Broadwater Baptist Church
Good Friday - 10/04/2020
Locations & Times
Broadwater Baptist Church
Dominion Rd, Worthing BN14 8JL, UK
Friday 10:30 AM
Good Friday 10th April 2020
You are able to follow the whole service via the youtube link below which includes prayers, songs and other readings
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm_8xewriMMGoEaXaXsAB8e7804LYzXPcIntroduction
There is no escaping the fact that these words from Psalm 22:1-11 are difficult to hear or read. I think it was harder still to hear them in a child's voice. Hindsight informs us that these are words that resonant with Jesus’ words on the cross as He gave himself for the sins of mankind. Now, hindsight is in the majority of cases a marvelous thing. I believe in this instance it is not.
We can come already prepared for these words and nod sagely, with regret and sadness, as we recollect Jesus on the cross, without seeing that yes there is an obvious connection, that I’m not denying, but we may miss an ongoing call to see what is being made visible to us about ourselves and the world in general. Good Friday and this Psalm gives us that opportunity.
There is no escaping the fact that these words from Psalm 22:1-11 are difficult to hear or read. I think it was harder still to hear them in a child's voice. Hindsight informs us that these are words that resonant with Jesus’ words on the cross as He gave himself for the sins of mankind. Now, hindsight is in the majority of cases a marvelous thing. I believe in this instance it is not.
We can come already prepared for these words and nod sagely, with regret and sadness, as we recollect Jesus on the cross, without seeing that yes there is an obvious connection, that I’m not denying, but we may miss an ongoing call to see what is being made visible to us about ourselves and the world in general. Good Friday and this Psalm gives us that opportunity.
What might these words mean to you here and now?
Are we able to learn more about ourselves when it comes to Good Friday and this Psalm?
Harsh Questions
Good Friday and Psalm 22 ask very harsh questions of the world, of the church and of Christians.
For the World, as the crowds gather around the stricken individual in the Psalm they come with mocking words, their taunts, their insults. For them there is no let up as they look upon someone who they see as cursed, rubbish, hated and disregarded.
For those throwing the words, without restraint, there is no remorse, no guilt, just anger and derision towards someone who is removed from the structures of power, one who is weak, one who is damned by their own misdemeanours. One who is set apart from the blessing of God, so therefore is worth nothing. What drives their response to the psalmist is pride in their self sufficiency and their assurance that they are chosen, that they are blessed.
The harsh question for the church is that we can so easily fall into that way of thinking. That we are the blessed of God, chosen and so our attitude to the Psalmist may well have been the same. Remember that not just at the time of the writing of the psalm, but also at the crucifiction, those at the forefront of the abuse were, you guessed it, God’s chosen people. Are we any different?
To change we might need to face the reality that each one of us must identify with the psalmist not the crowd. To come to terms that the one derided, hated, cursed is the one blessed of God. In the pain of rejection there is the satisfaction of being truly loved. For us, who we associate with in the Psalm, goes a long way in telling us how we see our position before God. The last thing the Psalmist thought was that he was blessed. In fact his complaint was that God was not there for him. Had left him, deserted him and thrown him to the wolves.
Good Friday and Psalm 22 ask very harsh questions of the world, of the church and of Christians.
For the World, as the crowds gather around the stricken individual in the Psalm they come with mocking words, their taunts, their insults. For them there is no let up as they look upon someone who they see as cursed, rubbish, hated and disregarded.
For those throwing the words, without restraint, there is no remorse, no guilt, just anger and derision towards someone who is removed from the structures of power, one who is weak, one who is damned by their own misdemeanours. One who is set apart from the blessing of God, so therefore is worth nothing. What drives their response to the psalmist is pride in their self sufficiency and their assurance that they are chosen, that they are blessed.
The harsh question for the church is that we can so easily fall into that way of thinking. That we are the blessed of God, chosen and so our attitude to the Psalmist may well have been the same. Remember that not just at the time of the writing of the psalm, but also at the crucifiction, those at the forefront of the abuse were, you guessed it, God’s chosen people. Are we any different?
To change we might need to face the reality that each one of us must identify with the psalmist not the crowd. To come to terms that the one derided, hated, cursed is the one blessed of God. In the pain of rejection there is the satisfaction of being truly loved. For us, who we associate with in the Psalm, goes a long way in telling us how we see our position before God. The last thing the Psalmist thought was that he was blessed. In fact his complaint was that God was not there for him. Had left him, deserted him and thrown him to the wolves.
Do we need to think again when it comes to how we see ourselves as blessed?
Daring Complaint to God
However I think the possibility given to us within the psalm is quite remarkable. The one who is, in the eyes of the world and sometimes the Church, is the one who complains the most. And it’s a daring complaint isn’t it?
Now I can complain, I can mumble my discontent and frustration with the best of them. It can be so bad that I was once called the Jack Dee of the Baptist Union. I do like a moan. But any moan of mine doesn’t come close to what is going on here.
A moan is to voice a trivial objection to a situation, a complaint, however has far more power. And here the psalmist complains against, not the mockers and onlookers, not those that want to harm him, but his complaint is against the almighty. “God why have you deserted me?” And if we are honest we all have a complaint that can echo this one from the Psalmist.
We will often hear the world complain when our colleagues, friends, even members of our own family say “Why?” “ Why does this or that happen” “where is God”. These may well be ones you have thought yourself and they are certainly not unique. Some may say that the complaints aren’t allowed but there are three things that justify being able to complain against God. 1 the Psalmist did it and it ended up in scripture 2. Jesus did it at the cross and if He can then we surely can and 3 God is big enough to handle any and all of our complaints.
However I think the possibility given to us within the psalm is quite remarkable. The one who is, in the eyes of the world and sometimes the Church, is the one who complains the most. And it’s a daring complaint isn’t it?
Now I can complain, I can mumble my discontent and frustration with the best of them. It can be so bad that I was once called the Jack Dee of the Baptist Union. I do like a moan. But any moan of mine doesn’t come close to what is going on here.
A moan is to voice a trivial objection to a situation, a complaint, however has far more power. And here the psalmist complains against, not the mockers and onlookers, not those that want to harm him, but his complaint is against the almighty. “God why have you deserted me?” And if we are honest we all have a complaint that can echo this one from the Psalmist.
We will often hear the world complain when our colleagues, friends, even members of our own family say “Why?” “ Why does this or that happen” “where is God”. These may well be ones you have thought yourself and they are certainly not unique. Some may say that the complaints aren’t allowed but there are three things that justify being able to complain against God. 1 the Psalmist did it and it ended up in scripture 2. Jesus did it at the cross and if He can then we surely can and 3 God is big enough to handle any and all of our complaints.
Is it in our belief of being the chosen of God that we are often capable of behaving as the mockers, those who see the psalmist and make fun and sneer. Shake their heads, and say, “Trust the Lord! If you are his favorite, let him protect you and keep you safe.”
How do you feel about what was just said? Do you think we can complain against God? If not why not?
In all of these there is one major difference between when the world complains and when we, or the church, has a gripe against God and that is from a position of faith. The world will complain to the one who they have disregarded, never expressed a desire to follow or give credit for anything apart from the terrible things that happen in the world. They complain from a position of arrogance in that they feel they are justified in not bothering with God at any other time but when things go wrong.
But for the christian we come from a place of faith. When we say “why God have you left me, deserted me, forsaken me, '' we are speaking from a place where we try to hold fast to God's promise to always be with us. When we ask God to do something that feels impossible, we speak from knowing the almighty, creator God. The Psalmist himself alludes to it in v 3-5
3 Yet you are the holy God,
ruling from your throne
and praised by Israel.
4 Our ancestors trusted you,
and you rescued them.
5 When they cried out for help,
you saved them,
and you did not let them down
when they depended on you.
So when we do not see those two attributes of God in action, and maybe others as well, we feel justified in complaining. I have done it before and the circumstance was extreme. I felt lost, broken, devoid of God’s grace and seeing very little hope so I complained. And I saw God make a difference. It was a while but I no longer felt deserted.
And so in the psalm we also see the third reason for the difference when we complain, that of experience. “Our ancestors trusted you and you rescued them” We are able to get angry at not seeing God because He’s rescued us before so why not now. Our testimony of God’s grace in the past is as important in our complaint to us as it is to others. As with the Psalmist we can come before others and say as he does in v26...
26 When your people meet,
you will fill my heart
with your praises, Lord,
and everyone will see me
keep my promises to you.
Each one of us can encourage each other in giving testimony of God’s action in our lives. Everytime one of us struggles and complains we can help them with stories, just as the Psalmist ancestors did, of God’s intervention in the world and the lives of those who love him.
But for the christian we come from a place of faith. When we say “why God have you left me, deserted me, forsaken me, '' we are speaking from a place where we try to hold fast to God's promise to always be with us. When we ask God to do something that feels impossible, we speak from knowing the almighty, creator God. The Psalmist himself alludes to it in v 3-5
3 Yet you are the holy God,
ruling from your throne
and praised by Israel.
4 Our ancestors trusted you,
and you rescued them.
5 When they cried out for help,
you saved them,
and you did not let them down
when they depended on you.
So when we do not see those two attributes of God in action, and maybe others as well, we feel justified in complaining. I have done it before and the circumstance was extreme. I felt lost, broken, devoid of God’s grace and seeing very little hope so I complained. And I saw God make a difference. It was a while but I no longer felt deserted.
And so in the psalm we also see the third reason for the difference when we complain, that of experience. “Our ancestors trusted you and you rescued them” We are able to get angry at not seeing God because He’s rescued us before so why not now. Our testimony of God’s grace in the past is as important in our complaint to us as it is to others. As with the Psalmist we can come before others and say as he does in v26...
26 When your people meet,
you will fill my heart
with your praises, Lord,
and everyone will see me
keep my promises to you.
Each one of us can encourage each other in giving testimony of God’s action in our lives. Everytime one of us struggles and complains we can help them with stories, just as the Psalmist ancestors did, of God’s intervention in the world and the lives of those who love him.
Do you have stories you can share of God’s grace and intervention in your life? Think a moment about something you might share to encourage someone else.
God is big enough
No matter what complaint we have, God is big enough to deal with it. And in truth He does understand. He even understands death. It was in the life and death of His Son that God was able to experience everything about life. Everything about our lives. So God is able to come alongside us and give us confidence that He knows how we feel, has experienced what we have.
Jesus’ complaint at God’s absence was justified. God had left Him. He had to leave him to show how much sin hurt Him, but also to show how much He loved us. When God’s son felt able to say “why?” to God, He gave every son and daughter of God permission to echo that complaint.
What also happened was we saw that God was able to take all of the complaints, worries, fears, anxiety, anger, hate, frustration, abuse, ridicule and slander, all anger, sin, frustration, every hurtful attitude and action and do something about it. For now we might complain…. and we just have to wait a while for God to rescue us.
Let’s pray.
No matter what complaint we have, God is big enough to deal with it. And in truth He does understand. He even understands death. It was in the life and death of His Son that God was able to experience everything about life. Everything about our lives. So God is able to come alongside us and give us confidence that He knows how we feel, has experienced what we have.
Jesus’ complaint at God’s absence was justified. God had left Him. He had to leave him to show how much sin hurt Him, but also to show how much He loved us. When God’s son felt able to say “why?” to God, He gave every son and daughter of God permission to echo that complaint.
What also happened was we saw that God was able to take all of the complaints, worries, fears, anxiety, anger, hate, frustration, abuse, ridicule and slander, all anger, sin, frustration, every hurtful attitude and action and do something about it. For now we might complain…. and we just have to wait a while for God to rescue us.
Let’s pray.
Confession – Take a moment of silent reflection.… Even though we are the ones who did this to you we come in confession of our sins...
...and place them at the foot of the cross…
...we do this in hope that we can know even today more fully the truth of these words from Hebrews...
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds," then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more." Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
(Heb 10:16-23)
Intercession –
Lord it was very strange what you did for us. We could never imagine for one minute what that was like. Take a moment
Just as you did what was surprising we ask that you help us to do what people don’t expect. Help us to serve those that need your help. Take a moment
We pray for those that are without friends and alone. Helps us to help them. Take a moment
We pray especially for those that least expect us to pray and that you will help us to be different. That you even died for those that do not love you, we pray for those that do not love us. Help us to love them and that our actions will not be what they expect.
...and place them at the foot of the cross…
...we do this in hope that we can know even today more fully the truth of these words from Hebrews...
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds," then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more." Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
(Heb 10:16-23)
Intercession –
Lord it was very strange what you did for us. We could never imagine for one minute what that was like. Take a moment
Just as you did what was surprising we ask that you help us to do what people don’t expect. Help us to serve those that need your help. Take a moment
We pray for those that are without friends and alone. Helps us to help them. Take a moment
We pray especially for those that least expect us to pray and that you will help us to be different. That you even died for those that do not love you, we pray for those that do not love us. Help us to love them and that our actions will not be what they expect.