If I were to come to your house—let’s say you invited my family over for dinner. And we pulled into your driveway and walked up your sidewalk and came to your front door, what would I do? The first thing I would do would be to knock on your door. You would here this “knock, knock, knock”. Or maybe I’d ring the doorbell, or use the door knocker. I used to think door knockers were for rich people until I lived in an apartment and every door had them. But I knock. And that knock is a sign to you—help me out: what does that knock say to you? It says someone is here, and it says come open the door right? Not always. For you it may elicit several different responses. Maybe it’s excitement: “oh, they’re here, let’s get the door.” It could be confusion: “now who could that be at this hour?” Perhaps it’s: “shhhh! Go hide! It’s the neighbor kids selling candy, let’s pretend we’re not home.” Or it could be “turn up the tv and pretend we don’t hear it, it’s that salesman again.” All kind of different responses, but we know when we hear that sound, we have to make a choice. It’s a universal symbol in most of the first world—that sound means someone is at the door, and I have to choose; am I going to open it and see who it is, or am I going to run and hide.
Believers in Jesus have a very similar spiritual decision they have to make, because we have that same knocking sound in our spiritual lives. Sometimes God comes knocking at the door to our spiritual lives. And we have a choice—a decision to make. Are we going to open up and let him in, or are we going to run and hide. And as we come to Jonah, we find that he had this same decision to make. Let’s review where we’ve been so far. God tells Jonah “Go cry against Nineveh, that wicked city.” Jonah says “No way!” And boarded a ship to flee from God. And then we hear it—knock, knock, knock. God comes knocking at Jonah’s door by way of a storm—God hurls a storm on the waters to get ahold of Jonah, but Jonah wasn’t through running from God. He told the sailors to throw him overboard, and they do. But again we hear that all too familiar sound—knock, knock, knock, as God knocks on Jonah’s door again by way of a fish. And we pick up our story as Jonah is swallowed whole and we find him sitting inside of the fish and we hear the knocking again as God waits for Jonah to open up the door. And God begins to work on Jonah’s heart, and eventually he does open up. God is knocking at the door to our spiritual lives as well—will you let him in? From this section in our story of Jonah this morning we learn one key truth for our lives:
Big Idea: God's grace knocks at the door to our hearts, and God expects us to answer
One of the clearest signs that someone owns a dog is this little device—a retractable leash. If you’ve ever used one, you know how it works: the dog has freedom to wander a bit, but it never leaves the control of its owner. The line may stretch, but there’s always a limit. And when the dog strays too far—or when danger comes—the owner pushes a button and reels it back in.
What a fitting picture of God’s grace. We are all inescapably tied to God with a very similar bungee chord called grace. Grace connects us to God. It allows us to have a perceived level of freedom, but if we get too far, God’s grace brings us back. We see the inescapable anchor of God’s grace displayed openly for us through the story of Jonah. He ran from God—fast and far—but he never escaped God’s gracious pursuit.
God works this way in our lives as well. When we run from God, he pulls us back. When we think we’ve escaped, we haven’t left at all. And in Jonah 1, we find good news for all of us who have a tendency to run:
Big idea: God graciously pursues his children
One of the most obvious indications that someone is a runner is the shoes. You can tell a runner, often times, by the shoes they wear. I used to do a lot of running, not as much any more, but I was really into running shoes. I can tell the difference between brooks, saucony, hoka, and altra without too much difficulty. Running shoes are designed for running. But often times you can really tell a runner by the kind of shape their running shoes are in. Some runner’s shoes look almost brand new. Now this could be an indication that they just got them, but sometimes it indicates that they’re not really that much of a runner at all.
I brought with me some running shoes. This is my oldest pair right now, and they’ve been around. I can’t remember how long I’ve had these, but it’s been a while. And you can tell if you look closely. The decals on the side are peeling off. The tread on the bottom is thin and worn. And they have holes all over—they don’t work too well in the rain. But you can look at these shoes and tell that I’ve put in the miles and time on the trail.
Some of us, most of us, in fact, probably all of us have a pair of shoes like this. A pair of worn, old, past their life time shoes. I’m not talking about physical running shoes, I’m talking about spiritual running shoes. In our hearts we have an imaginary closet, and in this closet, at least if you’re anything like me, is a pair of running shoes. They’re worn, which indicates we’ve used them a lot. They’re old, which means we’ve been using them for a while. But they are the shoes that we use when we run from God. And just like my running shoes are full of holes and old and worn out from use, so are the shoes we use to run from God, because we do it regularly and easily. We are all, at times, experienced runners from God. We have all tried to run from God in various ways.
What does it look like to run from God? Well, we run from God every time we do something God doesn’t want us to do. When we respond incorrectly in life, we run from God. When we give into sin—whether it pride or gossip or lust or anger or anxiety—whenever we sin we are running from God, because we know this is not what God wants us to do. In this sense, we are all runners; we are all experienced runners from God. As we come to the book of Jonah this morning, we learn that Jonah was also a runner from God. Jonah continued the oldest spiritual endurance event known to man—running from God. Ever since Adam and Eve mankind has been running from God. And Jonah demonstrates that for us in his life story. From the story of Jonah in our text today, we learn a very important truth for our spiritual lives:
Big idea: You cannot run from God; so stop trying!
Have you ever played hide and seek with a young child? It is quite fun. Maybe you have young children, or grandchildren, and kids enjoy playing hid and seek. The problem is, they are often not very good at it. Right? They just don’t get the concept. Maybe they go and get in their hiding spot and you would hear them giggling. Or they hide, but only partially. They might hide their heads, or hide their eyes, when the rest of them is in plain sight. Or they’ll just stand in the corner and cover their eyes, thinking that if they cannot see you, you cannot see them. Doesn’t really work that way, does it?
I want you to think about that for a moment, because sometimes I think this is how we are with God. With God’s working, with God’s pan, and with God’s grace. We might give into the false believe that if we cannot see God, if we can’t see him working with our own eyes, then he must not be there. And we might even put our hands in front of our face— “God, I can’t see you. Where are you God? Oh he must not be there because I can’t see him.” This is especially true with the grace of God. We might try to pretend, like God isn’t there, like God is not as gracious as he actually is, or that if we refuse to see it, we can actually escape from the presence of God and his grace. But just because we refuse to see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. This was the mistake Jonah made. Jonah tried to run from God. He was a prophet—he knew better. But he tried to run from God, he tried to hide himself from God’s grace that God was intent on giving to Nineveh. But despite seemingly trying to put his eyes in front of his face and pretend that God wasn’t going to do what he desired, Jonah learned that just because we refuse to see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Jonah tried to run from God, and to pretend like God’s grace was not there. But that didn’t change God’s grace at all. Jonah thought he was running from God. But in reality, he was running into God’s grace! And the very same grace that he was trying to pretend was not there, we find is the very same grace that he actually needed himself. Ho did Jonah try to run from the grace of God and how did he actually run into God’s grace? Let’s look at the story to find out.
Can you remember when the reality of suicide first touched your life? I remember where I was when I first had the reality of suicide touch my life. I was in 4-5 grade . . .
We’ve all been touched by those who have felt those types of things; maybe you’ve even felt them yourself. But it is what we do when we have those types of feelings, when we reach the point of utter despair, that becomes incredibly important. Do we let these feelings consume and control us, or do we bring them to God in faith and trust. And in our story today we find a man who was in despair. And in the midst of his despair, he lost sight of the sovereignty and control of God, and he decided to take matters into his own hands and end his life. But we see clearly that ending his life did not allow him to get the escape he desired, and that there actually was still hope if he had held on for just a little bit longer.
In his famous novel “The Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens contrasts the cities of London and Paris. Written during the French Revolution, the novel describes the stark contrast between these two large cities based on how the residents experienced the revolution. Paris was in the grip of the revolution, and was marked by violence, mob rule, and mass executions. The tale shows the horror of a society consumed by self pursuit and violence. London however, was a stable place with mostly law and order, and was a refuge of safety for those fleeing France.
"Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities to show the contrast between London and Paris during revolution. Similarly, 1 Samuel gives us a tale of two kings: Saul and David. Both had proximity to God. Only one had a real relationship. Today we’re going to see their story and ask ourselves the question: which king am I more like?
They thought it was just kids playing pranks, but it turned out to be an angry 72 year old man, instead. From 2003-2005, a number of former teachers and school admins in NY reported a rash of vandalism at their homes. They would wake up to punctured car tires from roofing nails scattered across their driveways… and garage doors & mailboxes splattered w/paint. Some victims complained of being hit every two weeks.
It went on for nearly 2 years until perpetrator was caught…
Turned out vandal wasn’t a rebellious student but a former co-worker named Thomas Haberbush who was still angry about poor performance reviews he had received in 1977, when he was dismissed as teacher. The police investigator… “I’ve never seen anyone carry around a grudge like that for 30 yrs…it’s bizarre”
Another man went to his doctor after he was bitten by a stray dog… Doctor comes in and says… “Yes indeed, you do have rabies.” As soon as heard that, man got out pen and paper… and began making a list of people… Doctor said “Listen, no need to call all those people… you’re not going to die. There is a cure for rabies.” Man answered… “Oh, I know that. I’m just makin’ a list of all the people I’m gonna bite.”
Yet another story I read was about a woman who was in a department store checking out… As she opened her purse to get her wallet, the sales clerk noticed a TV remote inside. “Need batteries?” She said… “Oh no. My husband wouldn’t come shopping with me today because he’s trying to flip back and forth between 2 football games at once. So I figured that taking the remote while he wasn’t looking was the most evil thing I could do to him without getting in trouble.”
These are humorous stories, but they are also relatable. What makes these stories resonate with us? What makes us chuckle but in an understanding sort of way? Truth is, while we might not use the same tactics these individuals used—maybe we’re too mature for that, we at least understand the desire behind them. The desire for revenge. Sweet revenge. We are all familiar with that desire, even if we haven’t acted upon it. We all can understand the desire to even the score, to get back and someone who did something to us, or to achieve a sense of satisfaction from getting even with someone else.
But revenge has a cost. It might make us feel good for a little while, but it always costs us. . .
Have you ever been treated unjustly? We live in a world today that is hyper vigilant for justice. Every wrong committed needs to be righted. And oftentimes we seek for a sense of vindication for the wrongs that have been done to us. This isn't a bad desire necessarily, but it can easily lead us to try to provide our own vindication from our wrongs rather than trusting God to set things right in his timing. The problem is when we try to right wrongs on our own we often end up doing it in the wrong way.We feel like we have a reason to get upset or hurt and perhaps we might, but that can cause us to give in to the desire to lash out and treat someone else with the very same injustice that we have been treated with ourselves. And it can be easy, all too easy to lash out at those who have mistreated us, or to criticize those who have been against us or even those with whom we disagree.
But here's the problem: while we may have legitimately been mistreated or treated in an unjust way, using the same tactics towards that person or persons does not solve the problem. In fact, it makes things much worse. Two wrongs do not make a right. Responding wrongly to another wrong does not resolve the situation. Yet sometimes we think it does, and we are all too willing to take the posture of justice and vindication and let that excuse our unrighteous actions. But it is never right to do wrong in order to produce something that is right.
As we come to our passage for today in I Samuel 24, this is a lesson that David learned. David had been on the run; hiding from Saul in caves. And he had the opportunity to vindicate himself. He was presented with the perfect chance to enact judgment on his enemy and stopped the mistreatment that had been happening in his life. And for a moment David gave in to this compulsion and took steps to get back at his enemy and put him in his place. But we'll find in our text this morning that those who walk with God have a conscience that convicts them and ultimately stops them from using their own unrighteous desires to their advantages. If you've ever struggled with getting even and trying to vindicate yourself under someone in authority over you who has not treated you in the best way, you're going to want to consider this episode in the life of David.
Have you ever felt alone? I mean really alone? . . .
You might be able to resonate to this feeling of aloneness—of being alone. Sad to say, this is the state of many men in our world today—alone. God has a special mission for men in the church, but manhood is in a state of flux . . .
Why? Much of this is the fact that men are alone. Sure they have wives, families, even male friends, but despite all of these, many men are alone. Add to this the reality that nobody knows what a man is or what he should be doing. Men are either over-masculinized , with the teaching that men don’t show emotions or real men don’t cry. They’re just told to go do something manly—eat some meat or go hunting, and be stronger, stoic, and more independent, as if this is what defines a real man. Or they are under-emphasized, and told that gender is fluid, and you can basically choose whether or not you want to be one, and your version of manhood is whatever you want it to be. The result is men who don’t really act like men. They are wandering aimlessly, searching, but not even sure what they are searching for.
But as we look at the friendship between two men in I Samuel—Jonathan and David, we see no such thing. Sure they were alone—David spent much time running in fear for his life. Yet while he may have been by himself, he wasn’t really alone. Because he had a friend, a true friend, in Jonathan. One that encouraged him, supported him, and lifted him up in times of despair. Most men do not have a Jonathan in their lives today, but they need one. All men need a brother—a kindred spirit who can walk with them through the ups and downs of life. Who can encourage them when they need encouragement, push them to fulfill God’s purpose their lives, and have hard conversations when need be. God never intended for men to go through life alone. Today we’re going to look at David and Jonathan, and consider 4 specific episodes in their friendship to see what we can learn this Father’s day about the importance of brother hood in the life of men. Our big idea for today:
Big Idea: without a brother, we will likely fall
I don't know if you've ever done any boating, but I enjoy being on the water. This week Emily and I were reflecting on how, before we had children, every summer we would go out to the Stillwater area and go canoeing on the Saint Croix River. There was always a great time of adventure and navigation. But have you ever had a less-than-desirable experience on the water? The type of scenario that causes you some fear, anxiety, or perhaps even desperation? I remember having this feeling when I was a young boy. I was probably 7 years old, and our church put on an annual father-and-son camp out. This particular camp out we rented canoes and canoed down a river. Only the night before we left, there had been some storms and a lot of rain, so there were downed trees and the water was moving pretty steadily. As we came around one bend, we saw some canoers in our party in desperation. One of my friends, Ryan, and his dad were trapped next to a log. The log was hanging over on the surface of the water and their canoe was stuck next to it tilted sideways as the water raged underneath the log trying to suck them in. I remember the desperation on their faces, and I was afraid for them. Some of the other canoers in our party went back to try to help them, and they made it out OK, but I'm sure they were very nervous during the rest of the trip.
We've all had feelings of desperation in life. Times when we're not sure what to do, where to turn, or what will happen. What do you do when you face desperation? This is a very important question for us to consider. What we do when we face desperation says a lot about us. Oftentimes, when we face desperation, we are not thinking clearly. We make quick, irrational decisions without much thought. Oftentimes, we are just reacting like a pinball and a pinball machine, bumping back and forth between the burdens of life. How do we find our bearings when we're feeling like that? What we do during those times is so very vitally important period because times of desperation can cause us to make one of two choices. We could take some time, settle our hearts, and rely on God. Or we could start to rely on ourselves. And the decision we make during times like this is absolutely critical to our ability to handle difficult circumstances, whether we are to be successful or be destroyed by them.
We learn this lesson so very clearly from the life of David. As we open our text today, in first Samuel 21, David is on the run from Saul. He is in complete and utter desperation. Fleeing for his life, looking for his next meal, and trying to create a strategy for what he should do. And as we encounter him in chapter 21, David makes some poor decisions. His desperation leads him to begin to rely on his own wisdom, skill, and abilities. And the result is disastrous in the country of Israel. But as we continue on in the story, we see that David learned his lesson. Rather than trusting his own human reasoning, he began to trust in God and experience a different result. So we're going to look at the life of David from 1 Samuel 21-23 and compare these two episodes in the life of David to see what we can learn from his example. As we do, I want you to consider our big idea for this morning:
Big idea: When desperation leads us to self-dependence instead of God-dependence, it always ends in disaster
Jealousy. It’s been around since the beginning of time. One could argue that was the root of the original sin with Adam and Eve in the garden—being possessive over what God had told them they couldn’t have. This emotion is what eventually led Cain to murder his brother Abel. We see the caution in the 10 commandments to not covet something that is not yours. Covet means to desire something you don’t have—that’s jealousy! And we see this taking place over and over throughout the Old Testament, with the historical books and the kings who were fighting for rulership. We see this in the prophetic period as Israel kept wandering from God in pursuit of false gods—again, desiring something they weren’t allowed to have. We see this in the New Testament era as well, even with the Pharisees and religious leaders who were envious of Jesus and the following he had, not wanting him to take power from themselves. Later on in Roman Catholic ideology the concept of the 7 Deadly Sins arose, one of which is envy. The fact is clear—human beings struggle with jealousy! . . .
It starts inside—love of self is what fuels jealousy. And this becomes a problem when we make a decision inside—a decision that changes everything on the outside. It is the decision that we are going to live for ourselves. We are going to live for what we want, choose our way, and make ourselves the king of our own kingdom. We see this displayed so very clearly for us today through the life of Saul. Saul determined he was going to stop living for God and was going to start living for himself. And we see so very clearly how this internal desire didn’t just stay inside, it affect all those around him. Saul’s decision to live for himself controlled every decision he made and affected many of those around him. Saul experienced what I’ve heard called a clash of kingdoms. Everything went well for Saul as long as he was king of his own life domain, but the minute someone didn’t give him what he wanted—his personal kingdom clashed with that of someone else, there was utter chaos.
We can learn a lot from studying this part in the life of King Saul. From our text this morning, chapters 18-20 of I Samuel, we see how the choice to live for ourselves affects all those around us. And we will learn how to avoid this choice at all costs. We see the big idea for us today from this section of Scripture:
Big Idea: When you are living for self, you cannot be living for God
Have you ever tried to develop yourself in any particular sort of way? One thing potential employers look for oftentimes is the ability to develop new skills. They like to see attempts to learn something new, take a class, get a certification of some sorts. And often times, if an employer can see that you are trying to better yourself by developing more specialties in your field, you will be more hirable to the employee. So it’s important to not simply stay were you are, but to work on progressing so you can be better and achieve growth. This is important for many areas of our lives, whether it work, or school, or things at home. We ought to be constantly growing and developing into a better version of ourselves.
This is especially true in our spiritual lives. God expects us to develop spiritually. He doesn’t want us to just stay how we currently are, he wants us to grow and develop into godly people whom he can use for his service. But this begs the question—are there any skills that God wants us to develop in order to be used by him? What does God look for in a leader? Are there certain skillsets or abilities that God wants in the servants he uses?
Our text today addresses this and many more questions. From the example of David who was a man after God’s own heart. But David had to work to become that, it didn’t just happen in our story, it happened long before. And we get to see the end result and why God chose him. We get to see what God looks for in those he uses, and how we can develop those qualities ourselves.
Have you ever done a job halfway? Maybe you did most of what you should do, but you missed a step? There are consequences to not following instructions completely, some bigger than others, but consequences nonetheless. Can you think of some things where not following instructions might cause some issues? . . .
This concept translates very specifically into the spiritual realm. It is possible to believe you are following God, and only do part of what he says. It is possible to go through the Christian life, believe in Jesus, claim the name of Christ, but have a heart that is divided. To have obedience to the things of God, but only partial obedience. God demands more than partial obedience, and he wants all of our hearts.
And as we come to our text today from I Samuel 15:1-35, we see very clearly how this worked out in the life of King Saul. We see Saul being sent on a mission from God with very clear instructions, only he didn’t follow them. He followed most of them, but there were some instructions from God that Saul failed to follow. And Saul learned, just as we learn today, when we follow God incompletely, there is a high cost. So as we unpack our text together today, I hope you’ll take this truth home with you:
Big idea: Divided hearts lead to rejected servants
Heartache. We’ve all faced it at some point. If you haven’t yet, you will. When a family member takes his or her last breath; when the doctor gives you the news you didn’t want to hear; when you get the phone call late at night that there’s been a horrible accident; when the doctor says you’ve lost the baby. We all can relate to the feeling of heartache. Deep dark despair. It’s part of our human existence in a sinful world, but we never get used to it. . .
And you’ve felt it you; we’ve all had those experiences in life that cut us to the core. When such deep deep heartache occurs in our lives, it can easily rattle us to the point where we begin to question. Why did this happen? How can good come out of this? Where was God in the midst of this? And we ask those questions which often times remain unanswered. How do we hope when heartache comes, and we seek answers to all of these unanswered questions? Where can we turn when life seems to be caving in around us?
As we come to our text today from I Samuel 2, we meet a woman who was no stranger to heartache. We meet Hannah, and we see her burden—her heartache over her inability to have children. But our focus today is where her heartache led her, because she learned to bring her heartache to God, and as result she was able to find both comfort and purpose in the midst of her trials, and if we follow the model of Hannah, we can do the same as well. So let’s look to the life of Hannah this morning, and as we do, I hope you’ll take one truth home with you today:
Big Idea: Through the depth of heartache we experience the richness of the character of God
The event made headlines all across the country. How could something like this happen? 13 people dead, 145 wounded; what went wrong? What I am referring to is the collapse of the I-94 bridge in 2007. Our state was devastated. People marveled at the amount of times they had driven over the bridge, and now it had suddenly fell. This was Minnesota’s third busiest bridge, carrying 140k vehicles every day. Yet due to a design flaw, it came crashing down only 39 years after it’s opening.
The bridge looked fine on the outside. For 39 years it held the daily commute of thousands. But despite its external appearance, the bridge was weakening and eventually self-destructed.
It’s easy to hide what is under the surface, isn’t it? We can easily put on a public image for all to see when things are crumbling on the inside. When that happens—when we self-destruct, it always happens from the inside out. Things were going on within long before they were discernable on the outside. This is often the case leaders—those who have an influence on others. Leaders can start out well, but sometimes can be distracted. Things might look great on the surface level, but it can be easy for anyone who has any sort of influence to stop leading people out of submission to God and begin leading of our pride and self-service.
This was the case for Israel’s new king, Saul. He began being more concerned with his own public image than he was with God, and that became his downfall. As we look at this episode in the of Saul, we learn some valuable lessons about how we can be corrupted by our own desire for influence. And we learn the big idea for today:
Big Idea: Social image without spiritual integrity leads to self-destruction
I’d like to ask you a question this morning, a question that is debated, and depending who you ask you’ll get a different answer. So here it goes: how does one measure health? Everyone has a slightly different metric that is used to measure health and the condition of one’s body. . .
All sorts of ways to determine health and well being and whether someone is in a good position physically. But what about spiritually? How do you determine the condition of one spiritually? And even more, how about a group of God’s people? How do we determine the spiritual state and condition of God’s people as a whole? While the world measures health by vitals, weight, or cholesterol, God measures health by the condition of the heart. And just like physical health affects the body as a whole, spiritual health affects the body of Christ—the Church. When it comes to both individually and especially corporately as a whole, the way to determine spiritual health is not on the outside, it is on the inside. The way to determine the spiritual health of God’s people is to look at the heart. This vital way to examine God’s people is often overlooked, but it is so very important.
And as we transition to our text this morning we see that Samuel brings to light this issue in Israel. Saul had been anointed to be king, he had led the people into a great victory, and it is coronation day. Samuel is preparing to make Saul the official ruler of God’s people. But Samuel highlights something for Israel that is vitally important for people of God today. What Samuel highlights is the reality that a leader is not responsible for the hearts of the people. Israel was excited! They were getting a new king! And with that comes all sorts of positive momentum. Where will he lead us? Will he make our nation great? And all sorts of pressure on this one man to change the tide of their nation and help them be great. And in the midst of this Samuel reminds the people of Israel, and he reminds us today: the health of God’s people is related to the health of each person. Samuel tells them— “Don’t put all this pressure on one man, your new king. Your nation will only be as healthy as the people in it.” This is the same message God would have for churches today—a group of God’s followers is only as healthy as those who make up the group. Samuel continues to give a dose of cold hard reality to the people of Israel, and we’re going to look at that today because it is so very applicable to churches today as well. From this text, and from Samuel’s admonition to Israel, I want us to consider this big idea today:
Big idea: The health of God’s people starts in the heart of each person
We live in a world that is based on truth and facts. But truth and facts need verified. We like to have evidence. We like to see proof that something is real, that a statement is accurate, or that we can rely on the information we’ve been given. Think about some scenarios in which is is important to have proof . . .
It’s clear that we live in a world of evidence and proof. We don’t want to believe anything unless there is proof—real, hard, concrete proof. We want assurances before we commit. And the problem with all this comes about when it comes to spiritual things, specifically the message about Jesus. And when it comes to life’s biggest questions—about death, hope, eternity, and whether Jesus really rose from the dead—people want the same thing: proof. We want indisputable evidence that Jesus was a human, and lived a sinless life, and died, and rose from the dead. And this brings about all sorts of issues further, because what counts as proof? And how much evidence is enough? And what if there is evidence but not enough to convince someone?
Thankfully, God doesn’t bog himself down with those details, he simply gives us the evidence for us to evaluate and expects us to make a reasonable decision based on what he reveals. And the evidence God gives us good convincing proof, and God is very clear in giving it to us. In our text today, Luke 24:36-46, Jesus meets with his disciples after his resurrection and as we walk through this account we find real, clear, tangible, and trustworthy evidence concerning who Jesus is and his resurrection from the dead—we have evidence that Jesus is who he said he was.
My goal this morning is simple: I want to walk through this text of scripture and look at 6 lines of evidence that Jesus is who he says he is and view that as the reason why we need to believe in him.
Big Idea: Christ's resurrection is a fact, your resurrection is a choice
Join Larry Utsch as he talks about the triumphal entry of Jesus from Matthew 21.
Do you like to pick up heavy things? I like to pick up heavy things. For the past 6 months or so I have been lifting weights 3x a week. And I enjoy lifting kettle bells. I like kettle bell swings, and overhead presses. My favorite is the snatch, where you pick up the weight off the ground and snatch it up into the air. But when it comes to kettelbells, or lifting weights, or lifting heavy things in general, the more conditioned your muscle is, the better you’ll be able to pick up the weight. If you aren’t used to picking up weights you’re going to have to start small and build your muscle in order to go heavier.
Now if you have some heavy things to lift, and you don’t lift weights very often, you can choose to do it yourself and that might be difficult, or you could get some help. Let me get a volunteer . . .
As you can see from that simple illustration, you can be a lot more efficient, and get a lot more done if you have help. The same is true in our spiritual lives. Sometimes we try to do our spiritual lives, or ministry, on our own. We try to do it in our own power and our own strength. And when that happens, we might be able to get it done. We might be able to make some things happen, but not as well as if we were doing it in the power of God. It’s in our attempts to serve God that we must come to realize a very important truth which we learn from our text today:
Big Idea: Our best ministry resource is God himself. Because God is our best ministry resources, we need to rely completely on the power of God for service to him
People today have an obsession for freedom and feeling free. They idolize the feeling of having no restraints, being able to do anything, and feel like life is beyond limits. As such, people choose things, certain things that might contribute to the feeling of being limitless, having no restraints, and completely beyond restriction. Can you think of some things people do today in order to be free? Some people choose travel—they like to explore new places and see new things, and feel untied to the rhythm of life when they travel and explore new things. For others it is some sort of adventure—maybe they try sky diving, or parasailing, or hang gliding, or bungee jumping. These extreme activities make them feel unattached to the things of this world—a sense of freedom. Some find it in meditation and mindfulness—some sort of spiritual practice that enlightens the mind and brings a sense of freedom. Other find freedom in charity or volunteer work—if you focus on giving back it brings a sense of freedom and peace inside—I am not held back and unencumbered by the things of this life. Freedom. We like to be free. We like to make our own choices and experience a level of real or perceived independence.
But there is a danger in the pursuit of so called freedom. This desire for freedom might create a spiritual desire for freedom—a desire for freedom from God. Just like we might like to feel free physically, as if we have no restraints or things holding us down, if we are not careful, we can begin to feel the same way about God. Just like some of our physical attempts at freedom, it is always a risky move to attempt freedom from God . . .
Big Idea: even freedom has a cost