Easter Monday
I Corinthians 15:13-19
What difference does Easter make?
A Sunday School teacher asked her class on the Sunday before Easter if they knew what happened on Easter and why it was so important. One little girl spoke up saying: "Easter is when the whole family gets together, and you eat turkey and sing about the pilgrims and all that." "No, that’s not it," said the teacher.
"I know what Easter is," a second student responded. "Easter is when you get a tree and decorate it and give gifts to everybody and sing lots of songs." "Nope, that’s not it either," replied the teacher.
Finally a third student spoke up, "Easter is when Jesus was killed, and put in a tomb and left for three days."
"Ah, thank goodness somebody knows" the teacher thought to herself. But then the student went on: "Then everybody gathers at the tomb and waits to see if Jesus comes out, and if he sees his shadow he has to go back inside and we have six more weeks of winter."
A Sunday School teacher had just finished telling her third graders about how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb with a great stone sealing the opening. Then, wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, she asked: "And what do you think were Jesus’ first words when He came bursting out of that tomb alive?" A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. Attached to it was the arm of a little girl. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly "I know, I know!" "Good" said the teacher, "Tell us, what were Jesus first words." And Extending her arms high into the air she said: "TA-DA!"
Some of us stay at the cross,
some of us wait at the tomb,
Quickened and raised with Christ
yet lingering still in the gloom.
Some of us ’bide at the Passover feast
with Pentecost all unknown,
The triumphs of grace in the heavenly place
that our Lord has made His own.
If the Christ who died had stopped at the cross,
His work had been incomplete.
If the Christ who was buried had stayed in the tomb,
He had only known defeat,
But the way of the cross never stops at the cross
and the way of the tomb leads on
To victorious grace in the heavenly place
where the risen Lord has gone.
Annie Johnson Flint
1 Corinthians 15:13-19
13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
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.
(NIV)
If Jesus rose from the dead,
then Christianity is true
and every other religion is false.
One lady wrote in to a question and answer forum. "Dear Sirs, Our preacher said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think? Sincerely, Bewildered.
Dear Bewildered, Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for six hours; run a spear thru his side…put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens. Sincerely, Charles.
The cross, as poignant as it is, is understandable from a human perspective: an innocent man was murdered by crooked politicians and religious leaders. But the empty tomb-- what can you say? Only a supernatural God could accomplish that.
That same supernatural God wants to bring resurrection into your life!
Hebrews 13:20-21
20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
(NIV)
Let’s go back to the first century for a moment. Suppose you’re one of Jesus’ followers. His followers all knew what he said. Then He is killed, crucified like a common thief. You’re waiting. Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday -- and when Jesus gets up, comes out of the tomb, and appears to you and hundreds of others -- you are amazed, shocked, dumbfounded and incredulous because you know the implications.
Jesus is no longer just a man. In one swoop, he exposes every other religion for what it is: the schemes and speculations of mere mortals who stepped onto the stage of history for just a season. They said a few good things and then later died, leaving their philosophies behind.
"The events of Easter cannot be reduced to a creed or philosophy. We are not asked to believe the doctrine of the resurrection. We are asked to meet this person raised from the dead. In faith, we move from belief in a doctrine to the knowledge of a person. Ultimate truth is a person. We met him. He is alive."
All that stuff the Buddha said about the great nothingness -- it’s false, because Siddhartha Buddha is still dead and Jesus is alive. Followers of Islam believe that Mohammed was the greatest prophet of God. Jesus, on the other hand, was a prophet as well, but not as enlightened as Mohammed, they say. Jesus is alive, but Mohammed is still dead. You do the math. You want to build your life on the words of a dead man, or upon one who came back to life? Frederick Nietzsche said that God is dead. If the resurrection is true, then it’s Nietzsche who’s dead! That spirit guide who told your friend that Jesus is just one of the ways to a higher spiritual plain is dead wrong. And no matter what Tom Cruise or John Travolta say, L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology is dead wrong as well. You see, if Jesus really rose from the dead, then Christianity is true and every other religion is false. You don’t have to believe me; but we’re all going to die. And five seconds after both you and I die, we’re going to find out who was right.
Little Philip, born with Down’s syndrome, attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences, according to an article in leadership magazine. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully. The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought Leggs pantyhose containers, the kind that look like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table. Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and ahh. Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, “That’s stupid. That’s not fair. Somebody didn’t do their assignment.” Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.” “Philip, you don’t ever do things right!” the student retorted. “There’s nothing there!” I did so do it,” Philip insisted. “I did do it. It’s empty. The tomb was empty!” Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar not with flowers, but with their Sunday school teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.
If Jesus rose from the dead,
then life
does not end at the grave.
Cartoonist Joe McKeever has drawn a group of tourists looking at the Garden tomb in Jerusalem. It’s an open tomb where the stone door has been rolled away. Their guide says, "The angel moved the stone to reveal an empty tomb and a risen Christ. Ever since, man has been trying to roll that stone back!"
1 Corinthians 15:20-21
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
(NIV)
I heard a story about a family that tragically lost three of their four children within just two weeks to a deadly, virulent disease. One child was left – a four year old boy. The family had buried the third child just two weeks before Easter. On Easter morning the parents and the remaining child went to church. The mother taught her Sunday School class about the resurrection of Jesus and the father read the Easter story as he led the opening Sunday School devotion. People who knew about their great loss wondered how they could do it. One family of the church were in the car on their way home after church when their 16 year old asked his father, "Dad, that couple must believe everything about the Easter Story, don’t they?" "Of course they believe it," said the father, "all Christians do!" The young man then said, "But not like they do!"
1 Corinthians 15:19
19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
(NIV)
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
(NIV)
If Jesus rose from the dead,
then we, as a human race,
must have been in very bad shape.
In other words, if God had to send his only begotten son to die for our sins, our situation must have been extremely perilous.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ serves notice that my sin is so dreadful, that you and I are so deeply flawed, that nothing short of God’s only son could pay for and break of the power of sin in our lives and the lives of those we love. No matter how hard we try to be better people, no matter how shiny we polish the exterior of our lives, Christianity says it will never be enough. If Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then we were in such bad shape that God had to send his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(KJV)
Did you read B.C. in yesterday’s cartoons? Two women are sitting on a small hill. One is reading the Bible and says, “Oh, my goodness. . . Says here. . . Jesus descended into hell!” The other is shocked and says, “You’re kidding!” Then the woman with the Bible says, “Oh, no. . . Not to stay! He just dropped in to cancel our reservations!”
If Jesus rose from the dead,
then God
loves you whether you like or not.
John 3:17
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
(NIV)
If you really want to know if Jesus rose from the dead, keep seeking -- you will find out. God promises that those who seek, find; those who ask, get given to them; and those who knock get the door opened up to them.
Matthew 7:7-8
7 "Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
(NIV)
If you used to be on the right path spiritually, but you wound up in a ditch somewhere, wondering how long the road back to Christ is, all you have to do is turn around. Jesus is right there and He is saying, "Welcome back!" He will help you get your life on track. But you have to turn around. You can’t come to Him backwards.
A father tells the following story:
My daughter was four years old and about to see her first Easter play. Like most little girls at Easter, she was all decked out in her flowered outfit, patent leather shoes, matching purse, white lace gloves, and to top it all off – her beautiful Easter hat. As the play started, she saw the actors come on stage and screamed with excitement, “THERE’S JESUS!” He was playing with the children on the stage and she wanted to know why she couldn’t go up and play with Jesus too. My response to her was, “Honey, this is only a play. He’s only an actor. This isn’t real.” “Okay,” she said, “but will you pick me up so that Jesus can see my hat?” During a scene of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, soldiers came barging in yelling and screaming. My daughter became so frightened that she turned her face away, buried it into my chest and began to cry. Again I tried to rationalize with her, “It’s okay, honey. This is only a play. These are only actors. It’s not real.” So she agreed to watch some more. Then came that dreaded scene. Down the isle of the church came Jesus dragging His cross – people yelling and cursing him. This was too much. She could not bear to watch. I held her tightly and tried to comfort her. “It’s okay, honey. This is only a play. These are only actors. It isn’t real.” Next, the soldiers grabbed Jesus, threw him against the cross, picked up their hammers and ---SLAM!--- She screamed at the top of her lungs, “NOOOOO! THEY’RE KILLING MY JESUS!” She cried so loud and so long that I had to rush her out of the auditorium. I took her outside where she could finish watching the play on the outside TV screens and told her Jesus was going to come back to life if she would watch. But she would not be consoled until she could see Jesus alive again. At the end of the play, she was determined to go up and see Jesus and have him hold her in his arms to ensure he was alive.
Do you need to crawl up in His lap today to assure you He is alive? You can by coming to this altar, this place of prayer. He’ll meet you here!
