Resurrection and Crossroads

[HKHaugan]

All of Paul’s letters are the result of the effect Jesus had on Him. The Gospels are about Him. Revelation is about Him. Again, the whole Old Testament is about Jesus. The miracles of Jesus are about Him and from Him. The teachings are from His heart and are given to point to Him. He is the centrality of all the stories, the proverbs, the parables, the future, the past, and the present.

Now there are two tracks, two paths, two roads always open to us. One is God’s and the other is the devil’s. Because we are concerned primarily with the spiritual dimension we have to think in spiritual terms. In the spiritual realm we are walking a path that has those two sides, two lanes. They are the lanes of choice and decision. Every moment we are faced with only two options, God’s way or the devil’s way. Sometimes it’s clear and sometimes it’s not.

When I was coming back from Ft.Lauderdale last year I was following I-95 North and zipped right along until I began to be aware that I was moving out into a sea of reeds, seemingly an endless ocean of reeds. Somewhere along the way I had made a wrong turn. The farther I got it became quite evident I was not on I-95 North but Alligator Alley headed for Naples. I found a u-turn and headed back toward civilization and just in time, I might add, to get gas and then to redirect myself north. Life in this world is all about choices and decisions. We might call this world ‘Choice/Decision Boulevard.’ Either we head out into a sea of loneliness and separation from God or into His Kingdom where there is a family eternal.

What the devil wants is to separate us from Jesus and into eternal loneliness. That is his goal. His strategy is to distract us. He wants to distract us mentally, emotionally and physically. He wants us to get distracted by involving ourselves in endless debates and arguments, legalisms, self-righteousness, judgmentalism and so on. He wants us to get all fired up over issues, political, theological, social, national. From global warming to abortion, from racism to immigration, from political intrigue to environmental concerns, the devil wants us to worry about being right about everything. He wants us involved in maintaining our bodies at all costs. He gets us to be consumed with physical appearance, health and indulgence. He wants to keep us emotionally off-balance by activating our fears which get us into all kinds of emotional traps from depression to emotional manipulation. He wants us to be involved in self-gain and success. If he can keep us distracted by being involved in world issues getting all the right answers to all the world’s problems then he has us where he wants us. These center on what I think rather than on what Jesus does when we let Him resolve the issues. The more we concentrate on bringing Jesus to the world the more possible resolution Jesus makes possible.

As long as we are not thinking about Jesus he is confident he has us. What he wants is for us to be guilty, blaming, looking for self-justifying thoughts and behavior. He hides in the darkness of his own fear of God. His archangel is fear. He wants us in an eternity of fear.

Now, what does Jesus want? He wants to relate to us and through us. He wants to be one with us. He wants to have an open and honest exchange about where we are in our hearts and minds. He wants to be the center of our lives and dreams and hopes and fears. He wants to do away with the isolation and alienation that our lonely existence apart from God is plagued with. He wants to be our light, our night, our day and our future. He is out in the open. He doesn’t hide. With Jesus what you see is what you get.

Being Christian is not about evangelism, church, mission, ethics, behavior, religion or theology. It is about Jesus. It is about letting Him be our focus. It is about Him being our priority. It is about Jesus being here right now and being His disciple. He is to be our focus and our priority. Peter says it so well when he tells a crippled man to stand up and walk, It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through Him… Faith comes through Jesus to us and taps our ability, our capacity for faith to be faithful. What faith is is the replacing of fear, doubt, uncertainty, loneliness with Him. It is never about how faithful I am or even about the idea of faith. It is about Jesus being faithful in us and through us. He doesn’t just want to do away with our guilt, our sin, our evil, He wants to fill the space in our heart that these have occupied.

What all this is saying for us is that miracles are real, changed hearts happen and social issues are resolved because Jesus is lifted up. If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me…

What does this mean for how we approach being a church, a disciple, a witness and fulfilling our true life’s goal?

It means we have to do three things.

First, we have to really center our mind on Him.

Second, we have to let His faith replace our self-concern about being faithful, good, right and a disciple.

Third, we need to let His Spirit enter our hearts and consume us with the same passion Jesus exhibited.

In fact all three are the work of the Holy Spirit without whom life in Jesus is impossible.

So what is it about the Resurrection that is so significant? Three things.

First, the physical incidents recorded by John. There are five.

1. The stone was rolled away from the tomb to let the disciples in. Jesus had already passed through the walls. The linen strips, the spices, the head cloth, all were undisturbed not strewn about. They simply collapsed and he rose through them.

2. The incident with Mary Magdalene. At first she thinks He is the gardener. She doesn’t recognize Him until He addresses her personally by name. He opens her inner eyes and she realizes it is Him.

3. Then He comes through locked doors and brings the disciples His peace to replace the fear that gripped them.

4. Of course doubting Thomas touches the hands and side of the risen Jesus who has retained His crucifixion wounds for identity.

5. Then He has breakfast with His disciples at lakeside and they caught so many fish they had a hard time taking in the nets.

The point of the physical incidents is that there is nothing physical or material that can keep Jesus from entering your heart if you let Him. The tomb was stone like our hearts. Sometimes our hearts are like locked doors but His Holy Spirit brings Him through them. He actually brings peace in the midst of fear and doubt. He addresses us personally all the time. Maybe we just aren’t listening. Just as He had breakfast with His disciples He has His supper with us at worship. And He sends us out to catch fish.

Second, spiritual reality is identified, real and eternal. We are first and foremost spiritual people. Since Jesus is resurrected He is present at all times and in all places. His Holy Spirit is our heart companion who brings the risen Jesus to each of us in a special way. Everything we think, say and do has spiritual significance. The bottom line is that we walk in the spiritual all the time. It is the Holy Spirit who takes us through the spiritual wilderness.

Third, each of us is significant to God’s purpose of bringing the whole world into reconciliation with God. We have been made agents of the resurrected Jesus and carry an ambassadorship with an anointing. Our embassy is the Body of Christ and in the world of unbelievers are the ones we are offering citizenship to all those who would receive Jesus by faith. He is our living visa, our living passport enabling us to move from the lost world across the border into the Kingdom of God.

We have only touched the edge of the meaning of the Resurrection. There are so many ways in which its purpose and place in our minds and hearts can be realized. But what is most important for us today is that we are not dependent on anything this world has to offer. There are no limitations on our ability to share the truth of the resurrected Christ. In fact it could very well be that the buildings that have housed us for so long might be the very barriers that keep us from presenting Him to the lost world around us. With no place to hide, no place to feel justified, no structure to rationalize our visible place in the world we are moving out into the wilderness where the people God love are waiting just for each one of us to witness that Jesus is no only alive but actively seeking to bring them into His Kingdom forever. This is the time to be alive. The great reformation is upon us. He has made each of us a light so that the unbeliever can see the door to the Kingdom---Jesus, Savior and Lord.