Easter 2022 - Christ: Dead, Buried, Resurrected, Seen

Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit would fall with gentle power upon us, not just at

this time as we open your word, but throughout the rest of the service, and in fact, Father,

for the rest of the day and the rest of our life.

We ask that the Holy Spirit would fall with deep but gentle and penetrating power, and

that your Holy Spirit would bring these profound truths of the person and work of Jesus into

our hearts, and that your Holy Spirit would make Jesus more real to us, so that we might

stand, in a sense, in who Jesus is, in his presence with us, what he has accomplished

for us, and what he will accomplish for us, and in us, day by day, until we see him face

to face.

And we ask this in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So I don't know what led you here.

Some of you maybe were dragged here by your parents, or a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, or

a husband, or a wife.

I don't know why you were here, but you are very welcome.

And for those who are joining online, either right immediately live as we're doing it, or

later in the day, or later in the week, we welcome you.

I know that Christianity is not very popular right now.

And in fact, actually saying that it's not very popular is an exaggeration.

I know that Christianity is seen generally as something that adds poison or toxic stuff

to your life, and not something that enhances your life.

And so if you're joining us, or if you're here because you're a believer, welcome.

If you're here because you're a seeker, welcome.

If you're here because you're a skeptic, maybe even a very profound skeptic, I'd like to welcome

you here as we celebrate Easter.

I know that in Canadian culture, Christianity is seen as being something that's more likely

to be toxic and life taking away rather than life giving.

But I disagree.

Amen!

I paid him a lot of dollars just to clap and cheer like that.

Actually, I didn't.

I didn't know what was going to happen.

So if you're curious or skeptical or a believer, really on this Easter Sunday, I would just like

to share what the basic Christian hope is.

What the Christian hope is that makes people like me, who had a completely secular education,

want to become a Christian and would remain a Christian.

Even though I'm immersed, in a sense, in the secular world all of the time, I read the

newspapers, I look at news summaries, I read novels, all by non-Christians, and why I am

a Christian, became a Christian, and why I am still a Christian.

And the first thing to sort of just, we're going to look actually at an ancient text.

I'm not going to just sort of pop, say something that just purely comes from my own head.

And if you have your Bibles with you, I'm going to be looking at 1 Corinthians 15, verses

1 Corinthians 15:1–11

1 to 11.

But even actually when I say that, some of you sort of might, those who are a bit skeptical

or those of other, you know, religions who have other, have religious reasons and those

who have intellectual reasons to be skeptical, I say, oh yeah, okay, there he's going to

quote the Bible, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

It's all just sort of as if by quoting the Bible, you're doing something like telling

the story of Santa Claus or the Great Pumpkin or talking about the Easter Bunny or something

like that.

But it's actually, what you need to know about this little piece of stuff that I'm about

to read, what you need to know about it is this.

There's four ancient biographies of the person of Jesus and his life.

And there's so many different cross-references to things in history.

And by things in history, I mean not just Christian history, but the Jewish and pagan historians talk

about that scholars are able to know that the day that Jesus died on the cross was either

April 3rd, 33, or April 5th, 30.

That's the day Jesus died.

And the death of Jesus upon the cross is one of the most certain truths of history.

Even the most radical, skeptical scholars would accept that Jesus died upon a cross.

And there are so many cross-references to history that scholars know.

And not only history, but science, because the history is connected to when there's full

moons and all of that type of stuff.

And so they know that he died.

I would say that he probably died on the 3rd of April, 33.

But those who hold that he died on the 5th of April, the year 30, we would just have to

agree to disagree.

But it's one of those two days that he died.

And right away you see that what we're talking about is a thousand percent different than

talking to you, giving you a story about Santa Claus or the Easter bunny or the great pumpkin.

And the other thing which is really interesting is I'm going to read this.

And as I've said before at different times, it's in some ways unfortunate that I'm going

to read something.

And you can see that this is a book that has like expensive fine paper.

And it used to have some type of goldish stuff on the side.

And it makes it look like a special book.

And I, of course, for a wide range of reasons, believe that it is a special book.

But what I'm reading from is actually a letter that was written by a man who was, if we had

known him before his conversion, we would have wanted to always keep our eye on him and not

allow him to get behind us because he was a very, very aggressive fanatic for religious observance.

To think about it a little bit, it would be as if you went, if you, you know, you've seen

pictures maybe of Islamic, very, very fundamentalist Islamic countries.

And they have people who have sticks and stuff like that.

So that if they see a woman whose, you know, robes aren't sufficiently long or that, you know,

that goes a little bit too below her nose, they can get in all sorts of trouble.

Well, the man who wrote this letter was that type of guy for Jewish observance.

And the amazing thing is he's writing this and to a group of people who used to be pagans.

And that's very interesting because in the city where they used to be pagans, the main

goddess for that city is the goddess Aphrodite, which is the Greek version of the goddess Venus.

And it meant that the temple, as part of their worship, had prostitutes, which were part of

the temple and part of, in a sense, the service of the temple were prostitutes.

And in a sense, it was a non-discriminatory type of worship.

There were very inexpensive prostitutes for those who didn't have much money.

And then there were expensive prostitutes for those who had a lot of money.

And that's the, and the, so this fellow who used to be so completely and utterly against

anything other than most minute, minute, minute observance of the, of the Jewish law, even

to the point that he contributed to seeking people out and, and making sure that they were

either beaten or punished or jailed or even put to death.

And that's this guy, but now he said all of that behind.

And he's writing to a group of people who used to worship Aphrodite and Poseidon and

probably Caesar and who've left that behind and are now Christians.

They're both Christians.

And there's enough historical references that are made in this letter and other things around

it that are ancient that scholars know that he wrote this letter somewhere between the

year 53 and the year 55.

They know that they don't know for sure in between that, probably earlier rather than

later.

And, and so what that means is he's writing this letter to a group of ex pagans and he's

writing it approximately 20 to 21 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

So that's what we're reading translated into English.

Like that, that's what we're reading like a letter.

And, um, well, what does it say?

Uh, and by the way, so this is really important.

So what, what, if you're hearing me, what we're reading now isn't like the Quran and I'm

not going to say anything against the Quran or anything like that, but a devout, if you

have friends who are devout Muslims, uh, they will tell you that, um, God through the angel

gave, uh, Muhammad, uh, since divine revelations.

And these divine revelations, they happened to Muhammad in the 600s.

And these divine revelations talk about things in the past and things in the present and

things in the future.

And so what, what Christians are doing here, it's completely and utterly different than

the Quran, right?

Is we're actually quoting you a letter written 20 to 21, 22 years, maybe up to most 25 years

after the death and resurrection of Jesus that has so many historical references that historians

can date the writing of this letter.

And, and that's what we're, we're looking at.

So it's not six centuries later prophecies that we're just asking to believe by faith.

Um, this is very, very close to the actual facts.

And, and here's what this man says.

If we read it, it goes like this first one.

Now I would remind you brothers and sisters of the gospel and gospel just means good news.

Um, I, now I would remind you brothers and sisters.

If the good news, I preached to you, which you received in which you stand and by which

you were being saved.

If you hold fast to the word, I preached to you unless you believed in vain.

So what Paul is saying here is he has this profound good news, uh, which he's told them

before and he's reminding them of this good news.

And the good news is, uh, as we're going to find out in a moment about a person and what

that person did and what that person continues to do and can do and will do in people's

lives.

And that's why it's good news.

And I remember I began my sermon by thanking you for being here, welcoming you here, because

I know that for most of the people in Canada, they don't think of the Christian faith as

being good news.

They think of it as being bad news.

In fact, I know that maybe if you're watching this, you realize that if you became a Christian

and you told your friend that you'd become a Christian, they'd say to your other friends,

I don't know what happened to him or I don't know what happened to her.

They used to be so nice and they used to be so reasonable.

I don't know what happened to them that they would become a Christian because that's how

it's in a sense, that's how the culture forms us to think of the Christian faith.

But here's this fellow, an ex religious Jewish religious fanatic who would definitely hated

pagans writing to a group of ex pagans who used to worship Aphrodite and Poseidon.

And he calls them brothers and sisters.

He calls them brothers and sisters.

I mean, if you think about it for a second, we live in a world that's only becoming more

and more and more and more divided.

We live in a world that's where I'm assuring you a couple of weeks ago how a columnist can

call people names and call people names and then without any type of sense that they've

been calling people names for two years or longer than say the most important thing is

that we can build bridges.

And you go, what?

Like you've been called, you're like a name caller.

And we realize how there were in a world where people yell at each other across the divide.

And I mean, if nothing else, if you're a seeker or even a skeptic, surely something like this

where there is a possibility of going from a profound, even murderous divide to the point

where you would call a person on the other side, now your brother, your sister is worth something

thinking about and considering.

In a culture, in a time when everything is creating distance and permission to yell and

permission to cancel, canceling the other side is seen as a virtue.

And here we have this fellow calling the other people brothers and sisters.

And what they've done is they've received this good news about a person and what they've done

and what that person's still doing.

They've, they're standing on it and standing on it means that it becomes the basis by which

you start to understand yourself and you start to understand the world around you and you

start to, and you start to act.

It's, you, you, you, you act out of where you stand.

And then he uses this word.

Well, here's one of the things he uses this word believe.

And I've talked to many people over the years who have problems with this because they say,

George, how is it that just having a different idea in my head or a different opinion that

that's connected to me being saved?

Like that, George, that just, just doesn't make any sense.

But you see, here's the thing which is so wonderful about this word, right?

It's good news about a person and what that person's done and what he has done for you and

what he can do, will do for you and is going to do for you and he will do for you until the

point of your death.

And, and the word here believe isn't have an opinion.

It's, it's, it's really like, so the other day at a Starbucks, I saw this really neat scene.

I happen to know, cause I talked to her before, she's a homeschooling mom and she has a little

six or seven year old boy and a little girl who's like two years younger.

And the mom stood outside and gave the son a $20 bill and the little boy went into the

Starbucks and ordered for himself, his sister and his mom.

Isn't that sort of neat?

And the mom just stood outside, didn't come in, didn't stand over, didn't, wasn't being

a helicopter mom, just stood outside and watched.

And the little boy spoke with a nice clear, loud voice and kept using the word actually.

It was really cute.

The mom, what does the mom do?

The mom believed in the son, right?

The mom believed in the son.

And that's the word which is being used here for us in Christ.

We believe in him.

We don't just believe about him.

We believe in him.

So what, what is this good news?

Well, this is now what Paul is going to sort of just start to give it very, this very brief

thing.

It's going to look at, look at verses three to five.

It goes like this.

For I delivered to you as a first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our

sins 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 then to the 12.

And Cephas is just a different name for Peter.

And the 12, obviously it doesn't include Judas who's, who's been dead.

But the 12 in a sense, like the special group of disciples now in a sense, the 11, but it's

always referred to as, as the 12.

Now here's the thing.

And this is going to maybe bother some people when I say this, but I'm going to deal with

the bothering.

But if you look at that word in verse three again, for I delivered to you as a first importance,

what I also received.

So I was talking to a young woman after church last Sunday who speaks three languages.

I don't know if we have at least one person here who speaks at minimum of four languages

and a lot of you speak at least two languages.

And you know that it's impossible to perfectly translate from one language into another.

It's just impossible.

There's just words in one language where there's, you might need a whole sentence or three sentences

or a paragraph to try to explain any other language.

And, and, and, and so what, what you don't know is that here when it says delivered and

where it says received, it's technical language in the original language.

It's technical language.

And it's the technical language of handing on tradition.

And handing on tradition sounds, oh, boring, you know, snooze and who cares about tradition

and it's best not to have tradition.

But then I need to translate that word tradition because I'm using it and the scholars use it

in a sense that would have been understood like 200 years ago, but isn't understood today.

In a sense what it's, he's, he's handing you the DNA.

He's passing on the DNA.

He's passing on the foundation of the building block.

It would be as if, you know, there was to be a, you know, one of those virus movies

where the whole world is being destroyed by the virus.

And then in some little remote lab, they get the, they get the thing that fixes the antidote.

They get that little sample and they break that sample up into little bits.

And it would be the whole point of the movie that, that those people take that little bit

that they've received and they take it to the other small remaining labs.

And they take it without any variation.

They don't spit in it.

They don't add their own ingredients.

They say, I would be better with some salt.

They don't do anything like that.

They take that, that stuff, the antidote, the thing which has been perfectly made that

will destroy the virus and save the human race.

And it's taken without anything at all being done to it and given to these other labs where

the labs can create the vaccines, which is going to, is going to save the human race.

And that's this, that's what's understood with this word delivered and received.

And, and, and, and so the thing which bothers people sometimes is when they hear things like

that, they said, well, George, here's the thing about the Christian faith.

Like why, why couldn't God have just made it?

Why couldn't God have just made it that it was obvious?

Like why did he make the faith in such a way that I have to learn from you?

Like, why can't I figure that out for myself?

It seems like it's a, it's a mistake in the Christian faith, but all I can say to you is

no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

It's not a design flaw.

It's a design feature.

It's not a design flaw.

It's a design feature.

Like, why is it a design feature?

Well, for two reasons.

It's a design feature because God, when he caused these scriptures to be written, he wanted

people from every people of the group of the world to hear about himself in their heart

language.

He didn't want, he didn't want a remote tribe in the Amazon to learn Koine Greek and postmodern

Canadians in downtown Ottawa to learn Koine Greek.

He wanted us to hear about Jesus in our heart language.

And then that goes on with this other part, which is not a design flaw, but a design feature

that while we enter the Christian faith one by one, like we make a personal decision or

we recognize that a decision has been made sometime in the past, that sometime in the past

that we, we've come to this faith, but we, we enter it, but we don't walk it by ourselves.

We walk the faith with others.

If you haven't watched the Good Friday service, one of the wonderful things that Victory said

in her little, her little talk, it was a really wonderful point, is that, you know, she, she

comes from, she comes from a place.

You don't mind me saying this.

You said everything.

You put her on YouTube on Friday.

And she came from a place where everybody in a sense knew her name.

She had lots of mothers and brothers and fathers.

And she comes without her mother, brother, father to this place.

And then the Christian community, she can play with kids and she has mothers and fathers and

brothers and sisters.

And God doesn't want us to follow Jesus all by ourselves.

It's a design feature that we need to gather.

And the church has set aside people like me to study and to learn the resources and to,

and to, to, to, to trust the, the broader church that I, I can read a scholar who wrote a book

20 years ago.

I can read scholars that have died long ago and I can get to understand things.

I get to impart it to you.

And it's a design feature and it's a wonderful feature.

You can hear Jesus in your heart language.

Okay.

Well, I mean, why trust Paul?

I mean, in lots of circles, Paul is the big bad guy.

And Paul's the guy writing this letter to our Muslim friends.

They, they will tell you that Paul was the one you can't trust.

He changes everything.

There's many, many people throughout the last 150 years of scholarship.

And, and not only that, but throughout, throughout history of, of different others that who just

say, Paul gets everything wrong.

Why, why trust Paul?

Here's the other thing you see.

So what, what, what did Paul say?

There's two things here, which are just so profoundly cool about what this letter written 20 years

after the death and resurrection of Jesus by an ex-Jewish religious fanatic to ex-Aphrodite and Poseidon worships,

worshipers who are now his brothers and sisters.

And one of the things which is so cool about that is also the word that.

You didn't just, we'll read it again.

Look at verse 3b and, and, and, and notice this.

Remember I said, for I delivered to you and this delivered and received that that's like the language of receiving something,

which is like the antidote, the DNA, which you receive on and without changing it.

And you pass it on without changing it.

And then he goes, I'll receive that Christ died for our sins 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 then to the 12.

And one of the things is in the ancient writings, they didn't have quote marks.

The that, in a sense, functions like quote marks.

So here's the thing.

This is so cool.

That little bit that I just read.

Remember I said to you, we can now, scholars know, because there's so many historical cross references.

They know that Paul became, saw the risen Jesus and became a Christian somewhere towards the end of 33

or somewhere in the year 34.

And if Jesus died on April the 3rd, 33, and rose from the dead three days later,

that means that potentially only several months after Paul sees the risen Jesus,

what he's saying is he received this when he became a Christian.

He's quoting what he received.

When I read that Christ died for our sins 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 then to the 12.

You are hearing the witness of his mother, his brothers, the 500,

and all of the people who saw the risen Jesus.

This is their message.

This is their message carried through the years and through the ages to you and me today.

If you think about it for a second, it's a very, very simple set of statements.

It's a type of statements that if you were to go and try to teach a little three-year-old

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Bible,

Christ was buried, Christ was raised on the third day in accordance with the Bible,

Christ appeared to Cephas and the 12 and others.

And a little child could learn that off by heart.

And they wouldn't understand everything, but they could hear it.

And it wouldn't take very much to try to teach them those little bits of things,

which I'll say a little bit more of in a moment.

But at the same time, that very, very simple message...

Like one of the things when I talk sometimes about what Jesus does first on the cross,

I just remember the word rise.

Okay?

And when I remember the word rise, then I can say Jesus was our representative.

He identified with us.

He was our substitute.

And his death was an act of exchange.

There's simple little things that you can do that help you to remember.

And you could see these simple little words that a very simple child

or a person with a very low IQ could get them.

But at the same time, a poet, a musician,

a person with a profound...

an artist, a philosopher, a scientist,

one who has great education and a great IQ.

The child can believe it and understand it.

And people like Paul, who are very, very well educated,

he could take those symbols, those simple words,

and he could think through how they matter to a world that worships Aphrodite and Poseidon.

And he can think about all of the different Old Testament texts that refer to it.

And he can take that and he can go and look about how it fits with Psalm 2 and Psalm 110

and with this text in Leviticus and this text in Genesis chapter 1

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

and this text in Zechariah and this text in Malachi.

And he can think of how these things connect to what the Greek poets think,

which he does in Acts chapter 17.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

And you see that on one level it's all there.

And somebody who's just very, very simple-minded or somebody...

And actually, by the way, I'm very simple-minded.

Where people have great powers of abstract thought,

it's a seed and it communicates everything

and it opens this door

just to see the world in a radically different place.

And it's the ancient witness

that those early people who were witnesses

still in the face of profound opposition

and we have to remember that,

well, people will, if you're maybe not aware of it,

people will, I mean, one of the really, really stupid things

that people will say, sorry, not stupid, I didn't mean to say that.

If you believe it, I didn't mean to call you stupid.

I apologize.

One of the things which is just not well-informed

is that somehow another Constantine,

when he became a Christian in the 300s,

somehow another forced all these creedal things on the church,

which is just not true.

For basically the first 300 years of Christianity,

to become a Christian was to become unpopular and persecuted.

And the early Christians weren't celebrated,

they were persecuted.

It wasn't very long after the Christians,

that Jesus died and rose from the dead

and the Christian faith began,

that the first martyrs were martyred.

And so we hear this very, very ancient testimony

of what had actually happened,

and structured in such a way that everything from the youngest

to the most brilliant minds

can be fed by it and can develop it.

And so it's not here that something that Paul is just trying to make up

out of his own head.

It's something that he's giving that goes right back.

And part of the reason, by the way,

that you should believe it is that, I mean,

Paul ends up going to the death rather than denying

that Jesus actually rose from the dead.

that he goes, he dies for a fact.

And he hands down the interpretation of that fact.

So what does he say again?

Well, let's look at it very briefly,

sort of getting close to the end.

Verse 3 again,

For I delivered to you as of first importance

what I also received,

that Christ died for our sins

in accordance with the Scriptures.

And I just want to point out that one thing

that the word for,

in the original language,

it means for the benefit of somebody else.

So Jesus died for the benefit of you

because of your sin.

And this is just so profound.

You know,

sometimes those of you who've been blessed with children,

what was I,

it was,

it was not that great,

not that great of a,

of a movie,

the new Ryan Reeves movie,

The Adam Project.

And he's meeting his,

you know,

he goes back in time

and he's talking to his mom

and his mom doesn't know

that this is her son,

but like whatever,

30 years later.

And she's talking about

how difficult her son is.

And she says,

what is it she was thinking

of putting her son

in a boarding school

where it was like,

it was the ISIS stronghold.

That's,

that's how much he was driving her crazy

that he was going to put her,

she was going to put her son

in a boarding school

right in the center

of the ISIS craziness.

And sometimes we want to strangle our kids,

but,

and part of the way we,

we get around it

is we just,

we also think about the things

that are wonderful about them.

But the thing about,

about this word for,

is that Jesus died

for the worst of you.

Like he died

knowing the worst about you.

He doesn't die thinking,

that George,

you know,

gosh,

there's so many good things about him.

I think I'll die for him

because he just,

all those things,

no.

Jesus died for me

knowing the worst about me.

And his death

is a death

which creates a benefit for me.

The,

the other thing about for

is it's sometimes a synonym

for the word

in,

in the place of.

So that he dies

in my place

and he dies for my benefit.

And he dies for my benefit

mindful of the absolute worst

about me.

And then verse four,

that he was buried.

I remember still,

very clearly,

the first time

I touched a dead body.

And it was a shock.

And I have to confess,

I was nervous

about touching the body.

I wasn't sure

if I was going to get,

I don't know,

bad things

transmitted to me

by,

like I'm just,

I don't know,

just being honest,

right?

But if you touch a dead body,

it definitely doesn't feel

like a live body.

And,

and so this thing

is just emphasizing

the death of Jesus

that the,

the,

that some

two men

took the body

down

from the cross.

They don't go

into the details

about how they

got the nails

out of his hands

and out of his,

and his feet.

But they would have

somehow

gotten that

out.

And I,

I can imagine

the squeamishness

about it.

And they

get that out

and they,

they put him

in something

to carry him

or put him

on a donkey

or something

and they take him

to a different place.

And then they

would have

put him down

and done at least

a bit of washing

of him

and taking his clothes

off.

We didn't have

any clothes on

when he was crucified.

So they would have

washed the body

at least a bit.

They would have

applied spices

on him

and then they

would have

wrapped him

relatively tightly

and they would have

wrapped something

separate around

his head.

And they would have

done that

with their bare hands

and then they

would have

picked him up

and they would

have put him

on something

and then they

would have

carried him

to the tomb

which was a cave

and then they

would have

somehow still

picked up that

body

and put him

in a cave

and then the

soldiers rolled

the stone

and sealed

it and guarded

it.

And all of that

isn't covered

in that very

simple word

buried.

It's emphasizing

his death.

And then

that

he was buried

that he was

raised on the

third day

in accordance

with the

scriptures.

And one of the

things which is

really interesting

about this

you can see it

in the English

that he was

raised.

It's passive.

The text is

making clear

that it's

not some

development

of human

evolution

and that

Jesus is

this new

pinnacle

of human

evolution

and it's

some power

in him

by which

he is

raised.

It's not

some

technological

or some

communal

technological

thing with

him and

his buddies

that he

by his

power

is

resurrected.

It's

passive.

He is

dead.

dead.

He is

dead,

dead,

dead,

dead,

dead and

buried and

no one

thought he

would rise

from the

dead and

God does

something in

him.

He is

resurrected.

It does

not mean

he's

resuscitated

to this

size of

death only

to die

again.

He has

defeated

death.

He has

defeated

the sin,

the worst

in you

which contributes

to your

death.

He has

defeated

that.

He has

dealt

with it.

He has

in a

sense

swallowed

it,

eaten

it,

consumed

it,

drank

the

cup,

made

it

finished,

no

more,

for you,

for your

benefit.

And then

God raises

him to

life on

the other

side of

death where

death and

sin have

no power

over him

whatsoever.

And he

does it

for you

and for

me.

This is

the Christian

hope.

Not

butterflies,

not

seasons.

This is

the Christian

hope.

Is it

true?

The word

appeared

means

convincingly

made

present.

To

Cephas,

then to

the

twelve.

Then he

appeared to

more than

five hundred

brothers and

sisters at

one time,

most of

whom are

still alive,

though some

have fallen

asleep,

synonym

for death.

Then he

appeared to

James,

then to

all the

apostles.

Last of

all to

one

untimely

born,

he

appeared

also to

me.

To which

even with

this litany

of evidence,

someone might

say,

but George,

this is a

misogynistic

text.

Well,

it's not

entirely.

Apostles

include men

and women,

and brothers

and sisters

well implies

sisters with

brothers.

But why

doesn't he

mention Mary,

and why

doesn't he

mention his

mother,

and why

doesn't he

mention the

two people

on the road

to Emmaus,

one of whom

was almost

definitely a

woman?

Why does he

ignore those

people?

Nobody knows

why, but

here's, I

think, a

very, very

good reason.

Remember,

you have to

just remember

how historical

this is,

that this

is as if,

I mean,

we don't have

the actual

original letter,

but there's

no reason

to doubt

this,

and if you

went back

in time,

the suggestion

is that Paul

lists people

who are still

alive.

Well,

actually,

with one

exception,

because James

is probably

dead,

but he

mentions the

two biggies,

Peter and

James in

the 12,

that's in a

sense the

two biggies,

and then the

rest of

them are

probably people

who are still

alive.

He's in a

sense saying,

you know,

you're in

Corinth,

you can get

on a boat,

you can go

on a walking

tour,

you can go

back to

Jerusalem,

you can talk

to these

people,

and that's

maybe why he

didn't include

Mary Magdalene,

20 years,

Mary Magdalene,

just as there

are lots of

things that

kill us today,

there are even

more things that

would kill you

back then.

that's how

confidence he

is in the

story and the

reality of it,

and I just

need to,

you know,

and so why

does this matter

and why is

this good news?

Now here I'm

going to share

something which,

there was a

time once I

asked,

I've met a

couple of

people who've

translated the

Bible,

and I

remember asking

one of them

once,

like,

he was talking

about what the

word actually

meant in the

original language

and how it's

translated,

and I asked him

afterwards why

do they do

that,

and he said

well,

you know,

we could do

that,

but the fact

of the matter

is publishers

don't want to

publish it if

you put certain

types of words

in,

and so that's

why it's done,

and so they've

smoothed over

something,

and I'm going to

tell you what

they've smoothed

over,

and I know it

could be something

which is painful

for me to say

here,

so I want to

say,

because it's

going to be,

it's an abortion

reference,

and it's not me

imposing it,

because it's

actually there

in the underlying

language,

so what I want

to say is,

I want to say

that this,

I'm not,

I know this

could be a

trigger thing

for some

people,

but this

isn't an

us versus

them thing,

there are

people here

and watching

here who've

either had

abortions or

contributed to

abortions,

and so this

isn't trying to

trigger anything

or make you

feel guilty

or anything

like that,

many people

have had

abortions and

don't feel

guilty,

and some

have had

abortions,

many have

had abortions

and do feel

guilty,

I do want

to take this

opportunity to

say that

anytime,

anything like

this which is

painful that

comes up in

the Bible,

it's not,

remember Jesus

died knowing

the worst

about you,

he didn't

die for you

because you're

so cute,

good looking,

successful,

smart,

holy,

and now he

finds out

something bad

about you,

he knows all

the worst

about you

and he dies

for you,

so if you go

back and read

verse 8,

here's the

thing,

last of all,

as to an

aborted fetus,

he appeared

also to me,

the rejected,

the discarded,

the worthless,

ashamed,

the ashamed,

Paul is

saying that

was me,

some scholars

think that it

was one of the

ways that his

opponents

attacked him

and called

them names,

and just as our

gay friends have

embraced the

word queer,

he in a sense

embraces it,

and he says

in verse 9,

for I am the

least of the

apostles,

unworthy to be

called an

apostle because

I persecuted

the church of

God,

but by the

grace of

God,

see that's

why it's

good news,

by the

grace of

God,

I am

what I

am,

and his

grace toward

me was not

in vain,

on the

contrary,

I worked

harder than

any of them,

though it

was not I,

but the grace

of God that

is with me,

whether that

was,

it was I

or they,

so we

preached and

so we

believed,

but the

verse 10,

you see,

this is the

wonderful thing

about the

gospel,

you see,

if you're

watching or

listening to

this,

and you

think life,

as far as

you're concerned,

life is just

about having a

nice house,

making lots of

money,

having careers,

having nice

holidays,

having lots of

popular things,

then in a sense

Christianity has

nothing to say to

you whatsoever,

all I can say

to you is

hopefully a time

will come when

you will realize

that there's

something more

to life.

If you think

about Zuckerberg

who owns

Facebook,

I mean he

has a thousand

billion times

probably more

money than

most of you,

and he's

despised by

billions of

people,

isn't he?

why do you

think that

becoming like

Zuckerberg will

actually make

you happier,

more liked,

and not

despised?

see,

Paul cannot

change his

past,

he was a

very,

very,

very bad

man,

but the

grace of

God,

Jesus dying

for the

worst of

him,

to give him

something,

gives him

something that

he cannot

give for

himself,

it gives

him an

acceptance by

God,

to be

connected to

God,

he cannot

change his

past,

but he

can change

his present,

and that's

what grace

does,

it changes

your present

and your

future,

and when

your present

and future

is changed,

it changes

your past.

The things

which most

were wrong

about him

and so

deeply

broken

about him

and yet

he was so

deeply

proud of,

now by grace

he sees

their wrongness,

and rather

than it

filling him

with constant

memories of

dread and

regret,

it helps

him to

understand the

depth of

Christ's love

for him

and it gives

him a heart

and compassion

for people

who are bound

and broken

by so many

things and

he can

understand at

the deepest

and most

profound level

their need

for Jesus,

their need

for grace,

their need

for the

message of

sins forgiven,

their need

for his

presence

and power

in their

lives,

the need

for grace

to be the

fuel that

gets you

through the

day and

that begins

to shape

your dreams

and your

imagination

and how you

see your

city and

your family

and your

future and

your past,

he can see

their profound

need for

grace.

that is

why I'm

a Christian.

That is

why I hope

you would,

if you're

not a

Christian now

that you

will become

one.

And if you

feel any

stirring in

your heart,

if you're

not yet,

say that you

are a

Christian,

feel any

stirring in

your heart,

if you

don't,

that's

fine,

maybe,

I pray

that someday

you will.

But if you

feel any

stirring in

your heart,

that's

Jesus doing

this to you

right now

and saying

it's time.

Lay down

your defenses,

the idols

that you

cling to,

and turn

to me,

and I

will take

you as

my own.

And as

victory

shared on

Friday,

I will

introduce

you to

your brothers

and sisters

as you

follow me

with them.

Please

stand.

bow our

heads in

prayer.

Father,

we thank

you for

Jesus.

We thank

you for

grace.

We thank

you,

Father,

that it

is a

wonderful

story.

It is a

powerful

story.

Yet it's

not like

Santa Claus

or the

Easter Bunny

or the

Tooth Fairy

or the

Great Pumpkin

or any

obviously

false story.

And it's

not like

the many

false cultural

stories that

Canadians tell

themselves,

that this

Father is a

story that's

rooted in

your heart,

that's rooted

in history,

that's

completely and

utterly true.

And it's not

just for the

mind, but it's

for the very

center of who

we are.

We thank

and praise

you that

Jesus,

he died

for us

knowing our

worst,

that he was

truly dead

and entombed,

that he rose

again on the

third day

and he appeared

to many

witnesses,

and that to

hear these

words today is

to hear Jesus

speak to us

and he speaks

to us to

come to him,

that we might

receive grace

from him,

that our sins

will be done

away with,

that he makes

us new,

that he

reshapes the

story of our

lives and

reshapes the

end,

that in Christ

the end will

not be how

bad you were,

how terrible

you were,

how much of a

failure you were,

how you were a

loser,

but in Christ

and because of

Christ,

the end of my

story and the

end of every

story of every

person in

Christ,

whether it be

Zuckerberg,

to the poorest,

most broken

person in the

world,

that not because

of who we are,

but because of

Christ,

the final word

will be from

you,

Father,

welcome.

I have so

longed to have

you see me

face to face,

come deeper

in and higher

up into the

love of the

Father and the

Son and the

Holy Spirit

this day and

every day for

all eternity,

that in Christ

that is the

final word that

transforms every

moment of our

lives.

God's people

and we ask

that that might

be the means

by which we

stand and see

the world,

see ourselves,

our past,

our present,

and our future.

We thank you for

this great act of

grace,

this great act of

love.

And we ask and

thank all these

things in the name

of Jesus,

your Son and our

Savior and all

God's people said,

Amen.