Safe & Secure

 

Good Friday

March 21, 2008

 

Matthew 27:62-66

 

Matthew 27:62-66 ⁶²The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate ⁶³and said, "Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, 'After three days I will rise.' ⁶⁴Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last fraud will be worse than the first." ⁶⁵Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of soldiers. Go; make it as secure as you can." ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

           

             As human beings it is in our nature to want things safe and secure. We make sure that before we go to bed, we check all the windows and doors of our home to make sure that everything is locked up tight. When we are out shopping, we think twice as we are walking into the store, wondering if we locked our car. I have found myself sometimes walking back within range of the key fob to make sure that the car is locked. As you walk away from your vehicle there is something comforting hearing the short sound from the car horn, or the flash of the headlights to remind you that your car is locked and secure. I take comfort in noting the deadbolt locked on the door before I go to bed.  However, on several occasions I have searched our house looking for my keys, only to find them resting in the lock in the door from the night before.  The door was locked, but the keys were still in the lock. All of a sudden I didn’t feel so safe anymore. My mind began to race at what could have happened. Perhaps someone came in the night, took the keys and made a copy of all the keys so that they could return sometime when we are not home. All the imaginings that run through my mind could be the perfect script for a  Hollywood  thriller.

            In our text this evening, the chief priests and the Pharisees have finally accomplished what they had set out to do for three years. They had finally silenced Jesus by crucifying him on the cross. They had rallied and schemed and they believed they had finally won. Jesus was finally dead. He could no longer cause trouble for the chief priests and Pharisees. They thought that they no longer needed to worry about the things that Jesus said and the people that were following Him.  Jesus’ lifeless body has been laid to rest in a tomb. A giant stone has been rolled in front of the entrance to the tomb. 

The chief priests and Pharisees believe that Jesus’ voice is now forever silenced, yet they remember Jesus’ words and they are beginning to second guess themselves. They remember that Jesus said that after three days He would rise again. So they go to Pilate the next day and ask that the tomb be sealed. They are now afraid that the disciples will come and steal the body claiming that Jesus was alive. Pilate grants their request, and tells them to make the tomb secure and he gives them a guard of soldiers.  Everything is secure, locked up tight. They have finally rid themselves of this “troublemaker” and they can resume life as normal.

We tend to make our lives as secure as we possibly can. We invest our money into our 401k’s and stocks and bonds to make sure that our retirement is financially secure. We have our cars serviced by reputable mechanics on a regular basis so that we are not caught off guard by sudden repairs that need to be done. We make sure that our homes are safe by having locks on all doors and windows and having all appliances serviced regularly. We might even have an alarm system installed in our home for added safety and security. We go to the doctor on a regular basis for check-ups and physicals to make sure that we are healthy.

However, we find that, even with the best of intentions, the things that we do still don’t make us as safe and secure as we would like. All that money that we thought we had invested securely is now being threatened by our plummeting economy. The car we just had checked by our mechanic is sitting on the shoulder of Route 44 in need of a new alternator. Our home, despite all our efforts to safeguard it from burglars, is still broken into and all our valuables are stolen. You had the furnace cleaned just last week only to wake up at 3 a.m. to frigid temperatures in your home because the furnace died. Weeks after our doctor gave us a clean bill of health we discover an abnormality that is found to be cancer or some other debilitating disease.

Likewise, despite all of our best efforts, we still fall short of the mark that God has set before us. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments as the guide for which we are to follow as we live our lives day to day. We can go through the commandments and we think we are doing pretty good. We have never stolen anything that wasn’t ours; you have been faithful to our spouse all 36 years of your married life; we avoid the slanderous phone calls and conversations about our neighbor by changing the subject or leaving the situation.

However, maybe last week we just couldn’t bear to get out of bed to worship God on Sunday. Instead, we slept until nine and drove right past  Prospect Street  at 10:15 Sunday morning to hit the Macy’s One-Day sale at the mall. We turned our head as our car passed fellow church members pulling onto  Prospect Street  for the 10:30 service. After all, I have near record-perfect attendance. We haven’t done anything that is too terribly bad. When all is said and done we have been pretty good.

Unfortunately, pretty good is still far from the mark that our Creator has given His creation. God does not want “pretty-good” children. God who is holy and perfect expects nothing less from His creation, His children. God wants perfection out of each and every one of us. God is not satisfied with near-perfect church attendance. God is not satisfied when you gave that attractive person a second look when you were at Stop-N-Shop last night. Jesus himself told us himself in Matthew chapter 5 to “Be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect.”

Your Heavenly Father has seen your failings and short-comings. He saw that you were in need of someone to rescue you. Your Heavenly Father loves you with a love that is incomprehensible to our human understandings. Despite all of those terrible things that you have done to offend your Father and Creator, He still loves you. He never stopped loving you. God could have turned His back on each one of us the moment that we failed Him and sinned.

God did not turn his back on you. God saw that you were in need of safety and security. God saw that we could not withstand the temptations of the devil. Satan wants each and every one of us to join him in the ranks of hell. The devil does everything that he can to make sure that your eternal days will be spent with him, rather than with your Heavenly Father in heaven.

Instead of turning His back on you, God did something so much greater: God sent you a Redeemer and a Savior. God saw your need for help and He sent you help. Your help came in the person of Jesus Christ. God sent His very best to this earth to ensure your safety and security from the evil one. God sent His only son, Jesus Christ to live a stellar life of perfection that none of us could ever have achieved.

Jesus was the perfect creation that God had envisioned for each one of you. Jesus lived on this earth for thirty-three years and he endured all the temptations that the devil throws our way each day. Jesus fought the devil with every temptation that he sent his way, and Jesus overcame the devil. Jesus was perfect. Jesus was without blemish. Jesus was the sacrifice that we needed in order to ensure our safety and security from the evil one.

When the time came, Jesus took all your sins {take out list of sins}. Jesus took your pride. Jesus took your lust. Jesus took your selfishness. Jesus took your vanity. Jesus took your gluttony. Jesus took your anger. Jesus took your envy. Jesus took every one of the sins that you have committed, and all those sins that you will commit 10 years from now. Jesus took all of your sins and He paid for them right here on the cross. {nail list of sins to the cross}

It wasn’t an accident that Jesus chose Judas Iscariot, who would eventually betray Jesus, to be one of his disciples. It was not an accident that the chief priests and Pharisees had gotten a hold of Jesus. It wasn’t an accident that Jesus was nailed to that cross on that Friday over 2000 years ago.

Everything that Jesus went through here on this earth was part of the divine plan God had in store for each and every one of you. This was part of God’s plan to ensure your safety and security from the devil and his schemes. Jesus’ death on the cross was exactly what Christ was on this earth to do. Jesus came to this earth, and he lived on this earth to die for you. All of this Christ endured for you, so that you could be safe and secure from the devil and his schemes.

The Pharisees and chief priests thought that everything was safe and secure. Jesus was dead. His lifeless body was lying in a tomb that was sealed and marked by armed Roman guards. They thought they had the final laugh. Jesus was dead, and now life would return to normal. No more outrageous teachings and blasphemous comments. The people would once again resume the role of pawns in their idea of religion and true worship of God.

However, their best human efforts would not keep Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God in that tomb. Despite their best efforts, Jesus would rise from the dead just as he said he would. The devil, the Pharisees and the chief priests were all in for the surprise of their life on that third day!

Now, go in peace; knowing that Jesus’ death on the cross has made you safe and secure from all of your sin and from the power of the devil. AMEN.