What Is Happening? Living Faithfully in Uncertain Times | Easter Sunday

Transcript

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Hey, I'm Kevin. Thanks for listening to our message. We strive each week to bring you relevant, practical, biblical teaching that meets you where you are. Hope you enjoy the message.

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Look at the world, and we see conflict and confusion. We see instability, loss. And it feels like things just keep unraveling. Systems that we have trusted in begin to shake. Certainties that we have always leaned upon begin to erode. And even in our personal lives, we we carry burdens and griefs and unanswered prayer and pain. And maybe you came this morning expecting that he's going to get up and he's going to talk about a risen Savior. And maybe just some of you thought, you know, our world is so messed up. And the guy's going to tell me, don't worry, give it to Jesus, he'll make it all right. We're going to sing songs about all this victory and hope and his love. And what do you do with this question? And what's happening in our world? I want to invite you to look and see if Easter has anything to say about the disorientation of our world today. Let's see if Easter has anything to say about who we are, where we are, and what happens to us personally. I want you to know that I believe something has already happened on this planet that brings peace. I'm a little biased. The death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ brings hope and peace and salvation. I believe something's already happened. I also believe that something is happening that sustains that peace. And that is, when Jesus ascended into heaven after he appeared to the disciples, he said, I am sending the Holy Spirit to come and dwell. And for the first time, God didn't dwell around us, but for the first time, God dwelt in us. So something is happening in us that sustains that peace, and that's the Holy Spirit that comes upon us. So we have something that has happened already that brings us peace. We have something that is happening currently to those who have followed Christ that sustains that peace. And then I also believe that there is something that will come that will bring eternal peace. What I want you to know today is I believe that Jesus is coming again. We don't know when. Maybe in our lifetime, it may not be. A lot of people had thought that it would have already happened by now, but he still continues to hold. Yes, I love the word. Christ has indeed been raised from the dead and the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. You see, Jesus started something that will continue. He was the first fruit. That's the word that the Apostle Paul chose to use in this 15th chapter of Corinthians. In the ancient world, the first fruit, uh, it was something special. It wasn't just the first fruit of the harvest, but it was when we brought the first fruit in from the fields, it was it was the first of the harvest and a guarantee that there was more coming. That's what makes the first fruit so special. It's a reminder of God's faithfulness and his continuing faithfulness. And Paul said, I want you to know that Jesus was the first fruit. He was the first fruit that conquered death. He was the first, the beginning of what will continue to happen. Think of those of you who garden. And when you bring in your first fruits of that garden of the year, maybe you're bringing in tomatoes or green beans or or whatever, whatever you you've planted, and you begin and and you you put it on the counter, and and you're like, wow, this is so good. But there's more to come. The resurrection of Jesus is not an isolated miracle. It's the beginning of a brand new thing that is happening. Almost as if Jesus was saying, you haven't seen anything yet. The future of what is going to happen. That the resurrection of Jesus was a glimpse of what was started. You see, friends, Easter is not just about Jesus coming back to life, it's about a new order of creation erupting in the middle of what had never been seen before. And the old order was put to rest. Did you catch that song that we ran? We sang the first song we ran. It's I ran out of that grave. That's that first song. Glorious day. It was about you running out of that grave. It was about your freedom that you can experience because of Jesus. It was about the moment that chains, chains of the world fell off of you when you were set free. That's why you see people raising their hands. That's why you you hear people saying, Amen. That's why there's clapping at the end of the song. That's why, that's why Pam accompanies us with her praise and her mouth. It's because we're they're thinking about this freedom that they experienced, and they want others to know about it. You see, that's that's the new order that I'm talking about. That's the new order that Easter set in place. Death has been invaded. Jesus said, Follow me and you will live. The grave has been disrupted. For the believers, death is it's not the end. I remember when my dad died uh earlier uh 20 plus years ago, and uh we were planning his funeral, and um there were several different people participating in the funeral, and I was I was leading it, and there was music, and the the church was packed. My dad was a highly respected person, and and both in his professional life and and in the church and in the community, and and people were packed in and they were setting up chairs in the back, and it was a long service. And at the end of that service, I had a high school teacher that came up to me that was there, and and he said, Eric, you're the one who put the gum in the girl's hair. No, you didn't. No, he didn't. But it was the same teacher. He came up to me and he said, he said, I have to go think about this service. I said, What do you mean? He said, I I've I've never been so happy from a funeral service. There's something different. When a person who's walked with Christ goes to heaven. And I want you to know today that that age has already begun, that that moment, that shift of history where where prior to Christ, when someone died, there there was an ambiguity and an unknown what happens to individuals. But at this moment where we live on this side of the cross, there there's always been a because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because Jesus conquered death, I have hope that I too will live with him forever. So when when I ask or when we ask, what is happening in this world? The answer is for anyone who's chosen to follow Jesus, it's just Saturday. Perhaps it's Good Friday for you, where you feel the heaviness and the and the burden and the brokenness and the pain of life. Or maybe it's Saturday where where you're at this moment that that you're just you're you're just kind of in a uh uh awaiting time. Someone said to me, Are you ready before the service? Are you ready for this, Pastor? And I said, Well, it's a little late if I'm not, but I think I am, but I said, I have to tell you, I feel like I'm more ready for eternity, because my soul's at peace, than I am for this service. It's it's that kind of, it's a Saturday thing. I'm I'm I'm in waiting. Skeptics might think, well, that's just a way that you can you know lean upon a crutch. You can deny the the finalness of life. And I'm sure even disciples, even the disciples felt that on Saturday after they watched their friend, savior, die. I'm sure some of them were asking, was anything real? What was this thing with Jesus? I mean, we we know we saw him do miracles. We we remember the storm that he calmed, but why did he what's up with the death thing? We thought he was gonna rule, we thought he was gonna be the king of kings. And even in your circumstance, maybe it feels like Good Friday to you in your life. It's dark, hopeless, empty, sad. But for the believer, Fridays are temporary. Saturdays are temporary because Sunday is coming. The same Jesus that rose from the dead, uh, conquered death, paid for our sins, ascended into heaven, is now reigning in heaven, King of kings, Lord of Lords, and this Jesus is coming again, where our stones will finally be rolled away. Point number two. When Christ returns, everything happens together. Paul continues in our text this morning from the 15th chapter of Corinthians, for is in for as in Adam, prior to the cross, everyone dies. So in Christ all will be made alive in him, and then the end will come. Revelation, the final chapter of the Bible, the John is writing, the Apostle John is writing, and John writes, and then I saw a new heaven. I saw a new earth, I saw, I saw something that has been restored. In one glorious moment, when Christ returns, everything is finally set right. See, there was a glorious moment on that first Easter Sunday when Jesus conquered. But when Jesus comes back, there is another glorious moment. And then it's not us watching Jesus rise from the dead. When Jesus returns our Friday, our Saturday, it's gone forever. No more, no more graves, no more funeral services, no more goodbyes. Evil will be judged, everything unjust, hidden, corrupt, and violent is dealt with fully and finely. And there'll be no more sickness, there'll be no more pain, there's no more brokenness, there's no more drama in life. There it's all everything that's wrong in the world will be done forever, and for all eternity we'll be with him. But for now, we're living in an in-between time. Jesus died, he rose from the grave, he is now glorified, and one day he's coming back. For you and me. One of my favorite pictures of Christ's return is when the scripture talks about that Jesus, the groom, is coming back for his bride. I I love the picture of that. Um he's coming back for the church. That's the bride. The bride of Christ is the church, not Water's Edge Church, but to all believers across the world. He's coming back. Can you imagine this? There's a groom who gave his life for his bride, and he's been waiting to come get us. The groom is waiting to come get the bride. We are the bride. And all this all the son is waiting, all the groom is waiting on is when the father says, son, go get your bride. I've conducted a lot of weddings in my 40 years of ministry, and there's a few favorite parts that I have for weddings, especially from my vantage point. Because you're sitting looking this way at a wedding, but I'm standing here and I see the groom come in and I see the bride at the back door. I kind of get this. And every once in a while, if I have my iPad, I'll hit video and record because I I get the best shot. And I tell the photographer, you can't get out of, you can't you can't take pictures right there. This is this is me. And then I sell it to the couple for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. But here's my favorite part. I love the entrance of the bride and watching the groom. Here's the groom. He's standing and and he kind of looks, and and then oftentimes he'll grab his hanky and he'll turn towards me and he'll start wiping his eyes. This this big dude of a man, you know. And then my second one is when I say, You may kiss the bride. And the groom, he kind of looks at me like, now like, and I'm and it's like, I know you've kissed her before. I mean, you know, unless you're Amish, and I don't know why I'm doing the the wedding if you are, but he's like, I I I get now, now I get to. Jesus is saying, now? Can I go get them now? Can I go rescue them from their pain now? Can I go, can I go now? Can I wipe their tears from their eyes? Can I can I go now, Father? Can I can I go tell them that to hang in there? It's gonna be worth it. I'm coming. Can I can I go tell them they're they're getting they're getting tired? What about now? Can I go, can I go now so there's no more war? I I don't like all the killing. I can I go now where where there's no more abuse? Can I go now where where the poor will never be mistreated again? Can't, God, can I go now? So when we ask what's happening in our world, the answer is history is moving toward a single climactic moment where Christ makes everything right once and for all. My third point. The goal of history is renewal. John said in Revelation twenty one, he who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. What will be new? Like when when we go to heaven, what what's gonna be new? Let me tell you that what won't be there. No financial struggles, no April 15th. No more sickness, no more pain, no more rotten food, no more disease, no more fighting, no more wars, no more lies, no more government. There'll be no need. We have a king of kings and a lord of lords, who is the definition of truth. And now, even now, Christ is redeeming it. Which means our story is not wasted. What you have gone through in life, it's not wasted. When I stepped off this last time, I said to my daughter Erica, I said, Man, I've gotten so much mileage from you driving the van through our living room, our family room. And she goes, Yeah, and it really wasn't that bad. You see, the things that happen in our life, they're not wasted. Your story, it's not wasted. If if you've messed up, if you've lived a life that you're like, oh, I'm so I don't want anybody to know my story, it's not wasted. God will God will take that and He will use it in some kind of way. I want you to know today that your suffering is not meaningless, that your labor is not in vain. Easter is the promise that the world will not end in chaos. Chaos may be here today, but it will not end in chaos. It will end in the resurrection of us. So until then, how do we live? Until then, how then should we live, as Francis Schaefer once said? Well, because Jesus rose, the future belongs to him. And that can change how we live. We don't despair in uncertainty. When the world feels unstable, we can remember that the throne is not empty, that Jesus is reigning, the king is not absent, the story is not out of control. Christ is already reigning. Secondly, how do we live? We live with a resilient hope. Not a naive optimism. I'm not denying anyone's pain, nor am I thinking that my pain isn't real. I'm not denying that pain is real, but we have this defiant hope. Because we know how the story ends. Death does not win. Evil does not win. Chaos does not win. Jesus wins. And because we're on his side, we win. Then, third, how should we live? We participate in what God is doing now. That's why the church exists. We we just Join the mission of Jesus. Some of you know, but I do a lot of consulting with churches and I talk with a lot of pastors, and I'm in a lot of meetings with pastors. And I'm one of my constant reminders is this our mission, no matter how you phrase the mission of the church, our mission, our mission is to cooperate with what Jesus is doing. We just got to go live and love like Jesus. And does the church fail at that? Yes, we fail at that. But our mission, we have to participate in what God is doing now. That's why with every act of justice in this world, we participate. With every act of mercy in this world, we participate. With every act, every chance that we can reconcile with someone, we reconcile. Every chance we can forgive, we forgive. Every chance we can love someone, we love them. Every chance that we can be faithful to what Jesus has called us to do, we do it. Because we're cooperating with him. There are so many other things that some of you give to this church sacrificially. There are so many other things that you could give to. You could buy yourself a new couch, you could go buy a new kitchen table, you could go take a vacation to Hawaii, you can do anything else you want to. But you've said, no, I'm gonna take this resource that I have and I'm gonna make sure it goes to the kingdom because I want to participate in the world with where Jesus is is making impact. I've had accountants tell me throughout throughout our married life, when they say, oh, you give this much to a nonprofit, you can't deduct, you take a standard deduction. This isn't even gonna make a difference if if you gave any more. You don't have to give that much. And I tell the accountant, I don't give for a tax write-off. I I give resources to the church or to a mission because I want to be in partnership with what Jesus is doing around the world. This isn't about a tax deduction. I don't follow Jesus for a tax deduction. I follow Jesus because I want to be merciful. I want to I want to show justice and I want to I want to I want to be forgiving. Here's the Easter answer to what's happening in our world. I hope it makes sense. There's a new creation that's already started. Started with Jesus. We celebrate that today. History is moving. We call it the church age. History is moving towards his return. And when he comes again, no one knows when. And if you belong to him, the future belongs to you. Say, how? How? Say yes. Just say yes. Yes, I believe. Yes, I give my life to Jesus. Jesus said, who uh John said, Whosoever believes in him will have eternal life. Just say yes. In the back, there's uh a station that says yes. It's a big yes on the wall. For those of you who maybe will say yes today for the first time, there's a uh booklet back there. It's a it's like a seven-day uh journal that you can pick up, and there's several of them back there, and and you can you can kind of take that and understand a little bit more about what I mean when we say yes. There's also another flyer back there for those who are interested in baptism. And maybe baptism is is sort of the way that we symbolically tell other people that we've said yes. Um, started in the New Testament when Jesus Himself was baptized. But maybe you have some questions about that. Both of those documents are available. We have people that would love to talk to you if you have any questions about that. My prayer, my prayer today is that you find a deep hope in this message that life, as crazy as life can be, one day, it will all be made right. It will all be made right. If I die before that day, don't ever tell people that Eric died. You just you just tell you just tell them that he just went on a little early. Not for somebody who said yes. Because what Jesus started continues today. I'm not gonna come back as an angel. Because the Bible tells me that angels are lower than humans. I don't know why I want to come back as an angel. If I'm gonna do that, I'd rather come back as a spoiled dog, you know. At least I get lots of treats and sleep all day, right? Not coming back as an angel. I'm gonna go be with Jesus. But if I'm still here and you hear that trumpet sound on the east, and you look towards the east, and he's coming back, I'll see you in the air. And when we get over there, we'll come up to each other and we'll say, Man, it sure was worth it. Jesus, thank you. Thanks for the hope that this day brings to us. Thank you for the joy that's been expressed in worship. Thank you for the people that walk with me in this deep belief that this is not over. That you are reigning as King of kings and Lord of Lords. And as king, you are coming again. As the groom, you're coming to get your bride. And we can't wait for that day. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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Thanks for joining us at church this week. And a special thanks to all those who continue to support our mission through your generosity. You too can support our mission to reach, grow, and serve our community by giving on the website or through the app. To make sure you never miss out on a message, be sure to subscribe and don't forget to hit that share button to spread the word. Have a great week.