John 20:30-31, Luke 1:1-4 Luke 22:14-20 A Story Worth Telling

Theological Proposition/Focus: The story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is a story worth telling. We need to make sure we remember that it all really happened.

Christ Focus: The events of Jesus' life demonstrate His identity as the Messiah and the significance of His sacrifice for humanity.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: We must not only remember these events but also reflect on their implications for our lives and our relationship with Christ.

Introduction:

You may have heard the phrase "seeing is believing." Maybe it is not completely true, but there is something about seeing that really helps.

As we go into Easter at Southview, we enter the busiest season of ministry, and sometimes I think it is easy for us to forget that what we are doing is portraying actual events.

The events we portray in this Day of Resurrection really happened, and more importantly, they change everything. The world is different because of these events nearly 2000 years ago.

We all know this, but sometimes we need a reminder.

Setting the Stage:

Today we are going to move around a little bit. The main goal is to be reminded of the Easter story and prepare our hearts for this season in the life of our church.

Body

Key Events Matter — John sought to highlight specific events that would encourage belief (John 20:30-31).

We don't know everything that happened in the life of Jesus (30).

Image: Biographies are often long books. 'My American Journey', one of Colin Powell's autobiographies, is 688 pages long.

'My American Journey', one of Colin Powell's autobiographies, is 688 pages long. Powell is certainly a great man and accomplished a lot in his life, but Powell is not even comparable to Christ, and I suspect there is a lot of Powell's life missing in the 688 pages of his autobiography. In John 20:30 we see that what we have captured in the Gospels is only a snapshot of all Christ did.

I have read that 40% of the text of the Gospels is devoted to the Passion Week. If we assume Jesus lived on Earth for 33 years, then that is 1,706 weeks, which means 40% of what we know about Jesus occurred in less than 0.1% of his life. There is a lot that Jesus did for which we simply do not know.

Matthew devoted 33 percent of his Gospel to the final week of Jesus' life, Mark 37 percent, Luke 25 percent, and John 42 percent.

Bruce A. Demarest

I think that at times, because we only have a small portion of the life of Christ recorded for us, we forget that everything recorded in the Gospels really happened and was part of a life really lived and people who really interacted with God in human flesh.

Easter is a pivotal event in history, and so it takes on this almost unreal, supernatural significance, whereby sometimes I think we forget that it really happened.

We don't know everything that happened in the life of Jesus, but that shouldn't diminish the realism of the key events that did happen.

What we do know was written with intentionality that we might come to believe Jesus is God's Messiah (31).

I really love verse 31 of John 20 because it explains how John made his decisions, of course, under the superintendence of the Holy Spirit. John chose to highlight events that demonstrate who Jesus is.

John does this with a two-part statement. First, these things were done so that we would believe. But what is it that we are to believe?

The answer to the "what" question is also important. What do you believe about Jesus?

• Jesus is the Messiah.
• That is the anointed, foretold one of God who would bring deliverance.
• Jesus is the Son of God.
• That is, Jesus is God, equal with God.

John set out to prove who Jesus is. Something to consider: how do you demonstrate who Jesus is? By talking about Jesus. By letting people get to know Jesus through the stories about Jesus. I am convinced that no set of evidence or presuppositions will convince someone of Jesus. The way to know Jesus is by knowing the stories about Jesus.

Second, these things were done so that we might have life!

Once you know Jesus, you begin to come face to face with a reality: Jesus offers life. Real life.

So, here is what I want you to do. Take a minute, look at the stage, then I want you to close your eyes and listen as we recall one story of Jesus. Place yourself in the story. Your goal in this moment is to get to know Jesus so that you might believe that he is the Messiah, the Son of God.

Image:

Nathan: "Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.'"

Jesus: "I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God."

Nathan: "How can someone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!"

Jesus: "The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven."

Nathan: "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.

Jesus: "You are Israel's teacher and do not understand these things? For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it but to save it."

Visuals Help — Nathaniel reminds us that seeing the works of Jesus can open our eyes (John 1:43-51).

Seeing what Jesus did leads us to believe (50-51).

In order to really understand this passage, we probably should back up a little.

Nathaniel was impressed because he had personally seen Jesus do the seemingly impossible. We don't know exactly what happened, but I imagine that maybe Nathaniel was sitting and meditating on the Scripture. Perhaps Nathaniel was in a posture of confession or something else personal with God. When Jesus tells Nathaniel that he saw him, it convinces Nathaniel that there is something special about this Jesus.

The life and actions of Jesus are nothing short of extraordinary. In fact, independent of religious affiliation, almost every scholar will have to admit that Jesus was a real person and that he catalyzed change on a global scale.

Jesus told Nathaniel that he believed because he had seen something simple, but what he was going to be part of would blow that away. Remember, John wrote that we might believe.

We need to spend time looking at what Jesus did in order that we might see and believe. But don't let it stop there. In verse 51, Jesus told Nathaniel that he was going to see far more. And Nathaniel did; the miracles given in the Gospels are truly amazing, but it didn't end there.

Jesus has ascended to Heaven, but His work continues here and now (John 14:12).

Take a second and think about what it must have been like as Jesus told his disciples that he was leaving.

Image:

Jesus: "I will be with you only a little longer. Where I am going you cannot come. A new commandment I give you: that you love one another as I have loved you. By this all men will know that you are my disciples."

• Long pause*

Jesus: "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."

• Long pause*

Jesus: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

• Long pause*

Jesus: "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching."

But in leaving, Jesus did not leave us without his work. Look at John 14:12: "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

Jesus departed but sent the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Holy Spirit accomplishes much. Look at:

• 2 Corinthians 3:18: "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

• Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law."

• John 16:13: "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."

• Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

• Romans 8:26-27: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God."

• John 16:8: "When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment."

• Romans 8:15-16: "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him, we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children."

We don't have the opportunity to see the physical presence of Jesus today, but that doesn't mean we cannot still see Jesus at work.

Seeing the ongoing work of Jesus can really open our eyes.

The phrase "seeing is believing" is significant, but in the here and now, we no longer have the opportunity to see Jesus in bodily form.

We need to look at conviction of sin, instruction, peace, and relationship—all as evidences of the work of Jesus today.

One Particular Memorial Deserves Your Full Attention — Jesus told us exactly how to memorialize His work (Luke 22:14-20).

Remember — Jesus had and desired deep relationship with His own (14-18).

When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we often focus our attention on the crucifixion, and that is appropriate, but today I want us to focus just a little more on the upper room. Why? Because I think we often forget that these were real people with real relationships, real feelings, real joys, and real hurts.

In verse 15 of Luke 22, we read that Jesus told his disciples that he had eagerly desired to eat this particular Passover with them. Generally, people believe Jesus was probably somewhere around 33 at the time of the crucifixion. This means that Jesus had celebrated Passover many, many times before, but something special was happening here. This would be the last time that Jesus would celebrate the Passover in its anticipatory form.

What do I mean by that? From the very beginning, the Passover was both a celebration of what had happened and a future-looking anticipation of what would happen. Jesus has spent probably three years fulfilling prophecy and preparing for this most significant week in history, and those who have been with him through thick and thin are here now.

I am not advocating that we make our Easter Drama a three-year drama, but I do want to point out the significance of spending three years together.

As we celebrate the Lord's Supper, I want us to understand the deep relationships that we are called to be part of. This is not just acquaintances having dinner together!

Let me point something out to you: in verse 17, Jesus indicates to the disciples that they are all going to be partaking of his cup. Remember, this is a meal that was prepared ahead of time. They all had their own cups, but Jesus here is preparing them by telling them they will all be partaking of his cup.

In the culture of the time, drinking from the cup of someone else was a symbolic gesture by which someone entered into deep communion with the individual, so much so that they identified with the person's destiny, good or bad.

Remember, Jesus wants relationship with you!

Remember — Christ sacrificed His life for you (19).

As the meal comes to a close, the most profound event takes place. Jesus takes the bread and breaks it, stating this is his body. Remember the setting; they are all at dinner, and Jesus had already warned them that they were drinking from his cup. The disciples would have known that the bread had not literally become his body, but what they saw next would be most intriguing. As Jesus breaks the bread, he announces that his body likewise is given to them.

At that moment, I doubt any of them understood exactly what was happening, but they were used to that by now. What they would have understood was that Jesus was teaching them another lesson.

The command is clear: this is what Jesus asked his disciples to do as a means of remembering him.

Remember — Christ poured out His blood in order to secure real life for you (20).

After having distributed the bread, Jesus moves on to the cup. The cup, Jesus associated with his blood. I do want you to notice something: Jesus does not associate the wine in the cup with his blood but the cup itself. This is significant; Jews were averse to drinking blood. This is not a magical transformation whereby the wine, or juice in our case, becomes blood! No, this is a representation.

The blood of Jesus was poured out on the cross. Now think about the significance. During the Passover, a lamb was slain, and the blood was placed on the top and sides of the door. This blood resulted in God's wrath passing over a particular house. While the Mosaic covenant was more than just the Passover, the symbolism of the Passover would have encapsulated much.

Now Jesus institutes a New Covenant. This New Covenant is discussed in Jeremiah 31:31-34: "The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the Lord. "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the Lord. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

This covenant emphasized God's forgiveness of sin as purchased by the sacrificial offering of Christ.

But here is the thing I want us to consider: there are more blessings to come, but we are in the already, not yet. The New Covenant has been instituted, if not fully in place. Jesus is not on the earthly throne, but he is king and has provided the Holy Spirit.

Passover and the Lord's Supper are deeply connected, as the former foreshadows the latter. Passover, instituted in Exodus 12, commemorates Israel's deliverance from Egypt through the blood of the lamb applied to the doorposts, sparing them from judgment. It was a covenant meal reminding Israel of God's salvation. The Lord's Supper, instituted by Jesus during a Passover meal (Luke 22:14-20), fulfills its meaning by presenting Christ as the true Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). Just as the blood of the lamb saved Israel from physical death, Christ's blood brings eternal salvation. While Passover looked back to the Exodus, the Lord's Supper looks back to Christ's sacrifice and forward to His return. Both involve remembrance, but the Lord's Supper is the new covenant meal, emphasizing Christ's ultimate redemption and the believer's communion with Him.

MTR: Remember Jesus as we celebrate the Lord's Supper.

The Lord's Supper is a form of proclamation regarding Christ's death. While Christians have debated much on the Lord's Supper, there is consensus that the Lord's Supper represents the meaning of Christ's sacrifice. According to Paul, participating in this ritual serves as a declaration of faith, reminding believers of the importance of self-examination and unity within the church. Those who partake without proper discernment risk judgment, as the act symbolizes both a remembrance of Christ's death and a commitment to fellowship among believers. Additionally, the Lord's Supper looks forward to the future return of Christ, reinforcing its dual role as a remembrance of the past and a hopeful anticipation of what is to come. Overall, it serves as a vital expression of faith and community among Christians.