May 7 2023 - Luke 24:36-49

Welcome/Directory

Basketball and women’s ministry

Good morning GracePointe. Before we jump into God’s Word today, I want to ask you to consider signing up for our directory. Our church has an online directory that allows you to put in your contact info like a phone number and email and an address. You can even post a photo. Cause friends, sometimes…I know this doesn’t happen to you…

but I run into someone at the bank or the grocery store....I know there face but not there name. And you miss the window to ask! So now you are carrying on a lovely conversation, heartfelt and encouraging but if someone asked me in that moment....how do you know them? I would not know. Some of you are thinking....Scott needs to go to the doctor. That may be true but what we also need is for folks to sign up and update the directory.

This will allow us as staff and leadership to better connect with you and it also has the ability to better connect you with one another. This is a great shepherding tool for us as a church.

We have people who can help you sign up on the computer, answer questions you may have. Right after the service today, someone will be there to help you. Thank you for taking steps to help make that happen!

Recap

we have been looking at how The resurrection changes everything.

We have spent time with Jesus as he entered the city on a donkey, fulfilling prophecy as the powerful king of peace.

We reflected on the commitment to love one another as Christ loves us and the experience of the disciples in the upper room in our Maundy Thursday service.

We then took time to pray through the stations of the cross in our Good Friday prayer event. To consider our dependence on the cross. He took the punishment we deserved and died…so that we may live.

We then sang deeply....loudly…that Christ is our living hope on Easter as we celebrated that the story didn’t end at the cross. Jesus is alive.

In John 20, we see how Jesus appears to Thomas after appearing to the other disciples. We discovered when we seek Him, even in our doubt....we will find Him.

We saw how Jesus gave Peter an identity, He was more than his failure…a new creation in Christ.

We heard how our walk with Christ is a journey. We see that the scriptures point to Jesus. We also heard how walking with Jesus is done in community....together.

Intro

Today, we close out our series by looking at our response to Jesus being alive.

Life is about our response. You can talk a good game. You can make promises left and right but…the truth is in the response. What actually happens!

A great example of this is in parenting. Before the kids are born, you have thoughts. This is how I am going to do discipline. This is how much electronic time my kids will have. They will respect my every word. When they don’t, I will laugh gracefully and respond in the just the right way.

They will only eat organic, they will only watch veggietales, and they will be contributing members of society at birth! The parent of the year award will be mine!

.....friends. Reality is different right. Because it was and is, and will be difficult. A Child’s mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual needs are many....and our parental response, for all its good intentions, come up short a lot. There is the intended response but then, the truth is in our actual realistic response.

Today as we look at the moment that Jesus suddenly appears to his disciples we will be reflecting on 4 responses to life and how the resurrection of Jesus supernaturally changes everything…including those responses.

Our natural response will be fear, will be to sit and live in uncertainty and doubt. We will have a response of doubt that never leads anywhere. We will choose to stay silent because it is just easier. We will choose to rely on ourselves.

When we choose christ, we find a supernaturally changed response of peace. We find a response of faith that is a destination of doubt.

We find a desire to share the gospel as we experience the power of the Holy Spirit Not relying on our selves

We find a foundation of trust in the Lord that is our true lifestyle of worship.

Turn with me now to Luke 24:36-39

Peace Instead of Anxiety and Fear (v 36-43)

The context for this is that the The disciples were hidden away behind a locked door out of fear of the local leaders. Their friend Jesus had been killed…they were now hearing stories that he had been seen

Which....didn’t initially illicit the response of joy. There is grief here....some might be thinking that someone had messed with his body. The disrespect and dishonor and grief were bubbling up as they talk

The greek work for talking there means to utter and is often used in reference to children. It is a hurried, exasperated, not making much sense type of talk.

Fear and Anxiety are reigning in this locked room

They are talking about this when Jesus himself stood among them there in and says “Peace” be with you.

The disciples are startled and frightened thinking that they saw a ghost.

Notice that Jesus says peace be with you. The one who gave us true peace by providing the way of reconciliation to God... here saying “peace be with you”. it is a nice play on words

In contrast to their child-like uttering, Christ comes and says peace.

I love the concept of this peace. It is shalom. It is the way things are meant to be. It denotes a state of untroubled, undisturbed, well-being

Today, we often confuse peace with absence of all conflict. As long as we are not fighting, everything is fine. Have you ever had a relationship that was devoid of conflict but didn’t have any of the positive interaction replacing it. In your marriage, in your children, in your friends....it’s the difference between wow and ehh it’s fine.

That is not the shalom that Jesus is speaking of here.

In the gospel of John, Jesus is referencing this peace.

John 14:27 NIV

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

The negative, the conflict is not there....and in its place...completeness. Heart, Mind, Soul, Strength....all complete in Christ. The way things were always meant to be…both with God and with others. Peace.

Jesus asks, why are you troubled…why do doubts rise in your minds. These disciples… remember they have seen Jesus do miraculous things.

Heal people....feed multitudes of people with just a little....calm the wind and the waves....drive out demons....raise Lazarus from the dead.

They have all the foundation in the world to at least lean in to the fact that, while startling…they shouldn’t be 100% in disbelief that the miracle worker from Galilee would do another miracle.

In a warped way, this brings me hope for myself. Because If the disciples were slow to grasp truth – those picked up the dust from their masters feet....

it should come as no surprise to me that I can find myself in that same state of confusion at times with the Lord.

Our fear and anxiety is often reigning in our lives. And Jesus comes to give peace. As He is alive, we choose to respond with peace instead of fear and anxiety.

Questions for your life - Peace Instead of Fear

What locked door do you have in your life? Where are you huddled, uttering words of desperation? What door are you hiding behind? What things in your life have you deemed too hard, too confusing, too complicated, too scary for God?

What we see in these first few verses is that Jesus wants to be present in your life through the Spirit behind that locked door. With you in that desperation, in that confusing, in the messy.

He wants to show up with the power of his resurrection—with shalom, with peace. If there’s anyone who can bring peace to your situation no matter how it feels, it’s Jesus.

The Response of Jesus v39

Jesus responds in verse 38 by continuing to be generous.

Jesus doesn’t just say…you are the worst…you of little faith....believe! In this moment, he meets them were they are. He provided tangible physical evidence to support what their eyes are seeing. I told you this would happen. I am standing before you now. Here is more evidence that your eyes, your ears don’t deceive you. You have doubts…let me comfort you

Here are my hands…here is my feet. I am real. I am here. It is me Jesus.

You thought I was a ghost. But can a ghost be touched? Can a ghost have bones…and flesh. You see that I have them? So I am not a ghost.

He says this.....and the disciples still do not believe. The word says there in verse 41, they did not believe out of joy and amazement. In all the ways, they are overwhelmed. cry, laugh,scream, go the bathroom overwhelmed

Jesus provides more physical evidence by asking for something to eat in verse 41.

Ghosts don’t eat. Everyone knows ghosts try and eat stuff and it just falls through them. It is one of the most unifying beliefs…Ghosts don’t eat. He provides some logical thought to there fear.

Jesus brings peace by meeting them where they are. And Jesus meets us where we are. Jesus wants to guard your heart and mind and bring peace that transcends all understanding as we see Phil 4:7

He didn’t explain everything that was at work here. How he appeared in the room? How exactly did the power work that raised Him from the dead?

But he brought peace that transcends understanding to guard their heart and minds just as he does for us today. One could infer that They were afraid that they were being deceived or let down. but Jesus brought them peace both with His presence and with his provision.

As you face fear and anxiety, know that Jesus is the prince of peace and brings peace to our fear and anxiety.

Faith can be the destination of Doubt (v44-47)

An enormous amount of physical evidence is being put on display but now we see a shift from the physical evidence to the biblical evidence.

First, he recalls what the scriptures said about him earlier.. that “everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled”

I want to say this because I wasn’t told this when I was younger. There are, depending on the scholar, any where from 200-400 prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus. A Christian who taught mathematician once remarked that the odds of one man fulfilling just 8 prophecies fully at that time and in that place.....1 and 10^17. That is 1 with 17 Zeroes. Just 8 prophecies. and Jesus fulfilled at least 200! It is miraculous and speaks to the power of God.

Michael last week and me this week…we are not covering 200 prophecies but I will give some examples for for each…Moses, Prophets and Psalms.

Christ is foretold in scripture in many ways…his arrival, his ministry, his death, his title And many more

In the law of Moses in Deuteronomy 18, verse 15 and 18 we read

MOSES

Deuteronomy 18:15 NIV

15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

In verse 18

Deuteronomy 18:18 NIV

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.

In John 1:45, the first disciples recognize Christ as this prophet. As Philip tells nethanial we have found the one Moses wrote about Jesus of Nazareth

A prophet is a spokesman for God, one who relates the message of God to the people. One who knows God face to face and does the will of God through prophecy, and through miracles.

In John 7:16

John 7:16 NIV

16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.

Jesus is the one who is relating the message of God to the people. Jesus fulfills all the requirements for a prophet in title, word, and deed.

But He is also more than the ultimate prophet He is also a vanquishing King

PROPHETS

In the prophet Isaiah. It says in chapter 25:7-8

Isaiah 25:7–8 NIV

7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.

Everyone experiences death and its ramifications. But it speaks to a time where death is defeated.

But Christ came, he destroyed death. He swallowed up death’s victory with His own Paul references this in In 1 Corinthians 15:54

1 Corinthians 15:54 NIV

54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

If you are in Christ death’s sting is gone for you.  You will stand before God, not in the rags of your own half-hearted righteousness, but in the white robes of Jesus’ perfect righteousness. And we say thank you to God for this gift through Jesus Christ.

So Christ is the ultimate prophet, he is the might king who has vanquished death…

PSALMS

And we see a connection from psalm 40 6-8 andHebrews 10:5-10 we read in Hebrews

“ Christ came into the world and said “quoting Psalm 40 - Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;. Jesus said “here I am, it is written about me in the scroll, I have come to do your will, my God."

Jesus is referring to Psalm 40 and saying The burnt offerings were not what would appease God but a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God....for the sins of the world...

This connection with Psalm 40 stresses the necessity of the cross. The cross was not forced on God; it was part of the plan of God, to truly pay the price for the sin of mankind.

We see biblical evidence that Christ is the ultimate prophet king and priest for all mankind.

Questions as we see biblical evidence.

There are many many more.

Biblical evidence provides a foundation that when we doubt, when we don’t understand....God’s word to us provides that foundational peace to remind us that Christ is who He says He is.

The truth is that we will all have doubts. We ask questions in our wondering and wandering and Christ, like he did for Thomas and for the disciples....meets us where we are.

I would ask these questions.

In your life, do you see the bible as necessary just as Christ thought it necessary? Do we assign the correct priority level to the bible in our lives? Do we see the bible as Christ saw it.....

John Mark Comer points out that Christ saw the word of God” as trustworthy, authoritative, and good, but also sees Himself as the end point of the biblical narrative.

Just as the disciples did, we find a response of faith as a destination of doubt.

Sharing instead of Silence

In Luke 24:46-48

Jesus is saying you were troubled but see I am here. I suffered and rose from the dead on the third day Now go!

Preach the good news. Preach the repentance for the forgiveness of sins. To all the nations Preach it from that foundation of faith. This part of the passage is another commission from Jesus. They have been given a mission!

We see the command preached. The word here is public declarations, to say out loud. These disciples are attesting to the greatness of God. They have been eyewitnesses to Jesus' life, ministry, death, and resurrection, and can, as in a trial, give testimony to all that God has done, is doing, and will do through Jesus Christ.

They received a new mission to go....

And they did. While they had doubts, they took the comfort of Jesus. Who met them where they are…and wow....they followed through on their mission. They were not silent. They could have followed the natural response of silence…

Instead they focused on the mission to share. To preach to the good news and give testimony. And the world changed as they obediently went about the mission Christ commanded.

Author and Pastor Colin Smith wrote this...

“The disciples and apostles did not set out to change the world—they set out to proclaim the Christ who had changed them. And through proclaiming Christ, lives were transformed, churches were planted, and the world was changed.”

Questions for us and our testimony

Often times, we back away from our mission to testify to the greatness of God. To the repentance and forgiveness of sins. This week, I was wrestling with what the Lord requires of me in this. Sure I preach here on a Sunday...

But then I thought about areas in my life where I am more quiet. Areas where I feel a hesitancy to speak. I was convicted that I am to give testimony...that Jesus Christ saved my life. You are to do that as well. Are we doing that?

Let me be crystal clear Notice here...the we are not to give a testimony on our greatness.

We are not to give a testimony to how we are better than others.

We are not to give a testimony to all that we are disgusted by.

We are to live a life of testimony to the greatness of God, to the good news of the gospel, to the lovingkindness evidence in our relationship with him.

Everyone is giving a testimony to something, whether you know it or not. What are you giving a testimony to? Is it God and the gospel? Is it something else? Whatever that else is.....consider for a moment that the definition of an idol by John Piper.

“An Idol is anything that we come to rely on for some blessing, or help, or guidance in the place of a wholehearted reliance on the true and living God.”

if it is not God, it has become the thing we rely on for some blessing…and we are telling the world about it. .

Let us proclaim loudly in the way that we live that God loved us, saved us through Jesus Christ, and we now have a relationship with God. May we proclaim that today from a foundation and a response of faith. The living Christ causes this response. We are to share and not be silent.

Power Instead of Pride (v8-49)

I believe it is incredibly important that we look at verse 49. Jesus says he will send what God, his father, has promised. You must stay in the city until clothed with power from high.

The word for power here is the foundation of our word dynamic or dynamo. or dynamite. This power is rich, explosive, and…

notice here it is using the word clothed. It is pointing to taking on the characteristics and virtues of this power.

What is this power that was promised? Just a few examples.

Joel 2:28 NIV

28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

Another is Isaiah 44:3

Isaiah 44:3 NIV

3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

This is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. The 3rd person of the trinity. We would need a sermon series or more likely eternity to fully understand the Holy Spirit.

In our text today, Jesus is saying you are witnesses to all that Jesus has done. But, we like sheep, have gone astray. You will forget. You will lose hope and feel overwhelmed and forget the good news. You need the Helper. The Advocate.

See in the ESV in

John 15:26 - But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

He will bear witness about Christ. So when you forget, when you get distracted. When you take your eyes off Christ, and put it on that thing, person, feeling, you want to rely on for blessing. The advocate, the helper will be there to shine a spotlight on the person and work of Christ.

Disciples and us today show that we are humans with flawed thinking…with hurts and hangups and bad habits. The Holy Spirit diverts our attention back to the one who is mighty to save.

The Holy Spirit ministers, equips, enables, and educates. Shapes our rough edges into the image of Christ. my edges my rough spots are the worst

I get fired up about this because I feel that without the Holy spirit, we are just relying on our self. We try to rely on our pride to do the mission God has called us to.

Friends, it is not enough. No matter how long you have followed Christ, no matter what gifts you have, no matter how wise you have been in the world…if you are operating from a place of pride, of self, It will eventually come up short. Probably earlier than you think it will. We need the Holy Spirit.

There is much about God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit that is mysterious but today, in our text, there is clarity. Christ in our text says you need the Holy Spirit to be witnesses. To preach the gospel. To preach repentance and forgiveness of sins. So lean on the Holy Spirit.

We need the Holy Spirit to divert our attention back to the person and work of Jesus Christ. I need that minute by minute in my life. .Ask yourself…do I rely on the Holy Spirit in my life? what areas are easier or more difficult?

Jesus says elsewhere that He must go so that the Spirit will come that is how essential the spirit is to our lives

Jesus, according to this passage, is saying yes. yes. You need it. Charles Spurgeon put it this way...

“Without the Spirit of God, we can do nothing. We are as ships without wind or chariots without steeds. Like branches without sap, we are withered. Like coals without fire, we are useless.”

A Life of Praise

I go through times where I feel useless. I have my own issues and I am powerless to do the right thing it seems. People are hurting around me and I can’t do anything about it. I can’t fix it. I don’t have all the resources. I feel withered and broken down.

When I am honest with myself, I realize that I have been trying to live out God’s intention for me....by utilizing my own power. My own capability.

It is not enough. My capability my self...it is a shallow well compared to the deep ocean of the Holy Spirit.

When we live out of the Holy Spirit, our lives take on the characteristics and virtues of the Father. In John 14:26, the spirit is the one that will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that Christ has said to you”

When we close these responses we find ourselves living a lifestyle or worship

It would be typical for the worship pastor to get up here and talk about worship and you would think music. NO!

No.

I mean a life that is trusting God in all things. We trust the Lord with our strengths, our weaknesses, our joy, our pain, our dreams and our failures. We trust the Lord. A life that trusts the Lord in this way is louder than any culture or kingdom or song

Conclusion/Prayer

The supernatural power of the Holy Spirit changes are responses. We have peace instead of fear. We have faith as a destination of doubt that leads to a firm foundation.

We should share our testimony instead of being silent. Let our testimony ring out loudly for all to hear, see, and experience that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord.

We need the power of the Holy Spirit, not our pride. we must decrease so that he will increase.

We don’t lean on our own understanding but in all our ways…all of our ways acknowledging him. Let us respond to the living Christ with a life that trusts Him. Let us Pray

Prayer:

Our Father, thank you for Your loving kindness. Thank you for your son Jesus who came, died and rose again. Thank you for your Spirit, the helper who directs our attention back to you. Lord help us to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness and patience, forgiving one another as you have forgiven us, Lord yours is the kingdom and the power and glory forever and ever…Amen

Gracepointe, may we proclaim the Christ who has changed us. May lives be transformed, communities planted and the world changed as we share our testimony. Go now and live in the peace of God. Amen. Have a great rest of the day GracePointe.