Easter Sunday 2022

Well, three days ago was Monday Thursday.

Monday is a weird word.

Some people call that Thursday, Holy Thursday.

But Monday in Latin means command.

And what we saw there on Monday Thursday was Jesus watched his disciples' feet, even the one who would go on to betray him.

And there at that meal, he said, This is what you should love like.

You should love like this.

That's the command, is to love.

So if you want something to do in the Christian life, it's to love.

And then at that meal, Jesus holds up the bread and the wine, that food of the Passover feast, and he says, This is my body broken for you, and this is my blood shed for you.

Then he prays for his friends, and then he leaves for the Mount of Olives.

He goes to the Garden of Gethsemane.

Gethsemane was a tool that squeezed an olive.

So it's this imagery of Jesus in that garden, knowing where he's headed on Friday to the cross, and he is in anguish.

He's being squeezed.

That night he's rested.

That night he's tried.

And then on Friday, nailed to a cross like a common criminal, so that he who knew no sin might become sin, that we might become the righteousness of God.

On Saturday, hope was gone.

Then there's Sunday.

Resurrection.

There is resurrection.

So what might this mean for your heart and your life 2,000 years later?

I mean, are we still, are we just gathering in churches like this, just out of ritual and out of religion?

Or is there something more?

I'm going to reread just three verses of the passage that Janine read, Luke 24, 1 through 12.

I'm going to read 10 through 12 for her to narrow our focus.

Verse 10.

Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale.

And they did not believe them.

But Peter rose and ran to the tomb.

Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves.

And he went home marveling at what had happened.

So, point number one is this: the resurrection humbles and compels us into a marvel of God.

I love that word marvel in verse 12.

The word marvel means to have wonder or admiration.

We marvel at something remarkable.

Twenty years ago, I saw something remarkable in Savannah, Georgia at the WWE SmackDown Wrestling Match 20 years ago.

First one I'd ever been to, the last one I've ever been to.

I was on my way down to Daytona Beach with a group to lead a student ministry beach retreat.

Now, mind you, other pastors are with me.

Thank you very much.

The spiritual leaders for the next generation of faith preparing at the SmackDown event.

I'm pretty sure the final event was Chris Jericho versus the Edge.

Here's a picture of that final event there.

Sorry, you had to see that.

Might need an extra shower this afternoon or something, kind of cleanse yourself and uh ruin your Easter there.

But that happened.

That I saw that, right?

Like that happened.

I saw the remarkable thing.

I mean, I'm a testimony.

I can testify, and we can take that down.

We don't have to keep there.

That was quite a juxtaposition going from that image to that image.

I saw something.

I saw like a 300-pound man top jumping off the top rope, backflip, with his elbow perfectly landing across the throat of his enemy.

Like that's remarkable, right?

I don't care if it's fake.

The 300 pounds wasn't fake, the top top rope wasn't fake, the backflip was, I mean, that was a remarkable thing to see.

Now, I've seen other remarkable things.

Like I've I've I've seen a Monet.

That's a little bit different than the SmackDown event.

That was a different crowd.

I've seen the Teton range early in the morning when the sun rises and hits it.

I've seen a baby born and I've sat with someone when they died.

I've seen parents who love rebellious children.

I've seen parents who love like really bratty children, like the ones where you're like, no, like, nope.

And I'm like, wow, like that's that's remarkable.

Like we should do like a church video on that.

That's that should be a video in church right there.

Just you loving that kid.

That's amazing.

He knows, he knows that kid.

He knows the one, the one.

I've seen people forgive like really hurtful things.

I've seen people transform from the heart outward.

And here's the point The point is, is you marvel at the remarkable.

Peter looked in and Jesus was gone, and he marveled.

Wonder and admiration.

For Jesus was dead and then he was alive.

Here's what Peter writes when he thinks about the resurrection and its power and implications for our lives.

1 Peter 1, 3 through 5.

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

Point number two is this.

Really long point makes me look smart.

The longer the point just makes me look smart, so I do it for y'all.

And we're gonna leave it up there a second.

There's like three of you that take notes, okay?

So the three of you take notes, we're gonna give you plenty of time.

You write in your journal.

Christ's work, the cross, is counted as our work, and Christ's victory, the resurrection, is counted as our victory, so we are given an inheritance beyond.

Imagine.

We can stop at the first five words there in verse three, according to his great mercy.

The word mercy means kindness or goodwill toward the miserable and the afflicted.

Anybody?

Nudge neighbor, like hey, you might not know it, but that's you.

Miserable and afflicted, joined with a desire to help them.

So Peter connects God's mercy to living hope for us through the resurrection.

That's his work, and it says there's an inheritance for you there.

One of the largest inheritances ever received was in India in 2002.

$43.5 billion was passed down to the next generation that did not earn it, right?

That's what an inheritance is.

Mr.

Abadi died, and his two sons inherited his business empire, tens of billions of dollars.

One son owns the most expensive private home in the world.

Here's a picture of it.

This is a home.

That's a home, mind you.

27 stories.

I mean, you thought like adding the crown molding in the living room was like that was the big deal, right?

Like you were pricing out per square foot, you talked to your spouse, like I really think we can go for it this month.

Did you know that this is this is something?

Like this is this apparently is in the world?

Like that.

I was like, what?

That's amazing.

Off of inheritance.

Now, not my inheritance, probably not yours.

But that's an inheritance, that's quite an inheritance.

Inheritance is that which you did not earn, but that which is rightfully passed to you as your own.

That's quite an inheritance, that big 27-story house, tens of billions of dollars.

But it is it is still just money.

And I say just money, and it's like, well, you know, money's powerful.

But it has limits.

Right?

We've learned that in the last couple months that money has limits, right?

It changes value.

We just learned that.

Some of us.

Like we're all poorer with 8% inflation today than we were months ago, right?

We're all very aware.

We got poorer.

Money can change value.

And it never quite does enough for our hearts.

It doesn't quite do enough for our self-worth.

So, like Peter says, we need another type of inheritance.

Here are four thoughts about our inheritance in Christ.

First, the cross.

His work counted as our work passed down to us.

You can read about that in 2 Corinthians 5.

So this is talking about the fact that we don't work for our own forgiveness.

We don't work for our own righteousness.

Meaning the guilt trip is over.

Shame-motivated religion or shame-motivated spiritual practices are replaced with grace-compelled marveling at Christ's work for us empowerment.

You and I are fully and always forgiven and righteous.

Second, the resurrection, his victory counted as our victory, also there in 2 Corinthians 5.

We are made new by him.

So we don't have to fight in this world or our faith to be victorious enough.

The victorious life is one that we receive.

We are made new by his work for us.

You and I are victorious as a person and a child of God because of God's grace to us.

Third, the Spirit.

We have a wealth of God in us.

John 16, 7.

See, as Christ dies, resurrects, and ascends to heaven, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us.

Meaning we don't have to go try to find God out there, like in some special place, some holy place.

The sanctuary.

Don't run in the sanctuary.

Stop running in the sanctuary.

Christ lives in us.

God doesn't live in a room or a box or a place.

He lives in us.

The Holy Spirit resides in us.

We are the sanctuary.

Fourth, last, heaven.

Christ prepares a home for us.

You can read that in John 14, 3.

So we don't have to earn our way into heaven.

God welcomes us in Christ, lavishly welcomes us with wide open arms.

Meaning we may be afraid.

We may be afraid when that day comes.

But we don't have to be afraid.

It's okay if you're afraid.

But you don't have to be afraid.

You have a loving welcome in heaven.

Maybe you can remember when you were under just that weary burden and exhaustion of trying to perform enough, that performance-oriented faith.

That kind of Christianity of always having to try to be a good enough Christian or do enough.

So tiring, so prideful, and then you're in despair.

Never righteous enough.

But in the cross, you can say, according to his great mercy.

Maybe you could remember that fight to try to feel new again or whole because something happened.

You messed up.

Maybe you hadn't even told anybody.

It's the story you haven't told.

And you just want to feel new again.

You want to feel whole again.

You want to feel victorious.

And in the resurrection, you can say, according to his great mercy.

Maybe you remember trying to find God.

If only I go there.

If only I get there.

Somewhere out there.

But the gift of the Holy Spirit is God residing in us.

According to His great mercy.

Maybe you're near to death.

Your time here is coming to a close.

And with heaven to come, you have a home.

You have hope.

And you can say, can we say it together?

Let's say it together.

According to his great mercy.

A month ago, a photographer in Poland took this photo.

It's gone viral.

Mothers in Poland gathered all their strollers and left them on the platform there at the train station.

So when Ukrainian refugee mothers, who've been carrying their babies through days and weeks of horror, stepped off the train, they would have relief.

See, these Polish mothers brought a gift into someone's need.

This is pursuing love.

Love that does not wait for someone to earn it.

Love that does not wait for someone to find help.

It's love that seeks the one in need.

It's a beautiful image of love.

See, the provision always meets us in our need.

The cross and the resurrection bring the love of God to us in our state, the way we are right now.

It's the gift into our need, according to his great mercy.

And we get to marvel.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for your astonishing and marveling grace to us.

That the message is not do more and try harder.

The message is trust and marvel and be astonished by how good you are.

How sufficient, how loving, how welcoming, how lavish.

We thank you for the cross and we thank you for the resurrection, for it is there that we find our forgiveness and righteousness, we find our worth, and we find our newness, we find our wholeness, we find our secure standing with you and our life that we will have with you here and forever.

Amen.