Community Easter sermon 2014

 

  It is a great honor to represent Jesus here today to you, his beloved Church, for whom he willingly endured unimaginable suffering and pain, shed his blood, and endured the loss of all things, even his very life. Today, however, we celebrate his great victory over sin, sickness, Satan, hell, and death, and the recovery of all that Adam lost and the restoration of God’s original plan for mankind. I pray, in the fear of God, that you would hear His words in the next few minutes. 

  I agree with this morning’s prayers, but, what I’d like to focus in on is the prayer that Jesus would help us with our unbelief.

  As I considered the preparation for this message, one question presented itself to me: On that Resurrection Easter Sunday morning, why weren’t any of Jesus’ disciples there to watch him get up? Where were they? Why weren’t they waiting there, looking in the breaking of the dawn of the third day, straining their ears for any signs of stirring from the grave, staring at the giant stone in front of the mouth of the tomb, wondering at what point it would move, or whether he would just walk right through it?

  It’s not like it was a big secret that he was going to rise from the dead. Jesus told his disciples at least three different times in three separate locations exactly what was going to happen. And the Bible does not say that these things were kept secret from them, although it does say that they didn’t understand and were afraid to ask him. First, we read that Jesus began to TEACH them these things near the city of Caesarea, and it says that he told the disciples about them plainly and openly. Later, in Galilee, while Jesus was telling them again, he said to them, “Let these words sink into your ears” – meaning, “Pay attention, guys!” And finally, on their way to Jerusalem for the last time, only about a week before the crucifixion, Jesus tells them again. On that occasion, we read that it was veiled from them so that they could not see what was plainly in front of their faces – but not b/c of anything God had done to hide it from them, but b/c of their own disinterest and disinclination to push into a subject that they didn’t understand and made them uncomfortable. Think about it – the Bible says that even the chief priests, scribes, and elders knew that Jesus had said that he’d rise from the dead on the third day. They didn’t believe it, but they knew and remembered that he’d said it; and, they arranged for guards to be at the tomb to make sure that his disciples didn’t come steal the body and spread the rumor that he’d risen from the dead. So, Jesus’ enemies expected his disciples to come to the tomb, and they acted on Jesus’ word even though his own disciples did not act on it. So, again, the word of Jesus that he would rise from the dead on the third day was not something casually mentioned that just got lost in the shuffle.

  By the time he was arrested, it was as if Jesus had given the disciples a list of exactly what would take place. It read something like this: It would happen in Jerusalem? Check! He would be betrayed? Check! He would suffer at the hands of the chief priests, scribes, and elders? Check! He would be spit upon? Check! He would be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles? Check! He would be mocked and tortured by being whipped? Check! He would be crucified and killed? Check!... You know what the next thing is on the checklist… He would rise again on the third day…

  So, back to my question: Why weren’t there some guy and gals waiting outside the tomb for him to get up? He said most plainly on three different occasions that he specifically would. He even told them which day he would get up. OK, Thursday night they got caught off guard by the midnight arrest even though Jesus had told them to watch and pray, then Friday was horrifying as they watched their Master get whipped and executed in lingering and brutal fashion. But, what about Friday night and all day Saturday? Wasn’t there anyone who said, “Hey, guys, I know this is rough, but Jesus said this would happen, and he also said he’d get up again Sunday.” Wasn’t there someone to say, “Hold on. We’ve seen him heal the sick and lame, restore the maimed, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, multiply food, control the weather, walk across Lake Galilee, and raise the dead himself, even one guy who’d been dead four days. He’s got this one! He told us it would happen just like this. He even told us that the world would rejoice, and that we would mourn, but that our mourning would be turned to joy. Just a few more hours, and he’s gonna be back!” 

  Was there no one? When Moses sent the 12 spies over Jordan to Canaan land, 10 of them came back talking about all of the logical reasons why they couldn’t conquer the land, but Joshua and Caleb told them the one overriding reason that they could – because their God, the living God, the God who acts on behalf of his people, was on their side to fight for them and had promised them that they WOULD take the land. Where were the Joshuas and Calebs among Jesus’ disciples on Friday night and Saturday, reminding them of what Jesus had said and drawing their attention away from the impossible circumstances – that their Master who’d led them for the last three glorious years was dead and in the grave before their very eyes – and instead putting their attention back where it should be, which was – “is anything too hard for the Lord? Has he not spoken, and shall it not come to pass.”

  That is what the Bible calls – FAITH, and its opposite is called unbelief.

  Well, we know the story. There was no one waiting expectantly at the tomb, no one who was cheerleading for the Lord, stirring up the faith of the brethren. It wasn’t because of the guards at the tomb. They were Roman soldiers, and we can conclude that they weren’t there to arrest disciples waiting for a miracle because we’re not given any reason to believe that Mary was afraid to go to the tomb; the soldiers were there to make sure that the disciples didn’t steal the corpse. We can assume that they didn’t care if some religious fanatics wanted to come sit there and stare at a grave, as long as they didn’t cause any trouble. And Mary didn’t come looking for the impossible to be realized. The only reason she was even there was b/c she was going down to anoint him in his grave clothes and to cry over her loss. She was admirable in her loyal devotion, but she had no eye to his promise of a supernatural resurrection.

  Maybe his disciples had been poor students and hadn’t really been paying attention to Jesus… Or maybe they had heard him, but when faced with the actuality of the brutal torturing and execution, they reasoned they had somehow misunderstood him, that something hadn’t gone according to Jesus’ plan… Or maybe they figured that the sin of others like Judas and the hostile religious leaders had somehow snuck up on Jesus and got the better of him… Or maybe all they could think of was their own sin: falling asleep when he said to watch and pray, leaving him alone in the garden in the distress of his soul, running away when times got tough, invoking a curse and denying even knowing him, and that somehow they’d blown it personally and that all of those things added up to Jesus not doing what he said that he would do.

  What we definitely know is that, when faced with the impossible – a dead man in a tomb who had said that he would rise again on the third day – that ALL of the disciples, every man and woman, to use a biblical term, “staggered at the promise of God through unbelief.” They drew back, hesitated, doubted, wavered, and did not believe that what Jesus said would actually happen. They fell away from faith in the supernatural, miraculous, wonder-working power of the living God.

  Well, that was then, and that’s between them and Jesus, but this is now – and we have our own challenge to believe the plain words of God. But, we have one thing more than they had: we now have an empty tomb!

  What crises do we encounter in our years of life that are so overwhelming or catastrophic that nothing but the supernatural, miraculous, wonder-working power of God will avail to solve them? What impossible thing are we having trouble believing? For the breaking of an addiction or pattern of easily besetting sinful behavior that’s had you or a loved one bound for years? Isn’t there a word from God about that? How about, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me b/c the Lord has anointed me to open the prison to those who are bound,” or “I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut asunder the bars of iron,” or “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able to bear, but in the midst of temptation will make a way of escape.” He is a living God! Are you having trouble believing something impossible, such as a new life for an adult child who’s walking wayward and causing pain? Doesn’t the Lord plainly say, “The seed of the righteous shall be blessed.” If you’re born again, then Christ has made you righteous by faith through his blood, and that word from God applies to your children! He wants to show Himself strong on behalf of those who look expectantly for him to intervene and act to fulfill his word. Many are the impossible situations that face us all: Fractured marriages, mountains of financial debt and chronic lack, sickness, how about the Big C – there’s one to make our blood run suddenly cold, because it’s truly an ugly, destructive thing. But, Joshua and Caleb did not come back with a report that there were no enemies in the Promised Land; they simply said that the kind, quality, or quantity of the adversities was an irrelevant subject because the living God had said that he would act on behalf of His people – to believe what God had said concerning the matter, to fear not, and to advance aggressively and militantly against the enemies, recognizing that they were also God’s enemies. Do we, like the disciples, think that in spite of plain scripture that says that God will heal, deliver, and cause things to go well for His people and prosper them and their families, that somehow we misunderstood or misapplied his word… or that the sins of others have snuck up on God and prevented him from acting… or that our own sins have somehow interrupted God’s good plan for us.

  The word of God is true, and we may lose a whole string of battles over these issues, not seeing come to pass what the Bible says that we should expect to come to pass, but we must not be like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus saying things like, “We’d hoped God would do great and mighty things and show himself to be a living God who acts on behalf of his people, but I guess it’s really just about something he did a long, long time ago that we read about in an ancient book and that we’ll have pie in the sky bye and bye when we die and we’ll just try to hang on until then… lonely, traumatized, sick, poor, driven, victimized, and depressed.”

  No! Where is the Lord God of Elijah, and where are the people who believe his word and will fight to see it fulfilled though all the hosts of hell march in to make their contrary second claims. His name is JESUS, and it is above EVERY other name. And, we know that he is raised on high, that WE are raised on high with him, and that everything is under his feet, which must by logical extension mean that everything is under our feet, too, and that every knee must bow to his name. God loves his people too much for him to leave us in a state of fundamental unbelief. As if it ever wasn’t, it certainly is time now for God’s people to believe in His supernatural, miraculous, wonder-working power. The empty tomb stands as a testimony that, when God’s clear word is challenged by a contrary circumstance of extraordinary or even impossible proportion, you have the blessing of the supernatural, miraculous, wonder-working God to believe his word IN SPITE of the impossible situation, and, moreover, to look for and expect him to act on behalf of the believer in time of great need. The circumstances and pains and disappointments of life can cause us to doubt or even to forget about what the Lord plainly said that he would do. And, if we haven’t personally suffered a great loss, we certainly know someone who has lost a loved one to a dread disease, or gone through the tragedy of divorce, or seen a young adult child destroy their life with reckless living, even in spite of all of our faith and praying our very best prayers, and the temptation is to doubt the word of God in such a matter, or perhaps doubt our understanding of it and explain away his promises.

  But, we can’t give up like that, in spite of the defeat, in spite of the heartache, in spite of the not understanding why we didn’t see what we believed and expected that we would see. Otherwise that becomes a downward spiral of unbelief. Instead, we have to hold the clear promises of the word of God for continual victory in tension with our obvious experiences of defeat and still believe for the next battle in our life or in the lives of those we minister to – to believe for the supernatural, miraculous, wonder-working intervention of the living God on behalf of his people in the face of impossible circumstances. The empty tomb demands this posture.

  There is a place in the gospels where Jesus says to a man, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.” Many have looked at this story and focused on what they see as Jesus chastising this man for unbelief. A closer reading suggests that he did not always suffer from this issue. He’d done all of the things he was supposed to do. A loving and concerned father, he’d brought his son that suffered greatly from a demonically-caused disease to Jesus. Jesus was out for the day on a special trip, but his disciples were there to handle the matter. They usually could, but something went wrong that day, and try and pray as they might, the boy continued to have terrible seizures. These were the experts in these matters, who spent all day and night with Jesus, but the problem didn’t change one bit. It was in THAT context of discouragement and disappointment, after the expert disciples had tried their best and failed and the problem remained, that the father made his statement of unbelief. Jesus brought him back up to the high bar of ultimate truth – not only no matter the impossibility of the circumstance facing you, but also no matter about past failures that you’ve known about or experienced yourself, the word of God remains for us to look to and allow to renew our minds – “All things are possible to him that believes.” The story continues with him crying out, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”

  In light of these things, would you pray with me again that God would help our unbelief?

  Empty tomb renew our faith, no matter the impossible circumstance, no matter past failures, in the supernatural, miraculous, wonder-working power of the living God to show himself strong by acting on behalf of his people.