Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
March 31, 2002 AM
Resurrection Challenges
Reading - John chapter 20
The resurrection of Christ forces us to make some decisions about our life... and lifestyle. If we really believe in the resurrection, it changes our whole outlook on life... It changes how we think... How we react to life. It changes our priorities... What is important and what is not so important to us.
You see church... If the tomb of Jesus is empty... Then one day we too will be raised. There will be a day when the soul and spirit given us by God at conception will be reunited with a resurrected and changed body... One that will be equipped to live forever. I hope you believe in the resurrection. If you do, you will become a genuinely different person.
You see... If there is an empty tomb outside Jerusalem today...
-Then the resurrection validates the fact that Jesus is who He claims to be... The Son of
God come to forgive us... come to save us.
- If the tomb is empty... Then this means... that like Jesus... one day... we too will be
raised. We will live forever.
- Thirdly... The resurrection affirms that our eternal destiny is truly based upon our response to Jesus... His life... His teaching... His Lordship.
You see the resurrection of Jesus is like somebody lighting a stick of dynamite and tossing it to you... What are we gonna do with what we face? What are we going to do with this historical fact? Indeed, the resurrection calls for a dynamite decision.
Let me tell you a story about what a dynamite decision is like. There was this fisherman who always brought home more fish than anybody else. You know like Bryan Busbee and Jim Branstetter? Well, one day the Game Warden wanted to go with him to just see what his technique was. He motored to his secret spot on the lake... Pulled a stick of dynamite from his tackle box, lit it and threw it into the water. Fish begin to surface everywhere. He took another stick of dynamite from the tackle box and lit it. The Game Warden interrupted... Wait!! Hold it!!... You can't do that... It is against the law. I'll arrest you... Put you in jail. Looking at the Warden... The man pitched him the stick of lit explosive saying... Are you gonna fish or argue?
I believer the resurrection of Jesus was much the same for a group of men and women here in John chapter twenty. And church... His resurrection places that same kind of dynamite decision in our lap today. What will we do with the awesome statement that JESUS IS ALIVE?... HE IS RISEN?
What I want to do for the lesson this morning is to just go through this narrative and spiritualize some of the events surrounding the resurrection... Making some personal applications to our lives. Let's see what we can learn...
First... The resurrection demands we must become truth seekers.
Mary was up before dawn's first light looking for Jesus. Peter and John were found running to the tomb for evidence of the resurrection. Allow me to throw a dynamite question at you... Perhaps an embarrassing question for some of us. When was the last time we got up before dawn to look for Jesus in our own special quiet time?
- We get up to go fishing...
- We get up early to get a good T-Time...
- We get up early to go jogging, running or walking.
- We get up early to go to work...
When was the last time we ran to the Scriptures... anxious... hearts burning to obtain some bit of truth that would...
- Increase our faith...
- Draw us closer to God...
- And help us quinch the fiery darts of Satan?
Mary... Peter... and John arose early to serve a dead Jesus. They RAN to the tomb in search of truth. They challenge us to be more anxious to serve a risen Lord... a Living Savior... RIGHT?
Secondly... The resurrection calls for us to have a progressive faith.
Let your eyes fall down to verses 5 through 8... In verse eight... John tells us what they saw in the tomb caused them to BELIEVE. What I want us to notice is that John uses three Greek verbs that are translated... LOOKED, SAW, BEHELD, SEETH in our English Bibles... Depending on the translation we are using.
- The first verb appears in verse 5. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. The Greek word used here simply means to glance at... to look in... to casually notice.
- Now, read verse 6... Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there. The word used here is different... It means to examine... to inspect... to look at closely.
- Then in verse 8 we find the third. Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. The Greek here means to be sure of... to accept as fact. Do you see the progression?...
- First a glance...
- Then examination...
- And then acceptance.
Each of us here this morning are somewhere in this progression. Where are you, your preacher? Are we only taking a casual glance at Jesus?... at Christianity?... Do we only come to worship Him a few times a year?... If this is the case... Let me encourage to look deeper... more intently.
Perhaps we are in the examining stage... Learning more about God and His love for us. This is OK, as long as we don't stay in this area too long. Scripture speaks of those who are always gathering information, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. You see, there comes a time when we must take the plunge... the next step... Acceptance!!
That is when we allow our examination to turn to genuine faith. That time when the facts which we come to accept as truth began to change our thoughts, attitudes and behavior.
Now we must know this morning that we will never be able to prove the resurrection... But we can see and understand enough to accept it as a faith fact. This is what God wants, a progressive faith. Without such faith, it is impossible to please Him. He doesn't want us to live by fact... sight... He desires that we live by faith. Are we willing?
This resurrection narrative challenges us to see the New Mercy Seat. In verse 11& 12... Mary sees two angels sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying. Angels... at either end of a flat surface... Cherubim seated at either end of a flat surface.
Church... Where have we seen this before? Of course, on the lid to the Ark of the Covenant... It was called the Mercy Seat. Listen to the instructions of Exodus 25... Make an atonement cover of pure gold--two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends.
In the resurrection... Jesus has become our Mercy seat. It is through His blood shed at the cross that we are redeemed... forgiven... sanctified... Our sins are atoned for. And this resurrection acts to affirm all He did for us in His death. Folk... If the grave is occupied... If Jesus did not raise, our faith is in vain and we are still in our sins. And Paul says... Of all men we are the most miserable. Praise God that we can celebrate this affirmation... Not once a year... But daily. We can know that we are saved by His death... because He lives... Amen??
Next... We take note of the fact that... at first... Mary did not recognize Jesus. Why didn't Mary recognize Jesus instantly... We really don't know. Perhaps, it was because of the predawn darkness. Maybe there was not enough light to see properly. Scripture tells us that... God is light, and in Him there is not darkness. The prophet said our sins have separated us from God. So, perhaps many of us can't see Jesus for our own love of sin. This same John wrote... Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. The resurrection challenges us to leave the darkness of sin... and come to Jesus.
Maybe Mary didn't recognize Jesus because her attention was focused on herself. She was so preoccupied with her own loss... That she missed the fact that Jesus was alive. I wonder how many times we fail to see Him in the day-to-day affairs of our life... Simply because our attention is on ourselves. Sometimes we just need to open our eyes to the fact that it is in Him that we live... move... and have our being.
Folk... There is no life outside of God... Life and its blessings come from Him. Paul tells us that all spiritual blessings are in Christ. Jesus is best seen when we take the focus off ourselves... RIGHT?
Then others suggest that it was Mary's lack of faith which blinded her. Mary went to the tomb expecting to find a body... to see a dead Jesus. I wonder how many times in His three-and-a-half-year ministry she had heard Him say... I will not be there... I'll be raised the third day. But it took Jesus calling her name... To open her eyes and heart to acceptance of truth.
- Do we really believe?...
- Do we really believe that God works all thing out to our benefit?
- Do we really believe that we will live forever?
- Do we really believe that our eternal destiny is determined by how we respond to Jesus?
- Do we believe that sins are forgiven by faith... repentance and baptism?
Does God have to do something dynamic... Call our name to get our attention and awaken our faith?... Sobering questions... RIGHT??
A belief in the resurrection empowers us to serve Jesus. Verse 15 has Mary saying to the gardener... Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.... I'll go get him?? How was Mary going to go get Jesus? Let's say he weighed 165 to 175 pounds... Plus, just Friday evening... Joseph and Nicodemus wrapped the body in 75 pounds of linen strips and spices. That adds up to 225... 250 pounds.
Church... The point is... When we love Jesus as much as this precious lady, we will be willing to serve Him... Whatever the cost... However improbable it may SEEM. When we love Jesus as much as Mary, we will not be found saying... I Can't... I Don't know how... I Don't have the time.
We will never be found offering excuses for...
- Not coming to worship services... and Bible classes...
- Not reading our Bibles...
- Not praying more... Giving more... Doing more.
- Not visiting the sick... Caring for the shut-ins... the bereaved... and the lonely...
- For not being more kind... loving and forgiving..
- For not finding our place to serve in the church family.
What was it Paul said: I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Ephesians 3.20 reads... He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
Folk... Listen to me... If God has the power to raise Jesus from the dead after three days... Don't you think He has the ability to empower us...
- To do His will?...
- Obey His every command?...
- And to conform into the image of His Son?...
Surely He does... Surely He does... and WILL!! Indeed, the resurrection challenges and empowers us to serve Him.
The empty tomb challenges us to go tell others. Read verses 17 & 18 with me again... Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Question... How many of us are doing exactly what Mary was doing... We want to selfishly hold on to Jesus... Instead of going to tell others?... RIGHT? The resurrection challenges us to fulfill the great commission. It is so easy for us to get caught up in other issues in our churches... But the prime issue... The prime directive... From the lips of Jesus is... To go tell others... You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. The resurrection challenges us to be salt and light... To go tell other the good news!!
Then finally this morning... The resurrection challenges us to accept Jesus. John closes the chapter by saying... Blessed are they who have not seen Me, yet they believe. Again the Hebrews says... Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
Did you know that Thomas had two names... His other name in Greek was Didymus.
Didymus means twin... Thomas was a twin... Thomas had a twin. And folk... When we do not accept Jesus by faith, we become His twin brother... or sister.
The choice is ours this morning...
- We can be like Thomas... We can doubt Jesus and the resurrection until we see Jesus face-to-face... and place our fingers in His scars.
- Or we can accept the things written about Him by faith.
You see folk, one leads to eternal life. The other leads to eternal death. The resurrection challenges us to believe and obey... The choice is ours.
If you are not a child of God... Become one today, by faith... repentance... and New Testament baptism... Immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins.
Paul says... Like Jesus was raised through the glory of the Father... You too will be raised to walk a new life.
Perhaps the lesson has challenged us to do better... be better in some area of our life.
Accept the resurrection challenge. It is our time to decide... Come to Jesus as we stand and sing this invitation song together.
