Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text for this evening is the Epistle Lesson just read, Heb. 5:7-9. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Today is “Good” Friday – and it God’s will that we rejoice in His love, which moved Him to lay down His life for us on the cross, to atone for all our sins, to bring us forgiveness, life, and eternal salvation. In view of such great love, we sorrow that our sins should require such suffering on His part – but His love bids us rejoice in that love.
- Such gracious love also moves us to greater love for Jesus, greater respect for Him, and greater eagerness to follow Him, to emulate Him in our own lives. However, our text does not describe “THE WAY OF JESUS” as being particularly pleasant. We must understand this, and that we are called to follow Him, and that we will experience and inherit blessedness in the same way that He did. It is not optional, although there are many times when we would “opt out” of these dynamics.
- However, even though we are unappreciative and uncooperative, this is the way of great blessing – so we contemplate “THE WAY OF JESUS” that we might grow in our gratitude to God for His great blessings. For:
I. Jesus’ Glory And Our Great Blessedness Came By His Submissive And Obedient Suffering
Text: “In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”
A. So He Was Made Complete And Perfect In Love Through Humble Submission And Obedient Suffering
B. So Also He Became The Source Of Eternal Salvation For All Believers, All Who Obey Him
C. He Is Now Our Great High Priest Forever – Our Savior And Our Lord
Heb. 5:5.6 “So also Christ did not exalt Himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by Him who said to Him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten You’; as He says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’”
Statement: It seems odd to us that Christ should have to “learn” anything, or that He would have to be “prepared” in any respect for becoming the source of eternal salvation for us. It certainly was not “absolutely” necessary – as though He could not have saved us without this “learning” and “preparation.” Rather, it was what God chose to do – and He had good reason for accomplishing our salvation and the glorification of His beloved Son in this manner. Principally, so that we might contemplate “THE WAY OF JESUS” and learn from Him – even as we rejoice in His gracious redemption and salvation and love for us.
Application: We know that God is good, the ultimate, complete, and perfect good. So His manner with Christ, and Christ’s Way, must also be completely and perfectly good – even though Jesus Himself “offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him who was able to save Him from death.” It wasn’t pleasant, and He endured suffering and death for us even though “He was heard because of His reverence.” This is good – because these are things which we have to learn and be prepared for. So Christ does not ask anything of us more than what He willingly and humbly endured FOR us and our salvation. All this because:
II. We Too Are Blessed In Christ In The Same Way – As We Follow In “THE WAY OF JESUS”
A. We Too Learn Obedience By Our Suffering – Even Though We Are Even Now Children Of God
Luke 9:23 “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
Acts 14:22 “We must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God.”
Rom. 8:18 “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
B. We Too Learn By Our Sufferings To Pray Always To Him Who Can Save Us From Death – And We Are Heard In This Reverence For God, Even When Our Trials Continue
2 Cor. 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”
Rom. 8:28 “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
C. And So We Too Are Made Complete And Perfect In The Suffering Involved In “THE WAY OF JESUS” – And We Are Saved Eternally
Text: “And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”
Statement: I suppose that it could be asserted that none of this is “absolutely necessary,” the only way in which God could accomplish this great blessedness in us. He is God and He can do whatever He pleases. However, God is love and perfect goodness – and just as Jesus suffered, with the result of great goodness, so all of our “tribulations” in following Jesus yield the greatest goodness for us. It is unpleasant – we pray that we be delivered. And we will in due time, in the proper time – but we also know that we are being richly blessed in following “THE WAY OF JESUS.”
Application: So let us consider carefully this Good Friday all that Jesus endured, and just how He endured it. Let us consider the good and blessings that have come to us through His humble, submissive obedience. Let us rejoice in this love of God, and let us grow in the joy that is set before us as we too are invited and compelled to follow in “THE WAY OF JESUS” – in full assurance of faith that only the greatest good will come to us.
Conclusion: There is mystery in all of this, and we will never fully fathom all of the mystery – at least not in this life. But there is no mystery in the assurance of God’s love for us, and the blessedness He brings into our lives through His loving providence. It is Good Friday – and it is good for us every day that we are following in “THE WAY OF JESUS.” Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.