Looking for Jesus in all the wrong places
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 34 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
04-01-2018
Easter Sunrise Service
Looking for Jesus in all the wrong places
This morning we are celebrating the empty tomb
This morning let me set the story for you
The setting for this morning is that Jesus has been arrested and tried
We understand that his arrest and his trials were all just for show
Then last year we discussed the beating of Jesus and after Jesus was beaten, He was then crucified, nailed to a cross
Jesus died and was buried and guards were put at the opening of his grave and Jesus was buried in the grave for 3 days
Like last week this maybe would be a great time for an invitation, Jesus was arrested, and beaten, and ultimately died as a perfect sacrifice for your sin and my sin, to pay our debt of sin to God the Father
Now we got the back story,
1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? 6 “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” 8 And they remembered His words,
Can you imagine showing up to the grave where one of your best friends were buried and you come to find out that He is no longer there
Can you imagine the pit in your stomach, or your stomach falling dropping to the bottom
I mean the shock they must be feeling
When they hear
vs 6
apart from the shock the angel tells them something very interesting
The angels ask the women why they are seeking Jesus among the dead
See a few things,
Jesus told them he was not going to stay dead
6 “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee,
22 And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men;
The angels ever remind them that Jesus told them he would rise again
So again the question remains why were they looking for Jesus who is alive among the dead people
I believe that question is translated to us today
You see you and I know the Easter Truth!
The Easter Truth is that Jesus got out of the grave, the Easter Truth is that Jesus defeated death once and for all,
but, and this is not one of the good buts that we read in scripture, the but is that we most of us know all that and yet we are still looking for Jesus in all the wrong places
so the question I think is still a valid one, why do you and I spend so much time looking for Jesus who is alive among the dead things of this world
Much like the women at the grave, I believe that you and I are still looking for Jesus at the grave
Now you and I would agree that we are not at a physical grave, you might disagree with me and say but Jeremy, I am not looking at the grave and I am at church
I think the world as a whole has a God sized hole in their hearts and they try and try to fill it with stuff,
When they fill it with stuff the hole consumes whatever they try and put in there, and they continue to put stuff in the hole but are never satisfied
Its like putting the round peg in the square hole, it will fit but you know that it will never satisfy the square hole, the only thing that will satisfy the square hole is the square peg,
Then we have the believers that have filled the God sized hole with God himself, the problem is we wonder, we fade and we stop listening
14 Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests
we wonder, we stop being alert, and start chasing rabbits
Then we start trying to get out Jesus fix if you will, we start trying to find Jesus again and we start looking in all the wrong places
some of us will begin to take things of the world and start to look for Jesus, and we say things like well Jesus is love and he will always love me so I should be able to do what I want with who I want, when I want
We start to believe and attempt to find Jesus in the things of this world, and church let me tell you that Jesus is not of this world
23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.
Church maybe you don't try and find Jesus in the world, but maybe you try and find Him at lifeway
I am a lifeway nut just like the next one, our bookstore at seminary was lifeway, you can imagine my downtime between classes
But shocker, Jesus is not found at lifeway!
Jesus is not found in a book about Himself, but in church or maybe you have struggled with going to church and you thought I will just read the next big book by Francis Chan, or David Platt, or maybe you try and be super duper spiritual and you say I will read A. W. Tozer
Shocker Jesus is not found in any of the books
Jesus is not found in a program either, I know we joke but the truth is that Jesus is out at Super Summer
Church understand what I am saying is that Jesus can and does use books, and programs, and super summer,
but to believe that the only way to find Jesus is to start at one of those places is not true
Which is why I think the question is so true for us today, why do we seek Jesus among the dead
Why do we spend so much time looking for Jesus in all the wrong places, when He has told us where He is
We spend so much time and resources and engery looking for Jesus in the world, in a book, with different progams, with different church programs, that if we are honest are all human made
Jesus can be found at the empty cross, and the empty grave
Yes I know that sounds backwards but its the empty cross that points to heaven, it is the empty grave that points to heaven
Jesus is found in the Bible
Closing
Church We need to stop focusing so much of our time and energy looking for Jesus in all the wrong places, we need to stop running to the next big and exciting thing
I want to invite you to join us for breakfast and fellowship and then back here in about an hour as we finish this
and look at where Jesus is and what He is doing