Time to Get the Job Done

[HKHaugan]

Time to Get the Job Done

The four Gospels present the many appearances of Jesus after the Resurrection. In John it was first to Mary Magdalene at the tomb and then to ten disciples, then later to the Ten plus Thomas, then again to the disciples by the lake (Jn.20-21).

In Matthew it was first to both Mary and Mary Magdalene and then to the 11 disciples commissioning them for mission (Mt.28).

Mark records three, the first of which is to Mary Magdalene, the second was to two walkers in the countryside and then to the eleven disciples.

Luke presents a more detailed account in Chapter 24 with three women plus others who saw the empty tomb and reported it to Peter who went to the tomb and saw the collapsed grave clothes. Then Jesus appeared to the two men on the road to Emmaus. The importance of this particular passage is Jesus teaching them everything about Himself in all, that is all of the Hebrew Scriptures, meaning Genesis to Malachi (vs.13-35). Then He appeared to the eleven disciples and ate before them.

After these Paul adds 500 more witnesses who saw Jesus at the same time as well. And, of course, his own experience on the road to Damascus (Acts 22:7-11, 26:14-18, 1Cor.15:4-7).

The point of each Gospel is to see not only the Resurrection account but to read them spiritually to see how they fit into our experience and give us meaning in our contemporary situation. Each of these passages has its own message.

First, the John passage is significant in what John and Peter saw when they entered the tomb. It was the arrangement of the burial clothes. They weren't strewn about but folded separately (20:6-7). It appears that Jesus was raised through the clothes without disturbing them. A short time later Jesus comes through locked doors to greet the disciples (Jn.20:26). It had to have reminded them of Jesus' words that His kingdom was not of this world (Jn.18:36). It's the one we preach today. Would it not also verify His directions to the witnesses at Lazarus' raising when He said “Take off the grave clothes and let him go (Jn.11:44)?” The grave clothes that sin produces; the striving for status, trophies and all the other self-exalting things we dress in. Jesus felt that within Him, took it to the Cross and there died to it for our sake. Whatever sin is to us and where it has taken us, Jesus felt and bore it within on the Cross. So when we receive Him and hear His call for us to take up our cross it's our repentance, our confession, that switches us from the old life to the new life in Him. We are raised to a new life and in the process of being cleaned up from all of what we strive for in this world. It's called salvation. It starts with a shower and a daily bath of repentance and receiving forgiveness, freeing us to live the new life in Him. That's when we get out, meet people and offer the new life in the new kingdom, the kingdom within. It's what a Resurrection people do.

Second, take the Luke passage describing Jesus walking along the road with two disciples. He ends up at dinner with them and they don't recognize Him until He takes the bread, breaks it and gives it to them at which point He vanishes (Lk.24:31). The significance is His personal guarantee that whenever we take the bread and wine to remember His death and Resurrection, He is present. But also this is the journey where His Resurrection authorizes the perfection of Scripture as His Word, an eternal Word, an uncompromising Word and the only authentic means by which we can relate to Him and others as God intended. Jesus taught everything the Scripture pointed out about Himself so they would understand its daily counsel for us while we are walking through the world from one place and one person to another. We carry that Word while we are on the way each day. We don't only let it guide us but we learn to allow the Spirit to use it as our response as He directs. It's what a Resurrection people do.

Third, the brief Resurrection passages in Mark reveal the existence of angels as announcers of the great event as well as lifting up the importance of women as the first carriers of the message that Jesus was risen. But there were other things too. As the women approached the tomb the question was raised as to who would move the stone. The stone had been rolled away not to let Jesus out but to let the women in. An angel was in the tomb announcing Jesus was risen and for them to go to Galilee where they would see Him. Angels are from the unseen to be seen and then to return after their announcing is done. At the end of Mark are mentioned the gifts of healing, speaking in new languages, being saved from snakes and poisons (also in Lk.10:19, Acts.28:3-5). To see them in our modern context is to witness the spiritual reality of the Resurrection. First, to understand them. Second, to learn what they mean in our time. Third, to practice them (Rom.12, 1Cor.12, Eph.4). It's what a Resurrection people do.

Fourth, Matthew's message is also a brief account with the women heading back after the angel's instructions. On the way Jesus appears to them. As they worship Him He tells them to go to Galilee and tell His brothers He'll meet them in Galilee. When the disciples come He announces that all authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Him. Therefore, He commissions them to make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit with the assurance He is with them to the end of the age (28:16-20). While we are on the way we meet people, pray for them and our sharing allows the Holy Spirit to make them disciples through us. It's what a Resurrection people do.

The whole body of Paul's writing details the effect of the risen Jesus on a converted Pharisee and the rest of the spread of faith in Jesus. His signature message is a resounding echo of Jesus' life, justification by faith. It is through faith that Jesus lived as He lived, died as He died and rose as He rose. It is faith that made Jesus right and faith that makes us right.

The one thing we don't want to miss in all of this is what precedes the Resurrection and that is the life of Jesus. Everything recorded about Him is His life. That life is what rose from the dead. All His words, the impressions He gave, the places He went, the reasoning of His mind, the feelings in His heart, His leading in the Spirit, the whole manner of His being---all of that was risen---the totality that is Jesus. Everything He was came through His faith in His Father, what He knew of His Father, His oneness with the Father, His obedience to His Father's will, the love of His Father and His love for us, Him being the picture of grace in action, truth in His Words and life pouring from Him in the Spirit. You sum up Jesus and you sum up perfection in being right. That is why life for us is letting Jesus live through and be right through us. That's what being justified by faith is all about. Faith in Jesus is being right and makes us right with Him.

But being right is quite different for a disciple of Jesus than how the secular mind operates to justify itself without God. Being right is allowing Jesus to be right through us and it is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of right, that accomplishes that in us through His Word. That process of faith begins with a conscious yielding of self to God as He made Himself known in Jesus. Faith is what makes us right. That's why Scripture is the revealing source for our being right. It is our manual of faith which is the new right. It reveals the darkness of sin as the block to faith, to being right by being faithful. The Holy Spirit takes the Word and reveals the presence of Jesus in it and then uses the uniqueness in us to be a witness of faith in Jesus right where we are.

When Jesus is our focus, it is the Holy Spirit working to fill our mind and heart in every next moment. Without God sin rules the darkness in the depth of us where every moment is a fear filled moment facing every choice and decision. Jesus died and rose so that every moment's choice and decision is covered by the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who hovers over us as He did when the newly created earth was “formless and empty and darkness was over the surface of the deep (Gen.1:2).” Each of us who are born spiritually are like a new earth---our body, and like a new heaven---our heart, where the Father says, “Let there be light” and the Light of the world shines in our darkness as the “way, the truth and the life (Jn.14:6).”

It's time to get the job done. It's what a Resurrection people do.

But now we need to be looking forward to what God will do next. This is the theme of Pentecost, the ongoing work of Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is the revelation of the Holy Spirit, the third person of God, who keeps us looking forward in expectation. This is what the Book of the Acts of the Apostles is all about. Looking forward is the Holy Spirit's work in us.

Chapter 2 reveals the importance of Pentecost as the indwelling of Jesus in the hearts of believers who then translate that indwelling into making disciples, ministering through spiritual gifts and reconciling broken hearts to God. It starts with the dramatic change of Peter who in Christ was being drawn out from the past to look forward to what the Lord would do through him each succeeding day. For instance, when he was converted his heart burst with a sermon that caused great changes in the hearts of Jerusalem's people. He says very specifically in vs.22 that the power of the Holy Spirit was witnessed in Jesus by miracles, wonders and signs. Changed hearts would be the major experience as they looked forward. Home groups multiplied. Initially there were great signs and wonders and miracles occurring.

The miracles (Gk. dunamesi) are those things that show Jesus' mastery over the physical universe. It points to the power of Creation.

The wonders (Gk. terasi) are seen in events like the parting of the Red Sea, the provision of Manna, the Burning Bush, Jesus walking on water, multiplying the fish and loaves, raising Lazarus, His Resurrection and Ascension.

The signs (Gk. semeiois) are those things that fulfill the prophecies like the seven signs in the Gospel of John.

Continuing in vs.42-46 the spiritual foundation of the Body of Christ was established. Four principles define that foundation: the Apostles' teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers.

First, the Apostles' teaching comes through Scripture.

Second, fellowship of the Holy Spirit in ministering to one another with spiritual gifts and building up one another for testimony and witness for ministry and mission.

Third, breaking of bread is a descriptive term for the Lord's Supper; a constant reminder of Jesus' death and resurrected presence.

Fourth, prayers, both private and corporate, were answered. The Holy Spirit was moving the Body forward.