In Acts 2:14-41 we see once again how Peter describes the death of Jesus in human terms (‘you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross’ Acts 2:23), but also firmly believes in God’s sovereign foreknowledge (‘this man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge’ Acts 2:23).The death of Jesus is therefore attributed simultaneously both to the purpose of God and to the wickedness of men. Through the death of Jesus God’s saving purpose was being worked out. All throughout Scripture, God’s foreknowledge and man’s free will are held in tension. In these verses ‘we have the paradox of divine predestination and human freewill in its strongest form.’ ‘Even in putting Jesus to death, the Jews were simply fulfilling what God had determined must take place and indeed had foretold in the prophetic writings.’ (Howard Marshall, P 75)

It is not easy for us to reconcile these two things and usually we fall into one of two traps, emphasising man’s free will to the extent that God seems irrelevant or extolling God’s foreknowledge and will as being so absolute we are mere robots. The truth has to lie in the middle… where there are still plenty of questions and known unknowns!

In church history and theology, the two extremes are known as Arminianism and Calvinism (named after their chief proponents, Arminius (1560-1609) and Calvin (1509-1564)). These systems of theology attempt to explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility in the matter of salvation. In my view, the truth lies in the middle, as Peter implies. God is absolutely sovereign and knows all. Human beings are called to make a genuine decision to place faith in Christ unto salvation. These two facts seem contradictory to us, but in the mind of God they make perfect sense. Thus we can be sure that Jesus’ death – so crucial to our salvation – was both planned by God and executed by people. God was not taken by surprise by the events of Easter. Nor can we dismiss people’s responsibility in His death as being because they were mere ‘pawns’ in God’s plan. The mystery of God will never be fully explained or understood, but we can embrace God’s plan as the crowd did, resulting in believers swelling from 120 to over three thousand after Peter’s sermon.

Garry preached recently on God’s preparation, reminding us that God’s plan of salvation was not a last-minute desperate attempt to rescue us, but that Jesus is the Lamb ‘slain from the creation of the world.’ (Rev 13:8) The same idea is conveyed by Peter in his first sermon after the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Day of Pentecost. He ties what has happened firmly into Old Testament prophecy, saying ‘this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel’ (Acts 2:16) and going on to quote Joel 2:28-32. In his sermon, he also references Psalm 16 (asserting that since David, the author, is dead and buried in Jerusalem, the resurrection he refers to in this passage cannot be referring to him but must refer to his descendant, namely Jesus) and Psalm 110 (a Messianic psalm which Peter firmly attributes to Jesus.)

There are many people who believe the Old Testament is irrelevant and that we should only preach from or study the New Testament now. Frankly, it’s hard to fathom how the New Testament makes sense without reference to the Old Testament! In Acts 1 & 2 alone there are 5 direct quotations from the Old Testament and allusions to other practices (e.g. drawing lots), none of which can be understood except through an understanding of the history of Israel as revealed in the Old Testament.

Sometimes when reading a detective series, we are told that the novel can be read on its own without reference to the previous books, but any good author will build on these back stories when referencing the same characters and there is great satisfaction for the reader in understanding the allusions and references which add to the bigger picture of the character’s behaviour and actions. In the same way, the saving acts of Jesus are best understood against the sacrificial system which foreshadowed His arrival and the prophetic anticipation which colours the whole of the Old Testament.

Peter’s sermon looks back to God’s promises of a redeemer and then confidently declares ‘let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.’ (Acts 2:36) The ‘now’ is understood from the ‘then.’ Both are vital, then and now.

We talk about Good Friday as the ‘greatest day’, the day when Jesus died on a cross as a once-for-all sacrifice for sin, and it is fitting that this day should hold such an important place in the Christian calendar. It is a sad sign that our society is losing touch with its Christian roots to see this day, although still a Bank holiday, treated as so ordinary by so many people.

Yet Maundy Thursday, the day we remember today, is hugely important also. On this day, Jesus taught His disciples extensively (John 13-17), shocking them by washing their feet (John 13:1-20) and instituted the Lord’s Supper (Matt 26:20-30; Mark 14:17-26; Luke 22:14-20). Then they went to the garden of Gethsemane (John 18:1, Mark 14:32), where Jesus prayed possibly the greatest prayer in the world.

The whole of salvation hung in the balance at this point in history. The disciples slept through this, reminding us that so often we miss out on what God is doing because it does not look that remarkable to us at the time. But if Jesus had turned away at this point, we would never have had Good Friday to celebrate.

The hinge on which the story turns is found in Jesus’ request for this cup to be taken from him. (Matt 26:39) and in his prayer ‘yet not as I will, but as You will.’ (Matt 26:39) Jesus drew back from the suffering and agony involved- from the physical pain, from the spiritual agony, from the divine wrath. His soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (Matt 26:38). Being fully human, he did not want to suffer in this way. Yet he chose to submit his will to God’s will. ‘If it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done.’ (Matt 26:42)

The real battle was won here, in Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will, even though this meant personal suffering, humiliation, pain and spiritual agony.

The outcome of this battle was not a foregone conclusion. It is described as ‘agony’, with Jesus sweating drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Yet the success of God’s plan of salvation hung on Jesus’ willing submission to the Father’s will, no matter what the personal cost.

Many of us draw back at precisely this point and therefore fail to move on in our spiritual lives. When push comes to shove, our will triumphs over God’s will. We never reach the point of ‘magnificent defeat’ (Wes King), the point where, broken and in anguish, we submit to God, knowing that His plan is better than ours and will succeed, even if presently we do not see that.

Linger today in Gethsemane and ponder this greatest prayer. It doesn’t seem like Jesus got his own way. His prayer was not answered in perhaps the way he wanted (a removal of the cup). Yet still Jesus is obedient to the point of death. Still Jesus puts the Father’s will above his own. This is the place we need to reach before we can know victory. If we do not learn to suffer with Christ, we cannot hope to reign with him.

On Good Friday (19th April) we will be remembering and celebrating our Lord’s death from 5 p.m. We’ll be having a fellowship meal together and sharing Communion and then from 6 p.m. will be reflecting on the 7 last words spoken by Jesus as He hung on the cross. This will be a time of reflection, prayer and consideration as we think about the themes touched on in these words, but there will also be prayer activities to help us focus and the service will be accessible to all ages.

So if you want to reflect on forgiveness, hopes and dreams, family relationships, feelings, spiritual thirst, contentment and satisfaction in God and how to face death with the courage and faith Jesus showed, come along to our service and take part at your own pace and in your own way.

On Easter Sunday we will have two services to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ: a Communion service at 10.30 a.m. and a family service at 6 p.m. All welcome at both services.  As Chris Tomlin sings, because of Christ’s resurrection, now we too can know resurrection power ‘lviing on the inside’. Praise God for the death and resurrection of Jesus!

As adults we can easily become cynical, inured to life’s vicissitudes and bereft of optimism and positive expectation. We call it being ‘world weary’, beaten down by disappointment until pessimism and a lack of positive expectation become our defence against dashed hopes.

Part of the reason for this is connected to the repetition and monotony of everyday life. We no longer marvel at sunrises or sunsets because we’ve seen it all before. Familiarity has bred contempt in us; we’ve lost the child’s sense of wonder and awe. There is a sense of ‘same old, same old’ about everything we see. We’ve forgotten how to be grateful and thankful for the little things.

As we are told things will change and find they don’t, as we live through political hype and find it sadly lacking in substance, we lose the ability to hope. This is dangerous for our souls, for hopelessness, despair, are tools of the enemy designed to destroy faith, which by definition involves holding on to the invisible until it becomes visible (see Romans 4).

God wants us to be hopeful (and hope-full) people, for the truth does not change just because of a refusal to believe it! In Luke 17:26-37, Jesus spoke to His disciples about the return of the Son of Man in glory and judgment, of the end times The remarkable thing about this is that people will be living in complete ignorance of and indifference to this earth-shattering event.

Jesus reminded his disciples that it was ever thus. In the days of Noah, everything carried on as normal (‘same old’) until the flood came in destructive force. (Luke 17:26-27) The same thing happened in the days of Lot, (Luke 17:28-29) Jesus’s message was always that we should be prepared for His return, a message constantly underlined in His parables (e.g. Matt 25:1-13) and in other parts of the New Testament (e.g. 1 Thess 5:1-11).

We are to live in constant expecation and anticipation of His return, not adopting the ‘same old’ mentality of the world. Faith takes the long view and also aligns itself with God’s promises rather than what we can see with our natural eyes. Jesus is coming again for His people and we need to be ready.

The main lessons we learned from the donkey who led Jesus into Jerusalem were:

1. Experience isn’t necessary if God calls you! He equips the called; He doesn’t call the equipped.
2. God has chosen us for good works and to serve Him as gladly as the donkey did.
3. We need to be ‘untied’ from things which would rob us of the freedom Jesus offers us (see Gal 5:1). God wants us to be free to enjoy His spacious places!
4. God comes in peace and in ways that constantly take us by surprise.
5. The donkey reminds us that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
6. Acclamation and despair are both short-term responses. God wants us to keep persevering and to keep our eye on the long view. Jesus, ‘for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ (Heb 12:2) Jesus wasn’t fooled by how well things seemed to be going on Palm Sunday and He wasn’t in despair over the betrayal of Judas later in the week. He was looking ahead to the fulfilment of the Father’s plan, to the salvation of the world. Isaiah 53:10-11 says ‘though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities.’ 
7. Death has to precede life; there are no short cuts to glory. ‘Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.’ (John 12:24)

If God can use this little donkey to take the Messiah into Jerusalem, He can surely use us, this little group of Christians in Goldthorpe, to carry out His plans and purposes for our community in our time!