8-18-19 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Pastor Tim Patoka

Joy For Our Journeys #7 August 18, 2019 The Journey From Death To Life John 20:1-18 1) Jesus Truly Rose From The Dead 2) Jesus’ Resurrection Is Our Guarantee

We live in a world where every company wants your business and countless organizations want your time. How do you know who to listen to and who to trust to get the job done? I recently had to do that when I realized that termites had made their way to our master bathroom. I knew I couldn’t ignore them for years like I have with other things around the house. They had to be taken care of, and I wanted a professional to do it so that I knew it was done correctly. So I started the process of selecting which company I trusted to protect my house. I did some looking, read reviews, heard the sales pitches, and reviewed the small print. After receiving all the information, I made my choice who I was going to trust my termite problem it. Now I won’t tell you who I chose because I don’t want to sound like a commercial. But so far I have been happy with them and glad that I placed my trust with them.

We all have to decide who we are going to trust to do all sorts of things.

There are a lot of options out there for just about everything. And the same consumer mindset can find itself in Christianity. How can we trust that Christianity is the real deal? There’s a lot of different ways we could answer that. But the greatest proof we have is Jesus’ journey from death to life as recorded for us in John chapter twenty. Even though it sounds impossible, Jesus truly rose from the dead as God’s Word says. But even more, Jesus’ resurrection is our guarantee that we can trust what God says is ours.

1) Jesus Truly Rose From The Dead We typically have a lot of historical ground to cover each Sunday as we’ve gone from journey to journey in our summer worship series. But not this time. Last week we left off with Jesus’ journey to the cross where he sacrificed his perfect life to pay for our sins. In the three days since, Jesus has been taken off the cross, hastily prepared for burial, and laid in the freshly cut tomb that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea. On Silent Saturday, Jesus’ followers observed the Sabbath and stayed at home.

Things picked up at Sunday’s early light. Our verses tell us how Mary Magdalene went out to the tomb and found things in an unexpected way – the 1

Pastor Tim Patoka

Joy For Our Journeys #7 August 18, 2019 stone was rolled away and Jesus’ body was not there. She runs to the disciples and tells Simon Peter and John, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb…and we don’t know where they put him!” (John 20:2) Peter and John have to see what’s up with their own eyes. So they rush to the tomb and find something else that’s unexpected, something strange with Jesus’ burial cloths. They’re lying there as if the body they once were wrapped around just disappeared. The facecloth that was wrapped around Jesus’ head was folded up and set off to a side. Peter and John return to base camp, believing yet not understanding, but Mary remains at the tomb. There she talks with two angels and Jesus himself, who she mistakenly thinks is the gardener at first, who tell her that Jesus’ body is not accidentally missing. It’s missing on purpose because he has risen from the dead and was with her for a short while! Not long after that, Mary Magdalene made sure the word got out about what happened that Easter morning – Jesus truly rose from the dead.

This blessed morning is what makes Christianity stand out from most of the other religions in the world. Not because it talks about dead people becoming alive, but because of how important this particular resurrection is. As we heard in our Second Lesson from 1 Corinthians chapter fifteen, Jesus’ resurrection is essential to the Christian faith. If it didn’t happened, our faith would be futile and we would still be in our sins. All of Christianity hinges on this one event. It’s for this reason we make such a big deal about Jesus’ journey from death to life and why we carefully consider anything that explains what happened on Easter morning.

We know that it is impossible for dead people to come back to life. As such, sinful minds come up with conspiracy theories to explain away what God’s Word records. An ancient theory is that somebody stole Jesus’ body so that it seemed like he had risen from the dead. After all, if no one can find Jesus’ body you can prove he didn’t rise from the dead. A more modern theory is that these words are a lie, a story that the early Christian church invented for one reason or another. There’s a bunch of more theories, but what they all have in common is that they deny the fact that Jesus truly rose from the dead.

How do we react to such sinful theories? Often times we immediately play the faith card, that you can only believe this if you have faith. That is 100% correct. But it’s not our only defense though. We can also use logic. When it comes to the ancient theory that some grave robbers came and stole Jesus’ body away, we remember that Pontius Pilate had soldiers guarding Jesus’ tomb. Not only would the robbers have to overpower the guards, but they would have to

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Pastor Tim Patoka

Joy For Our Journeys #7 August 18, 2019 break the seal and roll the stone out of the way. That wouldn’t be easy. Then we look at the burial clothes. It doesn’t make sense that they would strip Jesus’ body of the cloths and neatly fold the facecloth by itself. They would have taken Jesus as he was with his burial cloths still on.

When it comes to the more modern theory that the early Christian church made this all up, we look to the people involved. If Mary Magdalene had a part in writing the narrative, why would she portray herself in this somewhat foolish way?

Why would Peter and John devote the rest of their lives to telling others about the risen Christ at great personal expense if they knew it was all a lie? No, these people and the rest of the early Christian church genuinely believed that Jesus’ journey from death to life had actually happened.

As improbable as Jesus’ resurrection is, its miraculous truth is the only way we can make sense of what is written and what happened on that Sunday morning.

And the only way this could all happen is if God was involved. Our God is allpowerful. If he can make the whole universe in six twenty-four hour days by his word alone and if he can guide the world’s history and work through man’s sinful actions to do his will, then God can certainly raise Jesus from the dead. We even saw Jesus raise people from the dead like with Lazarus and the son of the widow from Nain. God certainly has the power to do such miraculous things. And when we look at Jesus’ journey from death to life, we see this power in action. Jesus truly rose from the dead just as the Bible says.

2) Jesus’ Resurrection Is Our Guarantee Jesus’ journey from death to life also shows us how correct we are to trust God’s Word. We look again at the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians chapter fifteen to see what is ours, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came by a man, the resurrection of the dead also is going to come by a man. For as in Adam they all die, so also in Christ they all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22) As Jesus journeyed from death to life, so will we who call Jesus our Savior.

Our assurance for this comes from where Easter fits in God’s timeline. It’s the last thing Jesus does concerning our salvation. Every prophecy and promise about the Promised Savior looked forward to this moment. Jesus lived according to these prophecies and promises and according to every one of God’s laws while he walked on earth. As we learned last week, Jesus’ death on the cross was the price

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Pastor Tim Patoka

Joy For Our Journeys #7 August 18, 2019 our sins required. God accepted that payment in full. And our proof for all this is none other than Jesus’ journey from death to life.

We will want to make sure we keep this as our guarantee of why we trust God’s Word because sometimes we want to bring ourselves into the mix. We look at what we have done for God or some memorable experience in the past to assure ourselves that God will bless us as he has said because of those things. We remember how God loves all people and wants them to be saved. That is true! But when we overemphasize it, we can come to false conclusions like how God will let everyone into heaven regardless of their faith or opinion of Jesus. Now that may be an extreme example, but such things easily happen if we place our trust in the wrong things.

There’s a reason why the Apostle Paul goes back to Jesus’ journey from death to life in our Second Lesson. It is our guarantee that we are saved. Jesus’ resurrection assures us that we are saved because of what he has done for us. It doesn’t depend on us in any way nor should it. Because if we had to rely on ourselves, we could never be sure if we were truly saved. Jesus’ journey from death to life also brings together all the prophecies, promises, and actions that Jesus fulfilled to be our Savior to prove to us that there is nothing left to be done.

No one else can be the Savior because he did it all.

And lastly, Jesus’ journey from death to life is our guarantee that we will blessed by God just as he tells us. God will not punish us for our sins. He has already doled it out on his Son Jesus. We are forgiven of all our wrongs and thus have nothing to fear from God. From that blessing come so many more for which we can give thanks to God. And those blessings will only continue to be ours when we enter our eternal home in heaven.

How do we know that we can trust what God’s Word says is ours? We look to Jesus and his journey from death to life. Even though this journey was physically impossible, Jesus truly rose from the dead as the Easter account tells us.

Not only does this show us God’s power, but it also guarantees us that God will bless as he has said. We are saved because of what Jesus did for us as prophesied and promised hundreds of years before he walked on earth. We are thus forgiven and have the guarantee of eternal life. And I pray that we keep our focus on Jesus and his journey from death to life so that we may never doubt what God says is ours. Amen.

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