You May Have Life

John 20:1-10

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.

Pray

Today is Easter or as I like to call it Resurrection Day. Today is the day that this whole business of Christianity hinges on. Jesus was a great teacher, He was a perfect man and you can learn a lot from the bible just believing those things, but He can only be those things if what we celebrate today happens.

If you are not with us every Sunday, we go through books of the bible. We are in the book of Mark and almost to this point of the story. So far we have seen Jesus calm storms, provide food from almost nothing, heal blind people, make the lame walk and raise others from the dead, but a few times in Mark Jesus has told his disciples that He would be killed but He would be raised from the dead.

I don’t know what they all thought when Jesus said this but some said that they wouldn’t let it happen and some said that if it came down to it they would die with them. We know from further reading of the text that neither of those things were done by the disciples. There was probably a thought that it would never happen. That maybe he was speaking hyperbolically and that He wouldn’t really be killed. There had never been anyone like Jesus and the idea that He would be killed like a common criminal was likely out of their minds.

If it were really true that He would sacrifice Himself and then raise Himself again, then they wouldn’t be dealing with just a man but they would be dealing with God.

There could be explanations for the other miracles. Maybe the person healed was a set up, maybe they were lying, maybe the storm calmed just at the right time and it wasn’t Jesus’ words that silenced it at all, maybe the disciples were feeding Jesus more food under the table as He was feeding the multitudes like a cheap magic trick, maybe the folks that Jesus raised from the dead weren’t really dead but sleeping and Jesus just woke them up, BUT resurrecting yourself from the dead after being beaten past the point of recognition, flogged, nailed to a cross, dying on that cross in front of witnesses, then having a spear thrust in your side to puncture your heart where water and blood pour out, to come back from that is something only God could do.

The disciples were not really ready to believe that part yet. We see throughout the Gospels how the disciples just didn’t seem to get it. They wanted to be around Jesus for the fame that it brought them and for how they looked around the crowds. They liked the status of being with Jesus. Some of you in this room may be in this camp. You go to church because that is what you do. You like to be seen in church, you like people to know that you are a Christian because people think better of you for it. You like that people come to you for advice and you can give it because you were raised in the church. You know the Scriptures, you can answer all of the questions but this business of fully believing or fully surrendering your life to Christ is something that you have always put at arms length.

If you fully surrender you might lose something that is important to you. You might have to admit to the wrongs that you have done, you might have to confess sin and stop certain things that you love more than Jesus. It might effect you negatively if you fully submit your life to Jesus.

The disciples felt the same way. They wanted a life that was different than the one Jesus had for them. They thought that Jesus was going to be a king like King David and He would rule Israel and they would have a seat at the king’s table with all of the perks that come with that, but when Friday came they thought all hope was lost. Their King had been killed. They knew what Jesus said but they didn’t really believe it. They were looking for Jesus to give them a different life. One with monetary prosperity and status, but instead Jesus let them kill Him.

They were deflated, so when they came to the tomb this morning we find Mary getting their early.

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

Does Mary run to Peter and say, “He is risen!” No, she says someone has stolen him. They have taken the body away. There is disbelief among all of the disciples.

3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

Many scholars believe that this unnamed disciple was John and he was able to run faster than Peter because he was younger. It also could be that Peter, still riddled with guilt from denying Jesus, was still ashamed of what he had done. He didn’t want to see something terrible happen to the body.

This unnamed apostle was eager to get there, but not to fully examine the situation. There are some who are built to see and respond to situations, and others who are built to receive and process the information by those that have been there.

Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.

Peter goes right into the tomb to see what is happening and what he finds is not a scene of someone who’s body has been taken where they would have tried to be hasty about it and taken the body and the linen together. If someone is to take a body in haste they will not take the time to unravel all of the linen shroud, take the body and then fold it as it had never been used. Peter finds a folded piece of linen and an empty tomb. Luke’s Gospel says that after he saw the linen cloths by themselves, “He went home marveling at what had happened.”

This other disciple didn’t marvel at what happened but he did what we are called to do when we are given evidence and open eyes and ears from the Lord.

8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.

He saw all he needed to see. There was an empty tomb exactly where and when Jesus said it would be. The disciple needed nothing else, so he believed.

If you have been to church on Easter and Christmas your entire life, you know this story. If this is the only time that you come to church, welcome. You hear some variation of the same message each time, but have you ever thought about what it has to do with your life today?

Most of the time this message is taught as some history lesson or some way to show you proofs so that you will believe, as if there are proofs and proofs alone that would make you believe. Let me unpack that statement. Let’s say you were searching for a spouse and you have a list of things that you want in that person. You find a person that meets all of the qualifications: they have a job, they are kind, they love their parents, they have a pulse. Let’s say you marry this person. Is change required from you? At the least there should be a change that you don’t date any other people. At best you should give everything you have to that relationship and work toward becoming the best union. You wouldn’t say, “I’m married on paper” to a spouse that you love. There is a deep belief in your relationship. A deep connection that changes how you think about your everyday actions and the future because a marriage with two people wanting the best for the other is the best for both parties.

There is a power in the belief of the risen Savior. Not just head knowledge, but there is something that happens in your soul that changes your heart. If you were once just calling yourself a Christian because that was the cultural norm in the United States and you thought that gave you some sort of advantage, let me tell you there is more advantage to actually being a follower of Christ.

If you read a little farther down in John 20:30-31, John shows why he wrote the Gospel.

John 20:30–31

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

You might take a pencil or something to underline that line. Why are we celebrating today, why are we believing in what Jesus has said and done? So that you may have life in his name. You, me, all of us may have life.

What is this life? It is a life that is abundant in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control. A life that no longer makes you a slave to sin.

Romans 6:1-14, Paul tells us about this new life and what it looks like worked out. There were people that thought they could just check the box and say, “I will follow Jesus.” and keep their lives the same and continue to be slaves to sin.

6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

If this seems offensive to you and you say, “Well I thought we had grace.” “I have already been forgiven”. Yes, you have. This turning away from sin is not to prove your righteousness to God or to earn your salvation, but to show who your Father is.

When you are saved, which means believing in, trusting in, giving your whole life to Christ, He takes all of your sins, which add up to laws broken against God, and Jesus says that all of the penalties have been paid. They are forgotten and separated from you as far as the East is from the West. That is what we call justification.

This is wonderful news because all of that baggage that you have been holding on to, you can lay it at the feet of Jesus and as he was dying on that cross, your sin was on his shoulders and His blood took care of it. The sins of your childhood, the sins of your adulthood, your sinful thoughts that you were thinking a minute ago was taken to the cross and put to death with Christ.

This is great news but it isn’t the best news. It actually gets better than this. In the Old Testament, God was called by the name He gave to Moses, “I AM” or YahWeh. He was different than us, He was far off and only certain people under certain conditions could come close to Him, but the New Testament believers in the Son, Jesus, get to call him Father.

JI Packer in his great book Knowing God, says this, “Christians are His children, his own sons and daughters, his heirs….they belong to His family; they may approach Him without fear and always be sure of His fatherly concern and care.”

In this new life, we are adopted by God and called child and we get to call Him, Father. Regardless of how your earthly Father treated you, know that the one who dwells in the heavens is infinitely better than your earthly father. When you are loved by your earthly father, you want to do things that please him. Not out of sheer duty but out of love. You want your name to be associated with trustworthiness and character. When people hear your last name you want them to say, “That is a good family.”

How much more should be want to represent God’s name as His children. Like I said earlier, we do not stop sinning to earn a place at the table, but we live the way that He has called us to live so that we show the family likeness.

I was blessed to have a father and mother with integrity. I never once had anyone tell me, “Oh, you’re one of those no good Huckabees.” In fact, my father new the weight of our last name and he would often tell me when I left the house to go to a party or hang out with my friends, “You have the Huckabee name, come back with it in the same or better condition you left here with it.”

I took that to heart. Most of the time I tried to do what was right because of my name. Did I mess up? Plenty of times. Did it hurt my father and mother? Absolutely, but listen to me church, I never lost my spot at the table and they never stopped loving me.

If God is infinitely better than mine or your parents, how much more does His grace and love abound?

So why do we celebrate today? We celebrate because when He rose and defeated death, if we believe in him, we also are raised with Him in a new life. Most people spend their whole lives trapped in the sins of the past, in bondage to sin. They are slaves and they don’t know that there is a way to be free. When He rose that morning he gave us a way to be free and those that He sets free are free indeed. He has called us to walk in that freedom, walk in our new name, lean on our new Father and let Him take care of us.

In this new life that we have, he has given us the keys to find others in bondage and unlock the cell door. That is what we do when we share Christ with people, we are giving them a way out. Many of you might be sitting here today inside the cell with the door open and you won’t step outside. This morning He is calling you to step out of your tomb and trust Him. Trade that old life for a new one. Be free.