Creating A Lifestyle Of Worship

Most of you will have heard my story – that I was in year 13 classics class when a girl turned to me out of the blue and invited me to youth group.  And I said yes.  That week I went with her to youth group.  It was just in someone’s living room at someone’s house.  I had no idea what to expect.   

I had grown up going to mass with my mum and gone to catholic high school for a few years but youth group was a brand new experience.  I was sharing at Soul Food, the Pak College Christian Group on Tuesday this week – shout out to Robin and the team there – they had a pizza lunch outreach and had over 160 people attend in the hall – how wild is that – I was sharing at soul food that mass was so boring that even the priest, the dude running the show – fell asleep.  That made me think that God was soooo boring and indifferent to everything. 

At youth group in the living room a guy picked up his guitar and said we are going to have worship now.  I had sung songs at mass.  I had sung songs at assembly at our catholic school.  But as the youth around me began to sing I knew something different was happening here.  In that moment as the people around me began to sing and lift their hands and close their eyes I knew that God was real and that He was there and near and that I could know Him, that I must know Him.

Before that moment I would have said I didn’t believe God was real.  In that moment I knew He was.

Worship is where we meet God.  Whether we’ve been a Christian 10 years, 27 years or not even there yet, worship is where we can see God and that can change our whole lives.

This morning in our Worship series – awaken the wonder – we’re talking about worship as a lifestyle.  We’re pulling back the veil on what worship is, how we make it real in our lives and how we can make it part of our intentional and unintentional rhythms of our day.

If you ask someone how they are or how they’re doing a very common response is I’m busy.  I’m busy.  I’m busy doing this and I’m busy doing that.  Traffic is crazy, school assessments are crazy, work is crazy, the kids are crazy, I am crazy. I’m tired and I’m overwhelmed. 

When it comes to talking about spiritual practices then there can be a block and push back because we’re busy, we think to ourselves – I don’t have time for that, you want me to add more to my life – I’m tired and stressed and it’s so overwhelming and busy already, I don’t have any more time.

The danger is if we don’t MAKE time we don’t actually do the time.  As humans we never drift into action.  We are wired and flawed to take the path of least resistance and to go with the flow.  We want to be spontaneous and it to feel natural not forced, not ritualistic, and not religious.  As humans we don’t like discipline.  And as Pentecostals, we especially don’t want to look religious.  It’s a relationship not religion, its presence not practical. 

But so often we ARE applying discipline in other areas of our lives and being intentional about other things – but we view discipline as a bad word when it comes to our relationship with God.

Creating a lifestyle of worship is different and not different to creating a new habit. 

Like creating a new habit we need to change aspects of how we spend our time and our behaviour.  Like creating a new habit there will be that uncomfortable stage where it might feel forced and unnatural and we forget and then we beat ourselves up or we’re experimenting and trying new ways to make the habit stick. 

Like creating a new habit we’re giving something up in order to gain something greater. 

If I asked you all to vote in a poll now about whether worshipping God was a good idea yes or no I would expect almost a 100% YES vote.  We know it’s the right thing to do and good for us – we know God is amazing and that we should be enamored with awe and that God should be the centre of our world and that the angels have been singing the same song for thousands of years holy holy holy but…. Am I right?   

It’s not like we’re not motivated – but our motivation hasn’t translated into action. 

Every choice for change has a price, but when we are motivated, it is easier to bear the inconvenience of action than the pain of remaining the same. We need cross a mental threshold that redefines our time, our energy, our resources and our resistance to change.

Creating a lifestyle of worship is DIFFERENT than creating a new habit because we’re not just talking about 10,000 steps, journaling every day, eating healthier, practicing guitar everyday, going to the gym 4 times a week, drinking 2 l of water, saving money for a trip to Europe or training to run a marathon.  These things are good and are positive for our life but worship and time with God is at the core what we were designed to do. Worship not only deepens our relationship with God but there are byproducts and benefits that bless our body, our mind, our heart, our soul, our relationships, our future, our wisdom, our brains, our health, our family.  

Everyone here worships.  We are all worshipping something.  As Christians we get to decide who are we worshipping?  As Christians we make it our life goal to reorientate our worship towards God.  As Christians we make it our purpose to know God, to be children of God, friends with God. 

We are created for relationship with God.  We are designed to worship.  And think about WHO we are worshipping.  God.  Who said let there be light and there was, who is near and personal and good, so good and wise and knows the secrets of the universe and the secrets of our hearts and invites us – not forces us – to be friends and have access to His peace, His presence and His power.   All of us here deep down are saying yes pick me pick me, we want that.  The key is to then make that devotion into a discipline and then you’re being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus, doing the things Jesus did and being a disciple.

What an incredible invitation.  Worship is proportional to our view of God. If our everyday lives aren’t filled with wonder and awe and worship and  lived out obedience to His commands, maybe we need to examine who we believe Jesus to be.   Who are we really worshipping?

Having this perspective of WHY and WHO we worship is the difference between any normal habit changes we can be making.  There is nothing greater and more important than a relationship with our Creator. 

Romans 12:1  Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

The message version puts it so beautifully:

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Then jumping into 1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

These 2 passages show us that worship happens in all the 168 hours of our week, is more than just 2 hours of Sunday and is more than just singing and clapping and music.  In fact worship can happen in the most mundane ordinary parts of our lives – the eating and the drinking, the things we do everyday the things we maybe don’t even think about and just do on autopilot. 

Of all the things Paul could have chosen to highlight and say this can be worship, do this for the glory of God – he choses eating and drinking, not reading the bible, not volunteering at church, not being in a connect group, not praying, not giving, not prophesying or speaking in tongues, not fasting, not on missions…. Eating and drinking.  Ordinary things. 

This reframes worship.

The Greek word for worship in Romans 12:1 is latreia (lat-ri’-ah). It is the second most commonly used word to describe worship in the New Testament. And it means, “service.” A lifestyle of worship is not simply raising your hands at the pinnacle of your favorite worship song on Sunday.   In fact it’s not nailed down to a specific place or time or church at all.  It is a service. Paul is saying when we see what it cost Jesus to bring us from death to life, how could we do anything less than serve and worship him for the rest of our lives with all of our lives.

We offer worship as the outward action which reflects our inward devotion to God and what we offer as response is in agreement with the Word of God.   It’s not just singing praises to God, all day long, but it’s in the choices we make. 

We were made to know God and love him in response. That is worship.

Louie Giglio says it this way, “Worship is our response, both personally and corporately, to God—for who He is and what He has done, expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.”

God reveals who He is—His love, grace, kindness, goodness, righteousness, holiness, justice, patience, and compassion and we respond.   With our life.  Not just the 2 hours on Sunday but with all 168 hours, in the holy moments and the hustling moments, in the motivated and the mundane, in the wonder and the work, in the intentional and the unintentional.

John Mark Comer (https://www.practicingtheway.org/book) is my favourite author and speaker at the moment.  If you are wanting some inspiration on following Jesus and some challenges on your spiritual growth, your spiritual rhythms then he is your guy. 

I discovered him last year when I was talking to someone about the whole thing of being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus and doing the things Jesus did and how that concept and mission was captivating my heart and mind.   They pointed me to John Mark’s books and podcasts and said this guy talks about that exact same thing.  I was like jinx! 

His latest book – not sponsored I promise – is called practicing the way – and is about creating intentional rhythms and practices that help us be with Jesus, become like Jesus and do the things Jesus did. 

In his podcasts he talks about how being a disciple isn’t something that happens on its own, much less passively. It’s a practice, and practice makes perfect, here as elsewhere. No one becomes an excellent pianist or mechanic or basketball player without a plan of action. The Holy Spirit produces saints not at random but by a rigorous regimen. These are the spiritual disciplines or, as Comer terms them, the practices of the Way of Jesus.

Worship is a spiritual practice.

Like creating a habit of 10000 steps or journaling every day or setting a goal for how much we can lift (we lift the name of Jesus am I right) it takes being intentional.

STRATEGY INTO SUCCESS

Like we habit hack ourselves to success in the gym, or success with healthy eating, or saving for something exciting or as adults something not exciting – having a strategy will set us up to win.  It can sound awkward saying we have to have a strategy for worship but our humanness hijacks us that we’re not drifting towards God naturally we have to make intentional choices and behaviours to follow Him.  If we don’t make time that time will be taken up by the drift.  By Netflix.  By scrolling.  By work.  By busyness.  By good things too.  Everything good or bad competes for that time. 

Build a strategy.  When.  What.  Where.   Are you a morning person – yes then do it then.  No, well maybe doing it then might be the best time too!   

When we plan to praise and plan to pray and even put a framework around what we do when we have that set time to worship and pray we’re combating the decision freeze that can try to derail us before we’ve already begun.   

I was at our local east Auckland ministers association meeting on Thursday and the guest speaker, a local pastor who is on the global exec team of his denomination, said that he has a list he prays every day.  John Mark Comer begins his day by praying Psalm 23 every morning.  Another pastor I am reading at the moment begins his worship by reading from a liturgy prayer book then sits in silence with God.   I have my Plan A prayer journal – a list – and have playlists I’ve created on youtube and spotify that are reserved for worship time.   Turn your commute into a chapel where you pray and give thanks and worship God – don’t close your eyes though!   You can walk and worship – Jesus used to withdraw to places of solitude and climb mountains to pray and I often thought he would climb the mountain and get to the destination and then pray and then it occurred to me that he probably walked and worshiped at the same time.   You can draw and worship, write and worship, dance and worship, drive and worship, be still and worship, kneel and worship, stand and worship.  

What matters is we ARE worshipping.   What matters is that we have created and implemented a strategy that sets us up for success in making that intentional time to meet with God – the creator, who loves us, who wants to speak to us, who heals us from the inside out, who gives us his peace and presence and power. 

HUMAN INTO HOLY

Sometimes our time of worship at home can feel so human.  We come tired and overwhelmed.  We come with our morning breath and morning attitude.  We come with the to do list.  We come and then get distracted about work, lunch, life, lunch, that thing I said to someone 37 days ago, lunch….  We come feeling messed up and broken and not good enough.  Or we broke our streak and its been 4 days since we had some intentional time.   Or we yelled at the kids.  Yelled at our spouse.  Yelled at God.   We are human.   But yet that divine invitation is still there.  In fact these are the perfect times to worship.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The message version puts it like this:

 “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. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Humble beginnings, honest real conversations and doing as David did over and over again in the psalms – a book of worship songs in the bible – but God.  Time and time again David is life is hard and life is messy and everything is falling apart and I feel like I am drowning… but God is good and God is my rock and God saved me and God is my safe place and I worship Him.  David tells his soul – he tells his human self – to worship.

Psalm 42:5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.

Begin human.  You’ll find yourself face to face with our holy God.

HABIT INTO HISTORY

Have you heard about the 21/90 rule? The 21/90 rule states that it takes 21 days to make a habit and 90 days to make it a permanent lifestyle change. … Commit to your goal for 21 days and it will become a habit. Commit to your goal for 90 days and it will become a part of your lifestyle.   

We can habit our way into making history with God.  We create a pattern of making time to spend with God and we then have a history of God speaking to us, God healing us, God’s power, peace and presence changing our life.  The bible says in Hebrews 11:6 those who diligently seek God will be rewarded.  There is reward for our worship. 

Did you know there is physical rewards in our brain chemistry and brain structure when we worship.  Neuroscientists have found that just 7 minutes of worship a day rewires and restores our brains physically.

Researchers have found that when we worship God, there is an increase in BPNF, which is a neurotransmitter that helps us grow healthy brain cells. Every morning, we wake up with 300 million more brain cells. When we worship, gamma waves are created in our brain that can actually help us feel the presence of God.

Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of his people and we actually get a physical boost as these gamma waves fire in our brains while we worship.

Gamma waves do more than just make us feel better, they actually increase our intelligence, too. Research has shown that as you worship, you increase in wisdom and there’s an increase in your capacity to understand the goodness of God. As you worship, your brain is comprehending wisdom from the living Word helping grow your capacity to understand that God absolutely loves you. Just seven minutes of worship every day will change your brain. 

People who worship experience less stress, and they even experience a reduction in blood pressure. Their prefrontal cortex, the part of their brain associated with focus and attention, becomes more active over time, helping them avoid distraction and be more intentional.

They also have more activity in their anterior cingulate cortex. That’s the part of our brain associated with love, compassion and empathy. Focusing on God’s love makes us more loving and less angry. It’s easier for us to forgive ourselves and others.  In fact it acts as a buffer between that fear centre – the amygdala – and the prefrontal cortex – to help us be more resilient and brave.

The reward of worship and time with God is a renewed mind as Romans 12:2 puts it :  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Sometimes we might not feel like it or if the heavens didn’t part and angels sung and we were in the glory cloud and so it just feels like we just passed time.  We were distracted and we’re majoring more in discipline than devotion.  Sometimes the heavens part and angels sung and its wow.   But every time we make time to spend with God it transforms us and connects us with God.  God is glad to see us – God delights in revealing Himself to us. 

James 4:8 draw near to God and He will draw near to you.     

PRAISE INTO PRESENCE

The first time I worshipped was in that living room at youth group – where I didn’t know any words and didn’t even know I was worshipping.  It was a hey God if you’re real show me.

The second time I worshipped was at easter camp just 2 weeks later where I gave my life to Jesus.  By then I knew some of the words to the songs and they had a overhead projector – old school technology – and I had seen what everyone else around me was doing.  So I just did what they did.  They closed their eyes.  I did and then opened them again for a sneaky peak at the words.  They raised their hands.  So I did.  I was skeptical of the hands raising thing, these funny Pentecostals.  And then I did it.  And it can only be for me described as a woosh of God’s presence.  As I outwardly expressed my worship God inwardly drew near.

The third time I worshipped was just after that easter camp at home in my bedroom.  Someone had given me some ancient technology that would play songs aka a scripture in song cassette tape.  I sat in my oversized beanbag at the end of the bed and put on my music and just sat there.   I had met God at youth group, I had given my life to Him at easter camp, but it was this moment in my bedroom that changed everything.  Because I was like of course God is at youth group and of course God is at easter camp and of course God would be at church – these holy places and holy appointments – but God was also in my bedroom and as the music and lyrics of these songs played my heart was responding, wow God, you are amazing, wow God, you are mighty, wow God you are good and whoosh.  God was there.   In case no one has told you – God does not live in this building and is not limited to 10-12 on Sundays – your whole life the temple where God wants to meet you at.  God is in your car, your office, your house, your wherever. 

Since those first worship encounters I have had many times when it has seemed like I was face to face with God and other times when my brain has been preoccupied with everything else, and times when my heart was so filled and refreshed and that moment of worship has changed my perspective and my life and other moments when it was like hey God, that was okay, and times when I have fallen asleep and times when it felt no time had passed.  Worship helps me discover and express that I like God a lot.  I mean He is wonderful.  Maybe we don’t talk about that enough, just how wonderful wonderful wonderful God is and wow, I am in awe that we get to worship and connect with Him.  King of endless worth  No one could express How much You deserve?  My worship is my attempt.  More than a song. 

Our praise brings His presence.  Praise is like the password that opens the doors to His presence.  Praise and prayer reveal His presence. 

Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

What do we need to shift to make worship a lifestyle?  Do we need to get a strategy for success, turn a habit into history, human moments into holy moments, praise into presence, turning our discipline into devotion and our singing into surrender? 

How Did We Get Here? Easter Sunday

Here we are – Easter Sunday.

How did we get here?

Anyone else feel like It has snuck up on us this year?  It is early this year but still! 

Confession time.  I am that person that buys hot cross buns on Boxing day.  I know some of you are horrified! Love them.  Raisins and all even though I am sure raisins are a consequence of the fall. 

But I wonder if the disciples felt like that too.

Here we are.

How did we get here?

Of course they didn’t realize that they were existing on the most important day not of their lifetime but of all history.  They didn’t realize that this was the day the world changed.

We know the end of the story and we have social media campaigns for holy week, celebrate palm Sunday, lent and have the whole build up.  But imagine that first easter – that first Sunday.

I’ve been journeying through the gospels this year as part of my hear reading and pausing to reflect and really think about who Jesus is, what Jesus did and what that means for me here and now. 

The gospels, for those that may not know are the first 4 books of the new testament, the first 4 books of the story of Jesus.  In these we met not only Jesus but we meet his disciples, ordinary people who Jesus calls to be with him, become like him and do the things he did.  These 12 ordinary men left their ordinary lives to follow him.  

The lead up to what we know now as easter is interesting from the disciples point of view.   Several times Jesus alludes to what is going to happen.  He gives spoiler alerts.  A few times he says in black and white, or red if you have a words in red version, I am going to die and rise again.

The disciples were like, we don’t get it.  Is this a parable, and allusion?  Is this a metaphor?  What you talking about Jesus?  One of them even pulls Jesus aside and was like no way Jesus, this isn’t happening.   Even a few days before he dies these conversations are happening and the disciples don’t join the dots and get it.  They can’t see the big picture.

We can shake our heads and go aww bless your hearts disciples. 

But apart from maybe some supernatural clouding I get it. 

Jesus is their rabbi, their lord, their teacher, their guru, their leader.  He was their friend, someone they had devoted not only the past 3 years to but were planning on devoting their whole lives to.  They see him as the saviour of israel, the promised coming messiah, the religious leader that is going to throw off the oppression of the roman people and liberate the jewish people. He is their superhero and they’re literally waiting for the moment when He’s like kachow!  

Good Friday was not on the bingo card of how to win friends and influence people.

Jesus death was the most epic of plot twists.

How did we get here?

Let’s jump into Matthew 27 to see what here looked like on the first easter.

From this passage I want us to look at what was happening in the moment and connect that to the big question that easter asks us today – what does this mean for me now?   

We can often read, or listen to the bible and tune out but I want us pause and reflect and to tune in to what God was doing and what God is right here and now to each one of us because I know as I read these words in Matthew I again was moved to wonder and awe of what was happening both in the natural and supernatural and what that all means for us as believers of this Jesus.

Matthew 27: 45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,  “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!” 48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.

49 The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit.

51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

55 And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and [n]Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons James and John.

57 Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. 59 When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. 61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.

I have been a Christian 31 years.  I became a Christian at an easter camp after a girl in my year 13 classics class turned to me out of the blue one day in class invited me to youth group.

That is the power of an invitation.   She had no idea that behind the scenes I had been wondering about God, wondering if perhaps he was real.   There are people you sit with in class or in your staff room and they are wondering and thinking and have questions and that God is drawing and preparing and speaking to.  

2 weeks after that invitation I was at easter camp.  In my black ripped jeans, flannel shirt, 16 peirceings, pearl jam on my Walkman. 

I found myself that easter Saturday walking up the front on a shearing shed where the camp was to give my life to Jesus.  How did I get there?  Did I know what that meant?   No.  I didn’t really know anything.  In fact, despite going to church with my mum when growing up and going to a catholic high school in year 9-11 and getting 99% on my religious education exams, that Saturday was the first time that I understood what Jesus did on the cross, why Jesus did it and what that meant for my life, here on earth and for when I died. 

In that 31 years of being a Christian I have not connected some thing that made me nerd out this year.

I know we’re talking about Easter and Jesus’ death but I want to flip back the pages of the calendar from lent to advent.

In the beginning of the story we meet Mary and joseph.  Teenagers called by God to parent Jesus – the son of God, the messiah promised throughout their holy scriptures and their holy history.  Both called individually and together by God through dreams and angelic encounters to be parents to Jesus. 

We see the birth of Jesus – the son of God, the messiah promised and waited for with great expectation – not in a holy hygienic clean well staffed royal hospital but a stable for animals out the back of an inn – not hygienic, not clean, no staff, no room in the inn, no comfort, no midwife, no hand sanitizer, not holy. 

Luke 2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Mary and Joseph wrap him in cloth and place him in the manger.  Our minds here jump to Christmas card imagery of baby Jesus in a wooden manager stuffed with hay and stray, fat white wooly lambs looking over with adoration and shiny stars with smiles sparkling overhead. 

But Mary and Joseph who wrap him in cloth place Jesus in a hewn out rock trough – a manger – a feeding trough for the animals who room there.

Jesus, the son of God, the long awaited and prophesied messiah had arrived with no earthly fanfare and no sign of what was to happen in his lifetime and beyond. 

And here,  at the end of Jesus life we have another Mary and Joseph.

Wrapping Jesus in cloth.

Placing him in a hewn out rock.

A Mary and joseph with a womb and a Mary and joseph with a tomb.

A Mary and joseph at the beginning and a Mary and joseph at the end.

Mary and Josephs who believed in God and who reorientated their whole life around what God was calling them to do.   They didn’t pay attention to reputation or success in the worlds terms but counted following God as better.

So let’s look at this end of the story Mary and Joseph.

How did they get here?

Joseph of Arimathea.   He is not mentioned anywhere before this moment.  We don’t know his origin story of how he met Jesus and became a disciple.   He is a secret follower. 

In Luke 23 we learn that Joseph isn’t just rich and successful but that he is a council member – a member of the religious elite.   Joseph most likely would have been at the council meeting where they were deciding the fate of Jesus – where the plans were made and the details hashed out and votes were cast and the verdict read and the death sentence devised.  Luke 23: 51 says that Joseph did not vote with the council.  Despite being a secret follower he makes a public stand at Jesus’ trial and does not vote with the crowd.   

He then approaches Pilate and asks for the body.  Criminals crucified were usually disposed of in what we would call indecently now.  They were literally just tossed in a ditch. 

I saw this on Instagram the other day – this conversation from the point of view of Pilate – Joseph I don’t understand, you’re one of the richest men in all the region, you’ve spent a fortune on this new tomb for you and your family and now you want to give it to this man, this Jesus?

Joseph replies.  It’s just for the weekend.

Joseph in this moment is doing everything he can do to care and show reverence for his friend and teacher.   He offers what he can.  A tomb, a final resting place, a dignified end.  This is his act of worship.  He wraps Jesus in cloth and places him in a hewn out rock tomb.

Let’s look at Mary.  We’ve met her before in the gospels.  Her origin story is that she was a woman tormented by 7 demons and Jesus sets her free.  She becomes a public follower of Jesus.   She is there at Jesus’ crucifixion.  She is there when he is taken down from the cross. She is also there first to discover that Jesus’ body is not in Joseph’s tomb and that Jesus is risen.

In John 20 we read – and again I’m going to read a chunk of the passage here – so we get the big picture of what’s going on – and because we never outgrow the gospel, we never mature enough to pause in wonder at what Jesus did and who Jesus is and we all need to stop collaborate and listen to remind our hearts of God’s presence, power and peace.

John 20:11 11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my disciples and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

In our 21st century context we read this and think is cool.  Jesus is back!  This is the kachow moment.  But in a first century context the fact that he appeared to a woman first was shocking.  In fact that a woman was the first witness to the resurrection was a valid reason back then to disbelieve and discredit the reality of the resurrection.  Women could not testify in court.  Their word was not considered worth anything.

Apart from the fact the resurrection is pretty revolutionary the fact – lots of facts – that Jesus chooses this woman to be his first witness is counter cultural.  This woman, who used to have 7 demons and consequently a bad reputation was his first choice.

Don’t you love it how Jesus doesn’t disqualify us based on our past, our brokenness, our flaws.  

Easter is good news because everything He promised is proven to be possible.  A fresh start.  A new life.  Salvation.  Peace with God.  Right here in this moment in this conversation we see it play out.  Jesus appearing first to a woman whose life was wrecked by so many issues, who was defined by all the negativity and failings this shows that its real and that promise is for each one of us here and now.

Mary and Joseph are 2 people who follow Jesus (despite the fact that Jesus is dead) and they don’t know how they got there and they don’t know what will happen next.

Did they know he will rise again?  Maybe.  Maybe not.

But their great love for him meant they risked everything to not only be at the foot of the cross but to care for all that was left of Jesus.

Jesus was better.

Jesus was better than the risk, their reputations, their relationships, their revenue.

Jesus was worth following. 

Jesus is better now.

Easter from beginning to end – From Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday – the defining moments of God’s big story show us once and for all, above and beyond, Jesus is better. 

Jesus is the point of God’s big story.  He is the main character.  He is the rescue plan. 

Isaiah 53 says he was crushed for our wrongdoing and he took the punishment we deserved in his own body.  Our sin stopped his heart, our sin drove the nails firmly into his hands and wrists.  The one who in the beginning said let there be light experienced utter darkness and separation from God His Father.  The one who created the oceans and rivers and rain thirsted.  The one who breathed life into Adam and all life breathed no more.  Jesus, the way the truth and the life, died. 

The death of Jesus reverses the curse of sin and raises the dead to life and brings those who were far from God near and not guilty.

It changes everything.

All throughout the old testament we are shown the pattern to be made right with God. 

From the garden where Adam and eve made the first sin – taking fruit from the tree – where they chose to rebel against God and do things their own way and be their own gods (small g) – and tried to cover themselves up with fig leaves – God makes the first sacrifice to cover them in clothes made from animal skins and makes the first promise and prophecy about Jesus in Genesis 3:15. I’ve seen a few memes lately about the shade we’re going to give Adam and eve when we get to heaven.  How could you we accuse them – yet every day we’re making the same decisions and every day we’re messing up.

In Exodus we read about the Passover and the lambs that died and had their blood painted on the door frames so the angel of death would pass over.   We then in Leviticus read about the sacrifice system instituted in the temple and the laws that had to be upheld.  Lambs, cattle, doves, goats – sacrificed because of our sin to make us not guilty. All because we messed up.   

How did we get here?  This is how. 

Can you imagine what it would have been like as a Jewish person growing up in this system.  Passover would have been an animal lovers nightmare.   The smells, the noise, the mess.

On the 10^th day of the month the father of a family would go and choose a lamb.   This lamb would come home with him, live with the family, be cared for by the family… until Passover when yes, that lamb, that beloved lamb, would die on behalf of the family.

When I was in year 5 our class went on a field trip.  To the freezing works.  The bus pulls up outside the works and you get out next to the animal stocks where the animals are kept.  Big beautiful cows with their big beautiful eyes mooed at us as we entered the works.   Then you get a tour of the meat factory.  I didn’t last long.  And I went vegetarian for the next year.   Looking the animal in the eye, makes it real.   Blood is also very unpleasant.  And it all smells. 

This is how we got here.

As we stand on this side of history we have it all laid out for us.  We’ve joined the dots and can see the parallels in the big story of God from Genesis to Malachi and through into the New Testament. And we have the resurrection. 

Jesus is better not only because he died for us but because he then rose again, showing that he has all the power and all the authority and all the glory and all the victory over sin and over death and over everything.  Jesus wins.  He has the power.  He is everything He says He is.  It’s all real.  He is better.

This is who we follow.  This is who we worship.  This is who we give our lives to.

In our 21^st century world we can fall into the trap of Jesus becoming an add on in our life.  Like how we add on 10000 steps, gratitude lists, atomic habits, 5+ a day, just do it and say a quick prayer and you’re in. 

Being a Christian is about following Jesus.  It’s about being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus and doing the things Jesus did.  It’s about giving Jesus full access to our heart, our mind, our behaviour, our decisions, our past, our present and our future.  It’s about transformation from the inside out. But that can also make it sound so one sided.  It’s about what I do.  I be with Jesus.  I become like Jesus.  I do the things Jesus did.  I am transformed.  I am changed.  I’ve done the work.  That sounds too much like I’m trying to pay back or work my way retroactively into earning my salvation.  It is not our follow through that saves us.  That is the last thing I want it to sound like.   

I have thought a lot about what to say this morning.  Because I feel that weight of saying the right words that show us all that Jesus is better.  Hear my heart.  Jesus is better.  He is better than any risk and reward.  He is better than our reputation.  He is better than what any self help guru offers, what any amount of money or relationships or job or anything the world can offer.  He is better than any temptation or any quick fix. 

I think a lot – which can actually be translated as – I worry a lot – that we just come and sit here on a Sunday and we’ve ticked the box and we might read the word for today or read a youversion plan and tick, and we were nice someone and tick.  And we miss the invitation.  We miss the better.  We miss Jesus. 

And then I worry that that comes across as self righteous and judgemental.    Or that it seems like a weight like a burden and Jesus isn’t offering that.  Easter shows us that all the religious things we can do – like all the lambs that had to die and all the rules they had to follow and all the things we try to do to cover ourselves up like Adam and eve in the garden – miss the mark. 

Ephesians 2:4-9

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

It’s not about what we can do – it’s been done already.  It is finished Jesus said.  It’s paid in full. 

It’s a gift.  It’s an invitation to receive.  It’s our choice to believe and accept.  Grace makes us acknowledge that we cannot earn God’s favor, while it removes our fear of not measuring up to holy standards.

It doesn’t matter who we are or what we’ve done.  Jesus is for all and has done enough for all and done enough for what we need every day.    He is completely accessible.

And then everything we do from there on is our response to this.  The way we live our life, the way we come close to God, the way we lay down our lives, the way we are transformed, the way we reorientate what we do and who we are, the way we follow, the way we worship, the way we connect with God, the way we love people, every way, every day.

God reached out to us and did everything necessary and then we reach back with awe and gratitude. 

As a youth pastor I think a lot about how I can show people who Jesus really is.  I think a lot about how can I make the truth of God’s accessible and real here now, no matter if you’re 11 or 17 or 47 or 67.  I think a lot about how to know God and make Him known.  I think a lot about how to put it crudely how I can reach people or see people become followers of Jesus.

I remember last August standing up the front of church on a Sunday morning, during worship, stressed out and overthinking everything that was going on that term.  Youth service, church fast, a church ball, revive camp and all the things in between and different people at youth and church were coming into my mind and I literally said to God how are we going to reach this person, how do we reach them.

I call these moments Bless your heart Claire moments.  Where God looks at me and I’m sure with grace he says aww bless your heart. 

That morning I felt Him whisper into my thoughts, who does the reaching claire?  And I was like yeah I know YOU DO God, I know YOU did it all Jesus but didn’t you call us to be your hands and feet and like invent River Youth to reach people.

Who does the reaching?  I know God, thank you that you reach these people.  You know them, you love them, you died for them, you speak their language, you reach them.

One of the most beautiful parts of my job is to see God reach people.   Later that term during worship in river youth I looked over.  Right in the middle up front was one of those people I had been praying for.  Arms up, hands raised – for the first time.  Reached.  And since then I have seen played out in real time someone following Jesus and knowing God and living in the better than being a friend of Jesus offers. 

I stand here looking out at all of you this morning.  I don’t know all of your stories.  But I know God does.  I know that He knows your family, your struggle,  your dreams, your questions, your doubts,        your fears.  I know He knows where you are at and where He is calling you to.  I know He invites you to follow Him.  He reaches out to each one of us. 

We can now ask ourselves how did we get here?  How did we get to be friends with God?  How did we get to have conversations with our Creator?  How did we get to be made whole?  How did we get this abundant life, defined by peace with God, security for the future, strength in all seasons, stability in the storm, loved by our heavenly Father?  When we open our eyes in eternity and hear well done good and faithful servant – how did we get here?

This is how.  Jesus.  Jesus.  Jesus.

As we leave here today  – no matter if we became a Christian 31 years ago or 31 minutes ago I want this challenge to sink in fresh.

We all like the disciples who received that invitation to come follow me, come be a disciple of Jesus, come be with Jesus, become like Jesus, do the things Jesus did, come and live a life defined by the ways and words of a God who loves us and knows us and created us and designed us for relationship with himself.

In Matthew 17:13-14 Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road [way] that leads to de­struction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road [way] that leads to life, and only a few find it”

The “broad” way is that of the majority culture. “Follow the crowd and do whatever you want.” Billions of people live this way, but it does not lead them to life; instead, it often leads to destruction.

The Way of Jesus is “narrow,” meaning, it is a very specific way to live. It is a better way and because of all that happened at Easter, Jesus’ death and resurrection – it kind of makes sense that He has more than just audacity to say I am the way.  And if we follow it, The way of Jesus, it will lead us to life, both in this age and the age to come.

Jesus was constantly offering this life to any who would follow him. “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” he said (John 10:10).

I have been a Christian as I said, 31 years.  Most of my life has been as a follower of Jesus.  I haven’t always followed well.  We all have moments when we go astray and we forget who we meant to be and easter is like a huge marker in the sand that says this is the way, this is what life and death is all about, that Jesus is better, that Jesus makes the way, that there is real hope and a real God with real answers for real people.

Let us be like Mary and Joseph who were unashamed to be public followers. 

Let us be like Mary and Joseph who risked it all.

Let us be like Mary and Joseph who knew that Jesus was better than anything the world could offer.