Risen and Alive

1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb. 2 There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men. 5 The angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see him there.’ Listen, I have told you.” 8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell his disciples the news. 9 Just then Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” They came up, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.” 11 As they were on their way, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money 13 and told them, “Say this, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping.’ 14 If this reaches the governor’s ears, we will deal with him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 They took the money and did as they were instructed, and this story has been spread among Jewish people to this day. 16 The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

If what I just read is true...

If on Sunday after the man Jesus was crucified, a group of women, 2 or 3, went to the tomb, likely to anoint Jesus’s body.

If it is true that when they got there, the stone that was protecting the entrance to the tomb had been rolled away.

And if it is true that inside the tomb there was no longer a body. The body of Jesus, who many people had seen hung on a cross on Friday and taken down later that night, clearly lifeless because no one was taken off a cross still alive.

If it is true that that body was no longer there...

But not only was his body not there, HE was alive.

Well that changes everything doesn’t it?

If it is true that Jesus Christ has been risen from the dead (vs 6) is there anything more important for our lives? Is there anything more crucial for us to believe? Is there anything more urgent for us to give ourselves over to than letting that truth shape who we are, to following Jesus?

If it is true, then what Jesus says in vs 18 is absolutely right.

Matthew 28:18 CSB

18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

But I realize it is a BIG IF.

There have been a lot of people over the years that just don’t believe it. They have come up with explanations that seem to explain what REALLY happened.

And many, many more who say they believe Jesus was raised from the dead, but it doesn’t seem to influence much about their lives. Sure Jesus was raised, we do the Easter thing, the church thing, but then it is back to the grind, back to real life.

There are still others, likely many here today, that may have never really given it much thought. Sure you believe it, but why? What difference does it make? What if it wasn’t true, would that change anything?

Paul speaks of the importance of the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19

1 Corinthians 15:17–19 CSB

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.

3 Compelling Proofs

1) There is NO BODY in the tomb.

Many have argued over the years, starting with the chief priest on Easter Sunday, that:

Perhaps it was stolen.

Perhaps he wasn’t really dead (swoon theory)

Perhaps they got the wrong grave.

But if any of these theories are legit, why wouldn’t these leaders calm the story by finding the real body of Jesus and exposing the fraud.

What about the Roman soldiers who guarded the tomb, could blue collar fisher take on such a huge thing like stealing a body?

And that sounds like some kind of M. Night Shyamalan movie that Jesus just passed out and BOOM he is back, with a spear whole in His side.

It is hard to get around the absence of a Body.

2) The testimony of REAL LIFE witnesses.

Some have argued

Mass hallucination- Everyone who claimed to see the risen Lord was hallucinating out of an earnest desire to see Jesus alive again.

The story was added later.

But lots of people saw Jesus after the resurrection.

Read 1 Corinthians 15:5-8. After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples, a crowd of 500 people, his brother James, all of the apostles, and eventually the apostle Paul.

In other words, a lot of people saw him, and they saw him at different times and in different locations.

3. The VAST EXPANSION of the Gospel in the early years.

Others have argued:

It was a carefully crafted and marketed legend

They must have hired a really back PR firm.

Women were the first witnesses of Jesus.

People were arrested and beaten for their testimony.

Steven, James (John’s brother), and so many others were persecuted because of their testimony.

Why would they continue to talk about it?

BECAUSE they SAW it with their own eyes,

The vast expansion of the Gospel in spite of persecution and risk speaks to the reasonably of it.

I can’t answer every question you have, no one can.

I can’t show you a science experiment that proves Jesus could have rose from the grave.

But you can’t ignore it.

You can’t deny it.

You can’t be indifferent.

We are all faced with the question: How will we respond.

Matthew shows us how 4 different groups responded to the resurrection.

Who are you?

4 Potential Responses

1) The Women: AWE-INSPIRED JOY

Matthew 28:8 (CSB)

8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell his disciples the news.

These are the women who just a day before had likely stayed in their homes on the Sabbath day crying and mourning that the one they had loved, the one they had trusted and followed, and the one they had so much HOPE in was GONE.

They didn’t expect to show up to an empty grave. They didn’t believe it possible.

They saw him die.

Like says they were there when he was buried.

They came to the tomb hopeless, helpless, lost, and weary.

But they left with FEAR and GREAT JOY.

Fear here isn’t like being afraid of spiders or dark allies late at night.

It is fear as in humble respect and awe-inspired.

The impossible had just been proven possible.

The hopeless had just become undeniable REAL.

Their FEAR was awe

And their joy was overflowing in praise.

The world as they knew it was altogether different and would never be the same.

What is it in your life that seem altogether insurmountable, hopelessly broken or lost, or just plain unbearable?

If the resurrection really happen, there really isn’t anything too far gone, too big for Him to fix, or too much for Him to carry you through.

It isn’t a promise that everything will be easy, Good Friday came before Easter, but there is ALWAYS HOPE IN THE POWER OF GOD.

Hope that stokes AWE-INSPIRED JOY.

2) The Soldiers: FEAR-INDUCED DENIAL

Matthew 28:4 CSB

4 The guards were so shaken by fear of him that they became like dead men.

The fear felt by the soldiers is a different kind of fear that the women.

Their fear was a crippling fear. A fear that caused them to run.

They ran to the Chief Priests.

They saw all the same things the women had seen.

The beating, the crucifixion, the death, the burial...

They felt the earthquake too, and saw the angel and the empty grave.

How did the stone get moved?

Where did the body go?

He was dead, no one came, and yet it is gone!

They had to find answers.

The chief priests fabricate a story and pay the soldiers a large sum of money to spread that story far and wide.

Why did they do what they were instructed?

Because they were afraid.

They didn’t want to believe what they saw was real.

They feared what it meant for their lives if what they saw was true.

Remember the words of Jesus? “All authority has been given to me.”

If what they saw was real they couldn’t live the same way.

Their motivations in life would be different.

What they lived for would be different.

Their whole WORLD would be different.

And that is a scary thought.

For some of you today, it is easier to keep Jesus at arm’s-reach.

“He is good for some, but not for me.”

The biggest thing holding you back is that you know it will shake up your world.

Let me ask you a question:

If you knew there was something that could fix the brokenness and cure all the sickness and corruption in our world, would you go looking for it, or just deny it was real?

What happened 2000 years when Jesus rose from the grave is that thing.

Yeah it seems unbelievable, but if it is true, you can’t ignore it and you can’t deny it.

3) The Chief Priests: PRIDE-PROVOKED REFUSAL

Matthew 28:12–13 CSB

12 After the priests had assembled with the elders and agreed on a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money 13 and told them, “Say this, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping.’

The chief priests were the ones who knew the scriptures better than anyone else.

They were experts of the law and the most religious of all.

They knew the accounts of God’s miraculous ways in the OT

Yet when they heard that Jesus was no longer in the grave, their first response is not to go and see for themselves.

No their first response is refusal.

They refuse to believe it.

They cannot believe this man who called Himself the Son of God was anything more than a blasphemer, and a dead one for that matter.

So they come up with a story to answer the buzz and squelch the news.

They were the first ones do come up with reasons, arguments, and theories.

They had to fabricate reasons that fit the story they were WILLING to accept.

In the 2008 film “Expelled” Ben Stein (the guy with the monotone voice from Ferris Bueller) argues for the validity of intelligent design as an explanation of the development of the earth.

He interviews the outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins.

In the interview, Stein asks Dawkins how sure he is that the earth wasn’t created by an intelligent designer.

To which Dawkins says he is 99% certain.

After and exchange, Dawkins finally says “maybe there is an intelligent designer. But if there is, I can guarantee that that intelligent designer is a life form that evolved elsewhere and came to earth and seeded life here."

What Dawkins says here is that he is willing to believe that Aliens (which the existence of have NEVER been proven) are the intelligence behind the creation of humanity on earth BEFORE he is willing to believe there is a God behind it.

Pride will lead us to do whatever it takes just to stay in the dark.

4) The Disciples: UNDENIABLE WORSHIP

Matthew 28:16–17 CSB

16 The eleven disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but some doubted.

The disciples have one of the most relatable responses to the resurrected Jesus.

They worship, but some doubted.

If you think you need to have all the questions you have answered before you can begin to worship and follow Jesus, then you don’t quite get it.

They were looking at a man they had all seen die just 2 days earlier. The one’s who didn’t doubt are the one’s I struggle with.

I would have had LOTS of questions.

I would have been the first to go an touch Him and pinch myself on the way.

Doubt is a common Christian experience that drives us to find answers to our questions and seek understanding in our experiences.

You notice in the book of Acts, the 11 disciples didn’t let doubt keep the from following, they all were used by God to start the church.

Faith is when the UNEXPLAINABLE meets the UNDENIABLE. — Andy Stanely

I am not afraid to admit that the things we read in this book are outside of my comfort zone at times.

I can’t explain it all logically or scientifically, but I also can’t deny it.

I can’t deny the way God has transformed me.

How He has moved in my life in ways that could only be Him.

I can’t explain how the things I read in this book speak to the struggles, trials, and temptations I face OFTEN.

I can’t explain it, but I can’t deny it.

Hebrews 11:1 CSB

1 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.

There are A LOT of verifiable reasons to believe what we celebrate today really happened 2000 years ago.

But it will still require faith.

And when we place our faith in Jesus AND PURSUE our faith in Jesus, we will experience the how those UNEXPLAINABLE things begin to become MORE and MORE UNDENIABLE.

How will you respond?

1) Deny, Refuse, and Walk Away?

Maybe you came here today just to make someone else happy and you are walking away today unchanged and unconvinced.

I am going to be honest with you, I am going to pray that God makes you REALLY uncomfortable all this week, to the point that made you will be willing to give it a bit more thought.

If so, come and see me.

2) Look and Listen

Maybe something has been prompted in you today that you need to dig a little deeper.

Maybe you are hearing this with new ears and you are interested in hearing more. Come by and see me.

Or maybe you have just taken things at face value, but have never really dove into the bible for yourself and figure out what you really believe.

I would encourage you to plug in to one of our groups and invest some time in digging in deeper with them.

We can’t just sit in a seat every week and listen, it is time to dive in deep.

3) Believe and Receive

Or maybe today you are ready, you are convinced, you are like the women in the story, awe-struck and ready to give your life to Jesus.

I want to invite you receive Him today.

4) Go and Tell

Here is the last response.

It is the response Jesus calls His disciples to:

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”