Good Friday

SERMON

Text: Acts 20:28-32

Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

In Christ Jesus, Who was sent by His heavenly Father “to redeem those who were under the law,” dear friends in Christ:

During this Lenten Season we have focused our attention upon THE MEANING OF THE CROSS. It was with interest then that I noted that the cover story on the most recent U.S. News & World Report was about Jesus and asked the question, "Why did He (Jesus) die?" I was so very pleased when in the opening paragraph the article’s author, Jeffery Sheler, took note of the fact that, "To the apostle Paul, the Crucifixion of Jesus was the very heart of the Gospel, ‘the power of God unto salvation.’" I was also impressed when in that same opening paragraph he referred to Jesus as having died a "sacrificial death." However, from that point on the article failed to address the true spiritual reasons for Jesus’ death and so failed to reveal the meaning of the cross. Mr. Sheler, while citing a variety of scholar’s opinions, never progresses beyond the point of saying that Pontius Pilate, with the complicity of Caiaphas, had Jesus’ executed in order to prevent a political uprising.

Why did Jesus die? Let’s begin with Jeffery Sheler’s initial observation that to the apostle Paul, the Crucifixion of Jesus was the heart of the gospel, and pursue Paul’s reasoning and consequent revelation of God’s reasons for Jesus’ death, for when we do so we discover that the cross means redemption!

Paul spoke the words of our text to the elders of the Christian church in Ephesus, as he returned from Greece at the end of his third missionary journey. He was en route to Jerusalem and so did not want to stop in Ephesus lest he be further delayed. He, therefore, called the elders with whom he had worked so long and so diligently out to the coastal town of Miletus. There he sought to encourage them in their work. He reminded them of all the work they had done together over a period of almost three years. He summarized his ministry by saying that he had taught “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” and that Jesus had called him to “testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:21). But what specifically was that “gospel of grace” and why would it lead to “repentance…and faith”? Paul’s words in our text explain this, and in so doing answer the question as by Jeffery Sheler and reveal the meaning of the cross!

Paul urges the Ephesian elders to watch carefully over the “flock,” which had been entrusted to their care by the Holy Spirit. They were to “shepherd” that flock—why? Because, Paul says, God “purchased” that flock “with His own blood!” This brief phrase encompasses a mystery too deep for any of us to understand, and yet it reveals the reason why Jesus had to die and what that death on the cross meant! It is a profound mystery to know that God died on the cross. How can God die? Some, struggling to answer that question, do violence to Scripture by trying to rend the Son of God apart—separating His divinity from His humanity and explaining that only Jesus’ humanity died, while His divinity did not. But Paul says “God (shed) His own blood.” Jesus died, not because He was a political threat, for as He explained to Pontius Pilate, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11). The reason Jesus died on the cross was because He willingly and intentionally stepped forward to die. He took our place and endured death on the cross, for it was through His death that He would pay the price—He would pay the purchase price for us, redeeming us from sin, death, and Satan! The ultimate meaning of the cross, therefore, is redemption—we, who by nature and in view of our sins deserve to be cast away from God forever, have been redeemed by the blood of our Savior and adopted as sons and daughters of our heavenly Father!

Having stated this wonderful truth, Paul warned the elders of Ephesus that they would have to be perpetually on their guard both for themselves and their flock. Paul predicted that “savage wolves” would come after his departure, arising even from within the church, in order to draw the flock away from their Savior God. What Paul predicted has certainly come true, for as we see in our own day many have arisen to oppose the clear teachings of salvation by grace through faith, leading even those within the church to deny the basic truths of our Christian faith. Consequently, Paul continues by commending us “to God and to the word of His grace, which (Paul says) is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

My dear friends, Jesus did not shed His blood in order to redeem us only to desert us in this life—to abandon us to Satan and all of our other spiritual foes. No, Jesus redeemed us so that we might be led to repentance over sin and be built up in our faith and relationship with God—so that we might have an inheritance together with all believers. Our Savior God does not want us, His children, to live in uncertainty and fear, but rather would strengthen us daily as we use His Word and rejoice in His sacraments. He would have us be productive citizens of His kingdom living in love to His glory and serving as blessings to each other, as we look forward to the rewards of joint-citizenship in heaven!

Why did Jesus die? What is the meaning of the cross? The answer is the same, is it not, for both questions? Jesus died so that we might be His very own—His cross means our redemption! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting