THE MAIN MESSAGE

Luke 24:36-53

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

April 10, 2005

Many authors have said it in seeking to hold course in an unsteady world. We are told by so many people and in so many ways that in life, “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” There are occasions when the Church needs to remember this precept as well. Many churches have lost a sense of their true calling and have turned to other ventures deemed or designed to be more appealing.

This includes the content of the Main Message of the Church. The Main Message of the Church can be easily distorted in seeking to suit the perceived needs of the masses. It is for this reason that respected authors have written such books as Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace: Rediscovering the Doctrines that Shook the World [i] or Ashamed of the Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the World. [ii] We can be reminded, however, of the true nature and content of the Main Message by looking at our passage for this morning, and in so doing, rediscover the essentials of this message we are called to proclaim.

In this passage, we find both an appearance of the risen Lord in the Upper Room on Easter, as well as the occasion just before Jesus’ ascension. The timing is important for us to consider, as Jesus would not waste time on trivial matters. He only had so much time before His return to glory in Heaven, so what He had to say was of crucial importance. In this passage, then, we find some of the great and distinctive details of what the Church has to say to the world about God’s purposes in Jesus Christ.

I

WE HAVE A MESSAGE

THAT IS GROUNDED IN THE ETERNAL PLAN OF GOD.

As the Risen Lord met with His disciples in the Upper Room, He reminded them that all the amazing events that had occurred were all part of God’s plan. “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, “ Jesus said, “that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” [iii]

Even before the fall of Adam and Eve at the start of human history, the Bible testifies that God had a purpose and plan for redeeming a lost and sinful humanity. Again and again, the Scriptures bear testimony to the unfolding of the plan of God’s redemption found in Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ work of salvation was not something God contrived on the run, or completed in the sense of some kind of an emergency measure, but was instead designed back in the infinite reaches of time. Jesus made this ever so clear in referring here to the entirety of the Old Testament. Note as well not only the words of Scripture in all of the promises and predictions, types and symbols, but also the divine intention in saying that these “must be fulfilled.”

A number of years ago, while serving in my last church, a young couple and their family became involved in the life of the church. I was very pleased to have them involved in church school, as well as in the worship life of the congregation.

I was in their adult class, and one Sunday we were talking about God’s plan of salvation for humanity. That’s when I was most surprised to hear the woman state her belief that God, after some time of seeing the world in such a mess, finally decided that He had to do something about it. So, in a kind of last ditch effort (though she didn’t say it in those words), God sent forth His Son to be our Savior.

Well, that, of course, is precisely not what the Bible says. The Message of the Church is that God has always had a plan of salvation, and that plan has Jesus Christ in the very heart and center of it.

II

WE HAVE A MESSAGE

THAT STRESSES THE NECESSITY OF THE CROSS.

In that Upper Room, Jesus opened the minds of the disciples to understand the Scriptures. “He then said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer …’”

Here we are reminded of the necessity of the Cross of Christ. Because of the reality and the gravity of sin in our lives, the justice of God must be satisfied. A holy and righteous God simply cannot look the other way or disregard human sin as a trivial matter. But just as there are two beams to the cross of Calvary, beyond the “beam of justice,” there is the “beam of mercy.” Both God’s justice and God’s mercy reach out to us in the outstretched arms of Christ on that Cross.

Never ever forget that God takes our sin ever so seriously. But never forget also that God also meets our deepest need by the way of the Cross. And how shall we then respond, but with true and sincere repentance, trusting in Christ alone, and thus finding forgiveness of our sins and a fellowship with God that absolutely no thing and no one can sever.

You will not find a solution to the “sin problem” in any other way, including Islam, for example. In his book, The Cross of Christ, John Stott tells story of a convert from Islam, who in spite of his deep allegiance to Islam, always knew that he was separated from God because of his sins.

When Christian friends brought him to church services of worship and encouraged him to read the Bible, he learned about forgiveness through the Cross of Christ. “For me,” he said, “the offer was irresistible and heaven-sent.” As he believed the Gospel and trusted fully in Christ, he said: “The burden of my past life was lifted. I felt as if a huge weight … had gone. With the relief and sense of lightness came incredible joy. At last it had happened. I was free of my past. I knew that God had forgiven me, and I felt clean. I wanted to shout, and tell everybody.”

John Stott adds this note: “It was through the cross that the character of God came clearly into focus for him, and that he found Islam’s missing dimension, ‘the intimate fatherhood of God and the deep assurance of sins forgiven’.” [iv]

Dear friends, this is precisely why the Cross of Christ is so necessary and so much a part of the Main Message of the Church; for it is only by this means that we are able to personally experience “the intimate fatherhood of God and the deep assurance of sins forgiven.”

III

WE HAVE A MESSAGE

THAT STRESSES THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION.

The crucifixion is only part of the Good News of the Gospel. If Jesus did not rise again from the dead, His teaching would be utterly false and worthless. After all, how often did He predict His own suffering and resurrection?

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, He remains as yet another liar and lunatic offering up only empty promises. And if this be so, you and I are in a very serious dilemma. Paul speaks of this matter in his letter to the Corinthian Christians:

If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. [v]

And yet it is as Jesus said in our passage for this morning: “ … it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead …” And proof is also found as the Risen Lord appeared to His disciples. Here was no vision, apparition or hallucination, but the sudden and unexpected arrival of the Risen Redeemer.

Even though the doors to the Upper Room were locked,[vi] yet there was the triumphant Lord! Marveling at His appearance, it being “too good to be true,” the disciples were invited by Jesus to touch His body. Then He invited them to take a good look at His pierced hands and feet. Lastly, Jesus ate a piece of broiled fish right before their very eyes.

We can without doubt confess – as we have this morning with the Apostles’ Creed - our firm belief in “the resurrection of the body” and “the life everlasting” for the reason that, on “the third day, He rose again from the dead.”

When noted Swiss theologian Dr. Karl Barth was in this country a few years before his death, he was invited to speak to the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Dr. Carl Henry, one of the founders of Christianity Today magazine, introduced him to the reporters and then said: “Dr. Barth, you have written a good deal about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and you are standing before men who are accustomed to reporting unusual events. Tell us, according to your outlook, if these men had been present in the garden on that first Easter morning, would they have seen anything that they could have reported in their papers?”

Dr. Barth then proceeded to give a very long and highly complex answer. Barth had difficulty accepting miracles as observable events of history. And in that lengthy answer, he brought confusion into the room.

When Dr. Barth was finished, Henry turned to a reporter near him and asked, “Did you understand what he said?” The reporter replied, “I’m not sure, but I think I did. I think he said ‘No.’” [vii]

On this point, the Church need not promote confusion. Speaking personally, I never want confusion to enter into this room when it comes to this most crucial subject. According to the words of the Scriptures, the personal testimony of the apostles as eyewitnesses, the words of Jesus Himself, and in all the facts attending the resurrection, we may declare the Good News with the utmost of confidence, “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” And because He lives, we shall live also!

SO IT IS THAT WE HAVE A MESSAGE

THAT IS FOR ALL THE WORLD TO HEAR.

The Apostles had a glorious message, but they were not to keep it to themselves. According to the Lord’s own words: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” The apostles had a message for all the world to hear ... and so do we!

In the summer of 2003, my wife and I attended in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania a wonderful musical presentation of the Old Testament Book of Daniel. While some literary license was taken for this musical production – and as a pastor I am often a harsh critic – I must say that the end of this show was most memorable for me.

You may recall that the Book of Daniel ends with a prophecy regarding the time of the End of human history as we know it. Well, before us on that immense stage, the Lord Jesus was standing there in shining apparel at the end of time, with representatives coming before Him from “every tribe and language and people and nation,” holding the banners of all their different nations, waving them in homage before Him. At that moment, tears were streaming down my cheeks, as I visually realized just how impressive this scene will one day be - in all of its total reality and in all of its fullness of power!

This will surely occur, but we must first get the Message out to all the world. And as we do, we must keep “the main thing the main thing,” by holding steadfastly to the Main Message, the Good News of Jesus Christ, in all of His humility … and in all of His glory!