Sermon Tone Analysis

Why Jesus’ Resurrection Matters

Does it matter if Christ has not been raised?

CHRISTIANITY TODAY STORY – MILLENNIALS -

John Spong, retired Episcopal bishop of New Jersey:

“Resurrection is an action of God, who raised Jesus into the meaning of God.

It therefore cannot be a physical resuscitation occurring inside human history.”

He says, “Christianity’s supernatural stories have to go or Christianity will die.”

Tom Harpur is one of Canada’s leading writers on religion and he feels much the same way.

In yesterday’s London Free Press, he tried to set the record straight about the real meaning of Jesus’ resurrection:

“Make no mistake, the message of Good Friday and Easter is one of vital importance to everyone regardless of their religious backgrounds or lack of any at all.

The Bible’s way of approaching the deepest mysteries of life, however, is not the direct, literal one which fundamentalists and many other Christians suppose.

… we can see that Christ’s Resurrection had nothing whatever to do with the actual rising of a corpse and its bursting through the barrier of a rocky tomb on a Judean hillside on some distant morning.

We can instead realize it is a powerful testimony to the daily resurrection that can takes place in our own lives if we allow the inner Christ, the divine “spark” or light that dwells in every heart, to quicken us again to newness of living.

The big question arising out of the Passion of Jesus is not, “What can we make of events 2,000 years ago?” but rather, “Are we experiencing right now what it is to die to the past and rise again to ‘newness of life?’ ” So resurrection is really nothing more than a metaphor.

I want to tell you this morning that the ultimate message for you and for me is this: that Jesus of Nazareth not only died, but he was physically, literally, raised from the dead – and lives again.

No truth is more important for you to know than that.

Period.

Jesus has been raised, BODILY – and there we find the courage to live and the comfort to die.

This is Paul writing – to Timothy, his ‘son’ in the faith.

Context: The steely-cold shackles are tight on his wrists.

Paul is in a Roman prison for his faith – staring death in the face.

His earthly future is bleak.

He has been in prison before – but this time it does not look as though he will make it out alive.

– and to make things worse - - -

- - - in the church he has poured himself into – in the city of Ephesus – there are those who are teaching error – v. 18 – “Hymanaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened.

They are upsetting the faith of some.”

It is enough that Paul is facing death at the hands of the Romans, unjustly.

But when a church body that he has sweated over, shed tears over – loved and prayed for … when that body is being led down a pathway to error and destruction – while he is stuck in prison - - - why that’s just too much.

Still, Paul is able to end his letter to Timothy with confidence.

Look at CHAPTER 4:18.

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.

To Him be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.”

There is only one place where Paul could get the confidence, in these circumstances, to end this letter with such hope?! It’s Paul’s Belief in the Resurrection.

I want to look at 2 aspects of the resurrection: 1.

The Fact of the Resurrection 2. The Force of the Resurrection.

1.

The Fact of the Resurrection

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel . .

.”

Do you notice that when Paul writes to encourage his son in the faith to stand strong and firm in the middle of all the commotion and opposition, he does NOT say, “Remember what Jesus taught us – remember what our teacher said.”

You see, Christianity is not founded on a philosophy or a teaching.

It is NOT primarily a formula for successful living.

Christianity is, FIRST AND FOREMOST a historical fact: REMEMBER JESUS - - remember WHO HE IS!

Question: What do Medina, Saudi Arabia – Muhammed’s body lies here

The Temple of the Tooth, Kandy, Sri Lanka – the relic of the right tooth of Buddha (most of him was cremated)

Qufu, Shan Dong province, China - Confucious HAVE IN COMMON?

These are the locations where the founders of some of the world’s greatest religions are buried:

Jesus is different.

There is no occupied tomb.

Oh, we modern types try to explain the resurrection away.

One person tries to say that, “well, Jesus’ body was not really raised.

His resurrection was a metaphor of human life ‘absorbed into the life of God.’ His memory lives on.

That’s what the disciples meant when they talked about his resurrection.”

But Greek society believed that everyone’s soul lived on after death.

For the disciples to go into the public square and proclaim that message, would have inspired a great, big YAWN.

There is nothing revolutionary there.

And nothing that deals with the empty tomb.

Some people say, well, Jesus was never really dead.

No, he was just, really, really, under the weather.

Actually he was in a deep, drugged-induced coma (from when the soldiers offered him that vinegar wine).

Eventually, he woke up.

When I hear that, I feel like Lt. Columbo.

Any of you remember Columbo?

Get my wrinkled, old trenchcoat, cigar, run my hands through my hair and start asking questions:

“So ma’am, you are saying that.

He was given the Roman 39 lashes – 40 was the number that would kill a normal person, so they gave 1 lash less.

Jesus then carries his cross through town, then nail pierce hands and feet to provide the hangers to keep the weight of his entire body fixed to the wooden cross for hour after excruciating hour, under the sweltering Palestinian heat.

When it is obvious to the professional executioner that he is dead, they take his cold body down.

But not BEFORE they run his body through with a spear, just to make sure the job is done.

When his body is removed from the tree, Jesus’ whole body, from head to foot, is wrapped tightly in burial cloths, placed in an almost oxygen-less cave and sealed with a massive stone.

There the body lies without medical treatment, or even nourishment for 3 days and 2 nights.

Then he wakes up, shakes off the cobwebs, unwraps himself, rolls away the boulder and slips, unnoticed, past the Roman guards posted at the door – whose very lives depend on keeping him INSIDE.

Just to be clear, that’s what you’re saying?”

I am still waiting for someone to explain to me exactly how Jesus did that

Still others say, “No, this is what happened.

The disciples got all worked up in their grief and hallucinated visions of him.

They fantasized the whole thing.”

No, some others say: “This is what happened: The disciples snuck into the tomb.

They caught all of the Roman guards looking the other way, they quickly, quietly, rolled the man-sized boulder away, grabbed the body out, and then slid the boulder back in place.”

If your reason for rejecting the resurrection of Jesus is because you don’t believe miracles can happen, then I don’t see how any of the other answers solve the problem of the empty tomb.

And though they have tried, from the very beginning, I might add - - no one who denies that Jesus was raised from the dead has been able to offer a compelling explanation for what happened after - - how a group of timid, demoralized disciples, who had run away – deserted Jesus at the time of his greatest need – how they suddenly became bold missionaries who turned the world upside down, all without the use of violence – and often at the cost of their very lives.

All this on the foundation of the idea that Jesus had been, physically, raised from the dead.

That is the message that permeates the New Testament.

That is the climax that all 4 Gospels build towards.

That is the point of Paul’s letters.

So critical is the resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that in , Paul writes, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19 If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

Friend, you can choose NOT to believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead – but please, make sure you have thought clearly through the alternative answers to his empty tomb - - Are they really believable?

You can choose NOT to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave, but please, don’t pretend that what you are left with can still be called by the name of Christianity.

It CAN’T - - - and right now, there are thousands of Christians all over the world, living in squalid conditions in prison because of their belief in the resurrection of Jesus and what that means for the world.

This week, a Vietnamese pastor was sentenced to 11 years in prison for his witness … In southern Laos – 5 people, 2 men and 3 women were arrested last week for attending an unregistered church service.

Last week in Northern Kenya, a Christian meeting was bombed by Muslim extremists – 2 people were killed – a woman and an 8 year old boy and dozens of others were injured.

These Christians – sitting in their cold, dank cells, many of whom are forfeiting the priviledge of watching their children grow through the tender days of youth – missing the sweet embrace of a spouse - - - all because they will not – they CAN NOT deny the risen Jesus, who has called them to himself.

Do not tell them they are enduring persecution for a METAPHOR!

I want you to see how important the fact of the resurrection is to you – today!

2. The Force of the Resurrection

Do you see how relevant to you the fact of the resurrection is?

Let us look at the force of the resurrection.

What does it mean to you?