Luke 24:36-49 – “Resurrection for the Mess” 4/26/20 – Pastor Tim Meendering

Questions for family/small group discussions:

How would you work to convince someone that Jesus is alive? How do you see evidence of Jesus’ resurrection in your own heart and life? What story would you tell if someone asked you about why you believe in the resurrection of Jesus?

The resurrection matters and impacts us in at least three ways:

1. Jesus alone can satisfy the deepest desires of your heart. a. When you consider Jesus’ eating with his disciples in vs. 41-43 and Jesus’ invitation in Revelation 3:20,

what does this say about the relationship that Jesus offers to us?

b. Through this virus season, how have you most experienced or struggled through your need for relationship and connection with others?

c. In what ways have you looked for someone to “complete” you and what were the results? What can happen when we look for a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend to bear the weight of your needs and expectations? What are some ways that our culture, music, and movies promote this idea that a person can satisfy our deepest desires?

d. How has Jesus satisfied your deepest desires and provided rest for the restlessness? How do you know and experience Jesus alive and with you?

2. We are sent. a. We saw how in vs. 48 how Jesus tells his followers that they are “witnesses of these things.” If you were

to be a witness to how the resurrection has shaped and changed you, how are you different and what would you say to someone who asks about your faith?

b. What do Romans 8:21, Acts 3:21, and 2 Peter 3:13 say about what God is doing with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead? How does this shape your mission?

c. How does the resurrection impact your dreams that haven’t or may never come true? How did the resurrection impact Joni Eareckson Tada as it relates to her severe disability, chronic pain, and struggles with her body? What can you learn from Joni for your own struggles?

d. How does it change things when your joy is not tied to what happens in this world? Do you see how you really will not miss out on anything and you can be free from or uncontrolled by the physical/material world? Jesus eating fish with his disciples was a small taste of the banquet feast that we will eat with Jesus. What else can we look forward to that frees us from having our joy tied to this world?

3. He redeems our wounds and sorrows. a. In vs. 40, why would Jesus show them his hands and feet? What do the scars/wound prints say about the

way that leads to the joy and victory of resurrection?

b. Have you seen God redeem the worst of wounds and sorrows and turned them into the deepest joys of your life journey? How has he done that?

c. The disciples thought that the wounds/death of Jesus were the end for them but God actually used them to save them. What is a way that God has taken some of the bad things in your life and made them part of your rescue?

d. Is there a tragedy, wound, or “might-have-been” in your life where you can now see that God will include them, redeem them, and turn them into a source of joy? Take time to pray and commit to trust in the power, hope, and joy of the resurrection for whatever comes your way.

Resources for further study, application, and loving Jesus: a. A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain and God’s Sovereignty – Joni Eareckson Tada

b. Walking with God through Pain and Suffering – Timothy Keller

c. A Place for Weakness – Michael S. Horton

d. Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything – Adrian Warnock

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Why does the resurrection matter to me?

How does the resurrection impact us for eternity?

Revelation 3:20 - “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

An invitation to eat was an invitation to friendship, relationship, and intimacy.

1. Jesus alone can satisfy the deepest desires of your heart.

“People?” “Help, I need to see people!” We were created for relationship!

“You COMPLETE me.” “You had me at ‘Hello’”

1. Jesus alone can satisfy the deepest desires of your heart.

There is not a single human being who can possibly bear the weight of your needs and expectations…except one.

Jesus is your knight in shining armor. Jesus is the only one who can complete you.

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” St. Augustine

You can have me.

1. Jesus alone can satisfy the deepest desires of your heart.

The resurrection means that you can have that love relationship that you have been looking for all of your life. And you had him long before “hello.”

2. We are sent.You go into the world as one who is completely shaped by what you have seen.

God has raised Jesus from the dead… Now, God is going to raise up and renovate the whole world.

God is on a mission to cleanse and renew the whole world from all the mess of disease, death and imperfection.

You are free from the material world.

2. We are sent.What if the resurrection is true? “And then I remembered the resurrection. Just before the party gets going, at the wedding feast of the Lamb, the first thing I plan to do on my resurrected legs is drop on my grateful, glorified knees and kneel quietly before Jesus—and then I’m going to be on my feet dancing!” Joni Eareckson Tada

2. We are sent.Jesus is eating fish with you—and will one day eat a great feast with you.

You can relax! Your joy is not tied to what happens in this world.

If the resurrection is true, you will not miss out on anything; and if you are not missing anything, you are free from the material world!

Physical or material things shouldn’t control you.

2. We are sent.You are not despondent or despairing—because you know what’s coming your way!

You have great hope—no matter what comes your way, because one day, all things will be made new—including your body—and all of your wildest dreams will come true.

3. He redeems our wounds and sorrows.He points us to his hands and feet (vs. 40). We all like happy endings. A better story is when the bad things are a part of or the means for the deliverance.

God has redeemed the worst of our wounds and sorrows and turned them into the deepest joys of our life journey.

God takes the worst of blows that this sinful world offers and redeems the mess.

3. He redeems our wounds and sorrows.

The scars on Jesus’ resurrected hands and feet demonstrate how we thrive and live THROUGH suffering and death.

God can take all of the bad things and make them a part of our rescue.

The bad things make the joy possible. The bad things make the joy greater.

3. He redeems our wounds and sorrows.The thing that you thought was ruining your life was actually saving your life.

The resurrection is not joy in spite of the sorrow of Jesus, it is joy BECAUSE of His sorrow.

The joy and resurrection power of God will not just make you forget all the tragedies, wounds, and might-have-beens of your life—it will include them, redeem them, and turn them into sources of joy.

"If an acorn, which has power of biological life in it, can split a slab of that magnitude, what can the acorn of God's resurrection power do in a person's life?"

The minute you decide to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, the resurrection power of the Spirit is yours for a resurrection out of the mess and into a new life.

The more you know him, the more you grow into the power of the resurrection…and the more you know his peace.