JESUS OBITUARY

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“The Rest of the Story”

By Matthew

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.

And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.

And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.”

"He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.”

"Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you."

And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.

And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.

CELEBRATE NEW CHAMPIONS!

From mid-December through the beginning days of the New Year it seems countless college football bowl games (34 to be exact) play out across the country. Excited teams and bandwagons of supporters pour into host cities to fill stadiums.

Everyone parties hardy and enjoys the spirited competition on the gridiron. Players grunt, groan, gyrate, and jubilate as points are scored. Fans cheer their teams to victory. At the end trophies are brandished with glee and the celebration is euphoric. Those who fund player scholarships have special pride to see the results of their investment.

As fun and entertaining as these football games are, a different sort of “game” happens every week near you. Excited “fans” and guests fill the arena. Though no one has to pay to enter, financial supporters make investments with eternal dividends.

The “players” sweat and toil and do everything possible to lead their team to victory. There is great celebration in spite of “spirited” competition between opponents that are clearly good and bad. After the “battle” is over, there are great “trophies” of grace who sometimes give testimonies with shouts of victory and tears of happiness … better than any sideline interview after a game.
Yes, indeed, gathering in a local fellowship with followers of Christ is better, more satisfying, and more important, than any sport.

Thoughtful, caring people bring wondering (wandering?) friends. Others make it financially possible for the “game” to go on. “Players” prepare and practice week after week, and pour out their heart and soul for the community. Behind the scenes team members bathe the “game” in prayer, and some come out on Wednesday night or other times to show their support and love.

The “Owner – Coach – Manager” of the team is greatly pleased with each “win.”

Someone has described a football game as 60,000 fans, who are in desperate need of exercise, watching 22 guys, who desperately need rest.

I invite you … I challenge you … exercise your faith and get involved in a fellowship of faith in some way. They need you. God wants you. Be involved in the celebration of new champions as new believers experience the refreshment and victory of Jesus Christ.

SUPER GLUE

How can I get my life together? What holds the world together? Is there something or Someone that can put together my inner person, as well as hold together the objects of the whole universe? Some of the world’s leading scientists are trying to find the answer to at least one of my questions.

One of the most fascinating experiments in history is about to take place with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC is a 17-mile ring of powerful magnets constructed at a cost of over $4 billion dollars near the French-Swiss border. As I understand it, the super-cooled magnets will shoot beams of protons in opposite directions at speeds approaching the speed of light. When they have a head-on collision the impacts will simulate conditions in the universe just a split second after the “big bang.” Last week trial runs were made in different directions, but not at the same time yet.

The hope is that finally scientists will discover evidence of the Higgs boson – known as the “God particle.” This supposed particle gives mass to matter. Confirmation of its existence will help answer the question of what holds together the black mass that composes perhaps 90% of the universe. Thus, our understandings of the tremendously huge and the infinitesimally small will be united.

It would seem to me there is still the question of balance. That is, how is balance maintained between gravity that pulls things together, and the force of the “big bang” that causes the universe to keep expanding? Could the universe implode or explode or simply burn out?

I believe the Bible sheds some light upon these questions. A few years ago I attended a series of lectures by Dr. David Wilkinson, a Britisher who holds doctorates in both theoretical astrophysics and systematic theology. He led the group through a study of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae. I cite some of the Bible texts below about the “Christ of the Cosmos.”

"For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:16-17)

The Apostle Paul shortly adds some additional inspiration, “… the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27)

A few sentences later he adds, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority” (Colossians 2:8-10).

I believe Christ is the power and the person … the “God particle” or the “Super Glue” … that holds the universe together in addition to making me whole and and holy and healthy. Reflection on the above passages and the surrounding words of the Apostle Paul describe not only the power of Christ, but also the purposes of God in creation.

It is exciting and wonderful that humanity can probe the vastness of the universe and the minute detail of creation. As a believer in Christ, it causes me to praise God even more for the marvelous miracle of the universe, watched over by the "Shepherd of the stars."

The video below is “a journey to the end of the universe."

RESURRECTION

Easter Sunday we celebrated worship at The Reserve at Lake Keowee in South Carolina. What a beautiful place with a Nicklaus signature golf course, racquet club, pool pavilion, and clubhouse! In the center of the community is the great lawn of the village. It is surrounded by homes and on the bottom of the hill near the lake is the Foundation Hall which used as a Chapel. http://www.reserveatlakekeowee.com

The multi-denominational Chapel was filled to capacity with overflow folding chairs and people sitting on the steps of the balcony. At the beginning of worship the people declared with me, “He is risen; Christ is risen indeed!”

Together we sung two great hymns, “Christ the Lord is Risen” and “Because He Lives.” Our soloist was a ten year old girl from Charleston, SC, who presented a beautiful message in song about Easter.

I shared a passage of scripture from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12. Matthew and Luke also record this incident which occurred a few days before Jesus was arrested and crucified.

Some Sadducees came with a trick question about the resurrection in an attempt to embarrass Jesus. Instead Jesus embarrassed them in response by asking them two questions and supplying the answers succinctly himself.

Simply put, Jesus explained that heaven was going to be much different than earth since there would no marriage or procreation. Secondly, Jesus explained from Moses’ encounter with God in the burning bush, that God had resurrection for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Before his first question and after the answer to his second question, Jesus warned about making the serious mistake of denying resurrection.

Jesus said that God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” In response I commented that for each person whatever their work, Jesus brings new meaning and beauty.

For the architect, Jesus is the master designer.
For the artist, He is all together lovely.
For the baker, he is the bread of life
For the banker, He is the pearl of great price.
For the builder, He is the cornerstone.
For the carpenter, He is the door of life.
For the counselor, He is the wonderful counselor.
For the diplomat, he is the prince of peace.
For the lowly employee, He is the righteous servant.
For the explorer, He is the way.
For the gardener, he is the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley.
For the geologist, He is the eternal rock.
For the judge, He is the just judge.
For the lawyer, He is the faithful and true witness
For the physician, He is the great physician.
For the ruler, He is the king of kings, king of glory.
For the sailor, He is the bright and morning star
For the sheep herder, He is the great shepherd.
For the student, He is the truth.
For the vineyard keeper, He is the true vine.
For the writer, He is the good news.
For the sinner, He is the Holy One, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

I closed the message with two questions that have been asked of millions of people by those who use the resource, Evangelism Explosion.
1. Do you know for sure that you are going to be with God in Heaven?
2. If God were to ask you, "Why should I let you into My Heaven?" what would you say?

JESUS OBITUARY

Click on obituary to see larger size “The Rest of the Story”
By Matthew

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.
And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred,

for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven

and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.
And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.

The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women,

"Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.”
"He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.

Come, see the place where He was lying.”
"Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead;

and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee,

there you will see Him; behold, I have told you."

And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy

and ran to report it to His disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them.

And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.

HOLY WEEK

Hans Memling ca. 1430 – 1494
Scenes from the Passion of Christ
oil on panel (57 × 92 cm) — 1470-71
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

With Palm Sunday yesterday we began the remembrance of Holy Week. On my iGoogle page I subscribe to a gadget that shows me "Art of the Day." Today was the painting above with the description below. Click on the painting to see a larger size.

Memling combined all passages from the Passion into one painting, adding the Resurrection. There are 23 scenes in total on the rather small panel. The praying figures in the lower corners are probably Tommaso Portinari and his wife, who ordered the painting.

The story starts in the top left, with the entry into Jerusalem, follows its way through town to the Garden of Gethsemane (in the lower left), continues in the central part (before Pilate, flagellation), and leaves town on its way to the hill behind the city.

Read more on the Stations of the Cross, the final stages of the Passion, by clicking here: http://www.artbible.info/art/way-of-the-cross.html

HUMOR OF JESUS

During worship this Sunday morning at Amelia Plantation Chapel, the New Testament reading was from the Gospel of Matthew.

“When you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (6:3).

“Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (23:3-4).

Although the worship leader had chosen these words of Jesus for another reason, I was struck by Jesus’ use of humor. Of course, it is ridiculous to think that your left hand does not know what your right hand does. Putting a heavy load on someone’s shoulder, but being unwilling to lift a finger to help, seems pathetic and devious. “Do as I say and not as I do” has been paraphrased as the epitome of being a hypocrite.

Jesus did not say a funny or tell a story just to get a laugh, but to make a point. Later today as I got home I remembered so many other occasions when Jesus used humor, whether irony or paradox or sarcasm or some other method of humor, to get people to see the truth.

He gave His disciples nicknames. Peter he called the Rock. Perhaps Peter was impressive in size, and certainly big and strong in talk, but a coward when it came to tell the truth before a lowly servant woman. James and John, who wanted to rule and share first place, in truth were hotheads, and dubbed “Sons of Thunder.”

Jesus poked fun at the religious legalists of his day. He said they were like a man who polished the outside of his drinking cup, but forgot to clean the inside. "You are like a person," said Jesus, "who picks a fly out of his drink and then swallows a camel.” He described them as “the blind leading the blind.” Even stronger he called them “whitewashed walls.” He talked about people who gave stones to the hungry in the place of bread.

Jesus made his point by a humorous exaggeration. "It is much harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle."

Jesus might have chuckled when he talked about the fault-finder. "Why do you notice the little piece of sawdust that is in your brother's eye, but you don't notice the big piece of wood that is in your own eye?”

Imagine the results of this query of Jesus. "Does anyone bring a lamp home and put it under a washtub or beneath the bed?” Can you imagine the folly of putting a fiery lamp under a bed!?!

The irrational and disingenuous statements of the people drew a sharp tongue from Jesus. Maybe he would say similar words to us as he did to his own generation:

“To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? ‘They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.” ‘For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, “He has a demon!”' ‘The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” 'Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.’" (Luke 7:31-35)

LIGHT OF THE WORLD

For some weeks my Bible study class has been studying the person of Christ. Recently we have been looking at the portrait of Jesus given to us by the Gospel of John. Jesus was such a controversialist! By his words and actions he provoked people to make a decision about him.

The last couple of weeks we have looked at the Gospel of John, chapters 6-8. People formed all sorts of opinions about Jesus when he asserted strong claims of being God. They called him a liar, demon possessed, a blasphemer, even crazy. I like the way C.S. Lewis describes the options left us:

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”

This week our group will look at the words of Jesus recorded in the eighth chapter of John: “I am the light of the world.” This morning I received an email pointing me the amazing work of a young artist, Akiane Kramarik, who is now 12 years old. She has produced some beautiful art depicting “the light of the world.”

You can click on the link below to go to her website, click on the next link to see an interview, or click on the arrow to see yet another interview.
www.artakiane.com
http://tinyurl.com/yxewot

ARE YOU READY?

This time of year everyone asks about Christmas, “Are you ready?” Maybe you are ready to celebrate Christmas … the first coming of Christ when he was born in Bethlehem. How about the Second Coming of Christ? Click on the video below!