Easter-1

Matthew 28:1–6 NIV

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

Problem #1

Sin and death entered into the world - and into us

Romans 5:12 NIV

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

We have two kinds of death - physical death (separation from our bodies) and spiritual death (separation from God).

In the story of adam (summarize), we see both of these result. Away from God, and the existence of death.

Paul’s not arguing, we all died just because Adam screwed up.

he’s saying - because Adam screwed up, death is now a thing. And because we all sin, death is a thing for us too.

When Adam dropped the ball -we saw what the reality of the universe without God and being separated from him is.

There is definitely some universal echoes related to what Adam did. It’s not as simple as, he’s just the first baton drop. But the truth is - we are every one of us sinners. And

It is our individual, personal sin that is the issue

We are all afforded the opportunity to sin because of Adam’s first sin.

This is something that’s been easy for me to understand. You watch any amount of news any length of time, and you see that the norm is violence, hate, pain.

But even worse - if we take any amount of real, true, honest introspection - we see the same kinds of failures, the same kinds of weaknesses, the same kinds of violence, in us

We may not have access to the same kind of scale as other people (I won’t be allowed anywhere near nuclear codes), but that doesn’t mean it’s any less prevalent in us

But we all recognize the fact that we exist in this idea of sin and pain as a corporate thing

If you have a person struggling, surround them with good people. You have a good person with bad company? that’s going the wrong way.

In Adam, and his sin, and his story, we become aware of this inherent part of our nature - a bent away from God.

BUT we face condemnation because of the choices we make.

And because of the choices we make - death is a fate for us all as well.

Adam may have kicked open a door, or shown us where it is, or simply been the first person through. But we’ve all walked through ourselves. Death comes to every one of us because of our own sins.

Now - I need to address something. We have this false concept of God, someone who is just waiting around to punish people who don’t do things right.

This is wrong. But we need to understand something about the fall - and that’s problem #2 -

Problem #2

We were made to be completed by a relationship with God - and that’s broken

STORY - van oil pressure issue, van went into limping mode, couldn’t do very much.

In the garden of eden, it’s not like the universe was devoid of knowledge of good and evil. God had it, God knew it. And only god could perfectly handle it.

And we can all agree - doing good is… good. We need to embrace it.

Likewise, doing evil is a bad thing. We need to reject it.

And this is one of the most fundamental aspects of what it means to be human.

And in this great story of good and evil and our place as humanity in the universe - God said, ‘walk with me and I’ll perfectly sustain you through it all’.

The original intention was that we weren’t supposed to live life itself by our own power

And when we’re operating by our own power - we’re imperfect.

Some people will argue that’s the nature of what it means to be a person - to be imperfect. That we shouldn’t judge people because we’re not made to be perfect.

But here’s the thing - that’s MY point. We AREN’T made to be perfect. But we’re made to be perfectly completed by a relationship with God.

STORY - I’m not a puzzle person. Katherine is. But either way - you can’t be a puzzle person and have 3 young children.

If you find a puzzle that’s missing half it’s pieces, you won’t start up a crusade to redefine puzzles as being incomplete by nature. You’d simply say - hey, this is missing pieces. I can tell because it’s not whole.

And our sins, the ones that we all commit - they drove a wedge between us and God. And we are incomplete because of it.

Isaiah 59:2 NIV

But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you

And because of this, we are incomplete. But we can’t just flip a switch and go back to that.

In the Exodus story, Moses asked to see God’s glory, and God said - sure, but i’ll hide you in a rock, and you can’t see my face or you’ll die.

Jesus himself said - nobody’s ever seen God but me.

Our sin is not just a speed bump, a slap on the wrist that we need to suffer to get back into God’s good graces.

Paul says in Romans 6:23, ‘the wages of sin is death’. Not, ‘penalty’ or ‘suffering’ or ‘inconvenience’ or ‘being lost on the road’. It’s death. Both in the physical, but also the death of this life-giving, essential relationship with God.

So because of sin, we face not only physical death, but also spiritual death.

That’s why the problem with creation is not about fixing a bend, or merely righting a wrong direction.

The problem is death. In sin, we died.

But in Easter - there’s wonderful news.

God has a resurrection for you - that he wants give you, free of charge

Through easter, we will talk about God’s universal plan to set all of this right. But we need to lay this foundation down.

God’s approach to your life isn’t just one of moral correcting. For sure, he’ll do that.

It’s not just one of imparting good information and wisdom. He’ll do that too.

The process that Jesus leads us down as we follow him and believe in him is one of resurrection.

John 11:25 NIV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

And this is amazing news. Not just because we have life - but because we have a life forgiven of our sins, and empowered by the Spirit in all the ways that we’re weak.

Notice before we talked about how we’re imperfect. How we were created that way. So why on earth would God reject us because of that?

He never wanted you to be perfect before you came to him. He wants to help make you perfect through the power of the resurrection and the Holy Spirit.

He knows your mess. He knows your sins better than you. And he wants not only to accept you and forgive you - he wants to give you life.