2011

Pastor Art Barrett
New Life Christian Church

John 19:34-35 One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out. 35 This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account; it is presented so that you also can believe.

This gnarly eyewitness account leads to another, “so that” in the story of Jesus. “So thats” are always worth a pause.

“So that you also can believe” is an invitation just too good to miss. It’s an invitation saying ‘come closer.’ You may come closer to this Jesus without distrust. The original language has the invitation bowing before us saying, “others have come this way, you too are most welcome.”

The soldier, the piercing, the flow of blood and water, all say, ‘Jesus is real, He was here, He was really dead.’ The eyewitness is emphasis, You can trust this, He really laid His life down for you. Believe it.

Ten times in John we find little phrases like “so that you can believe.” Over and over our heavenly Father responds to our need for assurance. Over and over Jesus paves the way for faith, for belief, trust. “So that” points to the purpose of this passage, to evoke the fruit of faith in you.

‘Oh I believed long ago.’ Biblical faith is not static, it is constantly responding to invitation. Responding to the invitation, the gap between where I am and where Jesus bids me come, grows smaller.

On this day embrace the invitation. Today, pause and consider the cross. Jesus pierced and bloodied is real. The cross is not silent.  The cross shouts, ‘You can trust Him.’

Let the invitation leak into your place of doubt and insecurity.  Hear the Spirit’s voice, ‘Come closer, believe.’

Prayer: Heavenly Father may we hear the invitation to come closer today. May we take courage in the eyewitness account and respond in faith, believing still more. We pray in the name of the King whom we trust. Amen

***believe present active subjunctive

Pastor Doug Stevens
The Leadership Connection

John 19:28-30 Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the Scriptures he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

We cannot know the depth of suffering endured by Jesus on the cross.  We can only imagine —but our best effort to empathize falls far short.

We may know about the discomfort of deprivation, or have some personal experience of physical pain that became a protracted agony, or some memory of social rejection, or some recollection of betrayal, or some connection with a history of injustice — or even been victimized by a cruel conspiracy.  But the cross, this Cross, the Cross of Christ, was unlike any trauma any human has ever faced.

This man was the only innocent man ever executed.  Actually the only sinless man who ever lived.  That he would be so viciously treated is the worst travesty of all time.  And he willingly went to his execution — because of his great love for us and his decision to take our place and absorb the punishment due each of us.  And we didn’t realize or care that this man was carrying our sin.  Before we knew him, we were his enemies.  It was an utterly lonely, indescribably brutal, absolutely undeserved, pitiless and apparently meaningless death.  No one understood, his religious rivals reviled, his close friends abandoned, and his own Father turned away.  There was hell to pay, and he alone paid.

“I am thirsty,” he cried out, and he was offered a swab of bitter vinegar.  And then, “It is finished,” was spoken with his last breath.  This is where the mystery deepens; we stand in awe, and are at a loss for words.  He endured what no one else has, to accomplish what no one else could.  We cannot comprehend his suffering, but he fully embraces ours — the condemnation we are now freed from, and our great thirst that he fully satisfies.

Prayer: God, we are so grateful.  That you would meet our hostility and indifference with such kindness is beyond explanation.  That Jesus would endure to the bitter end, once and for all time, proves your love for us and our value to you.  What can we do … but thank you with our lives, taking up our cross in solidarity with the One who redeems and releases us.  We love you.  From now on and every day, we belong to you and will live for you.  May our lives speak the only Amen that matters.

Pastor Jim Shields
Sanctuary Ministries

John 13:34-35 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Living the Christian life is so simple. I walk in His mercy, it is new for me every morning. Every time I mess up (which is often, more often than you or I know) His unmerited favor falls from Heaven to find me. And peace, not temporary like the world gives, but a deep fundamental sense of His well being has been gifted me.

Yep, it is simple, tithe, show up at church, read the Bible, pray.

Simple, except for one thing…YOU. I have to love YOU.  And not in a casual, “love ya bro” kind of way. But in a “bear with and forgive you” kind of way. Now “forgiving and bearing with” are only a problem when you are acting in a horrible way toward me.  And that is when it is no longer simple living this Christian life. I wish He would have put some restrictions on my need to love you this way. Like maybe I only have to forgive you when I can understand why you’re acting this way or bear with for a certain amount of time. Maybe a week. If you don’t have together in a week, I can write you off. That would be simpler.

But no, Jesus’ only parameter is this, “love each other as I have loved you’ (which included the betrayer, Judas, by the way). This is the Commandment of Jesus, which makes it pretty important. Also, for me, IMPOSSIBLE! I can barely love like Jim, no chance loving like Jesus. But, it is the way, His way. Our love shown to each other is how Jesus is seen. So we must love this way.

How? Ask Him this Sunday, Easter Sunday. He will show you, He will teach you. Simple.

Prayer: Jesus, breathe Your love for others into me, rain Your Spirit upon my dry heart so I might feel Your compassion for those close to me. Show Your Way, so others will see You.

Pastor Terry Reilly
Creekside Open Bible Church

Luke 22:44-45 He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. 45 At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief.

The job is a hassle.  The kids aren’t “kidding right.”  Marriage is on a downward trajectory.  And financially, there is economic stress all around.  Life can be exhausting…no wonder that for so many, sleep is such a wonderful escape hatch. Exit stage right to a nice “garden spot” and find a Posturepedic mattress and pillow.  We even have a Bible verse for it right here!  Oh, I guess that isn’t the encouragement.  Jesus’ A-team experienced some emotional and physical times that taxed them to the max.  The disciples, while not insensitive to their Savior’s suffering, didn’t sense the seriousness of the mission so they slumbered. Funny thing, gracious and gentle Jesus asks them why they were sleeping and then challenges them again to pray.

Someone said, “When you can’t do anything else, pray!” Seems logical, work hard, do something, make it happen. We try to be like the Little Engine that Could but soon find out we can’t. I confess, I would rather stand and deliver than kneel and pray.  This business of busyness makes me feel more productive and keeps me awake. This is especially true when I’m drained, tired and tuckered out from the mission.   But, you know what?  I’m not so sure it produces more for Christ’s Kingdom mission.  Jesus didn’t seem to think so in the garden.  I wonder if our lives wouldn’t be better served by the thought, “If you can do anything else – pray.” Jesus’ challenge is clear and straight forward.  There are times the body of Christ needs my prayers more than they need my strategies and work ethic….and at times, more than I need my rest.

Prayer: Lord, I’m often like your first disciples.  But I’m learning…I can’t and you can.  You will if I pray. Amen.

Pastor Jeff Reed
Hillside Covenant Church

Luke 22:19-20 Then he took a loaf of bread; and when he had thanked God for it, he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This wine is the token of God’s new covenant to save you–an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you.

Jesus had broken bread in miraculous fashion before.  Once He broke five loaves and fed five thousand men (Mark 6:38-44).  Later He broke seven loaves into food for four thousand people (Mark 8:5-9). Jesus had also ‘poured’ wine in miraculous fashion before.  At a wedding in Cana He turned six 30-gallon purification jars filled with water into the best wine the maitre’ d had ever tasted.

But, in this quiet moment with His disciples, Jesus surpassed those miracles with the greatest miracle of all.  Taking the bread and the wine of the Passover Seder, Jesus gave Himself to His disciples (and to all those who would ever be His disciples throughout the rest of history) in the most intimate, in the most humble, in the most strengthening and loving way possible.  He gave Himself to them, and to us, as food.  As that which fundamentally nourishes and sustains, as that which makes life possible, as that, without which, there is no hope, no spark, no energy, no life.  In the desert of the broken cosmos, Jesus allowed Himself to become the true Manna that would give life to the world. In the communion meal, whenever we eat it, we receive the invitation of Jesus again to taste life at its purest, and to find ourselves without hunger, to find our deepest thirst quenched (John 6:35).  And with the disciples we cry out, “to whom else shall we go?” (John 6:68). Jesus in us is the mystery of the ages, the hope of glory, the feast without end.

Prayer:  Jesus: thank You for giving Your life for us and to us, that it might live in us and through us, for our sake and for the sake of the world! Amen.