Recognizing Jesus | John 20:11-18
Sermon Transcript
Good morning. Welcome to Christmas. It's Christmas time, whether you like it or not, Christmas time, December 1. We do. Thank you our decorating committee for putting so much work into this setup and decorations so it could put us in the Christmas spirit. So we appreciate that. Well a few years ago, and I don't remember the exact year, but I was in Columbia, and I was parking at somewhere on campus. I had graduated. I don't know where I was, but I was going back to campus for some reason, and I parked my car, and I was walking into the campus, through the parking garage or wherever. And maybe there was an event, maybe there's a game. I don't know what it was, but Carolina, but a man came up to me about my age, you know, his mid 20s or so, and he about 15 feet out, he saw me and called me a name, Chris or something. I wouldn't Charlie. It was something else, not my name, and he said, Hey, how are you doing? I can't believe you. It's you. And I just assumed he was talking about someone behind me, because, you know, that's not my name. So I I looked, and was like, Oh, I don't know. So I kept walking, and he kept walking, and he came right to me, and he just got right in my face, and just, Hey, man, how are you? And I just kept waiting for him to realize that I wasn't who he thought he was. He never did. And just kept talking to me, and I was a little dumbfounded, and didn't know what to do, and so I just kind of went along with it, and just listen to him what he said. And he just kept saying, so great, man, you're doing great. Yeah, I'm doing pretty well. I was just thankful somebody asked how I was doing, you know, yeah, yeah, I'm doing pretty well. And then he just said, Man, so good to see you. And I can't wait for him to realize it. And then he did it, and he just walked off and and then I remember him walking off and looking at him, and him looking back saying I can't believe that, and I'm like, I don't know who I can I could see in my mind, you know, I, and I had been this, people thought I before, when I was younger. I guess I looked like everybody else, I don't know. And I had that happen a few times where people mistook me for someone that was a pretty extreme one, and I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to ruin his day and say, Hey, I'm not the guy, you know. So I just, I'm just trying to get away from the guy. Honestly, if I had had one of these, I would invited him to church, you know. So if you find yourself in a position this Christmas season where you're in a conversation and can't get out of it, just invite him to church, right? And it'll kill two birds with one stone. Get some here and and get you away from whatever that is. But Has that ever happened to you, or someone has mistook you for someone, or have you ever seen someone that you know but you don't know how you know them? And like maybe you're in a restaurant and you see someone, and you're thinking, How do I they look familiar? How do I know them? Shortly after, my family and I moved to monks corner, 11 years or so ago, we were sitting in a restaurant somewhere, and we saw that this couple pastor is he was a pastor, and wife and and they look just like some people that lived in our prior town that we just moved from, and we were like, I can't be them. Like they not live here, like we just moved here. And we there were acquaintances of us. We didn't know that well. And so finally, my wife or something, I think, went over to her, or talked to her, and they were the same people. They had moved here too, which is so odd, like just months before us, they had moved here. Now they don't live here anymore, but it was like an Independent Baptist church pastor and their family, but we were really feeling like, discombobulated, like, who, how are they, like, you know, and so sometimes, you know, you just don't recognize people, or you get confused by people, and you can't just place it. Maybe, I don't know. Maybe it only happens to me. I don't know if that was you or not, but, but sometimes you just mistake people for someone else, and you don't really know why. Today we're looking at a story where one of Jesus's followers a lady named Mary, Mary Magdalene, not his mother, but Mary Magdalene, a woman that he saved, that followed him, was mourning, was in grief and didn't recognize him. Didn't recognize him until he spoke to her. That's our passage. Today. We are going through the life of Jesus throughout this entire year, so as we get into the Christmas season, naturally, we're looking at resurrection passages, Easter passages. But it's a cool little, cool little way God has worked this out. So today, let's look at John, chapter 20, starting in verse 11. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look. Into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head, one at the feet. And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, they've taken away, my lord, I don't know where they've laid them. And having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking and supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've laid them, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and said to him in Aramaic Rabin i, which means teacher. And Jesus said to her, do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord that he had said these things to her Heavenly Father. We thank you for Mary's testimony. I have seen the Lord, but we thank you. We look forward to that day in eternity when all of your people will see you face to face Lord, that doesn't mean that we cannot experience you. That doesn't mean that we don't see you work in our lives. So we pray Lord today, I pray that as we look at this passage, that we see clearly when you are in our lives, and that we see clearly when you're working in our lives, and that the things that we bring into our lives don't crowd out your presence as we seek to recognize you when you're in our lives, just like Mary missed you until you spoke to her, Lord, I pray that You would speak through me today, that my words would reflect your heart, that your Holy Spirit would fill this room today. We would worship You through Your word and we ask these things in Jesus name, amen, I want to give us three. I think our common mistakes that we see here in this passage, this descriptive passage that we see happening that I think we can apply to our lives, three common mistakes that we make when we seek to follow Jesus. Number one, we don't often recognize the situation, and this is especially true when we are in emotional distress, which she was mourning and grieving. But it doesn't have to be mourning grief. It can be all sorts of emotional distress. We don't often recognize the situation that God has us in. It's verse 11 says, But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she looked, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head, one at the feet. And they said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? And she said to them, they've taken away, my lord, and I do not know where they've laid him now. Jesus had just died an agonizing death, hanging on the cross. Mary had watched as he died, as people mocked him, as they beat crucified, her savior. Now her savior, her Lord, was was dead, literally dead. And despite, despite his prophecy, his promise that he would rise again, at that point, she wasn't thinking about that. She was only thinking that he was gone. His body had been taken, or what had happened. She had forgotten the promise that He had made multiple times, that he would rise again. So she goes inside the tomb and looks in there, presumably, maybe to gather his things, because they're in there. And she sees two angels who want to count calls as they look like men. And the angels ask her the question, Why are you crying? And her answer is a misunderstanding of the situation. There is no body in the tomb, so she thinks that someone has stolen or taken the body of Jesus. I can just imagine her frame of mind. It's not enough the fact that they killed him, but they've taken his body. He doesn't deserve. Of this. And in her grief, Mary failed to see the entire situation. She failed to recognize the situation. There's a story of a man who was driving through the country one day, just killing time, and he saw an older man sitting on the fence post watching the cars go by. And he pulled the car over and he said, and he started talking to the man, and he says, What do you do? What are you doing? He says, I always like to sit here and I just like to watch cars go by all day long. And he said, I don't have, I can't imagine you doing. I don't have the attention span. I like to travel. I couldn't, couldn't just sit there like you do all day and watch the cars drive by and and the old man on the fence said, Well, I really don't see much difference in what I'm doing and what you're doing. And the traveler said, What do you mean? He said, Well, I sit on the fence, in the fence and watch the cars go by, and you sit in your car and drive and watch the fences go by. 830 didn't laugh at that. I don't know why y'all did, and it's just the way you look at things. One watches the cars. Car watches the fences. No difference. Sometimes we don't often recognize the situation that we find ourselves in. That's how some people can see the same thing, and some people can be very positive about something. Some people very negative about something. I was watching the Carolina game last night, and I was worried about point A, and my wife watching the same game. Was game. Was worried about point B. We're fighting over what to be worried about the most, and so we have the same set of facts in front of us. We don't recognize the situation. What Mary thought was her darkest day was actually her brightest hour. Look at lamentations three, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, never ends. His mercies never come to an end. They are new. Every morning Great is your faithfulness. Every morning is a new day that God has given us, a new day to live our life the way he's intended us to live on mission for him every day, no matter how bad the day was before the next morning is a new day Second Corinthians four, Paul writes for this light momentary affliction, light, as in Not brightness, but as in weight. This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Whatever we're going through, even if we see it, and if things start piling on and it gets worse after it gets worse and gets worse, and we think it'll never end, Paul tells us, these things eventually go away. These things eventually end. It eventually gets better. And what God's preparing for us is so weighty it doesn't compare in weight to what you're have going through right now. It is a weight of glory beyond all comparison, whatever dark day you're experiencing like Mary Magdalene was experiencing, remember that these days will end. Be aware of the tendency to focus on the negative aspects of the situation, rather than looking for the hope that Jesus can bring. Look for the signs he puts in your life. How is he guiding you through this challenge? Where is he comforting you where you don't even know it. We can have difficult time following Jesus, because we often don't recognize the situation. Secondly, we often don't recognize the Savior. We often don't recognize the Savior. Verse 14, having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing but she did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? And supposing him to be the gardener. And I always think that in heaven, I know there's no sin. In Heaven, I wonder if we'll be able to tease each other without sinning. I like to say to Mary the gardener, you know, but think about it, she's had a she's had a tomb, and the landscaper would be there taking care. Of it and and she says, if you've carried him away, tell me, where have you laid him? I'll take him away. Jesus standing right next to her, she doesn't recognize him. And then he asks her the same question that the angels asked, Why are you crying? And Jesus then says, And who are you looking for? And even though Jesus is standing right in front of her, she assumes it's the caretaker, and she misses him, Sir, if you took him, she says, Tell me where he is, and I'll take care of him. She tells her Lord to give her the body of her Lord, right? The very person she's looking for is right there. She Miss identifies him as someone else. In her grief, she didn't even recognize the Savior as he was speaking to her. I want to give us several reasons I believe we don't recognize Jesus when he's working in our lives. Several reasons why I don't believe we we recognize Jesus when he's working first. We have a general lack of awareness. A general lack of awareness. We get so caught up in our daily lives, in our Thanksgiving dinners, in our Thanksgiving travels, in our Christmas shopping, in our Christmas I mean, today is December 1 Sunday. It feels like this is going to be a long December. I don't know about y'all, but it feels like this is going to be a long December. For some reason. I don't know why that is, but, you know, some months seem to go by fast, and I think September never ended. You know, it seems like this might be a long one. And so we get focused on those type of things, and we fail to notice the ways in which Jesus might be working in our lives. Many times, these ways are subtle. These ways are quiet. We're not taking the time to think about it. You know, when you take a shower, you produce a lot of your best ideas because you finally give your brain time to process your life. You don't have someone talking to you, you're not watching the television, you're not on your phone. You finally have times to think about what's happening and oh, I need to do this, or I this is what is going on. We need more times outside of that to process our lives and look for God in the quietness that's when He speaks to us, not in the hustle and the bustle, but in the times where we can listen to him. So we have a lack of awareness. Secondly, we often have a wrong focus. We become focused. We become fixated not on our needs, which God has promised us supply for us, but on our wants. And then we confuse God for not working in our lives. And I think part of the reason that this is because we live in such a wealthy part of the world. You might say, well, I don't feel very wealthy. Well, did you know that the most the wealthiest country in Europe, by GDP, wealthiest country in Europe would be the 51st wealthiest US state. Even the poorest state is wealthier than the wealthiest nations of the world. And so we, I think, as Americans, because we have been blessed, especially compared to the rest of the world, we feel like we should have it even better than what's God has given us. We don't see how he's continually providing for us. We don't see how he's continually helping us, because we have the wrong focus. Third, this is similar, but unrealistic expectations. We have preconceived notions of what we think Jesus's work in our lives should be well, I think it should look like this. I think it should look like that, and then it doesn't, and we get mad, we get irritated, and we think, Well, God just doesn't love me, or he's not working in my life. And we have these unrealistic expectations, and we overlook the ways that God is working. We overlook all the ways he has blessed us as we give him these expectations, and not even he has given us. And then fourth, the worst of these reasons is spiritual neglect. We ignore our spiritual disciplines, like prayer, where we can talk to God and He hears us and works in our lives, meditation on his word of Scripture, reading scripture, and when we, when we, when we have our lives, and when we push those things out of the side, we create a distance between ourselves and Jesus. And we haven't moved, but he's moved. I mean, I mean, sorry, that's wrong. We he hasn't moved, but we've moved. He's there. We've moved out the way. Okay, sometimes Jesus wants to work in our lives and he's standing right there. We don't see him. We're not really looking for him. Perhaps we're looking for the things he can give us, or the things that he will give us. We're not looking for him. We don't realize that he's there. Psalm 34, eight, says, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. He's standing right in front of us. Many times we don't see it. We don't realize it that he's the one we need for our troubles. He's the one that can bring healing from our hearts. He's the one that can bring salvation from whatever sin entangles us. Only Jesus can give you what you truly need and what you should desire. You can only be fulfilled in him. So many times we don't recognize the Savior. And finally, number three, we don't often recognize the mission. We don't often recognize the mission. Verse 16, Jesus said to her Mary, and she turned and said to him, rub an eye, teacher. And he says, do not cling to me. I've not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I'm ascending to My Father and your Father, to my God and your God. And she went, she said to the disciples, I've seen the Lord Jesus. Finally says to her, Mary, and when Jesus spoke, she recognized him immediately. That's what happens when God speaks to us. God's people recognize Him. Amen. That's all we have to be in the Word. When he speaks, God's people hear His voice. Those who aren't God's people don't want to hear from them. They have no no idea of what he's saying. They have no need for Scripture. They think. But when God's children hear him speak, we listen, she recognizes them, and she does what most of us do, Jesus comes into our lives. We want to cling to him. What we should do really? We should cling to him. It doesn't say that she was hugging him, but it basically says that he did. Because he says to quit clinging them to me. He says, that's fine, but I have a new mission for you go and tell others about me. It's not bad to cling to Jesus, but he wants us to know that he has a new mission for us. Now, he's for us, but he's also for others. We're to tell others about Him. What did Mary do? She went and she told others, I've seen the Lord her simple testimony. She told her experience. You know, all organizations, the church, being one of them, can go through something that you may have heard of. It's called mission creep. What is that mission? Creep? Well, it's, by definition, the gradual expansion or diversification of a project or mission beyond its original goal or scope. I'll say that again, a gradual, slow, almost unnoticed, expansion or diversification of a project or mission beyond its original goals or scope. Now this occurs when organizations add add objectives, add tasks without a specific strategy. They then become unfocused. They stray from their original purpose, they become inefficient. And churches are not immune from this. The Church has one singular mission that you can you can sum up in two words, make disciples. That is what we're called to do. And there's a lot of ways to, quote, unquote, skin that cat, right? It's a lot of ways to do that, but everything we do as a church, and everything that all churches should do as God's Church, is to facilitate that goal of making disciples. It starts with evangelism, but it goes through all sorts of other types of activities and things like this. And so I want to give us several ways that we see mission creep affecting churches. First, it gives us a. Loss of focus. You know, when we take our eyes off of Jesus personally, if enough people do that in the church, the church will take their eyes off of Jesus as well. Mission creep can cause a church to lose sight of what the purpose is. Making disciples, you can do a lot of good things in the name of Christ, but if it's not ultimately about making disciples, it is creeping away from what God has intended, and that leads us. Number two, it becomes a drain of resources. You expand beyond the church's mission, you lose finances and resources and time and and manpower, and I'll tell you our leadership at the church, we spend a lot of time thinking through these things, our lay leadership, our staff leadership, and sometimes maybe cutting ministries we call or other or other things that we do that aren't doing what Our mission is, and that is, to make disciples. We are to make disciples. We don't want to strain the resources. It might be a good thing, but is it what God has had the church to do? Third, it also creates member confusion. A church might pursue multiple divergent goals. It creates confusion among members. It can lead to division. Can lead to all sorts of things. And then fourth, decreased effectiveness, which is kind of makes sense. And then fifth, which I see happen a lot, is burnout and fatigue. Did you know that 20% 20% of the people in the church do 80% of the work? And that is true. 20% we have a tendency to love God and love God's church so much. We try to do all sorts of things, but, but we end up doing too much, and we burn out. We get fatigued, and then we feel unappreciated. We become overwhelmed by the demands of of managing all these different things the church is trying to do when we're just called to make disciples so we can fall into the trap of not recognizing the mission. Because we're trying to be a good Christian, we're trying to cling to Jesus. And he says, just make disciples and baptize believers. That's what I told you to do. Go out into the world and make disciples, baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and I will be with you always. Amen. That's what he's told us to do. We sometimes, as we struggle to follow Jesus, we we forget the mission. Perhaps the story will help as we close, there was a group of special forces, Navy SEALs, many years ago, performing a covert operation, freeing hostages from a building in some dark place of the world that's classified, and the seals flew in by helicopter. They're made their way to the compound. They they stormed into the room where the hostages had been in prison for months, and they busted into the door really fast, because they got to get him out of there quick. And the seals stood by the doorway, and they said, We're Americans, come with us. And the hostages didn't move. They were curled up in the corner, hiding. They don't know and think about it, they don't know who these people are. It could be the captors. And they said it again with their guns and their helmets, it's with come with us now. And they didn't move. So one of the seals took off his helmet, laid his gun down, slowly, walked over to the huddle of hostages, sat down right next to one of them, touched him right in his face and looked at him and said, We are here to rescue you. We're Americans. Will you follow me? And then the hostages got up, and one by one, they follow the soldiers out and they landed safely on an aircraft carrier somewhere else. That's what Jesus has done for us, He comes to us in our dark day, and he looks at us and says, Will you follow me? But you know, it's not just the day we're saved. It's every day. It's every day. We go through things all the time, and we get huddled up in a corner somewhere, and Jesus says, I'm here for you. I'm here to help. Will you follow me? We don't often recognize the situation. We don't often recognize the Savior, and many times we miss the mission. But thankfully, through Jesus' Death, burial and resurrection. He drives us by the face when we're looking for it, and tells us, I'm here to rescue you. Will you follow me, Heavenly Father. As we close our time together today, we thank you so much for the fact that you broke down the doors. You found us in our sin. You found us spiritually dead, and through your sinless life and your suffering on the cross, and through your death and your burial and your resurrection, you have purchased us the access to be saved, and you take us out of that darkness, and you say, Follow me to safety. And Lord, when we don't follow you, it's because we don't trust you. And just like those hostages, how to trust these men that saved them, we must trust you as you lead us into new places, Father, there's one in here that's never placed their faith in you, that today they would trust you, the day they would that you would save them, that they would be born again, that if they receive a new spirit in you, they'd be reconciled to you. Their sins would be forgiven, that you mean, they would be made right with You. And Lord, for those of us who have followed you for many years, we're prone to taking our eyes off of you. Help Us follow you. Help us recognize when you're in our lives. Let us never forget what you've called us to do, as we follow you, making disciples to the glory of God. And you use us to do that, Lord, and we thank you for that Lord. We ask these things in your name. Amen. Amen.
