Easter Preach-Off
The message that I will preach today is likely one of the most unusual you will ever hear me preach. I generally am the kind of preacher that uses a title and an outline and I usually try to stay somewhere near a homiletical style of preaching. You know 3 or 4 points and poem, stand and be dismissed, etc. Well today I’m going to tell you a story that tells the story. If we were going to give it a title it would have to be “Easter Preach-Off”, so let’s get started.
It was Good Friday at a little-known preacher training college. In celebration of and in conjunction with Passion Week and Easter they decided to have a “preach-off”. Now this is to preachers what a “Battle of the Bands” is to musicians. It was an opportunity to hone their preaching skills. It was to be kind of an all-day affair. Each preacher was allotted a certain amount of time to preach and each one would, no doubt, preach his very best sermon on the life or death or burial or resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
The first one got up. He was a little bit nervous at first, but very soon he settled down and proceeded to preach about the intense love of God that motivated Him to send His only begotten Son to Earth to become a sacrifice for all the sins of humanity. He started with I John 4:8-10 he read:
. . . . God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
He talked about the sacrifice motivated by Love and he talked about the characteristics of God’s kind of love. He stopped by 1 Corinthians 13 and reviewed for the audience the attributes of this Agape Love.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
As he expounded on each of these attributes he then quickly got back on the subject as he went to John 3:16:
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[f] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
He explained in some great detail this best-known and most-loved verse of the entire New Testament. With power and conviction he brought the truth of this great verse down to the level that even the smallest child in the audience could fully understand. As he preached, his fellow preachers were held spell bound and you could hear them shouting, “Amen” and “Glory to God” and “Hallelujah” and “yes” and “alright” and from one side you could hear somebody yelling “Preach!” and just about anything you ever heard in church you could have heard there that day.
He soared as he preached the everlasting truth about the Love of God that motivated God and His son Jesus to devise such a wonderful plan of redemption. Toward the end of his allotted time he sort of came back down to earth and he read in the 3rd chapter of 1 John:
1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: . . . 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
And he closed with a rousing discussion of the 2nd coming of Christ and the purifying hope that Jesus is coming again. And as he walked back to his seat the congregation applauded and praised God for the wonderful message.
Now don’t forget this is a “preach-off” and so the moderator of the contest reminded everybody to fill out their scorecard for this first message. He gave them a minute or two to write out their comments and then he introduced the second preacher.
The second preacher contestant walked slowly to the pulpit and as he did he bowed his head and prayed and as he prayed he began to preach through his prayer. He started in Genesis and worked his way through the Old and New Testaments all the way to Revelations, praying/preaching about the Messiah. After he said amen, he announced that his sermon title would be “The Suffering Savior”. He started in the 53rd chapter of Isa and he read:
2. . . he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter,
As he read Isaiah’s somber account there was a gentle hush that settled down over the crowd and everyone’s attention was locked on to the speaker as he masterfully portrayed the prophesied sufferings of Jesus, foretold by the prophet Isaiah. He described from an Old testament priest’s perspective how all of this detail would play out in our New Testament Redeemer. He told from the viewpoint of a shepherd the personality of a suffering sheep and he contrasted our rebelliousness as wayward sheep to the total humble submission of the One Lamb of God.
There was no hilarity among the crowd as the speaker skillfully portrayed the scope and magnitude of the life of the Suffering Savior. There was no hilarity but rather soft moans and amens of gratitude that punctuated almost every sentence of the message. Every eye and every ear was focused on the preacher and every heart and every mind were remembering what Christ went through on their behalf.
As he wrapped up the Old Testament prophecies of the “Suffering Savior” he moved into the gospel accounts of how it happened. When he spoke of the horrible scourging and the cat of 9 tails whip with which he received 39 lashes he referred back to the Old Testament prophecies.
All through the crowd tears flowed like rain as he began to talk about the “via Dolorosa”, “the way of suffering”. He dramatically reenacted the tentative steps, the awkward stumbling and his faltering feet, and finally his falling to the ground, unable to take even one more step with cross on His shoulder.
It was at this point the preacher did something a little unusual. He paused for a long while and the organist and the keyboardist began playing and he began to sing: Sing – Via Dolorosa
Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day
The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street
But the crowd pressed in to see
A Man condemned to die on Calvary
He was bleeding from a beating, there were stripes upon His back
And He wore a crown of thorns upon His head
And He bore with every step
The scorn of those who cried out for His death
Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King,
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me.
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.
As He stumbled in the path beneath the weight of the heavy cross
The soldiers vainly tried to drive him on
From the crowd they pulled a slave
And they made him bear the load of the condemned
Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King,
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me.
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.
The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men
Made its way through the heart of Jerusalem.
Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary. [2 measures]
It was His Love for You and Me
Oh yes His love for you and me
It was His Love
By Billy Sprague and Niles Borop (c)1983 Meadowgreen Music and Word Music/ASCAP
As the young preacher finished there was not a dry eye in the crowd. He stood there silent for what seemed like at least 5 minutes, but was probably only 10 or 15 seconds, and then he simply said,
“He walked that road and He carried that cross just for you.”
He went over to his seat and he sat down. There was no applause, only silent sobs of shame and of thanksgiving.
Well, it took the congregation a little while to regain its composure, but after a couple of minutes, the moderator came again to the podium. He was at a loss as to how to proceed. Finally he reminded the crowd to fill out their scorecards and then he introduced the next contestant. So far this “preach-off” hasn’t gone exactly the way they had planned. It was much more intense than they could have thought. The next 2 or 3 contestants preached, and they preached respectable sermons and things begin to settle down to the more expected. It seemed like everything that could be said along the subject of “Passion Week” and Easter had been said at least 2 or 3 times.
They took a lunch break and all went to eat. When they came back they were a little surprised to find out there were only 2 sermons left to be preached. They were surprised, but more than a little relieved, because they had been there most all day and with the emotional highs and lows they were really getting weary.
The next to last contestant announced that his topic would be “Calvary”. He read from the familiar passage from Luke 23:
13 Then Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, 14 said to them, “You have brought this Man to me, as one who misleads the people. And indeed, having examined Him in your presence, I have found no fault in this Man concerning those things of which you accuse Him; 15 no, neither did Herod, . . . 16 I will therefore chastise Him and release Him” . . . 18 And they all cried out at once, saying, “Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas . . . 20 Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them. 21 But they shouted, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” 22 Then he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. . . . 23 But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. . . . 33 And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
The young preacher began to tell about the horrible death that Jesus died at the hands of the Romans who had been compelled by the high priests and the religious people. He went into vivid description of the structure of the wooden cross and he told some of the history of the torturous deaths that had been inflicted by this ancient tool of torture down through Roman History.
You could nearly hear the dull thud of the hammer as they drove the nails through the flesh of those three that were to die there that day. 1, 2, 3 . . . then 7,8,9, and the first nail was fully driven and they began on the second nail and the 3rd and then they stood the first cross upright and then dropped it mercilessly into the hole in the ground. The first criminal cursed and swore as his flesh ripped bone from sinew.
The soldiers began nailing the 2nd criminal to his cross and again they stood it up and dropped it into the ground. The 2nd cried out and cursed and swore as the nails tore at his flesh.
They then began with Jesus. One by one the hammer pounded the nails through his hands and his feet. He groaned and winced in agony. One nail, then two, and then the third. And again they stood it up and dropped it into the ground. But this time - no cursing, no swearing, but one standing nearby heard him say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
The soldier’s heads spun around and they looked at this man and wondered what on earth this could mean. They had carried out this death squad assignment hundreds of times and never had they seen this kind of reaction. They wondered at it.
The little preacher went on to describe Jesus as His breathing became labored and how that He began to gasp for a breath and then he would hold it as long as He possibly could. As he preached he told in detail how one would die by crucifixion. He told how that death from crucifixion was actually caused by suffocation. When one is hanging with all his weight on his arms spread wide apart, the muscles in the torso began to tire and as they relax they close off and restrict the lungs making it nearly impossible to inhale. So when one goes through this they will press down with their feet and legs and take the weight and pressure off, just long enough to draw in a deep breath and then they will again slump down while holding their breath as long as possible and then let it go and repeat the process. Push up, inhale, relax and hold, then exhale and start over - Push up, inhale, relax and hold, exhale and again and again.
You see this is why they would sometimes break the legs of the one being crucified. They had a law that the one that was dying had to be dead and removed from the cross before sundown. So they would let them hang there for a while and then if death was not eminent before sundown they would break the leg bones so the dying person could not push up to get his breath, hence it would greatly speed up the process of death.
As the preacher was drawing to a close he very graphically described and demonstrated. Push up, inhale, relax and hold, exhale; Push up, inhale, relax and hold, exhale; and again and again and slower and slower and slower, Push up, --- inhale, --- relax and hold, --- exhale. And then Jesus, with one of those labored breaths cried out:
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
And then back to the regimen - Push up, inhale, relax and hold, exhale and again and again. And then with one last mighty heave He raised his weight on His legs and drew one last big breath and He cried as loud as His strength would allow:
“It is Finished”
And He dropped His head and He died. Some didn’t understand what it meant and they were puzzled and amazed. But we now realize that at that very moment the price for atonement was completed and placed in trust for every person of Adam’s race who will come and place their trust in Christ. And that day, at that moment, the plan of Salvation was finished!
Sing “It is finished”
There’s a line That’s been drawn through the ages
On that line stands old rugged cross
On that cross a battle is raging For the gain of man’s soul or his loss
On one side march the forces of evil All the demons and devils of hell
On the other the angels of glory And they meet on Golgotha’s hill
The earth shakes with the force of the conflict And the sun refuses to shine
For there hangs God’s Son in the balance
And then through the darkness He cries
It is finished The battle is over It is finished There’ll be no more war
It is finished The end of the conflict It is finished And Jesus is Lord
Yet in my heart the battle was raging
Not all pris’ners of war have come home
They were battlefields of my own making
Didn’t know that the war had been won
Then I heard that the King of the ages
Had fought all the battle for me
And vict’ry was mine for the claiming
And now praise His name I am free
Bill and Gloria Gaither
The time had now come for the last of the preacher’s to preach. He was older than the previous contestants. After a proper introduction, he struggled a little as he walked to the podium. Though he walked slowly, there was a certain confidence in his demeanor. He held his head straight. His shoulders were square. He was a little heavy but there was a poise about him that caused all who were there to know that whatever he had to say was going to be important. He planted his feet firmly behind the pulpit and stood there with a faint gleam in his eye. But he just stood there. And he just stood there. And he waited until every eye was fixed directly on him. He softly cleared his throat as if to begin speaking and again he stood there. There was almost a foreboding of some announcement of some kind of tragedy or something, perhaps an assassination, or a national emergency, or some late breaking news event. He just stood there.
When he was fully convinced that he had everyone’s undivided attention he spoke, “Today is Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’.” Again he stood still. Some started to snicker and whisper something to their neighbor, but suddenly the truth of what the man had said began to dawn on them. About that time the old preacher again said, “Today is Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’.” This time the crowd caught on a little more.
Again he paused just a little and then again, “Today is Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’.” By now the crowd was fully with him. They were completely on board as they realized the significance of this Sunday comin’. Again and again he repeated, “Today is Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’.” And the crowd joined in, “Today is Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’.” The crowd rose to its feet and began chanting and shouting with the old preacher, “Today is Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’.” And they shouted and whooped and carried on as they realized afresh and anew the message of the resurrection. “Today is Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’.”
Well, I am here to tell you today that Sunday has come and is here. Jesus has risen from the dead. The angel has appeared and ask the question, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here for he has risen.”
I want to tell you that He has Risen and now he has gone to prepare a place for us that where He is we shall be also. Listen
Gone
Mary came unto the tomb of Jesus
The stone was moved The Lord had gone away
The angel said Fear not I know whom seek ye
But He is risen This she heard Him say
Gone the stone is rolled back Gone the tomb is empty
Gone to sit at the Father’s side Gone over death triumphant
Gone sin is defeated Gone He lives forevermore
My friend if you don’t Know my risen Savior
I beg you Please don’t wait ‘til its too late to pray
Don’t wait until His bride Has been completed
Don’t wait until you Hear Him say too late
Another songwriter wrote these words:
Jesus lay in a borrowed tomb For three days
The people all thought He’d been stolen away
But they looked inside There was nobody there
The tomb had an echo It was silent and bare
Gone gone Jesus has risen He’s gone down to hell With the keys in His hand
He locked death away In eternity’s prison
The grave has been conquered For every man
The tomb is still empty Where Jesus once laid
There’s no other like it To this very day
No one could explain it, But they knew it was true
He arose from the dead Like He said He would do
Gone gone Jesus has risen Ascended to heaven To the Father’s right hand
He locked death away In eternity’s prison
The grave has been conquered For every man
And because He lives I can face tomorrow.
Sing Because He Lives
Verse 1
God sent His Son they called Him Jesus
He came to love heal and forgive
He bled and died to buy my pardon
An empty grave is there to prove
My Savior lives
Have the crowd stand and sing along - Chorus 1
And because He lives I can face tomorrow
Because He lives all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because He lives
Verse 3
And then one day I’ll cross that river
I’ll fight life’s final war with pain
And then as death gives way to vict’ry
I’ll see the lights of glory
And I’ll know He reigns
