Starting a new 2-week series on FORGIVENESS this Sunday... looking forward to it! That's an issue that touches all of us... and, as Nelson Searcy says, it's the real F-word! Something we like to talk about, but not put into practice...
... but crosses and forgiveness go hand in hand - you can't have one without the other! ;-)
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32)
I have a meeting on Wednesday that I'm really looking forward to: it's with my good friend, Vic Simpson, and his friend, Pepe Roja. Vic is having us at his church on Sunday morning to do a round table discussion on multicultural ministry and the issue of racism. It's going to be awesome, my friends! For those of you who know me, you know this is something I'm extremely passionate about. It bothers me that there are not more pastors and church planters for whom this a passion... but I'm glad I'll be with two guys this weekend who are definitely passionate about it! (Also, see my friend Amy's blog on this).
"Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility" (Ephesians 2:16, The Message).
Also, I was just recently contacted about participating in a panel next month on basically the same issues! Wow... God is up to something, I'm tellin' ya! My prayer is that He uses Mosaic to start a revolution in College Park... one that is passionate about reaching all kinds of people, passionate about starting alot of churches, and passionate about this awesome King we have the privilege to serve!!!!!
"I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there - all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing: Salvation to our God on his Throne! Salvation to the Lamb!" (Revelation 7:9-10, The Message)
There was a time when, for several years, I would take off work on Good Friday and attend a "7 Last Words" service at noon. Seven preachers would preach from 5-10 minutes on these last sayings of Christ on the cross:
1. "Father, forgive them... for they do not know what they do."
2. "This day, you will be with me in paradise."
3. "Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother."
4. "My God, my God... why have You forsaken me?"
5. "I thirst."
6. "It is finished."
7. "Father, into Your hand I commit My Spirit."
Though I've preached my share of 7 Last Words messages... it's been a little while since my last one. And, in a sense, I miss it. It is a great tradition - when done well - in the Black church. Transitioning out of the "traditional church environment" over the last few years has limited some of those opportunities for me... but I look forward to Mosaic creating our own special worshipful and meaningful environments.
People often ask, "Why do we call this Friday 'good'? Jesus was brutalized!"
But that's exactly why it's GOOD Friday. The Bible says:
"He was pierced for our rebellion... crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed... The Lord laid on Him the sins of us all" (Isaiah 53:5-6).
"For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
We celebrate this day as Good Friday, because it was on the cross that Jesus paid for our sins... all of them... IN FULL! No longer do we have to sacrifice, and "hope" that God accepts, meager animals for our sins. No longer do we need a human priest to go to God on our behalf. No longer do we have to fear death, hell, or the grave. No longer do we have to fear the wrath of God! Jesus "was brutalized" for us, so that we could have peace with God... no longer having to fear His judgment.
On Friday, Jesus hung on the cross for us... paid for our sins, and settled God's wrath against us.
That's why Good Friday is good.
All that happened on Friday... but Sunday was a'comin!!!!! :-)
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
--THE BIBLE, Romans 5:6-8
