Good Friday

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

- Jesus in John 15:13

This coming Friday is Good Friday, the day when Christians all over the world remember the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Why is this day so important? Why was Jesus crucified? Who was really responsible? What does Jesus death mean for you?

At some points in history, and sadly, in some places today, Jews are known as "Christ-Killers". Let's dispel that myth right now - the Jews are not responsible for Jesus' death. Jesus came here knowing what would happen. He chose that path. The Bible says, "...it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins." (Isaiah 53:10-11)

Do you see it? Jesus' death was God's plan! And it was for our benefit. So how can anyone blame the Jews, or the Romans for that matter? So who was responsible? Well, look at what Jesus came to do. He came to bear all our sins. If we never sinned, Jesus wouldn't have had to die. So in a real way, we are all responsible for Jesus' death.

How does Jesus' death affect our sins? The Bible says that "everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard" (Romans 3:23). It also says that, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Death in the Bible can mean:

• Separation of body and soul - i.e. physical death


• Separation of you from God - i.e. spiritual death

On the cross Jesus experienced both of these things. As well as physical death he was cut off from the Father for the first time ever. That's why, "...at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”" (Mark 15:34) Shortly after, he died.

When Jesus was on the cross, God punished him for all the wrong things you and I have ever done. That's what Christians mean when we say that Jesus died for you. But that wasn't the end of the story. On the following Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead. He conquered death itself, and offers each of us a fresh start with God.

It's easy to have this fresh start with God. The Bible says that, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). It's that simple. You could say a simple prayer to do this:

Jesus,

Thank you for dying for me on the cross to take the punishment I deserve. Please forgive me for all the wrong things I've ever done. Fill me with the Holy Spirit and help me to live as you would have me live. I want to put you at the centre of my life from now on. I give you my heart, my life, and my future. From now on I'm trusting you with it all.

Amen

If you said that prayer, here's what Jesus promises you:

"We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith." (Romans 3:22-28)

"Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." (Romans 5:1-12)

This Easter, celebrate what Jesus has done for you! Give it all for the one who gave it all!

Image: Alberto Gomez/Google Images

Westboro

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God"

(Jesus in Mark 7:6-7).

You've probably heard of Westboro "Baptist" Church. They're well known for their outrageous protests. Their main target has been gay men and American soldiers. They claim to be teaching the word of God - but are they?

Who are Westboro?
Westboro "Baptist" Church consists of less than 100 people, most of them from the Phelps family. The patriarch of the family is the Church's pastor. They have been listed as a cult by the Apologetics Index site http://www.apologeticsindex.org/111-westboro-baptist-church.

Are they Baptists?
The problem is that Baptists have no central authority, so anyone can use the name Baptist. So if you just go by the name, yes, they are. But Westboro isn't linked with any Baptist Union, and in fact they have been condemned by Baptists all over the world. In England the Baptist Union said this:

"We do not share their hatred of lesbian and gay people. We believe that God loves all, irrespective of sexual orientation, and we unreservedly stand against their message of hate toward those communities. Neither the style nor substance of their preaching expresses the historic, orthodox Christian faith. And we ask that the members of Westboro Baptist Church refrain from stirring up any more homophobic hatred..." http://www.baptist.org.uk/news_media/latest_news/gay_play.html

So, there you have it - they go so far as to say Westboro does not represent the true Christian faith! Could you get a stronger condemnation? They're not Baptists in any meaningful sense of the word.

With that in mind, in future this site will refer to them as the "Westboro Church".

Is what they're teaching Biblical?
Let's compare some of what the Westboro Church says with the Bible. Westboro says:

"Our message to this evil world is that God hates you, and you better prepare for the return of Christ in power and glory. Jesus came the first time to save; and Jesus will come the second time in vengeance, because you do not obey the Gospel. It will be soon, and you will experience the wrath of the Lamb, face to face." http://www.godhatestheworld.com/common/html/john316.html

That's the essence of what they teach. Whoever you are, God hates you. But what does the Bible have to say? Consider the most famous verse in the Bible, and the following verse!

"God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17)

How does that fit with what Westboro teaches? They have had to come up with a complicated justification for rejecting what this verse so obviously teaches. So, Westboro says their message is that God hates you. The Bible says God loves you. Who will you believe?

Anyone who hates you, or tells you that God hates you does not know God. The Bible says, "anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8).

How should we respond?
"Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it" (1 Peter 3:9). That's a hard teaching, but the measure of our love is not how much we love those it's easy to love. No, the measure of our love is how well we love those it's hardest to love, like those people at the Westboro Church.

Image from: http://www.godhatesfags.com/visual/photos/multisigns.jpg

Is Jesus God?

Lots of people claim that Jesus is just a good man, or that he's a prophet, a good teacher etc. They say the Bible doesn't claim Jesus was God - but is that true?

As an example, the Jehovah's Witnesses claim that Jesus was the first thing created by Jehovah. Jesus is not God, and so John 1:1 should be translated, "In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god" (New World Translation, published by Jehovah's Witnesses). They are right in that you can argue this translation from the Greek, but it can equally be translated, "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (New Living Translation, cf. New International Version).

Who is right? The trick is to keep reading. In their own translation verse 3 says, "All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence". If Jesus is a created being, this makes no sense. How could he create himself?

Those who heard Jesus understood exactly what he was claiming to be. When Jesus claimed that "The Father and I are one" (John 10:30 NLT), his listeners responded with aggression. Jesus asks why they wanted to stone him, and "They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God" (John 10:33 NLT).

We see this again in John 5:18 which says, "So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God."  This is all the more significant as this is the Bible stating what Jesus was doing, as opposed to reporting what others understood.

Yes, Jesus claimed to be God. The Bible records those claims so that we can evaluate them. In a few weeks Christians around the world will be celebrating Easter. At Easter we remember why God came to the earth. He came to do something awesome - open the way for each of us to know him for ourselves, to be forgiven for everything wrong we've ever done, and to live with him forever.

In his own words: "When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”" (Luke 4:16-21 NLT)

I love that passage! Jesus tells us what he came here to do - and it's quite different to what many people think he's about! He is about Good News, not judgement. He's about freeing the oppressed, not beating us down! To quote the Newsboys, "I'm not following a God that's imagined - can't invent this deity!... I'm not following a God I can read about. I can't train this deity! And that's why Jesus is the final answer to who I want my God to be".

Image: spiritualmike.org/.../Jesus_Smiling-224x341.jpg (Google Images)
Updated 10 May 2014

Truth

Pilate famously asked Jesus, "What is truth?" (John 18:38). That's a great question!

I think there is a twofold answer to that question. On the one hand, truth is anything that is true! Truth is truth by virtue of it being true! But there's another answer as well. Jesus said "I am ...the truth" (John 14:6).

Jesus also said, "you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). I believe that we can take this in both senses of the word truth. Truth sets us free, and Jesus sets us free. We can know what the truth is, and we can know Jesus! I think that's awesome! So I guess I have one question for you. Are you free? Really free? If not, you could be.