If God blesses us today as a result of this talk, over a period of time, there would be some obvious results. Over a period of time, if God blessed this sermon, some of us would leave this church. We would stop coming here as our weekly spiritual home. [Now, you might think that it would be a blessing if so and so left, but that is not what I mean.] Leave is too soft. But I don’t mean expelled either. I mean sent.
We would know we would have been blessed, because we would have experienced more grief, more pain, more separation anxiety, more cost, more farewells, more tears, than we would have otherwise have had. (And with them comes, more welcomes, more reconciliations, more rejoicing, more treasures in heaven)
If God blesses this talk, as I hope and pray he does, in 10 years some of us might live in different countries, or states, or suburbs. Some of us might have sold some of our property. Some of us might be learning other languages. Some of us might have quit work, or gone part time. Some of us are studying things we never intended to. Some of us might be plowing our profits or income into supporting others of us. And some of us might have multiplied our worries, concerns, cares, pressures, stresses.
This talk, if God blesses it, may affect the house you buy, the car you drive, the place you work, the woman or man you marry.
If God blesses this talk, Some of us might have been taken to court, Some of us might have spent time in prison, Some of us might consistently be going without. Some of us might have chronic sickness, malaria, dissentry because of the decisions we have made.
Some of us might carry a missionary society on our narrow shoulders. Some of us might uphold a dozen other of us in prayer. Some of us might be committed to a life of never ending recruiting and training to replace those we send away to others.
Some of us, as a result of this talk, might rarely see our children. For some of us, our grandchildren might grow up in other countries. speaking other languages, marrying a foreigner, having a different accent. And perhaps some of us are giving our own lives, and the lives of our children and grandchildren, in this endeavour.
Perhaps this is the sermon that empties our church.
Then again, maybe this sermon will have no effect. That next week, next month, next decade, I’m no different. You’re no different. We just keep living the respectable good Christian lives we’ve been living and come back too church to hear a nice biblical sermon again. And say to ourselves: “Yes, this church is good for me, it’s a good church, it’s looking after me and my family well. Pray it never be so!
So let’s pray.
Father, we do not know what the future holds for us, our parents, and our children. But you have told us what the future holds for the world and for your Son. And you have spoken about what youre doing in the age in which we live, the present time. Enable us to listen to and obey the clear words of your Son, So that we can do those good works you’ve prepared in advance for us to walk in, In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Our passage today, Luke 24:36 to 53, gives us another glimpse of the Risen Lord, on that first Easter Sunday. We are back in Jerusalem. The Eleven Apostles are there. The two disciples have just hot footed it back from Emmaus. And the consensus is now the second paragraph of page 74:
The Lord really has been raised to life, and he has appeared to Simon. (cf .Luke 24:34 NIV)
And almost as immediate confirmation, we read in the next paragraph: While they were talking about these things, Jesus stood right in the middle of them and said, “Peace to You”. (verse 36) But it seems that at the very sight of Jesus, they think him not risen after all. But they were startled and terrified, because they thought they were seeing a ghost. (Verse 37) They reason that they are seeing the ‘Spirit of a dead person’. We would call him a ghost.
Do you believe in ghosts? Sounds like something children ask each other. We of course have an understanding of ghosts. In fantasy novels. The Army of the Dead in Lord of the Rings. Nearly Headless Nick. Obi Wan Kenobi after Darth Vader Kills him. The movie Ghost expresses it. In each of these movies, the concept of the ghost expresses the biblical idea of ‘the spirit of the dead’. The disembodied Spirit of a person who has died.
And it is clear that Jesus and his disciples believed in ghosts. In 1 Samuel, we see Saul consulting a ghost in disobedience to God’s command (1 Samuel 28:3-19, compare Acts 23:8-9, Hebrews 12:23, Isaiah 8:19, 19:3). So I believe in ghosts. And so should you. We shouldn’t consult them. God will tell us all we need to know. We shouldn’t be frightened of them. The Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit is greatest of all. But we should believe they exist.
Jesus’ point is, I am not a ghost, I am not a disembodied person. I am not the spirit of the dead Jesus. I am the risen and living Jesus with flesh and bones and blood and skin. Jesus says, 'You can give me high-fives. You can slap my back. You can cuddle me.' And so Jesus does a few party tricks to show them. (Verse 39) 4th paragraph down on page 74:
And Jesus said to them, “Why are you disturbed, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and feet, for it is really me. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you can see I have.” He said this, and showed them his hands and feet. But when they still did not believe because of joy and amazement, he said to them, “Do you have anything here I can eat?” So they handed him a piece of cooked fish. He took it and ate it right in front of them.
Check out my pierced hands and feet. The divets have not been replaced! So our Articles truly say: ‘Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again his body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of Man’s nature…’ (Article 4 Of the Resurrection). Jesus is forever clothed in human flesh.
Again, verses 41 and 42, 'Let me eat something in your presence'. Those of you who read Harry Potter know that Nearly Headless Nick longs to eat at the banquet at Hogwarts but cannot, because he is a ghost. But Jesus is no ghost. He hasn’t lost his taste for fresh fish. He has a body, so he can eat. And the risen Jesus feeds his resurrected body. And thus, heaven will be a banquet, of eating and drinking, of feeding our resurrection bodies.
Friends, the Christian hope is not to finally be a ghost, a disembodied spirit. If we die in Christ, for a time we will be with Jesus as Spirit without body. But our ultimate hope is to be clothed forever in a resurrection body, the same body we have now, but changed and glorified, with which we will be able to do high fives and hug for all eternity. I will recognise you, you will recognise me. I don’t know whether Rugby is the game they play in heaven. But one thing is for sure, it’s possible, because we will have bodies. When Jesus returns, he will call to the graves. And the dead in Christ will arise first. And we will be then exactly as Jesus is now.
But all of this was anticipated long ago. It was written about in the Old Testament. And Jesus gives us a little summary of the Old Testament. Would you like to know what the Old Testament teaches, according to Jesus. Here it is, page 74, 3rd paragraph from the bottom.
Then he said to them, “I told you about these things while I was still with you: everything that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms had to be fulfilled”. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and said, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be announced in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem”.
Jesus says, the 39 books of the Old Testament can be summarised as teaching this: The Christ will suffer. The Christ will rise from the dead on the third day. And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations…
Now which of these tasks have been fulfilled? Which boxes can we tick? Has Christ suffered? Yes. Has Christ risen from the dead? Yes. Has repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached in his name to all nations? Well, we’ve made a start. But no, we cannot tick this box yet.
Patrick Johnstone in his book, Operation World, lists 240 major unreached people groups (p16). This is 240 groups which have no effective witness to the gospel. Most would not have heard the gospel.
We must remember that Luke is Volume 1. Acts is volume 2 of Luke’s magnum opus. And at the beginning of Acts, the risen Jesus’ sends out his apostles on the day of his Ascension. Acts chapter 1 verses 6-11:
So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them: It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee”, they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Here again, we see Jesus giving the same commission. The Holy Spirit will enable the disciples to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. And then, the Lord Jesus will come back. It is not for us to know the times or dates. But we must know the activity. Preaching repentance and forgiveness in Christ’s name to all nations.
This is the time we live in. The age of proclamation. Between Jesus’ first coming and his second coming. The outstanding task is to preach the gospel. Every nation, every language group, every people group, with their distinctive culture and tongue, must be told about Jesus, about repentance and forgiveness. “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
Friends, we are in the “Last Days” (Acts 2:17). We have been for 2000 years, the time when the gospel goes out to all nations. And we will remain in them until the gospel has gone out to all nations.
Friends, this is a call to world mission, that we be global Christians. Think globally, act locally, yes. So that we are not just concerned for my ministry, my congregation, my parish, my church, my bible study, but God’s mission of exalting the name of his Son in every known language.
The Old Testament spoke of this time. It predicted the time in which we live. Psalm 67 teaches this.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. (vv. 1-3)
Isaiah 12:4, In that day [the day the Root of Jesse will stand], you [people of Israel] will say:
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. (Isaiah 12:4-5)
And it is the heartbeat of New Testament mission. So, for example, Paul in Romans His mission is so that:
the Gentiles may glorify God, as it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.” Again it says, ‘Rejoice, O Gentiles with his people.” And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples.” And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations, the Gentiles will hope in him.” (Romans 15:9-12)
It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known… (Romans 15:20)
Friends, what’s the time? It’s preaching time: preaching repentance and forgiveness in Jesus to all nations.
Now this means that we have a choice as a church. We can decide to disobey, and shrivel up and become insular, absorbed with our little concerns in our little church. And God’s program of world evangelism will not suffer. God will still bring the gospel to all nations. But we will have no share in it. We would have chosen not to be used. We would have chosen our own comfort, ease, to our eternal loss.
Or we can choose suffering, pain, grief, cost. We too can be sent out to fill up in our flesh what is lacking with regard to Christ’s afflictions (Col 1:24). We are invited to suffer in taking out the message of the suffering service. And we are invited to remember that our slight momentary afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond compare.
So our Youth Group will look more like St Andrew’s Hall. Our Kid’s Club and Sunday School will offer courses on Cross-Cultural communication. We will be prepared to welcome people from other nations into our community and churches, because it makes it easier to evangelise them. And we will all pray for world mission.
And some of us will go. To cross cultures to do that frontier mission ourselves. Or to cross cultures to equip others who will do the frontier mission. And all of us cannot but send out those of us who go.
Our choices are three. To go ourselves. To send. Or to disobey.
Let’s pray.