Easter Sunday 4th April 2021
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” Luke 24: 5, 6
“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” Acts 2:32
Today we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection from the dead.
Hymn.
See what a morning, gloriously bright,
With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem;
Folded the grave-clothes,
Tomb filled with light,
As the angels announce Christ is risen!
See God's salvation plan, wrought in love,
Borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,
Fulfilled in Christ, the Man, for He lives:
Christ is risen from the dead!
See Mary weeping, 'Where is He laid?'
As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb;
Hears a voice speaking, calling her name;
It's the Master, the Lord raised to life again!
The voice that spans the years,
Speaking life, stirring hope,
Bringing peace to us,
Will sound till He appears,
For He lives, Christ is risen from the dead!
One with the Father, Ancient of Days,
Through the Spirit
Who clothes faith with certainty,
Honour and blessing, glory and praise
To the King crowned
With power and authority!
And we are raised with Him,
Death is dead, love has won,
Christ has conquered;
And we shall reign with Him,
For He lives, Christ is risen from the dead!
Stuart Townend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xM-fpXayUg
Prayer.
Lord Jesus, what have you not suffered? What have you not given for us? We can never comprehend you. But we can love you and wonder at the depth of the darkness which you entered on the cross, and the depth of the love which held you there.
But today we see clearly that death is swallowed up in victory. Lord Jesus Christ you are risen from the dead. And we are risen with you. Lord lead us this morning into a deepening appreciation of these truths. May our lives never deny this eternal life, this peace and hope and joy you bring- for you are risen and we are risen with you. Praise and glory to the God of life who is stronger than all kinds of death. Halleluiah. Amen.
Reading. Luke 24:1-12
24 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words. 9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Hymn (Guitar)
Jesus, we celebrate your victory.
Jesus, we revel in your love.
Jesus, we rejoice you've set us free.
Jesus, Your death has brought us life.
It was for freedom
That Christ has set us free.
No longer to be subject
To a yoke of slavery.
So we're rejoicing
In God's victory,
Our hearts responding to His love.
His Spirit in us
Releases us from fear
And the way to Him is open.
With boldness we draw near.
And in His presence,
Our problems disappear,
Our hearts responding to His love.
John Gibson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nug_dP8ubJ0
Sermon. “Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed.”
Early on the first day of the week, a group of women made their way to the tomb of Jesus with perfumes. They found the stone protecting the entrance had been removed. They went in, only to discover that his body was not there. Two angels appeared to them and assured them that Jesus had risen in accordance with the earlier prophesies that he had made in Galilee. The women then left the tomb and went to tell the eleven disciples and the other companions of Jesus what had happened, but they were met with disbelief. Only Peter went to the tomb to confirm their story. He found the grave clothes of Jesus lying there and is mystified, he “went away wondering to himself what had happened”
It sometimes seems impossible for people to believe what they are being told:
Jesus had spoken of his resurrection at various stages during his earthly ministry. So, for example, Luke 9:22 records Jesus telling his disciples “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised.” Two of his greatest stories- “The Parable of the Lost Son” and “The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus” allude to “rising from the dead” (Luke 15:24 & Luke 16:31).
Nobody had ‘heard’ what Jesus had said earlier. The key words in our passage are ‘puzzled’, ‘did not believe’, ‘amazed’ or ‘wondering’.
The prevailing opinion about resurrection was that God would give bodies to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and after Israel’s great and final suffering, all God’s people would be given new life, new bodies. Although Jesus was their teacher and master, the disciples were more tuned in to these prevailing thoughts on resurrection. They could not imagine that one single person would be killed and then raised to a new sort of bodily life the other side of being buried, and the rest of the world carry on as before.
The women weren’t expecting it, they had their spices with them to administer to Jesus’ dead body. The eleven disciples weren’t expecting it either, after the women realise the tomb is empty and return to the disciples, the women words seem like nonsense to them. And if Luke had made it up- as some have suggested, he would not have had women going to the tomb first. Women were not regarded as credible witnesses in the ancient world. Even Peter who goes to look for himself is searching in his mind for some other explanation.
Peter sees the strips of cloth lying there, these point to the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, so is the rolled away stone and the angelic visitation. But the opening mood of Easter morning is one of surprise, astonishment, fear and confusion.
This passage is an ‘interim’ section, describing what happens between the disappearance of Jesus body and his resurrection appearance to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus. In due time the disciples will see the risen Lord for themselves, they will understand that the fact He is risen is the only thing that can make sense of the earlier clues: the body gone, the discarded grave clothes, the stone rolled away and the angelic messengers. But they have not seen the risen Christ yet; they have clues, but they have not yet seen Jesus. At this point of the account there remains a tension. There is the promised word, and there are clues that point to/support the promises, yet Jesus is still not seen
I would like to explore the idea that this point of tension has strong parallels with our experience today. You see, although we are believers, Christians. We have put our faith in Christ. The fact is none of us have seen the risen Christ. The Apostles saw him, spoke with him, touched him, ate with him. They were with him face to face. None of us can say that.
We will one day. The promise is that in Eternity we will see him face to face.
Jesus appears to make this distinction himself. After appearing to the disciples, Thomas turns up having missed Jesus appearance and refuses to believe. “I will not believe” Thomas says (John 20:25) “unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side…” Jesus appears and Thomas worships him. Then Jesus tellingly adds these words:
“Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed.” (John 20:29).
The early disciples in this essential matter, had an advantage over us. They literally saw the resurrected Jesus and so they believed, but it is greater faith that can say “Although I have not seen him, I believe”- “blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed”
In a way we are in Thomas’ shoes before Jesus appeared to him. Thomas faith would have been stronger if he had believed his fellow disciples and the promises given by Jesus, without having to rely on Jesus appearing before him.
I say this first of all to reassure. The Lord knows we are at this point of tension. We have not literally seen him yet. And because of that we will in our Christian pilgrimage throughout this life have times when we question, when we are puzzled and are confused, perhaps afraid, like Thomas before Jesus appeared to him, like the disciples in our passage.
Now the Lord did not disown them because of their questionings. He appeared to them, taught them and empowered them. Neither will he disown us. After all they saw the Risen Lord, we haven’t, and the Lord knows that.
Some people feel they can’t come to church because they say they question too much. These are the people that need to attend. Only through asking questions and wondering do we explore the truth more deeply. Sometimes unbelievers who question Christianity have not sufficiently questioned their own position, they have not realised the meaninglessness and futility of life without him.
However, although we have not literally seen the risen Christ yet, like those disciples on Easter morning we are surrounded by many clues.
These clues include…
Evidence for the resurrection: the stone rolled away, the empty tomb, the way the grave clothes lay. The dramatic transformation of the disciples. This can only be explained by Jesus appearing to them. Some suggest they stole the body. But these disciples were frightened. They had forsaken Jesus. But after Jesus appeared to them they went all over the Mediterranean world preaching God had raised Jesus from the dead. They would not have done that if they knew it wasn’t true. Men and women lie if they stand to gain something. What did the Apostles gain? : Imprisonment, torture and death! It is inconceivable that the dynamic growth of the church and its total lack of fear would have arisen from deceit.
1 Corinthians 15:6 reports that “Jesus appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time…most of whom are still alive.”
John refers to Jesus resurrection appearances as signs. He says after describing the incident with Thomas, “These signs are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). Alternative explanations do not satisfy the mind. The clues point to Jesus resurrection. (See Update 13/9/20 [on Angmering Baptist Church website] for fuller treatment of these evidences for the Resurrection).
We have other clues that point to the Lord’s reality:
Creation
Romans 1:20 “God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.”
There is great order, purpose and beauty in the Universe which speaks of a Designer and of His attributes. This is true whether you look through a telescope into the Universe or a microscope into the complexity of the DNA genetic code- a universe of its own with its incredibly intricate interlocking pieces of software and hardware; more sophisticated and ingenious than anything man made.
We ourselves are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ as are all the living creatures. Someone has said that there is more complexity in a butterfly than there is in the rest of the entire Universe. There is a sense in which this is true. A butterfly contains billions of parts with such intricate design that it may well be more complex than all of the stars in the Universe put together.
Isaac Newton said about the solar system “I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance.”
Design points to a designer, alternative explanations invoking chance do not satisfy the mind.
Stuart Burgess, Professor of Engineering and Design at Bristol University writes “One problem with the Big Bang theory is that it cannot explain where the first matter came from. In fact, there can never be a satisfying explanation to this problem because science is based on the fact that something cannot be created from nothing in a natural process. A second problem with the Big Bang theory is that it cannot explain why the Universe started at a particular time. If all the matter of the Universe was once condensed into a tiny blob that was smaller than a pinhead, then the most logical outcome is that it should always have stayed in the form of a tiny blob. In order to illustrate these problems, someone has explained the Big Bang theory in the following way: ‘in the beginning there was nothing, then it exploded!’ (“He Made The Stars Also”). 1
Christian experience
A further clue that points to the Risen Christ is in the realm of experience. It is true that the disciples saw the Risen Christ, but even they would be without him when he ascended. But Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit ‘Another Counsellor” (John 14:16) who would live ‘in them’ (17). In John 16 Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of Truth” (see also John 16:14). The Apostles received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The promise of the Holy Spirit was given to them and all subsequent believers. Because He lives within us, we believers can echo John’s words in 1 John 4:13, we too can say “we know that we live in him and he in us because He has given us of his Spirit”
Jesus said that Father, Son and Spirit now ‘make their home’ with the believer’ (John 14).
So real is the presence of Christ by the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the believer, that he or she has no need to see Jesus face to face as Thomas demanded. That person has come to love and trust Him, without literally seeing Him.
Here is the testimony of Jan Chelcicky, writing in 1971, Czechoslovakia, under Communist rule:
“At 16 I was an atheist. At 18 I was organiser of Communist youth in our factory. Now today I had been elected national president of the Communist Youth. I drifted off to sleep and dreamed. Out of the sky came a voice: ’Take heed that ye be not deceived; for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ…and then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
I awoke with a start. My heart was pounding fiercely, I tried to tell myself it was only a dream. But God’s presence was there in the room. Dropping off the side of the bed onto my knees, I prayed, “Oh Lord, forgive me. Accept me.”
I spent the rest of the night in prayer. Then as the first light of dawn appeared, another voice spoke inside me. What have you done? You will have to give up everything you worked for. Your former friends will mock you, despise you, persecute you. Turn back now before it is too late.
I was full of fear, but inside God said “Have no fear; my Spirit shall witness for you.
I am resigning my functions as your leader for I can no longer be a communist,” I said.
“You are a fool,” they replied. “Why do you wish to take such stupid action?”
“I can no longer follow Marx and Lenin,” I said. “Because I am now a follower of Jesus Christ.”
Today I am pastor of a small church near the Russian border. If I go to prison, it matters not; for wherever I am I serve Him, and He strengthens me.
Lenin taught that you change man by changing society. Jesus, however, teaches that you change society by changing man. I serve in God’s ‘new world order,’ introduced by the greatest revolutionary of all time- Jesus Christ.” (Evidence that Demands a Verdict -Josh McDowell)
Jesus said that he will build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail. He also said his words would never pass away (Matthew 16:18, 24:35) This He has done and continues to do as the Risen Christ. Worldwide the church has progressively expanded, it still retains a strong witness in the Western World, but the focus of expansion at present is in Latin America, Africa and Asia (including China!)2. Furthermore 5 billion Bibles have been sold/distributed worldwide (See Guinness World Records) and the Christian Faith is the only worldwide Religion. The risen Christ continues to build His church.
Christian experience is a clue to the reality of the Risen Christ.
Conclusion. Early that morning, the disciples had not yet seen the Risen Jesus, but they were surrounded by clues that testified to the reality of the resurrection. We have not yet seen Jesus ‘face to face’, but many clues surround us. They point to God’s power in raising Jesus, as well as clues in Creation, and in Christian experience.
If you take these truths away, not only are you deliberately ignoring where the clues point, you are left in futility. The prevailing philosophy of today is Post Modernism; there is no god, no ‘Big Picture’, no ultimate meaning. We are ‘on our own’ and make up our own meanings. According to this view there are no absolutes and we are insignificant specks here on this planet by chance, with no future beyond this earth. Nietche’s and Foucault’s books peddle this view. They are best sellers in the West. But their lives were disastrous: Nietche ended his life in a mental ward, Foucault ended his life in misery and disgrace: before dying of AIDS he gave the disease to all his lovers so they too could experience new pleasures beyond sex!
Atheism is senseless and leads us into darkness indeed! We are made for more than that!
Jesus said “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) He is the way, the Truth, the Life. We were made to know him; to know the love of Father, Son and Spirit. It was intended before the foundation of the world. To know ultimate reality. Not the violence of ‘the survival of the fittest’ where the weak go to the wall. But love. All around us the gifts of Creation, Conscience, family -all God’s blessings are given for our good. But we have rebelled. Yet this God of love sacrifices Himself for us- His rebellious creatures- that we might know forgiveness, freedom and life. And it goes on. He is faithful to us, despite our questions, and by His resurrection power and presence He travels with us, transforming us.
One day He will raise us and we will see Him face to face!
Note1 For further evidences of Creation as opposed to failings of Evolutionary Naturalism see Updates 14/6/20 & 10/1/21, 14/2/20. Access on Angmering Baptist Church website. For Christian worldview see excellent overview on our origins: Ken Ham’s “Science Confirms the Bible” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74UIt8uHQPs or ask me for a free copy of “Creation & Evolution. Why it matters what you believe” by Colin Garner. For detailed information on specific issues visit Answers in Genesis and Creation.Com websites.
2The Washington Post ‘Think Christianity is dying? No, Christianity is shifting dramatically’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/05/20/think-christianity-is-dying-no-christianity-is-shifting-dramatically/
In joy and hope let us pray to the Father.
That our risen Saviour may fill us with the joy of his glorious and life-giving resurrection ... we pray to the Father.
Hear our prayer.
That isolated and persecuted churches may find fresh strength in the good news of Easter ... we pray to the Father.
Hear our prayer.
That God may grant us humility to be subject to one another in Christian love …
we pray to the Father.
Hear our prayer.
That he may provide for those who lack food, work or shelter …
we pray to the Father.
Hear our prayer.
That by his power war and famine may cease through all the world …
we pray to the Father.
Hear our prayer.
That he may reveal the light of his presence to the sick, the weak and the dying,
to comfort and strengthen them …
we pray to the Father.
Hear our prayer.
That, according to his promises, all who have died in the faith of the resurrection may be raised on the last day ...
we pray to the Father.
Hear our prayer.
That he may send the fire of the Holy Spirit upon his people,
so that we may bear faithful witness to his resurrection,
we pray to the Father. Hear our prayer.
Heavenly Father,
you have delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your Son: grant that, as his death has recalled us to life, so his continual presence in us may raise us to eternal joy
through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Hymn
Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son;
endless is the victory, thou o'er death hast won; angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away, kept the folded grave clothes where thy body lay.
Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son,
Endless is the victory, thou o'er death hast won.
Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
Lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
let the Church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing ;for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting.
Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son,
Endless is the victory, thou o'er death hast won.
No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life;
life is naught without thee; aid us in our strife;
make us more than conquerors, through thy deathless love:
bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above.
Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son,
Endless is the victory, thou o'er death hast won.
Blessing
May the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit, rest upon us. May he give us the light to guide us, courage to support us and love to unite us, now and for evermore. Amen.
David Barnes 17/3/21