Bible in a Year: Easter Sunday

1 Corinthians 15:1

 Brothers and sisters, I’m making known to you the Good News which I already told you, which you received, and on which your faith is based.  In addition, you are saved by this Good News if you hold on to the doctrine I taught you, unless you believed it without thinking it over.  I passed on to you the most important points of doctrine that I had received:

Christ died to take away our sins as the Scriptures predicted.

He was placed in a tomb.

He was brought back to life on the third day as the Scriptures predicted.

He appeared to Peter. Next he appeared to the twelve apostles. Then he appeared to more than 500 believers at one time.  Next he appeared to James. Then he appeared to all the apostles.  Last of all, he also appeared to me.

If we have told you that Christ has been brought back to life, how can some of you say that coming back from the dead is impossible?  If the dead can’t be brought back to life, then Christ hasn’t come back to life.  If Christ hasn’t come back to life, our message has no meaning and your faith also has no meaning.  If Christ hasn’t come back to life, your faith is worthless and sin still has you in its power.  Then those who have died as believers in Christ no longer exist. But Christ has come back from the dead.

 For the truth is: He is risen!

Have you ever thought about all the things you can buy?   

You can buy a house, a car, and a lot of food.   You can buy clothes to make you look good and makeup to make you look different.   You can buy vacations and fancy hotels.   

And you can buy what you think are the important things in life.  

Like coffee.   No.  Seriously.  Coffee.  

But you can’t buy the truly important things of life. 

You’ve never seen a supercenter of faith.   

A blue light special on patience 

or a rollback price for compassion.   

There’s no sales circular featuring Bible memorization or unfailing forgiveness.    

Because some things you just can’t buy.   

And it always seems like the things you can’t buy are the things that make you the happiest.    

Like falling in love with your soulmate. 

A real friend who is with you in the darkest of times. 

Memories of laughing with your children around the dinner table. 

Laying in a hammock on a lazy summer afternoon. 

Handing food to someone who hasn’t eaten in days. 

Butterfly kisses. 

A sunrise or a sunset. 

Finishing a project that has been worrying you. 

Singing along to a song from your teenage years. 

Watching understanding come to a child’s face as they hear you teach. 

Raking a pile of leaves so kids can jump in. 

Having an epiphany as you read the Bible. 

The best things in life you can’t buy.    

There is no big box store for God.    

No one-stop shop for everything religious 

no convenience store of faith for those late night crisis of conscience.    

You can’t buy God.   

Because the best things in life are free.    

Free grace, given without remorse. 

Free love, given without conditions. 

Free forgiveness, given without atonement. 

Free strength, given without work. 

Free faith, given because you’re special. 

If you want God’s love, then come and get it, it’s free to everyone.  Because the best things in life always are. 

All you have to do is believe.  

The most important thing as a Christian that you can believe in is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

All of the Gospel message depends upon this message.  

Jesus is risen. 

I chose this passage today because it speaks to the world we live in.   

The only declaration that should ever be made on Easter Sunday is “He is risen!”  No matter what the world says.   

The world has hammering away at the people in Cornith as well.   They were asking the notorious question, “Why” 

Why do you believe someone can rise from the dead? 

Why do you think you have eternal life? 

Why do you believe you can change your old ways.  

The Apostle Paul wanted to address the world in which he lives, but it’s not so very different than ours.   

It is the simple truth of Easter. 

C.S. Lewis adds, “It is precisely one great miracle. If you take that away there is nothing specifically Christian left.”

To answer the question why, Paul used an imperative.  The word If

Paul uses the word if 12 times in 1 corinthians 15.   

He’s trying to prove a point.  

It culminates in verse 15 

 If Christ hasn’t come back to life, your faith is worthless and sin still has you in its power.

All of faith depends upon the resurrection of Jesus.  

Sin has no power over us because we have been set free because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Friends, if God held our sin against us we would be in big trouble. 

Some may be so filled with guilt and shame that you wonder if you’ll ever be free of the chains of that hold you down.  – 

your hurts have handcuffed you to your past and your sins have made you feel small. 

Here is some great news this Easter – God raised Jesus from the dead to validate our forgiveness and to vindicate what His Son went through for us when He died in our place on the cross.

Video

* Some of you have a past you can’t shake. If so, you need acceptance through forgiveness.

* Some of you have a present you can’t stomach. If that’s the case, you need to arrive and have focus.

* Some of you have a future you can’t face. If so, you need an everlasting afterlife through faith in Jesus.

Renewal through Rebirth

I want you to know that no matter how beat up you feel, how skeptical you may be, or how shattered your life is, God can renew you because He’s not interested in getting rid of you. But this renewal is more than just a new paint job or new brakes; God wants to do a complete restoration. And renewal is only possible through rebirth.

I’ve been pondering a quote from Mark Driscoll that is quite profound: “If you die as a non-Christian, this life will be as close to heaven as you will ever experience, and nothing but hell awaits you. But if you die as a Christian, this life will be as close to hell as you will ever experience and nothing but heaven awaits you.”

For the disciples and the women who went to prepare Jesus’ body, that Sunday morning must have been hell on earth.  

It was Sunday morning and they came to look at the tomb. A violent earthquake had taken place and an angel rolled back the stone covering the entrance. 

I used to think that the angel removed the rock so Jesus could come out but he actually did it so they could see inside.

They are asked a question by Jesus, “Who is it that you are looking for?” 

He doesn’t ask her “what” she is looking for but “whom.” 

Until we find Jesus, each of us are looking for someone as well.

Today, as we receive our Communion, we should ask ourselves at this altar not what we are looking for in life, but who we are looking for.   

Just like Woody in this video, Jesus can take the old ragged beat up person that we are and make us into someone new.