Act Like He Got Up

[SING: He Lives…one chorus]

If you are here today, you are in the minority of Americans.

Only 45% of US adults told Pew Researchers that they planned to attend church on Easter Sunday.

And I’m pretty certain, some of them didn’t show up.

The fact is that American culture has come to a fairly settled conclusion about Christianity:

That it is one religious narrative among many.

A meaning-making story.

A moral framework.

Perhaps a good story. But a story nonetheless — and you can take it or leave it depending on whether it resonates with you.

What is more heartbreaking is that I think American culture learned this from the American church.

The ways Christians have practiced and presented the faith have made this conclusion easy to reach.

We have acted as if our role in the world is to get people to agree with the story about the resurrection of Jesus.

We somehow became persuaded that our greatest witness to the world is how much we can be like Jesus.

And I think in the midst of it all we lost the plot. We’ve missed the meaning of the resurrection.

Matthew’s Gospel places a warning about this very thing in the resurrection narrative.

Let me read to you Matthew’s record:

Matthew 28:11-20

11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

What we have here is a Tale of Two Sendings

One group (the guards) is sent to propagate a lie.

The other group (the disciples) are sent out to bear witness to the truth.

I want to submit to you today that perhaps a driving cause the decline of this faith in our generation is that for decades, the church has been using the tactics of people involved in a cover-up rather than the tactics of people who have the truth.

But if we believe that He got up, we ought to act like it.

I want to preach a sermon this Resurrection Sunday called: Act Like He Got

We’ll look at 4 key distinctions between how liars role and how truth carriers are to behave.

Let’s Pray: [Pray Here]

Contrast #1: The Source — We Have A Higher Authority

The chief priests and elders have institutional power — but watch what they have to do with it.

They go to Pilate in 27:62 to get permission for the guard.

They don't have enough authority to post a guard themselves. They have to borrow it from Rome.

And now, after everything, they deploy that same borrowed, Pilate-approved authority to manage the fallout from a resurrection they couldn't prevent.

Jesus steps forward and says: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

Not regional authority. Not institutional authority. Not borrowed authority.

Jesus’ authority received from the Father through resurrection.

The priests borrowed influence from a Roman governor. Jesus received authority from the Heavenly Father.

The gospel of Jesus Christ does not need the endorsement of a political party, a celebrity, a billionaire or an influencer.

Contrast #2: The Script — We Have A Living Truth

The priests needed the soldiers to stay on script.

Any crack in the story and the whole thing falls apart.

So they did two things:

they paid them enough to stay loyal,

and they promised to manage any political fallout. "If this reaches the governor, we will handle it."

What they could not afford was uncertainty.

Uncertainty is the enemy of a false narrative.

But, watch what happens on the mountain.

"When they saw him, they worshiped — but some doubted."

The verb appears only twice in all of Matthew.

The other time is 14:31, when Peter is sinking and Jesus says: "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

The word means to stand at a fork.

Dividedness.

Two-ness.

Not knowing which foot to put forward.

They were worshiping and wavering at the same time.

But just like He did with Peter, Jesus moves toward the doubter.

You questions are not disqualifying.

When you’re spreading a lie, it is your job to keep the story together. Certainty is required.

But, Jesus is the truth. So, even when you might be wavering, He is there to hold YOU together.

Think about it this way.

There are things I know how to do.

Your confidence in my ability to do them doesn't change whether I can do them.

In fact, I can help you gain confidence — by demonstrating my competence.

Jesus wasn't asking the disciples to have everything figured out. He was asking them to stay close enough to watch him work.

Contrast #3: The Strategy — We Have A Deeper Knowing

The soldiers received a simple task: Say these words.

Keep the story straight.

Communicate the Information transmission.

Get the message out.

Push the narrative.

Jesus’ command is different:

Make disciples.

The root word here means “to learn”.

But this is not classroom learning.

This is formation through directed, sustained attention.

The mind oriented toward something or someone.

The life shaped by sustained proximity to something.

Some of my children are getting older (I will have two teenagers by the end of the year)

They are like me in many ways (some good and some not so good)

But, they have never been to a Chris study class.

They have lived with me more than a decade.

You cannot be a disciple of someone who is absent. The word requires a living, present teacher.

Notice that the text does not say "teach them all my teachings."

It says "teach them to observe all that I commanded you."

Teach them to pay attention to the things I told you to pay attention to.

Teach them to pay close attention to ME.

Contrast #4: The Security — We Have A Better Promise

The priests made the soldiers a promise: "If this reaches the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble."

If trouble comes, they say, then we will handle it.

But, there are problems with this promise:

How will you know when I need you?

How do you know the governor will listen to you this time?

You are making promises you may not be able to keep.

Jesus makes no such promise.

If the governor comes, I'll handle it.

If you face opposition, I'll make it stop.

But here’s what he does promise: “I myself am with you”.

I'm not promising you it's going to be easy.

I'm not promising I'll smooth over all the rough places.

But whatever you go through, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.

I may not always keep you from the furnace, but I will always be with you in the fire.

And here’s what I like. He says, “I will be with you ‘Always’”...literally, “All of the days.”

The good days and the bad days.

The days so awesome you will always remember. The days so awful you wish you could forget.

The ordinary days. The busy days. The tired days.

And yes — that day. The one you say, "He could not have possibly been there that day."

He was there.

He cried with you.

He hurt for you.

And he had that very thing in mind when he hung on the cross.

Healing for your wounds.

Forgiveness for your sins.

Hope for your future.

Because Jesus is got up, we are not advocates for a historical claim. We are witnesses to a present reality.

Earlier this year I was at an event that featured Chicago Bears Hall-of-Famer, Brian Urlacher.

Now going into the event, I knew a lot about Brian Urlacher.

Watched his entire career.

I knew the stats, the Super Bowl run, the years he dominated the middle of that defense.

When I got to the event, there were several people there in #54 jerseys, dressed like the man.

But the highlight of my evening was when my friend, who organized the event, came up to me and said, "I've got somebody I want you to meet."

He took me into the back…into the green room.

And I shook hands with the legend himself. I had a little two minute conversation.

You see, beloved, there is a difference between knowing everything about someone and being introduced to them.

One is information.

The other is an encounter.

It makes sense if only 45% of Americans want to gather in rooms like this to commemorate a historical event called the resurrection.

But, beloved what would happen if the church realized once again that this day is actually an opportunity to encounter the Risen Christ.

This Christian faith is not believing in a set of historical facts.

Christian faith is experiencing a present reality.

[SING: He Lives…one chorus]

If you don’t know Jesus, I have somebody I want you to meet.

Not a story to sell.

This is an invitation to train your attention on Him…and meet Him for yourself.

What if I’m not fully persuaded?

Neither were the disciples when the resurrected Jesus met them on that mountainside.

But, just like them,

you can choose to follow as you figure it out.

You can choose worship even while you’re still wavering.

You can choose to belong as you come to believe.

This is not about knowing everything about Jesus.

This is not about whether I can live exactly like Jesus.

This is about whether I will choose to follow Him…to live a life with Jesus.

First: If you are ready today to say yes to following Jesus — to begin a life with him — I want to invite you to come. You don't have to have it all figured out. Come as you are.

Second: If you want to learn what life with Jesus looks like in this community — if you're curious and not yet ready to commit — we would love to have that conversation. Come talk to us.

Third: The mission of Ambassador Church is to help people find their purpose and live on mission with Jesus. If membership is where you are — if you're ready to plant your flag in this community — we invite you to take that step. We'll walk you through it.