Sermon Tone Analysis
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A famous Christian once wrote, “God became human so that humans could become God.”
This man wasn’t a Mormon.
He didn’t think that we will all become gods in heaven, because he clarified this by also saying, “The reason God became man was to give immortality to his mortal creation.”
God became human so that humans could become immortal, like God is.
Do you believe this?
Last week I met with a guy from soccer.
His sister was killed in an accident a couple months ago.
She was 17.
He said to me, “I’ve never really thought of life after death.”
“But now I’ve been thinking a lot.
Where is she?”
I spoke to him about heaven.
He said he’d always struggled to believe things unless there was good evidence.
By evidence, he meant things that he could see.
I spoke to him about heaven.
I said to him, heaven is in a dimension that we can’t see.
And there are lots of real things that exist that we can’t see.
Think about what is keeping us alive right now.
Oxygen.
We can’t see this.
And yet we rely on it every moment to stay alive.
Everything that is observable in our universe is made up of atoms.
Atoms have never been seen with the human eye.
There are lots of things that are real that we can’t see.
Think about radio waves.
These waves range from a metre to kilometres in length.
They’re used to transmit data for satellites, computers and radios.
Gravity.
We can observe the effects of gravity, but we can’t see gravity.
Then there’s the Mind and Emotions.
We can observe the brain and its chemical reactions, but thoughts are completely in the unseen realm.
Why am I mentioning all of this?
Because it can be easy to think like my mate.
I only believe in things that I can see.
It sounds right, but it’s logically wrong.
Nobody lives like this, in the real world.
We all believe in things we can’t see.
And this morning, God’s asking you to believe in something that you can’t see.
In order to do this, you have to use your IMAGINATION.
Not your imaginary imagination.
But your God given imagination, so you can enter into the reality of immortality.
A reality that you can’t yet see.
Every night before my boys go to bed, they beg us for a story.
How do we start the story?
“Once upon a time...there was a king...”
Immediately they’re hooked, and their imaginations are off.
They love it.
Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
If Isaac Newton didn’t use his imagination, he would never have discovered gravity.
If you didn’t use your imagination, you’d never have found that lost phone of yours.
Although ‘findmyphone’ helps those of you who are imaginatively challenged.
For a Christian, imagination is absolutely necessary to know and enjoy God.
Because God exists in a dimension that we can’t see.
God’s home is a reality that we can’t see.
HEAVEN.
says to us: “Set your minds on things that are above.”
This doesn’t mean we bend our necks and look up at the skies.
What it does mean is that we look to the reality beyond what we can physically see.
says; “Fix your eyes on what is unseen.”
Today we remember the empty tomb of Jesus.
Today we remember the one event that has changed the course of history more than any other, and changed more people’s lives than any other by a long way.
God became like mortal man, so that we could become like immortal God.
God entered earth, so that we could enter heaven.
What I love about God is that he never asks us to believe something he doesn’t give good proof for.
He doesn’t say believe, just because.
That’s wishful thinking.
When it comes to heaven and the spiritual realm around us, it’s really important that we understand and believe this.
He caters to our scepticism.
He invites us to LOOK and SEE what happened.
You might be sceptical this morning, and as we read this Scripture I want you to LOOK at the words LOOK and SEE in this recording of the eye witness account of what happened that Sunday morning 2000 years ago.
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
And what do they get to look at?
Heaven meeting earth.
2 (AND LOOK/SEE) There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from HEAVEN and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.4
The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
Seeing an angel doesn’t happen every day, and it’s no wonder they responded this way.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.
7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and (LOOK/SEE), is going ahead of you into Galilee.
There you will see him.’
(LOOK/SEE), I have told you.”
Like the disciples, we have to wait to see Jesus.
But the promise is for us as it was for them.
You will see him.
See.
Jesus says, “I have told you.”
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
9 (AND LOOK/SEE), Suddenly Jesus met them.
“Greetings,” he said.
They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.
10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Again his followers had to wait to see him, but Jesus makes the promise, “There they WILL see me.”
Jesus has gone ahead of us, not to Galilee, but to heaven.
There you WILL see him.
Believing in Jesus means having your imagination taken captive and reshaped by SEEING a new story.
says, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Unless you step out of your own world, and step into his world, you’ll remain stuck in the world of suffering and death.
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