Easter 2019

I want to welcome everybody here, everybody who's watching, who had overflow, everybody who jammed in, everybody who's joining us on Facebook live. It is just great to have you here, but especially I want to welcome those of you who are guests today. You're new, maybe this is your first time ever at Twin Lakes Church. I understand how nerve-wracking it can be at times to walk into a place you've never been into, but you know, you kind of like don't know what to expect, even as a pastor. I feel that way sometimes when I visit other churches.

I will never forget, my wife and I were just reminiscing about this, when our three kids were a little bit younger, we, the whole family went on a vacation up in the gold country around Highway 49 and it was Sunday morning, we decided let's find a little church here and let's take the whole family to church. We found one cute chapel, it was great, the songs were wonderful, then the announcements happen and the pastor stands up and he says, "We just want you to feel welcome if you're new, so if you are new here with us today, would you just slip up your hands so that we can identify you and welcome you?" A lot of churches do that, but I thought to myself, you know what? I came in to be anonymous. That's an experience I rarely have as a pastor and I was looking forward, well don't take this the wrong way, but I was looking forward to not being with you people. I just kind of like being, you know, anonymous.

So I thought I want to be, I wanted to be, and I just wanted to blend in so I'm not gonna raise my hands, but other guests could raise their hands, that's fine. Well, it quickly becomes clear, we are the only ones who are new there. Because the pastor just keeps going, just if anyone's new, just go ahead, don't be afraid, just raise your hands. Just go it, maybe I didn't explain it clearly enough, just slip that hand up vertically if you're new, and I thought, I folded my hands and I thought, you know what, this is a standoff buddy, because I'm not doing it. He knew I was new, I knew he knew I was new, and he knew I knew he was new, and we weren't budging. Now it was a pastor standoff.

My kids are down the road going, "Dad, raise your head, we're new, quiet, I told you never to talk in church." It felt like it went on for an hour, it was probably only like 60 seconds, but that's a long time when you know they're directing something to you, and finally I blinked. "All right." I put up my hand, and the pastor goes, "Ah, we have visitors." And he goes, this is the honest-to-goodness truth, he says, "You know in many churches they ask the visitors to stand and introduce themselves, tell a little about yourselves, where you're from, we would never do that, we don't want to embarrass you." "We ask that you remain seated while the rest of us stand and encircle you with our love." And they all got up and surrounded us holding hands and started to sing their welcome song to the tune of Edelweiss from the Sound of Music. So glad I got to just blend in.

So I get it, we want you to feel welcomed in, not weirded out. We do have a visitor center across from the flagpoles over there, it's got gift bags for all of our first-time guests with a lot of good swag in it. You can grab one if you want to, but you don't have to, there's no pressure here. Now, the other day I had another weekend off and I decided to risk visiting another church, and I went up to the peninsula to a wonderful church called Menlo Church in Menlo Park. And the pastor there, John Ortberg, just had me riveted as he begins his message.

And here's how he starts. He says, "The War of 1812 tested our young nation's resolve against a vastly superior British force, yet the British were defeated, and a wave of celebration and pride and unity swept America so strongly that national historians call the period from 1812 to 1825 the era of good feelings." Isn't that great? I heard that and I thought, here's my question, what do you think they'll call this era that we're in right now? Quick show of hands, how many of you think it'll be called the era of good feelings part two? Anybody think that's what it'll be known as? Or perhaps the era of unprecedented kindness and understanding? Probably not.

You know what some experts actually think it might become known as? For real. The era of hopelessness. Why? Well, this may sound a little bit grim for Easter, but hang with me because we're going someplace good. The Center for Disease Control in the U.S. says the average U.S. life expectancy has declined three years in a row. That has not happened in more than a century. But what makes this particularly unusual is that the culprits are not the usual suspects. It's not because of heart disease or stroke or because of cancer or any of the normal diseases. In fact, all of those are in decline. But deaths have gone up. Why? Because of what experts call diseases of despair. Depression, addiction, overdoses. In the last 20 years, these have almost tripled. And it's touching every age group. They're up across all ages, especially senior citizens and teenagers.

And you can see the signs of this despair and hopelessness all over our culture. Do you know what the top two trends in pop culture right now are in books and movies? Two things. First, what they call dystopian futures. You ever heard that word, dystopia? That's the opposite of utopia. Utopia is the future turns out great. Dystopia is, no, the future turns out terrible. And if you think about it, there's so many of these. The new Blade Runner movie that was out a few months ago, Hunger Games, Divergent, Maze Runner, and many, many more. Second trend, zombies. The Walking Dead, the zombie apocalypse. So many of these movies and TV shows and books, including, I kid you not, a movie called Zombievers. And the tagline, you'll all be damned. D-A-M-M-E-D. So even in our fiction, what we anticipate is nightmarish, right?

I read a sermon the other day from a very well-known pastor who I thought expressed this feeling really well. Listen to this. He said, "It is midnight. Everywhere, paralyzing fears, harrow people by day and haunt them by night. Deep clouds of anxiety and depression are in our skies. Threats of violence, economic upheaval. Most people or more people are emotionally disturbed today than at any other time in human history. They conclude that life has no meaning. It is midnight." That summarizes the feeling of the day very well, doesn't it? Well, that was preached in 1964 by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. So the seeds somehow of this sense of hopelessness were already germinating way back then. It goes deep.

So this morning I want to talk about the opposite of that, the hope factor. Because for many of you here today, my hunch is that hopelessness is not a matter of reciting stats about our society. Some of you were barely able to bring yourself to church this morning because of something going on right now, because of a recent death in the family or a divorce or discouragement or unemployment or all of the above. Life is really tough for you. And so my question is, where can we find the hope that we so desperately need right now in our culture? I have no idea. Let's close in a word of prayer. No, I do know.

The most influential chapter on hope ever written, I think, in human literature is 1 Corinthians 15. That's a chapter in the Bible. And I put some verses from it along with a message outline on page 3 of your programs, if you want to follow along. And I'm going to go through this chapter in just a few minutes, but first I want to establish some context. Look at this. These words were written by Paul of Tarsus, one of the early Christian leaders, about 2,000 years ago, to Christians in a city called Corinth who were being hit hard by hopelessness.

They were seeing persecution against Christians on the rise, and we're seeing that again today, aren't we? We had the news from Sri Lanka this morning about churchgoers being attacked, and they were beginning to experience this themselves. They were starting to lose their jobs because of their faith, but worst of all, their church was being torn apart by divisions. There were political divisions. There were lawsuit divisions. There were theological divisions. And so Paul writes them this kind of emergency letter to say, "Guys, guys, I want to rally you around one big idea that is going to restore your hope." Here's what he says. Here's how he starts. "Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the good news." We're about good news here, not bad news.

It is this good news that saves you if you continue to believe. He says there's something that if you believe it, it will save you at every level. Your hope level will skyrocket. You'll have hope for this life, hope for the afterlife. Believe what? Well, this whole chapter is about what we celebrate today, the resurrection. And he says if you learn to believe three things about the resurrection, everything changes in your life. And I tried to make this super memorable because these things will change your life. I mean, starting today, he says, number one, believe it happened. Believe it happened. It's real. It's historical.

Watch this. Paul says, "I passed on to you what was most important and what was also passed on to me." Now, press pause for a second. This is really important because sometimes you hear people say, well, you know, the Bible was written so many years after the events that people's memories got foggy and dim and they just kind of made stuff up to fill in the blanks, especially everything about the resurrection that's clearly just legend written centuries after Christ had found a beloved spot in people's hearts. I just want to remove that objection right now. Most historians, and I'm talking secular historians, right, not pastors like me, academics agree that Paul wrote these words in the early fifties. Here's a timeline for it. Not the early 1950s, the early fifties, the first fifties. And Jesus died in the early thirties.

So this was written within approximately 20 years or so of the death of Jesus, not centuries later. But watch this. He's also quoting an even earlier creed. And a creed is like a poem about doctrine. And virtually every scholar agrees on the dating of that creed, and they don't agree on much, but they agree Paul is quoting a creed from right around the mid-thirties. So in other words, what he's about to say, this is what the very earliest Christians believe. This wasn't made up a hundred years later. So what did they believe? He says, "I passed on to you what was most important." There's a lot of stuff that can divide us. What's true 2,000 years ago, it's true today too. But here's what's most important. Christ died for our sins just as the Scriptures said. He was buried and he was raised from the dead on the third day.

And then it's almost as if Paul says, "I know this is hard to believe." So he says, let me give you two lines of evidence. Do you notice twice he repeats the phrase just as the Scriptures said. He's saying this was all foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures, which you can look up. You can look up to this day. It's spectacular. I've done whole sermons on this. You can look up the prophecies about the resurrection in Scripture was foretold. And he says, you can talk to eyewitnesses. Let me give you some names. He was seen by Peter and then by the 12. And after that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, although some have died. What he's saying here is, please talk to any one of these hundreds of people who encountered the risen Christ.

And by the way, you don't write this unless you know that they can back you up. And then he brings up a couple of people on a first name basis. He says, then he was seen by James. Now, why does he mention James? James, this particular James, was the half brother of Jesus Christ. Did you know that? I'm not making that up. That's in the Bible. The Bible also says that during his life, James and the rest of Jesus brothers, they were not followers of Jesus. In fact, there's a strong implication that they mocked Jesus and kind of thought he was a little bit crazy. So James is not a follower of Jesus. Jesus is dead. He is buried. The movement is over. And suddenly something happens a few days later. And overnight, James does a U-turn. He not only becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, but he becomes a leader in the early church in Jerusalem and not only a leader, but one of the very first people who's willing to be killed for his faith. Wow. What was it that changed him?

Let me ask for a show of hands. How many of you have any siblings in the home, brothers or sisters? Can I see a show of hands? Okay. What would it take to convince them that you were the son or the daughter of God? Right? You'd have to like rise from the dead or something, correct? Well, that's what James saw, the risen Jesus. And then Paul mentions another name. He says, and last of all, I also saw him, me, Paul. Why is this so? Paul was another unlikely suspect. Paul was not only a non-Christian, Paul was an anti-Christian. Paul was arresting Christians, dragging them into person, giving approval to their executions. And so he's going, you remember me and James, right? We didn't want anything to do with this. We were against it. We thought it was crazy. We didn't want to get involved. And now we're fully into it. What happened? They saw the risen Christ. Believe it historically happened.

Now, how does this raise your hope level? Well, think of those first apostles. The resurrection validates the message of Jesus Christ for them. In his earthly ministry, Jesus said a lot of really cool stuff. He said, God loves the world. He said, he's preparing a place for us, for us to go when we die. He said he would always be with us to the very end of the age and lots more super beautiful words. How do I know they're true? Well, the resurrection is like the ultimate stamp of approval. This guy knows what he's talking about. So believe it happened historically. And then number two, believe it will happen. See, the resurrection of Jesus wasn't just for Jesus. When he came out of the grave glorified, that's a theological term that pastors use. That just meant that not only spiritually, but physically, he was changed, restored, renewed in an amazing way with the same kind of a body we're all going to have in the new heaven and the new earth. He was glorified.

And the point of that is, that's a preview of what's going to happen to all who place their trust in him. That's what 1 Corinthians 15 is about, but there's a key verse that summarizes it so beautifully. 1 Corinthians 15:43, it's on screen. It's there in your notes. Let's read this out loud together. Let me hear you. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. I just want to focus on two words in this verse. First, the word buried. Did you know, have you ever thought about the fact that that is true of literally every single thing on our planet, every single thing in your life, one day, eventually, it's all going to be buried.

John Ortberg, the pastor I visited, had a great illustration of this. He said when he's tempted to kind of be materialistic and buy something he doesn't really need, he reminds himself, "It's all going in the landfill." Eventually, that's where it all ends up. And I thought I would bring you some object lessons to kind of bring this home. Everything in our life eventually is buried. For example, this represents a house. All of us want a house. Housing is so hard to get into here. If you do, it's like a big triumphant achievement. But every house, no matter how new, no matter how large, no matter how beautiful, no matter how much you love it, eventually buried, landfill. This is a car. In fact, this is a model Tesla. Pretty cool, right? Tesla's a sweet ride. There's nothing wrong with having a nice car. It just helps to keep it in perspective. It's not going to last forever. Eventually buried, landfill.

This is a trophy representing all the things that we worked so hard on in our lives. But every trophy eventually, landfill, buried. This is a stack of money. And I had our business department validate this. This is actual money. It's not like monopoly money or something like that. And it represents everything that you could buy with money in this world. Eventually, every single thing, landfill. It's going to end up there and not... All right. Buried, landfill. And you know what else eventually ends up buried? You and me. That's just reality. And Paul says, yes, it's all going to get buried, but one thing gets unburied. There's one category that's going to eventually pop right back out better than ever. What is it? You and me. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they're raised in glory, raised in strength.

What does that word glory mean? I think of my own mom and dad. I grieve them. Who are you grieving? But I believe that one day I will see them whole again, as in like physically whole again, glorified like Jesus. And I'll see my mom without the ravages of Alzheimer's and I'll see dad without the ravages of cancer. And I'll be able to hug them again and touch them again and I'll be able to kiss them again. And I look forward to that day. That's glory. And think of what it means for you. Are you ravaged by the effects of age? Are you like not exactly kind of physically the specimen that you used to be? How many of you say you're feeling the effects of age in your life right now? How many of you would say you are sitting next to somebody who's clearly feeling the effects of age right now? Maybe you can't walk so good anymore. In glory you'll be able to run. Maybe you can't dance. You'll be able to dance. Maybe you can't sing like you want to be able to sing. You'll be able to, you know, sing Edelweiss to all the new people in heaven. That's glory. Believe it will happen.

And how does this bring you hope? Well, imagine how would you live if you knew you would rise? How would you live today if you knew death wasn't the end? If you knew the grave couldn't hold you? You would live with total confidence just like those first disciples did. Believe it will happen. Believe it happened. But don't forget number three because a lot of people do. Believe it is happening. Paul says, interesting phrase, "Now the resurrection from the dead has begun." It won't just happen one day. It's starting a ripple effect. God is giving new life. The idea is the resurrection didn't just happen once with Jesus. And it won't just happen once again at the end of time. It is happening right now. In large and small ways.

What am I talking about? Just one example. I was talking to somebody here at TLC who's now clean and sober after trying again and again for many years. And I said, what made the difference this time? And this is what she said. Honestly, after living as an atheist, I encountered the living Jesus Christ. She said, my friends think I'm crazy, but they can't deny how he has changed everything. The same power that raised Christ from the dead is working in her life. And there's more. Watch this. Christians believe that every act of love that we do is not just kindness. It's also a preview of heaven. It's a preview of glory, a preview of the new heaven and the new earth where all tongues and tribes and nations and people are going to be together. A place where all sickness will be gone, where all hunger will be gone.

For example, a week ago Wednesday, I visited our People's Pantry here on campus at Twin Lakes Church. Every Wednesday afternoon, these volunteers share free groceries with hundreds of people. And by the way, if you need free groceries, please come by. Four o'clock every Wednesday, all you have to do is show up. But see, we believe this is not just kindness. This is sort of a sneak preview of glory. The day when there will be no more hunger. Yesterday morning, we hosted an adaptive Easter egg hunt with Leo's Haven, a place for kids who often feel left out because of special needs to feel included. And we host this because the way we look at it, that is like a preview of resurrection, starting to ripple out to these families. It's a sneak peek of the new heaven and the new earth when all of us will be able to rejoice together and dance together and sing together regardless of where we came from. And our two deets will be there and it'll just be absolutely amazing.

One more example. Last time I was in India at Little Flock Children's Home, which our church supports, and I was visiting the new medical clinic and school that this church built there. Hundreds of marginalized students from the so-called untouchable castes are now studying there. Dozens of homeless children are being taken care of there, rescued from utter hopelessness, and now they have hope, now they are loved. And we believe this is a preview of glory when people from every caste, every tribe, every nation live in love together. And we do this because it's a result of resurrection thinking. See, this is where Paul's going in 1 Corinthians 15. Watch this. This is his wrap up to the chapter. He says in one of the very last verses, "So," this is his conclusion, "because we believe the resurrection happened, will happen, and is happening right now, because of that belief, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless."

Do you ever feel like stuff you do is useless? I get trapped in that thinking sometimes, too. I think that's one of the reasons that our culture is trapped in hopelessness right now. So many people have hope only for this world. And when they think about every single thing that they do ending up buried, it just leads to despair. But Paul's saying, "Yep, it all gets buried, but never forget what's going to come back out." Invest your life in people. Invest your life in what lasts forever, because that, if you believe in the resurrection, is never useless. Can you see how everything changes when you see life through this lens?

I started by quoting Martin Luther King Jr.'s sermon intro about hopelessness, the one he began, "It is midnight." And I want to close my own message with his wrap up. He says, "Yes, it is midnight, but our eternal message of hope is that dawn is coming. Sometimes it looks dark, and oh, it looked dark centuries ago, but thank God the crucifixion was not the last act. Easter affirms that what stops us does not stop God. Death is not the end. Life is not doomed to frustration and futility that can end up in fulfillment in the life and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." And then he really picks up steam and he starts making it personal. Watch this. He says, "This is the faith which has kept us going. This is the faith which has enabled us to face death. This is the faith which has given us away when there seemed to be no way. This is the faith that lets us face our daily crucifixions in the knowledge that God brings resurrection. And this is the faith I commend to you, a living, massive, active faith that affirms the victory of Jesus Christ over the world." Amen. That's our faith. That's the faith that makes a difference.

I'm going to close in a moment of prayer, and my hope is that for those of you who would say, "I do have that faith. I do." That this has increased your faith today. For those of you who are saying, "Today I want to take my first step into a life of faith. I want to lead you in a prayer to do just that." But I want to address a third group here. Maybe you've heard all this and you've thought to yourself, "You know, I love the way this sounds. I wish I could believe all this, but I have so many questions." I want to suggest something to you. We have a group coming up next weekend called Starting Point. Starting Point is a discussion group designed to be a safe place to ask questions about faith. There's no judgment. Nobody, you know, nobody's going to sing Edelweiss to you and prevent you from leaving. It kicks off next weekend, and details are right on this card in your bulletin. I encourage you to check it out because believing in the risen Christ really does bring the hope factor that we so desperately need today.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this truth and give each one of us the wisdom to know what to do with what we've just heard. For those who already believe, help us to live with this perspective. For those of us who would love for this to be true, may we continue to earnestly seek you. And for those of us who want to commit our lives to you today, we pray, "Lord Jesus, I am choosing to believe today that you died for our sins, were buried, and then rose again." In the name of the living Jesus we pray, amen.