home >  Media > Weekend Message

Churches sometimes use churchy words that need definition. For example the word Gospel means “good news.” Faith means “being sure of what we hope for, certain of what we do not see.” This Easter, we may not be able to physically see Jesus and some may have doubts about how his life applies to ours, but hear this good news: We can be certain in our hope that Jesus was God’s son who died for our sins and rose from the dead to live forever. If we commit our lives to him with heartfelt faith, we live forever with him!

 

Better Than Good News!

Several years ago, there was a survey taken of Americans asking, “What is your number one fear?” When the numbers were totaled from that survey, it stated that the number one fear was public speaking… and the number two fear was death.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld took this information and said, “So if most people fear public speaking more than dying, that means if they were at a funeral, they would rather be the deceased than the one doing the eulogy.”

Today, we don’t need to be afraid of death. Jesus defeated death. Because he rose from the dead, we can trust his words and the words of the Bible, that say, we too will not stay dead, but come alive again and have life with Jesus. And we don’t need to be afraid of speaking about it. It’s the truth, and we can be bold to love God and love our neighbors as God tells us to do.

Today on this Easter (weekend) Sunday, we are going to look at the important dynamics of Easter: what Christians believe, why we believe it, and a very important question: So what does it mean to our lives?

Please open up your Bibles or the ZPC copies and read with me today’s scripture, which comes from Paul’s first letter to the Christians at Corinth, 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

It’s found in the Bibles below your seats on pages 1139 and 1140. Again we are reading selections from chapter fifteen of 1^st Corinthians starting at verse 1.

1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 12-17, 54-58

In this passage we just read, Paul uses the words gospel and resurrection. The word gospel means good news. And the resurrection, or the raising from the dead of Jesus, is even better than good news, it is the best news we can possibly hear.

This is what Easter is all about. In fact, Paul tells us that if Jesus hasn’t risen from the dead, our faith is futile, worthless – as Paul says, we might as well “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Over the years, there have been many skeptics who don’t believe Jesus is the son of God and that he rose from the dead. One of these was a prize winning journalist and legal editor from the Chicago Tribune named Lee Strobel. Here’s what he said in his own words, “For much of my life I was an atheist. I thought God didn’t create people, but people created God. Fearful of death, people invented God and heaven to give them the illusion of hope.”

He goes on to say that he was very angry, that he was looking for the ultimate experience of pleasure in the world but everything would always end in disappointment. When he came home from work, his 5 year old daughter Allison would gather her toys and go to her room and close the door. He says, “she must have thought, Is Daddy going to be drunk again? Is he going to kick holes in the wall again? Much to my embarrassment, that’s who I was.”

Something changed.

Through a local church, his wife believed Jesus was God’s son and had been raised from the dead – she became a Christian. Impressed by the changes in her, he went to church with her, and after a 2 year long spiritual quest and search for who Jesus really was, he asked Jesus to be the Lord of his life. His heart began to change. His swearing and the drinking stopped over time and he became more loving to his wife and daughter, so much that one day his daughter went to her Sunday school teacher, and said “I want God to do for me what he did for my daddy.” That day, his daughter, Alison, asked Jesus into her life. This man has gone on to become a pastor, and an author of over 20 books and been a spokesperson for around the world.

Despite his fame, he is not much different from us. He was looking not just for good news, but for something great. He found it – more meaning, more significance, joy, peace and truth in God. Don’t we long for those same things too?

So what evidence do we have to believe that Jesus as the Son of God?

Look again at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15.

Paul told the Corinthians three things to trust in and we can trust in today.

1. 1 Cor. 15:3-4- The scriptures are reliable –

Paul says this:

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Here is what some of the most important voices in the New Testament said about trusting the scriptures – first, Luke:

Luke 1:1-3

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you…”

2 Peter 1:16 

 ¹⁶We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

John 20:30-31

³⁰Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Now we know that the authors of the New Testament will vouch for its reliability, but will others?

Scholars have studied the Bible more than any other text in history, and they find it trustworthy. Here are several facts:

The New Testament was written by eyewitnesses within a generation of the life of Jesus. Archaeological discoveries within the last 30-100 years have confirmed the accuracy of the scripture – they have confirmed names of villages, governors and rulers of that time, and other places and dates. Also, we have over 20,000 ancient New Testament manuscripts to study. An ancient book with the next closest number of manuscripts is Homer’s Iliad – a book we all have heard of. There are only 643 manuscripts in existence of Homer’s work – again compared to 20,000.

Furthermore, scholars learned that early Jewish Christians changed their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. In ancient times, Sunday was the first day of the work week, and work began at dawn, which meant these early Christians must arise well before dawn to worship Jesus before they began work. And why? Because it was the day when Jesus rose from the dead – a day to sing, praise God, and to worship Him!

Because of this great amount of study and research, Sir Frederic Kenyon, former librarian at the British Museum says this: “Both the authenticity and the integrity of the books of the New Testament may be regarded as finally established.”

All these reasons give us confidence again today to say,

We can trust this book - the Bible!

And what does this book claim? Christ died for our sins… and he was buried and then raised on the third day. We can trust these statements to be true.

In this passage, Paul also says there were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection.

2. Witnesses – 15:5-7 –

We can read about these witnesses in verses 5-7:

Paul says,

^“and that he (Jesus) appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.”

The disciples who saw Jesus resurrected went from being scared and in hiding, to being bold and risking their lives.

Ancient historians tell us that all 11 remaining disciples were martyred for their faith except for John. John was eventually exiled to an island so that he could not tell others about Jesus. On that island of Patmos, God led him to write the book of Revelation.

The other 10 remaining disciples died for their faith. And who would die for a lie? If Jesus’ closest friends thought Jesus was still dead, wouldn’t they disciples still be afraid for their own lives? After they saw him, they went from living in fear, denying they knew Jesus, to living boldly for him. Later they were persecuted, beaten, and eventually killed for their faith. But before they died, they had told others about Jesus, they changed the world for Jesus.

Finally, we, like Paul, should be changed because of the story.

1 Cor.15:8-9- We–we are people like Paul

Paul says,

“and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

Paul says he did not deserve to be called an apostle, nevertheless, he did see the risen Christ, and his life forever changed. If Paul who persecuted Christians and oversaw their deaths, can be changed and follow Jesus, then any of us can! One Christian writer says it this way, “Wherever Jesus is proclaimed, we see lives change for the good, nations change for the better, thieves become honest, alcoholics become sober, hateful individuals become channels of love, unjust persons embrace justice.” The world has changed because of this one man – Jesus – so much that hundreds of millions of people will be worshipping him today on Easter around the world claim Jesus to be the Son of God and to be his followers.

The truth of the resurrection changed John Newton’s life too. In the 1700’s, he was a cruel slave trader. He first called out to God in the midst of a storm that nearly threw him overboard and almost sank his ship. The rest of his life he observed May 10, 1748 as the day of his conversion. Later, he renounced the slave trade, became a minister, and joined William Wilberforce in the fight against slavery. John Newton never lost sight of grace. As a Christian saved by Jesus, he wrote the song “Amazing Grace.” When he wrote the line “That saved a wretch like me,” he meant those words with all his heart. Newton’s life was different, and our lives can be different too.

What if you’re like me? I grew up going to church most Sundays, remember when I asked Jesus into my life, but have lived most of my life as a normal Christian, no radical story like Lee Strobel or John Newton, but have tried to follow Jesus – some days better than others. But even my normal life, and your normal life can be and should be changed by the truth of the resurrection and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

When we realize how Christ gave his life for us – and how it is true: We must respond by giving our hearts totally and completely to him!

We might ask:

• How do I do my job differently because of Jesus?
• How do I treat my neighbors differently because of my faith?
• How do I put my kids to bed differently because of the truth of the resurrection?

In his study of 1 Corinthians 15 and the resurrection, William Barclay, a Bible scholar from Scotland, put it this way:

Good is stronger than evil – Jesus was bigger than those who put him to death. He could carry even our sins, even my sins.

Love is stronger than hatred – Jesus’ love conquers all. Even when we have gone through difficult trials in our lives, love never fails. God never fails.

Life is stronger than death – Paul says near the end of this 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians, that when we all are resurrected we can say, “Where o death is your victory? Where o death is your sting? But thanks be to God, He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Truth is stronger than falsehood – Satan would have us believe that none of this is true. But scripture, historical evidence, archaeology, eyewitness accounts, even the evidence of over a billion people today on earth who claim it to be true, give us reason to believe that the resurrection of Jesus is true.

Jesus said, I am the way the truth and the life.

I am = God – When Moses asked God, as revealed in the burning bush, “Who are you?” God said, “I am who I am.” This is the same phrase Jesus used about himself – which his contemporaries understood to mean that he was claiming to be God.

Way = the way to the Father in Heaven, and life eternal in heaven!

Truth = real – not a lie – we can have faith to trust and believe that Jesus is God’s son who rose from the dead.

Life = Jesus said, “I have come to give life and give it abundantly.” Life in Jesus gives us meaning, significance, purpose – reasons to live differently.

At the end of this great chapter in the Bible, Paul reminds us that with the resurrection, death has lost its power and death has lost its sting – we can trust Jesus to help normal people like us to take more risks and be changed in the way we live every day.

Finally, Paul says this in the last verse, “Therefore my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

So what do we do?

1. Accept Christ – like the thief on the cross who asked, “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
2. How?

Our friend, the newspaper editor turned Christian Lee Strobel, says this verse helped him to understand what to do:

John 1:12 – says “To all who received him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

Believe + Receive = Become

We believe Jesus is the son of God, receive his gift of forgiveness of sin, and become his children.

If you have never prayed to receive God’s grace or you are not sure whether you have or not, it is too important on this Easter Sunday to let this opportunity slip away. If you would like to be sure that you know Jesus as your Savior then you can pray this kind of prayer silently as I pray it aloud:

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, it’s true I have fallen short of how you want me to live. In fact, I admit that I am a sinner and need your help. I’m truly sorry for my choices and want to turn from my path to your path.

As best I can, I believe that you are the son of God, and died on the cross for my sins, and on the third day, rose from the dead. Right now, I reach out to you to ask for and receive your free gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Please be the Lord and leader of my life. Help me to live for you, each day from this moment on – I belong to you.

And for those of us who have believed a long time, we pray: Lord Jesus, we thank you again today to be reminded of your grace, forgiveness and love. We do claim this all to be true, and ask that you help us even as we go from this place today, to live differently because of you. We pray all these things in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.

Charge:

And as we go from this place today – may we go with joy, peace and love from you – knowing that you are Jesus – the way, the truth and the life. Amen!