Grace Haven Church

0:00 And so what we're doing today, telling the story, the greatest act of love humanity will ever see.

0:08 Artists throughout the centuries have tried to portray or capture the different aspects of the cross.

0:19 So we have one side of the story.

0:21 We've got the baby, which represents the Christmas story.

0:26 And in our age, in the 21st century, we can handle Christmas because it's filled with traditions, a lot of traditions that we like.

0:35 Me personally, I'm addicted to Stalin.

0:42 It's just not Christmas without Stalin.

0:45 And more importantly, it's not Christmas without Barb or Stalin.

0:51 Electro barbs wherever you are.

0:54 It wasn't Christmas this year because you didn't make Stalin.

0:57 She did apologize before.

1:00 She was studying a PhD in Durham University, Durham, and sent me a message to say, sorry, no Stalin this year.

1:09 But we love our traditions.

1:11 We love traditions.

1:12 Not all traditions are bad.

1:14 Not all traditions get in the way of serving God.

1:16 We have to understand that.

1:18 But this is easy because even a child can be palatable to a lot of people.

1:23 A child is not really confronting.

1:27 And yet God introduced himself to the world as a vulnerable, helpless child.

1:32 You have to consider that because it's God's way of introducing himself to the world.

1:37 If you were God, how would you do it?

1:39 Well, according to Marvel comics and Marvel films and all of the stories that we see today is we introduce ourselves in all sorts of splendor and wonder and strength.

1:49 And yet God introduced himself to humanity as a vulnerable infant.

1:57 And yet if we see the other side of the story, 33 years of age, we see another side of the story, which is hanging on a cross.

2:05 But you've got to understand we've got the introduction of an infant child, which is what the Christmas story is all about.

2:11 And yet in this world, this part of the world,

2:15 how many people go to church when it comes to Christmas?

2:17 A lot more than Easter.

2:20 And like I said earlier on, if you take out this Christmas story,

2:26 the baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and the kings and the magi and all of these components that we all kind of remember or think about at Christmas, we've got to remember taking that out.

2:39 You only take out a few chapters of the Bible.

2:41 And if we could allow ourselves for those that have been going to church all your life, maybe those that have felt like you've heard every message could be preached about Easter.

2:49 I want to go on a different angle with you today.

2:51 And I want you to consider it with fresh understanding, fresh revelation, fresh perspective for your journey ahead.

3:00 Easter is something you cannot ignore.

3:02 We should not ignore.

3:04 And it's in everyone's interest, those that are followers of Christ, to commit to putting it back on the map because there's no progress without the Easter story.

3:14 Easter comes out of Christmas.

3:17 Christmas points to Easter.

3:18 But what does Easter point to?

3:21 Eternity.

3:23 It points to a death and it points to a resurrection.

3:28 And I think we need to consider these things.

3:31 We cannot ignore them any longer.

3:32 We cannot forget them any longer.

3:34 If you are a believer and a follower of Jesus, can I encourage you to seriously contemplate what it is that you believe, why you believe it and why it changes the way you speak and the way you live and affects everything according to your values and the direction in life you go?

3:49 Because without it, you're not going to help a lost world find their way back home.

3:55 You live differently.

3:56 You think differently.

3:57 You behave differently.

3:59 Let it be something that people notice.

4:02 You make choices that.

4:04 And sometimes the criticism comes, oh, well, you just morally elite people.

4:09 Christianity is not about our morals.

4:12 It's about the perfect work of Jesus.

4:15 And when you walk and talk with Jesus, there is something that changes on the inside of you.

4:19 Your values begin to change the way you see people, the way you see yourself begins to change.

4:25 It's not always instant.

4:26 Sometimes it is.

4:27 But others, it's a pathway.

4:28 It's a journey.

4:29 It's an outworking of the more you look at Jesus, the more it changes you from the inside and it affects you on the outside.

4:36 But this is what the direction I want to go for today.

4:40 And this is not exactly the Easter story most of you be familiar with, but it will resonate with all of you.

4:46 And I'm going to start from Hebrews, chapter one, and it says this.

4:49 Throughout our history, God has spoken to our ancestors by the prophets in many different ways.

4:56 The revelation he gave them was only a fragment at a time building one truth upon another.

5:02 But to us living in these last days, God now speaks to us openly in the language of a son.

5:09 Jesus is the language of God, the appointed heir of everything.

5:15 For through him, God created the power, the panorama of all things and all time.

5:21 The son is the dazzling radiance of God's splendor, the exact expression of God's true nature.

5:28 He is the mirror image of God himself.

5:33 He holds the universe together and expands it by the mighty power of the spoken word.

5:38 His sacrifice on the cross accomplished for us the atonement of the complete cleansing of our sins and then took his seat on the right highest throne of the right hand side of the father.

5:51 I think Hebrews one is very strong and so powerful because it helps us to understand.

5:56 God has always been speaking.

5:58 He's always been communicating.

6:00 Every generation has an aspect of the truth of who God is.

6:04 And he predominantly spoke through the prophets.

6:08 The New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament.

6:11 The Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament.

6:14 If you take one part out of context, you're going to get into a lot of trouble.

6:19 You've got to take the whole story as a whole.

6:22 There's a lot of questions that people ask.

6:24 What happens to people who died before Jesus?

6:26 What happens to children that die?

6:28 Do they not have a chance?

6:29 What happens to people in the world that have never heard about Jesus?

6:32 These are all valid questions.

6:34 These are all concerns humanity is always asking.

6:37 But you have to understand you cannot take one part of the Bible and ignore it.

6:41 You can't take one part of the Bible and justify your own position.

6:44 You've got to take it as a whole.

6:46 No one would look at a film and see two scenes and say what a rubbish film.

6:50 No one would take a novel and read one chapter and say what a rubbish novel.

6:55 Well, why do we take one part of the Bible and rubbish everything that God is trying to say to humanity?

7:01 You have to take it as a whole.

7:04 It starts with him.

7:05 It finishes with him.

7:07 And he's the one that gets messy in the middle.

7:13 And Jesus was the greatest storyteller that you could ever come across.

7:18 He was always telling stories.

7:19 He's the mirror of God.

7:22 I love what it says in Colossians.

7:24 It says this, Christ is the visible image of an invisible God.

7:30 And so in other words, if you want to know what God's like, look no further than Jesus.

7:37 How Jesus spoke will point you to the Father.

7:40 How he treated people will give you an indication of the heart of the Father.

7:44 You cannot ignore this person.

7:49 And so what I love about one of the stories that Jesus spoke is found in Luke 15.

7:54 And I'm going to read a little bit of a shorter version for you because of time.

7:58 But I want you to think about what is Jesus revealing to humanity even in the 21st century.

8:04 And he goes on a story and he talks to two different groups of people, which is the narrative of the Bible.

8:09 Pride and humility.

8:12 Jesus is speaking to the tax collectors, the unrighteous.

8:16 And he's speaking to the Pharisees, the self-righteous.

8:20 The self-righteous represent pride.

8:23 Wrong identity.

8:24 I don't know who I am, so I have to define my identity by the clothes I wear, the prayers I pray, the way I walk, the way I talk, and the synagogue I belong to or the church I belong to or the religion I belong to or don't belong to.

8:37 In other words, because we do not know who we are, we let everyone else and everything else define who we are.

8:42 And we still do that in the 21st century.

8:47 Self-righteousness is rooted in pride.

8:50 And there's another group of people called the tax collectors.

8:52 Because tax collectors mean nothing to us today.

8:56 Thank God for the finance, Em.

8:58 Especially if they send you some increased euros.

9:05 The self-righteous were listening to Jesus with a stern, angry look upon their face.

9:10 The unrighteous were at a distance listening to him, hoping they were going to hear something different.

9:16 Because all they'd heard is, you're not good enough, you don't measure up, you're too messy, you're too drugged up, you're too sexed up, you're too distant, you're too naughty, you're too this, you're too that.

9:25 And they never felt they could ever come and ever consider God.

9:28 So Jesus is always talking to two groups of people, the unrighteous and the self-righteous.

9:32 And he's letting them know that they both can come home.

9:36 And so he tells one of the most incredible stories.

9:38 And most of you would know it about the lost coin, you know it about the lost sheep.

9:42 But he goes on to another part of the story that a lot of us that maybe we forget, the lost son.

9:47 But there's not one son that's lost.

9:48 There's two sons.

9:51 And the reason we need to consider this today is because Easter is about helping us to understand how God is towards us.

10:00 And he does it beautifully.

10:01 Jesus, the mirror of God, he spoke the words of God.

10:04 Jesus is the language of God.

10:11 And he says about this young man, he says, once there was a father with two sons.

10:16 The youngest son came to his father and said, father, don't you think that it's time to give me the share of the estate that belongs to me?

10:22 And so the father went ahead and distributed to the two sons their inheritance.

10:26 Shortly afterwards, the younger son packed all his belongings, traveled off to the world.

10:30 He journeyed so far off to lands.

10:33 He wasted all that he had and he binged his life on extravagance and reckless living.

10:39 With everything spent and nothing left, he grew hungry.

10:42 For there was a severe famine in the land.

10:45 So he begged a farmer in that country to hire him.

10:48 The farmer hired him and sent him to feed the pigs.

10:51 And the son was so famous that he was willing to even eat the pig slop.

10:55 So here's a picture of humanity going to the lowest of lowest.

10:59 You can parallel this.

11:00 You can metaphor this in so many different ways.

11:03 You can do anything.

11:04 You can try anything.

11:05 But at the end of the day, you can still be hungry and still be open for something that's still missing.

11:10 You can have the best job in the world and still have a hole in your heart.

11:13 You can have the best relationships.

11:15 You can have whatever you can come up with.

11:16 The world does have a lot to offer.

11:20 And you can still feel like you're empty on the inside because only Jesus can satisfy.

11:25 Only him alone can satisfy the heart of humanity.

11:29 And so he goes on and tells the story.

11:31 And this is what I want you to highlight.

11:33 First of all, for you in this story, when it comes to Jesus and what he did on the cross, everything he did before the cross, everything he did on the cross, and everything he does after the cross is consistent with who God is.

11:47 And so there's three things that I want to give you on Easter Sunday that would hopefully be etched in your memory forever and ever.

11:55 You get the right picture, you get the right life.

11:57 That's what I like to say.

11:59 In other words, images are powerful.

12:02 If I ask you, what does God look like?

12:04 It's amazing how a lot of us would come up with something called old gray and ready to beat you.

12:09 I don't know where you get your image of God from, but I love that we are only given the image of Jesus till the age of 33.

12:20 You could see God as the

12:25 helpless, vulnerable child.

12:32 What an awesome God that he would become vulnerable and helpless like a child.

12:38 What does God do when he's relating to all of humanity?

12:40 Because that's how we start our world.

12:42 That's how we come into the world.

12:44 Helpless and vulnerable.

12:46 And God is relating with humanity.

12:49 He's not abstract, he's not distant, he's not lonely.

12:52 He couldn't get more closer than introducing himself as a child.

12:57 Vulnerable.

12:58 Subject to all sorts of discrimination.

13:00 All sorts of injustice at this time in history.

13:04 And yet we have another picture which is crazy.

13:07 A God that's coming to, and the Israelites, Israel were wanting a savior.

13:11 They were wanting a redeemer.

13:12 They were wanting something that was going to slaughter the Romans and get them free of oppression from another nation.

13:18 And so in the final hour they're looking at their hero, their savior, bloodied and beaten and naked upon a cross.

13:25 And so humanity will not always understand the wisdom of God.

13:30 We see things the way we see things, but God sees things so differently.

13:34 And the only way you're going to get the right picture, the right visual, the right image is to look at Jesus himself.

13:41 He is the language of God.

13:43 He is the mirror of God.

13:49 And so what does he do?

13:51 He tells us the story and Jesus does something for us.

13:55 He helps us, number one, to see the position of the father.

13:59 Number two, he helps us to see the father's response.

14:04 And number three, Jesus helps us to see the father's resources.

14:09 If you could just see the father's position, you would never have a bad day in your life.

14:15 Huh?

14:16 How could you say that?

14:18 In other words, yes, we know we're going to have some bad days, but what do you do when you have a bad day, but you've constantly got it on your memory, constantly got it etched in your heart and in your mind, the position of the father.

14:29 You'll never have a bad day to take you out.

14:31 You'll take your bad days and put it before God because you know the position of the father.

14:36 You have to read the story to understand the position of the father.

14:40 Jesus is talking to the righteous, the self-righteous and the unrighteous.

14:44 And what is he doing?

14:45 He's forever putting a picture, an image in humanity.

14:49 And he's letting us know the position of the father.

14:52 What does he say here?

14:52 He says, with everything he's spent, he's eating the pig slop.

14:56 He decides, there are many workers in my father's house who all have food and want for nothing.

15:02 They lack nothing.

15:03 Why am I here dying of hunger, feeding on these pigs, eating this slop?

15:07 I want to go back home to my father's house.

15:11 I'll say to him, Father, I was wrong.

15:14 I sinned against you.

15:16 I'll never be worthy to be called your son.

15:18 Please, Father, treat me like one of your servants.

15:22 So this young son set off for home.

15:25 And from a long distance away, his father saw him coming.

15:29 His father saw him coming, dressed as a beggar.

15:32 And great compassion swelled up in his heart for his son who was returning home.

15:37 So the father raced out to meet him.

15:39 So the father raced out to meet him.

15:42 The father saw him.

15:44 The father raced out to meet him.

15:46 You've got to get the right image of God.

15:51 He swept him up in his arms.

15:53 He hugged him dearly.

15:54 He kissed him over and over.

15:56 He must have been Italian.

16:02 Kissed him repeatedly.

16:07 Then the son said, Father, I was wrong.

16:09 I have sinned against you.

16:11 I could never deserve to be called your son.

16:16 All that Easter represents, all that the cross represents, all that Jesus accomplished, it can be summarized in so many different angles.

16:25 And yet this is one of the things that we forget so often is that Jesus, the mirror of God, is trying to relocate the image of our Father, the position of our Father forever towards us.

16:39 Can I help you remind yourself today, whatever you do, wherever you go, whatever you do, good, bad, and ugly, the father's position will never change.

16:48 The father's position will never change

16:57 towards you, looking for you, running towards you.

17:04 Please get the right picture of the father because this is what Jesus is trying to do.

17:07 I'm the mirror of God.

17:09 I want to let you know what my father's like.

17:11 He's towards you.

17:11 He's looking for you.

17:13 And he's running towards you.

17:16 You've got to get the God running towards you.

17:19 Because if you have a God running away from you, what have you got?

17:23 Dead religion.

17:25 If you've got a distant God, what have you got?

17:27 I'm hopeless and in despair.

17:29 And I want you to know everything about this picture.

17:32 Did this young man do wrong?

17:33 Did this man miss the mark?

17:34 Did this man waste his life?

17:37 There's so many things all of us in this room can say I'm not proud of.

17:40 I wish I'd have never done it.

17:41 But the message of forgiveness resonates with us.

17:43 Second chance resonates with us.

17:46 Is there a better day for my life?

17:47 It resonates with us.

17:49 But the position of the father is towards you.

17:52 He's looking for you.

17:54 He's never stopped looking for you.

17:58 The second thing that Jesus does for us, through his narrative, through his storytelling, through his own example of life, he sees the father's response.

18:07 What does the father do?

18:09 Well, the son is basically overwhelmed by the kisses and the love of the father.

18:13 And he says, father, interrupts him.

18:15 He says, son, you're now home.

18:17 And then verse 22, Luke 15, he says this, turning to his servants, the father said, quick, bring me the best robe, my very own robe.

18:26 I will place it on his shoulders.

18:29 Bring the ring, the seal of sonship, and I will put it on his finger.

18:33 And bring out the best shoes you can find for my son.

18:37 Let's prepare a great feast and celebrate, for this beloved son of mine was dead, but now he's alive again.

18:44 Once he was lost, but now he is found.

18:48 And everyone celebrated with overflowing joy.

18:54 Now there was an older son who was out working in the field when his brother returned.

19:00 And as he approached the house, he heard of the music of celebration and dancing.

19:05 So he called over to one of the servants and asked, what's going on?

19:11 The servant replied, it's your younger brother.

19:14 He's returned home and your father has thrown a party to celebrate the homecoming.

19:18 The older son became angry and refused to celebrate.

19:21 So his father, listen, so his father came out and pleaded with him, come and enjoy the feast with us.

19:31 Now remember, Jesus telling the story.

19:33 Who's he talking to?

19:35 Pharisees, self-righteous.

19:36 Who's he talking to?

19:37 Tax collectors, unrighteous.

19:39 And what does he do?

19:40 He puts them both in the story.

19:42 And they know they're in the story because they represent the two sons.

19:49 And what does the father do?

19:50 He comes out again and pleads with the older son, come in.

19:55 In the first two parts of the story, a sheep was lost and someone left the 99 to go and look for the one.

20:01 In the coin story, a coin is lost and someone sweeps the house to look for the lost coin.

20:07 In the third part of the narrative, a son is lost, but no one goes looking for him.

20:14 And there's a contrast in the stories because in this story, these men were listening, tax collectors and Pharisees, and they're wondering why in this part of the story wasn't the older brother supposed to go look for the younger brother?

20:25 And what is he doing?

20:26 He's creating an awareness here that there is a son in heaven called Jesus who did leave the splendor of the father, who did leave all that heaven had and came looking for you and me.

20:37 We're the lost sons.

20:41 There's so many metaphors in this story.

20:43 It's mind-blowing, but you'll never be able to get away from the true nature of the heart of God.

20:50 And so here the father pleads with him, hey, everything that is mine is yours.

20:55 Everything that is mine is yours.

20:57 So if you could consider Easter Sunday, not just the greatest story, the greatest act of love humanity has ever known, but if you can consider it to be the greatest image that God would ever give you, He did that for you.

21:10 He did that for me.

21:12 He gave us a pathway home.

21:14 He gave us a door back to society.

21:16 He gave us a door back to salvation.

21:18 He gave us a door back to the thing that will bring sanity to our souls, restoration and healing.

21:25 And what does He do?

21:26 He positions the father towards us.

21:29 I want you to never forget the father is towards you.

21:32 It doesn't matter where you've been.

21:34 It doesn't matter what you've done.

21:35 It's not a license to be mad or crazy or off the rails.

21:39 It's just that you've got to get the right image because it's the only way you can get back home.

21:45 He's towards you.

21:46 He's looking for you.

21:49 And He is running towards you.

21:55 See the father's response.

21:57 Quick, quick, put the ring on his finger.

22:01 Put the robe on his back.

22:02 Put the shoes on his feet.

22:04 Why?

22:05 Because if God is not quick to tell us who we are, we're going to start believing a lie again.

22:10 You're a son of God.

22:11 You're a daughter of the King.

22:13 You're a child of God.

22:14 You are precious.

22:16 You are His.

22:17 You are always His.

22:19 That's what Easter represents.

22:22 And no one can take that away from you.

22:24 It doesn't matter how you came into the world.

22:26 It doesn't matter if you're a product of rape.

22:28 It doesn't matter if your parents didn't want you.

22:31 It doesn't matter if you're adopted.

22:33 It doesn't matter if you were fostered.

22:35 It doesn't matter if you've fallen.

22:37 It doesn't matter if you're broken.

22:39 What matters is the father's response.

22:44 And he's going to love you.

22:45 And he's going to kiss you.

22:47 Oh, no, no, no kisses.

22:49 He can't help himself.

22:53 And what is it about this story that blows our minds?

22:56 You've got to see the father's resources.

22:59 Everything that is his disposable is yours.

23:01 You lack for nothing.

23:03 Well, I'm just poor.

23:04 You're not poor.

23:05 You're rich because of Jesus.

23:08 You've got to get a revelation of the father's resources.

23:12 You've got to get a revelation of the father's resources.

23:17 You've got to get a revelation of the father's resources.

23:21 All the resources of heaven is at your disposal because of Christ.

23:27 Jesus paid the price so that the poor could become rich.

23:33 We were poor in our soul when we became rich in our soul.

23:38 Don't take it into something I didn't say.

23:40 Take it into something that God has said through his word.

23:42 Get a revelation of his position.

23:44 Get a revelation of his response.

23:46 And get a revelation of his resources.

23:49 You lack for nothing.

Jesus The Mirror Of God.

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