Hope Worth Chasing Easter Sunday 2017

It's the 5th of October 1974 in Guildford in England.

Five people died, 65 were injured in two IRA bombings.

The public was outraged and the British police were pretty desperate to get an arrest

and they quickly arrested a small-time Belfast criminal by the name of Gerry Conlon.

He was one of four people arrested for the bombings

and they became known as the Guildford Four.

The police also arrested Gerry Conlon's father, a guy named Giuseppe,

for conspiring in the bombings.

And with all the investigations, the police actually had no evidence to prove

that Gerry Conlon and especially Giuseppe Conlon were guilty of the crimes.

In fact, the evidence was the exact opposite for Giuseppe.

He was clearly innocent.

And in spite of that, Giuseppe Conlon was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment,

even though the authorities knew he was innocent.

His son Gerry was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Gerry was released after 15 years and went on to write a book about his innocence and vindication.

And Giuseppe, however, died in prison in an innocent man.

It's another one of those stories of an innocent person being condemned for crimes that they didn't commit.

It's a miscarriage of justice, not unlike the innocent death of Jesus,

as we saw a couple of days ago on Friday.

Of course, there's some significant detailed differences,

but the death of Jesus would be nothing more than that if it wasn't for his resurrection.

That is, without Jesus' Easter day,

his Good Friday would be nothing more than one of those travesty of justice stories.

Without the resurrection of Jesus,

the death of Jesus would be not much more than a one-line mention in the history books.

Potentially a paragraph, but not much more.

His resurrection is the thing that changes everything.

And so on this Easter day, there are three changes that I want us to see.

I want Easter to do for us as well.

Firstly, for Easter day to change your mind and reshape your worldview.

Secondly, if you allow that to happen, to change the way you respond to Jesus.

And thirdly, if you allow that to happen, to change your future and give you hope.

So firstly, change your mind, reshape your worldview.

Secondly, change the way you respond to Jesus.

And thirdly, change your future and give you hope.

So firstly, for Easter day changes our minds and reshapes our worldview.

My hope today is the direction of Jesus will change us.

That is, we're to walk out of here,

there'll be hearts that are filled with joy and hope

and purpose and love.

And to do that, we must, first of all,

allow our minds to be changed.

We have to allow our minds to be challenged by truth

and our worldview to be reshaped.

Our social commentator, Hugh Mackay,

he's my favourite social commentator in this country,

captured how many people view the resurrection.

He wrote an article for the Sydney Morning Herald

back in 2005 on Good Friday, and he wrote this.

He said,

Christians celebrate new life at Easter,

but in the religious sense.

The focus of the festival is the belief that tragedy and grief,

which is symbolised by the crucifixion,

can give way to life,

which is symbolised by the resurrection,

and that pain and loss are essential steps

on the journey towards enlightenment.

His point is that the resurrection of Jesus is symbolic.

Whether it happened or not is almost irrelevant to him.

Not unlike a church service I went to a number of years ago

where the minister stood up and said that.

He said, you know,

people have all sorts of different religious experiences,

and for some of us, it's looking at a great sunset.

For some of us, it's looking at great artwork.

And for the disciples,

it was to imagine that Jesus rose from the dead.

It doesn't matter what your religious experience is.

Whatever you get out of it is the most important thing.

So Easter Day is all about having a religious experience,

whatever that might be for you.

What that minister failed to understand

and what Mackay failed to understand is,

although his view is connecting with popular opinion,

is that in the first century,

it was never viewed symbolically.

Resurrection was never viewed symbolically.

And that's not the essence of it

that we get from 1 Corinthians 15

that Sam just read out to us.

I'll pick it up in verse 3.

What I received, I passed on to you,

is of first importance,

that Christ died for our sins,

according to the Scriptures,

that He was buried,

that He was raised on the third day,

according to the Scriptures,

that He appeared to Cephas, that's Peter,

then to the 12, they're the disciples.

After that, He appeared to more than 500

of the brothers and sisters at the same time,

most of whom are still living,

though some have fallen asleep.

That's some are dead.

And then He appeared to James,

then to all the apostles,

and last of all,

He appeared to me also as one abnormally born.

You see, Mackay failed to grasp

the resurrection was never viewed symbolically

in the first century.

This is the challenge to our minds.

Jesus came back to life after His execution.

And the fact that Jesus was executed,

the fact that He was crucified,

is not unusual.

Around Jesus' time,

and around His place as well,

there were dozens of these little movements

where the leader would declare themselves

to be the Messiah of the world,

the Saviour of the world,

and as Jesus Himself did.

And in almost every case,

the leader of those groups was killed.

They were executed for this little thing,

that little gathering that they had formed.

And immediately upon the execution of the leader,

the movement collapsed.

Everyone went home.

That was it.

When the leader's dead,

except the one that was led by Jesus.

Only one movement didn't collapse

after the death of the leader.

In fact, it exploded.

Within 200 years,

it was the dominant religion in the Roman Empire

and is today the largest and most widespread

culturally and geographically

of all the religious faiths.

So what made the difference there?

The Bible says,

the Christian churches maintained for 20 centuries,

that after Jesus was killed,

He came back to life

and appeared to His followers.

And that is what changed everything.

Changed everything.

The Bible says,

that is why Jesus' followers didn't go home,

and that's the reason why Christianity exploded.

But this is Chatswood in,

you know,

2017.

And we are one of the major centers

in a secular city of Sydney,

and most people around us don't believe that.

And I get it.

I understand that.

This is a challenge to our minds

and our worldview after all.

But it was for the first disciples too.

You see,

the assumption that we make 20 centuries later

is that these early people

who said that they saw Jesus

were just gullible fools.

They just don't understand life

like we understand life nowadays.

But as you read the account of Mark's,

or Mark's account of Jesus' resurrection,

as Sam just did at the beginning of the service,

for us,

you notice that Jesus tells His disciples

quite clearly in Mark's Gospel

that He's going to die

and He's going to come back.

He does it in chapter 8.

He does it again in chapter 10.

And the weird thing is

that on the third day,

when Jesus said He was going to come back,

it seems that no one's expecting it.

His first disciples weren't expecting it.

The blokes aren't around.

The women had bought the spices

for the dead body.

That's what they were going to do

when they were on the way to the tomb.

They, you know,

Easter Saturday,

you know,

it's not a public holiday.

And so they're wheeling their trolleys

through Woolies

and they come to the spice section

and go,

well,

they're going to need,

we're going to need them tomorrow.

They purchased the spices.

You see,

they were expecting

to anoint His body for burial.

And the disciples on the third day

were sitting there

eating their Weet-Bix

and they thought,

they didn't think,

it's the third day, guys.

Maybe we should just wander on down

and have a look.

See if He's there or not.

Didn't even think of it.

And what's more,

the women who did go,

you know,

all the blokes

are eating their Weet-Bix,

were wondering,

who's going to open the tomb for us

when we get there

so we can oint His dead body?

They prepared for everything

except who's going to

roll the stone away.

And their first thought

upon seeing

that the stone had been rolled away,

their first thought

was that someone's taken His body.

their very first thought

was that someone has come in

and stolen His body.

Fair assumption back in those days

because grave robbing

was a pretty common practice.

The point is,

the resurrection took them by surprise.

It was just as impossible

for them to believe

in the first century

as what it is for us now.

And so if you have doubts

about the resurrection,

so did they.

They're the ones who walked

with Jesus for three years,

so did they.

But,

they let the evidence

challenge their worldview.

And so in challenging

our minds

and our thinking

and our worldview,

it's so important for us

20 centuries later

not to be intellectually lazy.

If you want to jettison

the resurrection,

you have to come up

with an alternative

explanation

as to how this one little movement

exploded like it did.

That's not an easy explanation.

That's not an easy thing

to come up with historically.

Why it exploded

when every other movement didn't.

Easter is the celebration,

the physical resurrection

of Jesus from the dead.

He's alive.

You see,

Christians believe

that the 27 books

of the New Testament,

what they record about Jesus

is true.

And these books

uniformly teach

and assume

at other points

that Jesus lived in history,

that He died

as a substitute

for the sins of the world

and that He rose again

on the third day

that He ascended to heaven

and He rules the world

as the God

of all the universe.

And these 27 books

are riddled

with references

to the physical resurrection

of Jesus

from the dead

such as the 1 Corinthians 15

passage

that was read out.

These accounts

of what happened

in the life of Jesus

are totally different

than the way

that myth

was written

in the first century

like Greek

or Roman mythology

which is shrouded

in distant past

that doesn't connect

with real history.

And the New Testament books

are talking about

real history.

Pilate,

Roman governor,

Herod the king

of Galilee,

Caiaphas,

the high priest,

these are not

mythical figures.

These people

are known

from history

outside of the Bible.

And both Roman scholars

and historians

and Jewish scholars

and historians

who don't believe

in Jesus

and want to see

Jesus dead

both record

something happened

with Jesus' body.

The accounts

of the New Testament,

the 27 books

are all written

while our witnesses

were still alive

Paul's letters

were written

15 to 30 years

after the death

of Jesus

and as we just read

he mentions the fact

that 500 people

had seen Jesus

risen at one time

and most of them

were still alive

when he put pen to paper.

Most of the books

maybe all of them

written

were before AD 70

40 years

after the death

of Jesus.

This is not mythology.

This is history.

This is eyewitness history.

And add to this

all the enemies

of Jesus

the Jews

and the Romans

all they had to do

to squash

the whole thing

was to get

the body of Jesus

stick it in a wheelbarrow

and take it in the middle

of Jerusalem

and dump it

and say there you go

there's your God.

That's all they had to do

and they couldn't do it.

And they put

their own soldiers

at station

in front of the tomb.

and the thought

that these scared

little disciples

who abandoned Jesus

at his crucifixion

for fear of their lives

that they would suddenly

the day after

get together

let's come up with a plan

let's come up with a story

and then somehow

we're going to get in

we're going to steal his body

get rid of it somehow

so it'll never be found again

that they would come up

with that sort of a hoax

and then give their lives

for that sort of a hoax

that's idiotic

it's crazy.

The point of all this

is simply to say

that when Christians

speak about Jesus

as risen from the dead

we're not speaking

mythologically

it's not mythology

we're not speaking blindly

we're not speaking symbolically

we're not even speaking

merely spiritually

we're not even speaking

emotionally

we're speaking historically

and that

challenges your world view

but if you're allowed

to challenge your world view

then it will change

the way you see Jesus

Philippians 3 20, 21

if you've got one of the church Bibles

in front of you

then it's on page 1140

I'm going to kind of spend

most of my time there

so if you've got one of those

page 1140

let me read it

but our citizenship is in heaven

and we eagerly await

a savor from there

the Lord Jesus Christ

by the power that enabled him

to bring everything

under his control

will transform our lowly bodies

so that they will be

like his glorious body

now when

when Paul writes that

he's making an assumption

in these verses

and what is assumed

is that Jesus was raised

from the dead

and that Jesus is

extremely powerful

that's the assumption

and the reason he

assumes it

in Philippians 3

is because he clearly

states it

in Philippians 2

one page over

so turn over to

you know 1139

if you've got the church Bible

but Philippians chapter 2

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

and let me tell you

that you will never read

anything anywhere

in any literature

more sweeping

more important

and true than this

verse 6 chapter 2

this is talking about Jesus

it says

who being in very nature God

did not consider equality with God

something to be grasped

but made himself nothing

taking the very nature of a servant

being made in human likeness

and being found

in appearance as a man

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death

even death

on a cross

therefore

God exalted him

to the highest place

and gave him the name

that is above every name

that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bow

in heaven

and on earth

and under the earth

and every tongue

confess that Jesus Christ

is Lord

to the glory of God the Father

that is

Jesus was

and is equal

with God

he is God

he became a human being

he obediently suffered

he died

and that means

that the death

that he died

was not some sort of

freak accident

it was not just a mistake

it was a plan

of history

for him to die

and the point of that plan

was that Christ

would be a substitute

for the sins

of humanity

that he would be

a substitute

for everyone

who puts their trust

in him

and this was

God's loving plan

for the salvation

of sinners

like you and me

and then it says

therefore God exalted him

to the highest place

in other words

because of his obedient

life

his successful life

and his successful death

God raised him

from the dead

and gave him

great glory

as the Lord

of the universe

that's the assumption

that's lying behind

Philippians 3

when he says

but our citizenship

is in heaven

and we eagerly await

a save 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'll be

like his glorious body

so when you put

Philippians 2

and 3 together

we see that

because of the death

and resurrection

of the Lord Jesus

he has astonishing power

to subject

all things

to himself

he is in control

that is the impact

of Jesus' resurrection

that is relevant

for us now

Jesus rules

all things

we see it in verse 21

by the power

that enables him

to bring everything

under his control

in one sense

Jesus has the right

to rule the universe

as the creator

of the universe

because he's God

you know

he didn't have to die

and rise again

in order

to be who he is

what he is

from all of eternity

is God

and this gives him

the right to exercise

his authority

over all things

but in another sense

God decreed

that the one

who would rule

in power

would be the one

who redeemed

he would be the one

who suffered for us

the one who died

for us

the one who

gave himself

for us

so it's not just

in power

but rules

in love

the Lord

and Judge

and Saviour

over all the universe

was tested

and found perfect

through human suffering

and so now

he is doubly suited

to be Lord

of the universe

he is the God

with natural rights

and he is the God

and Saviour

with purchased rights

and the impact

of Easter Sunday

is that there is

no higher authority

there is no higher authority

there is no place

or sphere

or reality

or dimension

of existence

anywhere in the universe

that is not

under the absolute

authority

of the Lord Jesus

and when the world

doesn't look to us

as if it's under

the authority

of a merciful Lord Jesus

it would be wiser

for us to marvel

at the mystery

of his ways

than to question

the scope

of his power

Christ's power

pervades the universe

from the largest

to the smallest

elements of reality

no galaxy

no Adam

would stay in being

without the authority

of Jesus

that's

big implication

of how we see Jesus

be astonished

at his power

to subject all things

to himself

Easter Sunday

is no mere symbolism

of how

to endure hard things

in life

Easter Sunday

means that Jesus

rules the universe

as the name

that is above

every other name

and he calls

all people

to surrender

to his loving

authority

to hand over

control of your lives

and put into his hands

and so if we allow

the Easter Day events

of the resurrection

of Jesus

to firstly change

our mind

and reshape

our worldview

secondly

to change the way

we respond to Jesus

and see who he is

then thirdly

it will change

the whole course

of our lives

and give us hope

notice that there

are two incredible

implications for us

of the power

of the resurrected

Lord Jesus

they are staggering

and they are filled

with hope

and joy

and life

verse 20

our citizenship

is in heaven

you see the power

of the Lord Jesus

guarantees

our citizenship

of heaven

if you're a believer

of the Lord Jesus

you do not have to wait

for him to come back again

to know where your home is

you see when you trust

in Jesus

your name is sealed

on the citizen roles

of heaven

because your king

is there

your name is plastered

all through heaven

more than Donald Trump's

got his names

plastered on stuff

where he is

there you have

the privilege to be

and so you will be

with him forever

and your amazement

will never cease

it will only increase

forever and ever

which leads to the

second implication

Jesus will use

his power

to transform

your body

into a resurrected

body alive

like his

Philippians 3 21

have a look at it with me

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

all the power

that Jesus has

will be used

to take our

dead bodies

and raise them

from the dead

and fit them out

for eternity

in his presence

the resurrection

is the answer

to the deepest longing

that we have

in our hearts

and that is

to live forever

last night

I was sitting

on the bed

of one of my girls

my youngest girl

reading Bible story

about resurrection

of Jesus

talked about

Good Friday

death of Jesus

and she said

Daddy

I don't want to die

she said

I want to live

for a thousand years

and I'm not sure

the world could cope

with that actually

let alone

her superannuation plan

and I said

trusting in Jesus

you don't ever

have to die

see that's

even as a

even as a

as a

how old was she

five

even as

even as a

five year old

the longing

is to live

forever

I don't ever

want to die

she's happy

for me too

she said

when you die

I want your car

and that is

why the

beauty industry

booms

that's why

baby boomers

still wear jeans

because you still

want to be a

teenager

that's

you know

want to be

back in the days

when we're young

and we're vibrant

and we're healthy

because those

were the days

before crippling

emotional pain

and burden

of responsibility

and frailty

we want to live

and we want to

live forever

one of the reasons

why it's so hard

for us to suffer

is that we think

that this physical

world is it

and when you

lose it

you lose the best

and the most

precious thing

and the resurrection

means this is not it

there's so much more

there is so much

more to come

the resurrection

means that God

is going to

perfectly remake

this world

you see right now

a headache

just totally

messes with my day

but with a resurrected

body not even

holes in the hands

or holes in the feet

or holes in the side

like Jesus

messed with the quality

of his day

resurrection changes

everything

there is hope

for the wheelchair

bound

of the person

with crippling

emotional pain

no religion

in the world

except biblical

Christianity

promises us

new minds

new and perfect

minds

new and perfect

hearts

and new and

perfect bodies

forever

only in the gospel

of the Lord Jesus

do people find

such a magnificent

hope

and so when people

in an attempt

to try and

be helpful

and maybe win

people over

and when they

turn the resurrection

of Jesus

into a metaphor

a symbol

for new life

and growth

through suffering

you rip the guts

at Easter

you rip the guts

out of all

the hope

of Easter

can you imagine

the first

you know

like the apostle

Paul

first priest

of the resurrection

going the poor

and the slaves

and the outcasts

of society

in the first century

and saying

let me tell you

about the resurrection

of Jesus

you know

it didn't actually

happen

but it's a great

symbol

of how good

triumphs

over evil

so go and

be nice

to one another

and can you

imagine the crippled

there

and the poverty

stricken

the tormented

and the outcast

that's just

what I needed

to hear

that's just

you know

that is what

I need

day by day

in my crippling

pain

and my loneliness

and my starvation

a symbol

of something

the resurrection

is a nice

symbol

has no power

to change

anything

doesn't offer

any hope

at all

but the actual

historical

physical resurrection

of Jesus

changes everything

if you know

that this

is not

the openly

tangible

concrete life

and in fact

the next one

is going to be

better

who cares

what people

do to you

the resurrection

makes you

free from this

life enough

to be brave

and courageous

and joyful

and sacrificial

and patient

resurrection

means you can

face the worst

things in this

life with joy

and with hope

there's a great

clip circulating

around at the

moment about the

bombings which

happened in Egypt

you know the

security guard

who turned the

bomber away

and the security

guard at the

church in Egypt

got blown up

his wife

is being

interviewed

and she's

distraught

but she talks

about hope

and she talks

about the

resurrection

hope of her

husband

and she talks

about forgiveness

for those

who perpetrated

such an evil

against her

husband

and against

all those

people who

were killed

and the

face on the

Muslim

interviewer

he says

we have

persecuted

these Christians

in this country

for centuries

and they're

made of

steel

they're made

of steel

to offer

forgiveness

to someone

who did

that

you see

that's what

the resurrection

does for you

gives you

hope beyond

the resurrection

means you can

give yourself

to serving God

in this world

that he loves

and that he is

redeeming and

remaking through

the Lord Jesus

so if you allow

the resurrection

of Jesus

the Easter day

event to change

your world view

and change the

way you see

Jesus

then in turn

it will allow

you to embrace

the hope

of Easter

now I don't

want you to

leave here

for this to be

a mere take it

or leave it

symbolism

where you respond

well thanks Steve

stimulating sermon

let's get off

to the Easter egg

hunt

this is news

it's meant to

rally you to your

core

the difference is

this suppose you

hear that last

year ten kids

you read it

in the

North Shore

Times

ten kids in

Chatswood

were hit by

cars while

they were

playing

and you

read that

news and

you're

whinge and

you say

what a

tragedy

it must

be awful

for those

parents

then you

turn over

the next

news item

on the

page

then suddenly

as you're

reading the

next page

your front

door bursts

open and

your 12

year old

daughter comes

screaming into

the house

with the

news that

your 9

year old

son has

just been

hit by

a car

in the

front

yard

now that

piece of

news is

different

the first

piece of

news was

true

you didn't

doubt it

there was a

good evidence

for it

but now

there's a

piece of

news that

goes to

the core

of your

being

it shakes

you

it changes

everything

for you

everything in

you comes

alive to

this reality

that it's

your son

touches

your existence

it will

change

everything

in your

life

it will

break

your heart

it will

shatter

things

in you

more deeply

than has

ever been

touched

before

that's

the impact

of the

resurrection

here again

the impact

Jesus died

in your

place for

your sins

against

God

he

Jesus

is risen

from the

dead

Jesus

will never

die again

he has been

appointed as

the ruler

of the

universe

and all

who put

their trust

in him

will be

raised

with him

and live

forever

with him

I long

for you

to hear

that news

today

not just

to hear

it as

merely

provable

reports

of some

religious

claims

but as

the cry

of your

child

bursting

through

the door

this has

to do

with you

Easter

is your

death

it is

your life

it is

your hope

father