The 260 Journey

Day 88

Today's Reading: John 20

What if Jesus showed up to your Sunday night service today?

I know we talk about Resurrection morning, but not many talk about what happened that night. Resurrection night was a huge event for the disciples. I’m afraid if Jesus showed up to one of our twenty-first-century Sunday evening church services, He wouldn’t find many there. And Jesus had an important Sunday-night message for the church.

Today we have landed in our 260 journey on John 20. It’s Resurrection day— but not the morning. It’s the evening. Let’s read the passage:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” (verse 19)

The Sunday evening church service is slowly fading out of church life. I grew up in a time when Sunday night service was “the” service to go to. There would be less traditional hymns and more choruses. There were water baptisms, altar calls for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and as a child, the best was that there was always the possibility of an “after glow.” Us “old timers” know that to mean eating after church in the fellowship hall.

Since I grew up in the church, I can tell you that I have been water baptized on a Sunday night, filled with the Holy Spirit on a Sunday night, seen great gospel bands and Christian movies on a Sunday night, and most importantly in my youth, eaten good cake and punch.

Traditionally, Sunday night service was a little more casual for the members. But it was a night that allowed more freedom and had a greater expectation for “the spirit to move.” Unfortunately, today the Sunday night service is becoming an extinct species. Let me say, I am not saying there is something magical about Sunday night, I am just talking about what I experienced. And I’m also talking about the time Jesus chose to give really important directions to His disciples.

Many of us pastors dread the Sunday night service when the morning service is a holiday service, such as Mother’s Day and Easter. Most people have no motivation to get back to church those nights, especially after eating a big meal and meeting with family. Thank God the resurrection of Jesus did not take place in our time . . . or Jesus would have had to accomplish everything in the morning service, because no one would have been at the night service.

And yet Resurrection night was just as important as Resurrection morning. It’s in the evening that Jesus offered a three- point message, and every point was the same:

Point 1: Peace be with you (verse 19)
Point 2: Peace be with you (verse 21)
Point 3: Peace be with you (verse 26)

Jesus comes to the house of the disciples, closed doors and all. Looks a little like our churches on Sunday night. But this is Jesus, so He walks through the walls. The doors are shut, yet Jesus gets in. The risen Christ does not know the barricades of locked doors or locked hearts. The risen Christ is not limited by our closed windows or closed minds.

I’ve always appreciated the suggestion of C. S. Lewis, that the risen Jesus could walk through walls because he is more real than them—in the same way that an airplane can move through the clouds that look so solid.

What was so significant about Resurrection evening? Each of the three times He stated “Peace be with you” was important. The first “Peace be with you” was a challenge to bring Christianity outside the walls of our meeting places. The disciples were afraid, and Jesus told them, in essence, Don’t meet in your little clique. There is a whole world out there that needs to know I am alive, so go in peace.

The second time Jesus says “Peace be with you” in verse 21, comes with a breathing of the Holy Spirit on them. He was essentially saying, “Not only am I sending you out beyond these walls, I will not send you alone. You will have the Holy Spirit going with you, so you can go in peace.” When we go outside our religious walls, we go with His presence.

And finally, the third “Peace be with you” in verse 26 is pretty special. This one came eight days later. Let’s read it: “After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”

Jesus’ statement came eight days later for one man, Thomas. Verse 24 tells us that for point 1 and 2, “Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them.” So Jesus came eight days later to say the same words. Why? Because one guy needed to hear it.

Just when you think, I blew it, I messed up, I missed God, Jesus shows up again. Jesus died for the world, but most importantly, Jesus died for me and Thomas and you. I think Jesus offered a point 3 for one guy.

Resurrection night doesn’t even get any props, but it should. Because we need to hear Jesus’ words: “Peace be with you.”

Day 87

Today's Reading: John 19

One hundred pounds is a lot of extra weight to carry with you. It is noticeable when you put it on and it’s noticeable when you shed it. Our story today is one hundred pounds put on and it’s noticeable, because you can’t hide one hundred pounds.

Let me tell you about a person whose name you will recognize. Nicodemus. And he picked up one hundred pounds on his Jesus journey. Nicodemus has a three-verse bio journey through the Gospel of John.

What do you think when I mention his name? For me, my first thought goes to John 3:16. He was the one to whom Jesus personally shared that amazing verse. Thanks to Nicodemus going to Jesus at night, we got the verse that has probably led more people to Jesus than any other Bible verse: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Thank you, Nicodemus, but there is so much more.

People can easily be known by one thing in their life and no one goes any further with them. It could be something they say, do, a crime they commit, a public sin they are known for, a heroic act. This can work both ways, good and bad. Something bad that someone has done can be remembered and all the good that they try to do is overshadowed by that one moment. Their character gets judged by that one thing.

Oswald Chambers, the great Christian devotional writer, said this about character:

Character is the whole trend of a man’s life, not isolated acts here and there. . . . Character is the sum total of a man’s actions. You cannot judge a man by the good things he does at times; you must take all the times together, and if in the greatest number of times he does bad things, he is a bad character, in spite of the noble things he does intermittently.”

A man’s character is what he does habitually. A man’s character cannot be summed up by what he does in spots, but only by what he is in the main trend of his existence. Character is that which steadily prevails, not something that occasionally manifests itself.

Now back to the man I want us to see a little further with—Nicodemus— and that his new Jesus journey gets more rooted as the Gospel goes on.

Nicodemus’ next verse happens in John 7:50, as we looked at earlier: “Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them).”

The parentheses are so important. “He who came to Him” is a reference to John 3, “before being one of them.” Nicodemus becomes a follower of Jesus after talking with Jesus that night. His interview, Nic at night, is what changed his life. In John 7, Nicodemus seems to be defending Jesus to the other pharisaical leaders. Though he is a slow witness, at least he is opening his mouth.

And then we see his final passage on how far he has come. It’s in John 19— and this is where the hundred pounds comes in: “Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight” (verse 39).

By the time we reach John 19, Nicodemus is unashamed and unafraid. He really is one of them, meaning a disciple of Jesus. Think about this: while everyone leaves Jesus at the crucifixion, not only does Nicodemus show up, he shows up with a lot of extra weight. Weight that he can’t hide. He does not flee and run and deny. He brings, get this, one hundred pounds of burial ingredients (myrrh and aloes). One hundred pounds he has to drag to the sight of the cross and then on to the grave. Everyone knows he is doing this for Jesus.

That tells me that he is unashamed. The people know who it is for and what it is for. He is very clearly aligning himself with Jesus on Good Friday. The ruler of the Jews and the spokesman for the Pharisees put on a hundred pounds for Jesus.

I love the process that happens in people’s lives. We want everything to happen instantly, but God has different growth patterns for different people. Give them their space, and they will get there.

Here’s what I love about this John 19 story: it’s that he dragged a hundred pounds of stuff to the burial site. He wasn’t preaching and giving these glorious words like, “Jesus, I will never deny you.” He just lived it out. It is life and not words that impact. We have great speakers for Christianity but not everyone who can speak is living it. Let’s spend more time living than speaking.

Remember, the preachers were all gone at the cross, but Nic was there. Nic and a hundred pounds. He was all in when it counted most. Follow his example. Live it.

Day 86

Today's Reading: John 18

I remember a few years ago flying out of a large midwestern city in the middle of bad storms. Planes were still taking off, but passengers were feeling uneasy. I have to tell you, as I waited at my gate, I wasn’t feeling it either, and fear started to hit me.

Then I saw our pilot come to our gate. He was this old, wrinkle-faced man. His uniform bore a lot of gold bars on his coat sleeve, and his bags, covered with stickers, were beat up and falling apart. Did seeing him help the situation and my fear? You bet it did!

What did beat-up bags, gray hair, and a wrinkly face represent? Experience. No doubt he had been in this situation before and up in the air a lot. I did not want to see some wide-eyed young man who was excited about his first flight as he pulled his new bags to the gate. I wanted the old pilot captaining my plane. His experience quelled my fear.

Consider this: what would you think if the pilot got on the loud speaker and said, “This is your pilot, and I am so excited today because this is my first flight. I’ve never been in the air before but I got all A’s on my flight school tests.” I don’t know about you, but I would be looking for the exit door. To be a good pilot, you can't just be book smart. You need something called flight hours. You have to be in the air, not just studying for tests on the ground. You need experience.

There was another Pilate in the Bible who knew some stuff, but did not have the experience of flight hours. And we meet him in today’s reading at the bogus trial of Jesus.

Jesus was standing before Pilate, and Pilate asked Him a question. Pay special attention to Jesus’ epic response:

Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” (John 18:33-34)

Jesus’ question to Pilate’s question was rhetorical. No answer was expected because we know the answer. Jesus’ question was: "are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me?"

What Jesus was saying was, “Are you just repeating information, or have you experienced what you are saying?” Do you just have ground school or did you get in some flight time?

When Pilate asked Jesus about being King of the Jews, he did not know Jesus as King, he was simply repeating something he’d heard. He had no flight time with this King.

What kind of Pilate are you? Did you just hear this and are saying what you heard, or do you know Jesus as King? Have you experienced Jesus as King? Jesus was challenging not only Pilate, He is challenging all of us. Just because we say the right things doesn’t mean we have experienced the right things. Christianity is not just knowing the right stuff but experiencing a relationship with God personally as our King.

A marriage license doesn’t guarantee intimacy and a healthy marriage. You can have a document that says you are married and have no relationship with your spouse. The same is true with the Word of God. You can read the Bible, but that does not guarantee experience. Just because you know the Word of God doesn’t mean you know the God of this Word. Knowing this book is not based on education, but on a relationship with its author.

Pilate said the right words but it got him nowhere. So as you go on the 260 Journey, may you go further than the Pilate of John 18 and become like the pilot who flew my plane out of Gate 34A. One was just repeating what he heard, the other had the experience.

What kind of Pilate are you?

Day 85

Today’s Reading: John 17

John 17 is holy ground. If I were God’s editor, I never would have allowed this chapter in the Bible. It’s sacred, it’s other-world, it’s uncomfortable . . . it’s the prayer closet of Jesus. This is a very solemn chapter, what we call the high priestly prayer of Jesus.

I have thousands of books in my library on so many topics. But to my amazement, I’ve seen only two authors ever venture to take on one of the most incredible chapters, prayers, and words ever penned to mankind and write on them. I am not sure if the two men who did had a lapse of judgment or a leading of the Holy Spirit.

John 17 lets us eavesdrop on what Jesus was praying before He was taken to die on Calvary and we are allowed to hear Him. We are given what seems to be a glimpse into the holy of holies where the Son is talking to the Father.

The Lord’s prayer is very powerful. But it is one thing to be taught something and another to see it modeled. Luke 6 is the teaching; John 17 is the modeling. Prayer is better exemplified than taught.

And in this chapter we are allowed to see how Jesus prayed. I think we can all agree that if anyone knows how to pray, it is Jesus. If there is anyone who is going to have His prayers answered, it is Jesus. The right way to pray is Jesus’ way of praying. If He did not want to be heard, it would not have been recorded. If this prayer was not meant for us to look at, He would not have had His disciples hear it. Since they heard it, and since they recorded it, there must be something for us to learn from it.

Growing up in Long Island, New York, I had the wonderful opportunity to overhear my Russian grandmother pray. She was a great prayer warrior. Many times I would come home from school in the afternoon and hear my grandmother praying in Russian, because she never learned English. She would be in our living room crying and praying in a language I did not know. Sometimes I would listen, but most of the time I would feel as if I should not be there.

There is something powerful about a person pouring out themselves in prayer to God. There is something uncomfortable about listening to someone’s private prayer time. I could not stand there for more than a few minutes before I would have to leave her and God alone. If I felt this way about my grandmother, how much more would I feel about opening the door to John 17 and listening to the private prayer of Jesus and His Father. There is something in me that says I should not be there. I should read the Bible up to John 16 and then go quickly to John 18. But there is something in me that wants to open the door and listen to Jesus. There is something in me that says I should be there and I should listen very carefully.

Let’s open the prayer closet of the second member of the Trinity, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, Jesus, and hear Him pray.

This is the very first verse: “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.’”

I will take the risk that this would not be incorporated as a biblical absolute but as a challenge of focus the next time we pray, that we use John 17 as our model in our prayer time. It says that when Jesus prayed, He lifted up His eyes. This was not just His prayer posture, it was a Jewish posture. No Jew would ever pray as we do today. The first thing we often hear before we pray in a church service is, “Let’s bow our heads.” The words out of our mouths when praying over a meal is, “Let’s bow our heads.” A Jew would never look down when talking to Jehovah. They would see this as dishonoring. A Jew would always lift their eyes.

On a natural level, there is a difference between a person you see with their head bowed down and a head that is lifted up. A bowed head carries with it dejection, self-consciousness, fear of making eye contact. It carries no good thing with it. But a person who walks and talks with head up and eyes lifted seems to have a confidence and certainty to them and their words.

The next time you pray, go John 17 in your prayer time. Lift up your eyes to heaven and realize that you have a living Father who hears you. And if you want to make it even crazier, lift up your eyes and read out loud the prayer of Jesus in John 17.

Day 84

Today’s Reading: John 16

In The Grace Awakening, author and pastor Charles Swindoll used an imaginative illustration for how best we can live: imagine driving on a treacherous mountain road with a cliff on both sides. As you approach a hairpin turn, you must decide which is better: a state-of-the-art hospital with the best doctors in the world at the bottom of the mountain or a giant yellow warning sign before the curve telling you, “Danger! Curve Ahead. Drive slowly”? The answer is obvious: a warning sign.

In John 16, we find Jesus giving His followers a life of warning signs so they don’t end up at the bottom of the mountain in the hospital. The warning sign is called conviction and it’s a ministry of the Holy Spirit. Read with me what Jesus says about it:

I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. (John 16:7-11)

When He comes, He will convict.

What is conviction?

It is an inner warning, a big yellow sign that says, “Slow down! This may not be right."

Conviction of the Holy Spirit is the opposite of peace; it’s a disturbance in the soul that can be silenced only by stepping on the brake when coming to the turn. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is what saves us from crashing and burning and needing the hospital at the bottom of the mountain.

The hospital at the bottom of the hill can be a counselor’s office, a pastor’s office, etc. I’m not saying those hospitals can’t fix the damage inflicted, but think of the pain that people could have avoided had they yielded to the Spirit’s conviction.

Most of the times the conviction comes when we are entering into a compromise, an area of sin, a place that will hurt our spiritual lives. People will confuse conviction and condemnation.

Conviction is the feeling that what I was doing was wrong, and with God’s help, I can change. Condemnation is the feeling that I am wrong and I can never measure up. There is no hope of change in condemnation.

Conviction is from God. Conviction is the warning sign on the hairpin turns.

Our job is to yield, like in this story:

During the Great Awakening—a time of revival throughout our country—Jonathan Edwards was leading a prayer meeting in which eight hundred men were in attendance. In the midst of the meeting, a woman sent in a note asking them to pray for her husband. She described him as unloving, prideful, and difficult. Edwards read the message aloud to the men, thinking that perhaps the woman’s husband was present. Then he boldly asked if the man whom he had described would raise his hand, so the whole group could pray for him. Three hundred men raised their hands.

Really, three hundred men yielded to the yellow sign to avoid the hospital. All because they yielded. May we do the same.