Our Missionary Message and Its Meaning

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Reading from the Gospel according to Luke.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,

Peace be with you.

They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.

He said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do you rise in your minds?

Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see.

A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them,

Do you have anything here to eat?

They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.

He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you.

Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.

Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.

He told them, This is what is written.

The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,

and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Israel.

You are witnesses of these things.

I am going to send you what my father has promised,

but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.

When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.

While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.

Then they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

and they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

You may be seated.

Good morning, Christ Church.

It's good to see you on the second Sunday of Easter.

As I think back to 13 months ago when COVID shut down the world, really,

and the Bay Area went into shelter-in-place,

we were scrambling like everybody else,

trying to figure out how are we going to keep our kids active during this time.

And so we pulled out our badminton,

and we got a paddle, a beach paddle ball for our kids,

and eventually we got tennis rackets,

thinking, you know, we've encouraged lifetime sports, running, swimming.

Maybe we'll add tennis to the rotation, keep our kids moving,

help them with their eye-hand coordination and whatnot.

Well, fast forward to now, and our kids kind of love tennis,

but Catherine and I have grown to love tennis during this time.

We, you know, we kind of just leave the kids home at this point

and go hit the ball around.

And neither of us are that great.

Catherine played at summer camp growing up.

I played at the swimming pool.

But we found that tennis is a great way to relieve some stress, right,

to go out and just smash the ball really hard and volley back and forth

and make your opponent run to and fro.

And we found that it's cheaper than therapy during this time.

You know, we can kind of go work out.

You got lines.

You got to stay in the lines.

You got to work out your conflict between the lines.

And, you know, you're kind of out there like,

I wish you were more supportive with my work,

and I wish you were more sensitive to my feelings.

And it just feels good.

And we like it too because, you know, you start this game,

and the score is love, love, right?

You've got love, and I've got love.

You haven't touched the ball yet.

What's your score?

It's zero.

No, you actually have love.

You have love.

It's a game of love.

And, but what I've decided in tennis is that life is just too short

to play with old tennis balls.

We were out there with our kids.

Our kids would hit all the new balls over the fence in places

where we couldn't go get them.

And so I would get mad at them, and then they'd get upset with me.

And so we had these two people give us these giant bags of old tennis balls,

and we thought, well, this is cool because we can lose as many of these as we want.

But I just discovered that, you know,

playing a game with a ball that doesn't bounce is just not fun.

And so we're playing now with new balls.

And, but what I've been thinking about with this metaphor of the tennis ball

is that some of us kind of feel like that old tennis ball right now.

Anybody feel like an old tennis ball, kind of worn out?

It doesn't really, doesn't really bounce.

It doesn't have that springiness and that kind of resilience that you really would hope for.

Some of us, if you're like me, you feel a little more like this ball.

Just kind of chewed on and slobbered all over.

And like, there you are.

That's your life right now.

But what I'm praying for for Christ Church,

as we move into this new season,

is that God would make us like this.

These are America's number one best-selling tennis balls.

The pin number one.

And I'm praying, oh, that was good.

I'm praying that, I mean, smell that.

It's so bright, so fresh, so bouncy,

that through the Holy Spirit,

the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead,

through more vaccines, through more gatherings like this,

through our soul care retreats,

through fellowship, through park meetups,

through community group gatherings,

through just pushing through the inertia of this time,

that the Holy Spirit is going to make us like this.

Amen?

Because if God raised Jesus from the dead,

this is not impossible for Him to do for us in this post-COVID season.

God is going to give us back our bounce.

He's going to give us back our vibrancy and our energy.

God is going to give us that oomph, that zing, that zip that we were made for.

And that's my prayer for us.

And I invite you to pray that with me during this time.

So Constance, there's a ball for you.

Catherine, there's a ball for you.

And anybody that wants to play doubles,

Catherine and I are looking for some partners.

Okay.

Enough about tennis.

Let's talk about the resurrection.

Luke 24 is our text for today.

And it's all about Easter day.

It's all about Easter morning and Easter afternoon that we looked at last week.

And now we're in Easter night, Easter evening.

And this story means for us that the risen Christ doubts our doubts and sends us with the biblical gospel.

That's what this text means, that the risen Christ doubts our doubts and sends us with the biblical gospel.

And I wanted to start with how the risen Christ doubts our doubts.

Many of us are here.

We're trying to make sense of the resurrection for our lives.

And that's very much like the disciples on this Easter night.

And all of a sudden, Jesus just appears in his presence and his power to these disciples.

And we read about that in verse 36.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,

Peace be with you.

Shalom.

And we think, how thrilling.

What a blessing.

But the disciples didn't think that.

They're scared.

Their reality is coming apart.

Their reality is shattered in this moment.

And it says in verse 37, they're startled.

They're frightened.

They're thinking they saw a ghost.

You know, Harry Potter's nearly headless Nick.

You know, some sort of apparition.

Some sort of spirit making a momentary visit from some distant realm.

And Jesus responds to them and he says this in verse 38.

Why are you troubled?

And why do doubts rise in your minds?

And that word for doubts Jesus uses is dialogitsme, where we get the word dialogue.

And Jesus is not against thinking, questioning, deliberating, reasoning, the life of the mind,

working out puzzles and riddles and enigmas with logic.

If you know anything about Judaism, anything about the teachings of Jesus,

there's a link here between the head and the heart.

But what is Jesus challenging among his first skeptics?

He sees them disputing an inconvenient truth that doesn't fit with their dominant paradigm.

Right?

They know, like we know, that dead people stay dead.

And that is an ironclad rule without exceptions.

And so, here they are interpreting the data of Jesus standing before them within their worldview categories,

within the plausibility structures that they know.

This is either an immaterial spirit or it's a revived corpse,

like Lazarus, who temporarily came back to life but then would die again.

And Jesus is patiently here helping them come to realize that he's neither this nor that.

He's something new, something different, something unique altogether.

And that's why he says in verse 39,

Look at my hands and my feet.

It is I myself.

Why does he do this?

Because he wants to say this body is continuous with my crucified body.

Here are the marks of those iron nails that fasten me to my cross.

Here are the signs in my body of my victory over sin and death.

And then he says to them,

Touch me and see.

A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.

Some of us are visual learners, some auditory, some kinesthetic learners.

And so, Jesus says,

You can see me, you can hear me.

Now, I want you to feel me and touch me and know that this is a real material body.

Now, some of us might think that's cool.

Some of us might think this is really creepy.

But maybe all of us are asking,

How is this relevant?

You know, why does it matter to my life?

What happens next?

I think is really kind of hilarious.

I think Jesus kind of cuts through the tension with a little comedic relief.

In verse 41,

While they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement,

he asked them,

Do you have anything here to eat?

And they gave him a piece of broiled fish,

and he took it and ate it in their presence.

Is Jesus hungry?

No.

He's giving them proofs that he's alive.

He's showing them his new bodily abilities.

And we teach our kids not to stare at guests when they come over,

particularly when we're around the table, right?

And I'm thinking,

Everybody is staring at Jesus in this moment.

Every eye is glued on him,

because what Jesus is saying is,

My flesh and my bones are not over there in that tomb.

They're right here with you.

And if that's true,

then you all need a new worldview to map out this new crazy reality.

And here's why that's important,

because there are popular beliefs in the East Bay that go like this.

This life is all that there is,

and there's nothing.

It's just, you know,

when you die, that's it,

and so live the best life you can.

Or another belief says,

If there is a God,

he's remote,

and he's somewhere out there.

I don't really have to deal with him.

Another belief says,

All religions are basically alike,

just be good and love people.

But if Jesus rose from the dead,

if Jesus is the risen Son of God,

then none of those beliefs are actually true.

This life is not all there is.

God is not distant.

You either live and deal with him,

or you live in denial that this ever happened.

If this is true,

then salvation comes through no other way,

but through the one person who's risen from the dead.

And so,

what Jesus is trying to help his disciples deal with,

is that the resurrection is a paradigm-shattering,

historical event,

and it forces you to embrace a wholly new paradigm.

And that's why Jesus engages with these first skeptics,

and he's incredibly patient with them,

and he works with their unbelief, right?

He gives them evidence.

He gives them data.

He gives them time and opportunity to explore the evidence and consider the data.

But eventually,

Jesus says,

Hey,

your doubts are real,

but I'm more real.

I mean,

it's like doubting Thomas that Andrew mentioned.

He gives Thomas the proofs that he needs,

but then he says,

Thomas,

stop doubting and believe.

Stop putting your faith in only what you know,

and start putting your faith in this new,

wonderful,

albeit strange,

reality of the resurrection.

And it was in that moment on Easter,

that the first Christians began to work out a totally new model of knowledge,

a totally new understanding about the structures of reality,

and the universe,

and the future,

and how all of that bears on our present life.

And so,

if you're exploring Christianity,

I want to invite you to explore the evidence,

consider the data,

but then I'd like to ask you to take one step beyond that,

and call out to Jesus.

If he's real,

and if he's alive,

ask him to show you that he's real,

and that he's alive.

Ask him to reveal these new,

unprecedented powers to you,

and see what he'll do.

If you're a Christian,

and you believe in the resurrection,

I wish we had time to talk about the profound implications for our lives,

but I'll give you one.

If Jesus is actually raised from the dead,

if he really got up,

and walked out of the tomb,

and appeared to many people,

and talked to hundreds of them,

then everything in our lives is going to be okay.

The resurrected body of Jesus is the beginning of God's new creation.

And he is the pledge,

that the whole material order is going to be resurrected.

There are plenty of religions that talk about a future afterlife,

and a non-material world,

that will give us consolations for this world that we've lost.

But Christianity talks about bodies that are resurrected,

and beyond that,

a world that will be resurrected,

and cleansed from evil,

sin,

death,

and sorrow.

And that means for us,

that you don't need to live in FOMO.

You do not need to live with the fear of missing out,

because the resurrection means that not only are you going to be restored,

the life that you've lost,

you're going to be given the life that you never had,

but that you always wanted.

We have the hope of a new bodily reality in a newly remade world.

Jesus is the preview of those coming attractions.

The disciples are staring at the prototype of incorruptible physicality.

And if that is what is going to happen to all of us here,

then you can take more courageous risks.

You can more confidently bind yourself in constraining commitments.

You can make sacrifices of your time,

your talents,

and your treasures,

because you know you're going to get it all back and more.

And it's this Easter faith,

this resurrection faith,

that sent the first disciples out,

and they turned the world upside down,

because they believed that this was true.

So be careful with the resurrected Jesus,

because he doubts your doubts.

The risen Christ doubts your doubts.

And beyond that,

he sends us out with the biblical gospel.

The risen Christ sends us out with the biblical gospel.

He says in verse 44,

this is what I told you while I was still with you.

Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me

in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.

And then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.

He talked about this last week,

how Jesus was adamant to open the scriptures to the minds of his friends,

his disciples.

And here he is at it again,

because this is what he always does with us.

And he says in verse 46,

he told them,

this is what is written about the Messiah.

And that,

in a resurrection church,

in a life,

a giving,

a live church,

is our key phrase.

Right?

It is written.

It is written.

It is written.

That's what Christ is always saying.

And what he,

his major task is to open up for us,

our minds,

to the open pages of the scriptures.

And he says,

these three sections of the Hebrew Bible,

all point to the Messiah,

and therefore they all point to me.

And he's telling them now about the gospel,

which is first and foremost,

a biblical gospel.

Jesus would spend 40 days after the resurrection

with his disciples,

and he would outline for them

the basic truths of this biblical gospel,

so that he could delegate them

to go out and take that good news

to the whole world.

And so what I want to show you

over the next few minutes

is that this biblical gospel

is like a multifaceted diamond.

And I want you to see some of these facets

that shine in all their brilliance.

Jesus first points out that,

this facet of the diamond,

which is the gospel event.

The gospel event of the crucifixion

and resurrection.

He says in verse 46,

the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead

on the third day.

That's our good news.

It's a historical event

about a Savior who took our place

and died the death we should have died

and bore our sin and our cursedness

and our condemnation on the cross

instead of us.

And then the resurrection

is not the reversal of that defeat.

It's rather a manifestation

of that victory.

That on his cross,

Jesus triumphed over sin

and he trampled on death

and he conquered over the powers of evil.

So at the heart of Easter joy

are the sufferings of Christ

whose substitutionary death

was vindicated and approved

and approved by God for us.

The resurrection is proof

that when Jesus cried out on the cross,

it is finished

that he once and for all

paid our cosmic debt in full.

That then and there,

he won redemption for us.

And that's why Jesus says in verse 48,

you are the witnesses of these things.

We're to witness

not to our experience

of the life-changing power of God

or the peace of God in our heart.

The gospel is about bearing witness

to an event before an experience.

The event of Good Friday

and Easter Sunday.

So Jesus' gospel is about an event

and then he talks about

this aspect of the diamond,

the gospel offer,

which is the forgiveness of sins.

He says in verse 47,

and repentance for the forgiveness of sins

will be preached in his name

to all nations

beginning at Jerusalem.

Good news is about salvation for sinners.

The central meaning of salvation

is the forgiveness of our sins

and there is no greater gift

that could be given

than the full and perfect pardon

of God himself.

Forgiveness is what reconciles me

to my creator God

and assures me

that I share in the divine,

eternal, abundant life

of God himself.

Forgiveness is what makes me

not an outsider

but now an insider.

It turns me from a rebel

into a son or a daughter.

It brings me into the family of God

and puts me in a right relationship

with my heavenly father

so that I'm now at home

and at rest

and at peace

in his healing heart

of love.

That's the gospel offer.

It's the gospel event

of the crucifixion

and resurrection,

the gospel offer

of the forgiveness of sins

and then Jesus talks about

the gospel demand

of repentance.

Another facet

of the diamond.

You can't have

the gospel offer

of forgiveness

without the gospel demand

of repentance.

You can't have

Jesus' invitation

without Jesus' challenge

which is this,

if we want God

to turn from our sins

in forgiveness

then we must turn

from our sins

in repentance.

We can't have

reconciliation with God

unless we turn back

from our rebellion

against him.

There's no possibility

of peace

without a decommissioning

of weapons,

without a laying down

of our arms

before God

and a surrendering

of our own self-seeking

and self-determination.

The word Jesus uses here

for repent

is metanoia.

You've got to change

your mind.

You can't

be forgiven

if you're clinging

to the old mind

and all the life

of sin

that flows out

of that mind.

You must change

your mind.

You must take on

the mind

of Christ himself.

So the gospel event,

the gospel offer,

the gospel demand

and then Jesus goes

to gospel authority

and he says,

I want you to go out

in verse 47,

repentance for the

forgiveness of sins

will be preached

in his name

to all nations.

Christianity in one word

is not love,

it's not peace,

it's just Jesus.

Christianity in one word

is Christ

Christ.

Because his name

bears

and reveals

his person

and his work.

One of his first

sermons

in the Acts of the Apostles,

Peter says this,

he says,

salvation

is found in no one else

for there is no other name

given under heaven

by which

we must

be saved.

Perhaps you've heard

the phrase,

preach the gospel

at all times

and if necessary

use words.

words.

But Jesus says

we must use words,

particularly this one

word of his name

which carries with it

the event,

the offer,

and the demand

that his name

represents.

We've not shared

the gospel

if we haven't shared

the name

and we haven't given

people an opportunity

to call upon the name

for when we call upon

and we invoke

the name

of the resurrected Lord,

we are calling

upon him

to apply

to us

the gospel

and all of its

benefits

to would-be

forgiven sinners.

So Jesus

is giving us

his diamond,

the gospel event,

the gospel offer,

the gospel demand,

the gospel authority

and then he tells us

the gospel audience

which is to all

the nations.

The word is

all the ethnos,

all the ethnics.

I want my message

and my movement

to go out

to the whole

human race,

the whole human family

and all of its

diverse multitude

of tribes,

nations,

peoples,

and languages

because I want to

transcend

and therefore

transform

all of these

ethnic,

cultural

particularities

to bring

every people group

into the fullness

of what God

originally intended

them to be

and to become.

Jesus,

we're told,

is the Lamb of God

who took away

the sins of the

whole world

and therefore

he's sending out

his church

as a missionary

to society

to that world

and when he does

that he does not

suggest

that the world

can get on

all right

with all the

other religions.

He does not

suggest that

there's another

name by which

the world

can be saved.

Doubting

Thomas

became

believing Thomas

and what did he do?

He took the gospel

to India

and he got there

by 52 AD

about 20 years

after the resurrection

of Jesus.

The church would

take the gospel

south to Africa,

north to the peoples

of Eurasia,

west to Italy

and Spain

and they would go

to all of these nations

and say to them

your understanding

of God,

your understanding

of the world

and the moral law

and the way

of salvation

is incomplete

and every time

there was a gospel

explosion

and they turned

the world upside down

because they said

the true God

has come

and therefore

all of your gods

must be dethroned.

They must be

thrown down.

We tend to focus

in that story

on the apostles

who took the gospel

to the ends of the earth

and we forget

all of those

ordinary Christians,

everyday men

and women like us

who didn't go

to the end of the world

and they just went

next door

to their friends,

their neighbors,

their coworkers

and they said

let me tell you

about the unsearchable

riches of Christ

and I think

I'm afraid

many of us,

myself included,

think about doing that

here in the Bay Area

and we go

that's impossible.

No one's going

to believe us.

That's why Jesus

ends

with gospel power.

He talks about

the gospel event

of the crucifixion

and resurrection,

the gospel offer

of the forgiveness

of sins,

the gospel demand

of repentance,

gospel authority

in his name,

the gospel audience

of all the nations

but then he ends

with gospel power,

the gospel power

of the Holy Spirit.

He says in verse 49,

I am going to send you

what my father

has promised

but stay in the city

until you have been

clothed with power

from on high.

These are people

who have borne witness

to the resurrection.

They're there

with the risen Christ

himself but he says

you are not yet fit

to go out

with your own

meager resources

and in your own

human weakness

you must wait

to receive the

essential clothing

of the Holy Spirit.

When you become

a Christian

you receive

the Holy Spirit

but all of us

need a fresh

filling of his power

if we're going

to share the gospel

among the people

with whom we live

work and play.

A church

that neglects

the Holy Spirit

will be ineffective

at sharing the gospel

because it's the Holy Spirit

who convicts us

that we are sinners

in need of a Savior.

It's the Holy Spirit

who opens blind eyes

to see that Jesus

himself is that

heaven sent Savior

that we need.

It's the Holy Spirit

who draws people

to Jesus

enabling them

to repent

and believe

and it's the Holy Spirit

who implants life

into dead souls

causing the miracle

of new birth

from above

to take place.

So this is

the diamond

that Jesus

has given

to his church

the multifaceted

diamond

of the biblical

gospel.

And I want to close

with just two words

of application.

first of all

Jesus

does not focus here

on caring for the poor

and doing

the work

of justice

and mercy.

He does not

focus on

socioeconomic

reform

through public

policy

or education

and building schools

or healing the sick

and building hospitals.

The church does

all of those things

rightly and instinctively

as an extension

of the life

and the ministry

of Jesus

and in obedience

to his command

to love

not only God

but to love our neighbor

as ourselves.

But what I want

you to know

Christ Church

is that the

great commission

is the one

central

supreme

essential

non-negotiable

task

that Jesus

has given

to us

his church.

This has not

to do with

the obvious

visible

material

needs

of people

because our

problem

as human beings

is much

deeper

than that.

Jesus gets

at the

deeper

invisible

spiritual

needs

of all

people

namely

to be

reconciled

with God

and to be

put in a

right relationship

with him.

From that

fountainhead

will flow

all kind

of good

works

for the

poor

and the

marginalized

and the

sick

and the

uneducated.

And so

our primary

task

as pastors

is to

keep the

church

focused

and faithful

on the

primary

task

that Jesus

has given

to us.

This is our

first priority.

It's the

one job

the resurrected

Christ has

given to

his church

is to

proclaim

the gospel

to the

nations.

The one

thing that

we cannot

do

is save

ourselves.

We can't

save ourselves

from sin.

We can't

save ourselves

from death.

We can't

save ourselves

from eternal

loss.

Only God

can do

that and

therefore there

is no hope

for this

world and

all of her

troubles unless

people are

first put

into a

right relationship

with God.

My second

word of

application

and I'll

end.

I talk too

much about

tennis.

I'm sorry.

We'll end

here.

Jesus came

to procure

salvation

but it's

not much

used to

procure

salvation

without a

community

who's

willing to

proclaim

it.

We are

his

representatives.

We are

his

ambassadors

here in

Berkeley and

Oakland and

beyond and

I want you to

think about all

the good news

you proclaimed

this last

month.

The good

news of

vaccines,

the good

news of

Netflix,

the good

news of

tacos and

cheap airline

tickets.

Amen?

I want you to

think about all

the good news

that you've

witnessed to

this past

week.

Flowers that

are blooming,

the NCAA

final four,

spring break,

Christchurch,

Jesus has

given us

better news.

He's given

us the best

news that

there is and

he sent us

to the Bay

Area as a

missionary

society where

the news about

Jesus is so

distorted and

misunderstood and

caricatured and

just flatly

unknown.

And so like

that fragile

little group of

120 disciples

that were waiting

there in the

supper room on

the power of

the Holy

Spirit, we

are being

sent out.

We are being

commissioned where

God has put us in

people's lives and

social networks and

relational circles to

share this good

news.

We are

commissioned.

It's the whole

reason I moved to

Berkeley in the

first place.

I wouldn't be

here if it

weren't for this

text and this

reality.

We are

commissioned.

as the early

church was

commissioned to

proclaim to all

of humankind

among all the

nations repentance

and the forgiveness

of sins on the

basis of the name

of Jesus who

died and was

raised to life

according to the

scriptures of the

Old and New

Testament in the

power of the Holy

Spirit that's been

given to each one

of us.

That's our job.

That's our job.

The risen Christ

has come to doubt

our doubts and he

sent us out with

one job and that

is to proclaim the

biblical gospel.

May it be so among

us in the name of

the Father, Son, and

Holy Spirit.

Amen.