He Came
From the Series—He Came, He Died, He Conquered
March 29, 2007This evotional begins a new series: He Came, He Died, He Conquered.
Over the next three weeks we’re going to talk about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We believe that God sent His son. It’s called the incarnation. We believe that Jesus lived a sinless life and died a substitutionary death—it’s called the atonement. And we believe that Jesus conquered death and the grave—it’s called the resurrection.
Before we dive in let me share a thought.
I think there is a tendency in a series like this for some of us to check out—been there and done that. We’ve heard the story so many times we stop believing and start assuming.
I’m reading a great book right now called Made to Stick. Chip and Dan talk about the curse of knowledge. It’s a pretty simple concept. Once you know something it is very difficult to remember what it was like before you knew!
I think the curse of knowledge is a danger every Christ Follower faces. We ought to believe. But we shouldn’t assume because the second we start assuming we stop believing. It is so easy for us to take everything God has done for granted. His love is unconditional. His grace is unmerited. His power is unlimited. So we take those things for granted.
I hate to say it but it is human nature—sometimes we don’t appreciate what we have till we lose it. I think the trick of life is to be grateful for everything we have without having to lose it to be grateful for it. Does that make sense?
So let me challenge our assumptions.
What if Jesus hadn’t come? What if Jesus hadn’t died on the cross? What if Jesus hadn’t conquered the grave?
When was the last time you thanked Christ for coming? Or dying? Or conquering the grave? I hope this is a series that brings us back to the very core of what we believe.
Let’s stop assuming and keep believing!
Alive
So why did Jesus come? I think there were a variety of reasons. His mission was multi-dimensional. But John 10:10 reveals His raison d’etre. Jesus came to bring life!
The Thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
I think this one verse gets to the heart of the cosmic battle that is being waged over your life. There is a very real enemy of our souls that wants to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus came to return what the enemy has stolen, resurrect what the enemy has killed, and restore what the enemy has destroyed.
Jesus came to bring life. And I love the adjective used to describe the kind of life Jesus came to bring. The KJV uses the word abundantly. The NIV uses the word full. But the English has a hard time capturing the essence of the Greek word used here. It’s the word perissos and it is two-dimensional. It means super abundant in quantity and superior in quality.
Fully Alive
This past weekend I took Parker snowboarding at a Ski resort in the Shenandoah Valley called Massanutten. I’ve been skiing, but neither of us had been snowboarding. Let’s just say it was ugly! My body was black and blue all over. All week I would find bruises in strange places on my body. But we had a blast.
We took two hours of lessons and then we got on the chair lift, rode to the top, fell off the chairlift, and attempted to conquer the mountain. We snowboarded for several hours. And it was an incredible experience on lots of levels. It was a great Father/Son time. It was a blast taking on a challenge together. It was just one of those unforgettable memories.
At one point in the evening, we’re on the ski life and I have this amazing feeling. I can only describe it as being fully alive. It just felt like we were living life to the fullest.
Here is a little lesson I’ve learned about life. I’ve learned that when I do something I’ve never done before part of me comes alive! I don’t know how else to describe it. I’m more alive afterwards that I was before. I had the same feeling when I jumped off a forty foot cliff in the Galapagos Islands.
When you do something you’ve never done before part of you comes alive. I’ve also found that part of me comes alive when I go somewhere I’ve never gone before. That is how I felt when we went to the Galapagos this past year. Part of me came alive—especially when we went swimming with sea lions!
We’re all familiar with the Great Commission, but we tend to neglect the Genesis Commission in Genesis 1:28. God tells Adam to fill the earth and subdue it. I think it was an invitation to explore! Can I share my theology of travel? It’s a little beyond the scope of this particular message, but it makes my point. When you travel with this sense that you are exploring what God has created it turns travel into a spiritual experience. And adding stamps to your passport is good stewardship!
I just happen to believe that God loves it when we enjoy the beauty of what He’s created. And part of us comes alive.
For what it’s worth, I think what I’m describing is a microcosm of what we’ll experience when we cross the spacetime continuum. When we step foot in heaven, we will come alive in ways that we never imagined as we do things and go places that are literally out of this world.
But here is the thing. You don’t have to wait till heaven to experience this new life. Jesus came to bring life—fullness of life, abundant life, life that is super abundant in quantity and superior in quality.
He wants to bring us to life!
I love what Saint Ireneus said: “The glory of God is a person fully alive.”
His Voice
I want to look at three pictures of The Life. See if you can see yourself in these stories.
The picture is in John 11.
And again Jesus was deeply troubled. Then they came to the grave. It was a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, said, “Lord, by now the smell will be terrible because he has been dead for four days.” Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you will see god’s glory if you believe?” So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so they will believe you sent me.”
Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”
And Lazarus came out, bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
I wish we had the audio pages here—the original recording. I’m not sure how many decibels it was, but you can hear the authority in his voice can’t you?
A few years ago we had catacombs at Club Nation. I love catacombs because we worship without any agenda. And God speaks to us in unique ways when we’re not in a hurry. And I felt like God directed me to this passage in John 11 and said it was a picture of what God wants to do in our lives.
Every time we sin part of us dies. We entomb ourselves. Our sins are like the burial clothes that were wrapped around the deceased. And eventually, if we allow sin to run its course, we turn into a mummy. Sin mummifies. It brings death.
To think of sin as "right and wrong" is a shallow understanding of sin. Sin is about life and death. Sin kills dreams. Sin kills relationships. Sin kills positive emotions! But Jesus came to resurrect us. He wants to resurrect hopes and dreams. He wants to resurrect relationships. He wants to resurrect laughter.
He calls us out. And unwraps the burial clothes!
Can you hear his voice? His voice brings life!
By the way, I Thessalonians 4:16 reveals the next time we’ll hear His voice: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the air in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever.”
His Touch
I love the story about three friends who were talking and the subject of death came up. One friend said, “What would you want to hear people say about you as they walk by your casket?” One friend said, “I’d want to hear them say, ‘He was a great Father’.” The second friend said, “I’d want to hear them say, ‘He was a great Friend’.” The third friend said, “I’d want to hear them say, ‘Look, he’s moving‘.”
That is what happens in Luke 7.
Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, with a great crowd following him. A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The boy who died was the only son of a widow, and many mourners from the village were with her. When the Lord saw her, he heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. Then he walked over the coffin and touched it and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” Jesus said, “get up.” Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk to those around him! And Jesus gave him back to his mother!
Everywhere Jesus goes He was reversing death.
Why? Because He is the Life.
Everywhere Jesus went, people tried to touch him. It is one of the subplots in the gospels. Remember the woman with the issue of blood? She touched the hem of his garment and she was instantly healed. But it wasn’t an isolated incident.
Luke 6:19 says, “The people all tried to touch him because power was coming from him and healing them all.”
Jesus was so full of life that you couldn’t touch him without feeling the effects. He touched lepers and they were healed. He touched blind eyes and sight was restored. He made the mute talk and the lame walk with a simple touch.
Mark 6:56 says, “They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed.”
His Death
One last picture.
His voice brings life. His touch brings life. And His death brings life.
Matthew 27:50 is a microcosm:
Jesus shouted out again, and he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead after Jesus’ resurrection. They left the cemetery, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people. The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “Truly, this was the Son of God.”
Maybe the enemy has stolen, killed, and destroyed parts of you. Sin has buried you alive. You feel like you live in a cemetery. The good news is that God is in the resurrection business. The resurrection isn’t something we look forward to in the future. The resurrection is something God wants us to experience right now. His death brings life!
John 6:24 says, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
The offer of life has been extended. And the moment we accept the invitation our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Cross the line!