What difference does Easter make?
Notes
Transcript
Video: Risen (.58)
Greg’s Message Part #1 (7:00 + 2:34 video = 9:34)
Jesus is the risen Son of God. This is why we worship Him. All four Gospel writers tell us what happened. Matthew said it happened this way. (Read Matthew 28: 1-6) The world tells us this you live, you die and that’s it. But Jesus lived, died and then lived again.
I welcome you to Easter Services at Westerville Christian. The question I want us to consider today is What difference does Easter make? What tangible difference does the resurrection of Jesus make today? If you believe that Jesus rose from the dead the answer is profound. It literally makes all the difference in this world and the next. But maybe you are a bit skeptical. I get that. At one time I was skeptical. So if you’re convinced or skeptical let’s all consider four answers to the question, What difference does Easter (the resurrection of Jesus) make?
Answer #1: The resurrection of Jesus validates his words and his identity. Again, this is what the angel said to the women at the tomb in Matthew 28:6. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Jesus said he would come back from the dead multiple times. Luke 9:22 is one example. (Read verse 22). Jesus or someone who knew Jesus either point blank said or alluded to his resurrection at least seven times.[i] Now, if he didn’t come back from dead. Why trust anything that ever came out of his mouth? But if he did come back from the dead isn’t it reasonable to trust everything he said and did. Jesus asked his disciples this question in Luke 9. Who do people say I am? And Peter answered. You are God’s Messiah.
But that’s not all. Jesus described himself as the great I am. I am the Messiah. I am the Son of God. I am the Light of the World. I am the Bread of Life. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. I am the Resurrection and the Life. Jesus identity is wrapped up in his resurrection. If he doesn’t come back from the dead he’s a liar, a fraud, a fake and a phony. The Bible I’m holding in my hand would not exist and none of us would be sitting here today. Why come worship a dead man? Our singing would be depressing. Christ the Lord is Dead today. I’m not going to sing that. Neither would you. Jesus’ resurrection validates his words & his identity. Consider a second answer. #2: The resurrection of Jesus secures our salvation by paying our debt.
How can we ever forget the Ever Given? That massive ship that ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 23. The meme’s kept pouring in. Karl said. “My ambitious plan to free the boat is to push a huge cotton swab up the canal.”[ii] The Ever Given is longer than the Eiffel Tower (1063’) and, when loaded, weighs more than twenty-two Eiffel Towers combined.[iii] The weight of that ship is staggering and so is the weight of our many, many sins. I can’t move that ship on my own and you can’t either. I can’t pay the debt of my sins and you can’t either. But Jesus can, Jesus did.
Jesus said this when he was dying on the cross. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[iv] What he said wasn’t just for the Jewish leaders who refused to believe in him or the Roman solders who killed him. It was for us. His sacrifice saves us, pays our debt if we put our faith in him.
Author J.D. Greear writes. I remember a Muslim asking me "If you sinned against me, and I wanted to forgive you, I wouldn't make you kill your dog before I forgave you. Why would God require some kind of sacrifice to forgive?" Here's how I answered him:
Choosing to forgive somebody means that you are agreeing to absorb the cost of the injustice of what they've done. Imagine you stole my car and you wrecked it, and you don't have insurance and or the money to pay for it. What are my choices? I could make you pay. I could haul you before a judge and request a court-mandated payment plan. If you were foolish enough to steal my car, you might never pay it off and you'd always be in my debt.
But I have another choice. I could forgive you. What am I choosing to do if I say, “I forgive you”? I'm choosing to absorb the cost of your wrong. I'll have to pay the price of having the car fixed. You have no debt to pay—not because there was nothing to pay, but because I paid it all.
And that’s what Jesus did. What difference does Easter make? Easter demonstrated that God accepted Jesus’ blood sacrifice on our behalf which pays our debt. Listen to Amena Brown as she shares this “Spoken Word.”[v] Video: Amena Brown (2:34) Saved in April Video clips folder. (Communion)
Greg’s Message Part #2 (7 minutes)
What difference does Easter make? So far we’ve considered two answers. #1: The resurrection validates Jesus words and his identity. It proves that he kept his word. #2: The resurrection secures our salvation by paying our debt. Our debt is too high, long, wide and deep, but Jesus sacrifice is high, long, wide and deep. Here’s a third answer. #3: The resurrection means anyone who believes in God’s Son is empowered to live like Jesus. Empowered with what? POWER from the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus said in John 14. (Read 16&17) This is what Jesus promised and his promises came true. Just how powerful is this power? The Apostle Paul explains in Ephesians 1. (Read 18-20) The power that brought Jesus back from the dead is the same power that can be in you and me. When did Jesus receive this power? Matthew tells us in Matthew 3:16. (Read vs. 16). The Holy Spirit is now IN Jesus. Jesus didn’t perform any miracles until after his baptism. That makes sense because the Holy Spirit gave Jesus the power to perform those miracles.
When does any believer receive the Holy Spirit? Peter tells us it’s at our baptism. This is Acts 2:38. (Read vs. 38) Have you been baptized? If you want to be forgiven by God and empowered by His Spirit, be baptized. And what better day, than Easter Sunday?
Receiving the Holy Spirit is important but the question now is why? Why does any believer need to be empowered by Holy Spirit? (Counselor joke and MOMMAJESSIEC Tweet) “Prayers for my husband, who, very tragically, got me nothing for our anniversary when I specifically told him I wanted nothing for our anniversary.”[vi] Don’t be confused on why we need the Holy Spirit. It’s to be empowered to be like Jesus Christ. Two examples. #1: The Holy Spirit will empower you to think new thoughts. Thoughts that bring life and honor God. What thoughts are consuming your mind your now? Are they fearful, negative, anxious, irrational or lustful? Starting next Sunday, I am beginning a three-week series called Thoughts Inside My Head. Man, the thoughts that come into my head sometimes. Thoughts that are irrational. Thoughts that condemn. Thoughts that are selfish. Do you get thoughts like that? If you do what are we supposed to do about them? Ask the Holy Spirit to transform your mind and give you new thoughts.
Would you like to have thoughts that bring life & peace? Admit that you’ve sinned. Believe in Jesus. Confess him as Lord. Decide to be baptized and when you do you’ll receive the power of the Spirit to transform your thoughts. What else does the HS empower believers to do? #2: The Holy Spirit will empower you to forgive. I walked into a store one time and I saw a person I hated. I hated them for what they did to me and the people I love. I felt fine walking into that store until I saw this individual. I walk over to my wife Tricia and I said to her. Did you see that so and so is here? And she said no. I told her how much I hated him and she then looked at me and asked, when are you going to forgive him? Forgiving someone is not forgetting what they did or discounting what they did. It’s giving someone what they don’t deserve. Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and thinking the other person’s going to die. Unforgiveness is a prison. Forgiveness is being set free.
One of the best books I’ve read this year is called The Sun Does Shine. This book tells the true story of Anthony Ray Hinten who was poor, black and lived in the south. In 1985 he was falsely accused of two brutal murders he did not commit and spent 30 years in prison. Most on death row. This book tells Anthony’s story. How he struggled with God. Relied upon God and finally was set free because of new evidence proving his innocence. He then goes on to explain his choice to forgive the officers who lied and the Judge who ignored the evidence. Anthony forgave those men. You can’t do that without being HS empowered. Anthony could have stayed bitter. Hating those who hated him, but that’s not what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Randy Frazee said this. “The Holy Spirit will give you the power to forgive someone who has deeply hurt you. The power to come alongside a friend who’s struggling. The power to rise above negative circumstances. The power to love deeply. The power to stamp out fear. The power to persevere and best of all, the power to rise from the dead, just like Jesus did.”[vii]
What difference does Easter make? Here’s answer #4: The resurrection of Jesus proves that death is not the end.
Jesus beat death once and for all. The resurrection promises that the bodies of those who believe will not remain dead.[viii] The resurrection proves that Jesus conquered death and we can now experience life. I mean abundant life. Life that’s forever, not temporary. The world tells that you live, you die and that’s it. But Jesus said, If you believe in me, you live, you die and then you live again. Ain’t” no grave going to hold my body down. Ain’t no grave going to hold your body down. That’s the promise of Jesus. Will you believe him and live for him? (Pray)
[i] Mark E. Moore, The Chronological Life of Christ, 305
[ii] https://junkee.com/ever-given-suez-canal-memes-free/291454
[iii] https://www.denisonforum.org/columns/daily-article/a-stranded-megaship-and-censored-christians-three-ways-to-engage-our-critics-with-redemptive-truth/
[iv] Luke 23:34 (NIV 2011)
[v] https://www.rightnowmedia.org/Content/illustration/105160
[vi] Reader’s Digest, March 2021, 15
[vii] Randy Frazee, His Mighty Strength, Introduction, 24-25
[viii] https://www.gotquestions.org/resurrection-Christ-important.html