Easter 2015
Intro – We’re here today because Someone loved you enough to leave heaven, enter the space time continuum, live a sinless, perfect life, suffer persecution and die the cruelest and most vile death imaginable, all in fulfillment of prophecies written hundreds of years before He was ever born – and all because His love is the most immense attribute of His character.
You see, if it was justice we’d all be toast. To see that, you need only take a close look at one of God’s most significant self-revelations in the Old Testament, when He passes before Moses and describes Himself (Exodus 34:6-7). He begins with a description of His mercy, compassion and love (he is slow to anger, faithful, etc.), and follows that with a reminder that He is also just. But that second part almost feels like an add-on, or a clarification; as though the first part is really a closer description of His essence. In fact, when He is giving out the Ten Commandments He tells Moses (Exodus 20:5) that he will visit the iniquity of fathers on 3 or 4 generations, but He shows steadfast love to thousands of generations. His mercy “outweighs” his justice (in a very theologically crude manner of speaking) multiple thousands to 3 or 4.
And while all that’s true, I wonder if we haven’t been told so much about His mercy, grace, forgiveness and His love for us that, in many cases we’ve forgotten just how desperately wicked we are and how badly we need it. Have we taken the cross and the blood of Christ, the most important event in all of history, and taken it so for granted that we’ve lost the impact and the gratitude that should attend our hearts every time we think of it?
It’s true that the Bible teaches, God IS love.
1 John 4:8 (NIV)
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
As a matter of fact, the defining characteristic of Christianity is not that we claim to worship the Creator God – Islam says they do as well. It’s not that we see God as perfect, holy, righteous, and the source of all life – many religions have that kind of God in common.
But here’s what makes us different: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That Son demonstrated His love for us by dying in our place – not after we got it all together, shaped up and showed some sort of improvement or promise – but while we were yet sinners. (Romans 5:8)
But here’s what’s sad, despite all of that, what’s really disturbing as a minister of the gospel is that’s not enough for some people. What Christ did, and Who He is, is not enough to captivate, enthrall, thrill and demand attention, but it certainly should be.
The good news has become old news. The matchless, unchanging story of everlasting love doesn’t find as much interest in the hearts of a faithless, unbelieving and wicked generation as the latest game on their smart phones. Finding real-life, freedom and forgiveness in Christ isn’t as compelling as following the week by week make-believe adventures of “The Walking Dead.”
Listen, friend you need to stop spending so much time watching people live make believe lives, killing make believe zombies and you need to let Jesus work on and crucify your old sinful flesh to where you become the walking dead. Let the Lord Jesus deliver you from this body of sin and death and show you the life worth living that only He can give.
If we learn nothing else this Easter we need to be sharply reminded that He paid much too high a price to take second place to anything else in our lives. The marks that He bore in His body of flesh should leave deep enough marks on our souls that we respond by loving and serving Him with all that we have, wherever He leads, however it looks, feels, or plays out be His – lock, stock and barrel.
We’re reminded, at Easter, that what He did for us is too serious for us to respond with distance, uncertainty, aloofness, a degree of apathy and lukewarm, haphazard, less than fully engaged commitment.
So, in my effort to bring something interesting and unexpected to your Easter morning, get your Bibles and please turn with me to John 20:19-22 (NIV)
19 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Here's what's happening:
Jesus probably appears to eleven, or so, of the disciples in this upper room. We know that Thomas isn’t present, but we’re not sure about Judas. We do know, that despite conjecture and tradition to the contrary, Jesus did appear to Judas in at least one of His post resurrection appearances – before Judas went and hung himself.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:"
Have you ever been really scared? Some of you have. Have you been scared the cops were going to find you? Have you ever been hiding out?
I imagine that is how the disciples are feeling here. They are cowering behind locked doors. They have seen what happened to the most powerful among them. Would further retaliation be imminent? Rumors were flying. Some were convinced He was alive. Some had to see for themselves before they would believe it.
I'm sure, because they were human, that at this time some were even thinking, “So what if He IS alive. He was alive in the garden until a Roman cohort took Him into custody. We saw how that turned out.”
Would a rap on the door bring arrest and further persecution, or even death? They probably also feared observation. They sensed that their insecurity, weakness and confusion could bring reproach on their movement. Did they really even still have a movement?
The body of Christ doesn’t need to hide behind physical locked doors, at least not in this country, but that doesn’t keep us from being similarly fearful sometimes. People hide out in plain sight, like they’re in Christian witness protection. They keep their faith to themselves, like secret agents for Christ – double “O” nothings.
I think every student on campus that knows the Lord Jesus should make it plain and obvious, not just by what they say, but how they live to honor Him. Instead students fear being made fun of because they have moral standards that exceed their classmates, but they stay locked in a room of fear that keeps the reason for their differences hidden from view and ridicule.
Employees fear the retribution or displeasure of bosses who don’t share their convictions. Sometimes parents don’t even train up children because it’s more important to be temporarily liked than to leave a legacy. The friendliest thing you can do for your kids is to stop being their friend. They need a parent not a friend.
With a hostile media, a largely unbelieving academic world, and a cynical materialistic society – the church today is often cowering behind closed, locked doors. . . not physical doors, but spiritual ones and just as impregnable.
1. He’s Here
And here’s the good news. No closed doors can stop the Lord Jesus. Although the room they were in was locked, and they were probably on high alert, listening, waiting, fearing every random sound – suddenly standing in their midst is the Lord Jesus.
You may have already discovered, no matter what you tell yourself, whoever you hang with, whatever you pursue, however far you run – you can’t lock Jesus out. You may ultimately choose to reject Him, but you can’t keep Him from saying to you, “Peace to you.” You may ultimately choose chaos, angst, fear, and selfishness, but it will not be because Christ never offered you His peace.
Right now, whatever you are facing – no matter how difficult – whether your wounds are self-inflicted or not - He's here.
However you choose to live – obediently or disobediently – receiving or rejecting Him, you can't say He never offered to give you His wonderful, meaningful life in exchange for your battered and messed up one.
You may choose sin, mess and destruction, but He's here and He's calling.
2. He's Calling
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
it may surprise you to know that, when He walks in the room, He’s not here about your mess, but about His message. He’s not here to talk (ultimately) about your mother issues – your dreams and aspirations that have been deflated and unrealized. He's not here to discuss your emotional well-being, your defeats or your lack of self-esteem. Now His presence can cure all that, but that's not why He's here.
He’s here to call you to something greater, higher, permanent and transcendent. Without Him you can never find enough fulfillment, purpose, direction and meaning. Your dream wasn’t big enough. He would be cheating you and cheapening you to help you fulfill it.
He’s entered the world for the purpose of redeeming it and He’s calling you to join Him on that adventure. We don’t have to make up any new ways, discover new methods, or find some silver bullet – we already have a pattern – the Lord Jesus, loving, befriending, and winning lost humanity – one man, woman, boy and girl at a time. Modeling the life of God. Living a spiritually overcoming life. Our job, as disciples, is to become like our Master. When we do, His mission takes over and causes the purpose of our lives to be fulfilled AND fulfilling.
His method is to use all of us. Some people want to limit this mission and commission to a certain group of pastors, staff, clergy or paid missionaries, but when you do that it becomes the dry rot that spells the doom of any church.
He's here and He's calling, not your neighbor and the person in the row in front or in back of you. Will you hear and respond?
3. He Helps
22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
He gives them His Holy Spirit. This is not yet Pentecost. I have dear Christian friends, some of whom deny subsequent fillings of the Holy Spirit after someone is saved. Most of them have had such subsequent fillings, but just will not see it in Scripture, so they don’t know what to call it. Well here’s an obvious spot.
Fifty days after Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to these men in this room the Spirit falls in power for service, ministry and grace gifts to edify the church – that’s at Pentecost. Some people are afraid of even the word “Pentecost,” but it just means “fifty.”
What, specifically, does the Spirit help us do?
We are sometimes so struck with the showy and spectacular that we miss the primary ways His Spirit empowers us:
As we cooperate with His inner witness we can find victory and power that would otherwise not be possible. I agree with the Apostle Paul. He said, “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:5a (NIV)
What does it mean to prophesy? It means to get up off of your blessed assurance and tell forth the word of God. And He's given you every quality you need to do that as you cooperate with and surrender to His Spirit.
1. He brings assurance. His Spirit bears witness that we are children of God.
2. He brings purity. His very name says the work He is doing. He is the “Holy” Spirit. When you yield to Him and find personal victory over sin you gain immense and immediate credibility to share Who the Lord Jesus is and what He’s done to reconcile lost men and women to God.
3. He opens doors to the ministry of the Gospel. Your witness is only affective as He quickens, draws, and convicts – just like He worked to draw you to the Lord Jesus, you better believe He's working to draw others. He'll never be so persuasive and compelling that He violates free will, but the same way He drew you He's drawing others.
4. He convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment.
John 16:8 (NIV) When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.
Now I realize you are talking to people all the time who need to be convinced that sin costs, righteousness is God's standard and they will be judged. But Jesus said, “Chill out, that's not your job. Your job is to love Me, serve Me, live for Me, rest in Me, walk with Me and tell others – with and without words.”
5. He illuminates Scripture and brings it to your mind when and as needed. Now, it should go without saying, but I don't want to take anything for granted – He can't illuminate or bring to mind what you haven't studied and committed to memory. He's your Helper – but Jesus turned the ministry over to you.
You can't do anything without Him, but He'll rarely do anything without you.
6. He comforts you with the very presence of God, so you'll never be alone again.
7. He seals you and indwells you as a down payment that guarantees your future redemption. Let me put it this way: If you've received Christ you have the deposit of His Holy Spirit. Your sin and disregard for God now grieves the Spirit of God Who lives within you.
But additionally, for the Lord God to change His mind and now send you to hell He would have to forfeit His Deposit, His earnest money, which is the Holy Spirit that lives within you. God the Father will not and cannot consign God the Holy Spirit to hell.
That's why the Scripture declares that those who have received Christ are joint heirs with Him to the promises of God.
Bottom Line: Do you want to know what a difference His Holy Spirit brings to your life and mission? Billy Graham encapsulated it like this.
“It's His job to convict, the Father's job to judge and my job to love.”
That's the first, and best way, you can be like your Master.
So listen: He's Here. . . . He's Calling. . . . He Helps and that should be more than enough to capture your attention, captivate your heart and command you allegiance.
Illustration:
Use personal illustration of surrender, fulfillment or empowerment.
