In the trilogy of Back to the Future movies, Michael J Fox takes a wild adventure into the past through the use of a souped up Delorean that is turned into a time machine. In the first adventure, he travels back to the year of his parents’ high school prom. He realizes that making any changes in the past could radically alter the present he already knows as well as the future. This comes to bear when his mother – who is just a teen at the time falls in love with a strange drifter who just comes along – Michael. This threatens to prevent Michael’s parents from marrying and thus from having Michael. In the end, Michael gets his parents together but his father has a new self image – something that had not happened in the original past. When Michael returns to the present he has a life he could have only dreamed of before. The bully who always put his father down was now doing chores for the family and acting very subservient. Michael’s father was a successful science fiction writer, and Michael had the four by four truck of his dreams. Although there is no such thing as a time machine, you can look back into time and transform your present and future life. Let’s travel back in time to about 30 a.d. on a Sunday morning in early Spring. Jesus, a great and powerful leader and teacher, who many had hoped would be the Messiah or Savior of the Jewish people, had just been crucified until he was dead. His body was wrapped tightly in burial cloths and he was sealed in a tomb with a giant stone. Because of the fear that the disciples might try to steal the body, Roman guards were posted at the entrance of the tomb. Death, the final and ultimate end had come. Jesus would be no Messiah. The hopes and dreams of many were dashed.
I. When death is no longer the ultimate finale to life you will think, act, and say things that are unbelievable (Luke 24:11)
A. The women at the tomb were speaking nonsense to those who were stuck in the pattern of the world.
1. Their perception of death had changed.
2. The spoke about Jesus as if he was alive (he actually was/is)
3. Such behavior would seem absurd to “normal” people.
B. We are conditioned by our own history to become creatures of habit and slaves to impulse.
1. Addictions are destructive patterns in life that we are unable to change.
2. We horde our time, talents, and gifts as if they will disappear at death.
a. We are miserly with out wealth because we think it is limited.
b. We obsess over time and schedules because we do not think eternally i.e. time stops at the grave.
c. We are caution with our conversation – unwilling to offend others with the unbelievable message of eternal life in Christ for fear they might think us as crazy as the disciples thought the women returning from the tomb were crazy.
3. Remember that God chose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.
C. Jesus’ resurrection compels us to lead life on the edge.
1. When we are witnesses to the risen Lord we can dare to live life as if it will never end.
2. When we are witnesses to the risen Lord we can take the adventure of eternity.
II. When death is no longer the ultimate finale to life you will find yourself going against the crowd. (Luke 24:33)
A. Jews from all over the world flock to Jerusalem for the Passover and were heading home after the Sabbath.
B. The men walking to Emmaus reversed course when they discovered Jesus transcended death.
1. They fought against the masses flowing out of Jerusalem.
2. Their eyes were opened – they had a new understanding of life and death.
3. Suddenly the things that were drawing them home were less important and less attractive.
C. Christians turn from the attractions of the old life for the attractions of the eternal.
1. Teens of the world are drawn into lives of lust, sex, chemicals and rebellion.
a. If you are a witness to the risen Lord you must go against the flow.
b. Worship, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism, & ministry.
2. Adults of the world are drawn into building careers, connecting to power, and developing image.
a. If you are a witness to the risen Lord you must go against the flow.
b. Worship, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism, & ministry.
3. Seniors of the world are drawn to leisure and idleness.
a. If you are a witness to the risen Lord you must go against the flow.
b. Worship, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism, & ministry.
III. When death is no longer the ultimate finale to life you are free to interpret life events in a new way.
A. The disciples already knew the Scriptures of their day but their minds were opened to help them interpret differently than they were taught.
1. There had been philosophical discussion of life after death.
2. Before the resurrection they were still stuck in the notion that real life ends at death.
For most of the world the future is little more than a compendium of scenes from a play we have already acted out a hundred times before. The same scenes in different orders with slight variations in setting and wording but the same scenes nonetheless.
A Christian who is a witness to the resurrection and has grasped its meaning will not settle for a two bit part that the world offers. He will live a life of power, insight, and most of all, liberation from the themes that play over and over.
We have freedom and power to look toward a future of excitement as we travel with our God and Savior. A future filled with unimaginable possibilities when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the spiritual realm and helps interpret life in a new way. It is a life that promises tremendous joy even if it is a path of struggling against the world. It is a path free from self-seeking, a path with many twists and turns, but a path that leads to eternal love and worship of our God. This new play, was once hidden behind your tombstone. It was hidden from the eyes of a dead soul. When we are witnesses to the resurrection of Christ our own tombstones are removed to reveal true life.
Just like Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future – once you have taken part in the past your life will be radically changed today and forever. Look back to your future. See the risen Christ and rejoice in the glorious future that awaits you today, tomorrow, and beyond all time.
