What a day to be gathering as we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Christ,
altering everything.
And that's basically what we're going to look at here in John chapter 20.
I want to pray and then we're going to launch into this.
If you've got a Bible handy or an iPad or something like that,
it'd be great if you could get to John chapter 20.
Let's pray.
Father God, we thank you for the opportunity just to gather now
to have your word open in front of us.
We have just heard that what has been written has been written so that we might see Jesus
and that we might believe in him and that we might have life.
And so we ask that you might do that for us tonight, that we might see him,
that we might believe in him and that we might have life in his name,
that we might live as he lives now forever and in perfection.
And we ask it for your glory.
Amen.
There was an opinion piece in the Herald's Good Weekend yesterday.
It's normally a good morning.
Good Weekend yesterday.
It was written by Benjamin Law and it was titled something like Holidays are Sacred.
Benjamin describes himself as non-religious,
not an atheist, but a happy agnostic, that is, a lifelong doubter.
He suggested if he was to adopt a religious symbol at all, it would be a question mark.
Having said that, he goes on in the short little piece to say that he does, in fact, love Jesus.
Not in the religious sense, obviously,
but I think that everyone can agree that he sounded like a decent fellow.
Jesus distrusted the rich.
He helped the poor and embraced the most shunned and vulnerable members of society.
He was the first Marxist radical.
He goes on to say,
And then he makes his point.
But why stop at Easter and Christmas?
In our cities, especially with their Muslim and Jewish and Buddhist and Hindu communities,
wouldn't it make sense to celebrate and learn about these cultures too?
And he concludes that if we were to do that,
in fact, have a whole heap more public holidays,
and frankly, who wouldn't agree with that?
Or public holidays.
He said not just have more holidays,
but that we'd, in fact, be a more tolerant society.
The piece wasn't militantly anti-religious.
It was positive.
It raised some questions in a fairly authentic manner.
He was fairly honest about where he stood and what his thoughts were.
But for me, it raised the question,
and I think in some ways he's getting at this,
it's the truth question and the meaning question.
Is Christianity one of the cultural options that you can choose from
in a society like Australia at the moment,
including the option that he has chosen,
and that is to be happily a lifelong doubter?
Is Easter, what we're gathered here to celebrate right now,
one of the special religious holidays in a mixed bag
of equally valid religious holidays that we could be celebrating?
Or are we gathered here tonight as we've just sung
and as we'll just hear from God's word
to celebrate something totally unique and wonderful and life-changing
that means that Jesus,
just something a little bit more than just a fairly decent bloke
and potentially the first communist?
And so there are two questions for us here on this Easter Sunday,
and that is the truth question and the meaning question.
Whenever you talk about the resurrection of Jesus,
the truth question and the meaning question are actually intertwined.
The truth question is, well, did it actually happen?
And the meaning question is, who cares if it happened?
Whether it happened or not, who cares?
What difference does it make to my life?
There are people who reject Christianity
because intellectually they don't think that it's true.
But there are other people who reject Christianity,
not because they're convinced it's not true,
but because they can't see why to make any real difference
in their life if it were true,
or they don't want to see
that it makes any real difference in their life.
Recent survey came out,
and I'm going to fudge the figures a little bit, I think,
because I can't remember them totally.
Something like 19% of Australians
believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
And about a similar sort of figure
are completely open to the idea
that he rose again from the dead.
And yet only a very small number of people
actually go to church
and declare themselves to be Christian in our country.
So it's not just a matter of truth,
it's the matter of meaning.
What difference does it make?
40 years ago, there was an assumption in the Western world
that there were fixed natural laws
that made this world understandable
and scientifically manageable.
And unfortunately, these laws did not allow
for the truth claim that someone who was dead
actually would come back alive
and certainly, in Jesus' case, live forever.
The world at that time,
with its scientific understanding of natural laws,
did not allow for things to come back from the dead.
And so unbelief in the claims of Christianity
were often connected to those kinds of assumptions,
an intellectual assumption.
Today, there's a different assumption
behind unbelief in our world.
Today, the assumption is
there's a personal law inside of me.
You could call it individualism.
One form of individualism
is a personal law that says
I do not have to adapt my life
to anything that I don't find personally satisfying
or personally helpful to me.
That is, truth for me
is what I find personally satisfying
or what I find useful or helpful for me.
And so in the end,
don't give a rip whether Jesus rose from the dead or not.
Because whether he did or not is not my issue.
My issue is, do I actually care?
Even if it is true,
what difference does it make to my life day by day?
And so if you can't see
why it actually matters for life now,
then this personal law
will just view the resurrection of Jesus
in the same way that you might view a UFO.
I really don't need to bother about it.
Unless it's hovering over my house
late at night.
Now, some of us think, in fact,
if you're of a younger generation,
you will definitely think this way
and probably not even know
that's the way you think.
It's just part of the cultural soup
that you've been marinating in
since you were born.
Now, I think both questions,
the truth question
and the so what question,
are important to address at the same time.
So let's deal with the truth question
to start with.
The great C.S. Lewis,
the writer of the Narnia series
and a bunch of other stuff,
you know, he was a professor in Oxford
and other things like that,
wrote that in a world
that was making such rapid advancement
in scientific understanding,
he said there's a danger
of what he called chronological snobbery.
It's the assumption that any conclusion
that was made by previous generations
was based on ignorance.
For instance, chronological snobbery
might lead some to conclude
that the people who were living
around Jesus' time
were just gullible peasants
who were just ignorant of reality,
just excitable, stupid people.
But that's not the picture we get here
in the first couple of verses
of John chapter 20.
If you've got your Bibles there,
it'd be great if you could open them up
to the passage that Nick and Sam
read out to us.
John chapter 20,
look at the first couple of verses with me.
Early on the first day of the week,
while it was still dark,
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb
and saw that the stone
had been removed from the entrance.
And so she came running to Simon Peter
and the other disciple,
the one that Jesus loved,
and said, notice what she says here,
they have taken the Lord out of the tomb
and we don't know where they've put him.
Now, before he was crucified,
Jesus had mentioned a number of times,
after I'm dead,
I'm actually going to come back to life.
And he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
He said a number of times
and then we kind of struck with the disciples,
this is what's going to happen.
Even though it was mentioned so many times,
Mary goes to the tomb,
sees the tomb's empty
and she doesn't conclude
there's been a resurrection here.
The first assumption for her
is that the body has been removed.
It's down there in verse 13 as well.
She's working on the assumption.
Later on we find out
that the Jewish leaders
have come along in the middle of the night,
stolen the body of Jesus
and dumped it somewhere
outside the city limits.
Like us, Mary didn't just assume
that Jesus came back to life
and even Peter and John,
two of Jesus' key disciples,
didn't automatically jump to the conclusion
that Jesus had resurrected either.
Notice verses eight and nine here.
Finally, the other disciple
who had reached the tomb first
also went inside.
He saw and he believed.
They did not,
they still did not understand
from scripture
that Jesus had to rise from the dead.
So when he goes there,
John sees and believes.
He saw and he believed
what Mary just told him,
that Jesus' body's not there.
So looks in the tomb,
oh yeah, Mary's right,
the body's not there.
Tomb's empty.
And yet they still hadn't clicked
that Jesus had risen again
as he said he would.
And so this tells me
that the,
at least three of the early disciples
of Jesus
were not just a bunch
of silly peasants,
easily excitable,
gallible people
who believe any sort of story
that came along.
Even though Jesus
had told them repeatedly
that he would come back to life,
they weren't actually
looking for it.
And yet,
what they were confronted with
as they went to the tomb
was a bodiless tomb.
There was no body in the tomb.
You cannot play around
with the resurrection of Jesus
and see that maybe
it was just some sort
of spiritual resurrection.
There was no body.
And one of the great
historical evidences
for the resurrection
is that the tomb
where Jesus was buried,
which was guarded
by the Romans,
handpicked by the Jewish leaders,
was actually empty
on the third day.
Even the enemies of Jesus
could never produce the body.
And if they could have,
we wouldn't be sitting here
right now.
They would have nipped
this early thing
called Christianity
in the bud
right there and then,
dealt with it,
over and done with
and it would have gone
by the wayside
of every other nutcase movement
that began
back in those times.
Some have come up
with the explanation
as to why the tomb
was empty.
For instance,
some have suggested
that he never really died.
He was just
really sick.
And they put him
in the cool tomb,
closed it over,
three days in pure darkness,
and nice cool weather
and he revived
and revived enough
from the spear
going through his side
and the nail holes
and the crown of thorns
and everything else
that revived enough
to remove the stone
that took several people
to put it in place
and to disappear
and, I don't know,
wander off down the Sea of Galilee
or something like that.
it really goes against
the horrible realities
of crucifixion,
against the rigorous steps
that Pilate and the leaders
demanded to make sure
that he was
and that he was,
in fact, dead.
The steps that they took
to make sure
that no one got in
or out of that tomb.
Others have suggested
the disciples of Jesus
stole the body.
on one level,
you think that's pretty odd.
I mean,
Peter and James,
Peter and John
go to the tomb.
All they discovered
is folded bedclothes.
So why on earth,
I don't get this point,
why on earth
would they go in,
steal the body
and unwrap it all,
first of all,
take all the grave clothes off,
put them in a pile
on one side,
fold them up neatly
and run off
with a dead,
naked body?
I don't get that.
Who does that?
But more significantly,
if they took the body,
it would mean
that these disciples
began to risk their lives
and in fact,
did in fact go to death,
give themselves up to death
for something that they knew
was in fact
nothing more than
an April Fool's joke.
A complete hoax.
How else do you account
for the dramatic change
in the disciples
after Good Friday
if it wasn't
for the resurrection?
The fact that they were
utterly dejected,
they were terrified
after the death of Jesus,
they did not have hope
for a resurrection,
they were ready
to go back fishing,
these were the guys
who abandoned him,
denied that they knew him,
all took off.
They were scared
of the authorities
as we just read,
the doors were locked,
they were hiding
in a secluded room,
unwilling to believe
the first reports
of Jesus' resurrection.
And yet in a matter
of just a few weeks,
these same men
were overflowing
with joy
and with courage
and ready to die
for Jesus.
Why?
What had happened?
their own explanation
is that the Jesus
they saw dead
came back to life.
Now the evidence
is there for sure,
but doubting the resurrection
is pretty common.
Strangely enough,
the first person
to doubt the resurrection
was not a person
opposed to Christianity,
but in fact
one of Jesus'
chief supporters,
a man called Thomas.
He wasn't there
when Jesus
first appeared
to his disciples
and he came
to him soon after.
Down in verse 24,
it says,
now Thomas,
called Didymus,
one of the twelve,
was not with the disciples
when Jesus came
and so the other disciples
told him,
we've seen the Lord.
But he said to them,
unless I see
the nail marks
in his hand
and put my fingers
where the nails were
and put my hand
in his side,
I will not believe it.
Unless I see it
for myself,
I won't believe it.
I'll believe it
if God shows himself
to me.
Now the odd thing
is that resurrection
wouldn't have been
a new idea for Thomas.
He's an Orthodox Jew
and they believed
in everyone being resurrected
to face judgment
when God calls an end
to this world
as we know it.
But here he doubts
the resurrection of Jesus.
His response
to the news
is absolute.
He makes demands
in absolute terms.
Unless I see,
unless I place my hands,
I will not believe.
He demands
exhaustive proof
rather than
sufficient evidence.
A number of years ago,
I was flying home
from Canada
and I walked up
to customs,
handed over my passport
and after the awkward
pause there
of wondering
if I've done
anything wrong,
the guy says,
hmm,
says here
that you're
a minister.
I said,
yeah,
that's right.
And he goes,
right.
Okay,
so what would you say
to a person
who says to you,
show me God
and I'll believe in him?
And,
you know,
I'm sort of sitting
there going,
oh man,
I just want to go home.
And is this a test
to see whether
I'm actually a minister
or,
you know,
somewhere else dodgy
or is this guy
a genuine,
asking a genuine question?
And I'm,
you know,
all these things
are running through my brain
thinking,
is this a test
so I can get home
or what's going on here?
And I thought,
well,
best thing I can do
is just go for broke
and just give it to him
and see what happens
and hopefully
I'll get home sometime.
I said to him,
great question.
And Jesus said,
interestingly enough,
if you see me,
you see God.
He declared to be,
declared himself
to be God himself
and he did lots of miracles
to prove it
and no question about that.
He raised people
from the dead,
he healed people,
he stopped water
and storms
and everything like that.
And it's interesting
that in some of those miracles,
a particular miracle
in case,
was he actually raised
this guy called Lazarus
from the dead.
The Jewish leaders
put him in
to the tomb
four days later,
Jesus comes along
and in full view
of everyone,
he says,
Lazarus,
come on out.
Lazarus came out
and what they wanted
to do to Jesus
in that particular moment
was actually kill him.
That's because seeing
doesn't equal believing.
And John chapter 20 says,
blessed are those
who don't physically see
and yet believe.
John chapter 20
himself says
that there is sufficient evidence
that what John has written
was enough
that you might see Jesus
and actually believe in him.
But in the end,
it's a matter of the will.
I said,
God could appear to you right now.
In fact,
I could be God right now.
And I could prove to you
that I'm God right now.
And you could see me,
but seeing doesn't equal believing
because believing
is a matter of the will.
It's not just about the intellect.
It's a matter of the heart
and the will.
And so I would encourage you
to see that it might be
a matter of the will
of your heart
of whether you actually
believe the evidence or not.
I said,
that's basically
what I would say.
And he said,
fair enough,
gave my passport
and away I went.
And this is what Thomas does here.
Thomas rejects the witness
of 10 or more
of his trusted friends.
He dictates
absolute terms to God
about believing,
believing,
but he hasn't grappled
with the fact
that seeing
is not necessarily
believing.
Many people saw
the miracles of Jesus,
I just said,
and yet they didn't believe.
The Jewish leaders
plotted to kill Jesus
the moment Lazarus
walked out of the tomb.
There are further
and deeper dimensions
to believing
than just simply seeing.
Belief in Jesus,
belief in the resurrection
comes down to a matter
of the will.
And so what happens
with Thomas?
Read verse 26 here with me.
A week later,
his disciples were in the house
again and Thomas
was with them.
Though the doors were locked,
Jesus came and stood
among them and said,
peace be with you.
Then he said to Thomas,
put your finger here,
see my hands,
reach out your hand
and put it into my side.
Stop doubting and believe.
When Jesus finally
did appear to Thomas,
he said to him,
stop doubting and believe.
The call from Jesus
to Thomas was
stop disbelief and believe.
Now Jesus was merciful
to Thomas here.
He came to him
and demonstrated
his resurrection
and Thomas believed.
And Jesus' intention
was not that everyone
everyone would see him
and believe
in the same way
that Thomas would.
He didn't appear
to everyone
after his resurrection,
but he did appear
to well over 500 people
at different times.
Enough saw him alive.
And John,
who wrote this biography,
was one of those eyewitnesses.
And this is what he says
about how we come
to see and believe.
Jesus did many other
miraculous signs
in the presence
of his disciples
which are not recorded
in this book.
But these are written
that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God,
and thereby believing
you may have life
in his name.
What he is saying
is that what is written
in this biography
of Jesus' life,
his ministry,
his death,
and his resurrection,
is everything that you need
in order to believe.
You don't need to know
anything more
than what is written
in John's Gospel
or the other biographies
of Jesus
to believe and to see.
And so my first challenge
is pick one up.
Maybe you haven't done that
in a long time.
Just pick one up
and read it.
What I think is fantastic
about John 20
is,
and it particularly strikes me,
is the transparency
of what John
has written here.
The first followers
of Jesus
should have easily
believed in the resurrection.
But they were the first
to significantly doubt it.
The New Testament
doesn't even try
to cover up
their doubting.
And that's good for us.
It's good for us
to see that it's not
easy to believe
just as hard
as it was
then
as it is
now.
There's a transparency
to it.
If you don't find it
easy to believe,
that's okay.
Of course,
there are also
those who refuse
to look into
the sufficient evidence
for Jesus' resurrection
because it's not
a matter
about having
sufficient evidence.
It's more
a matter
of the claims
that Jesus
has made
about himself
and his mission.
And this is the
so what question.
That is,
it's not about
the intellect,
it's about the heart
and the will.
There is a
comfortable place
of happy ignorance.
There is a place
of
being
happily
a lifelong doubter
as
Benjamin Law
has put it.
I'm happy
to be a lifelong doubter.
I'm happy
to stay
in this position
is what he's saying.
Notice what Thomas
says when he realized
that Jesus
had come back
to life.
Verse 28,
if you like,
answers the so what.
What's the significance
of the resurrection?
He says,
my Lord
and my God.
They're the first
words
that come out
of Thomas' mouth
when he touched
his hands
and put his,
touched Jesus' hands
and put his hand
in his side.
They're the first words
that come out
of his mouth.
The first words
were not
about the resurrection.
It's like,
how did you do that?
Like,
you know,
how do you hold,
how do you drink water
with holes in your hands
and what was it like
three days in darkness?
What was it like
on the other side?
Tell me about death.
It was a multitude
of questions
that he could have had
but the first thing
that came out
of his mouth
was the implications
of the resurrection.
My Lord
and my God.
What he's
recognizing here
is because of the resurrection
everything that Jesus
said about himself
was true.
Every promise
that he's made
is true.
He is God.
He is the king
of the universe.
He is my Lord.
He is my God.
He is my boss.
He is the judge
of all humanity.
He is God.
And the resurrection
means that what Jesus
promised
he must have delivered.
He went to the cross
on Friday
taking upon himself
the sin of the world
so that we can have
direct access to God
and his resurrection
proves that he was effective.
And I can have
direct access to God
because of his death
on the cross.
That's the answer
to the so what question.
The resurrection
means that all
human guilt
and sin
and shame
has been dealt with
finally and fully.
It means that death
has not only
been confronted
but it's been
conquered
by Jesus.
It means that new
and true life
can be experienced
before death
and eternal life
after death.
It means that hope
for better things
has gone from the
category of
maybe
to an absolute
certainty.
It means that a new
heavens and a new
earth where those
who trust in Jesus
will live forever
like he lives
forever
is coming.
that is what
Jesus offers
those
who put their
trust in him
for those who
believe in him.
We don't just see him
but believe in him.
And what that means
is that Jesus
is a lot more
than just a
decent fellow.
The first
communist
not that I
agree that he was
the first communist
he's a lot
more.
He isn't just
one option
amongst many.
Something
incredibly unique
and life changing
and world view
shaping
happened
on that first
Easter Sunday.
Do you see it?
Do you believe it?
And so
sitting here
in 2015
we don't have
Thomas'
direct evidence.
We're
sitting here
a lot more
like Mary
and Peter
and John
at the tomb.
There is
sufficient evidence
and either
we see
through it
or we don't.
And what
John has
written here
is these
things are
written
that you
may believe
that Jesus
is the
Christ
the Son
of God
and that
by believing
you may
have life
in his
name.
And so
friends
God has
brought you
here this
Easter
for this
message
for this
bit of the
Bible
and for
this story
the resurrection
of Jesus
so that
you might
see
Jesus
so that
you might
believe
Jesus
and that
you might
have life
in his
name
a life
in Jesus
that triumphs
over death
and beyond
death.
And so
my prayer
for you
and for us
as a church
here
is that
this Easter
that you
will now
or that you
might very
soon by
God's grace
see
and believe
in Jesus
and in
seeing the
resurrected
Jesus
and believing
in him
that you
will have
life
that lives
forever
as he
lives
forever
Amen.
Thank you.