Worth the Wait

Introduction

Hope

Hope is powerful. It is the desire to see something materialize that has yet been possessed. Sometimes, hope is all we have. The UK paper, the Daily Mail in January 2010 wrote this shortly after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Haiti.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the island of Haiti in January 2010 destroyed buildings and killed or maimed tens of thousands of people. As hope for victims began to fade, the discovery of a survivor in the wreckage of a hotel grocery store renewed the resolve of many. Rescuers pulled Wismond Exantus from the rubble 11 days after the earthquake. Exantus told reporters from his hospital bed that the first thing he wanted to do was find a church to give thanks. He said he spent the time praying, reciting psalms, and sleeping. He summed up his experience saying, “I wasn’t afraid because I knew they were searching and would come for me.” *Wilson, J. L., & Sandell, J. (2015). Haiti Earthquake Survivor Hoped He Would Be Found. In E. Ritzema (Ed.), 300 Illustrations for Preachers. Lexham Press.

A Video shows him with a BIG ol’ grin on his face when they found him amongst the rubble with barely any room to maneuver let alone, exist.

Placing our hope in Jesus is worth the wait. Even if it feels as if there is barely in room to maneuver in the moment, placing our hope in Jesus will not be futility.

If you have your Bibles or on your devices, would you turn to John 20:1-18 and please stand with me as I read our text.

This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated.

Peter

What he wanted.

Peter was a fisherman who owned a business. Jesus called him out of that business from catching fish to catch people!

Luke 5:10-11 “And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”

Fisherman turned disciple. Peter wanted power and the opportunity to lead.

In fact, there is evidence that Peter was already a leader… in every instance that the disciples are listed in the gospels, he’s the first in the list. Every. Single. Time.

Throughout the gospel accounts, Peter acted and spoke on behalf of the other disciples. At the transfiguration it is Peter who took the initiative to erect tents/tabernacles (Mk 9:5) and he alone had sufficient faith to attempt walking on the water (Mt 14:28–31). It is Peter who asks the Lord to explain his teaching on forgiveness (Mt 18:21) and parables (Mt 15:15; Lk 12:41) and who speaks the disciples’ minds in Matthew 19:27, “Behold, we have left everything and followed you; what’s in it for us?” (author’s translation). *Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Peter, The Apostle. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2, p. 1661). Baker Book House.

It was Peter’s leadership in confession that might have been the pinnacle of his discipleship career!

Mark 8:27-29 “And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”

On that confession, on Peter’s confession, Jesus was going to build His church! It came out of Peter’s mouth, never mind it was God the Father who revealed it… Peter got an “A” from Rabbi Jesus that day. Of all the answers to get right to move to the front of the class, that’s the one!

What happened

Though… it didn’t work out like Peter thought it would. The spirit was willing but he didn’t have what it took when he needed it the most. After he confessed Jesus as the Christ, the messiah, the promised one of God, this happens:

Mark 8:30-33 “And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.””

So close, but just missed it by that much!

Peter actually failed quite a bit… when he walked on water, he also started to sink as he put his eyes on the waves. He lashed out and cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant in the garden of Gethsemane… most heart wrenching of all… in Jesus’ hour of need, Peter denied him, not once, not twice, but three times.

Matthew 26:30-35 After Jesus tells the disciples that they would fall away because of him that night, Peter says, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”

With all the right motives, but still the naive leader he is, Peter argues with the God of the Universe, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.”

We know what happens… In the courtyard of the temple just hours later, Peter says the third time,

Matthew 26:74-75 “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”” Peter remembered his conversation with Jesus and he went out and wept bitterly.”

But this is not where things end for Peter.

What God did

God honored Peter’s desire toward leadership and desire for power, in fact Jesus told him on many occasions that Peter would lead. It just didn’t look like what Peter initially thought.

We see Peter in our text this morning… after this Jesus instructed Peter to wait in order to receive the Holy Spirit.

He would wait.

Little did he know that he was about to become the leader to establish the church, a part of God’s eternal Kingdom breaking forth on Earth.

He preached the very first sermon as the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, leading 3000 souls to repentance and faith in Jesus.

Would author two letters we have today and heavily influence Mark’s gospel letter to us

And man, did he receive power, but not at all the power he was expecting. The power that God gave Peter was to bring life. It wasn’t for Peter’s benefit, but it would be aligned to the way that the Kingdom of God is seen here on Earth. Giving life, true life.

He Healed the lame man at the temple gate called Beautiful, who had been there since birth

Raised a young girl back to life

Acts 5:12-16 “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles… the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.”

Peter longed for leadership and power yet had no concept of what those desires could possibly look like in God’s hands. He waited. He believed. He received far more than he could have imagined.

It was worth the wait!

John

What he wanted

[use three fingers as you count these three points so people can follow them all the way through]

Like Peter, John wanted power beside Jesus, valued justice, and held a deep affection for Jesus

John in his gospel has a special relationship with Jesus. Throughout his own Gospel, John calls himself the “one whom Jesus loved” It seems that like Peter had a tendency to leadership, John had a tendency toward love and affection.

Jesus also gave John and his brother James special names, “Sons of Thunder”. They were men of justice, wanting things to be just and right, so much so they wanted to call down lightening upon a group of Samaritans who would not welcome them as they entered into a Samaritan village (Lu. 10:54)

James and John also sought Jesus out because they wanted power (Matt. 20:20-28). They inappropriately asked Jesus if they could sit on His right and left hand when Jesus entered into glory, His kingdom.

What happened

John too fled that night when Jesus was in the garden. When Jesus was arrested, they all fled, John included. But...

We find John at the foot of the cross with Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary of Magdala, and Salome (John’s mom). He might have fled for a bit, but his love and affection, made it impossible to stay away in Jesus’ darkest hour.

John also as we see in our text this morning, on the morning of the resurrection went in to inspect the tomb after Peter.

What God did

God honored John’s desire for power and also honored the beloved disciple’s tendency toward love.

Like Peter, John, too, would be met by Jesus and told to wait in Jerusalem in order to receive the Holy Spirit. He would wait.

John would then:

[POWER]

Receive the baptism and indwelling of the Holy Spirit through which his power would come to…

Be with Peter and heal the lame man at the temple gate called Beautiful. Participate in the miracles and conversions we mentioned in Acts chapter 5.

Having been the only disciple not to be martyred, God gave him the grace and power to see the church grow, spread, and transform 10’s of 1000’s of lives.

[LOVE]

John would come to understand and tell the church, the way to Kingdom power is through loving service. The way to harness the power of the Kingdom of God is through love. “God is love”, he would write (1 John 4:8)… and to live in Kingdom power is to love.

John would come to have what seems to be an incomparable understanding of the love of God that He would communicate through the gospel named after him, three letters to the church, and

[JUSTICE]

…the Revelation of Jesus Christ that he received while in exile on the island of Patmos, most certainly would have satisfied His deepest desire to see the final justice of God.

John had no idea of the plans that Jesus had for him. He waited. He believed. He recieved far more power and experienced exceedingly more love than he could have ever asked or imagined.

It was worth the wait!

Mary

What she wanted

Mary was called, touched, healed by Jesus, and she followed Him.

Like many women in Scripture, there is much less written about Mary to help us understand her motivations and tendencies. There is little that we know about Mary’s initial encounter with Jesus. Luke in his gospel tells us that Jesus delivered her from demons (Luke 8:2).

Mary is in all four of the gospel accounts. She was one of the many women who followed Jesus helping supply and facilitate His ministry.

Mary has an early presence in Luke’s gospel and all four gospels have her at the crucifixion, the tomb, and the resurrection.

One thing is clear, Mary loved and wanted to be near Jesus.

What happened

We are given a glimpse into Mary’s relationship with Jesus here at the tomb. She came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She got there as soon as she could. No doubt to finish the process of burial for her beloved friend, teacher, her Lord. Other gospels tell us that she didn’t go alone and that is why she says “we don’t know where they’ve put him” in reference to Jesus.

She arrived at the tomb and the stone covering the entrance to the tomb had been removed!

She ran to Peter and John.

Exclaimed to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”

They all ran to the tomb.

Our text tells us that Peter and John believed Mary’s report when they saw it for themselves.

There are those moments where it doesn’t matter who shares the news, there are some things we have to see with our own eyes to believe or comprehend. That is how devastating it was.

They went in and saw the linens He was wrapped in were just lying there. The cloth that covered his face, it was folded and put up in a different place. What happened?

Peter and John left.

Mary stayed. She wept.

She wanted her Lord. She wanted to be near him, even if it was his dead body. If that was all she had, she’d care for it. She had no answers, but she also had nowhere else to go.

What God did

God was about to blow her mind. Her deepest longing was about to be met. He started counting.

While weeping, while lingering, while processing, while she was standing there… two men (John tells us angels) appear and ask, “Woman, why are you crying?”

She responds with most broken hearted, devastated voice, “Because they’ve taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”

She turns to go

Jesus is behind her. He asks the same question, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it that you’re seeking?”

“OH! It’s the gardener, he would know!” she thinks to herself… who else would be there this early in the garden where the tomb is.

She replies… “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.” Even if she had to carry, Him herself, she would. Frantically she turns scanning the garden seeing if she can see the body of her Lord.

Jesus calls her by name, “Mary.”

John tells us she turns around to face him again and cries out, “Rabboni”!!

John tells us this is a way to say Teacher, but it’s more than just teacher… there is an affection, an intimacy when the word Rabboni is used. “MY BELOVED TEACHER”

Mary was looking for a dead body… that would have been enough.

God gave her the resurrected Lord of glory!

What Jesus called her to do

Mary becomes the first apostle (meaning sent one with a message) to the apostles. Mary was entrusted by Jesus to share the gospel with the disciples. She told them.

John 20:17-18 ““Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her.”

Mary had no idea of the plans that Jesus had for her. She waited. Even in her sadness and despair she lingered. She recieved far more than she could have imagined.

He was worth the wait…

What about you?

Will you follow Him? Will you yield your life to Him and discover that He is always worth the wait?

I hope you see that what each of these people desired (Peter, John, and Mary), God had so much more and so much better in store. They couldn’t know how, and they couldn’t know when…but it was coming. It…ALWAYS….DOES…for his people.

Always.

To receive the absolute crazy best from Him, He must be the one we long for. And we must be willing to yield everything to him and give him our complete allegiance.

How often when something doesn’t look like what we were hoping for, do we walk away? (pause)

I’ve thought about this quite a bit. I want to ask you…

How often, when’s something doesn’t look like what you were hoping for, do you walk away?

We walk away and never know what could have been.

But, if we follow Jesus… giving Him our allegiance…wrapping our dreams and hopes up in Him and His Kingdom causes which are always healing and wholeness… being obedient to him and wait a bit longer… waiting, lingering, trusting, we WILL receive even better than what we even thought it could be.

Because… He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Because He lives, our hope is alive! What are you longing for? If it is wrapped up in Jesus it is coming... wait for it… in Jesus, it always comes.

Oh that we would know the love of God the way John knows it, that you would operate in the power of God as Peter did…

Oh that you would hear Jesus say your name, like he did to Mary, and may you know the height, the depth, and the breadth of God’s great love for you, and may you receive His Spirit and experience the immediate nearness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Please stand.

If you want to yield your life to Jesus for the first time today, do that now. Tell Him now. Pray, “God I yield the throne of my heart to you. My affections, desires, and ambitions are Yours. Forgive me of my sin, the way I’ve wanted to lead my life, playing God over my choices and circumstances, and hopes and dreams. I make Jesus my Lord and Savior this morning. Amen.”

If you have prayed that today. Would you tell the person you came with? Would you let us know? We want to celebrate with you and walk with you in this exciting journey with Jesus.

Let us pray.

Amen

please be seated

We are celebrating resurrection Sunday with a baptism this morning. Pastor Josh