Resurrection Sunday, Truth Alive
Notes
Transcript
Church… today we gather with a strange kind of weight.
Not the kind of weight we feel on a normal Sunday. Not the kind that comes with celebration or even encouragement. Today, we gather under something heavier… something quieter… something sobering.
Because today, we remember a death.
Not just any death… but the death of Jesus Christ.
And if we’re honest, we don’t often sit here very long.
We like to move quickly past Friday to get to Sunday. We like the empty tomb. We like the victory. We like the hope. And we should.
And we will get there but first today… we stop.
Today, we stand at the foot of the cross.
Today, we remember what it cost.
If this were a eulogy… we would begin by remembering the life that was lived.
Jesus of Nazareth… a man who walked among the broken and never turned them away.
A man who touched lepers when no one else would come near.
A man who spoke with authority, yet carried Himself with humility.
A man who fed the hungry, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind… and called sinners to Himself, not with condemnation, but with compassion.
He didn’t chase power.
He didn’t build an earthly kingdom.
He didn’t demand comfort.
He came close.
He came low.
He came to seek and to save the lost.
As the prophet Isaiah said,
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
Jesus wasn’t distant from suffering… He stepped into it.
But if this is a eulogy… then we also have to speak honestly about how His life ended.
Because it didn’t end peacefully.
It didn’t end surrounded by comfort.
It didn’t end with dignity as the world defines it.
It ended with betrayal.
One of His own… one who walked beside Him… sold Him for silver.
It ended with abandonment.
His closest friends… the ones who swore they’d never leave… ran.
It ended with false accusations, corrupt trials, and a crowd that chose a criminal over the Son of God.
And then… it ended at a cross.
Crucifixion wasn’t just death.
It was humiliation.
It was torture.
It was meant to break a man publicly.
Jesus was beaten.
Mocked.
Spit on.
A crown of thorns pressed into His head.
A robe thrown on Him just to be ripped back off.
And then nails… driven through His hands and His feet.
And lifted up… not on a throne… but on a cross.
Suspended between heaven and earth… as if rejected by both.
And in that moment, what we see is not just physical suffering… but something even deeper.
Because Scripture tells us,
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
This wasn’t just a man dying.
This was the Son of God carrying sin.
Carrying guilt.
Carrying shame.
Not His own… but yours and mine.
If this is a eulogy… then we have to say what seems unthinkable.
The One who gave life… was put to death.
The One who never sinned… was treated like a criminal.
The One who was perfectly righteous… was condemned.
And on that cross, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying,
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?”
That’s not just pain talking.
That’s separation.
That’s the weight of sin being poured out.
That’s judgment falling… not on us… but on Him.
And then… He breathed His last.
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Not “I am finished.”
But “It is finished.”
The work.
The cost.
The payment.
Finished.
And then… silence.
The sky darkened.
The earth shook.
The curtain in the temple was torn.
And the Son of God… was dead.
Church, if we’re honest… this is where a eulogy would usually end.
With grief.
With loss.
With questions.
With that heavy feeling that something precious has been taken.
And if we had stood there that day… watching… we wouldn’t have called it good.
We would’ve called it tragic.
We would’ve called it devastating.
We would’ve called it the end.
Because that’s what it looked like.
A lifeless body taken down from a cross.
Wrapped.
Laid in a tomb.
A stone rolled in front.
Hope… buried.
So today, we sit in that.
We don’t rush past it.
We don’t clean it up.
We don’t skip ahead.
We let the weight of Friday be what it was.
The brutal, unjust, painful death of Jesus Christ.
Because until we understand the depth of that moment… we won’t fully understand anything that comes after it.
Church… today feels like a eulogy.
It feels like loss.
It feels like silence.
It feels like the end.
But what we’re about to be reminded of…
Is that this wasn’t the end of His story.
And it’s not the end of ours either.
Tony
Good morning and happy Resurrection Sunday!
Hopefully, we’re all here this morning because of this great Resurrection and the Truth it brought.
And I want to key in on this a bit this morning.
The truth of what today is.
The truth that seems to get watered down with the passing of time.
What is Psalm Sunday, what is Good Friday, what is Christmas?
Do our co-workers know, does our family know, does our very own children know?
Psalm Sunday, the great triumphal entry into Jerusalem by Jesus. Where people laid out psalm branches and praised Him as King, yet the very next Sunday, Easter Sunday they’d be yelling crucify Him.
Good Friday or Holy Friday, the Friday of Jesus’ crucifixion. The most perfect example of love, to take upon the guilt and judgement of ones enemy and than to give that enemy a robe of righteousness that they may become children of God.
And lastly Christmas, the birth of Jesus. God entering His creation as one of us! I’m positive in this country most have heard and celebrate Christmas but how many celebrate it for what it means, I’m certain doesn’t get the same attention.
But today’s celebration is different. Today’s celebration matters..., I believe more.
Really, what does it matter that 2,000 plus years ago a great teacher and healer rode into a town with the praise of many? It doesn’t unless...
What does it matter that a man was crucified for claiming to be God some 2,000 plus years ago? It doesn’t unless...
What does it matter that a child was born some 2,000 years ago? It doesn’t unless...
But if He, out of all of the 100’s that come and go claiming to be something, does exactly what He says He’s going to do, when He say’s He’s going to do it. Well that speaks, that backs up everything He says and does. Especially if He claims something like this.
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.
And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
Today matters!
Resurrection Sunday shows the Truth of God and His Son and how it relates to His creation!
This is why we celebrate all things pertaining to Jesus!
He is who He says He is!
Listen to Peter...
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
(Elaborate this truth)
No myth
Power
Coming/Arrival
Witnessed with his very own senses.
And not just Peter witnessed the truth of this resurrection!
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
As we see many others were eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus!
In so many different ways too, large groups, small groups, and singly. All proclaiming the same thing! Physically alive after being publically killed and buried.
And another thing, most of these eyewitnesses are still alive when this letter was first written.
Again, 2 Peter rings true.
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection is no myth, no fairytale. It’s Truth!
Jesus was born to the virgin Mary, He did indeed live, He did indeed die a horrible death through man’s creation of crucifixion, and He did indeed rise again through the power of God!
Yes, the passing of time has happened since but only in the folly of man does this try to dilute Truth.
But we’re here today because Truth remains! Amen!?
And what is the Truth of Resurrection Sunday?
Well I couldn’t say it any better than scripture.
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
This Gospel that we hold so dear.
The Good News of Jesus Christ!
Us, me, all, are held captive as slaves to sin and death. We’re broken, we’re fallen. We live in and brought forth a world that is also broken and fallen.
Sin and death run rampant with the only glimmer of hope is God’s common grace upon mankind which in itself is a miracle of patience.
Daily people are lied to, cheated on, murdered, just plainly hated in man’s self-righteousness.
This captivity and slavery flat out stinks. And no one is to blame but us.
We’ve all lied, we’ve all stolen, with all lusted, and we’ve all hated.
Being captive to death and a slave to this flesh is horrible.
This is the bad, horrible news.
But...
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
How did God make us alive?
This first importance!
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
Christ died for our sins.
God is just and a clearly stated the truth of our injustice if we were to disobey and eat.
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Truth made clear and death came.
Hence captivity and slavery to it.
First importance, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God came into the world through a virgin birth, He lived a perfect, sinless live. Never sinning, not once did He do any wrong. Perfectly loving the Father.
He felt, He tired, He hurt, He bore flesh. He was fully God but fully man and walked among us!
He was hated and discriminated against, yet did not sin once. Not one unloving action did he ever take!
But instead, was killed for no sins of His own...but for yours and mine.
The wrath of God against our sin, poured out on His Son.
Our wrongs righted, thank you Jesus.
This is the Good News, the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ!
This glorious Gospel of death defeated, captives set free.
All by the showing of this beautiful, wondrous day we celebrate as Resurrection Sunday.
The tomb is empty, the living Christ is seen by many and through His works we have life.
We’ve been raised up with Him from death to life!
Resurrection Sunday, without a doubt shows TRUTH ALIVE!
This is the Gospel.
Let’s close today with the Gospel penned in Scripture.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
