A Life Transforming Encounter Series

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

ENGAGE

Our relationships in life develop to a large degree based on how we perceive other people. That is certainly true when it comes to my relationship with Mary.

That relationship began one afternoon in the Student Union building at the University of Arizona as I noticed this attractive young woman who was also waiting to go into the same meeting where we were going to be trained to be student hosts for freshman orientation that summer. The relationship moved into its next phase when we began to work together that summer and I got to know her better and began to think that she would be someone I’d like to spend some time with. And then the relationship moved to a whole new level when I finally asked her out after she stalked me for several weeks at my job at the Lucky Wishbone.

As we dated and I got to know her better, I began to fall in love with her and I couldn’t wait to spend time with her. And so one day when she asked me to go to church with her, I figured I liked her enough to endure that for one Sunday, not realizing that I would meet Jesus there and enter into a personal relationship with Him. And the fact that Mary and I shared that relationship in common took our relationship to an even deeper level.

Over the nearly 42 years we’ve been married, our relationship has grown deeper as I’ve come to know her not only as my wife and best friend, but also as the mother of my children and the grandmother of my grandchildren, among other things. And because I know her in ways today that I never knew her back then, our relationship has come a long way since that day I first laid eyes on her.

TENSION

In much the same way, my relationship with Jesus is going to be influenced by my perception of who He is. The fact that you are here with us this morning as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus means that you believe in Jesus to at least some degree. But based on my own personal observations as well as evidence from surveys that have been done over the years, I’m also pretty sure that not all of us see Jesus quite the same.

The good news is that in spite of the way that He has been fictionalized, satirized, and mythologized in our culture, still about 9 of 10 Americans believe that Jesus was a real person who once walked on earth. But that is not true everywhere. For instance, in England, that number drops to around 60% and the numbers tend to be lower among younger generations both here in the U.S. and around the world. But not surprisingly, even among those who believe Jesus actually lived here on earth, not everyone agrees when it comes to some of the crucial aspects of who He is:

• Only a little over half the adults in America believe that Jesus is God. About a quarter consider Him to be only a religious or spiritual leader.

• Only about half of Americans believe that Jesus lived a sinless life while here on earth

Even most of the world’s major religions acknowledge Jesus as a real person, although, as you would expect, they have some distinctly different ideas about who He is:

• Islam holds that He was a wise teacher and a prophet

• Buddhism and Hinduism view Him as a wise man

• Jehovah’s Witnesses consider Him to be an archangel who was God’s first created being

• Mormons consider Him to be a spirit being who attained Godhood

This morning, we’re going to look at a life transforming encounter that a very ordinary woman has with the resurrected Jesus that demonstrates that who we think Jesus is and how we respond to that perception is the most important decision we will ever make in our lives.

TRUTH

Today we embark on a new sermon series titled “40 Days with Jesus.” In Acts chapter 1, Luke reveals that after His resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days on the earth before He ascended to His father. And we know from what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, that over those 40 days Jesus appeared to over 500 people. So for the next six weeks, we’ll be taking a look at some of those encounters to see what they teach us about how to grow in our relationships with Jesus, both personally and corporately.