Resurrection Sunday 2023
Notes
Transcript
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
I love that greeting that has been passed down through the centuries. It shows the longevity of our faith. We are not just following a belief system that was invented a few years ago by religious quack. No, we have a faith that has stayed the same for two thousand years.
Those who heard his teaching, who saw him, who walked with him, have passed down his life and his gospel to us. All based upon the fact that he is risen.
Jesus has risen!
Jesus has risen!
Matthew is one of those who recorded what he saw for us. He wrote about that day two thousand years ago:
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Can you imagine what they were going through?
Not only did their best friend die, but they watched him die the most painful death imaginable. This was the man who gave them hope of a better life. He taught them the ways of God. He was prophesied to redeem them from their enemies.
Now, he was dead, and they were experiencing grief upon grief.
A few women who had followed him were coming to the tomb to perform one last loving act. They were going to finish the embalming process, adding more spices to what was quickly wrapped around him on Friday.
There were probably tears running down their cheeks when they walked up the path to the garden tomb. And then the angel told them that Jesus was not dead.
When he declared on the cross:
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
He was not declaring that the process of death was complete. He was declaring that the reason he died, the purpose he was fulfilling, was complete. And he proved it by rising from the dead.
Paul wrote in Romans:
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
He is risen! He’s not dead. Therefore, we know that sin has been paid for. We don’t have to pay for it. He did!
This morning, when we were shivering outside in the cold, wintry—I mean springy—air. We talked about how the women learned three things that morning. The first was that Jesus wasn’t dead, which we have discussed.
The second is that Jesus wasn’t ordinary.
He is God.
Jesus spoke to the religious leaders in Jerusalem:
“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
Jesus just declared that he was God. The words: I am, make up the name of God.
Moses had asked for God’s name, when he was talking to the burning bush. And God declared:
God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
That’s why the religious leaders wanted to stone Jesus, because in their mind he had spoken blasphemy. He had declared himself God.
Which is true. God came to earth as a man, born of a virgin, lived a perfect life and died my death, your death, to pay for the sins of the world, that we might have a close friendship, a personal relationship with him.
We were created to have this relationship with him, but our sins separated us from him, and nothing we can do, no amount of good works, no amount of religions, can make us good enough to have that relationship.
So God came to earth and paid the penalty for our sin. And he proved who he was by raising himself from the dead.
Jesus had told his disciples:
The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
He is risen! Proving who he is.
The third thing the ladies learned is that Jesus is waiting.
The angel told the ladies:
Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
Jesus appeared to over 500 disciples for the next forty days, eating, drinking, and talking with them. Then he ascended to heaven, promising to come back. He is waiting there for us. The Bible speaks about him as the first-fruits. He is the first to be raised, and we will be next, when we will join him in eternity.
John writes:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
He is there waiting to greet those who have believed in him, welcoming them into eternal life. Some of us will join him through death, others when he comes at the end of time.
He is waiting. God, after paying everything, going through that pain and misery, that we might have a personal relationship with him, is waiting for our arrival to welcome us home.
Jesus has risen!
But, what are we going to do about it?
There were two groups who witnessed his resurrection that morning 2000 years ago. These two groups had completely different responses. We who live today can join one of these groups or the other. There is no in between.
The first group saw Jesus resurrection and they lied about it.
Do we lie about it?
Do we lie about it?
Matthew tells us about this group.
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
These guards were there. They saw the angel come down and roll the stone away. They knew what had happened.
But, what did they do? They disregarded the truth and spread lies.
We have the truth. Every time the Bible is read and the Gospel is shared, truth has been heard. But, everyone has a choice what they will do with that truth.
From birth, people are faced with the truth that there is a God.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Paul writes to the Romans
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Everywhere we look, we have evidence of a designer, someone who knit this world together and who holds this world together. As we interact with humanity, we have evidence of a moral standard that has been placed inside of everyone, a common grace by which we know what good and evil are, by which we know what dignity and respect are.
We have the proof around us. And then, we have the Word of God, the love letter that God wrote to us. Verified by historical record. Speaking truth about everything that God has done to reach out to us and provide a way for us to reach out to him.
Some people reach interact with the truth and they do not believe.
These are like Thomas, who when told by the other disciples that Jesus had come back to life and that they had in fact saw in and talked with him and touched him.
He said:
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
These people need evidence. And until the evidence comes, they will not believe. Josh McDowell was studying to be a lawyer. He heard about Christianity and wanted to disprove it. So, he began to collect evidence that Christianity cannot be true. Ended up writing the book: Evidence that Demands a Verdict, proving the preponderance of evidence that Christianity is in fact real.
Twenty-years later, Lee Strobel was a journalist. He was fed up with all this Christian talk, believing that no reasonable person could believe it. He tried to disprove it and ended up writing “The Case for Christ,” because of the amount of evidence that Jesus rose from the dead.
Some people don’t believe.
Some people do not understand. They are presented with the fact that Jesus loved them enough to leave the glories of heaven and come down to earth so that he might die in their place. And he offers them a free gift, if they would but admit that they are a sinner and desperately need him.
To that message they say: How can it be true? I’ve done too many bad things. God cannot love me.
Other’s say: How can it be true? That is too easy. I need to do something.
People hear the truth, but they cannot understand. Their mind, their emotions, their guilt, is getting in the way of the cross.
Those who feel unloveable or unforgivable forget that Jesus paid it all. He proved his love to us by dying on the cross for our sins.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ died for the sinners, the ungodly, his enemies. So, if you feel like that describes you: you are the one he died for.
Those who feel like salvation is too easy forget the cost that Jesus paid. He did everything because we can do nothing. We are powerless. Nothing we do will earn us even an inch toward eternity.
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
Some people don’t understand.
Some people don’t want to believe.
Because if they did, their lives would have to change. If we acknowledge that there is a holy God who created the world and who did everything to bridge the gap between his creation and himself so that we might have a relationship with him, we would have to change.
And some people do not want to. They come face-to-face with the truth, but they refuse to accept it because of what it would do to their lifestyle.
When I was 18, I was able to spend a month in Brazil on a missions trip. We visited camps and public schools as a music and drama troupe. We also did open air evangelism. After one of our shows in the streets of some town in Southern Brazil, I walked up to a man to share the Gospel with him. He spoke Portuguese, so I had to speak through an interpreter. I was trying to explain sin to the man. He said, Oh, like doing and dealing drugs, because that’s what he did. I think about him from time to time, because after he heard me out, he turned around and walked away.
Some people do not want to believe.
I don’t know where guards landed on why they disregarded the truth. I just know that they did. Then they turned around and spread lies about Jesus. Even though they did that, and even though so many people throughout the centuries choose to join them, their refusal to believe the truth does not deny the truth.
Jesus said:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
How do we respond to the truth? Do we join the guards and lie about it?
Do we tell about it?
Do we tell about it?
Or do we join the disciples and tell about it.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The disciples believed the truth, and the truth changed them so much that they were willing to act on it.
There are three ways the disciples, and us, tell about Jesus, as seen in this passage.
We tell it through belief.
For someone to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, we must believe. There has to have been a point in our life where we drew a line in the sand and said: I believe.
Paul wrote:
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Belief requires a telling, a declaring to God: I realize that I am a sinner and my sin separates me from you and there is nothing I can do about it. I believe that Jesus is God and that he died on the cross for my sin, and I trust him and his death on the cross alone for my sin.
I’m not talking about trusting him to protect you or to guide you or to encourage you. I’m talking about trusting him to save you from your sins for eternity.
John wrote:
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
This act of receiving is the act of declaring.
There are some people who do not have a dramatic moment of faith that they can point to. Theirs is a gradual understanding, a discovery one day that they believe, and that they have believed for some period of time. The important thing is that there is a realization, a statement of faith, in the one they have believed.
Have you done that?
We tell it through belief.
We tell it through baptism.
Jesus said:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Baptism does nothing to save anyone. The thief on the cross merely believed who Jesus was and Jesus told him:
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Baptism does not save us. But baptism is a proclamation, a telling of what has happened on the inside.
Everyone who comes up here to be baptized confesses that they have personally placed their faith in Jesus Christ and that they want the world to know it. They confess that they want to follow Jesus with their lives and this is the first step in obedience, following him in baptism.
We do full immersion baptism here for the symbolism. We are identifying with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, saying that he did that for me. I will believe it and I will live it.
If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ to save you from your sins, that you have joined that personal relationship that lasts for eternity, have you been baptized in obedience to Jesus Christ, so that the world can know your decision?
We tell it through baptism.
Finally, we tell it through proclamation.
This passage is the Great commission, where Jesus tells the disciples their purpose: to spread the Good News about Jesus Christ around the world.
The Good News is rather astonishing, if we sit down and think about it.
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
We were God’s enemies, actively living in a way that was against him. And stuck in that position, powerless to do anything different. But, Jesus said: I love him; I love her. So he died the most miserable death imaginable to snatch us from death and destruction and earn our friendship.
If we truly believe the truth and we have seen how it has changed our lives, we should want to tell it.
We should say: Jesus commanded me to tell about him and he died for me, therefore, I will do this for him.
We should say: I am surrounded by people who are lost and need the saving truth about Jesus Christ. I am going to do this for them.
It’s not natural for us. We would rather talk about March Madness Basketball or the odds that the Huskers will have a winning football season or our latest physical ailment.
But, Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection have an eternal impact for me and the world. Why would we want to talk about anything else?