Sermon Tone Analysis

He is Risen!

Words that have been, are being, and will be repeated countless times before this day in through.

From pulpits and podiums, in sanctuaries and stadiums, by pastors and prisoners…from every country and faith tradition.

The cry will echo across the word today: He is risen!

Those words will be spoken so many times today, but how many who speak them actually believe those words?

There’s an interesting survey that comes out every year around Easter from the Rasmussen organization.

People sometimes refer to it as the official “Easter poll.”

It asks two questions:

Do you believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God who came to earth to die for our sins?

Do you believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead?

The statistics may surprise you.

In the most recent survey almost three-quarters of those surveyed said they believed Jesus died for our sins and that he rose from the dead.

That number really surprises me.

I'd love to know what's behind it.

I suppose you could have an interesting discussion around what is meant by "Jesus rose from the dead."

I remember one book I read where the author claimed to believe in the resurrection, but he also believed the bones of Jesus were still out there somewhere, buried in Jewish tomb.

For him the resurrection was a spiritual reality, but not a physical one.

But the message of the church for 2000 years, rooted in the message of those who were there and told of what they saw and heard, is something entirely different.

Their message, and ours as well, is that Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified by the Romans, was most certainly dead, because nobody survived crucifixion,

But this same Jesus...his lifeless corpse laid in a tomb on Friday evening...was alive on Sunday morning.

Listen to how the disciple Peter talks about it in a sermon he preaches from Acts chapter 10:

You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.

They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.

He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.

All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

"We are witnesses to this: he was put to death, but then was raised to life.

We ate with him...we drank with him."

He is risen!

But you know what?

2000 years later, it's one thing to proclaim it.

It's another thing to live it.

I think the Rasmussen poll, as interesting as it is, is incomplete.

Beyond the question, "Do we believe Jesus rose from the dead?" there's another one.

And here it is: "Do we live like we believe Jesus rose from the dead?"

There are lots of people who hear the proclamation, “He is risen,” and their reply is simply, "So what?"

And it's not a sarcastic question.

It's a real one.

They're not only asking, "Is it true?"

They're asking, "Does it make a difference?"

Does it make a difference in our lives that Jesus Christ was dead, but rose to life?

And I think one reason so many people look at followers of Jesus and choose to walk away from faith is that the evidence so often is no, it doesn't make much of a difference.

If the resurrection is going to make an impact in our 21st century world, I think one of the things that needs to happen is that Christians need to start living like resurrection people.

We need to live lives that proclaim, "Yes!

It makes a difference in my life that Jesus Christ is risen!"

It makes a profound difference...bigger than anything else I've ever encountered or ever will encounter again.

[SINE QUA NON]

The lesson was this—if you don’t have the resurrection, you don’t have Christianity.

If Jesus didn’t rise from the grave, if his body was thrown into a common pit and left to rot with common criminals, then the church has built itself on a lie.

But Christians claim--and I believe the historical evidence backs this up—that Jesus was well and truly dead, but three days later he was alive.

I believe that to be historical fact.

Can I prove it to you? No, I can prove it.

But I think the evidence is overwhelming.

And it’s up to us to decide ourselves what we make of that evidence.

But again, even for those of us who accept the resurrection of Jesus, I take you back to the question: what difference does it make?

For me?

For you?

For the world?

Earlier we sang a song, “Because he lives…”

How would you complete that sentence for yourself?

Because he lives…what?

What is true because he lives?

What difference does it make to believe that Jesus rose from the dead?

Let me offer you three things to think about in response to that question.

Three important differences which I think arise from a belief in the resurrection of Jesus.

The first is this:

(Because He lives…)

1. Death has lost its sting.

Think about it: of all the fears that sit at the heart of human existence, none is as powerful as the fear of death.

As Woody Allen is famous for saying:" I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

If you haven't wrestled with the fear of death, you haven't wrestled with what it means to be human.

And what we as Christians are saying is this: the moment Jesus Christ walked out of that tomb, it was as if death shuddered, because he knew the jig was up.

Death was no longer something to be feared, because it had been conquered.

To live as resurrection people means we are no longer captive to the fear of death.

We build our lives on the hopeful promise of Jesus who said, ““I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me, though they die, yet shall they live.”

In our reading from 1 Corinthians, we heard Paul use really dramatic language when he said, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Death does not have the final word.

That's why we can sing, as we did earlier:

Lives again our glorious King, Halleluia!

Where, O death, is now thy sting?

Halleluia!

Once He died our souls to save, Halleluia!

Where thy victory, O grave?

Halleluia!

Because He lives, death has lost its sting.

The grave has lost its victory.

We no longer need to fear.

That's one difference it makes.

Here's another:

Because He lives…

2. Sin has lost its hold

I still remember the awe and wonder I felt when I was in college and for the first time REALLY understood what it meant that Jesus could forgive my sins.

His forgiveness was so real....I could taste it.

How powerful and palpable this truth is when we first come to realize it.

And how easily we lose sight of it.

As we talked about on Friday, Jesus died on the cross as a once-for-all sacrifice for the whole of human sin.

And he rose from the grave so that sin would be defeated once and for all.