"Nothing" Is Good About Today

“Nothing” Good about today 3/22/2005

Luke 24:1-12

If you would have saw me earlier this week and asked me what my sermon was going to be on this week, I would have replied to you “nothing”. There are times when I have been asked that question and my reply has been coming soon. And what I would mean by that is that I hope God is coming soon to give me my message because right now I do not know.

So when I say nothing being our subject of today, then I don’t mean that I am going to stand up here and say “nothing”. But sometimes I bet that is what you wish I would say, nothing. I know there are times my wife thinks that. But today I want to give you the good news of “Nothing”.

Speaking of good news, I’ve got a list of good news for pastors I want to share with you.

Good News: You baptized 7 people in the river today.

Bad News: You lost two of them in the swift current.

Good News: Your church accepted your job description the way that you wrote it.

Bad News: They were so inspired by it that they also formed a search committee to find someone capable of filling the position.

Good News: Church attendance rose dramatically during the last three weeks.

Bad News: You were on vacation.

Good News: Mrs. Jones is wild about your sermons.

Bad News: Mrs. Jones is also wild about the “Gong show”, “Beavis and Butthead” and “Texas Chain Saw Massacre”.

Good News: Your congregation wants to send you to the Holy Land.

Bad News: They are stalling until things really heat up down there.

Coming from a sales back ground, I often use the saying that no news (nothing) can be good news. This means that the decision has not been made and I am still in the hunt. I would rather get the news that I got the deal, but when I don’t hear nothing usually means that I am still in the considertion.

So when is nothing good news? Let me give you a few things this morning that is good news when it pertains to nothing. Because of this being Easter we will look at times when nothing is good.

Nothing on the Cross

Nothing on the cross is a good thing. Because that meant that the job had been completed. The last words of Jesus before He died on the cross was, “It is finished”. Having completed every commandment of His Father and every prophecy of Scripture. Jesus voluntarily died. This was not a cry of exhaustion, but of completion. Jesus had done what He had come to do. He could have called 10,000 angels to come to His rescue but He willingly laid down His life.

Why did He do that?

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

We all have sinned. No one can live up to what God has created us to be; we all fall short of His glory. We can be a good person and live a good life and we still fall short. We can have our name on some church membership and attend church every time the doors are open and we still fall short. We cannot save ourselves because we are all sinners. Our only hope is faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We all have sinned and Christ died for those sins. And weather you have accepted Him or not, your sins have been paid for. And there is a price for our sins.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Wages are something that you earn for what you do. And because of our sin, the wages is death. Not just the death of the physical but death in the spiritual, by being separated from God.

When I think of that 1st Easter morning. It was early and a few of Jesus followers were on their way to the tomb. (Woman) I’ve always said that the women are the best workers in the church. As they walk, I imagine that they paused to look at the three empty crosses that were still standing on the hillside. The day before was the Sabbath, so nobody had removed them.

The one in the middle was the one of there focus. That was the one that Jesus had hung on. At the top were the bloodstains where they had placed the crown of thorns and pierced His head. The back and cross beams were still soaked in blood from the beatings He endured and the nails that had been drove in His hands.