Good Friday Sermon: John 19:30 Famous Last Words - It is finished

‘He gave his life for strangers. He must have known that he didn’t really have a chance. If that doesn’t make him a hero, I don’t know what would.’

Those words formed part of the tribute paid to the French policeman Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, who died last Friday. An Islamist terrorist had taken people hostage in a supermarket in southern France. And Arnaud traded places with one of the hostages. He took her place, and died in her stead. And on Wednesday, he was honoured with a national memorial service.

A new national hero was recognised. Here’s what the French President said of Arnaud: ‘To be willing to die so that innocent people continue to live, this is the heart of a soldier’s promise.’

Tonight, we have heard again the story of the first Good Friday. The betrayal, the arrest, the denial, the trial, the flogging, the condemnation, and the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. What was it all for? Why did Jesus die? What makes Good Friday good?

The answer comes in the very last words that John records before Jesus gives up his spirit. All week we’ve been focusing on the famous last words of Jesus, and tonight we hear his very last words spoken on the cross. Three words in English, one word in the Greek: ‘It is finished.’

But what does he mean? Does he mean ‘I’m finished’? It might look as if Jesus has given up, that he’s been beaten and broken, and he is finished. But that’s not what he means.

Perhaps he is referring to the wine vinegar he had been given. Verse 30 says: ‘When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”’ Was he saying that he had finished taking a drink - just like you might say ‘all done’ when a baby finishes a bottle? That’s not what he means either.

The clue to what Jesus means comes a little further back in verse 28. ‘Later, knowing that all was not completed...’ That word completed is the same word that Jesus says when he says ‘It is finished.’ So what he has completed? What is finished?

Jesus is saying that his work of salvation has been completed. The saving work that Jesus came to do has been finished. And the scale and scope of his work shows just how wondrous the cross is.

Arnaud, the French policeman, gave his life for strangers, but the Lord Jesus died for people he knew and loved - people like you and me, known by Jesus, and loved by Jesus. And while that’s a wonderful comfort, to be known by Jesus, and loved by Jesus, it also highlights just how amazing his death for us really is.

Remember what was said about Arnaud by the French President? ‘To be willing to die so that innocent people continue to live...’ The amazing truth about Jesus’ death for us is that he knows us - as we really are. None of us could be described as innocent. Jesus was - ‘I find no basis for a charge against him’ said Pilate - but he couldn’t say that about us.

Jesus died to pay the debt we could not pay. He died in our place for our sins. And as he dies, Jesus says ‘It is finished.’ That word, tetelestai, was the word written on an invoice to show that the bill had been paid in full. Completed. Paid in full.

Perhaps you’ve been in a shop with a dangerous looking device on the counter. A spike, or nail, pointing upwards. And whenever a bill is paid, the bill is put on the nail. It’s finished. It’s been satisfied, it’s been completed. Paid in full.

Our sins, however many, however serious, have been paid in full, as Jesus was nailed to the cross. These famous last words of Jesus aren’t a cry of defeat or disappointment. No, they are a cry of victory. Jesus has completed the work he came to do - to die for a world of lost sinners - to die for you and me.

May you know the joy of sins forgiven. Your burden lifted. The price paid, as Jesus says, ‘It is finished.’

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Good Friday 30th March 2018.

Sermon: John 17: 1-26 Famous Last Words - Glorify your Son

When we think of the Lord’s prayer, we immediately think of the prayer we say at every service - ‘Our Father, who art in heaven.’ But tonight, we’re focusing on the Lord’s other prayer, which comes right at the end of a long piece of teaching. Everything from chapter 13 through to chapter 16 happens over the course of one evening. And the prayer of chapter 17 comes at the end of everything Jesus has been teaching his disciples.

Jesus knows that in a few hours, he will be crucified, and so he takes time to prepare the disciples for his death, and for what will happen after his death and resurrection. And this prayer sums up all that he has been saying to them. As Jesus prays, he does so for his disciples to hear. In other places, Jesus had gone off on his own to pray, but not here. He wants the disciples to hear what he’s praying.

It’s a bit like the wee fella who was saying his prayers by the bed one night. And as he does so, he shouts out really loudly, ‘God, please let me have a new bike for my birthday.’ His mum says to him, why are you shouting? God isn’t deaf. No, he says, but granny is! This is a prayer that the disciples are meant to hear.

So as Jesus prays, it’s late on Thursday night. In a few hours the soldiers are going to come to arrest him. He’ll be tried, beaten, and crucified. How would you pray if that was you? If you’re like me, you might ask God for it not to happen. You might think, I’m Jesus, get me out of here... But that’s not how Jesus prays. So what is it Jesus prays for?

First of all, Jesus prays for himself. Now, that might seem strange. You might have been taught to pray using the ACTS guide - Adoration (praising God for who he is); Confession (saying sorry to God); Thanksgiving (thanking God for answered prayers); and then Supplication (which is asking God for things, for others and for self). Yourself comes last. But here, Jesus prays for himself first.

Here’s what he prays: ‘Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.’ Jesus asks the Father to glorify him, so that he may glorify the Father. Jesus isn’t out for himself and his own glory - it’s so that the Father is glorified. But what is glory? What does it mean to be glorified?

To glorify means to bring glory to; to honour; to praise; to lift high. A few years ago you might have heard the chorus ‘Glory, glory, Man United’ ringing around Old Trafford. Maybe not recently, though! Or think of the celebrations after Ireland’s Six Nations Grand Slam victory. All the clapping and cheering for the team that beat all-comers. Jesus prays that he will be able to glorify the Father. It’s a bit like the Lord’s prayer - ‘Hallowed be your name’ (may your name be honoured).

So how does Jesus glorify the Father? He does it by giving eternal life to his people. Jesus gives us eternal life - life that will go on forever; life that is of a different quality; life that is all about knowing God the Father, and the Lord Jesus.

Jesus was sent to earth with a mission. His job was to bring us eternal life, by completing the work the Father gave him to do. So say that your mum or dad sends you out on a mission. You’ve to go to the shop and get a few things. You’ll bring them joy if you get everything on the list, if you’ve completed their instructions. That’s what Jesus has done. He has perfectly fulfilled the Father’s instructions, in everything, every day for thirty-three or so years. And in a matter of hours he will complete the work by dying on the cross.

Jesus asks that he would again share in the glory of the Father which he had before the world began. Jesus came from heaven, and after the cross and the resurrection, Jesus is returning to heaven. He will be glorified, praised, lifted high.

But what about the disciples? If Jesus is leaving them, how are they going to cope without him? In verse 6-19, Jesus prays next for his first disciples, the men sitting with him as he prays. So what does he pray for his disciples?

The first prayer comes in verse 11. ‘I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.’

Jesus asks the Father to protect his disciples. He says in verse 12 that when he was with them, he protected them, and kept them safe. BUt now they need to be safe - how are they kept safe? ‘By the power of your name.’ It’s a bit like when a wedding takes place, and the bride comes under her husband’s name. We belong to God, we are his, under his name, under his power, in his safe keeping.
Jesus prays for the disciples to be protected. From what? Or whom? Jesus says that the world will hate the disciples - and last week we heard of the work of Open Doors, working with persecuted Christians - people who are hated, even by their own families because they love Jesus. In verse 15 we see who we need protected from - ‘My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.’ We have an enemy. He is out to get us. But we have the Father’s protection.

Jesus prays for protection. Again, it’s a bit like the Lord’s prayer, where he tells us to pray ‘deliver us from evil.’ But then he also asks that his disciples will be purified. We see it in verse 17: ‘Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.’

Now that word sanctified just means being purified, or set apart for God. Jesus set himself apart by living the perfect holy life, and then dying on the cross for us. He wants us to become purified, set apart for God’s service.

Now, as we come towards the last section, in verses 20-26, we see that Jesus prays for us directly. He has prayed for himself - because if he didn’t go to the cross there wouldn’t have been any disciples, and we wouldn’t be here tonight. He prayed for himself, then the first disciples, and now he prays for you and me. ‘I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.’

The Christian faith is like a big long relay race. Jesus passed the message to the first disciples, who went and told others, who told others, who told others, until eventually the good news reached here in Richhill, and reached you and me here tonight. And from the very beginning, Jesus was praying for you and me. So what does he pray for us?

Verse 21: ‘that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.’ Jesus prays that we may be one; together; united - as Jesus says in verse 23 ‘complete unity.’ In the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one, together. And Jesus wants us to be the same. Completely united. Standing and working and serving together.

It’s what Paul prays for the Philippians in his letter to them: ‘That you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel...’ (Phil 1:27). The picture to get in your mind is a Roman army unit, standing side by side with their shields linked up. All together like that they are safe. But if they start to break up, go off their own way, go in different directions, then they’ll not be safe. If even a small hole opens up they’ll be hit by enemy arrows. Perhaps the song from Old Trafford might sum up what Jesus is praying for - glory, glory, church united.

Jesus prays that we will be where he is; that we’ll see his glory. And because Jesus died on the cross, we have this promise, this sure future ahead of us, as we trust him.

Jesus is glorified, because he has obeyed the Father, and has died on the cross to show us his love. His prayer has been answered.

His disciples were protected and purified as they brought the good news of Jesus into all the world. Jesus’ prayer has been answered.

He wants us to be united, standing together as one, as we journey towards his glory, to be with him, enjoying that eternal life that only he gives. This prayer too will be answered. So let’s be together, helping and serving each other, because this is what Jesus wants; and this is what Jesus prayed for. Let’s pray that this prayer of Jesus will indeed be full answered, as we take our place with him in glory. Amen.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Wednesday 28th March 2018 as part of the Famous Last Words series in Holy Week.

Sermon: John 15: 1-17 Famous Last Words - I am the vine

I’ve brought along something tonight that you’ll hopefully be able to see. Here are my earphones! Now what are earphones used for? They’re for listening music. It’s great. You can be on the bus or sitting in the middle of a big crowd of people, and you can enjoy your favourite music - whether that’s George Ezra or Daniel O’Donnell or anyone in between! There’s just one problem... when I put them in my ears, I can’t hear anything. What’s wrong? They’re not connected. If this end isn’t connected into the ipod, then I won’t hear any music.

Or just think of your morning routine. If you’re not quite awake, you’re trying to get ready and wondering why the hairdryer or the toaster won’t work - they need to be plugged in. They need a connection with the power source to make them work; to do what they were made to do.

That’s what Jesus was telling us in our reading tonight. But rather than talk about earphones or hairdryers, Jesus uses another picture. But before we get to that, a little quiz. What country do you identify with the thistle? (Scotland). The shamrock? (Ireland) The maple leaf? (Canada). The fern? (New Zealand). The vine?

The vine was the national symbol of Israel. In the Old Testament, in Isaiah 5, God sings the song of his vineyard. He’s talking about Israel, his people, as his vineyard. But the vineyard he planted turned out to be wild. It didn’t produce good grapes. But now, here in John 15, Jesus says ‘I am the true vine.’ He’s the real thing.

Now I’ve brought some grapes with me tonight. So where did these grapes come from? How did they grow? They don’t have a factory making grapes like these - the branch has to be connected to the vine. It needs the sap, the power to produce the fruit. In the same way, Jesus says to his disciples: ‘Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.’ (John 15:4)

We need the power of Jesus to live as Christians. If we’re not connected to him, we won’t be able to do anything. That’s why Jesus tells us to remain in him - to rest in him, to abide in him, to be joined with him at all times. It’s only by this that we can produce fruit.

Now, here’s a spot the difference for you. What’s the difference between an apple tree and a Christmas tree? (By the way, it’s only 272 days to Christmas). A Christmas tree might look very nice with lights and baubles and tinsel and whatever else you put on a Christmas tree, but they have to be hung on it. The Christmas tree doesn’t produce all those things itself. The apple tree produces its own fruit.

But which are we like? Sometimes it can be very easy to come along to church or GFS, to look good, to seem to be a Christian with a great outward appearance, looking nice and respectable. But it’s all just decoration. Is that us? Or are we producing the fruit of being a Christian, living out of our relationship with Jesus - we’ll see what that looks like in a moment.

So that’s the basic point Jesus wants us to get tonight - we need to be connected to Jesus. It’s more important than being connected with 5000 friends on Facebook.

But Jesus goes on to show two ways in which being connected to him will impact our life. Here’s the first one: ‘If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.’ (John 15:7-8)

So how does that sound? Ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. Whatever you wish. It sounds a bit like a genie and a magic lamp, doesn’t it? Three friends were on a desert island when they found a lamp. The genie each gave them one wish. The first wished he was in Paris and he disappeared. The second wished he was in Hollywood and he disappeared. The third realised how lonely he was and wished his friends could come back...

So is Jesus saying that we can have whatever we want? Could we go outside after the service to find our cars have been changed into Ferraris or Porsches? But we’ve missed out the first part of the sentence. ‘If you remain in me and my words remain in you...’ It’s when we’re connected to Jesus, as his words remain in us, then we can ask whatever we wish and we’ll receive it. It’s not asking for things you want selfishly, rather, it’s about asking for the things Jesus wants because they are the things we want as well. When we’re connected to Jesus, we’ll see answered prayers.

There’s one more effect. Have you ever seen a domino display? You need a steady hand to set it up. One domino moves the next and on and on... We see something the same here as Jesus talks about love. ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.’ (John 15:9) The Father loves the Son, who loves us, and who do we pass it on to? ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’

These words were said in the upper room, just hours before Jesus went to the cross. It was there that he demonstrated the greatest love of all: ‘Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.’ (14) It is as we receive his love - as we see just what Jesus did for us that we are connected to him. The cross is where we see the love of Jesus. Never wander from the love of Jesus. His love is the power that flows from him to us. His love will make us fruitful, as we become more like Jesus.

Jesus commands us to love one another. That’s because it isn’t easy. We’re all different, with different personalities and preferences. It takes the love of God to overflow in our hearts to each other as the fruit of the Spirit grows.

One of the problems of buying fruit is that sometimes it goes off quickly. It isn’t all eaten and it goes bad. My banana has seen better days. It’s past its best. It’s only good for the compost heap. But the fruit that we produce when we’re connected to Jesus endures for ever: ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.’

Are you connected to Jesus? Perhaps you realise that you’re disconnected, far from him. You need to be plugged in, grafted on. Come to him tonight. Look at the cross, and discover his great love for you, to lay down his life for you.

But maybe you are a Christian. Stay connected. Return again to the cross, and let the love of Jesus flood your heart and overflow - as you pray like Jesus, and love like Jesus, producing spiritual fruit that will last forever.

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Tuesday 27th March 2018, as part of the Famous Last Words series for Holy Week.

Sermon: John 14: 1-14 Famous Last Words - I am the way

Saying farewell is never easy. To know that someone isn’t going to be around, for whatever reason, can be difficult to get used to. And yet, it happens all the time. Your neighbours who’ve been there next door for ages sell up and move away. Your colleague or boss is shifted to another branch. Your children or grandchildren move off to university. Your relatives up sticks and settle in another country.

At least with most of those moves, you don’t lose contact. You can still keep in touch. But there is another farewell which (for the meantime) is a firmer, more final kind of farewell. Whether a sudden shock or a long, drawn out, gradual decline, it’s hard to say farewell when a loved one dies.

For the disciples of Jesus, our reading tonight is the shocking type of farewell. Just before our reading, at the end of chapter 13, Jesus has told the disciples that he is going to be with them only a little longer. That where he is going, they can’t come. It takes them by surprise. They weren’t expecting this news.

It’s now Thursday evening - everything from John 13 through to John 17 happens in one night, and that’s before the arrest, trial and crucifixion. Jesus is preparing his disciples for all that’s going to happen in the next day, and then life after Good Friday. They’re saddened by the new that he’s leaving them - after all, he’s been with them for three years. They’ve seen and done so much together. And on Palm Sunday, Jesus had been welcomed into the city.

They thought this was the victory they had been longing for. They imagined Jesus was about to take his rightful throne. And Jesus says he is leaving them? Where is he going? What’s happening? What sort of farewell is this?

It’s no wonder Peter jumps in to say that he’ll follow Jesus now, that he’ll lay down his life for Jesus. Very shortly Peter will deny even knowing Jesus. Peter can’t die for Jesus - Jesus has to die for Peter. That’s why Jesus must go.

Jesus is leaving them. Their friend, guide, master, and Lord is leaving them. It’s no wonder that chapter 14 begins with those very familiar words from the funeral service. It’s obvious that their hearts were troubled by this news; that they were anxious about the future, worried about what would happen. It’s why Jesus says this:

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.’ He doesn’t want them to be anxious, or to have troubled hearts. And the way to avoid troubled hearts is to trust God, and also trust Jesus - through all that is about to happen. Even when they don’t understand it.

Jesus says ‘trust me’ - I wonder if anyone has said those words to you recently. Maybe buying a car, and you’re not sure about it. Trust me. You’ve been let down by someone before. Trust me. They give you a promise, and you have to decide if you believe them, if they’ll actually do what they say they will do.

So what is it the disciples have to trust Jesus for? In verse 2 he gives them a promise - the reason why he is going away. ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms.’ Now, whether you’re used to hearing about mansions (dwelling places) or rooms, the point Jesus is making is that he’s making a home for us; a place prepared.

A while back we were doing an overnight stay in a hotel with friends. There was some confusion over the booking, and when I rang up the day we were due to go, it turned out that only one room had been booked. Our friends’ room. Thankfully they still had some left!

Worse, a friend of mine arrived at his hotel in London. He found that the hotel had double booked his room; there was definitely no room at the inn. So he had to traipse across London, wheeling his suitcase behind me, to go to another hotel from the same company.

But that won’t happen to any of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus is saying that our place is prepared; it’s certain. He is going to prepare a place for us. He goes to make everything ready. And not only that, he will personally come and take us to be with him.

This isn’t like the holidays that you might have been on. You arrive at the airport and you’re loaded onto a hot and sticky bus for the trip around half the hotels in the resort before you come to yours. No, this is more like Jesus personally escorting us, bringing us with him.

Now, when you think to yourself - Jesus has been preparing our place in glory for two thousand years, this will be some place! But it’s not that the preparation has taken so long. It’s the going that prepares the place. It’s by Jesus’ death on the cross that we are guaranteed our place, as we trust him.

As Jesus says ‘you know the way to the place where I am going’, Thomas jumps in and says, Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’

Isn’t that true? You need to know where you’re going, your end destination, before you know what way you’re going to get there. Do you see what Jesus says in verse 6? These are well-known words. Yet they tell us exactly who Jesus is.

‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

Jesus says ‘I am the way.’ He is the way, the route, the path. Notice that he doesn’t say ‘I am a way’, one option among many; he is the only way, the only way to get to the Father.

Jesus says ‘I am the truth.’ He doesn’t only speak true things; he is the truth. As you hear in court, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So we can depend on what Jesus says. We can trust his words. We can trust him.

Jesus says, ‘I am the life.’ Real life is found only in Jesus. He gives us life because he is the life. Remember that Jesus is about to go to the cross. He’s about to lay down his life, in order to bring us to God, in order to give us his life.

There is no other way, no other truth, no other life. Only Jesus can show us the Father. Only Jesus can reveal God to us. In his life, works, words and witness, Jesus shows us what God is like, because the Father is in Jesus.

Through the death of Jesus on the cross we have the promise of our place prepared; our room in God’s house. It’s there for us, as we trust in God, and trust also in Jesus. So are you depending on him today?

Jesus is the way. Are you going his way? Are you going with Jesus, or going on your own way? Do you need to turn around, get back on track, to go with Jesus?

Jesus is the truth. Are you living by his truth? Or are you believing someone else’s truth? Who are you listening to? What are you building your life on?

Jesus is the life. Are you experiencing his abundant life today?Are you certain of his everlasting life when the time of your own farewell comes?

Jesus says to us, and to all his disciples: ‘Let not your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.’

This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Monday 26th March 2018 in the 'Famous Last Words' Holy Week series.