Sunrise Service - Easter 2021

Welcome, Thank you for joining us on this Easter Sunrise service. If you joined us on Thursday night for our Maundy Thursday service, we ended that service not just looking at the last supper on Thursday night, but we looked at Jesus’s arrest and his crucifixion. At the end of Friday, Jesus’s disciples were not only in shock from what had happened to Jesus, they were in fear for their own lives. They were worried that the powers that had killed Jesus would come after them next. So they were in hiding and keeping a low profile. Nevertheless, a group of women who had been Jesus’s disciples loved Jesus more than they loved their own safety, so the went to the grave to finish the preparation of Jesus’s body for burial. Here is how Luke describes the event, beginning on Friday when Jesus’s body was taken down from the cross and put in a grave before the start of the Sabbath…

Luke 23:55–24:10 CSB

55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. 1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. 5 So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. 6 “He is not here, but he has risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’ 8 And they remembered his words. 9 Returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. 10 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things.

Let’s Pray...

Other religions have their prophets and saviors. Buddha’s grave is in Jingchuan County in China. Muhammad’s grave is in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Sikhs visit various tombs of their gurus in Pakistan. If you visit any of those places their occupants are still inside. The places are considered holy and are revered by the people who follow that religion. But Christianity is different because we worship a Savior who did not stay in the grave. You can travel to Israel and visit the place where people believe Jesus was buried. However, that tomb is empty. Our Savior is not dead and buried somewhere, He is alive!

The very first Easter Sunday, a group of women went to a grave and were the first witnesses to the greatest news ever to be declared in all of time.

Luke 24:5–6 CSB

5 So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. 6 “He is not here, but he has risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee,

The truth of Jesus’s resurrection is of utmost importance. Unlike other religions that are based on people trying to improve themselves and become worthy of some greater existence, our faith is based entirely on the grace of God. The truth of Christ’s sacrifice being a sufficient payment for our sins depends completely on the resurrection. I heard it said that the cross was Jesus writing the check to pay for our sins, and the resurrection was the proof that the check cleared. The sacrifice had been accepted, and its purpose was validated.

The blessing of a faith based on grace means that we don’t have to worry about how our balance sheet looks. We are not judged on a scale of good versus evil. There is not a scale up in heaven with our name on it, tilting sometimes one way when we do something good, and another way when we do something wrong. The truth is that none of our scales would ever tilt towards good anyway. So God doesn’t base our salvation on our goodness or lack of goodness. He judges those of us who have put our faith in Jesus based on Christ’s goodness. That is why we can share the greatest news with the world that has ever been given. No matter how long your ledger is detailing how fare in debt you are with God, you can be saved by letting Jesus pay off your debt, no matter how big it is.

This is good news for the college friend who spent most her life partying. It is good news for the person who got caught up in some illegal activities just to survive. It’s good news for the workaholic that let money and the next promotion take over his or her life. It’s good news for the person who developed a substance abuse problem in their lives. It’s good news for the person who tried their best to be a good person, but just wasn’t able to reach perfection. The biker with tattoos all over their body and the investment banker with a fake tan both benefit from the grace of God. No one will be turned away, no matter what you’re battling, if you just respond to Jesus and give your life to Him.

That first Easter morning changed every morning after it. Throughout that first day of Jesus’s resurrection, He appeared to a number of people, and for forty days Jesus continued to appear and have encounters with His followers. He was then taken up into heaven, but he promised the disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit to be with them in His place. By doing so, Jesus didn’t just leave us a friend and a counselor to help us in our faith, He provided us with the power we needed to let God transform our lives from what he had become to what He wanted to make us.

From there, the first disciples began a movement that spread from Jerusalem, and over time it has reached many peoples and nations with the Good News of salvation through faith in Jesus. But the task is still not finished. Let us continue to ask God to help us do our part in reaching the nations with His Gospel, and bringing people from every kingdom, tribe and tongue into His heavenly kingdom. Let us help others who are stuck in religions or belief systems where their teachers and saviors have a tomb that still holds the body of the person they follow, to discover the grace and mercy of a God who loved us enough to lay down His life for us, and powerful enough to take it back again. Let us remind people all over the world that our Savior is not in a grave… no, He is risen!

Let’s pray...