Easter: - This Changes Everything

SLIDE 1 He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed! (try again)

In early May of 1927 if you were planning a European vacation and asked someone how long it would take to cross the Atlantic - if they knew their boats - they would tell you the trip can be made in 4 to 5 days - the record from 1907 to 1937 being 4 days, five hours, and ten minutes… but whose counting.... By late May of 1927, however, people wouldn’t have a good answer, after all a man named Charles Lindbergh just made the trip in 33 hours and 30 minutes by plain - in the first no-stop transatlantic flight done by a single person. A few teams of pilots had done it before, the first team to achieve the feat doing so in 1919, but lacked the fanfare and impact of Lindbergh’s flight. The events over that day in a half journey changed EVERYTHING! In a day and a half Lindburgh traveled from New York New York to Paris France. He cut the time by three days! Airlines around the world were now excited to harness this same potential so now, 90 years later, you can make that same trip in Seven hours and 15 minutes. Essentially you can fall asleep as you take off in the US and wake up in France!

Just as Charles Lindbergh’s flight would change transportation for the rest of human history - another event which also spanned such a short time - had an even greater impact on humanity and our current reality than that flight 96 years ago - Its Easter - I’m of course talking about the empty tomb!

If you want to follow along today you can turn in your Bibles to John chapter 20, and as you do that let’s briefly revisit the last week of Jesus life. If you were here last Sunday we saw Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey - the crowds cheering him on shouting HOSANNA as they tossed their cloaks and palm branches on the road before him, treating him like a conquering king. Then if you were with us Friday we say another crowd, with likely some of those same people in it - now chanting “crucify him!”. In the span of a week, a few short days, the tides of Jerusalem had changed. Friday we looked at a timeline of events spanning from shortly after midnight when Jesus was arrested to 9am when he was hung to die - by 6pm taken down, dead, to placed in a a tomb.

That brings us now to John chapter 20. SLIDE 2

1 On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”

3 At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. SLIDE 3

4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first. 5 Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then, following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. 7 The wrapping that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself. SLIDE 4

8 The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed. 9 For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying.

Now I love John’s account of this because - it reads from a masked first person perspective, I don’t know if masked first person is a real term or not… but I mean this is from a first person memory, but John doesn’t use his name or use I statements to reveal that. Rather he refers to himself as “the one Jesus loved”… like imagine the other disciples if they read this being like, “Really John… the one Jesus loved...” But because of this we get some details that flesh out the story.

We see Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb before dark, John doesn’t specify this, but the other Gospels let us know that other woman were with her, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna, and some others. And they are doing so while it is still dark, again other Gospels lie us know this is right around dawn, around sunrise. Now… I’m all for a good dad joke - but I think God, the Father, is the master of dad jokes, because he gets nature involved on the punchline - God loves dad jokes so much that He has the woman approaching the tomb at sunrise… so they can see The Son Rise… (pause ) i’ll wait for you to get it....

Arriving to find the tomb empty they reasoned what any of us would have - someone stole the body of Jesus (pause) now be honest - that is a far more likely scenario than he rose back to life, for anyone OTHER than Jesus that would have been the only potential reason His body is missing - we can’t blame them for jumping to that assumption - BUT - just because it is more likely does not mean it is correct.

Finding the tomb empty the women panic and Mary seems to have been the one sent to retrieve the disciple and finidng PEter and John she lets them know what happened and they both take off at once - racing for the tomb - dead sprint! And again - being a first person perspective John takes the opportunity to make himself look good. SLIDE 5

4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first.

They were running together neck and neck.... but the other disciple… the one Jesus loved… he got their first… not to brag or anything… sorry Peter, maybe you should run faster next time....

But John stoops down, examining some of the linen that Jesus had been wrapped in - Peter running past into the tomb - seeing more of the linen, but then noting Jesus apparently took the time to unwrap his head covering, and neatly fold it and set it aside before walking out of the tomb… I don’t know why - but it is details like that which make me love this account and also ring true to the story! Like if you’re making this up you’d not be like - oh and this cloth was folded and set over here - but if you were there you’re like - here’s a crazy detail, and here’s this, and oh year I was there first…

And I love too John’s transparency - he flat out admits SLIDE 6

they did not yet understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead.

We have the privilege of reading the Bible as one cohesive single story. The disciples and first century Jews had to collect strolls of the independent books, hand copied - we’re still 1400 years before the printing press here. The disciples did, however, start to put two and two together. A few verses later Jesus approaches Mary Magdalene and as she is crying mourning the loss of Jesus days before and now the loss of his body this morning - she doesn’t recognize him at first, again no one is expecting the resurrection, but then she turns to see him and we see SLIDE 7

“16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”—which means “Teacher.” 17 “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them what he had said to her.”

Mary is the first person to share this good news of the resurrection! Technically the angles were - but she is the first human to have seen the resurrected Christ She sees Jesus and heres this message to go and share this with the others, to go to the disciples, his brothers, and tell them that Jesus has resurrected, Jesus has come back to life, and will be ascending to the Father, returning to heaven.

The following forty days Jesus appears to the disciples again, he appears to crowds, he does a few more miracles, again confirming his stance as part of the triune God! Then he does just what He told Mary he would do - he returns to the Father.

But I want to focus on this moment - the resurrection - Jesus returning from death to life - so we can see why this moment changes everything. But more importantly - why was the cross necessary?

In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul says it better than I can so lets begin by looking there for the answer as to how does the resurrection change everything? SLIDE 8

“1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. SLIDE 9

3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: 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 Cephas, then to the Twelve.

Paul goes on to state that Jesus later appeared to many others including finally to Paul himself - though that was after Jesus returned to heaven. His summary here, however is flawless - to avoid our belief being in vain - for our belief in Jesus to matter, to carry weight, we have to believe in the RIGHT things - and Paul drops the most important right things we NEED to believe. That Jesus Christ died for our sins. That he was buried, and that he was raised back to life. Those three things had to happen, a few verses after these in verse 14 Paul says, SLIDE 10

14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.

Our faith hinges - relies - fully depends on the truth of the resurrection! The resurrection - the empty tomb changes EVERYTHING!

If you were with us Friday I mentioned that up to this point in the Jewish religion sacrifices were required to make people right with God, the fancy church word is atonement. Every year people had to make certain sacrifices of various animals to cover their sins. This is a tradition we can actually see at the very beginning of the Bible! The first sin in human history was the disobedience of Adam and Eve eating from the one tree God told them not to eat from, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve ate of the tree and they did get some knowledge… they learned ‘we’re not wearing any clothes - this is awkward’ so they made clothes of themselves from trees - but then God eventually replaced those with clothes made from animals - animals which had to die to cover their nakedness - animals which had to die as a response to their sin. The first sacrifice. Over time God asked others to make sacrifices to prove their faith -and always the sacrifice was of your first and your best - anything else wasn’t a real sacrifice . You had to give your best lamb - the one you’d rather turn into a meal. Your first harvest - the one you hoped to turn a profit on or use to seed your field next season. These were acts of faith = proving you believed God would provide, but also proving that you cared more about pleasing God than pleasing yourself.

All of these sacrifices, however, looked foreward to this sacrifice. They looked towards the cross - when a man, not an animal would die, but again the best, a flawless sinless sacrifice - a station that people could not attain - a purity that to make happen required God becoming man - sending Jesus, the son, to live and walk among us - then die as that perfect sacrifice. No longer do we need to make sacrifices of bulls, rams, doves, or grain. No longer do we need to sprinkle blood or oil on an altar. Rather Jesus did that for us, his own blood being spilled.

You see - we are all sinners - we have all fallen away from God - none of us are worthy, none of us are pure - none of us deserve more than death… But God sees the world with compassion and eyes longing for redemption, longing to forgive us, but just. God can’t sweep our sins under the rug. God is too pure, and our sin to stained, that before we can be welcomed our sins must be removed and that can only be done by sacrifice… well - can’t God do anything about that?! He’s God! Can’t he just say - you know what, that’s not a sin anymore you’re fine… or you know what - here’s a blank check, you’re forgiven - why can’t he?! He can’t because that would go agains all God is. That would go against God’s charecter to do so would be ungodly - and God can’t be ungodly… in the same way a fish can’t cease to be a fish, a dog can’t stop being a dog - God must always be God, and God’s justice demands a payment for sin and only death can offer that payment. But this death - Jesus death changed Everything!

For the last seven years - and probably for the rest of my life Easter will always carry a bit of joyful sorrow. My Grandpa died on good Friday 2016 - and he was an amazing man of God, I have what is called gallows humor - when things are sad I make jokes, it’s a coping mechanism - but that night I looked at my family and said - you realise that grandpa lived so much like Jesus… that he also just had to die on good Friday (pause) I know it was a bad joke, but it brought me comfort! But being a Christian there is a joy in knowing that he went from one moment dying, mind riddled with dementia to the next with Jesus in paradise - just like the criminal next to Jesus that we looked at Friday. But my grandpa Bob, or Dr. Bob to most was a family doctor back in Cedar Falls. And while his job was to heal people of sickness - his mission was to cure people of their sin. And he loved to give his patience a special prescription. And Every Easter I think of this prescription - at Grandpas funeral I made up this graphic and we gave one to everybody who came. And I thought what better thing to share on Easter than this prescription SLIDE 11

Share the bridge Illustration (5-10 min)

Now there are three places you can bee having seen this - you can be standing on this side of man - you understand you are a sinner, you understand there is a wage for our sins, and you understand that if God exists and God is good He HAS to give us that wage. Yet you can be standing here and saying I don’t care. I don’t want it. I like my life to much as it is. I’ll consider it later, when I’m older, when I’ve had my fun. Let me give you one warning, we are not guaranteed a later. We’re not guaranteed a tomorrow. I’ve heard it said slightly jokingly, but with a weight of truth - those who plan to accept God at the eleventh hour… die at 10:30 - don’t put it off - I beg with you to reconsider. You can also be here - you can understand all of this and you are looking at the cross going I want that! I need that! Let me tell you - there is nothing stopping you! Simply tell God that you understand - you know you are a sinner, you long for something more - you long for this free gift of life - you long to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection - you want to give up your old self and embrace the cross! You can tell him that now! Then there is the third group - and I’d say this is the luckiest group here. you’ve hear this all before - you made this decision long ago - but now you’re hearing this and you’re thinking thank you God! you’re here on this side of the cross - praising Him.

Where are you on this illustration? Do you get this and you just don’t care? If so I plead with you to ask yourself why? Be honest, why don’t you want this? If you are here and you want this I’m going to give you the chance in a second. And if you are here praise God. I’m going to transition into a minute of awkward silence - because I’m the one on stage and I can do that… but because I feel it is what we need right now. And during this minute I want each of you to do something - if you’re this person - I want you to think for a minute - be honest - why are you content being here? Just think about that for a minute. If you are this person - take this minute to tell God - you understand. You are a sinner, but starting today - stating now you want Jesus in your heart you want to know Him as your Lord and Savior! and if you are this person take this minute and thank God for revealing Himself to you as he did, for saving you from your sin, for adopting you as His own, for making you a child of God. - pray with me in silence for a minute.

1 Minute (or more or less as The Spirit leads)

Pray for all three phases - hands up if you made a decision - don’t make it awkward - hands down

Praise God for those people

He is Risen

Again

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