The Valley Church of Christ

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Brent Phillips

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (1)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

“But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:14-15 ESV)

If someone were to ask you why you live with such hope — how would you answer? (And do you even live with such a hope that people would ask you about it? That’s a question for another time.) Thanh recently told me that when she was growing up, for years she repeatedly asked Christian friends about Jesus, but they were unable and even uninterested in giving her answers. I have heard of other situations where Christians just insist that we need to believe, and they aren’t very interested in giving reason or defense — insisting that one should just believe.

Peter essentially says that we can’t have any of that around here. We have reason for our hope and we need to be able to communicate that to people.

So, let’s get equipped for this conversation. We have hope because God raised Jesus from the dead. If God raised Jesus from the dead, then reality is even better than a fairy tale, because people who follow Jesus will also be raised from the dead to live forever in paradise with the God who loves us. We may have a thousand other questions and doubts, but if it is a fact that God raised Jesus from the dead, having a million questions and doubts doesn’t change the facts.

Let me give you three reasons why I believe God raised Jesus from the dead, or, rather, three questions we need to recon with if we believe Jesus did not rise. I’ll conclude with two common arguments against Jesus’ resurrection.

1. Jesus’ Brothers: From “Crazy” to “Lord”

Did you know Jesus had brothers and sisters? Mark 6:3 even tells his brothers’ names: James, Joses, Judas, and Simon. If we deny Jesus’ resurrection, we need to have an explanation for the facts about Jesus’ brothers. Notice John 7:1-5. The Jews were seeking to kill Jesus, so Jesus avoided Judea because it was not his time. Knowing this, his brothers mock him - encouraging him to go to Jerusalem to show off to the world. Why? Verse 5. “For not even his brothers believed in him.” Notice this same attitude in Mark 3:20-21. Relate to this for a moment. Imagine everyone is crazed over your brother — flooding to him, hanging on his every word, bowing before him like he is the Son of God.  Yet, you have known him your whole life. This is nuts —they were thinking — our brother has gone mad!

And yet, everything changes in Acts. When 120 of Jesus’ disciples were gathered together in Jerusalem and devoting themselves to prayer, we are told in Acts 1:14 that, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” We see later that James, Jesus’ brother, is not only a believer, he is one of the most prominent leaders in the church at Jerusalem (Acts 12:17, 15:13, 21:18; Galatians 1:19). James wrote the book of James in our NT — and in it he refers to himself as the servant of “the Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude (Judas), the brother of Jesus wrote “Jude” and refers to himself as the servant of Jesus Christ… and as the brother of James.

James and Jude would not even refer to themselves as Jesus’ brothers, but as his servants. Why the huge change? Notice 1 Corinthians 15:3-7. Jesus appeared to James after his resurrection. When you see that crazy brother executed, and act like a saint while he was executed no less, and then you see him bodily alive, that changes everything. This is no mere brother: this is the Son of God. If Jesus did not rise, why do multiple authors testify that Jesus’ brothers shifted from calling him “crazy” to calling him “Lord?”

2. Paul: from “blasphemer” to “Lord”

The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection that doubters have the most difficult time explaining is the changed life of Saul of Tarsus, or Paul. Most unbelieving historians have no doubt that Paul was a historical person and they accept many of his letters as authentic. And in these widely accepted letters like Galatians, Philippians, and 1 Corinthians, Paul tells the story of why his life changed. Luke also records Paul’s story in Acts.

Paul learned and studied the Law of Moses from youth and was trained to be a Pharisee at the feet of renown teacher, Gamaliel. Not only was Paul very zealous for the Law, he was responsible for both the imprisonment and death of many Christians (Acts 8:13, 22:3-5). And yet, despite the fact that he was a prominent Pharisee with a good name and theoretically everything to gain in Judaism, he counted all that gain as “rubbish” and chose to lose everything for Jesus. Instead of imprisoning and killing Christians, he began making Christians. And he suffered greatly for it — arrested, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked and more.  He became like a living crucifixion victim.

What changed? 1 Corinthians 15:8. Paul saw alive — bodily resurrected — the man whom he previously said was executed justly for his blasphemies. Bart Ehrman says Paul merely saw an apparition, a vision, and really thought he saw Jesus raised. If that’s the case, why was Paul blinded for three days by the encounter?

Even unbelievers who read Paul’s letters recognize that Paul was a well-educated, honest man — not delusional. He loved people sacrificially and the people he taught filled the world with sacrificial love. If Jesus did not rise and appear to Paul, why did Paul’s life change in such a dramatic way? Why did his life became so beautiful?

3. The Tomb Was Empty

Jesus’ death and burial took place in Jerusalem and the gospel of Jesus’ resurrection spread from Jerusalem. Here is the problem: The Jewish rulers responsible for killing Jesus were fully aware that this message of Jesus’ resurrection was spreading, and tried everything they could to stop it. They arrested the apostles, threatened them, and beat them. They even stoned Stephen over this.

This message of Jesus’ resurrection was a massive headache for them. Yet, in all these attempts to stop the spread of the message of Jesus’ resurrection, not one of them walked over to Jesus’ tomb — which was in a garden right next to the cross, known by all, guarded by soldiers, no more than a mile from anywhere in Jerusalem — to procure his body and prove that he was still dead. Why? Because the tomb was empty and everyone knew it. This was so compelling that a great many of the priests turned to obey Jesus. The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection was so unsettling that the Pharisee Gamaliel warned that by they might be opposing God himself by resisting the gospel.

The first Christians were not empty-minded fools ready to believe anything. Many had claimed to be the Messiah before, and the moment Rome killed these “messiahs,” their followers scattered permanently. Jews didn’t follow dead messiahs because the definition of the Messiah was that he lives forever. Three thousand Jews gave their lives to Jesus in one day at Pentecost because everyone knew the tomb was empty, and that a group of over 500 people were saying that Jesus had appeared to them. If Jesus’ body were in the tomb, the gospel would have fallen flat and never made it out of Jerusalem. So if he did not raise, why didn’t Jesus’ enemies show the body?

4. “The Apostles Stole the Body”

Many will explain at this point, “Jesus’ apostles stole and hid the body as a cover to lie about Jesus’ resurrection.” But what motive would they have for doing such a thing? Unlike leaders who acquire wealth, power, and status for creating successful movements, the apostles suffered greatly for this very message that they supposedly made up. From a worldly perspective, the apostles lost everything for continuing to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection. All but one of them was killed — the other, John, was tortured and exiled. If they were lying, at least a few of them would have recanted once death was threatened. But no, as Peter said, “We are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard,” (Acts 4:20). In other words — the apostles boldly proclaimed Jesus’ resurrection in the face of death because they saw Jesus raised from death. If they knew full well that Jesus wasn’t raised, and that they wouldn’t be raised, they would have given up. They had no reason to fabricate this story in the first place, much less continue telling the lie once they suffered greatly for it.

5. “They Hallucinated — Saw a Vision, Apparition, etc.”

Finally, some will give another explanation that seems to solve it all. The apostles believed they saw Jesus resurrected, but they were delusional and only saw an apparition of Jesus. Or, maybe they hallucinated. On the surface, this sounds plausible since this would explain the apostles’ willingness to die for the gospel. They truly thought they saw Jesus bodily alive, but they were all just seeing an apparition. However, this argument fails because it demands the existence of mass visionary experiences. After his resurrection, Jesus showed himself to groups small and large. One group consisted of over 500 people. If you take 500 crazy people who hallucinate and put them in the same room, do they see the same things? Not even 2 people would see the same thing! When 500 people “hallucinate” and claim see the same thing — they didn’t see a ghost, they saw reality.

Conclusion

There is substantial reason to hope in Jesus. We cannot prove Jesus’ resurrection, but I believe the most compelling explanation for the evidence we have is that God raised Jesus from the dead bodily. If that’s not true, we are all still dead in our sins, and we are living in a nightmare. If it’s true, not even the best fairy tales can compare to the hope that awaits us.

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (1)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Brent Phillips

What do you do when God calls you to something you don't feel capable of doing? When Moses protested that he was slow of speech, God didn't tell him to believe in himself or pretend his limitations weren't real. Instead, he reminded Moses that he was his Creator and promised, “I will be with your mouth.” In this continuation of our study of brokenness and grace, we explore what Moses' struggle teaches us about our own weaknesses, disabilities, and limitations. Our weaknesses are real, but they don't define us—and they don't have to keep us from obeying God. The answer isn't to convince ourselves that we are sufficient, but to trust the God who promises to be with us. When we are not enough, God is still sufficient.

Series: Daniel (Faith among Babylonians)

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

When we come before God, what gives us the right to ask for his mercy? In Daniel 9, Daniel makes a desperate plea for a people who have sinned against God and a city lying in ruins. But he doesn't appeal to Israel's goodness or demand that God act. Instead, he appeals to God's mercy, righteousness, and name. Daniel's prayer challenges us to rethink not only how we pray, but why we seek God's forgiveness in the first place. Do we simply want our pain to end and our lives to return to normal, or do we long for God's name to be honored in us and through us?

Series: Daniel (Faith among Babylonians)

Service: Sun AM (1)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Sin often festers due to a lack of humility. It is easy to see what they have done wrong. It is much harder to humble ourselves and say, “We have sinned.” In Daniel 9, Daniel responds to Israel’s long history of rebellion not by distancing himself from his people, but by confessing their sin as his own: “We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled.” What happens when sin has become deeply rooted in a family, a church, or a people? Who will be willing to stop defending, blaming, and excusing—and be the first to confess, repent, and lead others back to God? In this sermon from Daniel 9, we consider what genuine, humble, communal repentance looks like.

Series: Daniel (Faith among Babylonians)

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (1)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Brent Phillips

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (1)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Heath McCann

Series: N/A

Service: Sun AM (2)

Type: Sermon

Speaker: Scott Kercheville

Jeremiah 36:20-26 — Anger, rejection
Isaiah 28:11-13; 29:11-12 — Boredom, no effort
Ezekiel 33:30-33 — Eager ears, lustful/greedy hearts
Jeremiah 42-44 — Willingness, then rejection
Haggai 1-2 — Fear and endurance in obedience