Love's Order For Life's Priorities I, The Resurrection Rush

The ones that got here and were not able to get a bulletin, the ushers are going to come. And you can just lift your hand up real quickly, and they'll at least give you the teaching outline part of it. So you'll be on the same page. Just hold your hand up as they walk up. And most of the folks here probably got them. But as we reach toward the back, there might be a few who did not. As they're doing that, seeing all these flowers up here reminds me of a little story, something that happened here some years ago. On a Memorial Day weekend, when we were commemorating those who served us in the armed services, a little boy came up to his dad and said, Dad, look at all these flowers in the church. What are all the flowers here everywhere for? And Dad said, well, son, these flowers are in honor of those people who died in the service. The little boy got a fright. Look, he said, was it the Saturday night or the Sunday morning service, Dad? All right. And by the way, these lilies, I'm sure, are going to be beautiful tomorrow morning. They were supposed to open up. And when it's below freezing, they just shut down like everything else around. Take your notes. And I want to read the scripture text. Let's do that together, shall we? First Corinthians 15. This is out of the message translation. Marilyn mentioned that sometimes it helps us to have a Bible you can understand. First Corinthians 15. Let's read together. The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me, that the Messiah died for our sins exactly as scripture tells it, that he was buried, that he was raised from death in the third day again, exactly as scripture says, that he presented himself alive to Peter and then to his closest followers, and later to more than 500 of his followers at the same time. Did you catch that? Jesus didn't just sneak in here and there, 500 at the same time. Most of them are still around, although a few have since died. That he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him, and that he finally presented himself alive to me. Now let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is now no such thing as a resurrection? And folks, I don't know if you caught this, but all three major news magazines this week, all three of them, had stories about Jesus on the cover. Newsweek, in my estimation, probably the most scathing, rethinking the resurrection, in which they quote liberal theologians who once again have found reason to discount the resurrection and to try to shoot holes through their intelligence in the faith that has abided for centuries. One little quote, in short, martyred psychology reduces the risen Christ to a series of inner psychic experiences that produce in the disciples a renewed sense of missionary zeal and spiritual self-confidence. Tell me why 12 men were martyred for someone that was an inner psychic experience. Doesn't make sense to me. But nonetheless, people even to this day are doubting the resurrection. Paul goes on to write, if there's no resurrection, there's no living Christ. And face it, if there's no resurrection for Christ, everything we've told you is smoke and mirrors. And everything you've staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of bare-faced lies about God. All these affidavits we passed on to you, verifying that God raised up Christ, sheer fabrications if there's no resurrection. If corpses can't be raised, then Christ wasn't, because he was indeed dead. That swoon theory that you've heard about, he really didn't die. In fact, many of the Muslim faith this day still say that was what happened. Christ didn't really die on the cross. He just kind of passed out, and then they took him back and healed up his wounds. And if Christ wasn't raised, then all you're doing is wondering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It's even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they're already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we're a pretty sorry lot. Now, read that last sentence with me out loud, please. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in the long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries. Amen. Well, it's just about two months ago that our fair city was caught up in Super Bowl mania. Seem like two months ago to you? Our excellent team provided us with something to get really excited about, and we made the most of it as a city. Black and gold was everywhere. Banners were hanging. Office buildings were covered. Cars were decorated. I even had black and gold bagels the week of the Super Bowl. The media saturated the community with the message. The day the big game came, and although we played like champions and hung in there right till the end, we fell a little bit short, and Denver won the Super Bowl. All right, just checking to see if we're there, all right. I just don't say the word here. Then it was over. Boom. Super Bowl's over. Signs came down. Banners came down. That very evening, driving home from the Super Bowl gathering I was part of, they were already talking about, well, next year. I wonder if Easter Sunday is a little bit like that. You know, the parallels to me are kind of interesting. I mean, we have our playoff season. We call it Lent. And then we come to the day of the big confrontation. We call that Good Friday. And it appears that the forces of darkness and the forces of light are battling it out. And it looks like Christ loses, and then he makes the greatest comeback of all time. He defeats the powers of darkness and comes back from the grave. And we all cheer and sing and celebrate much as we are today. And then we just go home. And life goes back tomorrow to normal, business as usual for another year. Well, I want to state my case plainly today that if Jesus is raised from the dead, if indeed he was the victor over death and darkness at Calvary, as proven by his resurrection, from the moment I accept that truth as my own conviction, life cannot be the same. Life can never go back to business as usual. And I want to further state that the resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in human history. And it has heart-pounding relevance to how you live your life tomorrow morning and the next day and the next and the next. And it'll change how you live your life, not just what you believe about what happens after you die. Let me just assert three things. Number one, I'm going to say this right up front. If Jesus is raised from the dead, as we proclaim that he is, number one, for taking notes, I know how to live. You see, Jesus' resurrection assures me that he is like no other person or religious leader in the history of the world. In fact, the resurrection means that I needn't examine all the other religions of the world to see if they're true. In fact, I'll say it more plainly for some. Every other religion in the world is false. Now, that may trouble some of you this morning. It sounds awfully closed-minded in a day of plurality and open-mindedness, doesn't it? How can I say that, some might be thinking, because of this one simple fact. Every other religious leader came on the pages of history, did his or her thing, and then died and was put in a grave. And to this day, they remain in that grave. They remain in that tomb. They're all dead. I've been to a number of their graves, a number of their tombs, and they're still in there. But this last May, I was privileged to go with Carol, my wife, and a group of about 30 people to the tomb where scholars and historians say Jesus was laid. And we had flashed that. I don't know if you saw it when you were coming in before the service. That was a photograph I took of the literal tomb where Jesus was laid. And I stood at that door, and I looked through the cracked open door just to peek, and it was empty. And on the door is the little sign that says, he is not here, for he is risen. What a rush that was in my life. It was the most moving moment of my entire trip and one of the most moving moments of my life. I wish I could pack you all up into some 747s, fly you over there right now. Because the only religious leader that came out of the grave is Jesus Christ. And therefore, I know that his word is truth. Regardless of the specious kind of arguments we're hearing once again from all these so-called authorities, friends, if you, and I want to challenge you, if you wonder how is it really true, do some hardcore studying. I mean, get the books out. Do some research. Find out. And you'll come to the same conclusion that millions have through the centuries, that in fact, yes, indeed, Christ has been risen. He's been risen from the dead bodily. And if that be the case, then everything else in my life has changed. His word becomes the foundation of truth in my life. Jesus said, if you want to look on your outline, my word is truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life. There is no stronger authority to build your life on than what Jesus said. And here's where it gets very interesting. Because people, 90, I'm sorry, 87% of us, the most recent Gallup poll said, believe that Jesus came back from the dead. But it stops there. If that be the case, then what he said has a different authority than any other person in human history. I can begin to build my life on the truth of what he said. John 6.63, on your outline here, it says, the words I've spoken to you are spirit. And look at that. They are life. I just took a sampling of a few other scriptures. Look at these words. If you'll put them up, please, Donna. Jesus said in John 10 and verse 10, I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. How many of you want abundant or full life? Then Jesus said this, I am the resurrection and the, say it, life. Later on, John is writing. And he said about all the things that were written by Jesus, he said, these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life. You see, dear ones, salvation is a life. It's life. It's the only way to live. And then the Lord, in his words, speaks of relationships. He speaks of the things that we live every day. He speaks of finances. He speaks of business. He speaks of ethics. He speaks of marriage. He speaks of parenting. He speaks of how we're to conduct ourselves in the world. He teaches us how to live. You know, the sifting sands of human scientific philosophies have decimated much of the foundation that we laid as a nation. Evolution as an inclusive philosophy of how life originated is bankrupt, if you examine it. It neither satisfies our intellect nor the hunger of our soul. It doesn't tell us the answers to life's most important question. Why are we here? What is this life about? It doesn't answer those questions. It doesn't tell us what we're supposed to do with this one and only life that we have. The essential issues of life don't fit the paradigm of evolution. And even young people pick up on this. My son David, a few years ago, said, Dad, if we're just advanced swamp scum, then why should we care about life and death and truth and justice and morality and ethics and, you know, obeying parents who set ridiculously early curfews and stuff like that? Well, the fact is, you see, that most of us, in fact, the most cynical of us, are concerned about those issues. It breaks your heart when you see orphaned children abandoned and hungry. You care about people with AIDS who are suffering and dying. Your heart breaks when you see violence and abuse. We know intuitively that we are far more than over-evolved, educated apes. We're different than the animals, even though we're told that we're just simply one ourselves. We're different, even though we love animals, sometimes more than we love ourselves. In fact, I have to tell you, recently, I've learned how much we love our animals around here. A few weeks ago, I told the story of our dog, Morgan, and her near-death experience. And I made a comment in that service that I knew that there probably was a dog heaven, but I wasn't sure about cat heaven. Well, that comment elicited a whole lot of response. And I've been getting anonymous cat letters. We're coming to spray your house. We're going to leave multiple litters of kittens on your deck because we know Carol and Amy will take them all in. I began to get the message that I needed to get educated, so I just want you to know I have now subscribed to Cats Magazine. I don't know if you can see it in the back. My name is on the cover, to Jay Passam. And so now I'm reading cover articles like Feline Psychology, How to Better Understand Your Cat's Personality. Here's one of my favorites. Keep your cats out of trouble by keeping them entertained. Yeah, right. And my favorite, Helping Cats Cope with Their Pain. Well, the truth be known, I'm learning. I still have a ways to go, cat lovers. Bear with me. God's Word, though, teaches us that we're created as fundamentally different from the rest of the world. At the core of our being, God made us unique because when He fashioned our bodies, the Bible says that He breathed His Spirit, His Huach, it's called in the Hebrew. And we became a living soul. And that is the part of us, dear ones, that will live on forever. And that's what differentiates us from the animal kingdom. We are created in the image of an eternal God. All life comes from God, and in Him we live and move and have our being, the Book of Acts says. Not from some big bang or some cosmic convergence. Therefore, life has value. Life matters to God. It matters to you, and it matters to others. Life has elevated dignity because it comes from God and returns to Him. And that suddenly brings into crisp focus what is often such a blurry mass of issues in our culture. When you value life because it comes from God, then things like poverty and racism and abortion and euthanasia and injustice start to matter because people matter. Because they come from God. When you devalue life, when life comes kind of from some ooze and ends up going out as your candle is extinguished at the end of your life, then all kinds of weird behaviors result. And we don't have to look around the world to see atrocities. I just read the story a couple weeks ago of this young man who abducted a schoolteacher. Maybe you read about it and she had the presence of mind to put her little hand-sized cassette player on while she, for thirty minutes, appealed to him to spare her life. Nonetheless, he suffocated the woman and when interviewed afterward, the young man was asked, why did you do it? He said, simply, I was bored and I liked her car. See, my guess is that that young man never experienced the resurrection rush of God's life. He didn't know. No one had told him that God loved him, that his life mattered, that he was valued by God and people cared for him, that he could establish a true foundation for living and his life could be changed. You see, if Jesus is raised, then I know how to live because His Word is truth and I can stake my life upon it and build a life that matters. One more thing about this, if Jesus' words are truth, then it also means that I don't have the luxury of picking and choosing what part of it I'm going to believe. And friends, this really troubles me. I'll be real frank with you. A lot of us here today want to pick out the parts that we want. I want the promises about God's provision. I want to know that God loves me. I want to know the part about His healing. I want to know the part about Him giving me guidance. But I'm not sure I want the part about where He says here, if I'm really to be of significance, then I need to be a servant. I'm not sure I want the part if you really love me, then you'll keep my commandments. I'm not into that. I'm not sure I want the part that says, if you're part of me, then you're also part of my family. And many people just try to pick and choose their truth. Dear ones, this is all truth. And if part of it applies to your life, all of it applies to your life. You don't have the luxury of picking and choosing. So you're either in the game or you're in the stance. You can't have it both ways. You can't just take the good part and leave the part that requires something of your response. You've got to respond. Thy word is truth. And Jesus' resurrection attests to that. Second thing that this teaches me is, I know how to live and number two, I know how to die. I know how to die. You know, as Jesus neared the time of His crucifixion, He plainly told the disciples that He was going ahead of them to prepare a place in Heaven. Look in your outline, the next scripture, John 14, 2 and 3. There are many homes up there where my Father lives and I'm going to prepare for your coming. When everything is ready, then I will come and get you so that you can always be with me where I am. Someone told me once, when the Lord completes your house in Heaven is when He comes for you. If you're still here, He's still working on your house. If Jesus is raised, then we can know with certainty that we who are in Him, in Christ, will also be raised with Him. Folks, listen, we all know the truth about these bodies of ours, don't we? How many know the body you're in, no matter where you are in your life's journey, is dying? Not a pleasant thought, but true. And no matter how hard we try to patch it together, you know, I mean, we try supplements and diet and exercise and we try hair transplants and cosmetic surgery and we change some parts on the inside and outside, but we're all slowly dying. Now, some of us are helping the process along in some ways, but we're dying. It's just, I mean, we can't help it. It's just happening. This week, many of you know I had back surgery last summer, it was a big deal, and I just got through that and then I had some real intestinal problems and a flu and all this stuff through the winter months and I'm just getting over all this stuff, I'm feeling good, and this week my big toe gets infected. This thing is just going up and down, I don't know what will be next, my ear will probably fall off, I don't know, but our bodies are just that way. They're slowly deteriorating. They're not created to last forever. Yet, many people go through life thinking, hey, well, I'm just going to kind of make it, you know? They give little or no thought to the inevitability that one day they're going to die. Think about the people you work with, how many of them have given any thought to the fact that one day they're going to die. And when they come to that time to die, they don't want to die, they're afraid to die, they're not ready to die. Unlike a person that I heard about last night after our evening service, one of our doctors was attending a patient who came in with gangrene, interestingly, in the big toe, that had climbed up her body and now had taken over in her abdominal cavity, and he said to the lady, I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't think you're going to make it. And she said, Doctor, Jesus and the angels are coming for me today. I've seen them coming. Well, he is a believer in Christ. He was still a little taken back because he doesn't hear that very often. He said, I think you might be right. He walked out of the room where he was examining this woman, went to call another surgeon who was preparing the OR to do some emergency surgery to try to prolong this a little bit. He said, you know, you really probably don't need to do that. By the time he walked back in, the nurse came right to the doctor and said, she just slipped away. One moment she was talking, Jesus and the angels are coming, the next moment she was gone. And he said to me, you know, I've been beside a lot of people who have died and I've seen them anguish, I've seen them writhe and cry out, but this woman had a peace. She knew where she was going. And I'll just say it this way, friends, you don't know how to live until you know how to die. Once you learn how to die, then you can really learn to live. Because the assurance of God will carry you through life. You know, it seems pretty foolish to live your whole life ignoring what you know is going to happen. Some people say to me, and I hear this quite a bit, well, I'm not ready yet to think about it. You know? I'll wait until I'm a little closer to that day and then I'll kind of get my act together. There's two problems with that theory. You know what they are? Number one, the first problem is that people seldom change as they get older. Look around. I mean, we all just kind of keep going on the same direction. Friend, we don't change very easily. When's the last time you went to a class reunion? Notice something about your class reunion? The class clown still is the class clown. The class party animal is still getting drunk. The class computer nerd is filthy rich. But people rarely change. They get into a groove and they just keep grooving. And if you're in your thirties and forties and fifties and sixties and your heart is still sensitive to God, I urge you listen to God today because the farther you go, the less likely you are to respond. The second thing that I've learned is this. The second reason why that theory doesn't work is you don't know when life will end. You don't have any guarantee. I'm sure that those people on that airplane with our Commerce Secretary this week in that tragic plane accident, I mean these were wealthy, influential people who had all their life coming together. I'm sure that the 35 of them had no idea that that would be their last plane ride. We have no guarantee. Don't wait to take care of something that you know you need to take care of today. Heaven will be a wonderful place. A place where you will be surrounded by people who have the same rejoicing spirit in the presence of God. Loved ones that you have seen depart before you will be reunited. There's no sickness, no suffering, no pain, no death, no sorrow. There's a reward for obedience. There's a reassignment with eternal purpose. That's important to some of us, you know. The image of heaven of wings and a harp and a white sheet and sitting on a cloud and a harp going boing, boing I mean it's boring. That's not heaven, that's probably hell. Look at Revelation 21 for He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life. It's kept in heaven for you. Pure and undefiled beyond the reach of change and decay. Dear ones, even the certainty that you're headed to heaven will change how you live tomorrow because now you start to invest your life, not just spend it. And that will change your Monday through Saturday. Because life now has a destiny and a goal. The third thing that the resurrection teaches me, I know how to live, I know how to die, and finally I know how to love. I know how to love. You know the resurrection is often associated with triumph and victory as Dave was saying with power and deliverance but more than anything the resurrection teaches us how love works. Most of us have this deep little secret that we think nobody knows and we want to keep it that way but the truth about you and me friend is this we have a deep need down in the bottom of our soul to know that we are loved. Not for what we can give someone not for an achievement but just simply for who we are. We all launch out into life believing that we're going to find a love out there with our name on it. Some one, some way, somehow love will find us. But so often life disappoints loneliness heartbreak, disappointment hurt, trust is broken loyalty goes down the tubes setbacks occur some of us have been through divorces here painful time of life some of us have lost our children relationally and you begin to wonder you know you find yourself thinking is there any love out there what happened to the promise of love and you struggle and you say why can't I find love but the bible says that Christ was proving his love for you look at the next page the proof of God's amazing love is this that it was while we were yet sinners dear one just as you are Christ loves you today the bible says that Christ was giving himself even when you didn't deserve it even when you weren't cleaned up and looking your best God is a relentless lover of your soul and the only power big enough to fill the love hunger in your soul is resurrection love power you know I've discovered too that until you've received love you really can't give it it's impossible you don't have enough to give it unconditionally to others I was with a businessman a few weeks ago who wasn't a believer doesn't go to church that much he said to me I just can't seem to give my wife enough and my kids are always saying I don't pay enough attention to them he said I don't know I just don't seem to have it and I said to him when the time was right I said you know Bill before you can give the kind of love that your family needs you need to receive the kind of love that God gives the bible says we love because he first loved us reminds me of a story I heard from author Lee Strobel recently about a young Korean girl at age 7 she had been abandoned by her mother to the streets of Seoul Korea right after the Korean war of the 1950's the reason she was the product of her mother's illicit contacts with foreign soldiers both the mother and daughter suffered relentless harassment and ridicule and rejection and pain because the daughter had skin of a different color was a mixed breed even her peers her little friends called her the name Tukki Tukki in Korean which means alien devil as an adult she said when you hear what you are as a little child day after day moment after moment you begin to believe that about yourself she said I wasn't treated as a person I didn't deserve the treatment or I did deserve the treatment that I got I was dirty unclean I didn't really even know my name my identity I didn't have a family I had no future I hated myself she writes so she roamed the streets for two years with a pack of children scrounging food where she could sleeping where ever she could with no identity no hope no sense of love in her life well then world vision moved into the city and started a primitive orphanage funds were tight but they did the best they could and soon after she got there word came that a couple from America was coming to adopt a little orphan a baby boy they supposed so all the older children like this little Korean girl were excited because at least one of their kids one of the babies would have the hope of a brighter future and so this little girl spent the next day helping to clean the orphanage and then to get each of the babies as ready as possible so the visitor would have the best impression possible and then the day came she said in her writings it was like Goliath had come to life when he walked in the door he had big hands and a huge body but I could see love in his eyes and tears streamed down his face as he held up each one of those little babies and hugged them to his chest and she said I know that if he could he would have taken them all home that's how much love he had then he saw me out of the corner of his eye I was nine years old and weighed barely thirty pounds I had disease in my body worms, lice I had scars I was sickly I wasn't a pretty sight but he came over to me and he rattled away a little in English to the interpreter and then he looked right into my eyes and took that huge hand of his and laid it on the side of my face and said friend I want this child this is the child I want to take home you know every time I've thought of that story in the last couple of weeks it's affected me because it describes the Jesus that I know friend if you've grown up and you see Jesus as some God of anger and wrath who's looking for a way to squelch your life don't believe that he loves you even today he wants to take his big gentle hands and put them on your face and tell you eye to eye he loves you and he wants you to be part of his family he wants you to open to his love and receive his presence in your life we so often look around and see the externals and we decide well this person looks love worthy they're kind of hip they look cool they're ok Jesus doesn't look at the outside he looks at the inside and he says I love you I want you to be my child now the amazing part of this story is this the Korean woman writes on she said that hand of love on my face felt so good I wanted him just to keep it there I wanted him to never let go but I didn't know how to respond no one had ever loved me that way so I yanked his hand away looked up at him and spit in his face and ran off imagine that the one and only window of opportunity in this little orphan girl's life and she slams it shut and as I heard that I thought you know how many of us have done that with God we have been in services like this and you felt the presence of God and you've heard God even nudge your heart and you wanted so badly to respond but instead you just pushed him away and went out and did your own thing oh friend if you sense God nudging you this Easter don't put him off he loves you as the story goes the visitor came back the next day he was mature enough to know that little girl was responding out of fear he wrapped his arms around her and he said I want you to come home with me and so he and his wife took the little girl home they named her Stephanie she found Christ as her Lord and Saviour and to this day is following him and now is a mom of her own friend, if you're to give love you've got to receive it when you recognize that kind of love love that accepts you as you are love that covers your guilt and shame love that won't let you go that's resurrection love and it's love that's available to you today and once you've received it then you can begin to give it and that's what makes this life so worth living because we become vessels of the love of God to other people something happens in me when I see God's love reaching out and touching a person because I know it's not me and you know that it's not you but it's so wonderful to be used by him you know when we say around here week after week that Jesus is the hope of the world that's not just a cliche I'm convinced that our government with all of it's good intentions that our academic community that our business community all the great institutions of this country are doing their best to keep us on course but without the love of Christ they don't have the power to do it he is the hope of the world he's the hope for you the hope for your heart, your marriage, your family, your healing and only his love will satisfy you often times I'll pick up the news record I'll look at our local paper and I'll read about another case of abuse, another broken marriage another family meltdown I'll walk in Ross Park Mall and see bands of kids roaming around just obviously not knowing what to do with themselves and I'm thinking God why aren't we making a bigger impact why can't we make a bigger difference as a church you know what I think I start to blame myself when God says this he says you just need to receive more love so I come to the empty tomb today with you and I say friend wherever you are find power to love find power to die and find power to live you can wrap all this up and say well we've had our super bowl of religion today and then just start over again tomorrow but I want to implore you respond to the nudge of the Holy Spirit right now he's here in this place you say well I'm afraid I don't know what to expect don't fear the truth, just fear the deception and the lies that you've been believing Jesus said know the truth and it will set you free and all you need to do is make the invitation and say Lord come in, let's stand together I'd like to sing this little chorus with me he is Lord he is Lord he is risen from the dead and he is Lord close your eyes if you know it if you know the words, if you don't just sing it with me for he is Lord he is Lord he is risen he is risen from the dead and he is Lord every knee shall cry every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord sing for you are Lord lift your voices for you are Lord you are Lord you are risen from the dead and