Resurrection means Begin Again

It is Resurrection Sunday (Easter Morning) the time that we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead.

If you have been in stores lately, you would think that Easter is about eggs, bunnies, candy and hats or dresses.

Easter is about Jesus!

It is His Resurrection day which is why we like to call it Resurrection Sunday.

This Resurrection Sunday we would like to invite you to Begin Again.

It’s been a rough two years and I know a lot of people stopped doing the things that they used to enjoy doing, like eating out, going to the movies or going to church.

It makes me wonder, if people stop going to church during a pandemic, then what does that say about church?

We were allowed to continue “essential” activities.

The State of Pennsylvania even recognized that church is an essential activity.

Churches were very accommodating to make ways for the most vulnerable people to attend safely or online.

We saw our online attendance shoot up, but then taper off.

Some people returned to in-person services and some never returned at all.

Yet, most of us got COVID somewhere along the way.

Some had it really bad, and we all know people who have died.

People responded differently; some with extreme caution and some with abandon.

It speaks to the way we each handle risk, some people avoid risk at all cost (which is also a kind of risk) and others take it head-on.

There will always be risks, but at some point, you need to begin again.

A few months ago, as I was seeking the Lord for where to go and what to do next, I heard the words, “begin again.”

“Don’t be afraid, just do the things you used to do and start again.”

Our preaching series this year has been on the theme “Begin Again”

We started by looking at our values and understanding why we do what we do.

After today, we are going to begin a series in the book of Genesis, chapters 1-12.

We a going to study this book of beginnings to see how God starts over and invites us to start over.

In the fall we will be studying the book of John to see how Jesus brings about new creation for those who are in Him.

These last few weeks have been about “Spiritual Awakening,” not just learning about it, but participating in what God is saying and doing.

Maybe you would like a new start as well?

Resurrection Sunday is a great time to begin again.

The Bible invites us to begin again:

John 3:1–8 ESV

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

I mentioned this passage in the first sermon of the year, when I unpacked the theme “Begin Again”

Begin Again means stopping what you are doing.

Stop trying to be perfect.

Nicodemus was a member of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees are the overly cautious ones.

In terms of the recent pandemic - they would be the ones making sure that everyone wears their mask over their nose and mouth, two layers, indoors and out and replacing their mask between taking bites of food.

They would be the ones saying, “If everyone would just wear their masks all the time, the pandemic would be over.”

I know… that may work in theory…but not practically.

First of all, it takes decades or possibly centuries to eradicate a virus, even with vaccines.

Until it is eradicated, there are going to be outbreaks.

Sure we have vaccines, but they were developed in a hurry and are only moderately effective.

Natural immunity probably offers the best protection, but first you have to get it and get over it.

Just like a COVID free world, perfection is elusive.

And the harder you try, the more elusive it becomes.

There has to be another way...

Stop trying to do everything on your own.

The Pharisees believed that if everyone would just keep the Law of Moses, that God would come and establish His Kingdom by sending the Messiah to rule over the earth.

Once again… great in theory, but practically impossible.

This reflects an ultimate belief in and trust of self.

I have to be the key to everything being OK.

I have to be able to control myself and my world.

If only I could get everyone around me to control themselves, I could be OK.

Your favorite scripture is, “God helps those who help themselves.”

Only… it’s not in the Bible.

Are the Pharisees right?

Is God like a school teacher that is waiting for all the student to get quiet before continuing?

Is he like a parent waiting for all His children to obey Him before they get a reward?

Is the future of the world hanging on you?

Or is this about something much bigger that just the Law and obedience?

This is bigger than you and what you can control.

Stop fooling yourself.

Nicodemus starts by acknowledging that Jesus is sent from God?

Nobody could do the things you do if he were not from God, he reasons.

So what’s the problem? I want to ask.

Why are we sneaking around talking at night?

Why are you telling Jesus what He already knows.

What is your question Nicodemus?

It’s probably not so much a question as an admission - “this isn’t working, is it?!”

The unwritten question that Nicodemus asks is, “have we been fooling ourselves?”

I have tried all my life to do everything right.

I believe that if I do, and if we all do, God will show up.

But now you show up from God, and you are not even following the Law, at least not to the degree that I am and you are doing miracles.

You’re not trying as hard as I am, but you are somehow beyond me!

I give up! Nicodemus is saying.

I can’t do it and it doesn’t work anyway!

Jesus replied (to Nicodemus), “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

That’s right Nicodemus, its not working - you need to start over.

You need to begin again.

Begin again means starting over

Jesus was talking about a new start to a new life! How does that work?

In your bulletin this morning you found a book mark with a cross.

The cross is made from a paper which contains seeds.

The cross is a symbol of Jesus’ death, but his cross also symbolizes resurrection.

Why, because it produces flowers, just like resurrection produces new life.

Beginning again involves dying.

If you want to see the flowers, what do you have to do?

Can you just stare at it until flowers pop out?

If you wish really hard, just believe it will produce flowers and it does!?

Maybe it’s magic? If I were good at illusion, I could pull some flowers out of my sleeve and make you think it came from the paper.

It’s a natural process of planting, growth and maturity.

Before a seed can grow, it needs to be planted in the ground.

Paul compares it to dying, because we bury the seed in the ground just like we bury a dead body.

1 Corinthians 15:35–38 ESV

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

We know that in order for a seed to grow, it needs to be planted.

Planting is hard - you have to part with a seed that might have been food.

It requires risk. How do you know that it is going to grow?

Missionaries in developing countries have had the task of convincing starving people to plant their seed instead of eating it. If you let it go, you can have more. But it takes the step of letting go.

We talked about some things that need to stop to begin again.

Stopping what you are doing, thinking or believing is like death.

What is going to take it’s place? is a real question and we will answer that.

But first, there are some things that need to happen to sure that your seed will grow.

Beginning again requires the right environment.

If I put my cross in soil, will just any soil do?

Of course, I want good soil.

Good soil is moist and contains the proper nutrients.

When we bought our house, they planted grass around the house, but it didn’t grow because they didn’t put good topsoil around it when they build it. They used soil from a dirt pile that was on site, but it wasn’t good topsoil with the right nutrients. It was clay and hard as a rock except when it rained. Then it was mud.

Jesus told a parable about soil.

Some seed fell on the hard ground and was eaten by the birds.

Some falls on rocky ground and withers.

Some falls among thorns and eventually dies.

And some seeds fall on good soil where they grow and multiply.

The parable is called the parable of the sower, but it is really all about the soils or the environment that the seed falls into.

Then Jesus explains what happens when the Word of God is received.

Matthew 13:18–23 ESV

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

If you want your seed to grow, the key is to create the right environment.

You can’t make a seed grow and produce flowers, but you can create the best possible environment.

A flower needs water, good soil and sunlight.

The same is true for spiritual growth.

You need the water of the Word, the soil of a heart that is open and ready and the light of God’s truth shining on it.

You can’t save yourself, God does that. You create the environment by asking God to do it.

You can’t change your heart, God does that.

The things that you do - reading the Bible, praying and going to church - those things help prepare the soil, but the Holy Spirit does the transformation.

Speaking of the Holy Spirit, there is no formula for revival, except to create an environment where people are hungry for God.

I can’t heal people, but I can help create and environment where people are loved and thrive and where sickness disappears.

I can’t deliver people from demonic oppression, but I can create and environment that makes it intolerable for demons to stay.

I can’t do miracles, but I can create and environment of faith and expectation where the supernatural eventually becomes normal.

I believe that God wants to do great things in your life and in mine today.

I can’t make it happen, but I can work toward creating the best possible environment.

Spiritual growth will happen if we just give it a chance.

Why? Because the seed contains everything that is needed to produce flowers, it just needs the right environment.

God is restoring people to his image, we just provide the environment for that to happen.

Beginning again takes time.

Just one more thing… you have to wait.

We want everything to be instant, but it doesn’t work that way.

14 days was supposed to slow the spread and it must have worked because it took two years to get through it.

If you are waiting for things to go back to normal, you might be waiting a long time.

Begin again means you commit to a course and you follow it.

Every day you begin again.

You remind yourself of who you are in Christ and the change that He is doing in your life.

This is the promise that God will complete what He has begun.

Philippians 1:6 NLT

6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Begin again means new life

Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection also brings about new life. When you invite Jesus into your life, that is the seed of a new beginning.

You may be wondering, How can I begin again?

Just coming to the realization that you need to begin again is a good first step.

Tell God that you are tired of trying to do things your own way and that you are ready to try his.

Like Nicodemus, you are giving up what wasn’t working anyway.

And what was Jesus reply to Nicodemus? - You must be born again!

New birth leads to new life.

Born again - what does that mean?

Nicodemus points out that he can’t be born that same way as the first time.

You are not going to go back the the way things were.

It didn’t work the first time, why would you wan to do it again?

When you were born the first time, you were formed in water, that was the protective environment for you to develop, but then you came out and learned to breath the air.

Jesus says we have to be born of water and the Spirit to be able to function in the Kingdom of God.

Water speaks of baptism, or cleansing and repentance.

This is how we are formed as spiritual beings.

We turn from sin and toward God.

We turn from trying to do things our own way and we follow Jesus Christ.

We turn from striving and self-effort and learn to walk by the Spirit.

Our process steps here at SCF are Respond, Restore, Release and Relate.

We begin by responding to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

Jesus died on the cross to take our sin and to reconcile us to God.

That should provoke a response.

Anything that I need to give up or turn away from is appropriate given that he gave his life for me.

Jesus died for me so that I could have this seed of new life in myself.

New growth produces new life.

What happens next? - Restore.

We nurture and protect that seed of faith by working to produce the right environment for growth.

Change doesn’t happen all at once, it takes time.

We don’t become spiritual all at once either.

Nicodemus was pretty well educated and knew his Bible better than most, but he still had a lot to learn when is comes to the Spirit.

We have a lot to learn too.

God created us in His image and breathed His Spirit into us.

We have his life living inside us.

But that image has be tarnished by sin.

And we don’t live according to the spirit.

That is not natural for us as it should be.

Even Nicodemus didn’t understand the spirit any more that one understands the wind.

We don’t see it, but we feel its effects.

We never know which way its going to blow.

But if you are a sailor, you will learn to utilize it to the best of your ability.

Adjust your sails as necessary, but let it propel you forward.

This physical life is also a formation stage for our spiritual eternity with God.

You can experience all of the good things that life has to offer.

But until you begin to realize that you are a spiritual being, meant to breath the air of life with God, then you haven’t begun to live.

This earthly life is a womb - it is a formative stage for the life that we are really mean to live.

The brokenness and failures that we all experience in life are meant to teach us that there is something more.

We are going to keep on repeating our failures until we figure out that there is a life beyond what we know.

The good news is that we retain those lessons each time we begin again.

New life is spiritual life.

The best part about the story of Jesus’ death is the part where he doesn’t stay dead.

Jesus rose again from the grave.

Jesus is life and he could not stay dead.

Life wins over death any day!

When a seed comes to life it produces flowers -or what ever kind of seed it is - it becomes what it is mean to become.

Paul says that when we die, just like seeds, we become what we were really meant to be.

1 Corinthians 15:42–45 ESV

42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

The good news is that you can begin that transformation now, even before you get your spiritual body, you can have spiritual life!

The same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is in you!

He is bringing life to your mortal body and enabling you to walk in supernatural power and grace.

Doesn’t that sound like something you ought to share?

That brings us to our last two steps.

We have something to Release.

You have the life of God in you and moving through you.

You have the Holy Spirit’ power and gifts to share.

The whole purpose of spiritual life is to spread that life.

Every mature plant contains the seeds of future plants.

Respond, Restore and Release are sequential in that one tends to lead to the next.

But they are continual in that we are always finding more ways to respond to God.

We are continually being restored.

And release isn’t something that just happens once.

And then there is the other step that permeates the whole process.

Relate is something that we do while we respond, restore and release, but we put it at the end to remind us that it never stops.

I think that is the thing that we have missed out on the most during the pandemic - relationships.

If you are here this morning or if you are watching and do not have a church home and a church family - we would like to be that for you.

I think relationships are the best environment for people to learn to grow spiritually together.

After all, what is better than a flower? - a whole bunch of them!