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What
are you looking for?
That is
a very good question. When I was a child I was looking for eggs, lots
of eggs, more eggs than I could possibly eat without getting quite
ill. Trust me on this one. Later in life I begin looking for fun.
The worst thing in the world was to be bored and the second worse
thing was for my parents to misunderstand my sighing from boredom as a
request for chores to overcome it. I really wanted to have fun, not
just to be busy. Much of life is spent looking. As adults we are
looking for ways to repair relationships, looking for a way to make
ends meet, looking for ways to lose weight - looking, looking
looking. So I ask you once again, “What are you looking for?”
What if
I told you that what you are looking for is here – it is close enough
for you to touch? Wouldn’t that be great news? Easter is a day for
finding what we are looking for. Mary and the other women went to the
tomb looking for something. I’m not sure they could have told you
what it was, but everything within them was caught up in the hunt.
They had to go to the tomb as early as possible. Something
had to speak to their hopelessness. Christ is risen. He is
risen indeed! Peter and John went to the garden looking for
something on that Sunday. Their minds told them it was impossible,
but their hearts would not rest until they went looking. They found
nothing, but that was really something, when you consider that a dead
body had been placed in the cave on Friday. Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed!
What
are you looking for?
Perhaps
you will find it this very hour. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?! The
apostle Paul seemed to find something that each of us is looking for
at some time in our life. Hope. Hope for today that gives life
meaning. Hope for tomorrow that gives us confidence. Hope for
yesterday that gives us grace. Hope is a beautiful word. Easter hope
is even more beautiful, because it describes a hope that has faced
hopelessness and won. Easter hope describes a hope that never
disappoints. Listen for that hope in Romans 10:8-17. Hear now the
Word of the Lord:
8But what does it say? “The word is near you, on
your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we
proclaim); 9because if you confess with your lips that Jesus
is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved. 10For one believes with the heart and so is
justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
11The scripture says, “No one who believes in him
will be put to shame.” 12For
there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord
of all and is generous to all who call on him.
13For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.” 14But how are they to call on one in whom they
have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they
have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim
him? 15And how are they to proclaim him unless they are
sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
good news!” 16But not all have obeyed the good news; for
Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
17So faith comes from what is heard, and what is
heard comes through the word of Christ.
The
word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
In this
passage, Paul proclaimed to every reader that salvation was right next
to him or her – it was the surest thing in the world.
This Easter
I invite you to join me as we are looking for hope. Let us go to the
empty tomb and experience hope. Christ is risen. He is risen
indeed!
Easter Hope Will Never
Disappoint Heart and Mouth
Paul told those who
were looking for hope, looking for salvation, that it was near them -
on their lips, in their heart. It is as if he is playing the game
that children play of looking for something around the house. “You’re
getting warmer, warmer, you’re burning up, it’s on your lips, in your
heart!” Can’t you imagine the reader saying, “Where? Where is it?”
And Paul explained, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you
will be saved.” William Barclay wrote, “The Christian must believe
not only that Jesus lived, but also that he lives.”
When the heart and the lips are in agreement it is a good thing. Of
course, when they disagree it is stressful. When you’re eating
something that isn’t that good and the cook asks you, “How is it?”
Your heart and your mouth don’t always agree. However, when they do
agree, it is beautiful.
One year ago, Tammy
and I traveled to Italy to see our daughter. She was studying abroad
in Rome. We traveled what seemed like all day. We had been awake for
about 30 hours when we arrived at our hotel, just down the street from
Chelsea’s apartment. After hugging our necks, which rejuvenated our
souls, she took us back in the city, near the Piazza Navona. We were
looking for one café and found another. I ordered my first Italian
pizza and when it arrived, my mouth and heart were in total
agreement. I am not ashamed to tell you that tears started to well up
in my eyes. I thought that to be a little unmanly until earlier this
year I read John Grisham’s book, Playing for Pizza, that
describes a rough tough football player brought to tears over his
first taste of authentic Italian cuisine. The meal is described in
pages 48-55!
It is a
beautiful thing when the heart and the mouth agree. As moving as that
eating experience was, there is something even more fulfilling,
something in which we find the very thing we are looking for. Let us
go to the empty tomb and experience hope. Christ is risen. He
is risen indeed! “If you confess with you lips that Jesus is
Lord and believe in you heart that God has raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.” Here we find an Easter hope that will never
disappoint the heart and mouth.
Easter Hope Will Never
Disappoint Outstretched Arms
The promise of this Easter hope is universal. Verse 11 fascinates
me. In the New Revised Standard Version that we read from earlier
this verse is translated, “No one who believes in him will be put to
shame.” However, after studying a little, I think a better
translation is, “Anyone who believes in him will never be
disappointed.” “Anyone” and “never” in the same sentence is pretty
bold. Paul went on to unfold this bold statement. He is including
Jews and Gentiles, promising abundant blessings. He wrote, “Everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The image is of a
God with outstretched arms ready to sweep up in those divine arms
anyone and everyone who is looking for this hope that never
disappoints.
Elizabeth Gilbert was looking for this hope. Her life had pretty much
been a big disappointment – broken relationships, shattered dreams,
restless spirit, hopelessness, all drove her to a point where one
night weeping on the bathroom floor she cried out, “God, please tell
me what to do.” She describes her hunt for hope in a book entitled,
Eat, Pray, Love. The book is not the best that I’ve ever
read. In fact, at times I grew rather impatient, but I stumbled upon
this one part that gripped my heart and will not let me go. She
describes walking into a church at daybreak with her sister. The nuns
had gathered together in the chancel area and began chanting Gregorian
hymns from 1,100 years ago. Liz, the author, and her sister sat there
in silence, holding each other’s hands, with tears flowing freely down
their cheeks. Liz’s sister whispered to her, “I think that kind of
faith is so beautiful, but I can’t do it. I just can’t.”
When I read that it was like a shooting pain to my soul. I don’t
fault Liz’s sister, I hurt for her. I know that this kind of faith is
difficult for some. It is almost an abandonment of everything on
which life has been built. Empiricism, where what we believe can be
proven, is a rational, sensible way to live. An empty grave doesn’t
prove that he rose from the dead, a leap of faith is required for
that. I know there are many who would say, “I think that kind of
faith is so beautiful, but I can’t do it. I just can’t.” All I can
say is that today there is available a hope that never disappoints.
Let us go to the empty tomb and experience hope. Christ is
risen. He is risen indeed!
Easter Hope Will Never
Disappoint Feet that Carry Good News
Paul pointed out that this is good news that has to be shared in order
to be effective. Paul said in essence, “How are they going to call on
the Lord if they haven’t heard of the Lord, and how are they going to
hear of the Lord if nobody tells them about the Lord, and how is
someone going to tell them about the Lord if nobody sends him out in
the first place?” That’s why Isaiah’s writings make so much sense
when he wrote, “How beautiful are the
feet of those who bring good news!” Easter is a day when we experience hope that
never disappoints, but it is not to be our little secret. It is to be
told to others.
During Spring Break I made my annual pilgrimage to Florida to see as
many baseball games in as short a stretch of time as I could. I made
it to eight games in four days. I began this annual tradition 13
years ago, when my boyhood friend, Ron, moved to Tampa, Florida. When
we first started going, there were three of us, all friends since
junior high school who went and bought tickets from fans with extra
tickets. We never paid over face value and face value was never more
than $10. We could not believe it. About three to four thousand fans
would show up and watch these amazing athletes play this inspired
game. I started telling people about what a blast it was and
apparently they told people. The last few years we have been forced
to buy tickets above face value from the dreaded ticket scalpers.
Some of the games are even sold out. This year we even had to resort
to the unthinkable. Plan ahead. Ron and I selected the games we
wanted to attend and ordered the tickets a month before I left for
Florida. In every game, but one, we found ourselves in the very last
row, in the middle of the row. If there was an upper deck, we were
there - in the very last row, in the middle of the row. I looked at
my friend on the last night of baseball and asked him, “Did you tell
anyone about Spring Training? Somehow the secret has gotten out.”
There were a few disappointments related to Spring Training. We did
not always get the best seats. OK, we did not ever get the best
seats. My team did not always win. Don’t get me wrong, it was a
great week, but it was not one without a few disappointments. What a
bold claim for Paul to make when he wrote, “Anyone who believes in him
will never be disappointed.”
Do you believe that? Then go tell someone. Be as enthusiastic about
this hope as Ron and I were thirteen years ago when we stumbled upon
Spring Training. Let us go to the empty tomb and experience hope.
Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!
What are you looking for? Is it hope? Because if it is, I know where
you can find a hope that never disappoints. Experience Easter Hope
today.
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Amen.
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