2001 - A GRACE ODYSSY - 1 COR 15:1-11
EASTER AS A CHILD: not a very exciting holiday. I didn’t sit around for weeks in advance and daydream about how exciting Easter day would be. Easter couldn’t compete with the gifts of Christmas, the candy of Halloween or even the turkey & football on Thanksgiving.
1) Change happened for me in 1979: Easter went from worst to first. Paul says in I Cor 13: When I was a child I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child but when I became a man, I did away with childish things. Easter is a holiday with eternal meaning. JESUS IS ALIVE. What a shame to miss it’s meaning.
When ALEXANDER THE GREAT invaded PERSIA his soldiers swept across the landscape through villages and cities. They took whatever they wanted. When some of them entered the PALACE of DARIUS a soldier came across an attractive leather bag. He looked inside and found the CROWN JEWELS OF PERSIA but only concluded that they were worthless shiny rocks. He dumped them out on a pile of rubbish and kept the bag. He was heard time and again boasting of his prized treasure, the leather bag. EASTER IS THE CROWN JEWELS, it is what really matters. Many people strut around boasting about jobs, houses, cars, position, possession, popularity while the only true and lasting treasure (relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ) is cast aside
Easter is the churches greatest reason to celebrate, the resurrection is the world most history changing event, it is Christianity’s greatest proof and the world’s only hope.
Easter is defined by the word GRACE: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. It is God’s unmerited, undeserved move towards man’s need. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. While we deserved judgment He acted in love. (1 JN 4:10) In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.(satisfied the demands of God’s holiness in His death)
IN LUKE’S ACCOUNT of Jesus’ death on the cross he uses an unexpected verb tense. When he writes of Jesus saying, Father, forgive them is expresses a continuous repeated action. This was something that he repeatedly said: Beat him with cat-o-nine -tails crushed thorned crown into His head put a purple robe across his bloody back and mocked him with false worship when he carried the cross in an exhausted state when they drove nails through His body when he hung there with His blood dripping out of body when their angry voices shouted at him AT WHAT POINT DID WE DESERVE HIS FORGIVENESS OR EVEN ASK FOR IT? EASTER IS GOD’S MOVE
THREE LOOKS AT GRACE
GRACE DEFINED (1) Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, (2) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. (3) For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (4) and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
1. THE MANNER OF GRACE: Grace is defined in the work of Christ for us expressed by the Gospel. The gospel ’preached’ ’received’ ’stand’. This is the how we are saved. Paul mentions in 1 COR the ’foolishness of preaching’ by which people come to faith in Christ.
a. How do I know that I am saved? ’If you hold fast the word…unless you believed in vain’. The Word finds root in your life and is proven by the actions of your life.
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO DIVINITY SCHOOL each years has what is called ’BAPTIST DAY’. On this day each one is to bring a lunch to an outdoor picnic area and the school invites one of the popular lecturers to speak at the theological education center. One year DR. PAUL TILLICH came and spent 2 1/2 hours attempting to prove that the resurrection of Jesus was a lie. He quoted liberal books and scholars to prove his point and then asked for questions.
A older man near the back of the auditorium spoke, ’Dr. Tillich(took apple out and began to eat) Crunch, crunch….I have a simple question….munch munch….I haven’t read any of those books you talk about….crunch crunch….I can’t recite the Scriptures in Greek….munch munch…I don’t know anything about Neibuhr and Heidegger….crunch..crunch…(he held up the core of his eaten apple) All I want to know is, ’This apple I just ate, was it bitter or sweet?’
Dr. Tillich paused and then responded, ’I cannot possibly answer that question, I haven’t tasted your apple sir’….The old man dropped the apple core into his sack and said, ’Neither have you tasted my Jesus’. The audience of over 1,000 erupted into applause and cheers to which Dr. Tillech left the platform.
2. THE MESSAGE OF GRACE: The Easter message. Jesus died….Jesus buried….Jesus raised on the third day. Most important of all: ’according to the Scriptures’
a. Ps 22 describes the events of the cross before the cross was ever invented as a form of capital punishment:
1) Quoted from the cross: My God, My God why hast thou forsaken Me?(Meant to draw attention to the entire Psalm) My bones are out of joint…dogs have surrounded me…pierced My hands and my feet…stare at Me….divide my garments…..for My clothing they cast lots.
2) What reason did He died for? Our sins
a) ISA 53 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening of our well being fell upon Him, and by His scrourgings we are healed.
AMAZING GRACE: What Jesus was willing to do because of our need. Read this week about Bob McFall. He was a 39 year old bachlor suffering from a disease in which he needed a bone-marrow transplant to live. A search was made for a donor among his family and it was discovered that his first cousin was a perfect match. The first cousin was told the news and was explained that there would be no harm to him but he refused. Others tried to convince him but he steadfastly refused. Finally Bob McFall sued his first cousin and took him to court. The trial went on and a verdict was reached: The Judge saw the behavior of Bob’s first cousin as reprehensible but ruled that he could not be forced to undergo the procedure. Three weeks after the trial ended Bob McFall died. The Bible says, ’While we were enemies Christ died for us’
GRACE DEMONSTRATED (8) and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. (9) For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
1. After a long list of those of whom grace touched Paul describes his own life as a demonstration of what grace does.
CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS are often seen chained to a simple wooden stake placed in the ground. The power of the elephant could easily free itself but it doesn’t. You would expect to see such an animal chained to a wall or a large concrete block. The animal will even stretch for something with it’s trunk while lifting it leg towards the stake it is chained to. REASON. When the elephant was young it was chained to very secure objects and it was repeatedly reinforced that it could not escape the chain no matter how hard it tried. It no longer even attempts to free itself. GRACE SETS US FREE IN SPITE OF THE CHAINS OF SIN. Some of you remain in your bondage because you have become convinced by past failures that escape is impossible. PAUL’S LIFE IS A DEMONSTRATION OF THE POWER OF GRACE TO SET US FREE.
2. FOUR STATEMENTS ABOUT GRACE
a. Grace reaches into unsuspecting lives as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. (didn’t even see it coming)
ASK ME AS A TEENAGE BOY: Do you have any spiritual needs? Nah, I go to church from time to time, I like God and the devil scares me, ’Anything in your life, other than your church membership, prove you have been changed by God’s grace?’ Not sure what you mean? AGE 20: Power of conviction overwhelmed my life - first time in my life I really felt LOST and that was the first step to getting SAVED.
b. Grace revolutionizes even the greatest of rebels not fit to be called an apostle…I persecuted the church of God.
1) Amazing humility of one so greatly used by God.
THE GOSPEL can change a man from being a persecuter to a preacher. It can take a bottle out of his hands and put a Bible in it. It can take a filthy mouth and turn it into a mouth of praise. It can take a man who is a shame to his family and make him an example to his family. INSCRIPTION ON THE GRAVE OF JOHN NEWTON reads:
John Newton, Clerk Once an infidel and libertine A servant of slaves in Africa
Was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ Preserved, restored, pardoned
And appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy
c. Grace becomes the explanation of our lives by His grace I am what I am
1) Anything in your life have no other explanation except that God did it?
a) Every time I step behind a pulpit I think about grace - everytime you witness do you think of grace - every time you see somebody struggling with the same sin that almost destroyed your life - every time we take an offering and you recognize how God has blessed your life
2) The reason why the life of Paul is so unbelievable is because he allowed grace to flow through his veins. God’s power replaced his meager abilities and his life became a pure vessel in God’s hand.
d. Grace leads to action His grace did not prove vain but I labored more than all of them
1) Paul states that he had every reason not to be greatly used of God. Those other disciples had every advantage over him but I LABORED MORE THAN ALL OF THEM. WHY? GRACE did not prove vain. Important challenge: Try grace and I guarantee it will not prove empty, without effect.
a) Any area of your life you can put that to the test?
CHARLES DICKENS’ Tale of Two Cities writes about a doctor who was imprisoned for 20 yrs in a French prison. Unable to practice medicine he became a cobbler and learned to repair shoes. For 20 years he sat in a small, dark prison cell and late at night your could hear the tap, tap, tapping away of repairing fellow prisoner’s shoes. When the revolution was over and he was set free he could not cope with freedom. The brightness of the sun the openess of the world around him, he no longer knew how to respond. He went home and had a room build for him in the attic. The exact dimensions of his prison cell. Every evening he would be escorted to that room and locked inside and through the night you could hear the tap, tap, tapping of his work. FREEDOM CAME BUT LIFE REMAINED THE SAME. CRAZINESS…I SEE IT EVERYDAY…
I share what Christ has done and what it means to your life and mine and yet I see in the lives of believers the same old lifestyles that they were supposed to be delivered from.
GRACE DELIVERED (11) Whether then if was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
1. Paul states that everyone on the team understood the one goal: Reach people for Christ. I OR THEY….WE PREACH…SO YOU BELIEVE.
a. Often hear people ask, ’Can someone be saved if they never hear about Jesus? But Paul would ask, ’Can you be saved if you never tell anybody?’
2. We have a wonderful message to offer the world: A hastily transcribed, simple message sent from the Titanic, ’We have struck and iceberg’ recently was auctioned off by Christies and was valued at between $6,700 and $9,300. What is our message worth? IT is lifechanging! HE DIED….HE WAS BURIED….HE AROSE! IT was all done for you and because of it all God can offer you forgiveness of your sin and a life by which you stand in His grace.
Book is written about a very rich man named Carl. He loved riding horseback through his valley, looking at everything he owned, and congradulating himself on his great wealth.
One day he came over a hill and saw an old farmer named Hans in the distance. It was lunch time and as Carl approached he saw Hans bowing his head to thank God for his food. He saw that the meal was only a slice of coarse bread and a piece of cheese. ’IF THAT’S ALL I HAD TO EAT, I WOULDN’t EVEN BOTHER TO PRAY’. Han’s responded, ’IT IS ENOUGH AND I AM THANKFUL TO GOD FOR IT’.
Carl turned his horse to ride away when the old farmer said, ’WAIT A MINUTE. I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING. I HAD A DREAM LAST NIGHT. IN MY DREAM I SAW A BEAUTIFUL SCENE AND THEN I HEARD A VOICE SAY, ’TONIGHT THE RICHEST MAN IN THE VALLEY WILL DIE. TONIGHT THE RICHEST MAN IN THE VALLY WILL DIE’
RIDICULOUS said Carl as he rode off. As he continued home the words of Hans haunted him. He had felt fine when he left home but now he was feeling pains in his chest. COULD IT BE TRUE? AM I TO DIE TONIGHT? He reached home and called his doctor. The doctor came and examined him. CARL, YOU ARE A STRONG AS A HORSE, YOU WILL BE FINE. I WILL STOP BACK BY IN THE MORNING JUST TO TAKE A SECOND LOOK AT YOU.
Carl thought, How foolish I was to believe that old man’s dream that the richest man in the valley would die tonight. NEXT DAY: Doctor arrived late. Apologized to Carl but said I had to go by the house of an old farmer named Hans. He died last night in his sleep. THE RICHEST MAN IN THE VALLEY DID DIE.
