Intro: An atheist complained to a Christian friend, “Christians have their special holidays, such as Christmas and Easter; and Jews celebrate their holidays, such as Passover and Yom Kippur; Muslims have their holidays. EVERY religion has its holidays. But we atheists,” he said, “have no recognized holidays. It’s an unfair discrimination.”
“What do you mean, atheists have no holidays,” his friend replied, “People have been observing a special day in your honor for years.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the atheist said, “When is this special day honoring atheists?”
“April first.”
Easter is what Christianity is all about. Without Easter, Christmas would be nothing. Easter is when Christ took power over sin and death and because of the empty tomb we know that our sins are forgiven. Because of the discarded shroud we know that we will have a resurrection body! Easter is so important that the early Christians would greet each other by saying “He is risen!” and the response would be “He is risen indeed!” The fact that 2000 years later we gather together to celebrate the risen Christ is PROOF that Christ is “risen indeed.”
Illustration: There was a college student who loved God with all his heart. He had grown up in a Christian home, gone to church all his life. He studied his Bible daily. He loved his Christian faith. There was a science professor at the college who loved to destroy the faith of young Christians. His whole objective was to berate them and make them seem foolish. The professor would ask the class if there were any Christians in the class and when they raised their hands he would ask them if they believed in miracles. When they said they did, the professor told them that he wanted to see a miracle. He would tell them that he was going to drop an egg on the floor and that if there really was a God then they could pray that God would keep the egg from breaking and the egg wouldn’t break. Of course, no one would ever come forward.
The young man knew that eventually he would have to have this professor eventually. He decided that when it came his turn to come forward I’m going to take a stand for God and say that prayer. Sure enough, the first day of class came and the professor did exactly as he had before. The young man stood when the professor asked if there were Christians in the class. The young man remained standing when the professor asked if they believed in miracles. When the professor asked if anyone was willing to prove it the young man remained standing. The professor asked him if he would like to come forward and prove that God existed and the young man came forward.
As the professor prepared to drop the egg the young man prayed, “God if there is any way to keep this egg from breaking I’m asking you to do that. But Lord, even if it does break I will continue to believe in you and take a stand for you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” The professor let go of the egg. At that moment his right foot was sticking out and the egg fell and hit his right shoe and rolled gently to the floor without breaking. The professor never said a word again. Do I believe in miracles? I believe in miracles whole- heartedly!
You may think that you’re not sure you believe in the miracle of the resurrection of Christ. You may think that your faith is not strong enough to believe that Christ is truly risen from the dead. Today I will offer you proof that Jesus is alive!
That evening, on the first day of the week, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. John 20:19a
We read here about resurrection Sunday evening. The disciples left the empty tomb and returned to “the upper room” and locked the doors for fear of the Jews. They were afraid of the Jews because they had just seen their closest friend had been brutally murdered on the cross and they too feared for their own lives. The disciples were in total shock, they were disillusioned and they were in mourning. Many of us come to church feeling the same way the disciples felt. They trusted that with Jesus everything was going to be “alright” and we thought that when we got saved we would be “alright.” The disciples believed that Jesus had come to reign over Israel and their hopes had been dashed. Many of us today may also have dashed hopes. Many of our churches are like the disciples in the upper room. Our doors aren’t locked but we can’t see out and they can’t see in. In a way it’s like being in a tomb. But, what will it take for us to go out and take the Good News to others? Can you relate to this? Do you have a hard time REALLY believing in God?
Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! "Peace be with you," he said. John 20:19b
The one thing the disciples didn’t have was the one thing that Jesus was offering...PEACE! They were not at all comfortable with what was happening. In fact they weren’t even comfortable with the empty tomb. But in their despair, Jesus said, “peace be with you.” The world can’t give you peace only God can, but the world can’t take God’s peace away from you. Do you have a struggle that you can’t get peace over? A person encounter with the risen Savior is where you will find true peace and forgiveness. God’s Word tells us that He not only forgives our sins but forgets them also. God can give you peace with your past!
As he spoke, he held out his hands for them to see, and he showed them his side. John 20:20a
What an awesome thing. The only man-made thing in heaven will be the holes in Jesus’ hands, feet. He showed the disciples the wound where His heart had been pierced. The Bible says that blood and water flowed from Jesus’ side...proof positive that he was dead! Before the crucifixion Jesus was beaten and bloodied beyond recognition and yet the disciples knew Him when they saw Him and it was His wounds that He offered as proof positive that he was and is ALIVE!
They were filled with joy when they saw their Lord! John 20:20b
How do you put this into words? Can you imagine the disciples sitting around and remembering Jesus’ life and all of the things they had seen and wondering why his power couldn’t have prevented what had happened? Their hearts were broken and they were lost with Jesus gone, but they were OVERJOYED when Jesus came into the room! What an understatement! Their joy was beyond belief!
He spoke to them again and said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, they are unforgiven." John 20:21-23
Jesus stakes His whole life, death and resurrection on 10 men standing in a room with the doors locked for fear! Jesus leaves it to them to bring the forgiveness of Christ to the world! Jesus says, “I am sending YOU” to go and tell the world! When we put our faith and trust in the living Christ, he once again stakes his life, death and resurrection on our willingness to take His forgiveness to the world. The difference between Christianity and other religions is that we have a LIVING God and Savior who entrusts us with His resurrection power! Jesus says ’if you believe in me you will have the same power over death, hell and the grave!’
One of the disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin ), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he replied, "I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side." John 20:24-25
The disciples were overjoyed because they had seen Jesus! And they were excited to tell Thomas. But, Thomas was a practical man who lived in a practical world and this wasn’t practical to Thomas. Jesus was dead, and as far as Thomas was concerned, dead was dead. It isn’t that Thomas didn’t want to believe but he was hearing something that didn’t sound real. But, the only way Thomas would believe was to touch it and see it himself. We have all heard stories of miracles in other people’s lives. From the smallest blessings to complete healings. But if there is not transformation in their lives, no change, what difference has their “miracle made? Thomas didn’t believe the story because he couldn’t see any difference. The other disciples still had the door locked! It’s been one week since the Lord revealed His wounds and told them to go and spread the good news. But in the past week the disciples had ministered to no one, apparently they remained locked in the upper room. Why should Thomas believe them when he couldn’t see a difference? Likewise, why should the world believe us when there is no difference in the way we live our lives? The change that Jesus makes in us should be seen!
Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. He said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!" "My Lord and my God!" Thomas exclaimed. John 20:26-28
There was an unseen listener in the room that night. When Thomas said that to believe it he’d have to see it and feel it, someone was listening! We would do well to remember that with everything we say and everywhere we go there is an unseen listener (Holy Spirit) in our lives. That listener was Jesus! He appeared to Thomas and offered the proof Thomas needed and commanded him to “stop doubting and believe!” Thomas’ response was worship! “My Lord and my God” is a statement of worship! If we come to church to celebrate the risen Christ and sing our songs and pray our prayers and proclaim God’s Word but don’t worship it is all for nothing! Worship isn’t an action, it is an attitude! Worship isn’t what we do in church it’s how we live our lives in and out of church. Everything that we do and say should be an act of worship to God. Real worship comes from lives that have been changed by the power of the risen Christ. We can not be changed, however, until we have an up close and personal encounter with Christ. The best arguments for God’s existence are no real proof. The only proof of the risen Christ is a life that has been changed through a personal encounter and a personal relationship with Christ! You may ask, how can I have a personal encounter with Christ?
If you come to church focused on God you will have an encounter.
When you go home and ask God to clarify His Word through His Spirit, you will have an encounter.
When you pray in faith and say “God I choose to have an attitude of worship though everything in my life is going wrong” you will have an encounter with the risen Savior.
God wants us to encounter Him in every area of our life, not just for one hour here in this building on Sunday morning.
Illustration: When I was about 20 years old, my wife and I began attending a small country church. I had been saved since I was 11 years old. I thought that when I went to church I had done my duty. But, when I was 21 years old one of my friends got saved. I saw a tremendous transformation in his life. We would sit in Sunday School and he would read his lesson and have thoughts and ideas that I had never dreamed of. I had been saved for 10 years and he knew more about the Bible than I did in about two weeks. He told me that when he went to the lunchroom at work while everyone else was telling dirty jokes he would sit by himself and read and study his Sunday School lesson. I thought that if God could do that with him in two weeks surely God could do something with me. My friend inspired me through his life to begin reading my Bible and studying and God began to transform my life. There is no such thing as super-Christians! The ground beneath the cross is all level. We are on the same ground with Billy Graham. He is a sinner saved by grace just as we are, in God’s eyes there are two categories, saved and lost. Although we are to grow in our Christian faith and be transformed to the likeness of Christ, spiritual maturity doesn’t put us in an elite category. We are not SUDDENLY transformed. Our transformation happens everyday as we seek God, pray, study our Bibles, fellowship with other believers and seek to evangelize the lost. The only true difference between and Billy Graham is his desire to know and be used of God is greater than mine. We have as much God as we want!
Then Jesus told him, "You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me and believe anyway." John 20:29
We haven’t seen the Lord. We haven’t had visions of Him. But the Bible says that if we believe even though we have not seen Him that we are more blessed than the disciples. We know the life of Christ was real. It is well documented. Our calendar is divided by the life of Christ. But how do we know that the resurrection is real? The proof that Easter is real are the lives of people who have been transformed by Christ’s resurrection power! All of the disciples in that room but one died because of their faith in Jesus. No person in their right mind would die for something that’s not real. Then consider that all the disciples with the exception of John who was exiled to the Island of Patmos died for their faith in the risen Lord. Their lives were transformed to the point that they were willing to die for it! Proof positive! Has your life been transformed by the risen Christ? If it has then I want to ask you to do something….lift your hand. Now look around, and there is your proof, changed lives sitting all around you. What is your choice? Let our prayer be “God use me to show your transforming power to the world!”
Specaial thanks to my friend Jason Walker for typing this sermon so these thoughts on Easter would be recorded and I in turn could share them with you.
