The most important holiday in the Christian year isn’t Christmas; it is Easter. It is the day we celebrate Jesus’ final victory over sin and death. On the third day, Jesus rose from the grave. Because of what happened on Easter, all who believe in Jesus Christ have the hope of resurrection and eternal life.
Easter comes only once a year. However, for Christians, every Sunday is a mini-Easter. It is the Lord’s Day. And as we worship, we remember Jesus is alive. He rose from the grave. We worship a living Christ. Listen to the Easter story from our Scripture. As you listen, notice the awkward balance between joy and fear.
Matthew 28:1-101 Early on Sunday morning,[a] as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.
2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.
5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. 7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”
8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. 9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
Easter is a spring holiday, but it has a lot in common with a very different holiday we celebrate in the fall—Halloween. In the Easter story, we find the women in a graveyard hunting for a dead man in a tomb. Mysteriously, the body is gone. It is alive again and walking around! The same plot could be used in a movie about a zombie or ghost!
What separates Easter from Halloween? What changes fear into joy?
Christians find the answer in faith. As we say in the last part of our Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in... …the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.”
This is what Easter is all about—the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
The women who came searching for Jesus at the tomb had nothing to fear from Jesus. He held no ill will towards them. The disciples had nothing to fear from Jesus. He held no ill will towards them either. Jesus held no ill feelings even toward the soldiers who beat and crucified Him. Remember His words from the cross? “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
No, Jesus had no resentment or desire to get back at anyone. He willingly forgave all. Neither do we have anything to fear from the risen Christ. Instead, we rejoice in the resurrection! Christ is alive and He forgives our sin!
We believe that God does not harbor a grudge against those who sin. No matter how terrible the thing we have done—even if we drove the nails into Savior’s hands and feet—we believe in the forgiveness of sins.
Are you ashamed of something you have done? Do you struggle with feelings of guilt? Jesus forgives you. Let it go.
Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Don’t beat yourself up for the mistakes you have made—no matter how big. God does not condemn you. He welcomes you with open arms through Jesus Christ. He has forgiven you. Now, forgive yourself.
We believe in the forgiveness of sins. We believe God forgives us and we can forgive others. And so, we pray in the Lord’s prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Forgiveness
is difficult. Some offenses may be too
hard for you to forgive. (We are not
naturally as forgiving as God.) However,
we believe in forgiveness and so we pray for God—through the Holy Spirit—to help
us to forgive. He wants us to learn to
act as Jesus did.
So, we strive to learn to forgive. As we
forgive, we find the one who is healed is really us.
The resurrected Christ was not a ghost out of a horror movie. He was not somewhere half way between life and death—the undead. Christ was and is alive! He is filled with the everlasting life that only God can give! He is not a ghost or a spirit. His body and spirit are both alive!
1 Corinthians 15:20 says Christ is the first to be raised to new life. We are to be next. We can be raised to new life if we believe in Christ. When we are raised, we will not be ghosts or spirits. We will have a body; not the body of an undead zombie creature. We will be filled with everlasting life just like Jesus. We will be perfect in mind, body , and spirit.
Some
people have been misled to think the body (and material things) are bad. There is the notion that flesh is evil and it is only the spirit is good and really
matters. But this is not what the Bible teaches. When God created the physical world (and us), He said it was “very good.” (Genesis 1:31)
The physical world and our physical bodies only became corrupt because of sin. But Jesus restores us and the whole physical world will be redeemed in the end. And the Bible and our Creed says, “We believe in the resurrection of the body.”
We will not just be spirits when we experience our own personal resurrection. Just as Jesus had a new body and ate food and was able to touch and be touched by others, we too will have a body. We will have feet and hands and eyes. And people will know us and we will know them—better than we ever did in this life.
How this will happen is a mystery and I don’t fully understand it. But you don’t have to understand something fully for it to be true. I don’t fully understand how my cellphone works, but that doesn’t stop me from
using it.
John 10:28 says “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish…”
In
this life, we face trials. We
struggle. We feel pain. We face very real and difficult
problems.
If this life is all there is, many might wonder if life is really worth living. But we believe in everlasting life—that this present life is only one
phase (and very fleeting). Paul wrote in Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not
worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
· Midnight
– Genesis 1 – God creates everything
o
Then
we have Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, etc. all before we even wake up
in the morning.
· 6 AM (Breakfast) – Moses is born
· Noon
(Lunch) – about 1,200 years have passed since Moses and now Jesus is born
· 6
PM (Dinnertime) – Gun powder is finally invented
· 11
PM – The day is almost over. And just then with only an hour left, America wins its independence from Great Britain.
· 1:59
PM – You are finally born
· 12
AM – Your life on earth is already over (no more than a minute of recorded
time.)
Have you ever had a toothache? I got a toothache once—on a Friday night. It was awful! The dentist couldn’t see me until Monday morning. You know how I got through it? I thought to myself, “I can bare anything for a couple days if I know the dentist can give me relief on Monday.”
It’s easier to bare pain and suffering for a little while if you know there is an end in sight. Brothers and sisters, the suffering and pain of this life last but a short time. And then we find relief. Death is not something we have to fear. It is only the gateway to Eternal Life, when all our pains are finally relieved.
Think of all your loved ones who died believing in Christ. Our faith is a celebration that they have everlasting life just like Christ! For they have been forgiven of their sins and raised to everlasting life with God in Heaven. The same forgiveness and everlasting life are promised to us if we truly believe. In the Apostles’ Creed, we say that we believe.
Conclusion
I
want to conclude our message and our series on the Apostles’ Creed with a
ceremony to remember your baptism. Some of you may remember how you were baptized. Others have
forgotten the details. Some were baptized as infants and can’t remember. What we mean when I say remember your baptism is: Remember what your baptism declares. God’s grace has reached out to you. Christ
calls you to belong to Him and live a new life.
(If you have never been baptized, you are welcome to pray with us. Let this
be an invitation to talk with me about taking that step.)
Pastor: Do you believe in God the Father?
People: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.
Pastor: Do
you believe in Jesus Christ?
People: I believe in Jesus
Christ, his only son our Lord;
Who was conceived
by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended to
the dead.
The third day he
rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven
and sitteth at the
right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he
shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
People: I believe in the
Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church; the communion of saints,
The forgiveness of
sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
(Pray
over the water…)
(Sprinkle
water towards congregation…)
“Remember
that you are baptized”
