Ron Dunn Podcast - Missing The Point (Ron Dunn Podcast)

Episode Date: January 6, 2021

Ron Dunn continues his sermon series "Gathering Storm"

It's good to be back. Those of you that are familiar with me, I get lost behind that thing, so I'm out here. And those that have been here before know that I have to drink water while I'm preaching. I apologize for that, but there's nothing worse than a dry preacher. And so I have this condition that keeps me dehydrated, so I have to drink water while I'm doing it. And the only other side effect is I have no sense of time. And so I just drink until the water runs dry. They've got two glasses up there for me. But anyway, it's a joy to be back in your church

and to be back in Grand Rapids and get to remember my fellowship with your pastor and the others and Brother Jim and others on the staff and those of you that I've had the privilege of fellowshipping with before. It's been a joy and we look forward to it. My wife, concerning May 30 service, she said, well, I'm tired and I've heard you. I'll be there at 11. And so here she is. She'll be here at the 11 o'clock service. I tried to get her to come this morning to the 8.30 service and

give her testimony. But she said, I don't have a testimony at 8.30 in the morning. And so that was that. Well, I want you to open your Bibles this morning to the Gospel of John, chapter 20. The Gospel of John, chapter 20. And I want to kind of walk through a passage with you this morning that has meant a great deal to me in the last few months. We'll read verses 10 through 18. The Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 10 through 18. Then the disciples went back to their homes. But Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, Woman, why are you crying? They have taken away my Lord, she said, and I don't know where they have put him. At this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. Woman, he said, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him. Then Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, Rebbi, which means teacher. Jesus said, Do not hold on to me, for I have yet to return to the Father. Go and sit to my brothers and tell them I am returning to my Father and your Father,

to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news, I have seen the Lord. And she told them that he had said these things to her. I remember some years ago I was in a church. I was doing noon services, speaking from Psalm 37. And after I finished one day, a man in the church came up to me and I was expecting a compliment, I guess, or something. And I wasn't expecting what he said. He said, you know, preacher, you missed the whole point of that passage.

And so the pastor heard that, and once in a while he writes me a little note that says, you missed the whole point. And I guess it is easy sometimes for us to miss the whole point. As a matter of fact, that's what Mary Magdalene did. When she came to the tomb and saw the empty tomb that morning, she missed the whole point. And it's interesting to realize that the first person who saw the risen Lord didn't recognize it. Now she had known Jesus, had seen him on other occasions, but this morning,

on this first Easter Sunday morning, she did not recognize it. She looked into the tomb, supposing to find the body of Jesus there, but all she saw were angels. Interesting how the angels didn't seem to startle her or scare her, nor did they cause her to stop weeping. The angels wouldn't satisfy her. Seeing the angels were not enough, she was looking for the body of her Lord,

and she failed to recognize it when she saw it. I think we need to pretty much put ourselves besides Mary because she is typical of a great many of us. How we fail to see Jesus. And sometimes we're looking straight at him. We still fail to see him. And we miss the whole point of that empty tomb. So there needed to come to Mary that day, as I think there needs to come to all of us,

a new recognition, a new revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll notice that it was only when he spoke her name, and there's no way that you and I can reproduce that name. First of all, he said, woman, why are you weeping? And that meant nothing to her. But then when he spoke her name, Mary, immediately the scales fell from her eyes, and she recognized that it was Jesus.

Now, how is it that she missed the whole point of that empty tomb? Instead of seeing the empty tomb and rejoicing and singing her hallelujahs, she wept. And her grief was so great that the Greek word when it says that she wept means it was a loud and long lament. And she was terribly upset. And she lamented long and loud, as was the custom among those Jews of the day.

And she said, Lord, where have you laid the body of my Lord? Tell me and I will go and get him. Of course, her enthusiasm got a little bit better of her. I don't know how that woman could have carried the body of the Lord, especially with all the spices that were on that body. But anyway, in her enthusiasm, she wasn't thinking clearly.

Why? Because she had missed the whole point. I'd like to share with you this morning why it is that sometimes we miss the whole point of the resurrection. And why we fail to see Jesus as He really is. There are several reasons. One has been suggested that she couldn't see Jesus through her tears.

Or that she was so overcome with grief, so overcome with sadness that her eyes were filled with tears and she could not see Jesus through her tears. That is one suggestion. And I think it is a valid suggestion. Sometimes it is hard for us to see Jesus when our eyes are filled with tears. Sometimes it is hard for us to see Jesus when our hearts are breaking. Sometimes when circumstances have turned against us and our life seems to be going down the tube, it's hard for us to see Jesus in all of that. And so actually Mary did some unnecessary weeping

because she was weeping over the fact that the body of the Lord was gone, that Jesus was absent, that he was still dead, and she didn't know where he was, and her weeping was unnecessary. And I think there are times that our weeping, even though it may be great and heavy and long, may be unnecessary. If we could see the truth through our tears, we might understand that much of our grief is really unnecessary. But it is hard for people who have suddenly undergone some tragedy. It is hard for people whose life has not turned out the way they expected. It is difficult for people whose life seems to be a tangled

mass of threads. It is difficult for them to see Jesus because they become so absorbed with the tears of their life that the tears form a kind of veil through which we cannot see the Lord Jesus. There's another reason suggested why we cannot see Jesus when he's standing right there in front of us, and that's because oftentimes we're looking in the wrong direction. We're turned in the wrong way. The Bible says she had to turn around to see Jesus. She couldn't see him because she was turned in the wrong direction. And there is a sense in which many of us live our lives turned in the wrong direction, looking in some other direction

to try to find peace and looking in some other direction to try to find solace, to try to find strength. We look to the world and we look to the success of the world and we're looking for friends or we're looking for society or we're looking for the politician or we're looking for the sociologist or we're looking for the experts of our age to somehow to make sense out of our lives, and we're looking in the wrong direction. And for joy sometimes and happiness,

we're looking in the way, direction of the world. We think somehow that the world has the answer to all of our problems, and that if we could somehow lose ourselves in the world. When I flew up yesterday, by the way, I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to be anywhere. It took us from nine in the morning until about nine last night to get here. And it was bad weather and all the way, or practically all the way. And so we had a wonderful time. My clothes did not arrive with me.

Luckily, I bought a pair, brought a pair of clean blue jeans, but the clothes did arrive this morning, and so I stand before you fully dressed, and then, well, I don't know, I started saying a sound nine, but I will let that go, but I'll let you be the deciders of that. But anyway, where was I? Somebody keep my place place yes right uh uh flying up on the plane yesterday and there was two young men sitting over from us and they were already you know pretty happy and uh but they had engaged the the stewardess in conversation the flight attendant conversation it came out i just happened over here of course well you didn't have to eavesdrop i mean you know they were letting everybody know but uh they were flying from Cincinnati up here to Grand Rapids just to go to a bar.

I mean, that's the only reason they were flying up there, just to go to a bar owned by their cousin, and they were going to party, you know. Well, and they were expecting to have a good time. And as a matter of fact, they already were having a good time. I'd hate to be in their place this morning, and he'll feel their headache and all of that. But there are a lot of people who feel like that if they can just somehow find their fill in the world and fill themselves with the booze of the world and the drugs of the world and all of the pleasures of the world, that they'll find whatever they're looking for. And most people can't see Jesus because they're looking in the wrong direction for him. They'll never see him until they turn around and stop looking in that

direction. They'll never see him until they realize that they're turned the wrong way and they must turn to him before they can ever see him. But there's a third reason I think Mary missed the whole point, third reason why we fail to see Jesus. That's because she was looking for a corpse instead of a living body, living Lord. And here again, many of us have to take our stand. She went to that tomb. Now, if Jesus had been laying in that tomb,

she would have been satisfied. Still grieving, still sad that he was dead, but she would have been satisfied. Her weeping here is not because Jesus is dead. Her weeping here is because the body is missing. She has nothing tangible to hold on to. And so she's looking for the body, and she says to the gardener,

which was really Jesus, she said, if you've taken him somewhere, tell me where and I'll go get him. In other words, if I can just possess the corpse, if I can just possess the corpse, if I can just believe that there was a Jesus on this earth at one time, then I'll be happy. But I want to tell you this morning,

I'm glad she didn't find what she was looking for. If she had found what she was looking for, none of us would be here this morning. There would be no resurrection. There would be no resurrection. There would be no Easter. Listen, it's not always a bad thing when you don't find what you're looking for. Sometimes, the best thing that can happen to you is when you fail to find what you're looking for. I think that many of us today don't look for a living Lord

I wonder how many of you this morning came into this service and you expected to meet the living Lord or did you come to celebrate a Jesus who used to be a Jesus who once walked on this earth a Jesus who once walked on this earth, a Jesus who once arose again but is long gone now into heaven.

I'm afraid that the trouble with much of our worship as we gather together on a Sunday morning is we're still worshiping a dead Jesus for all practical matters. Oh, we wouldn't call him dead, but we would say that he is far removed from us and uninvolved in the lives that we live. And actually, we're looking for a corpse

instead of a living Lord. I noticed in the paper coming up yesterday strange things like this are always happening down in, you're performing an investigation down in New Orleans. I wonder if you read this in the paper. But there was a Catholic church and the priest took an old wafer, I don't know what he was doing, but he took an old wafer and he dropped it in the holy water to let it kind of, you know,

I guess get soggy. And he left it there for two or three days and lo and behold it had come to turn to human flesh. It had turned into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Still looking for the wrong relationship to Jesus. You know, there's an interesting statement that the Lord makes in this. It has a lot to say to us. He says in verse 17, do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. The Greek idea there is stop clinging to me. It was a prohibition to stop something that was already in progress. And of course, when Mary

saw her Lord, I can just imagine her falling at his feet and wrapping her arms around his feet. And Jesus said, don't hang on to me. Don't hang on to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Now what's he saying here? What he's saying is merely the old relationships that we had, the old relationship of sense and smell and touch and sound and taste, those things no longer exist, but now there is a new relationship with us, a spiritual relationship between us. The old relationship is gone.

With this new revelation comes a new relationship. That's why Paul could say, henceforth we know no man after the flesh. We know the man after the spirit. Now folks, our relationship to Jesus Christ is not based upon finding the bones of Peter,

or finding shwards of the cross, or finding the shroud of Terran, or worshiping some Jesus that used to be, who is still on some cross somewhere. Oh no, that's the worship of Mary. No, we're looking for a corpse instead of a living Lord. And I think sometimes when we pray if we really analyze our praying and we're honest with our hearts we'd be praying to a Lord that we don't really believe is alive and active in the affairs of our hearts today there's a new relationship that we have with Jesus

it's no more after the flesh it doesn't consist in things it doesn't consist in physical and material things. It consists in a spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And it doesn't matter if you come here this morning and sit on this pew and listen to this music and worship in this physical building. If that's the far and extent to which your relationship with God goes this day,

you have not worshiped. Not only do you come here in this physical place, but you come here to meet a spiritual Lord and to meet a living Lord. And I wonder this morning if you are seeing a living Lord or if you're still just looking for some historical Jesus that used to be. But I think there's a final reason that we sometimes miss the point and that we fail to see Jesus. Now, when she saw those two angels, that should have told her something. It's amazing how we miss the obvious. I tell you, you know, when you see those two angels there, that ought to tell you God's around. I mean, would you think that? I would think that God's around.

But the angels didn't make a bit of an impression on her. They just said, woman, who are you looking for? And she turned away from the angels, not fascinated by the angels, not satisfied with the angels. And then she turned to this man whom she's supposed to be the gardener. And she said, Lord, they have taken my Lord, and I know not where they lay him. You see, she thought the whole dilemma was between her and other people. And it was somebody else that had taken the Lord. It was somebody else's hand that had caused this mysterious disappearance to come to place.

She never considered that it was God. She never considered that it was God. The missing body of Jesus, the only explanation had to be somebody had taken him away. It never occurred to her that Jesus himself might have taken himself away. Sometimes the clouds grow dark in our life because we fail to see God in the midst of the circumstances.

We fail to see God's hand as he is working in the various circumstances of our lives. Now you need to do something, friend, in your everyday life, and that is to always look for the hidden hand of God. Always look for the hidden hand of God. All Mary could see is what she thought men had done all she could see was an empty tomb all she could see was a missing body

if she had looked beyond that and could have seen and recognized the hand of God in that and taken God into account there would never have been any tears and recognized the hand of God in that and taken God into account, there would never have been any tears shed in her life. I wonder this morning as you look at your life

and you see all the things that are happening in your life, and I'm talking about the unhappy things, the sad things, the disasters that you're going through, the difficulties that you're going through. I just wonder this morning,

have you missed the whole point? Are you able to look beyond the immediate and see the hand of God in it? Do you not realize that the hand of God is always working? It's unseen and invisible. And so you give it no account. We take all the circumstances of our life and we calculate them, but we do not put God into our calculations, and that's why there comes the grief and the tears and the heartache and the lack of hope, because we do not put God into our calculations. The next time you sit down and you figure out all the circumstances of your life, why

don't you include God into your calculations? It'll make the outcome a lot different. Well, there was a new recognition with Mary, and there was a new relationship with Jesus, and then finally there was a new responsibility given to her. Now notice what Jesus said to her. He said, don't hang on to me. Don't try to hang on to me,

but rather, go instead to my brethren and tell them I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. And Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news. I have seen the Lord, and she told them that he had said these things to her. Now, here's an interesting thing. Here is a Mary who is wanting to cling to Jesus.

Naturally, she doesn't want to leave Jesus' presence. And she's clinging to him. And Jesus said, let me go, don't cling to me, because I've not yet ascended to my Father. There's a new relationship that we have, and it's not based on the old relationship of physical touch and seeing and all of that. He said there's going to be a new spiritual relationship now.

Now that you know that, don't cling to me, but I want you to run and go and tell your brethren that you have seen the Lord. She has a new responsibility. And that is to go and to shout the good news that Jesus Christ is risen. And to say, I have seen the Lord. And if you and I get the point of the resurrection at all, it'll be that we are to share others that the Lord is risen,

that we have seen the Master. I know He's alive. The old song says, I know He lives because He lives in my heart. But I tell you, people who come to church and worship God on Easter and they talk about the resurrected Lord and they go out and never mention it to anybody, they've missed the whole point. They've missed the whole point.

I've always thought the resurrection had to be one of the saddest days of Jesus' life. And why is that? Because not a single person was there to meet him when he arose. I mean, he had told them he was going to rise. Even Mary remembered the words after the angels had won. But they'd all forgotten. They didn't believe. And it says in our reading in Luke this morning that Peter, when he saw that,

he puzzled over these things. It never occurred to him that the Lord had risen. He puzzled over these things. What's happened? What's happened? What's happened? Can you imagine the disappointment that must have come to the Lord when he comes out of that grave on Easter Sunday morning, the greatest act of human history,

and there's not a single person to meet him? Why? Because nobody believed in him. They missed the whole point. They missed the whole point. My prayer this morning is that we will not miss the point of the resurrection. The point of the resurrection is that we have a new recognition of Jesus we have a new relationship with him

we have a new responsibility and that's to tell others the Ron Dunn podcast is available only for personal edification not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web or resold without prior written consent it is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church Thank you. scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.