Easter

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0:00 So I love that story, obviously. It's our Easter story. And I was thinking this past weekend, how well I know Luke 2, and how I don't know these resurrection stories, as well as I know these Christmas stories. And so I thought, I'm going to read this story, just read it to the kids, because they ought to hear it. It's so key and pivotal for us, obviously.

0:31 So we're going to spend some time thinking about the story, but also this morning, I want to think about what the story has done, what it means for us. Which I guess is maybe kind of obvious, but it's worth saying again to you all. Like the truths of the Gospel are not complex, they're simple, but they're very deep. It's not hard to understand the language of them,

1:04 but it takes a lifetime to mind the depth of the stories of the Gospel. So we keep coming back to them over and over again, year after year, coming back to the stories of the incarnation and the resurrection. And the first is this story, the first for this morning. I'm actually using, if you're following along with the lecture, I'm using the readings from the sunrise gathering, just because I like them better. And the Gospel for the sunrise is what I just read to the kids.

1:39 And I want to invite you to imagine these women, remember that Jesus had been crucified right at the beginning of the Passover meal, so they're going into the Sabbath. And so they would have liked to prepare his body, right? They had a traditional way to prepare his body so that to stretch out the kind of decomposition, to make it approachable longer, so it was a group of scents and wrappings that they would put around the body,

2:10 that they would prepare it for burial. But because of when he died, they just kind of hastily, as a matter of fact, they had to move quickly because normally, the folks who are crucified are completely forgotten about. Crucifixion is not a lauded or a significant or important way to die. As a matter of fact, it was so unimportant, you couldn't crucify a Roman citizen. Romans could not crucify Roman citizens.

2:41 If they were due capital punishment, you had to find a different way to kill them, because it was so undignified. And at times, the Romans would crucify lots of folks, but whenever they did, they did it on an X cross or a T cross like Jesus. Whenever they would do it, it was on the outskirts of town, so that when you were coming into a Roman occupied town, you would see and be afraid of the Roman rule of law. This is what happens to people who cross the Roman rule of law. And at times, they would crucify thousands of people.

3:12 It's conspicuous though. It was the 1960s before they found any bone of anybody who had been crucified, because I'm telling you, nobody cares about the people who are crucified. They just stay out there on the cross until the Perian eat their body, and the bones waste away. Nobody cares about the people who are crucified on the cross. So when Jesus gives up his spirit, he dies way before he's supposed to. Because he gives up his spirit as a way for the suffocation to take him.

3:45 And when he does, they have just enough time, Joseph of Eremathea, and the disciples, a few of them, run to Pilate and say, can we have the body, please? And they have just enough time to get him into the clean and new tomb that Joseph was not planning would be for Jesus, was planning for it would be for himself, with a lovely tomb, as far as those things go. Joseph of Eremathea was well taken care of. And they put his body in there. And so the women didn't get to do what they wanted to do for the one whom they loved,

4:16 on whom they had pinned all their hopes. And so you can imagine as they wave in the morning, early in the morning, while it's still dark and there's dew on the ground, and they gather together the spices that they know, that are the smell of ceremony and of ending, right? The smell of death and putting things to rest. At best they are the smells of sadness. At worst they are the smells of despair. They gather the scents together and they go early in the morning to the tomb, right?

4:47 You can imagine, early in the morning, the smells, the tomb, the women, and they get there and there's like confusion, they don't know what to do, they go back and then Peter and John take off. Like I don't know if it's still early, if they had to wake them, or if they were gathered for breakfast, I don't know if they were all there yet, but something happens where Peter goes first, Peter always goes first, and John won't be left behind.

5:18 And John tells us, of course, they beat Peter there, but Peter went in first. Peter goes in and they can't find it. And it's like I don't know if we should take anything from the fact that Peter and John didn't wait around just another beat, right? But they didn't, they went in, they took survey of the situation, Jesus is not here, they go back home, they got a problem solved man, something is up, and they don't know what yet.

5:48 But God bless Mary, Mary Magdalene, right? She can't bring herself to leave the place. And so, as happens, women get it first, right? And Mary gets the news very first. The woman with the alabaster jar last week, she got it, right? The woman at the well, the first evangelist, she got it.

6:20 Mary the mother of Jesus, the indwelling of the Spirit, said yes. Mary Magdalene, she got the news first. And she believed it, amazing. Got the news, she believed it, she went back and told the fellows, and this is what's impressive to me is how quickly things take place after that.

6:54 And we know because of our epistle reading, and this is where I'm going to ask you to punch in the epistle reading into your phone or pick up a copy of the scriptures or something. First Corinthians chapter 15, the reason is because I want to remind you, this is like a primary document. I hope that's not using that term wrong. But this is a letter written firsthand, first person, to a group of people at a point in history.

7:31 Maybe late 50s, early 60s. If Jesus died when he was maybe 33 and he was born maybe 4 AD, right? Not quite, they got the numbering wrong, we figured it out. Not quite that zero. So then maybe it's like 37 or 40 when he ascends. And so things happen pretty quickly after that.

8:02 Reading the Acts of the Apostles, followers start to spring up, Paul does the persecution, Jesus comes down out of heaven, grabs Paul on a Damascus road, he spends three years in Damascus and Antioch breaking down the Hebrews tradition, goes to Jerusalem, says this gospel for everybody, walks across Asia Minor and starts the churches in Greek and Roman towns, right? With the gospel of Jesus and then has time still, then he's writing letters back to Corinth.

8:32 He does all of that before maybe 63 AD. So this is in like less than 20 years after the ascension of Jesus. This document occurs. And the reason I'm pulling that out is because look at chapter 15, verse 1 of 1 Corinthians. My Bible, my Bible is falling apart now. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 1, now I would remind you brothers of the gospel I preached to you, which you received in which you stand and by which you are being saved,

9:04 if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Paul says, hey, don't forget when I can't, Paul's not with the Corinthians anymore, that's why he's writing the letter back to them. And they've written him a letter asking some questions, so he writes the letter back and says, first of all, don't forget what I told you at the beginning. Don't forget the story. Don't forget the good news about the person Jesus of Nazareth. Don't forget it. It's the thing on which you stand. It's the thing that you receive upon which you stand, and if you hold fast,

9:41 and you are being saved, and if you hold fast, unless you believed in vain. Verse 3, for I delivered to you, this is what I want you to see, I delivered to you as the first importance that which I also received. Then look at what he says, that Christ died for us in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and to the Twelve, then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at a time, most of whom are still allowed,

10:14 though some have fallen asleep. Already, late 50s, early 60s, 80s, 20 years tops, half my lifetime, after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, already the Church has a formulation, the beginnings of a creed. The story has codified and become an anthem of the people of God.

10:45 There's not a new testament yet. Not all of the gospels of Jesus are written yet, but Paul on the road to Damascus. I don't know who gave it to him, maybe it was Annanias on the straight street when he got baptized three days after he saw Jesus, maybe it was James and the leaders of the Church, when Paul went to Jerusalem and said, can I take the gospel to the Greeks and the Romans? And they said, sure, if you remember the gospel,

11:15 if you remember the story that forms us as a people, that shapes us and holds us together, that enlivened faith, and is the thing we have received on which we stand, in which we believe, by which we are being saved. This, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried and raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, that he appeared to see this and then to the 12th.

11:47 In like less than 20 years, under persecution, from their own church and from Rome, meeting in catechones and caves, without power they were excluded from the marketplace, without power or prestige. But they were not the social elite or the economic elite. They were persecuted, Paul was run out of town, they were seen as ignorant and from backwards, amongst all these things yet.

12:20 Armed with the story of the Resurrection, the Church is born. This is what I want you to see from the beginning of the story of Scripture, the God of creation and life, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and now the God of Christ in the Church is interested in one thing, raising up a group of humanity, raising up people who will be his people and let him be God. That the work of Easter does more than save individuals, it constitutes a church,

12:53 a nation of people who will be God's people. He saves individuals in order that we might exist in catechones and caves, in whatever this building is, on Church Street. Right? And the death and resurrection of Christ does its work.

13:27 It enlivenes people and binds them together so that now people across space, in order to be a person, in order to be a person, in order to be a person, in order to be a person, in order to be a person, in order to be a person, in order to be a person, in order to be a person, in order to be a person, in order to be a person, in order to be a person, across space and time, through every country, in every corner of the world,

14:02 there are people who belong, who are like, who are God's people. With this act, Christ bursts into the world through his own sacrificial death, his self-giving of his body and soul, spirit, mind, love, capacity, creativity. He gives all in order that you and I might be along to something that is much

14:34 bigger than ourselves. Like in the moment, at the cross, stands outside space and time and launches into reality something that will exist forever, of which you and I can be apart. I'm saying that the story of the cross of Christ, the Easter story, the death and resurrection, take root in forming the church even before the scriptures,

15:04 even before the hierarchy or the structure, the story of Easter has a binding path of binding power for the people of God throughout space and time. So he says, for I delivered to you as of first importance that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried and was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, that he appeared to see this and then to the twelve and then to the rest of us,

15:35 that's of all. Oh yeah. Last of all, as to one untimely board he appeared to me, verse nine, for I'm the least of the apostles unworthy to be called apostle because I persecute to the church of God, but by the grace of God I am when I am and his grace toward me was not in vain on the contrary. I retarded any of them though it was not I, but the grace of God that is in me. This is a theme for Paul and Paul's life should give us hope. Paul says he is the chief of sinners, that the story of the death and resurrection

16:07 of Christ, the reality of the person of Jesus has the capacity to have tangible effect on us, that it was not in vain that Christ came down out of heaven to get Paul, it changed his whole experience of life and brought him into a new group of people. And this is what I want you to hear, that the death and resurrection of Christ, the person of Nazareth is sufficient for you to belong.

16:43 Like you have a place where you belong, you have a people that are your own, you have a purpose that endures in the world, you have a significance to your life that is worthy of the attention of the creator and the sustainer of the world.

17:14 You have an existence that exists with these people off into forever, you belong. The death and resurrection of Christ substantiates you as the church with all the rest of us and all the way back and all the forward through the disciple whom Jesus loved and Peter, whichever one of them got to the grave first, brings them in the same way as it brings you and I.

17:49 I was looking at that, so this, what Paul has here forms into the Apostles Creed, I put some Apostles Creed on the board back there on the clipboard, if you're not familiar with it, it forms into the Apostles Creed. The earliest form of the Apostles Creed we have record of is in 70 AD, that uses the baptismal creed. As you're getting baptized you might say this early version of the Apostles Creed. 70 AD you guys, the Gospel of John was maybe written in 80 or 90. I'm trying to tell you that this story is foundational, more foundational even than the Scriptures.

18:24 This creedal knowledge of the story of Easter forms us as the church. And this is important, your belonging to a group of people can supersede your, the nuances of your faith in one moment or the next. The creed, your belonging, is about your identity deeper than your thinking or your strategy in any given moment.

18:58 Remember when Jesus told Mary and I go here in John, hey tell the disciples how me and me and Galilee were I said I would. And then of course we have the story of the ascension, right? Matthew gives us the story of the ascension. They walk down to the Sea of Galilee where they saw Jesus walk on water where he calms the storm. They go up to hill where he delivered the sermon on the Mount. They see the resurrected Jesus, body and bone, flesh and blood, realize real arms, real hands, real lungs, Jesus and flesh. They walk up the hill of Galilee and it says some of them believe and some of them doubting.

19:38 And the next thing it says is Jesus gives all of them believers and doubters the Great Commission because he knows humanity above all is fickle. And our hearts, our capacity to believe is weak. Look at how Paul describes belief at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15. This is helpful. Now I would remind you brothers of the gospel. I preach to you which you received and he says the gospel which you received and in which you stand and by which you are being saved.

20:23 Hold fast to it unless you believe in them. Now there are different passages where we could define what belief means but I like the way Paul builds it here. The gospel that you received, you heard and accepted on which you stand. Like it's the ground that shapes your identity, right? And then the fact thing is working to accomplish your salvation. He doesn't say the gospel to which you ascend.

21:02 He doesn't say the gospel which you understand. He doesn't even say the gospel which you agree with. He doesn't say the gospel and then enumerate a long list of doctrines which you have to check each box in order to line up with. He says the good news which I preached which you received at one point and on which you stand.

21:36 This is the thing that is accomplishing your salvation. These acts receiving, putting it underneath you as your identity and allowing it to work on you is the belief that will not be in vain. I want to invite you to consider that your belonging supersedes the individual momentary capacity that you have to believe. Like to agree and ascend with the good news of Jesus in one moment or the next.

22:12 To understand and agree with any particular doctrine at one set or another. That you and I can announce the Kretal statements. I believe that in God's Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord who was crucified for us under Pontus Father. Suffering was very died and rose again on the third day ascended into heaven where his sister God Father Almighty from that you will come to judge and live in the day. You and I could say these Kretal statements and they could be our identity as the people of God throughout space and time.

22:47 Our our fickle hearts are winding minds are distracted emotions may falter in and out up and down but it doesn't change our identity as the people of God. Because my identity as the people of God is not rooted in my fickle heart or my faithless attitude. My position as a member of the people of God is rooted and established in the death resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

23:19 Nothing I do will put him back in the grave. And his faithfulness to me wraps around and above and underneath and behind all the minatiquities and consistently persistently pulls me in to the people of God over and over and over again. It's the story which I received upon which I stand and is currently actively accomplishing my salvation over and over again.

23:54 I put myself in the presence of the Kretal trees of the church over and over and over again no matter my fickle heart. No matter the anxious wanderings of my mind, no matter the prideful notions of my capacity to understand the infinities of creation and life. Those can go where they want Christ died and rose and he'll never be dead again.

24:24 And so I count myself as his. Our our Old Testament reading caps off what we have to look forward to in that just the last thing Isaiah 26 had to put a marker there because it would take me too long to fight it for you guys Isaiah 26 verse six. No, not six verse.

25:01 Thank you. Oh, twenty five verse six. Yeah, you got it. Thank you. Isaiah 25 verse six. The people of God created born at the resurrection established and maintained by the living person. Jesus of Nazareth are being taken to a place Isaiah saw the place and he said on the mountain of the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food of feast of well aged wine of rich food full of marrow of aged wine.

25:36 Well refined and he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of his people. He will take away from all the earth for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day behold this is our God. We have waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for him.

26:08 Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation and today no matter your fickle heart. No matter the anxious wanderings of your mind no matter the nuances of doctrines that can found the choice in the salvation that God has given you and your membership in that eternal church of God. So the day that he calls you on. Let me pray.

26:40 Hey Lord thank you for the gift of your son for his persistence and consistent salvation that speaks us out deeper than our understanding broader than our fickle heart. Give us the gift of free faith this morning grace upon grace given from you and count us as one of your own in Jesus name we pray.