Sermon Tone Analysis

Easter, Matthew 28:1-10, March 23, 2008

*“Running on Empty”*

Introduction: Christ is Risen!

He is Risen indeed!

This is our Easter proclamation.

What a glorious message we have today!

This is our shout of victory as our God has defeated all are enemies, the crushing weight of sinful guilt, the power of evil and the sting of death.

It is a wonderful statement of faith that we cherish above all other confessions.

It is the foundation of what we believe and what gives our lives meaning.

At least it is supposed to.

Christ is Risen!

He is Risen indeed!

How is it that we proclaim these words and receive their message?

It is all a matter of perspective, that is, it matters how we come to this moment of Easter morning, how we approach the events of Good Friday with our Lord’s crucifixion and death, and how we view His empty grave that give this day significance.

How did this day begin for you?

Perhaps it started days and weeks ago as new dresses and new clothes were purchased in anticipation of the day.

My mother always looked forward to Easter because she got one new dress every year for Easter and that dress would be her church clothes for the rest of the year.

She carried the tradition over to her family…New suits new dresses, new ties new shoes.

That is one way to approach this day.

Today is Easter, for many of you, as the morning dawned; it began with thoughts and preparations for the day’s festive meal.

This is a great day for a celebration meal.

No doubt, for some of the children this day began in a very different way.

It started by jumping out of bed, running through out the house and searching for the treasures that the Easter Rabbit has hidden…eggs, baskets of chocolate…candy, perhaps a chocolate cross and maybe even a fluffy stuffed rabbit.

These too, are way to approach this day.

Let me share how a very dear friend of our family approached this holy week and this holy day.

Her name is Gail and she sent us this email.

Dear one and all, Let me just start by saying I thank God for each of you--your kindnesses, hugs, notes, emails, and your presence in my life.

We had such a wonderful busy weekend (being Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week).

For starters, Stephanie (her daughter) was confirmed.

She was so excited and happy to profess her Christian faith.

It was a parental milestone for us.

Afterwards, we had 30 or so people for a luncheon party.

Teenagers in the basement, uncles in the sunroom, cousins in front of the Badger basketball game.

Music, sheepshead, and of course, food.

Lots of food.

Ham and shrimp (no squid Alicia!) and cheese, Doris Wilson's fabulous potatoes, Mom's unbelievable 3-layer coconut cake, Aunt Betty's baked beans, a bit of fresh maple syrup (thanks Uncle Richard!), etc.

No fluffy green vegetables--typical for a Wisconsin party!! Really a fun day--the best medicine I could ever hope for!

The revealing of my cancer has been accompanied by God's revealing of His presence and love in my life.

A good example happened just yesterday, sitting in church yesterday singing, "Let us Ever Walk with Jesus".

The words went straight to my heart . . .

"Let us walk w~/ Jesus, suffer here w~/ Jesus, gladly die w~/ Jesus, also live w~/ Jesus.

Though today we sow no laughter, we shall reap celestial joy, all discomforts that annoy shall give way to mirth hereafter."

Now that my cancer is revealed, I have been suffering a bit, experiencing annoying discomforts, and not sowing much laughter.

And God's promises to me are so sweet from the rest of the hymn: joy will follow all our sadness; where He is there is no loss; we shall reap celestial joy; He has risen from the dead; where He lives there we shall be, granting life eternally.

For me, His sweetness is heightened by my sadness.

And because of this, I would never trade my cancer.

Not ever.

I confirm my walk with Jesus along with Stephanie (my daughter).

Two perspectives, two ways to approach the cross of Jesus and His empty tomb, From one perspective there are preparations to make, clothes and festive meals, bunnies, chocolate and candy.

From the other there is cancer, uncertainty, possible death.

For the child the candy tastes sweet.

For the woman struggling with cance it is the most delicious taste on the tongue.

For the first, the story of Easter is another happy day.

For the latter it means life itself.

All people will ultimately die, sooner or later.

We’re born into this world for a short time and for most of us we’re gone before a century is done.

In this life, no matter how we try to deny it, no matter how we try to live as if it weren’t so, the fact is that death is here for everyone without exception!

\\             "The wages of sin," the Bible says, "is death..." That’s the real reason why people die.

Whatever people may think and say about death, they know in their bones that death doesn’t end it all.

That’s why people fear it so much!

And their fears are confirmed by God’s Word which says, "...man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment."

With judgment comes fear.

\\             But today we celebrate the end of that fear!

We celebrate because we are a people that have an eternal hope.

We celebrate an empty tomb!

God sent His sinless Son, Jesus, to share our flesh and blood with all the limitations that each of us have as human beings.

He came to take our place and to fulfill what all of us find impossible to fulfill.

And His purpose was that through His death on the cross, He would break the power of Satan, who had the power of death.

And by His resurrection to deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying (Heb.

2:14-15).

\\             The Lord Jesus Christ went through everything that we have to go through.

And for us, He even met that final enemy – death, head-on!

But He emerged triumphant!

They pulled His lifeless body down from the cross and carried it into the tomb.

But on the third day, He walked out of that tomb, the risen, victorious Son of God – just as the angel had said to the women: "Don’t be afraid!" he said.

"I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

He isn’t here!

He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen.

Come, see where his body was lying."

“Come and see where His body WAS lying!

\\             In his book Therefore Stand, Wilbur Smith points out that of all the religions of the world – the only one that talks about an open and empty tomb is Christianity.

Abraham, regarded by the Jews as the father of their faith, died 2000 years before Christ.

Although he died with faith in God’s promises – he himself could lay no claim of his own to have power over death.

In the sacred books of Buddhism, it says that when Buddha died it was "with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind."

He had no power over death.

Mohammed, the founder of Islam died at Medina in 632 AD and that’s where he’s buried.

All of their bones lie in the dust of death!

There’s only One whom death couldn’t hold.

He’s the One who said, "I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."

We, this morning, have an empty tomb, a broken seal, a stone rolled away from the door of the grave.

You won’t find the bones of the Son of God anywhere!

He lives and He reigns to all eternity!

\\             The apostle Paul wrote: "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.

After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time."

He is risen!

\\             Friends, if the Easter Bunny led any of you here this morning in the spirit that "everybody goes to church on Easter," then let me disturb you enough to see that what we’re really celebrating here today is the empty tomb!

And through the news of the empty tomb of the risen Christ, to call you to believe and to live in the reality of that empty tomb! \\             An empty tomb, what does Jesus Christ’s empty tomb mean to us?

The empty tomb proves to us beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ really is who He says He is — that He "...was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead."

It shows us that His words are true!

He said, "Destroy this body and in three days I’ll raise it up again."