Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Imagine if you will, that you have just buried one of your dearest friends.
The person buried was probably the most enjoyable person with whom you ever spent time.
Plus, this person died at such a young age.
You felt there was so much more ahead in this individual’s life.
Sadly, it was not to be.
Now you go to pay your respects and reflect for awhile what has taken place.
The thoughts go racing through your mind from every direction, covering every topic.
You just can’t seem to even pray any more.
You feel completely numb from all that has recently took place.
You’re practically just going through the motions on autopilot.
This was probably what many of the followers of Jesus Christ were experiencing many years ago.
This was especially true for those who were the closest to Jesus.
It causes us to wonder what that first Easter morning might have been like.
After all, anyone who had a pulse knew how Jesus had made such a difference in so many lives.
Maybe they even wondered if they would be able to keep serving the Lord with Jesus gone.
Some may have even questioned if they even wanted to do so.
Church, I submit to you:
Easter morning should motivate the Christian to a lifestyle of evangelism and discipleship.
An Attitude of Immediate Obedience - 28.1-10
Matthew 28:1–10 (NASB95)
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.
And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.
And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.
The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.
“He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.
Come, see the place where He was lying.
“Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”
And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them.
And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
Two of the ladies, who were both named Mary, went to the tomb.
When they arrived, they were amazed by what they saw.
Now I have to remind us that whenever God has a spectacular announcement to make, there’s usually an angel there to deliver it.
We can also gather that the guards who were on duty probably fainted dead away, seeing that they had seen and experienced more than they had bargained for in their soldier duties.
We can almost imagine their nervous breakdown at that point, shutting down their bodies for a faint nap.
Then we see the angel give the classic angel greeting: Do not be afraid.
But he doesn’t stop, but states the reason.
He reminds them that Jesus, being God, has kept His Word.
In other words, Jesus said He would rise from the dead and that is exactly what has taken place.
Need proof?
There is no longer any physical body in the tomb.
He even invites the women into the tomb to check out what he said.
But the angel doesn’t stop with the report to them.
He provides that sense of urgency that these ladies needed: Go quickly.
Why?
It would make sense that the disciples needed to hear this news as soon as possible.
But what to say?
He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him.
What a message of hope for these women to be carrying.
They obeyed immediately.
I love the phrase in verse 8 that describes their emotional state: they had fear and great joy.
That pretty well describes my emotions every time I share the Gospel story.
Yet that’s not the end of the story for these women.
Before they got to the disciples, they were met by Jesus.
And we see that they worshiped Him.
Then Jesus also encourages them to keep on going with their assignment to tell the disciples to go to Galilee.
We do indeed serve a risen Savior, so we don’t have to be afraid.
My friends, it is good to spend time worshiping our Lord.
But while doing so, we need to be up and about the task which we have been assigned, which is to proclaim Jesus to the world.
Many believers find themselves rejoicing over our risen Savior, yet are quite comfortable just relaxing in the comfort and knowledge of their own salvation.
Many of us need to be prodded to obey and go tell others about our risen Savior.
After all, we have all the evidence we need in the Bible, so let’s go quickly.
Now I’m not sure I agree with the philosophy that we have to wait until we have earned the right to be heard.
After all, these were women whom the angel told to go and tell.
They were culturally not well received as to sharing spiritual matters.
In fact, the culture strongly suggested that women were not to be trusted.
They weren’t the religious leaders, nor were they even the male disciples.
Yet, they immediately obeyed; that’s impressive.
And they went, even though they were scared.
Another thing which I find noteworthy is that these women when face-to-face with the risen Christ, stopped and took time to worship Him.
However, they didn’t spend the rest of their lives bowed down and worshipping Christ.
When He said to get up and go on with their mission, they did just that.
Worship can be a time of stillness and adoration.
Worship can also be done in the midst of actively serving.
An Attitude of Deceitfulness - 28.11-15
Matthew 18:11–15 (NASB95)
“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
“What do you think?
If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?
“If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.
“So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.
“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
While the women were obediently on their way to the disciples, the guards knew they had to face the music; most likely a dirge was playing in their minds.
They knew their necks were literally on the line as they went back and reported to the chief priests.
It should be puzzling to us as to why these soldiers went to the priests instead of to their commanders, as they should have done.
It is most likely because they knew that there was corruption with the religious leaders.
The dishonesty continued as the religious leaders got together and cooked up a scheme to attempt to cover up the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those corrupt priests actually bribed the soldiers with a large sum of money and gave them instructions to lie.
Now that certainly doesn’t sound like anything a true servant of the Lord would do.
The lie was that the soldiers were to confess to falling asleep and allowing the disciples to kidnap the body of Jesus.
If the governor would not believe the story, the religious leaders guaranteed that they themselves would defend the soldiers and appease the governor.
Wait! Let’s think about that.
If those soldiers weren’t the temple police, which seems unlikely if they had to report to the governor, then they are, in fact, trained Roman soldiers.
As such, they knew that if they fell asleep on their watch, they would most likely be executed.
Plus, the world is supposed to believe that the disciples, who were just common men, had the stealth and skills of espionage officials and could outmaneuver those soldiers.
Seriously??? Remember that those disciples are the same ones who had turned tail and ran when the soldiers arrested Jesus.
Does anyone believe that they’re now able to confront those soldiers?
What strength was there to quietly move a stone away from the mouth of the cave?
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