Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

I. CONNECTION/TENSION

Avengers: Endgame

Biggest opening maybe ever.

Over $1 billion in sales.

Saw it with the kids on opening day.

No spoilers.

I will point out one thing: it’s all about how to overcome death.

Backstory from previous movie.

1/2 of all living things in the universe zapped out of existence by Thanos with his infinity gauntlet.

World is a sad, broken place.

Avengers are going to get everyone back.

Now, that theme doesn’t sound at all familiar, does it?

The world is sad, broken by sin.

Death is the ultimate fate of all living things.

Who will conquer?

Today we are continuing the series we began on Easter Sunday.

We’re talking about how the resurrection changed everything.

Because of the resurrection, we know what the cross (death) was all about.

Because of Easter, we understand the meaning of Good Friday.

At the cross, Jesus died in our place for our sins; Jesus entered into our pain and our shame; Jesus came and took the weight of Evil itself—so that its power could be broken.

And because Jesus didn’t stay in the grave, we see that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is God in His love freeing us from sin . . .

God in His love overcoming death . . .

God in His love announcing that one day a new creation will come.

You see, it’s because of the death and resurrection of Jesus that we see the love of God.

When we look at Jesus, we can say, “This is love.”

I want to talk to you today about how the resurrection of Jesus is about God conquering death.

Death is the great tragedy of the human experience.

Many of us are catastrophizers (i just made that word up).

Someone who imagines catastrophes around the corner all the time.

Remember the “Drama in Real Life” stories in Reader’s Digest?

These days its on YouTube videos or documentaries on NatGeo or something.

They were interesting and exciting, but also terrifying!

In hindsight, I don’t know if it was the smartest idea for me to read those because it took my already tentative nature and filled my very active imagination with all the possible ways an everyday occurrence or a leisurely activity on holiday could turn deadly.

A walk by the sea could lead to a bite by a rare crab, which triggers a deadly infection.

A hike in the mountains could be shrouded by a fast-moving storm that turns the weather cold and the conditions extreme.

A road trip for a friend’s wedding could become a nightmare when a semi-truck gets a flat tire.

And on and on it goes.

Whether or not you are a “catastrophizer”—someone who imagines catastrophes around the corner!—we all live under the shroud of death.

As the saying goes, “No one gets out of here alive.”

Even the avoidance of aging is a burgeoning industry.

We do everything we can to feel, in Bob Dylan’s words, “forever young.”

And all kidding aside, the fear of all fears is death.

Sociologists have observed that just about every society has its own version of “immortality symbols”—things that give the assurance of living forever.

Egyptian ankh.

Ouroboros

Infinity symbol

Celtic knot

In ancient times, it was about being properly enshrined or buried among the gods.

Think of the pharaohs in Egypt or the Taj Mahal in India.

For Americans, it’s about big houses and cars, big trust funds and retirement accounts—things that we think will live on long after us.

We want to make a name for ourselves, leave our mark, and therefore carry our legacy forward.

Some of these things are not bad; they may even be decent motivations.

We may be thinking about leaving the world a better place for future generations.

But as far as being immortality symbols—something that makes us live on after death—they come woefully short.

Death is the great ending, the great finality, the inescapable curtain call.

So when Jesus went to the cross on a Friday, it was anything but “good.”

His followers were devastated.

The dream was over.

Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus said, they “had hoped that He would be the Messiah,” but now that hope had ended.

Their heads hung low, their bodies felt lifeless, their hearts felt hollow, and their eyes were swollen from weeping.

How could this be?

If you’ve ever seen Les Miserables—the Broadway play or the movie—I think the scene where Fantine sings, “I dreamed a dream that cannot be” captures the kind of heart-broken despair that the disciples must have felt that Friday.

It’s good not to rush past that moment.

You see, the darkness and the tragedy of Good Friday capture how we often feel in life: overwhelmed by brokenness in the world, filled with discouragement or despair, aware of the darkness and fear in our own hearts.

Death is the end of all possibilities.

And if there is no answer for death, then all other answers do not matter.

What can lift our heavy heads?

II.

TEXT/PARTICIPATION

“Love is as strong as death,” the poet sang in the Song of Solomon.

“Love is as strong as death,” the poet sang in the Song of Solomon.

“No,” said the Father on Easter morning.

“Love is stronger.”

In the resurrection, God the Father showed the world that there is a love that is stronger than death.

The preaching of the New Testament—particularly in the book of Acts and in Paul’s writings—makes a point to say that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead.

This matters because we are not meant to see Jesus as some sort of Superman figure, brought to the brink of death by some evil villain, who somehow musters up the last bits of life to burst free.

The Gospel writers and the first preachers of Jesus want us to know that Jesus did really and truly die.

He was buried.

Fully dead.

But God the Father did not abandon His beloved Son in the grave.

He vindicates His faithful obedience and sacrificial death by raising Him up to new life!

Here are a few ways the New Testament says it:

Peter said in :

Paul expanded on this in :

Paul would develop this even further in his letters to the churches he started or was trying to encourage.

He understood that the resurrection of Jesus is not just good news for Jesus; it’s good news for the world!

Paul would develop this even further in his letters to the churches he started or was trying to encourage.

He understood that the resurrection of Jesus is not just good news for Jesus; it’s good news for the world!

But some Christians in Corinth weren’t sure.

They wondered if all of this was really necessary to believe.

Couldn’t they just say that Jesus was a good teacher and was still here spiritually?

Why did it matter if He had actually been raised from the dead?

These questions brought out some of Paul’s clearest teaching on the resurrection.

I want us to take a closer look at what he said.

I’ll make three big observations from it.

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.