Sermon Brief
Date Written: March 31, 2010
Date Preached: April 4, 2010 -- Resurrection Sunday
Where Preached: OPBC
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Approaching Bethlehem
Sermon Title: Seeking Good...Finding God!
Sermon Text: Luke 24:2-12 [ESV]
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise." 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
Introduction:
Background: Jewish custom for Sabbath...
Jesus was crucified on a Friday, died in the afternoon which was close to the beginning of the Sabbath. You see, from sundown Friday to sundown Sat...it was considered to be the Sabbath and NO work could be done!
Jesus had died in the afternoon and his friends did not have enough time to properly prepare Him for burial, so they had to hastily wrap His body and put Him in the tomb... and in our passage this morning these women were on their way to the tomb... to prepare Jesus' body because they had NOT been able to do it on the day He died...
They wanted to do this as a matter of respect. He was well respected and this was the right thing to do. They wanted to pay tribute to Him as best they could and this would have been the only way they could have done that...as there was no formal funeral.
With that being said, have you ever thought about the fact that there was NEVER a funeral for Jesus. Yes, they took His body and placed it in a tomb, but there was no ceremony, it had all been done in haste to get it done before Sabbath began...
One thing I can see from v.1 of this passage, is that these women NEVER expected to find the risen Lord... they were going to anoint the body of a dead friend and teacher. READ Luke 24:1 here -- put on screen
These women were headed to the tomb with the spices they had prepared, and they WERE NOT thinking about the seven predictions that Jesus had made about His death, burial and resurrection...
All they had been thinking about was what a terrible day Friday had been...as Jesus was beaten and hung on that Cross... and then they had to hurriedly take His body to Joseph's tomb, without the proper preparation for burial!
And I can imagine that the Sabbath was a dreadful and sorrowful day for them, usually a day of praise and rejoicing had been turned into a day of mourning and sorrow!
And now, on Sunday, the 1st day of the new week, they finally could go and do what they knew to be the right thing and the GOOD thing...
They wanted to go prepare His body and pay their last respects to this man they followed for over 3 yrs. So, we find them setting out to anoint His body and prepare it for burial, even though it had been buried since Friday evening.
They were headed to the tomb to do a good deed for a dead man! However, in the midst of seeking to do a good deed for a dead man, these women came into the presence of NOT a dead man but a great God!
1. Seeking Good:
How can WE define the word good? Actually, in our world today, the word good has taken on MANY meanings, but when we get down to the essential understanding of this word good... it means worthy of approval
When you attempt to do something good in this world, it is judged by someone who deems it to be good or worthy of approval. However, then the question turns to just WHO is it that is giving that approval?
Now when this applies to eating a meal, for one to call it good and 'worth of approval'... well that is all a matter of taste! You may like liver and onions, with a side of creamed asparagus and pickled beets... but others may not have that high of an 'approval' for that meal!
Another example could be what is considered to be a good time! I would consider a day on the golf course to be a wonderful and relaxing time and would consider it very worthy of approval, however, there are those here who hear that and think, what a waste of time and space!
This is because we all have our own standard of judging approval of a thing or event to where we designate it to be good or not. But when we look at the spiritual realm, we can see that good is not a term to be defined at our whim or because of our likes or dislikes or desires!
Spiritually there is a definition of good and it is fleshed out in the life of Jesus Christ! And it was His life that defined what was good! And this is where the definition of 'good' separates as it pertains to the believer OR the non-believer!
The believer has a standard of good that is based in Christ, and the non-believer has a standard of good that is based on his own mind and conscience that is ever changing and subject to relative choices and morality!
Spiritually speaking, there are many who will actually claim to be able to judge others to be good... to be 'worthy of approval' in the sight of God! However, their approvals is NOT based on the everlasting standards of God, but are grounded in those standards that are set by man and those standards are constantly changing and evolving in accordance with the whims and desires of humanity and society!
However, in the economy of God, for one to be deemed good... for one to be deemed worthy of approval by God, you are judged by God's standard! God's standards are straight and true, His standards are based on the pure, just and mighty desires of the Creator of the Universe.
These women were seeking to do something good... something good in the eyes of those around them. And what they were doing would gain the approval of many of their peers and those who had known and followed Jesus.
But when these women arrived at the tomb, with all their perfume, spices and good intentions, things were NOT what they expected! Things did NOT go as they thought they would!
So often in life today, when we are seeking to do good we find that things are NOT what we believed they would be... they are not what they appeared... things did not go as we planned and we are left feeling unfulfilled.
God steps in and lets us know that what we are doing, although good in the eyes of the world... it is not BEST in God's eyes and God then redirects our steps...
2. The Unexpected -- v.2: show v.2 on screen NOW...
These ladies were seeking to do good for a friend but what they found was the TOTALLY unexpected... they found the stone rolled away
When we seek after what is good, we expect to know what we are going to find! Usually when we seek after something good, we know what we are looking for and we have an idea with what to expect when we seek after it...
Think about it, for those of you who love to eat steak, you know a good steak when you eat one and you probably KNOW where to find the best steak... but even if you don't you still know what you are looking for and will know what to expect when you find it!
You know what a good steak looks like, you know what a good steak smells like, and you know (usually) where the good steaks are found... and so you know what to expect when you go to the place you know cooks good steaks... you expect a good steak!
Ladies, for those of you who love shoes... do we have any ladies in here today who loves shoes? Well when you go shopping for shoes you KNOW what you are looking for and you KNOW what to expect to find something good... you know how they are supposed to feel on your feet, and you know how much you want to pay... or how much you are willing to suffer to pay...
Ladies you probably have a place you go to get most of your shoes, maybe you have several places... BUT the fact of the matter is that you KNOW what to expect at these places and you expect to find good shoes at good prices!
But I know that we all have instances in our lives when we are seeking after what we believe to be good and we don't find what we expect... instead we are surprised with the 'unexpected'...
These women who were headed to the tomb that morning were seeking to do good for their friend, but that morning they ran into something VERY unexpected... their friend was gone!
But I can also see that when we seek something good, we can also find something far beyond what they could ever predict...
3. The Unpredictable -- v.3 -- show v.3 on screen NOW
These ladies found the unpredictable... did not find the body of the Lord Jesus [in the tomb]
When we seek after what is good, we can predict, usually with fairly good accuracy, what we think is going to happen! When we are in a familiar place, around a familiar setting... we can pretty much tell what is going to happen!
I always know that when I go to my mother-n-laws house, that there is going to be a hot meal waiting for me. She has always been the one to cook for us NO MATTER what time we were getting in...
I know my mother in law and I can read her pretty good, in fact I would say I can predict what she is going to do or how she is going to react in just about any situation... but I can remember one night when Michelle and I rolled into her house sorta late... I was very hungry and could not wait to get there!
What would it be this time? Battered and fried round steak with mashed potatoes/gravy and green beans? Chicken and dumplings with field peas and cornbread? Maybe this time she would have fried chicken and all the fixins... I could not wait to get there...
When we arrived I knew something was not quite right... she was not in the kitchen... there were no familiar kitchen smells of cooking food! Something was just not right! And then she broke the news to me... "I didn't cook tonight... I just picked up some of those chicken nuggets at Walmart that I know you like, I hope you don't mind!"
Well, of course I minded... I had my heart set on a fresh and hot home cooked meal! But I told her it was ok, we did not need to eat that much so late anyway... but what I had thought was GOING to happen... what I had thought was GOING to be there... was NOT! It was simply UNPREDICTABLE for me... I would have NEVER predicted that this would have happened!
These women on their way to the tomb, KNEW what was going to happen... they were talking about what they were going to do and how they were going to do it! In fact, the question came up in their minds... "how are we going to move that big stone?"
But when they arrived they were greeted with the UNEXPECTED surprise that the stone had been rolled away, but more than that, they were taken back by something they could have and would have NEVER thought would happen... Jesus' body was NOT in the tomb! No one could have predicted that...
They KNEW what they were going to have to do... they were on their way to do a good thing for their friend... but now things were different! They could not have predicted that this would happen!
4. The Unexplainable -- v.4 -- show v.4 on screen NOW:
They found the unexplainable... two men in 'dazzling' apparel [appeared before them]
When we seek after what is good, we usually have a fair explanation of what is going on and what can happen.
As I have said many times already this morning, these women were on a mission to do a good thing for their dead friend. They knew what to expect and they knew what to do, and they could have sat you down the night before and laid out to you just all what had to happen that morning for their visit to be a success...
These women believed they had a good explanation of what they were going to do... they thought they knew what was going on and what could happen on that next morning... BUT a funny thing happened on the way to the tomb... something UNEXPLAINABLE happened to them!
The body they expected to find was unexplainably missing, and then on top of that there were these 2 men out of nowhere who were dressed in these shining clothes asking them the silliest question... "Why do you seek the living among the dead?"
These women must have thought, "What sort of question was that?"
They had seen Him die... they had been part of the crowd that brought Him to the tomb! The events of this morning were shaking these women to their very core and they could NOT explain what was going on!
5. The Unbelievable -- v.11: - show v.11 on screen NOW
They found the unbelievable... but these words seemed to them an idle tale and they did not believe them!
When we seek after what is good, what we believe we will see a certain thing... or something happening a certain way.
Now the story tells us that these women who had experienced something rather traumatic ran back to their group and began to tell them what had happened to them that morning... they detailed the unexpected, the unpredictable, the unexplainable, and the unbelievable story about Jesus' body was not there, and about these 2 men dressing in shiny white clothes who reminded them about something Jesus had said... that He would raise again on the 3rd day!
Now I am as sure of this as I can be, I bet these men looked around the room and at each other and began to shake their heads! These women had cracked under the tremendous pressure of the past few days! Surely they were mad... or worse, they were just making up an old wives' tale! They did NOT believe them! They refused to accept their story as truth! To these men, this story was simply UNBELIEVABLE!
6. The Mind Boggling -- v.12: - show v.12 on screen NOW
Have you ever been seeking after something and it NOT be there, but what you DID find was MIND-BOGGLING! The disciples, led by Peter, found this incident simply mind-boggling! Scripture tells us that, "Peter rose and ran to the tomb...looking in he saw the linen clothes by themselves"
When we seek after what is good, we can wrap our heads around what we KNOW to be coming! Think about it, when we are looking for something, like our car keys or something we have misplaced in our house... we can wrap our heads around it when we find it... Usually we remember when we left it when we find it!
I have always laughed at the phrase, "it was in the last place I looked!"... oh really, do you usually keep on looking AFTER you have found it... ļ
But when we are looking for something we KNOW to be there and something we can certainly comprehend, that is ONE thing, but these men in this passage were looking for something... but what they found was something totally mind blowing to them!
They had seen their mentor and teacher die on Friday and now on Sunday morning, they saw an empty tomb! This was almost TOO much for them... this blew their minds! how could this happen? Who would do such a thing? Why would God allow Jesus' body to be stolen?
I know that there are times when I am looking for my keys or something in the house and I come across some really neat things... Like the time I found a $20 bill in one of my pockets! WOW! What a great surprise... in fact it was a rather MIND BOGGLING surprise! Where I believed myself to be poor... I was rich! Even though I did not KNOW it was there, I had it coming to me all along!
You see the empty tomb may not have been something they saw coming! After all up until Jesus died, all these men believed that Jesus was going to set up an earthly kingdom! The empty tomb was probably a lot more than they believed that they could bear... and they were simply living in a state of TOTAL unbelief as to why Jesus' body was not in the tomb.
Finally we can see that after Peter was confronted with the UNBELIEVABLE fact that Jesus' body was missing, he marveled at what was going on...
7. The Marveling -- v.12: - show v.12 on screen again... NOW
Suddenly they were in a state of marvel about what they had found... and he went home marveling at what had happened
When we seek after what is good, IN THIS WORLD... we will never truly marvel at what happens, we may be in wonder for a moment or we may even be pleased for a season, but we are NEVER going to experience true 'marvel' in our lives outside of the revelation of God!
Here in this passage we find Peter experiencing TRUE revelation... I believe that when Peter stepped into that tomb on the 1st resurrection Sunday... that all of what Jesus had taught, and all of what Jesus had predicted and foretold... it all came rushing back to Peter's mind!
Peter remembered when Jesus had spoken about this day and that he had taken Jesus aside and rebuked Jesus for showing weakness... and then how Jesus had turned on him and rebuked him for NOT knowing and understanding God's will!
On this 1st resurrection Sunday, Peter finally understood what Jesus had been preaching about... Peter eyes were opened and he began to marvel at what Jesus had done! And I believe it was at this time that Peter began to understand!
Conclusion:
Today, we have seen how we can chase the good of this world, but it will always let us down, but when we seek the good, God is going to show up in our lives and it is up to us to move forward... to accept Him or reject Him!
When we chase the good of this world we will NEVER be fully satisfied and the Bible tells us that we will NEVER know salvation from the good of THIS world! But when we seek true goodness... we find God!
These women were blown away by what they found... it was totally unpredictable, unexplainable and unbelievable! But there it was... Jesus was alive... Jesus had risen and what they believed to be something set in stone... God changed their perspective!
When you seek the good, and find God... it is NOT going to be what you think! When you find God what is it you find?
How and where you are going to meet God in your life travels is totally UNPREDICTABLE...
The fact that God is willing to forgive us and redeem us and take us in is totally UNEXPLAINABLE...
How God can swoop in and change our lives in an instance is something that is totally UNEXPECTED...
What God can do to a life stained with sin and mired in the bondage of sin is totally UNBELIEVABLE...
What God can do FOR your life and how God can change your life is something that is totally MIND BOGGLING...
Finally today, when God gets ahold of your life, when God comes into your heart and make the changes that only HE can make, you are going to MARVEL at His mercy, His grace, His forgiveness, and His salvation!
Today I urge you to remember what Christ has done... submit and surrender to Him this morning. Stop settling for the 'good' and seek out God! What you find will certainly change your life forever!
As Bro Steven comes this morning I call on you to come and surrender to God today! Come as we begin to sing!
