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Easter Freedom ALLELUIA…CHRIST IS RISEN! THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED, ALLELUIA! IMAGINE THE SCENE… AFTER CHURCH ON EASTER SUNDAY, YOU DECIDE TO GO TO THE CEMETERY CARRYING A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS TO PUT ON YOUR GREAT – GRANDMOTHER’S TOMBSTONE… SOMETHING MANY OF YOU MIGHT ACTUALLY DO TODAY. BUT WHEN YOU GET THERE, THE STONE IS UNMISTAKBLY UPROOTED!
IN RAGE AND CONFUSION YOU RUSH TO THE GROUNDSKEEPERS OFFICE… WHERE IS BETTY WALKER? HER GRAVE HAS BEEN VANDALIZED! THE GROUNDSKEEPER SHAKES HIS HEAD CALMLY AND SAYS: BETTY WALKER? OH YEAH, SHE CAME BACK TO LIFE, AND HE TURNS AROUND AND CONTINUES TO LOAD HIS TRUCK… YOU’RE SITTING THERE OPEN MOUTHED… I WANT AN ANSWER, A REAL ONE PLEASE… JOKING ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT IS ABSOLUTELY INAPPROPRIATE! THE MAN LOOKS UP… LADY, I’VE HONESTLY HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT! JUST GOT RIGHT UP OUT OF THAT GRAVE AND STARTED WALKING AND TALKING… NO, YOU WON’T FIND HER HERE! I SAW HER WALK ON DOWN THE ROAD, MOST AMAZING THING I’D EVER SEEN! NOW, IF YOU’RE THAT GREAT GRAND-DAUGHTER, YOU HAVE SOME CHOICES. YOU CAN… RUN AND TELL EVERYONE WITH SHEER ECSTATIC JOY…! YOU CAN WONDER WITH SHEER FEAR AND CAUTIOUS ANXIETY… OR ABSOLUTELY CLOSE YOUR MIND TO ANY POSSIBILITY IT COULD EVER HAPPEN, AND WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, SCHEDULE A MENTAL EXAM. MY FRIENDS, AS CRAZY AS THIS PICTURE IS, THIS IS THE VERY THING WE’RE CELEBRATING TODAY, I CALL IT EASTER SUNDAY FREEDOM… HAVE YOU STOPPED TO THINK FOR JUST A MOMENT HOW FAR-OUT ALL THIS IS? IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD, HOW LUDICROUS? WHO COULD HAVE COME UP WITH SOMETHING LIKE THIS? YOU COULDN’T WRITE MORE OF A SCIENCE FICTION RELIGION THAN THIS… WHO EVER SAID CHRISTIANITY IS BORING AND LACKING FIREWORKS! YET, IN ALL 4 GOSPELS IT’S THE SAME STORY TOLD BY 4 WITNESSES…
SUNDAY MORNING SUNRISE…
CHANTING ALLELULIA, CHRIST IS RISEN! BACK TO THAT FIRST EASTER… THE WOMEN, HAVING BEEN IN THE TOMB NOW RUN FOR THE HILLS TO PROCLAIM THE MIRACLE. ONCE BACK, THEY ENCOUNTER 3 GENERAL RESPONSES… I LOVE HOW HONEST SCRIPTURE IS! FIRST RESPONSE? LADIES, TOO MUCH CAFFEINE IN YOUR LATTE THIS MORNING…. YOU’RE ALL CRAZY IT’S ALL NONSENSE. THERE IS A CYNICAL DISBELIEF AT THIS DISCOVERY. THE WORD FOR NONSENSE HERE IS ONE THE GREEKS USED TO DESCRIBE THE BABBLING OF A FEVERED AND INSANE MIND… THERE WAS NO WAY THESE FOLKS WERE GOING TO LISTEN TO ONE MORE WORD BEING SAID, THE WHOLE THING WASN’T WORTH ANOTHER THOUGHT… REJECTED. THE NEXT RESPONSE… CAUTIOUS DOUBT… BUT DOUBT THAT INSPIRES ACTION! SOMETHING LIKE A BOMBSHELL GOES OFF IN PETER’S HEART…. HERE IS A GUY WHO JUST DENIED JESUS, AND FIGURES HE HAS NOTHING TO LOSE WITH HIM… IN FACT, HE’S BEEN AT THE SIDE OF JESUS ALL ALONG AND A MIRACLE LIKE THIS WOULDN’T BE OUT OF THE ORDINARY! SO, PETER IN THE FLASH OF A SECOND RUNS BACK TO THE TOMB….ASKING SIMPLY… WHAT IF????? 3RD RESPONSE: JOYFILLED BELIEF!!!! PRAISE THE LORD, IT HAPPENED, YOU ARE WHO YOU SAY YOU ARE, YOU HAVE GIVEN US NEW LIFE AND HOPE JESUS! AND THESE FOLKS KNOW THEIR LIVES WOULD NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN… MY FRIENDS, OUT OF THESE THREE RESPONSES, WHERE ARE YOU THIS MORNING ON THAT CONTINUM? PLACING YOURSELF BACK WHEN THE LADIES GIVE THE NEWS… ARE YOU THIS MORNING SHOUTING FOR JOY? OR IN A STATE OF WONDER AND CAUTIOUS DOUBT? OR WERE YOU FORCED HERE AND YOU THINK ALL OF THIS IS NONSENSE? MY FRIENDS, THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT REGARDLESS OF OUR RESPONSE, JESUS WHO LOVES YOU, AND MEETS YOU WHEREVER YOU ARE…! IF YOU ARE HERE SAYING LIKE THE APOSTLES, IT’S ALL NONSENSE… KNOW THIS, THE LORD WILL MEET YOU EVEN THERE! I REMEMBER BEFORE I WAS A PRIEST, BEFORE SEMINARY… I WAS SEARCHING, IN FACT IT’S SAFE TO SAY I HAD ONE FOOT IN THE CHURCH, ONE FOOT OUT, IT WAS A TIME IN MY LIFE WHEN PART OF ME WAS SAYING….. COULD IT ALL BE JUST NONSENSE… BUT I REMEMBER GOING TO CHURCH DURING THAT TIME AND I SPOTTED A CUTE GIRL IN THE CHOIR AND THOUGHT TO MYSELF, YOU KNOW, I SHOULD BE IN THAT CHOIR… I JOINED THE CHOIR ONLY FOR A CUTE GIRL… ONE FOOT IN THE CHURCH, ONE FOOT OUT… JESUS MET ME THERE… AND GUESS WHAT! ALMOST 15 YEARS LATER, I’M WEARING THE COLLAR! WHAT HAPPENED? THE LORD MET ME THERE, USED WHATEVER HE COULD TO HOOK ME AND MY LIFE HASN’T BEEN THE SAME SINCE! THE OTHER RESPONSE REMEMBER IS DOUBT, BUT A KIND OF DOUBT THAT CAUSED ANTS IN THE PANTS OF PETER! PETER SAYS, I MUST SEE THIS WITH MY OWN TWO EYES! MY FRIENDS, HEAR ME ON THIS…THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH DOUBT.. IF IT SPURS YOU TO GO DEEPER IN YOUR SEARCH. THE KIND OF DOUBT THAT CAN BE POISONOUS IS CYNICAL DOUBT, A DOUBT THAT FREEZES US INTO INACTION. A DOUBT THAT SAYS, I’M NOT READY TO BELIEVE, THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT JESUS MEETS US THERE TOO! JUST AS HE MET MY FATHER. IN THE LATE 1950’S, MY FATHER WAS IN PRE-RABBINICAL SCHOOL AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY, STUDYING TO BECOME A JEWISH RABBI. AT THAT TIME, HE WAS ASKED TO STUDY THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. SO OFF HE GOES TO A RANDOM CHURCH…. HE GOES--HE DOUBTS. HE GOES AGAIN--HE DOUBTS. A VERITABLE INTERIOR TUG OF WAR, THAT WAR OF THE WILL ENDS IN CONVERSION FOR MY FATHER WHO CONVERTED TO BELIEF IN JESUS AND IS NOW A PRIEST… DO YOU SEE A PATTERN HERE! MY POINT IS THAT JESUS MEETS US WHERE WE ARE AND WHISPERS…. EVEN THROUGH OUR DOUBTS… COME AND SEE, COME AND SEE! AND THEN THERE ARE THOSE WHO SIMPLY SAY IT’S WONDERFUL, LIKE THE WOMEN AT THE TOMB…I GET IT, I’M WITH YOU JESUS. I THINK OF BISHOP SALMON WHO WAS HERE THIS PAST WEEK. IN OUR STAFF TIME WITH HIM, ONE OF OUR STAFF MEMBERS ASKED THE BISHOP… WAS THEIR A LIGHTNING BOLT FROM THE SKY THAT WENT OFF TELLING YOU TO BECOME A PRIEST? BISHOP SALMON SMILED AND THEN SAID, I CAN’T REMEMBER A TIME WHEN I DIDN’T KNOW JESUS, HE’S ALWAYS BEEN A PART OF MY LIFE, GOING INTO THE ORDAINED MINISTRY WAS THE MOST NATURAL THING IN THE WORLD! LIKE THAT PEACE, THERE WAS ALSO A PEACE LIKE THAT IN THE TOMB… HE IS RISEN AND THEY BELIEVE, TO THE POINT THEY TELL EVERYONE THEY KNOW! MY FRIENDS I WANT TO TELL YOU WHY I BELIEVE IN THE EASTER RESURRECTION… I WANT TO TELL YOU WHY THE EASTER RESURRECTION HAS CHANGED MY LIFE… I BOIL IT ALL DOWN TO ONE WORD…FREEDOM…LET ME EXPLAIN. LAST WEEK, I WAS DRIVING MY 6 YEAR OLD SON CHRISTIAN TO SCHOOL… HE WAS IN THE BACK SEAT WITH HIS 8 YEAR OLD SISTER WIMBERLY. DRIVING ALONG I ASK…HOW DID YOU ALL SLEEP LAST NIGHT? TO MY SURPRISE, MY SON CHRISTIAN SAYS TERRIBLE. I DIDN’T SLEEP A WINK. REALLY, WHY WAS THAT CHRISTIAN… BAD DREAMS? NIGHTMARES? NO, DADDY, I TOLD A LIE IN SCHOOL YESTERDAY. I TOLD MY TEACHER I READ A BOOK WHEN I REALLY DIDN’T. AND TELLING THAT LIE MADE ME FEEL SO BAD I COULDN’T SLEEP. CAN I TELL YOU HOW ECSTATIC I WAS THAT MY SON HAD THAT REACTION! NOT ABOUT THE LIE, BUT I’M SO GRATEFUL HE FELT SO AWFUL ABOUT IT! WITHOUT THE EASTER RESURRECTION, THIS STORY ENDS WITH DAD SAYING SON, TELL YOUR TEACHER YOU'RE SORRY AND GET OVER IT. WITH THE EASTER RESURRECTION, THIS STORY ENDS WITH DAD SAYING SON, IF YOU ASK JESUS TO FORGIVE YOU, HE WILL FORGIVE YOU… AND AS PART OF THAT FORGIVENESS, HE WANTS YOU TO ASK YOUR TEACHER TO FORGIVE YOU… AND WHEN YOU DO THAT, JESUS, LIKE CHALK ON A CHALKBOARD, ERASES YOUR LIE AS IF IT HAD NEVER HAPPENED! THIS IS WHAT I’M CALLING TODAY EASTER FREEDOM! JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN SO THAT OUR SLATES COULD BE WASHED CLEAN! THE UP FROM THE GRAVE PICTURE FROM LUKE MEANS THAT THAT LIE CHRISTIAN TOLD CAN BE PUT ON THE SHOULDERS OF JESUS WHO SAYS… I DIED TO TAKE THAT SIN WITH ME… AND BY RISING TO LIFE AGAIN… 2 THINGS HAPPEN:
BOTH THESE THINGS HAPPENED TO MY SON CHRISTIAN. LIKE WILLIAM WALLACE IN BRAVEHEART… FREEDOM! WITHOUT THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, I’M FORCED TO LIVE WITH EVERYTHING IN HERE, MOUNTING, MOUNTING, MOUNTING, AND ONE DAY EVEN EXPLODING… AS HUMANS WE ARE NOT BUILT TO KEEP IT ALL THERE! YET WE OFTEN INSIST ON LIVING WITHOUT JESUS DON’T WE? AND WE’RE LEFT WITH HAVING TO BE IN THERAPY FOR YEARS TO FIGURE IT OUT THE HARD WAY… THIS EASTER FREEDOM LED TRINITY SEMINARY DEAN PAUL ZAHL TO WRITE A FABULOUS BOOK CALLED GRACE FOR THE EVERYDAY. IN IT, HE TELLS OF A CONVERSATION BETWEEN A REPORTER AND A BOEING EXECUTIVE… THE REPORTER ASKS THIS BOEING EXEC TO NAME THE SECRET OF HIS SUCCESS, THE MAN SAYS….I LIVE BY THIS…… THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT THE PAST, THE ONLY THING YOU CAN DO ANYTHING ABOUT IS THE FUTURE… EASTER FREEDOM SAYS BALONEY TO THAT! FOR CHRIST, THE ONLY THING YOU CAN DO ANYTHING ABOUT IS YOUR PAST… GOD ALONE CAN DEAL WITH YOUR FUTURE… IF YOU HAVE REPENTED OF YOUR PAST, IF YOU HAVE TAKEN AN INVENTORY OF THE FULL EXTENT OF
IF YOU HAVE SAID THE ONE SINGLE NEEDFUL WORDS… FORGIVE ME LORD… THEN THAT IS ALL, THERE IS NOTHING MORE. EASTER FREEDOM HAS HIT! THE FUTURE YOURS AND MINE…FLOWS FROM SORRY! I THINK OF A WOMAN NAMED SUSAN WHO SO DESIRED TO GET PREGNANT… Tried for 5 years, in vitro, everything, nothing was working. WE BEGAN TALKING ABOUT THE NEED OF HAVING A FORGIVEN PAST… SHE WROTE A NOTE OF ALL HER HURTS, AND SHE ALSO WROTE A NOTE TO HER EX-HUSBAND FORGIVING HIM OF HIS OWN TRANSGRESSIONS… EASTER FREEDOM HITS! 2 WEEKS LATER, SHE GETS PREGNANT… FUTURE FLOWS FROM SORRY! SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, LIBBY AND I WERE IN OXFORD, AND ONE OF MY THEOLOGICAL HEROES, RAVI ZACHARIAS WAS PREACHING AT THE OXFORD TOWN HALL… HE WAS PREACHING TO NEARLY 300 OXFORD UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON FAITH. MANY OF THE STUDENTS WERE NON-CHRISTIANS. AND IN THAT TALK, HE SAID, IF I COULD SUM UP ALL OF CHRISTIANITY INTO ONE WORD, IT WOULD BE THIS… ALL OF FAITH COMES DOWN TO THIS…FORGIVENESS…FORGIVENESS. JESUS PROMISED IT, MUHAMMED DID NOT, THE BHUDDA DID NOT. IT IS THIS FORGIVENESS THAT GIVES US FREEDOM! DO YOU SEE MY FRIENDS! AND EVERYTIME WE ASK FOR FORGIVENESS OUR LIVES CHANGE A LITTLE MORE, AND A LITTLE MORE! THIS EASTER FREEDOM OVER TIME CHANGES US… WE BEGIN TO BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY… WE BEGIN TO SEE OUR SPOUSES AND CHILDREN THE WAY JESUS SEES THEM… WE BEGIN TO MAKE DIFFERENT DECISIONS ABOUT OUR LIVES, THAN WE NORMALLY WOULD HAVE…! I THINK OF A GUY WHO USED TO COMMUTE LISTENING TO HOWARD STERN… BUT OVER TIME, AND IN HEARING THE GOSPEL READ AND PROCLAIMED WEEK AFTER WEEK, HE FELT CONVICTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT TO CHANGE STATIONS, INTO SOMETHING LIFE GIVING… HE SAID IT BROUGHT GREAT PEACE INTO HIS LIFE! DO YOU SEE THE AMAZING FREEDOM WE HAVE IN JESUS CHRIST… BUT REMEMBER THIS… THE WOMEN ARE TOLD BY THE ANGELS… WHY ARE YOU SEEKING THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD? THE ONE THING THAT CAN SUCK THAT EASTER FREEDOM OUT OF US EVERY SINGLE TIME IS…
AS THESE THINGS HAPPEN, THAT FREEDOM TURNS TO IRRELEVANCY AND THE CHURCH BECOMES ONE MORE NICE CHARITY LIKE UNITED WAY. MY FRIENDS, DO YOU SEE HOW MUCH MORE EASTER IS THAN THAT! AND WE ASK ON THIS EASTER FREEDOM MORNING… IS THE GOSPEL STORY STILL RADICAL WITH ITS ROUGH EDGES STILL A DEAD MAN COME BACK TO LIFE? OR HAVE OUR SENSES DULLED IT INTO BEING A NICE BUT FORGOTTEN FAIRY TALE? MY FRIENDS ON THIS EASTER DAY, WE ARE GETTING THE WAKE UP CALL OF ALL TIME.
MY FRIENDS, NO ONE CAN GO BACK AND MAKE A NEW START, BUT ANYONE CAN START FROM HERE AND MAKE A NEW END… NO ONE CAN GO BACK AND MAKE A NEW START, BUT ANYONE CAN START FROM HERE AND MAKE A NEW END… THIS IS THE EASTER FREEDOM! IF YOU ARE RIGHT NOW WHERE SOME OF THE DISCIPLES WERE, UNABLE TO MAKE THAT JUMP TO FREEDOM… LET ME SHARE WITH YOU THE TRUE STORY OF 2 MEN… BOTH IN THEIR 80’S… ONE LIVING ON A FARM IN A POOR RETIREMENT HOME IN THE MIDWEST, CAN’T SEE, HEAR OR WALK VERY WELL.. LIMITED FINANCIAL RESOURCES.. BUT A JOY IN HIS SPIRIT… HE KNEW JESUS, HE KNEW THIS EASTER FREEDOM! HE WOULD SING THE HYMNS OF THE CHURCH AT FULL BORE, AND PEOPLE WERE INSPIRED BY THE FREEDOM IN HIS HEART! ANOTHER MAN, OF EQUAL AGE, LIVING IN NEW YORK CITY, AN EXPERT ON THE ADVENTURES OF LIVING IN MANHATTAN… HE DID EVERYTHING, HAD ALL THE RESOURCES AND MORE… EXCELLENT HEALTH, WALKED ALL OVER THE CITY, HIS SENSES WERE RIGHT ON… YET, SUCH A SADNESS ABOUT HIM, HE DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING BEYOND HIMSELF… AS FAR AS HE WAS CONCERNED, LIFE ENDED UPON DEATH. THERE WAS NO SUCH THING AS TRUE FORGIVENESS…HE HELD ON… AS AN AGNOSTIC JEW WITH NOTHING TO LIVE FOR. MY FRIENDS, THESE TWO MEN WERE MY GRANDFATHERS… I LOVED THEM BOTH DEARLY, YET FROM THE EARLIEST AGE WAS SO AFFECTED BY THE EASTER FREEDOM THAT WAS IN THE HEART OF MY LUTHERAN WHEEL-CHAIR BOUND GRANDFATHER… THAT THAT, PROBABLY MORE THAN ANY OTHER REASON, IS WHY I WEAR THE COLLAR TODAY… MY FRIENDS, THE EASTER FREEDOM… LET US PRAY… |
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