Untitled Sermon (2)

Introduction Once again I am blessed by God’s arranging His text for this morning. For on this first Sunday of the year, we are to hear Jesus’ mission plan for the platoons of his army. He is about to complete his EARTHLY mission, but his mission on earth is only beginning. The conquest of the kingdoms of this world has only begun. And so here he gives us his mission plan for that conquest. We can organize his mission plan into three categories:

The Motivation for the Mission The Message of the Mission And the Messengers of the Mission x2

Jesus has now been crucified, for the forgiveness of our sins. And then he was risen from the dead. And now he appears to his disciples. Luke wants us to see from this passage what a real disciple is and does. To be a disciple means to be engaged in this mission plan. Just as a soldier ceases to be a sol- dier, when he walks away from his platoon, and the battlefield, even though he still wears the uniform. Too many Christians want to wear the uniform but don’t want to en- gage in this mission. And then having stopped fighting, incredibly we bemoan how the culture is declining, and how the enemies of the gospel are not playing like gen- tlemen, not rolling over and saying, OK, Christians, you win. But we should remember that the Battle of the Bulge came AFTER D-Day. The Axis powers were beaten, and yet they fought until the very end. 1

To be a disciple of Christ means to be on HIS mission, and persevere in the mis- sion, until the end. Never perfectly - this is war. But engaged, faithfully, obediently, in jolly hope. Let’s consider King Jesus’ mission, that he’s still on, today, in 2023. The first facet of his mission plan is 2

The Motivation of the Mission

The MOTIVATION of the mission. I take this from verses 36 through 43. The disciples are all gathered together, when he suddenly APPEARS to them. And he SAYS to them, PEACE to YOU! And in the following verses, Jesus proves to his disciples that he’s not a ghost; he is risen. There are three realities here that are to MOTIVATE us on the MISSION, and this brings us to the first:

Motivation: The Resurrection

There is simply no explaining the growth of the Christian church, apart from the resur- rection. From this little band of scared country folk from Galilee would spring the faith that has turned the world upside down, and continues to spread across the world. The resurrection is the greatest news in the world. Because in the resurrection, we have new life. And in the resurrection, WE have PEACE! I spoke about this last week, but it’s worth repeating. In v. 36, when Luke records that Jesus SAID to the disciples, “Peace to you!”, the original language there is pecu- liar - the only time in all of Luke where he uses a form of the present tense that contin- ues into the future. Not, Jesus SAID, but Jesus SAYS, TO ALL GENERATIONS of Chris- tians - “Peace to you!” And this peace is tightly connected to the resurrection. This is how Paul puts it, at the end of Romans 4, and the beginning of Romans 5. See if you follow Paul’s logic: 3

Romans 4:25 (Jesus) was delivered up (or crucified) for our trespasses (our sins) and raised for our justification. Justification is where a person comes to be forgiven by God, of all His sins. But more than that, God WELCOMES that person, as if he had never ever sinned in the first place. As if you are Jesus, the Son of God, himself. Then in the next verse, Paul makes the connection to peace:

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

When you are welcomed to God’s table, in the same way that He welcomes His one and only Son, that means you really have PEACE with God. No more condemnation, only freedom, and joy, and rest. No more scowling; only a smile on His face, to you. And the way that that came about, Paul says, is by the resurrection, and by faith. We can get at this by asking why God raised Jesus from the dead. The reason is that Jesus did everything the Father asked of him, perfectly. And so the Father was totally pleased with him. And so he raised him, in new, resurrection life. Then enters faith. Whenever anyone trusts in Jesus, everything that Jesus did, counts counts to that person who believes. We don’t have righteousness in ourselves, and so God graciously counts our faith AS righteousness, because it’s IN the perfectly righteous ONE. And because He counts to us everything that Jesus has done, that in- cludes that resurrection, and that PLEASURE that God had for the Son, in the resurrec- tion. Here is the glorious truth: if you trust in Jesus, the smile of God that motivated God to raise Jesus from the dead also covers you. Our sin may cloud it, but it still 4

shines, behind the clouds. And it will only stop shining if one could reverse the resur- rection and put Jesus back in the grave.

Motivation: Peace

This is PEACE. Peace that is as SWEET as it STRONG; that is as PLEASURABLE as it is POWERFUL. And it is all GIVEN to us, all by GRACE - as an unmerited, unearned GIFT of God. We take hold of it only by faith, since Jesus does it all. Faith gives God all the glory, and in the process, we get all the good. PEACE. This is the great irony of Christianity. That ALL our doings - the doings that have turned the world upside down for 2000 years - we do it all out of REST. Out of not NEEDING to do ANYTHING to EARN God’s favor to us. We do not earn badges with God, because Jesus has already earned them all, in our place, and then simply GIVEN them to us. As a gift. But we still DO what he commands, motivated not by fear or loathing, but by CER- TAINTY. The resurrection brings peace, and the peace of God brings CERTAINTY about the future. This I get from verses 44-48. In v. 44, Jesus essentially says, “I told you that every- thing written about me in the Old Testament must come to pass, and LOOK, it has come to pass.” Then in v. 45 he opens their minds to the Scriptures, to see what they could not see before. Not something that’s NOT actually there, but something that’s there but that they were BLIND to. The problem was not the Bible; the problem was their spiritu- al sight. That is, v. 46, that the Messiah, Jesus, would be crucified and then risen from the dead. 5

AND, v. 47, AND, in that same vein, in that same stream of fulfillment, that repen-tance and and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in Messiah’s name, to all the nations. We will return to that message in a moment, but my point here is this: Jesus is say- ing, the same faithful fulfillment of God’s promises that happened in the past WILL continue into the future. This is the third motivation:

Motivation: Certainty

God WILL grant repentance to the nations. He is not stingy with His gifts. He is profligate, excessively generous. Just as He granted repentance to Nineveh, so He will to the nations. God never commands us to do something that He does not intend to actually DO. Jesus GRANTS repentance, to his elect among the nations. Peter will put it this way later in Acts 5:31:

Acts 5:31 (ESV): God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

And later Paul will teach Timothy,

2 Timothy 2:24–25 (ESV): . . . the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth

Therefore, our MOTIVATION in stepping out and EXHORTING the world to REPENT, is that Jesus, risen and ascended, is still GRANTING repentance, from His throne, to His people. And some of them, are right here in Elk Grove. Perhaps someone on your street. Faith in Jesus generously granting repentance MOTIVATES us to STOP believ- 6

ing the outward appearance of people, and move, and speak. And then He does the heavy lifting. That’s the motivation. That our King is risen. That we have unbreakable peace with Him. And the certainty that He even now is GRANTING repentance to the nations. That’s our Motivation for the Mission. The next element of the King’s Mission Plan is the Message of the Mission. 7

The Message of the Mission The message is threefold, as least as it is put here: Crucifixion Resurrection And Response x2 We are to go and tell the world about these three things: Crucifixion, Resurrection and Response.

Message: Crucifixion

We are to proclaim, v. 46, that Jesus suffered and rose from the dead. Now, this begs more questions in our biblically illiterate world. 100 years ago, everyone knew the WHY behind this. But not today. “So what?” “I mean, I guess that’s great - he set a good example for us, I guess.” But the reality is that Christ didn’t NEED to come. God is perfectly content within Himself. He doesn’t NEED us. But He DOES LOVE us. He loves us and pities us. Which is offensive to our proud generation. We don’t want anyone to pity us. But God does, because by our sin we have told God to shove off, and in doing so, we’ve cast off our only hope for light and life and love and glory. That’s a cursed life, a life that leads to death and damnation. I don’t use that word flippantly, damnation. And I don’t use it to preach fire and brimstone. I just say it because it’s true. 8

But then even if we WANTED to return to God, our sins must be justly dealt with, for God is holy, holy, holy. This is why Jesus came - to live a perfect life for us, in our place. And this is why he died, for us, in our place. He shed the blood in death that our sins deserved. This is how God can be JUST in forgiving, say, a pedophile murderer. Because Je- sus died the way a pedophile murderer should die. Justice WAS done, in Christ. But then we are told, but I’m no pedophile murderer! No, that’s true. But the seed of rebellion for THAT sin is in every sin. In every country, you don’t have to KILL some- one to die for being a traitor. Selling state secrets - just being a traitor, a rebel, is enough. The question is not, in the end, what we done, but what side are we on. There are only two sides. And we have all insanely rejected the side of God and chosen the darkness. And then, once in the darkness, we were completely unable to find our way back. The best we could do is grope in the dark for God. This is why Jesus came to us, to earth, as a man. To enter our plight, and deliver us out of it, to light and life.

Message: Resurrection

And he can promise us life because he is risen from the dead. This makes Jesus him- self our hope of life, beyond the grave. Eternal life. But it also makes him our KING, and our JUDGE. One way or the other, we WILL come to HIM. The option we give to the world is not whether but which - which way will you come to him? Because you will, one way or the other. Either now, in humble hope for life, or at the end, in despairing judgment. 9

We do not proclaim the resurrection to MAKE Jesus King; because of the resur- rection we proclaim Him AS King, and exhort the nations in love to turn to him, now, AS their King. Which means a certain RESPONSE. We preach Christ, the center of the whole Bible, Christ crucified, and risen, and we demand a response.

Message: Response

Verse 47: repentance, and, or FOR forgiveness of sins. You might be surprised to not read the word FAITH or BELIEVE, but it’s embedded in everything that’s come before. Saving faith rests on trust in the news that Jesus is crucified and risen. But the EVIDENCE of faith in the risen King is leaving behind our life of rebellion against His kingdom. Not perfection, but renunciation - a shift of allegiance. Throwing away the old passport, and bowing the knee to your new Lord. That’s all we ask - re- nouncing everything, and swearing allegiance to His kingdom. This is why in Matthew’s version of the Great Commission, baptism is at the center of it. Because baptism is the public declaration of this shifting of kingdom allegiance. And faith looks past what we can see with our eyes, to what God might see with His eyes, and so we proclaim this gospel. This is the message of the mission. And again, it all depends on Christ being risen from the dead, possessing the power to RAISE the dead. Because without the resurrection, what a silly, worthless WEAPON to put into the hands of his soldiers! And yet REAL KINGDOM after REAL KINGDOM has either bowed its knee to King Jesus, or fallen under rod before THIS message. The message fulfills Christ’s mission, because it is powered by the very pow- er of life over death. 10

This is why we are commanded to not tinker or doctor the message, or adorn it with anything manipulative or underhanded - 2 Cor. 4:1-4 - lest it be robbed of its power. The humility and simplicity of the message leaves room for the glory of God. So we have ample motivation, and we have a straightforward message. But there is one last facet of our King’s Mission Plan. And that has to do with the MESSENGERS of his Mission. 11

The Messengers of the Mission

There are three characteristics that our text points to, that are MUST’s for every faithful soldier, in the Lord’s army. The first is this: that we

His Soldiers Know the Resurrected Christ.

X2 But by KNOW, the sense is not book knowledge. Because sheer KNOWLEDGE of Jesus is not enough. After all, in v. 41, even AFTER seeing and TOUCHING Jesus, the disciples STILL struggled to believe. Seeing is NOT believing. They needed a crucified Jesus, but they needed MORE than that. They needed a RESURRECTED Jesus. One who is ALIVE, and is actively working with POWER to trans- form them. So we MUST know Him, because we cannot proclaim what we ourselves do not have. We must KNOW him and be growing in knowledge of not just the crucified Je- sus, but the resurrected Jesus. This involves a continual process of BOTH adding and subtraction. As we see the value of Christ, the things of this world fall into their proper place. And yet it some- times means the cutting of some things, in order to properly see Christ for what He is. In Philippians 3, Paul puts it this way: 12

Philippians 3:8–11 (ESV): Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the sur- passing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Continual subtraction and addition. And then verse 12, one of my favorite passages:

Not that I have already obtained this (meaning perfection) or am already made perfect, but I press on to make it my own, BECAUSE Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Subtraction - I don’t delete everything of this world, but I count it for what it is, com- pared to the value of getting Christ, and the power of His resurrection. We MUST know the resurrected Christ. What’s getting in your way of knowing Him more? What’s taken too much prominence in your life?

His Soldiers understand the Scriptures.

This naturally leads us to consider the Word of God. Secondly, Christ’s soldiers must understand the Scriptures. X2 Just as Christ opens the disciples eyes, so I pray that YOUR eyes would be opened, to see how all the Scriptures either anticipate Christ - v. 44 of Luke 24 - or describe Christ, or look back on Christ. ALL of it does. All of it. 13

Thus, I urge you: be on some Bible reading plan. You’ll be receiving an email this week detailing several plans. The reason is not bare knowledge, to truly KNOW the RESURRECTED Christ. One massive reason so many Christians are impotent for the battles of our day is that we can’t tell the voice of our King from the voices of countless liars and charla- tans. But the way you learn the counterfeit is by constant exposure to the real thing. My sheep hear my voice, Jesus said (John 10:27). And the way we learn to hear His voice is by listening to His words, in the Bible. Now, don’t I know, in the pressures of life, how easy it is to drift into TV watching, media, movies, sports - our world makes it SO easy. What do YOU need to delete or restructure, about your mornings or your evenings or your lunch hours? Who might you involve in your striving to know Christ more? One of the most powerful disciplines in the Christian life is NOT a Bible study, but 1-to-1 Bible reading. Schedule a time with a friend, read some Scripture, discuss how it points to Christ, and pray about it, and then do it again next time. Bible intake can vary, from one stage of life to another. But it MUST be there, for soldiers of the King. It simply is a must. Not to earn something with God, but to be equipped for the fight. As someone once said, you may not believe in the war, but it believes in you, and it is here, and now.

His Soldiers are clothed with power from on high.

Well, lastly, Christ’s soldiers must be clothed with power from on high. I get this from v. 49. This is referring to the day of Pentecost, recorded by Luke in Acts 2, when the Spirit comes upon the church. 14

It is a remarkable moment. For it is one of three comparable moments in Scrip- ture. The first is in Genesis 1:2, how the Spirit hovered over the waters in Creation. The second is the Spirit coming upon Mary, in Jesus’ conception. The third is Pentecost, when the Spirit comes upon the church. And in each case God is creating something new, with unspeakable power. I share this, to say this: we are called on a mission, where we simply speak human words, and by those words, the dead are raised. The equation simply does not work WITHOUT power from on high, coming down, and meeting us in those moments. And the reality is, because the disciples obeyed, and waited and prayed, God DID fulfill that promise, and give them the Holy Spirit. And that same Spirit indeed rests upon us today. We need only ASK God, to commission Him afresh, to work amongst us. Will you do that, in the coming days? Will you join me in asking God to come afresh, and grant His resurrection power to be given to souls and families and our town? Will you join me in asking Him to revive us? To raise the dead again? For He WILL fulfill His mission. It’s not a matter of whether, but HOW. He will defeat the kingdoms of this world, even death itself. The Church WILL advance. As Jesus told Peter:

Matt. 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock (the gospel) I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Those gates of hell, they’re not for keeping people in, but keeping the armies of the Lord out. And they WILL fall. The question is, do we believe that? And therefore, are we willing to knock down the door of heaven in prayer, to get it? 15