Sermon Tone Analysis

*Why I Believe in the Resurrection *

*/April 24, 2011/*

 

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*Prep: *

·         NT Wright, Easter chapter

·         BW Easter

 

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Our big day

 

Teach you an *ancient* *church* custom: He is risen!

Q   How many have of you observed Lent?

 

*Congratulations* on making it!

Are you glad you did it?

What did you learn?

One of the biggest things for me, and several of you, was *anticipation* it created for Sundays and especially Easter.

·         *Christmas* has become the big holiday that we look forward to, but Easter is the bigger deal.

Christmas wasn’t even observed in the early church, but Easter has been the center since day one.

In fact, the reason that we *worship* on *Sunday* instead of Saturday (as commanded in the OT) is because Jesus rose on Sunday.

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Intro~/Communication card:

·         Read John

·         Community Groups

 

Prayer

 

*Scripture reading: Matt 28:1-9 (Brandi)*

 

 

What if it’s not true?

What if Easter is a *big* *lie*, if Jesus was not raised?

What if Easter is just like Christmas, and Jesus like Santa Claus, a nice *legend* with a *kernel* of *truth*.

·         We dress up, eat our ham, *decorate* Easter Eggs, but it doesn’t *mean* *anything*.

Have you ever allowed your thoughts to *wander* there?

The Apostle *Paul* did and he did not like what he saw:

 

*1 Corinthians 15:17-19 * 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.

19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

If we are celebrating a *myth*, a nice story then we have *no* *reason* to *celebrate* at all: You are still dead in your *sins*.

Q   Why is the resurrection the big deal?

Wasn’t it on the *cross* that Jesus died to take away our sins?

Without the resurrection, there is no *proof* that Jesus’ death meant anything, he was just a *good* *teacher* whose life was cut short, another *failed* *revolutionary* executed by the Romans.

No reason to believe he was God in the flesh.

·         There is no evidence *your* sins have been *wiped* *away* and your sins forgiven, nothing to take away the *guilt* that haunts you.

*What’s* *more*, without the resurrection there’s no proof there is *life* after *death*.

We are stuck in the same *despair* as the author of *Ecclesiastes* – maybe there is something, maybe there isn’t.

·         *Selling* your *possession* and having treasure in Heaven begins to sound like a long shot, like the *Haggen’s* *Monopoly* pieces.

All you can do *enjoy* *life* as best you can, try not to feel too *guilty*, and hope you don’t make God *too* *mad*.

a hill to die on

 

But if Jesus really was dead for three days and raised back to life, in *validation* of everything he *said* and *did*, then we have *God* himself becoming a man.

·         Any number of people can claim to be *Bill* *Gates*, but not many can write a check for a billion dollars and have it clear.

Easter is what turns Christianity from a *religion* of *fantasy* to a *religion* of *facts* and *reality*.

This is the hill I will die on – if Christ was not raised from death to life in 1st century Palestine, then I will *renounce* *Christianity*.

If Christ was not raised, you might as well be a *Buddhist*, *Marxist*, or whatever tickles your fancy.

·         Just go and find something that makes you happy; we are just *wasting* a perfectly good *weekend* *morning*.

Reasonable Faith

 

But, I believe with all my *heart* and mind that Jesus was in fact very *literally* raised about 2000 years ago.

And when I say *believe*, I don’t mean some *unfounded* *belief*.

·         Faith is not believing in something *without* *proof* or without reason – it is holding on to what you have found to be true.

I want to tell you know why I’m convinced of the resurrection.

This is for *two* groups of *people* for two different reasons:

 

1.

For those who are *Christians*, I want you to “know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”

(Luke 1:3)

 

I want to build the reason to help you hold your faith through the *passing* *moods*, to help you remember why it is *worth* it to *give* *everything* *up*.

 

2.

For those who are *not*, I want to appeal to you, to present you with the reasonability of faith.

Why I believe in the Resurrection

 

This is my case for the resurrection:

 

1.

Addressing assumptions (all of us have them):

 

We cannot start with the assumption that the *Bible* is *true*.

I believe that it is, but to start with that assumption creates circular reasoning, one that Christians frequently commit.

·         Story of *Mr*.

*Perry* and 2 Timothy 3:16.

But there is another circular that non-Christians are frequently guilty of:

 

Reading *atheists’* *websites* and *talking* with them, they have an *assumption* for rejecting the Biblical witnesses: “*Miracles* can’t happen.”

But that is an *untested* assumption.

Q   So what is your *basis* for that assumption?

Because miracles have never been *proved*.

But here is *evidence* that a really big one did.

But that evidence *can’t* be *valid*.

Why not?

Because they *believed* in *miracles* so they’re *untrustworthy*.

·         This sounds like a kind of *circular* *reasoning* to me.

·         To be fair they say there is a *high* *burden* of *proof*, but they have an impossibly high.

They were so stupid back then...

But there is an *underlying* *assumption* that back in that day people were *less* *critical* and quicker to believe in miracles.

But in their day they were actually *less* *inclined* to believe in a god that died on a cross and rose again.

·         On *Mars* *Hill*, Paul was laughed off the stage when we spoke about resurrection.

·         The idea of *Messiah* who had been *crucified* (the most shameful death) was beyond ludicrous (donkey picture~/graph).

There was *higher* *burden* of *proof* to the ancient world, yet Christianity grew from *120* to *30* *million* in three centuries because they were persuaded by the evidence.

·         BTW: As you read the *ancient* *attacks* on Christianity, they sound remarkably like *modern* *atheists*.

Starting assumption

 

So to ask if the resurrection is real, we *won’t* start with the assumption that they Bible is *inspired* (though I believe it to be) nor that the *supernatural* is *impossible*.

We simply start with giving Scripture the *same* *weight* as other ancient documents, be it *Pliny’s* histories, or *Tacitus’* Annals.

·         All of these claim to be *accurate* *witnesses* or *reporters* of ancient events.

2.

The first question is then: Were they eyewitness?

·         Eyewitness accounts are some of the most powerful evidence in court, especially prior to *DNA* *testing* and *video* *cameras*.

We have *five* *primary* *witnesses*.

Of these, Matthew and John state they are eyewitness.

Mark is a secretary of Peter an eyewitness.

Luke does not claim to be an eyewitness, but that interviewed many witnesses.

Paul likewise spoke to those who were there.

·         All of this is confirmed by *2nd* and *3rd century authors* and undisputed until the 19th century.

I am legend

 

The most common object I hear is that the resurrection was a *legend* built around a kernel of a historical preacher.

·         The problem is that there was *not* *enough* *time*.

One example: Historians pretty well agree that 1 Corinthians was written around 55 AD, meaning it was written about *20* *years* after Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the rest of the *Gospels* were written within the next *30* *years*.

·         Twenty years is not that long: The *first* *gulf* *war* started, the *Soviet* Union broke up, and *Rodney* *King* was beaten.

In that amount of time, Paul wrote:

 

*1 Corinthians 15:3-8 * For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,  5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.