Sermons Preached In Moody Texas

Moody First United Methodist Church

Mark 16:1-8 (NRSV)

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Many of you remember the TV series, “The A-Team.” Hannibal, Face, B. A. Baracus, and Murdock. They were always there to save the day. I enjoyed that series, partly because every episode included “engineering” a way to defeat their enemy out of whatever was at hand. It was a popular show because the good guys always overcame evil. There was more shooting and explosions than you could imagine and never–never did anyone die.

The shows all followed the same story line. Someone had a problem with bad people and called the A-Team. The A-Team would swing into actions, overcoming the forces of evil. Then something would happen and the bad guys would get the upper hand. They would appear to be defeated. (That sounds a lot like the story we heard last week from Palm Sunday through Good Friday.)

Well this is the point that Hannibal would announce he had a plan. The rest of the A-Team would then moan that Hannibal was “on the jazz.” The A-team would exercise the plan, good would overcome evil, and Hannibal would stick a cigar in his mouth and announce, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

As I mentioned last week, when Jesus entered Jerusalem the people waving the palm branches had a plan. Their plan was Jesus overthrowing the Romans–Jesus being a “one man A-Team.” Yes, they had a plan, but God had a different plan. Jesus would be arrested, tortured, and crucified. The one who was to redeem Israel was buried. He was dead. What kind of plan was that! On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday God’s plan didn’t sound all that great. No one was shouting, “I love it when God’s plan comes together.”

All hope was lost. The people needed hope. Have we ever felt that we need hope? If God’s plan was to bring hope, something needed to happen.

Ralph Sockman reminds us in Christianity Today that something happened on Easter Day which made Christ more alive on the streets of Jerusalem forty days after his crucifixion than on the day of His Triumphal Entry. The plan of the people might have lasted forty days but the church which was founded on a Risen Christ, God’s plan, has lasted for twenty centuries, producing generations of hope filled people. Endnote

The Good Friday service in Dampara Baptist Church, Chittagong, Bangladesh, was packed. Little children sat on the floor in the aisles and across the front of the church. Rows of people stood in the back, craning their necks to see the crucifixion scene as depicted in the “Jesus Film.”

Weeping and gasps of unbelief could be heard in the shocked hush as Jesus was crucified. As the Bengalis watched, they were feeling the agony of Jesus’ pain and the disappointment of the disciples.

In that emotional moment, one young boy in the crowded church suddenly cried out, “Do not be afraid. He gets up again! I saw it before.”

A small boy’s encouraging cry gave new hope to the viewers of the film. “He is risen!” is the cry that gives new hope to all. Endnote So God’s plan came together with resurrection. Hannibal always said, “I love it when a plan comes together.” We simply shout, “He is risen!”

He is risen! Yes, God’s plan came together in resurrection. Or did it?

My friend, Billy Strayhorn, posts his sermons on his website. This morning, Billy is sharing with the congregation in Joshua this Chuck Colson story. In 1992, the Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl with an explosive victory over the Buffalo Bills. Seventy five thousand people gathered on the mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument to cheer their team and Coach. Four days later, Chuck Colson called the Redskins’ office to see if any football players could attend a rally at a prison the next day. Many of the players had given their life to Christ. Joe Gibbs the head coach answered the phone and told Colson that all the players had left the city for a well-deserved rest. With his characteristic humility, Joe Gibbs asked Colson, “Will I do?”

Colson immediately accepted the offer by the coach of the championship Washington Redskins. Five days after winning the Super Bowl, Joe Gibbs could have opened any door in Washington DC but he was willing to walk behind the locked steel doors of the penitentiary for the District of Columbia to speak to men about his faith in Christ.

Joe Gibbs stood up to speak to the cheers, whistles and applause of 500 prisoners five days after he had won the most prestigious event in pro sports. He told those men:

“A lot of people in the world would probably look at me and say: Man, if I could just coach in the Super Bowl, I’d be happy and fulfilled… But I’m here to tell you, it takes something else in your life besides money, position, football, power, and fame. The vacuum in each of our lives can only be filled through a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Otherwise, I’m telling you, we’ll spend the rest of our lives in a meaningless existence. I’ve seen it in football players’ eyes, and I’ve seen it in men who are on their deathbed. There’s nothing else that will fill the vacuum.” Endnote

With resurrection, God’s plan still hasn’t come together. God’s plan can come together only when people like you and me come into a personal relationship with that Risen Christ. If we don’t accept Jesus as our savior, if we don’t live differently because of his resurrection, if we remain indifferent to what God has done for us in Jesus, then God’s plan of resurrection is not enough. God’s plan cannot come together if it has no transforming meaning in our life. So God’s plan comes together with our response to resurrection. Or does it?

Two thousand two hundred and thirty miles off the coast of South America and more than one thousand miles from its nearest neighbor island, Easter Island lies isolated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It was discovered on Easter Sunday, 1722, by the Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen. Only a few people now live there, but the island is an important navigational aid for aircraft crossing the Pacific. Endnote

Easter Sunday is a spiritual island in the midst a world full of people searching for meaning or something that is missing. Those who are following Christ are also spiritual islands. They are spiritual navigational aids.

Herb Miller in a recent article in the United Methodist Reporter reminds us that “God focuses on lost coins, lost pearls, lost sheep.” He tells us that churches that focus only on the “found” gradually find their buildings empty.

Do you know anyone who lives in or around Moody who don’t show up on Sunday mornings to be resurrected from their crucified existence? Do you know that only about one in eight Moody elementary students know the details related to the birth of Jesus? Do you know that less than half the 20 or so children who attended Kids’ club these last several months attend worship and Sunday school? I think it is safe to say that there are less than 2000 people worshiping today in and around Moody. That means there are more than 2000 people who don’t believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ or the love of God in Jesus Christ is important to them.

There are people all around us fighting to make it through the day that don’t believe Jesus Christ can make a difference in their lives. There are people who feel that life is meaningless because their lives are meaningless. As Joe Gibbs said, without a personal, intimate relationship with the resurrected Christ our lives are meaningless. What do I mean by a personal, intimate relationship? You know! You know the difference between an intimate friend and a casual acquaintance. Is Jesus your intimate friend or a casual acquaintance?

“He is risen!” Resurrection is wonderful, but God’s plan comes together only after we respond to Jesus and invite others to know him in a personal, intimate way.

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