When I married Janet 25 years ago, I became a bigamist. You see, I was already married to a 1966 Ford Mustang. 289 engine, factory air, white with a black vinyl roof, Candy Apple red interior. She was the first love of my life.

I wasn't always so attached to old cars, but my father helped me understand their joys. He and I worked on them together, starting with a 1967 Mercury Cougar I'd pay a great deal of money to have back. From there to a Plymouth Barracuda, then the Chevy Vega, the worst car Detroit ever produced.

But then we moved to the best, my Ford Mustang. My father and I worked on her together through college. He died shortly before Christmas in 1979; that year I opened his last present to me, a steering wheel cover for my Mustang. Some years later the wheel finally broke and I replaced it, but I kept that original wheel and his gift. It will hang on my garage wall for the rest of my life. And that's only because Janet won't let me mount it in our bedroom.

Not all of you will understand such devotion to a car and its memories. According to a Mercedes Benz survey, 36 percent of Americans love their car; 26 percent talk to their car; 23 percent view their cars as members of the family. The other 77 percent of you are wrong. You need someone to do for you what my father did for me. If you work on one, getting grease under your fingernails, you get attached. As the counselors say, acting precedes feeling. If you don't feel love for your spouse, do loving things and feelings will follow.

Hold that thought, and walk with me through the last scenes in Matthew's Gospel.

It is "after the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week" (v. 1). The women have returned to Jesus' tomb to finish burying his remains. They watched his crucifixion, so they knew that his death was real. They watched his burial on Friday evening (Matthew 27:61), so they have not come to the wrong tomb.

Before they arrived, an angel caused a "mega" earthquake, rolled aside the stone covering the tomb, and frightened the battle-hardened guards into a dead faint. The ones assigned to guard a dead man now appear dead, while the dead man is alive. The soldiers and authorities didn't steal the body.

Now the angel speaks to the shocked women the seven words which would change the world: "He is not here; he has risen" (v. 7a). They are to "come and see the place where he lay" (v. 7b). So they clearly didn't steal the body. Then, "go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead'" (vs. 6-7). So the disciples didn't steal the body, either.

With these few verses we have the evidence of the empty tomb and the resurrection of Jesus. The women know that Jesus really died, and was buried in this tomb. The authorities didn't take his body; nor did the disciples, who know nothing of all this. Yet the tomb is empty. Just as empty then as it is today. This is what these women knew, and what we can know. The evidence is just as clear for us as it was for them. And like them, we are to tell the world what we know.

Now to the point of today's message. When the women "hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples" (v. 8), what happened? What was the result when these women obeyed what they were told? "Suddenly Jesus met them. 'Greetings,' he said" (v. 9a). They heard his voice, and saw his risen form, and met him personally. They "clasped his feet and worshiped him" (v. 9b). Because they agreed to serve him, they experienced him. Because they obeyed his word and will, they felt his presence and his joy. If they had not responded to the empty tomb with obedient service, they would have missed meeting Jesus.

Serving Jesus leads to knowing Jesus. We must breathe out to breathe in. We must give to empty our hands so we can receive. The more we work on a car, the more attached to it we become. The more we do loving actions, the more we experience loving feelings. If we obey Jesus, we meet Jesus. We will know him to the degree that we first serve him. That's the point today.

Now, let's explore that thesis for a moment. It's been said of the contemporary American church that we have all of Jesus we want. Not all of Jesus we need, but all we want.

Let's assume for a moment that every one of you have asked Christ to forgive your sins and become your personal Savior and Lord. You know that you will go to heaven when you die, and that your destination is a perfect paradise.

Why do you need more of Jesus than you have today? Why surrender daily to his Lordship more than you already have? Why serve him more than you do? Why start the day in prayer and Bible study; why worship each weekend; why give to his Kingdom financially more than you have? You don't really need more from Jesus than he's already given you.

As one person I spoke with this week put it, "I know I'm going to heaven; I just want to do my time now and move on." He explained that he's happy with his life as it is, knows he'll go to heaven when he dies, and doesn't understand why he needs to serve God more than he does. He speaks for many of us, perhaps most of us. We have all the Jesus we want.

Why is it worth it to take the next step in service and the resulting presence of Christ?

Your salvation doesn't depend on it. In the rest of the world's religions, you work your way toward Buddhist Nirvana or Hindu moksha, heaven with Allah or Yahweh. In the Catholic Purgatory doctrine, you will be punished and purified for your sins in the afterlife. In the health-and-wealth prosperity gospel popular today, God will reward you financially for financial commitments; he will bless and prosper you now for every act of obedience you render.

But most of us don't believe that these reasons to serve Jesus have merit. In contrast to the world's religions, we believe that you are saved by grace, not works. As God's word says, "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). In contrast to Purgatory, we believe that God forgives and forgets every sin we confess to him. In contrast to the prosperity gospel, we believe that God will reward us in heaven for faithfulness on earth, but that material wealth now is never guaranteed by Scripture.

So I ask again, why take the next step of service, so you can know Jesus more fully than you know him now?

Why serve him so you can know him? Because his word requires it: "Go quickly and tell his disciples" (v. 7); "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations" (vs. 18-19). Evangelism and ministry, using your spiritual gifts, giving your tithe to his Kingdom, worshiping him publicly and serving him daily--these are requirements in Scripture. Serving Jesus is not optional, like deciding you want an A instead of a B in the class. If you're not serving Jesus with your gifts and your life, you are disobeying the word of God.

Why serve him so you can know him? Because gratitude calls us to service.

Calvin Miller tells the story of a young boy in the Chinese labor camps of Mao Tse Tung. He stole some rice for his starving mother, and was caught. To make him an example, the authorities put him in a bamboo cage which was so small he could not stand. They hung the cage in the middle of the village and left the boy to die. They made his father watch as his son slowly died of thirst and exposure, covered by flies and insects. Many years later the father recounted the story for missionaries. Through his tears he said in broken English, "It was good when he finally died."

The One you are called to serve chose that for his Son. The women saw it happen. They knew the price God paid for them. Your Father has given you life and life eternal, at the cost of his Son's agony and torture. Gratitude calls us to service.

Why serve him so you can know him? Because future reward calls you to present service.

I don't know how heaven can be perfect for each of us, and yet reward those who are faithful and not those who are not. But Scripture says it's true. There are "crowns" for enduring temptation, for winning souls to Christ, for leading others spiritually, for staying faithful to the end. There just are.

I understand the thesis that a shack in paradise is good enough. But remember that heaven is forever. What you have there is all you will have, forever and ever and ever. We are conditioned by time to live in chapters. Nothing is permanent for us. But in heaven there is no time. What you have there, you have forever.

Remember the story of the wealthy Christian who gave very little of his money or time to the Kingdom. In heaven he was shocked by the diminutive size of his home, and complained bitterly. Peter replied, "I did the best I could with what you sent me."

Why serve him so you can know him? Because the presence of Jesus is your greatest joy now. Clasping his feet and worshiping him is your life's purpose. Augustine said it well: "You have made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you" (Confessions 1.1).

I lived more than 20 years as a Christian before I learned that the presence of Jesus is my greatest joy. I had completed three graduate degrees in theology, taught on a seminary faculty, and served three churches as pastor before I learned that fact.

I've told you the story of my silent retreat in 1997 at Ignatius House, the Jesuit Catholic retreat center in Atlanta where I came to realize that I had lost touch with my soul. I prayed to God each day, but I couldn't remember the last time I listened to him. I knew he loved me, but I couldn't remember that last time I told him I loved him. I was doing the work of the church, but not the work of the soul. I couldn't remember spending an hour in his presence, much less a day.

During that retreat I learned that every moment we invest in meeting with God is worth its price. Every moment spent in Bible study and prayer, solitude and surrender, listening and meditating, draws us closer to the One our hearts were made to know. A week ago I was back in Atlanta, and spent part of a day back at Ignatius House. And in its stillness and solitude the Father spoke to my soul again. His presence is worth all it costs and more.

Now, all you've heard today must be accepted by faith. Faith in the Scriptures which call us to serve; faith in the sacrifice which calls us to gratitude; faith in the heaven which rewards our obedience; faith in the presence of Christ which makes our lives worthwhile. You cannot have a taste of his presence to see if it is worth its cost in service.

Knowing Jesus intimately is like being married, a permanent covenant which you cannot "sample" by definition. Without the commitment, you cannot have the experience.

Knowing Jesus intimately is like becoming fluent in a language. Learning a few phrases is not the same thing. Without the commitment, you cannot have the experience.

Knowing Jesus intimately is like loving a 1966 Mustang. Until you get your hands dirty, you will never understand why my old steering wheel is my most treasured possession.

Will you serve Jesus so you can know him? Is your life surrendered to serve God, or do you have all of Jesus you want?