Jesus the Resurrection

For many miles. And all different kinds of vehicles. Vans, motorhomes, station wagons, motorcycles, all different kinds of clothes, all different backgrounds. And to them, as one reporter captured so vividly on camera, it was the greatest event that they'd ever seen. One man said, I'd been to the World Series and the Super Bowl. I've been to the Fourth of July celebration in Washington, D.C. but this was the greatest event I'd ever seen. It was the landing of the space shuttle Columbia. We Americans love our events. What would we do without our events? We have our ball games and our operas. We have our parties and our holidays. I have to say that for me, and I think for some others here, one of the greatest events I was ever part of was the first worship gathering of this community about a month ago. I identified four or five characteristics of that event and other events. There's the anticipation before it comes. You're talking about it and saying, boy, that's going to be great. I'm looking forward to that. And then there's the enthusiasm that takes place in that day. This is so neat. I'm so glad I'm here. It's exciting. And then you go on. And some begin to sense the commonality of, gee, we're all in this together. This is really something great to share together. And then there's the crescendo that builds up as the event takes place. You can see the first ball thrown in, or the shuttle landing, or the first song that was sung or whatever. And then the crescendo mounts as the event comes to a conclusion. And then afterward, there are the memories. And every event is like that. For many people, Easter is an event. Easter is a time of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. And for many, it's simply an event. They look at Easter in all the same ways that many others do, and those same five characteristics come forth loud and clear. There's anticipation. Hey, Easter's coming up. Who helps to feed our anticipation a little bit? Well, yeah, the Easter bunny. He feeds other things, too, I suppose, from what I understand. But the media today does a great job in feeding our anticipation. Did you know that Easter is the second most highly commercialized day of the year? That's right. The Easter finery, Easter candy, all the rest. Easter gifts, now Easter cards, you name it. And so we have the anticipation, then we have the enthusiasm about Easter, getting all excited about being there and going through all the festivities. And then there's the commonality. Wow, look who's here today. Hey, they're so. I haven't Seen them since last Easter. Then there's the crescendo all the way from the opening good morning, Happy Easter, to the final Hallelujah chorus. And then for some, they're the memories, the opportunity to remember what happened at Easter. Well, that was a fine service, wasn't it? Yeah. We had to go more often, and you hear those kind of things for the next few days. But somehow the next Sunday, Easter was just an event. And all that remains were the memories. We love our events as Americans because, you see, we can control our events. We need to have a beginning and an end. And we can let them have as much influence on us as we would. And so events are very comfortable for us because if we don't like what we're doing, then we can withdraw. We love our events. But if you should see Easter simply as an event, then you've missed the eternal significance of what God was doing. You see, memories come, but memories fade. And if Easter has no more impact in your life than just a festive time, then, my friend, you've missed what Easter was all about in the mind of God. And it's possible to be a witness to the life of God that we celebrate at Easter time and yet to walk away from it and fall prey to the temptations of the world. If you have your Bible, turn with me to Matthew, chapter 28. We encourage you each week here at Northway to bring your Bible so that you can begin to integrate the word of God. We have some Bibles here. The brothers would lift those up. I'm not sure where they are. Okay. If you'd like a Bible, one of the brothers will pass one to you. As we're reading a couple of verses in Matthew 28. Read with me, beginning in verse 11. And while they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priest all that had taken place. When they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sum of money to the soldiers and said, tell people his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. And so they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. You see, here were the soldiers who guarded the tomb where Jesus was laid. And the power of God exploded out of that tomb and rolled that massive stone away. And those soldiers were blinded by it and struck dumb by it. And the reality of it was undeniable to them. And yet they gave themselves over to the temptation of the world to receive some money and to maintain, as it were, their reputation and beloved. It's possible to experience the Easter event, to go through the event that we call Easter and never really be touched by the power of God beyond the event of Easter, then we need to see it. We need to see the resurrection of Jesus as an experience, the experience of resurrection life. The dictionary defines an experience as something that you personally involve yourself in. Personal involvement in an action, that's an experience. We have all kinds of experiences. But when it comes to the Easter event, for some reason, many people who are filling churches all around this country and around the world today are content to keep Easter at a distance and never really make it their own experience. It may be fear for some. I don't know what that's going to do to me. It may be pride for some others. I'm not going to let any old Easter story change me. It may be confusing. Well, I don't understand. I mean, how could somebody rise from the dead? And for others it just may be tradition. I've always gone to church and they've always talked about Eastern. It's never made any difference before, why should it today? And for whatever reason, people don't let the event become an experience in their life. Some of you sitting here today have gone to the Easter event 40 or 50 times in your life, but really haven't let the experience revolutionize your life. It could be false humility. I don't think God would really have me. I'm not worthy for that experience. It could be just bold faced pride. I don't want anything to do with that Jesus stuff. Church is all right, but this Jesus stuff's a little too much. And for some, they just don't know. But whatever it is that's keeping the Easter event from being the Easter experience for you, I pray today that God invades your life just like he invaded that tomb. What does it take to make the Easter event an Easter experience? We come to our passage in John 20, John chapter 20. We don't need to reread all the scripture, but we find Simon, Peter and John running, running to the tomb. And Peter goes charging on in. There's Peter. I praise the Lord for Peter, because if God could love Peter, he can love me. You know, Peter just went charging in and I just thank the Lord for his boldness here. But John ran to the tomb and then he stopped. He got all the way up to the tomb, but then he stopped. Okay, look at Verse five, he stooped down to look in and he saw the linen clothes lying there, but he did not go in. The Bible says in verse five, to experience the resurrection life of Easter, you need to go in and believe. You see so many come to Jesus. They come to the power of life and they stay on the outside. They stay on the outside and evaluate, well, if I do this, what will it mean to my job? What will happen to my social relationships? And others come to the power of God and they stop on the outside and they wonder, well, I don't really understand how come there are people in the earth that have never heard of God, what is he going to do with them? And you hear the stories about those who've never heard, as though that excuses those who have from believing. And others come to the tomb and stop on the outside because they want to put it off a little bit and do a few other things before they give in to what they see to be the squashing hand of God. That's going to take the joy of their life away. Beloved God is not in the business of squashing life. He's in the business of resurrecting it. Have you found yourself running to the tomb but stopping on the outside, not going in? Well, today is a good day to go to the tomb, go inside and believe in the living Jesus. To experience Easter, you've got to go in and believe that Christ is who he said he was. When I was a student in university down in Virginia, there was a day that was indeed an event, a man by the name of Paul Anderson. And if you're in your 30s, as I am, you may remember Paul Anderson was in his era the world's strongest man. He would be the 60s answer to the Incredible Hulk. All right. And he came to Washington Lee University on behalf of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He had a particular kind of show that he did where he exhibited his strength. One thing he did, I just remember vaguely, he had a platform built that he could get underneath. And he had eight men, football playing type of people, you know, 200 pound guys on this platform. And he got underneath that thing and he lifted it up. He just used his back and lifted that thing off the ground. But that really was the most staggering thing he did for me, in my estimation, I mean, was to take a 20 penny nail and if you're a carpenter, you know, that's a good sized spotted. He put that thing in his hand like this, he bent it and you know, I was back several rows and I watched him do that. And I said, I just don't believe that. I just can't believe that a person could do that. Well, after the time together, because I was part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, I was able to go back and meet this man. And I wanted to say, I want to see that nail, you know, that rubber nail you use, you know? And I walked back and I put my scrawny little hand into that paw, and I believed. I believed that he could do it. And that event, for me, became an experience. Easter needs to be an experience in your life now. You see, for some. For some folks, it takes a dramatic experience like that. I appreciate the testimonies we've heard from various ones in this fellowship and other churches, how God did something dramatic to get your attention. He saved your life, or he got you to the point in your marriage where you had to do something. And I remember Thomas and in John, chapter 20, for whom Jesus went the extra mile and said, stick your hand in my side. And then Thomas said, my Lord and my God. But, beloved, the Lord will also speak to some of you this morning simply by the power of his word and the Holy Spirit energizing you. I want to urge you not to tempt God to do something drastic in your life to get your attention, because you may not like what he has to do. And I pray many times that God will do whatever is necessary to bring a person's heart into right relationship with the living God. But I urge you, if you hear the word today and you know that God's nudging your heart and saying, you need the resurrection life in you, then I beg with you this morning, respond today. And don't tempt God to the point of making you believe. If God is nudging your heart, then today is the acceptable day. Behold, today, the Bible says, is the day of salvation. And when you experience that power, even as Thomas experienced it, you know, I think it's really significant that Thomas doesn't say, boy, you know, it really is you. He says, my Lord and my God. And when the power, the experience of Easter becomes your own personal experience, the response will be something like, my Lord and my God. You see, it'll be much more than, oh, I guess you're right. You are. It is who you said it was. No, it's going to be, it's me. And you're going to say, it is you, Lord. My Lord and my God. Brothers and sisters and friends, that power of God is unlike anything man has ever done. I know that you rejoice with me. When that shuttle touched down on Tuesday afternoon, it was such an ascent of accomplishment. The news media were so ecstatic. You saw the paper headlines. And somehow in the midst of that achievement, you see the essence of the pride of life. That man who can shuttle himself around the earth 50 or 60 times or whatever it was and land in a parking space on the desert. Well, certainly that same man can control his own destiny, can't he? But only God, you see, only God can raise from the dead. And there's something about the power of man that is mute when you stand beside the coffin of a 12 year old boy who died of leukemia. And the brilliance of man is power. Pale next to the resurrected power of God which enables you to rejoice at that funeral knowing that he is no longer dead, but he's risen. And I rejoice in a Jesus who confounds the wisdom of man with the foolishness of God. The cross of Christ, the Bible says, is foolishness to man, but it's the wisdom of God unto salvation. Has that experience touched your life? Has it changed you inside? Not through the motions and the externals of religion, but has made you a new person. That's what God wants to do. And beloved, I want to say today that that power is sufficient. For some it's simply out of fear. The disciples were afraid. Look at John 20 again in verse 19. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were. Verse 19. Why? Why were the doors shut? For fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you if you're afraid Today the experience of the living Christ can bring peace to your heart. If you're confused today, the experience of Jesus can bring God's sense of order into your life. And if you're doubting today, you can be as Thomas, seeing the Lord as your Lord and your God, whatever it is that's held you back. I had an experience last night. I was on my way home from a time of prayer and just putting things together for this morning. I know it never looks like we put things together before we get here, but we really try. And I was on my way home and I stopped at the gas station where I do some business. And the fellow that I see at different times was there, pumps were closed, but I guess the guy just didn't have any place else to go. He's an older guy probably, I don't know, older is a relative term. He was in his 30s. And well, that's what all you young people tell me. And the Holy Spirit's stop. My little car in that gas station. I didn't need any gas. But God just nudged me to stop and talk to that man about resurrection life. I'd never done it. I'd known him for over a year. We had a chance to share, and there was such guilt in his heart that he couldn't believe that after all he'd done that God would still receive him. And he said, you know, the greatest sin isn't all the X, Y, Z nasty things that we would call sin. He said, the greatest sin is that I knew what God wanted of me and I haven't done it. And I pled with him to hear the releasing, freeing power of God, the message of Easter. And he wasn't ready last night. But I believe in faith that one day he will be. And you may be here today with that same guilt, knowing that you've never really done what God wanted you to do. You've never really responded to the love of God. And the Easter experience knocks on the door of your heart today and says, receive me into your life, and God will change the guilt to freedom. And there's nothing like the freedom of God through the love of Jesus Christ. But on this Easter morning, there's one more thing. There's a further truth. For some, there's something beyond the resurrection experience that we need to see. How many of you know that experiences sometimes can get lost as the years go by? And things that were once very important can get a little hazy then, have you ever forgotten an anniversary? You see, an experience which at once can seem so important and so significant over the years can begin to pale a little bit. And it could be that at one point, way back when, when you were a child and went to summer camp, you said, yes, I received Christ. But somehow, over the years, that experience has lost its vitality. As I look over this room, I know that some of you at different points in your life have said. Said yes to God. But somehow the snares of the world have choked out the life of God. And you wonder today if you ever really meant it back then. You wonder today if those experiences ever counted for anything and if God would hear you if you said yes to him. Today, you see, experiences have a way of thinking fading out in our life. The meanings are clouded. And today I want you to know that you can go beyond the Easter event and even beyond an Easter experience for some. And as you travel around in different circles of faith, some people live from experience. To experience. There's a woman I know that's named Janet. If you're here today, if you're here today and your name's Janet, it's not you, but this woman I knew named Janet traveled the whole greater Pittsburgh area to cover the miracle meetings. I'm going where the power is. And so on Friday night, the power was at this church. And on Sunday morning, the power was there. And on Wednesday night, it was someplace else. And then on Tuesday morning, it was at this prayer meeting, and on Thursday afternoon, it was over here. And the power kept moving, and so did Janet. But, you know, Janet never really settled in because experience after experience after experience wasn't enough to sustain the hunger that she had in her heart for the reality of the life of one named Jesus. And there comes a time when the crowds and the miracles and the excitement and the enthusiasm and all those things are not enough, when you've got to go beyond that and hear Jesus saying, I am the resurrection and the life. You go beyond the Easter event, beyond the Easter experience, to the embodiment of Easter. I am the resurrection. Easter is a person. The resurrection is a man. I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus said, beloved, we need to hear that word. At Northway Christian Community, the experiences will fade. The events that we all look forward to are not as important as the person for whom we come. Jesus is the resurrection. And if you've only known the event of Easter or the experience of Easter at some point in your life, but have not come to, to live in close relationship on an ongoing basis with the embodiment of Easter, then God has something for you today. He's got something to bring forth life in you. Now, it's neat to me to see how the Greek word bears this out. When we think of resurrection in the English language, we think of something like what Newsweek magazine said about Chrysler Corporation when they got their loan. Chrysler has been resurrected. That means brought to life again, right? But you see, in the Greek, the word resurrection means literally to advance and rise up until the highest realm is reached. It means literally to advance and rise up until the highest realm is reached. And the realm that we are reaching, brothers and sisters, is embodied in Jesus. We are being conformed, the Bible says, to the image of Christ. That's where we're headed. And so for us, each thing that we do is an expression of resurrection life as we are conformed to the image of Jesus. Look with me at Martha in John chapter 11. Martha in John chapter 11, Martha says, and I'm sure that These were well intended words. She says, Jesus says to her, John 11:23, Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. And Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again, Lord, in the resurrection at the last day. And Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. You see, many people look for the resurrection as a born again experience, which it is. They look for the resurrection as a life after death experience, which it is. But they fail to see the resurrection as an ongoing experience in the life of Jesus, which it primarily is. And that's what God wants to bring you into today. That's what he wants to bring forth in your life. It's the process of rising up into the maturity that God calls us to as sons and daughters of the living God. You know, so many times Christians are down on themselves. They say things like, oh, I really can't witness, like I'd like to, or I'm not able to be as joyful as I want to be, or I can't love my husband like I should. I don't do this right and don't do that right. And so many Christians are doubting themselves. And you've heard that phrase, I'm just an accident looking for a place to happen. Well, I'll tell you something. If the power of God is alive in you and Jesus Christ by his life is flowing in you, then you're not an accident looking for a place to happen, your resurrection, looking for a place to happen. Go ahead and say that to somebody. I'm a resurrection looking for a place to happen. Go ahead, say it to them. I'm a resurrection. I'm looking for a place to happen. Now that may sound a little silly to you, but I want you to know something. It's true. Every situation that you enter into, God wants you to bring resurrection life there. Young people, when you go into those classes, when I go into these schools and sense the heaviness of the spirit of the world in those schools, you have a destiny there, young people, to be resurrection life. And I'll tell you, it grieves my heart. It's like walking into a big room that's painted black on the floor and there are a few grains of salt here and there. I mean, the blackness is so massive and the salt is so tiny. And yet God wants you to be resurrection life in those schools, men, God wants you to be resurrection life. And your jobs where you walk into a situation where you're associate or your co worker says, I'm having a rough time at home, he wants you to be resurrection life. There, women. God wants you to be resurrection life. Where you are in your jobs, in your homes, in your neighborhood. You see every place that your feet trod. That's to be a place where life is established. That's the idea of the embodiment. You see, the embodiment goes beyond Jesus, but he becomes, through us, the embodiment of resurrection to everyone that we meet. When you leave this place to go visit your grandparents and your children or whatever the case may be, you're the resurrection embodied to them. That's the Easter message. For many of you this morning, it's not just the event or the experience. It's the embodiment of what God wants to do do. And I want to say to you today that of all the things that God calls us to be, there's nothing that's higher than this. There's nothing more that we can do than to be resurrection life to people. And when you face death, there's something to encourage them to let the life that's inside of them come out. You know, I really believe, as I've gone through this recent experience with Brendan Stokes and others of you have as well, and others of your families have, that in many ways, death is God's way of shedding the body.