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Lesson 100: The Evidence for Jesus’ Resurrection (John 20:1-10)

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August 16, 2015

I always am fascinated to watch footage of engineers taking down an old building by placing dynamite charges at strategic points so that the building implodes. By finding just those few load-bearing points in the foundation, the entire building collapses into a heap of rubble.

The entire Christian faith rests on one historically verifiable point: the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The apostle Paul says (1 Cor. 15:17), “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” Everything in the Christian faith rests on the historical truth that Jesus was raised from the dead. If you can explode that one truth, the Christian faith collapses.

But I need to clarify that we’re talking about objective truth. We live in an age that holds to a subjective, experience-oriented view of truth. But if Jesus was raised bodily from the dead, then He is the only truth and the only way to the Father (John 14:6). And this truth applies to every person. As Paul proclaimed to the Athenian philosophers, they should repent because (Acts 17:31), God “has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Jesus’ resurrection was at the center of the apostles’ witness. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached (Acts 2:32), “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.” He told the crowd that gathered after God used him and John to heal the lame man at the temple gate (Acts 3:14-15), “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.” When the apostles were dragged before the Jewish Sanhedrin, Peter boldly proclaimed (Acts 4:10), “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health.” (See also, Acts 4:33; 5:30; 10:40; 13:32-37; 17:18, 31; 26:23).

The emphasis on Jesus’ resurrection led church historian Philip Schaff to conclude (History of the Christian Church [Eerdmans], 1:173, cited by Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict [Campus Crusade for Christ], p. 190), “The resurrection of Christ is therefore emphatically a test question upon which depends the truth or falsehood of the Christian religion. It is either the greatest miracle or the greatest delusion which history records.”

At the same time, we must acknowledge that there are some difficulties harmonizing the gospel accounts of the resurrection. John lacks stories that the other gospels have and he includes stories that they lack or do not report exactly as he does. For example, Luke 24:12 mentions Peter’s visit to the tomb, but doesn’t mention that John went with him. John tells of Mary Magdalene’s early morning visit to the tomb, but doesn’t mention the other women who accompanied her. More differences could be cited. But as Leon Morris explains (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans], p. 828), “The differences between the Gospels amount to no more than a demonstration that here we have the spontaneous evidence of witnesses, not the stereotyped repetition of an official story.”

Eyewitnesses report what they have seen and heard, but different eyewitnesses to the same event can report seemingly contradictory details that still are all true. For example, the late theologian Kenneth Kantzer had a friend whose mother was killed. Kantzer first heard about her death through a trusted mutual friend who reported that the woman had been standing on the street corner, was hit by a bus, and died a few minutes later. Later he heard from the dead woman’s grandson that she was riding in a car that was in a collision, she was thrown from the car and killed instantly. The boy was quite certain of his facts. Which story was correct?

Dr. Kantzer later learned from the dead woman’s daughter that her mother had been waiting for a bus, was hit by another bus and critically injured. A passing motorist put her in his car and sped off to the hospital. En route, he was in a collision in which the injured woman was thrown from the car and killed instantly. Although the accounts seemed contradictory, both were true! (Christianity Today [10/7/88], p. 23.) So while there are harmonistic problems, we can trust the different resurrection accounts.

John’s purpose for writing what he saw concerning Jesus’ resurrection, as well as all of the other miracles he reports, is (John 20:31), “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” Thus,

The evidence for Jesus’ bodily resurrection should lead us to believe in Him as Savior and Lord.

So let’s consider five evidences in John’s Gospel for Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead.

1. The first evidence for Jesus’ resurrection: the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty.

John (20:1) reports that Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb “and saw the stone taken away from the tomb.” This was a large, round stone placed in a groove in front of the tomb to secure it from grave robbers. It would have taken several strong men to roll that stone out of the groove. The Jewish leaders feared that the disciples would come and steal Jesus’ body and claim that He was risen. So they went to Pilate and got a Roman guard to secure the tomb (Matt. 27:63-66). They set a seal on the stone and were there guarding the tomb when an angel came and rolled away the stone (Matt. 28:1-4)—not so that Jesus could get out, but so that the witnesses to the resurrection could get in to verify that the tomb was empty! The guards reported what had happened to the Jewish leaders, who gave them a large sum of money and told them to tell anyone who asked that the disciples came at night and stole Jesus’ body while the guards slept (Matt. 28:11-15).

There are several problems with that story. The Roman guards would have faced the death penalty if they had fallen asleep while on guard. Even if they had dozed off, the sound of a group of men moving the heavy stone would have awakened them. Besides, after the crucifixion, the disciples were too depressed and fearful to pull off a grave robbery. And even if they had stolen Jesus’ body or bribed the guards to take it away, they wouldn’t then have endured persecution and eventual martyrdom to proclaim what they knew to be a hoax.

In addition to the stone being rolled away, the tomb was empty. Mary Magdalene was not expecting the resurrection, but when she saw that the stone was rolled away, she assumed that somebody had taken Jesus’ body. She immediately ran to the disciples to report (John 20:2), “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” This caused Peter and John to run to the tomb to see for themselves. John outran Peter, but he hesitated to go into the tomb. He stooped and looked in, seeing the grave clothes. Typically impetuous Peter brushed past John and went in. Then John went into the tomb and they both confirmed that Jesus’ body was not there.

If the Jewish leaders knew where Jesus’ body was, they would have produced it the instant that the apostles began proclaiming the resurrection. So the stone rolled away and the empty tomb both bear witness to Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead.

2. The second evidence for Jesus’ resurrection: the grave clothes.

John goes into more detail concerning the grave clothes than the other gospels do. In telling the story, John uses three different Greek words meaning “to see.” When John first arrived at the tomb, he stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in (John 20:5). He uses the common Greek word that suggests nothing more than sight. But when Peter got there, he entered the tomb and saw the linen wrappings (John 20:6). Here the Greek word has the nuance of looking carefully or examining something. We get our word theater from it. Audiences at a theater watch carefully so as not to miss any part of the play. Finally, John went in, saw, and believed (John 20:8). Here John uses a word that means to see with understanding.

What did Peter and John see? Jewish burials involved wrapping the corpse with linen strips and tucking spices into the folds to offset the stench of the corpse. The head was wrapped separately. Peter and John saw the linen wrappings with the face cloth rolled up by itself in an orderly manner, but Jesus’ body was gone. Grave robbers would not have taken the time to remove the grave clothes at the scene, but would have grabbed the body with the grave clothes and left. Or, if they had removed them, they would have left them scattered in a disorderly fashion. D. A. Carson (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], pp. 637-638) observes, “The description is powerful and vivid, not the sort of thing that would have been dreamed up; and the fact that two men saw it (v. 8) makes their evidence admissible in a Jewish court (Dt. 19:15).”

When Jesus raised Lazarus, he was raised in his old body which was still subject to disease and death. So Lazarus couldn’t pass through the grave clothes, but had to be unbound by bystanders (John 11:44). But Jesus was raised with a resurrection body that is no longer subject to death. That new body is physical, yet could pass through the grave clothes, leaving them lying there intact. He later could pass through closed doors without opening them, as well as appear and disappear suddenly at will (John 20:19, 26; Luke 24:15, 31).

3. The third evidence for Jesus’ resurrection: His post-resurrection appearances.

Here I’m looking ahead to the rest of John’s narrative. He cites four post-resurrection appearances of Jesus: To Mary Magdalene (20:11-18); to the disciples except Thomas (20:19-23); to the disciples, including Thomas (20:24-31); and, to seven of the disciples, by the Sea of Galilee (21:1-25). Paul mentions several other appearances, including one to over 500 people at one time, many of whom were still alive when he wrote (1 Cor. 15:6-8). The varied circumstances of the appearances and the different personalities of the witnesses militate against hallucinations or visions. Even Thomas, who at first was skeptical, became convinced when he saw the risen Lord (John 20:27).

John Warwick Montgomery (History and Christianity [IVP], p. 19, cited by McDowell, ibid., p. 233) commented:

Note that when the disciples of Jesus proclaimed the resurrection, they did so as eyewitnesses and they did so while people were still alive who had had contact with the events they spoke of…. It passes the bounds of credibility that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale and then preached it among those who might easily have refuted it simply by producing the body of Jesus.

A skeptic might counter that the reports of Jesus’ resurrection are all given by believers. Why didn’t Jesus appear to any unbelievers so that they would come to faith? Peter alludes to this when he preached to the Gentiles gathered in Cornelius’ house (Acts 10:40-41): “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.”

But the risen Savior did later reveal Himself to one militant unbeliever: Saul of Tarsus, later known as the apostle Paul. The only way to explain Paul’s dramatic conversion is that he saw the risen Lord Jesus. But he was shown unusual grace. Normally, God doesn’t reveal Himself to proud skeptics, especially when they have already rejected the light that He has given them. The Jewish leaders had rejected many witnesses to Christ (John 5:31-40), so He did not show Himself to them after His resurrection, except through the witness of the apostles, which they also rejected. They refused to come to Jesus to receive life, so they were given over to judgment. But for those willing to submit to Jesus as Lord, His post-resurrection appearances are a strong evidence of His resurrection.

4. The fourth evidence for Jesus’ resurrection: the changed lives of the witnesses.

John shows that none of the witnesses was expecting a resurrection. Mary Magdalene thought that someone had taken Jesus’ body (John 20:2, 15). Neither John nor Peter at first understood the Scripture that Jesus must rise again from the dead (John 20:9). All the disciples were fearful and confused. Thomas was depressed and doubting. But all were transformed into the bold witnesses of the Book of Acts because they became convinced that Jesus rose bodily from the dead. They were so convinced that the resurrection was true that many of them went on to die as martyrs.

John calls attention here (John 20:8) to his own change of belief when he saw the empty tomb and the grave clothes: “So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.” John and the other apostles obviously had already believed in Jesus, as evidenced by their following Him. So what did John here believe? He believed in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (see John 20:25, 27, 29). Dr. Carson (p. 638) points out that most of the early witnesses came to believe the resurrection after they saw Jesus alive from the dead, but John came to such faith before he saw Jesus in resurrected form.

Also, John 20:9 explains, “For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.” The apostles’ understanding of the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus’ resurrection came later. What Scripture was John referring to? Isaiah 53:10-12 speaks of the Messiah alive and seeing His offspring after He has been led like a sheep to the slaughter. Psalm 22 describes Christ’s death by crucifixion, but in verse 22 the mood shifts abruptly as He proclaims, “I will tell of Your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” And in Psalm 16:10 Messiah proclaims, “For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.” On the Day of Pentecost, Peter cited that verse and explained that it could not refer to the author, David, who was still in his tomb. Rather, it spoke of Jesus, whom God raised from the dead (Acts 2:25-32).

Also, there is another subtle change in the lives of the witnesses alluded to in our text. John 20:1 mentions that Mary came to the tomb on the first day of the week (Sunday). Church history affirms that the early church gathered for worship on Sunday, not on the Jewish Sabbath (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2). Why would they change an institution that had been in place for centuries? They did it to proclaim and celebrate the Lord’s resurrection from the dead.

Thus the stone rolled away and the empty tomb; the grave clothes; the post resurrection appearances; and the changed lives of the witnesses, are all evidence that Jesus is risen. Finally,

5. The fifth evidence for Jesus’ resurrection: His unique Person and amazing claims.

Study the Gospel accounts of who Jesus was, what He taught, His astounding claims, the miracles He performed, and the prophecies He fulfilled. On more than one occasion He predicted His own death and resurrection (Matt. 16:21; Luke 9:22; John 2:19-22; 16:16-20, 28). His encounter with doubting Thomas shows that His purpose was to bring Thomas into a place of full faith in His deity. When Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God,” Jesus did not rebuke or correct him for overstating things. Rather, Jesus commended Thomas’ correct perception and faith (John 20:27-29). A merely good teacher, especially a devout Jewish rabbi, would never accept such worship from a follower.

Everything in the Gospel accounts about Jesus’ person and teaching argues against His being a charlatan or lunatic. The only sensible option is that He is who He claimed to be: the eternal Son of God in human flesh, the Messiah of Israel. He offered Himself for our sins and God raised Him bodily from the dead. He wants those of us who have not seen Him to believe in Him (John 20:29).

The British New Testament scholar, B. F. Westcott (cited by Josh McDowell, More Than a Carpenter [Living Books], pp. 96-97) said, “Taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.” You may wonder, “If the evidence is so convincing, why don’t more people believe it?” The answer is: people refuse to believe in Jesus’ resurrection because it has personal implications that they do not want to face. If Jesus is risen, then He is the rightful Lord of all and I must turn from my sin and live under His lordship. Because people don’t want to do that, they refuse to believe in Jesus in spite of the evidence.

Conclusion

Here are four concluding applications:

1. Our faith in the risen Savior is grounded on solid historical evidence: Believe it and proclaim it!

Faith in Christ is not a blind leap in the dark. It is based on the apostolic witness, which is to say, the eyewitness testimony of credible men. I’ve always been bothered by the line in the hymn, “He Lives”: “You ask me how I know He lives; He lives within my heart.” That is completely subjective. The reason I know He lives is that he predicted His resurrection and the apostles and many others saw Him after He arose.

Wilbur M. Smith concluded (Therefore Stand [Baker], p. 419, cited by McDowell, Evidence, p. 187): “If our Lord said, frequently, with great definiteness and detail, that after He went up to Jerusalem He would be put to death, but on the third day He would rise again from the grave, and this prediction came to pass, then it has always seemed to me that everything else that our Lord ever said must also be true.” When you tell people about Jesus, emphasize that they need to believe in Him because He truly is risen and He is coming again to judge the living and the dead.

2. Our faith in the risen Savior must include repentance and surrender to His lordship.

The demons believe that Jesus is risen from the dead, but such faith does them no good. Saving faith in the risen Savior means repenting from sin and bringing every area of life under His rightful lordship (Acts 17:30-31).

3. Be encouraged that the Lord does not cast us off when our faith is weak and our understanding is shallow, but He graciously leads us to deeper faith and understanding as we seek Him.

Mary did not yet expect the resurrection, but she loved the Lord and wanted to give Him a proper burial. Peter’s and John’s faith and understanding were very weak at this point, but the Lord graciously nurtured them along and later used them mightily. We serve a gracious and loving Savior who can sympathize with our weaknesses. Draw near to Him, especially when you’re confused or doubting (Heb. 4:15-16).

4. Jesus’ bodily resurrection is the guarantee of our future bodily resurrection; so in your bodily weakness, hope in Him.

It is not news, especially to us who are getting up in years, that our bodies are subject to aging, sickness, and death. But the promise of Scripture is that since Jesus is risen, all who believe in Him will be raised and given new resurrection bodies that are not subject to sickness and death (1 Cor. 15:12-58; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Rev. 21:3-4).

The evangelist D. L. Moody told of a 15-year-old girl who was suddenly hit with an illness that left her paralyzed on one side and almost blind. As she lay in bed one day, she heard the family doctor say to her parents, “She has seen her best days, poor child.” But she was a believer and she quickly responded, “No, doctor, my best days are yet to come, when I shall see the King in His beauty.” (In James Boice, The Gospel of John [Zondervan], p. 1,400.) Her hope is your hope if your trust is in the risen Savior!

Application Questions

  1. Why is it important to affirm that our faith rests on the objectively true, historical fact of Jesus’ resurrection, not on subjective feelings?
  2. Why must genuine faith in Christ go beyond assent to the facts and include repentance and surrender to His lordship?
  3. Some describe faith as an irrational leap in the dark. Why is this erroneous and misleading?
  4. Go through the New Testament epistles and list as many practical ramifications of Christ’s resurrection that you can find (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:58; Col. 4:1-4; etc.).

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Resurrection

Lesson 101: From Sorrow to Hope (John 20:11-18)

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August 23, 2015

The current “Voice of the Martyrs” magazine tells about a 13-year-old Nigerian boy who was critically wounded during a January 28th attack on his village by the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram. They slashed his head with a machete, hacked at his left arm, cut out his right eye, and cut off his genitals. Thankfully, he only remembers the first slash of the machete to his head. But although he is permanently disfigured and has to carry around a catheter bag that collects his urine, the boy is full of joy in the Lord. He wants others to know that Christ can get them through any trial if they will embrace God and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

That remarkable boy has the joy and hope in the midst of overwhelming trials that we all need, although few of us experience it. I confess that often I’m prone to complaining even about minor trials. So I need—we all need—joyous hope in the Lord to sustain us through our trials. We need hope that faces reality, not hope in wishful thinking or positive thinking. We need hope that sustains us in the most difficult times.

The news of Jesus’ resurrection brought hope to people who were overwhelmed by despair and grief. You can hear the deep disappointment in the words of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Concerning the crucified Jesus, they said (Luke 24:21), “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.” “We were hoping ….” But their hopes had been dashed.

The disciples were engulfed by gloom. They had left everything to follow Jesus, pinning all of their hopes on Him as the Messiah. But now, He was dead. On top of the shock of watching Jesus’ grisly death on the cross, Peter was wrestling with his own failure in denying the Lord. All of the disciples were guilty of abandoning Him and fleeing in fear.

We also see grief and despair in the tears of Mary Magdalene. The Greek word used to describe her weeping means loud, uncontrollable wailing. She was despondent that not only had Jesus died, but now she thought they had taken away His body so that she could not give Him a proper burial.

It was to people overwhelmed by such a dark cloud of grief that the fact of Jesus’ bodily resurrection broke in with life-changing hope. The fact that Jesus is risen and ascended into heaven, soon to return for His own, can break into your life with genuine hope in the midst of your worst trials, if you will learn the lessons from this true story.

It’s significant that Mary Magdalene was the first person to whom Jesus revealed Himself after His resurrection (Mark 16:9). She was not an especially important person, and she was a woman. In that culture, women were not considered reliable witnesses in court. You would think that the Lord would have picked maybe Peter, James, or John as the first witnesses of His resurrection. Or if it was a woman, I would have thought that He would have picked His mother, Mary, or perhaps Mary of Bethany, who anointed Him just before His death. But Mary Magdalene was first.

That fact is even more arresting when you recall that Mary had a rather seamy past. Jesus had cast seven demons out of her (Luke 8:2). Seven is the biblical number of perfection, so perhaps we are to understand that Mary was under the total domination of satanic power. While there is no biblical evidence for the commonly held notion that she had been a prostitute, we can surmise that a woman under demonic power did not have a squeaky clean past. Jesus had rescued her from a horrible life of sin.

The fact that the Lord revealed Himself first to Mary Magdalene shines a ray of hope for every person struggling with sin and guilt. If the Savior rescued this insignificant, demon-possessed woman from her life of sin and chose her to be the first witness of His resurrection, then He can save you from your sin and use you to serve Him! This story teaches us that…

Sorrows are turned to hope when we seek the risen Savior.

The background of the story is in verses 1-10. Mary had been to the tomb and discovered that the stone was taken away. She ran to Peter and John and excitedly reported (John 20:2), “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” Peter and John immediately ran to the tomb. John got there first, but just looked in. In his usual blustery fashion, Peter entered the tomb and discovered the grave clothes without Jesus’ body. Then John went in, saw, and believed that Jesus was risen (John 20:8). But Peter went away still pondering what had happened (Luke 24:12). But neither man understood yet from the Scriptures that Jesus must rise from the dead (John 20:9). After viewing the empty tomb, both men returned home.

Meanwhile, Mary Magdalene had come back and she remained by the tomb, weeping. She wanted to find Jesus, although at this point she was just trying to find His corpse. In her thinking, someone had added insult to injury by robbing the grave.

In this state of confusion, she stooped and looked into the tomb, where she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet of where Jesus’ body had been lying. They asked Mary (John 20:13), “Woman, why are you weeping?” (Dr. S. Lewis Johnson observed that even angels are puzzled by women’s tears!) Jesus repeats the same question and adds another (John 20:15), “Whom do you seek?” Neither Jesus nor the angels asked those questions to gain information! Rather, they wanted Mary (and us) to think about the implications of those questions, because in doing so we will learn how seeking the risen Savior will turn our sorrows into hope. So let’s explore these questions:

“Why are you weeping?”

1. We weep because of sorrow, but we need to process these sorrows in light of Jesus’ resurrection.

The point of this repeated question was to get Mary to process her sorrow in light of the fact that Jesus was now risen. Yes, watching the crucifixion had been horrific. You have to work through the emotional shock of such an event. But, Mary was now weeping from sorrow because the tomb was empty, whereas that fact should have caused her to weep for joy! Mary’s experience reveals three reasons why we often go through sorrow, which we need to process in light of Jesus’ resurrection.

A. Disappointments and misunderstanding cause sorrow, but we must process them in light of Jesus’ resurrection.

Mary was deeply disappointed, first by the shock of the crucifixion, but now by the fact that she wanted to finish embalming Jesus’ body. She was thinking, “If only I knew where they laid Him, I could finish embalming His body!” But she didn’t understand the big picture, which included Jesus’ resurrection.

So often, we’re just like Mary. We’re disappointed because we don’t understand the big picture of what God is doing. We’re disappointed because God isn’t working as we think He needs to work. It seems that His promises aren’t true! But from God’s perspective, we’re asking the wrong questions and trying to accomplish the wrong tasks! We need to process our disappointments in light of the risen Savior’s love and care for us. We often don’t understand His sovereign perspective.

B. The evil deeds of evil men cause sorrow, but we must process these deeds in light of Jesus’ resurrection.

Mary thought that evil men had triumphed over God’s sovereign purposes. They had killed Jesus and now they had stolen His body. Twice she laments (John 20:2, 13), “they have taken away my Lord….” It’s an ironic complaint. If He is the Lord, no one could take Him anywhere without His consent! If God gives His angels charge to guard His Messiah in all His ways (Ps. 91:11-12; Luke 4:10-11), then surely God would not permit the crucifixion and then allow the body to be stolen against His sovereign will.

We often suffer needless sorrow because we forget that God is sovereign and that evil men can’t do anything to thwart His eternal purpose. I realize that some horrible atrocities take place. I’m not denying the emotional struggle of working through the aftermath of those atrocities if you or your loved ones are the victims. Often, we will not understand in this lifetime why God allowed such suffering to take place. But there is no comfort apart from the facts of God’s sovereignty and Jesus’ resurrection. If those facts are true, then someday God will work it all together for good (Rom. 8:28). Although evil men crucified Jesus, they were only inadvertently fulfilling God’s sovereign purposes (Acts 4:27-28).

C. The death of a loved one causes sorrow, but we must process it in light of Jesus’ resurrection.

Of course we grieve when we lose a loved one. In many cases, we will feel the loss every day for the rest of our lives. It’s not wrong to weep over such losses (John 16:20). But the Bible says that although we grieve, we do not grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). The hope that Jesus is risen and that He is coming again to take us to be with Him and with our loved ones who have died in Him, comforts us through our tears (1 Thess. 4:14-18). While we may never understand why God allowed a loved one to die, we can know that the risen Savior has a greater purpose and He sympathizes with us (John 11:1-15, 35). Whatever our loss, we must process our sorrow in light of the sure fact that Jesus is risen and thus His promises are true! Those promises give us hope in our sorrow.

Perhaps the risen Lord is asking you the same question that He asked Mary: “Why are you weeping?” Maybe, like Mary, you’re inclined to think, “That’s a dumb question! Lord, don’t You see what they have done? I’m weeping because they….” The Lord gently says, “Wait a minute! The tomb is empty because I have risen. Now, why are you weeping?”

But, there’s a second important question that the risen Lord asks Mary (John 20:15): “Whom are you seeking?”  He asks it even before she has a chance to answer the first question, because the answer to why she is weeping is found in the answer of whom she is seeking.

2. If we will seek the crucified, risen, and ascended Savior, He turns our sorrows into hope.

Clearly, Mary was seeking a dead Lord (John 20:13, 15). Her love for Jesus is commendable, but really, what good would it have done for Mary to haul off Jesus’ dead body and add a few more embalming spices? A dead religion that dresses up the corpse of a dead prophet is worthless! Only a living Savior who has triumphed over the grave offers hope for our sorrows.

A. We seek the crucified Savior.

Mary knew that, of course. But she had forgotten that Messiah’s death was prophesied in the Scripture hundreds of years before He came. Isaiah 53 predicted in miraculous detail Jesus’ death as a lamb led to the slaughter. It says (Isa. 53:5-6), “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”

David is equally explicit in Psalm 22, which begins with the haunting words that Jesus cried from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” It goes on to describe in detail death by crucifixion, hundreds of years before that was a known means of execution.

Jesus Himself said that He came to this world to lay down His life for His sheep (John 10:11-18). If you do not know Jesus Christ, crucified for your sins, you do not know Him at all. You must come to God as a guilty sinner and trust in Jesus as the only perfect sacrifice. If you trust in His shed blood, God will forgive your sins because of what Jesus did on the cross.

B. We seek the risen Savior.

Just as the Scriptures predicted that Jesus would die, so they predicted His resurrection. In Isaiah 53, the prophet goes on to tell of how the One who was pierced through for our transgressions would also divide the booty with the strong. A dead Messiah who stayed in the grave could not do that! Only a risen Savior could.

In Psalm 22:22, after describing death by crucifixion and talking of God’s deliverance, Messiah proclaims, “I will tell of Your name to my brethren.” Only a risen Savior could do that! Note Jesus’ words (John 20:17), “go to My brethren ….” It is significant that this is the first time Jesus refers to the disciples as His brethren. Why did He do that? Clearly, He said this to fulfill Psalm 22! He is telling Mary to proclaim to His brethren that God has not left Him in the tomb. He is risen and He will ascend to His Father!

C. We seek the ascended Savior.

Jesus told Mary (John 20:17), “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” This verse raises difficult questions that I can only touch on here: Why does Jesus ask Mary to stop clinging to Him, when He accepted the touch of the other women on resurrection morning (Matt. 28:9) and He invited Thomas to touch Him a week later (John 20:27)? Why does He mention His ascension? Merrill Tenney explains (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. by Frank Gaebelein [Zondervan], 9:191),

He was not refusing to be touched but was making clear that she did not need to detain him, for he had not yet ascended to the Father. He planned to remain with the disciples for a little while; she need not fear that he would vanish immediately. Ultimately he would return to God, and he urged her to tell the disciples that he would do so.

So He was signaling a new relationship with Mary and with His disciples: “After I ascend, you will have My presence spiritually, but not physically.” He didn’t leave the grave to stay with them on earth, but so that He could ascend to the Father where He would intercede for them and ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit. But the fact that Mary was clinging to Jesus shows that He was not a phantom. He was raised bodily from the dead and He ascended bodily into heaven, and He will return bodily in power and glory.

Note also that Jesus both links and yet distinguishes His relationship with the Father and theirs. Jesus by nature is eternally the Son of God, whereas we are only sons of God by adoption. By His incarnation as the Son of Man, Jesus could call the Father, “My God.” We can only do so by grace through faith in Christ as our Mediator. But, in our deepest sorrows, it is a great comfort that we have access to the Father through our risen Lord Jesus Christ!

These two questions, “Why are you weeping?” and “Whom are you seeking?” raise two further questions. First, “What results from seeking the risen Savior?” The answer to this question is stated in my second main heading, and so I include it here:

D. When we seek the risen Savior, He turns our sorrows into hope.

At first, Mary didn’t recognize Jesus, but mistook Him for the gardener. We aren’t told why she didn’t recognize Him. Perhaps, like the two on the Emmaus Road, God prevented her. Or, perhaps it was because she wasn’t expecting to see the risen Lord. But Mary’s gloom was turned to joy when the Lord spoke one word: “Mary!” Her eyes may not yet have recognized Jesus, but her ears knew that voice speaking her name! Jesus said that He is the good Shepherd, who calls His sheep by name. He knows each one and they know Him (John 10:3-5, 14, 27). He still seeks individuals. He still calls His sheep by name. You can take your sorrows to Him and have a private audience with the good Shepherd who knows your name. He can sympathize with all of your sorrow and pain!

And, He calls us His brethren! As I said, this is the first time Jesus has called the disciples His brethren (fulfilling Ps. 22:22). But it’s helpful to note that when He sent this word to them, they were still reeling from their failure and guilt. Peter had failed most prominently, but all the disciples had abandoned Jesus and fled in fear. Although Thomas is the most well-known for his doubting, all the disciples ridiculed the early reports from the women about the resurrection (Luke 24:11). Yet it was these men that had failed and sinned that Jesus calls brethren. When they heard that word from Mary, I can imagine them asking, “What did He call us?” When she affirmed it, their sorrow would have been turned to hope.

Perhaps in your sorrow, you have doubted or even denied the Lord. If you will seek Him as Mary did, you will hear Him call your name and your sorrow will turn to hope.

Finally, “How shall we seek the risen Savior?”

3. Seek the risen Savior honestly, diligently, personally, and obediently.

A. Seek the risen Savior honestly.

Don’t try to cover your tears or get yourself together first. Mary didn’t. Jesus knows your every struggle. Come to Him just as you are: misunderstanding, tears and all.

B. Seek the risen Savior diligently.

Mary was the first at the tomb and she stayed after everyone else had gone home. She diligently sought Jesus because she loved Him. The Savior rewarded her desire to find Him. Later, Thomas was not with the other disciples when Jesus appeared, so he had to wait a week. Probably, he was too depressed to be around others, but he missed seeing the Savior. Maybe you’re depressed, but don’t let that keep you from showing up where you might find the Savior. Seek Him diligently and you will find Him.

C. Seek the risen Savior personally.

Note verse 13, “my Lord.” The closeness of Mary’s fellowship with Jesus comes through in the way she recognized Him the instant He spoke her name. The only way you will ever find hope in your sorrows is to seek Jesus personally. There is no group plan. Your mate’s seeking Him won’t do for you. You must seek Him yourself. You don’t have to be anyone special—maybe just a demon-possessed girl from an insignificant town—for Him to save you and turn your sorrow into hope.

D. Seek the risen Savior obediently.

He isn’t an Aladdin’s genie, to meet your every wish. He won’t necessarily solve all your problems the way that you think He should. He is the Lord. He commands and His servants must obey. When Jesus told Mary to stop clinging to Him and go to His brethren, I’m sure that she would rather have stayed right there with Jesus. We don’t know whether He vanished before she left, but if He didn’t, it would have been difficult to obey His command. Leave this encounter with the risen Savior to go to a bunch of depressed men who wouldn’t believe her anyway? But, Mary obeyed.

Often, when you seek the Lord, He will not grant your request directly. Instead, He will command you to do something you may not want to do at first. But as you obey Him, He will turn your sorrow into hope.

Conclusion

During World War II, a secret message got through to some American prisoners in a German concentration camp that the war was over. But it would be three more days before that word got to their German captors. During those three days, nothing changed in terms of their hardships in the prison. But their attitude changed from despair to hope. They knew that soon they would be released because the Allies had won the war.

Whatever your sorrows or trials today, you can have hope because Jesus won the victory over death. He has risen and He asks you the same questions that He asked Mary: “Why are you weeping?” “Whom are you seeking?” If through your tears, you will seek the risen Savior honestly, diligently, personally, and obediently, He will turn your sorrows into hope.

Application Questions

  1. How can we know whether our grieving is proper or excessive? Where are the limits (biblically)?
  2. Some attempt to comfort the grieving by saying that God was not sovereign over the tragedy. Why does this false teaching rob us of comfort, rather than give us comfort?
  3. Why does everything in the Christian faith rest on the bodily resurrection of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:12-19)?
  4. When we have failed the Lord badly, how can we be assured of His forgiveness and restoration?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Christian Life, Resurrection, Suffering, Trials, Persecution

Lesson 26: Why You Should Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, Part 1 (1 John 5:6-9)

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“What are you going to believe about Jesus?” That is the foundational question everyone must ask and answer, and where one goes to get the answers to such a question makes all the difference. John reminded his readers that there were testimonies to choose from: the lesser testimony from men and the greater testimony from God. And so, hearing what God has said about His Son is of tremendous importance. Pastor Daniel looks at this interesting text and emphasizes, “God testifies with an authoritative voice that must be believed,” and then concludes with the application, “the only appropriate response to [what God has testified] is, ‘Yes I believe.’”

Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff

Related Topics: Faith, Soteriology (Salvation)

Lesson 27: Why You Should Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, Part 2 (1 John 5:10-12)

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In this second look at 1 John 5:10-12, Pastor Daniel continues to relay the great importance of a person deciding what they will do with the revelation about Jesus. He states, “Your entire life—present and future—is shaped by how you respond to the testimony of God concerning Jesus Christ.” With a look at two “characters,” Christian and Doubter, he illustrates the two journeys people can be on as they consider who Jesus is. Christian believes with an ongoing faith that affects all of his life into eternity. Doubter does not believe in Christ and makes God out to be a liar, and the negative consequences of this doubt are just as consequential as that of Christian. There is a call in this passage to escape death and judgment through faith in the One the Father has sent to be the Savior of the world.

Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff

Related Topics: Faith, Soteriology (Salvation)

Lesson 29: Praying for My Brother (1 John 5:16-17)

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Having already established that prayer is necessary and has real effect, John now instructs his readers in something that they should pray for, or rather, someone they should be lifting up in prayer—the true brother in Christ committing a sin. Pastor Daniel comments on John’s letter by stating, “If I love my brothers and sisters in Christ, I must be faithful to pray for God to save them from sin.” So how is it then that believers should further show their care for one another? 1) Love one’s brothers and sisters, 2) pursue real relationships with them, 3) don’t ignore the sin in their lives, 4) plead for God to grant life to them, 5) utilize biblical means to encourage them, and 6) don’t minimize sin (sin of the accuser or the accused).

Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff

Related Topics: Hamartiology (Sin), Prayer, Temptation

Lesson 28: Confident Prayers (1 John 5:13-15)

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Does God answer prayer? What happens if we are/are not faithful in prayer? This subject is one of the most challenging for believers to understand. For many, it is also one of the Christian disciplines that is hardest to practice. Perhaps that is because we don’t know how to answer the question, “Will it matter in any way if I do or don’t pray?” Pastor Daniel acknowledges the challenges surrounding the doctrine of prayer, but also puts forth a charge that followers of Jesus need to hear. Agreeing with John, he states, “We must pray with confidence that God will answer your prayers. Praying with confidence is the only way to live as you are called by God to live.”

Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff

Related Topics: Prayer

Lesson 30: What We Now Know About Ourselves and Sin (1 John 5:18-20)

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As he began wrapping up his letter, John gave a bit more good news to his readers, in some ways he reiterated certain messages he had already put forward. But this news was that sin would not have the victory over those born of God. They were under His protection and had been given minds to know and remain with the true One—Jesus Christ. They had “eternal security,” a phrase that might be misunderstood or misapplied, but an important Christian doctrine nonetheless. Pastor Daniel highlights the good news John was proclaiming by stating, “Jesus Christ completely rescues us from sin’s curse of death and absolutely secures eternal life for us.”

Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff

Related Topics: Assurance, Hamartiology (Sin), Soteriology (Salvation)

Lesson 31: Keep Yourselves from Idols (1 John 5:21)

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There are a number of common ways to say, “goodbye” to someone at the conclusion of a letter, but the Apostle John chose a line that is perhaps a bit more out of the ordinary: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” The command itself isn’t a strange one, but the location seems just a tad out of the ordinary. But as the Holy Spirit directed John’s message, it was what He knew the original readers (and readers today) needed to be left with as a statement of final impact. Pastor Daniel packages this concluding sentence by stating, “diligently guard against all those things that would prevent you from fulfilling your divine purpose of loving and worshiping God.” These idols that need to be put away from the believer must be removed, “passionately, constantly, and ruthlessly.”

Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff

Related Topics: Christian Life

A Reformation the Church Doesn’t Need: Answering Revisionist Pro-Gay Theology—Part I

Article contributed by Stand To Reason
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Editor's Note: For part two of this two part article Click Here.

Gregory Koukl and Alan Shlemon

The scene was familiar: a church filled with joyful Christians, singing well-known hymns, praising God with arms outstretched, enjoying beautiful, bountiful fellowship with each other.

There was one significant difference, though, between this gathering and one you probably attend. All the participants were either homosexual or “gay affirming.” Plus, they’re on a mission to change your mind and your congregation’s theology about homosexuality.

It’s being called a new Reformation, but this is a reformation we do not need. These people are organized, serious, and single-minded—and you need to be ready for them, because and they are coming to your church.

The Reformation Project (TRP), founded by Matthew Vines, is one of a number of organizations1 in this movement hosting conferences around the country.2 Their mission: “We are dedicated to training LGBT3 Christians and their allies to reform church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity through the teaching of the Bible.” 4

TRP’s statement of faith is standard Evangelical fare, including a commitment to “the inspiration of the Bible, the Word of God…the Triune God…[Jesus’] death for our sins, His resurrection and eventual return…and the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit.”

Their conferences engage all the relevant Scriptures and standard challenges to the gay-friendly view. Drawing from the writings of legitimate scholars, they teach the conferees hermeneutics and theology combined with tactically clever and rhetorically compelling talking points. Then they role-play the responses in a winsome and attractive way. It’s essentially a Stand to Reason for revisionist pro-gay theology.

TRP’s approach adds a clever twist, though. Vines knows that an appeal to Scripture alone will not convince today’s Christian. Believers also need a subjective prod.

To make his view most appealing, then, Vines wants to make sure every non-gay-affirming Christian has a pleasant encounter with a gay person, especially a “gay Christian”5—to overcome what might be called the “ick” factor—the discomfort many feel about homosexuality chiefly because they have no gay family or friends.

This personalized approach is powerful. It’s easy to stigmatize and demonize the unfamiliar. Even stalwart fundamentalists, though, frequently change their view once they discover, for example, a family member identifies as gay.6

“Not that Kind of Homosexuality”

The current revisionist approach seeks to simplify an apparently complex textual issue by making a single, uncomplicated point: The kind of same-sex behavior condemned in the Bible is not what modern-day LGBT Christians practice.

This is the “cultural distance argument,” the claim that ancient same-sex behavior was exploitive, abusive, and oppressive—completely unlike the caring, committed, covenantal unions promoted by gay Christians today. Scriptural prohibitions of homosexuality, then, apply only to the harsh and unjust practices, not to loyal, loving, same-sex intimacy.

Author Kevin DeYoung sums up the revisionist approach nicely in his recent critique:

The issue was not gender (whether the lovers were male or female), but gender roles (whether a man was overly feminized and acting like a woman). The issue was not men having sex with men, but men having sex with boys. The issue was not consensual same-sex sexual intimacy, but gang rape, power imbalances, and systemic oppression. The revisionist case can take many forms, but central to most of them is the “not that kind of homosexuality!” argument. We can safely set aside the scriptural prohibitions against homosexual behavior because we are comparing apples and oranges: we are talking in our day about committed, consensual, lifelong partnerships, something the biblical authors in their day knew nothing about.7

Thus, on this view the Bible does not prohibit homosexuality per se, only abusive forms of homosexuality like pederasty, master-slave exploitation, promiscuity, rape, victimization, etc.

We have two general responses to this claim before we address the biblical case directly.

First, this conclusion is based on a selective use of the historical evidence from ancient Near East culture. Examples of exploitive sexuality abound in the literature, to be sure. However, a variety of non-abusive homosexual practices show up in the record, too—including all of the “loving” variations we witness today (except, notably, “gay Christians”). There are even references to nascent notions of what we would now call “sexual orientation.”8

As it turns out then, in the ancient Near East “committed, consensual, lifelong partnerships” did exist, in addition to the exploitive forms. Why, then, presume the biblical texts merely forbid the second, but not the first? By what logic can biblical passages be said to inveigh only against the “abusive” practices and not homosexual conduct itself?

Second, Scripture nowhere makes this not-that-kind-of-homosexuality distinction. There’s not the slightest hint in any biblical passage that condemnation of homosexuality is based on—and therefore limited to—coercive or oppressive, same-sex activity. Instead, the Scripture consistently makes a different point, one emphasized with every passage in question. To see that point clearly, though, we need to go back to the beginning.

“From the Beginning…”

Two thousand years ago, Jesus of Nazareth based an argument about marriage on a simple observation about the created order: Humans are made male and female. They are gendered. When confronted with the revisionist teaching on marriage of His own day, Jesus said:

Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. (Matt. 19:4-6)9

Jesus answered a question about divorce by going back to the beginning, to God’s original intention for marriage: one man, with one woman, becoming one flesh, for one lifetime. That was Jesus’ view.

Contrary to common assertion, then, Jesus did have something to say about homosexuality. From the beginning God had designed, intended, and endorsed marriage and sex (“one flesh”) solely for long term, monogamous, heterosexual unions. Indeed, gendered human bodies reflect that purpose: men and women designed to function together, to fit each other physically in a complementary way.

Simply put, the man was made for the woman and the woman was made for the man. Reject that function and replace it with another, and you reject God’s own good purpose for sex.

Sam Allberry, himself a Christian managing same-sex attraction, put it this way: “What was going on with Adam and Eve explains what has gone on ever since. The perfect ‘fit’ between the two of them is the foundation for every human marriage since. The account is not just about their union, but every marriage union.”10

Not surprisingly, then, the six sexual activities prohibited in the Bible—adultery, fornication, rape, incest, bestiality, and homosexuality—each involve sex with someone other than one’s spouse. This point deserves repeating: All forms of sex condemned in Scripture have a common characteristic: sex other than between a husband and his wife.

Jesus spelled out the natural, normal sexual/marital relationship with crystal clarity. Inside marriage, sex is sacred; outside marriage, it is defiled. God gives sexual freedom only to husbands with wives—not to friends or co-workers, not to casual dates, not to long-term sweethearts, and not to same-sex partners in any kind of relationship—exploitive and abusive, or loving and committed.

Man was made to function sexually with a woman, and a woman with a man, to accomplish a natural purpose—“be fruitful and multiply”—that could not be fulfilled in same-sex unions.11 This was God’s intention “from the beginning.” It was the way God wanted it. It is still the way it’s supposed to be. And this is the theme we find— explicit or implicit—with every passage condemning homosexuality: man abandoning the natural function of God’s purpose for sex.

It’s time now to look at those passages.

A Tale of Two Cities

TRP conference “Talking Point #6” characterizes the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah12 this way: “Sodom and Gomorrah involved a threatened gang rape, not…loving relationships based on mutuality and fidelity.” According to Ezekiel 16:49 (NIV), the cities’ residents “were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and the needy.” Jude’s reference in verse 7 to the men of Sodom and Gomorrah going after “different flesh”…“likely refers to the attempted rape of non-human beings, angels.”

On TRP’s take, then, homosexuality itself was not a problem, only sexual violence and social injustice. Are they right? Of course, the above explanations are not mutually exclusive and may have been factors in their own way. Here’s the key question, though: Does the biblical record indicate that homosexuality was a factor at all in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Three observations make it clear that the revisionist approach is not an adequate explanation.

First, there was no rape, only an expressed intention that was not fulfilled. Thus, according to the revisionist view, God annihilated two entire cities in part because a gang of ruffians hoped to sexually assault two men they never actually touched. This seems odd. It’s hard to believe that merely attempting a crime—even one as despicable as rape—would bring annihilation. I think we can eliminate that option.

Second, Jude 7 says, “Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them…indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh” (sarkos heteras). Yes, sex with angels would be strange, but there is absolutely no indication the men of Sodom—or even Lot—knew the visitors were angels. Further, the strange-flesh sex was happening in neighboring cities as well. More angels? Doubtful. The “strange flesh” that appealed to the sexual appetites of the men of that region clearly was not angelic flesh. Eliminate that option, too.

Third, nothing that happened at Lot’s house that night could have been the reason God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—neither attempted gang rape, nor sex with angels, nor anything else that took place that evening. Why? Because God had sent the angels to visit judgment before those incidents ever happened: “We are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it” (Gen. 19:13).13

Something terrible had been going on for so long in the those two cities and beyond that God’s judgment was a fait accompli before the angels even arrived—meant as a vivid example of Divine wrath towards any people tempted to mimic their godless habits.14 What was this behavior? Both Peter and Jude tell us clearly.

Peter says Lot was “oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men,” and, “by what he saw and heard...felt his righteous soul tormented day after day with their lawless deeds” as they “indulged the flesh in its corrupt desires and despised authority.”15 Jude says that those who, in the entire region of Sodom and Gomorrah, “indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”

The sin, therefore, was some kind of ongoing, sensuous behavior Lot saw and heard in which men, driven by corrupt desire contrary to right principle, rejected what was proper in order to pursue flesh that was odd, unusual, abnormal and “strange.” There is only one characteristic of Sodom’s assailants that fits this description: their homosexuality. Curiously, neither Peter nor Jude even hint at any other problem, meaning sexual sin eclipsed everything else.

The references to strange flesh, to the corruption of their sensuality, to actions contrary to right principle, and to a pursuit of fleshly appetites in a way not proper, all signal an abandonment of God’s expressed purpose for sex established in His original, created order emphasized by Jesus. In this, they despised His authority by exchanging the proper for the perverse, triggering the most severe judgment anywhere in biblical history outside of the flood.

Wait, revisionists interject. Ezekiel never mentions homosexuality. Correct, he doesn’t use that word. He uses another. Ezekiel says they “committed abominations before Me” (16:50), the very word used of homosexuality in our next passage.

“Old” vs. “New”

In “Talking Point #7,” TRP material states, “The prohibitions of Leviticus do not apply to Christians…. The New Testament teaches that Christ’s death and resurrection fulfilled the Law…which is why its many rules or regulations have never applied to Christians.”

Of course, both of these statements are true as far as they go. The New does supersede the Old, including a number of peculiar regulations that seem only for Jews during that unique era (constraints on mixing wool and linen together come to mind).16 But we have to be careful here.

Though the Mosaic Law has never applied to Christians the way it applied to Jews in the theocracy, it would be a serious mistake to conclude that none of the prohibitions in the Law have any moral relevance for believers today. Yes, Christ fulfilled the Law, but perversion is still perverse, and wickedness is still wrong, whether it be adultery, rape, incest, or bestiality—or any of a number of evil acts all condemned by Moses in the “old” Law.

Does the fact that “Christ is the end of the Law” liberate us now from every moral constraint? Of course not, and I know TRP would agree. That’s why their points about “New” vs. “Old” are irrelevant to our issue. The real question about homosexuality is this: Do the Mosaic prohibitions of same-sex behavior reflect temporal provisions for Jews in the theocracy, or do they reflect universal moral concerns for everyone? Let’s look at the passages in question:

Leviticus 18:20-23 “You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, to be defiled with her. You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech….You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it….it is a perversion.”

Leviticus 20:13 “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death.”

Pay close attention to the context here. The “abomination” of homosexuality in Leviticus 18 is grouped with condemnation of adultery, child sacrifice, and bestiality. Keep reading and you’ll see that this grouping is no accident. These were the very behaviors that brought judgment on the Canaanites to begin with (18:24-26)— people who also were gentiles “not under the Law.” Nevertheless, this did not exonerate them. They still were “spewed out” for their wickedness.

Note also that the prohibition of homosexual behavior is unqualified—no exceptions for loving, consensual, committed relationships. And both participants were punished here (20:13)—unlike rape where only the abuser was penalized (Deut. 22:25-26)—so this passage couldn’t merely be prohibiting coercive, abusive sex.

Whenever a man lies with another man the way he should be lying with a woman, something is terribly wrong. He is exchanging the first for the second. He is rejecting the woman who was “fit” for him for a man who was not. Once again, the created order is subverted—God’s original purpose for sex is distorted and corrupted. The result: a “detestable act.”

The point of citing Leviticus on homosexuality, then, is not to impose Torah requirements on New Testament believers. Rather, it’s to show that any behavior twisting or maligning God’s original intention for sex is evil in any era.

This exact point is made with crystal clarity in our next passage on homosexuality—found in a New Testament epistle written to Christians under the new order.

Reconstructing Romans

In Romans 1, Paul seems to use homosexuality as indicative of man’s deep-seated rebellion against God resulting in unqualified condemnation. New interpretations cast a different light on the passage, though.

Under TRP’s “Talking Point #8” we find: “The same-sex behavior Paul condemns is characterized by lustfulness, disrespect, and selfishness, not love and commitment.”

This, to put it mildly, is pure invention. Even a cursory reading of the passage reveals that Paul is not discussing the conditions under which homosexuality is practiced, but the practice itself. This passage is worth quoting at length:

For since the creation of the world [God’s] invisible attributes—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper. (Rom. 1:20-28)

The same theme implicit in the earlier passages is explicit here. The Greek word kreesis, translated “function” in this text, is used only these two times in the New Testament, but is found frequently in other literature of the time. According to BAG, the standard Greek language lexicon, the word means “use…relations, function, especially of sexual intercourse.” 17

Paul is not talking about natural desires here; he is talking about natural functions. He’s talking about plumbing. He is not talking about what one wants sexually or the nature of the sexual relationship (abusive, exploitive, unloving, etc.), but how human beings are built to operate. Our bodies are intended by God to function in a specific way sexually. Men were not built to function sexually with men, but with women.

This point is unmistakable when one notes precisely what homosexual men abandon according to verse 27. Paul says the error of homosexuality is man forsaking the “natural function of the woman.” He abandons the female built by God to be man’s sexual complement. He rejects the sexual companion God designed for him. Thus, he abandons God.

Natural desires go with natural functions. The passion that exchanges the natural function of sex between a man and a woman for the unnatural function of sex between a man and a man (or a woman and a woman) is what Paul calls a “degrading passion” (v. 26).

Note the other words Paul uses of same-sex behavior (including, notably, lesbianism): a lust of the heart, an impurity that is dishonoring to the body (v. 24); an indecent act and an error (v. 27); unnatural (v. 26); not proper and the product of a depraved mind (v. 28).

There’s only one way the point of this passage can be missed: if someone is in total revolt against God, which is precisely Paul’s point. According to the apostle, homosexual behavior (among other sins) is evidence of active, persistent, willful rebellion against the Creator (v. 32). For those defending their homosexuality, God’s response is explicit: “They are without excuse” (v. 20).

There is not the slightest hint in any of what Paul writes in Rom. 1 that he restricts his condemnation of homosexuality to “same-sex behavior…characterized by lustfulness, disrespect, and selfishness, not love and commitment.” That is fabrication. Homosexual conduct is wrong because it rejects the natural sexual complement God has ordained for man: a woman. That was Paul’s view, and if Paul’s, then God’s view, too.

Scripture follows an unmistakable pattern regarding homosexuality. God establishes a certain sexual order, then man rebels, rejecting it for something else. He goes after strange flesh. He beds a man the way he’s supposed to bed a woman. He exchanges God’s truth for a lie, abandons the natural function of the woman, and burns with unnatural desire towards other men.

The revisionist “reformation” has more to say on the Bible and homosexuality. We will answer those points in Part 2 of this series. (forthcoming)

Editor's Note: For part one of this two part article Click Here.


1 E.g., Soulforce, the Gay Christian Network, and The Marin Foundation.

2 The conference that co-author Alan Shlemon attended in Washington, D.C. had more than 300 attendees.

3 LGBT stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender.”

4 This and other citations are taken from the Reformation Project D.C. Conference 2014 Program, unless specified otherwise.

5 I think this phrase is misleading, so I’ve added scare quotes in this instance.

6 Two of the theological leaders of this movement, Evangelical ethicist David Gushee and theologian James Brownson, have family members who identify as gay or lesbian.

7 Kevin DeYoung, What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015), 80.

8 For details, see DeYoung, 83-86, citing, among others, Thomas K. Hubbard, ed., Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Ancient Documents (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003).

9 All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible.

10 Sam Allberry, Is God Anti-Gay? (United Kingdom: Good Book Co., 2013), 15.

11 Current reproductive technologies notwithstanding. Medically subverting God’s purpose does not nullify it.

12 Find the full account in Gen. 18:16-19:29.

13 See also Gen. 18:20.

14 Gen. 18:17-19, 2 Pet. 2:6, Jude 7.

15 2 Pet. 2:7-10.

16 Deut. 22:11.

17Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich, A Greek/English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 885-6.

Related Topics: Cultural Issues, Homosexuality, Lesbianism, Scripture Twisting

Lesson 102: Mission: Possible (John 20:19-23)

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August 30, 2015

Years ago there was a TV show called “Mission: Impossible.” A current movie is based on that show. I haven’t seen the movie, but the TV show used to start with a supervisor telling an agent, “Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is ….” Then he described what sounded like an impossible challenge.

The Great Commission which the risen Lord Jesus gave to His followers sounds like mission impossible. We have slightly different variations of it in Matthew, the longer ending of Mark, Luke, and Acts, plus in our text. The mission is to proclaim the good news about salvation through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection to all people. While only some can go to other cultures as missionaries, every believer has a part in the overall cause. And you don’t have the option of not accepting the assignment! If you follow Jesus, then you’re on the team! You may never go to seminary or join a mission organization. But you should figure out what role the Savior wants you to play in His worldwide mission.

John 20:19-23 tells about our Lord’s appearance to the apostles and probably other disciples (Luke 24:33-49) as they met behind locked doors for fear of the Jews on the evening of the first day of His resurrection. Thomas, who was brooding over his doubts about the resurrection, was not present. The mission is summed up in John 20:21, where Jesus says, “… as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

If you can think about those words and not feel inadequate for an impossible task, you are not thinking clearly enough! How can I possibly go out into this world just as the Father sent Jesus into this world? Jesus was God in human flesh; I am not. Jesus never sinned; I often sin. Jesus walked in unbroken, intimate fellowship with the Father; I do not. Jesus never made mistakes; I make them all the time. So with the apostle Paul, I often feel (2 Cor. 2:16), “And who is adequate for these things?”

But in our text, our Lord turns mission impossible into mission possible. Paul followed up his feelings of inadequacy with the triumphant explanation (2 Cor. 3:5), “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” Here our Lord gives us five ways that He equips us so that mission impossible becomes mission possible:

Because the risen Savior has called and equipped us, we can confidently proclaim the gospel to all people.

1. The risen Savior has given us great peace (John 20:19, 21).

John 20:19: “So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” Then after He showed them His hands and side, He repeated (John 20:21), “Peace be with you.”

“Peace be with you” was a common Jewish greeting wishing overall well-being on the other person. But in the context here it surely means far more than just a perfunctory greeting. These men were in hiding behind locked doors because of fear of the Jewish leaders who had just crucified their Lord. It was not far-fetched to think that they might be next. They may have been discussing how they could sneak out of Jerusalem without being arrested.

Suddenly, with no knock at the door or no one opening the door, the risen Lord Jesus stood in their midst. While His resurrection body is a physical body, it also has the ability to appear or disappear at will. You can imagine how startling it would be to have the risen Lord suddenly appear in a locked room where you were already afraid! Luke (24:37) says that they were frightened and thought that they were seeing a ghost. John (20:20) reports the outcome after Jesus showed them His hands and His side, “The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”

Keep in mind that these are men who all had fled in fear for their own lives when Jesus was arrested. Peter had denied the Lord three times. They all had doubted the initial reports of Jesus’ resurrection (Luke 24:11). It would certainly be understandable if Jesus had greeted them, “You unbelieving, thick-headed excuses for disciples! When are you going to get it together?” But rather than rebuking them, the Lord graciously extended and then underscored His peace to them.

Peace with God is foundational for your mission for Him. You can’t begin to serve the Lord unless you first are reconciled to Him through the peace that Christ accomplished on the cross. Before you believe in Christ, your sins alienate you from God (Rom. 8:7-8). But when you trust in Christ, you enter into a new relationship of peace with God (Rom. 5:1). Then and only then does God appoint us as ambassadors of His mission of reconciliation with this world that is hostile toward Him (2 Cor. 5:18).

Not only does Christ give us peace with God through His blood, but He also gives us the peace of God through His abiding presence with us as we seek to accomplish the gospel mission. As Jesus concluded the Great Commission (in Matt. 28:20), He gave the assurance, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Note, “I am with you always”! As we proclaim the gospel to this hostile world, the Lord’s presence gives us “the peace of God, which surpasses understanding” (Phil. 4:7).

The peace that the Lord gives also extends to our relationships with one another. One of the main reasons missionaries come home early from the field is conflict with their fellow workers. And when churches get into internal conflicts, they sabotage their witness to the watching world. That’s why many passages in the New Testament exhort us to work for peaceful relationships. The risen Christ is the basis for resolving relational conflicts. As Paul said with reference to the deep divide between the Jews and the Gentiles (Eph. 2:14), “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall ….” Christ has given us peace with God, the peace of God, and peace with one another, so that we can carry out His mission.

2. The risen Savior has given us great proof (John 20:20).

John 20:20: “And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” Our resurrection bodies will be perfect in the sense of not bearing any scars that we incurred during our lifetimes. But Jesus’ resurrection body still has the scars to remind us of the great price that He paid to save us from our sins (see Rev. 5:7).

But on that first resurrection Sunday, Jesus showed the disciples His hands and side to convince them of the truth that He was risen bodily. Luke (24:39, 41-43) adds that He invited them to touch Him and then He asked for a piece of broiled fish, which He ate as they watched. As I explained when I covered John 20:1-10, the Lord has given us convincing proof that He is risen.

That historical fact should be at the center of our witness for Christ. While it’s true that Christ can help people with their personal problems and struggles, that’s not the message of the gospel. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins and was raised again according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3-4). In other words, don’t believe in Jesus in the hope that He will solve all your problems. Believe in Jesus because you’re a sinner and He is the only Savior and He is risen from the dead and is coming again to judge the living and the dead (1 Thess. 1:5-10)! We can proclaim the gospel with confidence because we have great proof of His resurrection.

3. The risen Savior has given us a great purpose (John 20:21).

John 20:21: “So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’” This applies Jesus’ prayer in John 17:18 to the disciples, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” John’s Gospel frequently emphasizes the theme of Jesus being sent by the Father. He was sent to do the Father’s will (John 4:34; 6:38-39); to speak the Father’s words (John 3:34; 12:49); and to perform the Father’s works (John 4:34; 5:36). He was sent to bring salvation to the world (John 3:17). In John 18:37, Jesus told Pilate, “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.” In Luke 19:10, Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” The apostle Paul put it (1 Tim. 1:15), “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”

Jesus taught us to pray (Matt. 6:10), “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” He came to establish the Father’s kingdom by bringing people under His lordship to do His will. By sending us in the same way that He was sent, His purpose becomes our purpose. We should live in obedience to Christ and teach others to do the same (Matt. 28:19-20).

But so often the church collectively and we as individuals lose sight of our purpose. We get distracted with other things. A few years ago, I read about Sohan Singh, a grocery store owner in England, who banned customers from his store. He said that he had to take such drastic action because of people’s bad manners. First he banned smoking, then crude language, baby strollers, pets, and finally the customers themselves. Shoppers had to look through the window to spot items they want, then ring a small bell to be served through a small hatch in the door. “I have lost business, but I cannot say how much,” Singh said. “I am a man of principles, and I stand by my decision.” That’s pretty silly for a storekeeper to ban customers in order to stand by his principles!

But what about a church that bans sinners or makes them feel unwelcome because they contaminate the church? What about church members who cut off all contact with lost people? We’ve had families pull their kids out of Sunday school or the church youth group because (gasp!) worldly kids have attended those activities. The families were afraid that their kids might pick up bad language or be enticed to join the sinful activities of the worldly kids.

I’ve told you before the story of Gib Martin, a pastor who was led to Christ when he was a 27-year-old atheist by a man named Charlie. Charlie had been an alcoholic carpenter for many years before he met Christ. After he got saved, he had a burden for the men who were just like he had been. So every day after work, he would stop at the bar where Gib also went after work. Charlie would drink coffee and share his life with those who would listen. Eventually, that’s how Gib came to faith in Christ.

But the sad part of the story is that none of the local churches would allow Charlie to associate with them because he went to the bar every day. Even though he wasn’t getting drunk—he wasn’t even having a beer—they didn’t like what he was doing. Even the church where Charlie directed Gib to go after his conversion wouldn’t allow Charlie to join (from A Theology of Personal Ministry, by Lawrence Richards and Gib Martin [Zondervan], pp 44-45).

But if our Savior was known as a friend of sinners, and He said (Luke 5:32), “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance,” shouldn’t we be hanging out with sinners to befriend them and tell them about the Savior? If Jesus’ purpose was to seek and save the lost, shouldn’t that be our purpose? To tell people the good news about eternal life is the greatest purpose that anyone can have, because that was our Savior’s purpose.

So the risen Savior has given us great peace, great proof of His resurrection, and a great purpose, which was His purpose.

4. The risen Savior has given us great power (John 20:22).

John 20:22: “And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” To attempt to serve the Lord in any capacity, but especially in proclaiming the gospel to the lost, without relying on the power of the Holy Spirit would be futile. As Zechariah 4:6 reminds us, ‘“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

But scholars wrestle with the exact meaning of verse 22 in light of the subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. As I understand it, it could mean one of two things or possibly both. Some (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], pp. 648-655) argue that this was a symbolic action on Jesus’ part that anticipated the imminent outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. They argue that if the disciples actually received the Spirit when Jesus breathed on them here, the results are disappointing. They did not begin preaching the gospel with power until after the Day of Pentecost. In fact, they went back to fishing (John 21). So they see this as a symbolic provision of the Spirit that is still yet to come.

Others would agree that this is obviously a symbolic gesture on Jesus’ part. His breathing on the disciples reflects God’s breathing life into Adam so that he became a living being (Gen. 2:7). Also, it pictures Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones, where God told him to prophesy to the breath (the word also means “spirit”) so that the corpses would come to life.

But beyond the merely symbolic gesture pointing ahead to Pentecost, Jesus’ action here would also seem to be a temporary imparting of the Holy Spirit to strengthen the disciples during the 40 days of Jesus’ time with them so that they could understand and remember His teaching, which some later recorded in the New Testament. It also served to revive the disciples after their failure. In Acts 1:14, we find the disciples gathered together with one mind, devoting themselves to prayer, and eagerly waiting for the promised Holy Spirit to come. That unity and fervent prayer may be attributed to this temporary imparting of the Holy Spirit.

Just before Jesus ascended, He directly linked the power of the coming Spirit to the disciples’ future witness (Acts 1:8): “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” The Bible never commands us to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, because that is a one-time action that takes place at the moment of salvation (1 Cor. 12:13). But it does command us to be continually filled with the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit (Eph. 5:18; Gal. 5:16). Since the Spirit of God must open blind eyes and impart new life to sinners when they hear the gospel (2 Cor. 4:4-6; John 6:63), we must especially rely on the Spirit when we talk to people about the Lord.

The risen Savior has equipped us for proclaiming the gospel by giving us great peace, great proof, a great purpose, and great power through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Finally…

5. The risen Savior has given us a great proclamation (John 20:23).

(I mean, a great message, but message doesn’t alliterate with all the other “p’s”!) John 20:23: “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” The gospel that we proclaim is not so much about Jesus helping people with their personal problems but rather about God forgiving their sin through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. G. Campbell Morgan (The Gospel According to John Revell], p. 321) wrote, “The ultimate reason of the mission of the Church in the world, is to deal with sin.” Romans 3:23 declares, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Jesus didn’t die to save us from personal failure or shortcomings, but from the just wrath of God against our rebellion and sin.

But the Roman Catholic Church uses John 20:23 to support some false teaching, which I must address. They interpret it to mean that ordained priests have the authority to forgive or retain the sins of people contingent on private confession and penance. They base this on their doctrine of apostolic succession through Peter and the popes, on their distinction between clergy and laity, and on their view that penance is necessary for forgiveness. But there are many reasons to reject their view.

First, there is no biblical warrant for apostolic succession. The apostles had authority to found the church (Eph. 2:20), but once the church was founded, that authority ceased. Also, the New Testament is clear that there is no distinction between ordained clergy and laity. While there is warrant for ordaining men to ministry, this does not make them mediators between believers and God. Jesus is the only mediator (1 Tim. 2:5). All believers are priests before God, with equal access to His throne of grace (1 Pet. 2:9; Heb. 4:14-16).

Second, only God can forgive sins, which He does the instant a person repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 5:21; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 16:31; 26:18). To add penance as necessary for forgiveness is to add human works to the finished work of Christ.

Third, there is no example in the Bible of the apostles forgiving or retaining the sins of anyone. For example, when Peter proclaimed the gospel to Cornelius and the others gathered in his house, he did not say, “I forgive your sins in Jesus’ name.” Rather, he said (Acts 10:43), “Of Him [Jesus] all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” Paul never instructed Timothy or Titus to perform this function, which is a glaring omission if this is the way that God’s people obtain forgiveness of their sins.

Finally, in the Bible, proclaiming something may be viewed as the same thing as doing it. God tells Jeremiah (1:10), “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Jeremiah didn’t actually do those things, but rather he proclaimed these things in the name of the Lord. Peter didn’t actually forgive the people in Cornelius’ house. Rather, he proclaimed forgiveness to them if they would believe in Jesus.

So the meaning and application for us is that we have the authority to proclaim to those who repent and believe in Christ, “Your sins have been forgiven you.” Or, if a person hardens his heart and refuses to believe, we must solemnly proclaim, “You are still in your sins” (see Acts 8:20-23).

Conclusion

Years ago, I heard Pastor Ron Blanc tell how he visited a 14-year-old boy who was in a catatonic state in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. The boy was lying on his bed as stiff as a board. Nothing had helped. The nurse, thinking Ron to be a doctor, said, “I think the boy is suffering from too much religion.” (Ron let her get both feet in her mouth and then told her that he was the boy’s pastor.) He went in and began to talk and the boy finally began to open up. He was under a pile of guilt.

Ron shared the forgiveness Christ offers. Before he could invite the boy to pray, the boy began to pray on his own. Ron bowed his head. The boy asked Jesus to come into his life and forgive his sins. When he finished praying, Ron looked up to find the boy sitting on the edge of the bed, freely swinging his legs. Ron asked, “What’s this?” The boy exclaimed, “I’m free, man! Jesus has forgiven me!” They walked out to a little patio area to chat some more. Ron got great delight in watching the surprised expressions on the doctors’ and nurses’ faces as they saw the boy moving around.

That’s our mission: To proclaim forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all who will believe. That mission is possible because the risen Savior has equipped us for it by giving us great peace, great proof, a great purpose, great power, and a great proclamation.

Application Questions

  1. Why is peace with God through Christ’s blood the essential foundation for bearing witness? (Hint: Are guilty people effective witnesses?)
  2. Discuss: Is it wrong to focus on how Christ can help people with their problems rather than on sin, righteousness, and judgment?
  3. How can people who are busy with their jobs, their families, and all the other responsibilities in life stay focused on keeping Christ’s purpose as their purpose?
  4. What is your main hindrance in being an effective witness for Christ?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2015, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Related Topics: Christian Life, Discipleship

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