"So I Have Sent You", Easter Sunday

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolved Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

Today I want to share out of John chapter 19 and John chapter 20 in a two-part message that I am calling So I Have Sent You.

John 19 · chapter mention John 20 · chapter mention

Someone's like, Yeah, Pastor's only got two parts to his message today.

I didn't tell you how long they were going to be, but part one of the cross.

I'm on the knife's edge of my 49th birthday.

I I know what you're thinking.

I know what you're looking at me going, there's no way I'm 49, right?

Um I kid.

And I've just realized that the more mileage I put on, the more grateful I am for family.

This sort of uncanny reality with my my biological family.

I'm the youngest of four.

I have an older brother, two older sisters, my mom and dad, um are still living, still this side of eternity.

And I marvel um in like I have the a sibling group group chat on my phone with my brother and my two sisters, the four of us.

We have what we just call the OG six family group chat.

So that's the four kids with mom and dad.

That's another, it's a lot of text messages.

I'm always like, who's in this?

What's what are we what are we talking about?

And then there's like a wider one that has like Nicole and some of the grandkids and another like extended family, like a larger group chat.

You know, we're here in Edmonton, my parents are in Guelph, Ontario, with my brother Joel and my sister Stephanie.

And our oldest sister, Cynthia, lives in Vancouver with her husband.

And it's curious to me that in a season of being very geographically distant, we might be closer than ever.

And I'm thankful for that.

I marvel at that.

The gift of family is something that unapologetically in this room, I share with you, not because that's everybody's experience, but I believe that God's in that and God desires for us to experience life and wholeness in family relationships.

And one of the hardest things about pastor in a church, can I just be honest for a moment?

One of the things that I hold that feels like tension is recognizing that when I stand up publicly and say, man, family's awesome, and I'm close to my parents and I love my siblings, that for somebody in the room, me saying that out loud, that actually hurts.

That there's pain in that because you're like, I don't have that.

How dare you?

And it's that way when we talk about wholeness in Christ and life in Christ and healing in Christ.

I recognize, and it's it's hard to hold the weight of championing God's best for his prize creation, God's best for every daughter and every son.

When we champion the way and the truth and the life of Jesus, and it feels like tension and conflict in our hearts.

I just want you to know my honor and see that in the room today.

But that doesn't mean we'll shrink back from championing the way and the truth in the life of Jesus.

Because there's a template, there's an example, there's an invitation for us to walk in freedom and wholeness.

On Thursday this week, I'm I'm so excited.

I'm giddy because I'm getting on an airplane to meet my mom and my dad, and my brother, and my two sisters in the Netherlands, in Holland.

And there's a four-day gap where they we're gonna be together.

And it's important because my dads were six years into a dementia journey with my dad, with semantic dementia, and my parents have been just believing and dreaming about one last trip back to Holland.

They were both born there, and and honestly, as kids, we over the summer were like, we're not sure how this is ever gonna be possible.

Mom and dad can't actually travel, just the two of them anymore.

It's not safe with my dad's brain health.

Uh, there's too many factors, and and by an uncanny, what I'm calling supernatural kiss of heaven, three out of the four kids happen to be traveling to the European continent in the same span of like 10 days.

And and as we synced up calendars and invited mom and dad into that, my parents are going to Holland this coming Monday with my sister Stephanie for 10 days, and there's a four-day gap in the middle where we're all gonna be together.

And I'm expectant and I love that that we get to have some FaceTime and some quality time and honor my dad.

A week from today, I'm gonna be worshiping in a church uh in Holland, the physical church that my dad was born in.

I'm kind of excited.

But the separation and geo geographical gap um hasn't impeded or impacted our desire for close connection as family.

And it's hard and it takes work, but I celebrate the season of family.

I celebrate the season of church family that we're in.

I just think, you know, this past Wednesday, you know, every Wednesday morning, there's 30 to 40 people right now that meet in this room to pray.

And we pray for you.

And this week we've seen God, honestly, growths that were cancer diagnosis gone.

People recovering through through treatment from cancer totally healed.

We've seen herniated discs healed.

We've seen families and marriages restored.

We've seen miracle after miracle as we contend with the Lord and seek his face and let our requests be made known before him.

I don't need you to believe me.

This isn't a show.

I hope you know that by now.

This is just a deep understanding that God loves us and invites us in.

But on Wednesday, this past Wednesday, all the whole group of them gathered around and put, laid hands on me and prayed for me as their pastor.

They just laid hands and prayed over me.

And I just stood there moved as I cried.

Because there's also like something beautiful about the church, what we call church family.

I've never felt so loved, I've never felt so covered and cared for in spiritual family before.

I love family.

Belonging to family.

This has been one of our core values as a church from day one.

You hear about it every Sunday in the room.

We talk about it first every week.

Did you know that because of Jesus, you belong to family?

Not might one day belong to family, but real time, right here, right now, you're invited in.

More than that, it's why Jesus went to the cross.

It's why we celebrate Easter.

There's this complete redemptive work that Jesus accomplished when he said yes to being crucified.

Forgiveness of sin?

Absolutely.

Redemption being made whole?

Yes.

The old version, the sin nature of me dying and a new me, being raised to life in Christ, yes.

And the right to family.

Absolutely.

It's why Jesus said yes and hung his life in the balance between you and the Father.

John 1, 12 says, but to all who believed and accepted Jesus, he gave the right to become children of God.

You've been given the right to be called a child of God when you say yes and accept Jesus.

1 John 3, see how very much our Father loves us?

For he calls us his children.

And that's what we are.

But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we're God's children because they don't know him.

This identity, this belonging to family, this right to being family is a free gift to anybody who believe and accept it.

But that means we have to choose that.

We have to say yes to that.

Jesus said yes to the cross.

We have to say yes to family.

We have to say yes to the full redemptive work of why Easter matters.

Galatians 3.26 says it this way: for you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

It's when we say yes and believe in faith that God sent his son, and his son lived a spotless, blameless, perfect life, fueled by the power and intention and mission of the Holy Spirit, and then obediently sacrificed his life in death to a Roman, brutal crucifixion.

He died, and three days later, wouldn't you know, that tomb was empty?

And this isn't a fairy tale we tell to children at bedtime.

This is historically proven.

Eyewitness accounts by hundreds who saw him dead and saw him alive.

And when we anchor our faith to the full reason why Christ stepped out of that tomb so that you would belong to family in Christ, you would experience the redemptive, powerful work of being saved and set free and forgiven and made whole, for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm we're God's children.

And so I can't help but wonder if the cross can restore and heal and redeem what you and I believe to be true about family today.

And from the inside out, some of you family represents pain.

For some of us, family is represented obligation.

You treat your biological family like you treat the church.

It's necessary for me to see them at Christmas and Easter.

Interesting.

Where families represented rules and ultimatums.

I'll love you if.

Because belonging to God's family can bring freedom.

It can bring healing.

It can bring life, real life.

And so I want to invite you to come with me for a moment.

Come with me to the foot of the cross.

I want you to imagine yourself there.

On the top of the skull Galgothis Hill.

Three crosses.

Two criminals and one king.

And the sights and the sounds and the smells of Roman crucifixion.

The pain, the agony.

Imagine yourself there at the foot of the cross looking up at a flogged, swollen, split, battered, pierced, broken, and bloody Jesus.

And then I want you to hear him.

In John nineteen, standing near the cross were Jesus' mother and his mother's sister, and Mary Magdalene.

And when Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple whom he loved, John, he said to her, Mom, dear woman, here's your son.

And he said to his disciple John, John, here's your mother.

And from that point on, scripture reports that John took Jesus' mother into his own home.

So I imagine this group gathered at the cross.

I imagine the scornful, angry religious leaders who were in their contempt and pride, quite satisfied that Jesus' life was hanging on by a thread.

I can imagine the callous soldiers for whom Jesus is just one more criminal, just another day at the office.

Their eyes are on the ground because they're casting lots for his precious possessions and his garment.

But Jesus' mom and Jesus' friends, their eyes lifted, their faces frozen in horror as they witness the slow death of the one in whom they had placed all their hope.

But where is Jesus looking?

Is he focused inwards, consumed by his own suffering?

Is he looking to the soldiers, resenting their indifference or pleading for mercy?

No.

Jesus' gaze is on those he loves, and with a few brief words, he ensures that his grieving mom and his closest friend find family within tragedy.

I invite us to pay close attention.

Careful attention to Jesus' priority while hanging pierced on the rugged cross for our transgression.

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows, that's God, whose dwelling is holy.

God places the lonely in families.

He sets the prisoners free.

In the midst of Christ's agony and suffering, he could have looked inward, he could have looked at the injustice, he could have stared with contempt and scorn at the religious leaders who saw fit to those nails being hammered into his hands.

But in the middle of his suffering, his priority shifted.

He wanted to make sure that no one got left out.

No one.

And when you read the whole chapter, when you read all of Hebrews 12, you'll discover that verse 2 sits right on the threshold of you and I discovering how to learn to live disciplined as children of God.

And so maybe, just maybe, us learning to walk in the freedom of being called sons and daughters was the joy.

Maybe, just maybe the family initiative is why he said yes to being stretched out and tortured and crucified.

Consider this your invitation to belong to family.

There's nothing you can do to qualify.

There's nothing you can do to deserve it.

And wherever you sit, close to the feet of Christ, scornful on the edge, distracted to the side, turn your eyes to a crucified king and say yes to family.

Part two, the resurrection.

When was the last time you were sent?

Maybe you were sent as a delegate on behalf of your work.

Maybe you were sent out as a representative for a board that you sit on.

Maybe you were sent out on an errand.

Maybe you were voluntold, like I was on Monday, to go to Costco.

I was sent on Monday.

I was equipped with a list.

I was given authority with my Costco membership card and my PC President's Choice Financial MasterCard as well.

I was sent and uh, you know, I said yes to that mission.

When was the last time you were sent?

I was thinking, I actually remember the first time as a kid that I was sent.

I was sent to the grocery store on my bicycle.

Man, that's a big day in the life of a son.

You know, to be sent out by mom on your bike to go to the store.

I was empowered.

Clear lists, clear instructions.

I was given permission.

I trust you.

You've got this.

I believe in you.

I was given authority.

I was given more than enough money.

That's the authority that I was given.

There's, you'll be good.

And maybe pick up a little treat for yourself, you know, like one of those little kinder eggs with the plastic toy that you'd lose within four seconds or not be able to build.

You know, nowadays it's a cultural phenomenon for people to send their kids out on an errand.

It rarely happens.

Think about it.

When's the last time you sent your kid out on an errand on their bike with permission and authority and trust?

You're like, mm-hmm, nah, I'll do it myself.

And truthfully, we see a kid walking alone on the street, some nosy neighbor's probably gonna report neglect to child and family services.

They're like, what's this kid doing out on the street all by themselves?

Right?

We live in a bubble wrap uh world for our children.

Phenomenal book called The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Hayden.

How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness.

Please don't accept mental illness in your kids.

Like see a doctor, get professional help, but recognize there's some other factors at play, and it's probably the screen in their hand.

Because we don't send our kids out to play anymore.

We don't send our kids to walk down the street and knock on a stranger's door looking for a new friend.

It rarely, if ever, happens.

We don't send them to the store on their bikes to buy carrots and cheese and a treat for themselves.

A case of pop in probably one of my boys, so that's probably what they'd come home with.

But we circle up at home and keep them safe and give them unfettered, unrestricted access to the internet.

And guess what, kids?

Guess what, children of God?

Guess what, sons, daughters of the Most High?

You belong to family, and oh, get get excited.

You've been sent.

You've been sent with trust and authority.

You've been sent.

And so on this resurrection Sunday, one more time, I invite you to come with me, but this time not to the foot of the cross.

Come with me into a secure, locked, upper room.

And imagine yourself there with Jesus' disciples.

Imagine yourself there, fearful, grief stricken, shattered, hopeless, helpless, terrified.

It's evening, it's quiet, and nobody knows what to do.

That Sunday evening, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid.

They were afraid of the Jewish leaders.

Suddenly Jesus was standing there among them.

Peace.

Peace be with you, he said.

And as he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side.

And they were filled with joy when they saw the Lord.

And again he said a second time, Peace be with you.

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

The Gen Z Bible says, full stop, full send.

I made that up.

And then he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit.

If you forgive anyone's sins, they're forgiven.

If you don't forgive them, they're not forgiven.

Here's this story where Jesus' followers on the other side of his crucifixion, on the other side of that empty tomb, they're afraid.

They're grief stricken.

They're alone.

They're terrified.

They're hopeless.

They're helpless.

And Jesus rolls in with authority and says, Peace, peace be with you.

Here's irrefutable evidence that I was dead, but newsflash.

I'm alive.

There's no disputing it.

And sends the heart shift in the room from terror and fear to sheer joy.

Because the Lord is there.

Peace be with you.

Peace be with you, and the Father sent me, so I'm sending you.

Meaning, you are the witnesses of my resurrection.

Because you did not learn about it from someone else, but you saw it with your own eyes.

Some of you are like, I didn't see it with my own eyes.

Can I pastor the room for a second?

I want you to know that every time I sit with one of you and I hear a story about how God's rescued and redeemed and healed and made whole and set free.

It's evidence that Christ is alive and well.

I don't need a physical Jesus with pierced hands, feet, and side to believe.

The evidence is plentiful and it's right here in front of us.

Bear witness to the risen king.

Bear witness to the truth that Christ died but is no longer dead.

See with your own eyes, touch with your own hands.

Get involved.

Therefore, I tell you, Jesus, just as I did everything before you as witnesses in order to benefit the salvation of the human race, even to the extent at the end of accepting suffering on their behalf and destroying the kingdom of death with my resurrection, as you've seen, so it's also necessary to the church in Edmonton for you, whom He has sent with goodwill and constancy to traverse the world, announcing all these blessings to everyone.

Be confident because even if afflictions come upon you from your enemies, you'll rise too because you've sustained these things because of me.

Again, he said, Peace be with you.

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

And then he breathed on them.

Receive the Holy Spirit.

Live out this forgiveness everywhere you go.

You know, before Jesus went to the cross, he fell to his knees and prayed, Father, just as you've sent me, I'm sending them.

I give myself as a holy sacrifice so they can be made holy by your truth.

You belong to family.

And because of your new worth, your new identity as children of God, as sons and daughters, you've been equipped and empowered and entrusted and given authority to be sent out.

It's a part of the work that God's still doing in people's lives.

And have you said yes?

Have you said yes to family?

Have you said yes to being one of the ones that's been sent?

Jesus says, I'm sending you out from locked, closed-off spaces in your heart, locked and closed off spaces in your life.

I'm sending you out.

I'm sending you out from fear, I'm sending you out from grief, I'm sending you out from a shattered experience, and I'm sending you out with joy to live lives full of the Holy Spirit and to live lives marked by forgiveness.

Full stop, full send.

You and me.

See, when Jesus invites us into family, he never leaves us as he finds us.

He's faithful to renew and to restore and to heal and to transform everything in us, and then to send us out to take a part in that same work for other people to encounter family in Christ.

And he models selfless sacrifice while hanging on the cross in the dead center bullseye of Jesus' own pain and suffering.

He fixes his gaze on others and says yes to placing lonely into family.

And then because the tomb is empty, he steps into my fear and your fear, into my brokenness and your shame and our grief, and he invites us to receive his peace, receive his welcome, receive his wholeness, receive his freedom, receive his joy, and to say yes to being a part of those whom he is sending out.

What yes is required from you today?

In a quiet moment between you and the Lord, what yes does King Jesus want to be Lord over in your life today?

We sing all hail, King Jesus.

But is there a yes required from you?

A yes to stepping into family with deeper surrender and courage, a yes to allowing Jesus into your shame, into your brokenness, into your sin.

Say yes to receiving his peace in your life, yes to being sent out with joy today, full of the Holy Spirit, to share Christ's forgiveness.

Would you rule over every part of our life?

What yes do you desire from each one of us today?

All honor, all praise, all glory to you alone.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit Evolvechurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.