Good morning! This has been an amazing week. First, we had the Journey to the Cross. Nearly 500 people experienced the final moments of Christ’s life. Let’s thank everyone who made that event a success! Now today, we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus with over two billion Christians, around the world. Can you imagine? There isn’t anything, or anyone, in all the world that brings more people together than Jesus. You are part of something special, just by showing up!
Before I begin, would you help us out? First, we want to make sure we have your most current contact information. We’d love to keep you up-to-date, and feeling connected to everything God is doing among us. Second, we are a praying church. We’d love for you to tell us how we might pray for you on that same connection card.
Two of the great traditions of the Christian Church are baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These traditions capture the essence of the good news of Jesus. On the night he was betrayed, Jesus shared a final meal with his disciples. As was customary, Jesus broke bread, and they all drank welches grape juice together. Okay, it was wine. Jesus told his disciples that the bread symbolizes his broken body, and the cup symbolizes his blood, his very life, poured out for forgiveness of sin. He also told them that every time they celebrate this meal they were proclaiming the Lord’s death until he returns!
Now let’s hit the pause button. In Romans 10:6-7, Paul tells us what the gospel means for Christians. We do not have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven?” We do not have to ask, “Who will descend into the deep?” And why? It’s because Christ came down from heaven, and Christ rose up from the grave. The search is over. We don’t have to look up into universe wondering if there is a God. We don’t have to look down in a grave wondering, if there is there is life beyond death. The one who descended has ascended. The one who came and broke his body, was also raised, and ascended the right hand of the Father!
The bread symbolizes a powerful truth—that the God who is Spirit, took on human form, and human flesh, and lived among us. But more than this, God shared in our brokenness. He suffered. He was tempted. His body was subject to death, because of our sin. The Bible says God is able to sympathize with us in our weakness. There is any struggle, any pain, any agony, any grief, any frustration that God hasn’t experienced firsthand. Romans 8 tells us that whenever you pray the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit pray right alongside you. Isn’t it amazing that God truly understands us?
But there is more. The juice symbolizes a second truth—that God has done something about our sin and our fate. If I were new to Christianity, one of my first questions would be, “Hey… what’s up with all the blood? Disgusting!” But what does blood literally represent? It represents life! We cannot live without blood—which is why the blood bank calls and harasses me every week to come donate! BLOOD IS LIFE.
The reality is that our blood can only provide finite, limited hope for others. What Jesus taught, was different. His precious blood provides infinite, eternal hope, to everyone who believes. Once Jesus told his disciples “eat my flesh, drink my blood.” He was accused of being vulgar, or worse, a cannibal. But Jesus was driving home this truth that life cannot be found apart from God. It’s in Christ alone, by virtue of his shed blood, by virtue of his life that he poured out, that we can have hope beyond the grave. His life for our life, his blood for our blood.
When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, Jesus says we proclaim his death until he comes again. This is also the meaning of baptism. Just as Jesus died and was buried, we believe we too will be raised to new life. We don’t believe there is anything final about suffering or death AT ALL! Jesus ascended to the Father, and so shall we! We don’t have to look to the heavens, or down into the heart of the earth… we look to Jesus.
Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses [friends its billions worldwide!], let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Romans 10:8-13 says, “. . . The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
At the center of the Lords Supper, at the center of Baptism, at the center of all Christianity, is the proclamation of good news that Jesus is Alive! Jesus died, was buried, but rose on the third day! God raised him from the grave, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that now richly dwells in us! Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father, where he now intercedes (with great sympathy/understanding by the way), on our behalf! And more than this, God wants to bestow eternal riches, an eternal inheritance, upon ALL who call on his name. He offers us the same deal that he offered his son Jesus. His dream is that we could become heirs of God, co-heirs w/Jesus.
Now doesn’t that sound like something billions of people might party about?
I want to come back to something Paul says in Romans 10:9, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.’”
This Easter, some of you find yourself in a place of uncertainty. Maybe you neither believe or confess Jesus as Lord. The Bible never conceal the fact that even some of Jesus’ closest followers were filled with doubt about his resurrection. In Matthew 28:17 Jesus instructed the Eleven to meet him at a mountain in Galilee. But what does the Bible say? “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” Earlier it was Thomas who doubted… who was it in Matthew 28?
My encouragement is never resign yourself to uncertainty, or doubt. Let your doubt fuel your curiosity. This past week I saw that movie called the Case for Christ, it’s a story about Lee Strobel, who was an investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune. He and his wife were contented Atheists until one day their child almost died. Through that experience, his wife found the Lord, and started attending Church. Strobel was incredulous, and sought out to disprove his wife’s faith.
Like a good investigator he started building a case “against” Christ. He’s one of a many who have sought to do the same. Josh McDowell, C.S. Lewis. So long as never let go of your curiosity, God will never let go of you. He welcomes the skeptic, the doubter, into his midst right alongside true worshippers, and he offers a simple invitation, “Seek and you will find.”
I read the “Case for Christ” in college. I read Josh McDowell’s “Evidence that Demands a Verdict.” I read C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity.” I had my own questions and doubts. What turned the tide for me is something Jesus said to his disciple’s moments later in Matthew 28:20, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” If Jesus is truly risen, and has gone to the right hand of the Father… I don’t just have to look at past, I can experience Christ in the present!
What’s significant isn’t that a few disciples doubted… it’s what they did after leaving the mountain. In Mark 16:20 it says, “the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his words by the signs that accompanied it.” The most powerful confirmation of Jesus’ resurrection is in how real he becomes as we walk by faith. He works, he confirms his word, he answers prayers, he changes us, he strengthens us. If you really want to know the trust about Christ, spend a year walking, praying, obeying in faith… and see if that doesn’t change you!
This Easter some of you find yourself in a place of insincerity. I’m reflecting on Paul’s statement in Romans 10:9 that we must confess with our mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the grave. It’s possible that maybe this morning, Jesus is nothing more than a “hollow” confession for you.
I started reading a book last week where an author critiques what’s becoming of the modern church. She asserts that so many Christian worship “worship.” We are not coming to church to deepen our faith, we’re coming to church out of tradition. We’re coming to church out of guilt or obligation. We’re coming to church to get a certain feeling, or spiritual vibe. We come to Jesus not to be changed, but as consumers, hoping the church will cater to all our felt needs.
Just as the cure for uncertainty is curiosity, the cure for insincerity is depth. Why not dig beneath the prayers, the songs, the programming and the preaching? Why not make this faith your own, instead of piggy backing on your parent’s faith, or your pet traditions, or every changing whim? Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Don’t just parrot the words, lyrics, and prayers… write your own words, lyrics, prayers. Don’t just give lip service to God, let’s life this life! Let’s walk in faith, let’s live holy lives, let’s practice community, and sacrifice, and persevering love! Let’s let the resurrected Christ live “in us” and “through us.”
This Easter some of you find yourself in a place of insignificance. It’s not that you don’t believe—because you really do! You know the truth of Christ. You are anchored in the faith. You know the Scriptures. You know the promises of God. You know how real he is, because you walk with him every single day!
Last September my dad passed away—it’s very hard to lose a parent. But I look at my mom and I think, it’s got to be even harder to lose your spouse. I was talking to one of my mom’s neighbors this past week and he was trying to figure my mom out. He said, “You know Jon, I think your mom is relieved, I think she’s happy, I think your dad was a bigger burden to her than any of you knew.” But I told this neighbor, “No, that’s not it at all. She is filled with faith. She has resurrection hope. She has every confidence that Dad is with Christ.” He didn’t like what I had to say—but I said it anyway—because it’s the truth.
The cure for insignificance is confession. It’s awesome that we believe, now let’s take it a step further, and proclaim this great hope! Our lives will only have significance… and more critically, Jesus will only have significance is we declare his mighty name and the wonders of this glorious resurrection hope.
Where I hope we will find ourselves this Easter is in a place of integrity. Integrity is when the inner matches the outer. It’s when what’s on our lips is also in our heart! Integrity is Romans 10:9, and it’s this integrity of heart, this declaration, that is the cornerstone of our faith.