Easter 2013

Christ is risen! One more time, Christ is risen! Very, very good. You know, I love seeing all the families here at Church on Easter, and I just got a question for everybody here. How many of you guys have ever watched America's Funniest Home Videos on TV? Anybody ever see that show? That's a great show, isn't it, right? Would you like to see a video from that show? All right, well I got to show you this one, because a friend of mine named Jose sent it to me.

There's a little boy and a girl, brother and sister, walking on a sidewalk, and she encounters a gap in the sidewalk that she cannot figure out how she's ever gonna cross. And look what her big brother does for her. He lays down and becomes the bridge she can cross. Do you guys love that? Is that not the best? And you know, what a great example of what Jesus Christ did for us, because the Bible says when there was a gap that we couldn't cross between us and the holiness of God on the cross, Jesus literally laid down his life so that he became the bridge that we can cross to live in fellowship with God and to have our sins forgiven.

But here's the thing, here's where the metaphor becomes complete, because my guess is if we had seen the rest of what happened, if the video continued, that little boy didn't stay down there, laying down there in the gap after his little sister had crossed, right? He, I'm sure, popped back up and walked along the sidewalk with her and they went on their way hand in hand. And guess what? That's what we celebrate today. Because Jesus didn't stay dead, he popped back up so that he could walk with us along the way.

And this morning I want to tell you the true story of a couple of people who discovered the truth of that. Grab the message notes that look like this in your bullets, and as we talk about the aha moments, you know what an aha moment is? An aha moment. That's the moment that you finally get it. That's the moment that the light bulb goes on. The aha moment is the moment when suddenly your whole way of looking at something is turned upside down. It's the moment at the end of a Twilight Zone episode, you know? It's the twist in the tail. It's the punch line at the end of a joke.

And as an example, I have a joke here for you this morning. I just read about an aha moment. It seems a man and a woman had been married for more than 60 years, happily. And they shared everything together except the little old woman had a shoe box at the top of her closet that she warned her husband to never open. And he never did until one day after 60 years of marriage, the little old woman got very sick. And the doctor said she would sadly never recover. And so she said to her husband, "It is time. You should know what is in that box."

And so he gets it and he brings it to her and he opens it up in her presence and finds inside two little crocheted dolls and a stack of money wrapped in rubber bands that totals $95,000. And she explains to him, she says, "Well, way back when we were married, my grandmother told me that if I ever got angry with you, instead of yelling, I should take my aggressions out and just crochet a little doll." Well, this old man looks back inside the shoe box and he is just so moved he has to fight back tears because apparently after 60 years of marriage there were only two times that he ever made her mad.

And he says, "Honey, this is so beautiful but I have to ask you what about all that money? Where did it come from?" And she says, "Oh, that. Well, every time I crocheted a doll I sold it at a craft fair for five bucks." You see, he just had an aha moment when his whole way of looking at his marriage was turned upside down. And there's a great aha moment story in the Bible. It happens on the very first Easter in Luke 24. It actually happens right after the passage that Lily Jones read to you earlier today.

Two people are walking along a road and they're totally dejected and they meet a stranger. It is one of my favorite Easter stories. It's in the Gospel of Luke 24 starting in verse 13. It says, "Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened." Now everything that had happened, here's what they were talking about. They were talking about how a week earlier they'd been on that same road heading into Jerusalem in triumph. And now they were on that road heading out of Jerusalem.

They were on a road they thought they'd never be on so soon. They were heading in a direction they thought they'd never go. And they were going in shame. They were talking about everything that had happened to bring them to that spot. And the next verse says, "As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them. But they were kept from recognizing him." What a great picture. Now what's happening? How are they kept from recognizing him? Well, I mean it could have been something, you know, miraculous like some sort of a Jedi mind trick, you know. I am not the Messiah you are looking for. It could have been something like that.

But we find out later in the story that it's dusk so it could have been too dark for them to recognize him. Or you know maybe he was kind of shrouded, or maybe they just didn't recognize him because they weren't expecting to see him. Because that does happen. I told some of you how a few months ago I visited another church in town, Christian Life Center on Mission. It's a great church. The pastor's a friend of mine. And I'm sitting there in the pew and during the greeting time I turn around and there's three women right behind me. And so I greeted them, "Good morning, good morning."

And one of them looks at me and says, "You know, you look a lot like another pastor at another church in town." But obviously it's not you because he's at his church on Sunday, Sunday morning. But you guys could be cousins or something. And I saw this opportunity, I couldn't resist it. And so I said, "You know, I've been told that." And then her friend, this is a true story, her friend said, "Yeah but you know Pastor René's a lot older." So he sat down and I'm kind of like, "I don't know how to take this." You know? And at the end of the service I kind of felt a little bit guilty for almost misleading them about who I was. And so I had to find them.

And so I went, I found they were having coffee and I said, "You know, I just have to confess to you I am René." And they looked at me and said, "No, you're not." "Yes I am!" So that could be what's happening right here, right? So, so what happens next? I love this. He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" I love how in all the resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ, He is so playful, you know? He comes along, "Hey guys, how's it going?" "Whoops, can't show on the hand." "How's it going? Good to see you." Right? And it says, "They stood still, their faces downcast." Now I love this little detail. I actually never saw it before this year.

It says, "They had been walking along the road." And then when Jesus says, "What are you talking about?" They stop. They stand still and look at him like, "Are you kidding me? Seriously? Are you the only person that doesn't know about it?" It says one of them named Cleopas. Now freeze on that for just a second because this is interesting. This name Cleopas, the Gospel of Luke gives us an intriguing little detail. It says, "Mary, his wife, was actually at the crucifixion at the foot of the cross watching Jesus die." And it says, "Mary, the wife of Cleopas was there." And now here's Cleopas. So who do you suppose that it is walking with Cleopas? Many Bible scholars believe this is a married couple, a man and a woman kind of walking along here, right?

And so they're walking along and Cleopas asks Jesus, "Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there within these last days?" Like, are you seriously the only idiot who does not know what happened? You know, this is the tone. And so Jesus goes, "What things? I love this, right?" "Well about Jesus of Nazareth," they replied, "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people, the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel." You know, that is one of the saddest phrases in human language. We had hoped.

When hope is past tense, maybe some of you, some of you relate to that. Some of you have been there and maybe some of you are there right now. What had they been hoping? Well they say they'd been hoping that Jesus would redeem Israel. Now in our days we think of redeem as a spiritual word, but in those days this was actually a political word. Here's what's going on. Their country, Israel, had been under foreign oppression for centuries. And they believe that the Bible foretold that a great leader, a Messiah, would appear to set the people free from all of this. And they had hoped that Jesus was the guy. Seemed like he was the guy. Seemed like he said he was the guy. But now he's dead. And their hope for a revolution is dead too.

All their dreams are over. Because everybody knows the Messiah when he shows up, he's gonna squash the Romans. He won't be squashed by the Romans. The death that they just witnessed of Christ, that was proof that they were wrong. And their story goes on that they tell this stranger along the road. They say, and it keeps getting worse because now his grave's apparently been robbed. They say some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning, but they didn't find his body. And for me it's so easy to hear the tone of voice here. They came and they told us that they had seen a vision of angels, you know, who said that he was alive.

And the implication is kind of like, you know, they're kind of these crazy Pentecostal charismatic ladies who get really emotional and you can't trust them. It's kind of a weird story. But some of our companions went to the tomb kind of like, so then us menfolk investigated, but they did not see Jesus as we suspected. It's just not true. It's just a disaster, right? So Jesus is hearing all this and that the big kind of tension in the story next is what's Jesus gonna do here? You know, is he gonna shine super bright like at the transfiguration? Like, you take this doubters! Because that's what I would have done, right? Isn't that what you would have done?

But what does he do? He said to them, "How foolish you are!" And actually the original Greek language is more like our English word, knucklehead. It really is. Kind of like, you knuckleheads, and I'm thinking he said this affectionately, how slow to believe all the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things? And then enter his glory and Jesus now starts to blow their minds. Because listen, he's showing them how what they think is the whole story is just a little story. And it fits into a big story that helps it all make so much more sense. And that's true for your story too.

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, that's another way of saying the whole Old Testament, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. Now it doesn't tell us which scriptures he went to, but my guess is Jesus probably pointed them to some of the references that I put there in your notes. See at the bottom of page one, the box there verses Jesus might have shown them. Verses like Isaiah 53:1–6, which centuries before Jesus foretells that the Messiah will be pierced for our transgressions. Or Isaiah 53:7–12 which says the Messiah will be dead and put in a rich man's grave and yet live again. Or Psalm 22 which was written a thousand years before Christ and foretells that details of the crucifixion in such an amazing way.

It predicts what Jesus is gonna say on the cross, like literally word for word. It predicts how he will be killed, that his hands and feet will be pierced. It predicts how lots will be cast for his clothing and so much more. So can you imagine being in their shoes? Events that you have just witnessed that weekend you now realize are foretold in Scripture that's a thousand years old. I mean this is Twilight's own time here. This is major goosebumps on the arm time. But, but why does Luke include this here in the Gospels? Well Luke is telling us this precisely because Jesus's first reaction was not to glow like a furnace and say, "It is I, the great and powerful Christ." His first move was to go to the Bible and Luke is saying he can do this for you too.

He's saying you want to encounter the risen Christ? Well pick up a Bible. Read these scriptures and if you don't have a Bible you can get one for free from us at the info desk today. You owe it to yourself. It'll blow your mind and it'll give you a whole new way of looking at the world if you believe Jesus is alive and is with you now.

You know about a week ago we had Twin Lakes Church night at the Santa Cruz Warriors and I interviewed one of their star players, Taylor Griffin, who you see here doing some great dunks. Now Taylor's a Christian and so I asked him after the game what difference does it make to you to believe that Jesus is really alive? And he had a great answer. Watch this. You know you, you perceive the world. I mean you know your whole worldview is different if you see it through the eyes of Jesus. You know that you're more bombarded you know day in and day out by you know the secular view of the world and how the world views things and you know if you try to look through Jesus's eyes at the world and at situations and decisions that come to you you know we all are faced with tough decisions big ones small ones but trying to look look through those and examine those situations and decisions with a godly lens I mean not only leads you down the right path but ultimately will give you all the happiness in the world.

Well that is so true it brings you happiness it changes your whole worldview to believe that you're not alone that Jesus is risen and is there with you right now it's a reality shift and that reality shift is about to happen for these two travelers. The Bible says they get to the village and it's late and so they say hey stranger join us for dinner we'd love to hear more and Jesus says okay and then this is the moment of the big reveal the ah moment that the tension in this story is just mounting as you're reading this because you're going are they ever gonna figure out who this is.

Well the Bible says in verse 30 he took bread gave thanks and broke it and began to give it to them. Now what does that remind you of the Last Supper right and it's at this instant and I don't know if it's because they were there at the Last Supper four days before and this reminds them of that or if they see his nail pierced hands as he hands them the bread or if he leans forward into the candlelight or if a supernatural veil is lifted or if it's a combination of all of that but they suddenly have the ah moment the Bible says then their eyes were opened and they recognize him they say oh my word it's you it's Jesus we've been talking to Jesus this whole time.

And I love this the Bible says and he disappeared from their sight and I gotta think this playful post resurrection Jesus does something like this right before he disappears gotcha you know ninja smoke bomb boom and he's gone and it says they asked each other we're not our hearts burning within us as he explained the scriptures and it says they take off meal on eating run all seven miles back to Jerusalem and there they found the 11 of those with them assembled together saying it is true the Lord has risen.

Now you gotta realize when they say it is true the Lord has risen this very verse is being read today in wonderful churches all across the world but my little pet peeve is that often it's read in an old translation and too often it's read something like this yay barely the Lord hath risen indeed you got to know that is not the way they said it right I guarantee you they said it's something like an al michaels you know miracle on ice sports play-by-play call they ran into that room going everybody you gotta believe Jesus Christ is alive he was dead that he's alive and we just talked with him and they're high-fiving each other right like this and they're going crazy everybody's jumping around they're yelling they're screaming they're doing fist bumps you know he's alive again.

And I love this detail because the Bible says in the next verse it says while they were still talking they look around there's an extra guy in the room and it's Jesus and their world is never the same. Now you might be thinking man that that is a great story but René what's the story got to do with my life well that's a great question here's what it's got to do with your life their story can be your story see my guess is that some of you in this room today are like them walking along a road you thought you'd never be on going a direction you thought you'd never have to go but the point of the story is Jesus is right there beside you and maybe you just don't recognize him.

So you may be going just like them where is God look at how messed up my life is all of God's promises are null and void believing all of that did no good because it's not true and Jesus is right next to you the whole time and he's sending you friends with messages of hope and he's showing you beauty that points to him and Bible verses that point to him you're looking on the path back to God back to health back to wholeness back to joy and there's a gap in the path that you think I'll never be able to cross that and Jesus is saying but don't you see I laid down my life so you could get across it and then I rose again so we can walk hand in hand on that path for the rest of your life and beyond because you can be resurrected too if you listen to his voice and look at the scriptures and hang out with other Christ seekers.

What happens is eventually you feel your own heart begin to ignite and you begin to know it's real it's true it still happens today. This week I asked some people from all walks of life in this church to share their aha moment and they're all different but maybe you can relate to somebody in this video watch this.

Hi I'm Yolanda my name is Sarah I'm Scott my name is Jacob and I'm 17 years old and this is my aha my aha moment my aha moment I was raised a Christian as I grew older I started to drift away from the church I soon stopped hanging out with my Christian friends and found the life of the party it was probably about 15 years ago or so when my wife first asked me to go to church with her and I did not want to my third child was diagnosed with a very rare very serious illness at seven months old when I was a kid no one in my family really went to church and then I was introduced to Camp Hamre.

I was a police officer and then a detective for about 13 years so I always have to look at things logically and look for the evidence and see if it's all there I'd suffer from panic attacks when I was younger and so I was a little concerned in that moment of can I do this I quickly found myself in a very empty and alone place and really just thought that God had abandoned me one summer at camp I asked the counselor what does it mean to accept Christ eventually I decided to pick up the Bible and actually investigate it and I did read through the entire Bible it was day three being in the hospital and I recall just being by myself which I had been a lot of the time that I was there I wouldn't leave her side no matter what I was invited to go to church and I decided to go so in July of 2008 I remember I was in my bedroom reading the Bible and it suddenly hit me that that all the evidence was there and that this was the truth I was just praying for her and I just remember just feeling just this overwhelming sense of peace this overwhelming sense of calmness sitting there in that pew on that first day back at church in ten years I all of a sudden just felt this overwhelming feeling that God was with me and I felt the light of Jesus shining down into my darkest of places and he really revealed to me and showed me that my life of partying has got to go so we sat down and prayed I repeated the prayer after her and then when I said amen I knew that I had a friend that would never leave me and that was Jesus Christ.

One of the things that convinced me was all the prophecies about Jesus and how they eventually came to be all of a sudden just felt overflowing with this love from Jesus and I knew in that moment that he was very real and very much there with me I knew he was alive I knew he was there and I could feel him it was just me and my baby and him in that room and I just knew she was okay I knew that he was always there for me and I love that about God it's about that time that my wife happened to walk into the bedroom and and suggested or asked would you be interested in in going to this church class with me and I think I shocked her by saying yes this Easter I'm celebrating three years of sobriety when I accepted Christ it changed my whole family my stepdad that said that he would never come to church again started coming and now we can't keep him away from Twin Lakes that was my aha moment that was my aha moment and that was my aha moment and that was my aha moment.

Don't you love those stories but did you catch something from that video a hospital room a bedroom a table at camp a church pew the aha moment can happen anywhere it can even happen right here and right now would you bow with me in a word of prayer as our heads are bowed I'd love to lead you into a time of conversation with God I don't know what's going on right now in your life maybe it's going super good and you just want to tell God thank you just be grateful but maybe you're one of those people I was talking about who can relate to those people on that road you had hoped you're on a road you didn't ever think you were gonna be on this soon but I'm here to tell you right now a stranger is alongside you and he brought you here to tell you there's something more it doesn't end here there's a bigger story that your story is a part of a bigger story that makes sense and he died and rose again to be a bridge to new life and forgiveness for you and if you want this to be your aha moment tell him something like God I don't even understand exactly what this means but I know I'd love to have Jesus to be my friend and my Savior and my Lord because my heart kind of burned within me as the scriptures were opened today and I'm starting to suspect even to believe that my Redeemer lives that it's true God thank you Wow you're amazing and we pray this on this Easter weekend in the name of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.