Sermon Tone Analysis

Fake News

Here we are in the month of April…1/4 of 2022 is in the past…Every year when April rolls around there are some people who can’t wait for April 1st…April Fools Day.

Some people have become real experts at the April Fool’s Joke...The origin of April’s fool day is difficult to determine…some trace it back to the Middle Ages…some go back even later…April fools day is viewed by many as the opportunity for pulling pranks on an unsuspecting individual.

One of the best known pranks/hoaxes was perpetrated as a news story…(not going to be political so please don’t tune me out)

#1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest (show picture)

April 1, 1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop.

It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees.

Huge numbers of viewers were taken in.

Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree.

To this the BBC diplomatically replied, "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Even the director-general of the BBC later admitted that after seeing the show he checked in an encyclopedia to find out if that was how spaghetti actually grew (but the encyclopedia had no information on the topic).

The broadcast remains, by far, the most popular and widely acclaimed April Fool's Day hoax ever, making it an easy pick for number one.

#20: The Left-Handed Whopper (Show picture)

April 1, 1998...Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans.

According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers.

The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich.

Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."

Not Fake News

There is also another event in history that was originally perpetrated as a hoax but instead turned out to be very real…Matthew 28:11-15 “Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.

And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’

“And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.”

And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.”

The day Jesus rose from the tomb and it was discovered empty, they had no explanation for the empty tomb, so the establishment of the day concocted the lie that the disciples stole his body while they slept (which meant certain death for the roman guard placed at the tomb);

and at the time of Matthew’s writing it was still believed; the soldiers were bribed to perpetuate his resurrection as a hoax…

Still over 2000 years later, you are faced with the same decision…is the Resurrection the world’s greatest hoax or is it real…is it a joke or is it a reality…

It is no joke…it is no hoax…Jesus is alive today and forevermore and the proof of His resurrection is portrayed in the life change of all who proclaim Him as Savior.

Main Point: Changed Lives Prove the Resurrection is Real!

How can our lives be changed by believing in Jesus and that he rose from the dead?

Three characteristics of the life anchored in the truth of Jesus resurrection.

With that in mind…turn to John 20:19-23…read

1.

It is a Life without Fear (19)

1) Fear makes us want to hide.

The text says here the disciples were in a room, with the doors locked because they were afraid.

Shut (KJV, NASB) = indicates the entrance was locked.

They locked themselves in a room because they were afraid of what…the Jews…

They were afraid of the Jewish establishment…why?...they were worried that these people who had just tortured and killed their master, their friend, their teacher, were coming after them next…

So to protect themselves from persecution and suffering they hid together and locked themselves in.

What I shared from Matthew’s account of the resurrection outlines a conspiracy being perpetuated against the disciples…so yes there was reason to be afraid.

Our natural tendency when we are afraid of something is to shut down…to lock ourselves in and hope it goes away…we don’t do what we know we should do.

2) Fear and worry are two sides to the same sinful coin.

Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 6 regarding worry/fear

Matthew 6:25 ““For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

Matthew 6:27 ““And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?”

Matthew 6:28 ““And why are you worried about clothing?

Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,”

Matthew 6:30-34 ““But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you?

You of little faith!

“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’

“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

The root word for worry comes from a Greek word that means “to divide or tear.”

Worry can be described as a “divided mind” that rips/tears at our soul.

Worry is a fearful preoccupation with perceived loss or harm that might come my way.

Some people here this morning are expert worriers…stop and think with me where you mind goes in these particular situations…your teenage child is now able to start driving and asks you for the keys…you tell them to be home by 10:00 and now its 10:01 and they are not home…where does your mind naturally go?....you visited the doctor last week and they call you and want you to come in so they can talk to you…where does your mind naturally go?

When there is uncertainty, or the possibility of bad news, our minds go to different places, they are torn apart, divided and that naturally leads to being fearful.

Worry/fear is sin because it is idolatry that makes us afraid of losing earthly pleasures or treasures.

(Matthew 6:19, 24, 25)

We’re afraid something bad will happen to our finances so we hoard them instead of being generous.

We’re afraid of being hurt by people so our relationships never go beyond the surface conversations

We’re afraid of what others will think of us so we don’t speak the truth or live the truth.

Worry/Fear is also sin because it shows a lack of belief in God’s provision

Matt.

6:30-32

There is a fear that God is not going to be good to you and give you what you want so you pursue all the avenues necessary to get it instead of trusting God to give you what is best.

There is a fear that God somehow forgot about you and you are alone trying to face this world on your own so you want to throw your hands up in despair and forsake it all.

There is a fear that God stopped caring for you because God can’t care for you when He is allowing so much suffering and hardship to be present in your life right now.

The cross is evidence that God has always cared for you…the resurrection is evidence He will continue to care for you...

Worry/fear is sinful because it makes us lazy

Matthew 6:27, 33-34

Fearing the unknown often prevents us from directing our energy towards solving problems today and appropriately planning for tomorrow.

Worry/fear are two sides of the same sinful coin because they tear us apart from a complete trust in God that leads to active service…they locked themselves in…

3) Jesus replaces Fear with Peace.

They needed peace because a war was raging between God and His creation.

Here’s what we understand from a the New Testament usage of peace:

the antithesis of war

a condition resulting from the cessation of war

state of law and order that gives rise to the blessings of prosperity

Recent events on the world’s stage show us there can be no peace until that war ends, peace will not be possible.

So what is this war?…it is a war started by Satan when he rebelled against God…it is a war that man entered on his own when he followed Satan’s rebellion…but know this…God is the one who declared the War…there is no longer peace between me and my creation…there is no longer a state of law and order that gives rise to blessings and prosperity…Gen 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.””

Everyone of us becomes part of this war by simply being born into it…Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—”

So as a result of our rebellion against God a war is raging

We are at war with others – Gal.

5:15 “But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”

We are at war with self – James 4:1 “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?

Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?”

We are at war with God – James 4:4 “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Before we can gain peace, we have to understand how peace was lost and how it is regained.

You can’t have real peace, biblical peace until your lack of peace has been significantly addressed.

They needed the peace that could only be found in Jesus.

Jesus appeared to them and twice told them to be at peace.

Peace was not something they could manufacture…it required the very presence of Jesus.

Jesus took our lack of peace upon Himself so that He could give us a life a peace with God…through Jesus the war has ended.

We no longer have to be at war with God…

Rom.

5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

Col. 1:20-22 “and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—”

Isa.