This Week's Sermons

Sermons for the Month
Putting the Love Back into Life
DATE: April 4, 1999
SERVICE: EASTER
TEXT: John 10:10
"To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN

Are you zapped or are you sapped? Sometime ago a friend of mine introduced me to a book called ZAP. The author of this book suggested that everyone you and I meet throughout the day, at work and at home, transmits to us an invisible energy force. Some people "zap" us with positive energy. Other people "sap" us with negative energy. Throughout the day we are either zapped or sapped.
Whether or not you buy into this theory, isn't it true that some people energize us and others de-energize us? For example, when I'm with positive people, I get zapped—I get energized. People like 99 year old Aunt Sarah. She was celebrating her birthday in her small town. She was the oldest woman in town. Her 39 year old pastor visited at her birthday party; and before he left, looked into her eyes and said, "Aunt Sarah, I hope that one year from today I can come back and celebrate your 100th birthday with you." She looked at him for a minute and then said, "You know, pastor, I think that's likely—you look pretty healthy to me."
Even at 99 Aunt Sarah was zapping people with her love, her joy and her enthusiasm.
Other people sap us. Long faces, negative talk. Like the waitress who wished her customer a good day to which he responded, "I've got other plans." We don't want to even be around like that. Still other people might zap us and sap us all in the same day. Out children are good at that, aren't they?
Like the child who came home from school and said, "Dad, I wrote a story today about my greatest hero. And Dad, guess what, I wrote about you!" Dad was so proud. He imagined what his son must have written—like bike rides, the times reading books together and the great example he had been. But he asked his son anyway, "Son, why did you write about me as your greatest hero?" The son said, "Well, Dad, I didn't know how to spell Arnold Schwarzenegger." Good ol' dad got zapped and sapped in the same moment!
Unfortunately, not only do people sometimes sap our energy, but circumstances do the same. These last couple of weeks have been particularly stressful for Linda and I. Two weeks ago the doctor said, she found what appeared to be a malignant tumor. All of our strength just left us. Following the surgery this Monday, she said "benign." What appeared to be malignant wasn't. And we were zapped with the good news. Of course, when we open our medical bills we will probably get sapped again.
When we walk into a cluttered house we can feel sapped. We hear bad news from our boss at work. More seriously, conflict in our marriage can really sap us. These kinds of people and these kinds of circumstances, day after day, week after week, can begin to drain from us our sense of life. We may be alive physically with our heart beating, our blood pumping and our brain waves flowing; yet at the same time we feel like we are losing life. It is in moments that we ask ourselves, "how do I put the live back into my life?" How do I get re-energized? We might find some short-term solutions. We may hang out with people who re-energize, who zap us. And as long as we're with them we're fine.
Or we might look to certain types of zapping events—to a concert or a sporting event. Last season, I remember turning off the first round of the Indians-Yankees game. After 5 runs in the first inning, I felt sapped. Then the next night, when the Indians won 4-1 in the 12th inning, I felt zapped. But those kinds of events and those kinds of people aren't around all the time.
Sometimes we turn to unhealthy means to get that energy back. These can deteriorate into obsessions with drugs, alcohol, or gambling. In these moments we are crying out inside. We're trying to figure out "how do I put the life back into my life?"
Probably the most life draining experience any of us could endure is hearing that someone we love deeply has just died. A number of years ago, a number of friends of mine here at Faith passed away. That's one of the downsides of being in one congregation for as long as I have. You get to know people well, sometimes too well. It sapped the life right out of me for quite sometime.
And that's exactly how Mary Magdalene was feeling that first Easter morning. Her friend, her teacher, her mentor, her confidant, her savior, her master had died. And now she walks to the tomb gingerly wondering how she can pull the pieces of her life back together. How can she deal with this terrible grief? How can she somehow honor this Jesus that had loved her so much?
She walks to the tomb. No one there. The tomb is empty. She sees a man who she thinks is a gardener and he asks, "Mary, who are you looking for?"" She said, "My master, but he is missing." She sobs deep sobs, her life drained out of her. But in that moment, she hears a voice, "Mary, Mary." She turns. Jesus, who had risen from the dead, appears to her. She grabs onto him and says, "Rabboni!" Teacher, my friend. In that moment, this woman who had all but lost life suddenly was transformed and re-energized by the risen Lord Jesus Christ. A new beginning!
Friends, this same Easter Jesus comes to bring life to you. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the LIFE." He says, "I am the resurrection and the LIFE." And he proved that by being raised from the dead. But he also says, "I have come that YOU might have LIFE and have it more abundantly. I have come that you might have more life than you ever dreamed possible." That's the Jesus who comes to you today.
First of all Jesus comes to say your name. As he came to Mary, face to face, one on one, he said, "Mary." Today he says, "Bill" "Vanessa" "Ken" "LeeAnn" "Dana" to each of you. Jesus comes today. If you are feeling insignificant, inadequate, Jesus comes to you personally to whisper in your ear, "I have not abandoned you. I am with you. I love you no matter what." Jesus comes to remind you that you have incredible worth and value to God.
Second, this Easter Jesus comes to proclaim to all of us there is life forever—eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have everlasting life."
There are two certainties in life—death and taxes. This week it looks like I have to pay my taxes; that's certain. But as you believe in Jesus there are not just two but three certainties—death, taxes and life after death. We live, we die, and then in Christ we live forever.
A man went to heaven and the angel met him there and said, "Welcome to heaven." The man said, "Yes, I would have been here earlier but my wife INSISTED on a second opinion."
If you believe in Jesus Christ there is no need for a second opinion. God's opinion is the only opinion that counts. Believing in him, you will have life eternal. Just as Jesus came alive from the dead, we will come alive again.
Third, not only does Jesus give us this eternal life, he promises abundant life now. He promises to take the impossible and make it possible.
There was a teacher who asked her little first graders, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Some replied, "I want to be a police officer…a nurse…. or a teacher." Finally, the teacher asked little Billy. "Billy, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Bill said, "I want to be possible." The teacher said, "What? You want to be possible?" He replied, "Yeah, my mother always says I'm Impossible, so when I grow up I want to be possible."
Because of Easter, your life is possible. What you thought was impossible, God can turn for good and something wonderful.
And yet we can get so trapped in this humdrum world that forgets about Easter. In Washington DC, the zoo was moved from the inner city to a space with more area for the animals. They transferred all the animals, and the animals enjoyed the larger cages and extra space—except for the rhinoceros. This dim-witted creature wore down the grass in an oval just the same size as it's old small cage. It didn't realize that there's a new world out there.
So, too, in our broken world with all the sapping circumstances around us and sapping people, we can forget about the possibilities of Easter. We can think we're still trapped in the small cage. But Easter gives us a new reality. A new hope that what seemed impossible to you is now possible. Jesus comes to make the impossible, possible. The same power that broke open the tomb and raised Jesus from the dead, comes to work in you and through you to change this world.
As we celebrate this great day today, remember this Jesus is here right now whispering in you ear, "I have not abandoned you, I am with you." This Easter Jesus has come to shout at the top of his lungs, "I am the resurrection and the life!" If you're worried about your health and future, there is life beyond this life. This isn't as good as it gets, friends. It gets better! And this Easter Jesus comes to say, "I come to take your impossibilities and make them possible."
Jesus has asked Mary, "Who are you looking for." As I close today I ask you, "What are you looking for? What are you looking for to get zapped and re-energized? What are you looking for to put life back into your life? Look to Jesus and you'll find the answer..
Let us pray. Easter Jesus, on this day you showed to us your greatest miracle. By your rising, all our hurts are healed, all our sins erased, and all our suffering is ended. With joy, we glorify your name forever, for you have made us Easter people--completely forgiven, deeply loved, and fully alive.
AMEN