ENGAGE
As I’m sure Ryan could attest, I think most pastors get more stressed out about their messages at Christmas and Easter than any other Sunday all year. Perhaps much of that added stress is self-induced since we feel the need to come up with some new approach or some innovative way to share the familiar accounts of Jesus’ birth and His resurrection.
I’m reminded of a young pastor who was going to be preaching his first Easter sermon and he wanted to make sure that he had a memorable introduction to get everyone’s attention. So he we to an older pastor he knew and asked him if he had any surefire introduction that was guaranteed to capture everyone’s attention.
The old preacher said, "Ss a matter of fact I have an illustration that works every single time." He said, "When you walk to the pulpit, make this statement: 'Some of the greatest days of my life I spent in the arms of another man's wife.'" He said, "Wait for a moment, and then say, 'My mother.'" He added, "Don't forget to pause before you say, 'My mother.'" And he also told the young pastor, "Incidentally, don't forget to tell your wife what you are going to do."
Well, Easter Sunday arrived, and as this young inexperienced preacher walked to the pulpit he had two problems. First of all, he was extremely nervous; secondly, he had forgotten to tell his wife what he was going to say. So he cleared his throat and said, "Some of the greatest days of my life, I spent in the arms of another man's wife." He waited for a moment and his wife, who happened to be a hot-tempered lady, got up out of her seat and stormed toward the pulpit. That so unnerved him he stammered and stuttered and said, "And for the life of me, I can't remember who she was."
TENSION
This morning, I want to talk for just a few minutes on the importance of remembering when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus.
I know that many of you come here this morning with some burdens in your life. Some of you are grieving over the loss of someone that you were close to. Some of you are dealing was a serious illness or physical condition either personally or for someone that you love. Some of you have financial problems and you’re living under a pile of debt and just barely making it. Some of you hate going to work each day because frankly you just don’t like your job. Some of you are struggling in your marriages or with other relationships. Some of you have kids who have rebelled against God in spite of your best efforts to raise them according to Biblical principles. For some of you, your relationship with God is going through a dry spell and you just don’t feel very close to Him anymore. And if you’re not going through something like that right now, it is nearly a certainty that you’re going to encounter the same or similar problems in your life at some point, maybe even much sooner than you might imagine. And when we experience those kinds of circumstances in our lives and we can’t see a way out, it’s really easy to lose hope.
TRUTH
That was certainly true of a group of women who went to the grave of Jesus that first Easter morning. On Friday afternoon, they had watched the crucifixion of Jesus from a distance. They had followed Jesus for several years, providing what they could to sustain Him financially as He ministered to others. They had watched Him heal people and listened to Him teach about the kingdom of God and eventually came to believe that He was in fact, the Messiah they had waited for their entire lives. But as they observed Joseph take the lifeless, bloodied and disfigured body of Jesus down from the cross and wrap it in a linen shroud and place it in the tomb their hopes had been dashed.
So the women did the only thing they knew to do. Because the Sabbath was approaching quickly, they went back home and prepared the spices and ointments with which they would return to the grave to properly prepare the body for burial. But because the Sabbath was about to begin, they would have to wait until Sunday morning to return to the tomb to carry out that somber responsibility.
On Sunday morning, these women, who included Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary, the Mother of James, made their way to the tomb. There probably wasn’t much conversation on the way there. Their hearts were just too heavy for that. They couldn’t have been looking forward to the task that awaited them at the tomb.
In his gospel account, Luke records what happens next at the beginning of Luke chapter 24. If you’d like to follow along as I read that passage, I’ve included it in your bulletin insert. Or you can follow along in your own Bible or just listen as I read that passage.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.
What appeared to be two men in dazzling white clothes, were undoubtedly angels who had come to give a message to these women. And I want you to pay close attention to the next words they speak, because those words were the key to reviving their hope for these women and I am convinced that they are also the key for us to find hope in the midst of our trials and problems:
Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
On several occasions in the last year of His life, Jesus had revealed to His followers that He was going to be delivered into the hands of men and be rejected by the religious leaders and be killed, but that He would rise from the dead on the third day. But obviously these women, as well as Jesus’ disciples had either forgotten that or they never really believed that it was possible, so when they should have been looking forward with great anticipation to His resurrection, they instead had lost all hope and most were in hiding, fearing they might meet the same fate.
But with that single word – remember – the women’s despair was turned to joy and their hope was restored. And Luke records that because of that hope they immediately returned to tell the others that Jesus had indeed done exactly as He promised and risen from the dead:
And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.
(Luke 24:1-9 ESV)
For those women, the empty grave was the proof that Jesus was indeed the Messiah they had been waiting for. If He fulfilled His promise to rise from the grave on the third day, they reasoned, then everything else He had said and taught must be true, too. And I can guarantee you that for the rest of their lives, every time those women passed that empty grave, they were reminded that hope was alive because Jesus is alive.
APPLICATION
And this morning I want to encourage all of us by reminding us that we can have that same kind of hope by doing what those women did – remembering the empty grave. Because…
When I remember the empty grave…
I am reminded that hope is alive because Jesus is alive!
If Jesus could overcome death by rising from the grave and leaving an empty tomb, then there is nothing in your life that Jesus can’t handle. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that Jesus is going to take away all your problems or even that He is going to remove you from them. Just a very short time before He was arrested and crucified, Jesus told His disciples that in this world they would have tribulation. But the good news, Jesus said, is that He would overcome the world. And the empty grave is the proof that He has done that.
Later this morning, I’ll be talking about the ultimate hope for those who put their faith in Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is what guarantees that all of us who trust in Him will one day also experience a physical resurrection and get to spend the rest of eternity in His presence.
But remembering the empty grave is also what gives us hope right now. Because Jesus is alive and sitting at the right hand of the Father, interceding on my behalf, I can be confident that He will get me through whatever problems I might have in my life:
• If you’re going through some serious physical problem or illness right now – remember the empty grave and know that hope is alive because Jesus is alive. Whether He chooses to heal you right now or not, the empty grave ensures that one day you’re going to get a new body that will never wear out or get sick or even hurt.
• If you have financial problems right now – remember the empty grave and know that hope is alive because Jesus is alive. He has promised that he cares deeply about you and that He will provide for your every need and the empty grave ensures He will keep those promises.
• If you’re having problems in your marriage or with your kids or with some other relationship – remember the empty grave and know that hope is alive because Jesus is alive. If you’ll let Him, Jesus will help you transform your relationships. I’m not going to lie to you – that may very well be a painful process because it probably means that you have to change as much or more than the other person. But the empty grave proves that Jesus is capable of doing that.
• If you hate your job – remember the empty grave and know that hope is alive because Jesus is alive. If you’ll let Him, Jesus will help you learn how to work for God rather than working for men and help you understand that your work is actually serving Him and His people. And that will do far more to change your attitude about your job than just doing what you’re probably tempted to do and just change jobs. And the empty grave is the evidence that Jesus can do that.
• Whatever your problem is, whatever trial you’re going through right now or in the future, remember the empty grave, because that empty grave means hope is alive because Jesus is alive!
INSPIRATION
That sounds almost too good to be true doesn’t it? You mean all I have to do is remember the empty grave and Jesus will take care of all my problems? If you have been listening carefully, hopefully that’s not what you heard me say. So as we close, let me leave you with a couple important caveats:
• First, and most importantly, the empty grave only provides hope for those who believe that Jesus rose from the dead and who are placing their trust in Him alone as the basis for their relationship with God.
That’s exactly what the women at the grave did that morning. Up to that point, they obviously didn’t believe that Jesus was going to conquer their sins by dying on a cross and prove His victory over death by rising from the grave. But the moment they saw that empty tomb and were reminded of the words of Jesus, they immediately trusted in Jesus as the means for their relationship with God.
If you’ve been trying to approach God by any other means, by trying to live a good life or by going to church, for instance, then unfortunately the empty grave really won’t be a source of hope for you. But the good news is that you can do something about that this morning. Today you can place your trust in what Jesus did for you through His death and resurrection over 2,000 years ago.
• The second caveat, which I’ve already mentioned, is that trusting in Jesus like that and remembering the empty grave doesn’t guarantee that Jesus is going to take my problems away or fix them. Unlike us, He sees the big picture and He understands that sometimes for our own good and His glory, he takes us through those difficult times. But what the empty grave does guarantee is that His grace will be sufficient for me and that I don’t have to go through those times alone because He will go through them with me.
ACTION
When I remember the empty grave…
I am reminded that hope is alive because Jesus is alive!
As we close this morning the question all of us must ask is this: How am I going to make sure that truth makes a difference for me personally? So I want to challenge all of us to think about that and to take some kind of concrete action to make sure the empty grave makes a difference in our lives:
• If you have never placed your trust in Jesus, we invite you to do that today. Chances are, you probably have some questions about exactly what that involves and because it is important that you consider the cost before you do that, we’d love to talk to you more about how you can do that. Ryan and I will be here after the service to talk to you about that or you can fill out the contact information on the insert in your bulletin and give it to us or to our greeters.
• If you’ve already made that decision, then I want to encourage you to face whatever problems and trials you might be facing right now by remembering the empty grave which provides genuine hope because it proves Jesus is alive.
• Finally, all of us have the chance to cement this truth firmly in our minds as we close by singing “Remember”.
