WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:00.959 Well good morning. 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:02.959 Welcome to Christ the Redeemer. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:04.879 Happy Easter, happy rain. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:06.080 We can breathe again. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.080 Are we all taking deep breaths? 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:08.960 That feels good. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:20.559 I went for a walk this morning and I remembered when we began this Linton journey 40 days ago, Lent's that season leading up to this weekend, Easter weekend, all the trees were barren 40 days ago. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:28.239 And this morning when I went out and walked, I saw green leaves, I saw white and pink and blue and purple flowers, everything was blooming. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:32.399 There's now new life where there was once death. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:43.280 And it's possible that you are here, and parts of you and parts of your heart feel like that, a little worn out, a little beat down, maybe even some dead places. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:47.200 And we are so glad that you are here with us this morning. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:51.280 What we love to say every single week is we are more broken. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:59.280 We're more sinful than we originally thought, but we're more loved by God and Jesus than we could ever dare to dream. 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:04.159 After Jesus died, the authorities took his body and they put Jesus in a tomb. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:06.879 The Romans sealed and guarded that tomb. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:12.239 And then Mary Magdalene, the next day, she goes to the tomb and hopes to prepare the body. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:14.000 So that's where we read John 20. 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:15.680 Let's read again verses 1 and 2. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:23.599 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. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:35.040 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, and we do not know where they have laid him. 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:39.439 A few weeks ago I watched on Netflix the documentary Greed and Gold. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:41.040 Has anybody seen Greed and Gold? 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:42.079 It's a three-part series. 00:01:42.159 --> 00:01:44.000 I think it's kind of hidden in the cube. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:44.879 You've got to go find it. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:45.359 You should watch it. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:46.079 It's really interesting. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:56.079 Back in 2010, a millionaire Forrest Finn, this guy hides a million dollars of gold in a chest in the Rocky Mountains. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:02:02.400 And then he writes a poem, publishes the poem, and the clues to find the treasure in the poem. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:05.920 Brilliant idea to sell your poetry because the poetry doesn't have a big market. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.319 So that's a really smart, good way to sell poetry. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:13.120 So hundreds of people begin on this journey of becoming treasure hunters. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:17.439 For 10 years, people are treasure hunting, looking for this. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:23.039 My favorite group was a father and two sons in Kerwin, Wyoming. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:28.240 They read the poem and they are positive they know where this treasure is. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:32.080 They know it's in a canyon east of Yellowstone National Park. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:42.879 They know right where it's at, so they work their way up the canyon, up the river, and they see this one huge boulder, and they know the treasure is under the boulder. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:44.960 They just know it, so they start to dig. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:46.879 And they dig and they dig. 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:56.960 They dig through the winter, they dig through the rain, they dig and live there for six months, digging under one rock. 00:02:58.479 --> 00:02:59.680 Treasure wasn't there. 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:01.360 Heartbreak. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:04.960 I mean, even at one point, the wife calls and is like, I'm gonna divorce you. 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:07.439 And he says, I'm gonna keep digging. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:08.479 That was his choice. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:10.159 Real healthy marriage. 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:13.120 They risk relationships for nothing. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:21.280 The entire time the treasure's a few hours west inside of Yellowstone National Park, just in a chest sitting up against a tree 100 yards from a river. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:23.039 Takes 10 years to find them. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:26.000 Now, at first, I really laughed at this father and son. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:37.520 Six months under a boulder digging one spot, and this older guy, he dug under there and hid the treasure, and they're digging deeper and deeper. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:39.680 And all I'm thinking about, I'm like, morons? 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:41.599 I mean, these guys are morons. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:52.960 And then it hit me like how often I sort of do the same thing, not physically, but like how I sort of do this with my life, trying to find a treasure somewhere it's never gonna be. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:58.960 We can spend our lives looking for treasure in places we're never gonna find it. 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:02.800 We're often so convinced we'll eventually be loved. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:07.280 Eventually, if I keep digging here, eventually I'll be important. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:09.039 I'll be valued. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:10.400 And we just keep digging. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:13.199 We're all asking the same question: is it possible? 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:14.639 Could I be okay? 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:15.599 Could I be whole? 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:16.560 Could I be content? 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:18.399 Could I be known and loved? 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:20.319 Could I be forgiven? 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:23.519 Where is new life? 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:29.519 Romans 8, 31 through 35, Paul says this, what then shall we say to these things? 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:32.480 If God is for us, who can be against us? 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:41.439 He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.000 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:46.319 It is God who justifies. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:48.399 Who is it to condemn? 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:57.360 Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:00.399 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:08.399 Point number one is that the resurrection is the story of God's victorious and lavish love for us. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:12.560 In John chapter 20, Peter and John they rush to the tomb. 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:14.160 They didn't believe what Mary said. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:19.120 They need to go see it, they see it, they believe it, they see that empty tomb, they come back and report to the other disciples. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:20.879 Remember, we have that one disciple, Thomas. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:21.759 He doesn't believe. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:23.439 He's like, no, no, I don't believe you guys. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:24.160 I need to see it. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:25.279 I don't believe, I don't believe. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:32.560 And how does Jesus deal with messy, doubting followers? 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:37.519 I love this quote by priest and author Robert Capin. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:40.879 He writes this trust him. 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:54.079 No matter how many waverings you may have, no matter how many suspicions, no matter how much heaviness and sadness your lapses, vices, and disciplesitions, and bratty whinings may cause you. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:06:00.800 You believe simply that somebody else, by his death and resurrection, has made it all right. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:04.319 And you just say thank you and shut up. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:11.680 The whole slot closet full of mildewed performances, which is all you have to offer, is simply your death. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:13.680 It is Jesus who is your life. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:22.079 If he refused to condemn you because your works were rotten, he certainly isn't going to flunk you because your faith isn't so hot. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:26.800 You can fail utterly and still live the life of grace. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:32.000 You can fold up spiritually, morally, or intellectually and still be safe. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:35.759 Because at the very worst, all you can be is dead. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:42.240 And for him who is the resurrection and the life, that just makes you his cup of tea. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:46.000 Beloved, we are loved. 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:47.600 We're his. 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:57.839 And we're secure in his love versus a fragile life of digging under boulders trying to find some worth, some forgiveness, some justification. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:06:59.600 So, what does that life look like? 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:01.120 What are the implications of that? 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:10.800 Well, in Colossians 3, Paul teaches us in chapters 3 and 4 the implications of such secure and lavish love. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:12.399 That's how the book is structured. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:22.879 Colossians 1 and 2, the extravagant promises of Christ's word for us, and then it transitions, Colossians 3 and 4, the implications of those promises in our lives. 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:32.079 So from the indicatives of the lavish promises we have in Jesus, everything we have secure, we just receive it, hold our hands out, receive it, it's totally given to us. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:37.360 Comes the imperatives, what are the implications from those secure promises? 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:39.439 So we get Colossians 3, 1 and 2. 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:46.079 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:49.680 Set your minds on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:54.079 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ and God. 00:07:54.319 --> 00:08:01.040 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:11.279 A few years ago, I was with my ministry cohort, group of pastors and people in ministry out in the Tetons, and we hiked to Phelps Lake, this beautiful lake at the foot of a canyon. 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:22.560 We had a shore lunch there on that lake, and at the far end of that shore, we discovered this little area, hundreds, hundreds of butterflies, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, you know, make the story good. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:24.079 Tens and tens of thousands of butterflies. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:24.959 It's everywhere. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:29.920 And I learned that they were California tortoise shell butterflies. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:38.159 And it was amazing to stand in the middle of them and to think they were all fat worms. 00:08:39.039 --> 00:08:53.360 Like all this beauty started from a fat worm that cocoons itself and becomes this beautiful flying mini dragon that can fly all over. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:55.200 I mean, that's a transformation. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.000 What an unbelievable transformation. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:08:59.840 A picture for us. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:06.159 Remember Paul's words, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.000 The old is passed away. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:10.080 Behold, the new has come. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.320 And in this way, we're all butterflies. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:19.919 We're told that we have this new life in Jesus, but maybe you're wondering, like, where's my new life? 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:22.559 I don't feel, I'm not feeling that. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:25.919 I'm feeling like the fat worm is what I feel like. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:34.240 Well, in the 1500s, Martin Luther wrote about the difference of the theology of glory and the theology of the cross. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:38.639 A theology of glory says you need to get better, then God will love you. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:42.480 If I get my act together, God will save me, have me, sustain me. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:48.159 If I earn more, have more, pray more, then I will really be okay with God. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:50.399 Then God will really be okay with me. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:57.919 And the problem with the theology of glory is that it just creates performing and pretending because we're not all that great. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:09:59.759 Hate to break the news. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:04.320 So it breeds dishonesty and exhaustion. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:10.559 Because you're told you need to get better, but we're not always getting better. 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:12.720 Now, the theology of the cross is different. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:24.960 Theology of the cross states God provides, he gives salvation, he gives righteousness, forgiveness, he gives wholeness as I give up, as I die into Christ. 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:28.480 We're buried in Christ to walk in a newness of life. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:33.360 He doesn't endure you, he delights in you. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:35.600 Colossians 3, 5 through 8. 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:36.480 Here's an implication. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:46.799 Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, on account of these, the wrath of God is coming. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:53.200 In these you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:56.960 Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:07.600 So the human heart, our hearts are always searching for acceptance, leads us to destructive things, some really big things, and some things just like how we speak about ourselves or other people. 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:13.039 And Paul calls us in Colossians to say, hey, remember who you already are. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.679 Live out of who you already are. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:23.759 Point number two, the resurrection welcomes us into a new life of resting and growing in Christ. 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:35.759 Paul goes on in Colossians 3, 9 and 10, do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with his practices and have put on a new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge of the image of its creator. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:46.480 See, as we grow more alive to the fullness and the lavishness of God's love for us, we grow in the implications of that love. 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:49.519 That's us becoming the butterfly. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:56.480 We are deemed the butterfly by Christ fully, and then we learn who we already are. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:02.480 Now, back in John chapter 20, Mary is distraught, and verse 11, she's weeping outside the tomb. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:04.639 She can't believe they stole his body. 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:05.840 Where did he go? 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.799 Two angels show up and say, Woman, why are you weeping? 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:11.279 And then Jesus shows up looking like a gardener. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:13.440 Don't you love that image that he chose a gardener? 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:14.639 Because that's what he's doing with her. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:15.679 He's tending to her. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:17.840 He wants to grow her, care for her. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:20.879 John 20, verse 15. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:24.240 Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.080 Whom are you seeking? 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:33.279 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. 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:35.200 Jesus said to her, Mary. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:40.480 She turned to him and said in Aramaic, Rabbinai, which means teacher. 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:50.399 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. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:55.039 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:57.600 And that he has said these things to her. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:03.440 Point number three is this Jesus loyally pursues you and calls you by name. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:11.600 He calls you to your identity as a beloved, secure, safe son and daughter of God. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:18.080 Every other identity is an illusion, it's a digging under a boulder. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.879 Back in March in Death Valley, we had a rare event occur. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:24.399 It was called a superbloom. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:28.720 Now, Death Valley is one of the hottest and driest places on the entire earth. 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:32.720 And in March, the valley received more rain than it usually does. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:42.960 And seeds that had blown into this valley, some seeds had been lying dormant in the valley for ten years, suddenly began to bloom. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:48.159 It's a beautiful image for our hearts on Resurrection Sunday. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:51.279 For the new life that we have in Christ. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:57.759 Because we know the feeling of being worn out, wondering if our hearts could come alive. 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:03.120 We know the reality of sin and guilt and shame and condemnation. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:13.840 And it's in that very place, in that very dry place, that helplessness, that God shows up with his amazing grace. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:18.480 Well, in closing, it is Master's Week. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:20.559 I know it's been difficult for some of you. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:25.200 It's like Easter, Masters, like we're like, which I don't know, it's been hard. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:26.399 Some of you, I know it has. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:27.679 I know you've been thinking about it. 00:14:28.320 --> 00:14:31.759 And we'll turn on the TV, and some of you will get to walk the course. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:36.080 And the grass and the Zaleas, they will be perfect. 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:37.519 They will be so beautiful. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:43.919 They're going to be amazing because Augusta employs about a hundred grounds crew year-round. 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:47.120 Year-round, a hundred people are working on this course. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:52.080 Now, leading up to the master's, they up that to about 200 grounds crew. 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:57.600 And the weeks leading up to master's, that grounds crew can work 12 to 16 hour days. 00:14:57.840 --> 00:15:01.519 During the master's week, they wake up at 3:30 a.m. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:03.919 to prep that course for us. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:08.799 See, behind the beauty is tremendous work. 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:13.679 Augusta's beauty is maintained through work. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:21.279 And we show up to the master's, we show up to work that has already happened. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:32.879 When we show up to Easter morning, when we show up to our Christian faith on a Tuesday morning or a Friday night, we show up to work that has already happened. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:34.960 Jesus died on a cross. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:36.879 Jesus rose again. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:39.120 That we might have life. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:44.159 Not in our resume or our reputation, but all the forgiveness we need. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:49.039 All the righteousness we need, all the worth we need is in Him. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.159 It is the finished work of Jesus for you. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:57.120 Church, we trust in the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:59.919 I close with Revelation 1, 5 and 6. 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:12.320 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, a priest to his God and Father. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:16.159 To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:16.799 Amen. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:17.840 Let's pray together. 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:21.519 Heavenly Father, we're so thankful that you know us and love us. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:30.320 You pursue us in our lack of belief and all of our mess of behaviors are digging around under boulders where there's no treasure. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:32.879 And yet our hearts long for treasure. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.200 We want to be treasured. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:41.279 We want to be forgiven, whole, content, loved, known, valued. 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:43.519 Help us to find it in you. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:52.559 Holy Spirit, in these moments, would you find in us the dry places, the dead places, and would you bring new life? 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:54.000 In Christ's name we pray. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:54.879 Amen.