Manor Woods Worship April 4, 2021 - Easter Sunday

in the beginning god created the sun moon and stars the animals trees and seas and he made us his own and he gave us a garden and there was beauty and peace and life but that wasn't enough and so we sinned and we ate and we fell and where there was once beauty and peace and life there was now pain and chaos and death we went from a garden to a grave but god promised to bring us back back from the grave into the garden days weeks years generations of waiting for the promise the promise to come back to the garden for god so loved the world that he sent jesus friend of sinners man of sorrows lord of glory and light of the world rejected refused condemned and crucified buried in a borrowed tomb forsaken and forgotten but three days later he stepped out of his grave and into a garden and the same will be true of all who trust him where there is pain and chaos and death there will be beauty and peace and life because jesus is alive so is hope so is grace so is salvation so is transformation because jesus is alive we can step out of the grave and into the garden he is risen he is risen indeed we welcome each of you to our easter sunday worship service those here on site and those of you joining us this morning by video if you are visiting with us today we are especially glad you've chosen to be a part of today's service on the screen you're seeing a qr code scanning this with your smartphone will connect you directly to an electronic welcome card we hope that everyone here in the church building and especially those of you who are worshiping with us from home will take a moment to complete and submit the welcome card so we know who is with us today you can also access the form on the home page of our website manorwoods.com thank you so much for letting us know of your presence and participation with us today on this easter sunday morning our video called worship closed with a quote from john chapter 11. said i am the resurrection and the life do you believe this i hope you join with us in answering with a resounding yes we believe jesus is indeed alive and by his resurrection offers to us the hope of new life eternal life we celebrate that today and every time we gather for worship and we celebrate that now with this classic hymn of praise would you please stand and join us in singing together christ the lord is risen today [Music] sing hallelujah us raise your choice [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] after the sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week mary magdalene and the other mary went to look at the tomb there was a violent earthquake for an angel of the lord came down from heaven and go into the tomb rolled back the stone and sat on it his appearance was like lightning and his clothes were as wide as snow the guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became the angel said to the women do not be afraid for i know that you are looking for jesus who was crucified he is not here he has risen just as he said come and see the place where he lay then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into galilee there you will see him now i have told you so the women hurried away from the tomb afraid get filled with joy and ran to tell his disciples see everybody on this easter sunday go outside take the speakers with us bring your own chairs all right good deal all right you guys want to hear a funny joke good way to start a sunday morning so a pastor he said how many baptists does it take to screw in a light bulb or excuse me change a lipo change my grandmother donated that light bulb now i can laugh at that because i used to be baptist before i became a christian oh hello watch out former baptist joke we're allowed to say them so well if that's not your cup of tea then how about something closer to easter does anybody know the origins of the easter bunny i think somebody finally found the answer yeah no another bad one a twofer on one sunday okay that's not even close to being true but it'd be hilarious if it was so what do these two things have to do with each other let alone an easter sunday sermon that's a great question and we should give extra coffee to the person who asked it we'll look at these backwards or in reverse order the easter bunny origins picture is admittedly something of a cheeky opening response that i gave to a friend of mine who was struggling with something that happened in his church it was a real difficult situation for him and that was there were a handful of people in his church who had read some what they thought were persuasive articles about the origins of easter concerning the the the nature of it and the kinds of things that are celebrated and these articles ultimately said that it comes straight out of pagan religious beliefs traditions and practices and festivals and all the such and then the later church simply adopted the parts that they liked and they applied them to their story of jesus and the resurrection and ultimately this handful of people in this guy's church they bought into these claims of these articles and they wound up becoming rather critical skeptics in his church now my friend he took some of the blame on himself for this because he realized that he had not done what he should have done which was provide better teaching and training in biblical truth so that people would know how to combat these sorts of things so that's the bunny issue what about the light bulb issue well it's never really about the light bulb it never is for many this idea of changing anything is almost unthinkable for others it borders on blasphemy and this is often the case because what we've always known or done it's familiar it's comfortable it's routine it's easy it's predictable and of course it's controllable and more times than not such things become a source or a provider of meaning either to who we are or to what we do and sometimes both thus to change any of those things is to necessarily change us and that's not something that is appealing to our sense of self especially our assumed lordship over our own lives and many will go down fighting hard to make sure that it stays that way now we'll see some of that in the message for this morning but a radical change is exactly what ought to happen when we are confronted with the real truths of good friday and easter sunday truths that reveal to us the reality of the redeeming work of christ and how it changes everything and while there are truly no good reasons for denying the reality and the historicity of that work people will need to make a choice about it we can reject it and therefore we we can remain exactly as we once were or who we desire to be or we can choose to accept it and when we do we can allow it to change everything about us a change that not only affects us personally or individually but it's something that affects the community of believers all of us especially in how we live this new life together in christ for god's glory and to advance his kingdom ministry this morning as we bring our series to a close called our ideas god's design we'll be looking at a familiar story from matthew's gospel and this is a story that not only declares this glorious reality of easter sunday it also continues to illustrate what happens when people are confronted with that reality and how it generates responses and those responses tend to be divided for those who disbelieve easter sunday means nothing but a nuisance but for those who believe easter sunday means everything has changed and we cannot stay the same we no longer live among the dead but we are brought from death and given new life by the one who took on the cross and the grave and absolutely won that's our focus for this morning but before we go any further let's pause and pray almighty father we do come to you praising your holy name praising your mighty works and especially the greatest work of all you coming to us as our savior as our lord taking on our sin defeating it on the cross and then going after the one final thing that separates us from you death and you overcome it thus guaranteeing our reunion with you and it is a reunion that will not be short-lived but it is one that will be for everlasting father we ask that you be with us now as we study from your word as we hear from your truth by your holy spirit may you open our minds and our hearts to know what it is that we need to know from you and how we can leave this place and be the people that you have called us to be that you have made us to be so that we can declare the same truth of what good friday and easter sunday are all about to those who need it we pray this in jesus holy name amen so let's dive right in matthew in his gospel he sets the scene with loads of subtle yet profound imagery which is jam-packed with theological meaning look how he starts after the sabbath that day of rest after all the work has been done as it began to give light hope new life for the first day of the week new beginnings mary magdalene and the other mary came to see the tomb the place where death reigns now we might want to read this with some excitement or anticipation they're going to see the resurrected jesus in fact some have tried to say that they went to the tomb to see it happen but we know from mark in luke's gospel that the motivation for going was quite different and that difference reveals a surprising reality one that's often missed or ignored in those accounts we discovered this they went to the tomb taking the aromatic spices that they had prepared so that they might go and anoint jesus thus they're going to perfume the body to keep the smell down and that's what you do in this time and in this culture but that leads us to a surprising reality these ladies do not go to the tomb with a faith that jesus was resurrected which is what we might expect instead they go with this unsettling belief that jesus is still dead and buried they went with this inner turmoil brought on by that gut-wrenching reality that says what they did not want to happen has happened and there's no denying that it happened they saw it they were there at the cross and at the burial all they can do now on this sunday morning is carry out this routine task all the while avoiding that painful question what do we do after this but that concern is only problem number one we quickly find out that they suddenly remember that routine task is not going to be as easy as they thought it would be as mark's gospel describes it they were saying to one another who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb now that's a legitimate question because in the very next verse we're told that the stone was exceedingly great it's huge and matthew 27 reminds us that the ladies were there when that stone was put into place they know full well that it is beyond their abilities to move now we might want to back up and say well wait a minute they don't need to worry about this they can just ask those burly roman soldiers to get the stone out of the way for them but we have to remember these ladies don't know anything about these guards that was a decision that was made after jesus was buried and that decision came from a secret meeting between pilate and some jewish authorities and so all of this adds more and more to that already existing sense of inner turmoil now the struggle is what they came to do is going to be stopped because of what they are unable to do now i'm sure that there are many of us who have experienced that sort of struggle and we know firsthand how utterly debilitating it can be especially to our sense of self or the sense of control that we think we have over our lives and i'm sure some of us understand how compounded all of that's going to be when we're already in the midst of hope being threatened if not on the verge of being lost forever that feeling of not being able to do anything even if it's something routine or easy that simply becomes that one more thing that makes the struggle exceedingly too heavy to bear and all of that is the point where we can say the issue is no longer how massive is this burden the question now is how do we get out from underneath its crushing weight and i think we'd be safe to say that these ladies were feeling something of that weight right now but as is often the case when it comes to our journeys of faith with god right when we think things are at their darkest and the most chaotic god breaks in with his glorious light and his comforting peace and sometimes when he does it it's not subtle or private it's on full display and that's what we have here in matthew 28 as the women are enroute to the tomb if not already within sight of it painfully pondering how they're going to get out of this seemingly hopeless situation matthew grabs our attention once more when he says and behold a great earthquake happened now some have tried to say that this was simply an aftershock from an earlier quake in chapter 27 thus making it a natural event but that's not how the passage works and that's certainly not how matthew describes it for him the quake is a supernatural event look at what he says and behold a great earthquake happened for an angel of the lord descended from heaven now let's not go all marvel comics here and think that this happened the ground quaking because the angel hit the ground so hard the angel is not tony stark it's not how it works that's not only being too cliche but it's also too dismissive instead the quaking is more to do with the earth trembling in reverence because it knows that a representative of its creator has just arrived and he's arrived to perform a specific task look how matthew describes it and behold a great earthquake happened for an angel of the lord descended from heaven and he came and rolled away the stone mark's gospel says he threw it aside i love that and he sat on it you gotta love the incredibleness of this whole thing not to mention the humor of it now we see the sudden and powerful arrival of the angel of heaven who then marches over to the tomb right past the guards probably giving him a wink on the way and he takes hold of this exceedingly great stone and he basically says get this silly thing out of here and he does so with ease from that incredible act we could say that he becomes the divinely sent solution to the lady's plight and he does it in two ways but we'll come back to that two ways in a second before that we got to see the humor of this because the bible is full of humor part of it is found in that bit that says that he rolled away the stone and he sat on it as if to say this measly little stone with all of its official seals and protections you thought this could stop god's power what a joke but there's another funny bit after matthew describes the angel's glorious appearance he says the guards quaked with fear he uses the same word for earthquake in how they how they shook the guards quaked with fear of him and they became like dead men basically these big burly highly trained roman soldiers wet themselves and they passed out because they saw what the angel could do now i'm not sure that i would have responded any differently because angelic encounters in the bible they're not like what is unfortunately portrayed on cheesy tv shows like touched by an angel there when the angel is revealed people are like oh look at the pretty lights in the bible it's more like somebody grabbed the smelling salts a paper bag and a change of clothes with this person hence the usual phrase that accompany an angel's arrival don't be afraid which the angel tells the ladies who are still standing by the way i'll leave the subtext of that alone for now but it's what the angel says next that's crucial for us and it's the moment when we see how he is serving as that two-fold divinely sent solution to their plight first and most obvious he is the one who gives them access to the tomb thus that thing that was originally going to stop them and they were unable to move on their own he has come and moved it for them however he has not moved it so that they could do the thing that they came to do which was to anoint a dead body that would just be the angel being overly dramatic on an infinite scale instead the stone was moved to address the other side of their plight look at what the angel says i know that you are looking for jesus who has been crucified he's not here he's been raised just as he said come see the place where he was lying we could say it like this the angel is saying i know the pain that brought you here but what you feared happened was not the end of the story death did not defeat god's true messiah he defeated death and he walked out of here victorious he told you what has happened or what was going to happen and it has and then he calls them to see the evidence and so after they see the tomb was in fact empty the angel goes on to say this now go quickly and tell his disciples that he has been raised from the dead and behold he is going ahead of you into galilee there you will see him behold i have told you and we cannot miss the deeply profound implications of what the angel means and what he does here we see the women becoming the first ones charged with declaring the truth of what's happened they are the first to proclaim the good news of the gospel's fulfillment that was virtually unheard of in the ancient world especially judaism a woman's testimony was automatically deemed inadmissible simply because it came from a woman but here we see the beginning of that bias being reversed if not undermined completely and that dramatic change of giving voice to the voiceless is one of the meaningful effects of the transformational work of god's kingdom breaking into the world through christ and this is something that forms a part of paul's much larger teaching on the same thing when he says this there is neither jew nor greek there is neither slave nor free man there is neither male nor female for you are all one in christ and if you belong to christ then you are abraham's descendants heirs according to the promise paul's not saying that people lose their identity when they come to christ he's saying when people are made new through that saving and redeeming work of christ their identity does not determine their worth all are made equally worthy in the name of christ because we're all made in the image of christ and he is absolutely worthy and again we see the beginnings of that new reality in christ coming to life here with the angel telling these ladies go and bear witness to what you've seen the resurrection which by the way this becomes proof for the authenticity of what we're reading because if you're trying to fake a resurrection story you're not going to use women as the first eyewitnesses so in this moment we see their voices becoming vessels of truth we hear their testimony being filled with god-given value and if we keep reading we'd quickly discover this angel is not being some rogue and speaking out of turn because we read this as the ladies with fear and great joy as they bolt from the tomb and head back to the disciples they run into jesus who greets them with a rather casual what's up okay that might be a little bit too playful but it's close after they fall on the ground and they take hold of his feet which you can't do if you're hallucinating by the way or if jesus is just a spirit after they do this and they worship him jesus echoes what the angel said he says stop being afraid go and make these things known to my brothers so that they might leave for galilee and that they will see and there they will see me do you notice the subtle change that jesus made it's a profound change and it's only something that he can do the angel said go and tell the disciples mathetai what's happened but jesus says go and tell my brothers a delphi now just to be clear in the new testament when we're talking about the general use of referring to those who belong to christ the greek term adelphos is used to refer to both male and female so it's not a term that's in talking about gender of the person what it's talking about is the nature of the relationship those people have and because of the redemptive and adoptive work of christ the nature of that family excuse me relationship is family and once more in god's family all who belong to him are equally valuable and as peter paul and two mary's testify there is no partiality with god there is no favored child among believers christ is made sure of that all are one in him even the least likely the least valued and the least heard and james reminds us that because of the unity that we have in christ we ought to live by the same principle he says do not hold your faith in our glorious lord jesus christ with an attitude of favoritism thus we are called to live life according to that new kind of existence that we have because of christ's glorious and saving work a newness that is identified by his victory over sin and death and the impartation of his holiness and new life a newness that reveals to us our new god-given christ-shaped identity which has that new meaning and purpose and value that we could never imagine but only god can give and it's a newness that allows us to see the same and those who share in that new life our brothers and sisters in christ our church family but it also shows us how this new and living reality is something that we need to declare to others those who need to hear it and accept it and we see this in a moment that such seeking is tied to something much larger in god's design upon our lives or his calling upon us but for now we need to consider what happens next and this reveals some surprises too but none of these are good and in a way what happens here relates to something that tends to happen in our own time especially around christmas and easter how many of you have seen those quasi-well-produced documentaries that use that reality tv-esque drama all claiming to have this new evidence that christianity is just worthless or it's going to be rewritten or easter is going to be exposed as a hoax who's seen those who has a favorite hands go down quick on that question i have a favorite but it's for totally different reasons well as you know these kinds of films are usually backed by some deep pocketed producer they're led by a famous if not controversial director and they're all affirmed by a good handful of eccentric academics people who love the idea of being proffered in the documentary or they just like trying to expose things and so with this this combination of things the shows are given appeal intrigue and even a sense of legitimacy the things that you need to necessarily draw people in so that they can consider the new evidence for themselves now i'll admit i used to watch these shows for years mainly to see what they would try to do or the case they would try to make and usually it was like watching a train wreck but we also know that because not everybody watches these kinds of shows theorists will use a different route or a different medium but for the same purpose here there'll be some new groundbreaking book touting to have that definitive list of true facts about some grand conspiracy within the church to engage in some massive cover-up and when these kinds of things are put into a novel or even turned into a movie they easily capture people's attention and at a subconscious level they encourage them to start to raise doubts about everything that they thought they knew was true or for the existing skeptics this sort of stuff becomes that more and better ammunition they can use against the church and as a result these stories become wildly popular and their testimony is widely accepted as the case or the proof of what truly happened to jesus and while the writers directors or producers are loving the results of these kinds of things there are loads of people who don't realize that they've been sold a bill of goods they've bought a false testimony and this often happens because there's very little critical thought or weighing of the claims to see if there's anything that can stand up under scrutiny or worse it's because many within the church are simply not equipped or prepared with the facts of what happened in order to see or even counter these claims that are being sold these fabrications of the story and this certainly becomes the case when we look at the various dismissive testimonies about jesus's resurrection theories like first of all jesus faked his death by passing out on the cross because of the pain only to regain consciousness while he was in the tomb well there's a variation on that one held by other religious groups one of which claims to be christian by the way and that is jesus didn't really die on the cross but was miraculously replaced by someone else who looked like jesus or third the women went to the wrong tomb fourth the disciples were hallucinating when they saw jesus and of course number five the resurrection was merely a spiritual experience of the disciples it didn't happen in reality it happened in their hearts now all of these can be shown to be baseless and nothing more than a grasping at straws in order to maintain a position of disbelief i mention all of these things because we see something similar happen in matthew 28. look at verse number 11. now while they were going meaning the ladies going back to the disciples while they were going behold some of the guard went into the city and proclaimed to the chief priest all that had happened did you catch it the guards are shown to be witnesses to what took place at the tomb and they vocalize it the angel's powerful arrival his glorious appearance his removing of the stone like it was a pebble and playfully sitting on it and of course the empty tomb they know this stuff this means they didn't pass out before any of this happened thus leaving them with no clue as to what happened instead they passed out because of what happened it was undeniable and it brought them to the ground but then it happens look at what matthew says next and when the chief priests had gathered together with the elders and consulted together they gave sufficient money to the soldiers saying you are to say his disciples came by night and they stole him away while we were sleeping it's here that we see just how far a mind or in this case a collective mind entrenched in disbelief is ready to go to keep truth from being known and what's sadly funny about this little scheme that they come up with is that it's the same fabricated story that they sold to pilate so that he would put guards at the tomb in the first place but here we see them taking things a little bit farther because now they're telling the soldiers to say that this fabricated story is in fact what happened with the added detail that they fell asleep before it happened did you notice that they're changing their story in order to fit the new facts things that the soldiers knew did not happen now anyone with a brain in their head and five seconds worth of thinking basic thinking skills would easily see the flaws in this little scheme first of all if the soldiers were asleep how did they know that it was the disciples that stole the body i mean i'm just thinking basically here second if these highly trained and alert soldiers were asleep near the entrance of the tomb why don't they wake up when the disciples come and not quietly move the big massive stone out of the way to get to the body or how about the more catastrophic problem soldiers who fall asleep on their watch anybody know you're dead these soldiers would know that so while that little detail was likely sprinting into their minds saying run away from this deal the religious elite were quick to add oh and if this should be heard by the governor pilot we will win him over and keep you out of trouble i love how they think that it's only a hypothetical that pilate is going to hear about this report we could say of course he's going to hear about your numb skulls you're telling these soldiers to spread the word around the city if not around the entire region but then comes the surprising detail despite being eyewitnesses to what truly happened at the tomb thus clearly seeing the powerful mighty work of god despite the undeniability of what they saw happened and despite the riskiness of this concocted story matthew says the soldiers took the money and did as they had been instructed or taught it's not difficult to see within this response the real tendency of self-interest and self-preservation taking priority over truth and that applies to everyone in this little episode and it even applies in our world today and we certainly cannot miss the motivator for that tendency money it's all about the benjamins proving once more that money talks and well you know what walks but there are two other details about all of this that we cannot miss first it greatly expands something that we've noticed throughout this entire series and that is the response to who jesus truly is and what he's truly done it's going to be divided there are going to be those who believe and because of that belief everything about who they are has been radically changed and they cannot keep quiet about it they want to declare the truth of what's happened because of christ however there are those who will disbelieve and because of that everything about them will remain exactly as it was despite what they have seen and heard from christ and they will do what they can to keep it that way they like the lordship they have over their lives but then there are those who not only disbelieve but they will do whatever it takes to keep others from believing and if that means throwing money around creating conspiracy theories or perpetuating lies about christ and his disciples then as pharaoh once said so let it be written so let it be done he says it better than i do so the second thing not to miss about this is tied to the success of this story or this scheme notice how matthew concludes this episode he says and this story spread like wildfire among the jews even until this day this means if we use an early date for matthew's gospel the fabricated disciples stole the body story had been around for at least 20 to 25 years after easter sunday and we know from justin martyr that this same concocted story was alive and well in his own day which puts it in the middle of the second century a.d just for fun because you know i'm weird like this in a text known as the toledo yeshu which is put together around 7th or 9th century a.d the same theory still existed but in more elaborate confusing and sinister forms but that tends to happen when an untruth has to be maintained it gets difficult keeping up with all the made-up details truth is much much simpler but here's what all of this means and not just for the disciples but also for us and it's very simple but hard hitting when it comes to proclaiming the true message of easter thus the full message of the gospel it's not going to be an easy task and it's not going to be one that goes without opposition especially opposition that not only disbelieves what we proclaim but also seeks to ensure that others do not accept it or believe it to be the true gospel and so we will find people doing what they can to present either an alternative gospel one that's comfortable or not demanding upon people or one that merely waters everything down so that it's nothing more than a spiritual self-help manual or people will scheme to discredit not only the message but also the one who dares to proclaim it and it's because of these things and so many others that christ warns his disciples about these persecutions afflictions shaming and hatred from the world because of who they are and whose they are not to mention what they proclaim thus he's giving them an honest heads up about what to expect and with that expectation comes an implied question are you ready for what must be done and are you prepared to do it faithfully and without fear sorry to take these off i keep sliding and that's a question for the disciples to answer but it's also a question that we have to answer for the same reason are we truly committed to being christ's true disciples those who have been completely made new because of his life-changing work on the cross and over the grave and are we willing and ready to stand firm in the face of an onslaught of opposition from the world and uncompromisingly declare the whole truth of the whole gospel even when it's hard to do so when we begin our series next week through the book of acts we will see plenty of examples where this real difficulty to this question is proven and the answers to it is tested or are tested excuse me and we'll also see the places where the disciples remained absolutely faithful to their calling and not just through their calling but to the one who called them and promised to sustain them through all of it always and that brings us to the final portion of matthew 28 the bit known as the great commission and we'll close down with this follow along with me in these last few verses but the 11 disciples journey from jerusalem to galilee to the mountain which jesus had designated cool god stuff happens on mountains by the way when they saw him they worshiped him but some doubted i loved the honesty of the account and then jesus came up and spoke to them saying go therefore and be happy in who you are don't worry about changing anything about yourself or requiring anyone else to change either i love all of you just as you've made yourselves to be make sure that you're nice to people read my best seller if you get a chance even if it takes a few years go to church when it's convenient and maybe give a little charity when you can oh and if it's comfortable for you to do so don't be afraid to tell others that we're buddies but don't be offensive or intolerant about it that was a big blunder i read from the wrong bible sorry let's go back to the real version and jesus came up and he spoke to them saying all authority in heaven and upon earth has been given to me hello that's different therefore as you are let out make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit and teaching them to obey everything that i have commanded you and behold i am with you always even to the end of the age that's more like it now while this passage deserves its own study or its own sermon let's hit at least two essential points first jesus makes it abundantly clear what the disciples and us are to do as his faithful representatives they are to go out into the world around them and make more disciples people whose lives are radically transformed by that saving and redeeming work of god in christ and sustained by the power of the holy spirit and to be clear this is not something that they perform on their own or because of some assumed personal sense of authority or right to do so they fulfill this work because the one who does have authority and power over all things has commissioned them to do it and it is to him alone that they and us will be held accountable and notice by the way that the intended recipients of this gospel ministry it's not limited to one group one people one ethnicity or one nation christ tells them and us that the ministry of the gospel is meant to reach everyone because the gracious gift of god's salvation and adoption into his eternal kingdom family it's made available for everyone now sure not everybody is going to accept it jesus says so but everyone needs to hear it and everyone needs to be given the chance to make a choice about it now some will reject it and a few might even do worse than that but others will accept it and they will have their lives completely and forever changed by its power the second and last thing to notice jesus makes it abundantly clear that he is not leaving them high and dry as they face this difficult task ahead of them and the same is true for us today jesus is not rejoicing in the fact that he's been resurrected and he's about to go off to heaven thus giving them him the chance to get out of dodge and then wishing them luck as they face this terrible storm that's coming instead jesus is declaring his promise to be with them as their true savior their true lord and their true provider the one who has overcome the world the one who reigns on heaven's throne with all authority and all power and in him alone can they place their trust in their lives as they go out into the world as his renewed people declaring this new life of true freedom that only he can give to those whose lives have been imprisoned by sin and death those two things that he victoriously defeated on the cross and over the grave and those two things are what empower us as his people to live that god honoring christ-like spirit guided gospel-shaped and gosp excuse me kingdom-focused lives in the world around us that is the calling that is upon all of us who have been made new in christ let us go forth and live that life for his glory and his kingdom alone amen let's pray then we'll be done father it is amazing to even try to consider what you have done for us we know father that we were undeserving we know that we had done everything that you told us not to do we did it willingly and sometimes we did it cheerfully and father we know the consequences of doing so is separation from you our sin is what divides us from you but father we also know that you did not dismiss us you did not look upon us and say ooh that's nasty and ugly got to get away from that but instead father you came near you embraced you washed you gave us new clothes you gave us new life you gave us new purpose you gave us a new identity all the things that we never had because we rejected you as our god as our lord as our savior but because you are those things and because we have been adopted into your family because of what christ has done we know that we have new life in you and father we ask that you be with us as a church as we go out into the world that you have called us to spread your word spread your truth and show what it means to live the new life that we have in you i pray father that you will give us the boldness to do so and that we would do it with grace and compassion and with unfailing and unflinching devotion to you father bless us all as we seek to exalt your name and give you all the glory that you truly deserve we pray this in jesus name amen [Music] jesus [Music] glory to the [Music] jesus says [Music] foreign [Music] jesus [Music] christmas says freedom's falling chains are falling bright and true is breaking night is quaking god is making all things freedom's calming chains are falling bright and true jesus says [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] jesus [Music] jesus said [Music] jesus amen as we prepare to celebrate the lord's supper i'd like to take a look at the impact of the resurrection of what we're about to do the apostle paul says in romans 10 9 if you confess with your mouth jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you will be saved why is this belief in the resurrection important to our salvation it's because the belief in the resurrection forms the dividing line between those people who believe that jesus was just a good man and those people who believe and call him lord and savior it is absolutely foundational to what we do here there are at least three ways that the resurrection does this number one the resurrection validates jesus's claim to be god romans 1 4 says jesus christ our lord was declared with power to be the son of god by his resurrection from dead second way because he is god the resurrection also validates jesus's ability to provide forgiveness of sins he is indeed the perfect sacrifice for us to reconcile us to a holy god second corinthians 5 21 says god made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of god and thirdly the resurrection validates that jesus fulfills god's plan of salvation for all people as recorded in scripture when jesus appeared to his disciples on that first resurrection day on the evening in luke 24 we read this is what i told you while i was still with you everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of moses the prophets and the psalms and he opened their minds so that they could understand the scriptures he told them this is what is written the christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at jerusalem you are witnesses of these things the disciples were indeed witnesses and they spread that news and within a generation the news about christ had spread throughout the entire roman world as we gather here today to worship and thank god for the gift of salvation through jesus christ our lord we see that the resurrection provides the evidence that we need to indeed say jesus is lord jesus has the ability to forgive sins and jesus fulfilled god's plan let's pray our dear heavenly father we are so humbled and so grateful that you loved us so much that you gave your son jesus to die for our sins so that we can have eternal life with you father we thank you and we celebrate this resurrection day that gave us the proof and the assurance that what we read in your word and what jesus said about himself and taught is the full truth thank you father that you have given us this great gift of love and in jesus name we pray amen [Music] do [Music] do [Music] so [Music] so sunday changes everything the stone has been rolled away the women have received a message the soldiers have retreated in fear the disciples have run to the tomb sunday changes everything doubts are put in their place miracles are performed the disciples eat breakfast made by the king jesus is on the loose and because jesus is on the loose death is conquered funeral clothes are cast aside light shines forth from the tomb hope crushes fear faith conquers doubt belief moves mountains consumes religion god's love wins jesus changes everything because jesus is on the loose your tears are wiped away your sin is washed away your life will never be the same jesus changes everything and because jesus changes everything every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess that jesus christ is lord jesus changes everything [Music] is wash our feet [Music] me your name your name is victory all praise will rise to christ our king your name your name is victory our praise will rise to christ our kings [Music] to him [Music] is your name your name is victory our praise will rise to christ your name your name [Music] is [Music] your spirit i will rise from the ashes of defeat the resurrecting king [Music] is [Music] [Music] right [Music] is [Music] [Music] is the two where soldiers [Music] [Music] your name your name is victory [Music] [Music] the resurrected king is resurrecting me the resurrected king is resurrected [Music] amen indeed last week we pointed out that christmas and easter necessarily belong together you can't have one without the other the same is true for good friday and easter sunday cannot have one without the other and there's a big theology behind all of this you see when we fell in the garden as it was pointed out sin entered into the frame sin is what separates us and makes us before god unclean sin also brought with it death death is the final separation from god we have to have a solution to both of those problems if we want everlasting life with god but we cannot settle that we cannot provide that solution good friday settles the sin problem forgiveness of sin happens but resurrection settles the death problem so we can live the glorious new life that only christ can provide from the cross and from the grave to go out and be his new people let us go forth as his people and be that for his glory alone amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign

Channel: Church of Christ at Manor Woods

Views: 163

Keywords:

Id: UNFNw0Obj0I

Length: 69min 19sec (4159 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 05 2021