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When you spend a long period of time alone, you get to thinking.
At first, the thoughts might be fun. Like: It isn’t fair that coffee stains your teeth brown, but milk doesn’t stain your teeth white. My dog probably thinks "fetch" is a game that I made up and he loves me for that. Who is Mr. Dorito and where do I find him? And is the factory just like Willy Wonka’s? And if I attended would I eventually fold to pressure, sample the Cool Ranch Carnations will I be turned into a Dorito and be trapped there forever? But eventually… The things you think about, become less fun. “Look! On Facebook, there’s that one girl you knew way back in high school. Do you remember what you did to her? That was awful. You’re a terrible person.” “Do you see that couch over there? It’s a nice and comfy place to rest and be very rude to your spouse. Remember? You did it, yesterday!” “Check out the empty beer cans in the trash. Remember when you drank way too many of them and made a fool of yourself and everyone saw!” “Oh Listen! Do you hear that? It’s quiet. Because your kids don’t live here any more and they don’t call you because of the awful way you’ve treated them. You should be ashamed of yourself.” Shame is difficult thing to master. It can come out of nowhere. Today we’ll see how Jesus gives us VICTORY OVER SHAME. Before we do that, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. Corinthian Shame Today’s lesson is from a book in the Bible called 1st Corinthians. It is the first letter written by a pastor named Paul to a church in a Greek city called Corinth. He writes this letter to encourage the believers, because a lot of these church members had been feeling ashamed. In Corinth, there weren’t a lot of believers. Most people believed in reason. They believed in science. They believed in what was socially acceptable. Some guy dying on a cross to take away our sins? That wasn’t reasonable. That same guy coming back to life? That wasn’t scientific. That guy being the one and only true God? That wasn’t very socially acceptable. And so… Society shamed the believers. The produce merchant grabbed the shiny red apple from the believer. “You believe in Jesus. Here. Have him bring this rotten, worm-infested apple back to life.” The neighbor knocked on their front door. “Listen! I heard you praying out loud from your front window. I don’t need to hear that. Keep that junk to yourself.” The church’s maintenance man got to church and did a double take. The decorated cross? It had more decorations in the form of a graffiti telling them to get out of town. The shame affected the believers. Some were questioning their resurrected Lord. Some were engaging in sinful things of the world in order to fit in. Some were trying to make themselves feel better by shaming other believers. In fact, there was a whole group that made it a point at each church to be divisive: “You were baptized by Pastor P? Ha. He’s kind of a dork. I was baptized by Pastor A. Pastor A is the real deal and so are his followers. The world might shame us, but at least I’m not as shameful as you.” God inspired Pastor Paul to write this letter to correct their thinking. He writes, “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. (1 Cor. 1:26) Take note of the verb. “Were.” It’s past tense. The adjectival quality ascribed to the Corinthians by the verb was true before they were believers. But now that they are believers. It’s no longer valid. They were not wise. They were not influential. They were of not of noble birth. Now? They were not, not wise. They were not, not influential. They were not, not of noble birth. To put it simply, the Corinthian believers had no reason for shame. If they were still feeling shameful? it was because… TRUTH: They were measuring their level of SHAME with the WRONG STANDARDS. It’s kind of like baking a cake. You need to follow the directions and use the correct measuring devices. If the recipe calls for a teaspoon of vanilla, putting in a tablespoon may mess up the consistency. If it calls for a ½ cup of flour, putting in a full cup may cause it to taste starchy. If it calls for one cup of sugar and you put in one quart, well, you’re following some six-year-old’s recipe for Kool-aid. The same thing is true for believers. When we’re measuring shame, we can’t use the wrong measuring device. II. Human Standards of Shame What were some of the wrong measuring devices? If you examine verse 26-27 closely, you can see the very standards. They are standards that are still around today and that can infect our mindset on shame. (1) Intelligence Paul begins by writing, “Not many of you were wise by human standards… (v.26) In preparation for our trip to Colombia, I am studying Spanish. I’ve been using phone book, telephone apps, and children’s books to practice. The other day I go to practice Spanish with one of my Spanish-speaking neighbors. And I said something to him in Spanish, the neighbor said, “Tu hablas Espanol?” which means, “Do you speak Spanish?” I replied, nonchalantly, “Si. Yo hablo un poco,” which means, “Yes, I speak a little.” To which my wife Julianna replied, “No. Tu hablas un poquito,” which means, “No, you speak a very little bit.” To be fair, that’s accurate. But I felt embarrassed and couldn’t wait to be described as “un poco” Spanish speaker. I use that phrase to bolster my Spanish speaking ability, because I was ashamed. I was ashamed because I was measuring my shame by intelligence. This happens to all of us. When our friends are mentioning the high-level universities they graduated from, we might feel ashamed of our Community College experience. When we’re in a conversation with people and they tell a joke that we don’t understand, we feel ashamed and laugh anyways to appear smarter. When someone points out that we misspelled some words on our social media post, we get mad. And block them from future posts. Even if you are intelligent, when the knowledge is from an area that you don’t know much about you downplay it. Like if you’re playing one of those trivia games at the local pub and you’ve been knocking it out of the park as you showcase your knowledge of history, arts, and literature. But the next question is: What is the biggest Football Game of the National Football League? And you answer: The world series? To save face, you start talking about how, “sports are the drudgery of society,” and, “true intellect is not measured by your ability to name batting averages.” But we say that, because we are ashamed. We’re ashamed because we’re measuring shame by intelligence. But your intelligence doesn’t determine your level of shame. (2) Power Paul continues, “Not many of you were influential…” (v.26) The word in Greek refers to “being able to do something” or “to be powerful”. This word is used to describe two different types of power, both of which, we often use to measure whether we should feel shame or not. (2a) Physical Power This is the reason that people can be so very intimidated to go to the gym. We measure worth by how much we can lift. If the muscle-bound monkeys are throwing a couple hundred pounds over their heads over there and I’m over here pulling apart a pink rubber band, I feel ashamed because I’m measuring greatness by physical power. Maybe this happens to you: Maybe you feel ashamed because your physical health isn’t where it should be. Maybe you feel ashamed because you aren’t as athletic as your friends. Maybe you feel ashamed because you ate a whole bag of Doritos for morning snack. But there’s a second kind of power that also induces feelings of shame: (2b) Influential Power This is the type of power that fits better into the context of 1 Corinthians. It has to do with influence in the community, at your job, in your family, or even in your church. Are you embarrassed by how many YouTube followers you have? Do you like your own Facebook posts just so it looks like you have more influence? Are you self-conscious about how your spouse has a better job title than you? So, you made up a title for yourself? Are you jealous of someone at church because they are in a leadership position? So, at every chance you get, you say things like, “That position’s really unimportant.” Be careful. Your level of influence doesn’t determine your level of shame. (3) Social Status Finally, Paul writes, “Not many of you were of noble birth… (v.26) The word in Greek here literally means “well-born”, that is, “born while well off.” It has to do with your genealogy and, as a result, your social status. Paul is reminding the Corinthians that not many of them were born into social privilege. It wasn’t as if they lost social privilege by becoming Christians. The point? Don’t measure your shame by your social status. Because the world would love to tell you when your social status should cause you shame. If you listen to it, it’s easy to feel ashamed. It’s easy to feel ashamed if your family doesn’t have a lot of money. It’s easy to feel ashamed if your family was homeless. It’s easy to feel ashamed if your dad was in jail. It’s easy to feel ashamed if you can’t afford the clothes to make you feel as put together as the other job applicants. It’s easy to feel ashamed if your family has a history of alcoholism. It’s easy to feel ashamed if you grew up in foster care. But if you’re feeling ashamed because of your social status, you’re believing the world’s lie. Social status doesn’t determine your level of shame. III. God’s Standards of Shame What does determine actual shame? It isn’t our standards. It is God’s standards. Look at what Paul writes next: But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (v.27-29) Some of the most shameless people at the time of Jesus were a group called the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day. And to be fair… They were intelligent. They were quite rich. They were influential in their neighborhoods. But they were also quite shameless. They’d flaunt their intelligence by using big Hebrew words that commoners couldn’t follow. They’d flaunt their riches by walking around in expensive robes. They’d flaunt their influence by reminding people daily, “Did you know I’m a Pharisee?” As a result of their influence, intelligence, and social status, they were praised by society! So… Imagine how they felt when Jesus left them out. When he selected “idiot” fishermen… When he ministered to “street beggars”… When he rubbed shoulders with prostitutes, thieves, and outcasts. Only to turn to the Pharisees and say. These. These ones that you shame. These ones are valued members of God’s family. Why? Why did Jesus do this? Easy. So the Pharisees would be jealous. So the Pharisees would be forced to think. So the Pharisees would realize they were using the wrong measurement. TRUTH: God chose the “SHAMEFUL” things (according to human standards) so the “UNASHAMED” (according to human standard) would realize their SHAME (according to his standards). God finds value in holiness. God finds value in godliness. God finds value in “without-sin-ness.” So many people miss that. They think… God must love me ‘cause I’m smart. …‘cause I’m pretty. …‘cause I’m muscular. …‘cause I’m successful. …‘cause I’m privileged. Nope. God doesn’t use human standards. God uses God standards. God says, “Be holy as I am holy.” (Lev. 19:2) God says, “Be perfect as I am perfect.” (Mt. 5:48) God finds value in holiness. God finds shame in sin. Therefore, Jesus came to earth. To remove our sin. Which would remove our shame. Which would leave God unashamed to have us in his family. But if worldly things get in the way… If you think like a Pharisee and use your own human standards. Then, you miss out on the Savior. TRUTH: Real shame comes from missing out on your SAVIOR from SHAME. IV. The Savior from Shame But… When you see your REAL shame. When you see your REAL Savior from shame. When you see Jesus? Shame goes away. Paul writes, “It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. (v.30) To be “in Christ Jesus” means to have faith in him. It means you are not in shame. But you are in Jesus. Believers in Christ are no longer in shame. And look at the benefits of being in Jesus: (1) Wisdom Because true wisdom comes from knowing Jesus. Knowing Jesus is knowing forgiveness of sins. It’s knowing removal of guilt. It’s knowing how to get to heaven. You don’t get that from achieving a high-level degree. You don’t get that from having honor cords. You don’t get that from answer 49 out of 50 IQ question on a Facebook quiz. You get to heaven by knowing and trusting Jesus. By God’s standard, knowing Jesus means you are wise. It doesn’t matter if you retook the 4th grade. It doesn’t matter if you got a high school diploma. It doesn’t matter what your GPA was. If you know Jesus, by God’s standards you’re wise. (2) Righteousness Righteousness is a courtroom term. It’s a term used by a judge. In fact, a judge determines if you are righteous or not. If you aren’t? Then you’re guilty. That’s shameful. The news will report that you’re guilty. Twitter will trend with your guilty verdict. Your face will appear on the front page of the Slammer. But in Jesus? You aren’t guilty. In Jesus? You’re innocent. In Jesus? You are unashamed because there’s not any wrongdoing anyone can pin on you. (3) Holiness Holiness has to do with purity. In the Old Testament, if there was something impure about you, you need to do a ceremonial washing. If you touched a dead body, unclean. Wash your hands. If you ate the wrong food, unclean. Wash your hands. If you had bled, unclean. Wash your hands. If you were impure, then you dare not come anywhere near the temple. You’d better stay outside the temple. Across the street. Near all the dirty scoundrels. But in Jesus? Cross the street. Walk up the temple steps. Go through the temple door. Walk all the way up to the front altar… Unashamed. (4) Redemption Imagine for a second that you’re a young man taking a young girl out for a first date. You promised you’d pay. They’re excited. You pick them up. You take them to the restaurant. You let them order up as my appetizers as they want. You’re excited to show them that you’re a working man at your newspaper deliver job. But when you get the bill. You don’t have enough money. You excuse yourself to the restroom and text your mom to wire you some money. Because it’s way less shameful than saying to your date, ‘Can you spot me a $5?” Jesus is our redemption. In Jesus, we have enough of a payment. In Jesus we have heaven. We are a part of God’s family. We are UNASHAMED. V. What Now? (1) Be Unashamed about Jesus! All of this leads to Paul’s final point for the Corinthians, “Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” What’s his point? Stop worrying about earthly standards. Stop finding your glory in how wise you are. Stop finding your glory in how influential you are. Stop finding your glory in how high your social status is. Stop bringing other people down just to make yourself look better. Instead, find your value in Jesus. Boast about his love for you. Boast about your Savior. Be unashamed of the one who removed your shame. Amen.
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We are in the middle of our VICTORIOUS sermon series. So far, we’d talked about how Jesus gives us victory over DEATH and FEAR.
Maybe you listened to both of those messages. You felt encouraged. But then, a few days later, you started to DOUBT. Today we’re going see how Jesus gives us VICTORY OVER DOUBT. Before we do that, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. Why Thomas Doubted As a case study for doubt, we’re going to look at the story of one disciple named Thomas. In fact, Thomas is such a good case study for doubt that he has developed the nickname “Doubting Thomas.” This is unfortunate. I bet he wishes he was remembered as “Believing Thomas,” “Courageous Thomas”, or even “Good Dental Hygiene Thomas.” I doubt Thomas wanted to be known for Doubt. But Thomas, one of the Twelve, the one called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. (John 20:24) This account occurs late into the evening on that first Easter. This after the women see the stone rolled open from the tomb. This is after the women talk to angels who tell them about the resurrection. This is after Mary Magdalene sees Jesus near the tomb. This is after the other women meet Jesus outside the cemetery. This is after two disciples traveling to Emmaus meet and speak with Jesus for three-plus hours. This is after Peter gets a one-on-one visit from Jesus. And this is after Jesus enters the locked room filled with 10 of the Twelve apostles - minus Judas, who took his own life and Thomas. And I don’t know what Thomas was doing. …Was he out shopping? …Was he out visiting friends? …Was he out grabbing some Starbucks orders? …Was he stocking up on hand sanitizer for the group? I don’t know. The point is that he missed Jesus’ appearance. So, the other disciples kept telling him, “We have seen the Lord!” (v.5) You wouldn’t believe it Thomas – He was alive! Peter was scared. He thought it was a ghost. But it was real! He let us touch his hands. We put our fingers into the nail holes. We placed our hands into the speak mark in his side. He is alive! Isn’t it amazing!?! And Thomas listened. He stroked his beard. And said, “It is amazing…how absolutely gullible you think I am!” “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” (John 20:25) Thomas didn’t trust his friends’ words. Not as much as his eyesight. Not as much as his sense of touch. But it was more than just not trusting his friends. TRUTH: Thomas trusted him OWN ABILITIES more than Jesus’ DIVINE ABILITIES Thomas trusted his own ability to determine the veracity of the resurrection. More than Jesus’ ability to accomplish one. This is foolish when you consider the differences in Thomas and Jesus. Thomas had the ability to defeat a cold, if he drank a lot of Orange Juice. Jesus could beat a cold by speaking to it. Thomas had the ability to float on water. Jesus had the ability to walk on it. Thomas had the ability to go to the local McDonalds and buy a Fish Filet. Jesus had the ability to make 5000 more out of thin air. It’s silly to trust a human being more than a Divine being. It’s silly to trust a human being – even if that human being is yourself – more than Divine God. II. Why We Doubt This is not political, but pastoral. In New York, the number of diagnoses each day has been going down. That’s good news. And maybe you saw that in response to that, the governor said this: “The number is down because we brought the number down.” “God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that. A lot of pain and suffering did that... That’s how it works. It’s math. And if you don’t continue to do that, you’re going to see that number go back up. And that will be a tragedy if that number goes back up.” I get it. He was trying to tell people to keep social distancing, because it’s working. But to say that it’s working apart from God? Why can’t God have worked through a variety of messages, to turn people to do the kind thing and stay home… in addition to providing doctors and nurses the know how to work with patients and government leaders the wisdom to make wise policies. Doubting that God is alive and working. Sounds a lot like Thomas doubting that Jesus is alive and working. Why do humans doubt God so much? A few reasons… (1) Doubt Arises from trusting HUMAN SENSES more than Jesus. This was Thomas’ simple reason for not believing. Unless he saw Jesus, touched Jesus, smelled Jesus, and heard Jesus, he wouldn’t believe. It’s the same with us. I don’t see God helping me with my finances, I only see it going down. I don’t hear God’s voice calming my fears. I only hear the cries of panic from the rest of the world. I can’t touch Jesus and give him a hug. I can’t touch anyone and give them a hug! Therefore, God doesn’t care. God isn’t helping. God isn’t there. y cares. But… Do you realize how unreliable human senses really are? Have you ever been to the eye doctor and had to cover up one of your eyes to read the eye chart? And they ask you to read line 4 and you’re like, “I think that’s a F. I know that’s an F. It must be an F.” So, you say, “I think it’s an F” and they say, “Nope. That’s an E.” Our eyes are not totally reliable. Have you ever seen those Febreze commercials where they blindfold people and put them in a room filled with garbage! Old banana peels, dirty diapers, mounds of pet hair. But…they cover it up with Febreze and the people think, “We must be in some kind of a rose a garden.” Our noses are not totally reliable. Auditory hallucination occurs when a person’s brain rewires itself to believe that certain thoughts or segments of music are being heard when in fact they are not. This can be caused by a concussion, a brain lesion, psychiatric disease or even high levels of caffeine. In an article published by the Scientific American, an estimated 15% of American Adults aged 18-64 regularly struggle with audio hallucinations, while that number doubles to 33% after the age of 65. Our ears are not totally reliable. But Jesus? He told a paralytic to walk and he did. He told a blind man to see and he did. He told a deaf man to hear and he did. He’s reliable. Trust Jesus more than your Senses. (2) Doubt Arises from trusting HUMAN FEELINGS more than Jesus. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to conclude, “I’m feeling gloomy today, therefore, the sun must not be in existence anymore.” Nor it is sensible to say, “I’m feeling scared, therefore, giant spider aliens must have invaded earth.” Objective truth is not tied to subjective feeling. Yet, we do this with God all the time. I don’t feel very happy about the pandemic, God, so this must be the wrong choice. The virus is making me sad, God, so you must not care about me. I feel angry at the economic ramifications, so I’ve concluded that God is in the wrong. There are all kinds of problems with trusting human emotions. Human emotions are flimsy. They change rapidly and repeatedly. Human emotions are singular. They consider one’s self and ignore how someone across the country is affected. Human emotions are tied to health. If you get good sleep, it’s easier to feel happy. But perhaps most importantly, the problem is that human feelings are tainted by sin. You might feel sad that you aren’t able to go back to work, because making money was a great distraction from having to interact with your children. You might feel angry that you can’t go to the gym, because you miss flirting with the instructor – even though she’s married and so are you. I can feel sad that we’re doing online church. Some of the reasons for that sadness may be that I’m not able to feed my ego like I used to. Sinful. But Jesus’ emotions were not tainted by sin. When Jesus was about to go to the cross, it was the disciples who yelled at him and told him not to do it, because it made them sad. If Jesus would have listened, they may have been happy for a moment – and currently sad as they spend forever in hell. Instead, Jesus ignored human emotion and did what was necessary to save them – and us – with his death on the cross. (3) Doubt Arises from trusting HUMAN REASON more than Jesus. Here’s human reason on the coronavirus. The coronavirus pandemic is causing suffering. Therefore, the coronavirus pandemic isn’t good. Therefore, God is either… …good, but not really in control. …in control, but not good. …not existent at all. But… Here’s some logic. Humans aren’t perfect. Therefore, their reasoning is imperfect. Humans don’t know everything Therefore, their reasoning is limited. Humans aren’t always right. Therefore, their reasoning is morally flawed. If human reason is limited, imperfect, and morally flawed, then… Maybe our reasoning about God during crisis is limited, imperfect, and flawed too. God’s reasoning? It is unlimited. It is perfect. It is always right. And… It is still unlimited. it is still perfect. it is still right. III. Why We Shouldn’t Doubt Like in the case of Thomas. It didn’t make sense to Thomas that Jesus was alive. It wasn’t rational. It wasn’t reasonable. Thomas didn’t understand it. So… He gave his ultimatum. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.” (John 20:25) Well… After eight days, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Take your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting but believe.” (John 20:26-27) Thomas touches the goosebumps on Jesus arms. He runs his fingers over the nail marks in his hands. He puts his hand through the spear mark in his side. And believes. “My Lord and my God!” (v.28) That’s a total transformation. Jesus has driven away Thomas’ doubt. Instead asking “Why should I believe?” he begins to ask, “Why did I ever doubt?” TRUTH: Jesus changes “why believe” into “why doubt.” When you think about this story objectively, there were all kinds of reasons to believe. There had been twenty-some eyewitness reports. These reports came from a variety of appearances. The tomb was empty. There had been a group of trusted friends telling him that they had seen Jesus. There had even been Jesus’ own promises that he would rise from the dead – long before it ever happened. Jesus changes “why believe” into “why doubt.” That’s true for you too. Because Jesus conquered death. Jesus conquered your sin. Jesus lives on high. He is still in control. He is still in love with you. And he is still working all things for your eternal good. Stop doubting and believe. IV. How to battle Doubt Yet…we do struggle. We are sinners. We are weak. We are imperfect. If we live, we will face doubts. How do we battle doubt? A few lessons from Scripture: (1) Recognize YOU Can’t Stop Doubt This is an important point. Because what I fear some of you might do when you are done with this worship service is to say to yourself, “I need to stop doubting. I can do it.” Then, you head into the corner, scrunch your face up, and say, “Stop doubting. Stop doubting. Stop doubting.” This will not work. It won’t be long before you say, “I doubt that I can keep this up.” After Thomas’ confession of faith, look at Jesus’ response: “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (v.29) Did you hear that? Jesus called people who believe without seeing as BLESSED. Blessed can mean “gifted.” People who believe without seeing didn’t develop that ability on their own. God gave it to them. TRUTH: Faith is a GIFT. It isn’t something you earn. It isn’t something you do. It is something that God gives. So… (2) Let God Battle Doubt for You Though Jesus’ implies that faith without seeing is something that’s impossible for a human to accomplish on their own, in that same sentence, Jesus also implies that people do believe. How? Look at John’s answer: Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, did many other miraculous signs that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (v.30-31) Did you see it? God wants you to know the reality of the risen Jesus. God wants you to know so that you live forever in heaven with him. God wants you to know and – in order that you would know – he inspired John to write it down for you. TRUTH: God’s Word Battles Doubt for Us Doubting that God will take care of your family? God’s Word says, “The Lord is my shepherd. He leads me beside quiet water. He restores my soul.” (Psalm 23) Doubting that God will be able to conquer COVID-19? God’s Word says, “Praise the Lord, my soul, forget not God’s benefits – He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.” (Psalm 103) Doubting that God will give you the finances you need? God’s Word says, “Look at the birds of the air; they don’t work, yet our heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable?” (Matthew 6) Doubting that God isn’t mad at you from all your sin? God’s Word says, “In Jesus we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Ephesians 1:7) God’s Word battles doubt for us. So… When you are starting to doubt. When you are feeling like God isn’t in control. When your senses, emotions, and reason are battling you, run to God’s Word and let God battle for you. And then, once the doubts subside… (3) Anchor Yourself to God’s word The one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. (James 1:6) Because life is very much like a sea. Our senses smack us in the face like waves. Our emotions swirl around us. Reason flies into our face like the wind. But… When you are anchored in God’s Word. When you are clinging to God’s promises. When you are holding to Jesus… You will not sink into doubt. But stand on Jesus. Amen. Last week we began our sermon series called VICTORY and were reminded how Jesus won the VICTORY over death with his glorious resurrection. Today we’re going back to the very first Easter to learn something else that Jesus gives use victory over. Before we do that, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
I. When Fear Reigns On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were together…(Jn. 20:19) I don’t think I’ve ever read this portion of Scripture before and felt so envious. They weren’t practicing social distancing. They got to be together. They didn’t have to ZOOM. They didn’t have to log on to YouTube. Andrew didn’t have to tell Peter to turn his sound off when he wasn’t talking so that you could hear James the Less. The disciples were together. That’s wonderful. But… They weren’t having a meal. They weren’t playing Settlers of Catan. They weren’t enjoying drinks and throwing darts. They were scared. …the disciples were together… behind locked doors because of their fear of the Jews. (Jn. 20:19) A latch at the top of the door. A key lock from the inside. A circular deadbolt. A square deadbolt. A combination lock. One of those big old pieces of wood that you slide in front of the door. A couple of chains. A metal boot. Even a bunch of chairs, tables, and boxes pushed in front. The doors were locked because of the fear of the Jews. They were talking about the religious leaders. These guys were murderers. They were vicious. They had plotted. They had planned. They had pushed their agenda until Jesus had been brutally crucified. If they did that to their leader, they might not stop until each of them was nailed to a cross. But their fears were more than that… The disciples were out of a job! With Jesus gone, their whole corporation had folded. They couldn’t get out and make an income. They’d be risking arrest. They were afraid for the future of their careers, afraid for the future of their families, and afraid for the future of their church I bet they were even afraid of how they were going to get food through the night. TRUTH: Without Jesus, FEARS reigns. Because if Jesus were here, they’d be protected from the Roman soldiers. Jesus even drove out demons. If Jesus were here, they didn’t need to worry about money. He once caught a fish with the exact amount of money needed to pay taxes. If Jesus were here, they’d be taken care of, he fed over 5000 people with a few loaves of bread and two fish. He could use that leftover ground beef in the fridge and turn it into a Taco Supreme with the snap of his fingers. But… Jesus wasn’t there. And without Jesus, FEAR reigns. This is a big problem in our world right now. The devil is trying to distract us with bad report after bad report, terrible news after terrible news, horrible thing after horrible thing. So that we miss out on Jesus. And… Without Jesus, Fear reigns. If I’m honest… It’s worked on me. I’ve been afraid. What are some things that pastors are afraid of during COVID-19? I’ll tell you. Afraid of never getting another high five. Afraid that having to stay between lines will condition me not to move back and forth while I preach. I’m afraid that we will lose momentum. Afraid that those Sanctuary Updates…may never happen? Afraid that our idea for a satellite church in Durham will stall. Afraid that offerings will go down and we’ll have to trim our ministries? Afraid that Precious Lambs will barely survive. Afraid that we’ll lose families. Afraid that we’ll lose workers. Afraid that the virus might get to one of you. Afraid that the virus might be spread by me. Afraid that because of quarantine laws, one of our members might be dying and I won’t be able to see you in person before your final breath. Afraid that we might not be able to get to little Daniela. Afraid that she’ll get sick. Afraid that since she’s immunocompromised that if she gets sick… …I’ll never get to meet her. That’s how it feels when the devil distances me from Jesus. Because without Jesus, FEAR reigns. II. Replacing Fear But here’s the good news for you and me: …The devil can never do that for very long. …Because Jesus always finds his people. …even behind locked doors. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you!” (Jn. 20:19) To be honest, their initial reaction was probably fear. In fact, the Gospel of Luke tells us that, “they were terrified and thought they were looking at a ghost.” (Luke 24:37) To help with their fears, “Jesus showed them his hands and side” (20:20a) Here. Feel the bumps on my skin. Put your hands on my face. Warm, right? Touch the ridges of the nail scars. Notice the spear shaped mark in my side. I’m not a ghost I’m not a figment of your imagination. I’m real. And here’s what happens next The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (v.20b) Did you see that? It had been a room filled with fear. But when Jesus enters the room? He turns it all around. Fear leaves. And its replacement? Joy. TRUTH: Jesus replaces FEAR with JOY. Afraid of lost income? Jesus offers your eternal riches that will never run out. Afraid of a lost job? Jesus gives you a place working aside him in his kingdom. Fearful of the virus? Jesus defeated death itself! Fearful for your family? Jesus says you will always be a part of his. Fearful for your church? Jesus is the church’s One foundation. It will not lose. Afraid of being alone? Jesus is with you now and will never leave you. III. Proclaiming Peace But Jesus doesn’t stop there. Look at what he does next: Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! Just as the Father has sent me, I am also sending you.” (Jn. 20:21) Notice how that starts: PEACE. Jesus says it again! And I don’t think any of the disciples were upset that Jesus repeated himself. (Honestly, there shouldn’t be a limit in the number of times that God’s people can hear him say: “PEACE.”) But I think there’s a reason he does this specifically here. As they realize that it’s all true. As they realize that Jesus really rose from the dead. As they realize that he truly was standing before them… It’s quite possible that another fear hit them. He’s come to get us back! Last we saw him, we abandoned him. We denied him. We went and hid while he faced death by himself. We are sinners. Our Holy God has returned to get us! Oh no! Please shoot your lightning bolts in Peter’s direction. It was all his idea! But Jesus didn’t shoot them with a lightning bolt. He didn’t yell at them. He didn’t even give them a stern look. He simply said: “Peace.” I’m not here to hurt you. Your sins are forgiven. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to recruit you. TRUTH: PEACE-filled people proclaim PEACE. Imagine with me what it will be like. You’re watching the news. Suddenly, there’s a breaking report. The quarantine is over. The virus is in remission. What are you going to do when your spouse comes into the room and ask, “Has anything interested happened?” Are you gonna say, “Nah.”? No, you’ll tell her the good news. You’ll text message a friend. You’ll Facebook live yourself doing a Coronavirus is conquered dance. Friends, We have better news than that. Our sins have been forgiven. Jesus conquered death. We have the promise of eternal life. This is worth sharing. IV. What Now? How do you do it? How do we proclaim peace in a COVID-19 world? I want to switch gears and head to the book of 1 John. That is the first letter written to believers everywhere by the Apostle John. John was one of the Apostles in that room on the first Easter Sunday. He was a guy that had been filled with fear until Jesus showed up and transformed it into joy. He knows a thing or two about driving fear from people’s hearts, Because Jesus drove fear from his own heart. Listen to what he writes in 1 John 4:16-18. God is love. He who remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this way his love has been brought to its goal among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are just like Jesus. There is no fear in love, but complete love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. (1 John 4:16-18) I love how that starts. God is love. Love is God. It doesn’t say that God is FEAR. It doesn’t say that God is ANXIETY. It doesn’t say that God is TERRIFYING. God is love. Because God is love, he drives our FEAR. And, because you are loved, God drives out FEAR through YOU. How might God drive out fear through you? A few points (1) Fill Your Heart with God This is an important point. Because it is hard to be loving towards others when you’re afraid. Do you remember my dog Frankie? The one that’s absolutely terrified of laundry baskets? Usually she’s friendly. Usually she licks your hands. Usually she has no problem cuddling next to you and showing you puppy love. But… If that laundry basket is there? She runs away. No love is shown. Because it’s hard to be loving towards others when you’re afraid. So, how do we keep fear out of our hearts? Look at verse 16 again: He who remains in love remains in God and God in him. (1 John 4:16) This is a cup. It’s filled with air. You know it. I know it. We all know it . If I wanted to get rid of the air, it would be difficult. I can pour it out? Still filled with air. I can dump it upside down? Still filled with air. I could crush it. It’s still filled with air. The same is true with fear. If you have it in your heart, it’s there. You can try to hide. You can try to distract. You can drink a lot. You can yell a lot. But… In the end, fear is still there. Do you know the only way to remove the air? Fill it with something else. It’s the same thing with FEAR. The only way to DRIVE OUT fear from your heart is to FILL your heart with JESUS. That’s what we’re doing right now. Keep doing it. Join a daily devotional. Add an afternoon devotional. Add an evening devotional. Add a bible reading before bed. Go to sleep to the Bible app (and the guy on the Bible app has such a gentle voice)… Go to sleep to the Bible app reading from the Psalms. If you want to drive out fear from OTHERS, fill your own heart with JESUS. (2) Live God’s Love In this way his love has been brought to its goal among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are just like Jesus. (1 Jn. 4:17) Because God’s Love is much different than the world’s love. The world’s love is very emotion based. “It’s about people making you feel butterflies and fireworks and sparks.” God is love. And I doubt God felt butterflies for you and me on the cross. Because we were still sinners that Yet God is love. He still died for us. He still rose for us. He still saved us God’s love is not an emotional reaction. God’s love is an action DESPITE an emotional reaction. And God isn’t calling you to feel butterflies with everyone you meet. He’s calling you to perform actions of love even when others make us feel like we don’t want to God’s calling you to… …get up from the couch, do the dishes, even if your spouse didn’t ask in a nice voice. …text message something nice to that person at work, even if they’ve just been badmouthing you on the group chat. …give a call to your grandma, even if she’s mostly grouchy. …spend time with your kids, even if they’re really cranky. …help out that neighbor, who’s never friendly and always frowning. Live God’s action-centered love. (3) Speak the Gospel There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. (v.18) Perfect love? That’s impossible for sinful humans to achieve. Perfect love? That’s exactly who Jesus is. He lived for us. He died for us. He rose for us. That’s the message of love that drives out fear! Remember earlier – how I described my fears. Those were real fears. But I don’t have them anymore. Know why? I was talking to a pastoral friend. He let me vent. He let me share my fears. And then…do you know what he said? Even if all that happened, you’d be ok. Because even if all that happened, you’d still have Jesus. In fact, you have Jesus right now. Don’t be afraid. Without Jesus, fear reigns. With Jesus, fear runs. Share Jesus. Amen. I love Peeps.
There’s something about gooey, sugary, artificially dyed animal shapes that really get a person hyped for Easter. I enjoy trying to smoosh them together and see how many I can fit into my mouth at once. And usually…they are the first thing to remind me that Easter is on its way. Suddenly, they appear in a giant display at Food Lion visible as soon as I enter. Not this year. This year when I went to Food Lion? Hand sanitizing stations. Plastic gloves. And plastic barricades. Doesn’t it feel a bit like Easter has been overshadowed? To be fair – this pandemic is still scary. There have been 1,577,360 cases of COVID-19 and 93,637 deaths. 6.6 million Americans filed for Unemployment last week. The stock market continues to volatilely jump up and down. Experts warn that the curve hasn’t slowed down yet. So… When do we get a victory? When do we get a win? Right now. Today we’re going to look at the very first Easter and remember the victory that’s ours Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth. Your Word is the truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; open our ears to hear what you want us to hear; and open our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. The Sadness of Easter The lesson this morning chronicles a group of a women who were very close to Jesus. Their story doesn’t start on Easter, but on Good Friday: Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last...But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. They saw the nails pierce his hands. They saw the thorns break his skull. They saw him bleed. They saw the soldiers mock him. They saw the religious leaders mock him. They saw random travelers mock him. They saw him face. They saw him weaken They saw his life slowly slip away… Until… He was no more. Instead of Jesus, there was a cold lifeless body. What ensued next was a bit of a hurried event. It was Friday afternoon. By 6 pm, the Jewish Sabbath would start. It was against religious law to have a dead person exposed and unburied once the holy evening began. (Granted, you might expect it to be against religious law to kill the Son of God, but…who’s keeping track really…) So… The soldiers took his body down. They quickly carried it to Pilate. Pilate gave it to a volunteer, who quickly wrapped up the body. Linens around the head. Linens around the body. Linens around the feet. Skip the ointments. Skip the oils. Skip the perfumes… There wasn’t much time left. Grab some soldiers. Carry the body to a tomb. Put it inside. And roll a giant stone in front. Get home in time for supper. While all of this was going on, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. (v.55-56) And… On that day of rest… I imagine they couldn’t help but think of what they’d seen. Flashes of the horrors that Jesus went through interrupting their daily thoughts. Every door shut triggering the memory of that hammer. Even the red liquid of the tomato soup matching the red of his blood. Every unpleasant smell generating a nausea at what they’d seen. They tried to busy their minds by busying their hands. Crushing some herbs. Mixing some ointments. Heating things to the right temperature. They needed to properly bury his body. To do the things that time had not allowed them to do. To give him the respect he deserved. To get some closure on this death that was hanging over their heads. Hmmm… Death over their heads. On the very first Easter. I can’t help but notice that this year’s Easter and the first Easter have that in common because… Like Easter 2020, the very first Easter began with DEATH hanging over the day. But… On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. (v.1) “Mary, you pour the myrrh on his feet.” “I’ll take some frankincense to his head.” “Other Mary, you put sprinkle some of your special blend near the torso.” “Salome! How are we even going to do this? There’s that giant stone. It must weigh hundreds of pounds. Do you think the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb will even be willing to let us insi-” They stopped. They gasped. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. (v.3) The women looked at each other. Their question changed from who WILL roll away the stone to who DID roll away the stone. Was it the soldiers? Was it those nasty pharisees? Was it some kind of grave robber? But inside, they found nobody. And no body. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. (v.4) Angels! Messengers of the most high! Divine servants of the All Mighty. Holy. The women fell to the ground with their faces in the dirt. Because… The only things more terrifying than DEATH is facing the one who CONTROLS it. Angels were from God. God hated sin. They had sin. Were they about to be struck down? But the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” You came here searching for a tomb. A body. Death sealed within. But there’s no death here. There’s no DEATH in Jesus’ tomb. He LIVES. Stop being sad. Start being joyful. Jesus lives. II. Victory Truths Because Jesus lives, the Bible has some important truths for us to consider. (1) When it comes to Death, Your Level of FEAR Depends on whom You’re TRUSTING to Defeat It I remember growing up we had a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Beforehand, we divided up into teams in order to go and find as many Easter eggs as we could and put them in our basket. My team? We had Jon Lindloff on our team. Jon was the fastest kid on the block. He was the most athletic. He could jump the farthest. Whatever team he was on would end up winning whatever athletic contest he was in because he was that impressive. He was like the 7-year-old, small midwestern town version of Lebron James. So… When we were about to start the egg hunt challenge, we were pretty confident. We weren’t afraid of losing. Because we had Jon Lindloff. As you face COVID-19, where do you find confidence for victory? A latex glove? These can break. Some sanitizer bottle? They only kill 99.99% Social distancing rule? What if someone else doesn’t follow it? Doctors? What if they’re so sleep deprived and tired they can’t give you the best care? The government? What if can’t get along and come to a partisan agreement to help? Scientists? What if they don’t discover a vaccine before it’s too late? Trusting in an EARTHLY things to defeat death leads to High levels of FEAR Because all those things? They’re earthly. Earthly things die. You can’t trust in a thing that dies to defeat the things that causes those earthly things to die. You need to trust in something that doesn’t die. Back in the tomb, as the women were trying to process what the angels were saying about Jesus, the angels were trying to process how the women didn’t expect this resurrection. They said, Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words. (v.6b-8) They remembered about the time Jesus said he was like Jonah. Jonah had been inside the belly of a big old fish for three day, then come out alive. Like how Jesus had been in the belly of the earth for three days, then come out alive. (Matthew 12:40) They remembered about the time Jesus said the Pharisees should go destroy the temple, but he would rebuild it in three days. At the time, they had thought he meant the gigantic stone structure in which they worshiped, but he had really meant his body. (John 2:19) They remembered when Jesus said he was the kind of Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. But one who did so confidently, because he had the authority to raise his body back to life again. (John 10) They remembered when Jesus said plainly, “I am going to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him. But three days after he is killed, he will rise.” (Mk. 9:31) The truth is that… Trusting in the HEAVENLY ONE leads to high levels of CONFIDENCE. Jesus trustworthy. He defeated death just as he said. Jesus is trustworthy. He’ll get you through what’s going on. (2) Jesus Holds an UNBLEMISHED Record against Death. This is the reason that the angel says to the women: “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” Not just because Jesus is living. But Jesus is the LIFE. A paraphrase might be: “You really thought measly old death could defeat Jesus? Ha! Hey, Clarence. Put down your harp. You gotta hear this. It’s a good one.” In fact, Jesus had already proven his power over death. He met a young girl who had died a few hours before he made it to her room. Jesus grabbed her hand and brought her back to life. Jesus stopped a procession for a young man who had died just yesterday. Jesus touched the casket and the brought him back to life. Jesus missed the funeral of a friend of his and approached the tomb where his friend had been buried for over four days. Jesus opened the tomb and brought him back to life. Jesus holds an UNBLEMISHED Record against Death. And to the victor goes the spoils! If you win at the Olympics, you get the gold medal. If you win at the Super Bowl, you get a super bowl ring. If you win a boxing match, you get the winner’s purse. (Which…I always thought was an actual purse. And I wondered why manly boxers carried purses, but…turns out they just meant money…whatever). To the winner goes the spoils. What are the spoils for Jesus’ victory? Forgiveness. Peace with God. Eternal Life. But here’s the thing. Jesus didn’t take these spoils for himself. He gives them to you. Jesus’s VICTORY over death means you receive the SPOILS. You have forgiveness. You have peace with God. You have eternal Life. This means that when it comes to the Corona Virus, you will get the victory. Regardless of how it comes. God keeps you safe and you never get COVID-19. You win. You get sick, but God heals your body. You win. You get sick. You don’t heal. You die. But then you live forever in heaven! YOU WIN! (3) With hope in JESUS, there is ZERO reason to fear Death. There’s a pretty fabulous Bible passage that talks about the victory Jesus had over death. It’s found in Corinthians 15:55, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” There was a dad who was sitting outside with his little girl. They were playing. Enjoying the nice day. When suddenly, a bee flew near them. This was a bigger deal to the girl than to most. She was allergic. Deathly allergic. She began to cry. She began to wail. So… Dad wrapped her up in his big bear arms. He protected her. The bee landed on his bicep and stung him. After the sting, dad let the girl go. The bee was still flying around, but dad wasn’t worried. Why? The bee’s stinger was stuck in him. It couldn’t sting his daughter anymore. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (v.56-57) Death has lost its sting. IT cannot sting you any longer. It’s no longer separation from God, But an entrance into the joys of heaven. III. What Now? (1) Share the Victory When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. (v.9) There are others who are fearful. There are others who are afraid. There are others who are spending this Easter…with death hanging over their heads. Give them Jesus. It’s what the women were so excited to do. They ran out of the tomb. They left their spices behind. Because suddenly all that mattered was telling others about Jesus’ victory over death. Do the same. Put everything else down. Go to tell a neighbor. Go tell a friend. Go tell a family member. Christ is Victorious! Amen.  We’re continuing our sermon series about EYEWITNESS Easter accounts where we read reports from people who saw Jesus come back to life with their own eyes.
We heard from a group of three women at the tomb. We heard from Mary Magdalene a bit later. We heard from 2 disciples on a road trip to Emmaus. We heard from about 20 disciples in a locked room. In total on Easter Sunday, there’s around 25 eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ resurrection. In 4 different locations. At 4 different times. That’s a lot of proof. And yet…maybe you’re not convinced… Have you ever played the game of OLD MAID before? What happens is you are dealt a hand of cards. Once it’s your turn you draw cards from any other player on the table. The goal is to get pairs until you run out of cards in your hand. And you never, ever want to get the Old Maid. Which I’m not sure why anyone doesn’t want the Old Maid. Generally speaking – I’d love an Old Maid. It’d be great to have someone help around the house…but I digress. What happened when I was growing up is my dad used to take his hand. He’d spread it out in a fan. He’d take one card and put it up…enticing-like. And he’d say, “You should take this one. Trust me. It’ll be good.” And I’d believe him. And… OLD MAID. Eventually. I didn’t take that card. I was burned too many times. I was skeptical. Maybe you’ve gotten the Old Maid too many times. Maybe you’ve been burned too often. Maybe you’ve believed too many sinful people who have let you down too many times. Maybe you’re skeptical about Jesus. Today we’ll look an eyewitness account from a guy that was filled with skepticism. Our goal is to listen to how Jesus transforms his skepticism to faith – and see how we might transform ours into faith. Before we begin, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. The Eyewitness Account Thomas’ eyewitness account comes from John 20. It starts in verses 24 with a caveat, “Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.“ It doesn’t say what Thomas was doing when Jesus appeared to all of the other disciples. Picture what you’d like. Maybe he was out for a walk. Maybe he was visiting a relative. I like to think he was out getting coffee. Probably a Venti black coffee. Real stiff. Real dark. And as he was sipping the coffee – because the coffee is taking his mind off the terrible events that have happened recently - he sighs. This is really awful. We spent years following that guy. And…he dies. He’s no Messiah. And we’ve got no hope. As Thomas gets close to the door of the house, he takes a deep breath. They are my friends. I should try and cheer them up. Get them ready to move on. But from within the house – Thomas doesn’t hear sadness. He doesn’t hear crying. But laughter. And…joy. Thomas has to really knock on the door to get them to hear him over their talking. Finally, the door bursts open: Alive! Thomas! He’s alive. We saw him. We saw him. We saw him. Jesus…here… resurrected. Thomas – we touched him. We put our fingers in his hands. We put our hands into his side. He’s real. It’s real. Jesus’ resurrection is real! And this goes on for a while. Excitement. Happiness. Joy. Thomas’ friends trying to share their exuberance with their friend. Until…. Quiet! Enough. Ya’ll are crazy. I don’t know happened. If you had too much to drink or you’re hallucinating. But.. I do know what didn’t happen. Jesus didn’t visit you. He isn’t alive. He’s still…dead. When will you guys get it through your thick skulls! But one of them approaches: But…Thomas. We aren’t crazy. We aren’t drunk. Look around. There’s like 20 of us in the room. 20 of your closest, most sincere, loving friends in this room. All of whom are telling you the truth – Jesus is alive! We saw it with our eyes. We touched him with our hands. We’re telling you with our words. Doesn’t that count for something? To which: But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (v.26) Well… One week later. Same room. Same time of day. Same disciples. Only this time… Thomas is with them. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” (v.26) Then, Jesus made a bee-line for Thomas. Hey friend. “Do you see me?” I’m right here. Put your finger here. That’s where the nails were. Put your hand into my side. Isn’t that what you wanted? While you’re at it. Close your eyes and listen…Can you hear my lungs breathing? Put your ear against my chest. That’s my heart. Thomas. If you won’t listen to your friends. Listen to me: Stop doubting and believe. (v.27) To which Thomas. Doubting, skeptical Thomas. Can only say: “My Lord and my God!” (v.28) In other words: I believe. II. Resurrection Truth There it is. Thomas’ eyewitness account. An account that has made Thomas forever known as Doubting Thomas. Which – not super flattering. I think, anxious Thomas, kinda-believing Thomas. or even average, everyday common Thomas would have been preferable. But Doubting Thomas it is…and that’s important. Because his skepticism leads us to three incredible resurrection truths: (1) Jesus Rose from the Dead Fourth time it’s been key truth #1. It’ll keep coming. But for real this time – because if last week’s account of 20 some odd people seeing, feeling, touching the risen Jesus … if that wasn’t enough. Then, Thomas’ account is for you. If you don’t believe this happened, Thomas’ words are for you. He says, “I get it. I was skeptical too. Some guy dying and rising for the forgiveness of sins? It sounds crazy. It doesn’t happen. But it did. I saw him with my own eyes. I touched him with my own hands. I did a thorough investigation – And it led me to this truth: Jesus is alive!” And here’s the really cool part. If Jesus is really alive. Then so is his forgiveness. Even for the doubter. Because…notice what Jesus does when he enters the room. The first thing he says is: “Peace to you.” That “you” is plural. It is all encompassing. It includes Thomas. Jesus didn’t say, “Peace be to most of you…but not you Thomas. You can sit over there and be anxious for a bit.” Nope. Jesus brought real forgiveness. Even to the doubter. Because maybe you’ve been doubting God. Maybe you doubt this resurrection. Maybe you’ve been doubting this Jesus thing. Maybe you’ve never believed before. Maybe you doubt God is with you, that God cares for you, that God loves you. Repent. And listen to Jesus’ voice: “Peace be to you.” (2) Faith is a Gift Thomas had said, “Unless I see Jesus with my own eyes and touch him with my own hands, I will not believe.” Which… Stop and listen to what just happened. Sinful, imperfect Thomas just gave Holy, Righteous God…an ultimatum. Good idea? Bad idea. God doesn’t owe Thomas anything. He’s God! And yet – God gives Thomas exactly what he asks for. He GIFTS Thomas exactly what he asked for. He gives him the opportunity to be an eyewitness. He gives Thomas faith. And in fact, go a bit farther: Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (vs. 29) People who haven’t seen Jesus. Who is Jesus talking about? You see Jesus? Dear believer, he’s talking about you. But don’t get a big head. Listen again to Jesus’ words: “Blessed.” Blessed means given a gift. And if you believe in Jesus… If you believe that some dude died 2000 years ago, came back to life, and in him you are forgiven of all your sins? That…is a gift. A miraculous gift. Don’t forget that. I was talking with a woman the other day who was pretty excited to tell me that she got saved. I said, “Oh. That sounds nice. What do you mean?” And she said, “Well…I was already living a pretty perfect life. So, I though I might as well do it and decide to bring Jesus into my life. And Pastor, you should have seen it. I really did it.” Did you catch that? I did it. I did it. I did it. I thought she said that she “got saved.” But what she meant was, “I saved myself.” Here’s the thing: Faith isn’t something you do. Faith isn’t something that you make happen. Faith isn’t something that you get down on the ground, clench really hard and will into happening. Faith is a gift of God. If the devil has made you think that it’s something you do – be careful. It’s a line of thinking that leads to two scenarios: (1) Pharisaical. AKA – Trust that I’m really awesome at believing. (2) Despair. Because I’ll never be able to bring myself to believe this. In both of those instances, faith isn’t in Jesus. Faith is in oneself. And that’s NOT saving faith. Friends, faith is a gift. Take a moment. Give thanks to God for your Savior Jesus, yes. But also gives thanks to God for your gift of faith. (3) The Gift of Faith Comes through the Gospel Because maybe you’re thinking – “God! I want this gift of faith. How are you going to send it?” Fed Ex? Amazon Prime? UPS? Maybe you can send me it via USPS? But look at what John writes right after this eyewitness account. He says this: Jesus did many other miracles in the presence of his disciples – some that we didn’t even get to hear about – but these words are written – why? – that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (v.30-31) Get it? Faith is a gift that comes through God’s Word. Faith is a gift that comes through the words about Jesus. Faith is a gift that comes from hearing about your Savior. Scripture says this, “Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:8,9) That’s it! There’s not any fireworks. There isn’t any magic incantations. There isn’t any incredible 60 day fast that you need to do in order to cleanse your body and pray yourself into the kingdom of faith. You simply need to hear the Gospel. Because the Gospel brings the gift of faith. How does it do that? Because it’s not just some person’s words. It’s the Word of God Himself. The all-powerful, all loving, doing everything it can to reveal to you Jesus’ saving work to get you to heaven: God’s Word. That leads me to two very simple WHAT NOWs: (1) Immerse Yourself in God’s Word Because if you have doubts, if you are unsure, if you are a skeptic… The cure is not an ultimatum to God. The cure is God’s Word. His gentle, powerful, faith creating Word. I love you. I died for you. I rose for you. Believe. If you want a stronger faith – study God’s Word. In church. In a group. With others. On your own. In your family. If you think your faith will grow without God’s Word – that’s like thinking your home garden will grow without any water. It won’t happen. Some of ya’ll need to hear God’s Word on this. Immerse yourself in the only thing that gifts faith in order to grow your faith: God’s Word. (2) Share God’s Word Because you probably know someone who is a skeptic. You probably know someone who is unsure. You probably know someone who is doubting. You might even think – I don’t know what needs to be done. You know the solution. It’s God’s Word. Bring them God’s Word. Tell them about Jesus. Tell them about the Savior. Because it is through that message of God’s Word and only through that message of God’s Word that God gifts faith. Why it’s so important to share it with others. Go and tell! Amen.  We are in the middle of our Eyewitness sermon series and so far, we have heard Eyewitness reports from Mary Magdalene and from the Emmaus Disciples (Named? Cleopas and the other guy). In addition, we heard there’s a group of at least three other women (Mary the mother of James, Joanna and others—Lk. 24:10) who saw Jesus alive as well. That means by evening on Easter Sunday there are 5 people who have witnessed Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
The unlikely story is building credibility. DNA testing was introduced into our court system in the early 90s. Did you know that hundreds of people who were previously convicted by eyewitness reports have been found not-guilty thanks to the DNA Testing? In 70% of those cases, the reason for conviction was the eyewitness testimony of one or two people. John Wixted, a psychologist for the University of California, San Diego – wanted to see how useful eyewitness testimony was. He conducted an experiment with police that focused on 348 robberies in 2013 that involved an eyewitness and a single suspect. He showed the eyewitness a group of 5 photos in which one was the convicted robber. The eyewitnesses got the correct suspect 1/3 of the time. Not great. But…in addition to quizzing eyewitnesses on the correct suspect, he also asked them about their certainty – whether they were unsure, certain, or very certain. Of the people who were very certain? They correctly identified the suspect 75% of the time. And when there was even one other supporting eyewitness, the rate of correct identification shot up to 90%. By evening on the very first Easter, Jesus was identified as risen by at least 5 eyewitnesses. Not one. Not two. Five. And their confidence? It was through the roof! They didn’t see Jesus running away or from a distance, but up close and personal. But…they aren’t even the beginning of the eyewitness accounts. Today we’ll look an eyewitness account that probably quadruples the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. The goal? Gain your confidence that Jesus is alive. Before we begin, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. The Eyewitness Account The eyewitness account is recorded in both the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Luke. We’re going be in both, starting with John. It says, “On the evening of that first day of the week...the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders…” (Jn. 20:19) The section starts by describing a group of disciples together. The Gospel of Luke helps us better define who the group was gathered together. A few notes: It doesn’t involve Judas – he betrayed Judas and took his life because of the guilt. It doesn’t involve Thomas – take note – we’ll talk more about that next week. It does involve the Emmaus disciples – Cleopas and what’s-his-name show up to tell them all about their eyewitness experience. It involves the women – Mary Magdalene, other Mary and Joanna, the other woman – who had seen Jesus rise from the dead. And…maybe even a few others. In short, the group is somewhere around 15-20 people. That’s important. And the doors were locked. It’s almost a horror film like setting. The disciples have the doors locked, latched, barred, with a couple pieces of furniture stacked against the door – all because they are afraid of the Jewish leaders. Why? The Jewish leaders just killed Jesus. They crucified him. They acted like a mob, wrongfully arrested him, falsely accused him, illegally convicted him, and forced Pilate’s hand to have him crucified. What if the leaders did the same to them? What if they had 12 more crosses just waiting to be filled with 12 more disciples? What if any encounter with a Jewish leader would end the same way that Jesus’ encounter did…death? And so, they hid. And…all day long people had been entering the room with really weird accounts. “We went to the grave and we thought he’d be dead, but the stone was moved!” “An angel. A brilliantly bright angel. He saw us and spoke to us and said Jesus was alive.” “It’s true. We listened to Mary. We ran to look. There wasn’t a body in the tomb.” “I came back later and saw Jesus himself! I know it…because I heard his voice. A voice that healed me from demons.” “We walked on the road with him. We talked with him. Would we have come all the way back here from Emmaus – a 7-mile sprint? – if we hadn’t really seen something?” And to be fair – the reports brought excitement. They brought mystery. They brought questions. But mostly…they brought fear. Lots and lots of fear. Because this fear of the Jews – had obviously caused their friends – delusions…. …their mind was playing tricks on them! …a slow descent into madness. How long until it hit them? In the midst of the fear, confusion and hushed conversations… Another guest appeared into the room. Everyone was so distracted that they did not hear him enter. Granted --- he didn’t knock. He just appeared. While they were…talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (Luke 24:36-37) And the disciples…have anything but peace! It’s the ghost! He’s seeking vengeance. He’s back to haunt us. Jesus lifted up his hands. The disciples braced themselves for the inevitable plasma-ball to come out and consume them. But… Instead… Jesus said this, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (v.38) One by one…the disciples looked at each other. “Touch him? Touch the ghost?” “You do it.” “No, you do it.” “I’m not touching the ghost!” Finally, Peter pushes his brother Andrew forward. Andrew gulps. He lifts up his hand. He places it on Jesus’ hand…and… “Whoa…Guys. It’s real.” The other disciples quickly come over. They feel the bumps on his skin. They feel the hairs on his arms. They touched the holes near his hands. He has flesh and bone – just like any other living human has. Jesus asks, “Do you have anything here to eat?” (v.42) One of them hands over the fish sandwich. They pass it to Jesus. It’ll probably fall to the floor – he’s a spirit. Nope. Jesus ate it in their presence. (v.43) It went into his mouth. Chewed by his teeth. Tasted by his tongue. Into his throat Into his belly. Digestion happened. Just like it does with any living human being. Then, Jesus gave them something else. He said to them, “This is what I said would happen. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Old Testament.” (v.44) I had to die. And I had to rise. Just as it was written: “God, you will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor let your Holy One see decay.” (Psalm 16:10) “After he has suffered, the Messiah will see the light of life…” (Isaiah 53:11) “Just as Jonah was three days and night in the belly of a fish, so the Son of man will be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth.” (Mt. 12:40) Friends I am alive. Jesus’ words echoed… Seemingly…joyful. And the disciples came to a realization. This wasn’t a hallucination. This wasn’t a vision. This wasn’t even a ghost. Nope. This was something much worse. This was real. Jesus rose. And it couldn’t be more terrifying! Why terrifying? Because the last time most of them saw Jesus? It was in a garden, late at night, running away as he got arrested. They had abandoned him. They had denied him. They had watched…without doing anything…as he died a slow, painful death on the cross. They sinned against him… Greatly. Now he was back. Proof that He was who He said He was. Proof that He was God Almighty who controlled hurricanes, volcanoes and flash floods. Proof that He was real --- and He was back – and He was back for one reason only: Vengeance. One by one by the disciples looked towards the grounds. They winced. They knew they were sinners and they were awaiting their sin-hating God to utterly destroy them. But… He didn’t. Instead he repeated: “Peace be with you.” I am God. I am alive. I have the power of life and death. But I am not angry. (Isaiah 27:4) I am not here to get you. I am not here for revenge. I am here because we won. Because your sins are forgiven. Because we are at peace. II. Resurrection Truth There it is. The biggest, most populated eyewitness account that we’ve encountered to date. It’s filled with reasons for confidence. It’s filled with truth. What is that truth? Three things: (1) Jesus Rose from the Dead Yep. Third time that it’s come up as a truth to learn from the eyewitness account. Think about it. Jesus goes out of his way to prove that His physical, tangible body is in working order again. His digestive system works. His joints work. His skin works. He even invites the disciples – all 20-some of them – to do a full, thorough investigation. Don’t you think they did everything possible to determine if it really was real or not? Some tapped him. Someone pinched him. I gotta imagine someone might have even tried to pluck his arm hair out. And Jesus allows it! Because it’s real. And, it’s not just any old tangible working body, but his own working body. He’s had the nail marks in his hands to prove it. He’s had holes in his feet to prove it. He had a big, old slit in his side to prove it. If this was all one big ruse, then Jesus would have had to convince someone, “Hey, do you mind posing as me after I die on the cross? Really? Cool. Now…I know it sounds crazy, but would you be willing to shove nails into your hands, a stake through your feet and a spear into your side? We’re gonna need those wounds to heal up in order to convince people that it’s really me.” It didn’t happen. What did happen? Jesus really, absolutely, complete rose from the dead. And that’s important. Because that means… (2) We Have Peace It’s a phrase that Jesus repeats a few times. “Peace be with you.” “Peace be with you.” Because as hard as it might be to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, it might be harder to believe that we have peace with God. Because we have guilt. We have sinned. We have shame. Truth is – you might be believing that God is so angry with you. Because of past sins. Because of BIG past sins. Because of repeated sins. Because of unbelief. Because of not following Jesus. Because you haven’t been whom God called you to be! And so…you don’t believe. And the biggest reason you don’t believe in the resurrection is not be a lack of evidence. But your biggest reason for not believing in the resurrection is the ramifications. I am a sinner and lo, God hates me! But…if Jesus rose. Then, sin has been defeated. And…if Jesus rose, Your sin has been paid for. And…if your sin has been paid for. Completely. 100% perfectly. Then, God’s wrath has subsided. And if God’s wrath has subsided. Then, you have no reason to be afraid. Hear Jesus’ words to you: “Peace be with you.” Understand. It isn’t because your sin isn’t a big deal – it’s a huge deal. It isn’t because God doesn’t hate sin and evil – He absolutely does. It isn’t because you’ve done enough to make up for it – you can’t, and you won’t. It’s because of Jesus. Unbelievable as it is – it’s true. About as unbelievable as a resurrection – also true. The visible nature of the resurrection provides tangible proof of the invisible truth of reconciliation with God. (Romans 4:25) The resurrection is the visible proof of the invisible truth: You have peace with God. Which leads to our final truth: (3) You have been Sent To end his encounter with the disciples, Jesus says, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” Do you get it? God sent Jesus to bring us back to peace with Him. And He sent risen Jesus to His disciples to confirm that peace with Him. And He is sending us to share that peace with others. He is sending YOU to share that peace with others. Because there are people out there who are far apart from God. Who are entangled in sin. Who are covered in guilt. Who are like those disciples huddled in that room afraid to face the world because they have no peace. You give them that peace. You tell them about Jesus. And there aren’t any qualifications! He doesn’t say, “If you have Seminary Certification then you have been sent.” Nope. Qualifications for sharing Jesus include: (1) Believing in Jesus. (2) Hearing his call to “Go” and “Be sent.” Which you just heard… SO…this means you! If you’ve known about Jesus since you were a child? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you’ve known about Jesus since this last Easter. Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you are a 40 plus year member of this church? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you aren’t even a member yet? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you are going home to a retirement community? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you are going home to hang out in your playroom? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you have a master’s degree? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you have a bachelor’s degree? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you have a high school degree? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you don’t have any degree? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you live near people who look and act like you? Sent. Go tell about Jesus. If you live near people who don’t look and don’t act like you? Sent. Go tell about Jesus. If you are a Republican? Sent. Go tell about Jesus. If you are a Democrat? Sent. Go tell about Jesus. If you are a political agnostic? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you live in Raleigh? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you live in Durham? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you live in Wake Forest? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. IF you live in Chapel Hill? Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you live in Cary, Zebulon, Fuquay Varina, Rolesville, Louisburg…or any other villle or burg that I’m forgetting to mention here: Sent. Go, tell about Jesus. If you are a someone or an anyone who knows about Jesus… (And friends – Jesus is talking to you) You have been sent. Go and tell about Jesus. And the Holy Spirit will be with you. Amen.  We recently got a cat.
I know. I know…this sounds like a confessional. But, it’s true. After 33 years of claiming that I would never own a cat, I caved, and I did. And it’s been fun. She enjoys keeping us safe from any fuzz balls and dust balls that she sees. She loves to go hunting for leaves. She even enjoys a playful, piercing bite to my front toe. But the other day, my wife told me that she had done something crazy. Julianna texted me that we needed to close the windows so that the cat couldn’t climb the screen. I said, “Yeah. How could she do that?” Julianna said, “I see holes in the screen right now.” I said, “Those are probably from bugs or some severe storm.” She said, “I’m pretty positive it’s from the cat.” I said, “Oh yeah. Prove it. How do you know?” My wife texted me a photo of the cat climbing the screen. Oh. Eyewitnesses are important. They are verbal proclaims of the visual truth. They are the difference between… Fiction and non-fiction. A fairy tale and history. A lie and truth. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be starting our sermon series called EYEWITNESS. It’s all about the eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. I think we need to do this because the resurrection of Jesus is too big a deal to rely on hearsay, to trust maybes and to listen to theories. Our goal today is to look at a real eyewitness accounts… Of real people… Who had real interactions… With the really risen Jesus… As real proof of your real salvation. Before we begin, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. Mary’s Background The first eyewitness account that we are going to look at comes from a woman named Mary Magdalene. What interesting about Mary is that she doesn’t play a big part in Jesus’ three years of ministry on earth. In fact, there’s very little that is written about her except for this: Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus had driven out seven demons. (Mark 16:9) It’s not even a full sentence. Just a passing adjective comment. But…one that’s pretty heavy. She had been possessed by 7 demons. Evil spirits. Fallen angels. Powerful. They had taken hold of her mind. Something that Bible theorists will suggest happens from dabbling in the demonic activity (the occult, psychics, blood sacrifices) and excessive drug use. Regardless how it happened to Mary, we know it was terrible. She had no control of her personality. She was a prisoner in her own mind. In a state of deep depression. With a helplessness that doesn’t go away. Except, it did. Mary was possessed. Jesus healed her. I don’t know exactly how, but if it is anything like Jesus’ other miracles, then it was probably as simple as Jesus lifting his hand and saying: “Be healed.” Which…Can you imagine? If you’ve ever had a counselor help you with a breakthrough. Or a pastor help you grasp God’s forgiveness. Or a fatal diagnosis that a doctor diagnosed, prescribed medicine and helped you defeat. You know the kind of deep connection that Mary had with Jesus. That’s why she had become a follower of his: She had been trapped, Jesus freed her. She had been guilty, Jesus brought her forgiveness. She had been depressed, Jesus brought her joy. She had been lonely, Jesus brought her family. She had been hopeless, Jesus made her hopeful. Until… Jesus died. He was violently, publicly, cruelly crucified on a cross. And all of her hope? Went away. All of her joy? Evaporated. All of her sanity… Started to slip away…. She could feel the devil’s grip tightening on her again. II. The Eyewitness Account That’s why she got up so early Sunday morning. You see -- Jesus had been killed Friday evening. They buried him. She would have gone to his grave to mourn, but they have this Sabbath rule where you can’t go to visit the dead on a Saturday. But Saturday was over. Like…just over. So…5am. It was still dark. It’s not like she was sleeping anyways. She threw on her sandals. Fastened on her cloak. And walked off to her friend’s house. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! “What do you want?” “It’s Sunday. We were going to go to his grave. We were going to go to Jesus’ grave so that we can honor him.” “But Mary. It’s not even light out yet. It’s still night time. It’s…just gonna take me a second while I get ready.” As they walked through the slowly evaporating darkness, it was mostly quiet. Whenever her friends tried to make small talk, Mary quieted them. “We’ve just gotta get to Jesus’ grave.” As they approached the garden, Mary worked into a sprint walk. She began opening up the bottle of perfume she had brought to pour on his grave and anoint his body. “Mary, did you think about how we were going to get into the grave? There is that giant stone that the soldiers put there to make sure that no one could get in. I saw some of those guys. They’re built like models. It took about 5 of them to move it, I don’t see how we…” She stopped talking. Off in the distance was Jesus’ grave. And… The giant stone? It was moved. Immediately, Mary burst into tears: “What did they do? What have they done? They couldn’t just leave him alone. Those jerks! Those losers! How could they do this? How could they leave us like this? Without even a chance…to heal.” She broke down. Her friends tried to console her. But Mary shrugged them off. She turned around and sprinted back towards town. She could barely see where she was going with tears clouding her vision. She made her way to where some of the twelve disciples were staying. She pounded at the door. She screamed at the door. She made a commotion till their let her in: “They took his body. They took his body. They book his body…the tomb is empty!” Two of the disciples rushed out. They sprinted to see what she was saying. And Mary tried to follow, but she grew too tired. Her legs got wobbly. She slammed her back against tree trunk. And fell to the floor. A mess. After sobbing for a good 15 minutes, She stood up. She didn’t have any tears left. She had to get to the bottom of this. She had to get back to the tomb and find some kind of a clue…a witness…a footprint that would lead her to Jesus’ body. She went back to the tomb. Her friends were gone. The disciples were gone. The stone…was still gone. This time…she took a deep breath…and approached the tomb. Inside the tomb, she found some men. Dressed in white. A gleaming, blinding white light. Radiating from their clothes. Radiating from their faces. Both sitting on the bier where Jesus’ body had been. Between them? Grave clothes. Folded ever so nicely, ever so gently, as if they were no longer necessary. “Woman, why are you crying?” they asked. “They have taken my Lord away! And I don’t know where they have put them!” Mary turned around. The men were nice. And it was strange that they were glowing, but…she didn’t have time. She needed to find his body. Outside the tomb, someone else. Hard to tell who – with the tears blurring her vision. It was probably the gardener. “Woman, why are you crying?” This is the one. He must have taken the body. He must have moved it at the requests of the Pharisees! “Tell me sir. Tell me…Please…Where did you take his body? Why did you leave the grave….empty?” “Mary!” The air was still. Mary’s breath paused for a moment. She had heard that voice before. She had heard that voice teach her about God. She had heard that voice proclaim forgiveness. She had heard that voice drive away her own demons! It was Jesus! “Teacher!” She cried as she grabbed a hold of him with a hug. As she hugged, she knew it was real! She felt his shoulders. She held him by the back. She felt the warmth of his breath. Jesus was alive. III. Resurrection Truth This is the eyewitness account of Mary. It is an eyewitness account that is recorded for us in Scripture. The guy who wrote it? John – he was one of the disciples that went running to the tomb after Mary told him it was open! And the book of John? It was written down and passed around at a time when Mary Magdalene would have still been alive. And she didn’t say “Nah, man. That’s wrong. It didn’t happen this way.” Nope. She said, “That’s the truth.” Which means. There are three really important divine truths that we need to take home with us today. (1) Jesus Rose from the Dead Granted. You might be skeptical of that truth. That’s understandable. Because most people when they are dead? They can’t do much. Their bodies just lie there and slowly decompose. And even people who are living – they haven’t figured out a way to bring people that are dead back to life either. But if this is true… When Jesus was dead, he figured out one thing that no one else could ever figure out while they were alive – conquering death itself! If you’re skeptical, Mary’s account is for you. Because think about how long it took her recognize that Jesus was alive. She saw the immovable stoned – moved and her first reaction? “They took his body.” She went into the tomb and saw two angels –glowing with divine splendor. Her reaction? “They took his body!” She went outside the tomb and saw Jesus – but was so overcome with emotion that she says to Jesus, “You must have taken his body!” Thing is. She wasn’t wrong. It isn’t until Jesus… Gently… Calmly… Calls her name… That she realizes the incredible truth right in front of her! Friends, you might be dealing with sadness. You might be dealing with difficulties in your marriage. With abandonment. With challenges at work. With a financial crisis. With a terrifying diagnosis. With guilt, shame, and sin. And sometimes that can all cover our hearts and close our eyes and make us say, “There is no HOPE in this world! This Jesus’ thing can’t be true.” But… When that happens… Hear Jesus’ voice… He’s calling to you. “I am alive.” (2) The Work of Salvation is Finished Check out verse 17: “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” The reason Jesus came to earth was to win your salvation. He came to suffer death for your sins. He came to earn your way to heaven. He came to pay for eternal life. If he’s heading up to heaven, guess what? That work is done. Granted – that can be hard to believe. It’s like Easter weekend. Maybe you are planning on having relatives to your house. Maybe you wanted to clean for your relatives -- so you make a check list: Sweep the floor, dust the counters, disinfect the countertops, clean the bathrooms, do the laundry, make the beds, clean up the toys, etc. And you go to work. And you come home and…. Your husband says, “Surprise! I did it already. It’s finished. You don’t have to clean anymore!” How do you respond? Probably…by sweeping the floor, dusting the counters, disinfecting the countertops, etc. When Jesus tells you that it is finished. It is finished. Your salvation is won. Your sins are forgiven. Eternal life is yours. Heaven is your home! “It is finished.” You don’t need to try and earn his love. You don’t need to complete your salvation. You don’t need to pay your way into heaven by working hard and becoming perfect. Nope. Jesus did it for you. Believe. And… (3) Go and Tell Because right after Mary realizes that Jesus is standing right in front of her… Having conquered sin and death… Renewing her hope again… She’s overcome with emotion. She holds onto him. She doesn’t want to ever go back to guilt and loneliness and despair. Never again! But Jesus says something interesting: “Do not hold onto me. Instead, go and tell.” (v.17) Why? Because there were others who had lost their hope. There were others who were in despair. There were others who were shacked to guilt. Mary’s eyewitness message – would change that. She would give them hope. She would give them joy. She would give them freedom. Friends, there are still people like that today. There are people who don’t know their Savior. People who don’t know the resurrection story. People who think Easter is all about sugary yellow marshmallow chicks They are overcome with guilt. They are dealing with a lack of joy. They are struggling with despair. Can you do me a favor? Listen to your Savior. Go and tell. Later today at your Easter party, turn to the people who didn’t come to worship to celebrate this message and share the story of Easter. Go and Tell. Later this evening when you are on your phones, take a note or two from this sermon and share on social media. Go and tell. Tomorrow morning as you head to work – gather around the coffee pot, talk with your coworkers about why you liked Easter and how amazing this message of the risen Savior is. Go and tell. And understand this. You won’t be just giving them a story. You won’t be just telling them a fairy tale. You’ll be giving them true hope. Absolute. Real. True. Hope. Amen.  People always talk about Easter being a magical time, a wonderful time, a special time, a time unlike any other.
But… Is it really? You can color Easter eggs any day of the year. (They look the same in December as they do in mid-April) You can buy chocolate bunnies any day of the year. (In fact, if you wait till the day after Easter, they cost a lot less.) You can eat a big breakfast – any day that Waffle House is open. You can dress up – any day of the year. (Trust me. Go to the mall. Somebody’s having a sale.) You can even be reunited as a family – gasp - even on a non-holiday. Here’s the truth: A lot of the things that we think make Easter special – aren’t really that special. They aren’t miracles so much as non-miracles. Ordinary things. Does that mean there’s nothing special about Easter? Today we want to look at the one thing that makes Easter miraculous. A miracle unlike any miracle ever – a NEW kind of miracle. And we want to learn how that MIRACLE is still doing miraculous things in 2018. Before we do that, a prayer: Lord, strengthen us by the truth; your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see; our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen. I. He’s Dead…Really Dead. Our Easter lesson starts at the house of a woman called Mary. Not Mary Magdalene. Not Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Mary. Mother of James and Joses. Ever heard of her? She hadn’t slept much that night. Not much the last couple of nights. The scenes that played out whenever she closed her eyes were too horrifying, too awful, too grotesque: The repetitive fists connecting to the prisoner’s face. The visceral shouts of “CRUCIFY HIM!” The tearing of flesh with the 7 stranded, metal tipped, leather whip. (Being Flogged) The blood drops popping out of the thorns smashed through his forehead. And then…the hanging. The hanging...and the dying. The mother of James the Less stood up. She walked over to the window. The sun would be up soon. And…she needed to move on. She needed to move on because it wasn’t going to change: Jesus. Was. Dead. She had seen him die. She had seen his head drop and his body go limp. She had seen the soldiers take the limp body off the cross. She had seen the burial preparations that the make shift morticians had done to his body. She had even seen the place where the put his body. She had seen the door to the grave shut – sealing him in death. Jesus was dead and there’s nothing she could do about it. Suddenly, she heard a frantic knocking at the door. It was Mary Magdalene. Her hair was ragged. Her eyes were tear stained. Mascara running. She looked a bit…rough. “Hurry. We’ve gotta get going. We’ve gotta be there for him. We’ve gotta.” “I know. I know. Just a second. I’m almost ready.” The mother of James the Less went behind the door and strapped on her sandals. They were going to Jesus’ tomb. They going to honor him. They were going to begin healing from this tragedy. She shut the door behind her and joined Mary in the streets. At the corner they met up with their friend Salome. She had her arms full – a few bottles of anointment in one arm – spices like balsam, saffron, frankincense and myrrh. “Don’t’ just stand there; help me with a few of these bottles.” They nodded, grab some of the spices and continued their journey to the early morning graveyard. The walk there was odd. There wasn’t much to say. There was the occasional sobbing…a few sniffles, and strange attempts at small talk. “I think I saw a bird.” “Do you guys thing saffron will taste good on a fish sandwich?” “My neck is still sore from staring up at that cross.” But eventually, a good question: “When we get there, who’s going to move the giant stone for us?” They hadn’t considered it yet. That stone was a good 500 some pounds. It was large enough to cover the entrance to the tomb. And it had been sealed – with the seal of Pontius Pilate – an extra precaution to ensure that grave robbers didn’t do anything to his body. They could ask the Roman soldiers on guard – another part of that security – but they were rather lazy oafs who didn’t care much about Jewish culture – let alone Jewish burial practices. Unless they had money, they might have to move that stone on their own. But as they tried to figure out whether or not a bottle of myrrh was a good bargaining chip, they entered the grave yard. Th early morning light shone on something they weren’t expecting: The stone was gone. It was no longer at the front of the entrance at least. It had been rolled away. Set to the side. Mary Magdalene panicked. “What in the world? That’s too much. They torture him. They kill him and now this? Did they take his body and hang it on a pole. I can’t. I can’t…handle.” Mary Magdalene dropped her bottles to the ground, turned around and ran out of there. After a moment, Salome looked at the mother of James the Less, “Let’s go,” she said solemnly. They both walked forward toward the tomb. As they got closer, they noticed a subtle glow coming from inside the tomb – as if the morning light was trapped inside. They peeked in. There was no body. Only somebody. A man. He didn’t look like a criminal. He wasn’t wearing Roman soldier gear. He was dressed in white – glowing white. And he was smiling. “Do not be afraid. You are looking for Jesus who was dead. He is not here. He has risen—just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” The women stood still for a moment. Was this an angel? Did they dare go in? Their curiosity was too much. They entered the tomb and began a frantic search of the area. The body wasn’t in the grave clothes – they were folded nicely at the top of the stone bed. And it wasn’t behind the stone. And it wasn’t under that leaf in the corner. And there wasn’t any sign of digging anywhere. In fact, there wasn’t any sign of a struggle. There wasn’t any blood. There weren’t any footprints. The body was gone. Utterly amazed and slightly stupefied, the women turned to the angel. “Go and tell his disciples. They will see him again.” The angel said. The mother of James the Less nodded. Salome did too. They were trembling. Visibly trembling. They began to walk away from the tomb. The walk turned into a trot. The trot into a jog. The jog into a run. They didn’t stop and tell anyone on the way. No one would believe them anyway. They’d just call them a bunch of crazy women – off their rockers – insane. They were almost in the clear. Almost home. Almost back without talking to anyone until… A man…from behind a nearby bush. The women stumbled. He smiled. And said, “Greetings.” That voice. It was a voice they heard before. They looked up to see who it was. It was Jesus. Alive. II. A Miracle Unlike Any Other. That my friend is the true story of the resurrection. That my friends is what makes Easter unlike any other holiday in history. That is what makes today’s celebration miraculous. Because – the miracle that occurred on that Sunday morning was unlike any miracle ever… 1. Jesus Did the Impossible… To be fair – Jesus had done the impossible before. He had made blind people see. He had caused the deaf to hear and the lame to walk. But death is much more than that. Your eyes don’t work. Your ears don’t work. Your legs don’t work. Your heart doesn’t work. Your lungs don’t work. Your body doesn’t work. It’s dead. And…nowadays…we have some incredible advances in science. We can use defibrillators to shock a heartbeat that has stopped back to beating again – as long as it’s only a been 2 minutes or less. We can hook people up to breathing machines that pump air in the lungs electronically. We can have people’s blood come out of the body and back into the body through a machine that is doing the job of a nonfunctioning liver. We can keep organs moving and working – when there isn’t any brain activity – and we aren’t exactly sure if someone is dead or not. But Jesus? He had been dead for over 36 hours. His body would already have been decaying. No amount of chest compressions. No amount of defibrillator shocks. No amount of forced air from an iron lung could do anything to help him. And yet… On Easter. He came back to life. He did the impossible. 2. …In a State in which It is Impossible to do Anything… A few weeks ago, someone hit a racoon near my house. It was out on the street squished to the ground. Kinda gross. And over the next couples of days I saw it on the road as I drive to and from work. Do you know what I saw happen? NOTHING! The racoon did absolutely nothing. Because it was dead. And dead things do nothing. But Jesus? He was dead. And he did the one thing impossible for any human to do while they were living. Combine those two facts. It isn’t like he lifted his finger. He didn’t wiggle a toe. He didn’t start whistling. While he was a in a state in which it was impossible to do anything, he did the impossible! The dead guy brought himself back to life! But that’s just the beginning… 3. …As a Visual Proof of the Impossible Invisible Truth 1 Corinthians 15:22 says this, “As in Adam all die.” That’s a refence to the very first human being. A guy named “Adam” which literally means, “Man.” Adam was made perfect. Adam was made without sin. Adam was made not to die. But then…he chose to sin. He was no longer holy. He was the opposite of good -- He was evil. And as a result – people were going to die. Seems harsh? If you think it’s harsh that God would punish them with death, then you don’t understand holiness. Imagine if a judge fined you for going 10 mph over the speed limit, but then didn’t fine the guy after you for going 15mph over. That’d be unjust. That’d be unfair. That’d be an unjust in support of wrong. If a good God is like, “That bad isn’t so bad. I’ll let it be.” Suddenly, he’s not a good God. He’s tolerating evil. He’s an evil God. God can’t be in support of wrong. He can only be against it. That’s why Adam had to be doomed to death. But here’s where it gets really sad. Because Adam and his wife passed the bad down to their children. It’s kind of like genetics. In genetics, you pass on your hair color to your children. You pass on freckles. My dad passed on my receding hairline and I look forward to one day passing it on to my son. Adam? He passed on his sinfulness. He and his wife were sinful humans who gave birth to sinful humans. Those sinful humans grew up and gave birth to more sinful humans. Until…eventually…you and me. Sinful humans. Sinful humans doomed to death. Maybe you know that. Whether it’s cancer. Whether it’s old age. Whether it’s losing a child. Whether it’s a freak car accident. Whether it’s terrorism or mass shootings. You know our world is filled with death. And eventually…it will come to you and me. It’s impossible to get away from! But “As in Adam all die, in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:22b) Jesus is different than Adam. He was born of God who is holy, not Adam who is unholy. He lived perfectly. He was good. He did not deserve death. Yet…he died. Why? Allow me to explain with a simple kitchen sponge. Do you all own one of these? (Most are nodding heads – a few single guys are like – What’s a sponge and what is it for?) A sponge soaks up dirt. It soaks up grime. If you spill orange juice, a sponge soaks up the orange juice off of the counter and removes it from the counter. It soaks up the coffee from the coffee table and removes it from the coffee table. It soaks up the failed science experiment of red food dye, baking soda and lemon juice and removes from the science table. Before use – the table is dirty; the sponge is clean. After us – the sponge is dirty; the table is clean. And that’s what Jesus did for us. He soaked up our sins on his body. He took them on himself. He soaked up our greed, our lusts, our selfishness, our gossip, our gross sinful failures – even the ones that stain our hearts deeply. He became dirty and left us clean. And since he was dirty – that’s why he died. It’s what happens to any dirty, disgusting sponge, it gets thrown away. God the Father threw Jesus onto across and into a tomb. But you. You are now without a stain. You are clean because of Him. In other words – God forgave you. Which sounds awesome. But hard to believe. Because you can’t see sins evaporating into thin air. Nobody has a halo around their head this morning. The fact is we still sin. How do we know Jesus cleaned us? Simple. Easter. Because the very thing that caused Jesus to die – our sins – no longer kept him dead. Jesus rose; he left your sins in the tomb. Jesus annihilated your sins. Jesus destroyed your guilt. Jesus killed death. And that’s what this passage is saying, “In Christ all are made alive.” Now we are no longer born of sinful Adam, but of sinless Christ. We are no longer born of unholy Adam, but of holy God. We are no longer born of destined to die, but destined to live Jesus Christ. THIS IS WHAT MAKES EASTER SPECIAL: Jesus did the impossible while in a state by which it is impossible to do anything as proof that the invisibly impossible had been done. This is a message for you. Believe. Believe that Jesus died. Believe that Jesus rose. Believe that Jesus has done the invisibly impossible and cleaned you from all of your sins. That’s what In Christ means. It means believers in Christ. Unbelief means rejecting his work, running into the empty tomb, grabbing those dirty sponges of yucky sins and saying, “I prefer to live in filth.” Yuck. Condemnation is deserved. But belief in Jesus means trusting that he has cleansed us from our sins. It means trusting in his forgiveness. It means trusting that because of Him, you will live. No matter who you are. Because the women in the story today are the first two to see Jesus’ empty tomb. Did you remember their names? It’s Salome – a woman that’s only mentioned during this resurrection time period and Mary the mother of James the Less. A woman known simply for being a mother. It’s not Peter. It’s not John. It’s not Pontius Pilate or one of the Pharisees. It’s not even Mary Magdalene. It’s two seemingly insignificant players in the story of Jesus’ life whose only appearance is on that weekend. The point? You might feel like a Mary, the mother of James the Less. You might feel like a Salome. You might feel not all that important, not all that godly, and not all that much like God could care about you. But he does. He lived for you. He died for you. He cleaned you. He rose for you to prove it. That’s the miracle of Easter. A miracle unlike any other. A miracle that still works the miracle of faith today. Amen.  There it was.
Mary had refused to face it earlier that day – but after complaining to the disciples and an hour or so of shedding tears, Mary stiffened up. She calmed her voice. She fought back tears; and she made her way back to the entrance of Jesus’ tomb. But as soon as she saw the stone rolled to the side of it – she broke into tears all over again. How could they? How could they do this? They killed him! Wasn’t that enough? They killed him and now they were off doing who knows what to his body! How could you do that to such a man? He was my friend. He was my friend when no one else was. I had demons inside of me. Seven of them, to be exact. Demons that I struggled with. Demons that controlled my life. Demons that caused me to do awful things. Demons that made people avoid. Demons that made people look the other way and mouth, “Who wants to talk to that crazy person?” But Jesus didn’t avoid me. Jesus came up to me. Jesus was a friend. Jesus healed me. More than my friend, he was also my Savior. He brought me peace with God. He offered forgiveness. He promised to take away my sins! But…now he’s dead. He hasn’t done any of that. I feel as guilty now as I did before. I’m a lost cause. I’m a dirty, rotten, no good, very bad, shameful sinner, far apart from God– and there’s nothing that dead Jesus can do about it. Mary stumbled, loudly fighting back tears, to the entrance. This time she looked inside, hopelessly. What she saw – what she saw was something that should have given her hope. Two angels. Dressed in white. Glowing with God’s glory. Divine. One on each end of the rock bed where Jesus’ body had been laid – like some kind of blinking, neon sign to say – “Hey look Mary! He is risen!” (v.12) But Mary kept sobbing. The angels spoke to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” The irony apparent in the allusion: “Why are you crying at the grave of a man who has risen from the dead? Surely that’s good news.” “They’ve taken my Lord away; and I don’t know where they have put him!” she retorted. Not for a moment thinking that the two men dressed in brilliant, shining, otherworldly white might have an idea or two about his whereabouts. She turned to leave. Walked a few steps. And her knees hit the ground with a thud—the kind of thud that happens when you no longer care about standing in the slightest. How awful. How terrible. He’s dead. My Savior is gone. I’m still in my sins. I’m forever guilty. I’m an outcast again. In between loud sniffs, Mary heard a few gentle steps approaching. Dear woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for? She looked up. Her eyes filled with tears and her vision blurred. It must be the gardener. That jerk! “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him!” (v.15) Please. Help. Me. But the gardener didn’t answer her question. In fact, he ignored it. He simply said, “Mary.” (v.16) And when he said it, Mary’s soul instantly quieted. She had heard that voice before. It was the voice that told her demons to leave. It was the voice that told her she was free. It was the voice that had forgiven her. “Teacher!!” She cried while simultaneously standing up and throwing her arms around him. “Teacher you’re alive!” And as she soaked in that moment – a reunion with her Savior – her tears of sadness were turned to joy. Her fear of God was turned to joy in God. Her guilty heart became guilt free. I. Guilt Blind Us from the Truth This section from John 20 is very moving. Our sermon today is about leaving guilt behind. Mary is a great case study on the effect that guilt can have on us. Because think of what she saw on that first Easter morning! It’s not like she went to the tomb and found Jesus’ body torn to pieces by a wild animal or one of the disciples murdered and lying next to him. She saw angels. She saw an empty tomb. She saw the risen Jesus himself. But she greets all of these things with melancholy. That’d be like someone going to the ice cream shop and bringing you back a big banana split with all of your favorite toppings – hot fudge, caramel, rainbow colored sprinkles, a dollop of whipped cream and one of those bright red cherries on top – and they say, “This is for you.” And you respond: “Life is terrible.” It doesn’t make much sense. But the reason Mary misses it is that she’s so filled with grief and guilt from the past days. She’s blinded by it. Scripture is really interesting here, because particularly when it mentions Jesus – it says that Mary didn’t realize it was Jesus. It’s interesting because in a similar situation with two disciples travelling a road from Jerusalem to Emmaus—they don’t realize it’s Jesus either. But in that instance Luke records, “They were kept from recognizing him.” That means that Jesus isn’t hiding anything from Mary! The empty tomb and the angels are shouting the same thing at her – Rejoice! Jesus is alive! But she misses it. She’s blinded by guilt. The same thing happens to us. Guilt blind us from seeing the truth. You know Jesus died. You also know that Jesus has risen. You know that means your forgiveness of sins! But even though you and I know that – how often do we find ourselves thinking -- My sin is too big. My sin is too much. My sin is too often. My sin is too awful. My sin is too dark. My sin is too shameful. It’s like the guilt overtakes us. It blinds us. It shows us only our actions on replay again and again and again. We miss the whole resurrection. It’s like we’re viewing him as dead…even when he’s alive right before our very eyes! II. The Resurrection Means Guilt is Gone And that’s no good. Remember our passage from last week. 1 Corinthians 15 says, “If Christ has not been raised – you are still in your sins.” That means you aren’t forgiven. It means God hates you. It means that God will punish you will hell. But Christ has been raised. And you are not in your sins! Another passage that brings this out is from Romans 4:25. It says this, “Jesus…was raised to life for our justification.” Justification is a courtroom term. So, think of Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown. Ever seen those TV shows? At the end of the show, they offer a verdict. They bang their gavel. They call one of the parties GUILTY and the other INNOCENT – justified. It must feel pretty good to be proven innocent in a court of law. It must feel even better to be proven innocent in a court of law when you’re actually guilty. Guess what? That’s what Jesus resurrection means for you. It means that God has tried you and found you innocent. He found you innocent because he already found Jesus guilty for your sins. If you want to remember justification (Write this down) Think: Just as if I hadn’t sinned! Because that’s how God sees you – as innocent. Because of Jesus. That’s true, no matter your sins. No sin is too big. No sin is too much. No sin is too often. No sin is too awful. No sin is too dark. No sin is too shameful. Christ died. Christ has risen. And you have been declared free from guilt! III. What Now? 1. Hear His Voice Because maybe you noticed this about Mary. She missed all of the joyous things right before her face. Even those joyous things didn’t make her feel better. It wasn’t the empty tomb. It wasn’t the shining bright angels. It wasn’t even Jesus – there in the flesh right in front of her. It was His voice. The loving voice of God himself. That same voice speaks to you and me. It speaks to us in His Word. It calls out gently to you and says, “__________ (insert your name here), you are forgiven. You are loved. Your guilt is gone.” When you’re dealing with guilt, it’s heavy and it’s a burden – listen to his voice. Take a moment and meditate on the resurrection story. Memorize and repeat Romans 4:25. Look at a cross – and notice that it’s empty – meaning you are forgiven. 2. Leave Your Guilt Behind Because guilt is kind of like picking up a big old bag of garbage. It’s heavy, there’s wet sand and a broken pieces of concrete in there and carrying it with you everywhere you go - it’s heavy. It’s a burden. It makes life hard. Carrying around guilt is like that. It’s heavy. It’s a burden. It’s hard. But there’s one more aspect of this illustration. Because carrying around guilt after you know Jesus is also unnecessary. It’s like picking up that big old bag of garbage – from the side of your road where it was already waiting for the dump truck! And Dad pokes his head out the window – “What are you doing? Why are you moving it? Someone already did! It’s right where it needs to be.” If you know Jesus as your Savior and you’re still carrying around guilt, Jesus says something similar: “Why are you carrying that around? I carried it to where it was supposed to be. I took it to the cross. I deposited it in the grave.” Why not leave it there? CONCLUSION: Brothers and sisters, listen to Jesus. Leave your guilt at the cross. Leave today unburdened. Leave forgiven…because in Jesus…you are. Amen.  Sometimes it’s hard to wake up. At least for me.
Maybe you’re one of those “early birds” who likes to catch the “early worm” and you have no problem getting up at 5am, running a 5k, coming home, baking cookies, cleaning the whole house and alphabetizing your spice rack all in the amount of time it’d take me to put on a pair of socks. But you get it. There are those mornings where it’s just hard to wake up. Especially if you don’t have a good reason! If you’re going to the same job you go to everyday to make the same amount of money that barely covers the same bills for the same people – it can feel kind of doldrum. Especially if it’s been stressful lately AND things haven’t been going your way AND you’re even a bit sick. Just about the only thing that gets you going is an IV drip of Starbucks French Roast inserted into your arm. But imagine you’re having one of those days. A day where the sun is shining through the window, but you’ve got a pillow covering your head – convincing you that it’s still nighttime. When suddenly, your spouse bursting into your bedroom and shoves the smartphone in your face: Look! Look at this! Remember that loved one – that loved one that died? Look at this news article. It says that this loved one’s grave –- is empty. Would that be enough to get you up? Would that be enough to get you to RiseUp? I. The Empty Tomb That’s exactly what happened to John. John had had a pretty terrible weekend. His confidant; his leader; his friend – had died. Not from a heart attack. He had been crucified. Nailed hand and foot on two giant wooden beams and left to die. And John had seen it. He had been right there – at the foot of the cross as he gave up his last breath. It was why every time he closed his eyes he could see horrific images -- the whip tearing into his flesh; the fist connecting with his already swollen eye; the blood dripping from the thorns that pierced his forehead; the blood and water pouring out of his side after the soldier stabbed him with a spear. It was all too much. And he was physically exhausted. Besides the stress, he had been up all Thursday night – watching his friend’s conviction and all Friday night trying to comfort family and friends who had seen him die. He caught a wink of sleep early Saturday morning but then he was having to deal with a host of emotions from friends in the small apartment -- denial and anger; sadness and bitterness. As he lay there early Sunday morning, he found himself in that weird place where he couldn’t get up but he wasn’t really sleeping either. Sure, Peter’s loud snoring from the bunk next to his didn’t help, but more than that he found himself battling his own thoughts: What was all of that for? Why did I spend three years of my life following that man? Why did I think he was the Messiah? Why did I believe in him? Suddenly John’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud persistent, almost maniacal knocking at the door. “Let me in! Let me in!” Peter did one of the startled snores as he woke up. John shook his head and went to unlatch the door. It was Mary Magdalene – a friend of theirs and a follower of Jesus. Her hair was wild and her eyes were tear stained as she spoke: “I can’t believe it! How could they do it! They killed him. They crucified him. They made a mockery of him. But they aren’t even done. They must want to flaunt it some more.” “Mary, Mary, calm down. What’s the problem?” “It’s his body! They’ve taken it away. We went to the tomb – Early this morning to pay our respects and put spices on his body, but when we got there, the grave stone was rolled away. His body was gone. Jesus is gone.” John embraced her and tried comforting her as Peter rose up from his cot. “Those jerks. I can’t believe. Listen – we’ll go check it out. John and I will check it out.” John gently released his grip and nodded. “We’ll go see what happened.” The two of them quickly laced up their sandals and threw on outer cloaks at the door. Then, they headed out the door. Walking at first – thinking – wondering – “Could it be? As he said?” And as the possibility of something much greater than a grave robbery occurred in their minds, their pace quickened. A jog and then a sprint. Being the younger one – by quite a bit – John made it through the city streets and into the memorial gardens first. He ran through the trees, jumped the brook, and past older graves until he made his way to wear Jesus’ body had been laid. As he reached the tomb, his feet came to a slow halt. It was open. The stone had been rolled away. Yet, there wasn’t a sign of the guards that had been placed at the tomb. There wasn’t blood on the ground – no sign of a struggle. The stone was on its side like a bunch of grave robbers would have done as they broke in. It was simply open. John stooped down and looked inside the tomb. The morning light that made its way into the tomb revealed there was nobody and no body in the tomb. There was a pile of cloths. Folded. Nicely. In a square and resting on the bier where the body would have been. Why would anyone take the time to do that? Wouldn’t they just take his body and all of the linen clothes that he had been wrapped in and just gotten out of here? As it was, the cloths were folded so evenly, so perfectly, it was as if his own mother had robbed the grave! John’s thoughts were interrupted by some plodding steps and heavy panting. Peter had caught up. And he wasn’t slowing down. John moved out of the way just as Peter stumbled into the tomb. Pete looked around – his heavy breaths connecting with the chirping of the birds in the air. Peter bent down and picked something up. “John! Check it out. It’s his face cloth.” At this, John entered the tomb. He scanned every corner of the place. He ran his fingers alone he walls. He held the cloth in his hands. Suddenly, John started to have other flashes. Other flashes of memories before Jesus’ death. “Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it again in three days.” “Just as Jonah was in the belly of the way three days and came out alive; so will I be in the belly of the earth and emerge alive.” “I have the authority to lay my life down and the authority to take it up again.” “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” “I will die and three days later, I will rise.” But how could that be? That never happens. That’s impossible. John had seen him die! John shook his head. John stopped reasoning. John looked around once more. John saw and believed. (John 20:9) II. What It Means What John saw he wrote down. What John wrote down – we read. What we read is what happened. Which means a lot of really incredible things for you and for your life. Allow me to mention three: 1) This Faith is NOT Worthless One of my favorite fast food promotions of all time is the Monopoly game at McDonald’s. I love trying to match up all the little board pieces and try to win a 10-speed bike OR a trip to Hawaii. Worst case scenario – you just get a large fry and that’s not a bad thing either. But one time I thought our family had won a MILLION dollars. I remember we were on vacation and we stopped at McDonald’s. My mom peeled a Park Place off of her Coca Cola. And I got real excited: Mom! We have Boardwalk at home! We are millionaires. At first, mom didn’t believe me. But I talked it up throughout the trip. We could spend extra money now, because we would be millionaires soon. We had even decided how we’d spend it – I’d get ½ since I ordered the cheeseburger –that mom bought – and she and dad could split the other ½ since it was her money. It was really exciting. Till we got home. I ran to my sock drawer and pulled out my Monopoly piece collection to reveal – Park Place. We didn’t win anything. Check out 1 Corinthians 15:17. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” In other words – if Christ isn’t risen, you don’t get anything. You’re still sinners. You’re still expecting eternal hellfire wrath from God. You will not be in heaven. But – what did John just tell us? The tomb was empty. Jesus was alive! SPOILER ALERT: If you read on, Jesus actually appears in the flesh to John. Also to Peter, Andrew, James, Thomas, Matthew, Philip, Bartholomew, James, Jude, Simon and over 500 other people. Those who write it down: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, Jude, and James make it clear. Christ has been risen! That means this faith is not worthless. Which is key. Because it’s hard to believe in someone these days. Whether it’s politicians breaking promises, a boyfriend leaving you, a spouse breaking faithfulness, a coworker stabbing you in the back or even a parent disowning you. It’s hard to find someone to believe in. But you can believe in Jesus. Because Jesus died and came back to life. He did the incredible! He did the supernatural! He did the impossible! Faith in Jesus is not worthless; it’s the only thing worth it. Because if he’s more powerful than death, then… He’s more powerful than your sickness. He’s more powerful than your mortgage payment. He’s more powerful than your addiction. He’s more powerful than your relationship struggles. He’s more powerful than your disease. He’s more powerful than your demons. He’s more powerful than your stresses. He’s more powerful than life. He’s more powerful than death. He’s more powerful than guilt. And He’s more powerful than one of the worst things in this world…sin. 2) You are NOT in your Sins. Which leads us to our second key point. Because the Tomb is Empty, you are NOT in your sins. You can picture sin like a big old pile of dog hair. If you sit in the dog hair, you will be covered in it. Especially if you are wearing a sweater. (Dog owners you know what I’m talking about and you know what outfits you cannot wear on near your dogs). But if a loved one buys one of those special vacuums and spends time deep cleaning the couch with all of the adjustments and then takes one of those lint rollers and rolls all over the couch disposing about 28 little sticky patches and then get one of those brushes that sucks up all the rest of the dog hair. You can sit on your couch. You’re not in your dog hair. That’s what Jesus did to us and for us! Because “If Christ has indeed been raised form the dead” you are not in your sins. Jesus has removed every last one of them. He picked them up from the crevices of your heart, swept them away from every part of your past, stuck them to himself and died!!! Because “The wages of sin is death.” Since Jesus had your sins, he died! But remember what John wrote – the Tomb was empty! Jesus wasn’t there anymore. Which means there weren’t any sins left for him to pay for (because if there were he would have stayed dead). That means that your sins – yes, even your sins – even the big ones – even the memorable ones – even the ones that make you feel really guilty – are gone! 3) In Jesus, You will Live And if the wages of sin is death, And Jesus paid the wages of your sins, Then, what’s left for you to pay? Nothing. This all leads to the final truth: In Jesus, you will Live! In fact, that’s why John wrote what he did. Listen to what he says, “These words are written (the words of the account of John’s interaction with Jesus) those words – are written that you may believe Jesus is the Christ and by believing have life in his name.” (John 20:31) Because that’s the message that saves. Jesus is your Savior; Jesus is your resurrected Savior – is the message that saves you from death to life! That’s key. We live in a dangerous world. Nerve gas; gigantic bombs; nuclear war head parades; school shootings; terrorism; racism; even cancer, car accidents and old age. They are all scary! But not with Jesus. You can trust him. He rose from the dead while he was dead. What do you think he’ll do while He’s alive? What do you think he’ll do for you? By believing – you will have life in his name. III. What Now?
Don’t think you can do it without him. Don’t try to put trust in yourself in your own abilities and your own goodness. God says the wages of sin is death. If you have sin, you are owed death – and that’s all there is too it. No amount of money; no amount of religious looking Easter egg decorations; no amount of impressive looking Easter ties will save you from death. But Jesus can. And Jesus will. “Whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Still you may need some convincing. Still you may be doubting. You may be in need of faith! Run to the Tomb! That’s what John did. He saw the empty tomb. HE saw the folded grave clothes. He saw the lack of tampering AND HE BELIEVED! Granted – You may not have money for a plane trip to the Holy Land – to Israel. Even if you did, no one knows with any certainty which grave his might have been. BUT… …You can still see the empty tomb. …You can still hear the words of the eyewitnesses. …You can still hear Jesus’ own voice saying, “Behold; I am alive!” It’s in his word. When you doubt, when you’re nervous, when you’re frightened, -- run to God’s Word. Read the story in the Bible (Start with John. If you’ve never read John, won’t you do so?) Join a Bible study. Make church a priority. Come back and see me next week -- because we’re going to run to the empty tomb again – and then the week after that---and the week after that—and the week after that. CONCLUSION: And yes. I get it sometimes you don’t want to get up. Sometimes you don’t want to face the day. Sometimes you don’t want to get here. But today, just like every day, there’s awesome news for you to here. Jesus is alive! Your faith isn’t worthless. You are NOT in your sins. You will NOT die, but live! That’s a message worth getting up for. Amen. |
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October 2022
Pastor Phil Kiecker
and his wife, Julianna love serving the community of North Raleigh.
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