Easter 2006

The sorrow and disappointment of the disciples

The tomb was sealed. A massive stone was rolled in front of it, and no one was allowed in or out. In this tomb, on a stone slab, laid Jesus’ body— broken, beaten, and utterly crushed to a point of only minimal recognition. There was no counsel to convene to determine whether or not this man Jesus was truly dead. The Roman soldiers, skilled in the art of death, ensured Christ’s demise to their satisfaction when they plunged a Roman spear into the side of Jesus’ chest, only to find that He had already expired. You see, it was their life if they failed to take that of their convicted subjects.

In the hearts and minds of the disciples who had followed Christ, something more than just His physical body died that day. Their hopes of a new world order, their plans to succeed to power as cabinet members of their leader, seemed to die when Christ breathed His last and yielded His spirit. The dark sky resembled their depression as their bright hopes grew dimmer each moment. Despair, hopelessness, and utter darkness had set in. For three days, the men and women who loved Jesus and were loved by Him mourned the loss of their great teacher, master and friend. Only moments prior, the disciples were sharing a meal with their master, and I’m sure that each of them quietly recounted the many ways that they were loved by their teacher and the many ways that Jesus had given them hope and joy in a world where neither seemed possible. For the woman caught in adultery, He gave her life and dignity though she was caught in the very act. For the woman at the well, He freed her from her bondage of seeking the approval of men as she had piled up a stack of failed marriages, and was now living with a man who was not her husband. For Lazarus, who felt the power of Christ, Jesus pulled him from the cold grip of death, simply by His command, calling Lazarus to come forth. I’m sure Peter was thinking of how Christ healed his mother-in-law, and how he had denied Jesus just hours prior. The paralytic, the hemorrhaging woman, the man born blind, the deaf mute, the leper, the man with the withered arm, and even the High Priest’s servant, who came to take Jesus to a false trial, Christ healed his ear, and with it he heard the false accusations and mockery that followed. Each of them were left with their own thoughts, doubts, disappointments, and confusion. Each of them were touched by Christ personally, and all benefiting from His life and compassion.

Yet with their dullness of hearts and slowness to believe, they failed to understand or remember that Jesus had told them of this dark night of their soul. Jesus told His disciples clearly, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Luke 9:22)

This statement, spoken in a language they understood, seemed foreign to them. They believed there would be a resurrection at the end of days when God comes in great power to judge the living and the dead. They hoped for a resurrection from the dead, where they would dwell with their King in new bodies that are without the stain of sin and the stench of death. But what they didn’t understand was that Christ was to ascend to His throne and receive His glory through the cross and ultimately to be born out of the tomb. Just as Jesus left His “face to face” intimacy with His Father to be conceived by the Spirit and carried by the virgin Mary until He was born into this world, so Jesus would leave the intimacy He shared with His friends and loved ones to be placed in the tomb until the power of the Spirit would come and birth Him from it. This stone tomb became the womb through which the new creation was born into this world on the third day in the Person of Jesus Christ—the glorified and resurrected God-Man.

Luke’s Gospel begins with an angelic announcement of a birth, the birth of one who will prepare the way for the One who will save His people from their sins. Luke’s Gospel ends with an angelic announcement of a birth, the birth of a new creation and the One who will prepare a way and a place for His people to live with God for eternity.

Luke 24:1-12: “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.’ 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.”

When the disciples go to the tomb, they find that the stone has been rolled away, the body of Jesus gone, and two angelic messengers who ask them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” (Luke 24:5-6). The point the angelic messengers are making in their question to the disciples is what the angels have so intently been looking into for ages and trying to understand (1 Peter 1:10-12). These angelic messengers for years had been trying to figure out God’s plan regarding the salvation of His people. Here the angelic messengers are not merely proclaiming the good news that Jesus is born as they did in the beginning of Luke. Instead, these messengers are proclaiming that Jesus is risen and that a new creation has been born! The Gospel of Luke begins with a new prophetic announcement from angels sent from God’s Heavenly court:

Luke 2:9-14: “And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’”

Now, the angels of the Lord are saying to the disciples that there is a new life because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ the Lord. He was born in the city of David, a Savior, Christ the Lord, and He glorified God in the highest and offers peace to those with whom God is pleased to offer His grace!

This Jesus has been born, has lived perfectly for His people, has died for sinners, and now is risen—He is alive. Rather than finding a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger as a sign of God’s favor and grace, Jesus’ resurrection shows as a sign grave clothes left by a resurrected man with new life!

For many of you who have attended Easter services in the past, this story might seem somewhat familiar to you. It might even seem a little repetitive and perhaps even a little detached from your present life. It may feel as if you’re looking at a painting through your window on the wall inside your neighbors’ home. You see it, it may even be nice, or pretty, or even somewhat inspiring, but not all that significant once your eyes pan back to the interior of your own home. Have you ever asked why? Seriously, have you ever taken the time to ask why it is that some people make such a big deal about today? Why doesn’t it seem to affect you the way affects others? “He is risen, big deal,” you might think.

I believe the answer can be found in this passage. It might be that you are perplexed (v. 4). You might not see how Christ’s death and resurrection have any significance to your life today. It may be that you are similar to the Jews before this event, who believed in a resurrection at the end of days, but couldn’t imagine that power breaking in the middle of history. You may believe that something will happen at the end of this world, but you are perplexed as to how this affects your life today.

It may be that you are frightened (v. 5). Though you didn’t see an angel, you may have fear nonetheless. You might be frightened of what this would mean for your life if it were actually true. If Christ really lived, if Christ really died, and if Christ really rose from the dead and proved He was God’s Son, than that would change everything in your life if you actually believed it. You might be frightened of what others might think of you, or what you might think of yourself, or what things would change in your life that you may not want to change.

It may be that you are looking in all the wrong places. You might be just as the disciples, in that you are looking down when you should be looking up (cf. v.5). The significance of the resurrection won’t ever become powerful to you if you are perplexed, with fear, with your eyes focused on the ground beneath you. The idea here is that they should have been looking for Christ instead of looking down in confusion and fear.

So, the question from the messengers is this:

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (v. 5)
Why do we seek the living among the dead? For many of us, we are seeking things that we think give us life, the kind of life that we long to have, lasting life, a life fulfilled with joy and satisfaction that grows with time, not diminishes. If we are honest with ourselves, what we really want is peace and joy, what we really want is a life that doesn’t just have significance later, but a life that is significant now.

But why do we seek the living among the dead? It may be that you have not realized that you are dead yourself. There is a great quote in the spooky movie, The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis. If you haven’t seen the movie, it’s about a boy named Cole Sear who can see and speak to the dead. He says something remarkable to Bruce Willis’ character in the movie:

I see dead people…Walking around like regular people. They don’t see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don’t know they’re dead…They’re everywhere…They see only what they want to see.

-Cole Sear

That sums up many of us in our day. We are dead men walking. We walk around like regular people, yet we don’t even know we’re dead, because we only see what we want to see.

Our problem is a grave one because we are forever seeking life from death, and when we hear such an announcement like that from the angel regarding the rising of Christ from the dead, and we think nothing significant has happened, or feel nothing special has occurred, this is an indication that we are looking in the wrong places, and therefore are finding only death and decay. We are seeking the living among the dead by living for something that we think will make us ultimately happy. We are looking for something that we make us feel alive, give us a sense of life, significance and satisfaction. And the truth is:

Everyone lives for something

Everyone has to live for something—something that we think will give us a sense of significance and satisfaction. We all then have a “personal center,” a bottom line, an ultimate value by which we sort through all the activities of life and set priorities. It may be career, possessions, appearance, romance, peer groups, achievement, good causes, moral character, religion, marriage, children, friendships or a combination of several. Without this “bottom line,” our life would be completely meaningless. This means, however…

Everyone is a slave

Whatever we live for has control over us. We do not control ourselves. The things we live for enslave us with guilt (if we fail to attain them) or anger (if someone blocks them from us) or fear (if they are threatened) or drivenness (since we must have them) or despair (if we ever lose them completely). This means, then…

Even the most irreligious people are really worshipping something. Whatever thing or things from which we choose to derive our value become the ultimate meaning in our lives—thus it serves as a ‘god’ and gives us a sense of worth or ‘righteousness’ even if we don’t think in those terms.
Even the most religious people are not really worshipping God. Religious people may look to God as Helper, Teacher, and Example, but it is their moral performance, which is serving as their Savior. They are just as guilty and self-hating if they fail it, just as angry and resentful if someone blocks it, just as fearful and anxious if something threatens it, just as driven “to be good.”
So both religious and irreligious people are avoiding God as Savior and Lord, but in different ways. Both are seeking to keep control of their own lives by looking to something besides Jesus as their salvation.

We have to live for something, and something will control us. What will we do then? There is only one Master, however, who can forgive (none of the rest ever will), and who will last (none of the rest ever can). What we need is Christ to set us free. Not teachings about Christ, but Christ Himself. To have Him we must admit:

We need a Substitute

Our sin causes us to attempt to substitute ourselves for God, putting ourselves where only God deserves to be—as Savior and Lord of our lives. “Salvation” is God substituting himself for us, coming to earth in Jesus and putting himself where only we deserve to be—living the life we should have lived and dying the death we should have died. “The Solution” to become a Christian is first to admit the problem: that you have been substituting yourself for God either by religion (trying to be your own savior by obedience to moral standards) or by irreligion (trying to be your own lord by disobedience to moral standards), and second to accept the remedy: asking God to accept you for Jesus’ sake and know that you are loved and accepted because of His record, not yours.

What if you don’t think you’re a sinner?

Usually we respond by either dismissing the notion that we are sinners because we don’t believe in the concept of sin (which is the minority opinion), or we assume that we are not sinners, or at least “bad” sinners since we are pretty “good” people.

What, then, is the standard for “good?” You? Me? Your neighbor? Most of us think that God judges on a bell curve and therefore He must let you enter His presence and He must give you His blessings because you are not as bad as someone you know. We can always find someone worse than us to pacify our conscience, can’t we? I’m sure the worst of offenders in prison can find someone even worse than themselves.

The standard isn’t simply to do better than the person we can think of. That would be like holding a jumping contest to see if you can jump off of a San Diego pier and land on Maui. One might get a running start and jump 30 feet to the amazement of those watching, while the next might get a whopping 300 feet and beat the first person. The problem is that the goal wasn’t to out jump someone, it was to land on Maui!

We need to see ourselves, each of us, as individually responsible for our own sin, without respect to anyone else, with only ourselves to blame.

You might wonder what sin is. It is a greater horror than this, but one way the Scripture describes it is the breaking of God’s law. 1 John 3:4: “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” This is shocking since it says that sin is the breaking of God’s Holy law, either by outward actions in life, or inward defiance in attitude. We can sin with our heart, lips and life.

Do you think you’ve kept God’s law perfectly? Let’s take a look:

You shall have no other God’s before me.
Have you always put God first in your life? Jesus said to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength—so much, that your love for your parents, brothers and sisters, friends, and even your own life is like hatred compared to your love and devotion for God. Have you ever failed to put Him first in your life?

You shall not make for yourself any idol.
Who is God to you? Is he only a god of love and mercy who would never judge anyone and never cast anyone into Hell? If that’s your god, then you’re right. Your god couldn’t cast anyone into Hell because he doesn’t exist. He’s a figment of your imagination. You’ve created a god in your own mind that you’re more comfortable with. You may call it your “personal belief,” but God calls it idolatry. It’s the oldest sin in the Book, and the Bible warns that idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

You shall not take the name of God in vain.
Taking the Lord’s name in vain is using any of the myriad names for God, talking about God, or referencing God in any manner that 1) is intentionally disrespectful to God, 2) has nothing to do with God in the first place, 3) oversteps the bounds of judgment where God alone has rights, and 4) dedicates the thoughts and actions of an individual to God, but those thoughts and actions are unworthy of God.

Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy.
God commanded that we set aside one day in seven. Have you ever been guilty of breaking this commandment?

Honor your father and mother.
Have you always honored your parents in a way that’s pleasing in the sight of God? Ask Him to remind you of the sins of your youth. You may have forgotten them, but God hasn’t.

You shall not murder
Jesus warned, “Whoever is angry with his brother without cause, is in danger of judgment,” (Matthew 5:22) and the Bible says, “He who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15). God sees hatred in the heart to be as wicked as murder. We can violate His Law by attitude and intent.

You shall not commit adultery
Jesus warned, “You have heard…’You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Have you ever looked at another person with lust?

You shall not steal
Have you ever stolen anything (even if it was something small)? The value of the thing stolen doesn’t matter; petty theft is still theft.

You shall not lie
Have you ever told a lie? Then you are a liar. How many murders do you have to commit to be a murderer? Just one. If you have told even one lie, that makes you a liar.

You shall not covet
Have you ever jealously desired something that belongs to another person? Their house, their car, their money, their wife, their lifestyle, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

How well have you kept God’s moral standards? How many of the commandments have you broken? James 2:10: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”

Every one of us has broken God’s commandments. We have all followed in the line of Adam and Eve, Cain, and all others who have sought to act as our own standard. We are all little popes with a congregation of one worshipping us.

The standard isn’t our own good life, its God’s holy law which flows from His holy character. If perfect is the standard, only Christ succeeded. The standard isn’t to be pretty close, it’s to be perfect. If you aren’t Jesus, then you need Him as a Savior. He is the only option God has provided so that you might have peace with Him. He not only lived a life you should have lived and didn’t, He died a death you should have died and didn’t.

The difficulty with the cross is that it shows us how God feels about sin: that He would take His one and only beloved Son and have Him executed upon a Roman Cross as He pours out His wrath upon Jesus whom He loved. The cross shocks us because it is a violent and ugly picture of what sin does. Sin isn’t simply a breaking of abstract rules, it’s an offence of the One from whose nature it flows. When we sin, we are not simply breaking a detached moral standard, we are insulting and offending a personal and Holy God. Every sin, no matter how seemingly insignificant, piles up our debt against God which we can never repay to satisfaction because our offense was to an eternal and infinite God and we are finite beings. We can never pile up enough good works to one day present them to Him so that He might finally be appeased. If that were so, how ever long it took for us to compile enough works, would be the limit to God’s worth. If it took a thousand years, than God’s worth, and God’s righteousness, can be purchased with only a thousand years of man’s efforts. But this is not so, because God’s righteousness and worth is without end, and worth an infinite cost. This is why only a divinely accomplished sacrifice will do. God accepts the sacrifice of Jesus, because Jesus is perfect in all His ways, and His value is infinite and innumerable. Only the sacrifice of God’s only Son would satisfy the justice of God who must punish sin, or we would be left without a chance to ever come close to God as sons and daughters in peace. God demonstrated His love for us in that “while we were yet sinners” Christ died for us.

Now the default mode of the human heart is to attempt two options for living, but the truth is there is actually a third way to live.

Therefore, by nature and actions, we are all dead and dying.

Only through Christ in the Gospel can we be forgiven of our sin (debt), and freed from our bondage (to self, others, and idols).

Two types of religions

We are all religious with our set of doctrines and beliefs, and therefore, there are only two religions in the world: that of human achievement (works), or that of divine accomplishment (grace).

The only religion which God accepts is that of divine accomplishment which is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, who, by God’s grace, provided for man’s redemption through the sacrifice of Himself on the cross. The religion of human achievement encompasses all other religions of the world, which share the common basis of works righteousness, of seeking to please God by various forms and methods of human effort or merit.

The religion of works righteousness began with Satan’s rebellion against God as Lucifer attempted to usurp God’s throne and glory by his own efforts as a creature. It was with the lure of self-effort that he tempted Eve, and then indirectly Adam, to eat the forbidden fruit, deceiving them into thinking that by self-willed disobedience they could grasp divinity for themselves. This was the same lure that prompted Cain to offer his own kind of sacrifice to the Lord and to offer it in presumption rather than faith. In each case God rejected and condemned the self-willed efforts of His creatures. He cast Satan out of heaven, cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden, and refused to accept the faithless sacrifice of Cain and sent Him further away from Eden.

Christ divinely accomplished salvation and victoriously defeated our enemies

Only Christ kept the law. Only Christ can give life now and later. Only Christ can defeat our enemies and our idols. Only Christ can bring us acceptance with God as sons and daughters. Colossians 2:15: “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”

Christ’s resurrection also defeats our last great enemy—death!

If we could be sure that death was annihilation then there would be no fear of it. For as long as we exist death is not there, and when it does come, we no longer exist. But we can not be totally sure it is not annihilation. What people fear most is not that death is annihilation, but that maybe death is not.

-Epicurus

1 Corinthians 15:52-58: “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. 55 “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING (gk. kentron, specifically a poison that kills, as from a scorpion)?” 56 The sting (poison) of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

We have to see that the way we live now is affected by what we believe about our future.

1 Corinthians 15:26: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Hebrews 2:15: “and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

The Two Resurrections—spiritual (regeneration) and physical (bodily)

John 5:21, 25-29: “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ….25 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live [spiritual resurrection]. 26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment [physical resurrection].”