Risen! (Easter 2019)
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· 9 viewsThe resurection or Jesus Christ enables us to put fear behind us as we believe in Him and joyfully obey Him.
Notes
Transcript
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Welcome and introduce myself? visitors?
Introduction
Video?
“Christ is Risen!” “He is Risen Indeed!”
“He is Risen Indeed”
Tension
This is the good news of the Gospel people so it worth shouting out...
Everything we do, say and are as Christians hinges on the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead. There are many things that Christian Theologians argue about, but without this one truth then their is no Christianity at all. This Church, along with every other Christian Church becomes a pointless exercise in group dynamics without the resurrection. If Jesus did not raise from the dead then we should all just go home and do whatever else we feel like doing on a beautiful day like today. We can just eat a bunch of chocolate bunnies and just do the festive Easter egg thing with no regard to anything deeper, anything richer anything more significant than a temporary sugar high.
But if it is true...
The Apostle Paul said it this way...
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
The resurrection of Jesus is the single most important element of the Christian faith. Everything in the Old Testament foreshadows it and everything in the New Testament springs out of it. If Jesus did not raise from the dead then no one from Adam to Abraham to Moses to David to Solomon to the Prophets to the Disciples have any hope of salvation. The resurection of Jesus Christ is the center piece of everything in the Christian world.
There is no other doctrine, creed or belief that means anything without the resurrection of Jesus. The many other things we believe about God and Jesus may be true, but it is of no use to us.
The truth that God perfectly created the world is great, but without the resurrection of Jesus it means nothing to us because we will never get to experience that perfect world as God intended - only the broken down one we have now.
The truth that God is love is great, but without the resurrection of Jesus Christ we will never fully experience that love because we will continue to be eternally separated from it in our sin.
The truth that Jesus is the Son of God is great, but without the resurrection it does nothing to change our broken relationship with Him.
The many practical truths that Jesus taught us while He was here on earth are great, but they are all exercises in futility without the resurrection, because remaining in our sin nature we will just twist them to our our selfish desires.
The truth that
Pastor, teacher and author David Platt summarizes this idea this way, He said:
David Platt says it like this...
“If Jesus did not raise from the dead then we do not have to worry about anything He said, because it was a lie. But if Jesus rose from the dead, then we must accept everything He said, for His authority is absolute.” David Platt
“If Jesus did not raise from the dead then we do not have to worry about anything He said, because it was a lie. But if Jesus rose from the dead, then we must accept everything He said, for His authority is absolute.” David Platt
Easter morning always brings us to back to this dilemma. Each one of us must grapple with the empty tomb and what it means for us. It is not enough to just say “yes” or “no”. It is not enough to just say that Jesus did raise from the dead or He didn’t. There are further reaching implications to our answer then just a thumbs up or down to a stated truth.
Because if Jesus did not raise from the dead then all of this Christian stuff is pointless.
But if he did, then the point of all of this Christians stuff reaches a lot further than just calling yourself a “Christian”
There were two groups of people to learn of the empty tomb on the very first Easter Morning, . On one hand there was a group of women who were there to anoint the body of a beloved man who had died. On the other hand there were the guards that were hired to make sure that the body of that dead man remained in the tomb. And the initial response of both of these two groups to the message of the risen Jesus was the same.
While the message of Jesus’ resurrection causes us to respond in joyous celebration, everyone who heard the message of the resurrection on the first Easter responded very differently. They all responded in fear.
Certainly a part of this had to do with the impact of the messenger delivering the news, there is something about angels that always seems to bring fear. But I believe there was more to it than that. I believe that there was just as much impact in the message as in the messenger.
For anyone who has spent much time in a Christian Church, the idea of Jesus raising from the dead is not very alarming. Hopefully it is being taught every Sunday in every Christian Church. It is such a core doctrine in the Christian Church that when questioned on it we easily find ourselves giving it a thumbs up.
This is a little hard for us to wrap our For anyone who has spent much time in a Christian Church, the idea of Jesus raising from the dead is not very alarming. Hopefully we have heard about it from day one and continue to hear about it Sunday after Sunday. It is such a core doctrine in the Christian Church that when questioned on it we easily find ourselves giving it a thumbs up.
But have you ever thought on the depth of what we are saying when we say that Jesus raised from the dead?
Try to imagine that you were doing some world traveling, like you all do every weekend, and suddenly your plane had to make an emergency landing on what you thought was an uninhabited island. You and everyone aboard miraculously survived. (It’s Easter so we’ll make it a happy story). You are all working together to try and set up your make shift camp on the beach because all your communication equipment was destroyed in the crash and you don’t know how long you are going to be on this Island.
When suddenly, emerging from the jungle behind you, an entire village of natives come out to greet you. (Greet you, not eat you, it’s a happy story remember) These people turn out to be from the over-friendly tribe of the “Hihowareya’s” and they are made up of smiling tribesmen, mothers holding babies and even young children running around with all kinds of giggles. A happy scene. You end up spending many weeks on this Island, so on the first Sunday you decide to organize a Christian Church Service. The “Hihowareyas” have never heard of a Christian Church or the Christian God. So you decide to tell them the story of Jesus.
You start with humble beginnings of a baby being born in a manger. Then you tell about how he grew up smart and strong and learned to build things with his dad. You talk about how he once helped his mom when they ran out of drink at a party and how he help fishermen when they couldn’t catch any fish. Then you tell of how some bad men didn’t like that he was going around telling people that they should love and be kind to everybody. Well the “Hihowareyas” are totally into this Jesus guy, He sounds a lot like them and they begin to believe everything you are saying about Him…until you say that this Jesus guy died and then got up again.
Now lets say you tell these people about how Jesus died and then got up again. What do you think would be their response? Would they accept your claim in the same matter of fact way that you do?
What do you think would be their response? Would they accept your claim in the same matter of fact way that you do?
Finally you tell them how Jesus died. They did not like this part, but the understood it. So they all started standing up and making their way to the their village.
They might think your crazy, or at the very least they think you are telling a
E
Even though they are an over-friendly tribe they have experienced death. They don’t like think about it but they know about death. Death is the end of everyone’s story…so they began to leave.
What do you think would be their response? Would they accept your claim in the same matter of fact way that you do? Maybe they would think you are Maybe they would try and spiritualize it, saying he came back as a ghost.
Maybe they would see i
Maybe they would try and say Jesus was just a spirit or ghost come back from the dead.
but then you try to tell them that He doesn’t stay dead
Maybe they would deny it, be
That is a hard sell, no matter how smiley you are. Even a tribesman on a far off Island would have some understanding of how death works and that is just not how it works. Their experience with death would tell them that when you die that is it. It is the end of life as you know it, you don’t come back and get to live again. Maybe if you wanted to talk about a spirit or ghost like returning from the dead - but physically and bodily coming back from the dead is not part of the deal.
I am not sure if that story helped us at all, but my goal was to try and dial us back to the time before Jesus raised from the dead in order to wrap our minds around how uncommon an idea it really was. In fact, there are few Old Testament passages that speak clearly on the idea and the major dividing line between the religious leaders in Jesus’ day had to do with if you believed in the raising of the dead. We just don’t naturally come to the idea that death is not the end of life. It is not a part of our earthly experience. That is why the first response of all the people who first heard of the resurrection was fear.
Fear was the first response, but it was not the final one. In fact, for everyone there that day, their fear gave way to something else. In the case of some, it was to something better. In the case of others it was to something worse.
Why does this matter to you and me. Well I submit to you this morning that if we took the time to dig deep beyond our familiarity to the wording, we would find that believing in the resurrection of the dead is much more of a supernatural event that most of us are comfortable with. And the implications of it could bring fear.
know that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead far reaching implications of the supernatural act of Jesus rising from the dead once brought each one of us to the point of fear. We have either feared that it isn’t true, and then felt alone and helpless or we have feared that it is, but realized that we were was and we realized that we were not willing to submit to it’s felt
We were not willing to submit to the demands of the truth behind it.
having never heard anything about even the name Jesus and the hearing for the very first time that there was once this man who died and then three days later he got back up. That is not how we typically talk about death. Death is a one way ticket, you don’t come back from it
Over the past 7 or 8 months or so we have been working our way through the Gospel Project. We started in Genesis last September and currently we have worked our way all the way up to Numbers. Our goal in it all is to see the message of the Gospel throughout all of Scripture. We have seen so many foreshadowings of Jesus…
25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Some of us would experience fear because our understanding of “Christianity” doesn’t have much room for “supernatural” events like this. It is just about coming together as a community and serving one another and others and doing good things. Well that is the goal for most every non-profit, charity or fraternal club out there. If that is Christianity is, then there really isn’t any room for something as supernatural as the resurrection from the dead.
Old Testament reference to the Resurrection are few
Others of us are fearful, because we understand how supernatural the resurrection of the dead is, but we have not been willing to submit to the implications that this truth demands.
Old Testament reference to the Resurrection are few
2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
As we look at the first responses to the resurrection, I believe we will find some answers to our fears in theirs.
Daniel
This idea split the two major groups of Religious leaders the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Turn with me if you will to the very last chapter in the book of Matthew, chapter 28, p 835 in the Bibles in the chairs. As you are turning there I will pray and then we can dive into the Scripture together.
23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question,
Matthew 22:232
8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.
There were several witnesses there on the very first Resurrection morning, and as witness often do they had very different responses to what they say.
Truth
As I said, there are two groups of people who were there on that first resurrection morning. One was a group of women who had left early in the morning to annoint the body of Jesus and the other was a group of soldier who had been there all night. For the first group we will see how
Fear gives way to faith and worship in hearts humbled by the empty tomb ()
Fear gives way to faith and worship in hearts humbled by the empty tomb ()
That is our first “fill-in-the-blank” for those of you following along with the notes in the program.
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.
The book of Matthew is one of four of the biographies of Jesus in the Bible that we call the Gospels, and each one of them tells the story of Jesus from a different perspective and a different audience. Matthew points out the two Mary’s that were there, but there were other women who had come to the tomb as well that morning. One of the reasons that we believe Matthew might have wanted us to focus in on these two Mary’s as representatives of the whole group is that they were not strangers to either Jesus’ ministry or His message. In fact they were so faithful that they followed Jesus right up to the very end as they were eye witnesses to both his death and his burial in this tomb.
Now that might cause a person to be a little skeptical, I mean isn’t this rather convenient that a couple of very devoted followers of Jesus are the ones to first hear and spread the news of his resurrection? Actually, it isn’t convenient at all if you know something of the culture of the day. In Jesus’ day, women were not even allowed to testify in court proceedings, so to have these women be the first witnesses to the empty tomb would have been a dishonor to the men who followed Jesus. If this was a made up narrative as some claim, then they never would have cast women in the role of the first witnesses. The fact that God orchestrated events in this way adds to the reliability of the story and reinforces the equal value that all people should experience in Christ.
Because of the Sabbath, the women had to wait until Sunday to travel to Jesus’ tomb. Mark and Luke both noted that the women’s visit was intended to anoint Jesus’ body in a more appropriate manner than the timing of His death allowed. His burial was quickly completed on Friday so as to bury the body prior to the impending Sabbath, which began at sundown the same day (ESV, 1887; ; ). Matthew also noted the involvement of these women with Jesus’ ministry and as witnesses to Jesus’ death and burial (, ). They were neither strangers to following Jesus nor strangers to His message. That they had witnessed His death and burial made them opportune witnesses to the resurrected Jesus. They knew He had died; they had watched as He was buried behind a great stone.
be witnesses in any court procedures. It would have been considered a slight on the disciples that they had to hear of these events from some women. The fact that God orchestrated events in such a way that these women were there only further adds to the reliability of the story and reinforces the equal value that people should experience in Christ.
So this group of women, represented here by the two Mary’s, were some of the first eye witnesses to the empty tomb and the message of Jesus’ resurrection. In this next section, we are introduced to the other, as well as the messenger who makes quite and impression...
2 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. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
That the gospel writers, and in this case Matthew, recorded the women as the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection was indicative of the true nature of the resurrection story. In their society, the testimony of a woman was not often considered credible. Had the writers wanted to fabricate a story, they would have developed the first witnesses as men, whose testimony was considered reliable and legally binding (France, p. 1098; Blomberg, p. 426). Although Luke and John’s accounts referenced Peter and another disciple coming to the empty tomb, all accounts note that these women were not only the first witnesses to see the empty tomb and the risen Savior, but were also the first to spread the news. In a male-dominated society, these events would have detracted from the esteem of the male disciples, which not only helped seal the reliability of the event but also helped note the equal value that people should experience in Christ, as later expressed by Paul (; France, p. 1098; Blomberg, p. 426).
Matthew 28:
So clearly we have supernatural and natural events colliding here in this episode. Earthquakes are a known experience in our world, but it is somehow connected with arrival of this heavenly messenger who comes in and rolls away the stone to the entrance of the tomb.
Something worth noticing is that after the stone was rolled away we don’t have Jesus coming out of the tomb. The stone was not rolled away so that the resurrected Jesus could get out, it was rolled away so that people could get in. In fact, one of the other Gospel writers even says that on the way to the tomb the women were asking each other, “Hey, how are we going to roll away the stone?” Well God took care of that for them didn’t he. The removal of the stone provided the world with the evidence of the empty tomb.
We also meet our other group of people that were there that day. Battle ready soldiers who we would expect to be ready for any intense situation, and among all these women they were the ones that fainted in fear. To get a hold of how fearful they really word I think it helps to know that the very same Greek root word for “Earthquake” that is used in verse 2 is used again in verse 4 to describe how violently the guards were shaking. It is the Greek word Seis, you might recognize it from the tool that we use to messure earthquakes called the seismograph. So the strong mighty men faint out of the scene and the messenger speaks to the women.
From his first words we know that the women too were fearful, but they were about to hear the words of the messenger. Knowing the story as we do, we might read over the angels proclamation quickly, seeing it as just a nice summary of the things that have transpired. But we shouldn’t miss how significant the angels words were. The angel affirmed many things about Jesus that people try to deny even today.
1. He affirms that the women were seeking Jesus in the right place - they didn’t get lost and find the wrong tomb like some skeptics would have us believe.
2. He affirms that Jesus crucified - there was no switcheroo at the last moment like our Morman or modern Jewish friends suggest
3. He affirms that his body was there, but is not there now because he has risen - not because his body was stolen as the ancient Jews claimed
4. He affirms that before Jesus died, he said that He would die and rise from the dead - It was all apart of his mission, Jesus was not a victim or a martyr as some historians claim.
Then he follows up those affirmations with two commands. First to come and then to go.
Then he gave them two command. First to come and then to go.
One must note that once the stone was removed and the seal broken, Jesus did not come forth from the tomb as Lazarus had done (). Jesus had already risen. The removal of the rock provided the opportunity for the world to see evidence of His resurrection, beginning with the women and the guards.
Come see where he lay
They were to come
First they were to come to see the tomb, because the whole reason that he rolled the stone away was to show them the empty tomb as evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. The messenger first told them, and then showed them. He invited them to come see for yourself, He is not here.
Secondly they were to go. Go quickly in fact. Go and tell his disciples that Jesus has risen and that he will come to see you in Galilee just as He said. This was not “new news”. Jesus already told his disciples how this would all play out. After the last supper they sung a hymn and were about to head out to the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus stops them with these words:
You see this should not have been news to the disciples that Jesus had raised from the dead because He told them how it would happen. After the last supper they sung a hymn and were about to head out to the garden of Gethesemene when Jesus stops them.
31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”
The same root word used to describe the shaking caused by the earthquake in is the same word used to describe the terrified position of the guards in this verse. They were not simply shaken by the earthquake; Matthew noted that they were trembling out of great fear at the sight of the angel. In fact, they were so terrified they became like dead men. Unable to move, they were simply spectators at the amazing scene. France notes the irony that the living men who have been assigned to guard Jesus’ corpse were now like a corpse, while the corpse they were guarding was now living (p. 1100).
Matthew 26
Then of course is the part where Peter basically says, ‘Over my dead body” and then Jesus tells him that three times he will deny him before the night is over. But the point is that Jesus knew that the disciples would be in hiding, and he had already told them that He would meet them in Galilee. These women were not bringing new information, they were just bringing the disciples the news that what Jesus said would happen, is happeing now. So the women go…but listen to how they go.
8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
What do you make of the combination of those two feelings?
These women left on the assignment of the messenger from God with a combination of both Fear and Great Joy. This was one of the most profound things that I encountered this week as I prepared for this message.
What exactly does it look like to have both fear and joy in obedience to the mission that God has called me to?
Wanting to make sure I wasn’t making something out of nothing I check other translations of the Bible and all of them said “Fear and Joy”. I even looked at the word used for fear, to see if maybe it had nuances that would lead me away from my common understanding of the word. I found that the word used was “phobos”. It is where we get our word phobia from. It is same word used throughout Scripture for fear and the same word used just a few verses earlier to describe the reason why these women had to step over a few fainted guards on their way in and out of the tomb. Fear…and joy.
This kind of stopped me in my tracks a bit… but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is not as far from my experience as I first imagined.
These women came prepared for their experience with Jesus that day. They thought ahead and brought the right spices, prepared the right oils and they were ready to face again the reality that Jesus was dead. They had been grieving in their hearts over this fact for the entire Sabbath day. But there was nothing they could do until the following morning. So that morning they were ready.
But when they got to the tomb, nothing was as they expected. All of the preparations that they so carefully made were now useless against an entirely new reality. There was no need for spices, no need for oils because there was no dead man in Jesus’ tomb. So yes! this brought great joy because Jesus is alive but…it also brought fear…because now these women had no idea what to expect next.
I think that is where I experience this mix of fear and great joy. There is great Joy when you just know that you are exactly where God wants you to be and you doing exactly what He wants you to be doing. There is this “holy contentment” that brings great joy…sometimes there is holy discontentment when God is trying to get your attention to bring you another way…but in the joy of holy contentment there is also some fear.
Because when you get the point when you know that what you are doing is not at all your plan but solely where God had led you then you don’t really know what is next. God rarely gives us the whole plan all at once. Typically we just get the next step to take and when we are faithful in that then their is another and another and another.
Like the women that day, we might have all our plans already made for our day, week or year - but when our hearts are humbled by the empty tomb, everything is subject to change. And change is hard. And when you don’t even know what will be changed, that is the hardest.
Like the women that day, we might have all our plans already made for our day, week or year - and they are good plans to do good things - but when our hearts are then humbled by something so supernatural like this everything seems subject to change. And change is hard. The unknown can be hard. And when you don’t even know what all will be changed, that is the hardest.
I think that what these women were experiencing in this moment. They had great joy over the things that they now know - that Jesus is alive and wanting to meet with them, but at the very same time they had some fear of those things that were now unknown - what does this truth now mean? For the world? For my life? For my goals? For my plans? For the good things that I have worked so hard to put in order, For the good things that I have established and grown. It is always a little fearful to think that are unexpected supernatural events that could change everything, and the resurrected Jesus continues to be one of those things.
I would bring us back for a moment to the David Platt quote:
“If Jesus did not raise from the dead then we do not have to worry about anything He said, because it was a lie. But if Jesus rose from the dead, then we must accept everything He said, for His authority is absolute.” David Platt
How will the “absolute authority” of Jesus work itself out in the rest of my life? I don’t entirely know yet, and that is what can cause this fear, even in the midst of the Great Joy.
Matthew 28:
So what is the answer to fear like this? These women are about to encounter it. Remember they are on their way to deliver there most important message to the disciples...
9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Matthew 28:
The answer to these women’s fear was a personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus. As they embraced and worshiped Jesus they were no longer in the throws of fear.
Because of the Sabbath, the women had to wait until Sunday to travel to Jesus’ tomb. Mark and Luke both noted that the women’s visit was intended to anoint Jesus’ body in a more appropriate manner than the timing of His death allowed. His burial was quickly completed on Friday so as to bury the body prior to the impending Sabbath, which began at sundown the same day (ESV, 1887; ; ). Matthew also noted the involvement of these women with Jesus’ ministry and as witnesses to Jesus’ death and burial (, ). They were neither strangers to following Jesus nor strangers to His message. That they had witnessed His death and burial made them opportune witnesses to the resurrected Jesus. They knew He had died; they had watched as He was buried behind a great stone.
That the gospel writers, and in this case Matthew, recorded the women as the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection was indicative of the true nature of the resurrection story. In their society, the testimony of a woman was not often considered credible. Had the writers wanted to fabricate a story, they would have developed the first witnesses as men, whose testimony was considered reliable and legally binding (France, p. 1098; Blomberg, p. 426). Although Luke and John’s accounts referenced Peter and another disciple coming to the empty tomb, all accounts note that these women were not only the first witnesses to see the empty tomb and the risen Savior, but were also the first to spread the news. In a male-dominated society, these events would have detracted from the esteem of the male disciples, which not only helped seal the reliability of the event but also helped note the equal value that people should experience in Christ, as later expressed by Paul (; France, p. 1098; Blomberg, p. 426).
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. 2 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. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
The answer to our fear like this is the same. We need to stick close with Jesus. We need to meet with him and worship Him, the one who willingly sacrificed himself for us on the cross because of his love for us.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
1 John 4
When we remember that Jesus is incapable of behaving toward us in any way but perfect love, then we can trust in his complete authority without fear. And so we embrace Jesus. We worship Jesus. We follow Jesus. And the more we do we find that the fear of unknown circumstances is replaced with a faith in a known Savior and Lord.
So Jesus sends these women on to continue in their mission, but without the fear that was holding them back.
Fear gives way to faith and worship in hearts humbled by the empty tomb ()
Fear gives way to faith and worship in hearts humbled by the empty tomb ()
Fear gives way to faith and worship in a heart humbled by the empty tomb () ex: women
Fear gives way to faith and worship in a heart humbled by the empty tomb () ex: women
So we still have the mighty warriors fainted on the ground to deal with. We will see the other side of the story in them. We will see how...
Fear gives way to lies and worry in hearts hardened by the empty tomb (Mathew 28:11-15)
Fear gives way to lies and worry in hearts hardened by the empty tomb (Mathew 28:11-15)
11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
Matthew 28:11=-??? Tension??The empty tomb demands we either recognize the authority of Jesus and His teachings, or reject Him completely.
So we are not exactly sure which flag these soldiers served under. It is possible that they were part of the Temple guard, which would make sense considering the fact that they came back and reported to the chief priests instead of a Roman officer. It is also possible that they were Roman soldiers on lone to the Temple leadership, which is why the Priests said that they would back them up if the governor got word of the incident. What is plain, however, is that even though these soldiers saw the same empty tomb, instead of faith and worship - their fear gave way to lies and worry.
??? Tension??The empty tomb demands we either recognize the authority of Jesus and His teachings, or reject Him completely.
So we are not exactly sure which flag these soldiers served under. It is possible that they were part of the Temple guard, which would make sense considering the fact that they came back and reported to the chief priests instead of a Roman officer. It is also possible that they were Roman soldiers on lone to the Temple leadership, which is why the Priests said that they would back them up if the governor got word of the incident. What is plain, however, is that even though these soldiers saw the same empty tomb, their fear gave way to lies and bribes.
The text says that they were given “a sufficient sum” of money. In other words, the soldiers had their price and the religious leaders were willing to pay it. This would have been a costly sum, because the soldiers mission was to guard the body of Jesus so that his followers could not break in and steal it. This is exactly the lie that the chief priests paid the soldiers to spread.
So while the humble women were out spreading a message of victory, the prideful soldiers were out spreading a message of defeat. And for a soldier to have failed in his mission at best would bring disgrace and at worst would bring death. So they must of paid them well to go along with this plan.
And for a soldier to have failed in his mission at best would bring disgrace and at worst could bring death.
Notice the back alley ways in which the chief priests are still working. These soldiers were paid to “leak” this false narrative to the people. The Chief Priests were not going to go on record with this, but they paid the soldiers to hide the truth and start the rumor that a group of fishermen and a tax accountant overpowered them and stole the body out the tomb.
that the chief priests are still counting on their money to secure their positions and authority.
Gospel Application
These two groups of people both saw an empty tomb. For one it lead them to faith and worship of the one who loved them enough to go to the cross for them. For the other it led to living in lies and worry that someday when the truth finally is revealed, they would have to answer for their decisions.
Notice the back alley way in which they handled the situation. The soldiers were to “leak” the information to people. The Chief Priests were not going to go on record with this, but they paid the soldiers to keep quiet and start a rumor that Jesus’ body was stolen by his followers.
So the question before us today is what has the message of the resurrected Jesus done to our heart this morning?
Has it humbled it again, or maybe for the first time. Is your heart drawn to embrace Jesus in such a way that you are willing to give him authority in every area of your life. This is what believing that Jesus raised from the dead is all about. It is not a intellectual exercise, it is a supernatural one. This is what a saving faith in Jesus Christ looks like. It is not that anyone gets it perfect, but our humbled hearts are willing to keep after it till we do. And we know that every step we take, no matter how scary the unknown might be, will bring us closer to Jesus. And for this we celebrate! We praise and worship God for the empty tomb and the supernatural resurrection of Jesus.
The other option is that the message of the empty tomb has only hardened your heart more. You would rather chase after the many lies and misrepresentations of the truth of God’s Word in order to live your life free from the implications of the message of the empty tomb. This path will never bring you the peace that you think it will. You might spend your whole life denying it, but there is an underline worry that sits on soul because you know that one day the truth will be revealed, and like the soldiers you have to answer for the decision that you made to deny Him.
Because of the empty tomb, Jesus does have
Matthew ends his biography of Jesus in this way:
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:16-
The empty tomb is cause for celebration. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is true. So the Christian Church does not meet in vain and this is our mission. We make disciples. Baptize them. Teach them. Walk with them in observing all that Jesus has taught us. This is what we here at Friendship Church are all about. We embrace and worship Jesus because...
Where is your heart?
Biblical Commentary
Biblical Commentary
CHRIST IS RISEN! He Is Risen Indeed.
He is. If you have any questions about anything that I have said this morning or anything Friendship Church, please feel free to come see me after the service. I would love to talk to you, especially if you sense that God is doing something in your heart today, something that has humbled you and is drawing you into faith and worship of Jesus the Christ.
In proving the identity of Jesus as the Messiah and the assurance of the salvation He offered, His resurrection was imperative. Without the resurrection, He was simply a dead man. Each of the four gospels records Jesus’ crucifixion and the immediate aftermath of His resurrection. Although each gospel writer chose to focus on different details of the resurrection, all tell the story that Jesus was crucified until death and was raised from the dead three days later. None of the gospel accounts record the events of the actual resurrection of Jesus—coming from death to life. Presumably, no human eye actually saw His dead body become alive again (Blomberg, p. 427). However, when the stone was rolled away, there were witnesses who saw the empty tomb and later saw the living Christ. He was and is Lord. Thus, Matthew wanted his readers to respond appropriately.
Importance
Importance
Let me invite the worship team back up, I’ll pray, and we will continue to lift up the name of Jesus together.
This passage teaches that Jesus is God and Savior. Throughout his book, Matthew attempted to convince his Jewish and Gentile readers that Jesus was the Messiah—not that He was a good teacher; not that He was a martyr; not that He was a misunderstood man—that He was the Messiah whom God had promised to bring salvation to His people. The resurrection is the ultimate climax for Matthew and the central event of Christian history. Concerning the resurrection, Blomberg stated that, “without this reversal of the ignominy of the cross, Jesus’ death would have atoned for nothing” (p. 426). Jesus died and was raised three days later. His substitutionary death provided the sacrificial payment for sins, and His resurrection conquered the effects of sin once and for all. He is the Messiah; He is the one who was promised. He is the Savior; He is the one with the means and the desire to bring salvation to the world. There is no other way to the Father, except by Him ().
This passage also supports another Essential Truth: God Is.
That the gospel writers, and in this case Matthew, recorded the women as the first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection was indicative of the true nature of the resurrection story. In their society, the testimony of a woman was not often considered credible. Had the writers wanted to fabricate a story, they would have developed the first witnesses as men, whose testimony was considered reliable and legally binding (France, p. 1098; Blomberg, p. 426). Although Luke and John’s accounts referenced Peter and another disciple coming to the empty tomb, all accounts note that these women were not only the first witnesses to see the empty tomb and the risen Savior, but were also the first to spread the news. In a male-dominated society, these events would have detracted from the esteem of the male disciples, which not only helped seal the reliability of the event but also helped note the equal value that people should experience in Christ, as later expressed by Paul (; France, p. 1098; Blomberg, p. 426).
One must note that once the stone was removed and the seal broken, Jesus did not come forth from the tomb as Lazarus had done (). Jesus had already risen. The removal of the rock provided the opportunity for the world to see evidence of His resurrection, beginning with the women and the guards.
The same root word used to describe the shaking caused by the earthquake in is the same word used to describe the terrified position of the guards in this verse. They were not simply shaken by the earthquake; Matthew noted that they were trembling out of great fear at the sight of the angel. In fact, they were so terrified they became like dead men. Unable to move, they were simply spectators at the amazing scene. France notes the irony that the living men who have been assigned to guard Jesus’ corpse were now like a corpse, while the corpse they were guarding was now living (p. 1100).
The angel seemed to pay no attention to the terrified guards, but he acknowledged the frightened women and their task to visit Jesus’ body. No doubt the women were in frightened awe at the scene before them. The angel’s admission that they sought Jesus, who had been crucified, as well as his encouragement to look where Jesus’ body had laid verified that they were at the correct tomb and that Jesus had, indeed, died. Jesus had predicted His own death, which they had witnessed. Now, they were to witness the fulfillment of His words that He would be brought to life again (, ). The absence of Jesus’ body reveals the physical nature of the resurrection. He was not only alive spiritually but physically as well, as was evidenced by the empty tomb. The angel laid out evidence before the women so that they would believe the resurrection: Jesus’ true death, Jesus’ own teaching, and the empty tomb. Having seen all of the evidence, the angel instructed the women to be the messengers of the resurrection to the disciples, which describes the fulfillment of Jesus’ words in .
Although some translations read differently, the verb tense concerning the bodily resurrection is in passive voice, indicating that Jesus was raised by God. “No text of Scripture ever speaks of Jesus as raising himself but always as being raised by God” (Blomberg, p. 427). A dead man cannot raise himself. Although fully God, Jesus was also fully human. Jesus was truly dead as a man and brought to life again by the Father. This picture also illustrates the nature of salvation, in which a person is dead to sin but brought to new life by the power and grace of God.
Scholars debate on whether the guards were Jewish guards or Roman soldiers temporarily “loaned” to the Jewish leaders. Whether the guards were Jewish or Roman is of little concern, but one should note that their primary purpose was to make sure that no one, specifically Jesus’ disciples, robbed His body from the tomb (). The Jewish leaders used this small regiment and sealed the tomb. Sealing a tomb usually involved stretching a cord across the stone and sealing it to the rock with clay. The soldiers would have likely been present for the sealing and then continued to guard the tomb (Vincent, p. 147).
By the time the guards were able to move again, they had witnessed amazing things, including an empty tomb. The very thing that the Jewish leaders wanted to prevent became the very lie they convinced the guards to tell—that Jesus’ body was stolen while the guards slept. Admitting to sleeping while on guard could have been punishable by death at worst and caused great damage to their reputations at best. The chief priests and elders bribed the guards with enough money to offset any issues and guaranteed their safety with the governor, indicating another bribe if necessary. “ . . . It [was] better to pretend that their plan to thwart Jesus’ disciples had failed than to admit the reality of the resurrection they knew his disciples would now claim as fact” (France, p. 1105). The guards had seen the truth but cowered under the weight of greed. The religious leaders knew the truth but cowered under pride. That they would go to such lengths to lie expresses the truth of the empty tomb; the priests could not deny that the tomb was empty.
Implications
Implications
When we are faced with truth of Jesus’ resurrection, we have options on what to do with that truth. We can acknowledge the truth intellectually but fail to accept it as part of our lives; we can ignore it completely; we can deny it totally; or we can accept it as meaningful and do something with it. No matter how we respond, the truth is still the truth. We daily face a decision about Jesus’ resurrection: How do we respond to the resurrection? Do we accept it intellectually but fail to let it make a difference in our lives? Do we ignore the authority of the Bible and disregard the Bible completely? Do we allow it to change us? Each moment we live out a response to the risen Jesus. What do your learners see as your response?
Learners today are faced with the same question that Pilate posed to Jesus before the crucifixion: “What is truth?” () They need to be grounded in the truth of Christ and the truth of His resurrection. The crux of Christianity is founded upon the truth of His resurrection. Yet many today claim that it is a lie. It is okay to help learners, especially Discoverers (those who are seeking the truth or have newly made a profession of faith) and Owners (those who are digging into the Scripture as they begin to own their faith), wrestle through the reality of the resurrection. And when they come face-to-face with the resurrection, they come face-to-face with Jesus. Help them to understand that their response isn’t merely intellectual but one that changes the rest of their lives on earth and for eternity