More Than We Could Ask or Imagine

Text: Luke 23:32–24:12

The Empowerment of Easter

As my wife and I were reading the Easter reading plan which were daily Passion week readings which follow the last days of Jesus during the last week of His earthly life, Sara brought up the refrain and ending of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians as an appropriate response to Easter Weekend and all the events of Easter week. My hope is that it would be our response this morning:

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV)

As we catalogue this morning all that Christ did and said in his last week, we will, Lord willing, say, “More than I could have asked or imagined…” Now, what I want us to consider this morning as we read and reflect over the one who does more than we ask of imagine, especially of the ONE who does more than we ask or imagine during Easter week—that the same power at work at Easter time over 2,000 years ago has NOT been lost, but is alive and at work in you, and in me, and in this church!! 

At Easter time, we say: God, you have done more than we could have ever asked for in Christ! And that now, because of HIS Spirit GOD IS doing more than I could have asked for in me and in us!! To you be the glory in Christ, in the church, in all generations and forever and ever. Amen!!

You might say, “Is there a real tie between the power mentioned in this prayer and the Easter power demonstrated in the cross and in the tomb?” Well, let’s look at the same book of Ephesians a couple of chapters earlier: 

“that you may know… what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe (WE ARE EMPOWERED), according (What reservoir/source is it coming from?) to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ when he raised Him from the dead and seated Him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, authority, and power, and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the age to come.” (Ephesians 1:18-21 ESV)

That power that raised a dead corpse this week 2000 years ago is the same power at work in you, this week, 2021!! This is the power that God is exercising toward us and in us to fight sin, to cast away doubt, to love unconditionally, to mature more fully, to forgive more completely, to serve more willingly, to hope more consistently, to give more generously, to befriend more genuinely, and to be married more sacrificially …It's yours and it’s in you!! There is an empowerment that Easter offers and you simply need to be aware of it, apprehend it, leverage it, plug into it, and apply it!!

Where will Easter take us?

As we read and discuss the God man Jesus Christ and the power at work in how he died and how he rose, we hope that it would lead to—

1. a more profound and pure worship (the refrain would echo) and 

2. a more empowered working-out of your salvation. 

We are not a limp, lethargic, and weak little people, but have been given divine power to destroy strongholds, and every argument, and every lofty opinion that has raised itself against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Jesus. And that is precisely why resurrection power is important not just for eternity (it is) but that it’s crucial for you to live as a faithful follower of Jesus TODAY! Easter matters for your eternity and for today! 

Starting with Sunday

They did not find the body

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” (Luke 24:1-3 ESV)

Imagine the setting… Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, are just wanting to do the body of their hoped-for Messiah right. He had been rushed to the tomb late Friday before Sundown because it was against Jewish law to touch a dead corpse on the Sabbath and so Jesus had been concealed in a rocky entombment all Friday night, all Sabbath, Saturday night and they just wanted to honor Him with spices and ointment. 

What happened to Jesus?

They did not find the body of the Lord Jesus… what happened to Him? Was he stolen? (Not likely) Was He not really dead when buried? (Not likely) Were they women just all hallucinating (as well as over 500 witnesses) (probably not). What we must see is that there is not an adequate natural explanation for this. The only adequate, appropriate, likely, explanation taking into account all the evidence is that God did in fact Raise Jesus from the dead. That only a supernatural explanation satisfies all the facts:

• The tomb was empty.

• All the disciples almost immediately changed from a fear and flight mentality to display incredible boldness in preaching that Jesus was alive, even in the face of death and persecution.

• Paul (quite possibly the arch-enemy of Christians everywhere) turned into its greatest proponent, testifying Jesus was alive and visited him personally, and he wrote most of the New Testament.

• Why else would the Gospel authors have included an unbelievable and absurd event in their gospel narratives (that they wanted the world to believe) if it wasn’t true?

• How else could over 500 people testify to seeing Jesus if it didn’t happen?

• If it wasn’t true, then the opponents of Christianity, which was 99.9% of the people of the time would have been, could have simply produced a body and done away with all this nonsense. But they couldn’t. And no one has been able to produce a legitimate explanation opposing Jesus’ resurrection from the dead since, because there isn’t one!! 

Two questions

Now, if we are committed to truth I have two questions for the two type of people that sit among us this morning:

1. First, the Christians…what could you be shown or have verified that if true would make you discount Christianity? That would make you walk away and abandon it once and for all. Do you have an answer for that? You should if you are committed to objective truth and because Christianity is undeniably linked to accurate and a real retelling of history. Meaning if you can disprove the historicity of Jesus or the reality of the resurrection then the apostle Paul says you can treat Christianity as a sham and pity all the Christians you know because they are living in light of lie. 

2. Second, the unbeliever…do you know of something, anything that if it were to happen or be shown to you, you would recount your unbelief and whole-heartedly follow Jesus? If you don’t, then I’m not so sure that you just don’t believe, but that you really don’t want to believe. Or that you are biased against belief. And would it be, that if the data for the resurrection is as lock-tight as it seems to be that maybe, just maybe, you should consider believing. I realize that I am giving you one of the most outlandish, most unbelievable, crazy views that Christians hold and I am conceding to you that you are starting in a position of strength. But this morning does the strength of your position lie in proof against resurrection or just the improbability that it could really happen. Now, I will concede that if there is NO God, it couldn’t happen, but if there is an all-powerful God then supernatural Miracle can defy our natural laws. And if miracles can happen then the resurrection could have. 

He is not here.

“While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:4-5 ESV)

If I’m those women, I am thinking, “what am I seeing? And what are you saying?” In verse 6, what I am saying is that HE IS NOT HERE, BUT HE HAS RISEN! Wait, what did you say? The angel says, “Why are you searching for the living among the dead? He IS NOT HERE, BUT HE HAS RISEN”. And the women stepped back saying, “wait, wait, stop, I was there Friday afternoon, I heard him gasping and saying, ‘Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit’. I saw that spear thrust into His lifeless body and I heard and saw his last breath. Then I was there when that good and righteous man from Arimathea named Joseph took his dead and cold body off the cross, and wrapped it in linen. I saw how he was laid with my own eyes and I just came there to give him a proper burial because most of us were scared for our lives and we left him, and time was running short for the Sabbath, and he didn’t get a proper burial. Please tell me where He is. Kind sir, if you took him would you just tell me where He is?” The angel responds, “HE IS NOT HERE. HE IS RISEN.” Okay, okay, you're serious… I want to believe you, but I need to be honest my heart is shaken, it is filled with some much disappointment and it aches with unmet expectation. If you are lying, or if this is just some dream or joke, please tell me now because I don’t think my heart can take being broken twice. 

The angel responds, “Remember, how he told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered His words. I find it hard to picture what that run back to the apostles to report all they had seen and heard must have been like: the joy, the relief, the hope, the excitement, the news, HE IS RISEN. All the way back, in their hearts and on their lips, “More than I could have asked or imagined, more than I could have asked or imagined, more than I could have asked or imagined”. 

Marveling at what had happened

“and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.” (Luke 24:9-12 ESV)

And Peter, just as the women had, came to the tomb, saw the emptiness and marveled! I wondered what he was marveling at? I can imagine he was marveling at the emptiness, but that he was also marveling at all that had happened on Good Friday. I’m sure as he reflected or as we will reflect now, it’s not hard to argue, that no man lived as Jesus lived on earth: His words, He healings, his miracles, his posture, his actions. No one lived as he did. You could say, “well, Jesus did really well in a comfortable and easy environment where he was in control of most things and most things went his way. BUT let’s squeeze him, put him between a rock and a hard place, let’s really press him, raise his heart rate, bleed Him out, whip him, mock him, embarrass and humiliate him, scream at him, let’s drive metal into his joints, let’s let him feel the wrath the world’s most professional torturers, then let’s have his friends all run out on Him. So, when we squeeze Jesus, not in the most comfortable and safest situations, but in the most intense, ferocious, and tenacious of environments, what will we get? 

Will we be proud? Will we be honored? Will He secure your admiration and respect? Will we be humbled? Will Jesus win you over in those moments and secure your everlasting loyalty? When you squeeze him in those moments, the real moments, you get the real Jesus. Sure, Buddha, Gandhi, Mohammed, Oprah, Joseph Smith have done a lot of good and said a lot of nice-sounding, poetic, culture-affirming, feel-good, flowery statements, and quotations, but what will you get from them when knife is against their throat, when their body is before the fire, when there's a gun in the back of their head, or a whip on their back, or a noose tightening around their neck. You see, them at their best vs. Jesus at his worst—in his harshest and most brutal situations. I want Jesus every time. He shines like the SON that He is in suffering! 

Ending with Good Friday

Let’s take a flyover of the most grieving and Good Friday the world has ever known:

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do?” 

All respect has been lost. He is being executed between two other villains. He has been declothed, disrespected, denounced, stared at by those who either hate you or those who just don’t care. He is surrounded by these two types of people. Those who love watching him die and those who can’t wait for him to die so that they can move on with their lives. Occasionally, He sees a passerby who doesn’t even know him and He makes eye contact with the ones who love Him but in their sadness He can see their disappointment in him. This was a horrible hill to be on that day! We know from another gospel He felt so alone - very good chances are that His mother is only mentioned because Jesus has lost his earthly father as a teenager and he’s not there. We know that He will soon cry out to His Heavenly Father, “My God why have you forsaken ME.” As he clothes Himself in sin, God the Father will pull away and Jesus will feel the hellacious effects of being without the presence of His Father. 

It's in this swirling mess of self-loss that if there was any time for Jesus to be thinking of Himself, it was now. Thinking how to soothe Himself, thinking how to save Himself, thinking how to silent the mockers and haters so he could have a moment of self-peace. And yet, in that moment, self was at the back of His mind and his torturers were consuming His mind. In those days, the crucifixion site was not for the faint of heart, nor was it for the young of ear. The mess of sewage, spite, and cursing that could be heard between torturers and criminals was deafening as the dying say their last words of vengeful and vile hate towards those who were causing them so much pain. We all know that men cry for their mothers or their god to comfort them in their last dying breaths, but Jesus was the first to cry out to God for his killers.

He doesn’t talk to them, but talks to God on behalf of them. And he knows that it’s a prayer He can answer because Jesus is satisfying the cost of forgiveness at that very cross!

1. Has he won your worship? This treatment is so uncommon and unexpected, and more than I could have ever asked or imagined that it almost takes my breath away. I am left speechless at the words of my Savior. And yet, I am so proud, so enamored, and in love, and I am so honored to call Him MY GOD. It’s almost unfair and inexcusable that I can be associated with Him. If that is who God is, you better believe I will follow Him. What a man, the God man. There are such poor excuses of masculinity but finally selflessness, humility, poverty of spirit, compassion, courage, honesty, and endurance! 

2. There is fight in our Savior. Fight to not call down the angels of heaven to wipe his torturers and enemies from the face of the earth. There is fight not to defend and explain Himself away his entire trial. There is fight not to have revenge by withholding the saving grace of God. There is fight in not proving and validating his Identity by saving Himself, because He was so intent on saving us. He couldn’t get off. Well, technically the could, but He couldn’t have done it and saved you in the process because someone had to be righteous in life and in death and earn the requirement that secures and restores relationship with God (if we want to be in the presence of the Holy, we must be holy too). To get to that level with God, either I have to reach those heights of holiness, or a member of my team so to speak (someone that I have linked arms with, or is representing me, that I trust in) can achieve that holiness for Me. And Easter is a reminder for me that only Jesus could live to that level of holiness in life, but more importantly in a horrific death. Jesus was holy even on Good Friday! And though Jesus finished accomplishing our holiness, He also had to dispose of and do away with our unholiness and unrighteousness. And He accomplished that too with the words “it is finished.” (John 19:30).

3. The curtain in the Jewish temple that had separated the worshipers from their God was now ripped and parted like the Red Sea, so the worshippers of God now had the full presence of God, the paradise of God, and power of God at their disposal. Jesus told the criminal that “Today, he could be with him in paradise” not because it sounded good and would allow him to die in peace, He said it because someone finally realized what was going on. Of all the people there, this Heathen, atheist, vile, gentile was the first one to get it. He was the first one to get that Jesus was actually there, procuring Paradise for me and you and the power to live in this poor excuse for paradise until we get there. Everyone who had access to Jesus’ life, his teachings, biblical prophecies, miracles He did, had so badly missed the whole point of what was going on. So why not him too? Because no one had, or ever will, in the history of the world witnessed such a display of holiness in the worst of all worldly situations. Jesus finished in a fiery furnace and He did not fail and he won over one of the hardest, most hard-hearted, and haughtiest of criminals and HE humbled Him and Jesus won a man that day. He won a worshipper that day and bestowed on Him Paradise. Way more than that man could have ever asked for or imagined. Has He won you? What else do you need? What else do you want? Are you not entertained? Are you not impressed? We have looked at such a short snippet and yet He has done more than enough to win your worship and to win your whole life. 

Paradise and Power

So, Paradise is before you. There is only ONE who can give it and only one place you can get it. And real power is before you! Christ has ripped the divider and you now, Christian, have an all-access pass to the potent and concentrated divine resurrection power of God that not only raises Jesus from the dead, but has raised you, and will continue to infuse you with power to live a resurrected life. The resurrection has empowered you to live a resurrection life. One full of the fruits of the Spirit, one full of sin slaying motivation, one of faithful following of Jesus, one of walking wisely, and one that freely and unconditionally offers forgiveness and mercy to those that really don’t deserve it from you. Being able to do that and access that is more than we could ask or imagine. We are told, “Jesus Christ has blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…” (Ephesians 1:3). It is not that you can’t, it's that you won’t! You see, Jesus died for your “I won’t” and he rose for you so you could say, “I can.” Turn from “I won’t” to “I will”, and turn from “can’t” to “can.” This Easter, receive real paradise and appropriate real power. It's there!