TUNING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT!

John 14: 15-21 NRSV

The Apostle Paul warned believers that they need to frequently assess themselves and to be ready to give an accounting of themselves. As a Pastor I do this searching and testing often. It is in this spirit that I present this message.

The Baptist preacher just finished his sermon for the day and proceeded toward the back of the church for his usual greetings and handshaking as the congregation left the church. After shaking a few adult hands he came upon the seven year old son of one of the Deacons of the church.
      
"Good morning, Jonathan," the preacher said as he reached out to shake Jonathan's hand. As he was doing so he felt something in the palm of Jonathan's hand. "What's this?" the preacher asked.

"Money," said Jonathan with a big smile on his face, "It's for you!" "I don't want to take your money, Jonathan," the preacher answered. "I want you to have it," said Jonathan. After a short pause Jonathan continued, "My daddy says you're the poorest preacher we ever had and I want to help you."

A pastor was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.
      
The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week" The pastor took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket.
      
The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and give you anything you want." Again the pastor took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.
      

Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess,that I'll stay with you for a week and give you anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" The pastor said, "Look I'm a pastor, I already have a wife, but a talking frog, now that's pretty unique!"

You know I rarely complain about what it’s like to be a pastor but you are expected to be always on the job, and you are always the source of jokes and not-so hidden challenges from those members of the congregation who know you really can’t fight back, and think they are too polite to really share their feelings.

Even your family (especially your family), don’t cut any slack. Here’s how it usually goes:

I asked my family, “What’s gray, has a bushy tail, and gathers nuts in the fall?” Chylle hesitated, looked at her mother, and said, “I know the answer should be Jesus, but it sure sounds like a squirrel to me.”

Other times are even tougher. If I make a comment regarding another person’s intelligence Chylle will say something like, “If I repeat that and someone asks me where I heard it – you’re going down!”

That’s just the way it is. But don’t feel sorry for me. I know God has my back!

I guess my point is to remind you that each of us here on earth are not perfect and never will be, even the holiest person we know, someone like Billy Graham or James Dobson, both have some human manifestation of sin or, as the Apostle Paul put it, “a thorn in the flesh.”

Jesus knew we wouldn’t be perfect, and would have a hard time after He left. So He has given us a “helper,” an Advocate, a counselor, called the Spirit of Truth. This Spirit of Truth is intended to become an intimate part of a believer. We are to immerse ourselves in the Spirit of Truth, from the Greek word, “paracletôs.”

But most of the time we’re like the older gentleman who stood up in a prayer meeting at a church one day and prayed: “Use me O Lord, use me – in some advisory capacity.”

Sadly, most of us learn to turn down the volume of the Holy Spirit! Some people even know how to turn to other channels. Do this often enough and you’ll mute His voice.Let’s hear why Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit (John 14: 15-21):

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I inyou.

They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

The German Reformed Church believed that God wasn’t overly personal and that some of the gifts of the spirit had ceased after the Disciples died. They felt that the Holy Spirit was a very real presence that should be seen and heard in the Christian Heart through actions, not words. But the problem was – how to learn to “tune” in.

The concept of the Holy Spirit can be hard to get. The very basic function of the Holy Spirit is told to us by the Apostle Paul in Romans 8: 16-17:

The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, then also heirs – heirs of God and co – heirs with Christ – seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

It becomes a matter of learning to trust, recognize, and live closely in the Spirit. But it takes a lot of work – sometimes more work than we think we can do.

The Karre language of equatorial Africa was difficult for the translators of the New Testament, especially when it came to the Greek word translated as “Paraclete.”

One day the translators saw a group of porters going off into the bush carrying bundles on their heads. They noticed one didn’t carry anything. They assumed he was the boss, who was present to make sure the others did their work.

However, they soon discovered he was not the boss. Rather, he was present so that, should anyone fall over with exhaustion, this man would pick up the man’s load and carry it for him. This porter was known in the Karre language as “the one who falls down beside us.”The translators had their word for Paraclete, and we have a better understanding of the Holy Spirit.

As believers, we must be careful about our spiritual connections, making sure we are fully abiding in Christ, and trusting in the Holy Spirit. Jesus warned us that it would be difficult for us to discern and understand earthly and heavenly things.

The Holy Spirit serves as our advocate, friend, translator, guide, and comforter when life gets tarasso’d.. He is the “one who falls down beside us.” The life we live, the examples we give, and the coping we do to live a faithful life, tells the story of how we are getting to know Him. Listen to the words of Jesus:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. Amen.

Amen.

“Skunks In the Basement”

John 14: 1-14 (NRSV)

A story is told of a man who could not give a convincing explanation of why his arm got broken. He kept muttering some story about accidently sticking his arm through a car window he thought was down. But that was the public reason. In private he confesses that it happened this way:

It began when his wife brought some potted plants inside that had been out on the patio all day. A garter snake had hidden in one of the plants and later slithered out across the floor where the wife had spotted it.

“I was in the bathroom taking a shower when I heard her scream,” he related, “I thought my wife was being murdered, so I jumped out to go help her. I didn’t even grab a towel.

When I got to the living room she yelled that a snake was under the couch. I got down on my hands and knees to look for it, and my dog came up behind me and cold-nosed me. I guess I thought it was the snake and I fainted.

My wife thought I had a heart-attack and called the ambulance. I was still groggy when the ambulance arrived so the medics lifted me onto the stretcher.

When they were carrying me out, the snake came out from under the couch and frightened one of the medics. He dropped his end of the stretcher, and that’s when I broke my arm.”

Some people claim to have no problems, troubles, or misfortune. The nightly news seems to have those 5 minute stories of people who triumph over adversity, disease, or some limitation. There’s usually some piece of advice or some way to conquer your troubles. Let’s hear Jesus’ advice on troubles:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

In one of the Peanuts Comic Strip, Charlie Brown says, “There’s no problem so big I can’t run away from it.” Problems, troubles, we all have them, don’t we?

The Greek word translated as ‘troubled’ in verse 1, “tarassô,” (ta-ras-so) means “disturbed, terrified, thrown into confusion, frightened, startled, stirred up, and thrown into turmoil.”

If you think of how sincere Christians are responding to the increasingly hostile culture we’re living in, you’re probably not too far off with these verbs.

We live in a world where the family is under attack, marriage is being redefined, and the whole concept of individual responsibility is being reshaped to present political and social correctness as everything. We are “troubled.” We are tarasso’ed!

The troubles come from the pressure of living in times and cultures that are changing. We are forced to assimilate and accommodate ideas and situations that violate our ethics, morals, and faith.

Combined with the usual problems of life such as money, parenting stress, job performance, interpersonal relationships, and striving to be faithful our plates seem full to the breaking point. Scientists are claiming that world information is doubling every 2.5 years! No one can keep up with it. We are tarasso’ed!

This world is increasingly distancing itself from God. It seems as if the things God has ordained as good for His creation is labeled wrong, discriminatory, and hateful in a world of self-interested “bread and circus” minions whose spirituality is based on wars between werewolves and vampires, space aliens and witches.

The church is being isolated due to the speed and veracity of the cultural manifesto of turmoil. Faith and trust in God does not change and old-fashioned beliefs become suspect in a dynamic culture.

Do you know what the perfect “#pastoral tweet” would be? “Have a blessed day of living in the grace of Christ!” And most Millennial Christians would consider that deeply spiritual and not have to go to church for a month.

Our cry becomes, “When will it stop?” (Knowing only Christ’s return will stop it.)

We are like the woman who once called 911 to report she had a skunk in her basement. She was told to make a trial of breadcrumbs from the basement to the yard, and then wait for the skunk to follow it out of the basement.

A while later the woman called again and reported that she had done what she was told, and that now she had two skunks in her basement.

That’s my prediction by the way, for the world of the future. No matter how hard humanity will try to set the world right without God, we’ll just be attracting more skunks to the basement.

Okay Pastor – you’ve painted a negative picture and condemned the world, but isn’t it your job to give us hope? (BTW, that’s #hope!)

Friends, if there wasn’t a reason for hope I couldn’t do this anymore. Let’s re-read verse 1 again: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”

No matter how bad the worldly troubles get, and how much people believe in the oxy-moronic motto of the 21^st century called “Lie honestly because the truth will only deceive you,” Jesus Christ still rules and God is in control of the universe.

As Christians our faith should be sufficient to give us the assurance to abide in God’s Love and the Grace of Jesus Christ, to live everyday to the best of our ability and avoid any contamination from our intrusive and invasive culture. Christians need to be encouraged not to give up just because we can become weary of the fight for faith.

Too many so-called Christians live like a man from the Carolina mountains who came to New Orleans one day.

He was all dressed up and carrying his Bible. A friend saw him and asked, “Elias, what’s happening? Where are you going all dressed up like that?”

Elias said, “I’ve been hearing about New Orleans all my life. I hear that there’s a lot of free runnin’ liquor, and a lot of gamblin’ and a lot of real good naughty shows.”

The friend looked him over and said, “But Elias, why are you carrying a Bible under your arm?” Elias answered, “Well, if it’s as good as they say it is, I might stay over until Sunday.”

We must consistently learn to abide in God’s Grace as we wait for the return of Jesus, no matter how many skunks hang out in our basement. We must realize those skunks are not of our choosing and are due to the world’s unacknowledged sin, and we need to avoid feeding them.

We need to reach out to as many people as will listen to share the message of the Gospel. We are to share the message and God will supply the Holy Spirit to do the work.

I’m reminded of the story of the middle-age woman who called her daughter in a huff. “Dear,” she said, “Have you called your grandmother recently? I’ve tried to call her every evening this week, and there’s been no answer. She really should be at home. I’m beginning to worry.”

The daughter thought a moment and said, “Oh. They’re having a revival at the retirement village this week. I’ll bet that’s where Grandma has been when you called.”

“Revival,” the woman repeated. “What on earth do they do they need with a revival? What kind of sins could they possibly have at a retirement village, for crying out loud?”

The daughter wisely shot back, “Old ones, Mother, old ones.”

Friends God is in control and on His Throne. We are not to be troubled nor despair even though we face ancient evil. Jesus’ has it covered. He’s got a big can of Holy Fabreeze to calm down the skunk smell, We are to watch, pray, share the Grace of Jesus with all who will listen, and not worry. Amen.

“After All, He Wrote It”

JOHN 10: 1-10 (NRSV)

Last week we talked about the “Big Picture.” This week we’ll revisit that idea a little bit, but we’ll also include some “Mom” things, too.

First, God created the dog and said: "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said: "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?" So God agreed.

Next, God created the monkey and said: "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said: "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?" And God agreed.

Then God created the cow and said:"You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said: "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about I take twenty and I'll give back the other forty?" And God agreed again.

Finally, God created man and said: "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years." But man said: "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?" "Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that’s why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. The next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you. You now have another version of the “big picture!” Remember what the term, “The big picture, means?” It relates to knowing the meaning and reason to/for life or everything.

Listen to John 10: 1-10:

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.

Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them.

I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

God wrote a “big picture” book called the Bible. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, God is the Gatekeeper, we are the sheep, and anyone else are like thieves and bandits.

When I was working as a Computer Program Analyst with the Army we once encountered a very serious problem with a computer program. Four people, myself included, worked for a week to try to figure it out. No matter what we tried it just wouldn’t do what we wanted it to do.

Finally, in desperation because of an approaching deadline, I suggested we ask for help from a person in the next office down the hall. My boss asked me why? I simply said, “He should know what to do, after all, he wrote this program in the first place.”

The program change was successfully initiated in about 15 minutes after talking to him, and I got a “suggestion of the month award.” I was actually embarrassed that it took me that long to suggest it.

Don’t most of us spend many years trying to get a handle on life when we should know to look to the author of this world for the authority to live our lives?

John 1: 1-3: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.  God wrote the world! God should be our resource for life, after all He wrote it!

Motherhood was created by God to serve a purpose of child raising and balance in the family, and to disprove evolution. Why did I say that? Because if progressive evolution, as told by our scientists, is correct, why do mothers still only have 2 hands?

In order to understand motherhood we need to see not only the big picture of the family ordained by God, but the roles that a father and mother have in bringing up God-loving and serving children.

Motherhood is related to God’s institution of marriage and the ideal of a union between a man and a woman who would be committed throughout their lifetimes to share every challenge and experience of life on earth. Women and men have different roles and expectations, strengths and weaknesses, but are equal in God’s Kingdom.

The word “mother (Greek mê-tėr)” occurs 100 times in the Greek New Testament and reflects the value of the family. Western Civilization, with its Christian roots and inspiration, at least until the last 10 years or so, valued motherhood greatly.

We don’t realize how practices like abortion, same sex marriage, unmarried people living together, and out-of- wedlock births have undermined the family, the sanctity of motherhood, and destruction of fatherhood.

Listen to what Theodore Roosevelt said about mothers: “When all is said that can be said, it is the mother, and the mother only, who is a better citizen than the soldier who fights for his or her country.

The successful mother, the mother who does her part in rearing and training aright the boys and girls who are to be the men and women of the next generation, is of greater use to the community and occupies, if she would only realize it, a more honorable  as well as a more important position than any man in it. The mother is the supreme asset of the national life. She is more important by far than a successful government leader, businessperson, artist, or scientist.”

Wow, how far our social values and mores have fallen!

The cartoon strip “Momma” once had the son running up and saying, “Hi, Momma! Can you sew on this button in a hurry? And iron these slacks? And get me a get me a cold glass of water? Thanks, Momma! Got to run.” Momma sighs and says, “In the ‘Indy 500’ of life, mothers are the pit stops.”  God agrees. AMEN

“So Funny I Could Cry”

John 20: 19-31 NRSV

 

In an interview with an African Safari guide, the guide was asked, “Is it true that jungle animals won’t harm you if you carry a torch?” The guide replied, “That depends on how fast you carry it.”

A defendant was on trial for murder. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse. In the defense's closing statement the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all," the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. "Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom." He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly. A minute passed. Nothing happened.

Finally the lawyer said, "Actually, I made up the previous statement. But, you all looked on with anticipation. I therefore put to you that you have a reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed and insist that you return a verdict of not guilty." The jury, clearly confused, retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty.

“But how?" inquired the lawyer. "You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door." The jury foreman replied, "Oh, we looked, but your client didn't."

How do you act when you are confronted with something you don’t believe? Each of us know things that others may believe in that are harmless – Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy for instance. But what about things that may be dangerous like taking “folk” medicine or performing a superstitious behavior to cure a disease, infection, or serious ailment?

Leeches and blood-letting were major folk cures that were dangerous.

But some of you may say some of those cures work! But which ones? Some of the claims and cures are so strange and funny, you’ll laugh so hard it’ll make you cry!

What are we to believe or not? If we cross over into religion “what should we believe” grows larger. What truths about Jesus do we believe or not?

 

Here’s one to consider: A survey a few years ago by the Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University found that most Americans do not believe they will experience a resurrection of their bodies when they die.

When asked, "Do you believe that, after you die, your physical body will be resurrected someday?" Only 36 % of adults surveyed said "yes," 54 % said they did not believe, and 10 percent were undecided.

Down thru the ages many people have expressed the opinion that death is final. Back in the days of ancient Greece the poet Aeschylus wrote: “Once a man dies, there is no resurrection.”

The Greek Philosopher Theocritus wrote: “There is hope for those who are alive, but those who have died are without hope.”

There’s something about death that seems (pause) permanent… and tragic. Sigmund Freud wrote: “And finally there is the painful riddle of death, for which no remedy at all has yet been found, nor probably will ever be!”

Let’s read our Gospel Lesson for today (John 20: 19-31), and then I am going to tell you an amazing thing that is so simple and funny, it should make you laugh!

 

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”       

²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

 

²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

 

To say that death is permanent and final is to forget one important detail of creation: God created humanity perfect and in His image; which also means eternally. God created us to live forever. His desire for us was to live with Him forever.  

Yet Adam and Eve sinned and fell from perfection. The consequence of sin was that death entered into the world.

Through Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection reconciliation and restoration of eternal life was given back to humanity. Of course, Jesus’ resurrection was real! How could it not be?

But still some people waffle.

 

Boudreaux was out fishin’ when he came back in with a boat load of fish. The game warden was watchin’ and came and said, "Boudreaux, how you caught all dem fish?" And Boudreaux say, "Com’ see." They both went out again and then Boudreaux said this is the spot.

So he pulled out a stick of dynamite and lit it. The warden he done started hollerin’, "Boudreaux, you can’t do dat! You can’t fish dat der dynamite! What you tink boy?"

Just then Boudreaux threw the dynamite to the warden who caught it and said to the warden, "You gonna sit there a hollerin’ or you gonna fish?"

What does it take to change your convictions or understanding of a simple answer? For some it may take dynamite for others it is as simple as the breeze blowing.

In a speech made in 1863, Abraham Lincoln said, "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown.

 

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us.

And we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."

Carl Sagan was fascinated that educated adults, with the wonders of science manifest all around them, could cling to beliefs based on the unverifiable testimony of observers dead for two thousand years.

“You’re so smart, why do you believe in God?” he once asked a pastor he knew. He found this a surprising question from someone who had no trouble accepting the existence of black holes, which no one has ever observed. “You’re so smart, why don’t you believe in God?” he answered.

Sagan never wavered in his agnosticism, even when he was dying. “There was no deathbed conversion,” his wife, Ann Druyan, says. “No appeals to God, no hope for an afterlife, no pretending that he and I, who had been inseparable for twenty years, were not saying good-bye forever.”

“Didn’t he want to believe?” someone asked. “Carl never wanted to believe,” she said fiercely. “He wanted to know.”

Thomas wanted to know, too. And Jesus had an answer ready for him.

 

Friends, that the point. I have told you so many times about the beautiful symmetry of God’s creation. God created us with eternal life. We screwed it up. So God had to find a way to restore it. That’s His message for us.

Let’s hear those immortal words from John’s Gospel, chapter 3, verses 16-17:

 

“For God loved the world in this way, He gave his One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

 

Friends, Jesus came for this! He was born, grew up, ministered and performed miracles, became the foretold Messiah, died on a cross as the atonement for humanity’s sin, and triumphed over death on the third day. That’s history, that’s reality, that’s our faith. Believe in the resurrection!

Amen.

THE RESURRECTION

John 20: 1-18 (NRSV)

It’s Easter Sunday. Time to eat all the candy and marshmallow eggs.

 Time to pig out on an Easter Ham. There’s gotta be a nicer word for pig out. A euphemism, as it were. Hey, try to think up a nicer word for euphemism.

 And while you’re at it, think up a shorter word for abbreviation. And a synonym for Thesaurus.

 Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together? Why can’t women put on mascara with their mouths closed? And why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ such a big deal?

 Why do people claim it didn’t happen when so much historical evidence supports the facts? There are more facts for Jesus’ resurrection than we have for the historical characters of Robin Hood, King Arthur, Hannibal and his elephants, and the mysterious island of Atlantis, but people don’t doubt them.

 

Let’s read the resurrection story: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.  So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."

 

Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 

He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 

 

Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 

 

Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

 

Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.

As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."

 

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."

 

Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "

 

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

 

I have heard many explanations and reasons to support the resurrection. I even have personal experience that leads me to faith. But the best argument I’ve ever heard comes from a source some people might not have considered:

When Charles Colson, onetime Watergate criminal-turned-founder of Prison Fellowship, is challenged about the truth of Christ’s resurrection, he responds:

 

“My answer is always that the disciples and 500 others gave eyewitness accounts of seeing Jesus risen from the tomb. But then I’m asked, ‘How do you know they were telling the truth? Maybe they were perpetuating a hoax.’ ” Colson says, “My answer to that comes from an unlikely source: Watergate.”

 

He wrote this in his “Break Point Online Commentaries” in 2002:

 

Watergate involved a conspiracy perpetuated by the closest aides to the president of the United States — the most powerful men in America, who were intensely loyal to their president. But one of them, John Dean, turned state’s evidence, that is, testified against Nixon, as he put it, “to save his own skin” — and he did so only two weeks after informing the president about what was really going on!

 

The cover-up, the lie, only held together for two weeks, and then everybody else jumped ship to save themselves.

Now, all those around the president were facing was embarrassment, maybe prison. Nobody’s life was at stake.

 

But what about the disciples? Twelve powerless men, peasants really, were facing not just embarrassment or political disgrace, but beatings, stoning, execution. (Yet) Every one of the disciples insisted, to their dying breaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead.

 

Don’t you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the authorities? None did. Men will give their lives for something they believe to be true; they will never give their lives for something they know to be false.

 

The Watergate cover-up reveals the true nature of humanity. Even political zealots at the pinnacle of power will, in the crunch, save their own necks, even at the expense of the ones they profess to serve so loyally. But the apostles could not deny Jesus, because they had seen him face to face, and they knew he had risen from the dead.

 

No, you can take it from an expert in cover-ups — I’ve lived through Watergate — that nothing less than a resurrected Christ could have caused those men to maintain to their dying whispers that Jesus is alive and is Lord.

 

Two thousand years later, nothing less than the power of the risen Christ could inspire Christians around the world to remain faithful — despite prison, torture, and death. Jesus is Lord: That’s the thrilling message of Easter. It’s a historic fact, one convincingly established by the evidence — and one you can bet your life upon.

 

So there you have it, a compelling argument for Christ. A rational suggestion that the resurrection would have fallen apart if there were any shenanigans involved.

 

But we live in times of spiritual ignorance, skepticism, and religious shenanigans.

 

A woman went into a jewelry store looking for a necklace and said to the clerk, “I’d like a gold cross.” The man looked at the stock in the display case and replied, “Do you want a plain one or one with a little man on it?”

 

Easter is the day we acknowledge that the cross is not only empty, but the tomb is as well. We celebrate Jesus overcoming death. He is risen! Amen.

EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE MESSAGE

THE RESURRECTION IN HISTORY 

“HE IS RISEN! Easter Morning – Easter Sunrise Service. I had an experience this week I want to tell you about:  

A man claiming to be an atheist complained to me, "Christians have their special holidays, such as Christmas and Easter; and Jews celebrate their holidays, such as Passover and Yom Kippur; Muslims have their holidays. EVERY religion has its holidays. But we atheists," he said, "have no recognized holidays. It's an unfair discrimination."  

"What do you mean, atheists have no holidays," I asked him, "People have been observing a special day in your honor for years." "I don't know what you're talking about," the atheist said, "When is this special day honoring atheists?" "April first." 

Here’s another older joke – but it might wake you as you groan: A very zealous soul-winning young preacher recently came upon a farmer working in his field. Being concerned about the farmer`s soul the preacher asked the man, "Are you laboring in the vineyard of the Lord, my good man?"

Not even looking up and continuing his work the farmer replied, "Naw, these are soy beans." "You don`t understand," said the preacher, "Are you a Christian?"

With the same amount of interest as his last answer the farmer said, "Nope my name is Jones. You must be looking for Jim Christian. He lives south of here."

The determined preacher tried again asking the farmer, "Are you lost?" "Naw! I`ve lived here all my life," answered the farmer. "Well, are you prepared for the resurrection?" the frustrated preacher asked.

This caught the farmer`s attention and he asked, "When`s it gonna be?" Thinking he had accomplished something the young preacher replied, "It could be today, tomorrow, or the next day."

Taking a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiping his brow, the farmer remarked, "Well, don`t mention it to my wife. She don`t get out much and she`ll wanna go all three days."

Okay, since it’s so early in the morning, one more. The SS teacher told the 5th grade class that Jesus was buried in a borrowed tomb. One student said that she knew why. "Jesus only used it for three days, and then gave it back."

Today is Easter Sunday, the day we talk about Jesus’ Resurrection.

Just this year, a letter was sent to a deceased person by the Indiana Department of Social Services. It read as follows: Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 2014 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. P. S. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.

Well, except for an occasional Lazarus, there really haven’t been too many who have seen a change in those circumstances! Except Jesus of course. But.

Since coming into this world 60 years ago I've learned that people are ready to believe that everything is shrouded in conspiracy. Bin Laden's death, Obama's birth certificate, the 9-11 terrorism incident, the Holocaust, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, JFK, and even now Flight MH370.

Think of an event that could be conspiratized (well, it's almost a word) and as Stan Lee says, “true believers flock to the cause.”

So it isn’t surprising to read today that, "Roughly one fifth of all American believe that Jesus faked his death on the cross, got married, moved to southern France, and had a family. But 64%, in a Rasmussen poll last week, believe in the Resurrection.

Isn’t ironic that almost more people believe in little green individuals from space  then believe in Jesus’ resurrection?  Just last week, Bill Clinton, speaking on Jimmy Fallon’s show said he thought the only way our screwed up world could be set right would be little green men landing on the White House Lawn.

Obviously he, like a lot of people don’t want to acknowledge that “setting things right,” will only happen when our resurrected Lord returns at the end of days. But that same Rasmussen poll said that 47% of Americans don’t know or care if Jesus will return or not. 

The popular historian Will Durant, himself not a Christian, wrote concerning Christ's historical validity and resurrection, "The denial of that existence seems never to have occurred even to the bitterest gentile or Jewish opponents of early Christianity." (Durant, The Story of Civilization, vol. 3, p. 555). 

He went on to say, "That a few simple men should in one generation have invented so powerful and appealing a personality, so lofty an ethic and so inspiring a vision of human brotherhood, would be a miracle far more incredible than any recorded in the Gospels" (Ibid., p. 557).

It is a substantial thing that a historian who spends his life considering historical facts should affirm the reality of Christ's existence as well as the rapid growth of the early movement.  

Many facts recorded in the Bible have been challenged with the same result, and later archeology confirms the reliability of the biblical records down to the smallest detail.  

A respected Jewish archaeologist has claimed that, "It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference." This is a strong statement for any archaeologist to make because if it were not true, he would quickly be condemned in his own field.  

The conclusion drawn from this material is that the Bible is a reliable historical document. Its accuracy has been proved numerous times. Its historical inaccuracy has never been supported.  

So that when we approach the Bible, we do so with a good amount of confidence that what it records actually happened. If this is true, then we need to come to terms about what the Bible claims. We cannot dismiss it out of hand because we were not there, regardless of the difficulty of what is said.   

Christians stake their entire faith on the resurrection of Christ because it is only through this event that forgiveness can come. It is the only way that fallen humanity can be reconciled with a perfect God. 

The gospels and the historical evidence bear out this claim that Jesus rose from the dead. The question is what will you do with the evidence?  

It has been God's practice to give evidence to those who are willing to respond, but He will not be mocked by scoffers.  

Christ appeared to his disciples because they were willing to believe when given enough evidence. He will not give evidence to those who refuse to believe.  

The story related in John 20: 26-28, of the disciple Thomas shows us that God will provide evidence to those who will believe it. Thomas was willing to accept the evidence he saw.  

How much evidence will it take for us to believe? As Christ states in the very next verse,  "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

There is much more evidence for the truth of Christ's message than we have time to discuss this morning. I am giving you a brief sketch of some of the historical evidence. There is also the evidence of fulfilled prophecy from the Old Testament, as well as other kinds.  

The point is that the evidence exists. If the evidence is weak and unconvincing, then we can throw Christianity out and look elsewhere.  

But if it is true, the message of Jesus Christ applies to us. And we must be willing to submit to it, regardless of what it says about us. God demands humility from us.  

If he is indeed our Maker, we cannot approach Him with an attitude that is arrogant and demanding. We must approach Him on His terms. Christ spelled out those terms: mankind is in rebellion toward God and in need of forgiveness. This is exactly what Christ came to offer.  

Let’s hear those immortal words from John’s Gospel, chapter 3, verses 16-18: 

“For God loved the world in this way,: He gave his One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.”

Friends, Jesus came for this! He was born, grew up, ministered and performed miracles, became the foretold Messiah, died on a cross as an atonement for humanity’s sin, and triumphed over death on the third day. That’s history, that’s reality, that’s our faith.Amen.

 

 

 

MAUNDY THURSDAY MESSAGE:

“What would it be like…”

John 13: 1-15 (HCSB)

      Jesus is preparing for a big weekend, yet He takes time out to eat and become a servant to His disciples and followers. What would it have been like to be there that night? Have you ever considered that question?

      As a mother and daughter walked out of church one Sunday morning, the mother said, “That was a nice service. I really liked the soft piano music during the prayer.” The little girl turned and asked her mother, “That was a piano?”
     The mother nodded, and the little girl said, “Oh. I thought God had put us on hold.”
     We never need to fear that God will put us on hold even on the evening before the greatest sacrifice God could ever make. Our God reaches down and enters our trials and struggles and teaches us His ways.
     I am convinced that’s why the story of foot washing is here in John’s Gospel. John’s chapters 13-17, are called the farewell discourses of Jesus and have been compared to Moses’ farewell to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 31-33.
     In John 13 we have two things happening: the physical cleansing through foot washing in verses 1-17; and the figurative cleansing by removing the betrayer from the group in verses 18-30.

Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

Now by the time of supper, the Devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray Him. Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into His hands, that he had come from God, and that He was going back to God.

So He got up from supper, laid aside His robe, took a towel, and tied it around Himself. Next, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around Him.

He came to Simon Peter, who asked Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” 

Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t understand now, but afterwards you will know.” “You will never wash my feet –ever!” Peter said.

Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 

“One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean.  You are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew who would betray Him. This is why He said, “You are not all clean.”

When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His robe. He reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? You call Me Teacher and Lord. This is well said, for I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you.” 

     From the beginning of life, foot washing among the Jews is a welcoming event and a commitment to being with that person from then on in spirit and in prayer. It is a ritual. It should be a reminder of how Jesus reaches out to us in humbleness.

     The foot washing related here in John’s Gospel is an example that we cannot attain cleanliness or goodness from our own acts or our rituals, but rather through our desire to allow Christ to touch and teach us a better way. Foot washing becomes a highly significant event.
      In a small Jewish town in Russia, a rabbi disappeared each Friday morning for several hours. His devoted disciples boasted that during those hours their rabbi went to heaven and talked to God.
      A stranger who moved into town was skeptical, so he decided to check things out.
      He hid and watched the rabbi. The rabbi got up in the morning, said his prayers, then dressed in peasant clothes. He grabbed an ax, went into the woods, and cut some firewood, which he then hauled to a shack on the outskirts of the village, where an old woman and her sick son lived. The rabbi left them the wood and went home.
     The newcomer became the rabbi’s disciple.
     Now, whenever he hears a villager say, “On Friday morning our rabbi ascends to heaven,” the newcomer quietly adds, “if not higher.”
     Foot washing teaches us service, humility, and a lifelong example of priorities.
     An 11 year old boy was invited along on his father’s yearly fishing trip for the first time. It was important for the boy to show his father how happy he was to be felt mature enough to go along.
     But two nights into the trip the boy awoke, sick to his stomach. He feared he might throw up. He needed to get to the bathroom. But the cabin was cold and dark, and he would have to climb out of a warm top bunk. Suddenly, the boy threw up over the side of the bunk.
      The father heard the awful splatter and came running in, flicked on the light, and surveyed the mess. “Couldn’t you have gotten to the bathroom?” he asked the boy.
       “I’m sorry,” the boy replied, knowing he deserved every angry comment that would come. The boy had done something foolish, messy, embarrassing — and worst of all, childish.
       The father shook his head a little, then left. He came back with a bucket of sudsy hot water and a scrub brush. The boy watched, amazed, as he got on hands and knees and began scrubbing each pine board clean again.
       It became the defining moment of the boy’s understanding of who his father was, the goal he should set for his own life, and what Christ did for us on the Cross.
       As Christians, we face many awful and embarrassing messes. Our friends and family may often let us down and we frequently let Jesus down. Jesus has already shown us what we must do in those situations: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:14).
       A young boy going to see his grandfather was traveling by train. He took a seat beside a man who happened to be a seminary professor. The boy was reading a Sunday school take home paper, and the professor thought he would have some fun with the boy.
      The professor said, “Young man, if you can tell me something that God can do, I’ll give you a big shiny apple.” Thoughtfully, the boy replied, “Mister, if you can tell me something God can’t do, I’ll give you a whole barrel of apples.”
      Redemption of humanity by Jesus’ sacrificial ministry is something God did!

That’s what we would have learned by being with Jesus that night. Amen