What If You’re Not Enough? | Easter Message (Revelation 5)

job, but

apologies to my team or whoever guitar

player I just took your stand and ruined

your setup. Um

Fair warning, all the stands were over

there on Good Friday. So, someone might

need to run down there and help us out

at the end of the service. Uh

so, thank you. Sorry about that. Hey,

it is a privilege to be with you. If

you're visiting today, my name is

Christian. And

as I was worshipping,

I was just thinking about uh

uh

we're we're missing one in our family,

my oldest son, Finn, who's who's

kind of doing this great extended time

with with a friend in Oklahoma. He gets

back in like a week or so. But, just

realizing it was kind of my first like

holiday without all the family, all the

kids, and all that sort of thing. And I

said that one of one of those, you know,

just brief, you know, I didn't let

myself get too

too messed up.

But, I I I just I just had that just

that reality. Every holiday, as great as

it is, Easter is such a beautiful and

special day.

Um but, for many people, every holiday

is a reminder of who's not with you,

right? Or who you've lost,

or who you need to reconcile with, or

who won't reconcile with you.

And I just want to give space for that

for a moment. And the beauty of coming

here under the family of God is that

despite the brokenness of this world

that you are longing to see restored.

This is a glimpse, not a perfect

reality, not not a replacement for your

family. It's a glimpse

of the unifying family of God. And that

the promise is is that if you would

trust him,

he is going to restore everything that's

been broken.

If there is no promise of restoration

and hope, then every broken, heavy

disappointment, suffering, everything

that we're going through then just

doesn't have doesn't have any purpose

and meaning and hope attached to it. So,

this morning, I just want to invite you

and I'm also, as my wife said, I knew

she was going to do one of those

wonderful cheesy church things. He is

risen and all that stuff. I am terrible

at doing

I had a text thread with a bunch of

pastors this morning that love all that

cheesy stuff and they're just like

declaring the risen this and that and

the other. I swear there was Easter

bunnies on a text thread with grown men.

And I was like, stop.

Give me some more blood or something. I

don't know.

But,

in in all seriousness, there's there's

this there's this phrase that we didn't

just come up with with the Easter

bunnies. He is risen is a weird phrase.

We don't talk like that. It's either he

was raised or it's just a weird tense.

He is risen. The whole point of that is

that

the risen Jesus, he did rise, he rose,

but he is risen and he will have been

risen forever. It's a past, present, and

future reality. And the church has

always said it in that tense, regardless

of the language, because we are

remembering something that happened,

that is happening, and that will have

happened all the way into the future.

It's a profound statement. He is risen.

Just don't forget that. So, when you

hear the cheesy statements,

he is risen.

Amen. Okay. Okay. Now my wife's happy.

We can go home. We'll be happy this

afternoon. Yeah, okay.

Uh so, uh

there's there's a little story I don't

know if I've referenced this one before.

Uh

I also get tired of pastors that

reference C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien,

but I'm going to do that just for the

state of it's a holiday, so I think I

get free license. But, there's a there's

a story that that I enjoy about them. If

you're not familiar with C.S. Lewis and

J.R.R. Tolkien, uh those are the authors

of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings.

They were friends in in England.

They were professors in college life.

They have this this unique dynamic. C.S.

Lewis was actually an atheist.

Uh he's become one of the most the maybe

the top-selling Christian author of all

time, other than those that wrote the

Bible itself. And and so, they they they

had this

I've seen of late I I had I processed

sharing some of my If you're in my small

group, you hear my little riffs

about what I think about some modern

movies and the storyline. It's like

we've lost the plot, not just a plot.

Like it's like we don't even know what

the plot of life is. And

>> [clears throat]

>> and I I

I thought I might give a couple

examples, and then I was like, no, I'm

going to lose a lot of people and offend

a lot of people in L.A.

>> [snorts]

>> Because

every great movie or every bad movie

usually has some great stuff about it

and probably half of you worked on some

of these films or something like that.

Or they remind you of something in your

trauma. I don't know. But, the point is

is that that a lot of the stories have

lost the plot. C.S. Lewis and Tolkien

had this exchange. They they talked

about how they called them fairy stories

or fairy tales. They they say across

cultures, they've noticed that myths,

fairy tales, and great stories across

completely different cultures have kept

repeating the same deep pattern. And

this is what Tolkien told C.S. Lewis. He

goes, there's always across all these

cultures and stories, there's a broken a

broken world. I think there's a slide

for this to illustrate a little bit. A

broken world, something wrong, darkness,

a curse, exile, something. A hero,

number two, or rescuer, someone who

stepped outside or rises up, usually

humility, someone that

unexpectedly steps in. Sacrifice or cost

in some way.

Love is costly.

Heroes often suffer. They give something

up or they even die.

There's a descent in the darkness,

where you see things get worse before

they get better, all is lost type of

moment. And then number five, there's a

sudden reversal. Tolkien's word, he

calls it he calls it a eucatastrophe.

Uh this is an unexpected term from death

to life, defeat to victory. And then

finally, there's restoration. The world

is put to right, peace, healing, and

renewal. There is a flow of these

ancient and modern myths, fairy tales,

stories across cultures. And what made

this strange is that these stories

showed up in different continents, time

periods, and cultures with no contact

with one another. And what they showed

was they kept telling the same kind of

story.

We have this phrase that we often use

called trust the story, Frontier.

It's because it's always taking us back

to this this anchor story of our lives.

And ultimately, of course, it's the

story of Jesus. But, how does my story,

your story, connect to this great story?

And and one of the things we need to

observe in culture is when

often times people that don't even

understand the gospel, they're still

seeking this kind of redemptive story.

And I found that often times in modern

times, we have lost that even that

pursuit. It's like we're we're looking

elsewhere. And then the stories get

weird, and in my opinion, the movies get

worse.

Praise God.

These stories are meant to be echoes of

a deeper truth.

Tolkien said, these are not random fairy

tales.

They're echoes.

He believed that humans are created in

God's image, of course, that we are then

subcreators

under that ultimate creator. And we tell

stories. We're meant to tell stories

that reflect the structure of ultimate

reality itself.

Your life is meant to do that, whether

you're a creative or not. Your life is

meant

to reflect the structure of reality

itself that's found in this ultimate

story. And many of you are storytellers.

You've been telling stories that don't

that you haven't even realized that good

story connects to this deeper story.

It's an echo of this. He called the

gospel then, Tolkien did, he called it

the true myth. Not because it wasn't

true, but because that's the whole idea.

Myths are meant to point you to

something deeper. Said the true myth.

And what C.S. Lewis eventually

recognizes, and then he writes, of

course, Narnia and many other books,

Mere Christianity. If you've never read

Mere Christianity,

you're missing out.

He believed that they were beautiful,

but not true when they first had their

exchange.

He would later, C.S. Lewis, call

Christianity the true myth, the myth

that has become fact.

And so,

I want I want you just to be reminded

today that there's a connection that we

as Christians see to to Jesus here. The

story, the ultimate storyline is a

broken world, sin and death,

leads to a hero that's, of course,

Jesus. The sacrifice is the cross. The

descent goes down into death, and the

reversal is the resurrection. And the

restoration and new creation is how all

of the book of Revelation, which is the

book we're going to look at today,

the end of the story is this new city,

this new Jerusalem, this creation being

restored. We always remember and trust

the story that remembers the future of

where we're going. And we live in the

present with that reality in front of

us.

Now, if that doesn't make sense to you,

that's fine. We're going to get into

this thing. There's an objection that

many have had. And that's that this

Jesus that died 2,000 years ago and

supposedly rose on Easter Sunday. It's a

really nice story. It's helped a lot of

people. It seems to to to move into some

moral life and behavior that generally

seems kind of okay and good, and you

probably wouldn't be here if you didn't

have some kind of fondness towards that.

But, I I can't imagine there's not some

of you in the room or

in fact, all of us in the room have

people in our lives that just have that

that kind of valid

questioning.

Is it really true

that this man died 2,000 years ago, rise

from the dead, and is he really God?

And

my only thing is not to be combative. I

hate it when Christians get super

combative because

Jesus always just would float. So, the

people that hated Jesus the most is who

Jesus tended to kind of like linger and

bond with deepest.

It was the religious people that Jesus

kind of couldn't stand.

So, the skeptics, Jesus loved. He loved

the skeptics. So, if you're a skeptic

here today, ah

hang out with all your skepticism,

all your bad ideas. Just keep them.

I have plenty of bad ideas.

But, the the one story I found is true

is this one.

But, my my question, just to flip it on

you,

is it ridiculous that some guy 2,000

years ago rose from the dead and that

we're still worshipping him and that it

matters for today.

My only

My only question for you to ponder is do

you have a better story?

We're all looking for meaning and for

worth and for significance and to make

sense out of our lives.

And somehow 2,000 years later

this is still the one that not only

makes the most sense.

It carries the most life.

And it's the only one that promises you

something that you can't earn.

Which means that it takes away all your

control.

So the only thing that I'm asking for

today is that you take all the control

in your hands cuz whether you're an

atheist, a Buddhist, a Muslim, or

whatever faith you are

the issue is control.

If you think that you can do something,

the question being is like, well, what

if I've lived a great life?

Are you telling me that it I'm going to

come to those pearly gates and God's

going to tell me that I can't get in and

I have to go into eternal punishment and

torture and torment and hell?

That's not exactly the way that Christ

says it.

It's something more like I think the

scriptures overall say something more

like this. If you've rejected him your

entire life, he's not going to force you

into his presence.

And the issue is really about

are you asking whether

your life is performed in such a way

that you deserve

eternal closeness and unity

with creator God.

And the Christian faith is the only one

that says

God's not asking you what you've done

for him.

He's simply asking if you know what I've

done for you.

It is the only thing that matters.

Because at the end of the day, the issue

is if my good life is it, then I have

some kind of control over my eternal

destination.

That's bad news for me.

I've lived a pretty good life and if I'm

really real about it, if I can stop

comparing myself and only lifting myself

up by comparing myself to people worse

off than myself, I still look myself in

the mirror and go, what can I possibly

offer?

Do you have a better story?

There's four realities that we all deal

with. Four human questions. They They

tend to circle around four things:

guilt, death, injustice, and meaning.

Guilt sent simply asks this, can I

actually be forgiven of what I've done

and who I've become? Some of you in the

room, that's that's your core question

that you're anchoring with. Not just

your mistakes, but you like your regret,

your shame, the things that you can't

undo. Some of us are just really hung up

on death itself.

What happens when I die? And is death

the end of my story? And what about the

death of the Holocaust or all the other

tragedies happening across the world?

These are not abstract questions. They

can become very personal and they're

real. They're coming for every single

one of us. The third question is

something to the the effect of

injustice.

>> [snorts]

>> Will ever will evil ever be truly dealt

with?

And And is God just sitting by and

letting all these unjust things go

unanswered?

We crave justice and a judge.

What's been done to you, what's been

done in the world?

We all have this desire for things to be

made right.

And then fourth, meaning. Does my life

actually matter? Am I just here for a

moment and then I'm gone?

I was touched someone gave me a

a text the the the team Artemis 2 or

that's that's out and circling the the

Earth and the moon.

One of the astronauts gave like an

Easter message that was just profound

and you see some of the the most

brilliant minds

of our scientific community get outside

of Earth's orbit

and you can't but be encapsulated

by the glory of creation

and that this can't be by chance.

Does my life actually matter? Is

What does this mean to me today and next

week? My work, my relationships, my

legacy as a human being, my purpose.

Every story and every belief system,

every worldview is trying to answer

these four questions.

Do they actually have an answer?

And if there's no resurrection to turn

it back. If the resurrection didn't

happen, if you don't have a better story

what do we do with guilt? What do we do

with death, injustice, and meaning? What

do you do with the guilt? You carry it

or you ignore it?

Or you try to put it on some person that

can't possibly carry it.

Death ultimately wins and takes every

single one of us.

Injustice is never resolved.

And meaning, we can try to create some

measure of it, but it's ultimately so

fragile.

And we can try to tell each other you've

got meaning and purpose, but what is

that fragility based on?

The resurrection

is the only story where it deals with

guilt by real forgiveness, where it

deals with death by defeating it,

injustice by judging it, and meaning by

grounding it in God and not ourselves.

And so if you could just step back from

those four questions. We're getting

pretty heady. I'm going to try to get

practical and I am going to open the

scriptures if that's okay.

Can I be forgiven? Is my life secure?

Will evil be dealt with? Does my life

actually matter? They all come from the

same place.

And that place is am I worthy? I have to

know I wor- am I worthy?

My worth.

We're desperate to find out if if each

of us am I worthy?

We need that ultimately. We get that

first from our parents usually and if

that gets compromised in any way, shape,

or form, we usually spend the rest of

our lives trying to work that out.

>> [snorts]

>> And if I'm not worthy, how can I be

forgiven?

If not worthy

why would my life be secure? Why would I

expect justice?

And

why would my life even matter?

So we live with the world constantly

telling us and trying

to remind us based on very fragile

things

you're worthy of love.

And that's like when you see an

influencer tell you that you're worthy

of love.

It's great intention.

I mean like no need to like get in their

DMs and like pick them apart.

But it's like you you really think about

like what why? Why am I worthy of love?

You deserve healthy relationships. Why

do I deserve a healthy relationship?

Have Have you ever thought about what

what's that based on?

What why do I deserve why am I enough

just the way I am?

The Christian faith

Here's the difference in the Christian

faith. The Christian faith says you are

not enough the way that you are.

And I still like you.

Actually, the Christian faith is you are

not enough the way that you are and I

actually don't like you. But Jesus loves

you.

And therefore, I can screw up a lot.

Don't look to me. I'm not your savior.

I've got good news for you is I suck.

I'm going to break your heart. I have no

hope if you if I'm your hope, you're

screwed.

If you're your hope, you're screwed. If

Jesus actually got out of that grave

I've got good news for you. That's the

gospel. And so here's here's what I want

you to see. Worth. Your worth your worth

by the world. You have to affirm worth,

otherwise you're screwed.

If the world doesn't affirm it, who else

will? Because what else is there? So

we're desperately trying to find these

things to know your worth, don't settle,

you deserve better, go and slay, queen,

whatever they say. I don't know what it

I hate that one. It's like there's only

one queen anywhere that you are. You

can't all be a bunch of queens.

That's

I mean the underlying message is just

that like we demand recognition and

affirmation from each other and I get it

and it's actually like pointing to

something. That's actually still

pointing to a better story than

everyone's living cuz it's pointing to

like I want to serve something that I

can trust and we can't trust anything,

so let's all be queens.

And we all know it doesn't work.

Uh if you've been around for a little

bit a couple years ago, um I played one

more game of basketball that I shouldn't

have played and uh I managed to rip my

my patella tendon off my my kneecap.

>> [snorts]

>> And in my in my rehab

the the best thing that I could find for

rehab was uh

was the Peloton bike. And so me and

about 500,000 other housewives were were

every morning at 7:00 a.m. we had a

little race.

And uh

uh one of my one of my I I'll say it.

She She was the best She was the best

instructor. I haven't said her name

before when I used the example, Kendall

Toole. She's the best one. She's got

high energy. She's a psychopath.

So she

and I I had to at first explain to my

wife like I know she's attractive and

all this stuff, but like after a after a

while you're like she kind of seems like

she's got a lot of issues going on. Like

I did it

but she's got high energy.

She also wears a cross, which is a weird

kind of dynamic when you're watching

Peloton. This is all not in my notes.

This is what happens when you go on a

rabbit trail. Uh

I'm also wondering am I getting in

trouble right now? So the the

Here's my main point. She had this great

mantra at the end that I've shared

before, but I'm going to actually read

it to you.

The mantra went like this at the end of

every workout. The mantra went, you are

worthy.

You are ready.

They can knock you down, but baby, they

can never knock you out.

Happy Thursday.

>> [laughter]

>> Click.

You have just completed 7 days in a row

on your Peloton. Anyway, that was the

that was my way I rehabbed and I would

just think about that all the time. All

these people that are getting up,

slaying,

getting their day going,

trying to find worth

based on what?

Every path, every worldview, every

system says some version of trying to

become enough, do enough, be enough.

The weight is still on us.

We've been in the book of Revelation.

I'm going to give a very brief sermon on

this book.

Uh chapter 5, verse 1 to 14. This is one

of the most confusing

concepts of the book of Revelation in

Christian history. The purpose of the

book of Revelation, by the way, I really

struggle at doing traditional Christmas

Easter messages. So, I'm sorry. We're

not going to be in the gospel at the

cross. This is all talking about Jesus.

And And the whole point of the book of

Revelation is to see Jesus more clearly.

I don't think it's an accident that the

book that has been most confusing and

feared and debated by Christians is the

one that was written for the sole

purpose to make Jesus more clear.

So, we're just going to read these

verses and I'm just going to make a

couple comments as we read so that you

can see the imagery and the story that

John is telling. John had a vision. He

went into this like trance and he saw

all these things and we're going to make

sense of them. You whittle it down, all

of a sudden, instead of it being

confusing, it gives you an image of

Jesus that's more clear than the

response. The only rational response is

worship. So, Revelation 5:1-14, the

Revelation 5 · chapter mention

verses should be behind me.

It says verse 1, "Then I saw on the

right hand of him who was seated on the

throne a scroll. The scroll is simply

God's plan for history, the future of

the entire world, written within and on

the back, sealed in seven seals, which

means there was nothing missing. That

meant it was complete, sealed,

inaccessible. Verse 2, I saw a mighty

angel proclaiming with a loud voice,

'Who is worthy to open the scroll and

break its seals?'" The question is not

what's in it. The question was, "Who's

worthy to carry it out?"

Verse 3, "And no one in heaven or on

earth or under the earth was able to

open the scroll or to look inside it."

No one is qualified. No one can set

things right. That's the context of the

story. Verse 4, "I began to weep

loudly." This is John. "Weeping loudly

because no one was found worthy to open

the scroll or to look into it."

If no one's worthy, John's The reason

why he's weeping is because John can see

that if no one's worthy, then no justice

will be had, no resolution no resolution

at all to any of the world's problems,

and no hope.

So, he weeps.

"And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep

no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe

of Judah, the root of David, has

conquered.'"

Meaning there's one, the promised king,

the true ruler, so that he can open the

scroll and its seven seals.

Verse 6, "And between the throne and the

four living creatures and among the

elders, I saw a lamb standing as though

it had been slain."

The lion

is now a lamb.

Victory through sacrifice.

With seven horns, seven eyes, seven

spirits of God sent into all the earth,

that signifies complete power, complete

vision,

nothing lacking.

And he went and he took the scroll in

the right hand of him who was seated on

the throne.

Signifies him taking control of all of

history.

"And when he had taken the scroll, the

four living creatures and the 24 old

elders all fell down before the lamb."

Meaning that all of creation

is responding. All of God's people is

responding here. Each holding a harp, a

golden bowl full of incense, which are

the prayers

of the saints.

He's holding the prayers of the saints

in this moment, in the courtroom of

heaven,

which reminds us that our prayers

haven't been forgotten. They're all

before God. He's seen them all, held

them all, and they're all significant.

"And they sing then a new song, a new

song,

saying, 'Worthy are you to take the

scroll and open its seals.'"

Meaning that you're the one that's

worthy to rule and to judge.

"For you were slain and by your blood

you ransomed people for God, for every

tribe from every tribe and language and

people and nation." Which means your

sacrifice brings redemption for all

people, everyone.

"And you've made them a kingdom and

priests to God, and they shall reign on

the earth." Forming a new kind of people

who live under your rule. Then verse 11,

last few verses, "I looked and I heard

from the throne

around the throne, the living creatures,

the elders, the voice of many angels

numbering myriads and myriads and

thousands and thousands." The circle of

worship is then expanding beyond count.

And he says with a loud voice, "Worthy

is the lamb who was slain to receive

power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing."

Everything belongs to him.

He's worthy of it all. That's why we

sing that song. That song comes from

this.

Verse 13, "I heard every creature in

heaven and on earth and under the earth

and in the sea and all that is in them

saying, 'To him who sits on the throne

and to the lamb,

be blessing and honor and glory and

might forever and ever.'" Meaning that

all reality all reality declares

his worth.

There's nothing of any human being's

worth even mentioned as if it mattered.

"And all four creatures said, 'Amen.'

And the elders fell down and

worshipped."

Because the only fitting response is

worship.

So, I just want to explain this and then

we're going to do something with it.

John sees a scroll in God's hand.

The scroll represents the future of the

world, justice, history, and everything

being brought to its final outcome, but

it's sealed, which means no one can

carry out his plan, no one can set

things right, no one can deal with

injustice, and that causes him to weep.

The question that the mighty angel is

asking is, "Who is worthy?

Who's qualified to fix the broken stuff?

Who's qualified to judge evil? And who's

qualified to bring history to

completion?" That's a valid question.

It's asking the questions that every

human being ultimately is saying like,

"Where is all this going?

Who's going to deal with all this?" I

mean, I know like I just watched Talk

about a good movie, I watched Nuremberg,

uh Russell Crowe. That was amazing. I

can't believe I missed that when it came

out.

Beautiful movie. We always go back to

Hitler because it's like it's like the

last big battle that we all agree who

the bad guy was.

It's not like pure justice happened. You

realize that like just because we won

the war and a lot of positive things

happened afterwards and even we even

built back up the the enemies in in in

Germany and Japan and all these places,

did true justice happen?

Think about the pain and carnage and

suffering of all the people both here

and abroad that were casualties of war,

that didn't deserve any of that.

That wasn't justice.

There is still a cry in the heart of

every human being, "Who is going to

bring history to completion?" The answer

is no one.

Not humanity, not rulers, not even

angels. And John is simply beginning to

weep because no one is worthy. Nothing

is going to be fixed.

No justice, no hope.

And then it there's a turn.

All in these few verses, there's a turn

because everything changes when John

hears this, "The lion has conquered."

But he doesn't look like a lion. He's a

lamb.

A slain lamb.

Now he's standing,

which means

the one who has the power to rule, the

lion, is the one who gave his life in

love, the lamb.

These are all images to show what Christ

has done so that you can see him more

clearly, so that what you couldn't

understand,

you have an image of what he really is

and what he looks like.

We're still telling these stories. It's

why Aslan in Narnia is a lion.

He lays down his life

because it's a myth that tells of the

bigger myth, the truer myth.

And this is why he's worthy, not because

he took power, but because he gave

himself, put a power aside. He absorbed

the weight, the pain, the suffering, the

sin. He defeated death and out of that

place he redeemed all people. So, now we

can say that he alone is worthy to hold

the future of the entire world.

And when he takes this scroll,

everything explodes in worship. Angels,

elders, creation. And the reason why

they're worshipping is cuz they're

realizing the one holding history,

he's no tyrant like we thought.

He's not an evil dictator. He's not a

king you can't trust.

He's a savior.

He's a lamb.

What?

Look at all the other world faiths, all

the other world leaders throughout all

of history.

No one No one uses a lamb.

Not even your school mascot. No lambs.

Go lambs? No. No lambs.

Lambs are stupid and delicious. That's

it.

>> [cheering and applause]

>> All right.

>> All right, let's let's draw this back.

Let's make it about ourselves cuz that's

why we're all here. All right.

Let's connect back. We don't do

something with it. Jesus does it, too.

He's like he knows if this doesn't land

at each of our hearts, it doesn't

matter.

Here's our worth. Am I worthy? Are you

and I worthy?

Who is worthy to hold my life is a

better question. The question is really

not am I worthy. We ask that question

cuz our souls ache. But the real

question that this leads us back to is

who is worthy?

Who's worthy to hold my life because I'm

not.

The reality is is we can all finally say

that I'm not worthy if there is someone

that is that I can trust.

So what does that mean? What does Easter

mean for you and I then? There's these

four questions that we ask. These four

human questions we started with. Now I

want to be I want them to be answered by

the Easter message, by Jesus himself.

From our questions to Jesus's answer. My

guilt, can I be forgiven?

What this is saying here, what this

letter and what this story is inviting

us into is

my guilt, is there an answer for my

guilt? And the answer is my worth is

fragile. But it's no longer fragile.

Because the lamb

put his life down for me.

My fear, my security,

my life that feels out of control,

he's the one holding the scroll with

everything in his hands.

My anger,

evil, will it ever be dealt with?

Injustice,

I don't have to carry the weight of

injustice

because there's a judge who's coming to

judge the world.

Injustice belongs to him alone.

And my meaning, my life, does it even

matter?

And he says,

the one who is worthy looks at every

single one of us

and he's building a kingdom become his

priests. Every one of us is a priest,

meaning that we have the ability to

commune with him and then to be his

delegated authority in the earth as a

participant to take part in the hope of

restoring the brokenness, the suffering

and pain.

So there's answer to guilt, to fear, to

anger, to meaning.

Now,

there's no way if you're coming in

wrestling with those things, I can just

rattle those off and you're like, "Mm,

okay, yeah, great. Okay, let's pray."

I get that.

There's this story of this little

village in the 1700s in Germany in this

place called Herrnhut.

The people became known as the

Moravians.

And I've told this story before, but if

you haven't heard it, this village that

never got bigger than 3 to 600 people.

In 1722, a small group of refugees, they

settled on this guy named Count Nicholas

von Ludwig von Zinzendorf's estate

in in this little German town. It wasn't

even a town, it was a nothing. It was

some property.

And then in 5 years later,

a prayer meeting breaks out.

Spiritual renewal known as the Moravian

Pentecost breaks out.

24/7 prayer lasted for over 100 years

among this group of no more than 600

people at its height

from 1727 to 1827.

Our modern prayer I don't know a single

modern prayer movement

that doesn't go back

to the Moravians

as an inspiration and a model of what it

can look like

for just a few

to take prayer and communion

and our role in whatever simplicity we

find ourselves in seriously.

One of the things that's so profound in

a world where most of the people in that

village, they're refugees, they have

nothing.

But it's

what's so convicting to me is many of us

go like, "What can I really do with my

life? How does my life even really

matter?"

And then some of us

in LA, we we have the inverse where it's

like I've been given so much. I've got

all this influence.

Am I but am I doing anything with it?

And you feel like a failure.

Or you compare to the person next to you

that's just crushing it

and it's infuriating. How do I worship

next to that?

They're so nice, too, that humble person

next to me, but

they just make me feel like a failure

constantly.

What do I do with that?

And the

I just want to invite you into this

little story and see if it if it moves

you.

There were two young men that

have often been identified in in stories

told in the Moravians, a guy named

Johann and a guy named David. They felt

called to reach out to the enslaved

peoples of the Caribbean when they found

out from Germany

that there were all these enslaved

people that hadn't heard the gospel.

And to some degree, people have told

that they sold themselves into slavery.

We're not actually sure exactly what

happened. We just know that that they

they knew that these people were cut off

from the gospel, that they had outsiders

with no access, and the only way to

reach these people would to be to go and

they would probably die there.

And so these these two were the first to

go. They were willing to give up their

freedom, their future, and even their

lives to reach people that no one else

could and that no one in their world

should even care about.

And there's this story where they're

they're going away on the ships and

saying goodbye to their families and

everyone's crying because they know this

is the last time that they would

probably ever see them.

And they would quote the scripture from

Revelation.

May the lamb who was slain receive the

reward of his suffering.

Because they saw Jesus more clearly

and they realized that their lives

told a bigger story.

May the lamb who was slain receive the

reward of his suffering. That became

the phrase that the Moravians were known

for.

Some of us in the room can hear that

and we want to run through a wall.

I want to get on a plane. I want to get

on a boat. I just want to go to the ends

of the earth and share Jesus.

Others of us are just like, "Well, I

can't. I've got responsibilities.

I've got tomorrow.

I've got 12 kids. I've got no kids. I

want to make kids." Whatever it is, it's

there's

there's a dynamic where

what are we supposed to do with that?

I just want every single one of us today

on Easter morning

realize that they saw something.

Because the people that came to Jesus's

tomb saw nothing

because he got out.

And 2,000 years later, historians cannot

figure out, even those that don't

believe,

why hundreds and hundreds and hundreds

gave their life completely convinced

they saw a risen Christ get out of that

grave.

No one. There had been countless other

leaders of movements that were [music]

killed.

None of their followers still claimed

and gave their lives claiming that that

person [music] was still alive.

None of them.

Not Joseph Smith's.

Not Muhammad's. [music]

No one.

They cannot figure out why hundreds of

Christians

went to their graves

convinced he got out of that grave.

[music]

And this is why Easter matters.

We celebrate Good Friday because the

lamb was slain.

We celebrate the lamb standing today on

Easter morning.

But he holds everything now and we move

from Easter [music] to the place that we

can confidently say that I don't have to

spend my life trying to prove my worth

because Jesus proved

his worth

and then [music] gave me his.

If someone's given his life for you,

they cannot pay you a higher compliment.

They cannot say anything. They cannot

make you more valuable.

>> [music]

>> You're only as valuable as who will pay

a price for your head. And what Jesus is

saying, it's why it's not a stupid silly

myth and fairy tale, is because he's

saying

the ultimate price, God himself is

saying the ultimate price that I could

ever pay, I've paid for you.

And that's what this means for your

life.

Not every single one of us is going to

cross an ocean.

>> [music]

>> Every single one of us has to say,

"There is a response in my life to live

differently because if this is true, I

cannot stay [music] the same."

>> [music]

>> So I just want to invite you. The team

can start to come forward and I want to

invite you just to close your eyes and

to stand.

>> [snorts]

>> As you do that, I simply want to put a

question before you.

Easter morning, what does tomorrow look

like for me and for you?

Before stuff gets moved around

everywhere, I know some people have to

move left and right and whatever. Take a

moment, close your eyes, [music] and

just stand with me.

Envision tomorrow morning, you're waking

up.

What does it look like to not have to

prove yourself tomorrow morning?

What does it look like to go to work or

to go to whatever your responsibilities

are

And you're no longer chasing

performance.

What does it look like in your home,

whether you share it with one or 10?

What does it look like where there's no

validation that has to come to you

through family?

Where there's no grasping [music] for

approval through relationships.

Where your anxiety gets neutralized

because you don't have to control

everything.

What if it's true that the lamb who was

slain is holding your life because

[music] he's worthy and you don't have

to be?

Three simple questions I just want us to

ask [music] today.

If these guys who put this the practices

on [music] the slide just as we as we

responded in a moment.

These three questions, where are you

[music] trying to prove your worth

still?

This goes for those of us that have

walked with Jesus all our lives [music]

and those that are still skeptical that

he even existed. Where are you trying to

prove your worth?

>> [music]

>> Where are you trying to control what

only God can hold?

And where are you living like the story

actually depends on you instead [music]

of him?

Holy Spirit, would you come now?

Touch hearts.

Release the weight

that was meant to go down [music] in the

grave with you. The weight that every

human being attempts to carry themselves

>> [music]

>> that was always meant to be dealt with

at the cross. [music]

And we're going to respond in

in a song of worship [music] and I want

you

with everything you have

to respond [music] accordingly.

Every elder, every creature, all of

creation

when they come to terms with the one who

is worthy, the only response is worship.

It reorders every love of your life

and puts it in its proper place.

We pray a dangerous prayer today.

We're naming our worth, we're releasing

it and we're trusting you.

>> [music]

>> And now we're going to take a risk and

live like this is true. Some of us only

believe it 50%. I just encourage you,

what would a half a step look like

tomorrow morning if this was true?

Holy Spirit, [music] come.

Make us a people that don't have to

prove our worth

because the lamb was slain. He is risen.

He is reigning. He is worthy and he's

and he's holding my life.

He's [music] holding our lives.

Come now.

And let the hope of Easter

the reality [music] that you've dealt

with injustice, evil,

pain, sin, and shame. Let the seeds of

hope take root in our beings

>> [music]

>> and may our lives go out

never the same.

In Jesus' name.