Sermon Tone Analysis

*Resurrection day!*

It is resurrection day! *[P]* Hallelujah!

Do you know why we are here on a Sunday; say, as opposed to a Saturday or Friday?

Because Jesus rose on a Sunday, the first day of the week!

That is the reason why Christian worship takes place on the first day of the week.

We don’t come together on Friday to commemorate His death; nor Saturday, as the Jews did; but on Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the grave.

Resurrection is central, core to the whole of Christian faith.

Without resurrection it is NOTHING!

This is how Paul put it: [*1 Corinthians 15:14-19*/ I//f Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.

Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God,/ (liars!)/ because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.

For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.

Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied!/]

The resurrection of Jesus is /the/ issue of contention, the thing on which everything hangs.

Look, you will have to go a long way to find someone who denies that Jesus actually existed as a person here on earth as a historical figure.

And, of those that acknowledge His existence, you will find none that say He didn’t die.

The existence and death of Jesus are not called into question – the two things that are, are: His Divinity; that He is God; and the other is that He came alive again after he died.

The resurrection is the bone of contention.

This stems way back, both Jews and Gentiles stumbled over this issue: This is Paul before Jews: [*Acts 23:6-7*/ //Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”

As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided./]

It is an issue that causes division – you are in one camp or the other.

And this is Paul before Gentiles in Athens: [*Acts 17:32*/ //Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.”/]

It is the issue that divides.

You fall one side or another on the issue of Jesus rising from the dead.

They knew this very early in the church and enshrined this issue in their tradition.

In the Greek Orthodox Church, on Easter, people greet one another with the words “/Christ is risen/!” *[P]* to which they receive the response “/He is risen indeed/!” *[P]* Another early tradition instituted in the church, in fact before the New Testament was completed; was the congregational reciting of creeds.

Statements of what they believed.

The Apostles’ creed states: *[P]* “/I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried; The third day he rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty./”

They ensured that the resurrection was there.

The resurrection is central to the Gospel.

Now I don’t want to introduce a return to liturgy, but I thought that we might try confessing a creed together.

It is good to affirm what we believe, there is a strength in holding the truth together.

Relax, this is not a creed composed by men, by the church authorities, it comes straight from Scripture.

Paul said to the Corinthian church: [*1 Corinthians 15:3-4*/ //For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,/] Paul goes on to cite eye-witness evidence – the evidence of over 500 eyewitnesses.

This is verified truth!

Fact!

It actually happened and is well attested.

A literal bodily resurrection – not some: “the spirit of Jesus still lives on today” – in His teaching, in His philosophy, in His followers.

No the corpse that was in the grave came out as a living walking breathing eating body.

Paul said that this is of prime importance.

So let’s have a go at saying together this fundamental statement of truth.

The world denies that Jesus rose again but *[P]* “*/we believe: that Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures/*.”

All I have added is “we believe” So if you do believe it then say it with me…..

There is something in unitedly affirming what we believe.

This is the truth that will be assaulted and called into question – yes, even in large portions of the so-called church.

We confessed that Jesus arose on the third day *according to the Scriptures*, so I thought that it would be salutatory to have a look at that Scriptural record of the actual event.

One of the things that gets me about the resurrection of Jesus is that although He told His disciples repeatedly that He would die and rise again, yet not one of them was expecting it!

But the strange thing is that the religious authorities, who did not believe in Him, did heed what He said: [*Matthew 27:62-64*/ //Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’

“Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”/]

They didn’t believe that He would rise, but they were aware of Jesus saying that He would.

But not one single follower of Jesus was expecting Him to rise from the dead – not one!

Surely, if you love and trust someone, you will believe what they say.

If Rhoda says that she will pick me up at work, I will be expecting her to come.

She might be a bit late but she will come.

She won’t be mean enough to say she’d come and then go off and do something else.

I won’t get on my bike and make my own way home (I did once but that was due to a miscommunication).

How could His beloved followers not be expecting Him to rise?!

He told them that He would!

But they didn’t expect it at all or even hope for it.

And we can be the same – Jesus said repeatedly that He would come again; are we expecting Him? – simply taking Him at His word?

We see this total unpreparedness of Jesus’ followers for Him to be raised in one of my favourite accounts after the resurrection.

Let’s have a look at it in Luke 24 *[P]*.

The thing is that their unbelief, their totally not expecting a resurrection, authenticates what took place.

It was not as the chief priests and Pharisees thought, that the disciples would engineer a pseudo-resurrection, fake a resurrection on the third day.

They were totally thrown by Jesus death, they are left reeling.

Their world fell apart; this is the last thing they expected.

It just shows how our preconceived notions can stand in the way of us seeing what God is doing.

Picking it up at: [*Luke 24:13-43*/ //And behold, two of them/ (that is followers of Jesus)/ were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem/ (a couple of hours walk)/.

And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place/ (that is the death of Jesus, the end of their hopes and dreams – depressing stuff.

They were despondent)/.

While they were talking and discussing, *Jesus Himself* approached and began travelling with them.

But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him./ (They actually saw the resurrected Christ with their very own eyes!

– they saw but they did not believe – truth isn’t found through our senses but by faith.)/

And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?”

And they stood still, looking sad./ (the One they loved had died, they were in mourning with no hope or expectation of anything more.

They were miserable.)/

One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?”

And He said to them, /(playing ignorant)/“What things?”

And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him.

“But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel./

(They had place their hope in Jesus, they were disciples, His followers.

They saw Him as Redeemer, the One who was going to solve all their problems and restore the nation to its former glory) /Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.

“But also some women among us amazed us.

/(They weren’t expecting this) /When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that* He was alive*.

“Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.”

/(They knew all the facts: that Jesus was from God; that He died, He was placed in the tomb but was no longer in it.

*[P]* They had the eye-witness accounts of some women who had been told by an angel from heaven that He was alive.

They had this testimony of an empty tomb confirmed to them by others who went to check it out.

The Law required truth to be verified by multiple witnesses: Paul cited over 500 eyewitnesses!

The resurrection is verified fact by hundreds of confirming witnesses who saw Him alive with their own eyes.

How do we know Jesus rose?

– we have reliable eye-witness testimony.

These two on the road had all the facts; the truths that we affirmed together this morning: that Jesus died, was buried and rose again.

Furthermore they had the prediction of Jesus Himself telling them that He would die and rise again.

Why did they not believe?!

They were totally not expecting Jesus to be alive!

This concept was totally inconceivable to them – so much so that when they had the plain evidence of it before them they still could not admit it as a possibility.

What more could there be that would convince them?

What would it take?

Well, if they actually saw Him alive with their own eyes ….