EASTER
Today is a special day. We celebrate this day of Easter every year on our calendars. We get out the decorations with bunnies and little chicks overlaid on pastel colors. Stores have been selling lots of Easter related products like baskets and candy. Egg coloring kits are popular. I see displays at stores with marshmallow peeps in all kinds of interesting and unusual flavors. I saw they now have Dr. Pepper flavored peeps.
Later today, families will gather and the kids will get to have an easter egg hunt in the family yard and search for the colored and candy filled eggs hoping to gather the most. Then we will eat a special meal together of ham or pot roast or some even use today as a reason to have a mid-year turkey dinner.
You know, there are places around our country where this day isn’t as big a deal. Yes, some will still attend church together and go have egg hunts and the kids will get baskets, but the meaning behind Easter isn’t really celebrated. Back in Oregon you don’t see as much of a fanfare in stores selling products. There will still be a couple of aisles but not as much.
Actually, what you see are articles or whole magazines like National Geographic, TIME, and Newsweek dedicating an issue to the “Real Jesus” and “What really happened to him on this day.” Secular religion professors write about the many discredited theories about how Jesus didn’t really die, but he took some kind of poison to temporarily stop his heart or how the disciples lied about him and conspired in order to get rich and make money. And many other ideas and theories.
There are churches that have given rise to doubt about the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection and they too will even minimize the claims in the Bible and go along with these same secular religious philosophers. They will even say that it really doesn’t matter if Jesus died and rose again because what we really need to know is that Jesus was a good man who taught some good ideas about how we should live, but to follow everything in here (hold up Bible) isn’t really necessary. Churches say this. Churches of Christ are saying this in places like Oregon and other more blue states. Guess what? There are churches here in Tulsa saying these things this morning too.
Is the empty tomb important? Was Jesus’ death on the cross necessary? Does his resurrection have significance to our belief, our faith, and our salvation? Let’s talk about this this morning.
V FOR VICTORY
Humans communicate using much more than words. We use signs and gestures and many of them are universally understood. One gesture used is when someone would hold up the index and middle fingers spread apart forming a “V” shape.
Many would say this means “peace” but the origin of this sign was that this was a “V” sign for victory. The origin of this sign is such:
During World War II, former Belgian minister of justice Victor de Laveleye served as director of BBC Radio’s French-language Belgian broadcasts. During a January 1941 program, Victor suggested that a good way for Belgians to build morale and stay positive during wartime would be to flash a “V” with their fingers—the first letter of the French word victory. De Laveleye believed it would unnerve the Nazis. He said this, “The occupier, by seeing this sign, always the same, infinitely repeated, would understand that he is surrounded, encircled by an immense crowd of citizens eagerly awaiting his first moment of weakness, watching for his first failure.”
Graffitied “V”s started showing up in Belgium, then in other French-speaking areas that heard the BBC French broadcasts, including the Netherlands and northern France. By July of 1941, it was so widespread and understood that English prime minister Winston Churchill started using it when photographed or after speeches.
And it worked. It not only brought up morale, but by doing so, truly brought victory. This was a small gesture that brought good news to the Allies who saw it displayed and fear to the enemy.
Today, I want to share some Good News about a different Victory with you. We all need Good News. With all the negatives that are going on in our world: wars, anger and hatred, crime and terrorism, as well as a difficult economy and bitterness spread across political parties, social issues, and religious conviction, we need some Good News. Do you agree?!
And today, this Easter Sunday, we have the opportunity to hear the Best News that was ever given. News about the Resurrection of Jesus. This is something that the world wants to hear about. Whether people will admit it or not, hearing that Jesus was raised from the tomb after three days is intriguing and, if true, is Great News!
We are in the midst of a year-long theme talking about what it means to be people who are Walking with Christ. We have been using the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus preached 2000 years ago to bring our minds and hearts back to the central message that Jesus had for his people. What do disciples need to hear in order to live a life seeking God? Jesus had the answer to this question and he preaches it over 3 chapters in the book of Matthew beginning in Chapter 5.
This morning, we will be taking a break from that specific Sermon to step into what the Resurrection means for us today.
Let’s turn to our main text this morning. We will be in I Corinthians chapter 15.
READ I CORINTHIANS 15:1-28
The Apostle Paul who wrote this passage in his First letter to the church of Corinth wanted the reader to understand the importance of the resurrection of Jesus. This is the definitive text on Jesus’ resurrection outside of the actual Gospel accounts. This text is deeply important to lay out the Gospel of Jesus—the Good News that we speak so fondly about each Sunday.
That Gospel is that Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised again—all according to the Scriptures. The resurrection itself is the crowning moment of the work of atonement provided by our Lord. But why is this Good News?
I want to be real with you this morning and not just give you a bunch of statistics and data about the apologetics of evidence behind Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. That has been played out so many times. You can look that information up on Google to see evidences. And some day I may go into all of that in a class or another sermon. But I am haunted by some of the things I have read online this week. It changed the course of this sermon. I had some of these things in mind to recite for you to show you all how we can prove that it all happened.
But again, I am haunted. So I scrapped the entire sermon. I almost decided to stand here without any notes and just talk to you. It might have only lasted about 10 minutes or so…maybe some of you are thinking—YES! ARE YOU GOING TO DO THAT?! PLEASE DO THAT! I’M READY TO HUNT EGGS AND EAT HAM DINNER!
Well, I am going to do a bit of both.
I think back several years to a class where I presented some of these things about the Gospel of Jesus. The truth! The evidence! And I had a young man who responded to this passage in I Corinthians with the remark of, “Well, that’s a nice churchy answer. That’s the quintessential place to point to the “Gospel” but it really doesn’t do anything for me. I don’t get excited about that. How is this practical for me today?”
That made me sad. Does he understand the Gospel? I don’t know if he does. Then I read something from a friend online who was lamenting about the story of Abraham and Isaac and how she didn’t see how that was fair of God to ask Abraham to sacrifice and kill his son Isaac. And if she was in his place, how she knows she wouldn’t have done it. She then went on to say how she doesn’t know how God could sacrifice His Son Jesus for the sins of the world. How this didn’t seem like good news to her. And how the verse in Luke 14:29 says we should love God more than even our kids and family. That’s hard. She hits on something big here. I too love my kids…do I love God more than my kids? I don’t know.
But this is the heart of the Gospel Good News of Jesus. Why is this Good News? Why does the resurrection of Jesus matter? We read in our Scripture Reading this morning, Mark’s Gospel account of the resurrection. Let’s read this again:
READ MARK 16:1-8
Even for the women who went to the tomb, finding it empty was not good news. They were surprised that he was gone. In some accounts, they were upset that the stone was rolled away. The disciples, when these ladies went running to tell them, didn’t believe it. All of Jesus’ talk about being raised from the dead fell on deaf ears. And it made them wonder what had happened. They were scared.
Paul recounts all that happened here in our main passage this morning as he talks about the Gospel and what it is and why it is good news. Let’s go through it together.
First, Paul reminds them of everything he ever said. He says, this is the gospel I preached, this is the gospel you received, on this gospel you took a stand for Jesus. On this gospel you are saved. Don’t believe this in vain.
Paul wants them to remember why they became followers of Jesus to begin with. Isn’t this what we all need reminding of? Isn’t this our first step? For those of us who have these doubts and fears, remember why we believed to begin with. Think about the way you accepted Jesus as your Savior, as your Lord and why you were baptized. It’s because of the messages you’ve been taught about Jesus for so many years. We often go through life and we get caught up in the mundane things of school and work and chores around the house that we have to do to maintain our every day living. It is easy to forget why we followed Jesus and allow doubt to creep in when we are weary and stressed about life. Paul says, don’t forget.
Second, what did Paul preach to them? What was the foundation of Paul’s preaching? It was about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Paul reminds them that Jesus died for our sins, he was buried, and then raised from the dead and this is all according to the Scriptures. All of the Old Testament was building the prophesies about the coming Messiah and how he would do the very things they had heard about and for some the very things they witnessed. And Paul recounts this. He died on that cross. He says in many of his sermons and letters that he was the one who put Jesus there. Well, people like him. Paul was the one who persecuted the people who witnessed these things. Paul held the cloaks of the people who stoned Stephen for preaching this message. Paul persecuted Christians until Jesus appeared to him and struck him blind. It was Jesus who asked Paul, why are you persecuting me?
ACTS 9:3-5
3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
Paul said this same Jesus who died for your sins, he was raised from the dead and I heard his voice. Paul went from a lost persecutor to a found follower and he wanted everyone to know this message.
Third, Paul says this Jesus who we saw die, who we saw buried. He appeared to many people. First to Cephas (the Rock), also known as Simon Peter. Then to the Twelve apostles. Then he appeared to 500 all at the same time. They all saw him together. Then to James, the other apostles whom we don’t all know who is counted in that second group of apostles, then to Paul—the least of them all. If this Jesus has been raised, surely someone saw him. Peter did! Well, Peter must have been in on the ruse. Well, then the apostles. The Twelve were in on it too. Easy to scheme with that 12 and make this story plausible. He appeared to over 500 people in one place at the same time! This isn’t something that anyone can slip up and lie about. If 500 people are in a room, there is going to be at least 1 skeptic who will say this didn’t happen. One person who isn’t good at lying. Do you know someone who tries to lie and you can tell it isn’t true as soon as they open their mouths? Eventually someone is going to give it up. This 500 didn’t. And then there were others that saw him too.
Why is this message the Gospel? What makes this Good News?
1. It tells us that God loves us.
We have heard the message that God loves us our entire lives.
JOHN 3:16-17
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
I could not allow my son to die for other people. I have a hard enough time loving God when I love my family so dearly. Goodness, I cried that my dog had to be put down—like a baby. How would I react if it were my child? But God—our Father and Creator—allowed His Son to willingly give his life for our sins. Because we are sinful and do bad things, Jesus gave his life for us. God didn’t send Jesus here to tell us how bad we are! He came to tell us how good God is! That the entire world might be saved through him! This is for everyone who believes!
What a gift!
2. It tells us that the resurrection was for us.
This wasn’t an unexpected decision. God didn’t have to wait until 33 AD to look at humanity and say, “Well, I guess I need to intervene now. Jesus, I know I sent you there…but now I am going to have to sacrifice you.”
This same resurrection that raised Jesus will be the same resurrection we will receive.
I CORINTHIANS 15:16-17
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.
If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then our faith is pointless. What is our faith in? Just another good man who did good things? Why have a church dedicated to Jesus if all he was is another good man who seemed kind of nice and said we should all be nice to each other? I know lots of nice people. I don’t worship them. If Christ had not been raised then I would still be lost. Still be bound to sacrifice for God the way they did with the Old Covenant and still be bound to waiting for the Messiah—if I even can still believe after all that time that God is real. My faith would be futile and I would not have that same hope for the resurrection of my own soul and Jesus’ return again.
3. It tells us that God has won. That Jesus has the Victory.
I CORINTHIANS 15:25-26
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Satan is already defeated. His reign over me is done. I don’t have to obey the devil or his schemes any longer. That can happen now. God wins. God has put His enemies under his feet. The last enemy being death. Death is no longer to be feared. We can rejoice because the day will come when death is defeated and I don’t have to be afraid. Those ladies at the tomb were afraid. They continued their rituals of death in anointing a dead body. But the Angel of the Lord said, “Do not be afraid.”
We no longer need to fear death because Jesus defeated death in the resurrection. He has the victory. Paul later in I Corinthians 15 points this out.
I CORINTHIANS 15:54-57
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I DO see the Good News. It may seem like it is only something in the future to like. But I like my life now…guess what? It affects my life now. Because of the resurrection, Jesus has already won this victory and I can celebrate it now. I can celebrate the truth of victory over sin in my life and live in this now. I don’t have to be afraid of the negative things I see and hear about in our world. I don’t fear a lack of money to pay a bill or the lack of food. I don’t fear my stress of how to raise my kids or whether I have a job. I don’t worry about making mistakes and sinning because if I believe this truth. If I believe all the eyewitnesses, then this is true. And if it is true, then I share in Jesus’ Victory. God gives us the Victory (verse 57). What Good News!
Jesus is indeed the risen Lord. You can reject Him, but you cannot ignore Him. What Jesus did in rising from the dead demands a response. How will you respond to the risen Lord and King of the Universe?
My prayer is you will believe and accept this news. If you have not taken on Jesus as your Lord and King, you can do that today! Don’t leave here today without thinking about your life and whether you are ready to make Jesus the Lord of your life. If you’ve lapsed, there is Great News! Remember, our sins are already taken care of by Jesus. The reason death is bad news is because of the sting of sin. The hope of life is in victory of salvation in Jesus Christ. All you have to do is respond in repentance, be baptized, and you too have that victory.
That’s why we sing that song Victory in Jesus. My Savior forever.
INVITATION
