Three Ways the Resurrection Can Change Your Life
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 28:45
0 ratings
· 151 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
NOTE:
This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.
Engagement
It would be an understatement to say that this last year has been full of challenges for all of us. Last year on Easter our new shade structure, which was to be the new location for our Sunrise Service, stood empty. In the room where many of you now sit, there were only six or seven of us here and for many of the rest of you, your only choice was to join us online. As our toilet paper supplies began to dwindle we were frantically trying to find a store where we could purchase even a few rolls. Many of you parents had to become teachers as well. as parents.
Unfortunately the pandemic also became a source of conflict even within the church. At one end of the spectrum some people claimed we were living in fear because of the prudent steps we took to protect our church family and our community and at the other end of the spectrum there were some who thought we weren’t doing enough.
Then on top of the pandemic, we went through one of the most contentious political seasons ever and were forced to come face to face with racial inequity as a result of some high profile deaths of minorities at the hands of police.
From my perspective the earthquakes of the last year have only revealed the fault lines that have been there for a long time. And unfortunately the aftershocks continue to damage relationships and tear apart our communities.
But most of the solutions that have been attempted in order to address these issues not only have been ineffective, in many cases they have only made the problems worse. The protests meant to call attention to racial injustice have often erupted into violence and looting that has destroyed minority owned businesses in those communities. Those who believe that politics are the solution to our problems stormed the Capitol Building in an attempt to take hostage or even kill government officials in order to overturn the election results.
Tension
Let’s face it, we like in a world that is broken and full of broken people and it is easy to lose hope. That is why the event that we celebrate today, the resurrection of Jesus, is so important. That event reveals the one source of hope that we can count on in this broken world - Jesus.
Truth
It is likely that most of you joining us today already understand the significance of that event. But what I want to do this morning is to remind all of us what the resurrection of Jesus can do for each one of us individually, as a church family, and for our nation and world. So as we look at what is probably a very familiar passage for most of us, I’m going to ask you to view the resurrection of Jesus from a slightly different angle this morning. I’m going to ask you to consider how the resurrection impacted the first three people that saw the empty tomb and the way that it can impact your life, too. And as we do that we’ll see that...
The empty tomb is proof that Jesus can...
Repair the broken
Refocus the brash
Reassure the bashful
I believe that every single one of us fit into one or more of those categories. There are some of you joining us this morning who are broken. Your life is in shambles and you don’t know how to pick up the pieces. There are some of you at the other end of the spectrum and life is good for you. But you’ve become proud and arrogant and think that everything is all a result of your own accomplishments and that you don’t need Jesus. And finally there are some of you who are living in fear and that fear paralyzes you. But the good news is that regardless of which of those scenarios describes your life, the resurrection is proof that Jesus brings hope to your life.
The accounts of the resurrection in each of the four gospels provide us with different information, because each of them is written by a different author, at different points in time, from different perspectives. This morning I’m going to read from chapter 20 of John’s gospel account, but I’ll also be drawing from the other three to fill in some important details.
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
You will note that there are three different people who first learn that the tomb is empty. And we’re going to see that for each of them, the resurrection provided the healing that was necessary in their lives to make them whole and to equip them for the ministry that Jesus would entrust to them. What I love most about these characters is how real they are. Just like us they are not heroic figures, but rather ordinary people with the same kind of flaws and struggles that all of us have. So there is much we can learn from each of them.
Mary: Repairing the broken
Mary: Repairing the broken
There are a lot of unsubstantiated legends about Mary Magdalene, none of which really line up with what we know from the Bible. At one end of the spectrum are those who claim that she was a prostitute and say she is the same woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with oil using her hair. But there is nothing to indicate that she was connected in any way with that event or that she was ever a prostitute. At the other end of the spectrum are those who claim that she had an intimate relationship with Jesus and/or was married to Him. Probably the most notable of those claims was made in a book called the Da Vinci Code that was made into a movie in 2006.
Here is all we really know about her from the Bible and historical records. According to Luke, she was a disciple, who along with some other women, financed Jesus’ ministry. We also learn that Jesus had healed her from seven evil spirits:
Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means.
The fact that she had been healed from seven demons tells us that at one time she had been a broken person. We don’t really know the nature of that demonic influence in her life, but what we do know is that it would have prevented her from living a “normal” life of any kind. And Jesus had had repaired that brokenness. But there was a further brokenness that wouldn’t be fully repaired until the resurrection.
Matthew, Mark and John also record that she was present at the crucifixion of Jesus. Her name, “Magdalene”, indicates that she was from the town of Magdala, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
As we see here, she comes to Jesus’ tomb early on Sunday morning while it was still dark. The other gospel accounts reveal that there were at least two other women who accompanied her.
When she arrived at the tomb, she noticed that the stone had been rolled away and immediately assumed that someone had stolen the body. Even though she had likely heard Jesus talk frequently about the fact He would die and be raised from the grave, she still didn’t believe that was possible. So she runs to tell Peter and the other disciples.
After Peter and John get to the empty tomb and then go back home, Mary remains at the tomb and Jesus speaks to her. That conversation is recorded in the second part on John 10. We won’t have time to look at it in detail this morning, but that was the focus of one of my Easter messages several years ago. What is important to note is that she doesn’t recognize Jesus until He speaks her name.
She then returns and announces to His other disciples that she has seen the risen Jesus. So she becomes the first to testify to the resurrection. That is even more incredible than we might imagine. At a time when no woman could be a witness in a Jewish court, a woman becomes the very first witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
Mary does not appear again in the Bible, but historical records indicate that she had an influential role in the early church.
Peter: Refocusing the brash
Peter: Refocusing the brash
It is notable that only Peter is mentioned by name here when Mary comes to tell the disciples about the empty grave. That is consistent with Mark’s account, where Mary is directed by an angel to specifically tell Peter about the empty grave.
But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
I think this is because Jesus understands just how much Peter is hurting. The last time He had seen Jesus was right after the third time he had denied that He even knew Jesus. That came on the heels of Peter making one of his usual brash claims that he would never abandon Jesus even if all the others did.
Almost every time we see Peter in the gospels, he is making some brash claim or taking some brash action. He asks Jesus to command him to walk on water. He tells Jesus to wash his hands and his head and not just his feet.
Since he is older than John, John wins the footrace to the tomb. But, as we’ll talk about in a moment, he doesn’t enter the tomb. But of course as soon as Peter arrives, he does exactly what we would expect and charges into the tomb. He saw that the cloths that had encased Jesus’ body and the separate face cloth, were lying neatly there in the tomb. Obviously, no one had stolen Jesus’ body because no one would dare unwrap a corpse that had been there since Friday and would now be decaying. And even if they did, they certainly wouldn’t take the time to neatly arrange the burial cloths before they left. After all disturbing a grave or tomb was a capital crime in the Roman empire so no one was going to risk getting caught by taking that extra time.
But Peter still doesn’t get it. Even though Jesus had frequently taught His disciples about the resurrection and the Old Testament Scriptures, which he knew well, predicted it, it still didn’t occur to Peter that was possible. It was not until Jesus appeared to him and the other disciples that night that he finally believed.
But the resurrection completely transformed and refocused Peter’s natural brashness. By the day of Pentecost, less than two months later, Peter gets up and preaches a powerful sermon in which he uses those same Scriptures to prove that Jesus is the Messiah who rose from the dead to provide hope for all who would put their faith in Him. And as a result of that sermon, three thousand people committed their lives to Jesus. And he continued to be a leader in the early church until he was crucified upside down because he was not worthy to die in the same way as his Savior, Jesus. That’s how completely the resurrection refocused his natural brashness.
John: Reassuring the bashful
John: Reassuring the bashful
I think John is the most fascinating of the three people in this account. On one hand, he seems to express great humility by calling himself “the other disciple” rather than naming himself. And yet, he also calls himself “the one whom Jesus loved”. Think about that for a moment, not “a one whom Jesus loved” but “the one whom Jesus loved”. He is basically claiming to be Jesus’ favorite. And he’s doing it in a book that he is writing. And not only that, he wants us to make sure that we know that he outran Peter to the tomb. So I’m thinking that like most of our family, maybe he was a bit on the competitive side.
When he arrives at the tomb, he looks in, but doesn’t enter. Remember that Jesus had been placed in a tomb of a wealthy man named Joseph of Arimathea. The typical rich man’s tomb in that day would be large enough to walk into, with a place to lay the body on one side and a bench for mourners on the other side. The opening was normally quite small - just large enough to get the body through or for a mourner to enter.
So John could see that the body was gone and the burial clothes were laying there, but he was still too afraid to go in. I guess I can’t really blame him. I’m not sure I’d want to enter any tomb - alone one where the body was missing. But once Peter arrived and entered and he now knew it was safe. John finally went into the tomb.
And we are told that “he saw and believed”. The word translated “saw” is a different Greek word than the other two words translated “saw” earlier in this passage. It is a word that means “to understand the significance” of something. When he saw the burial clothes sitting there neatly folded, he understood what that meant - at least to an extent. At a minimum, he knew that Jesus’ body had not been stolen and that there had to be another explanation.
But because he uses the same word for “believe” here than he uses at the end of the chapter to explain his reason for writing this gospel account, I do think he now understood that Jesus had done what He had said he would do and had risen from the grave. While most of the first people who came to believe in the resurrection of Jesus did that only after seeing His resurrected body, John came to that belief based only on seeing the burial cloths He had left behind.
And that belief in the resurrection completely reassured John that it was worth it to totally commit his life to Jesus. Since John was likely the youngest of the apostles, his ministry lasted far longer than any of the others. He writes the book of Revelation while imprisoned on the island of Patmos about 60 years after the resurrection of Jesus. It is very likely that he was the only one of the apostles who died a natural death.
We have seen this morning that...
The empty tomb is proof that Jesus can...
Repair the broken
Refocus the brash
Reassure the bashful
Application/Action
The fact that the resurrection made that possible for Mary, Peter and John is certainly great news. It is impossible to overestimate how profoundly the resurrection changed them. But that is what Easter does. It makes it possible for Jesus to do what otherwise seems impossible.
But the even greater news is that Jesus wants to do that for you, too. As I mentioned earlier, to at least some degree we all are broken, brash, bashful people who need to have Jesus bring the kind of healing that only He can bring. But while the resurrection proves that Jesus has the power to do that, He won’t force anyone to accept what He offers.
There are many of you joining us this morning who already know that Jesus can do that because He has done that in your life. When you were broken, He repaired you. When you were brash, He refocused you. And when you were bashful, He reassured you. So as you’re reminded of that this Easter, there are two ways that you need to respond to Him:
You obviously need to thank Him for what He has done. In just a moment as we have a time of prayer I want to encourage you to think about the specific ways Jesus has brought this kind of healing to your life and thank Him for that.
The second thing you need to do is to ask Jesus to reveal any area of your life where you have been trying to obtain healing through your own efforts. Maybe that’s a broken relationship, or difficulties with your finances, or a job you hate, or some bad habit or addiction that you’re trying to overcome. Or maybe it’s some fear in your life that you just can’t get beyond. Then once you identify those areas, you need to give them over to Jesus and trust that He will provide what is needed to deal with those difficulties.
And I’m pretty sure that there are some of you joining us this morning who have never experienced the kind of healing we’ve been talking about this morning, because you’ve never done what Mary, Peter and John all eventually did - believe in Jesus by putting your trust completely in Him alone. That means that you need to acknowledge your brokenness, your brashness and your bashfulness and admit that you need some help. It also means that you must believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for all those ways that you have rebelled against God and done things your own way rather than His. And it means that you must believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that His resurrection proves that He has the power to do what He did for Mary, Peter and John and which He has promised to do for you if you’ll let Him.
So as we have a time of prayer in a moment, I want to encourage you to express that belief to God. You don’t have to use any fancy religious words. Just talk to God just like you were having a personal conversation with Him and tell Him what’s on your heart. And once you’ve done that, then I want to also encourage you to let us know you’ve done that so that we can help you take your next steps in your relationship with Jesus.
So that means everyone should have something they can pray about now. Right? So let’s go ahead and spend a few moments in prayer.
[Prayer time]
Inspiration
There are basically two ways that you can deal with the problems that we face in our world today. You can choose the solutions of this world, which have never and will never work - solutions which tend to compound and make our problems worse. Or you can turn to Jesus and let Him be the answer to those problems and trust that the resurrection is the proof that He can and will change your life for the better. I know which one I’m choosing and I pray that you will, too.