Taking the Resurrection Outside the Church Walls.
Various Scriptures
April 16, 2006
Introduction
Well, what do you know? It’s Easter.
A Sunday School teacher was attempting to teach her young students the true meaning of Easter. "Why do we celebrate Easter?" she asked. When the children replied ’because of the Easter bunny,’ Easter eggs, candy, spring, etc., she said, "No, those are Easter traditions and symbols, but what is the REASON why we celebrate Easter? What happened at the very first Easter?" A little girl raised her hand and said, "Easter celebrates Jesus coming out of the tomb." "Yes!" said the teacher, excited and relieved that finally the correct answer had surfaced. Encouraged, she prompted, "Jesus arose from the tomb, and what does He do for us?" The youngster replied, "He looks to see if he can see his shadow, and if He can, he goes back in for another six weeks." (SermonCentral.com. Contributed by: Abraham Shanklin, Jr.)
Of course, the reason for Easter is to celebrate the fact that Jesus did, indeed, raise from the dead, and that the tomb has been empty to this day and always will be.
The resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. As important as the crucifixion of Jesus was, the resurrection is at least that important.
How can I say that? Because, as I’ve said on numerous occasions, the resurrection is what validates everything Jesus did and said.
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, He claimed to be the only way to God, and He claimed to be the judge of the world.
And if the resurrection didn’t really happen, then everything He said about these things was a bunch of what Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H would call, “Horse hockey.”
Easter is more than just an excuse to come to church and maybe go out for lunch at a nice Easter buffet.
Easter celebrates one of the most crucial events in all of eternity, and it has eternal consequences for everyone in here.
But I don’t want to just talk about the “what” of Easter. I want to talk about how to take Easter from being just a church holiday to being something that can really impact our own lives and the lives of those around us.
In doing that I want to give you three ways to take Easter from being just a religious holiday to being a life-changing truth.
And my hope is God will impress on your heart the importance of the message of Easter, not only for you, but for those have not yet responded to it for one reason or another.
Let’s look at these three ways, okay?
1. Know the facts.
You know, this whole resurrection thing isn’t just a bunch of nice religious speculation, along the lines of “the theological implications of a resurrection should be considered as a factor in the spiritual lives of the adherence of the particular religion called Christianity.”
Folks, the resurrection is a historical fact, complete with hundreds of witnesses and people who gave their life for the idea that they had seen Jesus alive after he had died.
But when it comes to just what are the facts, let me just give you three basic ones that you need to know:
* Jesus lived physically.
* Jesus died physically.
* Jesus rose again physically.
Pretty simple, huh? And if you’ve grown up in the church or have had access to learning about Jesus, then none of these are a big deal.
Why would I have to emphasize the fact that all of these were done physically?
Because there are many who claim otherwise, especially in the death and resurrection.
Few, if any, will deny that Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure. Some will say that He didn’t really die – he just passed out. And many will deny that Jesus rose physically from the grave.
It’s bad enough when people outside the scope of the Christian faith say this. But it’s horrendous when those who claim to be Christians and are even “ministers” who claim to represent him deny this.
Believe me, they’re out there, and they get plenty of press in the national media this time of year.
One lady wrote in to a question and answer forum. "Dear Sirs, Our preacher said on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back to health. What do you think? Sincerely, Bewildered.
Dear Bewildered, Beat your preacher with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes, nail him to a cross; hang him in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear thru his side...put him in an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens." (SermonCentral.com. Contributed by: Royce Hendry)
Jesus said that He would die and rise again.
Matthew 27:63 –
"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ’After three days I will rise again.’
Can you guess why I would use this quote instead of one from Jesus talking to His disciples?
Because one could take the testimony of one of his followers and brush it away. But here’s a quote from one of Jesus’ enemies, testifying that Jesus had claimed that He would rise again.
To me, that’s a test of whether or not Jesus was a crack-pot. Here He was claiming that He would come back from the grave. And he made that claim around those would love to disprove him.
What would his credibility be like if He really didn’t? It would be shot. And it would make us suspect that everything else He about God, heaven, forgiveness, and all that stuff was wrong as well.
Well, let’s look at a passage of Scripture that kinda lays out these facts.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 –
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Pretty straightforward, right? The Scriptures said the Messiah would die for sins and rise from the dead. And not only that, the Messiah appeared to over 500 people to show that he had accomplished this.
We have the facts right in front of us, from first-person eye-witness testimony.
The other night I was watching Jay Leno, and once in a while he has this segment called, “Jaywalking,” where he goes and interviews people in the streets about different stuff.
His topic this time was Bible topics, because it was Holy Week. He asked a bunch of people all sorts of questions, like: where was Jesus born, or how many apostles did Jesus have, or who were Jesus’ parents on earth.
Questions that many people here would probably know the answers to. But you would be surprised at the fact that no one got any of the questions right – and some couldn’t do it even when prompted by Mr. Leno.
Now, I don’t want to be totally down on these people, and I want to show you just how easy it is to get some of these wrong.
* How many animals did Moses take on the ark? (He didn’t take any – Noah did.)
Another interesting thing about the Jay Leno spot was that he asked some of the people if they had grown up in church or if they went to Sunday School as they grew up.
Most of them said they had, and a couple said that they send their kids to Sunday School now. Mr. Leno’s response to one of them was, “Maybe you ought to go to class with them…”
What are the three main facts?
* Jesus lived physically.
* Jesus died physically.
* Jesus rose again physically.
There they are. Know them and be able to show them from Scripture.
Let’s look at the second way to take Easter from being just a religious holiday to being a life-changing truth:
2. Learn to communicate the facts.
It’s not just enough to know the facts. We need to be ready to communicate them.
1 Peter 3:15-16 gives us some guidelines:
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…
Be able to be able to tell people about the resurrection and why it’s so important.
It’s important because it gives us hope for eternity which is going on now and will continue forever.
We communicate this because we want others to have the hope that we have – the hope this verse in 1 Peter talks about.
How do we do this? I want to offer 4 tips on how to do this, and the first two relate to our first main point:
* Know the facts!
We’ve hashed that over, so this is just a reminder.
* Learn to present them clearly, with Scriptural support.
What I mean here is that you want to offer the first-person accounts of what happened, not just what you think you remember from a Sunday School class you took years ago or even the sermon you heard today.
Know what the Bible says about the resurrection and where it says it.
* Look and pray for opportunities to share Christ and his resurrection.
Be open to opportunities to give someone else the shot at getting the same hope that you’ve got.
Don’t hoard it – share it.
* Speak nicely, without looking down on people.
No one likes to listen to a jerk, right? I know I don’t. And truth be told, I’ve been a jerk at times, even when telling people about Jesus, as I’ve mentioned before.
You don’t say things like, “Sheesh! Everybody knows about the resurrection! Where have you been? Hiding under a rock?”
“No, but I’m about to heave one at your head for talking to me like that…”
The gospel is good news, not something you use to show how spiritually superior you think you are.
One of the things that the Jay Leno thing reminded me of is that even with the abundance of information and the abundance of ways to get that information from churches in this area, there are still people who simply don’t know about the resurrection.
Maybe it’s because there church didn’t talk about it much, or they didn’t go to church, or they are from a background that is outside Christianity, or whatever.
We make a huge mistake when we assume that everyone knows what we’re talking about when we talk about the resurrection.
But really, one of the best ways to communicate the facts is to…
3. Let the facts impact your life.
Two ways this can really show:
* Obedience out of love for Christ.
John 14:21 –
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.”
This moves people from lip-service about Christ to really living for Him. Don’t claim to be a Christian if you’re not living for Him. Jesus doesn’t give you the option.
Get in the Bible and find out what Jesus requires of His followers. And ask the Holy Spirit to help you follow Christ in obedience. You can’t do it on your own – you need help from God Himself, and He’s ready to do it.
The second way to let the facts of the resurrection impact your life is in the presence of…
* Hope in Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:19-20, 22 –
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Folks, I’m not going to belabor this much. But you have to understand that because Christ rose from the dead, we have hope.
Without it, we have no hope of forgiveness and no hope of spending eternity in heaven.
If you want to see other people find Christ, you need to be able to show that you have hope – the hope that Christ offers because he’s risen.
So where is your hope?
Do your put your hope in your “morality?”
Do you put your hope in your “religion?” Do you think, “I hope I go to heaven – I pray every day.”
Do you put your hope in your family’s religion? Do you think, “Mom loved Jesus and I’m sure Jesus will let me in because he loves her so much.”
If your hope is anything but the risen Christ, you have no hope. You need to put your own faith in Christ – not your mom’s faith, not your dad’s faith, not your great-aunt Emmy’s faith, and not your pastor’s faith.
It needs to be your faith, because that’s the only one that counts. In a minute, I’m going to help you put your faith in Christ, if you haven’t already, or if you’d like to come back to him as your risen Lord and master.
Conclusion
Well, I think I’ve pretty much said enough. But I hope you’ve caught the main point of what I’m trying to say.
That we have a great hope in Christ because He’s risen. And that we need to take that hope to the world.
Easter isn’t just a holiday. It’s a statement that God wins over sin and death, and that victory is available to everyone who wants it.
But we need to take it them so they can respond to it for themselves.
My prayer is that if you’re here and you already have eternity taken care of because you’ve put your faith in Christ and strive to live for Him, that you’ll give others the same chance.
But maybe you don’t have it taken care of and you want to walk out of here today knowing that your sins are forgiven and you have a home in heaven.
Maybe you’ve heard about Jesus your whole life and about going to heaven, but either didn’t understand just how to get there, or didn’t really want what Jesus offers until now.
I want you to know that you’re going to get an opportunity right now to take that step to allow Jesus to be your forgiver and boss.
You can be a new person because of what Jesus did for you by dying on the cross and rising again.
So let me just invite you to take it. Take the offer of forgiveness and heaven for yourself.
I’m going to pray in a second here, and if you want to take what Jesus offers, you can pray along with me in your heart, okay?
Let’s pray.
