Notes from GSLC Sermons, Bible Studies, and other church events.
| EASTER – (Changed – A New Life) | ||||
| Text: 1Co 15:51-54 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ, This is a beautiful butterfly, isn't it? By and large, people don't like bugs very much, but almost everybody makes an exception for butterflies because they are so beautiful. As you all know, a butterfly hasn't always been beautiful. For the first part of its life it was a caterpillar, a creepy, crawly worm on the ground. We have this mental image of a caterpillar creeping slowly across the ground looking gross. When one looks at a lowly caterpillar crawling around, it's hard to believe that a beautiful butterfly could be inside of it. But it is! Time goes by, and the caterpillar goes into a cocoon, and when the caterpillar emerges, it has become a beautiful butterfly. In a spectacular fashion, the ugly, little, wooly worm got transformed into a beautiful butterfly. This transformation from caterpillar to butterfly is something we call a metamorphosis. | ||||
 I. Jesus experienced changes which are like that of the butterfly and more. There is an added step. You might say a prequel. | ||||
| | A. You could compare his life in heaven before that first Christmas to that of a butterfly. Then there was a reverse metamorphosis where he became a caterpillar – a man. We call this the Incarnation. | |||
| | 1. As this caterpillar – a man -- Jesus still retained all of the characteristics of His Godhood but He restrained his use of them. | |||
| | a. The deity of our Lord was hidden while He was a caterpillar. b. But on several occasions the Lord testified to his Godhood. "I and the Father are one," he said (John 10:30). "All things that the Father has are mine," he added (John 16:15). | |||
| | 2. And we joyfully confess that Jesus is God because it means that we have a perfect Savior. He certainly was a caterpillar like us but more. | |||
| | a. If Jesus had been anything less than God, then he would not have been good enough, nor could he have done enough for our salvation to come true. b. Mere humans, dying for their sins, do nothing to merit God's forgiveness. c. But Jesus is God and because of it He is our perfect Savior. By His one, solitary life and death, all the sins of the world are paid for. | |||
| | B. You can liken Jesus’ life as a man to being a caterpillar, crawling in the muck of our earth, living like we do in a sin-filled world, but He never sinned. | |||
| |  1. And on several occasions Jesus predicted a caterpillar – cocoon – butterfly like metamorphosis. He was teaching his disciples [and…] said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." | |||
| |  a. The truth is that Jesus died on that cross. He was as dead as the two thieves who died with Him. They buried Him in a borrowed tomb and sealed Him away, forever. Or so they thought. b. That tomb was a bit like a cocoon with one difference – a butterfly in a cocoon is never dead. He only appears so. Jesus was truly dead. And while He was in that tomb Sin and Death were clapping their hands in glee. | |||
| | 2. But God had the final word and that word changes everything. That word is Resurrection. By his death and Resurrection, death and hell are overcome for all who believe in him; eternal life is ours. | |||
| II. Resurrection as the final word gives us Hope for today and hope for eternity. The metamorphosis that happened to Jesus is happening to us also. It's true! | ||||
| | A. It is beginning to happen to us today. In 2 Corinthians we read, "All who reflect the glory of the Lord are being changed into his likeness from one degree to another ..." (2 Corinthians 3:18). | |||
| | 1. And new life from old is happening today for believers through faith. Like the caterpillars who follow nature's course and become dead to their old form in their cocoon, we must awaken to the fact that our old life is not worth hanging on to. Paul writes, "No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness." | |||
| | a. The actual process inside the cocoon unseen, it’s a bit of a mystery to most. But a caterpillar doesn't just grow into a butterfly. A caterpillar must undergo molting in which the insect's shape is entirely rearranged. A cocoon is where a caterpillar undergoes total rebuilding, where it dies to one way of locomotion and life and is born to a new way of living. Only by going into that cocoon can the caterpillar go from dormancy to potency, from ugliness to beauty. This is the reason why the butterfly is an authentic symbol of resurrection! Not because it's cute, but because it dies to be born to new life. b. Just as the butterfly replaces the caterpillar, so too there is a new life of faith that replaces the old life in us. c. What does that new life of faith look like? There is an inherent danger in asking that question. It implies that one can observe the life of faith, as if it were an object to handle, put under the microscope, or display in a case. The life of faith is to be lived, not observed. God may indeed view it from the heavens, but as humans we can only perceive it by actually living it. Entomologists and curious children observe butterflies. But, the butterfly itself is totally involved in the art of flying and finding nectar daily to sustain its new life beyond the cocoon. | |||
| | B. New life from old happened through the historical events of Jesus 2,000 years ago. Jesus is called the firstfruits of a resurrection yet to come. That means we look to a new life from old that will happen in the resurrection unto life everlasting yet to come. So we have hope for eternity. | |||
| | 1. That hope is pictured in this clip [In the movie The Ultimate Gift, the main character, Jason Stevens befriends a little girl, Emily, and her mother. Emily has an incurable disease and is dying. Jason has come to the hospital to check on his pint-sized friend, Emily. When he arrives at her hospital room he finds it empty and an orderly is changing the sheets. In a panic, Jason asks about Emily. The orderly tells him, "She's with God." This takes him by surprise, but soon he (and the viewers) discovers that what the orderly meant was that she is praying in the hospital chapel. Upon arriving at the chapel, Emily looks at him a little disdainfully because he has been absent for a while. Emily sarcastically notes, "So, here's my best friend." He tries to explain, but she cuts him off. Now that he has been to her hospital room he knows about her and her condition. She has cancer. She says, "No more mystery." Jason tries to comfort her by saying that he is sorry, but Emily snaps, "Shut up. Don't be pathetic!" Emily looks over at a statue of Jesus with his arms raised, beckoning. She says, "I wonder if He takes advance orders." Confused, Jason asks, "For what?" Emily says, "For my place, you know, there." Jason says, "What do you think it will be like?" and Emily confidently replies, "Butterflies. Lots of butterflies. Do you know God painted the colors of the butterflies with His fingers." Jason is startled, "I didn't know you thought about stuff like that." Emily, a little sad now, says, "I think about dying. I think there's something basically unfair about a person dying. I even hate the idea!" Then Emily turns and sobs on Jason's shoulder. Jason, who has been a spoiled rich kid all his life, confesses, "You know, I don't know much about God or Jesus, but (and he glances toward the statue of Christ), but I can promise that those arms are meant for you."]  Like Emily, we all hate the very idea of death but the Good News of Easter is that Resurrection is God's final word. The arms of Jesus, first from the cross and then from the empty tomb, reach out to each of us to bring us hope of new beginnings, hope in the face of the darkness of death. The arms of Jesus reach out to us and fill us with hope. Hope For Today and Hope For The Future. 2. I would like to tell you one more butterfly story. There was a caterpillar crawling across a Persian rug. And the caterpillar crawled for what he thought was seventy-five years. On that rug he could see only one color at a time. He saw first the blues, and then the oranges, the yellows, the reds, the purples, the deep violets, the greens. He saw one color at a time and said: “O, what a beautiful world I am on. Look at all that color!” He lived for what he thought was a very long time, but it was just a blink in God’s time. And finally, he crawled off the Persian carpet and he became a cocoon. He became a cocoon and hibernated. Although he didn’t realize it, the cocoon was part of the miracle. He came out of the cocoon as a butterfly. He fluttered up higher and higher and higher and he looked down at the Persian rug for the first time and saw it in its total magnificent splendor. What a sight he saw. For the first time in his existence, he saw the meaning of his whole life; he saw the past and the present like he had never seen it before. … And Jesus said, “Those who have ears to hear, listen to the meaning of this parable.” Easter is inviting us to believe in the Powers of God to create magnificent new life, to believe the miracle that God transforms caterpillars into butterflies, to believe the miracle that God transforms earthy bodies into heavenly bodies. | |||
| CONCLUSION: The purpose of Easter is to convince us that creepy, crawly caterpillars become transformed into butterflies. The purpose of Easter is to convince us that not only are there miracles in nature but that there are miracles in history, in your history and mine. The purpose of Easter is God telling the Truth that God can create life out of apparent death. The purpose of Easter is the victory celebration that tells of the Power of God that took the dead body of Jesus of Nazareth and metamorphosed him, into a glorious resurrection body. The purpose of Easter is to convince us that there will be a time in our lives when we too shall be transformed into something utterly magnificent and beautiful. The purpose of Easter is to give us hope for today and hope for eternity. | ||||
| GOOD FRIDAY – Why is it “Good” | Isaiah 53 1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledg] my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. | ||||
| INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ, There is a story a man tells about a time when he was standing in line at a bank and heard a commotion at the counter. A woman was distressed, exclaiming, “Where will I put my money? I have all my money and my mortgage here!! What will happen to my mortgage?!” On the counter was a sign that read, WE WILL BE CLOSED FOR GOOD FRIDAY. I guess she wasn’t familiar with the events of Holy Week, because she thought that the bank was going to be closed “for good” that coming Friday. “WE WILL BE CLOSED FOR GOOD . . . FRIDAY.” It turned out that she had misunderstood a small sign on the counter. That brings us to a commonly asked question concerning the name given to this day in the Church Year. We can ask: What is “good” about Good Friday? Well I thought of three things that are “good” about “Good Friday. | |||||
| I. First of all, we see Christ’s courage in the face of unbelievable cruelty. | |||||
| | A. He knew it didn’t matter how many palm branches they threw at his feet that first Palm Sunday, the crowd would turn against him. | ||||
| | 1. His head was not turned by the hosannas or the garments which paved the road. He knew what lay ahead. He had been sent with a purpose. He boldly went and fulfilled His purpose. | ||||
| | a. Our faith teaches us, humanity was held hostage by sin and death. Christ was sent to infiltrate our world in order to set us free. He was sent to break the yoke of sin that kept us in bondage. | ||||
| | 2. Christ knew salvation could not come without suffering. Nothing worthwhile ever does, and this was the most important endeavor ever undertaken by a human being. He faced the cross with great courage. | ||||
| | B. There are many Christians who are uncomfortable focusing on the cross, yet it is the very heart of our faith. | ||||
| | 1. In those barbaric times, crucifixion was regarded as the worst form of execution, reserved for the worst of criminals. It was utterly cruel and demeaning. So terrible was it that it was used only on the lowest classes of society and for the most heinous crimes such as treachery or treason. | ||||
| | a. Roman crucifixion generally followed flogging, which could itself kill. Generally the victim carried the crossbeam to the place of execution. b. There the person was nailed to the crossbeam; then followed the period of their slow death, partly caused by thirst, dehydration and hunger. | ||||
| | 2. Christ, who had emptied himself completely and became as we are, chose to experience the full depths of human suffering that he might deliver us from death and despair. So we see, first of all, Christ’s courage as he faced incredible cruelty and suffering. | ||||
| II. But there is a second reason to describe this day as “good”. It is that God’s love poured out in the death of His Son. | |||||
| | A. That cross shows us just how much God loves us. | ||||
| | 1. God watched as Jesus, His Son hung on the cross. | ||||
| | B. It is unimaginable that God would do this, unless you understand it shows just how much God cares for you and me. | ||||
| | 1. We trust that God has performed what He promised. | ||||
| III. And it’s true. We see Christ’s courage. And we see the Father’s amazing love poured out. And here is the most astounding thing of all: It was all for us. We didn’t deserve it, but Christ died for us. Maybe this is the most personal of all the reasons for calling this day “good.” | |||||
| | A. A mother living in a tenement house went shopping for groceries. While she was in the store, a fire engine raced by. She wondered, "Is the fire engine going to my home?" She had left her baby asleep at home. Forgetting about the groceries, she ran toward home. Her building had fire hoses aimed at it. It was burning like a matchbox. Rushing to the chief, she cried out, "My baby is up there." He shouted back to her, "It would be suicide for anyone to go up there now; it's too late." A young fireman standing by volunteered, "Chief, I have a little baby at home, and if my house were on fire, I'd want someone to go up to save my baby. I'll go." The young fireman climbed the stairs; he got the baby, threw her into the rescue net, and just as he did, the house collapsed and he was burned to death. The scene is 20 years later at a graveside. A 20-year-old woman is sobbing softly. Before her, at the head of this grave, is the statue of a fireman. A man stopping by asks respectfully, "Was that your father?" She replies, "No." "Was that your brother?" "No," she says. "That's the man who died for me." B. Now we can look at the cross and say “That’s the man who died for me.” And because He died for us you and I are victorious over sin and death. That’s the reason Good Friday is so important to us. It is the cross on our altar that tells us that someone died in our behalf. We are the recipients of an everlasting love. | ||||
| CONCLUSION: The cross of Christ shows us His courage as he faced the unspeakable pain and suffering of the punishment we deserve. The cross of Christ speaks of amazing love God the Father who sent His only son to that fate. The cross of Christ is a message that says to us all that this happened for us all. Christ’s courage sustained him in the face of barbaric cruelty, God’s heart broke as that cruelty was laid on Jesus, but His love came shining through, and it was all for us. We have been bought with a price. Yes, this day is really the “good” Friday” | |||||