At tonight’s Good Friday service, we looked at ‘The Three Rs’ – not reading, writing and ‘rithmetic, but remembrance, receiving and being restored.
We Remember
Good Friday is a day when we remember Jesus Christ (see 2 Tim 2:8). We remember His death, by which we are reconciled to God (Eph 2:1-3, 2 Cor 5:21). We look beyond the injustice and political scheming of the day to the willing sacrifice of the Passover Lamb (John 10:11, 17-18, 1 Pet 1:19) and see that the crucifixion, awful though it was, was also part of God’s great plan of salvation. Without the death of Jesus, we would still be in our sins, still lost, still under the Father’s judgment and condemnation, but because of the death of Jesus, we are now children of God, heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ.
We Receive
We are not saved, however, unless we receive Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. John 3:16-18 shows us that love motivated God to send His Son to save us, not to condemn us. If we are to become His children, however, we need to receive Jesus (see John 1:11-13). We have to open our heart’s door to let Him in. (Rev 3:20) When we receive the bread and wine in Communion, we continue to open our hearts to Him and feed on Him (see John 6:57-58). This leads us into everlasting and joyful life. (John 10:10)
We Are Restored
We have to remember and receive, but only God can do the restoring! He restores our soul (Ps 23:3), restores our joy (Ps 51:12) and restores our wasted years. (Joel 2:25) We are restored to a relationship with God and can know forgiveness, cleansing and justification. All these benefits and blessings can be ours as we see God working out His salvation in our lives.
