Rumors of the Empty Tomb

Easter is the time that we celebrate the death of Death in the death of Christ.
Easter proves that Christmas was real. The cozy, warmth of the manger scene becomes the brutal horror of the crucifixion. The cross looked like defeat to all but God, but in truth, it was hidden victory. Jesus, the sinless God/man, became sin on our behalf to win us righteous standing before God. He disarmed Satan our accuser, cancelling the written code that condemned us. He won us uninterrupted life with His Father.

The cross looked like defeat, but it was victory concealed. The resurrection was victory revealed but the war had truly been won at the cross.
Jesus’ resurrection proved that death had no hold on him, and therefore no hold on those who would believe in him for salvation. It also proved that all authority had been given to him. There was no name in heaven or earth higher or stronger than Jesus’ name. Jesus spent 40 days appearing to his disciples, proving to them that he was fully alive, allowing them to touch him, eat with him, examine him. And he taught them about His Kingdom.

In the mean time, the chief priests had started a rumor, bribing the soldiers guarding the tomb to say that the disciples had stolen Jesus' body. Despite this, no anti-Christian writer in the first 2 Centuries AD denied that the tomb was empty. Amidst a conspiracy theory and intense persecution, the number of Christians grew from a little band of believers in AD33, to 27 million by 300AD. Why do you think that was? Certainly, one reason was the quality of the lives of those who followed Jesus. If this was a conspiracy, why were people willing to die for it? Why were their lives so unrecognizeable before and after faith in Jesus. Even those who persecuted the early disciples admitted that their lives were remarkable.

The disciples would be a ‘show and tell’ to the world. The rumors of the empty tomb were confirmed by the transformed lives of the disciples.

This Friday and Sunday, at Southlands Church, we are going to spread four rumors of the empty tomb. Four lives transformed by the power of the Gospel. Two rumors are ancient, and two are recent.
On Friday we will spread the rumors of Mary Magdalene and Kristen Roark.
On Sunday, we will spread the rumors of Peter the fisherman and Carl Tuttle.
They are sure to confirm your suspicion that Christ is indeed risen from the dead.
We would love it if you joined us.

Christian or Disciple?

In April 2012 I sat with a small group of mega-church pastors who lamented their inability to make disciples, admitting that their people were addicted to preachers and programs. The Multiply(www.multiplymovement.com) curriculum was launched out of that meeting. It’s a call to make disciples who will make disciples through telling the story of God. This past week I met with this group again, this time in Austin. Some of those pastors have now have handed over mega-churches to lead house churches, others lead churches of 10 000 plus, but all face the same challenge – how do we make disciple makers? It’s not the size or form of church that is key – it is the quality of disciples.

One of the questions we wrestled around was, what really is a disciple?
We have up in our church lobby the ‘9 elements of a disciple.’ I loved being part of the wordsmith process of the definitions, and I love the way they look in our lobby. They are carefully chosen, and beautifully portrayed, but for the life of me I could not remember more than about 3 asd I sat in Austin. So I found myself thinking, "What definition is transferrable enough for everyone to remember and commit to?"

Jesus, when he called the disciples said, called them with clear, authoritative simplicity. “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” His call was essentially to three things – to follow Him –not just believe, but accept him as their leader. To be changed by Him – I will make you. And to be on mission with him.” I will make you fishers of men.’ That is the essence of a disciple.

The word disciple is used over 258 times in the New Testament, whereas the word Christian is only used three times. Disciple does not just mean ‘student’, it means ‘apprentice’. We are learning to do the things that Jesus did. It is very active. Following Jesus does not just mean learning about him, but doing what he did – making disciples. It has multiplication in it’s dna.

Christian means 'little Christ' is more a statement of association than a statement of intent. In acts 11 in the church of Antioch, Luke says, ‘the disciples were first called Christians there.’ In other words, the way the disciples were following Jesus reminded people so much of Jesus that they called them ‘little Christ’s’ This may sound provocative, but maybe we should be calling ourselves disciples of Jesus, and leaving it to the city to say whether we remind them of Jesus or not? Maybe we need to give our unbelieving friends a ‘hunting license’ to call us out where we do not remind them of Jesus?

Whatever, the case, Jesus calls us to far more than just ‘association.’ He commissions us, as his apprentices, to learn from him, walk with him, and do what he did – to make disciples.