April 7, 2024 • 24 mins
In this sermon, we enter a profound exploration of the 'Cardboard Jesus', a metaphor delineating the often superficial understanding of Jesus Christ in modern religious practice. Using humor and thought-provoking insights, this discussion challenges the prevailing perceptions and dives into the multi-faceted reality of Jesus Christ. We confront the narrative of a one-dimensional Jesus, as depicted in images and rituals, urging believers to dig deeper into the essence of Christ's existence.
Featuring engrossing discussions on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, on the difference between reverence of deceased icons and the living Jesus, and on the global impact of Christ's death and resurrection, this sermon offers a refreshing look at Christian theology. Going beyond a mere ritualistic approach, importance is given to a constant, meaningful connection with Christ. The sermon is an ideal listen for those seeking to deepen their understanding of faith and spirituality.
'The Unquenchable Fire of Christianity: A Powerful Analysis of Its Longevity', offered in this episode, provides an interesting insight into the enduring strength and vitality of Christianity. Capturing the historical obstacles and the power of the resurrection message, it illuminates why Christianity persists as a major religion despite centuries of persecution and criticism. This dialogue is as much a tribute to the early Christians and their unwavering faith as it is a compelling analysis of the divine force driving Christianity's survival.
Strongly advocating for an authentic immersion in Christian teachings, the episode encourages listeners to question whether their relationship with Christ is genuinely transformative or merely confined to preaching. Emphasizing the model of 'Doubting Thomas', the sermon ends with a call to experience Christianity as a living testament of an enduring deity and His timeless teachings.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Music.
(00:08):
1 Corinthians 15, starting at verse 1.
1 Corinthians 15. In your pew Bible, you find that on page 1142.
We're going to read that momentarily. For now, let me just introduce today's message.
This is what I call an a la carte sermon.
(00:29):
It's not part of a package. It's not part of a series. It's just a standalone sermon.
But it stems from something that happened here several weeks ago that I haven't forgotten.
How could I forget? Because this bug got in my ear and I just couldn't let it go.
There was a Sunday not long ago where I was talking about our Lord Jesus.
(00:52):
He is our Lord and his name is Jesus.
But because I talk sometimes like I have marbles in my mouth,
some people heard cardboard Jesus and they kept asking one another,
did he he say Cardboard Jesus?
And eventually it got back to me. And well, it turns out that through the modern
technology we use to stream our worship services to the internet,
(01:16):
I can actually look at a transcript.
So I did, because I wanted to know, did I say Cardboard Jesus?
Turns out I didn't. I have evidence.
It's a matter of fact that I said Our Lord Jesus.
But boy, once I got that that idea of cardboard Jesus in my head,
I just couldn't let it go.
(01:36):
And I said to myself, self, come back to that.
It's a good topic for a sermon. Well, it turns out there's nothing new under
the sun, as Solomon said.
Cardboard Jesus is a theme that has been talked about on other occasions by
preachers who are far more gifted than I, but we are going to do that today.
And how fitting it is that we do it on the occasion of the week after the resurrection
(02:01):
celebration, celebration we call Easter.
Because after Jesus arose from the grave, there were a lot of people who didn't
buy it, who didn't believe that it really happened.
And there are a lot of people today that don't believe it really happened.
And they honestly really believe that a vast majority of the Christians they
(02:23):
know are worshiping a cardboard Jesus.
That is, he's like a flat, one-sided character that you prop up in the corner
of your church church and you sort of give him lip service.
I thought about this on the way over here today, and I thought that for a while,
young people thought it was cool to wear t-shirts with pictures of Che Guevara on them.
(02:44):
They don't really know anything about him or they think they do,
but he's a dead revolutionary.
There are people who have heard of and recognize Mahatma Gandhi Bondi,
as a very special person in the history of modern America, modern world,
you know, and he fought for independence by being peaceful, but he was a spiritual
(03:08):
leader and a remarkable human being, and there are people who have pictures
of him, and they remember him with homage.
He's dead. He was murdered.
Martyr, you could even say. There are people who have icons and images of the
apostles and the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary.
(03:29):
There are people who have pictures and statues of other famous people.
I was a big fan of St. Francis of Assisi, and there are people who have statues
of him in their garden, you know, with little birds on their shoulders and squirrels
and raccoons around his feet, you know, because he liked nature.
All of these people are dead.
(03:51):
They're all dead. They are remembered for a contribution they made that was
so remarkable that it hasn't been forgotten, but they're all dead.
And you can go visit their graves.
Some of us, heck, I remember we were looking for a home to live in when we first came to Jasper.
When I found out we were going to be appointed here at Jasper,
(04:13):
where we went and looked at homes and we visited a house that had a bust of
John F. Kennedy in the basement.
This house was locked in the 1960s. It was like a museum to the 1960s. It was a little creepy.
They really admired John F. Kennedy, and many people from that era did because
(04:34):
he was pretty remarkable.
But he was also young and vital and remarkable in a lot of ways that our presidents
hadn't been up to that point.
And so when he was tragically taken suddenly by a murderer, people liked having busts of him.
Maybe you've seen busts of George Washington.
(04:55):
Guess what? They're dead. you can go
visit their graves and if you dig them up they'll be
in there don't do that that happened
to abraham lincoln by the way he was martyred by
an assassin and people have statues of abraham lincoln and images and pictures
of abraham lincoln and after he died people actually dug up his body and then
(05:18):
tried to hold it ransom and this happened two or three times until they They
finally built what is now the current tomb of Abraham Lincoln,
and you ain't getting him out of there.
I've seen the documentary. You can't get him out of there.
They've got iron and concrete, and you wouldn't believe all the stuff they did
to make sure nobody could ever get down there where he is to get him out.
(05:41):
You know where I'm going with this, right? You know where I'm going with this.
If you were there at the sunrise service last Sunday in the cemetery,
I told you to imagine that one of those graves had been recently occupied,
but on a certain Sunday morning, just three days after you witnessed the burial,
there was an explosion of sorts, and this grave was empty, and the person you
(06:04):
saw buried there wasn't there anymore.
And what's more, you were greeted by an angel that told you he's not there. there, he's risen.
Why are you looking for the living among the dead?
And then he was seen by many.
Now let's read this passage from 1 Corinthians.
This is the Apostle Paul, who was not a firsthand witness of the resurrection,
(06:26):
but he did have a firsthand experience with the resurrected Lord.
And this is what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received,
in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the
(06:49):
word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
believed that Christ died for our sins in accordance with scriptures,
that he was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with scriptures,
(07:10):
and that he appeared to Cephas, that's Peter, then to the twelve,
and then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are
still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
And then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
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The word of God for the people of God, thanks be to God. So it really happened.
It really happened. People have all kinds of cardboard images of Jesus that they sort of submit to.
We have pictures of Jesus on our walls.
We have variations on a theme. You know, it depends on what your tradition is.
(07:58):
You might have a picture of Jesus looking very European, looking like his heart
is bursting bursting out of his chest, looking like he just came in from a touch
football game. That's the one I have in my office.
There are all kinds of pictures of Jesus out there, but they only serve as a
way of reminding us of his presence.
(08:18):
It's just like the pictures you keep on your phone, or back in the day,
we used to have these little plastic things that would fall out of your wallet with 800 pictures in it.
And if you were lucky, we'd show you every single one of them.
Our wallets were this thick, men, and they hurt when you sit on them.
But now we got phones that have all those pictures in them.
(08:40):
And if you ask, I'll show you pictures of my grandbabies.
Why? Because I'm thinking about them all the time, and I like the pictures to remind me.
But the thing I know is they're alive, and I can go see them.
I can FaceTime with them. Imagine that.
Well, you can't FaceTime with Jesus exactly, but he's alive.
He is alive. And what I want to talk about for starters is that this is something
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that we need to be willing to contend with, because even here today,
there might be somebody who's really having a hard time believing that Jesus is really alive.
And the first thing I would point out to you is there are certain universal
truths that even critics of Christianity will agree to.
There are people who don't necessarily believe that the Bible is true,
(09:27):
who won't disagree with you about the assumption that Jesus rose.
In other words, our people are not sure they believe anything Christians believe,
but they can't deny that something remarkable happened as a result of his death
and the the disappearance of his body, okay?
(09:50):
So even those who deny Christianity will agree that the world has changed completely
as a result of the death and apparent resurrection of Jesus.
I want you to think about that for a second. I was thinking,
again, on my way here today, this is what happens.
I prepare messages in some parts weeks in advance, and then they kind of come
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together as I get get closer and closer to delivery.
And sometimes some of the best stuff comes on the drive from the home to the
church on Sunday morning.
And I was thinking on the way here about the eclipse.
And I was thinking about something we were talking about before church,
like why on earth is Jasper of
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all places going to swell in its population tomorrow because of an event?
By the way, if you don't want to deal with the eclipse, here's my suggestion.
Tomorrow tomorrow somewhere in your house, sit quietly in the dark,
close your eyes for three and a half minutes and say, yeah, I saw the eclipse.
And then you don't even have to go outside, but you might put the funny glasses
(10:55):
on just because we want to give them away.
But, but seriously, why would Jasper, Indiana of all places,
or I don't know, Birdseye, Indiana, or, or Celestine or, or the Dubois crossroads or Dubois itself,
I crystal, right?
I'm trying to name places. I'm pretty sure right on the path of the total eclipse.
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Why would any of these places swell in population to where people are going
to see their lives disrupted for a few hours tomorrow because of this celestial event?
Why would that happen? Because there are billions of us in this world,
millions and billions of people in this world.
And this event is actually a very narrow event that's happening over what seems
(11:43):
like a large stretch of the world.
But in reality, if you try to get all the people in the world who want to go
see the total eclipse into this little narrow band where it's the most intense in its expression,
there's going to be crowding no matter where you go because there's so doggone many of us.
Okay? Now, go with me on this.
(12:06):
That's just the eclipse. clips. Now imagine that 2,000 years ago or so,
this story's going around about this preacher who, frankly, everybody who encountered
him was left completely astonished.
And then they saw how desperately the authorities wanted to shut him down,
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and they even managed to pull off a complete sham of a legal maneuver and kill him for nothing,
except being controversial with the people who had an agenda that he was about to undermine.
And so then you hear that he was killed and that he rose again from the grave on the third day.
And the thing that nobody seems to be able to get over is the fact that they
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can't find a body anywhere.
And people are saying they've seen him. And, you know, sooner or later, you start thinking...
There's an awful lot of people that have radically changed their lives because
they're sure that this man really rose from the grave.
And it's not just that, but then that validates everything he ever said about
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life and death and heaven and hell and the relationship between God and humanity
and the relationship between God and God's enemy.
It's like all of a sudden everything he said has authority that can't be questioned
if this is true, if he really rose from the grave.
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And this movement, this thing that happened, it started in a small area,
kind of like the span of an eclipse, but millions of people eventually are affected by this.
And now add time to the the equation.
Not only are millions of people affected by this story that can't be denied
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because nobody's ever found the body.
And now you might say, well, you know, nobody's ever found Jimmy Hoffa either,
but nobody's ever claimed to see him walking around and talking to them or eating
with them or presenting himself to 500 people at a time or, or.
Telling people after his resurrection that he has specific things he wants them
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to do, and it's going to cost you everything, but you'll be glad you did it.
And because he has proven that there's more to life than even a few short years
on earth and the grave, there is an eternal existence.
And he's here as living proof, as firstborn of the resurrected dead.
And for that that message, for the sake of that message, these people,
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these 12 apostles and all the apostles or the disciples of the apostles,
they have sacrificed everything to keep this message going.
Do you have any idea how horrible it was to be a Christian the first couple
of hundred years of Christianity?
I mean, the Jews were trying to shut it down.
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They were collaborating with the Romans and using the Romans to do their dirty
work for them, just like they did with Jesus.
The horrible things, the bloodlust of the Romans cannot be underestimated.
They were pagans, and they were a cult in and of themselves of humanity.
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In other words, they were secular humanists, you might say, who lived for the
flesh, which means they craved violence and sex.
That's really what it means. and their culture is completely absorbed with these ideas.
And if they had an excuse, if they could just pick out somebody that they thought
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was anti-society, in other words, if you could be identified as a hater.
If you could be identified as a religious fanatic, if you could be identified
as some way that made you not fit with the status quo,
in particular, if you were actually advocating that people couldn't all do whatever
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the heck they wanted and whatever was right in their own eyes,
then the Romans were more than happy to throw you in the arena and let something
horrible happen to you. And they did.
You may have heard that Nero used his Christian victims as torchlights in his gardens.
My point is, why are we still doing this today, 2,000 years later?
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Let's talk about how many people are in the world and then talk about how there's
always been lots of people, like millions of us in this world,
over the course of one generation after another, after another,
after another for 2,000 years.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the numbers become exponential.
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Billions of people over the last 2,000 years have given their entire life to
the belief that Jesus died and rose again.
Billions of people over time. time.
And many of them, it cost them dearly to maintain this belief.
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Now, why am I spending so much time on that? Well, you could look for other proofs if you want.
You can look for other proofs that Jesus rose from the grave.
Well, for one, there's a big government, the Roman government.
Try to imagine the United States government, because there's not much difference
between Rome then and America today,
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imagine a government dedicating all of its resources in the region of Judea
to proving that Jesus was dead and all they needed was to find his body.
Imagine the government today making it their mission to find the dead body so
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they can prove once and for all that that this Jesus cult is completely unjustified
because that's what the government of Rome did.
That's what the Jews wanted done. Everybody who didn't believe in Jesus was
desperate to prove that he hadn't risen from the grave and that people hadn't really seen Jesus.
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Believe it or not, there are people living today who think that because you
are here, you're delusional.
There are people I've met who think that Christians are all part of some weird mass hysteria.
And all I can say is, that's an interesting theory.
How do you suppose you explain that over 2,000 years?
(18:43):
Are you saying that there is some sort of genetic or psychological conspiracy
that has has lasted for 2,000 years, and that everybody who chooses to believe in Jesus is somehow,
mysteriously changed into a weirdo who's thinking things might actually be true
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that can't possibly be true?
Actually, yes.
And that would be proof too, wouldn't it? That would be evidence in and of itself, wouldn't it?
Because Christianity just won't go away.
It won't go away. It doesn't seem to matter what they try to do to stop the
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vision and mission of Jesus,
which is to go and make disciples of all the world, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit,
spirit this very essence of god's heart
and mind that is outside of time
and space and therefore as real
today and as present today as when
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jesus released the holy spirit into this thing we call the church capital c
one of the most undeniable proofs of jesus's resurrection is the fact that we're
still here and despite the fact that even in the name of Christ.
People have tried to change the nature of Christ.
(20:10):
We fought a little battle around that not long ago ourselves.
People would say, oh, but if Jesus was here today, he wouldn't believe that.
Do you know how wrong the phrasing of that entire question is or that statement?
How completely absurd that statement is? If Jesus was here today, he is here today.
He's the same Jesus today that he was then, because nothing has changed.
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He is the timeless Son of God.
And whatever he said then is as true then as it is today, because he might as
well have said it today as he did then, because there's no time involved.
We're the ones dealing with time.
And the point then is that this thing is as real as it gets.
So the question I want to ask you then is, if this is all true,
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then what What does that mean to you? What are you going to do about that?
Let's be honest, you can answer this quietly to yourself and perhaps talk it
over with the people you love, your small groups or whatever,
but let's just deal with the question at hand.
Is your Jesus a flat, one-sided cardboard Jesus?
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Is it a belief system that you give your lip service to, or is it a relationship
that you have with the living Christ?
See, the thing that keeps keeps Christianity alive indefinitely,
even into an unknowable future, is that Jesus is alive.
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He ascended to heaven. It just means that he's left where we can see him in
favor of a place where he dwells with the Father, his natural home,
and yet he has given to us his very heart and mind to possess our nature and
for us to inhabit his home while at a distance.
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In other words, we are the body of Christ.
That's why his body doesn't need to be here right now.
And therefore, are you a flat, one-dimensional cardboard Christian?
Christian, or are you a Christian because you are co-heirs with Christ,
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sons and daughters of God, therefore the living body of Christ on earth?
When people meet you, do they get a dose of Jesus?
When people see how you deal with the world, with sin, with chaos,
when they see you bringing bringing cosmic order to situations that are inhabited
(22:46):
by God's enemy? Do they see Jesus?
Do they hear his voice saying, be still to the storm?
Do they see cardboard Jesus when they meet you?
Or do they see the three-dimensional, resurrected, living Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus?
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Let us pray. pray. Almighty God, thank you for your word. Now burn it into our hearts.
Help us to be like Thomas, who at first doubted that Jesus could have risen from the grave.
Thomas saw how dead Jesus was.
He saw how completely dead Jesus was, and he said, not unless I probe those
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wounds with my hands, will I believe?
And then when Jesus said, peace, Thomas said, my Lord and my God,
Lord, make us such, make us that kind of Christian.
Music.
Music.
(00:08):
1 Corinthians 15, starting at verse 1.
1 Corinthians 15. In your pew Bible, you find that on page 1142.
We're going to read that momentarily. For now, let me just introduce today's message.
This is what I call an a la carte sermon.
(00:29):
It's not part of a package. It's not part of a series. It's just a standalone sermon.
But it stems from something that happened here several weeks ago that I haven't forgotten.
How could I forget? Because this bug got in my ear and I just couldn't let it go.
There was a Sunday not long ago where I was talking about our Lord Jesus.
(00:52):
He is our Lord and his name is Jesus.
But because I talk sometimes like I have marbles in my mouth,
some people heard cardboard Jesus and they kept asking one another,
did he he say Cardboard Jesus?
And eventually it got back to me. And well, it turns out that through the modern
technology we use to stream our worship services to the internet,
(01:16):
I can actually look at a transcript.
So I did, because I wanted to know, did I say Cardboard Jesus?
Turns out I didn't. I have evidence.
It's a matter of fact that I said Our Lord Jesus.
But boy, once I got that that idea of cardboard Jesus in my head,
I just couldn't let it go.
(01:36):
And I said to myself, self, come back to that.
It's a good topic for a sermon. Well, it turns out there's nothing new under
the sun, as Solomon said.
Cardboard Jesus is a theme that has been talked about on other occasions by
preachers who are far more gifted than I, but we are going to do that today.
And how fitting it is that we do it on the occasion of the week after the resurrection
(02:01):
celebration, celebration we call Easter.
Because after Jesus arose from the grave, there were a lot of people who didn't
buy it, who didn't believe that it really happened.
And there are a lot of people today that don't believe it really happened.
And they honestly really believe that a vast majority of the Christians they
(02:23):
know are worshiping a cardboard Jesus.
That is, he's like a flat, one-sided character that you prop up in the corner
of your church church and you sort of give him lip service.
I thought about this on the way over here today, and I thought that for a while,
young people thought it was cool to wear t-shirts with pictures of Che Guevara on them.
(02:44):
They don't really know anything about him or they think they do,
but he's a dead revolutionary.
There are people who have heard of and recognize Mahatma Gandhi Bondi,
as a very special person in the history of modern America, modern world,
you know, and he fought for independence by being peaceful, but he was a spiritual
(03:08):
leader and a remarkable human being, and there are people who have pictures
of him, and they remember him with homage.
He's dead. He was murdered.
Martyr, you could even say. There are people who have icons and images of the
apostles and the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary.
(03:29):
There are people who have pictures and statues of other famous people.
I was a big fan of St. Francis of Assisi, and there are people who have statues
of him in their garden, you know, with little birds on their shoulders and squirrels
and raccoons around his feet, you know, because he liked nature.
All of these people are dead.
(03:51):
They're all dead. They are remembered for a contribution they made that was
so remarkable that it hasn't been forgotten, but they're all dead.
And you can go visit their graves.
Some of us, heck, I remember we were looking for a home to live in when we first came to Jasper.
When I found out we were going to be appointed here at Jasper,
(04:13):
where we went and looked at homes and we visited a house that had a bust of
John F. Kennedy in the basement.
This house was locked in the 1960s. It was like a museum to the 1960s. It was a little creepy.
They really admired John F. Kennedy, and many people from that era did because
(04:34):
he was pretty remarkable.
But he was also young and vital and remarkable in a lot of ways that our presidents
hadn't been up to that point.
And so when he was tragically taken suddenly by a murderer, people liked having busts of him.
Maybe you've seen busts of George Washington.
(04:55):
Guess what? They're dead. you can go
visit their graves and if you dig them up they'll be
in there don't do that that happened
to abraham lincoln by the way he was martyred by
an assassin and people have statues of abraham lincoln and images and pictures
of abraham lincoln and after he died people actually dug up his body and then
(05:18):
tried to hold it ransom and this happened two or three times until they They
finally built what is now the current tomb of Abraham Lincoln,
and you ain't getting him out of there.
I've seen the documentary. You can't get him out of there.
They've got iron and concrete, and you wouldn't believe all the stuff they did
to make sure nobody could ever get down there where he is to get him out.
(05:41):
You know where I'm going with this, right? You know where I'm going with this.
If you were there at the sunrise service last Sunday in the cemetery,
I told you to imagine that one of those graves had been recently occupied,
but on a certain Sunday morning, just three days after you witnessed the burial,
there was an explosion of sorts, and this grave was empty, and the person you
(06:04):
saw buried there wasn't there anymore.
And what's more, you were greeted by an angel that told you he's not there. there, he's risen.
Why are you looking for the living among the dead?
And then he was seen by many.
Now let's read this passage from 1 Corinthians.
This is the Apostle Paul, who was not a firsthand witness of the resurrection,
(06:26):
but he did have a firsthand experience with the resurrected Lord.
And this is what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received,
in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the
(06:49):
word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
believed that Christ died for our sins in accordance with scriptures,
that he was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with scriptures,
(07:10):
and that he appeared to Cephas, that's Peter, then to the twelve,
and then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are
still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
And then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
(07:36):
The word of God for the people of God, thanks be to God. So it really happened.
It really happened. People have all kinds of cardboard images of Jesus that they sort of submit to.
We have pictures of Jesus on our walls.
We have variations on a theme. You know, it depends on what your tradition is.
(07:58):
You might have a picture of Jesus looking very European, looking like his heart
is bursting bursting out of his chest, looking like he just came in from a touch
football game. That's the one I have in my office.
There are all kinds of pictures of Jesus out there, but they only serve as a
way of reminding us of his presence.
(08:18):
It's just like the pictures you keep on your phone, or back in the day,
we used to have these little plastic things that would fall out of your wallet with 800 pictures in it.
And if you were lucky, we'd show you every single one of them.
Our wallets were this thick, men, and they hurt when you sit on them.
But now we got phones that have all those pictures in them.
(08:40):
And if you ask, I'll show you pictures of my grandbabies.
Why? Because I'm thinking about them all the time, and I like the pictures to remind me.
But the thing I know is they're alive, and I can go see them.
I can FaceTime with them. Imagine that.
Well, you can't FaceTime with Jesus exactly, but he's alive.
He is alive. And what I want to talk about for starters is that this is something
(09:06):
that we need to be willing to contend with, because even here today,
there might be somebody who's really having a hard time believing that Jesus is really alive.
And the first thing I would point out to you is there are certain universal
truths that even critics of Christianity will agree to.
There are people who don't necessarily believe that the Bible is true,
(09:27):
who won't disagree with you about the assumption that Jesus rose.
In other words, our people are not sure they believe anything Christians believe,
but they can't deny that something remarkable happened as a result of his death
and the the disappearance of his body, okay?
(09:50):
So even those who deny Christianity will agree that the world has changed completely
as a result of the death and apparent resurrection of Jesus.
I want you to think about that for a second. I was thinking,
again, on my way here today, this is what happens.
I prepare messages in some parts weeks in advance, and then they kind of come
(10:14):
together as I get get closer and closer to delivery.
And sometimes some of the best stuff comes on the drive from the home to the
church on Sunday morning.
And I was thinking on the way here about the eclipse.
And I was thinking about something we were talking about before church,
like why on earth is Jasper of
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all places going to swell in its population tomorrow because of an event?
By the way, if you don't want to deal with the eclipse, here's my suggestion.
Tomorrow tomorrow somewhere in your house, sit quietly in the dark,
close your eyes for three and a half minutes and say, yeah, I saw the eclipse.
And then you don't even have to go outside, but you might put the funny glasses
(10:55):
on just because we want to give them away.
But, but seriously, why would Jasper, Indiana of all places,
or I don't know, Birdseye, Indiana, or, or Celestine or, or the Dubois crossroads or Dubois itself,
I crystal, right?
I'm trying to name places. I'm pretty sure right on the path of the total eclipse.
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Why would any of these places swell in population to where people are going
to see their lives disrupted for a few hours tomorrow because of this celestial event?
Why would that happen? Because there are billions of us in this world,
millions and billions of people in this world.
And this event is actually a very narrow event that's happening over what seems
(11:43):
like a large stretch of the world.
But in reality, if you try to get all the people in the world who want to go
see the total eclipse into this little narrow band where it's the most intense in its expression,
there's going to be crowding no matter where you go because there's so doggone many of us.
Okay? Now, go with me on this.
(12:06):
That's just the eclipse. clips. Now imagine that 2,000 years ago or so,
this story's going around about this preacher who, frankly, everybody who encountered
him was left completely astonished.
And then they saw how desperately the authorities wanted to shut him down,
(12:28):
and they even managed to pull off a complete sham of a legal maneuver and kill him for nothing,
except being controversial with the people who had an agenda that he was about to undermine.
And so then you hear that he was killed and that he rose again from the grave on the third day.
And the thing that nobody seems to be able to get over is the fact that they
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can't find a body anywhere.
And people are saying they've seen him. And, you know, sooner or later, you start thinking...
There's an awful lot of people that have radically changed their lives because
they're sure that this man really rose from the grave.
And it's not just that, but then that validates everything he ever said about
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life and death and heaven and hell and the relationship between God and humanity
and the relationship between God and God's enemy.
It's like all of a sudden everything he said has authority that can't be questioned
if this is true, if he really rose from the grave.
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And this movement, this thing that happened, it started in a small area,
kind of like the span of an eclipse, but millions of people eventually are affected by this.
And now add time to the the equation.
Not only are millions of people affected by this story that can't be denied
(14:00):
because nobody's ever found the body.
And now you might say, well, you know, nobody's ever found Jimmy Hoffa either,
but nobody's ever claimed to see him walking around and talking to them or eating
with them or presenting himself to 500 people at a time or, or.
Telling people after his resurrection that he has specific things he wants them
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to do, and it's going to cost you everything, but you'll be glad you did it.
And because he has proven that there's more to life than even a few short years
on earth and the grave, there is an eternal existence.
And he's here as living proof, as firstborn of the resurrected dead.
And for that that message, for the sake of that message, these people,
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these 12 apostles and all the apostles or the disciples of the apostles,
they have sacrificed everything to keep this message going.
Do you have any idea how horrible it was to be a Christian the first couple
of hundred years of Christianity?
I mean, the Jews were trying to shut it down.
(15:09):
They were collaborating with the Romans and using the Romans to do their dirty
work for them, just like they did with Jesus.
The horrible things, the bloodlust of the Romans cannot be underestimated.
They were pagans, and they were a cult in and of themselves of humanity.
(15:30):
In other words, they were secular humanists, you might say, who lived for the
flesh, which means they craved violence and sex.
That's really what it means. and their culture is completely absorbed with these ideas.
And if they had an excuse, if they could just pick out somebody that they thought
(15:50):
was anti-society, in other words, if you could be identified as a hater.
If you could be identified as a religious fanatic, if you could be identified
as some way that made you not fit with the status quo,
in particular, if you were actually advocating that people couldn't all do whatever
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the heck they wanted and whatever was right in their own eyes,
then the Romans were more than happy to throw you in the arena and let something
horrible happen to you. And they did.
You may have heard that Nero used his Christian victims as torchlights in his gardens.
My point is, why are we still doing this today, 2,000 years later?
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Let's talk about how many people are in the world and then talk about how there's
always been lots of people, like millions of us in this world,
over the course of one generation after another, after another,
after another for 2,000 years.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that the numbers become exponential.
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Billions of people over the last 2,000 years have given their entire life to
the belief that Jesus died and rose again.
Billions of people over time. time.
And many of them, it cost them dearly to maintain this belief.
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Now, why am I spending so much time on that? Well, you could look for other proofs if you want.
You can look for other proofs that Jesus rose from the grave.
Well, for one, there's a big government, the Roman government.
Try to imagine the United States government, because there's not much difference
between Rome then and America today,
(17:40):
imagine a government dedicating all of its resources in the region of Judea
to proving that Jesus was dead and all they needed was to find his body.
Imagine the government today making it their mission to find the dead body so
(18:00):
they can prove once and for all that that this Jesus cult is completely unjustified
because that's what the government of Rome did.
That's what the Jews wanted done. Everybody who didn't believe in Jesus was
desperate to prove that he hadn't risen from the grave and that people hadn't really seen Jesus.
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Believe it or not, there are people living today who think that because you
are here, you're delusional.
There are people I've met who think that Christians are all part of some weird mass hysteria.
And all I can say is, that's an interesting theory.
How do you suppose you explain that over 2,000 years?
(18:43):
Are you saying that there is some sort of genetic or psychological conspiracy
that has has lasted for 2,000 years, and that everybody who chooses to believe in Jesus is somehow,
mysteriously changed into a weirdo who's thinking things might actually be true
(19:04):
that can't possibly be true?
Actually, yes.
And that would be proof too, wouldn't it? That would be evidence in and of itself, wouldn't it?
Because Christianity just won't go away.
It won't go away. It doesn't seem to matter what they try to do to stop the
(19:27):
vision and mission of Jesus,
which is to go and make disciples of all the world, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit,
spirit this very essence of god's heart
and mind that is outside of time
and space and therefore as real
today and as present today as when
(19:49):
jesus released the holy spirit into this thing we call the church capital c
one of the most undeniable proofs of jesus's resurrection is the fact that we're
still here and despite the fact that even in the name of Christ.
People have tried to change the nature of Christ.
(20:10):
We fought a little battle around that not long ago ourselves.
People would say, oh, but if Jesus was here today, he wouldn't believe that.
Do you know how wrong the phrasing of that entire question is or that statement?
How completely absurd that statement is? If Jesus was here today, he is here today.
He's the same Jesus today that he was then, because nothing has changed.
(20:36):
He is the timeless Son of God.
And whatever he said then is as true then as it is today, because he might as
well have said it today as he did then, because there's no time involved.
We're the ones dealing with time.
And the point then is that this thing is as real as it gets.
So the question I want to ask you then is, if this is all true,
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then what What does that mean to you? What are you going to do about that?
Let's be honest, you can answer this quietly to yourself and perhaps talk it
over with the people you love, your small groups or whatever,
but let's just deal with the question at hand.
Is your Jesus a flat, one-sided cardboard Jesus?
(21:19):
Is it a belief system that you give your lip service to, or is it a relationship
that you have with the living Christ?
See, the thing that keeps keeps Christianity alive indefinitely,
even into an unknowable future, is that Jesus is alive.
(21:39):
He ascended to heaven. It just means that he's left where we can see him in
favor of a place where he dwells with the Father, his natural home,
and yet he has given to us his very heart and mind to possess our nature and
for us to inhabit his home while at a distance.
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In other words, we are the body of Christ.
That's why his body doesn't need to be here right now.
And therefore, are you a flat, one-dimensional cardboard Christian?
Christian, or are you a Christian because you are co-heirs with Christ,
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sons and daughters of God, therefore the living body of Christ on earth?
When people meet you, do they get a dose of Jesus?
When people see how you deal with the world, with sin, with chaos,
when they see you bringing bringing cosmic order to situations that are inhabited
(22:46):
by God's enemy? Do they see Jesus?
Do they hear his voice saying, be still to the storm?
Do they see cardboard Jesus when they meet you?
Or do they see the three-dimensional, resurrected, living Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus?
(23:09):
Let us pray. pray. Almighty God, thank you for your word. Now burn it into our hearts.
Help us to be like Thomas, who at first doubted that Jesus could have risen from the grave.
Thomas saw how dead Jesus was.
He saw how completely dead Jesus was, and he said, not unless I probe those
(23:31):
wounds with my hands, will I believe?
And then when Jesus said, peace, Thomas said, my Lord and my God,
Lord, make us such, make us that kind of Christian.
Music.
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