Seeking Good...Finding God Luke 24:1-12

Introduction:

On the day that Jesus died and his followers removed him from the cross, it was just a few hours (around 3PM) before the start of the annual Jewish holy sabbath was about to begin. This began with what they called the “Feast of Unleavened Bread” and was followed by “Passover.” The Sabbath began at 6PM. Because of this, Jesus friends and family very quickly wrapped his body in grave clothes and laid Him in the tomb, they did not have the time to properly wash and prepare His body for burial.

In our passage this morning, the women we have read about were on their way to the tomb in order that they might properly prepare the body of Jesus as they had not been able to before the Sabbath on the day that He died.

They wanted to do this as a matter of respect, as it was the right thing to do. They also wanted to do this as a way of paying tribute to him as best they could, as there was no formal funeral for Jesus.

Have you ever thought about the fact that there was no funeral service held for Christ?

He was crucified as a criminal and criminals did not afford such a right. So they took his body, placed it in a tomb, with no ceremony. In a rushed and hurried fashion.

I want you to notice something that stands out from the text that we read together this morning in v.1.

These women never expected to find the risen Lord!

They were just going to anoint the body of their dead friend and teacher.

Luke 24:1 NKJV

1 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.

These women were headed to the tomb with the burial spices they had prepared and they WERE NOT thinking of all the times Jesus had told them about His death, burial, and resurrection.

(Jesus addressed this with his followers on seven different occasions throughout His public ministry)

All these ladies seemingly were thinking about was what a terrible few days it had been.

They had watched Jesus beaten and hung on a cross. The observed as he was hurriedly taken down and taken to the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea for burial without proper preparation.

Imagine, how dreadful and sorrowful that day was for them. What in their lives had traditionally been a time of praise and rejoicing had been turned into a day of mourning and sorrow like that had never experienced.

And now, on the first day of the new week, they finally could go and do what they knew to be the right and good thing to do.

To prepare His body and pay their last respects to this man who they had followed for 3 1/2 years.

So we find them in our text setting out to anoint His body and prepare Him for burial even though He had already been in the grave for three days.

They were headed to the tomb to do a good deed for a dead man!

However in the midst of seeking to do a good deed for a dead man, these women came into the presence of NOT a dead man but a GREAT GOD!

1.) These ladies went SEEKING Good. (v.1)

Good- Worthy of approval.

When a person attempts to do something good in this world, it is judged by someone who deems it to be good or worthy of approval. But, who is it then that Gives this approval?

Good is a matter of perspective. For instance, applying the word “Good” to a meal is all a matter of personal taste. Or applying the word “Good” to a recreational activity is a matter of opinion. I would call a day spent on the golf course or at the shooting range a wonderful and good time of relaxation, very worthy of my approval, but for others, they would consider those activities a colossal waste of time.

You see, we all have our own personal standard of judging approval of a thing or event that we use to designate whether or not we think something is “good.”

But, in the eyes of God, good is not a term that is defined on a whim or because of personal human likes or dislikes. No, in God’s eyes, the definition of what is “good” is fleshed out in the life of Jesus. It was His life that truly defined what is “good,” and this is where the definition of the word “good” separates as it pertains to the believer versus the non-believer in Christ.

The believer has a standard of good that is based in Christ, and the non-believer has a standard of good that is based on his own mind and conscience that is ever changing and is subject to relative choices and morality.

There are many who claim that they are able to judge others to be good… to be worthy of approval in the sight of God. However, mans approval is NOT based on the everlasting standards of God, but are grounded in those standards that are set by man and those standards are constantly changing and evolving in accordance with the whims and desires of humanity and society.

Application :However, in the economy of God, for one to be deemed “good,” worthy of approval by God, you are judged by God’s standard! His standards are straight and true, they are based on the pure, just, and mighty desires of the creator of the universe.

Romans 3:10–12 NKJV

10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Psalm 14:3 NKJV

3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

These women were seeking to do something good…something good in the eyes of those around them, and what they were doing would gain the approval of many of their peers and those who had followed and known Jesus.

But, when they arrived at the tomb, with all their perfume and spices and good intentions, things were NOT what they expected!

Things did NOT go as they thought they would.

So often in life, when we are seeking to do good things we find that things are NOT what we believed they would be…they are not what they appeared to be…things don’t always go as we planned and we are left feeling unfulfilled.

If you are not a child of God, you will be left trying to seek out other things to bring fulfillment that will never come.

But for the believer, God steps in to let us know that what we are doing, although good in the eyes of the world, is not what is BEST in the eyes of God and then he redirects our steps.

2.) These ladies were met with the UNEXPECTED. (v.2)

Luke 24:2 NKJV

2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

These ladies were seeking to do good for a dead friend, but what they found was completely and totally unexpected…They found the stone rolled away.

So often, when we seek after what is good, we expect to know what we are going to find. We know what we are looking for and we have an idea of what to expect when we seek after it.

But we all have instances when we are seeking after what we believe to be good and we don’t find what we expect, instead, we are surprised with the “unexpected.”

That is what happened to these ladies, seeking to do something good for a friend but instead they found something very UNEXPECTED…their friend was gone!

3.) These ladies found the UNPREDICTABLE. (v.3)

Luke 24:3 NKJV

3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

They went to see a dead body and found an empty tomb, that’s the very definition of unpredictable.

When we seek after what is good, we can usually predict with fairly good accuracy what we think is going to happen.

These women, on their way to the tomb, KNEW what was going to happen. No doubt they were talking about what they were going to do once they got there.

In fact, they may have even wondered “How are we going to move that big stone?”

But, when they arrived they were greeted with that UNEXPECTED surprise that the stone had been rolled away, but even more unexpected than that, something they NEVER would have planned on seeing happened, Jesus body was not there.

They could not have predicted that.

They knew what they were going to have to do…they wee on their way to do a good deed for a dead friend, but now things were different!

4.) These ladies saw the UNEXPLAINABLE. (v.4)

Luke 24:4 NKJV

4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.

Two men in shining garments appeared before them.

When we seek after what is good, we have a fair explanation of what is going on and what can happen.

These women knew what to expect and they knew what to do, they probably could have set you down the night before and played out in detail what all was going to happen the next day for their visit to the tomb to be a success.

No out, they believed they had a good explantation of what they were going to do. they thought they knew what was going to happen that next morning.

But, on the way to the tomb that morning, something UNEXPLAINABLE happened to them:

The body the expected to find was now unexplainably missing. Then, out of nowhere, two men appeared dressed in these shin gin clothes asking them a strange question. “Why seek ye the living among the dead?”

What sort of question was that?

They had seen Jesus die, they were a part of the crowd that brought Him to the tomb.

No doubt the events of this morning shook them to the very core and they could not explain what was going on.

5.) These ladies witnessed about the UNBELIEVABLE. (v.11)

Luke 24:11 NKJV

11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.

When we seek after what is good, we believe we will see a certain thing or things will happen a certain way.

Our scripture passage tells us these women, who had experienced something rather traumatic, ran back to their group and began to tell them what had happened to them that morning.

They detailed:

The unexpected.The unpredictable. The unexplainable. and The Unbelievable.

account about Jesus body not being there, about 2 men dressed in shining white clothes who reminded them about something Jesus had said, that he would raise again on the third day.

I can almost guarantee the men with whom they shared this probably looked at them like they were insane. Surely they had cracked under the pressure of the past few days. Perhaps, they were so distraught they were making up stories.

needless to say the disciples did not believe them!

To these men, the story was simply too UNBELIEVABLE.

6.) They ran to the MIND BOGGLING. (v.12)

Luke 24:12 (NKJV)

12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed,...

We are told that Peter rose and ran to the tomb, looked in, and saw the linen clothes laying there by themselves.

You see, when we seek after what is good, we can wrap our minds around what we KNOW to be coming. But, these men were looking for one thing and found something totally mind blowing to them.

They had seen their mentor and teacher die and now on Sunday morning they saw and empty tomb.

It was almost too much for them to handle, it absolutely blew their minds.

How could this happen?Who would do such a thing?Why would God allow for Jesus body to be stolen?

The empty tomb was just not something they saw coming. Up until the very moment He died, these men believed Jesus was going to set up His earthly kingdom.

Seeing an empty tomb was probably a lot more than they believed they could bare and they found themselves in a total state of disbelief as to why Jesus body was not in the tomb.

7.) They stood there MARVELING. (v.12)

Luke 24:12 (NKJV)

12 ...marveling to himself at what had happened.

When we seek after what is good in this world, we will never truly marvel at what happens, we may be in wonder for a moment or even pleased for a season, but we are never going to experience true marvel in our lives outside of the revelation of God.

Here, in this passage, we find Peter experiencing true revelation… No doubt, when Peter stepped into that tomb on resurrection morning, all of what Jesus had taught, all of what Jesus had predicted and foretold, came rushing back to Peters mind.

He remembered of when Jesus had spoken about this day and that he had taken Jesus aside and rebuked Jesus for showing weakness, and then how Jesus had turned on him and rebuked him for not knowing and understanding God’s will.

Now, on this first resurrection Sunday, Peter finally understood what Jesus had been preaching about. Peters eyes were opened, and he began to marvel at what Jesus had done.

I think, at this moment, is when Peter began to really understand it all.

Conclusion:

Today we have seen how we can chase the good of this world, but it will always let us down.

We’ve seen that when God shows up in our lives, it is up to us to either accept or reject Him.

When we chase the good of this world, we will never be fully satisfied and the Bible tells us that we will never know salvation from the good of this world.

True good can only be found in God.

These women were absolutely blown away by what they found, it was unpredictable, unexplainable, and unbelievable. But there it was…Jesus was alive…He had risen…and what they believed to be something set in stone…God changed their perspective.

When you find God, its not going to be what you think. The moment you come to Christ is unpredictable, you probably did not expect to feel what you may be feeling in your heart right now. The fact that God is willing to forgive us and redeem us and take us in is totally unexplainable. How God can swoop in and change the direction of our lives in an instant is something that is totally unexpected.

What God can do to a life stained with sin and mired in the bondage sin brings is totally unbelievable.

What God can do for your life and how God can change your life is totally mind boggling.

When God gets ahold of your life, when God comes into your heart and makes changes that only He can make, you are going to marvel at His grace, His forgiveness, and His salvation.

Stop settling for the good