April 8, 2012
Easter Worship
Hope is Real
I’m not going to make this easy for you today! I have questions, we all do, don’t you? The range from the wild and weird and crazy to the really deep philosophical and spiritual questions. Today, I want to ask you this question ~ How do we know what’s real? It sounds pretty simple, but it’s not as easy as you may think. And the more we look, the more difficult it may become, until, well, hopefully, you’ll see.
(I show various pictures . . . moon landing, pictures from Julian Beever {which are illusions} etc.)
Have you ever wondered about what’s real and what’s not? There are a lot of people who believe we never landed on the moon. Pictures like these are believed to be really good fakes. NASA went into a studio and made up some great stories with great video and pictures which look real, but aren’t. So, do you know without a doubt that we really sent guys to the moon, who really landed and brought back real moon rocks?
Where’s their parents? How rude for these boys to be playing in the middle of the sidewalk. Look at the people walking all around them. Problem is — they aren’t real? They are a creation of Julian Beever.
What about this globe in the middle of the street? Everybody’s walking around it, until you realize the world really is flat, and you see it from a different angle.
So is this butterfly. It looks real, it looks huge, but what kid is going to be smiling with a giant butterfly, twice his size ready to crash into him?
How about this street, it’s suspended over water and fire. In fact, that family is saving their little girl from falling in. Can you imagine driving down this street without being a little freaked out? But you already know, it’s not real.
Let’s try one more, and you tell me what’s real and what’s not. Before I show this, let me tell you up front, I’m not making a political statement or anything other than questioning what’s real and what’s not.
Most people are familiar with the shooting of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. If you’ve been following the case at all, you’ve seen pictures of him on the Internet and on the news. You’ve seen demonstrations and protests. But, what’s real and what’s not? What’s the real and true story?
Here are some pictures of Trayvon. They’re not good, they’re not bad. They’re simply pictures. Do they tell a story of his life? No. They’re snippets of a moment in time. Was he a bad kid? I don’t know? Was he a good kid? I don’t know either.
All we know is what we’ve heard on the news programs. And depending upon which flavor of news you watch, you’ll get different stories. I can find a lot of pictures on facebook which may give others a different opinion of us, as well.
So, here’s the question for us this Easter, how do we know what’s real or fake? The only thing I know about Trayvon Martin is that a young man was shot and killed and his family and friends grieve over his loss. I have my own opinions, but today is not about my opinions.
Now, let’s get a little closer to home. Let’s look at ourselves. What are we? Are we real or fake? Sometimes it depends, doesn’t it? Don’t we have our different personas? We wear different masks depending upon where we’re going, and what we’re doing.
We’re one way at home with our family. Then we’re different with our friends, different with coworkers, students, bosses and teachers. Different when we go to the store, even different when we come through these doors and into church.
So, who’s the real you? Who’s the real me? If we were to be really honest, we’re a combination of the good and the bad. After all, we’re sinners, we’re messed up and we can’t fix our problems on our own. We try, but usually that gets us in more trouble.
So, we’ve come to a crossroads. . . and we have decisions to make; decisions which are based on our heart, spirit and mind. What will we do, what do we even believe?
There are lots of people, not just Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and atheists who say there was either no Jesus or definitely no resurrection. There are even Christians who would say there’s no way someone’s DNA and amino acids, heart, lungs and brain, to name a few, could restart on their own after being dead for 3 days. NO WAY!! So, there’s no empty tomb on Easter morning. Maybe this is a more accurate representation for these folks. Is that where you’re at?
Yet, you’re here!! We’re here. It’s Easter morning. Did Jesus really become alive again? Did He really visit with the disciples, talk to Mary and the other women, and even cook breakfast for the disciples?
Just like the Trayvon Martin case, I don’t know, I wasn’t there! You’re not going to hear many pastors make that comment on Easter, but don’t get to figgity in your seats. Honestly, I can’t prove His existence. I was once challenged by my father to do this. He told me ‘if I could prove to him that Jesus was real and existed; died and then rose again, my father said he would believe in Jesus.’
How was that for a challenge? You see, my father knew I couldn’t prove the resurrection with physical, empirical evidence. I could only prove it by faith, not even with logic, because the resurrection defies logic. Doesn’t it? Does it really make sense on a human level?
It didn’t to the disciples either, catch what was going on as I read from Luke 24 ~
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:
7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”
8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.
10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.
11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Do you see what was going on? The women were confused and the disciples didn’t even believe what the women were telling them. Even though Jesus told them over and over again, they still didn’t get it. Luke tells us their words seemed like nonsense to them. It made no sense! Logically speaking, it didn’t compute. Peter couldn’t figure it out – so he ran to the tomb, saw that Jesus wasn’t there, the linen was, but no Jesus. And he left the tomb wondering what happened to Jesus.
Folks, this isn’t a matter of head knowledge. You can quote the Bible backwards and forwards, you could have remembered everyone of our scripture memory verses this year. You could tell me the entire genealogy, from Adam to Jesus. You could know the books of the Bible backwards and forwards. I don’t care!! The question is this ~ Is the resurrection real? Is the tomb really empty?
It was empty for the women, it was empty to Peter and the other disciples. It was empty to the Roman guards who ran away. The tomb was empty then, and here’s the good news, it remains empty today. In fact, that’s our great news!! That’s the message of hope we all need.
Logically speaking, it doesn’t compute, it doesn’t make sense analytically how a dead person comes back to life after 3 days; how a big rock suddenly is rolled away, how the over 500 people ultimately see Jesus alive. How a group of men and women were willing to die because of what they not only witnessed, but what they experienced. Would you die for someone you didn’t believe rose again from the dead? If I didn’t believe, I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t be here today. I’d be sleeping in, relaxing, drinking my hot coffee.
But you see, the real hope, the hope which will carry us, is the hope we gain through knowing Jesus. If we don’t have Jesus, what do we really have in life? We think we have it all, but in the end, you don’t have eternity to hope for. I’ve said this before, eternal life begins when you proclaim faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life.
Believing in the Jesus who died on the cross, gets us forgiveness of our sins. That’s great, we all need to be forgiven. We all need this because we are sinners. But when we believe in the resurrection — when we believe with all our heart, spirit and mind that death didn’t stop Jesus, then we have an added hope. We have the hope that Jesus was able to overcome all of His enemies. That He was able to defeat the forces of evil that wanted to stop Him.
That gives me hope, not just for eternal life, which will be amazingly awesome, but I receive hope that I can be an overcomer in this life. Moving through the difficult moments of life, doesn’t just prepare me for something better when I die, but it prepares me for something better in this life.
I don’t always know what it will look like, I don’t have those answers, but I do know if I believe and trust in Jesus — if I place my hope in Jesus . . . if I really let Him into my life, the great overcomer of death, the One who overcame all that life threw at Him, then I can too, not on my own power, only through the power and strength and courage that I gain, through Jesus.
They had spit on Him. They beat Him with a terrible cruelty with a whip that ripped His body apart. They mocked and made fun of Him. They tossed a heavy crossbeam on His shoulders. They laughed as He carried it to Golgotha.
They nailed His feet and His hands to the wood. They hoisted Him up on the cross – for all to see Him – bleeding, in pain, in rags, thirsting. They gave Him vinegar. They watched His pain as they shouted insults.
They watched Him take His last breath. Then they lowered Him to the ground. They removed His body from the wood. They carried Him to a dark, damp cave – called a tomb. They wrapped Him in grave clothes. They placed a rock at the entrance. Guards were assigned to stand watch. Nobody enters, nobody leaves. The people went home. Nobody returned.
The cave remained dark all that night. It was dark, it was cold, it was damp. It was dark all the next day. No light and no life entered. It remained dark that second night. There was no life, there was nothing. It was boring keeping guard. How long would this last? Then came the third day, and on that day He opened His eyes. It was dark, it was cold, it was damp. The Father was right! He always was . . . and is. He could only see the inside of the grave clothes wrapped around his head.
Suddenly, the ground shook and light burst forth and entered the cave. The dark, cold and damp cave — was now filled with light, heat and warmth. He stepped out — back into the world, our world. He was alive, and the world would never be the same again.
What are your first thoughts in the morning? Every morning . . .
Ever wonder what the first thoughts were for Jesus when He regained earthly consciousness?
Maybe it was confusion - where am I?
Maybe it was stiffness - He hadn’t moved in 3 days.
Maybe it was pain - the beatings and the nails.
Maybe it was anger - how could they?
For Jesus . . . I believe it was . . .
You and I. He’s alive, I believe it, I trust it, I place my faith and hope on it.
How about you?
