Rev. David Holwick GOOD FRIDAY 1998
Community Worship Service
Succasunna, New Jersey
April 10, 1998
Hebrews 12:1-3
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I. The attraction of crucifixion.
A. A definite attention-getter.
Low attendance here at this Good Friday service. Typical.
What could boost it?
Maybe we should do what they do in the Philippines - crucify
someone.
In 1997 the news services reported 15 people, including a woman,
gave themselves up for crucifixion in the Philippines.
One Filipino, Arnel Sanggalang, two years ago surprised many
of his friends by vowing to undergo the crucifixion rite for
the next 25 years.
He said it was his way of thanking God after his mother
recovered from an illness.
Another man named Bob Velez has become famous for being
crucified 11 times.
I knew someone in the military who said he actually witnessed
a crucifixion over there.
What shocked him was not the person getting nailed to a cross,
but the fact people were selling hotdogs and T-shirts to the
crowd.
A few years ago, the Philippines Department of Tourism was an
official sponsor of the re-enactments.
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B. Would you be crucified?
1) For devotion? For your mom's sake? For fame? A few bucks?
2) It is interesting to see what motivated Jesus.
II. Jesus was motivated by joy.
A. He was not a masochist.
1) He might be taken that way, since he continually predicted
it would be his fate when they reached Jerusalem.
2) But in Gethsemane he cried to God to keep him from it.
3) Jesus did not want to die, or even suffer.
B. The cross was not a joy, but what followed was.
1) Jesus was able to look beyond the cross.
a) Everyone needs hope.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge said that "Hope without an object
cannot live."
If you have ever lost the focus of life, you understand
hopelessness.
Perhaps you have poured yourself into your job, marriage,
or the struggles of life; and then you saw it all
destroyed.
The object of your hope was gone, and you felt dead and
aimless.
Psychologist William Marston asked 3,000 people this
question: "What do you have to live for?"
94 percent responded that they were merely enduring their
lives, hoping someday that things would get better.
This seems so inadequate.
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b) Christians have more than wishful thinking.
1> The Bible tells us what is ahead.
2> Hope in God and his promises helps us endure.
2) Pie in the sky?
a) Many see such hope as unsophisticated and outdated.
b) For there to be ultimate justice, there has to be an
ultimate payoff.
1> This life is often wildly unfair.
2> God will balance everything out on other side.
3> This should motivate us and help with perspective.
III. Jesus endured pain and shame.
A. Crucifixion very painful.
1) So bad, Roman citizens were exempt.
2) In the Philippines, five penitents ended up in the hospital
after a neophyte nailer punctured veins in their palms.
3) Roman version had extra touch - nakedness.
a) They wanted to shame their victims.
B. Our pain comes in many forms.
1) Caused by others.
a) Oppression, enemies.
b) Most intense pain can be caused by own loved ones.
2) Self-inflicted.
a) Various addictions.
b) Self-hatred.
3) Pain from living in a broken world.
a) Disease and illnesses.
b) A nagging sense we could be more, but never will be.
C. Jesus had one pain we do not - weight of sins of world.
1) OT - curse to be hanged on tree.
a) Deuteronomy 21:22-23.
If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death
and his body is hung on a tree,
you must not leave his body on the tree overnight.
Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone
who is hung on a tree is under God's curse.
b) A great hindrance to Jews, and apostle Paul.
c) Interesting that three sermons in Acts refer to "tree."
2) Curse is really ours.
a) Galatians 3:13.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by
becoming a curse for us, for it is written:
"Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
IV. Jesus was vindicated.
A. Glorification is ultimate goal.
1) This is the joy Jesus was looking toward.
2) For us, this is too nebulous.
a) We don't want a throne, but an eternal Club Med vacation.
b) But being accepted by God should be our greatest joy.
B. Become God-oriented rather than pleasure oriented.
V. Don't lose heart.
A. We will all suffer, but we don't have to be broken.
B. Whatever opposes or oppresses you will be defeated.
C. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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