Living Hope

Introduction

For thousands of years, human beings have been fascinated by stories. Stories of love, drama, action, mystery, good defeating evil, and so much more! For years and years stories were passed down orally from generation to generation. Eventually they were written down and stored in books to be told to future generations. Now we document these stories on camera in order to pass them along. Think of a story that has stuck with you for years and years. Perhaps it is a story of love between two characters who cross a great space in order to be together. Perhaps it is a story of an individual who stands up for someone else and defeats a foe. Perhaps it is a story of an unlikely hero emerging to do what no one else would dare to do! We all love a good story - it’s part of the reason why people flocked to hear orators speak in amphitheaters in ancient Greece, why people attended plays and dramas, and why so many people go to the movie theaters today! We love to witness good stories that make us feel positive about either ourselves, the world around us, or humanity as a whole!

The stories that often resonate with us are the unexpected ones. The stories that JRR Tolkien coined as Eucatastrophes or stories where someone turns defeat into victory. Stories that turn suffering into joy. Tragedy into triumph. These types of reversals stand out and stick with us for some reason as humans more so than other types of stories. These types of stories pluck at our heart and strike a chord but one story in particular reverberates over all the others. There is a reversal greater than any other reversal. A hero greater than any other hero. A story where the good guy genuinely beats the bad guy once and for all!

This is the story that we celebrate on Easter Sunday - Easter is not whenever we look at the doom and gloom of “Good” Friday. Easter is the day where we celebrate the greatest victory in the history of victories as our Savior defeated sin and death. We celebrate our Living Hope as Jesus Christ rose from the grave ALIVE!

The Resurrection specifically makes Christianity stand out compared to other world religions. The fundamental message of Christianity is not “do” it is “done.” The fundamental truth of Christianity is not here’s 10 steps to apply to your life and if you do them well enough then you might enter into heaven… That’s a depressing message because unless we’re perfect, we’re not going to be good enough! The fundamental truth of Christianity is this: You aren’t good enough on your own, but Jesus is - believe in Him.

Maybe you’re here this morning and you find yourself working and working trying to earn your own way to heaven and you think that you can make it there if you just do enough good stuff… Friend, I pray that by the time you leave here this morning that you rejoice not in your good works but in the finished work of Jesus in your place. Don’t stress yourself up trying to maintain your salvation with more good actions and words, that’s an exhausting way to live and it will lead to pride, frustration, and despair. Look instead to Jesus. Repent of your sins and trust in Him to save you - He delights in saving us.

This morning we’re going to be in Philippians 2 as we look at what Jesus did and why Jesus did what He did. Let’s read and give Him thanks this morning

Philippians 2:5–11 CSB

5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus Came (5-7)

Think of something that you would consider to be impossible:

Getting along with your siblings?

Passing a difficult test?

Achieving your dream job?

2 + 2 equalling 5?

In the Bible we read of another such impossibility and that is simply this: There are not multiple ways to be saved - there is only 1

I love you enough to be honest with you this morning, church. Some will say that God has a balance scale and if your good works outweigh your bad works then He will let you in, or if you attend church, or repeat some magical words, or help others out, or memorize some Bible verses then you’re definitely going to heaven because of whatever it is that you’ve done! That’s not a message that will bring you hope, that is a message that is from hell and it will lead you there if you’re not careful. We read in Philippians 2 that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, humbled Himself, and came to this earth as a servant.

Whenever you think of a servant, what is the picture that pops into your head? Likely someone at a restaurant who gives you food and drinks or perhaps someone who assists you in some other capacity. Whenever we read about Jesus in the Bible, we read that He is One who came to help others

Mark 10:45 CSB

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

How exactly does Jesus serve others? He does this by healing people who are sick. By feeding those who are hungry. By teaching those who are confused, but the main way that Jesus serves others is by dying on the cross. Who is this man who gives His life for us? None other than the Eternal Son of God, the One who created the entire world as Hebrews 1:1-3 shares with us. That same Jesus who spoke creation into existence humbled Himself to be born in Bethlehem as a baby and grew up after living a perfect life to die as our substitute on the cross - praise the Lord that Jesus came! Praise the Lord for the cross and the empty tomb. But why did Jesus come to serve? Why did He come in the first place?

Luke 19:10 CSB

10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

Think if Jesus were to be born as a baby today, what would the typical American expect Him to be? We might expect Jesus to be born in the Bible belt to a middle-class couple that always has attended church. We’d expect Him to grow up and attend a good school and become a megachurch pastor. We’d expect Him to never offend anyone. We’d expect Him to only talk about love, inclusion, and grace. Some would expect Jesus to become wealthy, powerful, political, and possibly even run for president. If Jesus were born as a baby in the United States, many of us would pass Him over because He doesn’t fit our expectations of what He should be. Why? Because we’re looking for the wrong thing, often times. The people in Jesus’ day were expecting their Savior to be a military leader to liberate them from Roman rule. People today expect Jesus to be a genie in a lamp to grant them their every wish ranging from happiness, prosperity, and a healthy, comfortable life. That’s not what He came, though. He came to serve. He came to save. He came to shepherd. He came to sanctify. He came to satisfy.

Ultimately, Jesus’ road would lead to the cross but it all started long before Bethlehem as Jesus humbled Himself to this perfect plan.

Jesus Christ is the God-man. He’s not half God and half man. He’s fully both! This doesn’t always compute in our brains because it’s mathematically impossible to be more than 100% something - contrary to what your coach told you, you can’t give 110%! If you have a glass full of water and you pour more water into it, what happens to that water? It spills onto the floor and Pastor David gets upset because the Pageant decorations get ruined! Yet, Jesus (fully God) humbled Himself and became a man without stopping to be God. Why? Because only a human could pay the price for our sins but only God could endure the wrath of God against sin and be the perfect sacrifice. He had to be both. Some Easter messages intentionally exclude words like sin, punishment, and wrath but these are Biblical words that we have to understand in order to properly understand the miracle of the cross and resurrection.

Jesus Won (8-11)

Why did Jesus have to die? Our sin. You and I are not good enough on our own because God’s standard is perfection. He is holy and requires us to be holy as well. Yet, the Bible shares with us that we have all sinned and that we fall short of the mark. Because of this, Jesus had to come and verse 8 tells us that He came and died on the cross. We often like to compare ourselves to others and we do this in order to feel better about ourselves. For example, remember to whenever you were in school and you didn’t do very good on a test, you feel a little upset. Then your best friend tells you that they did even worse, then you feel a little bit better because at least you did better than they did. Take this a step further: You make more money than that person, you haven’t gotten a ticket like that person, you’re kind to others unlike that person, you’re a nice person unlike that person, you donate more time and money than that person, you do all of these things that other people don’t do so obviously you’re a good person because you’re the exception to the rule! It’s so easy for us to set our eyes on other humans in order to be the standard for goodness - yet humans don’t get to be the standard for goodness - God is the One who sets that standard! Though our world likes to tell us that the vast majority of us are good people, the Bible tells us that we are all sinners and we all need saving and that that is why Jesus came!

As He came, though, we read that He died and rose from the grave. He was raised to overthrow the grave and to give you and I eternal life.

Many people, understandably, wonder how on earth the resurrection could have happened, though. It cuts against the natural processes of our world! After you die, you’re dead. Maybe if you’re brain dead or if your heart stops for just a few minutes you can be brought back, but 3 days later? That’s not a normal thing. As a result, it’s been said that Christianity rises or falls based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let’s examine what the Bible shares about this event in its context. Before the resurrection, Jesus Himself said that He would rise in Matthew 17:22-23

Matthew 17:22–23 CSB

22 As they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised up.” And they were deeply distressed.

Hundreds of years before Jesus’ ministry, it was prophesied that the Messiah would be pierced and killed

Psalm 22:16 CSB

16 For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet.

Isaiah 53:11 CSB

11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities.

Hundreds of years before Jesus’ death and resurrection, there were prophesies talking about how He would die (pierced and cursed by God for the iniquities of His people) and Jesus Himself said that He would die and rise. Some tell us that this story is too good to be true because, again, it goes against natural human intuition. Many argue that this is a made up story that was spread by Jesus’ disciples in order to increase their power and become wealthy. Let’s examine that argument for a moment. If you were going to make up a story in order to get powerful and rich, you’d want yourself to look good in the story, wouldn’t you? The only way that you’d get powerful was by looking and sounding powerful! Yet, in the Gospel accounts we read that Jesus’ disciples look like cowards. They’re hiding in Jerusalem and they’re afraid that the soldiers are going to come and kill them next. They don’t look all that powerful in the story - especially if they were the ones who made it up. Further, if it was a lie made up by the disciples, they would have likely wanted to stress that they were the first ones to find Jesus’ tomb empty… But we read that it was actually Mary Magdalene and Mary, Jesus’ mother! In 2022 maybe this doesn’t sound like a big deal, but in the 1st century world a woman’s testimony wouldn’t even be accepted in a court of law… If this were a lie, they could’ve made a much better one. Think about the soldiers at the tomb, do you really think a group of 11 disciples and a few others could have convinced a group of Roman soldiers to leave their post and risk being put to death? No!

Maybe the most convincing proof of all: Do you know what happened to the disciples after the resurrection? They spent 40 days with Jesus before He ascended back to heaven and then they went about proclaiming the Gospel to others starting with the Jews who saw Jesus die with their own eyes in Jerusalem. The same disciples who were scared for their lives are suddenly not afraid of the authorities or the court of public opinion? The same disciples who were hiding are dying for their faith! Peter would be crucified upside down, Stephen would be stoned, Paul would be shipwrecked, beaten, stoned, imprisoned numerous times, and eventually beheaded in Rome, Matthew was stabbed to death, James was stoned and beaten, Phillip was tortured and killed… You get the point! What changed in the lives of these individuals? You don’t have dozens of people who willingly give up their lives for a lie after being tortured and dying in terrible ways. If it was a coverup, someone would have spilled the beans, yet no one did. Why? Because Jesus really rose. Because Jesus really appeared to them numerous times over the next 40 days. Because Jesus changed their lives.

In Philippians 2, Paul shares that because of Jesus’ death in our place, God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every other name: not Jesus… The name above every other name is Lord or Yahweh. In the Roman world, people were expected to shout that Caesar is Lord… Yet, for the Christian that’s not an option. We worship one person, we serve one king and His name is not Caesar, His name is Jesus. Jesus is King!

One day, the Bible shares that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!

It's so easy for us to think that the universe revolves around us. There’s a temptation to prioritize ourselves and our needs above everything else! For so many humans, there is a temptation to think that we alone sit on the throne of our life and rule however we see fit. That we should seek whatever it is that makes us happy. That we should follow our heart. Did you know that for thousands of years, humans thought that the earth was at the center of the universe because the sun, moon, and planets seem to move while we stay still in the night sky. People thought and taught this truth… Now, though, we know that the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth, but the earth revolves around the sun. Whenever we focus on ourselves, we can leave with the conclusion that we’re at the center of everything and that the focus us on us as individuals! The Biblical reality, though, is that there is a center of the universe and it isn’t you, and it’s certainly not me, it’s Jesus Christ. Jesus literally changes everything. It’s always been about Jesus and it will always be about Jesus. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord - we will all bend the knee and worship Him as He rightly deserves! God will receive all the glory that He deserves! Either you will bend in this life or you will bend after this life, but we all will bow down!

Who is seated on the throne of your life today? Who are you living for? Who are you serving? Our baseline is to serve ourselves and maybe to serve those whom we really love… But what about Jesus Christ? What about the One who has won for us the victory over our sin that we could never win by ourselves? What about the One who created us and who calls us home? What about the One to whom every knee will one day bow? Are you worshiping Him? Are you serving Him? If not, don’t wait until it’s too late… Worship Him now and praise Him for what He has done for you and for me! Praise Him because, 3rd, Jesus…

Jesus Reverses the Curse (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

So we read that Jesus came, that He died, and that He rose… How does this impact you and I today? What is the big deal about Easter in 2022?

Think about the best news that you’ve ever heard before. As a child that was probably hearing that you didn’t have school because you had a snow day or something along those lines. As you grow up maybe that news changes and you win an award at school or get promoted at work or receive a good report from your doctor or are told that your crush loves you back - all of these things qualify as good news and boy do we love hearing good news… But the best news of all is the news that Jesus lives. Turn a couple pages back in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 15 and we see that Paul devotes an entire chapter, 60 verses, to talking about the Resurrection and its implications in our lives as Christians. Look at what he says in verses 54-57.

1 Corinthians 15:54–57 CSB

54 When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. 55 Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Paul shares the hope that Christians have because of the resurrection of Jesus. Why is this such great news? Because Jesus has defeated sin and death once and for all for His people. Because Jesus gives the victory to His people by dying and rising from the dead. This was Jesus’ mission from the beginning as we find in Genesis 3:15 that God made a promise to Adam and Eve that the Messiah would come and be the snake-crushing Savior. This is the common thread we read about in the Old Testament - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and so on… Why is there so much time spent on genealogies in Scripture? To point us to the answer. The King. The Savior. Though God’s people continually fail, God remains faithful. Though God’s people look to other gods, God’s promise remains. Though God’s people are scattered, God is ever present with them. Though God’s people fell into the curse, Jesus comes to undo what Adam had done. Though they crucified Jesus, He rose from the grave victorious. Though He ascended back to heaven, He will return again. Though things seem crazy, Jesus is in control. Though it seems as though evil is winning, the end has been written and victory has already been won.

Because Jesus rose, we know His followers will rise as well!

Because Jesus wins, we know that His Church will win too (Romans 8:1)!

Because Jesus defeated our enemy, he has no claim on us!

Jesus stands today with His arms open wide and His message is simply this: Come!

If you’re searching for purpose today - Jesus has a purpose for your life

If you’re searching for satisfaction - Jesus alone can satisfy our wandering hearts

If you’re searching for community - Jesus brings us into His family

If you’re searching for a home - Jesus is preparing a home for His followers

If you’re searching for hope - Jesus alone gives us joy unspeakable that won’t go away

Friend, understand what Jesus has done for sinners like you and I and respond to His cross and empty tomb!

Application

Rejoice because Jesus Came to Die in Your Place!

Repent and Trust in Jesus - Only He can Save!

Follow Jesus Each and Every Day!

Live With Hope - The Victory Is Won!

Don’t read read and read Scripture looking for the answer to this present problem or this political party issue or that _______ that you miss Jesus standing throughout Scripture flashing a neon light into your eyes saying that YOU NEED ME TO SAVE YOU.

John 5:39 CSB

39 You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.

Friends, we all need Jesus. There is no one too good here this morning who doesn’t need Jesus to save them and there’s no one too bad this morning that Jesus will reject and say that you’re a lost cause and irredeemable. Rejoice because Jesus died and rose, Repent from your sins, Resolve to follow Jesus!

Conclusion

Without question some of you are here this morning with unique backgrounds. You have a story that is central to who you are and how you are here. Ultimately, though, there are only 2 options before us… There are only 2 stories. Those who are walking from a garden into a grave and those who are walking from a grave into a garden. Some of you are here this morning because you were invited by mom or dad or grandpa or grandma or a neighbor or a friend. Or maybe you’re just here because you wanted to come to church on Easter - we’re thankful that you’re here! But maybe you’re here and you’re not entirely sure why. You feel as though there’s something missing or something more to this thing called life. It doesn’t matter what your past is. It doesn’t matter what your story says up until this point. Jesus Christ is all about reversing curses. If Jesus could turn the cross into our victory, then Jesus can certainly turn your life around too! He has all the power in the world and He delights in saving people like you and me. Jesus can give you this newness of life today through His sacrifice on the cross and victory in the tomb… But you must listen to Jesus. You must repent of your sins and believe in Him. You must trust in His grace today. Because you and I cannot work hard enough to get ourselves out of our present grave. We can’t do enough good things or say enough nice words or give enough money or know enough stories to save ourselves… Our only hope is in the snake crushing, curse reversing, donkey riding, grave conquering King who gave His life in our place.

Why do we have this Living Hope? It can’t be because of anything that you or I have done or will do. It’s not because of our works, it’s because of what He has done. It’s all because of Jesus. It’s because of the empty cross and the empty tomb - unlike every other major world religion, our Savior isn’t dead - He’s alive. And unlike every other major world religion we are not saved because of our inherent goodness or moral actions, we are saved and we will continue to be saved because of the atonement of our Lord and Savior and His victory in our place! He didn’t come to make bad people good… He came to bring dead people to life!

Do you know this Jesus? Has He rewritten your story? Has He saved you? Come home to Jesus and walk in newness of life today. Come home to Jesus and experience the peace that He alone can bring to your life!

Because He lives… I can face tomorrow...

If Jesus is all you have, you have all you could ever need!