Is BLACK Friday GOOD
- Guy Willcock
- Dec 23, 2017
- 7 min read
If someone mentions BLACK Friday to me I think of the fourth Friday in November, following thanksgiving in America, when shops ‘supposedly’ offer massive discounts on goods and shopping centres and the internet are jammed with people seeking out bargains.
However, we sometimes forget that BLACK Friday was one of the alternative names given to GOOD Friday, that is the Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his bodily death at Calvary.
It was very BLACK because a sinless perfect man who only ever demonstrated love and brought light and life to situations was mocked, beaten, abused physically &verbally, crucified for ‘crimes’ he did not commit. In fact, he was crucified for our crimes -something we all do on a regular basis (SIN) working out our life and perceived happiness our way NOT God’s way.
That particular Friday which we commemorate in the spring of each year was BLACK but is actually GOOD for us as God has set us free from any punishment due for our SINs by taking the punishment himself in the form of his son Jesus.
So, for those who have responded to God and entrusted their heart to him we can say the BLACK Friday we commemorate each spring is GOOD for us, even though we mourn the pain and suffering Christ went through, we know he is resurrected and has defeated death and lives within us now, by his Spirit, and we will reign with him in bodily form for eternity.
What about the BLACK Friday each November? Some say it encourages consumerism, others greed, others would argue it is good for the economy and if we wanted to look at giving to God from a ‘business’ perspective we could argue it means we have more to give to GOD for his Kingdom work i.e. any savings made could be given as additional offerings. However, having myself been tempted by BLACK Friday offers, I would like to postulate that BLACK Friday in November raises issues of trust and highlights our sometimes-limited view of God.
You see the Bible clearly tells is that God owns everything:
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (Psalm 24:1)
For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10).
The world is mine, and all that is in it (Psalm 50:12).
"The silver is mine and the gold is mine," declares the LORD Almighty (Haggai 2:8).
Therefore, everything we have comes from Him, you may say but I earned my money, where did your gifts, talents, abilities and energy come from to earn that money? The very breath we breathe comes from God, the word used in the old Testament for breath is ruach the same word used for the person of the Trinity the Spirit (Holy Spirit) in the Old Testament and who was it that hovered over the waters in Genesis 1 – the ruach. So, when Christians sing the song this is the air I breathe – Chorus -
“This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me”
They are not singing some mystical feel good song but a factual and theological truth. For those who deny or do not acknowledge God, even what they breathe is the air which God created (and man continues to environmentally pollute such air - both physically and spiritually).
Take a moment and BREATHE in the middle of your hectic Christmas schedule and reflect on all GOD has created including yourself and what is in your heart.
BLACK Friday in November is not necessarily bad IF it can reveal what is in our hearts and our need to TRUST God more. Perhaps, when we only see it as an opportunity to get bargains and feel good when we get such bargains, we are possibly saying in our hearts God’s resources for us are limited and we need to keep back what we can to ensure we can survive?
Where as the Bible tells us not to worry about everyday living but seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6: 25-33) and our daily needs will be taken care of. It also tells us that in Christ we have EVERY Spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). That is the eternal saving gifts of God are conveyed to us by the Holy Spirit through his eternal presence in our hearts now.
Maybe our worldly resources are limited because our faith and trust in God is limited. Such constraint may be because the treasure in our hearts is for approval by others, pursuing our own Kingdom (we all to different extents want a level of peace, comfort and security that worldly wealth it would appear can buy) and to insulate ourselves from troubles in this life (which will exist until the New Heaven and New Earth is fully realised following Jesus’ return). However, maybe God would release more ‘wealth’ to us as we live from hearts totally committed to serving him and his Kingdom (i.e. his presence, his power and authority, his purposes, his provision of blessing, his peace) because we would be determined to give as much money away as we can for his glory and Kingdom expansion (Spiritual wellbeing). Having a lot of money is not wrong it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. In fact, the love of money is not only the root of all evil but also MEANINGLESS, as it says in Ecclesiastes 5:10 -
“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless”
The good news is that when we serve Him, his dream for this world and our part in it, provision may follow.
A great example of this is recorded in the paperback ‘Miracle Valley – the story of Hollybush Christian Fellowship’ – this book records how a Farmer, Jim Wilkinson, from North Yorkshire in the late sixties was told by God ‘I want that place for my glory’ as Jim drove past a 200 acre farm with a for sale sign. As Jim records on page 84, “I swallowed hard. Oh. Lord! Where was I going to get that sort of money?
God provided miraculously, even a bank manager in a time of a credit squeeze offered Jim more than he asked for!
The Church at Hollybush has seen many salvations and physical healings over the years, my wife and I some years ago had the privilege of visiting and sharing time with Jim and his wife and experiencing first hand God at work there.
Jesus in fact summarised the principal from all of the above in the sermon on the mount:
Matthew 6:24:
No man can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else
he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
This famous verse continues the discussion of wealth earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, and makes explicit what was implied in Matthew 6:21: a person cannot pursue both material goods and spiritual wellbeing. The two goals are mutually exclusive.
Mammon is not money in itself but the ‘spirit’ or ‘power’ behind money that seeks to enslave us.
The lust for more money is not the only way that worship of mammon shows itself, the desire for more can reveal what is really in our hearts, that is;
Discontentment - we are anxious over potentially unmet needs, envy others’ wealth and see God as limited.
Gives a temporary world view - permanence comes from things of eternal value, when we die we cannot take cars, fancy jumpers etc with us – naked I came into this world and naked I will leave this world (Job 1:21). Every Spiritual blessing in Christ is permanent and eternal.
Causes withholding instead of giving – if our view of God is non-existent or limited then we store up things for ourselves instead of giving generously into God’s Kingdom and to others.
I would even go as far to say, that for those who have entrusted their hearts to Jesus we like the Pharisees in Luke 16:14-15 are potentially sneering at him and all he has done if we think or talk about pursuing material wealth before anything else.
I would like to end this blog with the Spirit inspired writings of Paul from 1 Timothy 6:6-10
“godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs”.
Remember on that BLACK Friday in spring Jesus was pierced with many griefs, in fact all the ‘grief’ we have caused in this world. BLACK Friday in November points us back to both Easter and thanksgiving, we can be reminded of the constant need to give God thanks for dieing for our sins (GOOD Friday) and rising from the dead to show death and darkness has been defeated once and for all (Easter Sunday). It also points us to Christmas and gifts, the greatest gift of God who brought everything into this world, came and wrapped himself in flesh – as the Baby Jesus, to take us out of this world into his eternal Kingdom.
So, as you give and receive gifts this Christmas day, perhaps from BLACK Friday purchases, remember that God gave everything – his one and only son – that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). On a spring BLACK Friday God provided himself to purchase our salvation and we can say, in one of the greatest understatements ever Spring BLACK Friday is GOOD for us, but we can also say November BLACK Friday is GOOD if we use it to point us back to the real meaning of Easter and forward to the genuine importance of what Christmas reminds us. As we give thanks for our gifts, let us thank God for his son Jesus and if you don’t believe in him who are you thanking for the very air you breathe?
Finally, if you don’t know Jesus in your heart this Christmas why not ask to receive the wonderful gift of his presence and eternal life, your existence will no longer seem meaningless but full of excitement and adventure as you seek to serve him and his Kingdom.
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