I don’t have any Easter jokes for you today, but I did come across some Easter quotes that I think you’ll regret hearing. Al Jamal said: “My father was so cheap. Every Easter we’d wear the same clothes, but he’d take us to a different church.”
Melanie White said these two things about Easter: “When you’re grown up you realize it’s not the number of Easter eggs you find that’s important, but how many are dark chocolate.” And, “Easter is a time for dressing up, looking your best, and hunting for candy. It’s Halloween in reverse.”
William Adler said: “Here’s hoping my Easter guests will help me take down the tree.”
Turn to Revelation 1. I know it’s not a typical Easter passage, but the message is most definitely an Easter message, but I’m not going to read this passage until later. Most of us here know the story of Easter, and I can tell you the story, but I think I should read it to you from Matthew 28. Listen as I read the familiar story from the HCSB.
The Sabbath was over, and it was almost daybreak on Sunday when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 Suddenly a strong earthquake struck, and the Lord’s angel came down from heaven. He rolled away the stone and sat on it. 3 The angel looked as bright as lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards shook from fear and fell down, as though they were dead.
5 The angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to a cross. 6 He isn’t here! God has raised him to life, just as Jesus said he would. Come, see the place where his body laid. 7 Now hurry! Tell his disciples that he has been raised to life and is on his way to Galilee. Go there, and you will see him. That is what I came to tell you.”
8 The women were frightened and yet very happy, as they hurried from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and greeted them. They went near him, held on to his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid! Tell my followers to go to Galilee. They will see me there.”
11 While the women were on their way, some soldiers who had been guarding the tomb went into the city. They told the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 So the chief priests met with the leaders and decided to bribe the soldiers with a lot of money. 13 They said to the soldiers, “Tell everyone that Jesus' disciples came during the night and stole his body while you were asleep. 14 If the governor hears about this, we will talk to him. You won’t have anything to worry about.” 15 The soldiers took the money and did what they were told. The Jewish people still tell each other this story.
I read an article in ChurchLeader.com by Mary Briggs titled, “Did Jesus Actually Rise from the Dead? Majority of UK Christians not Sure.” I realized that more and more people are wondering if you have to believe in the resurrection to be a Christian. That sounds like my students who ask, “What is the minimum I can do to still get an A?” Then during the last quarter of their senior year, they usually ask, “What’s the minimum I can do to pass so I can graduate?”
We live in a time when people want to know what is the minimum is that they can do to be a Christian. Or, What’s the minimum I must believe in order to be a Christian? The articles said that a poll was taken in the United Kingdom by those who consider themselves to be Christian, and a majority are not convinced Jesus physically died and rose from the dead. Fewer than half think Jesus actually died and rose again for the forgiveness of their sins. Get this, only 26% of the general population believes Jesus actually died and rose again.
Anglican priest Dave Tomlinson told the BBC, “The reason a lot of people don’t believe in a physical death and resurrection of Jesus is that it just doesn’t make sense. For Jesus to have to die a cruel death to bring humanity back to God makes God a weird monster.”
Another Anglican priest said that there’s a difference between belief and faith. Believing Jesus died and rose again is not necessary for one to have faith in Jesus. To have faith in Jesus, means to have a faith encounter with Jesus. Death and resurrection are unnecessary.
I’m afraid that’s the direction we are heading down. In our world of no absolute truths, in our world with a deconstruction of the past to show things of the past are irrelevant to our daily culture, and in our world where the quote “What’s the minimum?” is dominate, it should not surprise us that people either don’t believe in the resurrection as fact or they don’t believe in the resurrection as necessary.
Let me stop here and say this. If you want to know what the minimum is, then you are worried about the wrong thing, because you are not saved to begin with. Does someone ever have in their wedding vows, “I’ll promise to love you with the minimum love you need and to give you my minimum loyalty till death do us part or at minimum till you’re really sick.” That’s not a relationship. If you want to know the minimum, then you haven’t experienced the maximum!
Getting back to my message – I’m afraid that too many Christians haven’t experienced Jesus at all. I want to describe to you the different responses to Jesus. The doubters, the memorialists, the show-offs, the superstitious, and the transformed.
1 The Doubters
Many people don’t believe in Jesus. Even though there is plenty of archaeological evidence and manuscript evidence and almost 2000 years of changed lives, people still believe it didn’t happen. There are several theories they use to convince themselves that Jesus either didn’t die, and if He did, He didn’t rise from the dead.
First, there’s the wrong tomb theory. The disciples simply went to the wrong tomb and of course did not find Jesus there. So, they went around telling everyone that Jesus rose from the dead. If you are having doubts about Jesus, you might begin to think this is a good theory. Well, think about this. If it was the wrong tomb, all the Pharisees had to do was point people to the right tomb, because they are the ones who had Pilate secure the place with soldiers. If they went to the wrong tomb and Jesus was still dead, the Pharisees could show everyone that Jesus’ body was still in the grave.
Second is the swoon theory. Jesus didn’t really die. He almost died. He was beaten and tortured bad enough, but His heart really didn’t stop beating. They would say the Roman soldiers were not experts on death. However, the Roman soldiers were experts in execution and crucifixion. They did this everyday throughout the Roman Empire. They knew 40 lashes would kill a man, so they gave 39. They knew to break the legs of those who hadn’t died after three hours. They knew crucifixion. But, if Jesus was beaten that badly and was near death, how could He in three days push a stone quietly enough not to disturb the Roman soldiers who were guarding it?
Third is the hallucination theory. The disciples were high and hallucinated the appearances of Jesus. I have never had a hallucinogenic drug in my body, so I can’t claim to be an expert. But experts say that two people do not have the same hallucinations even if they were high on the same drug at the same time. How can eleven men be high on the same drug and have the exact same hallucination?
Fourth is the disciples lied theory. The disciple knew Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, but to keep their devotion to His teachings alive, they claimed Jesus rose from the dead. But no one dies for a lie they know is a lie. Kamikaze pilots and jihadists die for what they believe is the truth, even though it’s a lie. These disciples, who ran away when the palace guards arrested Jesus, are not going to die torturous deaths knowing Jesus was dead. At least one of the eleven would have said, “Okay, okay. It was a lie. We told a lie. Please don’t cut my head off! Please don’t crucify me!”
So, that’s the response of the doubters. If you doubt Jesus rose from the dead, you have no proof He didn’t, but you’ll find archaeological proof, eyewitness proof, manuscript proof, and transformed lives as proof. You have to come to grips with reality that Jesus died and rose from the dead. Let’s now talk about those who do believe Jesus rose from the dead.
2 The Memorialists
A lot of people believe Jesus rose from the dead, but it doesn’t change their lives. They are memorialists. They are like the people who go to Washington D.C. and see the war memorials from WWII, the Korean War, and the Viet Nam War. They may touch the names on the memorials. They may sit at the water fountain and contemplate the courage and sacrifice. They may think it’s really awesome to be in such a hallow place.
A lot of people go to church a few times a year, or maybe every Sunday. They sit and contemplate what Jesus did. They may touch the hymnal and reminisce about earlier days. They may gaze at the cross and be moved by the sacrifice of Jesus. They may think it’s really awesome to be in such a hallow place. But nothing changes. To them, in their lives, Jesus is still on the cross or in the tomb. Nothing changes for them other than feeling good about themselves that they came to such a precious place as church.
3 The Show-offs
These are the believers in Jesus’ resurrection that like to show everyone that Jesus is special to them. If you go to their house, they may show off their cross on the mantle, or their Jordan River water, or their family bible, or some artifact that they have kept. They may show off their bumper sticker. They show off their jewelry. They talk about their Kosher diet and their trips to Israel. They may find wonderful quotes on Pinterest that they copy and paste to their Facebook or to a tweet or to Snap Chat or Instagram.
I’m not saying all of that is wrong. It’s just that a lot of people do this, but their lives are never really changed. It’s all an external showing, but nothing internal or personal. One might conclude that for some, it’s a cover up. If you can see that I’m a believer first, then you won’t see my faults and sins. Again, this isn’t everybody, but it’s a lot of bodies.
4 The Superstitious
These are the believers in Jesus’ resurrection who feel very secure as long as they have those things the show-offs have. But these things are like a lucky charm. I can’t leave home without my cross necklace, or my Jesus bracelet, or reading a verse. I don’t feel secure if I don’t do these things. It’s kind of like leaving home without your phone. You feel really insecure if you don’t have it. Something’s wrong if I don’t feel my phone in my right front pants pocket. Something’s wrong if I don’t have on my special piece of jewelry or didn’t drink coffee out of my Joel Osteen coffee mug. You feel like you just walked under a ladder as a black cat crossed your path.
Jesus becomes nothing but a security blanket, or better yet, your Christian stuff becomes your security blanket. You don’t have a problem with Jesus rising from the dead, but your spiritual experience is more from the things you bought than what Jesus paid for.
5 The Transformed
These are the people who have been changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s go to that Revelation 1 passage because it is the Easter story.
Don’t be afraid! I am the first, the last, 18 and the living one. I died, but now I am alive forevermore
Let’s see if we can imagine what it was like that first Easter day. The disciples had been in hiding fearing the Pharisees would hunt them down and crucify them next, since their leader was crucified. They must have thought, “Sure, Jesus mentioned something about rising the third day, but really? I know He said that, but really? I know He raised Lazarus from the dead, but can He really raise Himself up?”
But when Jesus showed Himself to them, they knew He was alive. It changed their lives. And to make it even more real and powerful, Jesus gave them the Holy Spirit so that their lives would not only be changed but totally transformed. They went out preaching the gospel. They started churches and did ministry. Thousands and thousands were getting saved. They were beaten and tortured for their faith, but they felt honored to suffer the beatings. Then it got to where their lives were on the line for their belief that Jesus is alive, but they counted that an honor to die for Him since He died for them.
But the Holy Spirit moved beyond these men and women to a next generation of believers who would die for their Savior and did. We who believe today, who have been transformed by the Holy Spirit are a part of that lineage of faith. We don’t ask what the minimum is. We want to know if there’s anything more we can do.
We don’t see church as a memorial. We see the church as people reaching out to the community and shining their light as bright as they can. We don’t show off our faith, our faith shows off Jesus to everyone. We don’t trust in mugs, crosses, quotes, or pictures. We trust Jesus. Our security isn’t in things. It’s in Jesus. Jesus isn’t a superstition type of belief, it’s a supernatural type of belief in a risen Savior and He’s alive!
If we truly believed that Jesus is alive today, then we must live it, talk it, and think it. We either believe Jesus is alive and has transformed us, or we are still riding the fence keeping a positive attitude about Jesus, but not letting Him transform our lives.
Here’s the thing about riding the fence. If a fence divides two yards, and I know this is a city-folk illustration. You wouldn’t ride a barbed wire fence! But if I’m sitting on top of the fence and I think highly of a yard, I’m still sitting on top of a fence. I’m not in the yard. Not until I get both feet in the yard am I in the yard. So, to ride the fence about Jesus means you are not all in with both feet on the ground, so you’re not in Jesus’ yard.
It’s time to jump off the fence and land in Jesus’ yard. He is alive! He is still changing lives, and He can change yours today.
Since I started with some bad Easter quotes, let me close with two better quotes. Andrew Murray said, “A dead Christ I must do everything for; a living Christ does everything for me.” This is an anonymous quote: Jesus didn’t say, “I am finished.” He said, “It is finished.” Jesus was just getting started.
Let Jesus change your life and start something new in your life today.
