Resurection Sunday

Intro

(good news of Christ Video)

Why do you think it is, that so many churches have an increased attendance on Easter? There was a study done where they asked 1,000 pastors what was the 3 highest attendance Sundays of the year, and 93% said there highest was Easter, followed by Christmas. In fact many of those pastors said that their attendance almost doubles. Now it could be said that those people get so much from the sermon that they are so well fueled that they don’t need to come again until next year. But that of course is like saying you ate so much at Easter dinner that you’re not going to eat again until next Easter, and then a couple hours later you go looking for a snack.

So why is it that attendance is so high on Easter? I have a few theories; to start maybe people come to church only on Easter because that’s how they grew up, another theory I have is that they can get a sense of satisfaction knowing that they sat in church once a year, and here is my final theory which I optimistically hope is true… Because the people coming once or twice a year recognize the significance of the Resurrection of Christ. After all isn’t that what resurrection Sunday is all about?

We Have All Gone Astray

Now we will get to Mark 16 in a little bit but I actually want to start us off with the same passage we used for Christmas, Isaiah 53:1-6

Isaiah 53:1–6 ESV

1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

So we just read some of this last Sunday, but I want us to grasp this point in v. 6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

So who has gone astray? All of us. And what I have found is that many people turn away due to their own selfish desires. we skip church for the sake of sports or tv. We don’t have a quiet time with Jesus because we refuse to wake up 15 minutes earlier, and if we do have a quiet time it’s a very distracted prayer while we do something else, like your drive to work. Or maybe we just don’t want to be faced with our sin, and we know that if we are in the presence of God that we will have to start living our lives differently.

Now you can say, “Clay, you don’t know what you’re talking about, all of my prayers are heart felt and I read my bible every day, church always comes before everything else, and I never shy away from confronting the sin in my life” and if that’s the case, that’s great but there’s a good chance you’re not being completely honest with yourself.

We all sin, some more than others, but regardless we all require a savior. And this has been the case since the time of Adam and Eve when they first sinned. In fact that is when we are first told of Jesus’ coming sacrifice. Turn back to Genesis 3:15

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

So this is speaking of the crucifixion of Christ and then Christ’ victory over death. So Christ sacrifice was being looked forward to thousands of years before he came.

Let me ask you can you think of something that you’ve had to wait a long time for, and you just couldn’t wait for it to finally show up? I remember when I ordered my current wallet, I saw it in an ad sent it to Sierra and she ordered it for me. 3 weeks later it still hadn’t come, and the wallet I had before was at it’s breaking point, 3 weeks later it still didn’t come. It took 3 months to finally come way longer than I ever expected, but the wait was well worth it. However, if you can imagine, me waiting for my fancy wallet was nothing compared to the people of Israel waiting for the coming Messiah.

As Ron talked about last week Jesus came and died a horrible painful death. Crucifixion was said to be the worst way to die because when crucified; for six hours, Jesus suffered suffocation only getting gasp of air when he lifted himself up with the nails in his hands and feet. and if they wanted to speed along the process they would break the knees of the individual. After a couple hours of hanging the wrist elbows and shoulders would all dislocate, and on top of this he was stripped of his clothing and put through an immense beating which involved his back being shredded to the bone before being forced to carry his cross to the top of the hill that he would be crucified. You can read the medical reports on this.

This is something we don’t like to hear, it makes us uncomfortable it’s hard to imagine the pain and torment he must’ve been going through. But why, why would he willingly go through all of this pain. He certainly wasn’t looking forward to it, as we see him pray in Mark 14:36

Mark 14:36 ESV

36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

But Jesus was the only one who could die for us, he was the only sacrifice that could save us from our sin and he knew that, therefore the lord, Jesus Christ, willing died for us.

and here’s the part that really bothers me about all this, and I think that we are all guilty of this, we take the sacrifice of Jesus for granted in one way or another. and what I mean by this is we don’t let Jesus’ sacrifice change our lives. It’s like the parable of the Lost sheep, so even though they are safely in the hands of the shepherd they still wander off.

And sometimes I think of those that I know that walked away from the Lord and I think to myself, what are you doing? Don’t you know that Jesus went through agonizing pain to free you from this sin, and yet you’d rather go on sinning. and then I think of the sin in my life, the times where I knew that what I was doing was a sin and I did it anyway...

and some of us turn away and look to our idols and other Gods. I knew someone once who told me that he didn’t believe in God anymore, he believed that the only reason people have turned to God is because people seek happiness.

He switched out God, for seeking happiness. and that is something that most of the world is doing. By the way I’m happy to inform you that that friend has repented and turned back to God.

But here’s the part we can all be so thankful for. regardless of how we slip up, we are still saved we are still under the blood of Christ. And if you continue the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus goes out to find the sheep that’s gone astray and returns him home with great rejoicing.

It’s so awesome to remember passages like that.

So let’s recap quick before we go farther,

We are all in need of a saviour

We all have taken Jesus’ sacrifice for granted

and Jesus returns the lost sheep home.

Now, what was it that made Jesus’ sacrifice so significant? You could say because the daylight turned to darkness, it may be because of the great earthquake, and all those things were certainly amazing. but as we know that wasn’t the end.

Let’s go to Mark 16:1-8

Mark 16:1–8 ESV

1 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Jesus just went through the most excruciating death imaginable, in face the word excruciating comes from the term crucify. Jesus was clearly dead, and he sat in the tomb for 3 days. and then he did what? He rose from the dead.

How did Mary and Mary react to all of this? in v. 8 we see that they were trembling and astonished. This is it, Jesus had conquered death on our behalf. The grave could not hold him.

So what does that mean for us? Let’s continue in Mark 16:14-20

English Standard Version Chapter 16

14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]]

So what are we to do? v. 15 and 16 tells us “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

It is essential that we let Jesus’ sacrifice to change our lives, that’s what it means to not take it for granted. if we truly appreciate the sacrifice of Jesus we will live out the great commission along with all the other teachings of Christ. What happens when we are baptized? Kind of a loaded question isn’t it? physically we are submerged in the water and then lifted back up out of the water. metaphorically we are buried with Christ and then born again, and spiritually we are dead to our old selves and alive in Christ.

Be alive in Christ people, take the time to truly appreciate Jesus’ sacrifice and let his resurrection change your life!