Seeking The Good...finding God Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: March 31, 2010

Date Preached: April 4, 2010 -- Resurrection Sunday

Where Preached: OPBC

Sermon Details:

Series Title: Approaching Bethlehem

Sermon Title: Seeking Good...Finding God!

Sermon Text: Luke 24:2-12 [ESV]

2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise." 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

Introduction:

Background: Jewish custom for Sabbath...

Jesus was crucified on a Friday, died in the afternoon which was close to the beginning of the Sabbath. You see, from sundown Friday to sundown Sat...it was considered to be the Sabbath and NO work could be done!

Jesus had died in the afternoon and his friends did not have enough time to properly prepare Him for burial, so they had to hastily wrap His body and put Him in the tomb... and in our passage this morning these women were on their way to the tomb... to prepare Jesus' body because they had NOT been able to do it on the day He died...

They wanted to do this as a matter of respect. He was well respected and this was the right thing to do. They wanted to pay tribute to Him as best they could and this would have been the only way they could have done that...as there was no formal funeral.

With that being said, have you ever thought about the fact that there was NEVER a funeral for Jesus. Yes, they took His body and placed it in a tomb, but there was no ceremony, it had all been done in haste to get it done before Sabbath began...

One thing I can see from v.1 of this passage, is that these women NEVER expected to find the risen Lord... they were going to anoint the body of a dead friend and teacher. READ Luke 24:1 here -- put on screen

These women were headed to the tomb with the spices they had prepared, and they WERE NOT thinking about the seven predictions that Jesus had made about His death, burial and resurrection...

All they had been thinking about was what a terrible day Friday had been...as Jesus was beaten and hung on that Cross... and then they had to hurriedly take His body to Joseph's tomb, without the proper preparation for burial!

And I can imagine that the Sabbath was a dreadful and sorrowful day for them, usually a day of praise and rejoicing had been turned into a day of mourning and sorrow!

And now, on Sunday, the 1st day of the new week, they finally could go and do what they knew to be the right thing and the GOOD thing...

They wanted to go prepare His body and pay their last respects to this man they followed for over 3 yrs. So, we find them setting out to anoint His body and prepare it for burial, even though it had been buried since Friday evening.

They were headed to the tomb to do a good deed for a dead man! However, in the midst of seeking to do a good deed for a dead man, these women came into the presence of NOT a dead man but a great God!

1. Seeking Good:

How can WE define the word good? Actually, in our world today, the word good has taken on MANY meanings, but when we get down to the essential understanding of this word good... it means worthy of approval

When you attempt to do something good in this world, it is judged by someone who deems it to be good or worthy of approval. However, then the question turns to just WHO is it that is giving that approval?