WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:07.839 So this is more of a contemplation than a sermon because this is more of a contemplative service than a regular service. 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:22.320 And so we're going to contemplate the cross, we're going to contemplate ourselves, and then hopefully, hopefully, along the way, that contemplation will move past our noisy minds down into our hearts. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:28.640 Now, if you remember what yesterday was, yesterday was Monday Thursday, or perhaps uh Holy Thursday, you might hear it called. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:32.880 It's the day where Jesus gathered with his disciples for the Last Supper. 00:00:33.119 --> 00:00:35.119 So that would have been the Passover meal for them. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:40.560 This would have been a tradition for them that they would have been practicing every year of their lives. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:45.359 This had been going on the Jewish people every year from the time of Exodus out of Egypt. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:49.119 So, kids, if you're in here, you know that story of Exodus coming out of Egypt. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:56.479 And so out of that, a tradition started of having a meal every single year on the day to celebrate Passover. 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:00.320 And so they would have been having this meal in the celebration of Passover. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:03.439 And at this meal, the most bizarre thing happens. 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:11.840 Jesus stands up, he gets up from the meal, and he goes and he gets a towel and he gets a bucket of water. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:15.519 And everybody at the meal, all the disciples would have would have been frozen. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:17.760 Like, what is going on? 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:19.920 What is he doing? 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:22.719 He's taking on the role of a servant. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:24.719 I mean, what's going on here? 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:36.079 And then he kneels down at the first guy's feet, and these aren't like feet straight out of, you know, treat your feet, foot massage parlor. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:50.640 I mean, these are these are like you've been wearing Chaco sandals all weekend, like on a trail, and then you get home and it smells horrible and they're dirty, it is bad down there. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:53.040 And he bows down. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:54.319 He bows down. 00:01:54.480 --> 00:02:00.159 He kneels down with a bucket and a towel and he starts to wash their feet. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:03.359 It was a crazy scene. 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:10.000 That's a crazy scene for God to serve his people versus his people serving him. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:10.879 Right? 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:12.800 I mean, this is turning on the news at night. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:15.120 This would be us turning on the news tonight. 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:23.759 We get home, we turn on the news, we turn on NBC News, we turn it on, and Lester Holt's there, and he says, he says, oh, breaking news. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:32.319 Donald Trump decided to wash the feet of the people who mow the lawn at the White House. 00:02:33.599 --> 00:02:34.000 Right? 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:39.039 Or any president, not just Trump, I mean, maybe more absurd with Trump, but any president, all right? 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:41.439 Like any president, it's absurd. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:43.199 Anybody. 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:49.120 A position of power where you are the top guy, you're the man. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:55.120 And here we have God incarnate looking like a slave. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:57.520 And he's showing us something. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:04.960 God always moves toward us in humility and love, even when we're not moving toward him. 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:07.039 And we need that. 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:08.560 Peter sees all this happen. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:10.960 John 13, verse 8, Peter sees all this happening. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:11.919 He's watching all of this. 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:14.080 He does not like it. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.919 And he says, You will never wash my feet. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:26.560 And Jesus says, Oh, if I don't wash you, you can have nothing in common with me. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:27.280 Right? 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:31.919 I mean, this is Jesus saying, if you don't receive, then you have nothing. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:35.360 Like the only way this relationship works is if you receive. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:36.159 The only way. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:38.400 It works in no other path. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:43.199 It's only in receiving where relationship work with God. 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:46.080 We're always on the receiving end. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:49.439 Okay, so now let's talk about the next day comes, right? 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:50.159 That's today. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:51.599 That's Good Friday. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:58.800 To do this, I always like to make our way through Isaiah 53, a prophecy written long before this day happened. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:08.560 But a prophecy that is so wonderfully written, poetic, contemplative for us to process through and think about this day. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.360 So it's in your bulletin, you can follow along with me. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:13.520 Isaiah 53, verses 1 through 3. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:18.240 Who has believed what he has heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:23.680 For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:30.160 He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:37.199 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:43.680 And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:46.319 So maybe you're wondering, where is God in your grief? 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:49.360 Maybe your life has some grief in it, all of our lives have grief in it. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:51.279 Maybe you're wondering, like, where is God in this? 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:57.360 Because you feel left out, or you feel like you got hurt, or something didn't work out, it's not working out. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:04:59.040 And where is God? 00:05:00.399 --> 00:05:02.800 And God's in the grief, that's where God is. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:07.839 There's no promise of God relieving grief for all of us. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:10.240 The promise is that God is in the grief. 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:11.439 That's what the promise is. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:19.680 Verse 4 Surely He has borne our griefs, He knows them, He carries them and carried our sorrows. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:24.800 Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:30.959 But he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:39.199 Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:41.120 So this is starting to get good, right? 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:45.759 It starts to turn, start to see the good news out of that which God took on for us. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:47.199 And so I have two points in this. 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:51.600 And point number one is that healing and peace are by his wounds, not by our wounds. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.399 Healing and peace are by his wounds, not our wounds. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:06:01.920 So you're not healed by your wounds, you're not healed by your control or your production or your amount of sacrifice and how sacrificial you are. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:04.240 You're not healed by that. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:07.040 You're healed by him, right? 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:07.680 Remember him? 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:13.439 He's got his towel on, he's got the bucket of water, and what does he say to the one guy who says, No, no, you can't do that. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:15.040 I don't want you to wash my feet. 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:17.519 As Peter's saying, I'll do it myself, right? 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:19.519 I can handle it. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:22.560 I don't need you to do that for me. 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.319 And Jesus says, if you don't receive, you have nothing. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:27.759 You'll have nothing. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:31.439 It's the only way the relationship works. 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:36.240 Our guilt and shame is put on him and his righteousness is put on us. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.480 That's how the healing happens. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:43.120 And so in this, we sort of see the three ways, the three paths that are always there for us. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:46.639 And the first two are our sin, it's self-justification. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:51.759 The first one is escapism, like we're gonna be our own gods because we're just not gonna have that God. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:56.879 We're just not gonna have, you know, that the Jesus story and that God or a God who's over me. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:58.639 I'm not dealing with an authority over me. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:06:59.839 I don't want anything to do that. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:04.319 I'll be my own authority, I'll do my own thing, I'll have my own life and all of that. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:05.759 You're your own God. 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:07.519 You're your own God. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:17.120 And that's that's sinful because it's you self-saving by means of your own attempt to find your own joy, happiness, uh, righteousness, value. 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:18.319 You'll be exhausted. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:23.839 The second path, quite common, like a religious moralism, right? 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:25.920 I mean, this is a path that says, you know what? 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:39.920 I understand Jesus, and I'll nod right along, and I'll actually raise my hands and worship, and I'm gonna show up at a Good Friday service, I'm gonna do all of it because I'm a good person, and I'll be good, and I'll form my own righteousness, and still you're your own God. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:47.040 You're Peter, you're at the dinner, you're the older brother in the prodigal son's story. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:54.639 But you're you're still your own God because you're relying on your own righteousness rather than the righteousness of Jesus. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:57.120 And then the third way is the gospel. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:03.279 And that's the good news that the cross really did mean something. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:09.360 And that God incarnate shows up, and in death he gives us his love. 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.959 Our sin is put upon him, his righteousness is given to us. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:14.000 Verse 6. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:21.040 All we like sheep have gone astray, so we've all gone astray, whether it's path one or path two, we've all gone astray. 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:25.040 We have turned everyone to his own way. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:28.399 And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:32.720 So we've all gone astray, but the Lord's handled it for us. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:35.360 Isaiah's pulling no punches. 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:37.759 We're not perfect, we love to go our own way. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.399 And then he gets poetic, verses 7 through 11. 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:45.519 Isaiah kind of is like he hits a little writing mood and gets real poetic through the telling of all of this. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:56.080 He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:15.039 By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for this transgression of my people, and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:17.840 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:20.639 He has put him to grief. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:33.919 When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, the will of the Lord shall prosper his hand, out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:42.960 By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.440 So all of that, all of that gets us to verse 12. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:48.799 Verse 12 is the climax of this entire writing. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:10:15.679 Therefore, right, so there's the key, here's the climax, therefore, because of all of that, because of what he's done, and because of his love, and because of what he's done for us, therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:19.279 So all of verse 1 through 11 built up here to this verse 12. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:21.600 So what does verse 12 mean? 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:23.120 Well, two things. 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:25.039 We can see it mentioned in two parts here. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:30.000 The first is as God will divide him a portion with the many or the great. 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:33.840 So this is a way to say, Jesus is the Savior. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:36.080 Jesus is the glorious Savior. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:42.000 And then second, he shall divide the spoil, so that's the reward, the good stuff. 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:44.399 He shall divide the spoil with the strong. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:56.559 And now maybe in your Bible it'll have a little asterisk, and down at the bottom, there's a little number, might be like a six or a little letter, like an F, and you go down to the bottom and then it'll say, or numerous, right? 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:02.639 That's better because we read strong and we think, oh, okay, so like, oh, to get the good stuff, I gotta be, I gotta be strong, okay. 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:04.799 I gotta be good enough, I gotta be strong enough. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:05.600 No, no, no, no, no. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:07.360 It means numerous. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:09.200 So this is the second point. 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:11.039 The spoils are shared with you. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:17.440 The reward is shared with you because God is victorious and God is gracious. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:21.840 That's why, that's why the reward comes to you. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.440 And none of this feels like a victory parade, but it is. 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:28.799 The cross doesn't feel like a victory parade, but it is. 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:39.519 It is God humbling himself before us to show us what love is, revelation of love, but then also imputation of love and righteousness to us. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:44.960 This week I kept thinking back on Peter at that table refusing Jesus to wash his feet. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:48.080 Like just how stubborn, right? 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:49.440 I mean, how prideful. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:51.759 Just, yeah, wash them. 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:54.000 Just come on down the line, right? 00:11:54.159 --> 00:12:03.200 But it's just it's him wanting to control everything, to hold on to a little bit of pride and a little bit of control, and you know what, I'll, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna do it myself. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:12.080 Just a refusal to just surrender totally to who this person wants to be for you, who God wants to be for you. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:16.159 See, we all want to earn love to be redeemed and worthy. 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:27.519 And the sooner we let go of that and we surrender the idea of merit for redemption and worthiness, the sooner we are moving in the path of Jesus. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:35.840 And that's why Jesus stares Peter in the eyes and says, if you don't receive, you'll have nothing of me. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:37.279 Right? 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:41.120 I mean it makes me think of the three words on the cross there at the end. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:43.120 It is finished. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:44.399 Right? 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:48.720 You don't have to have the work to absolve yourself. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:52.480 The guilt that you've been carrying around from that thing. 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:54.720 You know that thing. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:57.600 Like the thing from years ago. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:01.039 Everybody else forgot about it, but you you haven't forgotten about it. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:03.120 And it's finished. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:05.679 It was it what it truly was finished at the cross. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:08.879 Or maybe it's just a thing from yesterday. 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:11.039 And you keep carrying it around. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:13.679 But you don't have to keep carrying it around. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:16.960 Like forgiveness is full. 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:22.480 Absolution is absolution, and the cross gives it to you. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:26.080 It is finished. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:34.240 And maybe you're here and it's to receive that for the first time, to become awakened to that and to that salvation. 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:37.519 Or maybe it's just to be reminded once again. 00:13:37.919 --> 00:13:51.759 The church has traditionally in Good Friday services had a period of silence to contemplate the cross and contemplate ourselves, and that probably scares some of you to death because you have little kids with you, and you know that ain't gonna happen. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:56.639 And for others of us, it just scares us because we don't do that. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:00.799 Like, that's why Netflix and podcasts exist. 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.840 Is so I don't have to get quiet, right? 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:06.080 We don't have to get quiet. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:09.039 Like, and if you get quiet, you're like, oh, I immediately fall asleep. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:11.039 Well, yeah, you fall asleep because you don't want to be quiet, right? 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:14.080 Like, oh no, no, no, if I get quiet, like my mind goes all over the place. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:15.679 Yes, it does. 00:14:16.639 --> 00:14:21.279 And the point of getting quiet is so that you actually face all of that. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:24.159 The point of getting quiet is that you face yourself. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:45.440 You have to actually deal with yourself and your sin and your imperfections and all the brokenness and the guilt from the thing that you thought was over and it's not over, and the suffering from the thing you thought wasn't affecting you and is affecting you, and all of that you have to deal with with God and the cross. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:46.639 Right? 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:51.200 You you don't hear the faucet leaking until the house is quiet, right? 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:51.919 Right? 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:54.720 You don't during the day you don't hear the faucet leaking. 00:14:54.879 --> 00:15:02.960 It's at night, you finally get in bed and you're all cozied up, and finally the house is quiet, the whole house is quiet, and then you hear like the creak. 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:10.960 So you didn't realize your house even creaked during the day, but all of a sudden at night the house creaks, or you get in bed, and all of a sudden you hear that faucet drip. 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:13.440 Drip. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:23.600 And see, it's in the stillness that we start to hear stuff, and we'll hear amazing good stuff. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:27.360 Like it is finished. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:32.639 And we'll also see and face some stuff that we don't know what to do with. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:37.120 Our sin, our brokenness, our suffering, but that's the point. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:50.559 The point is that we do see it and that we take it to the cross to understand that our sin and our suffering and our griefs were put on him, that we don't have to carry them alone. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:54.960 So we're gonna have a time of silence. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:16:00.960 It's not gonna be, you know, the worry's not gonna be 15 minutes, and and you know, kids are gonna make some noises, that's fine. 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:02.159 Don't freak out. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:09.600 Um somebody's gonna cough, and the car's gonna start outside, and life will continue to happen, and that's fine. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:11.919 But we are gonna get quiet. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:28.639 And when you get quiet, your mind's gonna race all over the place, and we're gonna actually be quiet long enough to move just past that and begin to get a taste of when you're just sitting with yourself and the Lord and what the Lord is beginning to say. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:39.440 And it's in those moments that you start to see yourself and face yourself because we're not letting you um pull your phone out or turn on that place. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:46.639 Um you're just gonna sit for a little bit, and then I'll close and we'll stand and we'll sing a few more songs. 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:48.639 So let's go before the Lord.