The first thing to consider is simply this: hell is painful. That seems pretty clear when Jesus refers to the fire of hell. Whether this fire is literal or simply imagery doesn’t really matter. The point is clear. Hell is painful.

And why is it painful? It’s painful because hell is about the anger of God. However unpopular it might be, these days, to speak about an angry God, it’s just a fact: God gets angry. He gets angry because of sin. And as angry as He might have gotten at Israel in the wilderness or when they went after false gods or some other time, He has not yet gotten as angry as He will be when, to use Jesus’ language, He throws people into hell.

God will have good reason for His anger. He has created us. And He has done that with a particular purpose in mind. He has created us so that we would live in loving relationship with Him. He is to be the center of every person’s life. That is what makes life worth living, a loving relationship with Him. But, we have refused to live His way. And such refusal is not just wrong. It’s not even just rebellious. It is insulting. It’s telling God to get lost so that we can live our lives the way that we want, with our desires and dreams at the center. Whether we have clearly stated that intention or not, we have lived this way. And we all know it.

Along with creating us, God has created hell. He has created it as a place of justice for our insulting sin. That means that He has created it as a place of anger. Hell is where He will vent the full force of His anger against those who have sinned. And that alone will make hell painful.

What I have described is not just the hell that awaits. It’s also what Jesus experienced while He was hanging on that Cross: the anger of God. And He experienced that anger because of the sins that had been laid on Him. The pain of the Cross was so much more than what those nails did. Jesus suffered the pain of hell because of insulting sin, the insulting sin of so many, because of our insulting sin.

But all of that may not have been the worst part of the hellish pain that Jesus experienced. Has there ever been a relationship that was closer, more affectionate, more loving than the relationship that Jesus had with His Father? The Father called Jesus His beloved Son, and Jesus confessed His own love of the Father. At one point, Jesus said, ‘The Father and I are one.’ Whatever else that may mean, those words include Jesus’ experience of a deeply emotional bond with His Father. But all of that was wiped out on the Cross. ‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken me!’ Jesus quotes the Psalm as an expression of His own sense of desertion. A relationship that had been so beautiful - and that to such a degree that we may never understand - was shredded into ugly little pieces on that Cross. Jesus was disowned and repudiated by the Father. I don’t think that we will ever adequately understand what that felt like.

We have come together to be reminded of what Jesus has endured for us. And now that I have reminded you, what should you do? What does Jesus expect of us now? What should we do with this? There have been those who have thought that it makes sense to feel guilty. After all, it was their sin that placed Jesus on that Cross. But can that be what Jesus calls for? Did He ever say anything like that? No. What has He said? ‘Follow Me.’ Being reminded of what Jesus has done for us on the Cross gives us good reason to follow Him. Here is someone worthy of our obedience and our affection. What He has endured for us is proof enough that He is worthy. A greater appreciation of what Jesus has done for us should lead to a greater desire to give ourselves wholeheartedly to Him and to His service.

But remember what else Jesus means when He says, ‘Follow Me.’ He also means, ‘Come with Me and watch how I live so that you can live that way, too.’ If you are moved by what Jesus has done for your sake and for the sake of others, then imitate Him. You will never be called to atone for the sins of other people. But you are called to endure suffering for their good. Follow Jesus. Imitate Him as your model. A nd He will tell you when and how to suffer so that good may come to those around you and that to His glory.

A Good Friday Sermon

During the past two Sundays I have explained to you what Jesus has saved you from. I've talked to you about sin and about hell. What I'd like to do tonight is to remind you of how He saved you from sin and hell.

Paul wrote,

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus 'knew no sin'. He never sinned. He had no experience of it. But on the Cross that changed. He became a sinner. He took our sin and made it His. So, He became guilty. We are used to the feeling of guilt. But before that Friday Jesus never experienced that feeling. It must have felt very alien. It must have made Him feel dirty. Remember that He was the Holy One of God. Except that, on that Cross, He wasn't. He became the Sinful One. And so as a sinner, as a guilty sinner, He was condemned by the Father. The Father, who had been so pleased with Him and had said so at His baptism and again at His transfiguration - the Father became disgusted with Him. The Father became His enemy and turned against Him. How could He not? How else could the holy God respond to Jesus, the sinner?

Along with the guilt of sin, there was its corruption. Beauty suddenly became ugliness. The absolute contrast between the beauty in Himself that Jesus was used to and the ugliness that He became is beyond our ability to understand. We understand neither that beauty nor that ugliness. But imagine what it would feel like to wake up one morning to find that you are leprous. Your skin is horrible. It's peeling off revealing the raw flesh under it. And it's not just on your arms or legs. It's all over you. And it's on your face. It's everywhere. Ugliness. What Jesus felt was worse than what that would be for you. The corruption of sin.

Then, there is hell. One of the images of hell that stood out to me last week was the darkness, especially as you see it in contrast with God who is light. Remember, where there is no God there is no love, no peace, no kindness. So, along with everything else, being in hell is lonely. But it is not the loneliness that comes when your spouse dies. It is the loneliness that comes when your spouse rejects you and leaves you. It's a loneliness with a special hurt. The weeping and gnashing of teeth make more sense to me now. And isn't that what Jesus felt when He cried out to the Father, the Father with whom He had such a deep and close relationship, only to find the Father rejecting Him? A loneliness with a special hurt.

Jesus has saved you. He has saved you from sin and from hell. And He has done that by taking on Himself your sin and its consequences; consequences for this life and the next. That's what was going on as He was hanging on that Cross.

So, in light of all of this, how should you respond? Jesus has suffered for you. Should you feel bad or guilty because He suffered in your place? I really don't think so. The Scriptures never call for that. Understand what has happened. You have been given a gift, a very costly gift. And it is a gift specially made to be given to you. What do you do when someone does that for you? Do you feel guilty that he or she has gone to the trouble of giving you such a gift? No. You say, 'Thank you'. That works here also. A simple 'Thank you' goes a long way. A simple 'Thank you' is fine. As time goes on what you will find is that your sense of gratitude grows as you understand better the costliness of Jesus' gift. And even as that sense of gratitude grows, a simple 'Thank you' still works. Paul guides the way.

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.    

Here's another response that makes sense. Understanding something of the gift of Jesus will help you to see that you are loved. Isn't that what normally happens when someone gives you a special and costly gift? 'This is for you.' And as you open it, you see that it really is for you. The person thought long and hard about this gift before buying it. It shows his or her love for you. Is it any different when it comes to Jesus' gift for you. Again something from Paul. 

The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Those two responses, being grateful to God and being assured of His love, these are what God desires to see in you.