AN EASTER MESSAGE

Today, we celebrate the life of Christ. Today we celebrate His resurrection from the dead. It is a day of victory and triumph over death! It is a day of hope! It is a day of joy! I love the words of one of our hymns:

I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today.
I know that He is living, whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer
And just the time I need Him, He’s always near.

He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart!

One Easter Sunday while we were in China, Debbie and I arrived a good bit early for our International Church service. As we entered the tiny windbreak entrance to the church, we found that it had just let out. We were trapped in the tiny room as an army of Chinese worshippers flooded past us for the next fifteen minutes – well over five hundred of them! We smiled and used a universal word to greet these many brothers and sisters in Christ: “Hallelujah!” We received smiles and “Hallelujahs” and “Amens” from these joyful Christians! It was one of my favorite experiences from our time in China! Many extended their hands as they passed us! And smiles were contagious! It was a vivid picture of the joy of the Lord!

This joy is to be the defining quality of the church and of God’s people throughout the year. However, we find, at least in our culture, that very often Christians live short of this joy! Why is that? Why do we find it so difficult to live a consistently joyful life?

I’d like to suggest today that we receive a failing grade when it comes to living the victorious Christian life. Most of us think of a failing grade as an “F”. So, I’d like to address three “F’s” that we migrate toward as a result of living in our culture!


FUTILITY

The first “F” we’ll look at stands for futility!

Few things can weary you as the fast pace of the human race. Too many days of doing whatever it takes eventually take their toll. At one point or another, most of us wind up asking ourselves the question: Is it worth it? When I get what I want, will it be worth the price I paid?

Perhaps those were the thoughts of a San Antonio lawyer I read about recently. Successful, well-paid, new wife, remodeled house. But apparently it wasn’t enough. One day, he came home, took a gun out of his vault, climbed into a sleeping bag, and took his life. His note to his bride read, “It’s not that I don’t love you. It’s just that I’m tired and I want to rest.”

And it’s not just lawyers! The same thoughts pervade the minds of people from all walks of life:

· the self-made business man who’s made the fortune but finds the rewards less than gratifying;

· the mother-of-three who is weary of the regimen of nursing, washing clothes, preparing meals, and being sucked dry by the needs and demands of her family;

· the middle-aged machinist who works hard every day but can’t seem to make enough to support his family the way he’d like to;

· the lonely, elderly person who longs for a relationship with their children who’ve long been alienated and don’t seem to care enough to stop by for a visit;

· the divorced person who lives life alone and has little hope of the joy he or she sees others enjoying;

· the middle-aged person who realizes that they haven’t made the mark they expected to make, but who also feels trapped by the pressures and demands of life and can’t act in the freedom that they long for to pursue their dreams;

· the person with the addictive personality who has thrown their life away trying to find pleasure in a bottle or a pill – but, instead, found only temporary escape and a reality void of meaningful relationships;

· the determined person who pushed and shoved and cheated to get to the top – only to find out that when they made it, they had no friends, no family, and no respect;

· the chronically ill person who can’t seem to stay healthy and wonders if it wouldn’t just be better to end it all;

· the person who feels that God has abandoned them or been unjust to them; perhaps they’ve lost a loved one, or their own health, or experienced a divorce, or failed to succeed in their work – and they blame it on God and His lack of caring for them;

And the list goes on…

I read this week of a pastor who decided on an impulse to stop and walk through a small cemetery in the center of the downtown district where he lived. He took thirty minutes to walk through the cemetery reading epitaphs. He read many and felt the sorrow of lives lived and mourned. He came to one that read: Baby Boldt – Born and died December 10, 1910.” Then he came to another that caused him to stop and linger. It read:

Grace Llewellen Smith

“Sleeps, but rests not.

Loved, but was loved not.

Tried to please, but pleased not.

Died as she lived – alone.”

There it is: futility at it’s best!

How many Grace Llewellen Smiths are there? How many people will die in their loneliness? How many are out there wondering if anybody cares?

I’m so glad that we have a story of Jesus meeting one of these people. She was a Samaritan, so she knew the sting of racism. She was a woman in Bible times, so she knew the limitations of sexism. She’d been married to five different men, so she knew the pain of rejection. Her current mate wouldn’t even give her his name. If there is a Grace Llewellen Smith in the bible, this is she!

She came to the well for water at noon to avoid the rejection and ridicule of the other women. She expected solitude and enjoyed it. But this day she encountered a man at the well. To make matters worse, he was a Jew. To her surprise, he asked her for a drink. They talked. He treated her with respect. He told her about a spring of water that would quench, not the thirst of the flesh, but of the soul. When she asked for some of this water, he suggested that she go home and bring her husband, too.

Did she consider lying? Did she fear that rejection would now come? She chose to be honest in a deceptive kind of way. And you know the rest of the story. I wish you didn’t! I wish you were hearing it for the first time. She must have thought that, if he knew, this stranger would reject her. He would think she was worthless.

But Jesus didn’t reject her. He didn’t criticize her. Rather, He revealed Himself to her.

And do you remember what happened? She left her water bottle and ran back to the city to report to the people: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” She’s overwhelmed! She’s caught up in amazement!

You can’t help but read between the lines: “God is here! God has come! God cares…for me!”

Now I know that not all of you are caught up in this first “F”. But some of you are. You wonder if God cares about you. You’re blaming Him for the bad things that have happened in your life. You’re wondering if life is worth it.

The answer is: God hasn’t lost track of you. God cares for YOU

Say it as a testimony to God’s grace: “My life is not futile!”

Let’s go on to the second “F”.


FAILURE

This second “F” stands for failure!

A note was received by the U.S. government dated February 6, 1974. It read:

“I am sending ten dollars for blankets I stole while in WW II. My mind could not rest. Sorry I’m late.” It was signed, “an ex-GI.” Then there was a postscript, “I want to be ready to meet God.”

This note is one of literally tons of letters that have been sent to the U.S. government since it began collecting and storing letters in 1811. Since that time $3,500,000 has been deposited in what is called the Conscience Fund. An average of $45,000 is received per year!

· One Colorado woman sent in two eight-cent stamps to make up for having used one stamp twice (which for some reason had not been canceled).

· A former IRS employee mailed in one dollar for four ballpoint pens she had never returned to the office.

· A Salem, Ohio, man submitted one dollar with the following note: “When a boy, I put a few pennies on the railroad track and the train flattened them. I also used a dime and quarter in a silver-coating experiment in high school. I understand there is a law against defacing our money. I have not seen it but I desire to be a law-abiding citizen.”

These may sound like silly struggles to you, but they were serious enough offenses that real people took the time and effort to make their wrongs right. What do you do with your failures? Don’t they have a way of growing on us when we fail to deal with them in appropriate ways?

As a counselor, I’ve had people drag their failures into my office:

· Unfaithfulness

· Homosexuality

· Division

· Immorality

· Addiction

· Shame

· Regret

· Poor judgment

· Impulsiveness

Most of us look back longingly. We wish we could do it again. We’d do it differently! We’d be a different person. We’d control our tongue. We’d be more patient. We’d finish what we started. We’d turn the other cheek. We’d get married first. We’d resist temptation. We’d run with a different crowd.

What hope is there for people like us? For failures? We’ve screwed things up. We live with the reality that things can’t be undone! When we think of our past actions, we flinch! The distant pain becomes present again!

How did Jesus deal with such people? We don’t have to look far to find out. Jesus is speaking to a small crowd of people in a courtyard one morning. It’s a typical day. We don’t know what He was teaching about that morning because He was rudely interrupted.

A mob of religious leaders drags a scantily-clad woman into His presence. Only moments before she had been in bed with a man who was not her husband. Perhaps this was how she made her living. Perhaps she had been lonely and accepted the warm touch of an interested man. We’ll never know.

What we do know is that the door burst open and she was dragged from the bed to the presence of the Teacher. What went through her mind as she struggled to cover herself and felt the shame of staring, lustful eyes? A crowd quickly began to gather.

The religious leaders pitch her to the foreground where she stumbles in front of Jesus. “We found this woman in bed with a man!” the leaders said. “The law says to stone her. What do you say?” They are cocky.

The woman searches the faces for a hint of compassion. She finds none. Only cold, stony hearts that condemn without feeling. She sees that some of them already have rocks in their hands. She’s terrified. They mean business!

She looks at the Teacher. His eyes don’t glare. His eyes seem to say, “Don’t worry, it’s OK.” For the first time that morning she sees kindness.

What did Jesus see? He saw feet that were bare. Her arms were folded over her chest. Her hands were clenched under her chin. And her heart: her heart was ragged. It was torn with guilt.

He begins by diverting the crowd’s attention. He begins to draw on the ground. Their eyes leave her now for what the Teacher is drawing. But they are persistent! “What do you want us to do with her?”

There are so many things He could have said. He could have asked why they didn’t bring the man. He could have asked why they were suddenly interested in a law that had been ignored for centuries. But He didn’t. Instead, He raised His head and offered an invitation: “I guess if you’ve never made a mistake, then you have a right to stone this woman.” He looked back down and continued to draw.

No one spoke. They watched Him draw. Eyes fell. Feet shuffled. Rocks dropped. One-by-one, they left.

Jesus told the woman to look up. “Is there no one to condemn you?” He smiled as He raised her head and looked into her tear-stained eyes. Did she expect a scolding? What will He do?

He spoke: “Then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”

This is the eternal message of our Lord. Even while hanging on His cross, He was concerned about the lives of those who put Him there: “Father, forgive them; they don’t realize what they’re doing.”

Jesus always offers us forgiveness and a fresh start! Always! His lesson for us failures today is that our failures are not fatal!

Say it out loud: “My failures are not fatal!”

And now for the third “F”.


FINALITY

The third “F” stands for finality!

The scene repeats itself thousands of times every day. Folding chairs on fake turf. Nicely dressed people under a canopy. Kleenexes. Tears. Words. Metal casket. Flowers. Dirt. Open grave. Finality!

I don’t know how many of you have visited ‘The Wall’ in Washington, D.C., but it is a powerful experience that is not to be missed. Of course, I’m speaking of the Viet Nam War Memorial. It is a shiny, black, marble wall that extends for nearly two hundred yards that has the names of the dead etched into the stone. I have visited this spot many times and it is my favorite place to go in Washington. When I go, I always pause in front of the name of one of my best friends while growing up in New Brighton.

If you go, you will probably notice what I have noticed along with many others. Because of the shiny, black, marble surface, your eyesight will occasionally shift and you will see a clear reflection of your own face on the wall. It is a grim reminder that we all die. Someday, our names, too, will be etched into stone for a future generation to read.

Let’s look at the story of one more woman. She is walking through the streets of Jerusalem; she’s at the back of a crowd. It’s a funeral procession. She has walked this path before. It hadn’t been too long before that she walked behind the body of her husband. Her son had walked with her that day. Now she walked alone.

Today there is no arm around her. No shoulder for her to lay her head on. She will sleep in an empty house tonight. She will make dinner for one from now on and have conversation with none! Companionship has gone! She is alone!

Jesus and His followers stop and step aside as the procession passes. No one spoke. They thought what everyone thinks: “Someday that will be me.” It is one of those moments when our words are too long and our arms are too short. The only thing to do is to stand quietly and be respectful.

But not Jesus. He disrupted every funeral He ever attended! He knew what to say and what to do!

When He saw this mother, His heart began to break.

As the mother walked in front of Him, Jesus spoke to her: “Don’t cry.” She stopped and looked into His face.

Don’t cry? Don’t cry? What kind of a request is that?

In her silence and surprise, Jesus stepped toward the casket and touched it. The pall-bearers stopped. Everyone stopped. As Jesus stared at the boy, the crowd was silent.

Jesus spoke again – this time to the boy: “Young man,” He said calmly, “come back to life again.”

His fingers moved. His face took on color. He opened his eyes, and then sat up!

Luke’s description of what happened next is captivating. “Jesus gave him back to his mother.”

This event was a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own resurrection. It is the cause of our celebration this morning. It is the proof that there is something significant beyond the grave. It is real and it is stored up for those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord.

When the Apostle Paul was writing to the Corinthians, he became so excited about Christ’s victorious resurrection, that he blurts out: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” Just before this exclamation, he explains what it will be like at some point in the future:

But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again.

Paul is so convinced of the reality of life-after-death that in another place he writes:

And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.

So, what is the message of the Bible for those of us who are living by faith in Christ? It is this: Our death is not final!

So, there you have it. Three statements to correct the fears of our lives. These three statements can become our declaration of confidence in Christ:

My life is not futile!

My failures are not fatal!

My death is not final!