JESUS CHRIST | HE’S THE ONE WE’RE LOOKING FOR, AND THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT HE’S ALSO LOOKING FOR US
EASTER | 8 APRIL, 2007
2ND STREET COMMUNITY CHURCH
GREGG LAMM | lead pastor-teacher
.PPT 1 …
Welcome to Easter 2007. It’s great to be together this morning – seeking the presence and the voice of Jesus Christ, the Living God, the Crucified and Risen God, the God who as John put it in his Gospel, “moved into the neighborhood” so He could invite us into a conversation … so we could enter into a relationship with Him … so the search that you and I are on to find meaning for our lives … to find purpose for our lives … to find a significance beyond ourselves … to find a reason for being … and so that this most central of all human quests that each of us is on could have an answer instead of just an endless stream of questions. And the answer is Jesus Christ.
.PPT 2 …
Whether we’re willing to admit it or not, we’re all on a quest.
Have you heard of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne? In the past many months Byrne’s book has been the subject of countless radio, TV, and Internet conversations – including up to hour-long explorations of it on Larry King, Oprah, Ellen, and The Today Show. At www.amazon.com The Secret has been in the #1 and #2 bestselling book position for weeks now … the DVD version of the book is currently the # 1 selling DVD … and combined, the book and the DVD have received nearly 2,000 written reviews at www.amazon.com, with a collective rating of 4 out of 5 stars.
Whether we’re willing to admit it or not, we’re all on a quest.
The Secret is now being published in over 20 languages, and by the end of 2007 the publisher’s goal is to have it available in over 50 languages. Magazine articles say that hundreds of people are buying the DVD and inviting friends over to watch it. Spend a few minutes reading the reviews at www.amazon.com and you’ll hear the words of people who believe that by discovering The Secret their quest is over. Here’s some of what the publisher says about The Secret …
Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in a revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it. In this book, you'll learn how to use The Secret in every aspect of your life – money, health, relationships, happiness, and in every interaction you have in the world. You'll begin to understand the hidden, untapped power within you. This revelation can bring joy to every aspect of your life.
But gang, like the old saying goes, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” And Rhonda Byrne’s Secret isn’t anything new. It’s simply a creative repackaging of a book written and popularized during the Metaphysics craze that took hold of the world after the Industrial Revolution of the mid 1700s to the mid 1800s failed to provide the lasting enlightenment everyone hoped it would, and even prayed it would.
And so in 1910, a man by the name of Wallace Wattles wrote a book entitled The Science of Getting Rich … and in this book, which popularized an ancient Hindu idea commonly referred to in the Western World as The Law Of Attraction, Wallace Wattles taught that what we think on shapes our beliefs, and that what we believe shapes our actions, and that our actions shape our destinies.
Now to some degree I can dig what Wattles and now Rhonda Byrne were getting at. What we dwell on, what we set our minds on does affect who we are and where we’re heading in life. That’s why the Apostle Paul writes in PHILIPPIANS 4:8 …
.PPT 3 … PHILIPPIANS 4:8 (NEW CENTURY VERSION)
8 Brothers and sisters, think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected.
But Rhonda Byrne goes on to say that it’s you and I who are at the center of the universe, that we’re our own God, our own Light, our own salvation, and that whatever we focus our energy and our thoughts on (GOOD or BAD), that then the whole cosmos will respond to our thoughts and attract that GOOD or BAD to us.
Gang, whether we’re willing to admit it or not, we’re all on a quest.
And just like the Industrial Revolution failed to usher in the answer to the QUEST … now, in 2007, now that the past 50 years have left our culture longing for more than what the Information Revolution can provide, Rhonda Byrne has jumped into the ring saying that the answer to our quest, to our longings, to our search for significance, and to all of our questions can be found in The Secret.
But gang, the answer to your quest, the answer to my longings, the answer to your search for significance, and the answer to my questions, isn’t a secret, an idea, a book, a DVD, or a philosophy. It’s a person. And His name is Jesus Christ.
In February 1987, nearly exactly 20 years ago now, the Irish band U2 released their landmark CD, The Joshua Tree. One of the songs on The Joshua Tree is “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and it talks about this quest that all of us are on. Here’s a video of this song that U2 recorded in 1988 …
ILLUSTRATION … DVD = U2 | RATTLE AND HUM | CHAPTER 5 … 4:38
“I STILL HAVEN’T FOUND WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR”
This church’s version of U2’s song gets at what I’m here to tell you this morning … that the answer is Jesus Christ … that Jesus Christ is the One we’re looking for. This is what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he wrote these words at the end of his second letter to the Christians living in the Greek town of Corinth …
.PPT 4 … SECOND CORINTHIANS 5:14-15, 17 (THE MESSAGE)
14 Christ's love … has the first and last word in everything we do.
15 He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.
17 … anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!
The answer isn’t a secret. The answer is Jesus Christ. He’s the One who meets our needs … who gives our lives purpose … who set our feet on solid ground … who breaths life into our dreams and into our goals, and turns them into something more than just the ultimately feeble hope of ending up rich and famous by the time we die.
Author James Dobson put it this way when talking about what he wanted to have written on his tombstone … when synthesizing what he’d been looking for and what he found in the person of Jesus Christ …
.PPT 5 …
ILLUSTRATION … I have concluded that the accumulation of wealth, even if I could achieve it, is an insufficient reason for living. When I reach the end of my days, I must look backward onto something more meaningful than the pursuit of houses and land and machines and stocks and bonds. Nor is fame of any lasting benefit. I will consider my earthly existence to have been wasted unless I can recall a loving family, a consistent investment in the lives of people, and an earnest attempt to serve the God who made me. And nothing else makes much sense.
The choices you and I make to live outside God’s plans for us leave our relationship with God broken. But God saw this brokenness, and proved His love for us by making a way for us to come back into relationship with Him. When Jesus died on the cross He paid the price for our sin … and when God raised Him from the dead Jesus became the One who gives us access to God and to His new plan for how to live life. There’s a song called “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us” that tells this story better than I can … here it is …
.PPT 6-7-8 …
ILLUSTRATION … How Deep The Father’s Love For Us …
.PPT 9 …
Let me share a few observations with you from the Gospels that speak into the truth that Jesus is the One we’re looking for, and that there are certain characteristics of the people who are willing to say “yes” to Jesus and become His disciples. First, let’s look at four disciples of Jesus and see what they were looking for and how they found it in Jesus …
.PPT 10 …
First, in JOHN 13 we read about Judas, the Disciple of Jesus who betrayed Him to the Roman authorities and Jewish religious leaders. Judas was looking for significance, for importance, and for financial gain. And to try to scratch that itch, he bought into the seductive lie that he could find what he was looking for outside of a life that stayed loyal to Jesus. He believed the lie wrapped up in the heart of “The Secret” … that HE was the center of the universe, and that HE could create his own happiness by “the art of the deal.” But the next day Judas found out the horrible truth about his choice and took his own life. Are you trying to scratch the itches of your life apart from your connection with Jesus? If so, you’ll always come up short.
.PPT 11 …
Second, in JOHN 20 we see Mary Magdalene, and Mary the Mother of James and Salome, going to the tomb on the first Easter morning. Luke 24 tells us that they came to the tomb to “anoint Jesus with burial spices.” And MATTHEW tells us that they went to the tomb “because they wanted to be with Jesus.”
These two female disciples of Jesus believed that when He died for them on the cross, that their names were on His lips. But I also think they believed that the cross wasn’t the end. Now I don’t have any doubt that they were surprised when they got to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away, and that Jesus was gone. But their passion to be with Jesus was what drove them to His tomb that morning. They were looking for the One they loved.
Gang, are you passionate about spending time with Jesus, even when the circumstances of your life tell you that He’s forgotten about you, or that He’s dead, not alive, or that He’s silent, not talking, or that He’s distant, not close? If so, you’re living the life of faith Jesus calls us to. But if you haven’t been attentive to His presence lately, or if you’ve seldom looked for Him, or sought to hear His voice in the day-to-day circumstances of life, then I’ve got some great news for you … because today, this morning, right now, can be your time to begin living life with the faith, and the passion of the women who visited Jesus’ tomb on that first Easter morning.
.PPT 12 …
Third, in JOHN 20 we see Thomas seeking Jesus in the midst of his doubts. Thomas’ heart was broken that Jesus was gone, and he found it hard to believe that He’d come back to life. But the awesome thing is that Jesus wasn’t put off by Thomas’ faith struggle. When Thomas expressed his doubts, Jesus lovingly reached out to him and said “Don’t be afraid. You can do it. You can believe. I know you can.”
And the good news for you and me this morning is that the same Jesus Thomas stood there with 2,000 years ago is the same Jesus we’re here with this morning. And He isn’t put off by our doubts, or by our questions anymore today than He was back then.
.PPT 13 …
So like Judas, we’re looking for significance, happiness, and a place to belong. And like Judas, we can travel down some wrong roads looking for what we’re longing for. But the good news is that when we come to Jesus we find everything we want and need (see MATTHEW 6:33)
Like the two Marys, we’re looking for someone, or something to serve, to worship, or to sacrifice our lives for. And so we give ourselves over to our jobs, or to the pursuit of lands, houses, stocks and bonds … or we fall in love with ourselves to the exclusion of caring about others, and we even do good, compassionate things like give money to the Red Cross, or stand up for abused children. But ultimately, nothing other than Jesus will satisfy, because Jesus is the One we’re looking for.
And like Thomas, we’re looking for someone who won’t mock our doubts, who won’t turn away from our questions, and who won’t give up on us even when we’re right at the edge of giving up on them. And just like Thomas discovered, believe me when I tell you that Jesus is this One we’re looking for.
But not only is Jesus who we’re looking for, but Jesus is also looking for us. We’re the lost sheep He talked about in so many of His parables. We’re the ones whose blind eyes need to be restored, whose deaf ears need to be opened up, and who need the scattered and torn up pieces of our lives put back together. Can you relate? I sure can. Just a couple comments about some of the characteristics of the people Jesus is looking for … and of the people who will say “yes” to His invitation to follow Him.
.PPT 14 …
FIRST, in JOHN 12-13 as Jesus came back into Jerusalem, knowing that in less than a week He’d be crucified, He came looking for people who would understand and embrace who He was, and why He’d left heaven and moved into the neighborhood. Are you willing to believe Jesus is who He says He is, the “Savior of the world”?
.PPT 15 …
SECOND, in JOHN 14-15-16 in the final teachings and prayers of Jesus, we see Him seeking our embrace, our trust, and our partnership. We see Jesus passionately inviting us to come into a relationship with Him, and then become willing to have Him teach us how to let our lives flow out of His life. Are you willing to let Jesus be your Teacher, your Master, the One who teaches you a new way to live?
.PPT 16 …
THIRD, in JOHN 17-18, we see Jesus seeking those who will journey with Him into intimacy – not settling for a shallow or mediocre faith, not settling for a situational faith, or a faith that only stays in step with Him when it’s convenient. We see Jesus looking for people who will go with Him into the deep, intimate places of worship and sacrifice that will only be found and lived into by people who are willing to count the cost of being His disciple, who are willing to die to themselves each day, and who are willing to respond to His giving up of everything for us, with a willingness to give up everything to follow Him.