WHERE HAVE YOU TAKEN JESUS?
John 20:1-16
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. There were three Native American tribes -- a Navajo, a Hopi, and an Apache -- who were speaking about how powerful their prayers were.
2. The Navajo said, "You know, we Navajos pray for healing, and the patients get well about half the time."
3. The Hopi said, "Well, we Hopis pray for rain, and it happens about 70% of the time."
4. Finally, the Apache spoke up: "Yes, but we Apaches have the sunrise dance, and it works every time."
B. TEXT: John 20:1-16
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." 16Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
C. THESIS
1. Early on Easter morning, the women went to the tomb and found it empty. They went and told Peter and John, who ran down to look and confirmed it was empty, and they all went home.
2. But Mary Magdalene, having found deliverance and life through Jesus, could not live without Him. She went back to the tomb -- His last known location. Two angels appeared there, but she was not interested in angelic visitations others might make a lot of, she only cared about the person of Jesus.
3. As she stood there weeping, Jesus came, but in a disguised form. She thought he was the gardener. Many times after his resurrection (examples: the Emmaus road, here, John 21:1-14) Jesus appeared in forms that obscured or hid him from their sight.
4. Mary asked the supposed to gardener in verse 15, “Sir, if you have borne [taken] him hence [away], tell me where…”(KJV). So her question was, "Where have you taken Jesus?"
5. This is not a question to be asked for that day, but for all time. (And this question is similar to the question asked by Pontius Pilate, "What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? Matthew 27:22).
6. You see, we have the ability to take Jesus places. He is dependent on us to get around. We are His hands, feet, mouth, etc., because now He’s living inside us. He has no Body on the earth but us.
7. So "Where have you taken Jesus?" I want us to look at three possible places:
I. HOPEFULLY, NOT ANYPLACE BAD
A. MAKING JESUS STAY HOME
1. I've seen a drama about a college student who got saved and invited Jesus into his heart-house. He and Jesus became good friends and he took Jesus with him everywhere he went. But one evening some friends called the young man about a party where there were lots of girls and booze.
2. The college student got ready for the party and started to leave his apartment and Jesus, as customary, started to go out the door with him. He stopped Jesus, "No Jesus, I want to go by myself tonight."
3. Jesus replied, "But you agreed that we were best friends and that we would do everything together." The college student started to leave again and Jesus followed. The young man turned again, "No! You can't come!"
4. He started to leave a third time & the Lord began to follow. The young man said, "No, I'm going to a party & I'll probably do some things I don't want you to see....”
5. He pushed Jesus back against a wall and as he said, “...and you're not going! You're staying here!",
he nailed each of Jesus’ hands to an imaginary cross, and then left.
6. This fulfilled the terrible Scripture describing some Christians as “Crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace" (Hebrews 6:6).
B. INVOLVING JESUS IN SIN
1. Wherever we go, Jesus goes. If a Christian has extramarital sex, they involve Christ in that sin. Paul said, "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!” (1 Corinthians 6:15).
2. If we watch filthy movies, Jesus has to. If we listen to dirty jokes, Jesus must. Imagine Jesus with a cigarette in his mouth! Or Jesus telling a dirty joke; Jesus cursing.
3. Have you taken Jesus where he shouldn't go? Have you grieved Him? Have you forced Him into withdrawing from your life (like God had to withdraw
from the Old Testament Tabernacle) because of the sin you bring into the temple of your body?
II. HAVE YOU HIDDEN HIM?
1. I heard the fictitious story of a little boy who wanted a bicycle. He prayed and said, "Lord I want you to give me a bicycle. Amen." He waited a few days, but no bicycle appeared.
2. Somebody told him that he was supposed to ask Jesus when he prayed. So the little boy rephrased his prayer, "Jesus, I want you to give me a bicycle." But again, no bicycle appeared.
3. A few days later, his mother brought home a statue of the Virgin Mary. He asked who she was and his mom replied that she was the mother of Jesus. The little boy saw his opportunity at last and grabbed the Virgin Mary and went and hid her. Then he wrote a note which read, "Now God, if you ever want to see your mother again, a bicycle better show up at my house!"
4. We all know you can't hold God hostage or try to hide his mother. But there are ways that we inadvertently hide Jesus from those around us.
A. HIDDEN BY WORLDLY PRIORITIES
1. Where have you taken Jesus? Sometimes people, intentionally or unintentionally, HIDE HIM. Paul warned the Corinthians that “just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, [I am afraid] your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ”(2 Cor. 11:3).
2. The "Simplicity of Christ" (KJV) is often replaced by a religious system and Jesus is obscured from the view of others. Sometimes this happens in churches, where people can go for years and yet come away without a clear idea of who Jesus is.
3. Paul wanted that never to happen during his ministry. That’s why he said to the Galatians(3:1), "Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.” It should be our goal not to hide Jesus. He was the “mystery hidden for ages but is now revealed in these last times for us." Let's don't hide Him!
B. HIDDEN BY LACK OF FELLOWSHIP
1. Another way we can hide Him is by lack of Fellowshipping with Jesus. God has given you and I the power to rise above our old natures and be transformed into the image of Christ.
2. We’re familiar with Acts 4:13 -- the recognition of the Jewish leaders that they can see Jesus shining through the early believers. That transformation required their cooperation in worship, the Word, prayer and obedience.
3. It is very easy, by neglect, to have a life where Jesus is no longer visible. Paul told the Galatians, "I am again in the pains of Childbirth until Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).
4. Is Christ hidden in our lives or is he clearly visible, so that others "know that we have been with Jesus"(Acts 4:13)?
5. People at work think you're an ordinary person; an ordinary clerk, ordinary fireman, ordinary guard, ordinary single mother, etc.
6. BUT YOU’RE NOT! GOD IS LIVING INSIDE OF YOU! You're anything but ordinary. Let God shine through you in the same light that transfigures you will transfigure others.
Transition: Where have you taken Jesus? Bad places, Hidden Him, or a third alternative:
III. WHERE HE WANTS TO GO
A. WHAT JESUS DID
1. The Bible says that every Sabbath, "as was His custom" Jesus went to church (Luke 4:16). If Jesus is living in us, He’ll call us to go to church.
2. Jesus studied the Word of God. Jesus prayed -- early morning or late at night. If Jesus is living in us, we too will pray and read the Word.
3. Jesus shared the good news with all He came in contact with. Jesus witnessed and prayed for people's healing and deliverance. If the real Jesus lives in us, we’ll do as He has done.
4. Jesus said, "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me."
5. ILLUSTRATION
a. A man who’d been a robber and a kidnapper for 12 years met Jesus Christ in prison. Christ said, "I will come and live in you and we will serve this sentence together," and they did.
b. Several years later he was discharged, and just before he went out he was handed a two-page letter written by another prisoner.
c. After the greeting, it said, "You know perfectly well that when I came into this jail I despised preachers, the Bible, and everything. I went to the Bible class and the preaching service because there wasn't anything else to do.”
d. “Then they told me that you were saved, and I said, "There's another stooge taking the Gospel Road to get a parole"; but, Roy, I've been watching you for 2 1/2 years. You didn't know it, but I watched you when you were in the yard exercising, when you were working in the shop, when you played, while we were all together at meals, on the way to our cells, and all over, and now I'm a Christian too, because I watched you. The Savior who saved you has saved me. You never made a slip."
e. Roy said to another Christian, "When I got that letter and read it through I broke out in a cold sweat. Think of what it would have meant if I had slipped, even once."
B. THE SAME WALK, WORKS, WORDS
1. "Whoever claims to live in Him must walked as Jesus walked" (1 John 2:6). John 14:12, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
2. What have you done with Jesus? Have you, like a sailing ship, run up your colors (flags) and let the world know who you stand for? Have you hidden Him away?
3. Do you talk about Him “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up”(Deut. 6:7)?
4. Jesus said that the Greatest Commandment is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."
5. If Jesus is that central to your hearts, He will be the center of your longings, your thoughts, and your conversation. His interests will become your interests and His priorities for this life will become your priorities.
6. You will conduct your life as if He were living in you -- because He is! “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
7. Is it reasonable for God to ask this of you? Yes! Since Jesus died for us, it's only natural that we should live for Him.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. A greatly loved medical missionary was Dr. Fred Douglas Shepard of Ain tab, Asia minor. His magnificent courage and undying zeal enabled him to accomplish an enormous and varied work for suffering humanity.
2. Many people of that region became Christians because of Dr. Shepard. One poor Armenian testifies, "I have never seen Jesus, but I have seen Dr. Shepard."
3. That was the next best thing to seeing Jesus. May we strive to live so that men and women will see Jesus in us too.
B. ALTAR CALL
1. Where have YOU taken Jesus? Have you taken Him to see or hear some stuff He shouldn’t have? Our bodies are Temples of the Holy Spirit!
2. Have you concealed Him? Do others know He’s your Lord & Savior?
3. Are you going with Jesus to where HE wants to go? Church? Bible study? Prayer meetings? Witnessing?
4. May God help us to always remember that since Jesus lives inside us we should be radically different than the empty people around us.
5. Prayer & call to repentance.
