Sermon Audio

 

Raising up a Mighty Army

John 20:19-31

CrossTalk: Live in the Light of Easter

 

We live in a world that has been forever changed. It was changed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

For all of our lives, and for two millennia before that, we have lived in a world where the promised Messiah has come. He has finished His battle with Satan and has crushed the Serpent’s head. Jesus has ended the Old Testament and ushered in the New Testament in His blood.

Jesus’ resurrection is the indispensable foundation of the Christian faith, its hope, of Christian love. St. Paul put it this way, “if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:17-20).

Nevertheless, we struggle daily with doubt. Despair harasses us. And love does not come easy. Our struggle is to live in the light of Easter—to internalize the reality of the resurrection.

The first step is to put yourself in the shoes of its first witnesses. You are no different than those who lived through the first Easter. They also struggled because, as St. John tells us, “As yet they knew not the Scriptures, that He must rise again from the dead” (John 20:9).

They didn’t know that He was risen. The clues were all there. The body was gone. The linen cloth was lying there. The napkin was folded, in a place by itself. But still, they went home dejected.

They interpreted the clues to mean something false. Mary could only conclude that “They have taken away the Lord from the tomb” (John 20:13). Not realizing the true significance of what they witnessed, they interpreted them as more evidence that Jesus’ enemies were still prevailing. “They did it. They are in control. We don’t know what they did to His body,” thought His disciples.

But they were wrong. And we know otherwise. For us, these clues are signs of the resurrection. We cherish these artifacts, and revel in the empty tomb. What a difference perspective makes! We know the Scriptures. They did not.

And today, in our lives and in our circumstances, we too are given clues that Jesus has deliberately left for us. We see His acts in the world, every single day. World events are never random. The good and the bad and the ugly—all events are of His making.

Jesus chose Judas, His betrayer, to be a disciple. The Father gave Pontius Pilate the authority to crucify Him. God Himself made Caiaphas High Priest, that year.

And the same remains true today. God is directing current events. And God has brought you into the world precisely for this moment. Whether God or you approve of what is happening, God remains in control.

You don’t yet know HOW God “will work [them] together for the good of those who love God” (Romans 8:28). But, because of the resurrection of Jesus, you know THAT He will.

Future generations will look at us and say, “How could they NOT rejoice?” Because they will see with hindsight.

We, on the other hand, live by faith. The Scriptures interpret the clues and make us glad—even before God’s plan is clear.

If we are still in sorrow, bitterness and anger, it is only because we—like the first visitors to the empty tomb—do not yet know the Scriptures. Observing the world apart from the Scriptures will make us misinterpret the clues and make us despondent.

So, let us consciously live in the light of Easter. That means to believe God’s promises for you as surely as if they have already happened. Because, in Christ, they have.

CrossTalk: Read the Bible as your Lenten Challenge

 

For the second year in a row, our congregation is working on a challenge to read the Bible from cover to cover during one calendar year. That comes out to 82 verses, or three and a quarter chapters per day.

It’s quite doable and it has many benefits. I encourage you to join us in this challenge.

The first benefit is that it will dispel the myth that the Bible is just too big and too complicated for the average person to tackle. Anyone—and I mean anyone—who starts reading the Bible at page one soon learns that it is very straightforward.

Most of the Bible simply describes events that happened during the history of the world. It is not written in cryptic code but in historical narrative.

The Bible is only confusing when false teachers cherry-pick a passage from here and a passage from there and artificially connect them together into something that the Bible never says.

When you read the Bible cover to cover, don’t try to read between the lines. Just see for yourself how its stories connect naturally. Adam’s story flows into Abraham’s story. And Abraham’s flows into Moses’ story and Moses’ story flows into Jesus’ story.

Read it on its own terms and you will soon become familiar with the story of the human family, created and sustained by God. As you are reading these historical events, you will see how God is deeply involved in very ordinary lives.

Sometimes His involvement is a miraculous deliverance from an impossible situation. Sometimes it is a frightening judgment on those who thumb their noses at Him.

The blessings—like bumper crops, victory in battle, and restoration of broken relationships—may seem like pure luck in the non-biblical world. But the Bible makes clear that all of them are God’s direct fulfillment of His promises.

Likewise, judgments—like famine, military disaster, and the fall of entire nations—are not random, but are directly connected to the people’s sins and rebellion.

Taken together, both sorts of stories are written so that you would take God ever more seriously. “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction” (1 Corinthians 10:11).

When you read of God’s terrible punishments, you are stirred to repent. And when you read of God’s miraculous deliverances, you are emboldened to trust His promises without fearing that He will let you down.

That’s the second main benefit of Bible reading. If you approach it like an empty fairy tale, you will be bored. But when you remember that these things really happened, you will be moved to repentance and faith.

Repentance is when you take your sins seriously and are no longer content to cave in to every temptation that you feel. Faith is when you are no longer afraid of what others can do to you but you trust that God’s promises to care and provide for you are true.

And that brings us to Lent.

Lent is a time of renewal because Lent is a season that invites us to take God more seriously today than we did yesterday. Lent is not about giving up chocolate or some such thing. Lent is really about a renewal of life that is born of repentance.

Fasting can be helpful. But if you really want renewal, go to God’s Word. It will do more for you than anything that you can do for yourself.

Reading the Bible for yourself will reduce your intimidation over Bible reading and fortify you against some of the false teaching that Satan will throw your way. Reading the Bible will give you reasons to fear, love and trust in God more than anything. Also, reading the Bible will teach you to gather with fellow believers in weekly worship.

When you take God’s involvement in your life seriously, the blessing you find by gathering with other believers will crown your Lenten repentance with renewal and Easter joy. God promises it.

CrossTalk: God Redeems Our Time through Christ

 

In Ephesians chapter 5, St. Paul teaches us to “walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

To walk circumspectly is to see our current world in the light of Holy Scripture. It is to see things as they really are, not as the rest of the world sees things.

To see your life in the light of heaven is not to trudge through your life as one meaningless day after another. Your life is not merely an endless struggle to put food on the table and a roof over your head. “The Gentiles seek after all these things,” says Jesus, “and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all” (Matthew 6:32).

Life is more than food. And the body is more than clothing. You were created in the image of the One True God. You should see your life in that majesty and glory.

C.S. Lewis said it this way: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

The true meaning of life is that you are “not wrestl[ing] against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

This gives your life great dignity and meaningful purpose. What you do and say matter in the great scheme of things.

Small things—like doing your work well and laboring honestly with your hands—drive arrows into the heart of darkness. Ordinary activities—like raising your children and being a good citizen—are spiritual warfare against the powers of darkness.

But don’t think that you can participate in this great cosmic battle with your own strength and with worldly weapons. You have this power only in connection with Christ. Without that faith, you can do nothing.

“Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). You are destined for eternal glory. But that eternal glory depends entirely on faith, which is your connection to Christ.

That potential for connection with Christ dignifies your life in three ways.

First, all human beings are a direct creation of the Most-High God. Contrary to the world’s lies, we are not mere pawns crafted by a pantheon of lesser gods and used in their incessant war games.

Nor are human beings the random product of chance and time—mere cosmic accidents. Rather, the Creator of the universe specifically willed you into existence. And created you in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27).

God gave you a special place and function in the universe that only you can fill. And He did the same for everyone whom you have ever met. This is the first foundation of human dignity.

Second, as the title Christ indicates, God Himself became a human being in the person of Jesus. God did not become an animal or a plant, or even an angel. But, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, He dignified human existence by becoming a man. This is the second pillar of human dignity.

Third, all human beings—as evil and flawed as they are through sin—can be made holy through Christ’s redeeming sufferings and death. No one was above the law. But no one was too far gone for God’s mercy, either.

No matter how far away from God you may be—no matter how low you may feel—our Lord Jesus Christ has died for you and offers you forgiveness, restoration, and meaning through faith in Him.

Jesus has come to a world that preaches hopelessness and despair. And He contradicts the world to offer you new life and hope. Don’t let the devil tell you otherwise.

Go to Church. Listen to God’s Word. That’s the will of God because that’s how Christians redeem the time.

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