Histories Mystery

History’s Mystery

Good morning and welcome to worship! A special welcome to those of you joining online. If this is your first time to worship here at FUMC whether online or in person, I want to encourage you to go to our website, or grab a bulletin to get some more information. I am so glad you have chosen to worship with us today.

I love Easter! Not because it’s the only time of year I can get Reece’s Peanut Butter Eggs and Cadbury Cream eggs… Though I do love me some chocolate… milk, dark… it doesn’t matter. I love chocolate… but that isn’t why I love Easter.

I love what we celebrate today, because what we celebrate today makes this day a perfect day to give your life to God. Today, we are going to talk about why I believe every one of us should put our faith in Jesus Christ.

I know, I see some of you every week… You’re a follower of Jesus and you are here to sing “Up From the Grave He Arose!” I know… But I also know that some of you are here because Grandma made you come. I know some of you are here because you’re a Christer -you show up at Christmas and Easter and wonder if I ever preach on anything besides the birth and death of Jesus… Your like, “He’s got two sermons! Why do they keep him around?” Yes, I do have more than 2 sermons, but you have to come back other times to hear those sermons.

I also know, that on a day like this, there are some who do not consider yourself followers of Jesus and think there is nothing I can say today that will ever make you change your mind. But, I believe you should, if for no other reason that what we are celebrating today. I think you should consider being a follower of Jesus in spite of the fact that you know some Christians… Amen?

I think you should be a follower of Jesus in spite of the fact that you worked for a “Christian” or you know about a church scandal, or that you had a bad experience.

I think you should be a follower of Jesus in spite of what you think about the Bible even.

Maybe some of you grew up in church and you had a science teacher that made you question what you were taught about Creation. Maybe you had an English professor who introduced you to the Gilgamesh Epic and convinced you that the story of Noah was made up and a story stolen from the Mesopotamians. Maybe you grew up in church and you were always surrounded by hypocrites and you said, “No more.” Maybe you’ve had a rough life and you prayed to God and your prayer wasn’t answered, your loved one still died… the abuse didn’t stop… the war raged on…

Even if that has been your experience, I want you to maybe, just maybe reconsider. Because, this day, what we celebrate today, does an end-around on all those things that we hold up as our reason for not being a follower of Jesus.

Here is some good news for all of us. The foundation of the Christian faith is not other Christians… Thank God for that. The foundation of the Christian faith isn’t answered or unanswered prayers. The foundation of the Christian faith isn’t whether Genesis is accurate scientifically, or that there are other similar stories floating around the ancient Near East. The foundation of the Christian faith isn’t having our questions answered. The foundation of the Christian faith is what we celebrate today. What we celebrate today answers mysteries that nothing else can. In fact, Andy Stanley, Pastor of North Point Church in Atlanta, GA calls it History’s Great Mystery.

What do I mean by that?

Take Emperor Nero for example – Unless you are a historian, the only thing you know about Nero is that he “fiddled while Rome burned”, and he blamed it on who… the Christians. Nero is known for using Christians as human torches to light the streets and feeding them to lions for entertainment. But you can’t tell me one thing he did as Emperor that does not revolve around Christians. Nero, one of the emperors of one of the greatest empires of the world is known more for killing Christians… than ruling Rome.

Or what about Caesar Augustus? The first emperor of Rome. What do you know about him?

Augustus ruled for 40 years and helped to make Rome the World Empire that it was… yet outside of world history books, he is known as the Emperor of Rome at the time of the birth of a Jewish carpenter in Galilee who became a Rabbi, ruled nothing, led a movement for 3 years before he was killed by Augustus’ adopted son. We read the story of Jesus birth every Christmas and in Luke 2 we hear that Augustus required a census during the time of Jesus’ birth, that is it. This great man is a mere footnote in the life of Jesus. The only reason he is remembered is because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Why is it that in spite of constant persecution, thousands, if not millions of people put their faith in Jesus Christ in the year following his death? Both the Jewish and Roman leaders tried to stamp out and stop this movement of followers of Jesus for 250 years, but instead of stopping it, it continued to grow.

Why is it that for 300 years before there was a New Testament, before there were Sunday School classes and Revivals did people put their faith in Jesus? No one stood up in church and said, Turn with me to Paul’s letter to the Galatians… or Let’s read together the story of Jesus Birth… There was no “Bible” as we know it for the first 250 years of the Christian movement.

How did the church survive that? How did it survive Roman and Jewish Persecution? How did it spread farther and faster than any other religious movement in the history of the world?

There is no plausible explanation for the movement started by Jesus to succeed after his death, and yet, here we are 2000 years later, worshipping with thousands across the world!

The answer to those questions is the very reason I think you should consider, or reconsider putting your faith in Jesus Christ.

Here is something that isn’t a mystery to us? How religions and movements get started. Sociologists and anthropologists have studied how movements begin and end, how cultures shift and change, how tribes and nations rise and fall. They have a pretty good handle on the mechanics of how these things happen. They always follow a similar pattern, since the beginning of time.

Generally, it goes something like this… there is unrest, a charismatic leader rises with a new message. Their writings are collected. They introduce change, the culture shifts, there is conflict between the new and the old, the populous agrees with the new way, and an era of peace and/or prosperity begins. Eventually the leader dies, the populous wants to keep the movement alive so a new leader is selected, the writings of the founder are distributed and the movement lives on.

I just completed a world religions class, and that is exactly what happened with Islam. There was unrest in the Arab region. A young man goes into a cave and has a vision and believes he has received a message from the one true God. He believed that there is only one God, not a pantheon of gods or tribal idols. He began sharing this with his family and tribe and community, then writing and leading based on his understanding of this new way of life. He developed a military following and brought peace and prosperity to his tribes. Then, in 632, he died of natural causes. People fought over who was to replace Muhammed and there was a division that continues today – that’s where the Sunnis and Shiites come from. Some wanted family to continue to lead, others wanted political leaders. Somehow, the movement continues today, and you can go buy a book of the teachings and writings of Muhammed today called the Koran.

Or think about something more modern… not a religion but a movement. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a gifted teacher and preacher in Boston, MA. Yet, in the civil unrest of the 1960’s King had a dream of equality among all God’s children. So, he left the relative safety of academia and moved to Montgomery, AL where he began teaching and leading a non-violent movement. We are living in the result of his movement where no-one is to be considered less of a person based on the color of their skin. It was an important movement. It was good and right, then in 1968 he was assassinated. His teachings were collected, his followers found new leaders and continued the movement.

According to sociologists and anthropologists, that is the way movements begin.

But the Christian movement did not follow this pattern. In fact, there is no plausible way, based on these ‘ologists that Christianity should be alive today.

Here are some problems with the “founder” of the Christian movement.

1) Jesus’ message didn’t advocate liberation of revolution. In fact, Jesus never tried to drive Rome out of Jerusalem. When people came and asked Jesus about Rome he said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.”

2) Jesus teaching was nothing new. It was all based on what we know as the Old Testament today.

3) Jesus didn’t try to change Jewish Law, he affirmed it. He was once asked what the Greatest Commandment was and he quoted the Scriptures of the Jewish people, “Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, Mind, and soul. And the second is equally important, love your neighbor as yourself.”

4) It was impractical too… love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you.

Another big issue was the focus of Jesus message. Jesus didn’t come teaching about some unknown God. Jesus didn’t come speaking about some other. Jesus never asked anyone to trust in his ideas or his teachings. No, Jesus message was always focused on one person… Jesus!

When Jesus came 4 day’s late to heal his friend Lazarus, and Martha said, “Yes, I believe there will be a resurrection some day.” Jesus corrected her and said “I Am the resurrection and the life.”

When the Disciples where asking about God the Father, Jesus told them in John 14 that “anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”

Jesus told them “I AM the way, the truth, and the life.”

Jesus didn’t leave a collection of teachings to pass on. Jesus didn’t give his followers a list of ideas and ideals. No, Jesus was the message. Jesus was the idea.

And when Jesus died, so did the message, so did the idea, so did the way, the truth, and the life.

When Jesus died, the movement died. The night of Jesus death, there were no more followers. Peter denied he even knew Jesus. Mark ran away naked… literally, it’s in the Bible. John stayed by Jesus’ mother, but not because he believe in Jesus, but because he loved his friend and his friends family. Every one of the disciples walked away from Jesus, and then they were so terrified that someone might find out that they had been followers of Jesus, they hid in the Upper Room behind closed and locked doors.

Why did they all leave? Because Messiahs don’t die. Son’s of God don’t die. You can’t crucify the “resurrection and the life.”

History’s mystery is this… how did we go from that scenario to one where 300 years later the Emperor of Rome declares Christianity is not only legal, but that it is the national religion? How do we go from that scenario to one where millions upon millions… over 1/3 of the world’s population is worshiping with us today as we celebrate this day?

Because of what we celebrate this day!

Easter solves history’s great mystery.

On Good Friday, Jesus’ lifeless body was taken off the cross and carried by Joseph and Nicodemus – two Pharisees of the Jewish Ruling class that had been followers of Jesus. They placed the lifeless body in the tomb and sealed it with a huge stone and they went home… they thought it was the end of the story.

But then the women went to the tomb early on Sunday. Why? The body was buried quickly because at Sundown on Friday, Sabbath began and no work could be done on the Sabbath. The burial ritual had not been properly followed. But on Sunday, the Sabbath was over and the women could do the work of properly preparing the body. Their only problem would be the smell they would have to deal with and how they were going to remove the huge stone.

But when they arrived, not only was the stone moved, but there was no body in the tomb. They ran back and told the others in the Upper Room… but nobody believed them, why? Because they were women. Women couldn’t even be witnesses in court. So, the men didn’t believe the women.

You know something? You know why the male authors of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all recorded that it was the women who first came to the tomb and found Jesus had risen? Do you know why all 4 Gospels proclaim that Women are the first preachers of the resurrection?

Because it was the women who first told the story. If they had any way of writing it differently they would.

But, at first, the men didn’t believe, so they ran ahead and looked for themselves. As the story is shared, Peter and John ran to the tomb, and John was evidently in a little better shape because he arrived first but he didn’t go in. But Peter wasn’t afraid of anything, and he ran on in, looked at the strips of cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus.

Then, John stepped in with Peter, and what does the scripture we read early say…

He saw and believed. John had walked with Jesus for three years. John had heard Jesus’ teachings. John had seen Jesus’ miracles. John was even with Jesus when they heard the voice of God and Jesus was hanging out with the glorified Moses and Elijah.

But do you know when he believed… when he saw the resurrection.

Jesus followers didn’t believe in him because of his teachings… And Jesus sermon on the mount is some great teaching that could change the world if we would follow it.

Jesus followers didn’t believe because they saw the blind see and the deaf hear. Miracles didn’t do it then and miracles don’t do it today.

Jesus followers didn’t believe when they saw him crucified… though a Roman Centurion who had seen thousands of crucifixions saw something different and said, “Surely this man is the Son of God.”

In fact, in spite of all they had seen and heard with Jesus they all walked away at the Cross, they all abandoned Jesus at the cross.

Jesus followers believed because of the resurrection.

Jesus followers didn’t reengage because of the miracles they experienced or the teachings they had heard…

No, it was because of what they saw. The Resurrection… and then they saw Jesus themselves. They ate with Jesus. They touched Jesus. Others saw Jesus… and they believed.

Jesus followers reengaged and with boldness walked out in the weeks that followed and began to preach and teach because of what they had seen. The first chapters of the Book of Acts, written by Luke a physician and a journalist, who researched all he could find about the days of Jesus and the following few years records the boldness of the disciples messages.

Peter, John, Paul… all these Disciples would be recorded with this simple message.

Jesus was God in the flesh, you killed him… but he rose again… we saw him… now, say you’re sorry. Or, a little more Bible like… repent and believe.

And, it’s the same message today. Christ the Lord is Risen Today… Up from the grave he arose. He’s alive. He walks with me and talks with me.

This is the answer to history’s mystery.

You may be on the fence about whether you want to be a follower of Jesus, but there is no better time than now to say yes! Whatever your objections, we can deal with those. But we can’t change history. We can’t change the fact that there is no logical explanation for us to be here 2000 years after Jesus’ death… than the fact that he rose again.

We don’t believe in the resurrection because we read about it. We believe because Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul were witnesses to the fact. We believe because Roman and Jewish History record the facts of Jesus and his followers. And… we believe because Jesus has made a difference in our lives.

Now, what are you going to do with histories greatest mystery?