Today is Easter. We celebrate the greatest event in the history of the world! I want to ask a question. What difference does the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ make in a person’s life? It can make a difference! Consider the story of Zachary. Zachary was doing poorly in math at school. His parents had tried everything…tutors, mentors, flash cards, special learning centers. In short, everything they tried was not working. As a last ditch effort his parents took him to the local Catholic school.
After the first day, Zachary came home with a very serious look on his face. He went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread all over the room and Zachary worked hard. His mother was amazed. She called him down to dinner. To her shock, the minute he was done, he marched back to his room without a word, and in no time he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day, while the mother tried to understand what had made the difference.
Finally, Zachary brought home his report card. He quietly laid it on the table, went up to his room and hit the books. With great anxiety, his mom looked at it and to her great surprise Zachary got an “A” in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and said, “Son, what was it? Was it the nuns?" Zachary looked at her and shook his head, no. “Well, then,” she replied, "was it the books, the discipline, the structure, the uniforms?" Zachary looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school when I saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I knew they were not fooling around.”
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Reese Blanchett)
Obviously the death of Jesus had an impact on Zachary. Even more so, the resurrection of Jesus should make a difference in our lives. If His resurrection makes a difference, what kind of difference should it make?
In John 20 we find one of the accounts of Jesus resurrection and His appearance to His first followers. From this text we discover the difference the resurrected Christ can make. Look at the text. “Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.” “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”). “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” (John 20:11-21 NLT)
From this text I want to identify three ways Jesus made a difference in the lives of His first disciples. He will do the same for you.
First, He gave them confidence. Sometimes life comes at you hard. Life can be tough. Life can be painful. At times like that your confidence can grow weak.
People of faith are not immune. Jesus allowed His closest followers to pass through a dark discouraging time. After Jesus was crucified and before the disciples discovered the good news of His resurrection they had gigantic struggles. They struggled with doubt, fear, discouragement and many of the emotional struggles you and I face every day.
Illustration: Several years ago my sister in law’s father died. He was a pastor. He was sitting in his study on a Sunday morning and was preparing to preach when he fell dead of a heart attack. Judy and I drove over to Texas for the funeral. As I spoke to his widow I offered words of sympathy. As she spoke to me she said “I know God is good and His promises are real but right now I just do not feel that way.”
It is a very painful thing to have your confidence shaken. After Jesus death, Jesus followers must have faced questions such as:
“Is He really dead?”
“Are God’s promises true?”
“Did we waste our time in following Him?”
Illustration: This past week Judy and I spent some time at the beach. On Tuesday afternoon I watched one of the Ernest movies. I am an Ernest fan. I had watched the movie for one hour forty-five minutes when Judy interrupted to tell me there was a school of dolphins swimming outside our condo. We ran to the balcony to watch the dolphins put on a show. I did not have to buy a ticket to see this show. God provided it free of charge. I missed the end of the Ernest movie. I told Judy “the only problem with this scenario is that I felt as if I wasted one hour forty-five minutes watching a show I never finished.” Jesus disciples must have faced the temporary frustration of wondering if they had wasted their time.
Notice something in this text. Jesus gave Mary and the disciples a new confidence. In verses 15-17 we find Jesus spoke to Mary in such a way that her confidence was restored. In verse 20 Jesus shows the disciples His hands and side and gives them new confidence. Such confidence is a gift that comes from God.
This past week I was sent an e-mail about a lady who displayed a Godly confidence.
Illustration: On December 9, 2007 Nicke Paranjape of WMC…TV in Memphis shared a remarkable story of a confident lady. The newscast was later printed in an article. It read:
Dyersburg grandmother witnesses to man trying to rob her.
92-year-old Pauline Jacobi reads her Bible everyday. Her strong faith keeps her going in life and may have saved it after she almost became the victim of a parking lot robbery. Jacobi had just finished putting her groceries inside her car at a Dyersburg Wal-Mart when a man jumped into the car through the passenger’s side door. He told Jacobi he had a gun and that he would shoot her if she didn’t give him money.
"I’m not going to give you my money," Jacobi said.
In fact, She told him "no" three times.
Then she started to talk to him.
"As quick as you kill me I’ll go to heaven and you’ll go to hell," Jacobi said she told the man. "’Jesus is in this car and he goes with me everywhere I go."
"He looked around and the tears just began coming down his eyes."
She told him to ask God for forgiveness and ministered to him for 10 minutes inside her car.
"He said, ’I think I’ll go home and pray tonight,’" Jacobi said. "I said, ’You don’t have to wait until tonight. You can pray anytime you want to.’"
As tears were rolling down the man’s face, Jacobi voluntarily gave him $10. This was all the money she had.
"When I told him I was going to give him the money, I said, ’Don’t you go spend it on whiskey either."
The man thanked her for the money, kissed her on the cheek and walked away.
He told Jacobi his name was Ricky and he was from Halls, Tennessee. She doesn’t want to see him in jail, but also doesn’t want him to hurt anybody. However, police do want to see him in jail and are asking for help. (Reported by Nick Paranjape. WMC—TV in Memphis, TN. December 9, 2007 at 10:00) (http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7456846)
Jesus gave His disciples confidence. Next He gave them peace. In fact, when you see something repeated three times you had better sit up and take notice. Three times, in John 20 (vs. 19, 21, 26), Jesus promised His followers that He would give peace. Jesus does not take away the storm, He gives peace in the middle of the storm.
Peace is such a wonderful gift. This past week a first cousin died. I was unable to make the funeral. On Wednesday night I called and spoke to his family. I spoke to his son on the phone. His son said ”We know he’s In Heaven and we know he is better off.” That is peace.
Notice Jesus words in these verses. He said “peace be with you” in verse 19 and “peace to you” in verses 21 and 26. He was blessing them with His peace. Peace is a gift from God. It is not something you can buy, pursue or attain through positive thinking.
Consider some of God’s promises.
“ I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. Ps. 4:8
The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace. Ps. 29:11
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Mk. 4:39
My peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27
Many people are looking for peace but coming up empty.
A member of Alcoholics Anonymous once sent columnist Ann Landers the following:
We drank for happiness and became unhappy.
We drank for joy and became miserable.
We drank for sociability and became argumentative.
We drank for sophistication and became obnoxious.
We drank for friendship and made enemies.
We drank for sleep and awakened without rest.
We drank for strength and felt weak.
We drank "medicinally" and acquired health problems.
We drank for relaxation and got the shakes.
We drank for bravery and became afraid.
We drank for confidence and became doubtful.
We drank to make conversation easier and slurred our speech.
We drank to feel heavenly and ended up feeling like hell.
We drank to forget and were forever haunted.
We drank for freedom and became slaves.
We drank to erase problems and saw them multiply.
We drank to cope with life and invited death.
Bits & Pieces, May, 1990, p. 18.
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Paul Wallace)
Jesus gives confidence. Jesus gives peace. Finally, Jesus empowers.
Joke: I read about three little boys who were playing and they began comparing their dads. Pretty soon they got into this old thing of – you know – My dad is bigger that your dad – better than your dad, greater than yours. My dad can beat your dad and all that.
One little boy said, “My dad knows the Mayor.” Pretty impressive!
The second little boy (to top that) said, “That’s nothing! My daddy knows the governor.”
Well, the third little boy was not to be outdone. They were playing in his home. In fact, his daddy was standing by the window in the kitchen listening to the conversation. He wondered what his son would say. His son paused for a moment – then he said with total confidence, “Your dad may know the Mayor, and your dad may know the governor, but my dad my knows God.”
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Daniel Owens)
That little fellow was empowered! Empowerment means to give someone power or authority. After Jesus resurrection, He gave His disciples confidence; however, he carried that a step further. He empowered them with power and authority. The encouraging thing about this empowerment is that He meets us on our level. Mary was struggling with her tears. Jesus met her at her point of need. The disciples were struggling with their doubts. Jesus met them at their point of need.
Illustration: Several years ago, when I was working in the doctoral program at New Orleans Baptist Seminary I struggled with an inferiority complex. I did not feel worthy to walk among those scholars. To make things worse, my project director was a brilliant man. He is one of those people that are so intelligent that he soars around in the clouds while all the rest of us walk this earth. I was honest with my professor. I shared my struggle. I told him I struggled with feelings of unworthiness as I walked among the scholars. My professor shared some encouraging words that empowered me. He said, “Tim, all of us feel unworthy when we compare ourselves to other people. Everybody has something that someone else is without.” He said, “Tim, I am envious of you and your pastoral gifts. I am a scholar and I am not gifted as a pastor. I am envious of you. You have something that I do not possess.”….I walked out of that room feeling ten feet tall.
Jesus performed such a ministry with his disciples. He empowered them. He gave them authority. He took a bunch of rag tag people who struggled with doubt, fear, questions, tears and weaknesses and turned them into His servants. In addition, He empowered them with a new purpose. Notice verse 21, “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." Our purpose in life is to know God and serve Him. That is empowerment. We are given a purpose.
What a difference the resurrection made! Jesus gave confidence, peace and empowerment. Those are worthy qualities. Do you have these in your life today? Jesus wants to meet you. Will you take the step?
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