First Baptist Church
The Reality of Jesus
March 23, 2008
Luke 21:1-12
Let me start out with a riddle ~~
A man lives on the 10th floor of a building. Every day he takes the elevator down to the ground floor in order to leave the building. When he returns home he takes the elevator to the 6th floor and walks up the stairs to reach his apartment on the tenth floor. He does this everyday, unless it’s raining. If it rains, he rides the elevator all the way to the 10th floor. Why does he do this?
Here’s another one ~ Anthony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor of a villa in Egypt. The window was open and there is water and glass all over the floor. There are no marks on either Anthony or Cleopatra, and they were not poisoned. How did they die?
A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Friday. How is that possible? The man’s horse was called Friday.
Mr. Black asks for tea and gets $5,000. Then he asks for eyes, but Mrs. White can’t give him any. Mr. Black is a contestant on the Wheel of Fortune.
Did you ever play those kind of mind games. Some of you will sit for hours in order to figure them out, others will simply wonder who thought this up. They have too much time on their hands. Especially when you hear the answers, you’ll really dislike them. It is called “Lateral Thinking.”
Just so you won’t be trying to figure those out the rest of the morning, I’ll tell you the answers.
In the 1st case, the reason the man would only go the 6th floor on his return home, was because that was the highest button he could reach on the elevator control panel. He was a short man. On days that it rained, he had his umbrella with him, so he could use the umbrella to punch the button that indicated his floor.
In the 2nd situation, it might help you to know Anthony and Cleopatra are fish. The dog, Brutus, knocked over the fish bowl, which broke and spilled water all over the floor.
Now that you’ve got the hang of it, let’s try one more. On Friday night, a man dies. He’s buried that same night. On Sunday morning, His friends arrive at the grave, only to discover His body is gone. What happened?
One of the problems of Jesus’ resurrection, is that some people try to make sense out of everything that happened. They try to understand exactly how Jesus could die and then come back to life again. Let me tell you something. . . it’s a secret so I need to whisper it . . . ‘none of it makes any sense.’
Now you’re wondering what in the world is he talking about? But think about it from our rational, logical, analytical minds. Does it make sense that a man can be dead for 3 days and come back to life? No, it doesn’t make any sense.
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But, let me ask you, how much of life makes sense? Look at the headlines over the past week. We’ve read about more than 80 people killed in Tibetan riots relating to China;
read about a refinery explosion in Texas which killed 15 people; Jeff Weise’s rampage in Red Lake, MN killing 10; Brian Nichols kills 4 people in Atlanta; a suicide bomber kills 15 in Iraq; and we have the Terri Schiavo controversy - which has become a modern day Greek tragedy.
There are not only polls for the NCAA tournament, but there are polls for the Terri Schiavo situation. Does any of this really make sense? Yet, all of this is real, this is real life taking place.
Do you wonder, where is God in all of this? What’s His will? What do we, who claim to confront death with a different heart, a Christ-centered heart, think and more importantly, what is it we do? Is making sure we all have a living will which speaks for us, good enough? How about a living heart? A living mind? That we would continue to speak of God’s love long after we die? Is the fleshly life so sacred that we ignore the spiritual life? Is Terri Schiavo’s spirit/soul still there amidst what’s left of her brain? (Doctors tell us only the brain stem is functioning. The rest, they say, has completely stopped functioning with only a “we don’t know everything” chance to return.)
Meanwhile, loving people are unable to find common ground and have resorted to the courts to decide the matter.
Is the overarching rule of “life at any costs,” physical life, that is, the only “higher standard?” What of those who proclaim life after death? ...power beyond the grave? ...Spirit over flesh?
What do we make of it all?
What do we make of our own lives? We are we so enamored to reality television programs? Is it because our own real lives are what we want them to be?
Lots of questions, and sometimes, not a lot of answers.
Yet, there is one answer I do have for you. It is the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It can be easy to disbelieve who Jesus is, just because you don’t see the physical evidence of His resurrection. We weren’t there, so how can we prove there was a resurrection? Physically, we can’t. We can come up with lots of excuses for not believing in the resurrection. You can be like my father, who being Jewish, has told me that if I can prove to him that Jesus rose from the dead, then he’ll believe.
I’ve told my dad, I can’t literally prove Jesus rose from the dead. If the only way you will believe in Jesus is to see the physical evidence of the resurrection, then you’ll be disappointed, because I cannot give it to you.
Charles Colson, the former counsel of President Nixon, a convicted conspirator in the Watergate scandal, wrote that the Watergate cover up was the final straw convincing him Jesus was raised from the dead. He wrote —
“There were only 8 or 10 of us in the inner circle around the president who really knew what was going on. All we had to do was stonewall for a couple of months and the Watergate scandal would be over. We had all the power and prestige of the presidency at our fingertips. And if the truth broke there would be embarrassment and perhaps a prison sentence. There was no grave danger, our lives were not threatened, but we couldn’t hold the conspiracy together for more than 3 weeks. We could not contain the lie. Once prosecution was possible the natural instincts of self preservation were so overwhelming that one by one the conspirators caved in and stood in line at the prosecutors office to escape jail.”
Colson concludes, “I know that the disciples could not perpetuate a lie like the resurrection, because it was not just their reputations that were at stake, their lives were in danger. They had no clout, they had nothing to gain by the lie, and yet everyone of them stood fast in the conviction that Jesus was alive. Take it from one who saw first hand how vulnerable a cover up is: nothing less than a witness as awesome as the resurrected Christ could have caused those men to maintain to their dying whispers that Jesus is alive and He is Lord! Each apostle, except for John, died a martyr’s death.”
They died rather than recant their belief in the resurrection. Friends, I don’t believe the disciples would’ve died for a lie. I mean, would you die for a lie? History has shown people will give their lives for what they believe is true, but not for what they know is false.
When it comes to believing in the resurrection of Jesus, we cannot simply seek knowledge, instead, we must seek faith. Nobody comes to faith in Jesus because of knowledge of Him. Even Satan has knowledge of Jesus, only he doesn’t believe in Jesus.
It must be our heart that is pulled into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in Romans 10:9-10, ‘if you believe in your heart and confess with your lips that God raised Jesus from the dead then you will be saved.’
Do you see where our believing comes from? It comes from our heart. The heart is the source of all that we long for, it is the place where we make some of our greatest decisions. Our heart is what will lead us to Jesus, if we are willing to let down the walls we have erected to protect ourselves from more and more hurt.
In Ezekiel, an Old Testament prophet, God said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). You see, our hearts matter to God. It is the source of all life. This is why we must look to God with our hearts, we must let down that wall, even piece by piece. Because if we don’t, the healing, the joy, the peace, the love which awaits us, will never be there. We will miss out. So, this Easter, allow that to happen in your life.
This applies to all people, whether you have known Jesus for the past 100 years, or you are searching, we need to allow our hearts to be connected to the heart of God so we could experience His presence in our lives. Without God’s presence, we will certainly be lost. The tragedy is that we really don’t need to be lost, because Jesus died for each one of us, and He rose for each one of us as well.
I love what Luke tells us in verse 11, the women told the disciples what happened, but the story sounded like nonsense, so they didn’t believe it. Do you see where their thinking was at? Even though they lived with Jesus for 3 years, they still didn’t get it. The fact that Jesus was resurrected blew their analytical thinking straight out the window. What they assumed to be reality, wasn’t. It didn’t compute. It’s like trying to make 1 + 1 = 3. It doesn’t. Yet, it was reality for the disciples and it is reality for us. Jesus had risen from the dead. That’s the good news.
You see, there are many things which happen when we believe in Jesus, but I want to end by highlighting two specifics. We come to realize the bonds of death have been broken forever. We understand that this life is not all there is . . . there is more that is to come. We have eternal life. So when we die as believers in Christ, we have heaven.
The struggles we endured in this life are over, but they were not in vain, because we know in heaven there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more suffering, no more hunger, no cold, or hot weather. None of that will happen, instead, you will be feasting and drinking, you will be whole and healthy, and you won’t be resting in heaven. I don’t believe heaven will be a restful place, you’ll be busier than ever, but loving every second of it; never tiring.
You see, in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, Paul wrote, “For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. 54 When this happens—when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die, then at last the Scriptures will come true:
"Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"
Dear friends, that is the Great News of Easter. Death has been swallowed up by God forever.
You may intellectually agree with everything said here, but if you’ve never tasted Jesus for yourself, it is meaningless. The resurrection will change your life, but only if you personally trust the risen Jesus as your Lord, your Forgiver, Shepherd and Leader. You do that with your heart. You proclaim,
“Jesus I am yours and you are mine. Forgive me for all of my sins . . . the ones I can name and the ones I have forgotten. I want You and I need You. I want You to be my leader, so help me to let go of the old, and accept the new life you have for me, the new heart, the new hope, Lord thank you for dying, and thank you for rising from death.”
Make the claim today that Jesus is yours. What better way than on Easter to commit your life to Jesus, or even to reaffirm your faith. Do it today, don’t wait, rejoice in Jesus. He is Lord and we all praise God for our blessing in Jesus.
We can have a fresh start from a fresh start God. I enjoy playing golf, and when I am playing with friends and trying to have a good time, I believe we can take mulligans. That means you can get what we call a “take over.” You hit a lousy shot, and you can re-take your shot.
We all need a mulligan for life - a second chance, a fresh start. The resurrection of Jesus Christ makes it possible. And just as Christ was raised from the dead, we also may live new lives. God promises us a fresh start, a completely new life, simply by trusting in Jesus and his resurrection.
The second and final point, and I said it on Friday afternoon, but it’s one I believe we easily miss in the busyness and stress of life.
We often talk about eternal life being our great hope, a hope that comes upon death, well let me tell you one last thing . . .we have already started on our eternal life. Eternal life started the day you proclaimed Jesus as your Lord and Savior, as your Redeemer and Leader. And if eternal life is already yours, then you should begin to experience amazing JOY and LOVE. We think we have to wait until death to begin. But we don’t, we don’t have to wait any longer.
START NOW!! START TODAY!! Embrace the Risen Christ, celebrate the new life He offers you, so that you have the promise of Eternal life in the future and Eternal life today.
As you leave here today, I want you to leave her dancing, celebrating, feeling real joy about who Christ is, what He did for you, dying so you could find forgiveness and rising to give you life.
Mark this day on your calendar!! The day you gave your heart of stone to God, and accepted His heart of flesh, His Spirit into your spirit, and you are that changed person you always wanted to be.
