It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming (I) Friday

It’s the title of a famous, often preached, sermon. The Friday in question is Good Friday, the Sunday, Easter (Resurrection) Sunday. The phrase “It’s Friday” taps into the sense that the day that Jesus was crucified must have felt like the end of the world. Everything on which they had pinned their hopes was gone “We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). Most of us can relate, the feelings we had at the death of a dream, of a loved one, of a marriage, the devastation of a betrayal etc., etc. The feelings of our “Good Friday” are the substance of depression, of suicidal thoughts, of the end of the world as we know it! I remember the first (but not the last) time I felt these feelings. It was when my girlfriend of four and a half years, decided out of the blue, that she wanted someone else.

“But” changes everything! I bought a winning lottery ticket, but I lost it! Likewise, the “buts” of the Bible, are places where everything changes, and are there to bring us hope where there is no hope. Lazarus was dead, but Jesus is the resurrection and the life (John 11:14, 25). Now there can be no resurrection without a death. We were dead in trespasses and sins, but God who is rich in mercy made us alive (Ephesians 2:1,5). The Christian life then starts with a resurrection, but I have come to realize that in many ways the victorious Christian life is a series of deaths and resurrections. When Lazarus was resurrected he came out “bound hand and foot with grave clothes" (John 11:44). And like many things in the Scripture, it is a parable of how, when we first get saved, we are at some level still bound with the grave cloths of our previous lives.

Lazarus needed help from the community to become unbound (John 11:44), and so do we. There are two things to say. The first is that freedom, inner healing and the abundant life is a process, and comes as we continue steadfastly in His Word, in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers (John 8:31; James 5:16; Acts 2:42). Secondly because we are in the mists of a war, and the fellowship is never perfect, we can expect trials and difficulties (1 Peter 4:12). Jesus was betrayed by one of the twelve! When such trials come, we need to remember that God is working all these things together for our good, and that He has overcome the world (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28; John 16:33). What I know in my own life, is that every death has, through His resurrection power, brought me ever closer to Him. And I can say not in spite of it, but because of it “He has done all things well” (Mark 7:37).

Father, I have discovered the truth of the saying that we do not know that You are all we need until You are all we have. And I pray this morning Lord for those reading this who are still in Friday, that they may know for certain that Sunday is coming! We can be sure of this Lord for You have promised, and You are faithful. Help us Lord to die to all that hinders, surrendering everything we have counted gain, so that we might know the fellowship of Your sufferings and the power of Your resurrection. Help us Lord to press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:7-14). And we will give You the glory in Jesus Name Amen