Many of you are probably familiar with a so-called documentary titled “the Lost Tomb of Jesus” which aired on the Discovery Channel in early March. This film was produced by James Cameron, the director of the movie “Titanic” and Simcha Jacobovici, a controversial producer and director of documentary films. Using the work of statisticians, archaeologists, historians, and DNA experts, Jacobovici claims that the bones of Jesus, his mother Mary, Mary Magdalene, and some other relatives were entombed in ten ossuaries found in a cave in Jerusalem in 1980.
If those claims are in fact true, then we’re all wasting our time here this morning. Because if those are really the bones of Jesus, it means that He did not rise from the grave. And if Jesus did not rise from the grave, there is no Easter and our faith is futile. Even the Bible tells us that is the case. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul wrote these words:
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
1 Corinthians 15:17 (NIV)
Now I could spend a lot of time sharing with you historical information and scientific data that would prove that the resurrection did indeed occur and that the claims made by Jacobovic and Cameron are based on false assumptions and bad science and are patently false. That kind of information does exist and is actually quite abundant.
But I normally like to take a slightly different approach to Easter. I want to go beyond just looking at the fact of the resurrection and to see what difference that fact really makes to you and to me as we gather here together at Dove Mountain Park on this beautiful Easter morning. And in order to do that, I usually focus on the life of one of the followers of Jesus Christ who had his or her life radically transformed by the resurrection. If you were with us last year, you may remember that we looked at the account of Jesus calling out Mary’s name in the garden outside the empty tomb. We saw that when Jesus called Mary’s name, He confirmed the resurrection, created a new relationship and called for her response. And as a result, Mary’s life and our lives were radically changed.
This morning, I’d like to take a few minutes to look at another life that was transformed by the resurrection – the life of Peter. Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with Peter. Although he was a pretty impetuous guy, I really believe that deep down inside Peter wanted to follow Jesus with all his heart. But time after time we see Peter being unable to act in a manner that was consistent with his words and his expressed desires. But, as we’ll see this morning, the resurrection changed all that.
HOW THE RESURRRECTION TRANSFORMED PETER
Peter, along with James and John had the privilege of many intimate encounters with Jesus that even the other nine apostles didn’t get to experience. For instance, only the three of them were allowed into the room when Jesus raised the daughter of the synagogue ruler back to life. And only the three were present at the transfiguration. And yet, even with the privilege of spending three years of his life with Jesus, we find that Peter, in spite of his best intentions, just couldn’t be the man he wanted to be. At least not until after the resurrection.
I’m going to focus on just four events in the life of Jesus that demonstrate the power of the resurrection to transform Peter into the man he wanted to be.
1. It turned his distraction into confidence
One evening Jesus sent his disciples across the lake while he stayed on the shore to pray by himself for a while. During the night, as the storm came up, Jesus came walking across the water to the boat. And I think most of us are pretty familiar with what Peter did next:
"Lord, if it’s you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
Matthew 14:28-30 (NIV)
Although Peter wanted to be confident and bold, he got distracted by the wind and the waves. And as soon as he got distracted he began to sink and all his confidence immediately sunk as well.
I think a lot of us can relate to Peter. I know we’d like to be bold for God - we would like to be so confident that we would be able to do great things for Him. But we become distracted by so many different things. The winds of our culture constantly try to blow us away from what we know is right and true. And the waves of living life – our families, our jobs, our friends, even our church – are constantly carrying us away from God as well. And without the resurrection, we’d be just like Peter – we’d be helpless to battle those winds and waves.
But the resurrection changed everything for Peter. We come to Acts chapter 2 and the Day of Pentecost and it is Peter who gets up and boldly and confidently proclaims the message of the resurrection. And when Peter and John are arrested and told by the religious officials not preach the gospel any longer, here is how they responded to those threats:
Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.
Acts 4:29 (NIV)
Peter is no longer distracted, he is confident and bold. Only the resurrection could have transformed his life like that.
2. It turned disillusionment into connection
One day, Jesus asked the disciples who they thought he was. And Peter got it right. He proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. But shortly thereafter, we find that Peter really didn’t understand what that meant.
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!" Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Matthew 16:21-23 (NIV)
It seems inconceivable to us that Peter could understand that Jesus was the son of God and then just a short time later begin to argue with Him about what Jesus was about to do. The problem is that Peter’s idea of what the Christ, the Messiah, should do and God’s idea of the role of the Messiah weren’t the same. And when Jesus brought that into clear focus, Peter became really disillusioned with Jesus. Peter was looking for a Messiah who would overthrow the Roman government and remove the heavy yoke that they had placed on the Jews. But God wanted to do something far greater. He wanted to remove the heavy yoke of sin that enslaved all of humanity, not just the Jews. And the only way that could happen was for Jesus to die on the cross.
I believe that Peter really wanted to connect with Jesus. He wanted to know His will and carry out God’s plans for his life. But before the resurrection, Peter just wasn’t capable of doing that.
But again, before we’re too quick to condemn Peter, maybe we ought to look at our own lives and see how many times we get disillusioned with God. We look at our own lives and we say to God, “God, that’s not the way I would do it.” We complain about the circumstances that God allows to come into our lives, ignoring the fact that God’s plans are far better than our own plans and forgetting His promise that all things work together for the good of His children.
But once again, the resurrection transformed Peter’s life. The same man who was once so disillusioned with Jesus that he attempted to rebuke Him, would write these words:
So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
1 Peter 4:19 (NIV)
Because of the resurrection, Peter was so connected to God that he could honestly say that it was more important to do things God’s way than to avoid difficulty and suffering in our lives. Quite a contrast to what he said to Jesus before the resurrection.
3. It turned disowning into confession
I think most of us are pretty familiar with the bold claim that Peter made right before Jesus was arrested on the night before His crucifixion:
Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will."
Matthew 26:33 (NIV)
And we also know that before the next morning, Peter disowned Jesus on three separate occasions, exactly as Jesus had predicted. Obviously Peter didn’t intend to disown Christ. I think deep down inside he really wanted to confess Him before others the same way he had earlier confessed that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son of God. We can see that by his reaction:
Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Matthew 26:75 (NIV)
But before the resurrection, Peter could not be the man he wanted to be. He was just not capable of acknowledging Jesus the way he wanted to.
And without the resurrection, we would be just as powerless as Peter to confess Jesus to the people around us. In fact, even on this side of the resurrection, all of us are in danger of being just like Peter – claiming that we’ll stand up for Christ no matter what, and then miserably failing when put to the test.
Let’s be honest. In a culture that is increasingly hostile to Christians and their faith, it’s not always easy to confess Jesus.
April 20 will be the 8th anniversary of the day Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold gunned down a dozen students and one teacher at Columbine High School. Although it was not widely reported at the time, videotapes made by the two killers clearly show an intense hostility against Christianity and Christians. Three of the victims that day were apparently targeted because of their faith in Christ.
Cassie Bernal was reading her Bible in the library when one of the killers confronted her and put a gun to her head. “Do you believe in God?” she was asked. “Yes, I believe in God”, she replied. “Why?” asked the killer in the dark trench coat. And before Cassie had a chance to answer, he pulled the trigger.
Maybe some of you are like me and wonder if I would have had the same courage as Cassie Bernal did that day. Perhaps the answer to that question lies in the words that Cassie had written the previous Sunday after church:
Now I have given up on everything else
I have found it to be the only way
To really know Christ and to experience
the mighty power that brought Him back to life again,
and to find out what it means to suffer and to
die with him.
So, whatever it takes I will be one who lives in the fresh
newness of life of those who are
alive from the dead.
For Cassie, it was the resurrection that allowed her to confess Jesus, even with a gun pointed at her head.
The same thing was true for Peter. After the resurrection, Peter was imprisoned, he was ridiculed, he was persecuted and, as we’ve seen, he was instructed by both the religious and political leaders to quit preaching the gospel. But not even once do we find Peter failing to acknowledge and confess Jesus Christ – not once!
For both Cassie Bernal and Peter, it was the resurrection that allowed them to confess their faith, even when it would have been more comfortable to disown Jesus.
4. It turned discouragement into continuing on
Right before He was arrested on the night before His crucifixion, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. And once again, Peter was privileged, along with James and John, to be invited to pray with Jesus:
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."
Matthew 26:36-38 (NIV)
But when Jesus needed him most, Peter fell asleep.
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter.
Matthew 26:40 (NIV)
I thought a lot this week about why Peter and the others couldn’t stay awake to pray with Jesus. I know it was probably late and they’d had a busy day, but let’s face it, when something is really important to us, we can usually stay awake much later that we’re normally used to.
It seems to me that the problem was that Peter was extremely discouraged. Jesus had spent the evening preparing His disciples for what was about to come. He once again told them that He was going to die. And He spent the evening praying for His disciples and trying to equip them to handle was about to happen. And, as we’ve already seen, Peter couldn’t yet understand why all this had to occur. I think he wanted to continue on, but without the resurrection, he just didn’t have the ability do that.
I know that we’ve all been like Peter at times. Even on this side of the resurrection, we get discouraged and it’s hard to carry on. We face all kinds of trials and difficulties in our lives and sometimes it just seems overwhelming. Even as a pastor I get discouraged at times. I wonder whether what I’m doing is really making any difference in the lives of others. And my guess is that I’m not alone in that attitude.
But the resurrection changed everything for Peter. After the resurrection, Peter spent the next 30 years or so of his life serving His Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – right up to the time of His death. And, as we’ve already seen, things weren’t always easy. It would have been understandable if Peter had become discouraged and just given up. But because of the resurrection, Peter was able to continue on.
How do I know that the bones of Jesus were not in that ossuary in Jerusalem? How do I know that the claims of Simcha Jacobovici can’t possibly be true? Because if there was any chance at all that Jesus did not rise from the grave, there is no way that Peter’s life would have been so completely transformed. There is no power other than the power of the resurrection that could have changed Peter from:
• Distracted to confident
• Disillusioned to connected
• Disowning to confessing
• Discouraged to continuing on
And since Jesus did indeed rise from the grave, there is no way those are His bones in those ossuaries.
Although the Bible doesn’t give us a lot of information on the last days of Peter’s life, several historical records indicate that Peter was imprisoned in Rome for his faith. And when he was also put to death for his faith, he requested to be crucified upside down since he was not worthy to die in the same manner of his Lord.
To me the most compelling evidence for the resurrection is the changed lives of those who knew Jesus the best. Like Peter, every one of the apostles, with the possible exception of John, died painful, horrible deaths as a direct result of their lives that were dedicated sharing the message of the resurrection. If the bones of Jesus were still here on earth, those who were the closest to Jesus would have certainly been the ones to know where those bones were located. And it’s inconceivable to me that not one of those men would have produced those bones in order to save his life. The only logical conclusion is that the resurrection did indeed occur.
That’s great news. But here is the best news! The power of the resurrection that made Peter into the man he wanted to be is also available to every one of us here this morning. I’m pretty sure that at least most of us are here this morning because we want to be confident and bold in our faith. We want to be connected to God and follow his ways and plans for our lives. We want to be the kind of people who confess Jesus even in the face of opposition. And we want to continue on and persevere even when we’re discouraged.
There is only one possible way that we can become that kind of person. We can’t do it on our own. We can’t read about how to do it in a book. No one else can do it for us. Not even the Army can make you to “Be all that you can be.” Only the resurrection of Jesus can provide the power to make us into the people we want to be. But we’re not automatically plugged into that power. It’s available for everyone, but just like Peter, we have to make the decision to plug into the spiritual power outlet. That decision involves two important components:
First, I need to make Jesus my Forgiver. I need to confess to Him that I am a sinner and that I want to change your life and turn away from those sins. I need to place my faith in Jesus Christ and in His death on the cross and His resurrection as the only way for my sins to be forgiven.
Secondly, I need to make Jesus my Master. I need to give up the control of my life and turn it over to Jesus. I need to commit to follow His ways and plans for my life.
If you’ve never done that, I’d like to invite you to make that decision today. I’ll be here after the service and I’d love to talk to you more about how you can do that. Or if you’d rather, just fill out the flap on your bulletin and hand it to me or to one of our other members before you leave today and we’ll contact you this week so we can talk some more about that life-changing decision.
