After Darkness, Light!
Notes
Transcript
Call to Worship
Call to Worship
Revelation 1:17-18 [words of Jesus] “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
Prayer
Prayer
Adoration: God who has all life in himself; in mercy gave Son to be light/life of dark/dead world; wisdom => defeated death/brought us eternal life through his death
Confession: failed to trust in him, live in newness of life, sought comfort/placed hope in other things…
Thanksgiving: through the blood of the eternal son forgiven; through his resurrection, given an inheritance which we cannot lose…
Supplication: form our hearts to hang on you alone; we are weak—give wisdom; we are hurt—give healing; we so quickly walk astray—teach us to delight in the glory of your perfections and love; Lauralwood Baptist (elders to lead in Christ-exalting worship + taking gospel to community); churches in Iraq + Syria; police: justice, protection.
Family Matters:
Family Matters:
Joyce DeGeer memorial (Apr 16 @ 2 pm?); Shela Bonchek (15 Apr @ 2 pm)
Benediction:
Benediction:
Revelation 1:5-6 “… To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
Sermon
Sermon
Summary: Jesus’s resurrection is good news b/c he first faithfully (in the face of temptation) walked the road to utter death/darkness (ours). So, tell story emphasizing: (1) his faithfulness to bear the curse, (2) the result at his death, and (3) the triumph of his resurrection…
Read: Matt. 28:1-10
Intro
Intro
scripture just read = gripping words… right?
maybe… didn’t seem all that meaningful to you...
or maybe to you… but… why neighbors don’t care?
Why does the resurrection matter?
Some say Easter = a pagan holiday => not true!
Truth => Easter (Pascha in most languages) has been celebrated by believers since very early… seems that apostles themselves celebrated it…
Why has Easter been so important across 2k years… ?
Neighbors might come… enjoy a little Easter nostalgia w/ us… [note to any visitors]
We ourselves/I => forget: ‘so there’s Jesus, and he got out of the tomb/beat death… kind of cool, but happened a while ago… not sure why I should get so excited about it...’
Part of problem = resurrection not a story… climax of a story => climax is meaningless unless you know what came before => gospels: stories w/ resurrection at climax
So if we want to know, Why does resurrection matter? must know the story…
Darkness: The Story
Darkness: The Story
***This morning, Matthew will be our guide****
=> early in Matthew, we catch a note of foreboding/approaching darkness—
[note: don’t worry too much about details… let yourself be taken along by the flow of Matthew’s story…]
Approaching darkness:
Temptation in the wilderness: Jesus has been fasting for 40 days… Satan comes to tempt him:
And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
What happened there?
Tempted Jesus to take the easy way out of suffering that the Father had appointed for him: Jesus fires back w/ scripture… continues to depend on the Father in his suffering…
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
What happened there?
Tempted Jesus to ‘force God’s hand’—make the angels show up and rescue him/prove the Father’s love/stay safe… Jesus fired back from Scripture: I will not TEST the Father, but TRUST him in danger… hint: something terrifying/painful is coming…
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’ ”
What happened there?
Tempted Jesus to avoid the road of suffering set before him—take the easy way, be crowned king w/o any pain… Jesus rejected his offer…
***So what happened in all of that?***
Satan tempted Jesus, ‘avoid the road of suffering, danger, pain, faith’—have joy/comfort/success/honor now
Jesus rejected this—resolved to trust + serve the Father on the dark road ahead
Wasn’t just Satan who spoke this temptation to Jesus
Later, turning point in Matthew’s gospel => Jesus begins explaining to his disciples his coming suffering + death
Peter’s reaction:
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Think: even Peter = a man faithful to Jesus didn’t get it—became a source of temptation toward Jesus!
No Lord. None of this suffering stuff. Only the triumph part. None of the sorrow stuff. Only the Joy.
=> So often us? We set our eyes on the things of man, not the things of God. We live contrary/break God’s law… need the mercy of God through Jesus.
And so, the Father had a specific path of suffering marked out for Jesus, for our salvation/forgiveness
Brothers and sisters: if Jesus had not first
=> entered into our sorrow, he would have no joy to give us;
=> entered into our death, he would have no life to give us
=> taken our guilt on his shoulders, he would have no forgiveness for us
As Jesus was about to be arrested, Peter tried to defend him w/ a sword. But Jesus replied:
Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”
Angels again: Jesus could have summoned angels armies to his rescue/flattened his enemies…
But instead, he walked the path of suffering and death in faith
Mock Coronation (27:27-31)—
After a mock trial, Jesus’ coronation began:
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
Satan tempted Jesus w/ easy way of becoming king // here, soldiers mocked the idea that he was king => in the very act of mocking, they ironically truly crowned him king of an everlasting kingdom
Crown of thorns => thorns = symbol: he carried on his head the curse against us => God’s wrath/judgement against sin, that all who call him king might have judgement forever removed…
Crucifixion and Humiliation (27:32-35)—
A little later, led out to be crucified…
And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.
Wine mixed w/ gall—probably to dull his pain: he refused, as he refused Satan’s temptation to eat during his fast in the wilderness; walked fully the road of suffering for our redemption…
Stripped of his cloths and hung naked to die—shame of having your cloths divided by your enemies while you are dying…
Why? tasting our griefs, bearing our sorrows // taking on himself shame of our sin
Derision (27:36-44)—
While dying…
And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
Same as Satan’s temptation at the beginning: “Don’t you have the power to end your suffering, Jesus? Do it! Prove who claim to be! Come down from the cross with power and we will believe that you are really king of God’s people!”
Irony: he had the power to come down—precisely by not using his power, but pouring out his life on our behalf, that he became king. This horrific scene was really the power of God for salvation, the wisdom of the Father for redeeming people from every nation of the world to be his new temple. Jesus—the true temple—was being torn down on the cross: in three days, the temple would be rebuilt forever.
Or from another angle: “Does the Father really delight in you, Jesus? Then why hasn’t he saved you from this?”—matched Satan’s temptations, “If you are the Son of God...” Wouldn’t God’s Son experience only God’s loving provision? How could he possibly be found hanging on a cross, accursed?
Darkness and Completion (27:45-50)—still quoting Scripture at the end, eyes focused on the Father!
A little later says—
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
A couple verses down
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
Darkness = God’s judgement, possibly reflecting plague in Egypt => in this case, against Jesus as he carried curse/judgement in our place
“My God, My God, why… ?” => no sense of the Father’s presence… plumbed the utter depths of darkness + judgement in our place…
Finally, died.
Death for Life
At his death: three things recorded by Matthew to help us understand—
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
Curtain torn: this was the curtain separating the holy of holies from the rest of the temple—
the place in which God manifested his presence, and into which only the high priest would enter…
way now opened into the most holy presence of God for all who belong to Jesus—accomplished by Jesus’ death
top to bottom: accomplished by God, not man
Saints raised: life was given by Jesus’ death // ultimately: everlasting life for all who belong to him
Gentiles worship
soldiers who previously stripped + crucified Jesus
say, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
That’s the whole point: this is exactly why the Son of God came to earth: to accomplish the mission of the Father; to endure hunger and thirst and suffering; to willingly give himself to death and the curse; to wear a crown of thorns, that he might be the king who died in order to give life his people—not just of Israel, but from every nation—even the soldiers who crucified him. All who believe.
Light: The Climax
Light: The Climax
***now we are prepared to understand that passage…***
The expectation of perpetual darkness (28:1)
Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
What doing?
Light of world snuffed by darkness…
Coming to mourn? Or b/c delirious w/ sorrow + didn’t know what else to do?
‘went to see the tomb’ = didn’t come to see a miracle/be cheered up => hearts = combination of love for Jesus + hopelessness
The reversal (28:2-8)
And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
In place of supernatural darkness // shining appearance of an angel at the dawn of the day
Guards => attempting to keep a dead body in the grave // irony? became like dead men
Women = also afraid
=> So angel speaks, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.”
=> ‘come… look in the tomb. He’s not there anymore! Check for yourselves. The grave is empty!’
**also told them to go tell the others… how did they react?**
So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
Joy… why? Probably, not all of their thoughts collected…
But now it seemed that the Son of God had defeated death itself…
=> the path of his suffering had lead him to death…
=> somehow, now, he had defeated death itself
The words of the risen king (28:9-10)
And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Response to meeting the risen Jesus:
=> Worship! Here is the triumphant king, Son of God, defeater of death
=> Clinging to him: 1) touching him = a real, physical resurrection; 2) still afraid?
Jesus replies: “Do not be afraid”—Why?
=> b/c if Jesus bore the curse/judgement against sin when he was crucified + then rose from the dead = he dealt successfully w/ the curse...
there is no more judgement from God against those who belong to Christ
do not be afraid!
=> b/c if Jesus gave himself over to the forces of darkness and was murdered + then rose from the dead = darkness has no hope…
darkness will lose // has already been dealt a mortal blow
do not be afraid!
=> b/c if Jesus tasted the greatest depths of human sorrow and pain w/ faith + then rose to joy on the other side of it…
then the love of God in Christ is enough for us also // he will bring us safely through
do not be afraid!
=> b/c if Jesus died, and is now alive forever…
Then for a true believer also, death is not the end (to Martha):
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
Conclusion
Conclusion
So then: this is why the Resurrection matters. Brothers and sisters/believers: you are united to Jesus by faith. In union w/ him, the Resurrected King, your sins are forgiven, your inheritance with God is assured, and you will one day reign with the king forever, when he returns to make all things new. Friends/guests: if you have not yet believed in Jesus—surrendered to him as King—we would urge you to do that [talk to us]. For there is no one else who offers genuine, divine forgiveness; no one else who has defeated sin, darkness, and death itself. Come to him.
Prayer
Prayer
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.