Resurrected Belief

When I was 16 years old, I went to this called Young Life Camp out in Virginia.

And Young Life is a ministry for high school kids.

And I was wrestling with the truths of the gospel, right?

As an angsty 16-year-old boy trying to find a place in this world, wrestling through relationships, community, struggling with places of the law, and just getting kind of caught up in self.

I remember at that camp hearing the gospel in a way that I've never heard it before.

God was starting to work in my heart.

And I remember talking to one of my leaders, who at that time was my English teacher, asking me what I was thinking, who I thought about this Jesus person.

And I remember opening to him that this felt so real, right?

This sin that I had been experiencing, this guilt, this hole that I had in my heart that I know deep down wasn't being satisfied and filled by any other things.

I've been trying to put all these things inside of it, and it just wasn't working.

And Jesus, at that time, as I was kind of talking to my leader, seemed to fix that problem.

But I said, I kind of stepped back and said, I kind of have one kind of some hang-up in this.

And you know, he's probably really excited just to kind of hear what I've got, what I'm thinking and wrestling through.

And I look at him, I was like, Dinosaurs.

And you know, he holds his composure, you know, as a 16-year-old kid, as I'm like, I see the scriptures, I see all this thing, but I see these dinosaurs and all this evidence out there, and I just I don't see where the connection is.

And you know, he looked at me and he was gentle and he says, you know, uh, this is a good place to be in, right?

God is doing something in you.

Don't right now let these dinosaurs get in the way of what God is doing.

Keep asking these questions.

Seek answers, and God will show up.

How many of us wrestle with unbelief in our lives at different points?

Prior to being a Christian, maybe not even believing at all, to being maybe even a professing Christian and experiencing similar questions of doubt.

This morning we're gonna work through three different texts, three different accounts, and see a spectrum of unbelief and the root question, the root manifestations of their unbelief.

And as we unpack them, I think we might find ourselves fall in some of these camps.

At the core, we have a resurrection unbelief.

At the core, we have a resurrection unbelief.

Jesus had just been crucified.

So we've been working through the series of John for two years.

Uh Pastor Jared preached last week, and we kind of skipped over some few texts, so you can go back and listen to the gap in between.

But right now, Jesus had just been crucified.

He was buried.

The disciples had run to the tomb.

Mary found the tomb folded with linens, and the disciples had left this area.

Here we have Mary Magdalene in verses 11 through 15 stepping into this scene.

And we see our first manifestation of unbelief.

We see it through control.

We see it through control.

Let's read the text, 11 through 15.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they laid him.

Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know it was Jesus.

Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking?

Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you had carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him away.

Mary, the woman who had been healed of evil spirits, infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, which we see in Luke 8, who was had seven demons removed from her.

She had a deep love for Jesus, who had rescued her from her oppression.

Mary had run back to get the disciples, saying, The tomb is empty.

Mary is weeping outside of the tomb.

She had just seen him a few days ago, murdered on the cross, brutally beaten, whipped, pierced, crushed.

She probably found comfort in how he was prepared for his burial.

That he was given the proper burial in a tomb with the spices, wrapped in linen, the dead Jesus could rest comfortably.

After my mom passed, you know, going through hospice and watching her suffer, after her passing, through all the logistics of planning the funeral and all of the calls and things that had to be made.

There was a sense of relief after all the suffering and the logistics and the planning.

It felt like a path could be moved forward.

Mary, after the burial of Jesus, probably had some sense of rest, knowing that the tomb was closed and that Jesus had his burial.

But coming across this empty tomb probably only reopened that wound again of the horrendousness that she witnessed on that good Friday.

They have taken away my Lord.

You feel that in the text.

They, as in the Jews or the Romans, as a final act of disrespect.

She's still hurting from watching all the agonizing death that he experienced on the cross.

There was some sense of his resting, but now she feels like she this is even stripped away from her.

You can feel her emotions take over.

You can feel her anxiousness as she stoops into the cave, looking, weeping.

Coming in slowly, she peeks her head in and she sees two angelic figures on both ends where Jesus was laid.

The question is asked then by them, why are you weeping?

Why are you weeping?

This question isn't phrased in what you're truly why you're actually truly weeping, but rather that your emotions are inappropriate for this occasion.

I was recently at a funeral and we wanted to go and pay respects.

We didn't have all of the information.

We had, we just knew the time and the location of this.

I wore my black black button-up tie and a nice pair of slacks like I usually do at a funeral.

And I didn't know, though, on this funeral invitation that it mentioned it was casual attire.

The woman who passed deeply loved Jesus.

And while this was a time for mourning, it was a celebration of her life and the hope she had in the gospel and where she was now.

Someone actually came up to me before the service and reminded me that my attire was not appropriate for the setting.

She actually told me to take my tie off, not in a disrespectful way, because it wasn't fitting for the situation.

We were here to celebrate her life through King Jesus, through worshiping, through fellowship, through dancing, through food.

It was a party and it was a joy and the joy that she had in the gospel.

My attire was not appropriate for that situation.

Mary's emotions were not appropriate for what was before her.

Mary and her emotions experienced it was a blur.

Have you ever had a moment in your life where you've been so overwhelmed that thinking back you don't even remember that situation?

She's speaking to angels plainly now.

Her emotions clouded the reality that was before her.

Her unbelief, her lack of understanding of what Jesus had said when she was with her, when what he promised was showing through, driven by her emotions.

She turns around and she sees a gardener, what she believes to be a gardener.

She gets asked the same question, woman, why why are you weeping?

And then the same way, questioning her emotional demeanor.

You've been with me.

Have you not heard?

You're this moment is not now a time for sorrow.

This is not a time for unbelief.

He follows with, What are you seeking?

This is the same question asked of the disciples in John 1 when they were wanderers without a purpose.

You're looking for the dead, there is no dead here.

And here is where we see the roots, I believe, unraveled in Mary.

Look at the text.

Just tell me where you have put him.

I will go and get him.

I will fix the situation.

Mary is not here to be hysterical, to be hysterical.

She is weeping and emotional because she has lost control.

When we operate in this system of feeling like we have to have control, you can feel Mary here grasping for straws as she seeks to gain control of what she feels uncontrollable.

If they don't go the way that we desire, our emotions flare.

We have this false sense of security that we create, this power we give to ourselves in our head.

Everything has a place.

Everything does.

And when it doesn't, we'll recreate another place for it.

We lose control.

Our emotional responses drive us to anger, to sorrow, to weeping, to frustration.

God, my daughter, why did you take her from me so soon?

God, my son, his heart is so hard.

Let me fix him.

Fix him, God.

God, my spouse, their health is decaying.

What can I do?

We become so fixated that we miss what's right in front of us.

Mary did not believe what had happened.

She failed to look beyond what she was feeling.

She was hurt, afraid, anxious, distraught, trying to make sense of where Jesus had been taken.

She allowed the subjective to dominate the objective.

She was caught up that the physical body of Jesus was gone, yet he was standing right in front of her.

Some of our belief this morning is tied up in allowing what we feel to dominate what is true, to control the situations that we are in.

Lack of that control allows for our emotions to clout the reality.

The second manifestation I think we see is in fear.

We see it in fear.

As we move down the text, verse 19.

Actually, it says they ran away in belief.

But there's a note in the scriptures that also says they did not understand the scriptures, that he had must rise from the dead.

What do they fear?

Right?

What are they fearing in this moment?

Jesus had just died.

He had been sent by the Romans to be in Jews to be executed.

And if at any time, right now, they would be most vulnerable.

It's the night, the doors are locked, so no one can enter.

Their leader is gone, and now they can start to pick off his followers, one by one.

They had just crucified Christ.

They witnessed the brutality of the mobs, the fire, the clubs, the screaming, being outnumbered.

They were fearful of their life.

They feared the same consequences as their rabbi had experienced.

Locking themselves in the room so they won't find them.

Here's a true game of hide and seek.

A hide and seek for their lives.

Remember the words Jesus said?

The world will hate you.

It's now that they're feeling this and that moment, waiting for them.

They are crippled, shackled by the fear of how man might respond.

It's almost like their fear has blinded them from remembering.

Their fear has taken their eyes off of the promises of Christ and focused it on themselves.

How many of you are playing hide and seek because of being exposed for your convictions?

I may lose my friends and my family if I'm too open with my faith.

I'm afraid to speak up on these cultural moments, these moral issues, especially in this election season, as it might cause too much division.

I may be targeted for my beliefs in my workplace.

I see those being persecuted, but I can't step into that space.

Paul Washer, a contemporary preacher, said that if you were to release a man-eating lion into America, the lion would starve.

Where are men who are courageous enough to stand firm in their convictions?

Are we men who cower at the slightest noise?

The disciples' courage was neutered, and they were experiencing unbelief in their fears of man.

Mary experienced it in her lack of control and overwhelming motions.

And here in our last scene, we see it this manifested, excuse me, in doubt.

We see this manifested in doubt.

Let's look at verses 24 and 25.

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord, but he said to them, Unless I see in his his in his hands the marks of the nails, and place my fingers in the marks of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.

Thomas was not there when he when the disciples met Jesus.

We all deal with our emotions differently, right?

Thomas' grief driven him to go be by himself somewhere.

He wasn't a coward.

We see in John 11, he says, Let us go that we may die with him.

And he meant it.

But he was probably simply broken down under the pressures of the days that led up to Jesus' crucifixion.

Ibbi was like me, he was probably taking a nap.

That's how I deal with a lot of my stress.

The disciples, in all of their excitement, though, Thomas, Thomas, Jesus, he's back.

And Thomas, like a wet blanket, does not respond with any sense of curiosity or perk, but shuts down.

Some of you may even have friends like that who are quick to shut things down and squash the excitement and real tangible joy until there is proof.

Unless I see the hands, unless I see his side, I will never believe.

This really had to be probably a really uncomfortable moment for Thomas and the disciples.

They were confident in what they saw.

The scars, Jesus in the flesh, and Thomas was adamant that Jesus was not back from the dead.

There is no concrete proof.

His analytical mind must see the evidence of the risen Lord before he can believe.

Often we overthink or require God to prove before we can even trust him.

Charles Spurgeon, an 1800s theologian, gives this analogy.

Imagine asking a doctor, Will your medicine heal me?

And the doctor replies, Yeah, it will heal you.

And you go, okay, I need the proof within myself before I can believe though it's going to work.

And the doctor looks and says, You can't have the proof until after you've taken the medicine.

You're just gonna have to trust my experience, right?

You you I've seen your diagnosis many times when we prescribe this treatment, it works.

I know it will help you.

Still, you insist, no, I need to feel better first before I trust you.

And you're like, what?

You feel the effect, you want to feel the effects before taking the medicine.

Yes, yes.

You are unreasonable, you tell the man.

And eventually moved by this correction, you take the medicine, and the next day you feel relieved, you feel renewed.

Now I have proof from my own experience.

If you had taken if you had refused the medicine, waiting for the proof before taking it, even though the proof only comes after, you would have been acting foolishly.

Thomas had the word of Jesus that he would return and rise again.

He failed to even believe the disciples who saw him.

He was acting foolishly, stuck in his unbelief.

Thomas was in his waiting, and we are also as well, often waiting for something that has already been prescribed.

We doubt that the good doctor has our best intentions.

Our unbelief in the resurrection, it leaves us with our doubts, it leaves us with fears, and it can leave us in emotional stress when we're seeking to control things.

It's a really big problem.

And by ourselves, we we do not have much hope that we can muster up.

These characters, left alone, would remain in this state.

These characters shadow really our condition.

But in all three of these scenes, their story doesn't end there.

There is a hope.

There is a thread that connects each of them.

And this morning, when you're sitting on your spectrum of unbelief, things do not have to be gray.

We have to ask this question how do I overcome unbelief?

How do I overcome unbelief in the places of my life?

Some of us here feel shackled by those unbeliefs in our life.

We see how the gospel addresses this.

We see Jesus meets you in your unbelief.

Jesus meets you in your unbelief.

It's through the power of the resurrection that brings us back full circle.

There is a lingering hope that we see in Genesis that God would bring us back to the garden and restore all things found in Christ.

Adam was kicked out of the garden.

It's being left unmaimed, wild, a lost paradise.

It was overgrown without someone to rule and have dominion over it.

But here we see Christ come back into the garden.

In chapter 19, I love this verse.

After the crucifixion, we see now in the place where he was crucified, being Jesus, there was a what?

A garden.

And in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had been laid.

Christ was the seed that had to die in the ground, in the tomb, buried that we might live.

What you sow does not come to life unless it first dies.

Christ died, was buried, but three days later, in his infinite power and glory rises again.

Mary in her sorrow mistaken Jesus as who?

A gardener.

There seems to me to be a strong symbolic connection at this moment that the gardener has returned to his paradise and he is bringing his people home.

And each of these stories of unbelief and shame, like Adam and Eve, as an attempt to cover themselves in the garden for their sins, Jesus meets the disciples.

He meets Thomas.

He meets Mary.

By the power of his resurrection, the gardener has come back to claim his paradise.

This morning, in your story, in the places of unbelief in your life, the living God, the resurrection of life, wants to meet you.

He wants to take your unbelief and transform it.

You feel the need to control these uncontrollable situations.

Your fears of man leaving you to hide and tremble about who you really are and who you really want to be.

Your doubts that even God is who he says he is.

Jesus steps in and shatters your experiences in reality, meets you in your place.

This morning, you would receive him.

It's only through the power of the resurrection that he can change your unbelief and transform it.

We see three ways that Jesus resurrects our unbelief.

We see a resurrection of belief.

The first one we see in verse 26 is a resurrection of trust.

A resurrection of trust.

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.

Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.

Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here.

See my hands, put out your hand and place it in my side.

Do not disbelieve, but believe.

Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God.

Waiting eight days after the disciples had seen the resurrection, they were ecstatic.

And Thomas is sitting here, stout in his conviction that he will never believe unless he sees.

What an uncomfortable moment.

But what does Jesus do?

He shows up, declaring peace, and he beelines towards Thomas.

He doesn't rebuke him or scold him for his doubt, but gently calls Thomas from his barrier, from his unbelief, and tells him to put his fingers at his side, to see his hands.

A friend of mine, he uh has an office and he was hanging up an image, and while I was preparing for this sermon, he actually texted me just out of the blue this picture, and I thought in God's providence, I thought it was fitting.

Here we see Jesus, and there's two things that I loved in this Jesus pulling in Thomas, placing his hands into his side.

The intentionality.

That he knew exactly what Thomas needed.

But also the second thing, and I'm not an art person, but you guys could correct me later, but we see this shadow of dark on the where Thomas is, of his doubts over his head.

But look on the left side of Jesus pulling him in in the light, a clarity that he offers.

Your head, your heart of doubt and unbelief, let that be no more but belief.

Here I stand conquering death.

I imagine Thomas had a mixture of emotions, trembling, fear, feeling humbled, but none of that mattered now.

And when seeing Jesus, what does he do?

He declares and worship, my Lord and my God.

And I appreciate the author's description.

Eight days.

Eight days he was waiting.

Jesus finally shows up.

He could have showed up the next day.

He could have showed up a few days later.

But it's a helpful reminder, right?

When the people around us are experiencing real tangible joy in Christ, and you feel this weight of doubts, you feel like time is passing.

Where is God?

I want to believe.

Jesus in his right time makes himself known and in a clear and meaningful way.

This is what Thomas needed, and Jesus knows what you need.

The resurrection of Jesus is big enough to transform your doubts into a deep trust of the one true God.

We see our second resurrection and our resurrection of peace.

Resurrection of peace.

In verse 19 and 20, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you.

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

Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, even so I'm sending you.

In verse 19, we see the fear of the disciples as they have to hide.

Jesus walks in, not through the door, but through the wall.

That's one way to enter, I guess.

And he addresses those fears.

Jesus came and stood in their midst.

Peace be with you.

Think of that moment where your life feels upside down, everything that you followed and trusted and thought to believe, and in that moment turned right side up again.

Peace be with you.

You who fear peace be with you.

You have no reason to fear man.

Why?

Because I am standing right here.

You have seen my crucifixion.

You may have felt man had his victory on that night, but I am standing here among you.

See my hand and my side.

Death has no power over me.

Death no longer has power over you.

Man's favor is small peanuts.

I have come and conquered, and now I'm inviting you to participate in being citizens of my kingdom.

This is what the scriptures say when they saw him.

They rejoiced and they were glad.

The fear of man had dissolved, they had melted away when they had seen, when they had seen and were with the resurrected Lord.

So our fears when we put our trust in the power of the resurrection shall melt and we can stand confident.

We can stand confident this morning, church.

Look to Christ.

Find the promises of God, every single one of them, and hold fast to them.

Receive this morning the peace the resurrection offers.

Gaze upon Christ and let the fear dissipate and be washed with the peace that Jesus offers.

And this last passage, one of my favorites in the story, should elicit some memory of something that we've read in previous chapters.

We see with Mary a resurrection of joy.

A resurrection of joy.

Verses 16 through 18.

Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rebonai, which means teacher.

Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I'm ascending to my Father, and your Father to my God and your God.

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.

In John 10, Jesus uses this analogy of this sheep and shepherd.

The sheep hears the shepherd's voice.

He calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out.

When he had brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow, for they know his voice.

Mary.

And she turns.

It's like a movie moment.

Mary is weeping, and then when she hears the sound of Jesus' voice calling her name, it all clicks.

Like a nostalgic smell that we experience, the flavors that we taste that take us back to a sweet memory.

The tears dry up, the flushness in her face fades.

Jesus calls Mary and she is awakened in an instant.

Mary would have been satisfied with so much less.

She was just looking to make sure Jesus had the proper burial, but she has met with the living God who calls her by name.

Three times in the Gospels, this question is asked, What are you seeking?

John 1, with the disciples, they're looking for a teacher.

They get more than that.

Jesus asked the garden, in the garden, the guards respond, What are you looking for?

What are you seeking?

They're looking for Jesus of Nazareth.

He responds with, I am, and they fall to their knees.

And here we see Jesus asking Mary, whom do you seek?

She's looking for the dead, Jesus, to put back.

But the resurrection Jesus is standing right in front of her.

What are you seeking this morning?

Do you hear his voice calling your name?

Are you tired of the emotional weights that you may be feeling?

Are you feeling exhausted trying to control situations in your life that feel uncontrollable?

This morning, look up and see what's maybe right in front of you.

There's even a comfort in this message, right?

Mary was looking for dead Jesus to make sure to put him back.

So sometimes we look in the wrong spaces for the wrong things.

But Jesus is still big enough to meet us in those places, to redirect us towards him.

Mary's emotions are transformed by the resurrection of one of stability and one of joy.

She's ecstatic and clings to her teacher in worship.

This passage that we've walked through highlights our unbelief in the resurrection.

Jesus meets each one of these characters in their unbelief that they would experience true trust, peace, and joy.

But I think I see one more thing in this passage that John's trying to draw out.

He also resurrects our purpose.

He resurrects our purpose.

You see, in this text, it's not unbelief.

Go and prove and do something, then you can believe, right?

That's not what we see.

That's not what the gospel is, but it's my unbelief that I'm wrestling.

Jesus, the risen Lord, meets me in that space and from there transforms us to go and to be sent.

We now have a resurrected purpose.

Now that things have calmed down, they're starting to get less chipper.

Jesus refocuses their attention.

The Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.

And this is a big calling, ascending.

Be excited for my return, but do not stay in your holy huddle.

Here is my vision that's set before you.

The word receive in this text means to take hold of, to acquire, to grasp, to attain.

The Spirit of God now rests on his people to accomplish his work.

A living spirit, an active spirit.

We no longer wander aimlessly, but each morning we can wake up with a deep sense of joy, peace, gladness, trust, and all of our spheres that God has called us in.

We've been positioned in a way to make much of his name.

We now have a purpose that all may know the joy of his salvation, to bring glory and honor and praise to the resurrected King.

As I close, our time spent in John has kind of descended to this point.

Why does all of this matter?

Why did John write this book?

Why do we care sitting here 2,000 years later?

John makes it clear that we might believe.

In verses 30 through 31, we see that we would believe.

For those of you sitting here this morning who would not call yourselves Christians, that you would believe.

For those of you who are faithful disciples each day that you wake up, that you would believe.

The resurrection moves us from unbelief to belief.

And if this didn't happen, our faith should be pitied.

You and I who put our faith in Christ each morning, wake up, remain steadfast in his promises and his words, knowing that today he is reigning, sitting on the right hand of the Father.

We can trust the Word of God when we don't have all the answers, like Thomas.

When persecuted for our faith, we can still have a peace that surpasses all understanding.

And the joy of our salvation can be seen radiating from our very presence.

In all of these scenes, Jesus is the one who initiates.

The doors were locked, and Jesus comes through the wall.

Where are the places you're locking the doors in your life?

Where are the places you're resisting Jesus pulling you in?

My story when I was 16, wrapping up my conversation with my leader about my dinosaurs.

As I was walking away, he said, Tyler, the Bible never mentions anything about house cats or cats real.

And I was like, yeah, they are.

And he kind of just smiled and he walked away.

At that moment, I remember experiencing the resurrected Lord.

A surety I hadn't experienced before.

I didn't get to touch the physical sides of Jesus, his wounds.

I didn't see him walk through a door.

I didn't see him appear as a guise of a gardener, but my doubts had washed away.

There's a lot of questions I had, and I still have, but in that moment I heard my voice called, Tyler.

Not in an audible sense, but the spirit quickening my soul.

In each morning sense, when met with various forms of questions, fears, emotion, degrees of unbelief, Jesus time and time again shows up, reminding me like Thomas, He is my Lord.

He is my God.