It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming: A Good Friday Devotional for Worship Leaders

When you lead your church tonight, you are not presiding over a funeral.

We are not reburying our Savior. We know how the story ends. But that knowledge, as beautiful as it is, should not rush us past the weight of this day. Before Sunday comes, we need to sit in Friday. Really sit in it.

Today, make it personal.

It was my sin that nailed Him to the cross. Not sin in the abstract. Not the sins of history or the failures of humanity in general. Mine. Every moment of pride. Every wayward thought. Every unkind word. Every time I lived for my own glory instead of His. Jesus died for the person who is going to stand on a platform tonight and point people to a Savior who bled for them. That person is you. That person is me. It is sobering.

We should not shy away from what it cost Him.

He was whipped with the cat o' nine tails until His back was raw. His beard was plucked. His face was struck. Then His hands and feet were nailed to a cross, and He died of asphyxiation, unable to pull His body up for one more breath. All of this while being mocked by the very people He came to save. And in the middle of all of it, He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

The Jesus Storybook Bible tells it this way:

"You say you've come to rescue us!" people shouted. "But you can't even rescue yourself." But they were wrong. Jesus could have rescued himself. A legion of angels would have flown to his side, if he'd called. "If you were really the Son of God, you could just climb down off that cross!" they said. And of course they were right. Jesus could have just climbed down. Actually, he could have just said a word and made it all stop. But Jesus stayed. You see, they didn't understand. It wasn't the nails that kept Jesus there. It was love.

Even though it was midday, a dreadful darkness covered the face of the world. The sun could not shine. The full force of the storm of God's fierce anger at sin was coming down. On his own Son. Instead of his people. It was the only way God could destroy sin, and not destroy his children whose hearts were filled with sin. Then Jesus shouted out in a loud voice, "It is finished." And it was. He had done it. Jesus had rescued the whole world.

That is the reality we point to as worship leaders. That is the cross we sing about. And John Piper is right when he says that "the cross is where God's infinite justice and His boundless mercy meet." Both. At the same time. Because of your sin, justice demanded a payment. Because of His love, mercy sent a Son to make it.

Jesus obeyed His Father completely. He laid down His life willingly. He loved us enough to stay on that cross when He absolutely did not have to. He could have called ten thousand angels. But He didn't. He stayed. For you.

So, worship leader, before you lead your team tonight, take time to pause. To really remember. The only reason you have anything to say on a platform, anything worth singing about, is because He died. Your sin is forgiven. You stand clothed in His righteousness, on the merit of His perfect life. Not yours.

At Bethel, we don't even turn the stage lights on on Good Friday. We light a cross. We want to sit in the weight of it. Because it deserves to be felt.

Good Friday is good because Jesus made a way.

But remember, it's Friday. Sunday's coming.

Before you lead tonight, sit with these passages.

Take a few minutes in your office or green room before your team arrives. No agenda. Just you, your Bible, and the weight of what He did.

Isaiah 53:4-6 (ESV) Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Psalm 22:1, 14-18 (ESV) My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones, they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

Luke 23:33-34, 44-47 (ESV) And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent!"

John 19:28-30 (ESV) After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.