A DEAD IDOL OR A LIVING GOD
It's another Easter and all over the country people are going to church. It's the day of the
biggest crowds of the year. And that's very
appropriate. Because this is the day when we come together to sing about, and
think about, and talk about, and praise God for the resurrection of Jesus from
the dead.
The test, however, comes when church is over. Did we go
to a museum? Or did we in some way meet Jesus alive from the dead? If we went
to a museum to pay our respects to a dead idol of a dead tradition, then next
week it'll be back to normal.
But if somehow in our churches, in our gatherings…we encounter
Jesus alive from the dead. We will be so changed by this encounter and so
refreshed and renewed by it… that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and so
forth we’ll be different.
Next week, we'll all be back. And not only will we all
be back, but we'll have half the town with us, and they won't be able to get in the door, and this is for sure.
People might be very skeptical about this, but if something
genuine happens, it will become obvious.
Because when we meet Jesus alive from the dead, we
don't just go away with happy memories.
We go
away changed.
How are
we changed?
I’ll try to describe something spiritual in physical
terms.
In the center of the heart of each of us there is a
room. And in that room, there is a throne. We ourselves never occupy that
throne. It's impossible. But we do determine who or what sits on that throne
inside us.
Whatever sits on the throne inside, in that room, rules
our life.
If fear sits on the throne, we're ruled by
fear.
If lust, or greed, or ambition, sit on
that throne those are the things which dominate our lives.
If a golden calf or a silver Cadillac sits
on that throne, then the spirit behind that idol controls us.
In the beginning that throne was occupied by God.
When Adam and Eve walked in Paradise, there was a
flame burning on that throne in their inmost heart, which was the presence of
the Spirit of God himself.
And by that flame they were able to walk and talk with
God, they knew him, they rejoiced in him.
But when they chose to trust the deceiver and turned
away from God…. that flame went out, the throne became
empty, and the room became like a vacuum.
And ever since that, the throne has been up for grabs,
it’s been seen the scene of a battle.
And the whole history of the human
race since then …. has been one thing after another, getting hold of the
throne inside the heart, men and women all the time, striving with each other
lust, greed, envy, vanity, murder, bloodshed, war.
Jesus came in order to make
it possible for the throne inside the heart of man, once again, to be occupied
by the presence of God.
In him was life
and the life was the light of men.
The light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:4-5
And that light is intended to come from him to the
inmost part of each of us.
He
came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.
Jesus began to gather around himself some disciples,
followers. And the amazing thing that happened to these men and women as they
came around Jesus was that the other things which occupied the throne in their
heart began to fall away. All the lust, and the ambition, and the greed, and
the ego, and the fear, and the death, that ruled these men and women before
disappeared.
And in a wonderful way, even while Jesus was with them
in the flesh and blood, He was on the throne of their hearts.
This presence of Jesus on the throne of the hearts of
these disciples was a reflected light.
It was as if behind the throne there is this giant
mirror and in front of the throne is this huge window and as
long as the window opens on Jesus, the light of his word, and the light
of his countenance shines through… that light, bounces off the mirror and in a
wonderful way the image of the Lord himself sits on the throne.
When the disciples became offended by things that
Jesus said or did and turned from him, of course the light went out. But for
those who continued to walk with Jesus, the light of his presence on the throne
in their hearts was not an illusion, it was real.
By the light of the presence of the Lord sitting on
the throne in Peter's heart, he proclaimed the Kingdom with power. By the light
of his presence, John healed the sick, Andrew cast out demons. There was life
there.
Then came Good Friday. And as these men and women
watch Jesus hang on that cross and die, that flame,
that presence, that light burning in there, in the throne in their inmost
hearts went out too. And that inmost room became shrouded in darkness, and as
they watched Jesus die, even the mirror behind the
throne smashed into a million pieces. The Sabbath, which followed was the most
desolate day of their lives.
Then Jesus rose from the dead.
Before any of these disciples knew what was going on, Jesus
stepped forth from his tomb, alive, never to die again. In a body as different
from the body that had died on Good Friday as day differs from night.
He was sown
in corruption; he was raised in incorruption.
He was sown
in weakness; he was raised in power.
And whenever Jesus would come among the disciples
alive from the dead and speak to them, as they heard him speak, even before
they recognized him, a flame began to burn on that throne in their hearts,
which was not reflected but which was there, if they were willing, forever.
Luke describes to us how this worked.
That very day two of them were going
to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and
they were talking with each other about all these things that had
happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself
drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing
him.
And
he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each
other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them,
named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does
not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
And
he said to them, “What things?”
And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of
Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God
and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered
him up to be condemned to death, and crucified
him. But we had hoped that he
was the one to redeem Israel…
And now our hope is gone.
That throne inside us is empty.
Yes, and besides all
this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover,
some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not
find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of
angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went
to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not
see.”
And he said to them, “O foolish ones,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it
not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning
with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the
Luke 24:13-27(ESV)
Oh, foolish ones, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken.
Now Jesus is alive from the dead, he's on his way,
he's entering into his glory… and we think of this,
and rightly so, that he's on his way back to the headquarters of the universe
to sit on the throne of power.
“All
authority is given to me in heaven and on Earth”.
And that's true. But it's also true that Jesus enters into his glory, even at that moment, as he
speaks to these two men.
For as Jesus speaks to these two men….
The flame of his light ignites and burns inside them.
And Jesus is entering into his glory… in their hearts.
So
they drew near to the village to which they were
going. He acted as if he were going farther, but
they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening
and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to
stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took
the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their
eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their
sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while
he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
And indeed, their hearts burned within them, as he
talked with them. Because as he spoke with them and opened the Scriptures, he
began to live inside on that throne… of those these two men.
And he did this every time he appeared.
He ignited that life inside…of these men, these women.
And then for 40 days he nurtured this life which he put within them, and watched
over it, and taught them the things they needed to know. Then he left and commanded
them to stay in Jerusalem until they receive power from on high.
And then on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit
fell, this little flame burning inside their hearts became an immense blaze in
them that shook the city….
and as they went forth into the world, it shook the whole world.
“Did not our
hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road.”
And
this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life
is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of
God, does not have life.
John 5:11-12
To have the son is not to
have doctrines in your head.
To have the Son is to have the life of Jesus burning
in your heart.
Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us
to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead…
1Peter 1:3
A living hope!
And that living hope is a flame…is a light…burning on that throne.
The mystery hidden for ages and
generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God
chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the
glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory. Colossians
1:26-27
This mystery.
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Jesus entering into his glory, by
occupying the throne in your own heart.
How do you know when somebody has met Jesus alive from
the dead?
When someone has met Jesus alive from the dead, there
is a burning flame inside them that manifests itself as a life lived in his
nature, his mercy, his joy in God, his continuous forbearance with other
people.
If these things aren't shining
forth from that inner flame, something is wrong.
And this flame that burns within us when we meet Jesus
alive from the dead is not a reflected light like so many of us experience. When
we are among believers, we feel strong in faith…but then when we are back on
our jobs, or at home with our families, or in the midst of
all life’s problems, our faith leaves, it evaporates.When
you have the presence of the Lord burning on the throne in your heart, it's
there all the time.
It's a wonderful thing to gather together,
to celebrate and rejoice at the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And as we
come together in his name, he comes into our midst, as he does in countless
other places across the earth. He’s with us.
But now we're very much like those two disciples on
the way to Emmaus. He was walking with them and they
didn't know who he was. And it wasn't
doing them any good until somehow he ignites the flame
within them.
And what we need is not only to have Jesus standing in
our midst, alive from the dead.
We need to have the flame of his burning light occupying the
throne of our inmost hearts.
And we can have this.Now
God knows our hearts. He alone really knows.
But we all too often succumb to the temptation to
analyze our brother or our sister's heart. Let's not do that now.
Let's leave our brother’s
heart alone.
Let's not psychoanalyze
our sister’s spirit.
Let’s just worry about our own.
And thinking about our own condition, our own flame, there's
every variety possible.
Some of us have little
teeny tiny flames. It's hard to see, but there really there.
Some have flames that shoot up every six
months for about 3 days, then flickers down again.
Some of us, have a little bit of smoke left, we remember the flame
that was once there.
Some of us perhaps have
never experienced this at all.
But the good news is that for all of us, whether we
have a bitty flame or a big flame, or a fat, or a thin flame or no flame….
…. The Lord wants to come and occupy that throne inside us
today.
And all we have to do is
exactly what these disciples did on the road to Emmaus. They did three things
that allowed him to occupy the throne of their hearts.
They acknowledge their need.
They listened as Jesus
spoke to them and drank it in.
They welcomed him into
their hearts.
They Admitted Their Need
They frankly and openly admitted their need.
But
we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel
Now our hope is gone. That room inside our hearts is
dark and empty and cold, something is missing. We need to do this too, to admit we have lost our hope.
Far
better to admit this than to pretend to ourselves, and to other believers what we
aren’t.
Far better to admit there's a terrible
need in each of our hearts.
When I see the needs around me, when I understand the things,
I am now called upon to live through and do… I simply don't have enough.
“A
friend of mine has come on a journey and I have nothing to set before him.”
“I don't have the strength and the life. God
fill me with the presence of your Son, renew this in me today.”
Get on your knees. Do whatever you have to do to cry
out to God in your need.
If
you ask, you receive. If you knock, the door opens. If you seek, you find.
Nothing happens, all too often, because we don't do any
knocking or asking.
So cry out…. ask, knock,
seek
They listened when Jesus spoke to them.
They still didn’t know this was Jesus, but they drank
it in.
O foolish ones, and slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not
necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?
And they drink this in. They listen as he speaks, and
even as he's speaking, the flame begins to burn.
He speaks to us. He opens the Scriptures to us.
And He speaks to us not only through sermons, through Scriptures,
through hymns and worship, through devotions but he also speaks to us as we sit
in silence…
…. as we think…. He Speaks.
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.
The words that I
have spoken to you are spirit and life.
They will ignite you…. if you listen.
God
help us to listen with teachable, broken spirits like children.
God
help us to lay aside the attitudes that hinder the flow of his word getting
into our hearts.
All too often we know all
the answers, so it only gets so far and bounces off ,
until we need to stop knowing all the answers and
approach him with poverty of spirit. Then he comes in and we begin to live.
They welcomed him into their hearts. They Invited him in.
So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He
acted as if he were going farther, but they
urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening
and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to
stay with them.
Luke 24:28-32
And those words which they spoke to Jesus are the precise
words we need to speak…
“Stay with us”.
“Stay with us, it’s late,
the day is far spent”.
It doesn’t matter your age… the day of our life on
this earth is limited…whether you are 15, 21, 35, or 79….it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.
“Lord Jesus, come into my
life and transform these few remaining hours of the day that I have in this
world of flesh and blood…. into something meaningful…. into life”.
“Please Lord, come in and
stay with me”.
“Stay with us, for it is indeed
nearly evening; the day is far, far, far spent.”
When you leave your gatherings, your services, will you
have been to the museum to pay homage to a dead idol of a dead tradition?
Or will you have in fact somehow, somewhere met Jesus
alive from the dead?
When you do meet Jesus alive from the dead, you will
be different. The flame within you, if you had any at all, will be much larger,
much steadier, much stronger.
And by that flame you will be able to go out into the
world and proclaim the Kingdom of God.
You will manifest the mercy of God and show the
forbearance of God to your families, to your neighbors, to your fellow workers,
and to the people who give you a hard time…even that supervisor on the job who
makes your life miserable. Whatever the situation, you will be able to live in
a totally different atmosphere.
You will be living by the atmosphere of heaven which now dwells
in you and is aflame inside.
Fall before God and do these three things…and he will
go from a dead idol to a Living God burning with light and life inside you.
Admit your deep need of
his resurrection life…confess it, acknowledge it.
Listen as he speaks, and he
will speak to your heart according to your own need.
And invite him in.
Stay
with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.”
Richard E. Bieber Easter, 1983
Transcribed and slightly edited 2023 by Maranatha
Mirror