Matt Rawlings
1. The disciples weren’t gullible
·
Peter & Andrew
o
The Scriptures tell us that Peter and his
brother Andrew were fisherman, like two other brothers and fisherman, James and
John. They were hard-working, no nonsense men. They were probably a bit rough
around the edges. Peter was clearly outspoken. He was no-one’s fool. He had his
own opinions, he held them strongly and spoke his mind often.
o
But when they were casting their nets out,
something about Jesus made them instantly know that they had to leave
everything and follow Him when he called to them and said “Follow Me and I will
make you become Fishers of Men”.
o
Peter was married and Andrew probably was too.
There was a huge cost to following Him - they had families to look after and
they really had to trust Jesus in very practical ways. But they knew He was
calling them to something greater and they had to go after Him, no matter what
the cost.
·
James & John
o
James and John weren’t push-overs either. Like
Peter and Andrew, they had dealt with all kinds of people as fishermen and
salespeople. They had haggled over prices, likely argued when someone presented
them an unfair deal. They knew many kinds of people and were probably understood
the working class very well.
o
Their father was likely a hard, gruff and loud
man and they probably were too – so much so that Jesus nicknamed them “sons of Thunder” – implying that their dad thundered
and they were just like him. They weren’t easily convinced and they weren’t
idly sitting by looking for some religious leader to call them away from their
nets.
o
They were all busy about their jobs and James
and John were with Zebedee their father mending nets and getting ready to go
out fishing again when Jesus called them. They left their father there in the
boat– likely yelling “Hey – where are you going!” and then turning bewildered
to the hired servants with him in the boat as they walked away.
·
Philip
o
Then Jesus called Philip and called him to
follow Him.
o
Philip knew that something was different about
Him.
2.
It was clear Jesus was no normal man
·
Jesus taught like no one else.
·
Philip & Nathanael
o
The disciple John remembered how Jesus called
Philip and tells us in John 1:45, that "Philip found Nathanael and said to him, 'We have found
him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph.' Nathanael said to him, 'Can anything good come out of
Nazareth?'" (John 1:45-51)
o
Nathanael wasn’t easily convinced – he was
skeptical and mocked his brother. So, “Philip said to
him, "Come and see." Then John tells us, “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold,
an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael said to him,
"How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called
you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." Nathanael answered him,
"Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus
answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do
you believe? You will see greater things than these." And he said to him,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of
God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
o
Philip was obviously an educated, learned man
who knew the scriptures. He knew the Jewish law and he read his Old
Testament. He was no dupe. But he was
convinced – he said “we have found Him,
of whom Moses in the Law and the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph”.
·
And Jesus still speaks to people today. In fact,
I believe Jesus is speaking to each and every person here and saying come,
follow me and I will make you into who you really need to be. Come to me, give
up following your own plans and follow me. Be willing to leave everything else
behind and follow me and I will show myself to you.
·
Jesus was clearly different – He IS clearly
different. It was clear to begin with that the disciples were amazed by Jesus. He
was a man who was worth following and leaving everything for.
·
Jesus explained God’s Word with clarity and
simplicity that the religious leaders could only dream about and envied Him
for. Not only did Jesus teach them about God, He lived it out. His actions
always lived out what His Words taught. His example was so compelling that it
made them want to follow Him.
·
His followers were working class and the
educated alike, he called all kinds of people. He called the ancient equivalent
of accountants and He even called someone to be an apostle who was well known
as a zealot – zealots were the original activists – before it was cool and when
you could be killed by the Romans for drawing too much attention. But they all
knew Jesus was different – He was no normal man.
·
How could anyone be so perfect and so holy – it
was unmistakable, Jesus was no normal man. Something about Him made Levi, a
wealthy tax collector – one who was likely very politically savvy – who worked
both the Roman and Jewish sides leave his lucrative career and follow Him. Levi
immediately left everything and then threw a huge feast for Jesus to eat with
his other tax-collector friends. This really irked the religious people of the
day. the Pharisees and Sadducees wouldn’t be seen with such greedy people.
·
And there was no way that the Pharisees would
eat with the other people Jesus did. Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners
and didn’t turn away prostitutes or the dirty and needy who wanted to be
forgiven and follow Him.
·
Jesus wasn’t like anyone the disciples had ever
known. He loved people. He forgave people. He treated all people equally – he
didn’t condone sin or their sinful lifestyles but He loved them out of their
sin.
3.
Jesus had proven Himself to
the disciples countless times
·
From the first public miracle He performed where
He showed that He had power over the most basic of life – water – and He turned
water into wine out of kindness to His mother. She had asked him to do
something about it and He said "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour
has not yet come." (John 2:4-5) But
He was kind to his mom. When His mom, like so many of our moms, ignored His
objection and turned to the servants and said just "Do
whatever he tells you." He told them to fill the jars with water and when they
did what He told them and obeyed Him, He
turned the water to wine
·
The disciples all saw what He did and John tells
us that they believed in Him. Who wouldn’t want to hang around with someone who
could work miracles like that?
·
Jesus was passionate about God and wanted to
make sure the people worshipped Him alone and He had the boldness to drive out
the people who were making the temple like a money-making marketplace. He
wasn’t ok with people trying to charge people to worship God.
·
Jesus did things that no one could dispute.
o
He made the blind to see and the lame to walk.
o
He made the deaf hear.
o
A man who had been paralyzed for 38 years –
that’s very specific isn’t it – He was healed so that they he could pick up his
bedroll and walk immediately. Human muscles just can’t do that naturally after
38 years of atrophy.
o
Jesus proved He was God over nature – He spoke
to the wind and the waves in the midst of a huge storm and they stopped
instantly. It freaked the disciples out. they weren’t expecting it. Could you
imagine during the Perfect Storm, one
of the sailors getting up and saying to the waves and wind “peace, be still”
and then things go so calm that the sea becomes flat like glass? They were so
convinced that the power of Jesus scared them more than the storm.
o
Later, Jesus walked on water. This was no magic
trick where there was glass under the water. He did this after they had gotten
out to the middle of the sea of Galilee. These skeptical fishermen thought that
since there was no rational explanation, He must have been a ghost. But Peter
believed and said Jesus – if you call me to come out there, I’ll get out of the
boat too. And He made Peter walk on water – that is, until he saw the waves and
realized “this doesn’t make sense, I shouldn’t be doing this” and he began to
sink. But Jesus often calls his followers to trust in Him and step out, even
when it seems like too much for us.
·
Jesus refuted the most wise people of the day
trying to catch Him in His words and yet He spoke so simply that the children
wanted to follow Him and listen to Him.
·
Jesus proved He had power over the really weird,
spiritual stuff too. He proved He was God over nature and the super-natural. He
spoke to a legion of demons and cast them out with a word.
·
Jesus proved that He had power over every human
ailment.
o
He healed a woman who had been sick for many
years. When no doctor could heal her, she was healed when she just touched His
robe.
o
He healed the untouchables and proved He had
power over even the flesh-eating disease of leprosy
o
No disease and no genetic malady was beyond His
ability.
· He knew the truth and told the woman at the well
all about herself when she had tried to hide her life from Him. Jesus told her
all that she ever did.
·
Jesus proved He had power over life and death
and He raised dead people to life again many times.
·
After He did many miracles it says in John 5:18, “This was why the Jews were seeking all the
more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even
calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus said to
them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own
accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does,
that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that
he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you
may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the
Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all
judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly,
truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has
eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to
life. "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here,
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will
live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to
have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment,
because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when
all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done
good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the
resurrection of judgment.” (John
5:18-29)
·
Jesus proved Himself. His disciples responded
and believed but some people chose not to believe. Which one are you this morning?
When you hear about the miracles of Jesus and His life – you can’t be
ambivalent. You can either believe in Jesus and choose to follow Him, or you
can hate Jesus and choose to reject Him.
·
You can’t think that Jesus is just some
acceptable moral teacher but not believe He was who He said He was. Either He
was indeed the Son of God (and if so, you have an obligation to listen to Him,
to follow Him and to live your life for Him) or He was a lunatic or a
charlatan.
·
Don’t be comfortable being ambivalent about who
Jesus was and is.
o
Get to know Him.
o
Investigate who He said He was.
o
Read the eyewitness accounts of His disciples –
they weren’t gullible converts.
o
Stop thinking somehow that you are smarter than
the people who lived in the first century. You just have more stuff, more
information and more distractions.
·
Jesus proved who He was to His disciples and He
has proven who He is to us too.
·
Jesus says “whoever
hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come
into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”Come and see who
He is. Then believe in Him and respond to Him and receive eternal life.
4.
The disciples were convinced
but mistaken about Him
·
They knew He must be the Son of God and they
knew that He must be the Messiah – the one chosen to deliver them from
oppression. But they assumed that He was coming to deliver them from the Romans
– they thought that He would be a conquering Messiah. But His conquering was of
another type altogether.
·
They thought that surely God wouldn’t allow the
suffering of His people. They didn’t understand that He was after the most
important things though. He was after their hearts. He wanted people to follow
Jesus, not for what he could do for them but for who He is.
·
He refuses to be a lucky rabbits foot or a genie
in a lamp doing things for you at your whim. He is great and He does great
things for His followers, but He is not tame and He isn't controlled by His
followers.
·
He wanted them to trust in Him no matter what. He
wanted them to rely on Him even when things were difficult, because He knew
that when we trust in ourselves or in anything else other than Him, our lives
are messed up and we make a mess of things. He didn’t want them to trust in
anything else because He knew that them worshipping their idea of what they
thought God should be wasn’t good for them.
·
What is ultimately best for them was to trust in
Him and what is ultimately best for us is to trust in Him.
5.
The disciples didn’t
understand why Jesus had to die
·
They didn’t understand at first that their sins
couldn’t just be overlooked. They didn’t realize the gravity of their sins
against God.
·
At first they didn’t see that they couldn’t live
lives good enough or moral enough to be accepted by God. At first they didn’t
understand that living by the law – living by even the best set of rules
couldn’t save them. They didn’t realize at first that their sins were so great
that the Son of God HAD to die for them.
·
Maybe you are like them and you think that you
can just live a good life and that God will accept you. Maybe you try to do
what is right and try to live morally and yeah, sure you mess up, but you’re
not that bad…
·
Don’t be mistaken, Jesus had to die.
·
The disciples had to see that they couldn’t even
be faithful enough on their own. They weren’t worthy because of themselves. Simon
who Jesus renamed to Peter – Jesus was calling him “the Rock”. Well, the Rock
crumbled when a little girl said – “aren’t you one of His disciples?” and He
was afraid. I think Jesus wanted Simon to experience this so that he would
trust in Jesus for all of his worth and not put worth in himself.
·
If you put worth in yourself, you will eventually
fail yourself and doubt - but if you
trust in the worth of Jesus in your place – He will never fail you.
·
Maybe you’re afraid to admit that you trust in
Him. Maybe you’re afraid to give up everything and trust in Him because of what
it will mean for you with your family or friends. But know this – as God, Jesus
loved you so much that as the Creator of time, He knew you before time began,
and He willingly chose to suffer and die in your place for your sins so that
you might be forgiven if you only confess your sins, turn to Him and believe in
Him.
·
When Jesus died though, his disciples weren’t
sure. Maybe you’re not sure even now.
6.
The disciples' faith was
shaken at His death
·
They doubted. If Jesus was who He really said he
was, then how in the world could He die? If He was truly Lord over death, then
how could He be dead?
·
If Jesus stayed in the grave, then all that He
taught would have been in vain and all that he taught would have been proven to
be false.
·
And the disciples faith was shaken at Jesus
death. They hid in fear that the Jews would kill them too. They were confused,
they were sad. They were distraught.
·
Imagine if you were one of His disciples and you
had been with Jesus. You heard what He said and saw what He did – and yet now,
He is dead – it wouldn’t make any sense to you.
·
Thomas, even after hearing from the other
disciples about Jesus appearing to them in a locked room, said "Unless
I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of
the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe." (John 20:25)
·
Any maybe you are like Thomas
this morning – you’re thinking, “oh, that’s a nice Easter story” but you don’t
place your faith in Jesus any more than the Easter bunny.
·
But Jesus has risen.
7. Jesus was Risen and still is alive
·
Matthew, the converted tax collector, wrote about what
happened. He said, "Now after the
Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for
an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone
and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as
snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the
angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus
who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the
place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he
has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there
you will see him. See, I have told you." So they departed quickly from the
tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus
met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his
feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and
tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." Matthew 28:1-10
·
The doctor Luke wrote about
what happened, he said, "But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they
went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone
rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of
the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by
them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to
the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the
dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was
still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of
sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise." And they
remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to
the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary
the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the
apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe
them. But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the
linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened." Luke 24:1-12
·
The original disciples must have been in awe. They
must have been ecstatic. They must have been overwhelmed with Joy!
·
Because Jesus is alive, His resurrection is
proof that He is who He said He is. Because Jesus has been resurrected, He has
proven that what He said is true. His resurrection has proven that His death
satisfied the just wrath of God against all sin and all who have faith in Him
will be saved. His resurrection has proven that what He said was true when He
said all who will repent and believe in Him for the forgiveness of your sins
·
He is no longer dead. The grave
did not hold Him. There is real hope in life. Hope for a relationship with God.
·
The apostle Paul – who had a
brilliant mind, who once was a skeptical religious leader who persecuted and
mocked the Christians... After being convinced about who Jesus was, he wrote, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that
he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five
hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have
fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of
all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me." 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
·
He appeared to hundreds of people – there was no group
delusion. His resurrection is indisputable. There were countless reliable
eyewitnesses to His resurrection who died for their testimony, because it was
and is true.
8.
The disciples finally got it
and believed
·
Jesus had mercy on them. He ate fish with them–
and He had them touch Him to prove He was real.
·
He had mercy on his shaken disciple Thomas. John
tells us that, "Eight days
later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the
doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be
with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my
hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but
believe." Thomas
finally got it – He finally believed and knew that Jesus really had been raised
from the dead. "Thomas answered him,
"My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed
because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the
disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that
you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing
you may have life in his name." John 20:26-31
9.
The disciples have written
so that we would know Him, believe and live too
10. The disciples have died but are still alive
·
After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He
told Martha, "I am the resurrection and the
life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me
shall never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:25-26
·
Jesus asks each one of us, this
same question – do you believe?
·
His disciples have believed and they are alive
with Him in heaven, even though they all died for their faith.
·
If you believe that He not only has been
resurrected but that He IS the resurrection and the life – the source and hope
for our resurrection and eternal life – you will never die.
