Grounded: He Descended to the Dead - Matthew 27:46-61 - Drew Hyun

Now, there's something about this though that's a little bit like, why would this be the very thing that the creed starts with about Jesus? Not only that he's fully God and fully man, why would it start with his death? Because honestly, when it comes to God, I don't like thinking about a God who's dead and in a tomb. I want a God who's a conquering hero. A God who's impenetrable. A God who never makes mistakes. A God who has power and can vanquish any enemy or foe. But a God who dies? Doesn't sound very enticing. Doesn't sound very convincing. [00:08:51] (36 seconds)  #JesusDiedFirst

And what ends up happening then is, all those feelings that once brought us to faith in the first place, it causes this disequilibrium. It's like, what in the world am I supposed to do with this pain, these doubts, suffering, the failure? And you see, the expected reality, well most of us would expect, because here we are, we live in this up into the right world. It's like, oh, I come to faith, and then it's basically more joy, more happiness, more wealth, the older we get. And yet, isn't it true if you've been a Christian for a while? Sometimes it feels like the exact opposite. [00:26:18] (40 seconds)  #FaithHasUpsAndDowns

What does it look like for us to be people who are actually open handed about life? So that whatever comes, good times or bad times, there's still a rootedness and a deep seated faith and joy that goes beyond my circumstances. Now, you see that this kind of faith is really a mature, deepened, wise kind of faith? But very few of us can get there. Because we're still living in this first half of kind of like trying to think that somehow God is like our like we're these puppet masters that shape God into our own image and yet God, what God's trying to do is purge us from all of that. [00:35:19] (41 seconds)  #OpenHandedFaith

Some of us we have this view that, oh yeah, if I do this and God will show up, but it show up in the way that I want him to. And then, if God doesn't do what I want him to do, or if God doesn't move in the way that I want God to move, then all of a sudden I'm like, it's because I'm not praying hard and long enough. But do you see, it's an immature view of faith because it ends up being about me and what I can do. Now listen, do I want you to pray more? Do I want us to earnestly seek after God? 100%. But if it's so that God will do something for me, it's actually an immature, broken, incomplete view of faith. [00:22:59] (46 seconds)  #PrayerIsNotControl

Now, do you notice what Peter's doing? Peter's making sense of the story that he's living, of what he witnessed of Jesus and he's like, wow, a significant part of the story is a Messiah who suffered, died, was buried, descended to the dead. A God of suffering and difficulty. Now, Peter understands this. The reason why he needed suffer was so that we could experience healing and we could experience a God who's actually with us in the suffering. [00:15:11] (37 seconds)  #GodWithUsInSuffering

Now, here's the thing. This is what the earliest Christians understood then. They start to remember then, oh my goodness, even our Messiah suffered and died. Now, notice what begins to click in amongst the earliest followers of Jesus. Look at the Gospel of John. Look at what it says. This they remember Jesus teaches this. Remember what I told you, Jesus says. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. Could you imagine all the disciples were like, oh, that's what Jesus was getting at. He suffered and he was telling us, we're going to suffer too. [00:15:48] (37 seconds)  #WeWillSufferToo

That you're going to suffer as well. Do you remember? Like Peter, he's like writing this to the like the earliest followers of Jesus, be like, this is part of the story. He's like, you're going to suffer as well. Look at what the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy. He wrote, in fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. High five your neighbor and say, if you want to live a godly life, you will be persecuted. Go ahead and do that real quick. Yeah, super awkward just now. Like really, are we high fiving about this? [00:16:38] (38 seconds)  #PersecutedForFaith

That's usually the wall. And many of us when we get to the wall, the question is like, that's when our faith is kind of hinging like, is it going to make it or not? Or do I end up being so disgusted with what I thought about what faith is, but all of a sudden, I'm confronted with so many questions questions and and confusion. Confusion. And, I want you to know that's a normal part of the journey. And, I wish it wasn't so. Believe me, if I could spare you all from the wall, I wish I could. [00:29:36] (28 seconds)  #TheWallIsReal