GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE
HYMN: WHEN I SURVEY
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10 When I Survey
1.
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
2.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
3.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
4.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small:
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (SUNG)
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HYMN: THERE IS A GREEN HILL
1.
There is a green hill far away,
Outside a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.
2.
We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains He had to bear;
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
3.
He died that we might be forgiven,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heaven,
Saved by His precious blood.
4.
There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven and let us in.
5.
O dearly, dearly has He loved,
And we must love Him, too,
And trust in His redeeming blood,
And try His works to do.
BIBLE READING
Matt. 27:32-53
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The Crucifixion of Jesus
32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. 37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: ‘This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.”
38 Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
45 From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”
48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
HYMN: AND CAN IT BE
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1.
And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Saviour’s blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!
For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shoulds’t die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shoulds’t die for me?
2.
'Tis mystery all: th' Immortal dies!
Who can explore his strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
to sound the depths of love divine.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
let angel minds inquire no more.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
let angel minds inquire no more.
3.
He left his Father's throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam's helpless race.
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
4.
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature's night;
thine eye diffused a quickening ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
5.
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine;
alive in him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine,
bold I approach th' eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th' eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ my own.
CHORAL: WRITTEN IN RED
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1
In letters of crimson, God wrote his love
on the hillside so long long ago:
for you and for me Jesus died,
and loves greatest story was told.
Chorus
I love you, I love you
that's what Calvary said;
I love you, written in red.
2
Down through the ages, God wrote his love
With the same hands that suffered and bled;
giving all that he had to give
A message so easily read.
Chorus
I love you, I love you
that's what Calvary said;
I love you, written in red.
BRIDGE
O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow
No other fount I know, nothing but the blood
The blood of Jesus
Chorus
I love you, I love you
that's what Calvary said;
I love you, written in red.
HYMN: THE OLD RUGGED CROSS
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1.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
the emblem of suffering and shame;
and I love that old cross where the dearest and best
for a world of lost sinners was slain.
Refrain
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.
2.
O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
has a wondrous attraction for me;
for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above
to bear it to dark Calvary.
Refrain
3.
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
a wondrous beauty I see,
for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
to pardon and sanctify me.
Refrain
4. To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
its shame and reproach gladly bear;
then he'll call me some day to my home far away,
where his glory forever I'll share.
Refrain
BRASS: FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS
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CHORAL: WERE YOU THERE
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HYMN: ONCE ON A DAY
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1.
Once, on a day, was Christ led forth to die,
And with the crowd that pressed on him joined I.
Slowly they led him, led him to the tree,
And I beheld his hands no more were free.
Bound fast with cords, and this was his distress,
That men denied those hands outstretched to bless.
Chorus
Sacred hands of Jesus, they were bound for me;
Wounded hands of Jesus, stretched upon a tree,
Ever interceding, mercy is their plea.
Their effectual pleading brings grace to me,
Redeeming grace to me.
2.
Hands that were scarred by daily fret and tear;
Hands quick to soothe the troubled brow of care;
Hands strong to smite the sins that men enthrone,
Yet never raised to seek or claim their own:
Dear hands of Christ! and yet men feared them so
That they must bind them as to death they go.
3.
Hands that still break to men the living bread;
Hands full of power to raise again the dead,
Potent and healing, eager to reclaim,
Laid in forgiveness on one bowed in shame;
Say, wouldst thou bind, by pride and unbelief,
Those hands that compass all thy soul's relief?
CHORAL: THE CHRIST OF CALVARY
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CHORAL: GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD
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SERMON
Dr Malcolm Westwood
Matthew 27:32 -56
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Those who have been kind enough to follow my ministry over the years will have heard me say many times how in my early days of ministering I approached Easter with a mixture of excitement and some trepidation. I was excited because I’ve always loved Easter time and the thought of sharing the wonder with my congregation filled me with a longing to do justice to all that had happened. Yet try as I might in my preparation, I just couldn't seem to find a way of describing the most amazing event the world has ever known. And in desperation I was driven to my knees to plead with God to give me something that would capture the imagination of the people who would be gathering for the Easter services. And God did something quite extraordinary for me. He gave me from his Word something I hadn't noticed previously. He revealed something new to me. I make no claim that others had not seen such an insight before but it was new to me. I thought that was quite miraculous. But if I thought that, a greater miracle was yet to come because that was 43 years ago and every year following the time of my request to God, God has blessed me with a new insight and it is with such a grateful heart that I’d like to share what God has laid on my heart and mind for this service today.
No doubt, we have heard the detail of the crucifixion many times. It never ceases to be almost too horrific to speak about-how the flogging was so brutal that lumps of flesh were torn from the victim’s back by the leather whips which had metal attached to the ends of it.
We've heard about the two robbers who were crucified with Jesus, one was repentant. We know that Pilate had outraged the Pharisees because he wouldn't change the wording of the sign to be put over the head of Jesus on the cross. They wanted it to read he claimed to be the king of the Jews rather than he was the king of the Jews. We've read how Jesus was challenged to show his miraculous power by coming down from the cross to prove what he said of himself was true. And perhaps we might wonder how anyone would not believe in him when at the moment of his death, the curtain in the temple was torn-not in the obvious way of tearing when someone would take hold of it tearing it from the bottom upwards. It was torn supernaturally from the top to the bottom. How could anyone doubt something of God was happening when the earth shook and the rocks split causing the tombs to open and saints of old to come to life. Some people offer the feeble explanation that such a description was just an exaggerated way describing an earthquake. One might want to counter that by saying if it was an earthquake, it was an amazing coincidence that it happened precisely the moment the Jesus died. Even to the greatest sceptic that would seem illogical in the extreme!
And all of those thoughts help us to understand what happened that day.
Approaching Good Friday this year, could God reveal anything more than he had revealed before to me? Anything I hadn't shared with the congregation previously? Would you do that, dear God ,I wondered
And then the words ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema Sabacthani’ struck me with new clarity. And I don't know if I can find the words to express the meaning which came to me, but I'll try.
Jesus knew that his death was the cost of providing a way for the sin of the world to be forgiven. He had faced the certainty of death with supreme courage being well aware that it was going to be a prolonged physically agonising death. He would have known that death would mean separation from God. After all, that's the most terrifying thought-or should be-if we die with sins unforgiven. We would be choosing to be separated from God for all eternity. Jesus, though, having no sin of his own so graciously took on himself the sin of the world including, of course, yours and mine. So it was inevitable that he would experience separation from God. And as he cried out to his Father, from the cross, "Why have you forsaken me?!" he was confessing to his father that he couldn't understand how anyone would willingly want to experience being separated from God. The agony of that for Jesus was almost too much to bear-"How can anyone want to experience this?!" is contained in that cry from his heart. He's telling us of the devastation he feels when for him he's giving up the most precious thing he knows-that intimate daily walk with his father. He was losing that-for us. There had not been a moment- ever -when God and Jesus had not been as one. Now that relationship was being broken for the very first time. It is impossible for us to comprehend the enormity of that. Before even the world was created, God and Jesus had been as one. Now Jesus was experiencing what man’s sin does and it was so completely heartbreaking that he cries out to his Father that it’s unbearable . When we speak about Jesus being the great burden bearer, we can really not fully comprehend just what that meant to Jesus. In a few last gasping breaths , Jesus was going to know a separation he had never known. At that moment when he was breaking his heart through being separated from God- yet loving us enough to endure it, he was unthanked by the world for which he was doing it. And then…. he died. And I realised for the first time, just what those words of Jesus, ‘Eli, Elis lema Sabacthani’ meant.
But if that wasn't enough for me, in the silence of his death came-for me-an even greater revelation. I’ll try to share what it meant to me. Jesus was now dead. He was no longer suffering the excruciating pain of the crucifixion. That was ended. His mind was no longer in turmoil over the willingness of man to carry unforgiven sin which causes the agony of separation from God. That, too, had ended. The consciousness of Jesus had ended. It wasn't the case that Jesus having paid the price of sin was now just waiting to be restored to life and was content as he lay there waiting for the moment he could be freed from the tomb. He was not aware of anything that was now taking place. His pain of separation from his father was over. He was no longer conscious of it. He was dead. He was not aware of his family’s grief, the bewilderment of his disciples, the morbid satisfaction of the Chief Priests, nor even the courage of Joseph who tended to his dead body. His life had ended.
But-and here's the new thought to me-Jesus was dead but…….God wasn't! God was experiencing continually the absence of his son's communication with him. For the first time ever the spirit of Jesus was no longer in permanent communion with his father. How could we find words to describe what that must have meant to God. There was no way he could talk to the dead body of Christ if the sacrifice for us was to be real. Jesus had to really die in our place. And when he died, the relationship between him and God ended. I can only entitle that, "The devastating loneliness of God."
When Jesus came to Earth, as a baby God was able to communicate with the very soul of Jesus-before Jesus could even think. God was gradually empowering him with his grace and love to share with the world. But now, God could not-must not-uses his power to override the unbelievable loneliness by communicating with his dead son. There are just no words that could adequately describe the loneliness of God at this time. The time from Friday to Sunday , those the three days which the Jews believed were necessary for a person to be finally and truly dead must have seemed like an eternity to God. Not to be at one with his precious, beloved son must have been worse than 1000 crucifixions. And that's what our sin did to God. To realise that he was prepared to endure that, tells us that he must love us with a love that is beyond our understanding. On this Good Friday ‘thank you’ to God for giving us Jesus sounds so inadequate.
So I never, never, never want to do anything to hurt him again and I‘d love to think in sharing this insight with you today, that the way we live our lives will show just how grateful we are to God for the gift of Jesus.
CHORAL: WORTHY IS THE LAMB
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BENEDICTION
May the devastation of the loneliness of God on being separated from Jesus fill you with a determination to serve him with gratitude and love-always. Amen