04.06.08

A Firm Place to Stand

Posted in Gene Cornett, Sunday Sermons at 3:42 pm by Gene Cornett

This is a somewhat readable version of my written notes of the message I preached the morning of 4/6/08. I always forget how difficult it is to get these notes into readable format. If you heard the message live, then the there’s little new here in the first portion. You could scroll to point two and begin reading from there.

Of Gyroscopes and Gallop Polls
Part 2: A Firm Place to Stand, 1 Peter 1:3-12

We are in the middle of a series we are calling, Of Gyroscopes And Gallop Polls. After last weeks message I had a couple of our more engineering types give me some coaching on gyroscopes and gyroscopic forces. Gyroscopic forces are involved in keeping a bicycle moving in the right direction. The forward motion of the bicycle automatically steers its wheels underneath its center of gravity. Engineers use phrases like “gyroscopic precession” “steering and angular momentum.” But the point for us non engineers, which everyone would understand, is that when the bike is moving forward, its inertia tends to keep it moving forward, but you can’t balance the bike if it’s standing still.

The idea is that its far more healthy to live as if you have an internal gyroscope, and internal compass that keeps you moving in the right direction in spite of what external forces blow on your life. But the danger is that we humans are far more influenced by the environment around us than we care to admit. There is a danger that we are reacting to the opinions of others rather an internal gyroscope that keeps us in balance. We need to act more as thermostats rather than thermometers. We need to carry our own weather around with us.

This morning’s message is titled “A Firm Place to Stand.” it’s about being secure in your relationship with God. Knowing whether or not your faith in Jesus is real is about the most important question that I can think of. I can’t imagine something that is any more important than this. It’s been said that one of the jobs of a person preaching the gospel is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. In any group there are those who know that they do not have faith in Jesus, those who think they have a relationship with Jesus when they do not, those that worry they don’t have a relationship with Jesus when they do, and those who know and are confident that they are in relationship with Christ.

Each of us is in one of these categories. Obviously by far the most dangerous category is the second, those who believe that they are safely in God’s kingdom when in fact they are not. How can you know? Lets think about it like this. All of us have had the experience of traveling in a car to a place we have never been and not being completely confident that we are on the right track. Those with navigation systems in your car, I guess you never have this happen to you any more. Although sometimes navigation systems don’t always work like they are supposed to. Anyway, I’m guessing you’ve had the experience, especially in cities, where you get on an interstate, but you can’t tell right away if you are moving in the right direction. So you look for signs. If you are trying to get to Richmond, you know that you need to get on west 64. But you discover that you are traveling on east 64 you realize, “the signs are showing me that I am not on the right path.” However, if you get on at Ft. Eustis Blvd, and travel west, you see signs along the way, that say, 64 west. A couple of times along the way, you see signs, Richmond, 40 miles or whatever. You feel comforted, I’m on the right path.

So are there signs along the way in seeking to live in this life that show that you are in fact in relationship with Jesus. Once you are on that path, is it possible to mess up so badly, that you in fact take an exit ramp and get off on a different road?

I want to make the case to you this morning that you can experience security in Christ only by making consistent forward progress in the right direction. You may be secure, but if you aren’t moving in the right direction, then you wont experience it, you won’t have confirmation, you won’t live with much confidence, you won’t feel that you have a firm place to stand. Just like a bicycle simply will not operate if you do not keep moving forward, you will have no assurance that you are moving in the right direction if you do not continue to make forward progress. By forward progress, I mean that you are actually changing. Forward progress means that you see some evidence that what the Bible claims that happens in a believer’s life is actually happening in you.

We are in a series of messages on the epistle of 1 Peter. I believe that a major key to understanding this book is to remember that Peter is writing the book to exiles. They are people who are physically displaced, and who are out of sync with much of the rest of that society. There is a real sense in which they don’t belong. The encouragements and the challenges that Peter lays out in the passage, take on greater meaning and poignancy when viewed in that light.

It’s my prayer that in just a few minutes everyone in this room will have greater clarity as to which of these four categories that you are in. knowing your out, thinking you are in, when you are out, thinking you are out when you are in, and confident that you are in. How do we get into that last category?

To find a firm place to stand you need to . . .
1. Fight complacency by developing a greater future orientation toward faith
It is difficult to continue and impossible to thrive in the absence of hope. This is especially true when things are difficult. Without some expectation that things can get better it is hard to maintain forward motion. It helps us to face the pain of the present, if we know there is going to be a pay off down the road.

1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Peter breaks out into spontaneous worship. He shows why in this long sentence, each phrase of which could take up a sermon in itself. God has caused us to be born again. This is God’s doing and it was an act of mercy. It was not deserved at all. God does this. It’s something only he can do. “Born again” is a vivid metaphor. It’s an excellent word picture that’s meant to haunt us, to work on us, we can never completely work it out in our mind, but thinking about it changes you. It sticks with you. The spiritual transaction of taking a person who has not had a relationship with Jesus to one who does is so dramatic it requires this vivid image, born again. Then we are born again, into a living hope. Born again, has an orientation largely at a fixed point in the past, though I do believe that salvation is a process. We are born again into a living hope. We can’t live without hope. But this isn’t just any hope, it’s real, it’s alive. One of the signs along the way that you are in Christ’s family is that you are experiencing some of this, a living, vibrant alive hope for the future. This all happened through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Jesus resurrection accomplished this.

Verse 4 needs to be heard in light of the reality that Peter’s first readers were exiles, displaced and disassociated. There lives were characterized by a lack of anything permanent or rooted. Peter says to them, God caused you to be born again and He has brought you into an inheritance, (future oriented)—listen to his description of it—an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading. In that time there were no banks as we know them, no FDIC, no currency as we understand it. Inheritances would have been more tangible: things that could spoil, fade, or be stolen. Peter lets them know that what they have in Christ cannot be taken away. This all was being kept in heaven for them— they are described like this—who by God’s power they are being guarded through faith. They were being guarded by God’s power. They were being guarded by God’s power. Will you just stop and worship God for a moment for that simple reality. if this has happened to you, if you have genuinely been born again, then you are, according to the authority of God’s word, being guarded by God’s power. You are being guarded by God’s power. for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. That’s still to come.

Why does this matter? I grew up with the very stark question often put to me, and I was taught to put the question to others. “Are you saved?” Saved meant, “are you are Christian”, “have you been born again”, “are you going to heaven when you die.” Very stark, very blunt. To understand the question you had to know something about the Bible. To many now, the question is completely nonsensical—saved from what? A boring sermon. A car wreck. A bad relationship. Saved from what?

The question “are you saved” gives the impression that it all happened in the past. But something is lost when we think of salvation as completely past tense, we lose any sense of the last judgment. This generates a lack of seriousness about the last judgment and I would have to say that seems to be the current orientation with most believers I know. I don’t hear anyone talking about the final judgment before God. It is not those who make a decision for Christ, (not a biblical term by the way), but those who stand firm to the end who will be saved. There is also a lack of tentativeness. In some cases there is almost too much security, or better said, we are too comfortable, there is too much apathy and complacency. Because we look at a relationship with Jesus as having made a decision for Christ in the past and being baptized, like, I got my card punched. I have a passport. I’ve registered for the draft. I got my shots, now I can just go on and not think about that. There’s little healthy awareness that there is a final judgment. There is little healthy doubt about, maybe I could have missed something, maybe I could be wrong. Is there any ongoing evidence that I really have a relationship with God?

Some of you are reading a book right now, much of which I think is probably good, because I hear a lot of you saying that it is helping. However, one of the things that it teaches is that you can actually have had this supernatural born again experience, that it could be real, that you could in fact be on the right road, but then could choose through disobedience to take an exit ramp and be lost. Those with a Wesleyan/Methodist background out of which Pentecostal and Charismatic movements have come, tend to believe that way. This belief creates a level of fear and seriousness that tends to keep people in line, at least for a while. The from the reformed tradition tend to take a view on the other hand of the perseverance of the saints, a teaching based on passages just like this one. If a person has genuinely been born again, if what is described as happening here in verse three has happened, then they are being guarded by God for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. That is a protection that is eternally effective. Praise God!

However, we may have thrown out the baby with the bathwater. Because there is no awareness of the final judgment and no healthy questioning, “am I sure I am on the right road?” “are there any signs that I have in fact been born again?” Because making a decision for Christ, praying a sinners, prayer, being baptized and having your name on a church roll somewhere is not the criteria. Those who endure to the end will be saved.

This greater future orientation gives you a sense of forward motion, it gives you a sense of purpose and sense of a goal toward which to move. It has nothing to do with earning your way into God’s favor, that is not it. But those who are healthy have an awareness that there is a final judgment coming, that salvation is not fully realized until that time and it is extremely prudent for everyone, everyone to keep a check on the signs, do I see the evidence that I belong to God?

You see when you live with this awareness then you can no longer pass off persistent sin as a casual matter. The ability to persist in what you know to be sin and just make excuses about it, whew. Serious business. The ability to persist in gossip. The ability to remain bitter. The refusal to forgive. Harboring of pride. O God have mercy on us.
To find a firm place to stand you also need to . . .
2. Expect the need to express strong faith because of extreme difficulty
1 Peter 1:6-9 (ESV)
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

In this you rejoice, “this” refers to the salvation of which he has been speaking, this salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. If this has happened to you, if you have been born again and if you are paying attention to what this all means, then you will rejoice in this. You will be a joyful person. That is one of the signs along the way. if there is an absence of joy in your life, then for God’s sake, check that out. Don’t go on blaming other people for your lack of joy? The implication of Peter’s words is that the medicine of salvation is so strong, that it will result in joy.

This he says is in spite of great difficulty. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary you have been grieved by various trials. The salvation, the reality of experiencing being born again into a living hope and the knowledge of an imperishable inheritance, and the knowledge that you are being guarded by God’s power for a salvation that is yet to be fully realized is so great, you will rejoice in that in spite of extreme difficulty. He makes this statement as a man who has known great difficulty and being fully aware of what is facing his hearers. He doesn’t use the word “grieved” lightly. He’s not talking about minor irritations. You have been grieved by various trials. Anybody here know a little something about being grieved by various trials?

This is so that, the tested genuineness of your faith . . . So that the tested genuineness of your faith. Your faith has to be tested, otherwise you won’t be able to withstand increasing difficulties in life. The reason these things are hard is because otherwise it wouldn’t be a test. It’s why if you are lifting weights, you add more weight to your repetitions over time. If it wasn’t difficult, it would not cause you to make any progress.

Your tested faith is one of the signs along the way that you are a genuine Christ follower. How well do you weather the storms of your life? When you are grieved by various trials what does that do to you? The fact that you are here, increases the likelihood that you are real. But there are certainly those who what they called “faith” in Christ was destroyed because they became disillusioned through hardship. Trials are coming. They will test your faith in God. But this is what you need. When you face these difficulties and you move through them with stronger faith, then that is a sign along the way that you are on the right road.

1 Peter 4:12 (ESV) 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

Near the end of verse seven Peter says, these trials are “so that the tested genuineness of your faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Still there is this future orientation. The goal is not just for you not to have a lot of faith. The goal is for you to hear God say to you, “well done good and faithful servant.” The goal is out in the future. The goal is to hear the commendation of God himself. Praise the Lord.

The challenge to faith continues in verse 8. “Though you have not seen him, you love him.” Peter had seen Jesus. He was drawing the contrast. Though you have not seen him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with joy. Here is another sign. Joy. Joy inexpressible and filled with glory. Why! because you are obtaining the outcome of your faith, you are receiving, you are in the process of receiving the outcome of your faith, the end goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Praise the Lord. The knowledge of that, the goal of your faith, when it’s understood for what it is, results in inexpressible joy. Is that your testimony? How can we gossip? How can we backbite? Show me a relational problem not addressed by inexpressible joy. Show me a unity issue in a church that could not be addressed if the parties involved were experiencing this inexpressible joy!

One last thing to help us to grasp this. To find a firm place to stand . . .
3. Never stop probing the full implications of the good news
I use the word probe on purpose. Probe, look with intensity, explore. Children are naturally curious and they love to explore. Either bugs or science of one sort or another fascinates many of them. Others love to take things apart and see how they work. We tend to lose this sense of wonder and curiosity as adults, to our great detriment. Look at this verse.

1 Peter 1:10-12 (ESV)
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

They looked. They searched and inquired carefully. They wanted to understand what they sensed God was telling them. They were searching about the grace that was to be experienced by those to whom Peter was writing. They were curious. They were trying to discover everything they could about it. They understood that it was something to come in the future, the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit. These things, Peter says, are things which even angels long to look. Angels long to look! In spite of all that they know, and you know they know the basics of the gospel. They know more than we do, at least in terms of the intellect. What would they lack? They can’t experience it. They can’t live out the implications of it. It is so great, so overwhelming, the implications of it are so great, they long, they long to look into it. O my goodness, how foolish and slow we are to believe.

Sometimes we act as if we have it all figured out, as if somehow we have exhausted the depths of the reality of our salvation. I am with Tim Keller who says, if we think we have it figured out, we don’t. We should still be amazed and intrigued and should be searching and thinking carefully to more fully plumb the depths of its full implications for our lives. Yes, more of it has been revealed now. But surely the prophets behavior here is something we should consider and be more diligent to pursue.
Conclusion
So what kind of signs are you seeing on the way? What clues are you receiving? Do you see evidence of your faith being tested and refined? Do you see evidence of transformation? What about hope? If you are not seeing signs that you are on the right path, then it is way past time to find out why that is.

If you do see signs then praise God. Be aware of the final judgment that keeps you having just enough seriousness about your life so you are able to allow the Holy Spirit to act as your own personal gyroscope, keeping your life moving in the right direction.

03.18.08

Jaigaon

Posted in Gene Cornett, Sunday Sermons at 5:16 pm by Gene Cornett

From February 23rd through March 3rd, as many of you know, I was on a mission trip to Jaigaon, India. I was serving with Global Mosaic International, which was started by Seaford member Evelyn Biles. I have sensed for years that I needed to return to doing short-term mission trips, but it has been difficult to get away for different reasons. However, when Evelyn approached me about this trip, I sensed that is was right to go. My assigned task was to teach leadership to Bhutanese church planters. Their spiritual hunger and their passion to reach the country of Bhutan for Christ challenged and humbled me.

I know that many of you prayed for me while I was away. God blessed our trip so strongly. It is difficult to put into words what the trip meant for me. Though I might have guessed at some of the things that I would learn while I was away, these lessons are now strongly rooted in my heart and mind. I will mention only one here. You can read the rest in an extended version of this article on the church’s blog on the website.

Every Christian who is serious about their walk with Christ needs cross cultural ministry experiences. For one, they expose weaknesses. Not everyone could or should travel as far as I did. However, we need to put ourselves in other situations and cultures. In some cases you can do this by just walking across the street or at most traveling across town, since the world has come to us. The most effective way to evaluate the culture you are in, is to encounter one different from your own. For me this trip was a kind of spiritual boot camp. Traveling for two days, stepping out of a vehicle into very unfamiliar surroundings, setting up in a strange hotel, eating strange food and serving in a different culture was hard at first. Yet, I now count the experience as one of the highlights of my life. I saw God at work in the hearts of people who live in very different ways in a remote part of the world. It has shown me something new about God and it exposed weaknesses in my own walk with Christ. They may not sound very pleasant but I greatly treasure the experience.

Additional Lessons from Jaigaon:
1. Seaford Baptist has international caliber teachers and leaders within our church body. Evelyn Biles is one of them. I had to go to the other side of the world to hear her teach. I don’t know if she has time given her extensive responsibilities, but I hope that we can give the whole Seaford body an opportunity to hear from her.
2. We have a responsibility to care about the needs of people around the world. I fear much of the time we don’t think about much beyond our own community, I know sometimes I don’t.
3. Stuff does not make us happy. We need food, clothes, shelter, meaningful work and good relationships. Many of the people I worked with possessed a small fraction of what I possess materially, yet they seemed spiritually on fire for Christ and content with their standard of life.
4. It is important for us to stretch ourselves, to get out of our comfort zones. Every morning I heard an imam singing the Muslim call to prayer. An hour later I heard Hindu music blaring just outside of my hotel and all of this by 6:00 AM. There was the equivalent of a loud block party going on right under my window nightly. I was the only white man I saw for 6 days. I struggled at first to relate to the Malaysians on my own team at raucous dinner celebrations each evening. I fumbled through speaking to Indian and Bhutanese pastors older than me. I wondered what possible help I could offer them. Yet these struggles now are part of what made this experience so dear to me.
5. Serving in a culture where Christians are obviously in the minority is a fascinating and a sobering experience. In Jaigaon, four major world religions were present that I was aware of. Christians would have been the smallest minority. Probably in order were Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and then Christians. I did not see overt persecution or violence. However, several of the young people I met had accepted Christ at the price of losing their family of origin.

10.21.06

Why It Matters (a message on Matthew 28)

Posted in Sunday Sermons at 10:33 pm by Gene Cornett

I am posting below the rough notes for the above message deilverd at Seaford on 10/22/06. I do this with some reservation because they are not well polished. But I place them here to encourage further discussion.

Gene

Why “It” Matters

A Fresh Look at the Resurrection of Jesus

Part 1

Matthew 28

Some events transpire and you know immediately that nothing will ever be the same again. The first time you met your spouse. An acceptance letter to college. Getting hired for your dream job. The birth of a first child. Getting driver’s license. Some times thought even in experiencing these wonderful things we are afraid to allow ourselves to get too caught up in the moment because we are afraid of traumatic life changing events. a dreaded phone call in the middle of the night, a scary report from the doctor, Learning that your spouse has been unfaithful. 9/11. Experience in combat. A car accident. Some who face extreme trauma must deal with post traumatic stress disorder. It would seem that we can only stand so much mental strain.

I tell you those things to help us think about a very well known incident in scripture. The people involved in this incident actually experienced two life changing encounters within just a few days. In this case they experienced a horrendous tragedy, a gruesome death, an unjust execution, dashing their hopes, revealing a hopeless world. Then within just a few days something took place so momentous that wiped away the earlier tragedy. That’s rare. When we experience something that tragic, nothing can make it better but that is what transpired in this moment.

The passage we are about to read together contains supernatural events. We live in a sophisticated age were many look at such material and label it fairy tale, “this is embellished. It’s probably of value but I don’t need to take it literally to get the value.” I want you to know, in case you wonder where I stand on this subject. If God created the world and I believe he did, then he can choose to operate in that world in whatever way he wishes. So miracles, supernatural events are no big deal. The scripture reports this and many other miracles as fact. If they are not true, then the credibility and value of the whole book is seriously in doubt. It seems important to say that I, (along with many of you and many before me) have taken a hard look at the objections to the validity of these accounts. I am a reasonably intelligent, fairly well educated and well read individual and I believe to the very depths of my soul the account you are about to read as it is reported.

We need to enter into this event. We need to step into Narnia and breathe the air, feel the ground, and see the sites to grasp the full significance of what has transpired. Most of us have grown up with a form of cultural Christianity that makes it difficult for us to experience this event in its raw power.

The telling is sparse. It’s condensed. We want to know more. We are meant to linger over the details. Please join me on an expedition through that first Easter morning.

Matthew 28:1 (ESV) Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

This was after the Sabbath. That means it was Sunday morning. It was apparently just before dawn. Both of these ladies were going to see the tomb.

 

Need to mention experience of crucifixion. Often when we grieve we don’t know what to do, business as usual is impossible, so we go to the site where the tragedy happened. Sometimes people leave memorials or they gather at homes. That’s the state these women were in. they are disoriented. Their world has come crumbling down around them. Every hope they had ever had, dashed. They were completely out of their routines. Nothing made any sense to them anymore. It’s what happens when we experience tragedy. You know that nothing is ever going to be the same again.

Matthew 28:2 (ESV) 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

Already the women are disoriented, not focused, troubled. Then they experience an earthquake. I’ve never been in one. But it’s my understanding that the experience is frightening and disorienting. Their world figuratively was unraveling. Now if that weren’t enough, the very literal world was shaking underneath their feet. We are told why there is an earthquake, but the women have no idea.

Matthew 28:3 (ESV) 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

The jolts just keep coming. We have never seen a living being look like that, not in person. Perhaps in special effects. But we can only imagine what it would look like. His appearance was like lightening and his clothing was as white as snow. Again more completely disorienting, life altering stimuli. They can’t get their bearings on anything and the shocks, the emotional jolts just keep coming one after another.

Matthew 28:4 (ESV) 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

In case you wonder the effect it might have on the women, look what it did to the soldiers. They trembled. That is quite an image. This is not something you see often. People work hard to keep other people from seeing them afraid. We have images to uphold. We want to appear in control. It’s not easy to admit fear, especially for someone in such a profession as this. These guards shook and became immobilized. Can you imagine? I’ve been afraid. I’ve been deeply afraid a handful of times, but I’ve never become so paralyzed by fear that I passed out, or became frozen to the spot. I came close on a ropes course last year.

Matthew 28:5 (ESV) 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

Now the angel speaks. The women have approached. Look at the emotional upheaval they have experienced. Their hopes crushed. Imagine the grief of a parent who has witness their child die tragically, cruelly and unjustly. They saw it all. They not only experienced the trauma and the shock of losing Jesus, they witnessed the carnage, they are only a couple of days now from that event, they are going to the tomb early, it was still dark, they experience an earthquake, they see a being, an overwhelming being sitting on the stone that had covered the entrance and the guards whom they likely feared and wondered how they would deal with, they were out cold from fear but now the being speaks. He speaks. And he says, this is funny, really it is. Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

Not only does the being speak, he knows them, and he knows what they are doing. He sees into their hearts. And he says, don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. I know why you are here. You are seeking for Jesus. You are looking for him, who was crucified. The being acknowledges it as well. He knows them. He knows their terrible news. That’s important to frame what he’s about to say.

 

Matthew 28:6 (ESV) 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

Could they scarcely comprehend what they were hearing? Sometimes things happen to us so momentous, so huge, so overwhelming we feel detached from what is happening. We cannot fathom the enormity of what we are hearing. Jesus is not here, for he has risen, as he said. He told you this was going to happen. He’d said it several times. But they hadn’t gotten it.

Risen? What did that mean? Can you imagine the confusion in their mind? We are built in such a way that it is difficult for us to take in information that we are completely unprepared to see. We have a powerful tendency to see in events and in people what we expect to see, when often the evidence points in a different direction. This had to be the experience of these two women. Even though Jesus had told them this was coming, they were unprepared. They had no categories in which to place this new information. It did not fit with their view of the world. It messed with their pre-conceptions.

The angel invited them to look at the evidence themselves. We know from other accounts of this incident that the evidence they would see didn’t allow for other explanations. They were given some concrete data to help bring them around to reality.

I hope you are mentally and spiritually engaged in this incident. I want us to walk through the rest of it. I will point out things I believe that we need to do in light of these truths.

Implications for how we should operate in the world in light of the resurrection

1.      Make yourself available to God

Matthew 28:7-8 (ESV) 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

Women had no legal status in that society. Everything about that society would have screamed that delivering this critical news was “a man’s job”. But God sovereignly orchestrated that it be a woman. We better be very careful when we are stating what women can and can’t do in the church. Just make sure you are taking all of scripture into consideration when you interpret passages that speak to that issue. This is an important part of the evidence. The most important message ever delivered up to this point is delivered by God’s choice: two women. Let’s not put limits on who God can choose to use.

There is something big there. God does not play by the world’s rules. You may think that you have nothing to offer, you aren’t smart enough, old enough, wise enough, pretty or handsome enough, or whatever. God doesn’t operate that way. God often uses the weak things of the world to shame the wise. That does not mean that God never uses people who are smart or wealthy or good-looking or well educated. However, he does insist on humility in those he does use.

So the story continues, They grasped the urgency of the moment. They left quickly and they ran. The fear is not gone, they are still afraid; the events are too overwhelming to stop their fear and trembling. However, it is mixed with something else. An overwhelming joy is beginning to creep up within them. Hope dawns. Faith expands. The reality of a completely different world, a world they could not have imagined was beginning to dawn on them. It was so amazing and so overwhelming that it could only be described as a mixture of fear and joy. And so in this state they are running to tell the disciples.

2.      Be moved to worship

Mat. 28:9 9And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

Jesus interrupted their morning run and says hello. What was the expression on his face? What was the tone in his voice? We don’t know. Here is what we do know. The new world in which they found themselves, the new realities which were beginning to dawn on them, the combination of fear and joy demanded worship. I can’t find the words to say this. All they had experienced over the previous days, the witnessing of the crucifixion, the despair in their souls, the fear in their hearts, the disorientation, the complete absence of hope but then . . . new awareness, hope, joy, life. Then they encounter Jesus and they fall at his feet, they came up and took hold of his feet and they worshipped. They worshipped.

Let me ask you something. I want you to listen closely. Has anything like this ever happened to you? Have you ever been so overcome with the greatness of God, the joy of knowing who he is, the dawning reality of the glory of God and collapsed in front of him in adoration? If not, are you certain that you really know God? How can we not see, o God I have not seen. Most of the time I don’t live with this reality.

Everything about the reality of this instant for the two Mary’s is just as true right at this second as it was for them. O that God would wake us up the reality of the world in which we live. O God have mercy on us for not being captured by your greatness and your glory in worship. This is the reality of the world in which we live.

Mat. 28:16 16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

There it is again. To know the truth that Jesus died and to experience and see the reality of the resurrection is to understand that no other response is appropriate but worship. Nothing else makes sense. It is good and right. May that vision of the resurrection so grip us that we are overwhelmed with a desire to worship. This is a vision of what our worship services need to be about. We recognize the suffering of Jesus. We sense the reality of the resurrection, we encounter the living Christ and we worship. We worship. We abandon ourselves to him. It doesn’t matter any more who is watching. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. We worship him. Jesus Christ himself. He is not a son of God. He is the Son of God. He is God himself and he accepts worship.

There’s something else to mention briefly that shows up in this passage.

3.      Live without fear

Mat. 28:5-6 5But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

Mat. 28:10 10Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me. Do not be afraid, this is a theme of this day. If you examine the words that were verbalized in this passage, this is a big part of the message that heaven was communicating. Do not be afraid. What is there to fear, if Jesus is real and is alive?

Mat. 28:20 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What is there to fear. Jesus is alive. He overcame our worst enemy. He gives specific instructions to not be afraid and then he promises that he will always be with them, to the very end of the age, meaning he is speaking about us.

The last verses in Matthew are often quoted. But they need to be understood in light of the reality of the resurrection. It puts a huge exclamation point. We need to start reading from verse 16

Mat. 28:16 16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.

4.      Discover your role in making disciples

So what is important for us to grasp about the resurrection story? What do we need to do differently based on what is seen here in this place? Well we want to allow the scripture to speak to us. Right here in the passage in same chapter where the resurrection is communicated we get these final words from Jesus. They should be heard and understood as an application to the stupendous reality of the resurrection. The world has been turned upside down. The disciples have been wrung inside out. As such they are fresh. They have relinquished all claim on their lives as they have had before. They know that nothing will ever be the same again and now they stand before Jesus. “Here we are.” They have been broken and restored and they are waiting for instructions. They have no interest in going back to life as it has been.

I want you to join me in a little exercise of the imagination. Because the full ramifications of the resurrection leads to an open listening to the word of Jesus, you experience, you believe and you worship and then in a figurative sense you sit with the disciples on the quiet hill. The worship has gone on, the fellowship has been sweet, hugs, slaps on the back, laughter, they are stunned and overjoyed. But at some point in time things begin to settle down. The group quiets down a bit. And they are starting to wonder, what does this all mean? Nothing is ever going to be the same again? Who is this? What is he asking of me? I will do whatever he says. (Perhaps some of them even said, Jesus, now what? What else can happen? Where do we go from here?) That’s the reaction of the apostles. That is their frame of mind. There they sit on the top of the hill and Jesus is looking at them. His eyes are intense. The disciples are hanging on every word. This is it. They could sense that what he was about to say was critical.

So he says to them verse 18.

Mat. 28:18-20 18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. That answers one of their questions. Who is Jesus? He is God himself. What else could all authority mean? I am God himself. It is good and right for you to worship me. They are still listening to Jesus instructions. Okay we get it. Now what? What do we do?

19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Go therefore, as you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

These are Jesus instructions to us. Go and make disciples of all nations. The all nations phrase is a part of the original instruction. This is what we are meant to get after grasping the resurrection. What does it mean to make disciples? He goes on to explain that, you baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and you teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age. To the end of the age, that’s how we know that this was not just meant for them. It was meant for us, to the end of the age, refers to the end of history as we know it and as we understand it.

Conclusion

This is a picture of what needs to happen every time we hear strongly from God. We hear the truth of God’s word. We feel convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit. We understand the reality of God. Such encounters bring about fundamental change. We are cleaned out. We are shaken out. We have let go of our previous way of thinking and then we say to Jesus, okay, now what? What next? And they are hanging on his every word. They are listening, intensely they are leaning forward in their seats.

 

Possible conclusion How about you? Are you fully grasping the reality of the resurrection or are you doubting the full implications? If we are not engaged in the final part the only explanation for that is that there is a problem with the faith stage.

Questions for Reflection and Application:

  1. Compared to the response of the women and the disciples who encountered Jesus after his resurrection, what does your desire to worship God say about your grasp of the truth of the resurrection?
  2. How would it affect the way you live if you felt your reason to be on the earth was to make disciples? If you answered the question, “What do you do?” With the answer, “I make disciples,” how would that affect the way you live?

For Further Study:

The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel

See Chapter 6 “Watergate and the Resurrection” in Loving God, Chuck Colson

A Skeleton in God’s Closet, Paul Maier

You can hear this message again at: http://www.sbc-va.org/weekly_sermons.htm