I hope you’re having a blessed Good Friday, already pondering the wonder of the passion, suffering, and death of our King, and yet eager for those thoughts to be expanded and elevated in our corporate worship this evening (the service begins at 6:30 PM).

Two friendly question/reminders about our corporate worship this Easter Sunday:

1) Have you invited anyone to join you for one of the services? Have you given out any of the Easter weekend invitation cards? If you haven’t picked up any invitations yet, or you’ve already given away what you have, they will be available again tonight at the Welcome Center. In other words, it’s not too late to invite someone!

Also, if you have invited some friends or family to join you either tonight or Sunday morning, let me ask, have you been praying for them to come, and praying that God would do in their hearts what only God can do? Please do.

2) On a more logistical level, have you thought about whether you can sacrifice the preference for a later Sunday morning service (9:00 AM and 10:45 AM) to go to the 7:30 AM service this Sunday? If years past are any indication, literally hundreds of visitors will be with us on Easter Sunday, and almost none of them will go to the 7:30 AM service. I realize not every one can or will go to the early service — and I admit that the 7:30 AM service would not be my preference, all things considered equal — but let me just ask you to consider going to the 7:30 AM service to open up space in those later services where many will hear the gospel for the first time or for the first time in many years.

By the way, if I remember correctly, last Easter the 9:00 AM service was the fullest. So, if 10:45 AM is the service you normally go to, it might not be of much help for you to come to the 9:00 AM service. Earlier is probably only better if it’s the 7:30 AM service. Thanks!

Looking forward with you to a whole weekend of pondering the passion, suffering, death, burial, resurrection, life, and victory of our Great King. May God do mighty things in minds and hearts for his glory!

This Easter Sunday the sermon will focus on Luke 24:13-47. When I mentioned that to my wife she pointed me to D.A. Carson’s devotional, For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word. On the reading which covers Luke 24, Carson gives this poetic account of the chapter:

They came alone: some women who remembered him,

Bowed down with spices to anoint his corpse.

Through darkened streets, they wept their way to honor him‚

The one whose death had shattered all their hopes.

“Why do you look for life among the sepulchers?

He is not here. He’s risen, as he said.

Remember how he told you while in Galilee:

The Son of Man will die and rise up from the dead.”

The two walked home, a study in defeat and loss,

Explaining to a stranger why the gloom‚

How Jesus seemed to be the King before his cross,

How all their hopes lay buried in his tomb.

“How slow you are to see Christ’s glorious pilgrimage

Ran through the cross,” and then he broke the bread.

Their eyes were opened, and they grasped the Scripture’s truth:

The man who taught them had arisen from the dead.

He was a skeptic: not for him that easy faith

That swaps the truth for sentimental sigh.

Unless he saw the nail marks in his hands himself,

And touched his side, he’d not believe the lie.

Then Jesus came, although the doors were shut and locked.

“Repent of doubt, and reach into my side;

Trace out the wounds that nails left in my broken hands.

And understand that I who speaks to you once died.”

Long years have passed, and still we face the fear of death,

Which steals our loved ones, leaving us undone,

And still confronts us, beckoning with icy breath,

The final terror when life’s course is run.

But this I know: the Savior passed this way before,

His body clothed in immortality.

The sting’s been drawn: the power of sin has been destroyed.

We sing: Death has been swallowed up in victory.

In the first chapter of Jesus on Trial, James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken ask, “Who is to blame for the arrest, trial, and execution of Jesus?” They suggest seven different categories of people involved in “The Conspiracy” (the name of the chapter), elaborating on each throughout the chapter:

• The Jewish religious leaders
• Judas
• The Roman rulers
• The crowd
• Us
• God, the Father
• Jesus himself

While Boice and Ryken do not use the following words, I would summarize their conclusion like this:

The multiplicity of conspiracies leading to the death of Jesus was precisely what God had planned for accomplishing our redemption and glorifying the Son. However wicked and unjust each part of The Conspiracy was, they fit together like a jig-saw to bring about the greatest event in redemptive history. What appears to be “the perfect storm” is, in fact, a Divine orchestration or a perfectly executed battle plan. Or, in the words of the early disciples, these seemingly horrible events are simply “whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur” (Acts 5:28).

Then the chapter ends with this smile-worthy analysis:

Jesus is just full of surprises. Put him to death, and he comes back to life. Conspire against him, seeking his death, and he will conspire against you, dying for your sins and then rising again to give you eternal life. Put Jesus on trial‚ if you dare! Try to decide if he measures up to your standards and you will discover that all the while he has been investigating you. Perhaps even now Jesus is plotting to bring you into a whole new relationship with him.

The preaching this Sunday will take us back to our study of Luke’s gospel account, as we examine 7:1-30. There we’ll see three stories of healing, faith, salvation, and mission. Like almost every story in the gospel accounts, these verses show us different angles on similar themes: who Jesus is; how he reveals himself in his public ministry; how people variously respond to the person and work of Jesus. Once again, let me encourage you to read the passage, perhaps with the family or a friend, before our time of corporate worship tomorrow morning. Come prayerfully and expectantly.

Also, remember that this Sunday at 6:30 PM we’ll be having a night of classical and jazz musical performance. We’re calling it “For the Joy of Music and the Glory of God.” I’ve been hearing some of the music practiced for weeks (even months) now since my wife, Sarah, is one of the musicians. If you’re able to come, you’re in for quite a treat…if I may say so! Remember, this is a great thing to invite a non-Christian friend to, especially with someone you think wouldn’t yet be interested in coming to an actual church service yet. It’s simply a night of great jazz and classical music. And it’s free!

By the way, if you’re wondering about the benefit of music performance in the church (ie, music-for-music’s-sake), or, more generally, in the church’s involvement in less overtly religious things like art and culture, take a look at this article by William Edgar, “Good Company, Good Art, and a Good Laugh.” Bill’s written many great articles on similar themes, but this is certainly one of my favorites.

We have the great honor and pleasure of having Matthew Ellison teach us from God’s Word this Sunday. Matthew will be looking at 2 Corinthians 8:1-9, where Paul reminds the Corinthians that “The Worst of Times Are the Best of Times for Giving.” Financially troubling times like these can produce fear, but they also provide many opportunities to help others who are in need. Pray that God would help us to joyfully trust in Him and seek first His kingdom, even though our senses tell us to worry because the world is out of control.