922 Ministries - The CORE & St. Peter Lutheran

Jesus Unfiltered
Week 7 - St Peter
Pastor Tim Glende

Welcome to Easter Service here at St. Peter Campus of 922 Ministries. So over the last six weeks we have been in a sermon series entitled Jesus Unfiltered.

We have focused our attention on the I am statements of Our Savior Jesus from being the bread of life, to the way, the truth, and the life to the vine. Reminding us that we are the branches, and we're going to wrap it up with one final. I am statement of Our Savior Jesus today from John Chapter 11, And if you're not a newbie to Christianity, if you've done this Easter thing for 20, 30 40, 50 years I see some of you out there, I won't pull go any higher and call you out. You would probably think to yourself, John chapter 11, we just read John chapter 20, it's not an Easter message.

It doesn't tell the story of Jesus rising from the dead. It doesn't highlight the women running to the tomb and it doesn't speak of angels and their message “He is not here. He has risen” it, it doesn't record any of the events of that first Easter Sunday and so you might be wondering why. Fair question. And if you're new to Christianity or maybe this is the first time you've been in church in a while. You might be here and I hope you would learn about that and you might wonder why.

Well, I'm going to tell you today that John chapter 11, this final, I am, I am statement of Our Savior, Jesus, what it has to do with Easter. Like, my goal is to put in front of you a compelling case. With that. What John chapter 11 has to do with Easter, is everything? Like, as we wrap up this series of Jesus Unfiltered, we've looked at and heard some very direct words of Our Savior Jesus to crowds, we've heard some very unfiltered in-your-face confrontations. But today's words are words spoken to an individual.

I'll give you the answer. If you've been a Christian, your whole life that reminds you of the most two important answers to life’s two most important questions and if you're still not sure about Jesus it, maybe you're wondering if he really is the one that you should put all of your hope and I'm glad you're here today as well. Because not only does he tell us the answer to who he is, what we need to know about Jesus, but he also is going to give us an answer that we need to know when it comes to death. Like if I pray today that I can share with you two trues and then three takeaways about the second true that will remind you and highlight for you why Easter matters and what this text from John chapter 11 from Jesus own words is I am stated mean for you and for me today and every day until that day, So let's dig in to John Chapter 11. Now, here's the reality of what John chapter 11 is all about. John chapter 11 actually, if you're taking notes today and filling in your blanks, are going, remind us of a truth that the world knows. Death is a big deal. Like the uncertainty of what happens when you die? How many of you have ever heard that question or asked it?

Or how about those of you who've lost someone that you love. Maybe recently, maybe a few years ago, maybe someone really close to you like a spouse or a parent or a sibling or, for some, sadly, a child.

Not sugar coating it at all. It's not unfiltered to say this reality. That death is a big deal.

I should know as a pastor or other pastors could highlight it. I've stood up here before and seeing the faces of some of you when someone you love dies

And that's what's going on in John Chapter 11. Two of Jesus’ closest friends, people, we hear about over and over again, in the gospels, two ladies by the name of Mary and Martha have lost their brother.

And that's really what's transpiring, and I want you to see that the reality of like death is a big deal. As we unpack these words of Jesus, final, I am statements, you can see in his 40 plus verse section, what's going on? What's transpiring to help us? Answer the question, who is Jesus? What about Jesus? That I need to know that that matters to Eternity and what about death does Jesus want me to hear and hold on to. Well, John chapter 11, here's the story and what's transpiring that reveals to us how big a deal death is: a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus. Now, lay sick was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, Lord, the one that you love is sick.

Few verses later on his arrival, when Jesus finally got there. Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the Tomb for four days. Jesus, delayed going. He didn't get there soon enough. So when you see the words, you can kind of imagine what he's going to stumble upon how big a deal death is now. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him but Mary stayed at home. Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Conversation goes on. We're going to come back to some verses in the middle after she had said this she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now, she has had not yet entered the village, but was still at that place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house comforting her. Notice how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her supposing that she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. Where have you laid him? He asked. Come and see, Lord, they reply. Jesus wept.

Like the words I love from John chapter 11 the reality each and every one of us know from the lives that we have lived is this reality that death is a big deal. Like it's a big deal to the person who is ill or sick and then dies, they no longer are existing They go across the road to the cemetery that's over there and almost every one of the headstones that are out there have a date with a dash and a date, it marks the end of other Earthly life. The last year that they were on planet Earth breathing heart beating, But that's not the only reason it's about. The people who are left behind.

Like when someone we love dies, it leaves a hole in our heart. It leaves Our Lives broken and something missing and Jesus himself acknowledged that Jesus himself.

Believe that Jesus himself experienced that?

They get the savior of all the world. God himself in human flesh. It was also true man in the moment when he saw the heartache and the pain. That of all that was transpiring around him and he wept, he shed tears, his heart broke for the people that he loved and cared about it, reveals to you how big a deal it is.

Oh, and here's the thing about that.

Jesus knew something.

When it comes to death, no one can cheat it.

Like all the bones in the city of Jerusalem that he had pointed to, he told people, you can go find David's tomb. David was a great man, a man who had a heart after God, but he was a dead man. Gone and died. A thousand years before.

Sadly, Jesus, who lived on earth, Mary and Martha believed in him so much, they believed he could do for Lazarus. What they had heard him do for a few other people, but most people who encounter Jesus, most people who lived during his three years of his ministry never experienced what Jesus did for a few raising them from the dead. Most of them ended up dead and buried. Like no matter how much money you have, no matter how good the treatments are, you can get a no matter how well you try and gain knowledge to try and extend your life by eating healthy. Eating good exercise. Maintaining, you know, the things that you need to do to extend it to really add up. There are two things in life that are certain ones coming up in a few days, (you have to pay them) and the other one is that at a certain point someday down the road, you will not cheat death.

And that's a big deal.

And if you're not sure what happens after you die, I'm glad you're here.

Because what Jesus is going to say in just a few words that right in the center of that section will speak to us about why Easter is so important why Easter matters. But I want to take you back to a few days before that first Easter on Friday. Because a few of Jesus' followers understood that death was a big deal. In fact for them it wasn't just losing a loved one, they had lost their hope. These are the two disciples on the road to Emmaus to encounter. Jesus couldn't recognize him. He has something you're talking about. They said about Jesus of Nazareth, haven’t you heard about this guy, he came to town, he's someone who is the prophet of power and word and deed before God. And all the people, the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him. They unpacked the events of a few days ago but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. Death was not just a big deal to them on that first Easter Sunday because of what happened on Friday and they had lost a friend, they had lost the one in whom they have. Their hope had lost the one that they believe was from God and was the solution to their sin, their Messiah, and their savior.

It was the ultimate deal. His death in many ways. Spiritually was a deal-breaker.

Or so, they thought.

And in a way, they were, right?

I get dead. Savior is no savior.

Like if Jesus had lived the perfect life, but he remained dead, he's not God. And you and I are doomed.

Like when it comes to who is Jesus if he made a lot of claims but never delivered the Apostle Paul understood the significance. Death is a big deal and if he had remained dead you and I might as well consider just like those men did.

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. Like if Jesus didn't rise, the Apostle Paul said, if Jesus had remained dead, if that was the end of the story, your faith is worthless. If only for this life, we have hope in Christ. But he remained dead, you and I are of all people most to be pitied. The Apostle Paul got it in his famous, resurrection chapter, he understood how big a deal death was and how big of a deal Jesus death was. What if Jesus had remained dead, you and I are doomed.

But, the Apostle Paul said, Look at the words in yellow (on the screen) and the Apostle Paul says, but Christ has indeed been raised. The Apostle Paul wrote a whole chapter on this reality of the Apostle, Paul laid out, this big truth that he wants you and me to know yes, death is a big deal. God has a lot to say about some things, I want you to hear about it. But for today for right now, I want you to hear Here about another important truth. Just like death is a big deal. So is Easter

Like one day you and I will die. Let Jesus return first. That fact remains unchanged. Jesus didn't come into this world to undo that element of it. We will face it unless he pretends first. But he wants you to hear who he is. He is and what he did is the answer to dealing with death. Easter is a big deal. In fact, the Apostle Paul earlier on, in the section of First Corinthians 15 said this. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance, like at the top of Paul's list, the thing that he shared, the thing that he repeated, the thing that he said over and over and over again. What was the first importance and last importance, the bookends of Faith? He said this, that Christ died for our sins, the events of Friday, his death was a big deal, but even bigger was Easter Sunday at that. He was raised from the dead on the third day, according to the scriptures just as he said that he appeared to Peter and then he appeared to the 12 disciples after that he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters of the same time. Most of them are still living some 20-plus years. After the Apostle, Paul wrote this. He said there are eyewitnesses of this. In fact, you can go to them, you can listen to them.

It leaves. No doubt about who Jesus is he's not a dead savior. He's a living one. Like these two big truths: death is a big deal, but Easter is a bigger deal. Can post and up one. One of them Easter, my friends, is the ultimate thing that has defeated death. Like, if you want to know the answer to what is death, it is the end of our Earthly life. But Jesus has some things to say about that in just a second, but before we get to it, Easter is a big deal reason. Number one. Why? Because Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus didn't cheat death, he died.

Like the soldiers. They're stuck a spear in his side to make sure he was dead. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took down his lifeless body, the body of a heart that was no longer beating and they laid him to rest in a tomb because he was dead. They rolled a stone in front of it. A seal was put around it. There was no way anyone could get into it. And the women went there on Sunday because they couldn't do what they would have done before him because of the Passover because he was dead. But Sunday changed everything. But Jesus didn't cheat death Easter Sunday. He rose from the dead. It's why Easter is a big deal. He stopped being dead. His heart started beating again. He started talking and appearing to people, he ate food in front of his disciples like that's who Jesus is.

It says a lot about what death is for Christians.

Just look at how significant that disciples reaction was just gives us insight to how big a deal. Jesus rising was remember these words, we wrote a few minutes ago, they were together. They were afraid Jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you. He showed them his hands, and Either the reality, he was dead.

And when the disciples saw when the disciples heard they were overjoyed. They were overjoyed because they understood the significance of what had happened. They said death had happened, but Jesus triumphed over death, Jesus conquered the grave. And that is so important for you and for me, Like if you're not sure about Jesus I know you'll agree with me on this. We could be certain. You can't cheat death. It will happen unless Jesus returns it. If you want to know what will happen after you die. Listen to what Jesus has to say. This is why John chapter 11 has everything to do with Easter, you know, Martha and Mary, understood who Jesus was. Martha believed that her brother would rise again on the last day even though he had died. She believed that there was such a thing as a resurrection from the dead. But then Jesus changes the game, unfiltered Jesus, directly to her comforting, her talking to her in speaking to his words for you. And for me, for the people who will die, you and I are going to die. But Jesus wants you to hear these words. I am the resurrection and the life, John 11 is right before Holy Week. These events of John 11 took place only a few days. Maybe a few weeks before that. First Easter before, Good Friday. And Jesus said, I am the resurrection life, the one who believes in me will live even though they die.

And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. The one who believes in me, I'm going to say it again. Will live even though they die, but you will die. Jesus said people will continue dying until I return. Death cannot be cheated. But the person who, who believes in me will live, Will live even when their heart stops beating and they're no longer breathing. And whoever lives by believing in me. Faith in me, you will never die. Easter is a big deal because Jesus rose from the dead. And because you and I will die. Because you and I will deal with the big deal of death in our life. When someone we love breathes their last, because you and I, unless Jesus returns before hand, will come face-to-face with it as well. And you know what Jesus wants you to hold on to when someone you love dies, do you know what Jesus wants you to remember about death, when you die? You know what Jesus wants you to have and hold onto by God's grace, that faith that he's instilled in your heart. This very fact that when you die, you don't die. We're going, but Pastor Tim. I know a doctor is going to pronounce me dead someday. Jesus Christ, the great physician has declared you will live. You will live and cross over from life to life. When you take your last breath, you will not die. Jesus says, And the reason he can make that promise is because he stopped being dead. That is so why Easter matters that so much of why this text is so important? As one of your pastures is, if you get a diagnosis and you call us up and say, They only give me a few months to live, Pastor. I will take you right there.

If I don't, remind me of this sermon.

Because that's how important this is in the face of death. It gives us the answer to death when you breathed your last as a Believer you are not dying. You are just entering life

And there are other people who knew that.

A whole lot of people along the way who endured and faced death knowing who Jesus was, and what he would do and the significance for them. See here's the amazing truth about Easter and why it matters because Jesus raised you and I, have new life spiritually right now because Jesus lives and is preparing a place for you in Heaven for you and for me right now and all who believe that life is yours. It can't be taken away from you. The devil can't rob you of it. There's no sin that you have committed that can cause you to doubt it. Jesus Lived, he lives in you. New life is yours one day. With him, you will cross from life to life. But one day on that amazing day, when he returns in all his glory, he's going to come back and do the most amazing thing for you. He's going to raise you from the dead. You were going to stop being dead physically. And he will not reunite your soul with your body and make it the most glorious, amazing, imperishable body. Oh, what a day? That will be. But they did Job, looking forward to someone, who dealt with death, he knew how big a deal it was he was losing every one of his kids? He was trapped in the face of death with all the suffering and pain that he that he hadn't yet right in the middle of all of that job said. I know that my redeemer lives 2,000 years before. Jesus took his first breath, two thousand years before Jesus, breathed his last on the cross, Job declared it. He said it unfiltered, I know that my and one day he will stand on the earth, he will come back in all his glory. And after my skin has been destroyed and Job has been dead for four thousand years. God will put Job back together in my flesh. I will see God. I myself will see him in my own eyes. I and not other how my heart, how my heart yearns within me for that day?

Like Job, God knows the significance of it.

And he understood truth. Number three, why Easter is such a big deal? Jesus rose from the dead, he came back to life. You and I are going to die but when we die as Believers, we live, we go from life to life. We don't die. We don't end and one day you and I will rise. He guarantees it. He promises it. And that's why John chapter 11 is so important for you. And me. Why has everything to do with Easter? Because he's the resurrection and the life because he came back to life that promise he makes to you and that second promise he makes to you are a done deal.

You know how I know death is a big deal.

Because Jesus came to Earth and became a human being. But the very purpose of dying is the only way to pay for your sins and mine. So that you and I Wouldn't Die eternally, so that you and I would live with him forever.

That's why Jesus Unfiltered is so important. The way Jesus word, His “I am” statements have everything to do with Easter. Did you catch it throughout this series? If you've been with us every week, if not you can watch them, go read through them find your. “As I am” statement. You know what, every last one of them has at least one time in the text.

Of life, the way the truth, and the life, the vine that gives life, the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life like Jesus. I am, unfiltered, statements is so that you wouldn't miss very clearly who he is.

The source of life. Now the source of life when you die the source of of your body, being raised back from the dead to life one day when he returns, John said that's why I wrote these words like God inspired him. He performed many other miracles in the presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in this book, but these ones are written that. You may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that by believing, you may have life in his name. If you're not sure about Jesus, but you are watching this or you are here today, I want you to remember and hear what Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. That my friends, that alone. What he offers, what he gives. Makes Easter more than a big deal. It makes Easter the best deal.

Like my body won't break down one day. Jesus return. First

No matter. How will I try and take care of it? There's going to be something that will get me. I can't cheat it. But Easter gives me something far better. The best deal ever by the grace of God new life with him. I will cross over from Life To Life.

Which is what my cousin knew. Like three years ago almost to this day a little bit later, my cousin Paul, classmate of mine throughout the Seminary, the only son of my aunt and uncle passed away, He passed away from a glioblastoma, which is the most common, but also most lethal type of brain tumor at age 48. When diagnosed it was too far along he fought. It got treated for it. He got the best doctors that the state of Wisconsin had in Milwaukee to help go after it to try and cut it out, but no, couldn’t cheat it.

But he knew. That truth.

He knew the other one too. Like his four children and his wife who are left behind remind us that death is a big deal.

But in the face of death, my cousin, Paul knew that Easter was the best deal.

I think about him still at Easter time because it's when he died. And so I went to his CaringBridge page to try and find it at had been cleared off. But thankfully I found a video online at in made after he died of some of his most, well, known and familiar quotes that he had put on his CaringBridge page. And he said this nearly one year before he died. He said, Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate proof that cancer can never win. His words, not mine, Jesus promises, that I am the resurrection, and the life, the one who believes in me will live even though they die and over lives. By believing in me, will never die. Jesus’ resurrection proves that these promises are certain and true because the one who promises Jesus is the one who conquered death. So yes, my friends for me, my family for my aunt and uncle. His wife and his kids Easter is a big deal.

Because we know he now lives there.

Because we know that one day, we will see him again there. And one day by the grace of God, all of us will rise. And no more cancer will invade his body.

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever lives and Believes In Me, will never die. That's Jesus. And that's his answer to death. He is risen. He is risen Indeed.