Title: Sharing the Resurrected Lord
Text: John 20:1-18
Purpose: To encourage evangelism
Introduction: I am a second generation Christian. Not only did I grow up in a home where my parents were both believers, but my dad was also involved in full-time ministry. I was a MK (missionar kid, ProfK professor’s kid, and finally a PK (preacher’s kid! )
When my sister and I were little we played church! We were baptizing our teddy bears and making our stuffed animals take communion!
As I grew I questioned, but I never went through a huge season of doubt.
My mom always hid an Easter basket for us, but we always knew what the real meaning of Easter was about- the resurrection of Jesus
When we speak/share the resurrection with a non-believer many will be skeptical. We should keep in mind that the disciples were people who had spent three years living with Jesus, watching him perform all types of miracles and they were skeptical in regards to his resurrections.
Proposition Statement: By reviewing the resurrection narrative, we should be encouraged in our efforts to share Christ with those who have no Christian or church background.
There are three words that begin with the letter R that we will explore in this text.
1. First, the RACE to the tomb-- ---The RACE of Mary Magdalene, Peter and John reminds us all that in some shape or form we will all have to visit the tomb and all are running a race.
2. Second, the REACTION to the empty tomb ---Mary’s reaction to the empty tomb is typical. We should recognize that most people will react as Mary does: It is an obvious assumption. Mary says, “the tomb is empty and someone has taken the body.”
3. Third, the RESPONSE----Peter and John arrived and entered at different times. We must be patient and understand that people will arrive and enter at different times.
His own family thought he was out of his mind.
After all we hear all types of outlandish claims –think of all the mentally ill and bizarre claims we hear everyday from people!
1. First, the RACE to the tomb-- The RACE of Mary Magdalene, Peter and John reminds us all that in some shape or form we will all have to visit the tomb.
John and Peter have a foot race to the tomb because they want to find out what has happened.
Why are they running? The same people who run away! Why the sense of urgency?
Maybe they were hoping it was true!, Looking for closure!
Looking to fight! , Maybe they were excited!, What is next for their lives!
They were running and racing because at this point in their lives there was nothing more important to them than know what had happened to Jesus!
A. The race to the tomb should remind all of us that all people will have to visit a tomb and deal with death!
The may think that religion is for the weak, and science is our only hope-----------At the end of the day all of us have an appointment with Mr. Death.
---Ill: Mayhem is personified by All State— Allow me to personify death!
Death is also personified Meet Joe Black is a 1998 American fantasy produced by Universal Studios, starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Claire Forlan
Saint of Death, or the Grim Reaper
Emily Dickinson’s –Death
I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.
----He is riding in your car, he comes to your home when he wants, he does not need to knock, he enters your hospital room and does not take a rain check. He does not care how much money you have, where you live, what race you are, your retirement plans, your hobbies, how well you have taken care of yourself, how much weight you have lost or how old you are.
--All people long for immortality and to live forever.
--I was at the cemetery this past week and as I look around at the many stones and markers we see that most are hoping and praying that one day they will be reunited.
----After years of atheism and communism in Russia, Vietnam, China, North Korea, Cuba --millions are still coming to Jesus. I recently read that China was the largest Christian nation.
B. Not only does the race of Peter and John remind us that all have an appointment with death and the tomb, but it reminds that everyone is running a race- some kind of race!
1. People are racing to live as much as they can before he arrives.
2. People are racing to finish what is most important to them.
3. People are racing against time.
4. They racing to hold off death long enough to complete a task or see a child graduate or whatever reason. Dr. are racing for a cure.
5. Some people running the rat race!
This race should remind of the many races that humanity is going through---
-A rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to escape while running around a maze or in a wheel. In an analogy to the modern city, many rats in a single maze expend a lot of effort running around, but ultimately achieve nothing (meaningful) either collectively or individually. This terminology contains implications that many people see work as a seemingly endless pursuit with little reward or purpose. Source-Wikipedia
Often, people work long hard hours at jobs they hate to earn money to buy things they don't need, to impress people they don't like. Nigel Marsh [1]
~~ Hard work and ambition are good, to make something of yourself, to make the most of what God has given you, but it is not good when we lose prospective of our priorities.
AS PEOPLE THINK ABOUT THAT DATE WITH DEATH AND THE TOMB, LET’s REMIND THEM TO RUN THE RACE THAT IS MOST IMPORTANT!
ILL: Years ago my sister had a hamster and it lived in a safe cage and spent many hours running in a wheel and going nowhere! One day it escaped into our house! It crawled up on me one night while I slept. It was missing for weeks and finally my friend sat on him and killed him as he was hiding under the couch cushion. He was not equipped or ready to live out in a wild untamed world. Many people are running on a wheel to nowhere and are not prepared for life beyond the here and now!
The Apostle Paul remind us in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore, I run in such a way, not as without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified." (I Corinthians 9:24-27).
Paul uses two illustrations to describe the Christian and Christianity: the runner and the fighter.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
ILL: Eric Lindell (a movie was made about his life called Chariots of Fire) won many races in his physical life, but as missionary to China he gave his life for a much better race! Captured by the Japanese he was imprisoned in the Weihsien Internment camp --In his last letter to his wife, written on the day he died, Liddell wrote of suffering a nervous breakdown due to overwork, but in actuality he was suffering from an inoperable brain tumor; overwork and malnourishment may have hastened his death. He died on 21 February 1945, five months before liberation. He was greatly mourned not only at the Weihsien Internment Camp but also in Scotland. "According to a fellow missionary, Liddell's last words were, "It's complete surrender", in reference to how he had given his life to his God. The Chinese later reported that Lindell had been offered freedom and instead asked that a pregnant woman be allowed to go free instead.
Let’s remind them of the race that is most important!
II. As we share the Gospel the race to the tomb should remind us that all people will at some point have to visit the tomb and Second, most will react the supernatural news of the resurrection with the same skeptical view as the early disciples—(We should not expect people to accept the resurrection hook, line, and sinker)
The REACTION to the empty tomb ---Mary’s reaction to the empty tomb is typical. We should recognize that most people will react as Mary does: It is an obvious assumption.
There is no body –so someone has taken it!
The resurrection of Jesus is an Inconvenient Truth for many.
People are apprehensive about Christians for many reasons!
---You turn on the TV and someone is begging for you send your seed money.
---Gaudy stage with big hair and extreme make up!
----People handling snakes!
----Some refusing medical treatment for their children.
ILL----Devotees in villages in the northern Philippines took part in a bloody annual ritual to mark Good Friday, a celebration that mixes Roman Catholic devotion and Filipino folk beliefs and sees some re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The crucified devotees spent several minutes nailed to crosses in Pampanga province while thousands of tourists watched and took photos of the spectacle, which the church discourages. Earlier in the day, hooded male penitents trudged through the province's villages under the blazing sun while flagellating their bleeding backs with makeshift whips. Others carried wooden crosses to dramatize Christ's sacrifice. Devotees undergo the hardships in the belief that such extreme sacrifices are a way to atone for their sins, attain miracle cures for illnesses or give thanks to God. Alex Laranang, a 58-year-old vendor who was the first to be nailed to a cross Friday, said he was doing it "for good luck and for my family to be healthy." MSN News
----If they would read their bibles they would see that Jesus (who knew no sin became sin for us) He alone is the only one who died for us!
Mary says, “the tomb is empty and someone has taken the body.”
Most people would follow the usual assumption unless there are reason to believe otherwise!
I. THE NUMBER OF THE WITNESSES
II. THE CHARACTER OF THE WITNESSES
III. SOME HAD NOT BELIEVED IN JESUS...
1. Like His brothers in the flesh - Jn 7:3-5
2. They even thought Him crazy - Mk 3:21
-- But seeing Him after His resurrection, they became His
disciples! - Ac 1:14
SOME WERE SKEPTICAL AFTER JESUS' DEATH...
1. Thomas would not accept the words of others - Jn 20:24-25
ONE WAS EVEN A FORMER ENEMY...
1. Saul of Tarsus, who later became known as Paul the apostle - Ac 9:1-2 The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is powerful evidence of the
resurrection!
THEIR TRANSFORMATION...
1. Prior to the resurrection, Jesus' disciples were afraid and
without hope
a. They fled at his arrest - Mk 14:50
b. Peter cowardly denied Him three times - Mk 14:66-72
c. The women mourned His crucifixion - Lk 23:27
d. After His death, the disciples were sad - Lk 24:13-17
e. After His death, the disciples hid behind closed doors, for
fear of the Jews - Jn 20:19
2. But after the resurrection, they fearlessly praised God and
proclaimed Jesus!
a. Praising God in the temple - Lk 24:52-53
b. Proclaiming Christ, despite persecution - Ac 5:28-32,41-42
C. DEMONSTRATED BY THEIR MORAL STANDARDS...
They taught others to live holy lives - 1Th 4:1-7; Ep 4:25
They lived their own lives in an unimpeachable way - 1 Th 2:3-12
-- Does this sound like people who propagate lies when they know
better?
D. DEMONSTRATED BY THEIR SACRIFICES…
1. The apostles endured much suffering because of their testimony
- 1Co 4:9-13
Source (Executable Outlines—Mark Copeland)
Acts 17--When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject."
III.Third, the RESPONSE----Peter and John arrived and entered at different times. We must be patient and understand that people will arrive and enter at different times.
While John arrived first to the tomb he waited for Peter!
Why? Fear, respect, astonishment, I don’t know.
John says that when Peter saw the cloth folded –he believed.
What did he believe? That Jesus was gone or that Jesus had come back to life.
I think it means that he believed Jesus was gone and the tomb was empty.
---------The fact that he hesitated and waited reminds us that we should be patient with others as we share our faith.
Ill: My sister and I both grew up in the same family. I went forward to be baptized into Christ when I was 7, my sister was a teenager before she made that decision.
I have seen many young people baptized while in the ministry, but also several people who were dying of cancer just days before they died.
ILL: Rob Ford was a teacher I had in College—when he was 17 he was holding revival meetings with great results. He had an old man who he had be studying with and the man finally agreed that he believed and wanted to be baptized. Ford arrived at his house while many in the church waited at the river. When he pulled up the old man was drunk! In his youth and anger Ford told him to go on to hell and that he done fooling with him! He had lost his cool!
Ford felt that maybe in his pride he had wanted to claim that he had cracked that hard nut! It is God who gives the increase and grows his church.
Isaiah 30:18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
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Conclusion: The is a famous quote that reminds us of the rolled away stone. God did not roll the stone away for Jesus to get out, he rolled it away for the disciples to go in and see.
God can still roll away stones!
What is blocking your heart?
In Newtown Conn. Many of the parents of the 20 children who were murdered are hurting today, for them there is no greater message---did Jesus rise from the grave? –is my Kindergartener with him?
Will you let him into your heart and allow him to transform you today?
