The crowd that followed Jesus had a Black Friday mentality.
Normally the newspaper is pretty light-- but not before Thanksgiving! It was stuffed full of Black Friday ads. The deals were so incredible that the Walmart in Lincoln had two ambulances parked out front on standby. Then again, maybe the paramedics were shopping too! Did you all get your shopping finished? Did any of you get an outrageously good deal? Did any of you use pepper spray to get the upper hand?
There is something weird about Black Friday-- seeing people camping in front of stores for days, shoving their way down aisles, and looking for deals. We think so much has changed in the past two thousand years, but things really haven't. The crowds that followed Jesus had a Black Friday mentality. They were powerfully oriented toward their physical wants and desires. They wanted fish and loaves of bread. They wanted housing. They were politically restless. They were under financial distress and wanted economic justice. They were also consumed with healthcare. Among the crowds were the sick, diseased, demon-possessed, mentally ill, weak, lame, blind, and deaf.
There is a desperation people feel as they line up with their needs. You can feel it in the air. You can sense it on people's faces. It's a panic of sorts. Jesus was gracious to respond to people's physical needs. Likewise, the early church sold property and personal possessions to give to people in need. Say what you want about Christians, but those who follow Christ have given more historically to build hospitals and orphanages, to care for people, and to stand up for justice than any government, agency, or world religion ever dreamed of doing.
This month our church is seeking to raise ten thousand dollars for needs within our church and community. We are well on our way to achieving our goal. It's what Christ-followers do!
Christ's power to redeem us extends to rescue from death itself.
Yet there is one last topic I want to talk about as we wrap up this series. We've spent plenty of time talking about Christ's power to redeem us from sin. This morning, I want to talk about Christ's power to redeem us from death itself.
The other day
Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV) popped up on my phone. In these verses Paul says,
"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection from the dead."
What extraordinary words! Paul is clearly alluding to the events of Good Friday, whereupon Christ entrusted his soul to the Father after being betrayed by Judas. Christ was then abandoned by his disciples, sentenced to death by Pilate, and crucified by Roman soldiers. But after he was laid in a tomb by close friends, Christ was triumphantly raised from death to life through the Spirit of the living God.
We get so familiar with such verses that we forget how compelling they are! But Paul is saying, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. I want to know what it means to share in his sufferings. I want to become like him in his death, but then somehow attain the resurrection from the dead. I want to experience the same deal in my life that Jesus got on Good Friday."
I want you to think about the difference between Black Friday and Good Friday. Black Friday is about instant gratification. You open the ads, you see a deal, you tell your friends, you go to the store, and you walk home with your big screen television that same day. When the crowds would come to Jesus, he would give them bread and fish, he would restore their sight, he'd supply wine for a wedding, he'd crash their funeral, and he'd heal them for this life, for today.
But Good Friday was altogether different. On that day Christ laid down his life. Jesus entrusted himself to the Father, in death, as he breathed his last. Three days later God raised him from the grave. Ultimately, we must trust Christ in a Good Friday kind of way.
The idea is that we trust God not just in life, but in death itself.
Look at what Paul teaches later in
Philippians 3:18-19 (NIV).
"For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things."
Paul continues this thought in
Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV).
"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."
The idea of Good Friday is that we trust God not just in life, but in death itself. No matter what suffering or shame we endure in life, we can have faith that God is in control. But we can also have confidence he will ultimately transform our lowly bodies so they will be like his glorious body. Teaching this was a priority in Jesus' ministry.
When he fed the 5000 he taught them to trust him as the bread of life. When he raised Lazarus, he announced himself to be the resurrection and the life. For more than just their temporary needs such as food and healing, they would need to trust Christ for all eternity and for their bodily resurrection!
Listen to Paul's teaching in
2 Corinthians 4:7-18 (NIV).
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."
"It is written: 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God."
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
When we are absent from our body, we are home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (NIV) clarifies the point further.
"Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."
"Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."
Christ has the power to redeem us from death and raise us to life with him in heaven! Hallelujah!