Sermon Tone Analysis

*                                      Easter -- Because He Lives *                     4~/8~/07

*                                                                **1 Cor.

15:3-8*

*Easter* is the celebration of Christ’s resurrection

 

Why celebrate Easter?

The experience of sins forgiven

            The assurance of eternal life

* *

*1Co 15:17*.

17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith /is/ futile;  you are still in your sins!

* *

*Resurrection*.

several key truths.

*First,* the resurrection of Jesus was a historic, not “spiritual” or “mythic” event.

*Second,* resurrection is a critical element in God’s eternal plan to establish His kingdom rule.

*Third,* our resurrection involves a transformation from mortality to immortality, from sinner to sinless, from Adamlikeness to Christlikeness.

*Fourth,* the hope of resurrection gives our life on earth new focus and meaning.

We dedicate ourselves to live for God, confident that our “labor in the Lord is not in vain” (15:58).

*Believe in vain (15:2)*.

“Vain” is /eike/, and focuses on result or outcome.

Thus to believe “in vain” means Christian faith apart from resurrection means to believe without prospect of any reward.

*Death to be destroyed (15:26)*.

The word is /katargeo/, used in theologically significant passages with the meaning of “abolish” or “nullify.”

Paul’s point is that death, which has exercised such power over the human race, will become totally irrelevant.

Our destiny is life and immortality in our Lord.[1]

*1 Cor.

6:14*14 And  God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up  by His power.

*But our focus today is the reasons why we have faith in the resurrection*

From *1 Cor.

15:3-8* we learn that faith in the resurrection was based not on the empty tomb, which Paul does not mention, but on the appearances of the Lord.

The word used for ‘appeared’ is the same Greek word used elsewhere for visionary experiences.

[2]

 

*We have faith in the resurrection because He lives*

*1 Cor.

15:3-8* 3 For  I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins  according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by 1Cephas, then by the twelve.

6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.

8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

*/ /*

*/The empty tomb did not convince them that Jesus was alive!

/*

 

It was at first frustrating to the disciples and “seemed to them like idle tales”

*Luke 24:11* 11  And their words seemed to them like 3idle tales, and they did not believe them.

12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

But the appearances of Jesus clearly convince them that Jesus was alive and at the heart of early Christian faith.

For 40 days after the Resurrection, Christ flits in and out of space and time, appearing occasionally to a few followers.

Then he ascends into heaven.

What is striking is how his followers consistently fail to recognize him, and, more importantly,

*the variety of ways in which God makes it possible for them to apprehend him.

*

* *

*We know He lives because;*

*He calls us by name*

*/1.

/*Mary Magdalene, weeping outside the empty tomb, has to be called by name before she recognizes Christ.

*/Before that, she thought he was a gardener./*

*John 20:14* 14  Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing /there,/ and  did not know that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking?”

She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

16 Jesus said to her,  “Mary!”

 

*Times when we swimming in pain and grief and need comfort, He calls us by name*

 

*John 10:3* 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by  name and leads them out.

*            He will speak directly to our heart and spirit *

* *

*We know He lives because;*

*He gives us peace*

*/2.

/*Ten disciples, gathered in a room in sorrow and fear, need Christ to breathe his peace on them before they recognize him.

*/Before that, they thought he was a ghost./*

*John 20:19-2219* Then, the same day at evening, being the first /day/ of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for  fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them,  “Peace /be/ with you.” 20 When He had said this, He  showed them /His/ hands and His side.

 Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you!  As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

22 And when He had said this, He breathed on /them,/ and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

*In times  of fear  & distress we need peace, and He gives us His peace*

* *

*We know He lives because;*

*He gives us vision, a revelation*

 

3.

Two travelers from Emmaus walked with Christ and talked with him about salvation history all the way to their city, but recognized him only when he held up some bread and blessed it.

*/Before that, they thought he was simply a learned traveler./*

Luke 24:13-32

 

*Luke 24:13-32*

 

*V27* 27 And beginning at  Moses and  all the Prophets, He 7expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

*V30-31* 30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke /it,/ and gave it to them.

31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him;

*Sometimes we talk idly about divine matters but see God only in the sublime simplicity of the sacrament we observe *

 

This represents the times we are told, taught the scriptures but Christ is revealed in the simple ordinances of the faith;

            The Lord’s supper – the sacrifice Christ  was, what He did for us, what He  was

                        Broken bread=broken body, juice poured in cups=His blood poured out

            Baptism – being buried in water as being buried with Him in death to sin

                           -- As he was raised from the grave we are raised up out of the water

                                    He died & was buried – we die to sin & are buried in water

                                    He was raised w~/new body-we w~/new heart & life

                       

*We know He lives because;*

*He gives us a touch*

*/4.

/*Thomas, the great doubter, wanted to put his fingers in the nail holes of the Cross and his hand in the pierced side of Christ before accepting him.

*/Prior to that, he thought Christ was a fraud.

/*

*/ /*

*John 20:24* 24 Now Thomas,  called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them.

Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” 27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and  reach your hand /here,/ and put /it/ into My side.

Do not be  unbelieving, but believing.”

28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “*My Lord and my God!”*

 

*Sometimes we are so overcome by doubt and skepticism that we need God's touch to assure and anchor us.

*A physical encounter

 

* *

*We know He lives because;*

*He gives us a miracle and speaks with us*

 

5.

Peter recognized Christ only after he performed the miracle of filling Peter's nets with fish.

Then Peter had to sit through a threefold cross-examination as to whether he really believed in the resurrected Lord whom he had just denied: "Simon Barjona, do you love me?" "Do you love me?" "Do you love me?"

* *

*John 21:3-7*  3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”

They said to him, “We are going with you also.”