WEBVTT 00:00:04.589 --> 00:00:07.250 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:07.250 --> 00:00:10.330 Sermons and Happy Easter. This Easter Sunday 00:00:10.330 --> 00:00:13.410 we are looking at four simple words. Come, see, 00:00:13.689 --> 00:00:17.609 go, and tell. These are four words that the angels 00:00:17.609 --> 00:00:20.530 say to the women who come to the tomb early in 00:00:20.530 --> 00:00:23.390 the morning as an invitation for them to come 00:00:23.390 --> 00:00:27.269 and see where Christ was laid and then to go 00:00:27.269 --> 00:00:30.660 and tell that Christ has risen. But this isn't 00:00:30.660 --> 00:00:32.759 just an invitation to those women, it's also 00:00:32.759 --> 00:00:36.600 an invitation to us. Let's listen in as Rob unpacks 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:44.079 more of these words for us. This morning, our 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:46.700 reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 00:00:46.700 --> 00:00:52.219 28, verses 1 to 10. After the Sabbath, at dawn 00:00:52.219 --> 00:00:55.140 on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene 00:00:55.140 --> 00:00:57.859 and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. 00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:02.549 There was a violent earthquake for an angel of 00:01:02.549 --> 00:01:05.930 the Lord came down from heaven and going to the 00:01:05.930 --> 00:01:10.689 tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His 00:01:10.689 --> 00:01:14.250 appearance was like lightning and his clothes 00:01:14.250 --> 00:01:18.650 were as white as snow. The guards were so afraid 00:01:18.650 --> 00:01:21.109 of him that they shook and became like dead men. 00:01:21.890 --> 00:01:25.689 The angel said to the woman, do not be afraid. 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:28.920 For I know that you are looking for Jesus who 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:33.980 was crucified. He is not here. He has risen just 00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:38.019 as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 00:01:38.939 --> 00:01:42.799 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, he has 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:45.599 risen from the dead and he is going ahead of 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:50.480 you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:54.680 I have told you. So the woman hurried away from 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:59.239 the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran 00:01:59.239 --> 00:02:03.519 to tell the disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. 00:02:04.060 --> 00:02:08.740 Greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped 00:02:08.740 --> 00:02:12.419 his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said 00:02:12.419 --> 00:02:16.960 to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:21.139 to go to Galilee. There they will see me. The 00:02:21.139 --> 00:02:23.650 word of the Lord. I want to start by telling 00:02:23.650 --> 00:02:28.509 you that back in 1631, a Bible was printed in 00:02:28.509 --> 00:02:31.430 England that became famous for all the wrong 00:02:31.430 --> 00:02:34.969 reasons. You see, the printer made a typo. One 00:02:34.969 --> 00:02:38.430 little word was left out in the Ten Commandments, 00:02:38.449 --> 00:02:41.449 where it said, thou shalt not commit adultery. 00:02:41.569 --> 00:02:44.669 They left out the word not, and it said, thou 00:02:44.669 --> 00:02:49.030 shalt commit adultery. And it was just one word, 00:02:49.069 --> 00:02:52.009 but of course it changed the meaning of the whole. 00:02:52.110 --> 00:02:55.750 There was quite an uproar. The printers who printed 00:02:55.750 --> 00:02:57.689 the Bible were fined a huge amount of money. 00:02:57.789 --> 00:03:01.969 King Charles I, he decided that every single 00:03:01.969 --> 00:03:05.870 copy of his Bible needed to be burned. And yet, 00:03:05.990 --> 00:03:10.210 and yet a few copies have remained. And they've 00:03:10.210 --> 00:03:12.870 stuck around to this very day. And it's as if 00:03:12.870 --> 00:03:15.229 they're there to remind us that when it comes 00:03:15.229 --> 00:03:18.740 to your faith, You better watch your words. You 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:21.819 better watch your words, and especially you should 00:03:21.819 --> 00:03:25.360 watch the verbs. By the way, they ended up calling 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:28.360 this Bible the Wicked Bible. It's called the 00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:30.080 Wicked Bible. You can look it up. You've got 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:32.939 to watch your verbs. I don't know if any of you 00:03:32.939 --> 00:03:35.800 have ever learned a new language, but often one 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:37.939 of the things that your instructor will tell 00:03:37.939 --> 00:03:40.080 you at the very beginning is you've got to pay 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:43.280 special attention to the verbs, right? Because 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:45.919 the verbs are where the action is. The verbs 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:48.919 are where it all happens. And the verbs tell 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:51.180 you kind of what to do and what not to do. They 00:03:51.180 --> 00:03:55.439 tell you how to live or how not to live. And 00:03:55.439 --> 00:03:58.120 if you get the verbs wrong in the sentence, you 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:00.560 might not just misunderstand the sentence. You 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:03.680 might misunderstand everything that's trying 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:07.360 to be communicated to you. Well, lately here 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:10.860 at Trinity, we have been learning that faith 00:04:10.860 --> 00:04:14.389 in Jesus has a lot more to do with... the verbs 00:04:14.389 --> 00:04:18.970 than it does the nouns or the adjectives, right? 00:04:19.069 --> 00:04:22.410 Jesus actually says, come and follow me. That's 00:04:22.410 --> 00:04:25.870 a very active word. And the Bible says elsewhere, 00:04:25.930 --> 00:04:29.110 it says, faith without works is dead. Another 00:04:29.110 --> 00:04:31.209 way you could put this is you could say, right, 00:04:31.269 --> 00:04:36.670 the nouns of faith without the works of faith, 00:04:36.730 --> 00:04:41.370 without the verbs of faith, is dead faith. I 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:44.529 think the word Christian is a pretty, it's an 00:04:44.529 --> 00:04:48.970 okay noun. I think Christian is a bad adjective 00:04:48.970 --> 00:04:53.970 but christianity and following jesus is all about 00:04:53.970 --> 00:04:57.930 the verbs it is all about this life that you 00:04:57.930 --> 00:05:00.790 live now right in the middle of the easter story 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:04.649 we come across a sentence that contains four 00:05:04.649 --> 00:05:08.689 verbs and it's not a typo right the printer did 00:05:08.689 --> 00:05:13.350 not make an error here the angel sees the women 00:05:13.350 --> 00:05:19.610 and says to them come and see And then go and 00:05:19.610 --> 00:05:23.009 tell. And I want to suggest to you this morning 00:05:23.009 --> 00:05:26.209 that if you understand these four verbs, then 00:05:26.209 --> 00:05:29.050 you understand the whole Easter message. Or if 00:05:29.050 --> 00:05:31.509 you understand these four words, then you understand 00:05:31.509 --> 00:05:37.509 the whole of the Christian life. But as we'll 00:05:37.509 --> 00:05:40.189 also see in a few minutes, just like that old 00:05:40.189 --> 00:05:45.149 printing press, sometimes we omit one. or two 00:05:45.149 --> 00:05:48.769 of these words from our own life. Some people, 00:05:48.810 --> 00:05:53.689 for example, refuse to come to Jesus. Other people 00:05:53.689 --> 00:05:56.269 say, oh, I've already seen all there is to see. 00:05:56.310 --> 00:05:59.949 I don't need to see anything more. Other people, 00:05:59.990 --> 00:06:02.709 they say they don't want to go. We don't want 00:06:02.709 --> 00:06:06.730 to go out into that big, bad, scary world. And 00:06:06.730 --> 00:06:10.790 still others, they will never, never tell anyone 00:06:10.790 --> 00:06:16.360 anything about Jesus. But if we leave these words 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:20.300 out, then just like the wicked Bible, it kind 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:23.040 of changes everything. So let's walk through 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:26.339 what I'm calling the verbs of Easter this morning. 00:06:26.379 --> 00:06:29.000 And as we do, I just want you to think, where 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:32.959 are you in the midst of these words, right? Where 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:37.220 is God calling you to act like a verb? Is it 00:06:37.220 --> 00:06:42.050 come, see, go, or tell? I've even given you some 00:06:42.050 --> 00:06:43.910 little teaching notes if you want to follow along 00:06:43.910 --> 00:06:48.149 and keep track of where I'm going. Let's start 00:06:48.149 --> 00:06:52.250 with the first verb, come. When the women arrive 00:06:52.250 --> 00:06:55.110 at the tomb, they're met by this angel. I love 00:06:55.110 --> 00:06:57.990 the angel is like sitting on the stone, like 00:06:57.990 --> 00:07:01.230 so chill. The stone is rolled away. The tomb 00:07:01.230 --> 00:07:04.529 is empty. The angel is sitting there. And the 00:07:04.529 --> 00:07:09.920 angel says to the women, come. And I want you 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:13.000 to notice right away that the Easter story begins 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:18.920 not with a demand, but with an invitation, right? 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:23.399 The Easter sermon does not begin with the angel 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:25.680 saying, hey, I want you to believe this immediately. 00:07:25.980 --> 00:07:29.079 Or I want you to understand what's happened right 00:07:29.079 --> 00:07:32.759 now. Or I want you to do this right away. No, 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:37.930 the angel just says, come. And there are... Been 00:07:37.930 --> 00:07:40.189 many an Easter sermon preached over the years 00:07:40.189 --> 00:07:43.529 where the focus has been, you know, you need 00:07:43.529 --> 00:07:47.410 to make a decision about Jesus. Or you need to 00:07:47.410 --> 00:07:49.529 go out into the whole world and tell everyone 00:07:49.529 --> 00:07:52.269 about Jesus. And actually there is a place for 00:07:52.269 --> 00:07:55.709 those sermons. But that's not where the Easter 00:07:55.709 --> 00:08:00.610 story starts. And for good reason. Because... 00:08:01.149 --> 00:08:04.089 For many of us, we're like those women. We're 00:08:04.089 --> 00:08:06.430 coming to Easter this morning, not full of faith 00:08:06.430 --> 00:08:08.550 and not full of confidence, but we're coming 00:08:08.550 --> 00:08:11.589 full of questions. Some of us are confused. Maybe 00:08:11.589 --> 00:08:14.449 we're grieving. Maybe we're afraid like they 00:08:14.449 --> 00:08:18.230 were. And for people like that, God's first word 00:08:18.230 --> 00:08:23.230 is come. What a wonderful first word. Come, come. 00:08:24.329 --> 00:08:27.709 And there are, I think, a lot of people, maybe 00:08:27.709 --> 00:08:30.579 some even in this room, who would say, I'm not 00:08:30.579 --> 00:08:33.039 ready to believe all this. No, no, no. I've got 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:35.539 way too many questions. I don't know enough yet 00:08:35.539 --> 00:08:38.559 to believe this. But that is okay. Because the 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:41.220 first word of Easter is not believe. It's not 00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:46.919 repent. It's not change. It's just come. Jesus 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:50.399 invites all of those who are doubtful to come. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:52.700 You know, if you're curious about the faith or 00:08:52.700 --> 00:08:56.039 critical about the faith or you're just not convinced 00:08:56.039 --> 00:08:58.830 about the faith, that is okay. Even after Jesus 00:08:58.830 --> 00:09:00.830 rose from the dead and his disciples saw him 00:09:00.830 --> 00:09:04.649 alive, we read that some, yeah, they still doubted 00:09:04.649 --> 00:09:08.809 him, but Jesus still invited them to come. Jesus 00:09:08.809 --> 00:09:12.669 invites those who are fearful to come. Maybe 00:09:12.669 --> 00:09:15.429 you are like those women. For some reason, you're 00:09:15.429 --> 00:09:18.190 fearful in this moment. I think some people are 00:09:18.190 --> 00:09:20.590 fearful of God. They're certain that God is going 00:09:20.590 --> 00:09:22.629 to punish them. They're certain that God is out 00:09:22.629 --> 00:09:25.980 to get them. But that word, come. It dispels 00:09:25.980 --> 00:09:29.659 all that fear. In fact, the angel says to the 00:09:29.659 --> 00:09:31.679 one, no, no, no, you don't need to be afraid. 00:09:31.779 --> 00:09:35.159 Just come. Jesus never scared anyone away. Even 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:38.100 children came to Jesus. They weren't afraid of 00:09:38.100 --> 00:09:41.899 him. And Jesus invites all those who are weary 00:09:41.899 --> 00:09:46.100 to come. He says, come to me and I will give 00:09:46.100 --> 00:09:49.279 you rest. If you're running on empty, if you're 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:52.120 worn out, you don't need more pressure right 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:54.690 now. You don't need one more thing to add to 00:09:54.690 --> 00:09:58.309 your to -do list. Just rest. And if that's you 00:09:58.309 --> 00:10:01.129 today, if you're weighed down by the burdens 00:10:01.129 --> 00:10:04.769 and cares of life, Jesus is first of all just 00:10:04.769 --> 00:10:11.039 calling you to come. Now, Jesus... invites the 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:13.179 doubtful. He invites the fearful. He invites 00:10:13.179 --> 00:10:15.059 the weary. And I just want to make sure I say 00:10:15.059 --> 00:10:16.879 this, that the invitation he makes to us, though, 00:10:16.919 --> 00:10:19.799 is not shallow. It's not like he's false advertising 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:22.679 here. Jesus does say, look, if any, you're all 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:25.179 welcome to come. If anyone does come, it means 00:10:25.179 --> 00:10:27.039 denying your life and taking up your cross and 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:30.340 following me. It's not an easy invitation, but 00:10:30.340 --> 00:10:33.639 it is an open invitation for everyone. So before 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:37.399 we go anywhere else this morning, before believing, 00:10:37.620 --> 00:10:41.639 before understanding, before obeying the first 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:45.879 verb of Easter is come. Come with your questions. 00:10:45.980 --> 00:10:48.440 Come with your problems. Come with your struggles. 00:10:48.500 --> 00:10:54.159 Come with your fears. Come as you are. Don't 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:58.080 stay at a distance. Don't stay at a distance 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:00.500 because secondly, note the second verb of Easter 00:11:00.500 --> 00:11:04.919 is come and see. The angel says, come and see 00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:11.080 the place where he lay. In other words, God is 00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:16.740 not asking for blind faith. He's asking for personal 00:11:16.740 --> 00:11:21.190 investigation. The angel doesn't sit on that 00:11:21.190 --> 00:11:23.490 rock and say, oh, guys, don't ask so many questions. 00:11:23.730 --> 00:11:26.090 He doesn't say, oh, trust me, he's risen. Don't 00:11:26.090 --> 00:11:29.370 go in there. Just take my word for it, you know. 00:11:29.610 --> 00:11:34.809 No, he says, come and see. Don't take my word 00:11:34.809 --> 00:11:39.529 for it. Look for yourself. I actually believe 00:11:39.529 --> 00:11:42.210 that a lot of people today haven't really rejected 00:11:42.210 --> 00:11:47.110 Christianity. They've just never really looked 00:11:47.110 --> 00:11:49.950 into it. They're not like, well, I studied the 00:11:49.950 --> 00:11:52.110 resurrection, I've read the Bible, and I've just 00:11:52.110 --> 00:11:55.250 decided it wasn't true. It's more like, yeah, 00:11:55.269 --> 00:11:56.889 you know, I just never really looked into it. 00:11:57.070 --> 00:11:59.190 Oh, I always wanted to get around to studying 00:11:59.190 --> 00:12:02.350 a little more, but, you know, I never really 00:12:02.350 --> 00:12:04.909 thought about it. And that is not new. That's 00:12:04.909 --> 00:12:07.289 not new. In fact, even at that very first Easter, 00:12:07.429 --> 00:12:09.230 there were lots of people who heard about the 00:12:09.230 --> 00:12:11.090 resurrection, but they never went to look into 00:12:11.090 --> 00:12:13.330 it. There were the guards, there were the religious 00:12:13.330 --> 00:12:15.990 leaders, even Pontius Pilate, they all heard 00:12:15.990 --> 00:12:20.639 the rumors. He's risen, and they just kind of 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:26.759 moved on. Many people, therefore, have no personal 00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:29.759 experience with God. Now, they know something 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:32.679 about God, but it's all word of mouth. It's all 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:36.059 word of mouth. But this second verb is about 00:12:36.059 --> 00:12:38.919 personal faith. It's about seeing, right? It's 00:12:38.919 --> 00:12:41.960 not second -hand faith. It's first -hand faith. 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:45.600 Like the women, the invitation of Easter is not 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:49.379 just for you to believe something because someone 00:12:49.379 --> 00:12:53.759 else told you. No, it's to see for yourself. 00:12:54.299 --> 00:12:59.960 And that means, seeing means not relying on others' 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:05.190 words to you. Right? Or seeing it through someone 00:13:05.190 --> 00:13:07.470 else's experience. There was an old South African 00:13:07.470 --> 00:13:10.090 preacher by the name of David Duplessis. And 00:13:10.090 --> 00:13:15.389 he once said, God has no grandchildren. Right? 00:13:15.429 --> 00:13:18.509 In other words, you don't inherit your faith 00:13:18.509 --> 00:13:22.230 from your parents. Right? You can inherit traditions. 00:13:22.450 --> 00:13:26.429 You can inherit habits or customs and all that 00:13:26.429 --> 00:13:29.090 stuff. But you don't inherit a relationship with 00:13:29.090 --> 00:13:32.700 God. You maybe had parents who were wonderful 00:13:32.700 --> 00:13:35.759 Christians and your grandparents had very deep 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:39.059 faith. And that is such a gift. But it's not 00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:44.159 the same as seeing for yourself. At some point, 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:47.700 faith has to become personal. And not just, oh, 00:13:47.720 --> 00:13:50.460 my parents believed. Or my church talks about 00:13:50.460 --> 00:13:53.399 this. Or the pastor preached about that. But 00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:58.519 I have seen for myself. And secondly, therefore, 00:13:58.659 --> 00:14:02.539 seeing means being willing to examine the evidence. 00:14:03.460 --> 00:14:06.120 Some people think that when you come to church, 00:14:06.259 --> 00:14:10.559 you need to leave your brain at the door. But 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:14.480 Christianity has never asked for that. It actually 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:18.240 invites investigation. Look at what the angel 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:23.080 says. The angel says, see. this place where he 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:26.139 lay. He's actually inviting them to see something 00:14:26.139 --> 00:14:29.779 physical, to see a real spot, a real place. The 00:14:29.779 --> 00:14:33.799 tomb is evidence. And there is throughout history, 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:35.620 therefore, Christians have never been afraid 00:14:35.620 --> 00:14:39.419 of talking about the evidence of faith. Because 00:14:39.419 --> 00:14:41.679 resurrection isn't just like this spiritual idea. 00:14:41.740 --> 00:14:45.279 It's a historical claim. It can be examined. 00:14:45.639 --> 00:14:49.769 It always could be. So take... A closer look? 00:14:49.850 --> 00:14:52.450 Why not? Why not go and read the Gospels for 00:14:52.450 --> 00:14:55.629 yourself? Why not do some research? Why not take 00:14:55.629 --> 00:14:58.769 Alpha? Why not dig into it a little bit more? 00:14:58.850 --> 00:15:01.990 Because if Christianity is true, then it can 00:15:01.990 --> 00:15:03.629 handle all your questions. And if Christianity 00:15:03.629 --> 00:15:06.309 is not true, you should probably know that as 00:15:06.309 --> 00:15:11.090 well. Okay? But thirdly, seeing means, and this 00:15:11.090 --> 00:15:13.350 is just maybe for some of us, it means not just 00:15:13.350 --> 00:15:18.620 looking, but it means looking again. I hear people 00:15:18.620 --> 00:15:21.039 say it all the time. You know, I've already made 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:22.919 up my mind about this stuff. I've heard it before. 00:15:23.139 --> 00:15:25.500 You know, I went to church when I was little. 00:15:25.539 --> 00:15:28.720 In fact, I was hurt by the church or I had a 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:32.039 bad experience or, you know, when I was in university, 00:15:32.120 --> 00:15:34.120 there was a lecturer who came in and he proved 00:15:34.120 --> 00:15:37.480 that all this is not true. And so we think, oh, 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:42.659 now I already know. But what if you don't? Right? 00:15:42.740 --> 00:15:47.230 And what if what you rejected That faith you 00:15:47.230 --> 00:15:50.190 rejected wasn't actually Jesus. What if it was 00:15:50.190 --> 00:15:51.990 like a misunderstanding? What if it was like 00:15:51.990 --> 00:15:53.970 a caricature of the faith? What if it was a version 00:15:53.970 --> 00:15:55.889 of the faith that you were never supposed to 00:15:55.889 --> 00:15:59.509 believe in the first place? Sometimes the most 00:15:59.509 --> 00:16:02.730 important step a person can take is not believing 00:16:02.730 --> 00:16:05.529 for the first time, but it's actually looking 00:16:05.529 --> 00:16:11.409 at it again with fresh eyes. When Philip, one 00:16:11.409 --> 00:16:15.570 of Jesus' friends, first met Jesus, he told... 00:16:15.610 --> 00:16:17.769 his friend Nathanael. He said, hey, Nathanael, 00:16:17.769 --> 00:16:22.629 we found the one. We have found Jesus of Nazareth. 00:16:23.149 --> 00:16:27.149 And Nathanael's answer was kind of skeptical. 00:16:27.230 --> 00:16:29.509 He said, well, can anything good come out of 00:16:29.509 --> 00:16:33.090 that town? And I love Philip's answer. He doesn't 00:16:33.090 --> 00:16:37.330 argue. He doesn't debate. He simply says, come 00:16:37.330 --> 00:16:42.110 and see. No, you don't have to take my word for 00:16:42.110 --> 00:16:46.240 it. Come. Listen for yourself and make up your 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:50.799 own mind. And that's how it often works, right? 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:55.159 People come, maybe, because of an invitation, 00:16:55.519 --> 00:16:59.480 but they stay because they've seen for themselves. 00:17:00.019 --> 00:17:05.200 So don't just come. Come and see. No, but the 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:08.980 angel doesn't stop there. There's another verb. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:13.519 The angel says, go. And this is so important 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:15.960 because resurrection people don't stay at the 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:19.380 tomb. They are sent into the world. The women, 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:23.529 they don't set up. outside that tomb. The tomb 00:17:23.529 --> 00:17:26.410 was never turned into a shrine or a pilgrimage 00:17:26.410 --> 00:17:29.329 point. No, no. They could have said, oh, let's 00:17:29.329 --> 00:17:31.650 just stay here. Let's always just come back here 00:17:31.650 --> 00:17:34.950 and be here and reflect on this moment. No. The 00:17:34.950 --> 00:17:37.369 tomb actually had very little significance in 00:17:37.369 --> 00:17:39.910 early Christianity because from the very beginning, 00:17:40.009 --> 00:17:44.839 they were told to go. And this is the pattern 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:46.980 of the Christian life. The Christian life, you 00:17:46.980 --> 00:17:49.319 come, you see, and you go. It's this constant 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:52.140 rhythm of coming and going and coming and going 00:17:52.140 --> 00:17:57.640 and coming and going. But if we're honest, especially 00:17:57.640 --> 00:18:02.539 for church people, we prefer just to come and 00:18:02.539 --> 00:18:06.880 stay, right? We want to come and enjoy worship. 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:09.740 We want to come. and enjoy the community we want 00:18:09.740 --> 00:18:13.039 to come and enjoy the camp we want to come and 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:15.099 enjoy the coffee or we want to come and enjoy 00:18:15.099 --> 00:18:18.140 all the programs we want to keep our faith kind 00:18:18.140 --> 00:18:20.619 of inside these four walls kind of contained 00:18:20.619 --> 00:18:23.900 in here and safe in here but jesus won't let 00:18:23.900 --> 00:18:28.940 you do that you're not allowed to stay i love 00:18:28.940 --> 00:18:33.160 in john's version of the resurrection story the 00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:37.109 women mary especially tries to hold on to Jesus, 00:18:37.150 --> 00:18:39.809 just to hold on to that moment. Oh, Jesus, you 00:18:39.809 --> 00:18:41.670 know, I never want to leave this garden. I never 00:18:41.670 --> 00:18:44.730 want to leave this site. And I don't want to 00:18:44.730 --> 00:18:47.750 decry that. We all need those intimate moments 00:18:47.750 --> 00:18:50.509 holding on to Jesus. But Jesus says, don't hold 00:18:50.509 --> 00:18:54.170 on to me. You got to go, right? I don't want 00:18:54.170 --> 00:18:56.089 to, I'm not here to pull you out of the world. 00:18:56.150 --> 00:19:00.230 I'm here to send you into the world. That is 00:19:00.230 --> 00:19:03.269 where. The Christian life is lived. It's lived 00:19:03.269 --> 00:19:05.690 on Main Street. It's lived in the marketplace. 00:19:05.950 --> 00:19:07.529 It's lived in the classroom. It's lived in your 00:19:07.529 --> 00:19:08.990 workplace. It's lived in your home. It's not 00:19:08.990 --> 00:19:11.549 lived in this church. I always get a little suspicious 00:19:11.549 --> 00:19:13.910 when people spend too much time in church. Something 00:19:13.910 --> 00:19:16.890 funny happens to people when they're in church 00:19:16.890 --> 00:19:19.390 too much. It's like they're almost using church 00:19:19.390 --> 00:19:22.630 to avoid the world. Or even worse, they're using 00:19:22.630 --> 00:19:25.589 Jesus to avoid the world. No, no, no. If you 00:19:25.589 --> 00:19:29.730 come and if you see, then you have to... Go. 00:19:29.750 --> 00:19:32.009 And just a few verses later, like literally just 00:19:32.009 --> 00:19:34.609 a few verses later, Jesus gives his parting words. 00:19:34.690 --> 00:19:38.569 He says, go into all the world and make disciples 00:19:38.569 --> 00:19:42.329 of all nations. Go in all the world. You might 00:19:42.329 --> 00:19:44.029 say, oh, my gosh, does that mean that I have 00:19:44.029 --> 00:19:47.869 to go overseas or I have to go physically around 00:19:47.869 --> 00:19:50.569 the globe? And, you know, obviously some people 00:19:50.569 --> 00:19:53.910 do do that. But no, for most of us, your world 00:19:53.910 --> 00:19:57.500 is already defined. Right? It's the people you 00:19:57.500 --> 00:20:00.119 already interact with every day. That's your 00:20:00.119 --> 00:20:04.099 world. So take the grace of your life into your 00:20:04.099 --> 00:20:08.640 home. Take the integrity of your life into your 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:12.119 workplace. Take the character of your life into 00:20:12.119 --> 00:20:16.059 your school. Take the love of your life into 00:20:16.059 --> 00:20:18.500 your friendships and relationships. Take the 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:23.380 light of your life into your neighborhood. All 00:20:23.380 --> 00:20:26.900 of these parts of your world need to be permeated 00:20:26.900 --> 00:20:30.839 by your life, your changed life. So Jesus says, 00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:35.839 go, go, go. And remember, you never go alone. 00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:39.420 Jesus says, I am going to go with you. So go. 00:20:40.420 --> 00:20:43.579 Don't go with pressure. Don't go as, I've got 00:20:43.579 --> 00:20:46.319 all the answers. Don't go with a sense of superiority. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:51.000 We just go as someone who has encountered Jesus. 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:56.539 And we go with Jesus. But that brings us to this 00:20:56.539 --> 00:21:00.799 last verb. The angel does not say just go. He 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:06.599 says go and tell. Now, let's be honest. This 00:21:06.599 --> 00:21:10.279 is the verb that most of us wish were omitted 00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:13.339 from the Bible. What? Tell? You mean I actually 00:21:13.339 --> 00:21:17.160 got to open my mouth and talk to people about 00:21:17.160 --> 00:21:18.799 this? I mean, gosh, I don't want to do that. 00:21:18.859 --> 00:21:21.279 What do I say? What if I say the wrong things? 00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:25.519 What if I don't know the answers to their questions? 00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:27.420 Or, you know, what if I just don't know enough? 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:29.759 And then what if they start to resent me because 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:31.960 I'm talking about my faith? Or what if they start 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:34.339 to avoid me? And because of all those things, 00:21:34.380 --> 00:21:37.039 many of us... We just stop right here. Sure, 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:40.200 we will come and we will see. And we may even 00:21:40.200 --> 00:21:43.460 go and kind of just be that presence in the world. 00:21:43.500 --> 00:21:50.819 But no, we will never tell. But see, just see 00:21:50.819 --> 00:21:56.339 this. The angel doesn't say, go and become a 00:21:56.339 --> 00:22:00.079 professional preacher. No, most of us are not 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.440 called to be a preacher. But all of us are called 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:07.289 to be. a witness. Let me ask you a question. 00:22:07.690 --> 00:22:13.789 What does a witness do? In a courtroom, the witness's 00:22:13.789 --> 00:22:16.609 job is not to win the argument. That's the lawyer's 00:22:16.609 --> 00:22:19.130 job, right? The witness is not the lawyer. The 00:22:19.130 --> 00:22:21.849 witness simply sits there and says, this is what 00:22:21.849 --> 00:22:27.069 I saw. This is what I heard. This is what happened 00:22:27.069 --> 00:22:30.309 to me. The witness is actually only allowed to 00:22:30.309 --> 00:22:33.609 tell what they've experienced from direct experience, 00:22:33.890 --> 00:22:36.130 right? It's like in those courtroom dramas. Maybe 00:22:36.130 --> 00:22:37.990 you've seen one on TV. Every once in a while, 00:22:38.049 --> 00:22:40.170 the attorney will stand up and say, objection. 00:22:40.690 --> 00:22:44.150 The witness is drawing conclusions. And that's 00:22:44.150 --> 00:22:47.089 right. Witnesses are not supposed to draw conclusions. 00:22:47.329 --> 00:22:48.910 They're not allowed to do that. They're simply 00:22:48.910 --> 00:22:52.970 supposed to state and tell what they know from 00:22:52.970 --> 00:22:57.019 personal experience. So if Jesus has done anything 00:22:57.019 --> 00:23:02.000 in your life, you've got something to say about 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.779 it. I mean, the story may be dramatic, but it 00:23:04.779 --> 00:23:08.819 may be quiet. It may be that that story is still 00:23:08.819 --> 00:23:11.339 unfolding for you. It doesn't matter. You have 00:23:11.339 --> 00:23:14.920 something to say. And you don't have to say it 00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:17.440 from a stage or a platform. You can say it over 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:20.660 coffee. You can say it on a walk with a friend. 00:23:21.390 --> 00:23:23.910 You can say it, maybe one of the best ways to 00:23:23.910 --> 00:23:26.369 say it is just by inviting a friend to church. 00:23:26.650 --> 00:23:29.329 That's a great way to bear witness to others. 00:23:30.329 --> 00:23:34.049 After she saw Jesus, Mary Magdalene, what'd she 00:23:34.049 --> 00:23:37.789 do? She went and told the disciples and said, 00:23:37.809 --> 00:23:41.940 I have seen the Lord. period. And she told them 00:23:41.940 --> 00:23:46.339 that he had said these things to her. She doesn't 00:23:46.339 --> 00:23:48.920 have a theological argument here. This is just 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:53.720 testimony. Mary came, she saw, and then she went, 00:23:53.740 --> 00:23:58.720 and now she tells. Guys, what story do you have 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.599 to tell, right? What have you seen? What have 00:24:02.599 --> 00:24:04.819 you heard? What have you experienced? What have 00:24:04.819 --> 00:24:09.779 you witnessed? And just remember, you're not 00:24:10.089 --> 00:24:15.230 the message. Jesus is. You're the messenger. 00:24:17.210 --> 00:24:20.569 So let's go back to that old printing press in 00:24:20.569 --> 00:24:24.869 1631. One word left out and everything changes. 00:24:26.490 --> 00:24:29.009 And the truth is we can do the same thing. We 00:24:29.009 --> 00:24:31.069 can easily skip one of these words, one of these 00:24:31.069 --> 00:24:33.730 verbs, and it changes everything. I just want 00:24:33.730 --> 00:24:35.369 to say we're not in the same place though. For 00:24:35.369 --> 00:24:38.069 some of us today, it's just about coming, right? 00:24:38.170 --> 00:24:41.349 Maybe Up until now, you've actually avoided places 00:24:41.349 --> 00:24:43.230 like this and you've kept your distance from 00:24:43.230 --> 00:24:47.029 faith. It's been scary to even think about going 00:24:47.029 --> 00:24:50.690 to church. But this Easter, you've come. And 00:24:50.690 --> 00:24:55.549 we are really glad that you've come. For others, 00:24:55.710 --> 00:25:01.990 you've come, but you've never really seen, right? 00:25:02.029 --> 00:25:04.529 And if you're honest... You did make your mind 00:25:04.529 --> 00:25:06.329 up about this stuff long ago, and your mind is 00:25:06.329 --> 00:25:08.829 still pretty closed. You've never really investigated 00:25:08.829 --> 00:25:13.329 this for yourself. Maybe this Easter, God is 00:25:13.329 --> 00:25:17.369 calling you to see for yourself this time. I 00:25:17.369 --> 00:25:20.049 mean, faith was never meant to be secondhand. 00:25:21.549 --> 00:25:25.390 Others have come and seen, but you won't go. 00:25:26.609 --> 00:25:30.569 Your faith stays here where it's safe. But maybe 00:25:30.569 --> 00:25:32.390 this Easter you need to go. And I'm not talking 00:25:32.390 --> 00:25:34.369 about going somewhere far away. Just go into 00:25:34.369 --> 00:25:38.349 the life you're already living. Remember, people, 00:25:38.589 --> 00:25:41.410 resurrection people, don't stay at the tomb. 00:25:41.910 --> 00:25:45.809 They go out into the world. And maybe there are 00:25:45.809 --> 00:25:48.150 some here today. Yeah, you've come. You've been 00:25:48.150 --> 00:25:51.309 coming for a long time. You've seen. And you've 00:25:51.309 --> 00:25:55.690 even gone, but you still won't tell. You're trying 00:25:55.690 --> 00:25:58.000 to follow Jesus, but when it... comes to speaking 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.039 about it, you hesitate. You just don't want to 00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:03.519 stand out, and so you stay silent. Maybe this 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:05.779 Easter, God is saying to you, it's time to tell. 00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:09.460 Tell what you've experienced. Tell what Jesus 00:26:09.460 --> 00:26:13.599 has done in your life. You don't need to know 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:17.940 everything to tell something. These are the verbs 00:26:17.940 --> 00:26:23.440 of Easter. Come, see, go, tell. And we can't 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:26.450 leave any out, because when we do, We don't just 00:26:26.450 --> 00:26:32.049 miss a word, but we miss the life Jesus is calling 00:26:32.049 --> 00:26:39.349 us into. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning 00:26:39.349 --> 00:26:41.750 in to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. 00:26:41.750 --> 00:26:44.950 This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville 00:26:44.950 --> 00:26:49.130 in Mississauga, Ontario on April 5th, 2026.