Well, last weekend I was on our middle school and high school student retreat with a bunch of students and with our uh really incredible adult volunteers.
And so we got up to Camp Highland Friday evening and we had our first dinner, and right after dinner, the the camp counselor that was hosting us he immediately led the group over to this 45-foot-long conference table, conference room table, huge table on the side of this gym.
He said somebody had donated it, sat over there for a while until the point where all the counselors got together and figured out like what can we do with this?
And so obviously the thing to do with this is not to have conference meetings, but to uh make a game out of it.
And so he stands up on top of the table with a volleyball, and he gets everybody lined up in twos, teams of twos all around the table, and the rules of the game don't matter, but all you need to know is it's a phenomenal game, and you would want to play it.
And so at this point, I'm standing back because you know I'm the pastor and I'm not here to compete and win and do this kind of thing.
I'm I'm I'm above this type of stuff, and so I'm standing back.
But really, what's going on is I am listening to every single rule.
I am strategizing that when I enter this game, I will dominate it.
And so I stand back there for a little bit, and I don't play that night.
The next morning we have breakfast.
Right after breakfast, we go back to playing Monster Ball.
Our retreat ended up being much more about Monster Ball than anything else if you have if you're a parent of a student.
And so we uh after breakfast, we go to play.
Good teammate.
I'm in now, I'm into this, and I am 14 years old all over again immediately.
Everything I am as a person is on the line.
I mean, that's what's going on.
I am I am running, I'm diving, I'm pushing like students to the side, I'm anything is that this meet this monster ball means everything.
At one point, we line up and I'm partners with an adult volunteer, and I turn to her and I look to this team beside us, two girls, two students, you know, girls, little girls over there, sweet little Christian girls over there, and I turn to the adult next to me and I say, we should be able to get them out real quick.
And the worst thing about it, as she, the adult volunteer, looks back at me, the pastor, like, are you are you insane?
I was serious.
I was very serious in that moment.
I just I just started laughing.
You know, the pastor is crushing the dreams of children.
All of that is still in me.
I think that was the most amazing thing.
And if you were there, if you were a student or adult volunteer, I mean, yeah, you're like, yeah, the pastor turned into something else.
I'm not sure what happened.
But it's still in me.
I want to stand on top of everyone else, and I want to win.
Now, what might that be about?
If we dig at it just a little bit, because I've dug at it a little bit over the last week.
Like, what was that?
I didn't know that was still there.
Like, how is that still?
I mean, it was in me when I was 14, but I'm 38.
It's still there.
Or why would you hear about your friend's success and immediately be resentful of her?
Or why would you hear about your your friend who, like at the end of the year, December, he got a really big end of the year bonus.
And he wasn't bragging, he was just like really excited because he didn't think it was coming and then it came, and and he just he just it kind of slipped.
You know, we don't like to talk about money too much in our culture, but he he he said he just said it, but he wasn't saying it brag, he was just really actually excited because what he was gonna be able to do with his family, and he actually he just lets it slip, and you have no happiness for him.
Why?
Or or or you're out to dinner with a friend, and that that friend's a little passive aggressive, and she says something that just makes you feel a little bit lower than her, and and you the first that you looking at the butter knife at the time, all you want to do is pick it up and just stab it right in her ear hole, right?
You know the feeling.
You know it.
You're laughing, you know it, and you know the friend I'm talking about, too.
Is that butter knife would fit right in there?
Just jam it, just jam it in there.
What is that?
What is all of that, or what is all the other stuff?
Why are we better in some areas?
And we see new life, transformation from Jesus.
You know, and then in these other areas, we don't see any new life.
Why?
What's going on?
Where's the new life?
Well, for me, if we want to go back to Monster Ball, we've talked a lot about Monster Ball today.
If we go back to Monster Ball, it's an unbelief in me.
There's an unbelief of God's acceptance of me.
If you really want to get down to it, really, really, really there at the core.
And it leads me to motives and thoughts and behaviors that are unhealthy and they're selfish.
It leads me to pushing middle school girls out of the way as I dive for a monster ball, so I will dominate.
And it leads me ultimately to core values in my heart of high expectations that I will never meet.
And I will work really hard, I will become exhausted, and as I never meet those high expectations, which are my core values, I'll be disappointed.
And the belief at all of that is simply this, and it's a false belief.
I must win to matter.
I need to win at finances, I need to win at faith, I need to win at family, I need to win in my health, I need to win, I need to win my job.
And if I fail, if there's failure, if there's a hiccup along the way, there's a part of me that wonders, will I matter?
And the gospel speaks relief to this while it really, really offends me.
Because the gospel says, Oh yeah, you do fail, and all of your winning will never be enough.
You need the grace of God.
And even the fact that you're trying to win so much as to justify your life or your worthiness, that's actually your sin.
You need a victory earned outside of yourself and given to you.
So that's what this story is.
Mark 16, that was read, and I'll reread verses 1 through 6.
So Jesus has died, the crucifixion Friday, and then the Sabbath on Saturday, and now we come into Sunday.
And so it says this, verse 1, when the Sabbath was passed, it would have been Saturday, and between Good Friday and today, Sunday, Easter, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Siloam bought spices, and so they might go and anoint him.
And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
And they were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?
And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back, it was very large.
And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
And he said to them, Do not be alarmed, you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.
He has risen.
He is not here.
See the place where they laid him.
So we celebrate this resurrection.
But what's actually happening here?
What is accomplished here for you?
So I have two points, two-point sermon.
I shaved one down for Easter, just to make everybody, you know, you don't go to church that often, you're, ah, it's gonna be a long sermon.
Now it'll be a long sermon.
Two points.
The first one, the crucifixion and the resurrection is a revelation of who God is and an imputation for us to know.
Long sentence, I know it sounds very religious.
We'll break it down.
The crucifixion, Friday, and the resurrection, today, Sunday, is a revelation of who God is and an imputation for us to know.
So maybe you say right away, that's why I don't come to church.
Like you just summed it up.
Bunch of religious languages, why I don't come.
I know, but this can mean everything for you.
Let me tell you a story to kind of break it down what this actually means.
You might know this story.
It's in Luke 15.
There's a family, there's two sons.
The younger son comes to the dad.
Dad seems to be pretty well off.
The younger son comes to the dad, says, I want my share of the inheritance, and I want it now.
I don't want to wait until you pass away.
That would be respectful.
I'm gonna be disrespectful, I want it now.
And so the dad gives him his share of the inheritance, the son immediately runs off, goes to another country, and he is living it up.
There are parties, there are women, there's stuff, there's more parties, more women, more stuff, more and more and more and more and more, and the money starts to run out, and then the money runs out, and then he's starving to death.
And then eventually he's longing to eat the food that pigs are eating, and then he's at his end and he's broken.
He's exhausted.
And Luke 15 says that he came to his senses, and it means that it means he remembered.
He remembered he has a dad back home.
And this question that forms in him will he still love me?
So he starts to head home, he forms this little speech on the way.
You know, like when he gets there, dad's gonna be there, he's gonna have to kind of earn work his way back in.
He's like, okay, he gets this speech, I've sinned against you and against heaven, I'm not worthy to be your son.
Just take me on as one of your hired men.
So he he gets his little speech nice and packaged, nice and tight, so he can he can give it to his dad as soon as he gets home.
He's not sure what his dad's gonna say to him, but he wants to be ready.
And while he's a long way off, the father sees him, the father begins to run toward him in compassion and embraces him and kisses him.
The son begins in on his speech, because yeah, he had it already.
The son begins in on his speech, and it's almost like the father does not even hear it.
The father's so overwhelmed with the acceptance and love of his child.
The father turns to like uh one of the hired guys and says, Hey, get a robe, get a ring.
We're going to throw a, we're throwing a party.
My boy's my child is home.
You see, the father's heart is always for his children.
Oh, I I know there's that thing.
I mean, even with this this kid in the story, there would have been that king, that thing, that that wound, that that continued behavior, that thing.
I mean, there's that thing in your life that happened, still happens, that wound, that horror, that motive, that behavior.
I know there's that thing, but I also know while that son may have forgotten the father, the father never forgot about his child.
And then there's this older brother.
And this older brother's a piece of work, man.
I mean, this guy is self-righteous and he is prideful.
He's a symbol of so many things religious and moralistic.
And he's upset at this scene, at this display of grace.
All these years I've been here.
This is what the guy starts saying to his dad, this older brother, I've been slaving away for you, and you have never once thrown a party for me like this.
And this brother is judgmental.
He is self-consumed with his own record.
He makes himself feel better by comparing himself to other people, and he has no ability to extend compassion to someone hurting.
He thinks I should be accepted because I obey.
He's working off of merit.
The father's working off of grace, and in another move of grace, the dad says to him, son, you're always with me.
Everything I have is yours.
Here's point number two.
You are before you become.
We say it a million different ways at our church.
We say it every single week.
This is just a different synon saying the same thing.
You are before you become.
I could say it longer.
You are deemed something before you become something.
You are deemed righteous before you become righteous.
You are deemed worthy before you become worthy.
This is the victory.
You are before you become.
This is the victory, the work of Jesus that we celebrate on Easter.
That you are deemed beloved and righteous before you become righteous.
It is a relief to be accepted before you become something.
And then the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit in you takes that victory that is given, that work of grace, and works it into our hearts, into all of those places that has such a hard time believing that, and that is how we grow in grace.
So let's take something like me playing monster ball.
This belief that I have in me, and I repeat it, it is like it's on repeat in my mind.
I must win to matter.
Well, below that would be I must perform to matter.
And now that's based in fear, not love.
That's merit, that's not grace.
That creates a range of sin and suffering in my life.
It creates pretty much all of my stress and anxiety.
And this is where the gospel, the victory of Easter, has something to say.
When the Spirit integrates it into my heart and works it in, it creates new life because I see the lie, right?
The lie is I must perform to win.
I don't know what your lie is.
I don't know what's on repeat in your heart.
But I guarantee you there is a lie creating core values that creates heart, motive, and behavior.
Mine is, is I must perform to matter.
And I have to see it, I have to confess it, I have to repent of it.
It is my sin.
And I have to claim it is no longer my story.
But my story is formed by the gospel.
I am deemed absolved and righteous and worthy before I become anything.
And now out of that I get new values.
Out of that, I get new motive.
Out of that I get new behaviors.
Not perfectly, but in the process of.
But even though I'm not perfect in it, it's okay because I am before I become.
This week I finally watched Ruth Graham's speech at her dad, Billy Graham's funerals about a month ago.
Several people had mentioned to me this speech over the last few weeks.
Finally, I went and watched it this week.
She told how her first marriage ended after 21 years of marriage.
And she was hurt, she was embarrassed, she was felt like a failure.
She moved out west, she moved near her sister, started attending a church there.
She met a widower in the church and they started dating really fast, real quick.
Her children who are grown children, her children, you know, they're saying, like, mom, slow down.
Like they didn't like them.
Ruth's mom calls.
Hey, slow down.
Her dad, Billy, calls.
Please slow down.
We're asking you to slow down.
She's stubborn.
She's rebellious.
What do they know?
They don't know what it's like to be single at my age.
They don't know anything about this.
And so she marries this man.
The whole family's been against it.
She marries this man.
Within five weeks, she leaves because she's afraid of her life.
And all she wanted to do was go home and talk to her mom and dad.
It was a two-day drive to get back to North Carolina.
The Graham's live up on a mountain.
All the way home, all she's thinking about the same as that rebellious son in Luke 15.
What will dad say?
What will mom say?
We told you not to do it.
Ah, you embarrassed us again.
You're such a fool.
She began to drive up that driveway, and she rounded the last curve, and as she rounded the last curve, her dad was standing in the driveway waiting for her.
And here's what she says to end her speech.
As I got out of the car, he wrapped his arms around me and said, Welcome home.
There was no shame, no blame, no condemnation, just unconditional love.
You know, my father was not God, but he showed me what God is like that day.
When we come to God with our sin and our brokenness, our pain and our hurt, God says, Welcome home.
My brothers and sisters, whether your life is filled with wins or losses, victory is sealed.
You are forever beloved in God's sight because of the work of Jesus, his death, and his resurrection.
Hallelujah.
Christ is risen.
Let's pray together.
God, thank you for your victory for us, the great grace that we live in.
Forgive us for all the ways that we live in disbelief of that great gift.
Show us, help us to believe more that we might trust and live in the freedom of Christ.
Help us to believe and know what it means to be something before we become something.
And help us in that process to see all the lies we believe that are so unhealthy and selfish, ultimately sinful, that break peace with you, peace with each other.
Help us to see those lies.
Help us to find the gospel truths that create great redemption and growth and grace.
God, we thank you that the victory is sealed no matter where we're at, and the process of the victory is sealed.
We are sealed as your beloved.
That is the victory.
We pray this and know this in Jesus' name.
Amen.