Easter Miracle 2
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Sunday, April 12, 2020 | Easter
Easter Day
Year A
Good morning Church, I want to invite you to open your Bibles and turn to Matthew 28. While you are doing that, I want to thank everyone who is joining us this morning, the members and friends or Christ UMC, and especially you who are not members of our church. We know with this posting on facebook, we are reaching out to new people, and to old friends who don’t live in this area. I would like to read a part of a message I received this last week from one of them.
Shirma wrote: Pastor Terry, I watched your Thursday message last evening. I loved the music… Your message was wonderful as always. I took communion with you and it was so wonderful. I always learn something that you find in the Bible that I had not thought about.
God is at work in Shirma’s live and others through our church, even thought she is 150 miles away.
I also would like to say a word to fellow pastors. First, thank you for your faithful service. I know some of you are watching this, and it has been me joy and privilege to share in ministry in one form or another with each of you. Keep up the good fight. There is a “crown of righteousness,” awaiting you my friends.
Now for a few announcements. First, I know everyone wants to know when we can get back to worship in our awesome building. I don’t have an answer for that question. The latest information I do have is our Bishop wrote: I believe it is wise to extend my strong encouragement to not hold public worship throughout the month of April.
So, my friends that is where we are.
Which brings me to another announcement. I plan to continue a recorded devotional for the rest of our time during this stay at home order. You can help with this. I will give you three options for this study. Just put your choice in the comments section of the video.
1. A Study of Colossians
2. A Study of the Psalms
3. Continuing our Study of Acts
Call to Worship (Psalm 118, John 20)
Christ is risen!
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Death never gets the final word.
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Rejoice in this day of salvation.
God’s steadfast love endures forever. Alleluia!
Opening Prayer (Psalm 118, John 20)
Living God,
rejoicing in this day of resurrection,
we have come to celebrate
the strength of your love—
a love that triumphs even over death.
As we exult in the miracle of your incarnate love,
we thank you for the opportunity
to encounter the Risen Christ
here in our midst. Amen.
SONG
PASTORAL PRAYER
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON
Psalm 118:1–2 (NIV)
1Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
2Let Israel say: “His love endures forever.”
Psalm 118:14–24 (NIV)
14The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.
15Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!
16The Lord’s right hand is lifted high; the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
17I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
18The Lord has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
19Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.
20This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter.
21I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.
22The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
23the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.
SONG
Prayer of Preparation (John 20)
Open our ears to hear your Word
proclaimed at this time.
Open our hearts to know your Love
offered in these people.
Open our eyes to see your Presence
blessing us this Easter morning.
SCRIPTURE READING
Matthew 28:1–10 (NIV)
1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2There 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.
3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
7Then 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.”
8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
9Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.
10Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
SERMON
If you have a Bible, I want to invite you to open with me to Matthew 28, and while you’re turning there, I just want to thank you for the privilege of celebrating Easter with you. Especially if you are not a member of this church, we want you to know it’s an honor to be with you on this Sunday, so thanks for making the time to watch this.
Today is Easter Sunday, as I told Dan Fetty yesterday on the phone, the strangest Easter in my life. After 30 years of ministry, I never guessed I would be asking the people of my church to stay home on Easter. Easter is a time of community.
As Cardinal Timothy Dolan the current Archbishop of New York said recently, Easter has been a time of celebration, filling churches to overflowing, and handshakes or hugs for everyone.
But this year it is different.
No Easter Lilies on the platform.
No robed choir singing Easter favorites.
No churches filled to overflowing.
No Special Easter Outfits.
Instead, we are using words like, “Stay at home Orders.”
Church parking lots are empty.
Wal-mart is counting the number of people in the store at the same time.
Instead of our Easter Outfits,
You might be wearing your favorite pair of PJs with fuzzy slippers.
But seated in a church or seated of your sofa.
Easter is still Easter.
The passage Dan just read for us still is important to our faith.
The Resurrection is key to our Christian doctrine.
If we did not have the resurrection, then, as Paul reminds us, we are of all people most miserable.
So the question we need to ask this Easter morning is, “Can we believe in the resurrection?”
Let me repeat that question:
CAN WE BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION?
David Platt began his Easter sermon on 2012 with these words.
I want to speak plainly this morning—as plainly as I possibly can. We live in a day where religion is looked at as a matter of preference or opinion. People say things like, “All religions are fundamentally the same; they’re just superficially different. So choose whatever works best for you.” And along the way, the question of truth is completely avoided. That is a huge mistake.
Belief is irresponsible and empty if it’s not based in truth. People say, “Well, truth is subjective—a matter of preference. Something may be true for you, but not true for me.” We say things like that, but we don’t really believe that. You think about it, who wants to go to the bank this week and say, “I need to withdraw some money from my account,” and hear the teller say, “Well, sir, I don’t feel like you have money in your account.” You would say, “Well, I don’t care what you feel. I know I have money in my account, and I want to withdraw it.” You don’t want the teller to look back at you and say, “That may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.”
The reality is, either you have money in your account or you don’t. Regardless of how someone feels, this is an issue of truth. And the last thing we want banks doing today is giving out money based on how they feel!
This morning I suggest that if the resurrection is true then we can believe in it.
So is it true?
Well, First Jesus Disciples believed in the resurrection, and were willing to die for that belief.
“When Jesus was crucified,” J.P. Moreland said, “his followers were discouraged and depressed. They no longer had confidence that Jesus had been sent by God, because they believed anyone crucified was accursed by God. They also had been taught that God would not let his Messiah suffer death. So they dispersed. The Jesus movement was all but stopped in its tracks. [1]
“Then, after a short period of time, we see them abandoning their occupations, regathering, and committing themselves to spreading a very specific message—that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of God who died on a cross, returned to life, and was seen alive by them.
“And they were willing to spend the rest of their lives proclaiming this, without any payoff from a human point of view. It’s not as though there were a mansion awaiting them on the Mediterranean. They faced a life of hardship. They often went without food, slept exposed to the elements, were ridiculed, beaten, imprisoned. And finally, most of them were executed in torturous ways.
“For what? For good intentions? No, because they were convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they had seen Jesus Christ alive from the dead.[2]
They would, one by one a martyrs death because they refused to reject the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The disciples were willing to die, why, because they knew that Jesus was raised from the dead. They had walked with him, and talked with him, they had eaten with him, after his resurrection.
If it were a lie, would they have faced the whippings, the imprisonments, the sufferings for a lie, I don’t think so. People don’t willing, knowing, die for a lie.
Jesus disciples prove Jesus was raised from the dead.
But, so does the growth of the church. After the crucifixion the disciples and Jesus followers were depressed and in despair. But, just days later, the church was alive and growing again. The day of Pentecost over 3000 people joined the movement.
If a man named Bob Martin was running for mayor, and Bob had a good following. Then Bob died. Would you still support him for Mayor?
(I know some of you are asking right now, who is running against him, because a dead mayor may be better than a living one.)
But I suggest his campaign is over, death does that.
But days after Jesus public, humiliating death, his movement, his campaign grows rapidly. Why, because over 500 people had seen Jesus alive, after his death. That would give any campaign a boost. That would be a good campaign slogan, “Join us, and you will not stay dead.” Or how about, “join us and you will live forever.”
You see, this is just two examples of the proofs for Jesus resurrection. Jesus really did die, and he really was raised from the dead.
N.T. Wright says,
“The early Christians did not invent the empty tomb and the meetings or sightings of the risen Jesus. Nobody was expecting this kind of thing. No kind of conversion experience would have invented it. To suggest otherwise is to stop doing history and enter into a fantasy world of our own.”
This morning, as you considered these proofs for the resurrection of Jesus, I know many of you are already Christians. However, you might be watching, and you have never said yes to Jesus. You might not even know what it means to say yes. But, you know that something has touched you deep inside as you listened to these words, that something was the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit God is inviting you to trust Him with your life. I know it is scary to give you life to God. But let me assure you, if you let Him have control, He will amaze you with what he can do through you. If you want to put God in control, repeat this prayer with me.
Dear God,
I believe that Jesus came into our world, that he lived, that he died, and that he was raised from the dead. Because he was raised from the dead, I know he is the one and only son of God. I want to follow him and let you God have control of my life. Amen.
[1] Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016).
[2] Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016).