Words of Life

Prayer

The Strangeness of the Bible

I want to start this morning with something that might be a little surprising - the Bible is a strange book. I don’t know how familiar you are with it, may know almost nothing about it, or perhaps you know some basic stories, - maybe you know it really well. Now, here in a church setting, as we gather for worship, it might not seem strange, but if you look at it on a broader scale, it really is strange.

Remarkable that these writings, which are thousands of years old, still hold so much fascination today, in our modern, scientific world where we actually travel into space, we have artificial intelligence. And yet, there’s actually been an increase in Bible sales. People who know nothing about the Bible are starting to buy it and read it. We have an entire museum dedicated to it in Washington DC (which is an amazing visit, by the way).

And trying to read the Bible on your own, if you know nothing about it, is a daunting task - because it’s not just one Book, but a collection of books, 66 in total. It’s filled with different types of literature - there’s historical narrative, poetry, prose, wisdom literature). It was written over a period of 1,600 years (!), by forty different authors in three different languages. From a cultural standpoint, very different from ours - time period, region of world, etc.). It’s divided into two sections, an Old Testament and a New Testament - what’s that all about?

But in spite of its size and all that strangeness, the Bible really does have a core message, a story that is central to it, that sits right at the heart of this collection of books. And this is why people continue to seek it out today. And that story is the story of Jesus Christ. Story of God creating the world, making it good - not just the world, but people, humanity, in his image, and making them very good. But humanity chose to rebel against his good will, go their own way, to live life on their own terms, without God - what the Bible calls sin. Problem with sin is that it leads to death, because sin separates us from God, and there is no life without God, he is the source of life, it all comes from him.

Thankfully the story doesn’t end there - rather, God, out of his love and grace, sent his son, Jesus, to become one of us, to become human, to die on a cross, bearing the burden of our sin, then rising to new life three days later (what we’re celebrating today), defeating death, and offering the opportunity for new life to whoever would trust and follow him. That is the story of the Bible, the story of the good news of Jesus Christ.

I want to share a little bit of that story with you this morning, go into a little greater detail, just as a way to more fully share this good news with you - this is Easter Sunday, after all. And this is good news. In fact, it’s great news. This is the greatest story ever told - why it keeps being shared over and over and over again. On Friday (Good Friday) I decided to watch the Passion of the Christ movie - one scene gets me every time, I was crying! Why people who’ve never encountered the Bible are picking it up, because they are hungry for good news - they want to know there is hope. There’s a purpose and meaning to life. That real life is possible. And it is, in this story. And it began with a group of women.

We’re going to turn now to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24. By the way, word gospel means good news. The Gospel of Luke is one of the books of the New Testament, we call it Luke for short, but really it is the Gospel according to Luke. It’s Luke’s telling of the good news of Jesus, which, by his own account, is based on his interviews of the eyewitnesses, the people who were there to see all the events of Jesus’ life and ministry.

So, Luke 24:1-12, On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words. 9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

All this takes place after the devastating event of the previous Friday - Jesus is condemned to death, to be executed by crucifixion. Roman soldiers carry out the brutal death, nailing him to the cross to hang until he dies. His body is taken down and hurriedly wrapped up and placed in a tomb, as the Sabbath was nearing, the day on which no work was to be done. So the woman come early Sunday morning to finish the proper burial preparations. But to their surprise, the stone that sealed the tomb had already been rolled away. And Jesus’ body is not there.

Surprises continue as two men in gleaming clothing appear out of nowhere, telling them there are looking in the wrong place. “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” Then they remind the women that he had been telling them this all along, that everything that had happened to him over the last few days, he’d told them was going to happen. And they were like, oh, yeah, he did say that.

So the women go back to the rest of Jesus’ followers to share the good news. But it doesn’t go well - they’re having a hard time believing it. Maybe you do, too. It is an incredible story. So a few of them go to check it out for themselves. Which is actually helpful to see, that these first followers were skeptical as well. One of the things that gives this story credence is actually that the first eyewitnesses were women. Because at that time, a woman’s testimony was considered unreliable, didn’t count in court. If you were making the story up, you wouldn’t have women as your first eyewitnesses.

As it turns out, Jesus himself appeared to his followers at various times and places over the next fifty days until he ascended into heaven. So although they were initially confused and skeptical, they became so convinced of the truth of Jesus rising from the dead that they continued to follow and even worship him. And they went out proclaiming the good news that he had risen from the dead, and a number of them suffered terribly for doing so - persecutions, imprisonment, and even being put to death. Those first followers of Jesus were so convinced of who Jesus was and the life that he came to offer through his death and resurrection that they were willing to suffer and even die to share that good news.

Words of Life

That’s why we’re here this morning, to pass on that message that those two men (angels) gave to the women, to Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the Mother of James, who in turn shared it with the other followers of Jesus, to Peter and James and John and all the disciples, who began to share it throughout the city of Jerusalem, then in Judea and in Samaria, all over the Roman empire. And shared it from generation to generation so that 2,000 years later we’re sharing it this morning. Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen!

This is a core aspect of the good news, the gospel of Jesus. Having borne our sins on the cross, he rose from the dead, defeating sin and death, he ascended into heaven where he now sits at the right hand of God the Father. God has made him Lord and King - of all. And all who believe in him will receive the gift of eternal life.

I think it would be helpful at this point to not just share what the good news is, but to share what it is not. My oldest kid, Evan, sent me a podcast to listen to, someone interviewing Wes Huff, who is a Biblical scholar and apologist (defends the Christian faith). In the interview he asks Wes why wouldn’t someone just live the way they want to and then turn to Jesus at the end of their life? If all that’s required is to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, died on the cross, rose to new life, and if you do that your sins are forgiven and you get to go to heaven - why wouldn’t you just wait until you’re old? Or do it now, yeah, I believe that, then go on living just like you always have (it’s ok, I’m forgiven).

Here’s why that doesn’t fly - it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the gospel, of the good news. The gospel is not a free get-into-heaven ticket. Like when you play Monopoly, the get-out-of-jail-free card. As if we just play the card, look, you gotta let me in. Here’s the problem with that understanding - you’re not really trusting Jesus for life. You’re not trusting that he is the one who not only offers us the way to life, but he is the one who can teach us how to live that life. That following him is the best - the only - way to life. When the Bible talks about eternal life, it’s talking about life in Jesus. Through him. There is no life apart from Jesus.

When you reduce the gospel to a get-into-heaven ticket, what you’re really saying is, I want to do what I want to do - I just don’t want to suffer any bad consequences for it (i.e., I don’t want to go to hell). You don’t really want life with Jesus, you just want what you think you can get out of him.

To receive the good news, to trust in Jesus, is to trust in him for life itself. Starts with believing that you can have new life, you can be absolutely, once-and-for-all forgiven for your sins. For all the things you now recognize were ways of death - hurtful to you and others, selfish, shameful. That certainly has been true of my life. If that’s what those things were - why would you ever want to go back to that?

But it doesn’t just end there. And here’s where I want to encourage you - challenge you - to consider. Don’t reduce the gospel to a get-into-heaven ticket. It is far bigger and bolder and greater than that. To trust the good news, this message that’s been passed on from generation to generation, is to trust in Jesus Christ for life. Which means to follow him. To trust that he speaks the Words of life - and therefore, I should listen to what he teaches and live it out. Which is exactly what he encourages us to do throughout the Gospels. Jesus’ primary invitation to those he encounters is, Come, follow me. That’s what it means to be a disciple - a follower, a learner.

And just to give you a flavor of what that looks like, I want to share with you a verse I pray through every morning, first thing, literally, as I wake up, before I get out of bed (at least most mornings I do). It’s a verse that encapsulates for me the life that Jesus is inviting us into, what it really means to trust the good news. Verse is this, it comes from a letter Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Let me break this down as to why this verse has become so important to me.

So Paul starts with declaring about himself (I’m joining with him in this) - I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. Paul is making clear what is true about himself because of Jesus - that he has joined with Jesus in death, by this he means dying to sin. His old self, his old way of living, is no longer. He’s given all that up, and continues to give that up, because of his desire to experience life through Jesus.

Which is what he declares next. Christ lives in me. This is his new life. And Jesus is at the center of it. He lives in Jesus, and Jesus lives in him. There is no life for Paul without Jesus, apart from him, it simply does not exist. I hope you’re seeing how radically different this is than seeing the gospel as just a get-into-heaven ticket. It is dying with Jesus, it is new life in and with Jesus.

Paul goes on - the life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God. It’s interesting that Paul uses the phrase describing the life he lives “in the body”, as if he could live life outside his body. But Paul is seeking to make clear that everything about his life, his everyday life - work he does, his relationships with family and friends, rest, what he does with money, how he spends his time - all of that is done looking to Jesus, trusting Jesus to teach him how to live in every aspect of his life. He follows Jesus. The goal for Paul is to be with Jesus, to become like Jesus and to do the things Jesus did.

Then finally, that beautiful declaration about Jesus - who loved me and gave himself for me. Paul is emphasizing that this is the foundation of the good news, that this is what we are to be rooted, Jesus’ love for us, his giving up his life for us. Therefore, all that we do, we’re not doing because we’re trying to earn God’s love or to prove that we’re good people - we do it because we trust that Jesus loves us, that he is for us, he is for our good. Like Paul, we follow Jesus because we want to love him in return. That’s the root, the motivation for it all - Jesus’ love.

This, my friends, is the good news of Jesus Christ. I hope you’re hearing it in that way, that makes sense to you and that it is good news - great news - for you. News you can’t help but respond to - Yes! I want what Paul had. I want life in Jesus Christ. I want to join with him in dying to sin, be crucified with him, and join with him in new life, he in me, and I in him. And everything I do in my everyday life, I do trusting him, looking to him, following him. And that I do it all because Jesus loves me and gave himself for me.

As always, at the end of our time of teaching, we look at ways that we can respond. After all, when you get news this good, you should respond. How can we put into practice what Jesus is teaching us? Let me offer you two ways:

Pray a prayer to receive the good news, all that Jesus has done for you (dying on the cross, rising to new life, offering forgiveness) and to indicate your desire to live life with Jesus. We’ll do that together at the end, you can pray along. And if you do so, tell someone your decision to trust your life to Jesus, your commitment to follow him. That’s one way to respond.

Second, make a commitment to follow Jesus. Don’t fall for the lie that the gospel is just a get-into-heaven ticket. Embrace all of it - it is life in and with Jesus. Declare to Jesus, I will follow you. That simply means that you move toward organizing your life around three basic goals: be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do the things Jesus did. As part of that commitment, take the next step of obedience to Jesus. That might be:

Find someone to teach you how to follow Jesus. Start reading the Bible regularly - start with one of the Gospels (story of Jesus). Start spending time with Jesus.

Do what the very first followers of Jesus did, Acts 2:42, They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. If that sounds a lot like getting involved in a community of faith, a church, worshipping together every Sunday, that’s because it is. We’re doing what followers of Jesus have always done, one of the most central aspects of following Jesus - worshipping together (teaching, fellowship, Communion, praying).

Closing Prayer - Time of Reflection