Easter "messiah" Series

Video Transition: Life of Jesus from Son of God movie clip

Series: Life of Jesus

Thesis: We have been exploring the names of Jesus over this Easter season and today we are going to look at Jesus as “Messiah.” The name Messiah = Christ = King = Anointed One! A name of Jesus packed with meaning and mission, purpose and the Love of God! All verified on Resurrection Sunday.

Scripture: John 20:1-30

True story about death: A young 5 year old little boy was at his grandfathers grave site. As He stood by the graveside at the cemetery, his mother said that He looked down into the grave hole for a long time and then turned to her and asked the question: "How's Grandpa ever going to get out of there?” She noted how he knew he was not staying in the grave because of what he learned in church.

? Aristotle called death the thing he feared most because “it appears to be the end of everything.”

• Jean-Paul Sartre (an existentialist philosopher) said death “removes all meaning from life.”

For men like them, death was the end of everything. It was like walking into a dungeon and throwing away the key.

It was like being trapped in a room from which they’d never escape. When they entered the grave… they weren't EVER going to get out of there – as Christians we know that the grave is not the end but a new beginning.

This young boy knew grandpa was not staying in the hole! Because Jesus the Messiah would help Grandpa out of the grave – He knew grandpa had a relationship with Jesus and embraced him as his “Messiah/Christ /Savior.” But not sure how he would climb out. But mom told him, Jesus was the one who would help him out of the hole and into Heaven. And friends This is why we celebrate Resurrection Sunday today and celebrate.

Today we celebrate the name Jesus!

Introduction:

I have been sharing how Jesus is known by many different names – There are 198 of them in the Bible. Names have significance. They have power. They define something – they symbolize something or someone – they describe someone - they state a meaning and even a mission. They state purpose and relationships. The truth is names are more than a bunch of letters grouped together to sound pleasant to the ear. Names are more than a convenience allowing people to talk to each other and associate a person with that name. Names are a given in the Bible by God to reveal spiritual truth, mission, purpose, and paint and image of a person’s character. God has been even known to change a persons name in the Bible to redefine who they are in Him.

Over the last few weeks, I have meditated and questioned, “Why are there so many names to describe Jesus?” “But then I thought about it and prayed about it, “How do you describe Jesus with just Jesus?” Because Scripture tells me Jesus is Love personified (Capital L by the way) – He is God’s manifest presence of Love in the flesh – He is God in the flesh! How do you describe someone who was and is so Amazing? Yes, Jesus is “Amazing!” Let me word it another way, “He blows my natural mind!”

He was and is so amazing that the names for Him just keep coming! From people who experience Him, feel His presence, get healed by Him, get set free from Him, receive Hope from Him. As I read in the Bible and talk to people who have experienced Him the names keep accumulating piling up to Heaven. As I was pondering the many names of Jesus again, I came across this thought in Rob Bells book Everything Is Spiritual:

“I saw how the name of God keeps changing—one person uses this word, this group uses that word, later on they name it something else. Elohim, Yahweh, Adonai, Theos—the list goes on. I saw how each of these names comes out of the particular struggles and hopes of that time and place, reflecting economics and politics and shifting consciousness.”

The truth is you cannot understand and fully appreciate today – Resurrection Sunday - without journeying through the hardships and struggles of life. Brett Hollis said a few weeks back, “You cannot understand the Resurrection without experiencing and understanding the pain of death.” Death comes to this life but Resurrection trumps it when you have Jesus! The Messiah!

Truth to hear today: God is right there in the middle of it all! His Spirit is all around us not adrift in the space continuum of time in another place or world! His Spirit is connected to everything in this world, in our life and we need to somehow name it, see it, define it, tell of it, and reveal it to others. So, the names keep coming describing Jesus/God’s endlessly work in this world.