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?