I was assigned to retrieve box number 673 A.
I took my little pink piece of paper with my assignment for the afternoon - find box #673 A, Humana Hospital, February 1970. I had just started to working at this medical file warehouse and so I naively thought that the boss was starting me off slow, I thought he was breaking me in gradually - I mean, a whole afternoon to find one box of files, how hard could it be?
I arrived at warehouse #5 and flipped on the breaker switches and illuminated what would soon be an afternoon of agony. Warehouse #5 was one of the larger warehouses and it happened to be where the very old files were stored, what this meant was that the files were stored in thousands of cardboard file boxes, stacked six high and forever deep.
The life of a medical file starts at the hospital. At about six months the file is then moved off site to a medical file warehouse and placed on a shelf for quick retrieval. A call would come in for a particular file, from whatever hospital, then the file would be retrieved and delivered to the hospital in 45 minutes or less. After about seven years the file would be boxed up with other files and moved to where the old files go, warehouse number five.
673 A, Humana Hospital, February 1970.
There loomed in front of me thousands upon thousands of boxes of files. I walked quite a ways and found the section that contained Humana Hospital files, approximately 3000 boxes. Now, in a normal medical file warehouse the boxes of files, would be to first, placed in numerical order, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7…..and second, the boxes of files would be placed in rows so that one could walk up and down the rows and quickly locate the needed box. That would be a normal medical file warehouse, in Warehouse #5, I had in front of me one huge stack of boxes of files - all out of order, all stacked together, no rows, no isles, one big solid block of boxes. They expected me to find this box in one afternoon! Holy Smokes!
So the idea quickly occurred to me that I might get lucky, and the box I needed might be on the outside of the stack - no such luck. So, I grabbed my hand truck and started removing stacks of boxes.
You know how life is, the box I needed was nowhere in the first one thousand; Nowhere in the second one thousand, it was in the last one thousand. Finally, I saw it, there it was, the long sought after box, 673 A, Humana Hospital, February 1970. To this day I can recite the box information with ease.
My arms were killing me, I could barely move another box, but there it was, and it took only four hours to find it. So I took hold of box 673 A, Humana Hospital, February 1970, and gave it a heave --- the box was surprisingly light, so light that I almost lost my balance. Curious, I lifted the lid off from the box, and to my surprise - THE BOX WAS COMPLETELY EMPTY!
Not a single file lay in this box. I moved almost three thousand boxes for literally, nothing.
My boss was amazed that I showed up for work the next day.
As Americans empty things plague our lives, we don’t like empty things. Some of the things we don’t want to have empty are, an empty gas tank, our bank account, the refrigerator, the fish cooler, an empty conversation, and we certainly don’t want an empty jar of peanut butter left on the shelf. Do your kids do this? Place an empty cereal box back in the cabinet, an empty milk carton, an empty jar of peanut butter. The curse of empty things!
To us, empty things spell disaster, or at the very least, a trip to the supermarket. Empty things are one thing, but when emptiness becomes personal, emptiness is taken to another level: An empty marriage, empty job satisfaction, an empty faith, empty hopes for the future…….
You may ask yourself, “Why would God allow this to happen to me in my life? Why would God, if He is so good, Why would God allow this, this emptiness to fill my life?”
You know what I’m talking about.
Listen to this: God specializes in empty. God is the expert, the authority, the master of empty. AND listen to this: God has allowed that emptiness to fill your life, yes, God has made way for the emptiness that you live with, that emptiness that makes you question your very purpose in life, God allows that emptiness that is inside you, the one that is so secret, you imagine no one else could ever experience emptiness like you do - God allows this emptiness in your life to occur for one simple reason….
You are empty - Now, God has the opportunity to fill you up.
God has allowed this emptiness to enter into your life, so that He can bring you healing, so that He can bring you fullness, so that He can make you whole, and give you new life.
I mean, how in the world can God fill you up, if you’re not empty first?
The promise of Easter is empty - It is an empty cross, it is an empty tomb, it is an empty burial cloth. The emptiness of each of these things is a promise from Jesus Christ himself: You who are empty, come to me and be filled.
The empty cross is a promise that your sins can be forgiven; The empty tomb is a promise that you can have new life; The empty burial cloth is a promise of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Empty Cross.
Here at the front of the sanctuary stands a simple wooden cross. There is no one upon this cross, it is vacant, and you know what, no one, no one will ever hang on this cross. Why? Why will this cross forever be vacant? Because only one person ever need hang on the cross, and that one person was Jesus Christ.
I can’t save myself, I’m completely incapable of saving myself. I have done a lifetime of wrong - don’t believe me? Just ask my wife. I have done a lifetime of wrong, and there is not a thing I can do, to undo all that wrong. The bible calls doing wrong, sin, and you know, over a lifetime, these sins, they really add up don’t they? I start to lose sleep over things I’ve done, over time I see my inability to make things right, over time these sins weigh me down. I experience emptiness as a result of my sin.
What I need is forgiveness. The truth is, I cannot even forgive myself, but Jesus, Jesus, by the power of the cross offers me forgiveness, He offers you forgiveness, He offers us all forgiveness. The empty cross is a promise my friends, all the, I should have done, I could have done, I wish I had never done, is pushed aside and forgiven. The empty cross is a promise of forgiveness.
The Empty Tomb.
Have you ever asked yourself, “Who is able to give me new life?”
There are scientists who are working hard to extend human life, they hope we can all someday life to the ripe old age of 120. But, that’s not new life, that’s just giving us a few more years. When we talk about new life, it all comes down to one thing, overcoming death. We may be able to add a few years to our lives, but who can overcome death?
God can, that’s who.
You see, Jesus Christ wasn’t just another man, a philosopher, an avatar - Jesus is called Emanuel, which literally means, God is with us. Jesus is God, the creator, the Lord God - 100 % God, 100% human….and so when Jesus dies on the cross and is placed in the tomb, everyone thought they had killed just another man and placed just another man in the tomb, and like any other man placed in a tomb, they thought it was all over.
But for Jesus Christ, death cannot hold him down, death cannot keep Jesus away - for Jesus is the creator of life itself, Jesus overcomes death, rises from the grave and through Jesus Christ you and I can have new life too. The empty tomb is a promise of new life.
Empty Burial Cloth.
It is significant that John sees the strips of linen laying in the tomb, for it is not only that the tomb is empty but the burial clothes that were to hold Jesus forever are empty as well; Jesus does not fill a cloth meant for death, Jesus fills clothes that are meant for life.
The empty burial cloth, it represents how our life naturally is, that burial cloth represent our natural destiny - in fact Paul calls the body we each have, “this body of death” (Rom 7:24). Our natural destiny is to have our life, end…..
Notice, that burial cloth in the tomb that represents our destiny, and our destiny is completely empty. You see, like box 673 A, we are empty too. It is absolutely of no coincidence that emptiness exists in your life for you were created to be filled. You were created to be filled by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will come upon you when you give your life over to Jesus Christ; The Holy Spirit will fill the “empty” in your life. The Holy Spirit is what fills the disciples empowering them to be what they could never be on their own. The empty burial cloth is a promise of the end of emptiness, for the Holy Spirit fills the emptiness in our lives.
God allows this emptiness you are experiencing, so that he can fill you with the Holy Spirit.
I worked for this department store in SF for many years. We had a return policy that went like this: If you are not satisfied with what you purchased return the item for a full replacement or for full store credit. Now that may not sound like an unusual return policy, I’m sure you could name many stores with a policy that sounds very similar, but our policy was very different, see there was no time limit imposed. Anything a customer purchased could be brought back at any time, even without a receipt. We would even take back merchandise purchased from a competitor. Anything at anytime.
If you purchased a pair of jeans and you didn’t like them, you could bring them back. If you had a pair of shoes that didn’t wear well, just bring them back. This applied to everything and anything, without exception.
I know what you are thinking, wouldn’t people easily take advantage of a return policy like that? Absolutely. We had a lady who would bring back a pair of jeans every three months and get a free replacement, she did this for years. I remember one time we had a guy who had purchased a stereo sound system and had the stereo system for seven years, then one day he brought back the stereo sound system for a full store credit - no questions asked.
Sure people could take advantage of the return policy, and some did, but the truth is, it didn’t matter, for in the long run, more people who were hesitant to make a purchase, would in the end make a purchase, because they knew they could return the item at any time.
Usually, when people brought in an item for a return, they were prepared for a fight. Some would give a long emotional story and others would take great pains to show the merchandise was perfect and good as new. We would patiently listen to their sad stories and take back their merchandise, but it didn’t matter what they said, we still would take back anything, at anytime, no questions asked - we even had a lady who brought back a very expensive rug and told us that her New Years Party was great - “Thank you madam, would you like store credit or would you like to choose another carpet?”
Some people were pleasantly surprised when they were informed that we would take their item back without explanation, others wouldn’t believe us, and insisted on giving us a detailed explanation of why they had to bring back their coffee maker. I’m sure there were many others who we never heard from, because they thought they didn’t have a good enough excuse to bring back the item they hated. So they kept the sweater that didn’t fit, or threw out the pair of shoes that fell apart, or kept on using the blender they despised. Yet, they could have brought the item back and found exactly what they wanted, even if it was years and years later.
I used to wonder, “Why did people wait so long?”
People are like that when they approach Jesus Christ too. People think they have to do something, or be somebody, or achieve something before coming to Jesus Christ - they cannot fathom that they don’t need an excuse, they don’t an explanation to approach Jesus, they don’t need to be good, honest, and truthful, AND they cannot fathom that Jesus will bestow the gift of new life upon them without cost. So, these people live a life they do not like, they remain people they do not want to be, they live with this burning emptiness inside and it is heart breaking, for Jesus has been waiting for them all their life, Jesus wants them no matter who they are.
No matter who you are, no matter what you have done, or did not do, no matter how good you have been, or how poorly you have acted, Jesus Christ will take you, take those sins that weigh you down, He will release you from your painful past, he will set aside all that you’ve done and bestow upon you, grace, and mercy and new life - He will fill you up.
Don’t keep living on empty, go ahead fill your life up; Don’t hang on to that old life, go ahead, turn it in for a new one.
Here’s how you return your old life and get a new one:
There is no one here who is perfect. I know you have done wrong in your life, and you know that you have done wrong in your life - the bible calls that sin and the wrong we do, the sin we commit, literally eats us up alive. It destroys us. So let’s get rid of it.
Admit to Jesus, that you have done wrong, perhaps, a lot of wrong, you have sinned. Tell Jesus that you are sorry for the wrong you have done and that you would like to turn away from doing wrong - this is called repentance.
Now here is the most important part: Tell Jesus that you are tired of controlling your own life, and that you want him to control your life. Tell Jesus that you want to give your life over to him, that you want Jesus to come into your heart.
Now if you do this, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and give you new life, He will give you a new spiritual life, He will fill that emptiness in your life.
Why in the world, would you continue to wait?
If you are ready to do this, to give your life over to Jesus and have a new life, if you are ready to fill up the empty in your life, silently pray along with me now.
Prayer of salvation.
