Sunday April 21, 2019

Don’t Go Home

We are all very familiar with the story of the resurrection…maybe too familiar. We go to church on Resurrection Sunday excited to once again hear the greatest story ever told. We know all the characters and the parts they played. We have read the last chapter and know the last page by heart!

What an amazingly glorious day! But wait! What about the other 364 days of the year? Shouldn’t every day be Resurrection celebration day? Let me show you the end of the story you may not have considered.

Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. (Jn.20:1-10)

Did you catch verse 10? After all the excitement, wonder, and divine mystery, the disciples simply went home…Oh how we resemble them!! Easter is over. Easter pageant costumes are put away for another year. Church choirs turn in all their Resurrection Sunday music. Easter baskets are emptied of colored grass, though there is chocolate still to be eaten. So…what now? What do we do now? Most of us simply go home and forget the resurrection of our Savior. (See WORD WISDOM for a deeper study of mystery)

So, let me encourage you to not simply go home. Stay at the tomb for more than a moment and ponder on the greatness of what just happened! Let me remind you what resurrection is all about. The resurrection isn’t part of my theology…the resurrection IS A PERSON!!

In fact, Paul tells us that the resurrection is the greatest display of God’s power ever to be demonstrated, nor can it ever be surpassed!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn.11:25-26)

It’s the same Power that raised Jairus’ daughter. It’s the same Power that called out demons

It’s the same Power that healed the lepers.

It’s the same Power that calmed the sea.

It’s the same water-walking Power.

It’s the same Power that will never lose its Power.

And it should be the greatest desire and pursuit of our lives!

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Phil.3:7-11)

Here is a short list of the things Christ’s resurrection guaranteed for us:

We have a living King (1 Cor.15:13)
All subsequent preaching has purpose (1 Cor.15:14)
Faith is not futile (1 Cor.15:14)
Sin is forgiven (1 Cor.15:17)
No condemnation (Rom.8:34)
New birth (1 Pet.1:3)
Forgiveness of sins (1 Cor.15:17)
Our future resurrection (2 Cor.4:14)
The Holy Spirit (Acts 2:32-33)

This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. (Acts 2:32-33)

Now open your heart and let’s take a moment to pour in to our spirit the power and truth of what His resurrection means!

That if you confess (declare) with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom.10:9)

A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. (Jn.14:19)

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. (Rom.8:34)

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Heb.7:25)

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. (1 Thess.4:14)

It is clear that everything about our lives stands or falls with the bodily resurrection of Christ from the grave. That’s why Paul said,

And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. (1 Cor.15:17-19)

But Christ IS raised from the dead. What will you do with this Jesus who came back from the dead? Believe on Him, trust Him as your Savior from sin and death…make Him the Lord of your life and all the assurances we’ve talked about shall belong to you! When you know the power of Christ’s resurrection and know all that it guarantees for us, we can live a life like no other!

Don’t go home!…stay at the tomb…filled with wonder and awe. Amen!!

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Related Scripture

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

— Isaiah 6:8

Word Wisdom

mystery

Greek "musterion" (moos-tay-ree-on) Strong's #3466

From mueo, "to initiate into mysteries,' hence a secret known only to the initiated, something hidden requiring special revelation. In the New Testament, the word denotes something that people could never know by their own understanding and that demands a revelation from God. The secret thoughts, plans, and dispensations of God remain hidden from unregenerate mankind, but are revealed to all believers. In non-biblical Greek musterion is knowledge withheld, concealed, or silenced. In biblical Greek it is truth revealed (see Col.1:26). New Testament musterion focuses on Christ's sinless life, atoning death, powerful resurrection, and dynamic ascension.

So...

Little Philip, born with Down’s syndrome, attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences, according to an article in a leadership magazine. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully.

The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought L’eggs pantyhose containers, the kind that look like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table. Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and ahh.

Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, “That’s stupid. That’s not fair. Somebody didn’t do their assignment.”

Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.”

“Philip, you don’t ever do things right!” the student retorted. “There’s nothing there!”

“I did so do it,” Philip insisted. “I did do it. It’s empty. The tomb was empty!”

Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.

There is power in the empty tomb!