Why Easter Still Matters

Well the year was 1969 and the date was July 24th I wonder who here remembers what happened
on that day anybody the landing on the moon was July 20th the first walk on the
moon was July 21st July 24th was the splashdown in the Pacific and the reason I
mentioned that is because in the aftermath of welcoming back the three
astronauts who had that first moon landing then President Richard Nixon
enthused in a moment of getting carried away he said this is the greatest
week in the history of the world since creation and I remember thinking well
I can understand your enthusiasm because the scientific accomplishment of
landing on the moon and coming back home was remarkable do you do you realize
that the computer that navigated Apollo 11 to the moon and back had all of
64 kilobytes of memory you compare that with your cell phone today and it is
unimaginable that they managed to pull that off it was a huge feat and I don't
blame Richard Nixon for getting carried away but of course he was wrong because
from a biblical point of view the greatest event in the history of the universe
was not the landing on the moon but rather the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead listen again to these verses 1 Corinthians chapter 15 Dave
referred to these last week 1 Corinthians chapter 15 if we can have those
words up for I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received that
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was
buried that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the
scriptures I delivered to you as a first importance throughout the New
Testament we are told there are two life shaping events that mark the passage of
history the first is the is the crucifixion of Jesus that we celebrated a
while back on good Friday but the second is the resurrection of Jesus Christ
and in the time that remains this morning I want to try to share with you four
reasons why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is of first importance not only
for the Christian believer but for all of the world reason number one the
resurrection of Jesus is a vindication of who Jesus is it is a vindication of
who Jesus is now if you're familiar at all with a gospel story and I'm sure
many of you are then you will know that Jesus made some incredibly outrageous
claims about himself he claimed to be the son of God he claimed to be the Messiah
that is the one ordained of God to bring the whole world back into harmony with
God and with itself he claimed to be without sin he claimed to be the one who
one day is going to come and judge all the peoples of all nations at the
eternal judgment seat at the end of history he made some outrageous claims
about himself now making claims about yourself is not a difficult thing to do
because there's lots of people who do make those kind of claims about themselves
most of them are dead and if they aren't already they're going to be and their
claims disappear see as Lewis put it well concerning the Lord Jesus when he
said in that very famous quote in mirror Christianity he said a man who is
merely a man and said a sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral
teacher he would either be a lunatic on the level with a man who says that he's
approached egg or he would be the devil of hell you must take your choice either
this was and is the son of God or else a madman or something worse the
resurrection of Jesus is a vindication of the claims of Jesus it means that he
is what he said he is because nobody can raise himself from the dead the
very important thing to consider if you're dead you're dead and it takes power
outside of yourself to bring you back to life and that can only be done by Almighty
God who created the whole universe that had nothing and who has the power to
overcome death and so the resurrection of Jesus was God's way of saying to
everybody this man is who he claims that he is he is the son of God chosen by
me to bring salvation to the world listen to how Paul puts it in Romans chapter
one verse four he says Jesus through the spirit of holiness and look
carefully was declared with power to be the son of God by his resurrection from
the dead Jesus Christ our Lord he was declared with power to be the son of
God by his resurrection from the dead let me say it again the resurrection of
Jesus is God's way of affirming that Jesus is who he claims to be now in case you
haven't caught that yet that's got huge implications because it means that
whatever Jesus said about himself is absolutely true and so when Jesus says I
am the way the truth in the life no one can come to the Father but by me what
that means is that unless you come to faith in Christ you cannot be saved you
cannot have a relationship with God outside of Jesus and when Jesus says take up
your cross and follow me I'm coming at the end of history to judge the living in
the dead that means we have to take seriously what he says about how God expects
us to live because he wasn't just whistling in the dark he wasn't just
nothing pious platitudes he was revealing the very heart of God whatever he
said God backs up and at the end of history when he comes to judge the living
in the dead he's going to judge all of humanity by his standards and those who
have been in relationship with him through faith are going to enter into the
new creation those who have rejected him through unbelief are going to be
separated as goats from the sheep the resurrection of Jesus is proof positive
that Jesus is all that he said he was that's one lesson to learn concerning
the resurrection the second is this it validates it validates the way of the
cross it validates the way of the cross now what's the way of the cross the
way of the cross is God's way of bringing about the restoration of all of
creation let me picture it this way as you know this represents the creation of
the world God's desire for creation God is at the center we are in relationship
with God because we're in relationship with God or in relationship with each
other Genesis 1 and 2 is the story of Adam and Eve in relationship with God in
relationship with each other sin comes along we rebel against God we come under
Satan's authority we become selfish it's all about me it's all about you the
result is conflict and life spirals into despair and hopelessness and all you have
to do is listen to the news read the newspaper or look at your own life for
the lives of people around you and you know how real this is from wars that
wage between the nations from husbands and wives that fight and can't get
along to children who are out of control and who are rebellious and a world
bogged down increasingly with foolishness we know the reality of a
creation that groans under the curse of sin and so throughout history the big
question is how do we get back to paradise and if we can have those circles
back up for a moment there are biblically speaking two answers as you know one is
we can make it happen ourselves if we try hard enough we can get rid of the
consequences of sin if we appeal to technology if we use our our wits if we
use the advances of society we can somehow or another if we do enough
education if we can advocate enough democracy we can get people getting
along with each other and we can have peace on earth and goodwill towards men
the Bible says from one end to the other that while there are many good things
that we can do there is one thing we cannot do and that is regain paradise
lost by our own efforts why because none of our own efforts deal with the
original issue which is separation from sin and so the message of the cross is
God's approach of bringing us back to himself God's word says that since the
problems began with our rebellion against God and going our own way the only
way we can get back into wholeness is to reverse that process which is to
acknowledge our sin and to confess it before God and to see God's favor so
that God can restore all things to himself you've heard me talk about this
before Genesis chapter 4 shows the two lines that come from the descendents of
Adam and Eve there's Kayon on the one hand and there's Abel who gets killed by
Kayon replaced by Seth and the descendants of Kayon are in rebellion against
God don't want to submit to God because his pride gets in the way he builds a
city and in building a city he says to God I don't need you I will make life
happen the way that I want to make it happen and then if you read through the
genealogy of his offspring in Genesis chapter 4 first of all he names the city
after himself or after his son because you see in the world it's all about you
and making a name for yourself and then you have that whole story of how you see
the development of technology and music and and you follow that generation to
the seventh generation you end up with Lamek who is a man of violence and and
that's a brief snapshot in the opening chapters of Scripture of where the
world is going without God it bogs down in violence and in anguish then there
is Seth and the line of Seth has none of the accomplishments that you read
about in the line of Kayons very interesting thing all we are told about the
descendants of Seth is that in the days of Enosh whose name means weak they
began to call on the name of the Lord did you know that and it's God's way of
saying it's God's way of saying there are two ways of approaching the
miseries of life one is you try to make them go away by yourself and the harder
you try the worse it gets because the end is violence or you can come to God
and you say God I made a mess of things I don't know how to fix this I need
you and I need your mercy and God steps in and he makes it happen and so the
seventh generation and some of you heard me talk about this before in the line of
Seth leads to Enorque and what does the Bible say about Enorque he walked with
God and God took him and you see the contrast between these two generation so
when I'm saying the resurrection of Jesus validates the way of the cross I'm
saying to you what God validates in the resurrection of Jesus is that the way
to success in life is not first and foremost by trying to make it happen
yourself by pulling yourself up in your bootstraps by cultivating all of your
advantages and and doing all of the things the world says you need to do to be
successful and to accomplish something because even if you gain the whole world
at the end of that you're still gonna die and it's all gonna be gone the way
to success is the way of faith it's cultivating our relationship with God through
faith in Jesus because at the end of history and in between it is God who is
watching over his children and he is the one who gives us what we need when
we need it and am I making sense when I'm talking about two different ways of
life it's the way of faith versus the way of unbelief the resurrection of
Jesus is a vindication of the way of the cross and why do I emphasize that I'll
tell you why because when you look with your eyes around you it doesn't always
seem to work isn't that true I mean look at what's happening out of the
Middle East you've got ISIS who is running roughshod over some of the oldest
Christian communities in the world I mean just this past week they spent their
energy destroying the the monuments of a Syrian civilization that go back you
know three or four thousand years and it's just it's just absolutely crazy and you
look at that and you say God where are you and you can imagine being in the
middle of this and saying Lord what in the world is happening what are the most
iconic images that came out of the Middle East just the other day was a little
girl who a photographer with a telephoto lens was trying to take her picture
and she thought it was a gun and you see her standing there like this with her
face in terror wondering if she was going to be shot and I say it's an iconic
image because you can imagine the horror I think we can't imagine the horror we
can imagine that we can imagine the horror of what's happening to Christians in
that part of the world and that's been true throughout the course of history and
there are some of you here today you try to walk with Jesus and you've tried
to put your faith in him and and you've believed that he's there for you but
the more you believe and the more you walk with him sometimes the harder it
seems until you get to a place where you say well it doesn't really work and
you may not intellectually give up on faith but in your heart you begin to
hold back and you say well you know it's too painful it's too risky it's too
dangerous if I really tie faithfully I'm gonna run out of money if I really
pour myself into other people I'm gonna run out of emotional energy and and
where's God going to be and so sometimes it is the most committed Christians
who burn out the fastest because they have believed with their hearts and
they've been disappointed in God I mean how many of us here aren't sometimes
at least disappointed in God and we wonder does faith really work do God's
ways really pay off and I'm here to tell you this morning the toughest it is
sometimes the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a vindication of the way of
the cross Jesus made it his priority to do his father's will he avoided
every temptation to build his own kingdom it was never about him it was always
about walking faithfully before God what was the reward that he received he was
betrayed by his own he was subject to the miscarriage of justice at the hands
of the religious and the political system of his day on good Friday he died a
shameful death on the cross you can understand the despair of the disciples
when all their hopes and dreams were smashed and if ever it looked as if God's
way did not pay off it was Jesus on good Friday isn't it true but thank God
Sunday was a coming and on Easter Sunday morning up from the grave heroes I
love that him by the way with a mighty triumph or the grave and the
resurrection of Jesus is a vindication that no one who hopes in God will
ultimately be left hanging because the way of the cross submission to God
through faith in Jesus is still the ultimate answer to everything that
ails of the human race listen to these words of Jesus they are you know
these words from I'm going to move on to these words in Philippians one of the
oldest hymns of Christendom being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself
and became obedient to death even death and across and therefore God
exalted him to the highest place gave him the name that is above every day
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and the earth and
under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father the resurrection of Jesus is a vindication of the way of the
cross and what that means is that while in the short run sometimes it doesn't
seem to pay off to be obedient in the short run it seems like the world runs
all over God's people in the end that will be destroyed in judgment and God's
people will be established in the way of truth I think we need to hold on to that
and believe that when sometimes following Jesus gets to be very difficult so
why is the resurrection important it's important first of all because it is a
vindication of who Jesus is it is secondly a vindication of the way of the
cross but thirdly it releases resurrection life it releases resurrection
life what is resurrection life it's it's life that's gone through the meat
grinder and it's come out the other end listen to these verses Romans chapter
6 5 and 6 Paul says if we have been united with him like this in his death we
will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection for we know that
our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done
away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin think this through with me
for just a moment why is it so hard sometimes to truly love God with all of
our heart and our neighbor as we love ourselves why is it so difficult even as
believers to put away the old and to put on the new and the answer of course is
that in our humanity we share Adam's nature and in order for us to overcome
Adam's nature we need to have and to experience the resurrection nature and
life of Christ we can picture it this way one Corinthians 1547 and 48 the
first man was of the dust of the earth the second man from heaven as was the
earthly man so are those who are of the earth and as is the man from heaven so
also are those who are of heaven when by faith we're joined to Jesus he
enables us to put off the old and to put on the new because the resurrection
life and the resurrection power of Jesus now is available for you and me it is
an other kind of life if you look at the life of Jesus he loved God he loved his
neighbor even to the point of death Christ in you the hope of glory and one by
faith we're joined to him then we are made alive in a whole new way Ephesians
puts it this way he says and you he made alive when you were dead through the
trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this
world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at
work in the sons of disobedience and practically speaking it means this when
you and I acknowledge that we don't have what it takes to be what God wants us
to be and when we turn our eyes upon Jesus and put our faith in him he not only
forgives us our sins but he gives us new life and this new life does a number of
things in us it opens our spiritual eyes so that we can see God we can
understand him in a new way the Bible comes alive he gives us a new passion and
a desire to love him and a new ability to say no to the negative things of life
that drive us away and yes to the things that God is calling us to it and you
know that doesn't mean we never sin doesn't mean we never fail but it doesn't
mean that progressively things change in the inside because there is new life it
begins to to to just flow forth just as in spring the dead and the barren
earth give birth to new life so in Jesus there is new life that passionately and
powerfully changes us from the inside out one more step in this whole process
the resurrection of Jesus motivates us to serve the Lord faithfully I love
the way one Corinthians chapter 15 ends it's one of the longest chapters and
then you test them I think only Luke chapter one is longer Paul has spent all
this time spelling out the theology of the cross in the face of people who are
proclaiming that Christ has not really been risen it doesn't really make any
difference and then when he gets to the end when he gets to verse 58 being the
kind of pastor that he is he sums up the practical outworking of all of this
theology that undoubtedly went over the heads of many people but here's how he
sums it up in verse 58 therefore remember whenever Paul uses therefore he is
talking about the practical implications of everything that he has just been
saying therefore my dear brother Stanford let nothing move you always give
yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in
the Lord is not in vain your labor in the Lord is not in vain what ought to
motivate Christians to continue walking with the Lord and doing what the Lord
calls them to do when so often it looks like there is no payoff or Paul says the
key is the resurrection of Jesus Christ now think this through with me for just
a little bit if you will let's be brutally honest with ourselves because isn't
true that as believers sometimes we get weary in welding I mean honestly do
you ever get weary in well doing you know you invest yourself and somebody
else's life and at the end of the day they throw your love back in your
face and they walk away ever happened to anybody or you dig into your pockets
and you you try to be obedient to scripture and you try to help somebody back
on their feet and and before you know it they just misuse your generosity and
they selfishly pursue their own way or you you know you hear the call of God
in your life and and you take that step of faith expecting that God will meet
you and the bottom falls out of your world and you say what in the world did I do
this for and you know it's like you put your hand to the plow and you discover
how rough that road sometimes gets and you begin to look back behind yourself and
you wonder did I make him a stat anybody here know what I'm talking about you
get weary in well doing why give of myself to God and why give of myself to
people when when all people do is break my heart betray my trust why not just
throw in the towel and live for myself which is what so much of the world
is not true what's the antidote to that the resurrection of Jesus Christ you know
why because the resurrection of Jesus Christ means that there's a life beyond
this one and when that life gets ushered in at the end of history God who was
watched every tear you have cried every loss you have suffered every
difficult to you have experienced will not only acknowledge all of your
sacrifices on his behalf he will richly reward you because he is faithful to
his own and it's a prospect of the resurrection is that's prospect of the
reward it's a prospect of the new age that makes what we do today worthwhile and
I love the way the Lord Jesus puts it in Mark's gospel when he says in Mark
10 verse 29 and 30 no one no one that includes you me who was left home or
brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the
gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age homes
brothers sisters mothers children and fields and with them persecutions and in
the age to come eternal life two rewards notice that one is the reward of
eternal life Jesus for the joy that was said before him endured suffering
and the cross why did he put up what he put up with why didn't he call 10,000
angels why didn't he call judgment on a rebellious world because for the
joy that stood before him he knew that one day if the father was pleased with
him the father would give him everything that he would ever need and therefore
he has received the name that is above every day and he says if you follow me
that's what's going to happen but notice and this is important the promise
isn't just for the age to come it's also for the here and now a hundredfold
there isn't a thing you have surrendered to Jesus but Jesus promises a hundred
fold in the here and now so that we can be faithful to him until the very end
the resurrection of Jesus is a vindication it is a proof a motivation to help us
serve the Lord faithfully the old him puts it this way and with this we're going
to end this morning not a burden we bear not a sorrow we share but our toil he
does richly repay not a grief or a loss not a frown or a cross but his
blast if we trust in obey
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