Easter Sunday 2021

Good morning and welcome to Cutler Bay Worship Center. We are so glad you’ve come to join us this morning as we celebrate Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday is arguably the most sacred and important celebration that the Christian Church has. And that is because it is the only reason the Christian Church exists.

See, Christianity doesn’t really exist if Easter Sunday never happens.

Even Christmas, where we celebrate the birth of Jesus…without Easter Sunday, Christmas would just be a story about a baby being born into a pretty difficult situation.

But Easter Sunday. Man, Easter Sunday changes everything.

If you don’t know the story, Jesus was this man who lived 2000 years ago and was a religious teacher. He how unique power. He was able to heal sick people. He was able to do incredible miracles. Maybe you’ve heard some of the stories, like the time he turned water into wine. Or the time he walked on water. And he had a pretty big following of people. Which made the current religious leaders of the time pretty upset. And it was actually those very religious leaders who wanted Jesus dead. They were the ones who didn’t like him. Because up until that point they had a pretty good control over what was happening. And how many know that when someone has control over someone else, they don’t like someone coming in and telling them how to be free?

And that’s exactly what Jesus did. Jesus came onto the scene and started telling people that if they followed him they would have the greatest life possible. That he came to give them a good life, but it required them following him, and that made these other religious leaders really angry.

Jesus also started telling people that he was the Son of God. See, we believe that God is represented in three unique and separate, yet completely One God, that is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. So when Jesus started saying, My Father who is in heaven, sent me… That made them even more upset.

He was also doing things they had not seen.

People born with blind eyes. Jesus would heal them and they could see.

People crippled from birth. Jesus would heal them and they could walk.

People who were really not good people at all, some who were even caught in the very acts of sin were brought before Jesus and he would tell them that he forgives them, and invited them to live a good life from that point on.

These religious leaders thought, How could a man forgive someone’s sin? Only God can do that.

Exactly, only God CAN do that.

So, they come to a point where they will no longer put up with Jesus messing up their nice little religion. So they convinced Judas, who was one of Jesus own friends and followers, to betray him.

Jesus sits down for what we now call the “Last Supper” with his 12 closest followers, we call them disciples. And at that supper he even knows it. He says that one of them is going to betray him. See, this is the most amazing part about Jesus, it’s that he knows what we do wrong, and loves us anyways. We know that our actions betray him, but he still wants to have dinner with us.

In the Bible, the book of Romans, in chapter 5:8 says, God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

But what if I don’t identify with being a sinner? What if I’ve lived a good life, or what I think is a good life. I’ve been nice, generous, kind… I mean, What’s a sinner, anyway? Well, in all honestly: it’s you, it’s me, it’s all of us.

Romans 3:23 says, For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

All of us need the grace and forgiveness that only God can give. So, being labeled a sinner just simply puts us in the same category as everyone else in this world who has ever lived from the very beginning of creation. It doesn’t matter how good, or how bad we’ve been, none of us have been perfect. Close to perfect, we all have that one friend that thinks so, right? But this is the truth, to meet God’s standard we would need to be absolutely perfect with zero faults.

But here’s the thing. God never expected you to be able to meet his standard on your own. That’s the entire point of this. It’s not about failing to meet a certain standard, it’s about being invited into a life where that standard is met by someone else.

God doesn’t look at humanity and say, “Well, they’ve sinned, too bad, I had so much good stuff for them, but because they’ve sinned, because they couldn’t keep up with what I wanted them to do, they can’t have it.” No, listen, God don’t play games.

This is why Romans 5 is so important. It says that when we were absolutely useless, meaning, there’s no way we could save ourselves, that is when Jesus Christ came to give his life for us.

But did Jesus really have to die for that? If he’s God, couldn’t He just forgive us?

Well, we believe that God created this world and all of the people in it. We believe the Genesis account of the Bible. We believe that God established Israel as his chosen people. And in the Bible it tells us that God set in front of humanity a system, or a way of living that would cause them to be blessed. But he also knew that no one is perfect because he gave us what we call free-will, the choice to make our own decisions.

Free-will is a tricky thing.

See, God loves the humanity he created. And yet he gave us the ability to choose NOT to love him in return.

I don’t know what your situation is, but before Kelley and I got together and got married, there had been a few girls in my life that I really liked. And when they didn’t like me in return....man…the rejection. Anyone ever experience that rejection? You love someone, but they choose not to love you. Maybe that’s a relationship you were in. Maybe that’s a friend that’s walked away. Maybe that’s one of your kids that you had a falling out with.

God gave us choice. Imagine that. Creating someone you love so much, and letting them choose whether or not they love you in return.

And God knew, just like we know our kids don’t always make the right choices, that we, all of us, all of humanity, wouldn’t always make the right choice. To listen. To obey. I know none of you probably deal with this, but we have a daughter that doesn’t listen 100% of the time. I mean, she’s good. She’s amazing. But 100% of the time, no way.

So God created this system to ensure that the relationship between him and humanity could always be fixed and made right. When our kids do something wrong, hurt someone, or disobey, what do we do? We teach them to apologize. We teach them our actions have consequences. We teach them to say sorry, to repair the relationship.

So, God’s system was to bring a sacrifice, or an offering, to a priest who would take it and offer it to God on your behalf. So, you needed to have an animal, as sheep, ox, ram, and you needed to go to the temple and you needed to find a priest, every time you had done something that went against what God had laid out for you and you wanted to make right with God.

I think that would be exhausting. Every time you did something wrong, making sure you went to offer the appropriate sacrifice. In fact, the instructions for all of this say, in the book of Leviticus 17:11, I [God] have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the LORD. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.

So, there was always a way. There was always an option. But continually we would fall short. But, see, God always had a plan for redemption. Redemption that would include a forever sacrifice that would no longer require us to find an animal, track down the priest, or get ourselves to the temple every time we messed up.

That night that Jesus was betrayed, he was also arrested. He was brought before a government official by those religious leaders that wanted to get rid of him. That government official questioned him and said, “I don’t find any fault in this man, he’s done nothing wrong.”

We call Jesus the pure and spotless lamb for a reason. Because he had not done anything wrong, and yet, they wanted him dead.

The government officials that Jesus had been brought to eventually just said, “Do with him as you please.” And the people all joined together and cried out, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him...”

And so they did. They took him, beat him, mercilessly, and then made him carry his own cross down the road and up the hill where they eventually nailed him to that cross and there he died.

Was all of it over? Was that the end of the story? People were asking, because Jesus had said that He was the son of God, that He was the Messiah, which means the savior, that they had all been waiting for. Well, how are you a savior if you’re dead? How are you going to save me if you can’t even save yourself?

I like how the Apostle Peter says it in Acts 2:23, he says, But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip!

See, this is what changes everything. Like I said, Without Easter Sunday, this is just a nice story.

Without Easter Sunday, Jesus was just a good man.

Without Easter Sunday, Jesus was maybe a great teacher.

Maybe a prophet, a rabbi, and even someone who could perform miracles and he healed sick people. But after someone like that dies, they are gone and their story is over, right?

And so, without Easter Sunday, all of that talk about saving people. All of the promises of eternal life. All of the promises of our sin being taken from us and us being made right with God again. All of that can’t be true, can it? It doesn’t work with the man who said it being dead and gone. The darkness of our situation ends up staying dark. The pain of our hurts doesn’t go away. The affliction of sin, that human condition, the inability to be perfect and meet God’s standard, as Romans says, is not just our history, but our future.

See, that’s the real thing. This standard of God makes us all equal. The cross is the great leveling field, it’s the perfect equalizer. Because like Paul says in Romans 3, ALL have sinned and fall short of God’s glorious standard. Not some of us. Not people who are obviously bad. Not people who are intentionally evil. But ALL of us. We’re all put into the same category, “we can’t measure up.”

And that just might be the greatest gift you could ever be given. Because it means you no longer need to carry the pressure of trying to measure up.

If you never can, then you’ve just been given permission to realize that. That doesn’t mean we don’t try, that doesn’t mean we don’t live a good life. In fact, what it does is gives us permission to do our absolute BEST WITHOUT the fear of failure because whether we succeed or not, God still loves us. You won’t ever be perfect. I won’t ever be perfect. And that is actually a comfort to me, because it means that I am absolutely dependent on the free gift that God wants to give me, so I can live, doing my absolute best to follow what God wants for my life, without the fear of failing him and being punished for it.

See, it’s not because we are good that God loves us. It’s not because we can keep it all together, or because we do the right thing, or go long enough without doing the wrong thing. It’s not because we go to church, or give to charity, or save the whales, or advocate for the best cause in town. God loves you because He created you. You are his creation. In fact the bible calls you his masterpiece.

It’s in the book of Ephesians 2:8-10, God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Did you hear that? For we are God’s masterpiece. So, I want you to just lean over to the person next to you and say very calmly, very gently, “You know I’m a masterpiece, right? God broke the mold when he created me!”

God’s love for you is not a reward for the good things you’ve done.

That redemption from not being perfect, it’s not because you did a good job.

It’s a gift, a free gift because of what Jesus Christ did. Because on Good Friday, which is what we celebrated 2 days ago, was the moment he was betrayed, arrested, beaten and sentenced to death on a cross… And although on Saturday everyone was wondering what just happened. How did we not see this coming? Was it all not true? Was he not really the messiah, the savior, our champion? Was he not what He said he was? Was he not the son of God??? And if he wasn’t, then all that he said can’t be true, because now he’s dead and gone...

BUT then Sunday came...

Matthew 28:1-8, Early on Sunday morning as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face sone like lightening and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”

The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message.

Jesus is ALIVE! and Easter Sunday changes everything...

Because if Jesus is alive, then what he said is TRUE!

He is the Messiah, the savior of the world.

You have forgiveness of sins because you believe. That inability to measure up is now gone because God looks at you through the measure of Jesus sacrifice!

We are all equally unable to save ourselves, equally dependent on Jesus Christ, equally set free because of His great love for us!

Without the resurrection, this is just a decent story, but BECAUSE of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it’s all truer than true, Jesus Christ is alive and he wants you to follow him to LIFE!

Maybe some of you even feel like Jesus a little bit.

Jesus was let down by religion, it was the religious leaders that wanted to kill him. Has religion has let you down? Have you been hurt by a church, by religious leaders, by people who claim to be Christian but you wonder how they acted like they did?

Have religious leaders cast you out, written you off, said you weren’t worth it?

Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest friends… Some of you have gone through that very same thing, where close friends turned their backs on you.

Those situations took Jesus to the end of his life here on earth, but not the end of his story! And those situations in your life don’t have to be the end of your story either. You can let that part of your life die, so that God can resurrect life in you! See, the story of Jesus Christ is the greatest redemption story ever told, and today, God wants that redemption story to be YOUR redemption story.

Listen, you may have said prayers before. You may have gone to church. You may have been baptised as a baby, or young child. Gone through rituals and ceremonies. But Today is a unique day where I believe God is inviting each of us to make a bold statement that in of ourselves we are unable to meet the standard, and because we recognize that, we want this free gift that He is offering. If you have found that you are kind of at the end of yourself. At the end of your resources. At the end of your ability to make life happen. Today is a good day to accept the invitation to follow the way of Jesus, because his promise is true, happy, life.

If you feel that way at all this morning, I want to invite you to pray with me. Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice of Good Friday, and thank you for the miracle of Easter Sunday. I want to take you up on your offer of redemption. I want to take you up on your promise of life. I want to follow you. Would you remove from me anything I have done against you, or against anyone else. Would you forgive me of those sins. Would you change my life. Change my heart.

Now, I want to invite you this morning. Here at Cutler Bay Worship Center we are a community of people just doing the best we can with what we have. That means building relationship together. That means learning what it means to follow Jesus. That means learning what it means to be the church in 2021. And we would love for you to join us in this journey. Because we love people.

We are so grateful you’ve joined us this morning. Please come and enjoy a drink, make sure your children get a gift from us this morning. And my hope and prayer for you today is that you experience the life giving power of Jesus Christ on this Easter Sunday!