Last Sunday Night after our contata, I told you that Easter is not about bunnies, new clothes, sunrise services, or special candy. It is all about a risen Savior, Jesus Christ.
This week Ladonna and I were going somewhere and stopped to get a drink at a gas station. Since we're about to move things are a bit tight financially. But at Easter she always gets me some Kit Kat and I asked her, "Since we're not getting each other stuff for Easter, can I get one Kit Kat here and that will count as my Easter candy for this year?" Without missing a beat, she looked me in the eyes and said, "Honey. Easter's not about candy!" She got me. My own words used against me. But I got the Kit Kat.
I know most of you are Christians, and I want to ask you this today: What does Easter mean to a bunch of Christians? To a lost person who finally gets what Easter really means, today means they find Jesus as Savior and it totally changes their life. To some Christians, it means we hear the same old story and move on with life as usual. But for some of you, it is a day that moves you. It's not just knowledge, but a message that you can't stop talking about.
To fully understand what Easter means to you, you must answer this question, "Who is Jesus to you?" Some say he's just a great teacher or legend. To some of you, he is simply your Savior. But do you call him "my Lord and My God?" Who is Jesus, really, to you?
The disciples were wondering about this question. They had left everything to come follow Jesus but then he was crucified. This morning they heard that Jesus was alive. What an awesome message to tell everyone, but instead of speaking loudly and boldly, they were hiding in a room. The message was that Jesus was alive. That man people had seen die on a cross, was living. His tomb was empty. Come see the place where Jesus had been laid. What an awesome message. Why hide?
John 20:19a "That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders." You know they sound like most churches around. We huddle with the greatest message known to mankind with no intention of reaching out. We're afraid of what the world going to do to us. Didn't Jesus say that the gates of Hell wouldn't prevail against his church?
Then all of a sudden, Jesus shows up at church. John 2019b "Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord!" This is exactly what most churches want to hear from Jesus: "Peace!" The disciples thought His return meant calmness, a return to simpler times. Isn't that what most Christians want? Don't rick the boat. Weren't things easier in the past? But Jesus didn't come there to calm things down. He came to rock the boat more than anything they had ever seen!
Let me share with you three things Easter means to a Christian.
He says in verse 21 &22a, "Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit."
First, We have a Mission. Jesus said, "Guys, I have a job for you to do." Jesus shows up to shake up the boat. Jesus says that just like he was sent (and why was he sent? to seek and save that which is lost) so I send you. No we can't die for the sins of the world but we have a mission to go and do. I used to love watching reruns of Mission Impossible because you have these people who attempt to accomplish something that no one should be able to do, and they do it every week. Jesus tells these guys to reach the world and we are living testimony that they did a pretty good job. The message is all the way around the world from Jerusalem. 11 men and a few women spread a simple message that transformed the world quickly. Emperor Nero burned down Rome with the idea that he might squash the movement called "the Way." Instead, it's just spread like wildfire.
We're on the same mission as they are. And we have the same power they had. Jesus breathed on them and gave them the power. The Holy Spirit is as strong today as he was then. Isn't he?
Our mission is contrary to our instincts. Our instincts tell us to be safe and don't reach into the world. We want to hoarde and protect. Jesus says, "I'll reach the world through you, give you the power to do it, but you must go!"
Secondly, we have a message. In John 20:23-25 says, "If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin),* was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
Verse 23 is misunderstood. Some say it is about pastors forgiving you of your sins if you pray this prayer or use these beads. That is totally taking the verse out of context. The verse is talking of our message. It is a message of forgiveness. We hold the message of peace, salvation, forgiveness. It goes nowhere without someone to share it.
You know I wish the Mormons were right or the Catholics were right about Pergatory. I wish that when people died they could get one last chance to get saved or work their way into God's good graces by suffering. But all of that is hog wash. Someone told me this week, "Preacher I had a problem with your sermon a couple weeks ago. You said there was only one way to heaven. Now I understand we have our way to heaven, but the catholics have their bible that tells them they have their way to get to heaven." WOE! Herecy from one of own members. No matter how you look at it. That is blatant heresy.
Jesus said there is only one way to heaven and it is through him. And we are the ones who own the message. We have to share it or it goes no where.
You know the message by itself used to be enough to move us to share. When you first get saved, you're so excited, you just gotta share it with others. I remember some of you and your excitement. You got saved and you told me, "Bro Dave, I gotta tell my brother, father, uncle, aunt, etc." Then I go visit some of our members who've been saved 20, 30, 40, 50 years and we talk about gardens, sports, hunting, fishing, grandkids, but there is no desire to be a witness. No talk of lost folks. What's the problem? The message has become commonplace. Isn't that right? We've heard the Easter message so many years, we celebrate it every Sunday, so when we get here today we say, "What's so special about today anyway?" Isn't that right? We've become inoculated to the power of the message. Just like the disciples with Thomas, We used to run to our friends to tell them about Jesus. Now we act like Thomas. We say, "Unless I see something impossible happen, I will not be moved!"
What would it take you to be Motivated? (by the way: The last point is Motivation) Thomas had already made Jesus Savior but that was it. He had no reason to be motivated to go and share. Now the gospel has always been and will always be, the greatest message we can share. But some of us have become as calloused as he was. Let me ask you, what would it take for you to get motivated to go? Last year, God gave me testicular cancer and all of sudden I realized that I had wasted some of my 30 years of life. What I have left, God gets it all. That is why we're going to plant this church in Hot Springs. God got my attention. What will he have to do to get your attention? My dad used to say he wished he could open the middle of the church so we could see right into Hell cause he figured that would motivate us to go. But I don't think it would. What would it take to motivate you? Do you need cancer too? Do you need something terminal? Do you need one more lost person to die and go to hell before it becomes real to you? If not, how many more have to go to hell before you get it? What will it take to motivate you? The message hasn't changed. The Mission hasn't changed. The Power hasn't changed. So why won't we go?
What does God have to do to make the Easter Message become real to us again?
Thomas asked to touch the nail prints and the spear in Jesus side. Well here comes Jesus in John 20:26-28, "Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
When Jesus shows up, you know Thomas is about to eat crow. He figured his buddies had seen a vision. NO! It was Jesus risen! And He shows Thomas his risen body and says, "Touch this Thomas!"
Thomas got what he asked for. And what did Thomas say? MY LORD and MY GOD!" Not THE Lord and THE God. MINE. What's the difference?
Lord means "master", the one in charge. God means he calls the shots, he has the authority to tell me what to do. Many Christians know he is master and has the authority to demand everything from them. But some really understand that saying "MY Lord and MY God" is total surrender.
The difference is knowledge versus obedience. Who is Jesus to you? Is he your Savior? Some of you can't call him that. You need to make him your Savior. But some of you have been saved for decades and you don't follow. He is not your LORD or GOD. WHen you really get it, What Easter really means to you, you live with him as master and follow him.
So what does Easter mean to a bunch of Christians? It means we have to answer again, "Who is Jesus to me?"
