Easter: New Life into Dead Places

We are finally here.

We are at the end of Lent.

We are at Easter.

We are on Resurrection Sunday where we celebrate new life.

Now, before COVID hit, before this last month, two months, and this crisis, I often found myself thinking, if only, if only my life would slow down a little bit.

If my life would just slow down a little bit, you know, then I would be happy.

If I had a little bit more time to read, or my walks could be a little bit longer, then I would be able to listen to my wife a little bit better, then I'd be able to play with my children because my stress would be reduced.

If only my life could slow down a little bit.

Well, wouldn't you know it?

Wouldn't you know it?

Because you know it.

You do know it.

My life has slowed down a little bit, and my walks are longer, and I do get to read a little bit more.

And you know what?

It has helped in some ways.

It has helped my heart calm down as long as I'm not checking the news too much.

But what is still true is that I'm still there, right?

Like I still find something to be irritated about or frustrated about.

And the Masterson closets are organized at this point.

The medicine cabinet has never been more immaculate.

Thank you, Christy.

I appreciate it.

And yet at the same time, I'm still not a perfect person of perfect peace.

It made me think back on the Sun Art Live skit, the SNL skit from last year, where Adam Sandler was guest hosting.

And I think I actually mentioned it last year in a sermon, but I've been thinking about it a lot during these days, and he plays Joe Romano, a travel agent owner, who tells the brutal truth while he's trying to sell you on traveling with his company.

And here's his sales pitch.

Here it is, him saying this.

I want to be very clear about what we can do for you.

We can take you on a hike, we cannot turn you into someone who likes hiking.

We can take you to the Italian Riviera, we cannot make you feel comfortable in a bathing suit.

We can provide you with a wine-tasting tour of Tuscany.

We cannot change why you drink.

And I've been thinking a lot about that sort of as I daydream about what the day will be like when COVID is over.

And that's gonna be such a good day, right?

Like those hugs will be so good.

Remember when we used to be able to hug friends, right?

Or be with friends in a restaurant for like a long meal and sit and dine without any concern of illness.

How good that will be.

And we still know in that moment, you will be you and I will be me, and we will still be there.

And that has something to say a little bit about how much we all long for a source.

I mean, I think that's been more evident in these last few weeks, how much we all long for a source and how much we love when we think we have a source.

You know, as I'll get home from working and I'll talk to Christy and tell her about how I got a text from my friend whose cousin lives in Washington, D.C., and they're roommates, cousins, friends, roommate, works in the White House for Pence's secretary's assistant's assistant, and they heard something and they passed it along, and then I have now I have a source.

I have some information, and Christy has her source, and so I get to be judgmental about her source, and she's judgmental about mine, and we all love that when it comes to sources, but we all love to have this source.

We all want a source.

That we have like an end to information that might bring us relief.

That's what a source does.

And the question for this morning is who?

Where will we go to find our source, not for the next bit of information, but for power that could generate new life inside of our souls.

And so the setup coming into this morning, you know, the setup if you've been around church, if you haven't, and your parents or your family strapped to the recliner there in the living room, the setup is Jesus was arrested and beaten and crucified, and there on the cross, the great gift of imputation is given to us where Christ's righteousness is given to us, and our sin is put upon him.

And so we are righteous, forever righteous, by Jesus' work for us.

And that's such good news, and that leads us into point number one.

And I think I have three points this morning.

I think that's where we're headed.

Point number one is this love always sacrifices.

That's what love is.

Love always sacrifices, and the sacrifice of Jesus is your redemption, your salvation, and your wholeness.

Our kids go to public schools, so the idea of a Christian devotion time at the beginning of a school day that has never existed for them.

And so a month ago, when school was first called out and they came home and homeschooling began, the Masterson Academy began, and Christy structured the day for our three girls.

9 a.m.

is at the kitchen table for devotion time.

And Christy leads that time on a daily basis.

But one day it was my turn to be in charge of the kids in the morning during their school while Christy worked.

And so I sat down at the kitchen table and I began to lead this devotion time.

And my children later, they told me number one, that I was mean.

That was number one, and number two, they thought the devotion would be a lot better since I was a pastor.

So thank you.

I was not invited back.

I thought the devotion was really good.

I loved it.

The devotion was about how God is always with us.

How could they not like that?

I don't know.

I don't know what I did in that setup, but they did not enjoy it.

But within the devotion, one of my daughters said, I have friends who say it is creepy that God is always with us.

I have friends that say it's creepy that God is always with us.

And so we talked about that, and I've been thinking about that because I thought, yeah, that's kind of true.

Like that is actually a really creepy thought, right?

That the divine presence of the world, the creator of the world, the creator of your soul, the divine presence of holiness and justice, that that divine presence is in you and with you always, like in the thoughts nobody else hears.

Hears the things you say, but nobody else hears them, sees the things, and is with you when you do the things nobody else knows you do.

What a creepy thought.

If your God holds judgment or condemnation over you.

See, that is an incredibly creepy thought.

I would even say a fearful thought if God holds judgment or condemnation over you.

I mean, that's what we're all trying to escape.

It doesn't sound like good news to me.

That sounds awful to me, and I would agree with that kid and be like, yeah, that is an awful thought if he holds if God holds judgment and condemnation over us.

But, but if God has already satisfied all the judgment and condemnation to any of our imperfection and our sin on the cross and what we have as new life inside the grace of God and the person of Christ and his word for us, and if what is left over for us, our experience with God, is completely astonishing acceptance by him and loving regard to us, now the thought that God is with us in everything, all of our goodness and all of our badness, it's actually not creepy at all.

It's actually very relieving and comforting that this God would love us that much to be in all of that with us.

After Jesus' death, his followers are devastated.

It's not a story you would write to prove that Jesus is God incarnate because they think it's over.

They bail.

I mean, this is documentation of their disbelief, their uncertainty.

I mean, there are a bunch of people like us.

And so if you're listening to this and you're thinking, like, I am nothing like these Christians, I'm nothing like these disciples, I mean, the original disciples were just filled with doubt.

And after Jesus dies, they rush him and they put him in Joseph of Arimathea's tomb.

The Romans seal it shut by putting a huge stone in front of it, and there would have been soldiers in front of that stone.

That would have been part of the sealing of a tomb at the time, to make sure nobody was getting to this body to steal the body.

The next day, Mary Magdalene, who had a healing experience with Jesus, comes back to prepare that body for the tomb.

And here's where we get John 20, verses 1 and 2.

John 20:1

Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb.

So she wasn't picking up on the fact that he was resurrected.

She didn't believe that.

They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.

So Peter and John, that was the other disciple, they run out to the tomb because they don't believe what's going on here, and they're going to check it out for themselves.

And when they get there, they see the empty tomb.

They also don't believe that he's resurrected.

They think somebody's stolen the body.

These are not hyper-religious, disillusioned, superstitious types of people.

These are people who want to see some evidence in order to believe something.

And how does Jesus deal with this?

How does he deal with this disbelief?

These people that are so difficult to believe.

Everything the Old Testament has been prophesying about this Jesus, everything this Jesus has been saying about himself, and yet they still don't believe.

And what does he do?

He pursues them.

And that's our point number two.

It brings us into point number two.

New life, new life inside of us, is created as the limitless love of God finds us at our end.

Or we could say in our death.

New life is created as the limitless love of God finds us in our death.

A couple of months ago, my youngest daughter for her birthday, she received a butterfly kit.

And so we got that kit, and we had caterpillars, and we had some different things that go inside this net construction thing, and it was netted, and we watched these caterpillars slowly form their own cocoons.

And they went into the cocoon and we could watch this every day.

It sat on the desk outside of all of our bedrooms and our home, and we watched them go into their cocoons.

I mean, this contraption even went on a trip with us to Florida over winter break.

We had to take it, and while we were on that trip, those little those little caterpillars started to come back outside of their cocoons.

And sure enough, by the time we get back home, those caterpillars, through what we know as metamorphosis, if you remember that from sixth grade science, the death of oneself rebirthing another.

And so finally we had about five or six of these really pretty little butterflies in this contraption in our home, and they're learning how to fly, and they have gone from an egg to a caterpillar into a cocoon, dying, rebirthing.

And then finally we take them outside and we unzip the top of that thing and they fly off.

The death of oneself and the rebirthing of another.

And for us, this is by grace.

That in our death we would be found.

This is what Colossians 2.12 says and teaches us.

We, having been buried with him in baptism, so that's the imagery for us.

This idea of being immersed in Jesus, completely covered by his work for us, and not our merit in this world or our merit toward God, but we are immersed in Jesus' work.

That's the imagery in which you were also raised.

There's the imagery with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.

So, yes, the same power that raised him from the dead is inside of us, creating new life.

And even in these days where it's very hard to remember that, that even in suffering, Romans, suffering teaches us, it creates inside of us endurance and character, and in time hope.

Not us trying to be hopeful enough amidst suffering, but suffering will actually teach that to us in time.

What power that is for us to have, what victory that gives us.

That even our suffering becomes a teacher, our death becomes new life because the power of God.

So this Jesus comes to Mary in this story.

Mary's there, she's outside the tomb, she's come back, she's weeping, she's devastated.

I mean, this was this was her healer.

This man healed her.

This was her teacher.

She followed this man and then he died, and she had expectations for this man, and then he died and was killed, and she thinks it's over.

First two angels come, verse 11.

First two angels come to her and speak to her and say, Woman, why are you weeping?

And then Jesus comes and he looks like a gardener.

And I love even that imagery for us to grab hold of this morning.

Because that's exactly what he's always doing with us.

He's tending to her, he tends to us.

John 20, verse 15, Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping?

John 20:15

Whom are you seeking?

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

Jesus said to her, Mary.

She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabbinai, Rabbanai, Rabbi, 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 am ascending to my father and your father to my God and your God.

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

So point number three, our last point.

We are a people who abide in Jesus.

We repent quicker and speak freely.

That's who we are.

This is the process that we see with Mary that in Jesus' pursuit of her, she is abiding in Jesus and in his work for her.

She's repenting quicker.

And she is speaking freely.

So the application for our hearts this morning is to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us where we can repent even quicker, rest even deeper in this Jesus that pursues us even when we're not pursuing him, and how we can speak of his name even greater in this world.

I can remember being a lowly sophomore in high school.

So I was 15 years old, severely underdeveloped physically for a 15-year-old boy, and it's the first day of a new semester at Central Gwinnett High School.

Now I had one thing going for me as I was a basketball player, but you wouldn't have known it by looking at me because I was so skinny, but I had that with me.

But other than that, I didn't have much, and I was wearing my American Eagle shirt and baggy cargo shorts as I walked into the cafeteria the first day of the first semester.

If you remember that first day of the first semester of walking into the cafeteria, and you aren't sure if any of your friends, anybody you know is gonna be in there, and where you're gonna go and who you're gonna sit with and how that's gonna get established, will you be accepted?

Will you not?

Are you gonna have to how are you gonna navigate all of that?

And I'm carrying my little brown bag lunch, and I walk in by myself and I'm scouting it out, and I start to do a lap.

I'm not seeing a lot of people.

I'm starting to get a little nervous, hoping maybe I'll see somebody I play basketball with, and I'm just getting nervous, and I'm about to do lap number two, and you don't want to hit lap number two because that's when people start to notice what's going on with you, but you also don't want to sit down all by yourself, and I'm just so nervous about this, and then I hear it.

Hey Russ.

Hey Russ.

I just I just a lowly sophomore.

And I I turn around and wouldn't you believe it?

Alan, a senior basketball player.

I know you can't believe it.

He could dunk, he could dunk.

I was beside myself.

I turn around and Alan, who can dunk and is a senior, he's like a grown man.

He says, hey, Russ, and I turn around and he says, Hey, you want to come and sit with me and eat lunch?

I couldn't believe it.

He knew my name.

And he invited me.

What a beautiful image, Russ.

And what this is what Mary heard, right?

Jesus draw.

Mary.

Jesus knows her name.

This is Jesus' way to say, I know you.

What a beautiful image for us to behold and take in this Easter morning.

This is what creates new life inside of us, that we are known.

We are called by name.

His pursuit of us that creates new life in all the places in us that we cannot create new life inside of us.

The living, loving, pursuing God who calls us by name.

Mary.

Hey, Russ.

And you have a name.

And you have a story.

And that story is like my story, and it is filled with wonderful and horrible things.

And in all of that, God is with us.

And he's victorious for us.

And so we abide in him, buried with him in baptism and raised to new life, resurrection life, because of his word for us.

We are the beloved ones that he pursues.

This is the God that we have.

This is the God that we celebrate.

This is the God we pursue.

Because this is the God that pursues us.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you that new life inside of us, whether it be us uh becoming Christians or whether it be us as Christians to continue and walking with you, that new life is only created by your power in us.

What celebration that is for us.

To know that it is by your power, what celebration it is for us to know that hope created in these days is not created by us being hopeful enough, but it is created that you create new life even inside of suffering.

And this morning we celebrate a resurrection God, a God who is victorious over suffering and over sin and over shame, even when we don't feel it.

God, I pray that we become a people that are so at rest and finished in the grace of God, so convinced that it is one-way love.

Whether we are in great pursuit of you, moderate pursuit, or minimal pursuit, that your pursuit of us is constant, forever, and limitless.

And the work of Jesus is all we need.

Increase our trust in your goodness and in your resurrection power.

We thank you that you are good to us and you call us by name and you know us and you love us.

In Jesus' great and powerful name, we pray.

Amen.