Easter 2010

For my final Easter message at Grace-what could I say that would knock it out of the park, hit a hole in one, transform you into compassionate saints, inspire you to holiness, and elevate my status to priest extraordinaire? Not a darned thing. You see, the Lord did it all. God gets all the glory, and the power to love and grow all comes from Him.

That same power that brought life to the dead body of Jesus Christ in a cave can bring life to us, even when we feel like we are dying with our struggles, with our own brokenness, with all our disappointments and even when our bodies are broken and withering. That is what Easter is all about.

Paul put it like this, when he was writing to a little group of believers. How unbelievably great is His power (That is God's power.) to help those who believe in Him, (That could be you and me. How unbelievably great is His power to help those who will trust Him, who will call on Him) the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead. (Ephesians 1:19-20)

That power can change ordinary people like you and like me. I believe it to the core of my being. And I believe that it is the only hope for humanity.

But Jesus wasn't the first in His family to end up in a cave.

His great grand-daddy, 28 generations earlier found life in a cave too. His name was David.

When David was young, he was a hero. With a slingshot, he killed an 8 foot giant named Goliath. He was a war hero too. Then David became a rock-star. He was such a talented musician that he had a full-time gig at the palace, playing for the king.

David, the sweet shepherd boy, the war hero, was living the life of Mr. Popular. He had it all. He lived in a palace. He had wealth, power, and fame. They even wrote songs and chants about him, "Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed 10 thousands."

He was the golden boy, but suddenly, all of that was gone from him. The king and his army were chasing him. He's got no money, no home, no friends, no job. To make things even more desperate, his mentor Samuel was dead. David was running for his life

He ended up in a cave. He was far from the applause and far from His friends. It was a just an ordinary cave , a cave of the doomed. Kind of like Jesus. Away from the fame of Palm Sunday, dried blood from his head, his hands, his feet, and his side. Doomed. Alone. And in cave with a huge boulder rolled across the entry so that no one could even see his dead body.
So now let's talk about the cave. Each one of us has found ourselves in a dark cave at one time or another.

The cave is where you end up when all your support is stripped away. The cave is where you feel like there is no hope: all of the things that prop you up is gone. The cave is where you end up when you thought you were going to have a great life, do great things, have a great family, only to realize that all your hopes have turned to dust. As you sit surrounded by darkness, it is clear that things will not work out the way you dreamed. A cave is a place where dreams and hope go to die.

Jesus, the One who would restore Israel to be a mighty nation? In a cave. Jesus, the possible Messiah, who would bring about the kingdom of God. On a stone slab, in a stone cave. What about the man who taught, healed, and fed the hungry? He was as dead as a doornail, in a place where there wasn't even a door.
Anybody here ever make a bad decision? You find yourself asking: How did I ever end up here? I had such bright hopes. I had such strong dreams. They were really good. But what happened? Where did things go wrong? How did I end up here?

The cave can be a place of remorse. It can be related to something bad that happened to you. The cave can be a health issue with you or somebody you love. Maybe you find yourself alone. Maybe you have betrayed some values or some one. A cave is a place where the air is thick with disappointment, regret, failure, of fear.
And you wonder, "Does anybody out there hear me?" What about God? Has He lost track of you. Does He know that I'm here in this cave? Will I ever be anywhere else? Will I die in here?

It's a funny thing. Nobody plans on ending up in a cave, but sooner or later everybody is going to log some time in a cave.
Maybe you have never been there. If not, Easter can be all about bunnies and colored eggs and Peeps. But here is why Easter is so, so special. God does some of His best work in the cave.

It is where He takes death, and makes life. In the middle of the darkness, God begins molding re-shaping human lives.

I do not fully understand why or how God waits until we are in the cave to show His power. Maybe it is because when we still have our props, our crutches, our awards and our achievements, we still believe that we can get out of this somehow. Those extra things get in the way of letting God work. But when all is stripped away that is when we cannot hide behind anything else. Without anything to hide behind, that's when we come face to face with the Lord. That's when we discover that all we really have is God. And you realize that God is enough. So the cave is where God does His best work because it is the only place we will let Him work and trust Him completely.

When I ask people to look back on their lives to see what made them grow spiritually, there is one answer that is number one. That answer is , that it was during times of suffering. It was cave times. Times they met God to depend solely on Him.

That brings me to me second point. When it gets the darkest in the cave, you are still not alone.

Let me use Jesus' Papa one more time as an example. Later in life, David and his new army established a community in a village called Ziklag. When they come back from battle they have a refuge there with their wives and kids. You know, a place to come home from work where you can watch Dancing With the Stars. But one day the warriors returned home to find Ziklag in flames and Momma and the kids gone, carried off by the Amalekites. David himself lost his family.

So all the soldiers cried until there were no tears left and then they decided to process their grief in more positive and constructive ways. They blamed David and decided to stone him to death. That's what you call a bad day at work. That's pretty much a cave time: your family has been kidnapped and the only one who can help you get them back wants to kill you.

And then comes one of the most amazing verses in the Bible. It's just one little phrase. We don't find out much of what's behind it, but: David found strength in the Lord his God. (1 Samuel 30:6b)

Even when things look their worst, David knew that the Lord was with him. He sought out God's guidance and got all of their families and possessions back.

He wasn't alone because God was with Him. Jesus wasn't alone in the tomb because His Father hadn't left Him. We are not alone in the darkness because the Lord has not abandoned us. He is right there….calling, us to turn and embrace Him. When David was alone with God he had the strength of an army. When Jesus was alone with God in the tomb He had the power to conquer death. When we are alone with the Lord, He will become our strength and power. The Lord will give us victory. With Him, we cannot be defeated by the circumstances of the cave. Like Jesus, we can pass from death to life.

It turns out that God understands all about caves. It turns out that caves are why He sent Jesus. Where did Jesus body end up? Where do we end up when we lose everything? In a cave. But never forget that God does His best work in caves and when you find yourself there, you are not alone.

The cave is where God resurrects dead stuff. The cave is where God calls to life what the world calls dead. When the disciples finally learned that, they kept saying, Jesus is ALIVE. THE LORD HAS RISEN!

That bring me to my final point. Jesus can bring light to even our darkest caves. Now that does not mean that all their problems went away. In David's case, he still had 2 wives. In Jesus' case, He still had to deal with the 11 disciples who still didn't quite get it.

Imagine how you would feel if you were one of the 11. On one hand there was great wonder and joy because He had risen from the dead. Then there was the shame or the Uh Oh factor. I wonder if the Lord is mad because I ran away? I can hear the excuses now, "Uh Jesus. I nevah run away. I was looking for aspirin cause I knew you were bust up." "Uh, Jesus. I really didn't abandon you. It was the Passover lamb. It didn't set well in my stomach and when I came back from the bathroom, you were gone." Or "Uh, Jesus. I was chasing that rat Judas. But before I got to him, he ditched me. Looked for you at the upper room. Look, I even got the towel back from the foot washing." "The rooster crowed? What rooster. I didn't hear no rooster!"

But as we know, the love of Jesus forgave them and cut through their shame and excuses. The light of Christ may shine so brightly that it highlights our failings, but the love of Christ is even stronger and forgives us.

In some ways, all of their problems were just beginning. Because they carried the light of Christ, they would travel around the world. Most of them would give up their lives for Him. But what's remarkable is they did it with joy. The light and love of Jesus helps us as we set a new course to get out of the cave.

And that brings us to Easter 2010.
We are people who end up in caves. But the Lord never intended us to dwell or live in caves.

Too often we think, I'll just stay here in this cave. I think I will try and figure out how to get out of here without God's help. Or I think I will just complain about what an unfair thing my particular cave is. Or I give up. I will always be stuck in this cave.

Or you can stop and realize that God does His best work in caves. When it gets the darkest in the cave, you are still not alone. Jesus can bring light to even our darkest caves.

And you can turn to Jesus, and begin to live with God's power, so strong that even death cannot turn it off. You can live with that power -power to be forgiven, power to be loved, power to have meaning, power to grow, power to move beyond the darkness of the cave. And be filled with so much joy that when you get to see Him face to face you can say: Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Lord. The caved save my life. For in that cave, you opened my eyes and I saw Jesus. Amen.

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