Embracing the Transformative Power of the Resurrection

Believe in the resurrection. And there are four things here in the text that I would want you to see that John is showing us. Number one, the nature of believing. Number two, the obstacles to believing. Number three, the transformation by believing. And lastly, the new community of believers. The nature of believing, the obstacles to believing, the transformation by believing, the new community of believers. [00:06:22]

But one thing about the tomb that sometimes is overlooked yet figures prominently in the story is is the fact that the stone that was covering the tomb in which Christ lay was removed. The stone is removed. We see it in the text. It's the first thing verse one. Uh 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. [00:07:26]

You see, the stone is removed not so that Jesus could get out of the tomb. the stone is removed so that we could get in and see that it's empty. And why is that significant? Well, Richard Dawkins, uh, famous atheist, new atheist, Richard Daw Dawkins, one of the four horsemen, author of the book in the early or the the 2000s, the God delusion. He wrote in an article in 1997, it was a journal of the humanist, and the title of his article was is science or religion. [00:09:11]

But what I'm presenting to you and what John is more importantly presenting to you, the stone being removed and the resurrected Christ presenting himself to his followers shows that Christianity is precisely not that kind of religion. In other words, there is evidence. The stone is removed so that you can get in and see. Now, okay, let's imagine for a moment. Let us let's imagine that on Easter Sunday morning, the first Easter, the first day of the new creation, the stone was stolen in front of the tomb and that Jesus had in fact risen from the dead. [00:10:59]

Christianity that the the stone being removed and Jesus's appearances to his disciples show us that Christianity is not a a faith that's based on blind belief. It's based on evidence. It the stone wasn't removed so that Christ could get out. It was so that we could get in. So that we could come and see. So that you could come and examine. And we see that being prominent here in the story. We read it in verse one. Mary, she goes and she sees the stone as rolled away. [00:12:47]

He sees the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. He's observing. This tomb is empty. Simon, who maybe is maybe uh maybe Simon's more of a 400 runner and and pe and and John's more of an 800 runner and this was a long distance. And so Peter's back there and he finally catches up and then he goes into the tomb. He passes John. He goes into the tomb and he sees an even closer examination. the linen cloth, the facecloth, it's folded. [00:13:41]

There's everything is neat and tidy. There's no body. And notice how in verse eight, John, he changes positions. He goes into the tomb. He reaches uh he goes into the tomb. says that the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed. He saw the evidence. It's faith based on evidence. You see the the stone all the way is Jesus's invitation to you to come and see what God has done. [00:14:22]

Maybe you have hang-ups about Christianity. Maybe you have certain doctrines that are I don't I don't know if I can get behind that. I don't know if I can believe that or what have you. Start with the resurrection and work your way backward. The evidence is there. That's the nature of believing. It's not based on blind faith. It's based on the evidence of an empty tomb and a resurrected Lord meeting with his disciples. Leads us to our second point. [00:14:59]

In my 26 years of vocational ministry, I've talked to a lot of people in a lot of places who've expressed lots of different objections to Christianity and to belief. Um and there's a lot of categories for those objections. Some of those objections are moral. In other words, I've I've talked to people and probably you have too, who said, "Well, you know, you don't understand what I've done. There is no way that God could accept me. You just don't know. You don't understand. It's a moral objection. [00:15:43]

And all those obstacles are understandable. And what's so beautiful about this text is that John presents obstacles in the disciples of the Lord. Those that had walked with him, knew him for three years, ones that had been told he's g, I'm going to die. He said, he's told them multiple times, I'm going to die. I'm going to rise. And yet here it is, the third day. And that's farthest thing from their thoughts. None of them woke up on Sunday morning believing that Jesus rose. [00:17:10]

Mary is an example of an emotional obstacle, if you will. We see her in a moment and in a few scriptures or a few um verses later, she's there weeping. Mary is actually it's it's really remarkable her story. In some ways, she's an obscure person because she's only mostly mentioned in the Gospels in reference to the resurrection uh and the cross. There's only one time outside of that she's even mentioned in all of the gospels in Luke chapter 8. [00:18:03]

And it's amazing that even in her this emotional obstacle, the mourning, the trauma, the loss, in uh verse 11, she's outside the tomb weeping. She looks into the tomb. She sees two angels in white. That doesn't turn her to believing. They ask her, "Why are you weeping?" in verse 13. And then in verse 14, she turns and she sees Jesus standing there. John makes it clear, but she doesn't know it's him. She's looking at the evidence right in front of her, but she still doesn't see it. [00:18:58]

Jesus met her where her obstacle of believing was. Then there's John. John is a fast runner. He's the one who is referred to as the disciple that Jesus loved that laid on his breast at the last supper. There's proximity. There's affection. He runs to the tomb. Maybe because of reverence, maybe because of fear, who knows? He doesn't go in. He stops short. Peter passes him, enters the tomb, and John gets the courage to go in. And in going in and seeing closer the evidence, it says he believed. [00:20:21]

But what's interesting is in verse 9, John is making this reference to himself, Peter, and all the other disciples. Verse 9, for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead. In other words, John didn't fully get it. He didn't have all the theology worked out. He didn't know that the scripture was pointing to this. Peter didn't know that at the time. Yet Jesus in his power meets John, opens his eyes, and he believes. [00:20:55]

And so, if you can imagine, they've got all this guilt, this shame, and fear. fear of reprival from the Jews, fear of or this shame of he died and these are the last things that we said to him. These are the last things that we did. He told us to pray, we fell asleep in his greatest hour, we weren't there. And so here they are. They have probably moral objections and emotional objections. The moral being, how could we ever be forgiven for what we've done? [00:22:10]

And yet, what does Jesus do? He comes and he he pre he says, "Peace be with you." He he delivers peace to them. And finally, Thomas. Wow. Thomas, the adamant skeptic. Thomas the at this point the evidence is amounting. Uh you have Mary uh who's met the Lord. You have John who's seen the empty tomb. Peter has seen the empty tomb. The other disciples, they've seen the risen Lord. And Thomas has all that before him. [00:22:54]

But Thomas responds, "Unless I see his hands and the mark in his nails that place and place my finger there, place my hand in his side, I will never believe." In the original language there, it's a double negative. It's an emphatic. I will not believe. He has the obstacle of skepticism. And largely so. And yet even Thomas, Jesus is able to meet him in his obstacle to belief, bringing him to faith. [00:24:18]

John the Apostle, he paints for us a picture of a dead, cold, crucified, and buried Lord marching out of the grave, overcoming the obstacles to belief of his followers and preaching peace to them. He overcomes all of the obstacles. Do you have obstacles in your heart? Jesus can meet you. He's calling you. Come and see. Bring your obstacles with you. That leads to the third point. Transformation by believing. [00:25:25]

He says that being a Christian is not like a horse that gets stronger and is able to leap over more fences. He says that being a Christian is a total metamorphosis. It's a transformation. It's like a horse that grows wings and is able to fly. You see, being a Christian, the transformation that Jesus brings is not just helping you to cuss less. He heals your shame. He delivers you from fear. He reorients your center of gravity such that you're not living for yourself, but you live for him, the true center of the universe. [00:26:26]

And in most of these cases, this transformation is dramatic. I mean, think about Mary. Mary who loved him. Mary who's weeping, wondering where his body is. She goes from mourning the loss of the body of Jesus to receiving the mission of announcing the resurrection. You see Mary, Jesus, he says to her in verse 16, Mary, she turns Raboni. Jesus says, don't cling to me. But he gives her this mission, this special mission. [00:27:13]

And yet Jesus comes to them and he says, "Peace." But not only that, he says in verse 21, "Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, even so I am sending you. The very mission that Jesus Christ had to come and redeem his people was a mission that he and the father agreed upon, that Jesus was sent to do willingly and lovingly. And Jesus says, "You're going to continue my mission by being a herald of this reality." [00:29:21]

Thomas. Thomas the biggest skeptic, the most skeptical of all the disciples here in his admission, hey, I'm never going to believe unless I personally, physically see and touch. What does he end up saying? In verse 28, my Lord and my God. The most the highest praise of Jesus in all of John's gospel from the first chapter up until now where John gives a prologue and he's saying that Jesus is the only one that explains the father. [00:30:09]

The transformation, the full transformation of Jesus Christ in your life will result in his glory and will display his grace and goodness in you. And part of that transformation is to give you a mission to give and to bring you into his praise. He will transform you and display his goodness. Jesus will do that for you if you let him. And this is our last point. The community of the new community of believers. [00:31:02]

Jesus is making a new community, a new people. Uh you you you see where Jesus talks to Mary and he gives a novel term for his followers when he says to her in verse 17, "Go to my brothers. Go to my brothers." You see, before that time, they're they're his followers. They're his disciples. At one point John in his discord or sorry Jesus in his his last uh discourse there before he uh is crucified John 14 and 15 he he starts calling them friends but now he calls them brothers family. [00:31:57]

You see the re the resurrection makes a new community a new family in Jesus. You become a sharer of the relationship that God has that Jesus has with the father. The in other words, the resurrection doesn't simply wash the stains off your soiled clothes. It makes you into a new humanity and brings you into a new community. You become a new creation. You have a new family. [00:32:40]

It's the Holy Spirit that made them a new creation. It's the Holy Spirit that makes you a new creation. It's the filling of the Holy Spirit that empowers you to have mission to go and be a herald to give up the highest praise to Jesus. It's the Holy Spirit who onboards into the life of the believer the same power that rose Jesus from the dead. [00:33:41]

The stone rolled away from the tomb is Jesus's invitation to you. Come and see what God has done. Bring your objections. Bring your obstacles to believing. Come and see. And he he will meet you. And as he meets you, he fills you with his spirit as you believe. And you can live in the life and the power of the resurrection. [00:34:15]