Resurrection and Life

Always Easter

It has been fun over the last several weeks to focus on reasons why we ought to be celebrating Easter at all times. We’ve focused on the facts that we have access to God all the time and we do not need a human priest to forgive our sins or convey our requests to God the Father. Christ has done that for us.

We also focused on the Blood of Christ. The Blood of Christ is beautiful to us because it is atoning, redeeming, sanctifying, peacemaking, and justifying. It is the reason that we can be in the presence of the Holy God.

This morning we will celebrate the life that we have because of His sacrificial death and resurrection!

We are Glad for His Resurrection

Let’s Enjoy the Resurrection Story Together!

John 20:1–17 NIV

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

Think about what happens here. Jesus has been tried and convicted. He is then beaten and tortured to death at His crucifixion. He is buried and everything is quiet for two days. But on the 3rd day, He comes walking out of the grace. He is alive! He is Resurrected!

Unlocking the Resurrection at the Escape Room of Lazarus

A couple of weeks ago I went to an “Escape Room”. We were locked into a room and needed to find a stolen painting, replace it, and escape without alerting authorities. Inside of the room were a number of clues to help us solve the case and get us out of the room. We didn’t do so well. However, we can do better today because when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He left us some clues to help us better understand His Resurrection!

First Clue – A Powerful Statement, “I Am the Resurrection and the Life”

The first thing that happens at an escape room is that your host will give you the scenario. After our host gave the scenario, the host left the room, and we were on our own to figure out how to get our freedom.

Our escape room was filled with famous paintings. Under each painting was a description and the name of the artist. We began looking at each and wondering how we could find clues. Some descriptions were plain and what you would expect, but we came across one that had the word “stare” in it. It was curious and certainly had to be a clue.

In John 11 we learn that a man named Lazarus is sick. Jesus is asked to come but Jesus waits 2 days to go and then shows up on the 3rd day. By that time Lazarus is dead and everyone is grieving. Jesus showed up too late to simply heal Lazarus, but He wasn’t concerned. His timing is perfect! He had something that He wanted to communicate:

John 11:25–26 NIV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Jesus shows up to an atmosphere of grieving, but he makes that unusual statement. It has to be a clue, “I am the resurrection and the life.” The concept wasn’t new. The Jews of the time would have understood what He was talking about. Daniel had described it

Daniel 12:2 NIV

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

What was different was that no one had ever claimed to be the resurrection and the life. This was extraordinary. It must be a clue!

Second Clue: The Scene of the Crime

Our escape room looked like a room in a museum. After we were locked in we all began to look around to take it all in. Where were the clues? What was unusual? When Jesus arrives in Bethany at the home of Martha and Mary He comforts them.

John 11:33–34 NIV

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus asks, “Where is he?” What is the scene? What is the situation? Of course, He already knew. He already knew what was going to happen; Lazarus was going to walk out of the tomb. But they didn’t know.

We must be aware of our settings, our situation. The Bible tells us that we are dead in our sins until we accept the redemption available to us through the death of Jesus Christ. We have been lost. We are in our tombs.

A recent novel by Madeleine L'Engle is entitled A Severed Wasp. The title, which comes from one of George Orwell's essays, offers a graphic image of human lostness. Orwell describes a wasp that "was sucking jam on my plate and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed esophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him." The wasp and people without Christ have much in common. Severed from their souls, but greedy and unaware, people continue to consume life's sweetness. Only when it's time to fly away will they gasp their dreadful condition. Source Unknown.

To truly celebrate the resurrection and the life that we have in Christ, we need to understand the situation from which we have been saved!

Third Clue – Open Up the Door (Roll Away the Stone)

It wasn’t long before I was convinced that I was getting nowhere with reading all of the descriptions under the paintings. I figured that some of the paintings were hiding things like keys and buttons, so I cheated and looked for hinges. Now, there was a two-finger rule. Nothing needed to be forced with more pressure than 2 fingers (Some in my party violated the rule, but we were getting desperate.) Sure enough, after tapping, pushing, pulling, and some help from the host, a doorway opened to another mysterious room.

In the raising of Lazarus some men rolled away the stone. In the Resurrection story, the angels rolled away the stone.

John 11:38–39 NIV

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

The friends of Lazarus moved the stone away. We cannot believe and confess for our loved ones. However, we can bring them to the Lord in prayer. We can set up opportunities for them to hear the Gospel. We can prepare ourselves through Bible study and good Bible teachers to be prepared to answer questions that our loved ones may ask. In a way, it is like the story in the book of Mark when the friends of a paralyzed man lower their friend through a roof to Jesus. Jesus saw their faith and healed their friend. We can do the same.

Thankfully, God loves us so much that He reaches out to us through His Spirit. God provided a way by offering His only Son. Titus 2:11 tells us that God has offered grace that draws men to salvation:

Titus 2:11 NIV

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

This is called prevenient grace, the grace God provides prior to salvation, drawing all people toward salvation and enabling them to either accept or reject His offer. After many such expressions of God’s universal offer of salvation, the Bible fittingly concludes with a closing invitation to all humanity,

Revelation 22:17 NIV

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

So, a door has opened. The stone is rolled away!

Putting the Clues Together

We all watched the clock while we were in the escape room and time was quickly slipping away. Each of us had found clues but we needed to put the clues together. For us this morning as we look at the Resurrection we already have some good clues and seem it be putting it together pretty well.

First Clue – A Powerful Statement, “I Am the Resurrection and the Life”

Living free is God’s plan for us

Freedom is more than an option; it is a way of life.

Galatians 5:13a (NIV) 13You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free…

John 3:31–32 NIV

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.

We were not created to live a dead life inside the tomb. Christ is the Resurrection and the Life and calls us to come out of the stinky cloths that the devil wants us to be wrapped in.

Second Clue: The Scene of the Crime (Where is He Laid)

In the book Integrity by Henry Cloud he talks about the importance of facing the reality. He tells about a dog food company CEO who was upset about the sales of the dogfood falling. So, he hired another marketing company – they failed to increase sales. He hired a better marketing company – they failed. He hired the best marketing company – they failed. A very desperate CEO discussed the problem to his leaders. In the back of the room a low-level manager lifted his hand and said, “Sir, dogs don’t like the food.” We have to live in reality.

Jesus went to the tomb. Lazarus was dead. The simple reality is this – without the blood of Jesus applied to your sins and my sins – we are dead in our transgressions.

Third Clue – Open Up the Door (Roll Away the Stone)

In last week’s message I talked about the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ. If you weren’t able to be here or listen to it on-line, I suggest you do. We saw that Pilate could not wash his hands and the crowd could not thoughtlessly discount the blood of Christ. George Herbert Morrison expressed the concept beautifully:

“Let me say that the cross is not needed and included because of God’s unwillingness to pardon. Nowhere in the New Testament is the cross conceived as turning an unwilling God into a willing one, as a compulsion on a reluctant God. It is not the cause of love, it is its consequence; it is the spring of love, it is its outflow, and that is what is so often forgotten.

His blood is foundational and absolutely necessary. And the good news is that He has already provided it – we just simply need to accept it. Jesus has done it all! He opened the tomb through His work on the Cross.

The Successful Escape!

I cannot say that my team and I were able to solve even 50% of the clues necessary to solve our escape room riddle. At the end of an hour, we were still locked inside the escape room. Much to our shame, the ladies, working a riddle in another escape room burst out of their room just minutes before the hour was up. We could hear them excited and laughing and cheering one another. Imagine what it was like when Jesus says,

John 11:43–44 NIV

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Can you imagine the excitement of Martha and Mary, the disciples, and the friends of Jesus as they see Lazarus step out of the tomb? Lazarus would eventually die, he was raised from the dead – not resurrected.

The religious leaders, Roman governor, Herod, the crowd, and even the disciples thought that Jesus was dead, but He wasn’t! I love the song by Kari Jobe, Forever. The lyrics in verse 2 go…

The ground began to shake The stone was rolled away His perfect love could not be overcome Now death where is your sting Our resurrected king has rendered you defeated

Jesus stepped out of the tomb alive and resurrected!

Why should it always be Easter? Because He is still calling people to life today…

John 5:25 NIV

Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

This is the heart of the Gospel. It is the heart of Christianity…we don’t have to stay in the tomb!

Hebrews 2:14–15 NIV

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

This is what it means to be born again. Today could be your escape room day. Today we don’t just celebrate an historic event but an ongoing event that happens thousands of times each day. Let’s imitate Jesus’ voice saying, “Come out!” Come out today.