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Reading from the Gospel according to Luke.
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
Peace be with you.
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
He said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do you rise in your minds?
Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see.
A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them,
Do you have anything here to eat?
They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you.
Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.
He told them, This is what is written.
The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Israel.
You are witnesses of these things.
I am going to send you what my father has promised,
but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.
While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
Then they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
and they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
You may be seated.
Good morning, Christ Church.
It's good to see you on the second Sunday of Easter.
As I think back to 13 months ago when COVID shut down the world, really,
and the Bay Area went into shelter-in-place,
we were scrambling like everybody else,
trying to figure out how are we going to keep our kids active during this time.
And so we pulled out our badminton,
and we got a paddle, a beach paddle ball for our kids,
and eventually we got tennis rackets,
thinking, you know, we've encouraged lifetime sports, running, swimming.
Maybe we'll add tennis to the rotation, keep our kids moving,
help them with their eye-hand coordination and whatnot.
Well, fast forward to now, and our kids kind of love tennis,
but Catherine and I have grown to love tennis during this time.
We, you know, we kind of just leave the kids home at this point
and go hit the ball around.
And neither of us are that great.
Catherine played at summer camp growing up.
I played at the swimming pool.
But we found that tennis is a great way to relieve some stress, right,
to go out and just smash the ball really hard and volley back and forth
and make your opponent run to and fro.
And we found that it's cheaper than therapy during this time.
You know, we can kind of go work out.
You got lines.
You got to stay in the lines.
You got to work out your conflict between the lines.
And, you know, you're kind of out there like,
I wish you were more supportive with my work,
and I wish you were more sensitive to my feelings.
And it just feels good.
And we like it too because, you know, you start this game,
and the score is love, love, right?
You've got love, and I've got love.
You haven't touched the ball yet.
What's your score?
It's zero.
No, you actually have love.
You have love.
It's a game of love.
And, but what I've decided in tennis is that life is just too short
to play with old tennis balls.
We were out there with our kids.
Our kids would hit all the new balls over the fence in places
where we couldn't go get them.
And so I would get mad at them, and then they'd get upset with me.
And so we had these two people give us these giant bags of old tennis balls,
and we thought, well, this is cool because we can lose as many of these as we want.
But I just discovered that, you know,
playing a game with a ball that doesn't bounce is just not fun.
And so we're playing now with new balls.
And, but what I've been thinking about with this metaphor of the tennis ball
is that some of us kind of feel like that old tennis ball right now.
Anybody feel like an old tennis ball, kind of worn out?
It doesn't really, doesn't really bounce.
It doesn't have that springiness and that kind of resilience that you really would hope for.
Some of us, if you're like me, you feel a little more like this ball.
Just kind of chewed on and slobbered all over.
And like, there you are.
That's your life right now.
But what I'm praying for for Christ Church,
as we move into this new season,
is that God would make us like this.
These are America's number one best-selling tennis balls.
The pin number one.
And I'm praying, oh, that was good.
I'm praying that, I mean, smell that.
It's so bright, so fresh, so bouncy,
that through the Holy Spirit,
the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead,
through more vaccines, through more gatherings like this,
through our soul care retreats,
through fellowship, through park meetups,
through community group gatherings,
through just pushing through the inertia of this time,
that the Holy Spirit is going to make us like this.
Amen?
Because if God raised Jesus from the dead,
this is not impossible for Him to do for us in this post-COVID season.
God is going to give us back our bounce.
He's going to give us back our vibrancy and our energy.
God is going to give us that oomph, that zing, that zip that we were made for.
And that's my prayer for us.
And I invite you to pray that with me during this time.
So Constance, there's a ball for you.
Catherine, there's a ball for you.
And anybody that wants to play doubles,
Catherine and I are looking for some partners.
Okay.
Enough about tennis.
Let's talk about the resurrection.
Luke 24 is our text for today.
And it's all about Easter day.
It's all about Easter morning and Easter afternoon that we looked at last week.
And now we're in Easter night, Easter evening.
And this story means for us that the risen Christ doubts our doubts and sends us with the biblical gospel.
That's what this text means, that the risen Christ doubts our doubts and sends us with the biblical gospel.
And I wanted to start with how the risen Christ doubts our doubts.
Many of us are here.
We're trying to make sense of the resurrection for our lives.
And that's very much like the disciples on this Easter night.
And all of a sudden, Jesus just appears in his presence and his power to these disciples.
And we read about that in verse 36.
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,
Peace be with you.
Shalom.
And we think, how thrilling.
What a blessing.
But the disciples didn't think that.
They're scared.
Their reality is coming apart.
Their reality is shattered in this moment.
And it says in verse 37, they're startled.
They're frightened.
They're thinking they saw a ghost.
You know, Harry Potter's nearly headless Nick.
You know, some sort of apparition.
Some sort of spirit making a momentary visit from some distant realm.
And Jesus responds to them and he says this in verse 38.
Why are you troubled?
And why do doubts rise in your minds?
And that word for doubts Jesus uses is dialogitsme, where we get the word dialogue.
And Jesus is not against thinking, questioning, deliberating, reasoning, the life of the mind,
working out puzzles and riddles and enigmas with logic.
If you know anything about Judaism, anything about the teachings of Jesus,
there's a link here between the head and the heart.
But what is Jesus challenging among his first skeptics?
He sees them disputing an inconvenient truth that doesn't fit with their dominant paradigm.
Right?
They know, like we know, that dead people stay dead.
And that is an ironclad rule without exceptions.
And so, here they are interpreting the data of Jesus standing before them within their worldview categories,
within the plausibility structures that they know.
This is either an immaterial spirit or it's a revived corpse,
like Lazarus, who temporarily came back to life but then would die again.
And Jesus is patiently here helping them come to realize that he's neither this nor that.
He's something new, something different, something unique altogether.
And that's why he says in verse 39,
Look at my hands and my feet.
It is I myself.
Why does he do this?
Because he wants to say this body is continuous with my crucified body.
Here are the marks of those iron nails that fasten me to my cross.
Here are the signs in my body of my victory over sin and death.
And then he says to them,
Touch me and see.
A ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.
Some of us are visual learners, some auditory, some kinesthetic learners.
And so, Jesus says,
You can see me, you can hear me.
Now, I want you to feel me and touch me and know that this is a real material body.
Now, some of us might think that's cool.
Some of us might think this is really creepy.
But maybe all of us are asking,
How is this relevant?
You know, why does it matter to my life?
What happens next?
I think is really kind of hilarious.
I think Jesus kind of cuts through the tension with a little comedic relief.
In verse 41,
While they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement,
he asked them,
Do you have anything here to eat?
And they gave him a piece of broiled fish,
and he took it and ate it in their presence.
Is Jesus hungry?
No.
He's giving them proofs that he's alive.
He's showing them his new bodily abilities.
And we teach our kids not to stare at guests when they come over,
particularly when we're around the table, right?
And I'm thinking,
Everybody is staring at Jesus in this moment.
Every eye is glued on him,
because what Jesus is saying is,
My flesh and my bones are not over there in that tomb.
They're right here with you.
And if that's true,
then you all need a new worldview to map out this new crazy reality.
And here's why that's important,
because there are popular beliefs in the East Bay that go like this.
This life is all that there is,
and there's nothing.
It's just, you know,
when you die, that's it,
and so live the best life you can.
Or another belief says,
If there is a God,
he's remote,
and he's somewhere out there.
I don't really have to deal with him.
Another belief says,
All religions are basically alike,
just be good and love people.
But if Jesus rose from the dead,
if Jesus is the risen Son of God,
then none of those beliefs are actually true.
This life is not all there is.
God is not distant.
You either live and deal with him,
or you live in denial that this ever happened.
If this is true,
then salvation comes through no other way,
but through the one person who's risen from the dead.
And so,
what Jesus is trying to help his disciples deal with,
is that the resurrection is a paradigm-shattering,
historical event,
and it forces you to embrace a wholly new paradigm.
And that's why Jesus engages with these first skeptics,
and he's incredibly patient with them,
and he works with their unbelief, right?
He gives them evidence.
He gives them data.
He gives them time and opportunity to explore the evidence and consider the data.
But eventually,
Jesus says,
Hey,
your doubts are real,
but I'm more real.
I mean,
it's like doubting Thomas that Andrew mentioned.
He gives Thomas the proofs that he needs,
but then he says,
Thomas,
stop doubting and believe.
Stop putting your faith in only what you know,
and start putting your faith in this new,
wonderful,
albeit strange,
reality of the resurrection.
And it was in that moment on Easter,
that the first Christians began to work out a totally new model of knowledge,
a totally new understanding about the structures of reality,
and the universe,
and the future,
and how all of that bears on our present life.
And so,
if you're exploring Christianity,
I want to invite you to explore the evidence,
consider the data,
but then I'd like to ask you to take one step beyond that,
and call out to Jesus.
If he's real,
and if he's alive,
ask him to show you that he's real,
and that he's alive.
Ask him to reveal these new,
unprecedented powers to you,
and see what he'll do.
If you're a Christian,
and you believe in the resurrection,
I wish we had time to talk about the profound implications for our lives,
but I'll give you one.
If Jesus is actually raised from the dead,
if he really got up,
and walked out of the tomb,
and appeared to many people,
and talked to hundreds of them,
then everything in our lives is going to be okay.
The resurrected body of Jesus is the beginning of God's new creation.
And he is the pledge,
that the whole material order is going to be resurrected.
There are plenty of religions that talk about a future afterlife,
and a non-material world,
that will give us consolations for this world that we've lost.
But Christianity talks about bodies that are resurrected,
and beyond that,
a world that will be resurrected,
and cleansed from evil,
sin,
death,
and sorrow.
And that means for us,
that you don't need to live in FOMO.
You do not need to live with the fear of missing out,
because the resurrection means that not only are you going to be restored,
the life that you've lost,
you're going to be given the life that you never had,
but that you always wanted.
We have the hope of a new bodily reality in a newly remade world.
Jesus is the preview of those coming attractions.
The disciples are staring at the prototype of incorruptible physicality.
And if that is what is going to happen to all of us here,
then you can take more courageous risks.
You can more confidently bind yourself in constraining commitments.
You can make sacrifices of your time,
your talents,
and your treasures,
because you know you're going to get it all back and more.
And it's this Easter faith,
this resurrection faith,
that sent the first disciples out,
and they turned the world upside down,
because they believed that this was true.
So be careful with the resurrected Jesus,
because he doubts your doubts.
The risen Christ doubts your doubts.
And beyond that,
he sends us out with the biblical gospel.
The risen Christ sends us out with the biblical gospel.
He says in verse 44,
this is what I told you while I was still with you.
Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me
in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.
And then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures.
He talked about this last week,
how Jesus was adamant to open the scriptures to the minds of his friends,
his disciples.
And here he is at it again,
because this is what he always does with us.
And he says in verse 46,
he told them,
this is what is written about the Messiah.
And that,
in a resurrection church,
in a life,
a giving,
a live church,
is our key phrase.
Right?
It is written.
That's what Christ is always saying.
And what he,
his major task is to open up for us,
our minds,
to the open pages of the scriptures.
And he says,
these three sections of the Hebrew Bible,
all point to the Messiah,
and therefore they all point to me.
And he's telling them now about the gospel,
which is first and foremost,
a biblical gospel.
Jesus would spend 40 days after the resurrection
with his disciples,
and he would outline for them
the basic truths of this biblical gospel,
so that he could delegate them
to go out and take that good news
to the whole world.
And so what I want to show you
over the next few minutes
is that this biblical gospel
is like a multifaceted diamond.
And I want you to see some of these facets
that shine in all their brilliance.
Jesus first points out that,
this facet of the diamond,
which is the gospel event.
The gospel event of the crucifixion
and resurrection.
He says in verse 46,
the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead
on the third day.
That's our good news.
It's a historical event
about a Savior who took our place
and died the death we should have died
and bore our sin and our cursedness
and our condemnation on the cross
instead of us.
And then the resurrection
is not the reversal of that defeat.
It's rather a manifestation
of that victory.
That on his cross,
Jesus triumphed over sin
and he trampled on death
and he conquered over the powers of evil.
So at the heart of Easter joy
are the sufferings of Christ
whose substitutionary death
was vindicated and approved
and approved by God for us.
The resurrection is proof
that when Jesus cried out on the cross,
it is finished
that he once and for all
paid our cosmic debt in full.
That then and there,
he won redemption for us.
And that's why Jesus says in verse 48,
you are the witnesses of these things.
We're to witness
not to our experience
of the life-changing power of God
or the peace of God in our heart.
The gospel is about bearing witness
to an event before an experience.
The event of Good Friday
and Easter Sunday.
So Jesus' gospel is about an event
and then he talks about
this aspect of the diamond,
the gospel offer,
which is the forgiveness of sins.
He says in verse 47,
and repentance for the forgiveness of sins
will be preached in his name
to all nations
beginning at Jerusalem.
Good news is about salvation for sinners.
The central meaning of salvation
is the forgiveness of our sins
and there is no greater gift
that could be given
than the full and perfect pardon
of God himself.
Forgiveness is what reconciles me
to my creator God
and assures me
that I share in the divine,
eternal, abundant life
of God himself.
Forgiveness is what makes me
not an outsider
but now an insider.
It turns me from a rebel
into a son or a daughter.
It brings me into the family of God
and puts me in a right relationship
with my heavenly father
so that I'm now at home
and at rest
and at peace
in his healing heart
of love.
That's the gospel offer.
It's the gospel event
of the crucifixion
and resurrection,
the gospel offer
of the forgiveness of sins
and then Jesus talks about
the gospel demand
of repentance.
Another facet
of the diamond.
You can't have
the gospel offer
of forgiveness
without the gospel demand
of repentance.
You can't have
Jesus' invitation
without Jesus' challenge
which is this,
if we want God
to turn from our sins
in forgiveness
then we must turn
from our sins
in repentance.
We can't have
reconciliation with God
unless we turn back
from our rebellion
against him.
There's no possibility
of peace
without a decommissioning
of weapons,
without a laying down
of our arms
before God
and a surrendering
of our own self-seeking
and self-determination.
The word Jesus uses here
for repent
is metanoia.
You've got to change
your mind.
You can't
be forgiven
if you're clinging
to the old mind
and all the life
of sin
that flows out
of that mind.
You must change
your mind.
You must take on
the mind
of Christ himself.
So the gospel event,
the gospel offer,
the gospel demand
and then Jesus goes
to gospel authority
and he says,
I want you to go out
in verse 47,
repentance for the
forgiveness of sins
will be preached
in his name
to all nations.
Christianity in one word
is not love,
it's not peace,
it's just Jesus.
Christianity in one word
is Christ
Christ.
Because his name
bears
and reveals
his person
and his work.
One of his first
sermons
in the Acts of the Apostles,
Peter says this,
he says,
salvation
is found in no one else
for there is no other name
given under heaven
by which
we must
be saved.
Perhaps you've heard
the phrase,
preach the gospel
at all times
and if necessary
use words.
words.
But Jesus says
we must use words,
particularly this one
word of his name
which carries with it
the event,
the offer,
and the demand
that his name
represents.
We've not shared
the gospel
if we haven't shared
the name
and we haven't given
people an opportunity
to call upon the name
for when we call upon
and we invoke
the name
of the resurrected Lord,
we are calling
upon him
to apply
to us
the gospel
and all of its
benefits
to would-be
forgiven sinners.
So Jesus
is giving us
his diamond,
the gospel event,
the gospel offer,
the gospel demand,
the gospel authority
and then he tells us
the gospel audience
which is to all
the nations.
The word is
all the ethnos,
all the ethnics.
I want my message
and my movement
to go out
to the whole
human race,
the whole human family
and all of its
diverse multitude
of tribes,
nations,
peoples,
and languages
because I want to
transcend
and therefore
transform
all of these
ethnic,
cultural
particularities
to bring
every people group
into the fullness
of what God
originally intended
them to be
and to become.
Jesus,
we're told,
is the Lamb of God
who took away
the sins of the
whole world
and therefore
he's sending out
his church
as a missionary
to society
to that world
and when he does
that he does not
suggest
that the world
can get on
all right
with all the
other religions.
He does not
suggest that
there's another
name by which
the world
can be saved.
Doubting
Thomas
became
believing Thomas
and what did he do?
He took the gospel
to India
and he got there
by 52 AD
about 20 years
after the resurrection
of Jesus.
The church would
take the gospel
south to Africa,
north to the peoples
of Eurasia,
west to Italy
and Spain
and they would go
to all of these nations
and say to them
your understanding
of God,
your understanding
of the world
and the moral law
and the way
of salvation
is incomplete
and every time
there was a gospel
explosion
and they turned
the world upside down
because they said
the true God
has come
and therefore
all of your gods
must be dethroned.
They must be
thrown down.
We tend to focus
in that story
on the apostles
who took the gospel
to the ends of the earth
and we forget
all of those
ordinary Christians,
everyday men
and women like us
who didn't go
to the end of the world
and they just went
next door
to their friends,
their neighbors,
their coworkers
and they said
let me tell you
about the unsearchable
riches of Christ
and I think
I'm afraid
many of us,
myself included,
think about doing that
here in the Bay Area
and we go
that's impossible.
No one's going
to believe us.
That's why Jesus
ends
with gospel power.
He talks about
the gospel event
of the crucifixion
and resurrection,
the gospel offer
of the forgiveness
of sins,
the gospel demand
of repentance,
gospel authority
in his name,
the gospel audience
of all the nations
but then he ends
with gospel power,
the gospel power
of the Holy Spirit.
He says in verse 49,
I am going to send you
what my father
has promised
but stay in the city
until you have been
clothed with power
from on high.
These are people
who have borne witness
to the resurrection.
They're there
with the risen Christ
himself but he says
you are not yet fit
to go out
with your own
meager resources
and in your own
human weakness
you must wait
to receive the
essential clothing
of the Holy Spirit.
When you become
a Christian
you receive
the Holy Spirit
but all of us
need a fresh
filling of his power
if we're going
to share the gospel
among the people
with whom we live
work and play.
A church
that neglects
the Holy Spirit
will be ineffective
at sharing the gospel
because it's the Holy Spirit
who convicts us
that we are sinners
in need of a Savior.
It's the Holy Spirit
who opens blind eyes
to see that Jesus
himself is that
heaven sent Savior
that we need.
It's the Holy Spirit
who draws people
to Jesus
enabling them
to repent
and believe
and it's the Holy Spirit
who implants life
into dead souls
causing the miracle
of new birth
from above
to take place.
So this is
the diamond
that Jesus
has given
to his church
the multifaceted
diamond
of the biblical
gospel.
And I want to close
with just two words
of application.
first of all
Jesus
does not focus here
on caring for the poor
and doing
the work
of justice
and mercy.
He does not
focus on
socioeconomic
reform
through public
policy
or education
and building schools
or healing the sick
and building hospitals.
The church does
all of those things
rightly and instinctively
as an extension
of the life
and the ministry
of Jesus
and in obedience
to his command
to love
not only God
but to love our neighbor
as ourselves.
But what I want
you to know
Christ Church
is that the
great commission
is the one
central
supreme
essential
non-negotiable
task
that Jesus
has given
to us
his church.
This has not
to do with
the obvious
visible
material
needs
of people
because our
problem
as human beings
is much
deeper
than that.
Jesus gets
at the
deeper
invisible
spiritual
needs
of all
people
namely
to be
reconciled
with God
and to be
put in a
right relationship
with him.
From that
fountainhead
will flow
all kind
of good
works
for the
poor
and the
marginalized
and the
sick
and the
uneducated.
And so
our primary
task
as pastors
is to
keep the
church
focused
and faithful
on the
primary
task
that Jesus
has given
to us.
This is our
first priority.
It's the
one job
the resurrected
Christ has
given to
his church
is to
proclaim
the gospel
to the
nations.
The one
thing that
we cannot
do
is save
ourselves.
We can't
save ourselves
from sin.
We can't
save ourselves
from death.
We can't
save ourselves
from eternal
loss.
Only God
can do
that and
therefore there
is no hope
for this
world and
all of her
troubles unless
people are
first put
into a
right relationship
with God.
My second
word of
application
and I'll
end.
I talk too
much about
tennis.
I'm sorry.
We'll end
here.
Jesus came
to procure
salvation
but it's
not much
used to
procure
salvation
without a
community
who's
willing to
proclaim
it.
We are
his
representatives.
We are
his
ambassadors
here in
Berkeley and
Oakland and
beyond and
I want you to
think about all
the good news
you proclaimed
this last
month.
The good
news of
vaccines,
the good
news of
Netflix,
the good
news of
tacos and
cheap airline
tickets.
Amen?
I want you to
think about all
the good news
that you've
witnessed to
this past
week.
Flowers that
are blooming,
the NCAA
final four,
spring break,
Christchurch,
Jesus has
given us
better news.
He's given
us the best
news that
there is and
he sent us
to the Bay
Area as a
missionary
society where
the news about
Jesus is so
distorted and
misunderstood and
caricatured and
just flatly
unknown.
And so like
that fragile
little group of
120 disciples
that were waiting
there in the
supper room on
the power of
the Holy
Spirit, we
are being
sent out.
We are being
commissioned where
God has put us in
people's lives and
social networks and
relational circles to
share this good
news.
We are
commissioned.
It's the whole
reason I moved to
Berkeley in the
first place.
I wouldn't be
here if it
weren't for this
text and this
reality.
We are
commissioned.
as the early
church was
commissioned to
proclaim to all
of humankind
among all the
nations repentance
and the forgiveness
of sins on the
basis of the name
of Jesus who
died and was
raised to life
according to the
scriptures of the
Old and New
Testament in the
power of the Holy
Spirit that's been
given to each one
of us.
That's our job.
The risen Christ
has come to doubt
our doubts and he
sent us out with
one job and that
is to proclaim the
biblical gospel.
May it be so among
us in the name of
the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit.
Amen.