Saturday, April 24, 2010

25.04.10 - When Doing Good Has A Price

I think there is a link between influence and cost.

There are things we could do but, because of the cost, we shrink back from and say, “Oh no, I won’t get involved.” But when we don’t do it, we have no influence.

Today we remember those who fought in war –particularly the New Zealand and Australian troops. According to the figures I saw, 7,956,888 troops died in World War One. That doesn’t include any civilian casualties. Nearly 8 million died trying to make a difference. In World War Two, 17,945,000 military personnel were killed or unaccounted for. In two wars nearly 26 million mainly young people lost their lives fighting for something. And millions more were wounded or paid some other price.

If we assume that they all believed in what they were fighting for, 26 million people gave their lives for something they believed in and trying to make a difference. We often refer to the freedom we have because they, and all those who survived, fought. Their influence continues. They changed the history of the world. We live in freedom because of them. But there was a cost – a terrible, terrible cost.

What would the world be like now if they had all said, “Oh no, I won’t get involved.” We honour them because they did get involved and many laid down their lives.

You might have read the horrible story in the Ensign this week about a Captain Tibbetts from Waikaia who had served in the First Afghan War between 1838 and 1842. He was apparently a hothead who would shoot at anything, including people. The article said: Capt Tibbetts, who was suspected of insanity, discovered one of his horses had been lamed and blamed the men on Switzer’s station.

He set off in a rage, intending to shoot everyone except the woman and child who lived there.

His brother, Charles feared there would be a catastrophe and set off to warn Switzer’s staff.

Meanwhile, Capt Tibbetts armed himself with a gun and revolver and, taking his dogs, set off for Switzer’s.

Most of the staff hid in the hills but the cook hid in scrub and was found by Capt Tibbetts and killed. He shot at a woman but missed her, before returning to his hut.

His brother and an Inspector Moreton, of the mounted police, waited for Tibbetts to return home. When he returned, Charles ordered his brother to lay down his arms. Capt Tibbetts replied by firing his gun through the door and windows of the hut.

Charles shot and killed his brother, then immediately tried to kill himself but was restrained by the inspector.

Charles Tibbetts knew that he had to do something to make a difference. He had to try to influence the situation. He tried to warn the Switzer’s staff. He then tried to get a peaceful resolution. It wasn’t to be. He had to shoot his own brother. That cost was so high he tried to kill himself as well.

There is a link between influence and cost. If Charles Tibbetts had not got involved many more might have been killed. He made a difference but he had to pay a price.

We could list tens of thousands of other examples of people who were influential but for whom there was a huge cost. William Wilberforce was influential. He led the fight to abolish slavery. He changed the world and he changed the lives of millions of individuals. He entered parliament in 1784. From 1789 onwards he frequently moved parliamentary resolutions against the British slave trade. It took 18 years before that trade was abolished. But a parliamentary resolution didn’t stop it happening. Wilberforce campaigned for the enforcement of that ban and also for European agreement to abolish the trade. Slaves weren’t set free in the British Empire until 1833, 44 years after Wilberforce had started his campaign.

The cost? 44 years of his life; vicious opposition; finance; his health. He could have said, “I won’t get involved. It is too costly.” He got involved; he paid the price; slavery was abolished.

Wilberforce wrote a book called A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes in this Country contrasted with real Christianity. You might not guess it from the title but listen to this comment about that book: ‘Seven thousand five hundred copies were sold in six months. Few books have been more influential. The ‘reformation of manners’ for which Wilberforce had campaigned, took place before his eyes. Cock-fighting, bull- and bear-baiting died out through lack of support. Bookshops selling ‘dirty books’ had to close down for lack of customers.

Many have paid a much greater price: those who have died for their faith; those who have been tortured and imprisoned; missionaries who left everything to take the gospel to those who have never heard it.

All these people are doing is good. How come doing good is so often costly?

And doesn’t it seem that many of the greatest influencers have paid the greatest price? No one has had greater influence than Jesus – and no one has paid a higher price.

We could add the apostles, most of whom were martyred for their preaching of Christianity; the early Christians in the Roman Empire who were persecuted but who stood up for what they believed; and the many more Christians who have died in the centuries since simply because they refused to deny Jesus.

People say the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. The church often seems to thrive under persecution and to be very weak when things are easy. When people see others dying for their faith, that speaks loudly. You would think that persecution would drive people away from Jesus. And, of course, it does. Many don’t become Christians because being a Christian is too dangerous. But others make the opposite choice. People choose to follow Jesus when they see the courage and faithfulness of those who die for following Him. Willingness to suffer is perhaps more influential than just about anything else.

There is the famous story of the 40 Roman soldiers who refused to worship the emperor because that would mean denying Jesus. The penalty was death but their commander also knew that they were among his bravest and most faithful men. He urged them to change their minds but they would not. And so they were commanded to strip off their clothes and sit naked in the middle of a frozen lake. On the shore was a tub of warm water – an invitation to them to give in. As they sat freezing on that ice they encouraged themselves saying that freezing for one night was better than burning in hell for ever. And they sang “Forty brave soldiers for Jesus”.

After a while, one could stand it no longer and asked to be carried to the warm tub. The remaining soldiers continued but changed their song to “Thirty nine brave soldiers for Jesus.”

Suddenly one of the guards threw off his cloths and ran out onto the lake singing, “40 brave soldiers for Jesus.”

Sometimes, dying is the most powerful influence of all.

Mark 15:39 When the centurion, who stood there is front of Jesus, saw how He died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”

Look at people like Martin Luther King or Anne Frank who died in a German concentration camp, along with all of her family, but whose diary is a classic. Or Corrie Ten Boom who survived a concentration camp (although her family didn’t) but who went on to have huge influence through her book, The Hiding Place, and as a Christian speaker. The greatest influencers have paid the greatest price.

I think the children, parents and staff of the Elim Christian School were highly influential. Seven died in the canyoning tragedy but people saw the way the students, parents and staff handled it. What about those Christian young people at Columbine High School who died for their faith. How many people will be in heaven because those young people loved Jesus more than life itself? What an influence!

Sometimes, of course, the cost arises because people have fought against something that is wrong – against some evil, such as slavery or racism or abortion or poverty – and those who benefit from the evil will fight to defend it. The spiritual forces behind those evils will also fight to preserve them. It takes massive courage to fight for truth and right. Those who do, often pay a price.

Maybe the fact that influence is often costly shouldn’t surprise us.
John 12:23-26 23 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.

He was speaking about His own death but He expressed a principle that applies more universally. Unless a seed dies, it remains a single seed. Only by dying does it become many seeds. Only by dying does it begin to be fruitful. Without dying, nothing changes. It remains a single seed.

Then Jesus talked about those who would follow Him. Do you love life in this world and want to cling onto it? Or do you care nothing for this life compared with being obedient?

Christians are potentially hugely influential. People can be in heaven because of us. People can know forgiveness and peace and what it is to be loved. There is just massive good that we can do. The whole of society could be transformed. Crime could cease. Domestic violence could be a thing of the past. Pubs could close for lack of business, and bookshops selling dirty books!

We can’t do any of this by ourselves but if we cooperate with God, we can do massive good. We don’t have to be famous. One person praying unnoticed by the world, can move the hand of God.

But there is the question of the cost. Influence is costly. Influence is about change and people might resist change. If we think about the influence that God wants us to have, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Isn’t it evangelism – trying to influence someone to put his/her faith in Jesus? Yet we fear being rejected or criticised or thought to be stupid. There is even a cost in praying – just the discipline and willingness to give time to prayer.

Are you more inspired by those who get involved despite the fact that there is a price to pay, or those who don’t get involved; who won’t pay that price and who therefore achieve nothing? Do you respect those who don’t care about this life compared with being obedient to God, or those who are more interested in being comfortable?

Which group are you going to be part of?

There is a cost to following Jesus. It is not for the fainthearted. Many people followed Jesus just wanting the thrills and the blessings. Jesus didn’t like crowds because if too many people were following, it suggested they hadn’t understood the cost. He challenged crowds.

READ Luke 14:25-35

Count the cost. Decide whether or not you are willing to put Jesus before everything else. Anyone who is willing to put Jesus before anything else is bound to be influential. Those people will make a difference. Those people will hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The greatest potential for making a difference is as a follower of Jesus, not only because Christians can address the most important issues and can make a difference that lasts for eternity, but also because followers of Jesus can work with God, filled with His Holy Spirit. To follow Jesus, we must put Him ahead of everything else. But if we do, our influence can be huge. Even if it is just huge in one life; even if just one person is saved for eternity, it is huge.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

18.04.10 - Influence

If you put two people together, what happens? Maybe nothing. Two people could sit together on a bus, not talk, each read his newspaper and get off and nothing of any consequences has happened between them. Two people could pass in the street and say, “Hello, how are you?” “Fine, thank. You?” “Yeah, good thanks.” “The weather’s getting colder.” “Sure is.” “See you again.” “Bye” and, again, nothing of any real consequences has happened. Neither person has been changed.

But it doesn’t actually take much for there to be some change in one or both of those people. Suppose I am sitting next to someone on a bus and I say nothing to him but I sneak a peek at the book he is reading and I think, “Hmmm, looks interesting. I must keep an eye out for that book” that person has influenced me. He didn’t even speak to me but he influenced me. He changed me in some way.

The two people don’t even have to be together – just connected in some way. Suppose I sneaked a peek at his book and read a quote and I was interested in it and tucked it away in my memory. Now the author of that book has influenced me. I have never met him, may not even know who he is, never been in the same place together but we have been connected through that snippet of the book and my life has been changed. It might have been changed in just the tiniest way or it might have been revolutionised by that quote. It might have been changed for the better or it might have been changed for the worse. But for a moment our lives were connected via that book and I was changed as a result. That’s influence.

If the bit that I read was inspired by something the author’s mother had once said then his mother had also, indirectly, influenced me.

I want to talk about influence. In fact, I think I want to talk about influence a lot this year. We have already been talking about it. In January, I talked about salt and Jesus’ comment that we are the salt of the earth. I suggested then that Jesus was talking primarily about influence. We looked at the book You Were Born For This which is also about influence – about affecting other people’s lives – about cooperating with God to deliver everyday miracles into the lives of people in need.

Whenever two lives interact in some way, or are connected in some way, there is the possibility of one person influencing the other. We have conversations; we go to meeting; we send emails; we meet people in shops; we live in families and in neighbourhoods. Every time two lives are connected, there is the possibility of influence.

Influence is a funny thing. The word means something that flows in. I think it comes from the belief that some strange substance flows from the stars into our lives and affects our character and destiny. I don’t believe that but is there something that flows from you into other people’s lives and affects their character and destiny? Influence is the power to change the course of events.

It is like the spread of a disease except that it can be the spreading of something very positive.

Should we even want to do that? Should we want to change other people’s lives? Shouldn’t we just live and let live? Who are we to influence them?

I have already mentioned Jesus’ words that we are the salt of the earth. Salt makes a difference. It makes a difference to our meal. It helps prevent food rotting. It aids healing. It stops the water on our roads freezing. It adds buoyancy. It is amazingly influential stuff. When Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth He was saying we are to be amazingly influential.

Negatively, He referred to salt that had lost its saltiness and was therefore good for nothing. Salt that no longer had the power to make a difference. That salt is simply thrown away.

He said we are the light of the world. Light makes a difference. It banishes darkness. We talk about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. After everything has been black, seeing that tiny, far-off light give new hope and makes all the difference. Turning on a light can make all the difference if we are searching for something or trying to read or are simply scared. So when He says, “You are the light of the world” isn’t Jesus saying, “Get out there and make a difference”? “Go and shatter the darkness for someone. Go and bring hope.”

He certainly is. He specifically says light is not to be hidden. Let your light shine.

Matt 5:13-16 13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.


14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matt 13:33 He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about twenty seven kilograms of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Twenty seven kilograms of flour! That’s an awful lot of flour. Add water and that’s a huge amount of dough but see what Jesus says: that little change agent, yeast, works its way all through the dough. Little, unseen but it has huge effect. That’s the Kingdom of God. Maybe small; maybe unnoticed but actually working away to change the whole world. Influential.

We might feel, “Who am I to change someone else’s life?” but Jesus talks about us doing just that. Be salt. Be light. Be yeast. Go and make disciples. It’s about influence.

I am going to mention some people. As I do, consider how they have influenced your life.

Parents. Huge. Your parents provided your DNA so they had a massive influence one what you look like and what sort of person you are. But think of the influence of all the time they spent with you and the things they taught you and their prayers for you. Actually, even if you had a parent who abandoned you – a parent you never knew – that parent still influenced you enormously. Unfortunately, it might have been a negative influence perhaps leaving you with feelings of rejection and with numerous unanswered questions. Influence isn’t always positive but when two lives are connected as closely as those of a parent and child, the influence is profound – positively or negatively.

Some other people; consider how they have influenced you: grandparents, siblings, teachers, Sunday School teachers, friends, enemies, authors, entertainers, politicians, neighbours, advertisers, the weather forecaster, complete strangers. There have probably been many occasions when a single comment has influenced you – either positively or negatively. I became an engineer largely because of a stranger I met in the middle of the Heaphy Track.

Moses. Has Moses influenced you? If you still think of the Ten Commandments as guiding your life, then Moses has influenced you. Or if you have been inspired by the story of his leading the people of Israel out of slavery, Moses has influenced you. He has influenced the legal system of much of the world and, therefore, billions of people.

How many people have influenced you? Probably tens of thousands, including Moses and Isaiah and the disciples and Paul. Jesus? Has Jesus influenced you? If you listed people from most influential to least influential, where would Jesus be on that list? How much have you been changed by Jesus?

And how many people have you influenced? What sort of influence are you? How influential are you? Do you want to be more influential – be saltier, a brighter light, yeastier?

Every time two lives are connected in some way there is the possibility of influence. And Jesus has said, “Go and be influential. Go and make a difference.”

If we can be a positive influence, shouldn’t we want to maximise that influence?

I am interested in thinking through how we can be more influential. Jesus calls us to make a difference. How can we be most effective? How can we maximise the chances of hearing Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”?

One day in 1855 a Sunday School teacher in Boston, Edward Kimball, went into a shoe shop to speak to an 18 year old who came to his weekly class. He was somewhat nervous; he almost didn’t do it and afterwards couldn’t remember exactly what he had said. He later recalled, “I simply told him of Christ’s love for him and the love Christ wants in return.”

That young man gave his life to Christ. His name was Dwight Lyman Moody. D.L. Moody became one of the greatest evangelists of his time. After one meeting, Moody talked with a young man who had already become a Christian but had serious doubts about his salvation. Moody brought that man, J. Wilbur Chapman, to the point of certainty. Chapman, in turn became a great evangelist.

It is often claimed that Chapman converted Billy Sunday. He didn’t but Sunday worked for Chapman, helping to organise his evangelistic meetings. By listening to Chapman preach, Billy Sunday learned to preach. Moreover, Chapman intentionally mentored Billy Sunday, critiquing Sunday’s preaching and developing his theological understanding. Billy Sunday then also became a well-known evangelist. In 1924 he held an evangelistic campaign in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a result, a men’s prayer and fellowship group was formed. That group invited Mordecai Ham, a young evangelist, to preach in Charlotte in 1934. At one of those meetings Billy Graham was converted.

Sometimes that story is told as if Kimball converted Moody; Moody converted Chapman; Chapman converted Sunday; Sunday converted Ham and Ham converted Graham. It wasn’t quite as direct as that but influence happens in all sorts of ways. Sometimes it is through encouragement or inspiration or mentoring or working together or an invitation. Even so, that Sunday School teacher has a legacy that leads to Billy Graham and to all those converted by Billy Graham and to all those converted by those converted by Billy Graham! It started with a nervous and somewhat weak attempt to bring the young Moody to faith, in a shoe shop. It was a relatively little thing but the ripples just keep on going.

What effect might one faltering comment have? What effect might one changed life have?

Suppose that long after you are dead, one of your descendents writes a family history. If you somehow had access to it, I guarantee the first thing you would do is look to see what was said about you. You would turn to the index or the contents and scan them for your name. You would want to know that you had been included and what was said about you. Were you remembered by these future generations? Did you make a significant difference? Did you influence things? Or have you been forgotten? Did you contribute nothing? We all want to know that the world is a little different because we lived. Actually, God wants to know that we have made a difference too.

If we are Christians, we are salt and light and yeast – things designed to make a powerful difference.

I am pretty keen for us to explore how we can maximise our effectiveness for the Kingdom of God.

If you put two people together, what happens? Your life will connect with many other lives this week. You could just talk about the weather or you could be salt or light or yeast. Ask yourself: What sort of influence are you? Who are you influencing? What would make you more influential?

Let’s pause long enough to talk to God about those questions.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

04.04.10 - The Resurrection: What Difference Does It Make?

Read Luke 24:13-35

At the end of that story, Cleopas and his companion were completely different from what they had been at the beginning. Meeting the risen Lord Jesus transformed them. And it transforms us. This story illustrates the difference the resurrection makes.

At the beginning of the story Cleopas and his friend were depressed and dispirited. We are told “they stood still, their faces downcast.” When they talked about what had happened in Jerusalem in the last few days, they referred to Jesus as only a prophet. He had been powerful in word and deed, they said, but the authorities had had Him crucified. “We had hoped that He was the One who was going to redeem Israel.” “We had hoped...” implies “We no longer do.” They had hoped but it has all come to a depressing end.

They had heard the reports that the tomb was empty and an angel had said He was alive but that doesn’t seem to have lifted their spirits. At best they were simply confused. They don’t, at this stage, believe in the resurrection. They still are depressed and dispirited.

Jesus rebuked them. He called them foolish and slow to believe – slow to believe what the prophets had spoken. The prophets had said two things. Firstly, the Messiah must suffer these things. They thought that the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus was an end to the story and proof that he was not the Messiah. They had hoped that He was the Messiah but instead he had been killed. But Jesus said, “Did not the prophets say the Messiah had to suffer these things?” The crucifixion wasn’t proof that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah. The prophets had foretold this. It was evidence that He was the Messiah.

Secondly, the prophets had said that the Messiah would then enter His glory. He must die, but that would not be the end. He would triumph and be glorified. So they should have expected the reports that He was alive again. And when it happened, again it should have been proof that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.

Easter is often the time when people take pot shots at Christianity. This year, in New Zealand anyway, it is Bryan Bruce claiming that the gospels are largely myth with very little that can be believed. In the last few years there has also been the rise of what is called “new atheism” which argues, on supposedly scientific ground, that religion is dangerous and should not be tolerated. The best known spokesperson is Richard Dawkins who wrote the book, The God Delusion.

When we hear such things, it is very possible for us to also be dispirited and confused. We might say, “We had hoped that He was the Messiah – but now we don’t know.”

Or, maybe, our own experience has been disappointing. Maybe it seems that God has let us down. We have prayed but God hasn’t answered. Again, we might say, “We had hoped, BUT...”

Cleopas and his companion were in that place. They had been with Jesus. There was so much to suggest that He was a prophet. They had heard His powerful words and seen His powerful deeds, BUT... they had been let down big time. It all came to a crashing halt. The authorities had crucified Him. God had built up their hopes, only to crush them.

That is at the beginning of the story but what are they like at the end? Totally different. By the end they are running back to Jerusalem with good news that they must tell the other disciples. By the end they are excited and their whole outlook has changed. This is a story of transformation accomplished because of one thing: Jesus was alive.

I want to suggest six things that changed because of the resurrection.

Firstly, at the beginning of the story they were alone. Jesus had gone. They had hoped that He would redeem Israel but, all of a sudden it had gone wrong and He had been killed. They had spent time with Him but then, suddenly, He had been taken from them and they were left alone, like orphans.

Then something amazing happened. He was with them. He walked with them and talked with them and ate with them. Dead men don’t do that. Even before they realised who He was, they experienced the presence and the companionship of Jesus.

It seems that they only momentarily realised that they were in the presence of Jesus. He broke the bread, their eyes were opened, they recognised Him and then He disappeared. But, then they thought back to what that walk had been like and said to each other, “Did you find that your heart was burning within you when He explained the scriptures to us? Yeah, me too!”

Jesus is our companion. He is our ever present friend and master. He said, “I will be with you always.” Sometimes we are not aware that He is there. We don’t recognise Him either. But He is there.

Maybe there is implied forgiveness there too, or an assurance of forgiveness. Jesus had rebuked them for their unbelief but their fellowship with Jesus – fellowship that had been broken – was restored. He ate with them. There is no explicit forgiveness but maybe it is implicit.

Thirdly, there was a shift in their understanding of who Jesus was. At first they refer to Him as a prophet. That seems strange because even during His lifetime people called Him “Lord”, Peter had declared that He was the Messiah. But the disappointment of the crucifixion seems to have destroyed their belief that He was Lord. Now they see him as merely a prophet alongside Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel – certainly an important and godly person but they no longer believed He was the Messiah. By the end though, they concur with the other disciples saying, “The Lord has risen.”

None of the prophets was raised from the dead. This sets Jesus apart. The resurrection shows that He is more than a prophet.

Rom 1:4 Jesus... who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by the resurrection.

It doesn’t mean that Jesus wasn’t the Son of God prior to the resurrection. Clearly, he was, but the resurrection declared that that was who He was. The resurrection says, “This man is the Son of God.”

The meeting with Jesus shifted Cleopas and his friend from unbelief to belief.

Fourthly, there was a dramatic shift in their understanding of scripture. Passages they knew well suddenly came alive as Jesus showed them how those scriptures foretold Him. Of course, they had only the Old Testament but even the Old Testament is about Jesus. They hadn’t realised it before but as Jesus took them through the various books He showed them how it all referred to Him. He started with Moses and the prophets. “Moses” refers to the books of Moses, the first five books of the Old Testament. “The prophets” refers to the prophets! He just started there. Possibly Jesus took them through the psalms and the other writings as well and they saw that from go to whoa the Old Testament is about Jesus. They hadn’t realised, for example, that the prophets had foretold a suffering Messiah. It must have been an eye-popping experience to have Jesus bring new light to those old passages. No wonder they later said, “Were our hearts not burning within us while He talked to us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?” They saw things they had never seen before and it was exciting and faith-building.

It is exactly the same for us. The risen Jesus is now present, not physically, but by His Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Jesus – who opens our eyes to see things in the scriptures. There can be that same excitement for us as the Holy Spirit reveals to us the true meaning of the Bible. If Jesus had simply died and we didn’t have His companionship, there would be nobody revealing to us the meaning of the Bible. Cleopas and his friend knew the words of the scriptures but the meaning was hidden until Jesus opened their eyes. We can read the words but it takes God to reveal the meaning.

We can also have that same sense of seeing things we have never seen before as the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Jesus – opens our eyes and reveals things to us.

When they saw what the Bible actually said and how it had been fulfilled in the very events that they had witnessed; and when they realised that Jesus was actually alive and was with them, they moved from hopelessness to hope. If Jesus really was alive then it was not all lost. In fact, a miracle as big as a resurrection held out huge hope for the future.

The story started with them being very dispirited and talking about what they had hoped but now no longer did. It ends with them racing back to Jerusalem to tell the others what had happened. When they got there, they found that the others too were saying that Jesus was alive and had appeared to Simon Peter in addition to the women who had earlier told them of the empty tomb.

They still didn’t understand it all. If you read on you will see that while they were still talking, Jesus appeared again and they were startled and frightened thinking they were seeing a ghost. He had to reassure them again. But at least they had hope. It no longer looked gloomy. They were no longer downcast. They were excited.

Jesus is alive. Life is not out of control. God is not defeated. It didn’t all end on a cross. God is still on His throne. He will bring in His Kingdom. In fact, He is doing that now, every day in little and big ways, the Kingdom of God is being extended. We can expect to see prayers answered and miracles happen because Jesus is alive and well.

But it also gives hope for the next life. Jesus wasn’t defeated by death. Death was defeated by Jesus. We can have confidence in the promises of heaven.

One last thing that the resurrection did for these two people on the road to Emmaus; it changed them from miseries into missionaries. They had good news to share and they felt a responsibility to share it. Possibly their friends still in Jerusalem still didn’t know about these things. Possibly they were still depressed by the fact that Jesus had died. Cleopas and his friend had good news for them. The passage says they returned “at once” to Jerusalem. There was no time to lose. They had good news people needed to hear.

As do we. We also are in that position of having news that others possibly haven’t heard – good news that they need to hear. Jesus is alive. Death has been conquered. The price for sin has been paid and we can be forgiven. Jesus promised to be with us always and He is. Without the resurrection, none of that would be true. Because of the resurrection, all of it is true.

The risen Jesus immediately began sending His disciples out to share this news. It is part of knowing the risen Jesus that we tell others about Him. In the same chapter of Luke, Jesus said to the disciples:
Luke 24:47-49 47repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

The living Jesus makes that difference. This is the new life; the post-resurrection life:
1. Knowing the presence and the companionship of God.
2. Having the assurance of forgiveness
3. Knowing Jesus is Saviour and Lord
4. Hearing the voice of God especially as He speaks through the scriptures
5. Having hope for the future
6. Becoming a missionary with good news that must be told.

Cleopas and his companion were totally transformed through meeting the living Jesus. The difference for us is exactly the same. This is the new life. Let’s rejoice in that. Let’s celebrate. We talk about celebrating Communion but often it is rather sombre. Today maybe we can simply celebrate the difference there is in our lives because Jesus died and rose again. Maybe we can just give thanks and rejoice. Or maybe it can be a time when we seek an even greater experience of the living Lord Jesus Christ.