Easter Sunday 2024

Note: the following is the manuscript for the message and will not match exactly the recorded message above.

What is the central feature of the Christian faith? Is it the command of Jesus to love God and love others? Is it the activity of the church? Is it the promise of eternal life?

These are all important elements of the Christian faith. But, I’m going to suggest that the central element is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Christian faith is unique from all other religions, and it only had success in its expansion because Jesus was raised from the dead. 

Plenty of people were crucified. Plenty of people claimed to be the Messiah. Plenty of people had disciples and performed various so-called miracles. 

Jesus was the only one who did all of that, and then after his lifeless body lay in a tomb for two nights, he came back to life and never died again after that.

Bart Ehrman is one of the most renown Bible scholars alive today. He is not a follower of Jesus. So, it’s interesting to read his view of biblical history. 

In his book, How Jesus Became God, in which he seeks to show that Jesus was not God, but was made into God by his followers, he addressed a common question: what made Jesus so special?

He writes that it was not the message of Jesus that made him special or Christianity a success because his message didn’t really succeed at all, at least initially. His message got him and his followers killed.

What made him different from all the others who taught a similar message or claimed to be of divine nature (there were many), was the claim of his followers that he had been raised from the dead.

Without the belief in the resurrection, Ehrman writes, Jesus would have been a mere footnote in the records of Jewish history. With the belief in the resurrection, we have the beginnings of the movement to claim that Jesus was God.

Now, Ehrman doesn’t dispute that Jesus lived and was crucified. He affirms just about everything that we have recorded in history about Jesus. But, he doesn’t believe that Jesus was God and that he was raised from the dead.

The key difference between believers in Jesus and nonbelievers is exactly this. 

You can read all about Jesus and what he taught and think that he was a good moral teacher, someone to be admired and maybe even model your life after.

But, the belief that Jesus was admirable is not going to automatically transfer into a life-altering faith that gave Christianity its power. The belief that Jesus was simply a good person and wise teacher is not enough. 

We are here on Resurrection Sunday, or Easter Sunday, the day on which we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead the third day after he was crucified.

The resurrection wasn’t just a show of God’s power. It is, as Eugene Peterson describes it, the invasion of the life of God into every person’s life. The task of the Easter proclamation, Peterson says, is to make the truth of resurrection in us as clear and as prominent as it is in Christ.

That is quite the task for a short Easter message! To make the truth of the resurrection in all of us as clear and prominent as it is in Christ!

How have you experienced the resurrection of Jesus? If you’re like most people, you have either decided to believe in it or not. That’s the extent of the experience for most of us.

But, there is more to it than belief. The resurrection is a current reality. It is still happening today. 

Easter is known culturally as a season in which we welcome the spring with chocolate bunnies and easter eggs. 

While there may be a general acknowledgment that this is a historically Christian festival, there is a decreasing understanding of its importance. Just like simply agreeing that Jesus is a pretty good guy, Easter has no power as a mere spring holiday.

What gives Easter and Christianity its power is the resurrection of Jesus.

This event changed the course of history. But more than that, it is the answer to all of life’s big questions.

Have you ever asked yourself the following questions?

Why am I here?

What is the meaning of life?

What is my purpose?

Why do bad things happen?

Where is God? Who is God?

Have you ever struggled with meaning and purpose in life? 

These are the sort of questions that are impossible to answer with science or research. Skeptical people want to figure things out, not trust blindly the claims of a religion. If Christianity and the resurrection is true, where is the proof. 

Going back to Bart Ehrman, in his study of history, he has declared that it is impossible to prove the resurrection of Jesus. I would agree with him. 

Any and all attempts to prove that Jesus was raised from the dead using historical research has failed. 

If you are waiting for the smoking gun, some sort of indisputable evidence or proof that Jesus is God and that he was raised from the dead, I’m afraid you’ll be searching for the rest of your life with no satisfaction.

We read in the Gospel of John that Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, and faced the disciple named Thomas, who doubted what the others disciples were saying about Jesus’ resurrection.

Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Jesus anticipated that there would come a time when people would need to believe in his resurrection without proof. Thomas had proof and he believed. 

We do not have proof. We have the passing down of tradition and the New Testament, claiming that the resurrection of Jesus is a true story.

More than that. We have a living witness. 

When Jesus was with them, he also gave them the Holy Spirit. He did this not only for his first followers, but for countless others as we can read about in the Book of Acts and throughout history.

The Holy Spirit is a witness and a guide for our faith. He prompts us to trust in Jesus as the answer to all of our big questions about life. 

But, the key is that you must be asking the questions. You must have a sense that there is more to your life than what you have.

Of primary importance is, if God came as a human named Jesus, then what does that mean for me? 

What is the purpose of his resurrection? Not just historically, but right now in my daily work and leisure? 

As we go through life, we will find meaning in a variety of things. All my life I have enjoyed being a pioneer of new ideas, generating energy and getting behind a plan to accomplish something great.

It is exciting to start something new and see it succeed. I have found meaning in those things.

I might be tempted to keep going, keep pioneering new organizations or initiatives, making progress toward a goal. If this is what gives me meaning, though, it will eventually come to an end when I run out of energy. 

Some people never give up on these sorts of things. The once-successful athlete becomes a coach because the thought of living a day without sports is a nightmare. 

The musician keeps playing music. The teacher keeps teaching. The gardener keeps planting and harvesting. The farmer… you get the point. Till the day they die. They can’t stop. There is nothing else worth doing. Nothing else that has meaning. 

If your daily work is what gives meaning to your life, you will only have meaning until you can no longer do the work. Then you will have to find another purpose. 

But, through the resurrection, meaning is given to us, no matter what we set our minds, hands, and energy to.

The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 3, “since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

Imagine receiving a letter from the Royal Family. This letter states that, after rigorous investigation, you are an heir to the throne and invited to now live as royalty. What do you do?

What will give you meaning in life from that point on? Is it your daily work? Is it the money you have in the bank? The status you have in your community?

No, it is the fact that you are a member of the Royal Family and have rights to every privilege that comes with being a part of that family.

God has made available to all people, through the resurrection of Jesus, the right to every privilege that comes with being a part of the family of the Almighty Creator of the Universe. 

That is what gives us meaning. It transforms everything we do. Whatever little or plenty we have pales in comparison to what is offered by our Royal Family.

The resurrection means we have a reason to live each day with hope and joy, no matter how much or little talent, power, resources, energy, or health we have.

Phil 3:20-21 says, “our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

What in your life is broken? What sorrow, fear, or darkness is in your life? This is where resurrection is going to happen. 

As we continue with the service, consider how the resurrection of Jesus can bring life into your brokenness, your questions, and your searching for meaning. He will do it.