Alive in Me, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. If this is true, if Jesus rose from the dead, if he is who he says he is, then it means that we've got to tell everybody in every nation, even if it costs us a great deal, and even if it puts our lives in great danger, because this message is so important that everybody's got to know. Welcome to Summit Life with pastor, author, and theologian, J.D.

Greer. I'm your host, Molly Vidovich. Well, today is Good Friday, and while we remember the sadness associated with our Savior's death, we are concluding our teaching series called Instead of Me by celebrating the beauty of the resurrection. You see, every message in this series, Pastor J.D. has shown us how Matthew has placed people in these stories that give us possible ways that we might have responded either in the moment or even today.

Which characters describe you? Turn in your Bible to Matthew 28 as we join Pastor J.D. for the conclusion of this Easter message titled Alive in Me.

If Jesus actually raised from the dead, you know what it means? It means that he is Lord, and it means that there is not one square inch of your life over which he does not lay claim. It means that you cannot pursue your own agenda. You cannot entertain your own pet sins.

You can't even do with your money what you want to do or your career. It all belongs to him. Every breath you take, every second you live belongs to him, and a lot of people don't want that. So they just prefer to turn their back on the evidence so they can retain lordship over their lives. That's what the chief priests were doing. So they don't want it to be true.

Or here's something else that will be true. If Jesus really raised from the dead, it means that any reason that you've come up with for boasting and thinking that you're set apart from others, it means that that is absolutely not true. That you were so bad that Jesus had to die to save you just like everybody else. You know why that's hard for some people to believe? Because you and I have spent our entire lives trying to push ourselves up from the pack to try to show that we were better and that we're worthy and that we've got some kind of internal worth and other people should love us and God should love us.

That's what the chief priests have spent their lives doing. But if Jesus rose from the dead, it means that we had to be saved like everybody else. You were so bad Jesus had to die for you, and a lot of people don't want to admit that because it takes an extraordinary amount of humility. In order for you to really believe in Jesus, you have to express the humility that says, I was so bad that he had to die to save me and I'm in the same condemned position as everybody else and I'm not any better than anybody else.

I got to be saved like the worst criminal on the planet. Here's the other thing that's true if Jesus rose from the dead. It means that ultimately what he's doing in the world right now is good and you can trust him in it. And a lot of people have a hard time with this one because they've got something they're angry with God about. You've got something that God didn't do and you're angry with him and you're kind of nursing that anger. But for you to confess that Jesus rose from the dead, what that means is actually he's in control of history and that ultimately his purpose for this, even though I didn't like it, was a good one. And a lot of people can't bring themselves to embrace that and so what they do is they choose to not consider the evidence for Jesus because they don't want to admit that God may have had a plan in the midst of their pain that they just didn't quite comprehend. And so despite the fact that the evidence looks pretty overwhelming, they come up with reasons not to believe.

By the way, they may even convince themselves that these reasons are significant, but when you peel away the layers it's just that at their core they don't want to believe. Let me just suppose that maybe there's a handful of you in here, maybe several dozen, maybe a hundred, you kind of deep down you're convinced that Jesus might be true. You suspect he might be, but you never really press in because if you're honest with yourself you don't like the implications for your life if it's true, and that is that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is the only Savior, and that Jesus is trustworthy. Now don't you and I read this story of the chief priest and don't we kind of say how pathetic do these chief priests look? I mean deliberately covering over the evidence for the resurrection? Friend, don't you realize that one day in eternity your own excuses for not coming to Jesus and trusting him are going to look equally foolish, even more pathetic, when you view it from the lens of eternity?

Why would you turn away from the evidence, especially when you think about what it could mean for you in your eternity? Group number three, we see the soldiers. They're an interesting group because they respond with fear but no joy. See verse four, it gives us the most interesting insight into the soldiers.

The guards, it says, were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men. They knew, they knew that something was happening, but verse 15, they just took the money and did as they were instructed and the story has been spread among Jewish people to this day. I mean the soldiers of all people had a first row seat to be convinced of the truth of who Jesus was, but most of them never became followers of Jesus and most of them never did anything with this truth. Scholars, by the way, say that that one or two of them very likely might have come become followers of Jesus because how else would we know this story? But the vast majority of them just took the money and kept their mouth shut. And they represent people, listen to this, who pay a lot more attention to earthly things than they do eternal things.

And that's not a category just for the soldiers. I'd say that's the primary category that most of us are in today, is we give passing attention to the weightiest matters. Blaise Pascal, a French philosopher who lived 300 or 30 years ago, wrote a book called the Poinsais. And in the Poinsais, he talks about just the insanity that most people live with when you think about it in terms of time. He uses this analogy.

He says life, forget religion for a minute, but just life. He says life is like being in a big ballroom. We're all in a big ballroom and there's a party and we're dancing and frivolity and drinking and eating and having a good time. And all of a sudden in this ballroom, the doors open and in comes this savage monster who grabs one of the party guests, seemingly at random, and then mauls them in front of everybody and then drags their lifeless corpse out the doors and shuts the doors and everybody kind of watches this happen and then just goes back to dancing and their frivolity and pretending like it didn't happen when the doors open again and back in comes a monster and grabs somebody else seemingly at random and does the same thing and takes them out. And this happens, Pascal says, again and again and again. And every time the guests in the room insanely just respond by pretending that it's not actually happening, especially when it becomes pretty clear that eventually this savage monster is going to kill every single person in that room. And Pascal said this monster represents our death and this represents how people respond to the stark reality of their death. They just choose not to think about it and distract themselves with the urgencies and the pressing things of this life and they pretend that their death is not coming. I just saw a study that came out of UNC Chapel Hill, brand new study, that showed that the death rate in America is still 100%.

Brand new, cutting edge research, one out of one. If you are alive, you will die. It is the most certain thing in your life and insanely we never think about it. Like these guards, we're like, ooh, some money, I can do this. I'll give passing attention to weighty matters and I'll give weighty attention to passing matters.

And the question you got to ask is why? Why would they pay such little attention to something that was the most momentous thing in history, something that had the potential to change everything? And the answer is the same reason that you do, because we're so consumed with what's in front of us that we don't think about what we know is true, that eternity is coming.

What's even sadder about this is think about what they kept themselves back from. I mean, if Jesus really raised from the dead, it means that that thing that you're searching for in life, that meaning and that happiness, it's found in him. And that means that you'll never find it any other way, that happiness you're looking for. It means if Jesus rose from the dead, then that uncertainty you live with, that feeling that you can't figure things out, it means that he could give you that certainty. If Jesus rose from the dead, it means that thing that scares you the most in life, your death, that he is overcoming and he can give you hope in the midst of it. I talked to a couple from our church that just came back from a funeral of a little girl. And I asked them, I said, well, how was the funeral? And they said, they said it was terrible. And then they said to me, what I've heard so many Christians say in situations like this, they said, I don't know how you could make it through something like this if you didn't have the hope that Jesus had raised from the dead and that one day he was going to do the same for you. Listen, I'm not trying to take a cheap shot of you if you're not a Christian, but I have to agree with them. I don't know how you could go into a grave, how you could go into a moment where you were looking at someone that you love, everything that you love being taken away from you in death without this hope that Jesus has overcome the grave and this glorious hope that one day we will be reunited with him and we'll be reunited with our loved ones and we will live eternally with them. How sad to be like the guards who have this fear of death, but no joy in it because they wouldn't deal with the things that were there for what insane reason? I don't know. I'm just telling you if it's true, it changes everything. And it could give you the hope that you're looking for. Here is number four.

I'll show you two final groups. Look at verse 16. The 11 disciples traveled to Galilee to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, the resurrected Jesus, they worshiped, but some doubted. Here we got number four, the disciples who worshiped through their doubts because even after all the disciples had seen all the miracles, even after seeing him raised from the dead, some of them still struggle with unanswered questions.

The book of Acts when it tells the story makes it sound like Jesus had started to ascend. And even as he starts to ascend, they're still doubting, which remember I asked you, I'm like, he's floating in the air. How are you still doubting at this point? I don't know. I mean, I've seen the David Blaine special. Maybe this is like a little trick or something.

I don't know what's going on here. They're still doubting because despite the miracles that they've seen, some things that Jesus had done or was not doing was still so confusing to them, they wondered how could he be true? I mean, why was he leaving and the Romans are still in charge? Why is there still so much injustice? If he's the Messiah, if he's really sent from God, why are people still in pain? Why is he leaving us here by ourselves without a lot of money in order to go out and accomplish the great commission? Why hasn't he brought peace on earth? Why is there still death and disease?

Why? And it was so difficult for them that even in the midst of an ascension, they still had unanswered questions. That's so encouraging to me because even after all that I've seen and even after being convinced that Jesus rose from the dead, I still got a bunch of unanswered questions.

And sometimes I struggle with those unanswered questions. And that's led me and I hope I want to lead you to, I've told you my favorite definition of faith. My favorite definition of faith is when the unexplainable, not gets explained, it's when the unexplainable meets the undeniable. The undeniable is that Jesus rose from the dead. And if Jesus rose from the dead, it means that he might have answers to questions that I can't get my mind around. And if it's undeniable that he raised from the dead, I'm going to have to trust him with unanswered questions or here's my other definition of faith. Faith is accepting what you cannot understand based on what you can understand. I understand that Jesus is the son of God. I understand he raised from the dead.

And if that is really true, then I might have to make peace with some things that I can't understand yet because I'm not God and I don't have the full perspective. You're listening to Summit Life with J.D. Greer. We'll get right back to the teaching in just a moment. But first, let me tell you about our latest resource created exclusively for our Summit Life listeners. It's a 10-day devotional from the parables of Jesus called Listen Up. Walk through five parables and learn valuable lessons that can be applied right away. What a better time to commit to daily study and reading of God's Word. We have so much to celebrate. Reserve your copy today by calling 866-335-5220.

That's 866-335-5220 or visit us online at jdgreer.com. Thanks so much for being with us today. Now let's get back to the final moments of today's message. Here's Pastor J.D. Whenever I'm talking with somebody who's struggling with belief, they have these unanswered questions, I always ask them. I always say, okay, well say that in the midst of our conversation, Jesus suddenly appears and joins our conversation and He does something that proves to you that it's Jesus. He, I don't know, levitates or He explains your life history or He walks on water, something or whatever, and you're convinced that it's Jesus. And then He looks you right in the eye after you're convinced that it's Him and He says, I just want you to know I'm not going to answer this difficult question that you have because your little pea brain is so small that even if I did explain it, you wouldn't understand it. You're going to have to wait until eternity when I expand your mind and when I expand your mind there, then you'll be able to understand.

But for now, I'm going to need you to trust me until you get there. And when I explain it to you, I always ask them, would you do that? Would you suspend your doubt for 40 or 50 years in the light of Jesus's word that there was an answer?

And most people kind of sit there and they think about it. And most of them will say yes and actually, well, that's what faith is. Faith is not just a leap into the dark. Faith is accepting what you cannot understand based on what you can understand. Faith is when the unexplainable meets the undeniable and the undeniable is that Jesus rose from the dead.

And if Jesus rose from the dead, then He is who He says He is. And if He is who He says He is, He's got answers to questions that you may not know yet. You see, some of you pride yourself on being doubters. Oh, I've got all these doubts and I ask these doubts.

Here's one. Why don't you doubt your doubts for a minute? What if you took it one step farther and doubted the veracity of those doubts that maybe those doubts come because you don't have full perspective. And maybe if Jesus got out of the grave, there's a good reason to doubt those doubts that maybe there is an explanation after all. See, some of you have stopped coming to church. You've stopped believing because these doubts grew so large. I want to invite you to come back and join a group of people, not who have all the answers and not who can explain everything.

Because if that's what you're looking for, you ain't going to find it here. And if you find a Christian that claims to be in that category, they're either just so simple-minded, they don't know how to ask difficult questions, or they're lying to you. You come back here where you're in a group of people who are in the midst of a lot of things we still think are unexplainable, but who are very convinced of the undeniable that Jesus rose from the dead. And we want to invite you to learn to trust Him again along with the rest of us. That's what the church is.

That's all that it is. And we would love to have you join us in that search. That's group number four.

Here's group number five. Finally, us. Y'all, we make a cameo in this thing. For the first time in the whole Bible, we made a cameo.

It's right here. Us who received the great commission, verse 18. Jesus came near and said to them, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. There we are right there.

That's us. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I've commanded you. And remember, I'm with you even to the end of the age. This is what Christians call the great commission. It's the ultimate point, Jesus said, of why He came. It is the good news, Pastor Chuck loves to say here, the good news that Jesus lives, Jesus loves, and Jesus saves.

And it is news that is so good that everybody and every nation on earth needs to hear about it. In fact, verse six, I love this. When Jesus appeared to Mary, remember He said, go tell my disciples to go to Galilee.

That's why I'll meet him there. Why Galilee? Well, Galilee, if you go through the book of Matthew, do this later.

Go through the book of Matthew. Every time Galilee is mentioned, it's always connected to where the Gentiles live. So just where Jesus wants to meet him after he's resurrected, because that's where he wants to go. It's kind of like, you know, if you ever got back from a trip, like an international trip, and you're so, you want American foods.

When you get on the ground, I always call my wife like, we're going to Outback. You know, it's like, I got to get to Outback because I want to, all right, that's what, as soon as Jesus comes back from the dead, he's like, I got to go to the Gentiles. Because the Gentiles is why he came. That is the focus. If this is true, if Jesus rose from the dead, if he is who he says he is, then it means that we've got to tell everybody and every nation, even if it costs us a great deal. And even if it puts our lives in great danger, because this message is so important that everybody's got to know.

And when I was a student in high school, my student pastor, he said, very simple illustration. He said, JD, if you go off to college and you go into medical school and you discover a cure for cancer, you're going to keep that to yourself? Or are you going to try to tell everybody?

Let me take his question a step farther. Let's say that you discover the cure for cancer, all right? And then a drug company comes along to you and says, an evil drug company, and says, we don't want this to get to market because it'll take away all the people who buy our medicine to deal with cancer. Let's say they come to you and say, we're going to pay you $10 billion to keep this cure behind wraps because otherwise it'll cut into our profits.

Anybody here going to take that deal? I hope not. I hope you would say, no, something this important. It has to get out there. Even if it doesn't lead to me getting rich, even if I could get rich or keeping it quiet, I'd have to let that go because people have to know. What if the evil drug company threatened you and said, we'll kill you if you let this out there?

I would imagine most of you would say, you know what? Something this important is worth it even risking my life because this could literally change the lives of billions of people. Do you not understand that you and I are dealing with something of infinitely greater worth when it comes to the gospel? And people have to know. We have to go to every nation. We have to be in every place. We have to preach to every person.

You know an awesome thought? When Jesus said, go to all nations or some translation say the end of the earth, he was talking about us. We were the ends of the earth and the apostles went through deprivation and sacrifice and suffering so that we could know. And because they suffered now you and I sit here and we have hope in Jesus.

Here's the question. Isn't it our turn? Don't you think it's our turn? Isn't it our turn to embrace sacrifice and yes maybe even suffering in order to get the gospel into every nation on earth because y'all there are still so many places around the world where people haven't heard.

I think for example of Southeast Asia where I used to live as a missionary after I graduated college, two years, I spent over in Southeast Asia and there were afternoons I would get on my my little dirt bike, my motorcycle, and I would just drive out to the countryside. And I would encounter village after village after village of people who had just never heard of Jesus. Don't they deserve to know? Don't they deserve a chance to hear and respond like we have? Or I think of the Pamiri people in Central Asia. The Pamiri people who live in the most unreal, excuse me, most remote mountain range in the world. And yet some at church this very weekend there are some of our people there. Not just for the weekend, they live there. And they've chosen to live in the most remote place in the world because they know that the people there deserve to hear. They have to hear.

And so they've chosen to live there not because they don't like America but because they believe those people need to hear. That's what this means for us. So let me say a final word here to our guests. I always fear when I start talking about things like this that I I can kind of feel you sitting there and kind of rolling their eyes saying oh this is what I hate about you Christians. You're always trying to convert the rest of us. So let me try to deal with that objection okay.

You are absolutely 100% correct. Yes we want to convert you okay. Make that as clear as I can. Of course we want to convert you. How could we not? By the way that person sitting beside you that invited you to this service that's what they want too. I know it just got weird but that's why they invited you to this service today. Because they're hoping that I'll say something to convince you that Jesus is true and we're not going to pressure you. We're not going to force you to believe. But of course that's what we want.

How could we want anything different? I think of Penn Jillette the famous atheist who I was watching this interview with him and he said yeah some of my atheist friends get mad when Christians try to convert them. He said I get mad when they don't. How much do you have to hate somebody to believe what you say you believe about Jesus and then just not tell me. Listen I'm not going to pressure you. We're not going to demean you or disrespect you or try to force you. But yes we want you to know the truth about Jesus as we see evidenced by the resurrection.

We want you to see it. We would love for you to believe it like we do and we just want to put it in your lap so that you have a chance to see and consider and decide for yourself. And if that means we got to sacrifice a little awkwardness and if we've got to sacrifice our money that's why we give in church in the weekend.

We don't give to make somebody rich we give because it helps us get the gospel out to more people and if we got to do that then that's what we're going to do and that's why we invited you here. Some of you might be in a place where you say I'm ready to believe. You say you know I'm convinced I've had some questions you've answered them and I don't have all my questions answered but I believe Jesus raised the dead I'm ready to become his follower. See the gospel is that Jesus Christ loved you. He came to earth in pursuit of you. He died for your sin and he wants to reconcile you to God but he's not going to force it on you.

You've got to choose to trust him and if you've never done that we want to give you a chance to do that today. Let me have you bow your heads and let me lead you through this. First things first if you are not sure if you've ever trusted in Jesus as your Savior it's a decision you've got to make your parents can't make it for you you've got to make it and if you're ready to receive him and trust him as Savior and receive him as Lord and start to follow him then you could express it in a prayer that would sound like this just use these words if they come from your heart. Jesus I know that I'm a sinner and I know that you died to save me. I receive you as my Savior. Say it to him in your words I receive you right now as my Savior and I surrender to you as Lord. I pray this teaching series has helped you to grow in your understanding of Jesus's precious sacrifice. You're listening to Summit Life with J.D. Greer.

So J.D. our listeners hear from us every day but it's not as often that we hear from them so it's a real treat when we get a letter or an email or phone call isn't it? Molly I know I speak for both of us and everybody here at Summit Life to say that there is nothing we love more nothing that is as encouraging to us as hearing a firsthand account of how God is using this program this teaching this broadcast to change lives for eternity. We've heard from people that God has delivered from from sin through this or from struggling with addictions or depression or the most incredible stories of how God has taken a word that was sown at just the right time and used it to bring eternal life. You are the ones that are enabling us to to get this gospel message into the hearts of people and to saturate our country with gospel-centered teaching so thank you thank you for how you have given of yourself to make make these messages these words accessible to others. We would love to hear from you you can always call us at 866-335-5220 or if it's easier feel free to email us at the following address requests at jdgrier.com while you're online check out our newest resource it's 10 interactive devotionals from the parables of Jesus called listen up you can request your copy when you donate at the suggested level of $35 or more call 866-335-5220 that's 866-335-5220 or if it's easier you can give and request the book online at jdgrier.com i'm molly vedovich thank you for spending your week with us i hope you have a wonderful resurrection sunday with your church family and we look forward to having you back next week as we kick off a new teaching series right here on summit life with jd greer today's program was produced and sponsored by jd greer ministries