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All right, so our, our text this morning is Matthew chapter 28 and we'll be in verses one through 10. Uh, while you flip there, uh, I'll go ahead and just let you know if you got little ones today and they need some space to roam, y'all, feel free to, uh, go in room if you need to. Um, just cuz you know, this is a little stuff going on and you might be like, oh, I don't know. They got too much energy, so it's all right if you gotta move. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right. Matthew 28. After the Sabbath at dawn, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord. Came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The said to the women, do not be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. Verse six, he is not here. He has risen. Just as he said, come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly. Until his disciples, he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now, the angel says, I have told you so. The women hurried away from the tomb, afraid, yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings. He said. They came to him, classed his feet and worshiped him. And then verse 10, Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee where they will see me. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Do it afraid. Do it afraid. On this significant Sunday, celebrating with other Christians across the world, Jesus' resurrection after three lifeless days in a cold borrowed tomb. I'm just gonna come right out the gates with a reflection that like Robitussin or penicillin will not feel good going down, but is good for us to the exclusion of the indigenous and Native Americans since they've inhabited the land of this nation since Time Memorial, you and I, we are transplants free agents, sojourners or pilgrims. You could say We are you and I, the descendants of those who relocated here by choice or by force, but who despite many ongoing struggles have been absorbed into this thing called American. Life. Now, of course, we may still feast on the old country's popular foods, or we've trained ourselves to retain the language and some of the customs that our ancestors had. But despite all of this and so much more, there's no, we're escaping, escaping this reality that the air we breathe is American. It is filled with the smog and Lysol and gun smoke and policies and politics and cheeseburgers and churros and clam chowder of America here etched into our consciousness are TV shows that are American like I Love Lucy and Highway Patrol. If y'all haven't seen Highway Patrol back in the day, it's a really great show. There's shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons and Mork and Mindy, and like it or not, there's the Cosby Show in America. We've come of age in a backdrop of hospice and pula hoops and eBay and Excess whose motto is bigger is better In America. We like to bicker and battle rap and we like to bet on anything that we deem is favorable and often we are exceptionalism. What do you mean by exceptionalism? Well, I'm gonna explain. I just mean that sometimes there's this bravado that we have as Americans that despite making up merely 330 million of the world population of nearly. Billion people. We think that whatever Americans touch must be the best and the fastest and the strongest, and everything else must be centered around that. It must find its orbit around what America does, and that degree of privilege is, all I'm trying to say is notably damaging to the people of God. As one author put it, it leads us this privilege to believe we can truly serve two masters, that we can follow Jesus and retain control over our lives rather than dying to self so that Christ can rise and live in and through us. Dominique Gilliard wrote that, which I just recited in his book, subversive Witness. Whether you're talking about the importance of sharing your faith with unbelievers or teaching the Bible or sharing, uh, resources and serving society's least of these, that means widows and orphans and immigrants, for example, or something else. We, we like to apply an opt out clause that scripture does not provide. First. World problems are so very unfair and debilitating. We think it's as if we're so busy shuttling our kids and grandkids to travel soccer games and fussing with Comcast over while the dog gone wifi at home is not working yet again, or we're so busy wondering why in heaven, Lord Jesus Chipotle keeps getting my order wrong, that we have reduced ourselves into being uninterested or unavailable. For the inconvenient work that God calls all of his children to do, no matter their location. In a town so small and in a town so wealthy and in a town so super saturated with Christian thought deeds, this can be a huge barrier in our very beautiful quaint Holland, Michigan, where we are today, which is home to approximately 170 churches, did y'all hear me? 30,000 people give or take 170 churches with comfort. Arguably being this area's idle. Were quick to throw money where the cause seems valuable, yet we're slower to throw ourselves. Now to be clear, cuz I wanna make sure we're all on the same page, I don't want any misunderstandings. Writing a check is fine. Amen. Amen. Somebody. Amen. At times, that is the very obedient step, the next step that God calls us to take. Here at Maplewood, we will welcome big and small financial contributions, and still, if you claim Christ as Lord and Savior, then his expectation is that you invest everything given to you. Everything. Y'all can repeat that with me. Everything. Everything. That means your mind and your family, and your money and your time, and your talents to sensibly advance his upside down inside out. Kingdom where the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Why? Because Christ died. Christ is risen and Christ will come. Again, and when the trumpet sounds, we want to be found on mission, not forever. La relaxing on in the shade with a glass of lemonade in our hands. Watching others put their hands in their head and their hearts to the gospel plow. Contrary to the empty promises of microwavable or maybe instantaneous guaranteed prosperity in this life, you don't get something for nothing. Now, you might say salvation is free for it is by grace. You have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves. It is the from the gift of God, not by work so that no one can boast. Yes, amen. I am with you. That's in the text, that's in the Bible, and you have to respond to the gift that has been given to you. You and I have a part to play. And it is not so much only a one-time affirmation, but it's that along with a lifetime symphony that puts holiness on repeat because God says he's holy. Now, since Christianity does not embody receiving a trophy without, uh, contribution, God wants participants, not spectators. I'm gonna run that back for you. God wants participants not spectators. Now, you may be thinking, I don't wanna cast the aspersion on you. I'm not in your mind, but maybe you're thinking, you know, that sounds really good, but I don't have the words preacher and I don't have the time or the education or the personality of those people that we often lift up and look to as models of faith. I just don't, I'm not Ben Patterson. I'm not CS Lewis or or Katherine Booth. I'm not Martin Luther King Jr. Or Mother Teresa or Beth Moore. I, I just can't lead people to Christ like Luis Plow. I can't sing the gospel of Jesus Christ like CC Winans or defend the Bible like Tony Evans. And I would say I grasped that. But this is the thing, God isn't asking you to be like anybody else except Jesus. The people who I just mentioned were faithful, are faithful in using their gifts, their lives, to do what God has called them to do, to honor the Lord. And that's all, that's all that you're expected to do. We, the body of Christ, the big body of Christ, we need your authentic and humble and regular contribution because after all, as Jesus said, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So what I'm trying to say is that you are not optional. In God's kingdom, you are not optional. In God's kingdom, your person and your testimony and your work are essential. So in this text, Jesus, he's been crucified. He's been killed by being nailed to a cross. He's been labeled as an enemy of the state. And so the Roman government egged on by the Jewish leaders and everyday citizens, they decided to wipe their hands of this perpetual rabble rouser who was stirring the people towards spiritual awakening. Three days later, two ladies, both named Mary arrived at the tomb. They're hopeful on the one hand. And yet melancholy on the other because you know, at this point in the game, three days later, it's just seems unlikely that Jesus' heroics in the final hour were actually going to take place. If Jesus was San Diego State and sin symbolized Yukon, the University of Connecticut, then the logical outcome was that it's a wrap. The powerhouse team that is supposed to win probably did, which would've meant that Jesus was not about to be seen alive, because dead people don't do that. When you're dead, you're dead. There are no returns, there's no refunds, there's no reversals, there's no remixes, there's no redos or so they thought. So imagine the shock. They turned the corner, Mary number one and Mary number two, to see big branny meat and potatoes eaten rough and tumble mma, UFC type, no nonsense. Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb who've been frightened into a comatose state. So much so that they shook and became like dead men. That's a lot to see. And then on top of that, they're greeted by an angel. So in an instant they've come face to face with some men who are, are guilty of dereliction of duty technically, and, and they are unhelpful, as unhelpful can be. And then there's this divine messenger of God who was sent straight to earth from heaven to talk to them, to these two ladies. Now that that's a lot to digest and I hope you will understand that that's a lot to y'all. Hear me? That's a lot to digest when you turn the corner. Their interaction with this angel is brief, but it's potent. The angel shares in fact that Jesus was who he said he was, and that he has done what he said he would do. Verse six, he is not here. He has risen. The two marries are, are tasked with telling Jesus' disciples the good news and his resurrection, while also instructing them, the disciples, to get on down the road to Galilee where he's going to rendez. V Jesus says with them later, or rather, the angel says, afraid yet filled with joy. They dart from this amazing, yet amazingly impromptu meeting. And then bam, just like emerald, agassi, bam. Just like homie, the clown would say, from in living color, bam. Who pops up outta nowhere like a redemptive jack in the box. Jesus. Now, I gotta say, these women are tough cookies. By my count. They've been majorly scared three times already in this brief encounter. One by the unhelpful, inoperable soldiers who are supposed to be guarding the tomb. Two by the angel, and then thirdly by Jesus. But like the energizer bunny, that women are sometimes known to be Mary times two, they take a licking and they keep on ticking. They keep going and going and going. It's a, it is an amazing thing. One encounter to another encounter to another encounter. They have dignity, they have resolve, they have industrious creativity. Many women do. So what I wanna say here is that we should go out of our way, I think as Christians. To uplift these kinds of women, these tough cookies who are unsung. And not only would society basically crumble overnight without them, but most of our churches would be inhabitable without their wisdom and their devotion. That's a good place to say amen if y'all were inclined. Amen. These godly women do not let life's unwelcome surprises dictate their response when their son or daughter surprised them that a baby in a baby carriage was on the way with no marriage or license for the event they endured. When their husband surprised them with the news that a job has been lost, they endured, whether it was miscarriages or sids, or the gender pay gap or cancer or addiction or body image issues that surprised them, they endured. Now we don't need to worship women, nor do we need to demonize men. But I'm all for the opportunity to acknowledge from scripture how much women do that often flies under the radar. If there are any women in here, could y'all just gimme a amen? Thank you so much. Now, I want you to notice that Mary and Mary are told, do not be afraid twice. Once by the angel and verse five, and again, by Jesus in verse 10, but sandwiched in between that we're told that they left afraid get filled with joy, which gives me assurance that in life there will be some things that you and I are called to do. While we're still afraid in the Bible, there's fear, as in the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And to fear the Lord is to hate evil. But also in the Bible there's fear as in, even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, and the Lord is my light and my salvation. The question is, whom shall I fear and do not be afraid of those who can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Therefore, fear has a lot of angles and nuances to it that can cast many shadows. Absolute or restricted reverence for God is one kind of fear that's affirmative. Whereas to fear man or to fear the devil's plans is prohibitive and something we should steer clear of. Moreover, not all fear is damaging. It can fear endpoint effect, be rational. It can be good to harbor apprehension about something that is about to, that is happening or something that you feel like is about to happen if you leave TJ Max at night way down by a bunch of bags of random stuff. Ladies, um, uh, uh, it's a healthy fear is speaking if you begin to hear random footsteps following you to your car. If after narrowly dodging a fender bender while you were driving on 40th street, the the driver in question gets out of the car, pops the trunk, and approaches you with a baseball bat or a tire iron. That's enough justification to be what Afraid Fear can be a formidable motivational factor that is intentioned to help us help ourselves. And for us to be positioned to help other people. I'll give you another example. Take Stranger Danger. Y'all familiar with Stranger Danger? If you're not, I'm gonna explain it anyway, but Stranger Danger, when I was growing up, my parents indoctrinated, uh, us kids with boundaries around adults coercing you to get into a car or to go somewhere alone with them. Many people would be familiar with this. They, they were precautions out of fear that something devastating could happen to your child. So my, my sister and I and the Ellis household, we were not allowed to answer much less ever open the door for anybody. Anybody. If my parents weren't home, I don't care who you were. I don't care if you are our neighbor. I don't care if you are one of our classmates' parents. I don't care if you were Hulk Hogan or Oprah, or President Ronald Reagan or Michael J. Fox, or Mr. T. You could have been Chuck Norris, Dan rather, the legendary Los Angeles Lakers Superstar, Irvin Magic Johnson. You could have been Angela Lansbury or James Earl Jones. If James Ellis Jr. And Bonnie Lou Ellis had not given explicit advanced clearance, that so-and-so whoever it was would be coming by. And so we could then answer the door and maybe let them in, then it just wasn't going to happen. So one day, again, stranger danger. One day, our aunt, my dad's sister, my dad has one sister. My, my aunt, she, uh, she came by sort of unannounced and she learned this lesson the hard way. She was unapproved and, and, and I don't remember what she was coming by to drop something off or something like that. It was summer break. So my sister and I were kind of home from school. So here my Aunt Barbara is, She's knocking on the door and then she's knocking again, and then she's ringing the doorbell and then she's kind of knocking a little louder each time and we just, not answering the door, but we can see, or she can see that someone's home. You know, we're scurrying around in the window, like trying to look and, and trying to confirm if it really is Aunt Barbara. And eventually, this is my Aunt Barbara. I mean, we laugh at this now, but it wasn't funny at the time. Aunt Barbara is, is at the door and she's banging and she's like, summer and buddy. My, my sister's name is Summer, like the season. And, uh, even though my name's James, nobody in my family calls me James. Everybody, my family calls me buddy. So my, my Aunt Barbara is at the door and she's like, summer and buddy. Summer and buddy, I know y'all in there. I know y'all, y'all gonna get in trouble if y'all don't open If y'all don't open, this is your Aunt This is, this is what she's saying. And my sister and I we're inside to ourselves. We're like, well, well you gonna have to bring on the, we didn't say this out loud, but. To ourselves. We're like, well, you gonna have to bring on the trouble cuz mom and dad, they said, don't open the door for nobody and nobody means nobody. So that's it. That's it. This is all before, you know, cell phones and texting and all this other stuff. So anyways, long story short, my sister and I, we uh, we called our mom at work and you weren't supposed to call, uh, mom when she was at work except for emergencies. But we felt like, hey, this is as close as we're gonna get. So we, we called our mom and we, we got approval to let Aunt Barbara in. But by that time, um, Barbara was gone, she was gone. And so later on, uh, I think my parents got home or whatever, that there was this adult powwow about this whole stranger danger situation and wouldn't, should know it summer. And I did not get in trouble. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Jesus. My parents were like, Hey, we told'em not to open the door. So, It was a good thing. By, by. Do not be afraid. The angel is recognizing that Mary and and Mary are startled. They're, they're rightly shaken and they're overwhelmed. So there's this affirmation that the angel is giving that everything is gonna be all right. It's all good. They're in a safe space. The same goes when Jesus shows up and he jumps into the the scene and they've left to find the disciples. Neither do not be afraid is a correction. They're just merely pronouncements that both Marys can now relax, that Jesus is risen. If you scare someone, for example, you know you're rushing around the corner and upon seeing you, they're startled. Whatever they're throwing is chucked up in the air and they dramatically spin around and end up on the ground in the fetal position trying to make sense of what just happened as a greeting or prelude before you tell them anything else you might. Bend down and just say, do, do not be afraid. This Sunday, today Jesus is saying, do not be afraid. You've got to know that in life there are some assignments, many assignments actually, that if we want to follow Christ, we must fulfill in the presence, not absence of fear. Just like the two Marys and so many other people in the Bible and in history have done. When we resided Renata and I in Holland from 2016 to 2019, my work as one of the staff chaplains, uh, at Hope College, included leading the evening service on Sunday nights called The Gathering. And part of that also meant scheduling guests, you know, that were gonna speak in March of 2019. With it's snowing like crazy as Holland is known to do, even in March. One speaker that we had was Jill Briscoe. Jill's visit was longer than usual cuz she had a lot of meetings and so Renata and I spent a lot of time over, probably five days shuttling Miss Briscoe back and forth, you know, to our hotel, coordinating meals, all that kind of stuff. And it was great though. She's lived in Wisconsin for a number of years now, I mean for several decades. Jill is from Liverpool, England, and even all these years later, her accent betrays her that you know where she's from. She's authored. Jill has over 40 books. She's continued ministering specifically to several generations of women, even today at the age of 88. She's a lovely, humble, smart woman, uh, with lots of energy. Who, if you didn't know, really loves creme brulee? We, we had lunch and dinner with her again for these four or five, the every meal. I'm not making this every meal. Do they have creme brulee, Jill, you can order what you want. They, they got creme brulee, so we, we had a lot of creme brulee, and she was, she was all into it. I also learned though, during my time with Jill, that despite being a world traveler, several times, over seven continents in over 100 countries that she's visited, Jill is afraid of flying. She told us, but she, she learned that she's had to discipline herself to do it, afraid or to do it. Scared, nevertheless, because the truth of the matter is that in order for her to obey God's will for her, For her to minister in this country or that country, and for her to sometimes accompany her husband Stewart, as he was off on some foreign soil teaching and preaching, that meant that she would need to fly. And it didn't mean that she had to love flying. It didn't mean that she had to like flying. It didn't mean that she had to pretend that she was fearless, overflying. It just meant that she could move forward, afraid, yet filled with joy. There are some things in this life that you just gotta do if you want to serve God. Parenting is hard, I'm told. It's scary. You're responsible for these tiny human beings who grow into big human beings and no matter their age, because of your humanity and theirs, your kids get on your nerves. You get on your kids' nerves, and they get on the nerves of other people. Amen. Somebody. To discipline your child to lovingly with appropriate consequences, discipline your child to teach them how to avoid fools and to make provisions not to be a fool themselves. That's a scary prospect, but doing it afraid is better than the alternative. Maybe like me, you've never learned to swim and you're scared out of your mind when it comes to most things water related. But you hear an angel this morning and Jesus saying, do not be afraid. So here you are at 43, flopping around in the pool like some crazy person trying to learn how to swim. I'm just saying, you gotta do it afraid. Maybe you've been shocked by trauma and, and hardships in your life and, and you know that, you know, that, you know that you need counseling. You, you just gotta do it afraid. Maybe in your heart of hearts, you, you want to call good, uh, good. And you want to call evil. Evil, which is good. You want to honor God, but it's scary because you don't wanna lose your prize position in school As a cool kid, I get that. But you just gotta do it afraid there's a surgery or, or a procedure or a scan or a conversation that you know it is best for you to have, even though you'd rather not. And so I'm just suggesting this morning that you gotta do it afraid. Finding community where you can know others and be known yourself, where you can serve and be served, maybe hasn't been an easy experience. You've been hurt along the way, and it's a scary prospect to start yet another search in this season of your life. As spring is on the horizon, you gotta do it afraid. Loving your enemies is scary. Giving a biblical percentage of your income to the church, which let's be honest, is all alone from God anyways, is still scary. Forgiveness is scary. Patience is scary. Self-control, conflict, marriage, singleness, singleness, all of these things are scary face-to-face with our fears. However, it's possible to be filled with joy as you commit yourself to God, and his work commitment is another scary thing. As much as I would invite you to join a church like Maplewood this morning, we of course would love to have you. The biggest offer that I have is for you to file divorce from darkness and relocate to the Kingdom of God this morning, that your name can be written in the Lambs book of life. You cannot let fear incapacitate you from serving Jesus. When I was a kid, I was afraid of the dark, like really afraid of the dark. I, it kind of gave me the hebe jeebies, uh, felt like there was monsters that might spring up from underneath my bed and all kinds of stuff. It was like a real thing. And so what my parents did was they gave me nightlights, praise the Lord for nightlights. I had nightlights so I wouldn't be paralyzed of the dark. And at the age of 20, I was able to have the light of Jesus Christ come on in my life. I was 20 years old. I was a student at the University of Maryland. My football career was over as a walk on, and I went to church this place called Maple Springs Baptist Church. First time really in church, and I heard the gospel preached and proclaimed, and by the end of that service I said, I, I just believed that the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God, his eternal life. And I believe this dude named Jesus died for me, and I want to give my life to him. And so on this Easter Sunday, all I'm saying is that if you don't know Christ, you can do it afraid and surrender to Him. And if you already know Christ, there's a lot that you need to do afraid one day, one step at a time to contribute to the kingdom of God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let me pray. Gracious, loving God, we thank you for the gift of life you've given us today. We thank you that he has risen and that he has risen indeed. God, would you give us all that we need through your Holy Spirit, uh, to be convicted, to move forward with boldness and the things that you've called us to, even though they may be scary and God to know that we're not supposed to do it alone, but God, we're supposed to do it in community. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.