Easter -- 2008 ideas
RESURRECTION POWER Philippians 3:8-11
On August 6, 1945, United States Air Force bombers dropped the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare, destroying Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later another bomb leveled Nagasaki and brought an end to World War II.
Each bomb produced as much energy as the detonation of a stack of explosives the size of the Washington Monument. When these bombs exploded, all buildings within a half-mile radius were totally destroyed.
That's power, but it does not compare to resurrection power.
Standing approximately fifty stories high in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River is Hoover Dam, one of the highest concrete darns in the world. The concrete used to build the dam would pave a two-lane highway from New York City to San Francisco. The water from Lake Mead flowing through giant turbines generates the electricity which supplies the states of Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California. That's power, but it does not compare to resurrection power. (Facts of above illustration gathered from World Book Encyclopedia.)
Think of the power generated by one locomotive, enough to move 100 freight cars; or the power of two jet engines, enough to lift a 500 passenger 747 into flight; or the power of a nuclear reactor, enough to supply electricity for entire states. Describe any power you can think of, and none of it compares to resurrection power. Paul the Apostle testified that one of his goals in life was simply "that I may know Christ and the power of his resurrection." Consider the incomparable results of resurrection power.
I. Resurrection Power Maintains Hope (1 Peter 1:3)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
God's merciful heart toward us is focused on a magnificent matter: "who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope." The Lord's mercy has provided a plan whereby He can righteously hold back the awful judgment that we rightly deserve. This plan of salvation offers new birth. God has "begotten us again." This could be rendered, "caused us to be born again." We all were begotten of our earthly parents, a birth that brings temporal human life. For all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus as our personal Savior, we have been given a new birth from God into everlasting spiritual life in Christ. This is one of the heavenly realities that relate to justification (being declared righteous in God's sight, and thereby able to begin a walk with God).
This new birth is also "to a living hope." When we were born into the Lord's family, real "hope" became available to us everafter. Biblical hope is about absolute certainties concerning the future. It is about guaranteed expectations for time and eternity. These are vital needs for every person. Otherwise, people flounder in hopelessness and despair, or they march along in vain fantasies and imaginations.
The unique hope the Lord provides for us is a "living hope." It is a hope that pulsates with resurrection life. "[God] has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." This hope is permeated with the Lord's resurrection. This resurrection hope is sufficient to raise us from any agonizing deadness, whether in our aching hearts or in our threatening circumstances.
II. Resurrection Power Mandates Change I Peter 1:16-21
Sanctification is that process whereby the redeemed are increasingly set apart for the purposes, use, and glory of God. The resurrection of Christ and the power of that resurrection are interwoven into that entire process. This passage offers additional insight into this great truth.
The context involves more than heavenly empowerment: "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection." The primary context is getting to know the Lord. "I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." Paul's passion was to know His Lord, to become more intimately acquainted with Him. He refers to this blessed goal as the greatest value available in all of creation: "I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ," Paul was ready to lose anything in order to gain more intimacy with the Lord. To him, such a knowing of Christ was "the excellence" This could be translated, "the excelling value."
III. Resurrection Power magnifies New Life (Colossians 2:12-13)
[You were] buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses... He has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.
Our relationship with the Lord began in "the power of His resurrection." We were dead in our sins, and the Lord raised us to new life, as we believed upon Him. What a wonderful way to start out our relationship with God. A glorious season of joy and gratitude accompanied this personal resurrection. His resurrection power gives us such a great appreciation of who our Lord actually is, a God of might and power.
Through faith in Christ and our identification with Him, we were also raised from the tomb with Jesus. "In which [that is, by identification] you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." (Colossians 2:12-13) Just as His death became our death through identification, so also His resurrection became our resurrection. "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection" (Romans 6:5). In God's sight, we were raised to a new life in Christ. "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism [that is, by identification] into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).
The next verse in Colossians offers another aspect of our need for a personal spiritual resurrection. "And you, being dead in your trespasses...He has made alive together with Him." Before we were justified through faith in Christ, we were not only guilty and condemned, we were spiritually dead. We had no true life in us. We could not relate to God or interact with Him. For us to start out with God in justification, the Lord had to raise us with Christ from our spiritual deadness. This is life magnified to it best.
The empty tomb bears a powerful, silent witness to Jesus' bodily resurrection. Jesus' resurrection was attested by His personal appearance to various individuals and groups of followers. Jesus' resurrection was witnessed by those who saw the empty tomb and never returned there because they knew he lived. However, the greatest proof of resurrection power is the church itself. Would a little group of disillusioned disciples, like scared rabbits hiding behind locked doors, be suddenly transformed into mighty lions ready to fight the forces of evil if their faith was fabricated falsehood? Would early Christians have defied a pagan world, have suffered and died for a lie? Would a movement that began with a small group of common people have a pagan empire on its knees in less than three centuries if it were rooted in the dead body of a lowly Galilean buried in a Palestinian tomb? Would that movement, in spite of fire, peril, and sword, have spread down the centuries in the hearts of all who believe if Jesus Christ were not "declared to be the Son of God with power...by the resurrection of the dead" (Romans 1:4)? A thousand times NO!
The power of the resurrection is this: "He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today... You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!"
And because of that resurrection power, you can embrace hope, experience change, and enjoy new life.
See Also John 9:7-17
“I lay down my life that I may take it again…I have power to lay it down and take it again.”
Sermon for Easter:
John 20:1-18 - Why I Believe in the Resurrection
You probably do not remember the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin. During his day he was as powerful a man as there was on earth. A Russian Communist leader he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution 1917, was editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda (which by the way means truth), and was a full member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today. There is a story told about a journey he took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism.
Addressing the crowd he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity hurling
insult, argument, and proof against it.
An hour later he was finished. He looked out at what seemed to be the
smoldering ashes of men's faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin
demanded. Deafening silence filled the auditorium but then one man
approached the platform and mounted the lectern standing near the communist
leader. He surveyed the crowd first to the left then to the right. Finally
he shouted the ancient greeting known well in the Russian Orthodox Church:
"CHRIST IS RISEN!" En masse the crowd arose as one man and the response came
crashing like the sound of thunder: "HE IS RISEN INDEED!"
I say to you this morning: CHRIST IS RISEN! (congregational response should
be: HE IS RISEN INDEED!). I am convinced! I have faith that Christ was dead
and he was buried. That I believe. But, this too I accept as true: He rose
from the dead and will come again in glory.
This is Easter. And to stand here on this day in this pulpit and proclaim
this word. . . I cannot begin to tell you how this defines all that I am.
But, you will say to me, how do you know that the resurrection is real? How
do you know that it is really valid?
1. I believe in resurrection because somebody told me about it.
2. I believe in the resurrection is that it has stood the test of time.
3. I believe in the resurrection, because I have experienced it.
John 20:1-18 or Luke 24:1-10 - The Good News of Easter
As I look around, I see great events playing out on the world stage:
Democracy is being brought to regions of the world that never really
understood the dignity of individual citizens or the joy of liberty.
HIV/AIDS continues to take its toll around the globe. Countries face off
in tense negotiations over trade, border disputes, and ancient grievances.
An unprecedented ability to communicate ideas and beliefs to any part of
the planet and to any person is quickly becoming commonplace. And the
ability to move produce and goods around the world makes it possible as
never before to bring significant relief to regions that suffer. These
world-shaping events are so important. They are literally changing the
course of history. And as I watch, I wonder. I wonder what I am doing here
in this pulpit. If the real action isn't out there doing the world
shaping. And then I am reminded of two things.
First, I am reminded that no event in history has shaped the world like
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And Second I am reminded of this simple fact about life. Life does not go
on forever. There is death. Every one of us must face our mortality. There
is no military victory, no medical cure, no global village that can
prepare any individual to answer the ultimate questions in life. And this
morning I stand to proclaim Hope, the hope of His Resurrection. There is
death. Yes. But life is in Jesus Christ, the hope of our resurrection.
Friends, you have come here this morning with a sense of anticipation and
longing. There are sobering questions on your mind and much hangs in the
balance. Is there hope? Is there new life? Is there reason for joy? The
answer to your questions has arrived this day. It is here waiting for you.
It is a three-word message: Christ Is Risen! Good news for the depressed.
Good news for those who have lost loved ones. Good news. Good news to
those who have lost their joy, Christ is risen.
Consider with me this morning the implications of Easter.
1. First, because of the Resurrection the disciples were changed.
2. Secondly, because of the Resurrection our view of death has changed.
3. Because of the resurrection, our view of Jesus has changed.