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| It's Easter |
Hey Gang,
Last week we opened this series with a lesson entitled: Jesus Died for Our Sins. Why? For three reasons: To forgive our sins, to fulfill God's plan, and to reveal that He was indeed God's Son. This Sunday is our Easter lesson on the resurrection. Did Jesus die and rise from the dead? We will examine the evidence associated with this event and the significance of believing in the reality and relevance of Jesus’ physical resurrection from death. As a believer what proof would you give to an unbeliever that Jesus rose from the dead.
Why do some people have trouble believing that the resurrection happened?
Why does it matter if it did or did not?
Tensions could not possibly have been higher. Jesus' disciples hid in fear. They'd given up everything to follow Jesus, and as far as they knew, He was dead. Jewish leaders plotted how to get through the next three days without any master-planned deception being carried about by those crazy Jesus followers. They'd finally gotten rid of Him, and they weren't about to let anyone or anything stop them from snuffing out the Jesus-is-Messiah movement entirely. Though Pilate had "washed his hands" of responsibility in Jesus' death, he certainly felt somewhat nervous over the backlash that might come his way.
No one expected what DID happen. Jesus had told them that it would. Still, shock, disbelief, and wonder was in store for all of them resurrection morning. Jesus is ALIVE!
Let's examine the evidence...
I. GUARDED TOMB GAVE PROOF – MATTHEW 27:62-66
The Closely Guarded Tomb
62 The next day, which followed the preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while this deceiver was still alive He said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 Therefore give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come, steal Him, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead.’ Then the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 “You have a guard of soldiers,” Pilate told them. “Go and make it as secure as you know how.” 66 Then they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting the guard.
Why do you think Matthew emphasized sealing the stone and the presence of the guards?
Why is it significant that Jesus’ enemies understood Jesus was in fact dead?
Is there anymore evidence?
II. EMPTY TOMB GAVE PROOF – MATTHEW 28:5-8
5 But the angel told the women, “Don’t be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead. In fact, He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there.’ Listen, I have told you.” 8 So, departing quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to tell His disciples the news.
In what way did the angel agree with Jesus’ enemies? In what way did the angel differ?
How do you think the women felt when they left their homes for the tomb that morning? How did they feel when they arrived at the tomb? How did they feel when they left the tomb?
What does resurrection proof do for you?
Is there anymore evidence?
III. EYEWITNESSES GAVE PROOF – Luke 24:13-16, 32-33, 35
The Emmaus Disciples
13 Now that same day two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 Together they were discussing everything that had taken place. 15 And while they were discussing and arguing, Jesus Himself came near and began to walk along with them. 16 But they were prevented from recognizing Him.
32 So they said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts ablaze within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?” 33 That very hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and those with them gathered together,
35 Then they began to describe what had happened on the road and how He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Why do you think Jesus didn’t reveal Himself to them earlier in the encounter? Why did He disappear? What was their response to the resurrection?
Conclusion:
What does it matter what a person believes about the resurrection?
Prayer of Commitment
Lord Jesus, help me to speak and live so that others will believe that You are alive. Amen
What does Easter mean to the 2nd half of marriage? Can the resurrection apply to my marriage?
- The same power that raised Christ from the dead is available to us. It can make us new, and it can resurrect any relationship that seems hopeless.
- A Weekend to Remember - As we celebrate Easter this week, I am struck by the fact that Jesus Christ died and was resurrected so that we could be reconciled to God and see a resurrection in our own lives as well. As 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 tells us, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ …"
1. Live for grace more than law.
Have you ever noticed how people tend to grasp a position and hold onto it even when they are obviously wrong, defending it to the death? That is human pride wanting to be right at any cost.
Do our marriages get caught in this same spiral of human pride? No one wants to admit wrong. We defend our position at all costs. And the cost is sometimes quite devastating. And the truth is that usually both sides are wrong. We tend to live expecting grace for us and law for others, when we should live grace for others and expect law for ourselves. We can give others more grace when we can see our own sinfulness clearly. That would defuse a lot of arguments and save a lot of marriages. A lot of marriages could be resurrected if even one side would consider that both are children of the resurrection (or potentially so if unsaved). This is the grace of God that we should give one another.
2. Live for optimism more than pessimism.
A lot of problems stem from our world view. Is your world view pessimistic and cynical? Are you quite certain that no one can be trusted but yourself? Is everyone really against you and trying to trip you up or take advantage of you? The Sadducees certainly weren’t living on hope. Their world view was cynical, pleasure oriented, and materialistic. And they lost sight of God.
Perhaps you have gotten burnt a few times in your relationship. Shall we then give up and insure that it will never be any different because our attitude shall secure it that way? What pride this is when we say in effect that if I could not have it my way before, then I shall ensure by my attitude that it shall always be that way hereafter. If I can’t control the situation in one way then I will control the situation in another, even if it is to destroy hope and ensure defeat. Some marital situations and attitudes are that long standing. Pessimism is perilous.
3. Live for the covenant more than the flesh.
This is more of a functional rather than a romantic view of marriage.
Marriage is a covenant that God is serious about. We must be faithful to it because God has a purpose for it even if we lose sight of it. We have this cultural quirk that marriage is primarily romantic. Certainly it is enhanced if it is. And with the right perspective it will be. But what is that perspective? It is that in God’s sight, marriage is primarily a covenant with a purpose - His purpose. It reflects His covenant through Christ to us and the beautiful romance of Christ’s love to us will certainly inspire our own. Our marriage relationship is more a promise than a feeling, and faithfulness to the promise will inspire the feeling. Putting the feeling first is the first step in a fateful falling. No fallen human living in a fallen world will be able to keep up the romantic intensity of feeling without eternal inspiration. We must always put the truth and honor of the covenant before the fickleness of the flesh.
Without the heavenly perspective of a marriage covenant being a picture of Christ’s eternal love for the Church, it is hard to maintain the earthly covenant.
4. Live for the eternal more than the temporal.
So now we have a perspective on grace, optimism and covenant. Let’s get even more personal. Jesus says that our heavenly existence will be like that of the angels. They are spiritual beings who never die, neither do they marry. Since this is life at its best - life eternal - there is no reason for marriage since there is no reason for propagation. There is no reason for sexual reproduction to carry on the race. We have entered the kingdom of our God, having obtained eternal redemption as God’s children. Through the worthiness of Christ we have become worthy by faith in him. We will have a spirit body as he has - like the angels. We are children of the resurrection. And Jesus’ answer reveals to us that sex isn’t everything, contrary to popular opinion.
Has it occurred to you that your spouse is really like an angel? Do you treat him or her that way? Do you live knowing that eternity will soon remodel and redecorate our earthly personalities and frames? Even though Scripture says we are one flesh through marriage covenant in this life, we shall be one spirit through the spirit of our Lord in the next. I think we can approach living that way now. Believing in angels now may make us a bit more angelic. Our earthly hype, like the Sadducees, does not connect with God’s heavenly reality - and ours.
Conclusion:
How can we resurrect our marriages?
We must have a heavenly view of earthly reality:
- grace is greater than law,
- covenant endures longer than flesh,
- optimism will be rewarded, and
- angels are eternal.
We must live by faith in the power of God to resurrect and renew. We must live by hope. And it is not so much where we are going that gives us hope as it is in knowing what we will be like when we get there. God is the God of our living relationship with himself through Christ, pictured in his relationship to the Church as his bride, and pictured in our own marriages to those who will be like the angels in heaven.
Jesus is clearly teaching in this passage about the resurrection in regard to the question. But the resurrection also has great practical significance to the institution of marriage. There is life after marriage, even on earth. What matters most is our relationship to Christ. We must remember that the quality and purity of relationships will extend far beyond what marriage provides today. Sin will no longer cloud our relationships. There will be a quality of personal interaction directed fully by the presence of God. We must come to him for truth and hope and healing.
Now my personal belief toward the resurrection of a marriage can be summed up in four words: "It's not about you."
If understanding this can transform your personal view of a purpose in life, then I believe that it can transform a marriage relationship as well.
Well, it's Easter...are you going to church this Easter with any anticipation in your heart, how will you feel when you arrive this Easter morning? How will you feel when you leave this Easter morning?
Be praying this week for the same change that took place over 2,000 years ago on Easter morning when believers woke-up and experienced that Christ is ALIVE!
See you on Sunday!
In His Love,
David & Susan
