“He is Risen!”
Mark 16:1-8
Robert Warren
April 20th, 2003
Read Mark 16:1-8
I. Being a Christian can be pretty typical.
A. If you are a regular church-goer, most Sundays are pretty typical.
1. You get up on Sunday, get dressed in some nice clothes.
2. You head down to your favorite house of worship where you greet those that you choose to worship with.
B. The worship service that you’ve grown accustomed to is pretty typical.
1. You sing some songs, pray some prayers, read some scripture, hear a sermon, and do it all again the next week.
C. We’ve got our faith down to a typical routine:
1. Sunday morning worship
2. Mid-week bible study
3. Daily devotions
4. Daily prayer time
D. And if you’ve been a Christian for a while, your faith is pretty typical.
1. You can pretty much recite the Apostle’s Creed, if not word for word, then at least more or less you can get the gist of it.
a. God is the Creator
b. He sent His Son Jesus
c. Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead, and lives in heaven today.
d. The Holy Spirit lives within us.
e. Jesus is coming back again to judge the living and the dead, granting some eternal life and others eternal punishment.
E. And if you believe these things, then your Christian life is probably pretty typical
1. You know that you owe God some time throughout the week for worship, especially on Sunday morning.
2. You know that you are supposed to love others, and you do you best to be kind and loving.
3. You know that there are things that you are supposed to do that you don’t neccesarily want to, and some things that you might want to do that you don’t.
4. You know that you should read your bible, give to God’s work, pray daily, do good deeds, and worship God.
F. Pretty much, that fact that you are a Christian means that you are a lot like other typical Christian.
II. But today, on Resurrection Sunday, we are reminded of something on this day that is anything but typical.
A. Easter Sunday is not the typical Sunday.
1. This Sunday is a special holy day, a high day of worship, the highest and most sacred of all the days of the church year.
2. We can see this even in the way that this Sunday invades our typical routine.
a. People who might not go to any other worship feel obligated to come to church on Easter.
b. Traditionally people would get dressed up to appear at their best on this special day.
c. A lot of families get up for a sunrise service, go to church together, and then meet afterwards for a big dinner today.
d. Most churches do something special on this day: an Easter cantata, special Passion plays, fellowship suppers, Easter lilies in the sanctuary, special arrangements on the altar.
e. All of this is point out the fact that Easter is not a typical Sunday, it is the day that we remember something that ought to shake us out of our familiar, typical, run-of-the-mill routine.
III. You see, we need to be reminded on this day of all days that our faith is not routine.
A. The things that we believe in are not typical.
B. The God that we serve is not a God who can be put into a nice tidy box.
C. The Savior that God sent us is not just another religious figure.
D. The Holy Spirit that lives within us is not just a good feeling that we have in our gut.
E. The life that we are called to live is not a normal life.
F. The power that we have as Christians is not your typical force.
G. The hope that we have for the future is not the same as that of the rest of the world.
H. Simply put, Easter tells us that there is nothing normal or typical or routine about serving a risen Savior!
IV. The message that you hear on Resurrection Sunday is not a typical message; there is nothing normal about it.
A. Stop for a minute and think about what we are proclaiming here, and ask yourself if there is anything typical or routine about it:
1. We are not here on accident, we are here because a loving, caring, powerful God breathed life into a hunk of dirt and gave it a thinking, feeling, conscious spirit.
2. We are not on this earth alone or by scientific chance: we are here because the most powerful being in the universe loves us and wants to have a relationship with us: think harder about that: God wants to have a relationship with us.
3. Although we are evil sinners, which none of us can deny, God has bent over backwards to redeem us and make us pure, holy and sin-free, not by a magical wave of a wand but by a personal sacrifice of his own son: the kind of sacrifice that the best of humans would think twice about.
4. No, this is not a normal message, and we need to be reminded today that if what we believe about Easter is true, that our lives should not be normal, typical or routine: there is nothing normal about the reason that we are gathered here today or the message that we celebrate.
V. Think about what the message of the Resurrection means:
A. The things that we believe in are not typical.
1. We believe that God sent his eternal son into the earth: that in of itself is pretty amazing, that God would come down to earth and live in a human body for wretched sinners like us.
2. We believe that God allowed his son to be killed as a sacrifice for us, even though he had done no wrong. How prepostererous to think that filthy, sinful, mortal hands could harm the powerful, almighty God.
3. We believe that even though Jesus died on the cross, that he did something that no man has ever done before: he rose from the dead, never to die again. No, don’t let that go in one ear and out the other: we believe that Jesus defeated death once and for all, never to die again.
a. Other religions have great leaders: Muhammad, Buddha, Abraham, Confucius, and so on. They were great leaders, they lived great lives, but no other religion believes something as unbelievable as what we believe. All these great leaders died, and their bodies decayed. Once they died, they stayed dead, as all people do.
b. But that’s not what we believe, oh no, we believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
4. But it gets more unbelievable. We also believe that Jesus after rising from the dead went on to heaven where he reigns at the side of God Almighty.
5. But most incredibly, we believe that if we allow Jesus to be our substitute, our savior, our Lord, our king and our God that we can be like him and rise from the dead like he did to live forever, never to die again.
a. Nobody else has that hope, that they can live forever in a glorified body in the presence of God.
6. Yeah, we believe in some incredible things.
B. The God that we serve is not a God who can be put into a nice tidy box.
1. What God did on that Resurrection Day was something that could not be imagined.
2. It’s not that God acted with power: we expect God to have a lot of power.
3. No, what’s amazing is not the power that God showed but the love that he showed.
a. Why should God care whether or not I live forever? He shouldn’t, but because of his great love, he does and did care about making sure that I have eternal life.
4. Yes, our God is amazing and unpredictable in his great love and mercy.
C. The Savior that God sent us is not just another religious figure.
1. Jesus was a great teacher, he was a wonderful philosopher, he was a great healer, and the he was the leader of an incredible religious movement during his time on earth.
2. But that’s not all he was:
a. He was the Son of God.
b. He has always existed, present with God at the Creation of the World.
c. He was completely human, yet at the same time completely God; having the weakness of humanity and the power of divinity.
3. Jesus isn’t just a great man to be followed, respected, or obeyed: he is a Lord, a King, a Master, a part of God who is to be worshiped with all that we have within us. When Thomas saw the wounds on the hands and feet of the risen Lord, he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God.” Thomas knew that Jesus was not just a teacher to be followed, but a God to be worshiped.
D. The Holy Spirit that lives within us is not just a good feeling that we have in our gut.
1. We believe that we are not just followers of a religion: we are temples of the living God. We don’t just have our beliefs in our head, we have our God in our heart.
2. Because of the Holy Spirit living within us, we know that our prayers are heard by God and that God’s will is known to us.
3. We know that we can be sure of what we should say, think and do because God is close enough to whisper in our ears his will and his way.
E. The life that we are called to live is not a normal life.
1. Being a Christian is not just having membership in a church.
2. It is not just something we do on Sunday like a club meeting, it is not just agreeing to a set of principles like a political party, it is not just a place that we make charitable contributions like a cause we support.
3. It means that we have made a radical change in our lives and we have agreed to live by a whole different set of rules.
a. The bible says that when we agree to follow Christ we will be considered as aliens and strangers to this world, that’s how strange our lives will be.
b. And that doesn’t mean that people will think that we are strange because of the clothes we wear or the way we part our hair.
c. No, they will be amazed and call us strangers because of our radical love, our unshakeable faith, our unquestionable holiness, our unspeakable joy.
d. According to Jesus, the world should be amazed at the fact that in the communion of saints, the church, the world will think us strange because of our great love, unity, and service.
F. The power that we have as Christians is not your typical force.
1. We have great power, power that does not come from ourselves, but from God himself.
a. We have the power of answered prayer.
b. We have the power of conviction that leads us to holiness.
c. We have the power of healing and deliverance.
d. We have the power of faith to see us through the hard times.
e. We have the power of joy to give us a way of looking at the world that is strange to those around us.
G. The hope that we have for the future is not the same as that of the rest of the world.
1. And finally, our lives are not normal our typical because we believe in something that the rest of the world can not begin to conceive.
2. We believe that because Jesus, our God and savior, rose from the grave that we too can rise from the grave.
3. Yes, we believe that even though we die, we will live again, and that we will live forever.
4. We believe that we will be in presence of God for all eternity, praising him and living in the Paradise that we were meant to enjoy were it not for the sin in the world: this is a future that can only be hoped for by those who believe in a risen Savior who has defeated death for us.
H. Simply put, Easter tells us that there is nothing normal or typical or routine about serving a risen Savior!
1. We believe all of these things for one reason: because we believe the He lives, he lives, he lives. He is not dead, he is risen!
VI. But there is something that is bothering me that we should face on this day of all days: if we are supposed to believe all these things because we believe that He is Risen, why do so many of us live as though God is dead?
A. Why do we allow the trials of this world to defeat us, when we know that no matter what happens we will live forever?
B. Why do we allow our worship to grow so stale and our Christian lives to be so routine and lethargic when we believe the incredible message that our God is alive and well and that our savior has destroyed death and hell for us?
C. Why do we allow hatred and division to spring up in our midst when we know that Jesus died in order for his church to be one in love and unity?
D. Why do we allow sin to rule in our lives when we know that Jesus had to go to that cruel cross for our sins: that it was our sins that made it so he had to die in the first place?
E. Why do we live normal, typical, routine, boring lives when have so much to live for, so much reason to have hope, so much reason to have joy, so much reason to show love, so much reason to sacrifice for others like Jesus sacrificed for us?
F. Why do we live as though our savior Jesus died and was buried in the tomb permanently when we know that He is Risen!
VII. We do know that, don’t we? Don’t we?
VIII. We need to be reminded on this day the message of Easter, that Jesus is risen.
A. Ask yourself, do you believe this? Do you?
B. Now, if you believe this, how should your life be different? If you believe that He is Risen!
1. Should your love for God be deeper? If you believe that He is Risen!
2. Should your love and sacrifice for others be deeper? If you believe that He is Risen!
3. Should your Christian life be more meaningful and less routine? If you believe that He is Risen!
4. Should your worship be more genuine and uninhibited? If you believe that He is Risen!
5. Should your time be used in better ways? If you believe that He is Risen!
6. You finish this sermon for me: what should be different about your life, If you believe that He is Risen!
IX. This is not a typical Sunday, this is Resurrection Sunday, when we remember that He is risen.
A. But then again, you are not a typical person, you are a person who has been given a new life because He is Risen.
B. What do you need to do to live as one who believes this incredible news?
