Easter At The Outpost 2021

Big Idea: We get to see Jesus go from just exciting news to personal good news to two men as they finally realize the resurrection was real. There has to be a moment where you decide what you believe about the resurrection of Jesus. That is why Easter Sunday is such a huge deal. Without the resurrection being real, none of this matters.

I don’t know about you guys, but I really enjoyed that play...

I want to be super honest…I was unsure about this play up until this week…no not because of the production value or anything like that…because I wasn’t sure about it’s message.

And so i read it like five times this week and realized just how incredible it really was. It was so profound yet so simple that I had missed it and I am certain that many of us missed its message this morning.

Explain that we are all in the story - The best stories are stories that you can see yourself in. They are stories that give us insight into our own lives and circumstances. Stories that connect us with our purpose or with a common struggle are the stories that easily capture our attention.

Explain how we have all been the sad kid at some point. Maybe you walked in here this morning with something heavy on your heart...

Bad test results at the doctor

Broken relationships

Marriage problems

Difficult work situation

Financial problems

And much like the little boy, you are struggling with the solution. The truth is, you have either been there, are there right now, or are headed there soon. Those are your only three options in this life. Happy news right?!?

Since it is Easter Sunday, I want to share my favorite resurrection story with you guys. Honestly, the story matches the play we just saw almost scene for scene…but i’ll explain that in a minute.

I want us to look at a resurrection story first of all because it is Easter, but secondly, if you care to look, you will see yourself somewhere in the story. And you will also see the solution…just like the kid in the story did.

So if you brought a Bible with you this morning, open up to Luke chapter 24. If you did not or if you wouldn’t even begin to know where to go to find the book of Luke in that massive Bible, then we have put it up on our screen.

Let me set the scene for you -

Explain Jerusalem swells to 2 or 3 x’s its normal size.

Jesus have been doing some incredibly disruptive things over the past week to both the Jewish religious establishment and the Roman government who was ruling over the Israelites at that time. In fact, Jesus has been growing in popularity for the past three years doing miracles and teaching large crowds of people. His popularity was at an all time high and almost everyone believed He was going to lead a national revival that would swell into a military showdown with Rome and Jesus would then reveal himself as the long awaited liberator or Israel.

We know that Caesar is planning an impromptu trip to Jerusalem and with all of the excitement around Jesus, there was a fear from both the religious leaders and the Romans that Jesus would incite an insurrection on the eve of Caesars arrival that would lead to countless Jews being killed.

The religious leaders had their own reasons for wanting Jesus gone as well.

And so at the end of the week, they have Jesus tried in this sham of a trial and killed.

Some of Jesus’ closest followers knew that Jesus claimed he would rise from the dead but judging from their fear and how they ran and hid I am not certain how convinced of this they were.

And then a few of the women went to his tomb to dress Jesus’ body and find it empty. What we can gather is that confusion and pandemonium ensue given the wildly different accounts from each of the gospel stories.

From there, our story picks up.

Luke 24:13–24 ESV

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

Explain as you go along

From this we see that:

They were looking for the wrong solution because they had diagnosed the wrong problem.

In fact, almost every person in Jesus’ day saw a different problem and a different solution.

For these disciples and for many others in Israel it was the Romans. The Romans were somehow responsible for all that was wrong with their lives and so they were looking for a savior who would come and lead a military revolution to overthrow the Romans. We saw that in verse 21.

For the Sadduccees (a religious sect in Israel) they still believed the problem was the Romans but they believed their salvation would come through politics.

For the Pharisees (another religious sect) they believed the problem was in the morals and if they could just legislate morality through religious institutions they could fix what was wrong.

For the Essenes it was a social problem. If they could just fix what was wrong socially then everything would be ok. And so they secluded themselves away from everyone and in hopes of creating this utopian community that would spread into all the land.

If we are not careful we can look at them and think “how narrow minded.” And yet, our lives and our words show that we often think the same way about all of these things.

If we could just vote the right person into office, then we could fix this.

If we could just legislate the right morals. Ban abortions, get prayer back into schools, right?!? We’ve all heard the things that we need to fix in our society.

If we could just fix these great social issues. Things like racism, gender inequality, human trafficking, hate crimes, gun control, or just take your pick from the 20 new things that will crop up next week then we will be ok.

It isn’t even just these major issues either. It is problems in our relationships, marriages, and workplaces. If that we could just fix that person, if they could just see the error of their ways, if they were just more considerate, or if they could just see my value.

It’s our health.

It’s our finances.

The truth in this passage is this:

What we believe to be our problem determines the solution we will seek out.

Jesus is going to show us that, although all of these things are real problems, none of them are the root problem.

Here is what he says:

Luke 24:25–27 ESV

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Jesus is pointing our eyes to the true root of our problem.

We don’t know what exactly Jesus said but because we know that the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus, we can take a pretty safe guess.

Perhaps Jesus pointed out the Moses vs. the Egyptians story and showed how there will always and has always been a Rome. And perhaps Jesus showed them that it wasn’t actually Moses that did anything. Instead Jesus would have turned their eyes back to the fact that it was God who redeemed Israel out of slavery and if they were going to be rescued from Rome it would be God himself who would do that.

Perhaps Jesus pointed out Joshua the most successful military commander Israel ever had. And even though he decimated almost all of the opposing forces, He was still incapable of bringing true lasting peace. Perhaps Jesus reminded them that Joshua’s leadership wasn’t even the reason for their success in the first place but that even Joshua bowed the knee to commander of the Lord’s army.

Perhaps Jesus pointed out David. The best king and political figure who ever ruled. I’m certain that Jesus reminded them of David’s enormous failures and how the sinful choices he made would go on to divide the kingdom and lead it into destruction and ruin.

Perhaps Jesus pointed out all of the religious leaders and how even they were unable to lead the Israelites into true peace. Even during their most faithful years of religious activity, the Israelites were incredibly quick to fall into idolatry and the worship of other gods.

I can promise you though, that wherever Jesus went with his teaching, the story culminated back in the garden of Eden where Jesus pointed out the true cause of our brokenness. In a crazy plot twist that they definitely should have seen coming, Jesus tells them that it is our own choice to define good and evil on our own terms that has led us to experience all that is bad in this world. What happens when your definition of good runs afoul of my definition of evil? What happens when you multiply that by 7 billion people several times a day?

Do broken collar bone thing and stitching the wound closed.

Jesus is reminding us that the real problem needing to be dealt with is our sin.

That is to say that sin is to miss the mark. That God has defined good and evil and how life works best and when we reject His definition in lieu of our own then that is sin. And because God is a perfectly just God, there has to be payment for that sin. Someone has to pay the price. If not us, then who.

And so, Jesus came. Not to deal with Rome. Not to deal with social issues or morals or religious activity. No. Jesus came to deal with the root cause behind all of those issue. Jesus came to deal with our sin.

He came as the perfect sacrifice. Jesus came as the perfect embodiment that everything in the Old Testament was pointing to. Jesus came and died in our place paying the debt that we owed and effectively dealing with the root of all of the problems we experience in our world…sin.

So we must realize this as our most pressing need and that we are actually incapable of paying the price our sin has cost. It is when we realize that we can’t remedy our own circumstances because the root of the problem is us. Its actually our attempts at defining good and evil for ourselves in the first place that has led us to where we are. When we can come to terms with this, Jesus is standing there with open arms telling us not to worry that he has already taken care of it. If we will just trust him and allow him the control of our lives to define good and evil for us in every area that we find true freedom.

Here is what that moment looked like with the two disciples in our story.

Luke 24:28–32 ESV

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Luke’s account of Jesus’ life is presented like a traveling dinner party. Jesus is constantly breaking bread in someone’s home. This is how they’ve come to know Jesus in Luke’s gospel…over a meal. And all of a sudden the dots connect for them as they understand all that Jesus had been saying to them around the dinner tables. Jesus’ claims about himself come alive in light of the story of the Old Testament.

They see Jesus for the first time as the solution. Not a conquering king. Not a political leader. Not a revolutionary. Not a good moral teacher. Not a religious leader. Not a healer. Not a social reformer.

But a sacrifice.

Jesus came and died for them and for their sin because that is our most pressing need. And because Jesus was sinless and perfect, he could emerge out of the other side victorious. Jesus took their sin to the grave and put death to death bringing the possibility for new life…not just on the other side of death…but new life in the here and now for anyone who would believe him and the resurrection.

There is a moment where Jesus and the reality of His resurrection must come to be real for you.

That is why we are here this morning talking about this two thousand years later.

I can without a doubt tell you that the man named Jesus of Nazareth existed.

I can without a doubt tell you that he was put to death by the Romans dying on a cross.

There are more sources (even outside the Bible) that record that person and event than there are that talk about Caesar (the most powerful man in the world during that same time).

The question that every single person has to answer is the same that those two people in our story today had to answer.

Is the resurrection of Jesus real?

Because if it was than it has profound impacts on every single person.

It means that Jesus’ claims about himself were true. That he truly was the son of God or God incarnate.

It means that our most pressing need, isn’t for better circumstances, better political leaders, changes in our education system, better health, a more stable financial situation, for our social issues to be remedied, for our relationships to be fixed…

It means that our most pressing need is to have our sinful nature dealt with. And in order for that happen there must be a sacrifice.

If the resurrection is real then it means that our most pressing need has been met by Jesus.

So…I don’t know where you came in here at this morning.

Talk to those who’ve been following Jesus for years.

Talk to those who are not sure where they stand on these issues.

Give an invitation:

For some, maybe you’ve been considering this question or other faith questions like it for a long time. Perhaps you came in here this morning knowing that you needed to address this issue. If that is you, then you can do that right where you are sitting. There is no magical formula. There is no secret prayer. It is simply crying out to Jesus to save you and choosing to follow him as he defines good and evil in every part of your life.

For some, this may be the first time you’ve ever heard any of this and perhaps you have some questions you would like answered. Can I just tell you that we would love to walk with you on your journey. You aren’t going to be pressured here at The Outpost church. We aren’t going to shove it down your throat or try and thump you over the head with the Bible. You are also not going to be judged for a lack of knowledge or any skepticism that you may have. You are safe here and I can promise you a safe environment to work through all of your questions and skepticism.