Don’t forget the Easter March of Hope around Goldthorpe which will start at 10 a.m. today (Easter Saturday) at the Catholic church on Lockwood Road. If you’re not sure where that is, we will be meeting at GPCC for 9. 45 a.m., so you can join us there. We will march around Goldthorpe, proclaiming that Jesus is Lord, returning to our church by about 11 a.m. for drinks at the coffee morning.

Graham Kendrick’s song ‘Meekness and Majesty‘ looks at the paradoxical nature of Christ, who ‘being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!’ (Phil 2:6-8).

Easter is always the time when the paradox of the divinity and humanity of Christ seems to be especially visible. The King of all Creation kneeling to wash the disciples’ feet, (John 13:1-17) The Creator of the universe nailed to a wooden cross. (Col 1:16-17, Col 2:13-15) The One who could call on His Father and receive help from more than twelve legions of angels willingly submitting to arrest. (Matt 26:52-54) Our minds simply cannot comprehend the level of submission and sacrifice we see.

Scripture tells us that on the day Christ was crucified ‘From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.’ (Matt 27:45) No day seems darker in human history. All hope seemed to be lost. C.S. Lewis re-tells the story in his allegory ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe’ where chapter 14 is entitled ‘The Triumph of the Witch’ and captures the misery and darkness of the tale well. We do well to pause at this point and grasp the depth of sorrow and the ache of Calvary.

Nonetheless, Good Friday is not the end of the story. Eugene Peterson reminds us “Evil is not inexhaustible. It is not infinite. It is not worthy of a lifetime of attention.” (Eugene Peterson, ‘Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work’, P 124) Even in darkness, light dawns.(Ps 112:4) Rend Collective sing ‘The dark is just a canvas for Your grace and brightness.’ (‘Joy’) In the midst of the bleakness of Easter, in the midst of the sorrow and heartache and bewilderment and confusion that will find their way into all of our lives at some point, there is brightness, hope, light. Christ’s resurrection from the dead, His triumph over death, His ultimate victory remind us that evil is not inexhaustible or infinite. Our God is greater.

An expectation is what is considered the most likely outcome in a certain situation. We all have expectations of life, whether these are expressed or not. Sometimes, our expectations are realistic and based on reliable experience (we expect that the sun will rise in the morning and set in the evening, for example) and at other times, they may be unrealistic and based more on wishful thinking or fantasy than any experience based in reality (expecting to win the Lottery when you don’t even compete, for example.)

Expectations generally lead to other emotions: satisfaction if they are fulfilled; disappointment if they are not,  with frustration, anger and resentment being other reactions to unfulfilled expectations.

Quite a lot of the negative emotions we experience may well be due to unfulfilled and unrealistic expectations. We can feel frustrated with ourselves when we do not reach the targets we have set for ourselves; we can feel annoyed with other people when they do not do what we want them to do.

We can even feel angry and upset with God when He does not meet our expectations.

We need frequently to tug away at the layers of our expectations to find what resides underneath. Were those expectations realistic? Were they based on fantasy or rooted in truth? Did we ever voice those expectations to others or just expect them to intuitively know what we expected of them? Have we projected our expectations onto God without pausing to consider if they line up with His revelation of Himself? One of the most piercing lines I have ever encountered says ‘With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is’, going on to ask ‘But will we trade our dreams for His?’ (‘Somewhere In The Middle’, Castings Crowns)

Laying down our expectations is painful. But there is a world of difference, as Eugene Peterson comments on Psalm 127, between ambition and aspiration. There is a world of difference between our dreams and God’s. God’s dreams and expectations are much bigger than ours. C. S. Lewis writes ‘We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.’ (‘The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses’) Sometimes we have to let go of our expectations – and other people’s expectations of us – in order to embrace God’s. There is, after all, a world of difference between Biblical hope and our expectations. I’m not sure we should never expect, but I do know that we should always hope!

Stephen’s sermon last night concluded with the rousing words from Charles Wesley’s hymn ‘And Can It Be?’

‘No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine;
Alive in him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold, I approach th’ eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ my own.’  (‘And Can It Be?’, Charles Wesley)

This theme has been developed by many modern songwriters, such as Tim Hughes in his song ‘Holding Nothing Back‘:

‘You washed my sin and shame away
The slate is clean: a brand new day,
Free now forever
Now boldly I approach your throne
To claim this crown through Christ my own
Yours now forever.’ (‘Holding Nothing Back’, Tim Hughes)

The most recent song I have discovered which looks at this theme is Rend Collective’s ‘Boldly I Approach (The Art of Celebration’):

‘By grace alone somehow I stand
Where even angels fear to tread,
Invited by redeeming love
Before the throne of God above;
He pulls me close with nail-scarred hands
Into His everlasting arms.

When condemnation grips my heart
And Satan tempts me to despair,
I hear the voice that scatters fear;
The Great I Am the Lord is here.
Oh praise the One who fights for me
And shields my soul eternally.

Boldly I approach Your throne,
Blameless now I’m running home.
By Your blood I come,
Welcomed as Your own,
Into the arms of majesty.

Behold the bright and risen Son
More beauty than this world has known
I’m face to face with Love Himself
His perfect spotless righteousness
A thousand years, a thousand tongues
Are not enough to sing His praise

Boldly I approach Your throne
Blameless now I’m running home
By Your blood I come
Welcomed as Your own
Into the arms of majesty

This is the art of celebration,
Knowing we’re free from condemnation.
Oh praise the One, praise the One
Who made an end to all my sin.’ (‘Boldly I Approach (The Art of Celebration’), Rend Collective)

All of these songs look at the theme of the forgiveness we have in Christ and how there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set us free from the law of sin and death. (Rom 8:1-2) It is so easy to feel condemned. Our own hearts condemn us (see 1 John 3:19-20 for help in dealing with the condemnation of our own hearts.) Other people condemn us, judging us by their standards, by external appearances, by actions that so often do indeed fall short of the glory of God. Satan whispers condemnation daily into our hearts (not for nothing is he called ‘the accuser of the brethren [Rev 12:10]!) Under such condemnation, from so many different sources, it is easy to buckle, to fall into Bunyan’s ‘Slough of Despond’. At such times, we need to be encouraged that ‘the great I Am, the Lord is here’, the One who fights for us and shields our souls eternally, the one who welcomes us with nail-scarred hands and never rejects us.

As we prepare our hearts this week to remember His great sacrifice on Golgotha and His sin-defeating Resurrection, let’s understand the power of the truth there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and boldly approach the throne of grace (Heb 4:16), confident that there we will find mercy and grace: ‘Blameless now, we’re running home.’

Stephen concluded his series on the Lord’s Prayer last night (Matt 6:9-15), having previously looked at God’s splendour and purpose and plans for our lives and His ability to provide for our every need. The final part of the Lord’s prayer (which is a template for each one of us not only for prayer but for living) looks at the debts we have been forgiven and how we need to forgive as we have been forgiven, as well as praying for protection and deliverance from temptation and from the evil one.

Change and redemption are possible for each one of us because of the work Christ accomplished on Calvary. Rom 8:1-2 reminds us that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The verses in the Lord’s prayer may seem repetitive, but sin is like a chain that binds and holds us back and so often, we fall and stumble at the same fences. God’s gift is not like the trespass, however. (Rom 5:15-19) He can deliver us and set us free from all sin. If we live under the law, we are required to fulfil all the law (James 2:10) and have to acknowledge our imperfections, the fact that we fall short of God’s intentions. If we rely on Christ, however, we see that He has made the impossible possible and has made a way for us to know freedom and acceptance.

This morning’s service was at Cherry Tree Court and Mark spoke about friendship. He started with some quotations about friendship: ‘a true friend thinks you are a good egg, even though he knows you are slightly cracked’ and ‘friends are God’s way of apologising for families!’

The Bible reminds us of the importance of friendship, with Prov 17:17 telling us that ‘a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity’ and Prov 18:24 reminding us ‘A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.’ Jesus told us that a true friend is one who is willing to lay down their lives for their friends (John 15:12-17) and demonstrated that Himself in dying for our sins. He is always there for us – He never goes to sleep, goes on holiday or leaves us. (see Heb 13:5) He is our friend even if no one else wants to be friends with us and this gives us hope even in difficult circumstances.