“Believing is Seeing”
Mark 16:1-14
Pastor John Bright
When Pokémon Go was released in 2016, the church I was serving began to get visitors to the side parking lot. They told me that the location was a gym where they could battle other trainers, It still looked like a parking lot to me. 😊 When they looked at their phones or devices, they saw an augmented view of reality. “Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that blends virtual elements with the real world, enhancing the user’s perception and interaction with their environment. Unlike virtual reality, which creates a completely immersive digital experience, augmented reality overlays computer-generated content onto the real world, seamlessly integrating virtual and physical elements.
AR technology relies on a combination of hardware and software to create this blended reality experience. It uses sensors, cameras, and GPS to track the user’s position and movements, allowing virtual objects to be anchored and interact with the real world in real-time.
The visual aspects of augmented reality are typically seen through the use of headsets, glasses, or mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets. These devices display virtual content onto the user’s view, either through a transparent display or by overlaying digital images and information onto the device’s camera feed.” https://robots.net/tech/how-is-a-game-like-pokemon-go-an-example-of-augmented-reality/
Vision is vital when we determine what we believe. There is an old story about Jonathon Edwards who preached to the coal miners in England. He asked one man, “What do you believe?”
“Well, I believe the same as the church.”
“And what does the church believe?” “Well, they believe the same as me.”
Seeing he was getting nowhere, Whitfield said, “And what is it that you both believe?”
“Well, I suppose the same thing.” 😊
Which Christ Do I Find?
In the Disciples of Jesus, we see three ways to find Jesus. That’s the question for us to answer on this Resurrection Sunday – “Which Christ do I find?” We are presented with three options:
• Living Christ
• Dying Christ
• Risen Christ
Finding a Living Christ
If we go back to the Gospels, we will see the Disciples who find the Living Christ. We can see the same in every congregation today. We see folks who serve in their power. For these folks, it’s all DUTY and no JOY. These folks are serious!
Maybe we see following Jesus today as hard work. It had to be so much better for those first Disciples. It was hard to be a Disciple in the Bible. Jesus told them parables that were hard to understand. Jesus put unrealistic expectations on them, like feeding over 5,000 people. And don’t forget poor old Peter. He gets a new name one minute, and then in the next minute, he hears, “get thou behind me satan.” Those disciples even argued about who was the greatest. Sounds like a normal congregation, huh? They even try to keep little kids and blind people away from Jesus, but He keeps telling them about a Kingdom where all these are welcome.
At this point, the Disciples are not what we call saved. Who was the first one to experience the salvation we know? The thief on the cross. On Sunday night, John records this from Jesus' visit to the Upper Room: John 20:22 “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.” Unfortunately, too many folks sitting in church pews on a Sunday morning have never had that experience – those folks are NOT saved.
When we only find a Living Christ, we see a baby in a manger and a boy at the Temple. We hold onto the image of a man tempted by satan and calming the storm. That image of the Living Christ is when we see Him at a Passover meal and then kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane. That’s all. The first Disciples didn’t understand at this point, and neither do you, if you have only found a Living Christ.
Finding a Dying Christ
We find the awesome result of Jesus blood shed on Calvary in Ephesians 2:1-5 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”
Some will find it hard to believe that we are DEAD in our sins without the blood of Jesus Christ. That’s how powerful it is to find the Dying Christ. “There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the lamb.” That was hard for the first Disciples to believe. After the cross, they are hiding out. They are afraid. It can also be hard for us to believe in the power of the Dying Christ.
Have you ever heard of Charles Blondin? You would have if you lived during the US Civil War. He was the greatest tightrope walker in the world. In 1859, Blondin came to America to be the first person to walk across Niagara Falls. In his show, he would ask the crowd if they believed that he could walk across and back again. The crowd would respond with: “We believe you can Blondin! We believe you can!” So Blondin would do exactly that and walk across the great falls. On one occasion, Blondin came with a wheelbarrow and asked the crowd if they believed that he could cross the great falls pushing this wheelbarrow. The crowd once again shouted, “We believe! We believe!” So Blondin did just that and crossed the falls pushing a wheelbarrow. On his return, he asked the crowd if they believed that he could do it again, but this time with someone in the wheelbarrow. The crowd once again shouted “We believe! We believe!” to which Blondin asked back, “Who is willing to get into the wheelbarrow?” At which point silence fell over the thousands in attendance.
https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/30615/the-great-blondin-by-kelvin-mckisic
Jesus will eventually cure the first Disciples of their unbelief. Think about this – the women believed and the men did not believe. I have often found that it’s easier to get women to accept a relationship with Jesus Christ. They can move to the point of finding the Dying Christ. Unfortunately, there are too many that get stuck right there. You know them. They have long faces and are constantly complaining. Pastors like to call them “Lemon-Sucking Christians.” Those who find the Living Christ focus on duty. Those who find the Dying Christ focus on the woes. The joy of an initial encounter with the powerful blood of Jesus turns into many woeful ponderings: “Is this all there is?” “Is there nothing more?”
I have an answer for these folks. There is MORE! Yes and amen! 1 Corinthians 1:20 “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” Because of the promise of God, there is one more way to find Jesus Christ.
Finding a Risen Christ
We read that promise in Ephesians 2:6-7 “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Let me recap where we have been today: Start with finding the Living Christ, move to finding the Dying Christ and end up finding the Risen Christ. The first is us seeking Christ. The second is being saved by Christ. Then we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit to walk with Christ forever. Each of these needs a power to happen. First, we find the power of self. Then we experience the power of the blood of Jesus for salvation. Finally, the power of the Holy Spirit lifts us beyond what we can ask or imagine.
When Jesus shows up in the Upper Room, those first Disciples turned into believers quickly! For them, finding the Risen Christ would make them see everything differently from that point onward. Then, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fills them and they receive Baptism in the Holy Spirit. It’s essential for Jesus Followers today to find the Risen Christ. Why? Paul is in Athens in Acts and explains the importance of a Risen Christ: Acts 17:28 “for in Him we live and move and have our being.”
When we find the Risen Christ, we can become like Christ. Then, you and I are changed. It’s like there is a whole new reality. God’s Word calls that new reality “The Kingdom of God.” We speak of that new reality like this: “You need to be in the world, but not of the world.” Remember that augmented reality I was talking about with the video game. Those who find the Risen Christ can see what God is doing, even amid pain and suffering in the world. We don’t need an electronic device like a smartphone or tablet to see God working. We have new eyes, because believing is seeing. (Not the other way around!)
Believing is Seeing
Paul describes the many who saw the Risen Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
“3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”
These are the men and women who would later be accused of turning the world upside down. (Acts 17:6) They effected great changes because God made great changes in them. When you find the Risen Christ, you can see God at work in the world and work in your own life. What does that look like? Like you accused of being just like Christ. There is a list of the virtues of Christ in Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.” All of these virtues are growing in the one who finds the Risen Christ.
Is it hard today for folks to believe and see? Yes and no. Some never find the Living Christ. Some never move past finding the Dying Christ. Some find the Risen Christ and discover the fullness of abundant life. Those are the ones who help others to believe and see. This is a story about one of those people: Anthony Campolo recalls a deeply moving incident that happened in a Christian junior high camp where he served. One of the campers, a boy with spastic paralysis, was the object of heartless ridicule. When he would ask a question, the boys would deliberately answer in a halting, mimicking way.
One night, his cabin group chose him to lead the devotions before the entire camp. It was one more effort to have some “fun” at his expense. Unashamedly the spastic boy stood up, and in his strained, slurred manner—each word coming with enormous effort—he said simply, “Jesus loves me—and I love Jesus!” That was all.
Conviction fell upon those junior high schoolers. Many began to cry. Revival gripped the camp. Years afterward, Campolo still meets men in the ministry who came to Christ because of that testimony. (Our Daily Bread, April 1, 1993)
It’s amazing what God can do with just one person who has found the Risen Christ. Amen.
Homework:
• Look up all the Bible verses on your teaching sheet. How far have you come in the progression of finding the Risen Christ? A life of duty? The life of “Lemon-Sucking Christian?” The abundant life full of the Fruit of the Spirit?
• If you have the blessing of finding the Risen Christ, you have been called to bless others. Have you worked on your personal testimony? Have you studied any of the gospel tracts so you can share them with folks you know? Please see PJ if you need any help.
• Series: Christian to the Core Next week: Exodus 3:9-11 “Core Value: Intimacy with God”
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TEACHING SHEET
“Believing Is Seeing”
Mark 6:1-14
Which Christ Do I Find?
We are presented with three options:
• Living Christ
• Dying Christ
• Risen Christ
Finding a Living Christ
We see folks who serve in their power. For these folks, it’s all DUTY and no JOY. These folks are serious!
John 20:22 “And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.” Unfortunately, too many folks sitting in church pews on a Sunday morning have never had that experience – those folks are NOT saved.
Finding a Dying Christ
We find the awesome result of Jesus blood shed on Calvary in Ephesians 2:1-5
Some will find it hard to believe that we are DEAD in our sins without the blood of Jesus Christ. That’s how powerful it is to find the Dying Christ.
“There is power, power, wonder-working power
in the blood of the lamb.”
Unfortunately, there are too many that get stuck right there. You know them. They have long faces and are constantly complaining. Pastors like to call them “Lemon-Sucking Christians.” Those who find the Living Christ focus on duty. Those who find the Dying Christ focus on the woes. The joy of an initial encounter with the powerful blood of Jesus turns into many woeful ponderings: “Is this all there is?” “Is there nothing more?”
There is MORE! Yes and amen! 1 Corinthians 1:20 “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”
Finding a Risen Christ
We read that promise in Ephesians 2:6-7 “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Acts 17:28 “for in Him we live and move and have our being.”
Remember that augmented reality I was talking about with the video game. Those who find the Risen Christ can see what God is doing, even amid pain and suffering in the world. We don’t need an electronic device like a smartphone or tablet to see God working. We have new eyes, because believing is seeing. (Not the other way around!)
Believing is Seeing
Paul describes the many who saw the Risen Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.” All of these virtues are growing in the one who finds the Risen Christ.
It’s amazing what God can do with just one person who has found the Risen Christ. Amen.
Homework:
• Look up all the Bible verses on your teaching sheet. How far have you come in the progression of finding the Risen Christ? A life of duty? The life of “Lemon-Sucking Christian?” The abundant life full of the Fruit of the Spirit?
• If you have the blessing of finding the Risen Christ, you have been called to bless others. Have you worked on your personal testimony? Have you studied any of the gospel tracts so you can share them with folks you know? Please see PJ if you need any help.
• Series: Christian to the Core Next week: Exodus 3:9-11 “Core Value: Intimacy with God”
