Iliff and Saltillo UM Churches
Easter Sunday
April 11, 2004
“He Did It!”
I Corinthians 15:19-26
INTRODUCTION: What does Easter mean to you? Is it chocolate Easter bunnies and spiced jelly beans? Colored eggs and Easter egg hunts? A day when family gets together for Easter dinner? A time for getting up early in the morning and going to a special sunrise service? Singing the traditional Easter songs, “He Arose,” “He Lives,” and “Christ the Lord has Risen today.”
It’s probably all of these things. Holy Week ended in the crucifixion on Good Friday, but now it is a time of Victory for Jesus. He arose from the grave never to die again. This is the very foundation of the Gospel. The Good News is that we, too, have hope for our future. Because He arose from the grave, we also have the hope of life everlasting.
As we celebrate this day, let’s see how today’s scripture speaks to us individually.
1. The Past--The Present: Years have gone by since that first resurrection Sunday, but the message applies today. When the early church began, Paul preached the message fervently. But just as today, many then flatly denied that there ever was a resurrection. Many said, “this couldn’t happen and it didn’t happen.” People tried to come up with various explanations for what happened. Some said that His body had been stolen from the tomb, some said He had never died in the first place, some said, “Oh, it is just a myth.”
Today, some people say, “Oh, it is not important if we have a historical Jesus or not. It doesn’t matter if He died on a cross or if He ever arose again.” What about this kind of thinking? You, too, may have never placed a lot of importance on the resurrection. In today’s scripture Paul said that believers were even beginning to deny the doctrine of the resurrection. It was understandable if the pagans believed that way, but not Christians. Paul established the certainty of the resurrection by going back to the Old Testament prophecies. This truth is confirmed according to the scriptures.
Psalm 16:10 foretells the resurrection by saying, “...you will not abandon me [David] to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One [Jesus] see decay.” Another Old Testament prediction is in Hosea 6:2, “...after two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” (refers to Jesus).
One of the earliest hints of the resurrection is found in the book of Job 19:25-26, “I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.” Even Job back years and years before Christ knew that there was a good ending in sight.
STORY: Jonathan had been promised a new puppy for his 8th birthday. He had a tough time choosing one from the dozen dogs available for adoption. Finally he decided on one nondescript shaggy pup who was wagging his tail furiously.
His Mom wanted to know why he chose that one.
He expalined, “I want the one with the happy ending.” In the resurrection of Jesus, God offers a happy ending.
The resurrection was so important to Paul’s preaching that he wanted to point out the people who had seen him. First of all he was seen of Cephas [Peter] (Luke 24:34). He was seen of 500 people all at once in Galilee, to James individually, and to all of the apostles (Luke 24:40) and at the ascension (Luke 24:51). He was seen by Paul in his conversion experience on the way to Damascus (Acts 9).
2. Why is the Resurrection So Important?: Why was the resurrection so important to Paul and why is it so important to us today?
Paul said, “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith” (I Corinthians 15:13, 14).
In addition, he says if he has not risen then you are still carrying around the guilt of your sins and you do not have forgiveness of sins.
And, he said, “think of all those who have already died in Christ. They have perished with no hope” (I Corinthians 15:18).
He asked them, “Does it make sense for us to put up with all the persecution and hardships we go through if Christ be not raised?”
He said, “if only for this life we have hope in Christ, then we are to be pitied more than all men” (I Corinthians 15:19).
BUT, he says, this is not the case. He DID RISE from the grave. HE DID IT just as He said He would do. And because he DID RISE, he guarantees that we will rise again also. He preceded His people by his bodily resurrection. It was predicted in the Old Testament and people saw Him in the days that followed that first Easter Sunday. He guarantees our resurrection at His second coming.
Story: The call to worship had just been prounced starting Easter Sunday morning. The choir started the processional, singing “Up from the Grave He Arose” while marching in perfect step down the center aisle to the front of the church. The last woman was wearing shoes with very high slender heels. Without a thought, she stepped onto the grating that covered the hot air register in the middle aisle. Suddenly the heel of one shoe sank into the hole in the grate. In a flash she realized her predicament. Not wishing to hold up the whole processional she slipped her foot out of her shoe and continued marching down the aisle. There wasn’t a hitch. The processional moved along perfectly.
The first man after her spotted the situation and without losing a step reached down and pulled up the shoe, but the entire grate came with it.
Surprised but still singing the man kept on going down the aisle holding in his hand the grate with the shoe attached. Everything still moved along perfectly.
Still in tune and still in step, the next man in line stepped into the open register and disappeared from sight. The service took on a special meaning that Sunday because just as the choir ended with “Allelujah! Christ arose!” a voice was heard under the church shouting, “I hope all of you are out of the way “cause I’m coming out now!!!”
The doctrine of Christ’s death and resurrection is the foundation of Christianity. Remove this and everything falls apart and all our hopes for eternity sinks at once. If you deny the resurrection, you have only a meaningless shell of Christianity which is worthless.
3. Is it Believable to You?: Sometimes we have a difficult time believing things that we can’t figure out with our minds and can’t see with our physical eyes and can’t touch with our hands.
STORY: A little boy came home from Sunday school on Easter day and told his mother he could understand about Christ but not about the roses.
“What do you mean?” his mother asked?
So he asked her, “Why was Christ a rose?”
Jesus doesn’t condemn us for our lack of understand and for our hesitancy to believe. He is patient to help us figure out the puzzling things. One of his own disciples was the very same way. Thomas who had been a close follower of Jesus said, “Oh, I won’t believe this unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hand into His side--I will not believe it.”
Jesus knows our finite minds and our struggle to believe. He knew Thomas’ and he said, “OK, check it out for yourself.” “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. STOP DOUBTING and BELIEVE.
“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We’re in that group.
Did Thomas finally believe? The scripture says, “Yes, he certainly did believe.”
Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and my God.” (John 20)
In what ways do you have difficulty believing? We say, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, he was buried, he rose again on the third day, he was seen of a variety of people, and he ascended into heaven.” But do we really understand this and believe it in our own experience this morning? How do we know FOR SURE that He lives?
When we come to Christ we are changed people. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” We will know that the guilt of sin has lifted and that we are forgiven.
Scripture tells us that we will know for a certainty that Jesus lives today. He said he would send his Holy Spirit to guid us into all truth. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16).
CONCLUSION: In conclusion the Message Bible states it this way, “It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the Alive-and-Present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to Himself? When God lives and breaths in you, you are delivered from that dead life. God’s spirit touches our spirit and confirms who we really are.
God’s Spirit Beckons. There are things to do and places to go!” (Message Bible chapter 8).
Let us Pray:
