The Story Doesn't Make Sense
Joel Gorveatte · Tidal Church Moncton · April 17, 2022 · I Can't Believe in God Because... series
Joel Gorveatte looks at Luke 18 and Ephesians 2 to show why the cross and resurrection can be hard to believe, even for the disciples. This Easter message explains that salvation comes by God's grace through faith in the risen Jesus, our living hope.
More from Joel Gorveatte · The I Can't Believe in God Because... series
Transcript
[0:01] For countless generations on this day, whenever followers of Jesus would cross each other, whether it was on their way to church or out in the lane, there was a call and response that traditionally would be said, where the first person says, "Christ is risen." And the response is, "He is risen indeed." Could we do that together, joining with the ages? Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Christ is risen. And yet, there are so many things in life that seem like they do not make sense. Things that we struggle to understand. When I was growing up, my family was very musical. My parents both played the piano.
[0:51] My mother had a high level of achievement, the highest Canadian level of certification that she had received at Mount Allison University from the Conservatory in Classical Music. My father couldn't read music, but he still could play the piano and guitar, all kinds of stuff. My brother, my sisters all play the piano. And so, one of the things that would confuse me is when people would ask, "Do your parents play piano by ear?" And I would say, "No, they usually use their fingers." Because I was a very literal child, right? Some of the ways that we talk about things didn't make sense to me. I remember that I always thought the most dangerous streets were the ones marked dead end.
[1:40] Like, that's the one you go to find a cemetery. I remember Tori Jay says, when she was in elementary school, the teacher asked why she wrote the name of the little boy seated next to her on her assignment. Where it says, "current date," she wrote the name of the boy she was currently dating. Danny Ray says he thought seahorses were mythical creatures like dragons and unicorns until he was 22 years old and went to an aquarium and saw one for the first time and his mind was blown. Jennifer Wright says that when she was a kid, she thought adultery means when you're pretending to be an adult.
[2:25] She and her little friends thought they were adultering all the time. Linda Gillen says, "When we drove places as a family, I remember seeing the signs in the field that read 'lots for sale' and wondered, lots of what?" So often we look at stuff in life that doesn't make sense and we can tell that we're missing something. The pieces don't seem to fit together. And this disconnect can be one of the reasons that it can be a struggle for us to believe in God. And so today we're going to start a brand new teaching series throughout the next month or two called, I Can't Believe in God Because... And what we did over the last month is we sent out surveys to thousands of people and we asked people all around our community, thousands of people, why don't you believe in God?
[3:22] And it was interesting, the responses that we got. And so over the next six weeks, we are going to look at some of those challenges to the Christian faith. Next week, we're going to talk about one of the responses we heard again and again, is that many Christians seem anti-science. We're going to look at that next week. But what we found is that for a lot of people, the whole Jesus thing just doesn't seem to make sense. Now, most people love the stories of Jesus. We love His cries for social justice. People love all of His good teachings on morality and how to be a good person and how to love your neighbor. But when it comes to this whole Easter thing with Jesus and the cross and Him dying and being resurrected again and that somehow all of this was necessary because of our sin and our need for salvation, frankly, for many that just seems too much to be believed.
[4:31] And guess what? You're not the only one. Did you know that the very disciples who followed Jesus around for those last three years that He was here on this earth actually struggled to understand it too? Did you know that? In Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse 31, Jesus tried to explain it to them. Jesus took the 12 aside and He told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him, insult Him, spit on Him, flog Him, and kill Him. And on the third day He will rise again." And so Jesus told them exactly what was going to happen.
[5:20] He laid it out for them in great detail, step by step. In fact, a few chapters later in Luke 27, Jesus told them He was literally going to fulfill this prophecy from Isaiah 53, that He would be pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. It was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer. And though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days.
[6:05] And the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand. And after the suffering of His soul, after the suffering of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. By His knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. And so Jesus pointed to these words from 700 years before He was even born. And the disciples, they knew these prophecies, they heard what Jesus said, and yet they didn't get it. Even after He had told them in Luke 18, He told them to go up to Jerusalem. Everything written by the prophets will be fulfilled. I'll be handed over to the Gentiles.
[6:56] They'll mock and insult, spit, flog, and kill me, and then on the third day I will rise again. I mean, how much more clear could Jesus be? And yet look at the next verse, verse 34. The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them and they did not know what He was talking about. And so even though these disciples knew His prophecies, they heard what He said, they had all the facts, but there was something about the cross and the resurrection that they could not understand. And they struggled to believe.
[7:43] And so let's talk about why. What are some of our barriers to belief? Well, first of all, it is hard to believe what I haven't yet experienced. Isn't that true? See, Jesus told them what was going to happen, but it hadn't happened yet. They had not seen it yet. And maybe that's true for you. Maybe you've heard about this Jesus stuff. Maybe you've heard about God's power to transform lives and break addictions and heal broken hearts and restore broken marriages and do the miraculous. You've heard all this about Jesus, but maybe you've never experienced it for yourself. In fact, maybe your experience with churches and Christians has been the exact opposite.
[8:33] Maybe instead, if all you've ever seen are hypocrites, if all you've ever seen are people who talk about the love of Jesus but don't live it out, if you've never seen God do anything amazing and miraculous and powerful, then it's no wonder you don't believe. I understand. I wouldn't believe either. But for some, it's even more than that. For some, number two, it's hard to believe when my heart is not yet ready. You see, maybe you've experienced the goodness of Jesus, but you're not yet ready to receive it. Maybe you've seen the evidence of God, but you're not yet ready to believe it.
[9:27] Because we all have different stages of development, and it can be frustrating for us when people are not at the stage of development that we feel like they should be, right? For example, in stages of development, have you ever tried to teach a child how to read and write? What age are they able to do that? What age do you begin? Let's say, for example, that you went to a six-month-old baby lying in the crib and tried to teach them to read and write. How would that go? Not so well, right? Why? Because they are not yet at a point in their development where they are ready to receive that knowledge. I wonder, how many of you are parents?
[10:13] Let me see. How many have ever had kids? Here, let's include everybody. How many of you have ever been a child? Okay, I got everyone on that one. There was something really funny I read. Charlie Shedd writes, before we had kids, he says, I used to travel around the country teaching a lecture I called the Ten Commandments for Raising Perfect Kids. After my wife and I had our first child, we changed the title to Ten Helpful Hints for Parents. He said, then we had our second child. We changed the title to A Few Tentative Suggestions for Fellow Strugglers. He said, after we had our third child, we quit teaching the subject altogether because one of the signs of maturity is when you finally figure out that you really don't have it all figured out. And at times, there are lessons that we are just not yet ready to learn in our life.
[11:11] But maybe later in life, we come across some experiences, we're at a point in our development, maybe we've lost a loved one. And God begins to speak to us in the midst of our grief. Maybe we lose our job or maybe it's the miracle of having our first child and we're overwhelmed with this whole experience and we realize that there's something more to life and we begin to pursue the knowledge of God. Maybe it's when we finally get out of the house and out into the real world as we're growing up and realize that it was really easy to have all the answers when we didn't have to be responsible for anything.
[11:56] Then there comes this point in our lives where maybe what we did not understand before, all of a sudden, it starts to click and we begin to realize that there are things that now begin to make sense, maybe because God has been using those experiences to change us, to get us ready. And that's because maybe God is working in ways I don't yet perceive. See, so often, God is working behind the scenes in our lives in ways that we don't understand. All along, He's been calling out to me, speaking to me, drawing me unto Himself.
[12:42] 2 Peter 3:8-9 says, "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends. With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to eternal life." God is not slow in keeping His promise, everyone to come to a point of repentance in our lives. Because, listen, while God is not slow in keeping His promise, in the meantime, what you may not realize is how He has been working behind the scenes in your life all along. Someday, you'll be able to look back and see His fingerprints all over some of those experiences.
[13:51] And here's what He's been saying. What is it that He's trying to accomplish in our lives? Ephesians 2:1. God says, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." See, that is our natural born state. We're born into this world, following along with the ways of the world, and we are spiritually dead inside. Verse 3. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
[14:41] That's where all of us were. All of us were stuck in this endless trap of trying to satisfy the desires of our flesh, and yet never really feeling satisfied and knowing that there's something missing. Verse 4: But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. Because the punishment for our sin is death, and Jesus died to take our place so that we can be forgiven, so that we can be bought back and brought back to our Creator, made right in our relationship with Him. Why? Because of His great love. He makes the way for us to pass from death into life, and here is the message of Easter.
[15:38] See, here is what the resurrection does. Verse 6: And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is by grace that we are saved through what? Through faith. See, here's where we sometimes get confused about salvation. Number one, it's not salvation by sincerity. One of the common beliefs in our culture is that it doesn't really matter what you believe, that all belief is equal as long as you're sincere about what you believe and try to be a good person. But here's the problem. Let's say that I sincerely believe that I can jump off a cliff, flap my arms, and fly like a bird.
[16:49] How is that sincerity going to work when the reality of gravity meets my sincerity? If I pick up a glass of poison and I begin to drink it, thinking that it's water, my sincere belief that that poison is water means that I will be sincerely dead. And so sincerity in and of itself is not enough. Number two, it's not salvation by service. Sometimes we think, if I could just do enough, maybe if I could serve my community and help people and do all the wonderful things that God has called me to do, that maybe I could earn my way to heaven. But you could never serve enough. Number three, it's not salvation by subtraction.
[17:35] We think sometimes, well, maybe if I could just give up, you know, some of the bad stuff and, you know, try to become a sourpuss Christian who never has any fun, that the more I subtract from my life, the more likely I could get to heaven. It's not salvation by just subtracting stuff from our lives. It's not salvation by ritual. Doing the rituals of the church and praying the prayers and getting baptized and doing all the churchy stuff is good and important, but it's not enough. When we did that survey over the last month of thousands of people and we asked, "Why don't you believe in God?" One of the top responses that we had that came back was this: "Because churches are filled with hypocrites."
[18:26] I get it. I get it. It's true. In fact, many pastors even have done horrible, evil, selfish, manipulative things. And it's not okay. There's no excuse for it. And listen, if you have been hurt by a church, I am so sorry. There's no excuse for it. But you also need to understand something, that just because somebody is part of a church, that does not necessarily mean that they are surrendered to the Spirit of God in their life. Just like going to McDonald's does not make you a hamburger, right? And going to Tim Hortons does not make you a donut.
[19:22] And going to church or even calling yourself a pastor does not mean that that person is living a life surrendered to God and filled with His Holy Spirit. It's not salvation by ritual, and it's not salvation by heritage. Some people say, "Well, I was born in a church family. My family built the church." But listen, if you were born in a car, that doesn't make you a spare tire, right? Like, maybe your mother was a Christian and your grandfather was a Christian. But the Bible says it doesn't matter because all of us are held accountable for our own lives. Number six, it's not salvation by heritage, or, I'm sorry, by comparison rather. It's not salvation by comparison.
[20:11] And I think this is one of the ones that we so often get mixed up because what we commonly think is, we think, "Well, you know, I'm not perfect, but at least I'm what? At least I'm better than that person," right? Or "At least I'm better than this person." And guess what? You probably are. In fact, you're probably better than me. But I'm not the standard God is going to judge you by. You see, saying, "Well, at least I'm a good person, I'm better than Hitler," is like saying, "Well, I can run fast compared to my grandmother." Our problem is we compare to the wrong people. But in God's kingdom, the standard of righteousness is perfection in a way that only Jesus could ever live.
[21:06] And so because of that, none of us are worthy of heaven. None of us. And that sounds like bad news until you hear the good news. In Romans 3:25, for God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past. For He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness.
[21:52] For He Himself is fair and just. And He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus. And so that's the question. What will you do with Jesus? And I know there are so many reasons to doubt. There are so many problems in the world. There are so many hypocrites who get in the way. And like the disciples, Jesus told them what was going to happen. But they didn't get it. There was something about the whole thing that they were still missing. Remember in Luke 18:34, the disciples didn't understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them. And they did not know what He was talking about. At least not yet. But then when they saw it with their own eyes.
[22:42] When they saw Jesus die on the cross and He was resurrected to new life. Later these same disciples wrote in 1 Peter 1:3, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." And so when God revealed to them what was happening, all of a sudden they understood and their eyes were opened. And I can just imagine them. I can just imagine the early church of the New Testament sitting around together. These disciples who had seen Jesus beaten and whipped, bruised and bleeding, hanging on the cross, suffering to die for the sins of the world.
[23:38] But then they saw Him raised to life with resurrection power. And after He ascended into heaven, He left them to carry this message to the world. And He promised them that it was not going to be easy. Because for that early church, the Roman Empire was out to get them. That the power brokers of culture hated and feared them. In fact, those first Christians were mocked and persecuted for their faith in Jesus. Many lost their jobs because they were Christians. Some were imprisoned, separated from their family, and many were even killed. But why? Why did they worship Him?
[24:34] Because now they finally understood what it was all about. What did not make sense before. Now came into a crystal clear picture for them that Jesus is our resurrected Savior and He alone is our living hope. I can just imagine them living in this truth that they had experienced for themselves. I can picture them in those first days. Maybe in a dark quiet room, concerned that perhaps a Roman soldier might come and arrest them for worshiping Jesus.
[25:22] And yet they shared words of Scripture together and shared what God had done in their lives together. This transformative power. They even wrote songs that they would sing together. Something that we as Christians still do to this day. And I can just imagine them. Can't you just imagine them sitting together in the power of the experience of what they had seen for themselves and singing, maybe singing like this? How deep the Father's love for us. Because now they could see the big picture. How vast beyond all measure. Now they could see what it was about.
[26:27] That He would give His only Son. Because now they could see the wretchedness of their sin and how there was no hope for eternity apart from Christ. To make this wretch. His has wounds which mar the chosen. Bring many sons to glory. Behold the man upon that cross, my sin upon His shoulder.
[27:29] Shamed, I hear my mocking among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there until it was accomplished. His dying breath has brought me that it is fair. I owe sin no power.
[28:27] Jesus cried, His death and resurrection. His wounds have paid my wife. On your faith journey today.
[29:43] Maybe you're one of those blessed people today who you've been walking with Jesus and it is good and you see His blessing and favor in your life and you're just here rejoicing. Or maybe your relationship is good with Jesus but things in your life are a mess right now. The problems seem overwhelming and you come today hoping for a touch from God and the resurrection power of Jesus to strengthen you to get through another day as a follower of Jesus. Maybe you're brand new in your faith and you've just crossed the line and you're still figuring all of this out but you're rejoicing and beginning to grow in your relationship with Jesus in the spiritual community of the church. Or maybe you're not even sure why you're with us today.
[30:44] Maybe as a favor to somebody who invited you or maybe you just kind of stumbled across a live stream on the internet right now. Perhaps God has been speaking to you even though you have placed yourself firmly in the camp of skeptic. Maybe today God's been stirring something inside of you wherever you are in that journey. Maybe you feel kind of heavy right now and you don't quite understand why. And those of us who have followed Jesus, who know what it's like to hear Him weigh with conviction upon our hearts and speak our names, we know what that feels like, the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And it's okay.
[31:31] It means that God is actually speaking to you and is ready and calling you to set you free. If you're ready today, the Bible says that we must confess, believe, and receive. Confess that I've done wrong. Confess that I have been following my own ways rather than the ways of God, trying to satisfy the cravings of my flesh, and as we read in Scripture, following the ways of the world. And yet today maybe you're ready to believe that Jesus died on the cross. for the forgiveness of your sins and receive His gift as the gift of grace, forgiveness.
[32:22] Wash that sin, heaviness away, so that you can be made right with your Heavenly Father, with your Creator. And if you're ready to pray, just all around this room, wherever you are, those of you who are online, you just close your eyes if you're ready to make that decision to cross from death into life, from darkness into light right now. In your heart, just confess. Tell Him, "God, I feel Your presence and I hear You speaking to me, and I confess that I've tried to live on my own. I confess that I've been selfish and trusted in my own goodness, but I could never be good."
[33:09] Confess to Him now in your heart. Tell Him you're ready to make a change. Confess and believe, believe that Jesus died on the cross. Right now, Lord, we declare our belief in You. We thank You that You died to take the punishment that we deserve. You died so that we can be set free, and Your resurrection power is available to us today to live a spiritual life following after You. So we confess, we believe, and we receive, we receive.
[34:07] Right now, Lord, wash over us with Your grace. We would feel Your presence. You would fill us with every fiber of our being, that Your Holy Spirit would come in and begin to do a work and transform us. And we commit to order our lives around Your Word. Lord, I pray for those who are making a decision even right now, that they begin to open the Bible and try to read for the first time, maybe in the book of John, opening in the last part of the Bible, that as they read the stories of Jesus, Lord, that You would begin to speak to our hearts, that You would teach us and transform us by Your Holy Spirit. And Lord, we thank You for great expectation, because we know the work that You have done today is just the beginning, because You alone are our living hope, our resurrection power, our salvation, our new life, everything we need. Thank You for listening.