BraveMen S4E114: Resurrection / Life

You know, that first Easter wasn't filled with peace and joy and staying glass and beautiful music. It was full of violence and fear, confusion, shouting, and blood. When the Jews came to John the Baptist at the height of his ministry, the cousin of Jesus to ask if he was the Messiah, he yelled at them, I am thunder in the desert, proclaiming the coming of the Messiah, making straight the way of the Lord. It was loud and confrontational and divisive and rebellious. It wasn't the popular opinion, but it was truth. Truth isn't always popular and what's popular isn't always truth. Thank you for joining me today on this special edition of Brave Men, where we celebrate this beautiful season we call Easter. In Easter season filled with so many different aspects, so many different looks, but the one thing we know is he's risen, he is alive. I've got a few thoughts you're really going to enjoy today on Brave Men. It's Brave Men with Paul Lewis Cole, wisdom and courage for the journey. When John the Baptist first saw Jesus, his cousin coming, of course they had spent time together before that, they knew each other, but when he saw him coming where John had moved into his ministry and Jesus showed up to be baptized, he said, there he is, the Lamb of God, he forgives the sins of the world. This is the one I've been talking about. There was nothing subtle about John and nothing restrained about redemption. The redemption of Christ, there is no restraint on his part. He is generous. Three years later, through the evening shadows of a dusty side street, Jesus retreated with his closest friends into the quiet of a small dining room. Outside the streets were a swirling storm of conflict and intrigue, chaos and compromise. This after having shared for some time looked at his friends and said, I have told you these things, so you will be filled with my joy. Imagine that. I've told you all this, that you're going to be hurt, that stuff is going to happen, that I'm going to get killed, that I've told you all these things and basically he's referring back also to the three years of spent together. I told you all these things, so you'll be filled with joy. Your joy will overflow. This is my commandment, love each other in the same way. I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friend. Soon after they had dined together, there was a footwashing where Jesus demonstrated the life of one who served others. See, Jesus didn't speak very often on leadership. Most often, he spoke on servitude. He spoke about serving. He said, I didn't come to set up something that tore down the walls of this city or your kingdom or your king's place or that castle I came to serve and that you might find life. That's really where we find our life as men is in serving others, loving each other, footwashing. While most men, this is Doug Stringer, he said this, our board member in the head of somebody cares, Doug always says, while most men reach for crowns, Jesus reached for a towel. I love that. Soon after that dinner, and I'm going to come back to that in a moment, there was the accusations, the false accusations, betrayals, beatings, denials, and then Jesus, the son of God is nailed to a rugged cross. A deadly symbol, and I think about this, this, the cross was a symbol of demonic tyranny and it becomes the loving instrument of our rebirth and redemption. That's what Jesus does to everything he touches. He restores it. He changes it. He transforms it. He renews it. He made it a place of rebirth and redemption. That cross had always stood for tyranny and men who would put people up. As you came in and out of a village, there would be men who were tied up to that and you would see that. It was the injustice of the terrorist and tyranny of the Romans that would do that. That symbol, it was a symbol of tyranny in those days. With Jesus, it became a symbol of redemption, a place of humiliation, now became a station of honor. And our freedom, you and me, was forever ransomed in the blood of the Lamb. The prayer of the Hebrews, the one prayed at that dinner as they celebrated the Passover, foresaw the coming of the Messiah. This is what the Jews would pray. Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sent thy son, thine only son, Yeshua, the Messiah, to be the light of the world and our Paschal or Passover lamb that through him, we might live. Amen. Imagine that, praying that and knowing you're looking, you're praying with the Messiah. This is, I believe, where where Judas got tipped over is because at that point, it says Jesus picked up another cup. There were four cups and each one had a symbolic meaning, I won't get into all that. But the third one was a cup of redemption and it was never drunk. In fact, it was taken and poured out because the Messiah had not come. So in the Jewish tradition, it would take the first one, the second one, the third one, the fourth one, the third one was always tossed out. And that's the one when he says it took another cup. That was the one that Jesus took. They had already done all of the ceremony, first, second, fourth cup. They would send a young person, this is the behold, I stand at the door knocked at the Passover dinner. They would always send a young person to the door and say, see if the Messiah is there. See if the Messiah is there, always open the door, nobody there. But you wanted to be that child because you'd come back disappointed and always the older man would give that child some money. So you wanted to be that one chosen. But Jesus said, he flipped and he said, no, I'm standing at the door. I really am here. I not only am the door, I'm standing at the door. He took that cup, that third cup of redemption and he drank that and that's what he passed around. I believe that's where Judas got tipped over. Not only was he a man of greed, averse and obviously demonically inspired, but I think he got tipped over right there. We know John the Baptist said, I am thunder in the desert. So we went from thunder in the desert to the symphony of the cross and the eternal love of God rumbles on today and the increasing resonance throughout the universe. This is the day of freedom for the captives and the day of liberty for those in bondage. Rejoice for your king his company, hold the Lamb of God. Mary's surprised and joy filled shot of hope to the disciples still echoes today. These risen Jesus is alive. Now there was something else that happened right at the end of that last supper and this is another little part. There's a bunch of little, there's so many little things that we need to study out. In fact, about a third of the gospel accounts speaks just of this one week. Think about all the things that Jesus did and yet all the gospel writers. That's Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. A third of what they wrote, a third of those gospels speaks about this one week of time. At the end of that supper and he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them and broke bread and as I do the Eucharist or the Lord's supper, I always speak of the broken body of God, a broken body of Christ and that he takes our broken things and takes it on himself and they're broken and we break that. But then the blood, the cup that we take is always about the future. So he takes our brokenness and then we take the cup second, which then means life and we speak life over our brokenness. And so he did that with them and then he said this. This is really, this is really wild because he points out, he calls out Judas and then he said, when I sent you out to preach the good news, that's the last thing that he set the Lord's supper. Okay. This is the last thing Jesus said, when I sent you out to preach the good news and you didn't have money, a traveler's bag or an extra pair of sandals, did you need anything? Remember he sent out the 70 or the 72 in the NIV, two by two, sent them out. He said, did you need anything? No, they replied. We were taking care of this miraculous verse 36. But now he said, take your money and a traveler's bag. And if you don't have a sword, sell your jacket and buy one. Have you ever seen that before? It's verse 36, Luke 22. Take your money, travelers bag. In other words, go do business. Go do what you're supposed to do. Be what you're supposed to be. Go after your mission. And if you don't have a sword, sell your jacket and buy one. I love that. Because what Jesus wanted us to do was be dangerous to be armed. Now those days he was actually talking about swords, real swords. So if you don't have a sword, sell your jacket and buy one because you need to be armed and dangerous. I would say in our day and age, because we have the Holy Spirit, it's about having that anointing of God. And I'll talk about that in a moment. That's one of the last things we'll talk about. And so they said, look, Lord, we have two swords among us and he said, well, that's enough. We have to read this as real people who really lived and this really happened. We said, look, Lord, we have two swords. Remember when Peter took the sword and cut the ear off the servant of the high priest, his assistant? And Jesus goes, this is so good. Because Jesus goes, if you read that whole account, I mean, he took a sword out. There's armed Romans and tarans. There's all these guys there and he takes a sword out and cuts, first of all, I think he missed the guy. Cuts his ear off. Jesus is like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I didn't mean now. He picks the ear up, sticks it back on. I mean, this is just hilarious. Pick the ear up, sticks it back on and says, okay, we can go now. You know, put the sword away, put the sword away. But he did mean have a sword. It's just Peter didn't understand when to use it. And isn't that most of the issues with you and I timing? We're armed and dangerous, but we don't know the timing. There's another thing that happened just before this. And it happened around Lazarus, okay? So I'm just going to do that whole little piece right there. Talk about Lazarus, bring out a couple things, finish this and pray over us for our Easter season this year. Remember that there was a lady, Mary, who came and annoyed to Jesus. It's Matthew 26, Mark 14, John 12, different places, it says different things, different translations, say different things. I remember being taught as a kid, there was some prostitute showed up. As I've studied it over the years, it never says that, it says a sinful woman. Well, in those days, every woman was thought to be sinful if she came into a place where men were, I think that's fascinating. Jesus is reclining, having time with the guys. He's already ridden in on donkey and now he's spending some time at Lazarus's house. Triumphal entries happen, I'll hit that in a second, I'm going to work back. And Mary comes in, I believe this is the sister of Lazarus. I believe that Lazarus had two sisters, Martha and Mary, Martha knew how to cook and Mary was dangerous. That's what I believe there was such real humanity around Lazarus. And I believe he was such a close friend of Jesus that Jesus didn't make him a disciple in a puzzle. He said, no, no, no, I need somebody I can chill with. I need somebody I can decompress with. And every single one of us as men needs someone we can sit with, talk to, decompress, we don't have to be on, we don't have to have some heavy revivies, we used to call it, didn't have to have a revolution. You just sit, just have a drink, have a coffee, sit, have a gatorade, whatever the case may be and just enjoy each other's company, have something to eat and just spend time and decompress. Imagine Jesus with Lazarus as best friends. Think about him showing up one day and Jesus says, hey, Lazarus, you should have seen it. I'm not going to tell your sisters yet, but Peter, I walked on the water. There was a storm going on, I walked on the water. I was going to pass the guys, I was freaking them out, it was great Lazarus is cracking up. And he said, Peter stepped out of the boat, he did what happened, man, he got out strong faith and they begin to laugh and talk about it and spend time together. I imagine Jesus saying, if James and John, if their mom shows up one more time, they're both out. You know, just that kind of real life thing that he had there in Bethany, it was only about six miles from Jerusalem. And so there's Mary and she shows up and she breaks an alabaster jar. Now, let me build this little picture here and then we'll finish it with what happened just before that with the triumphal entry, what's called the triumphal entry, Jesus coming through on a donkey, coming through into Jerusalem, all right. And then I'll finish it with Psalm 22, just fantastic stuff. I love all these little parts and pieces of what has happened here. Mary breaks a jar, says perfume jar, alabaster jar, but what's in it is spike nard, spike nard still today is available. And it was extremely expensive in those days because it came from the Himalayas. So think about this, you're in the Middle East, you're in Jerusalem. And from the Himalayas or you're in Bethany, you know, you're in Israel, from the Himalayas comes this little jar worth a year's wages. Now it's the liquid was so valuable because it came from, think about it, it came from thousands of miles away in Himalayas, comes through all the, you know, the spice trains and the spice trail and the camels and the, you know, caravans and it arrives there and somebody pays for it. And the reason they would have it is because a woman would have it. Let's say she's being getting married. Well, if she's fairly wealthy, the family is well to do. She would have one of these jars. Maybe it was handed down from her mom, maybe a loved one or relative and she would break that and annoy the bed and it smells somewhat earthy. I guess it would be a good way to say it, very strong, earthy smell, it has a, it's not a light, light fragrance like a rose sort of thing and it's just, it's very pungent and just sticks around for a long, long time. And in that culture, that fragrance meant you were loved. It just meant, here's, I've anointed my bed. I've, I've anointed my clothing for you and, and as she got married, she would bring her husband in on her first night and that fragrance of love would be there for days. And then maybe under 10th anniversary, maybe the husband or 20th anniversary of the husband has put together some funds over the years and is able to secure a jar of that and he would break it and say, come away with me for a couple of days, a little, a little honeymoon. And that's what that meant. It was a fragrance. Everybody knew it meant love and grace and freedom and beauty and joy and intimacy, closeness. She broke that, she put it on his feet, put it on his hair, cried over him and he told the man, he said, you know, she's anointed me for burial and they couldn't figure it out. But think about this, that same fragrance of that beautiful moment with these men going, you know, just, I don't want to have a problem with Judas and too, do you know how much money that's worth? And I think there are probably a couple of other guys going, yeah, yeah, he's right. Jesus said, no, no, no, you're not going to have me hear that often. You're not going to have me hear that much longer. And that anointing, think about this. On this middle of the week, a few days later, they wouldn't take showers every day. They would clean up somewhat, but they didn't wash their hair every single day and think about a few days later, as Jesus is being tortured, whipped, put on a cross in his hair with that fragrance, falling across his eyes. And as he's in agony, he can smell and sense the fragrance of love, prayer and intimacy and that he's loved, gosh. That one absolutely blows me away, absolutely blows me away. Now, Lazarus's house, right? Lazarus got raised from the dead. How do we get into the whole thing? Lazarus gets raised from the dead, right? And so what happens is, when Lazarus is raised from the dead, just before that, Jesus is in a different place, okay? He's in, you can read this in the book of John. That's where it says, John 10-10, of course, says, the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. I came that you might have life and have it in abundance to the fullest. And then when Jesus shows up, most of us know the story, Lazarus's best friend dies, but Jesus is only about six hour walk away and he stays three and a half days there before he comes over. Lazarus has already died. Mary and Martha are upset. Martha comes out, she's upset. She says, you should have been here and he said to her this, it's such a good translation. He said, you don't have to wait for the end. She said, because Jesus said, I know he's going to be resurrected, don't worry about it. He's going to live and she says, oh no, I know, when everybody dies, we all get resurrected. He goes, no, you do not have to wait for the end. And in the message translation, it's awesome, it says this, it says, I am right now. Write that down someplace. Just I am right now, think of that, put it imprinted in your mind about Easter. Scripture says, I am right now, resurrection and life. I am right now, resurrection and life. In Matthew, Jesus said, are you tired, worn out, burned out on religion, come to me, get away with me and you'll recover your life, I'll show you how to take a real rest. I am right now, resurrection and life. That, bro, that gives me peace deep within my heart, deep within my life. It is the antidote to fear and depression and anger and all the things that you and I deal with in this life. I am right now, resurrection and life. So he speaks and Lazarus comes back to life, John 15, it says, greater love has no one to miss to lay down one's life for his friends, you're my friends. This is what's happening now. This is Lazarus and Jesus being friends. He said, I don't call you servants, for a servant doesn't know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, I have called you friends. And then from Lazarus's house now, okay, so all that happens, there may be about three months in between this and he's back at the house and he says, yeah, it's time to go in and so much happens at this point in time. Because when Jesus enters Jerusalem, it's at the same time, the exact same time that the priest is holding up in front of everybody over at the tabernacle, over at the synagogue, over at the main place there in Jerusalem, the priest is holding up the spotless lamb. So at the same time that he is now declaring the spotless lamb is here and everybody's, yeah, Jesus is writing in. So the spotless lamb actually arrives at Jesus at the same time that the priest is holding up the lamb that's going to be sacrificed in a few days. But the thing that always hit me was these people, because the Bible says that when all of these things happen, when he was raised from the dead, and John says that the high priest began to decide, hey, we got to kill Jesus, we got to kill this guy, we got to get rid of them. John 12, it says 9 through 11, so much happening, the Jews say, man, we got to kill Jesus. And then they say, well, not only do we have to kill Jesus, but we need to kill that guy Lazarus, because on account of him, so many people are coming to faith in Jesus. Now, watch this, this is so awesome. So here's what I think. I believe, and there's a lot of scholars and smart guys who can back this up. I believe that from Lazarus's house, there were so many people who'd become followers of Christ. So when Jesus said, hey, get the donkey, I'm going in. And it says people begin to wave palm branches, people begin to put their jackets on the ground, which in that culture was their identity, because the jacket, you know, the embroidery of the things on it, whatever it may be, or how plain it was, you could tell the status or the class of a person based on their overgarment. And they were taking that off, putting it on the ground. They're identity. They lay my life down for you. Now, think about this. I was, I was taught as a kid the same people that praised them one day, killed them the next day. Yeah, that's not what happened. I mean, that would have to be just the most amazingly. Maybe there were two guys, schizophrenic, but anything about this, if you praise them one day and they say, all right, Barabbas, no, no, no, let's, let's kill Jesus. It's not the same people. See, there's, there were the people inside, there were people on the outside. There were people inside who were the good people and then there were the people in the margins. And Jesus came for the people in the margins. See, so, I mean, think about it, six miles and he's riding this donkey and there's hundreds, perhaps thousands of people waving palm branches and putting their jackets down and proclaiming in Hoseanna. Hoseanna, here comes our king, Hoseanna. In those people, I believe, were kept on the outside, but I believe they're also the people who were part of the revolution of grace that happened a few weeks later when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit happened in Acts 2. It's, you know, because it was the religious people, it was the good people in that sense that crucified Jesus wasn't those people. Now, here's one other thing, final thing, on the cross. So now he's got that anointing on him. Remember, we're all anointed as Christ was anointed. He's had, he's had all these trauma things happen. He's called us friends, all these things have happened, and then he sings, and he sings from Psalm 22, I'm going to turn over to it. I was in Mark 14, I'm going to turn over to it. He was in song, he sings a song, then you've probably never heard this that he sang a song from the cross, but he did, and I'm going to read it to you in just a second, Psalm 22. And the final word, I love this, the final word of this Psalm in the original language is to tell a style, to tell a style, T-E-T-E-L-E-S-T-A-I in our English language, English phonical letters, to tell a style, Psalm 22, you know what it means? It is finished. So the last verse of Psalm 22, the original language, to tell a style, it is finished. What's the first verse, Psalm 22? My God, my God, here it is, first verse, chapter 22, Psalms, it's the Psalm of David in which he predicts this crucifixion. Remember this about the Bible and the Word of God? Jesus didn't just show up at Christmas, he didn't just show up somewhere in the middle. This entire Bible is about Jesus. In fact, here's what, I'll tell you where Jesus is in the Word, where it starts. In the beginning, God, there's Jesus, there's the Holy Spirit, there's God, the Father, in the beginning, God, right? So here's what it says, Psalm 22, verse 1, my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Now remember that whole piece that we read later in Luke where it says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? What is he doing there? He's singing a song. Before he was a teacher, before he could be a reader at 30 years of age and read Isaiah 61 in front of everyone, he had to first be a leader of the singing and everybody memorized all the Psalms. So what Jesus did from the cross is sing a song, Psalm 22, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the very last part of it is to tell a style. It is finished. It's in the middle, over and over. There's references. It says, they cast dice for my clothing. My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls, they're like a pack of dogs, they have pierced my hands and feet. That's all in Psalm 22. My enemies stare at me and gloat, goes on and on you, but then it flips. What's this? It says, for God has not ignored the suffering of the needy. He's not turned his back on them. Who's there? His mom? Other people? John? The Apostle? Is there at the cross? There's many others. And he starts a song that, as they're singing it, they realize, wait a minute. This is what it is. The end of it says, future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord. His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done to tell a star. It is finished. His mission. He completed his mission. Nothing to be added, nothing to be fixed, nothing we are redeemed and forgiven and the mission is fulfilled. And now, my friend, it is you and I that have been given a mission. Our mission is to share love with people, to share hope with people, to help those who in the margins, to pour the anointing on their head, on their feet, to tell them, you know what? You don't have to live like this. There's a better way. There's a revelation that you can have of how you live, who you are, your identity. You can be as Stephen Mansfield said in his great book. You can be a man on fire, a man of passion. I love this season. Thank you for hanging out with me. I'm brave men today. My name is Paul Cole and I steward and served the Christian men's network as president. C-M-N dot men, all the tools and everything you need for, materials, resources for the disciplinary men, C-M-N dot men. Thanks for hanging out with me, letting me just kind of walk through some of my little high points that I love about this season. Remember hope is alive, hope as a name, hope's name is Jesus. Father I do pray and I thank you and I rejoice in you. I thank you for life, I thank you for redemption, I thank you for the anointing of your presence. I thank you for new beginnings and fresh starts and I thank you that those fresh starts happen every single day. I thank you that you said we're not just a servant to you, but we're your friends close like Abraham. He was the friend of God. Father I pray for my friend right now and I pray the anointing and power of your Holy Spirit on my friend. I pray Father everything in their hands touchable prosper every place they put their feet will be holy ground. I pray Father right now in the name of Jesus every single small issue that seems to overwhelm us would be absolutely broken. I pray breakthrough in the name of Jesus. I pray perspective for my friend that the things he thinks are larger actually not that big and that in you we can do all things as you said through the Apostle and Philippians. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I thank you Lord for your grace and your mercy, your loving kindness to us. I thank you for your generosity, I thank you for your unshackled, unbound love to us. And I thank you for to tell us thy it is finished. God bless you. I'll see you next time on Brave Man. You just experience Brave Man with Paul Lewis Cole. Paul is president of the Christian men's network connect with Paul at cmd.man or write to him at Paul at cmd.man.