Resurrection Joy: Embracing the Power of Christ

Happy Resurrection Day! My name is Pastor Simon and welcome to the Resurrection

Day service of Dillingham Moravian Church.

Please join us to worship the risen Lord as we study God's Word together.

Lately in our church we've had the good news that two of our church families

have had new babies, and we rejoice with those families.

I remember the great joy that we had when Jonathan was born.

Finally, when we brought baby Jonathan home when he was two weeks old,

people were telling me to wait until baby Jonathan was a little older to show him off.

But I just couldn't wait for my miracle boy to make his big debut.

I was so excited. This concept of not being able to wait to eagerly share the

wonderful news is part of what the women at Jesus'

tomb experienced when the angel told them that Jesus had risen. Let's pray.

Father God, we thank you for the wonderful, great, good news of Jesus Christ.

Not only did he die on the cross and pay our blood debt so that we can be brought

into relationship with you,

that we could be saved from the wrath of God,

but also jesus rose

broke the broke breaking the power of

sin and death and declaring to all

that he is exactly who he has always said he was that he is yahweh the great

i am one and only god thank you lord use us and lord may you show us yourself

today in your precious son's name jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Turn with me to Matthew 28, verses 1-10.

Matthew 28:1–10

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week,

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.

And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended

from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.

And his appearance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow.

And the guards quaked from fear of him and became like dead men.

The angel answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that

you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.

He is not here, for he is risen, just as he said.

Come, see the place where he was lying, and go quickly and tell his disciples

that he has risen from the dead, and behold,

he is going ahead of you into Galilee, and there you will see him. Behold, I have told you.

They left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to his disciples.

And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings.

And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him.

Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and report to my brothers to leave

for Galilee, and there they will see me.

As we worship the Lord through the study of God's word today,

I want to show you four essential truths that I see in Matthew's resurrection account.

The first truth I want to point out to you is that the ladies went to the grave

out of their faithful love for Christ Jesus.

One of the realities of life is that death happens and that the event not only

can have sorrow attached to it, but also joy for the families of deceased believers

who have the hope of Christ.

As a pastor here in Dillingham, one of the many things that I had been asked

to do by the families of dearly departed loved ones was to wash and clean the body of the dead.

I think it's partly because we didn't, and we don't, have a funeral home here in Dillingham.

Other pastors in Dillingham have had the similar experiences.

When I first arrived here in Dillingham, I was a new pastor.

I was young, and this was a very new and frankly startling experience for me.

But I came to realize that washing the body of a dearly departed loved one shows

great respect and love for those who have passed on.

Since COVID, the hospital has taken over this task.

And this concept of showing love and respect for a much-loved one who has passed

on is similar to what the women wanted to do when they went to the tomb after

three days to cleanse the body of Jesus.

Matthew 28, verse 1, Matthew recorded,

Matthew 28:1

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week,

Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, came to look at the grave.

In this verse, Matthew recorded that it was after Sabbath, before the sun fully

came up on the first day of the week.

In Exodus and Deuteronomy, God commanded his people to work six days and then

rest on the seventh day, which God declared as the Sabbath as a holy day of the Lord.

I say this because it would have been early Monday morning that Mary Magdalene

and the other Mary went to the tomb.

And they also obviously knew where Jesus was buried because in Matthew chapter 27, verse 59 to 61.

Matthew 27:59–61

After Jesus had died on the cross, Matthew recorded this, verse 59,

and Joseph took the body and wrapped it in clean linen cloth and laid it in his own tomb,

which he had hewn out in rock.

And he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.

And here's what I want you to see, verse 61, and Mary Magdalene was there and

the other Mary sitting opposite the grave.

These women would have seen Nicodemus bury Jesus, and they knew exactly where the tomb was.

Now, in Matthew's account, Matthew did not record the ladies attempting to anoint

Jesus' body as Mark recorded in his gospel.

Most Bible scholars believe that this is the same event as the other gospel

accounts of the women attempting to anoint Jesus' body.

Mary and the other ladies knew that Nicodemus had Jesus' body anointed with

a huge amount of anointing spice, and yet here they were on the morning of the next day.

Or the morning of the resurrection, the ladies were bringing their own spices. Why?

Well, just as we, when we have funerals here in Dillingham, the families of

the dearly departed loved ones often buy flowers to put on the grave.

But yet, we and many others do, we also bring flowers to put on the grave in

order to show our respect for the one who died.

So also the women brought their own anointing oil and spices to honor Jesus in their own way.

They wanted to show that they loved Jesus.

However, I want you to understand that each of the other gospel writers had

their particular focuses and seemed at times to ignore or not to pay attention

to events that the other writers focused on.

And what I mean by this is that Matthew's focus was more on what happened at

the grave than what brought the women to the grave.

However, what impresses me about these ladies is that they were faithful and

available to the Lord for anything.

All the way through the gospel accounts, we have the appearance of these ladies

who were faithful and they believed in Jesus throughout His ministry and His death.

Not only were they faithful, but they were also there on hand.

These ladies made themselves available to be used by God.

They were not just at the right place at the right time. It wasn't a coincidence

that they were there at the tomb or earlier before the cross of Jesus.

Those ladies went there on purpose to be available and to be with him.

The availability of these women was derived from their love for Jesus and their faith in Him.

I want to encourage us as believers of Christ to be faithful to Christ in all aspects of our lives.

The key to being faithful is being available. This is like us as parents or

grandparents being available to our kids or our grandkids.

Now, I understand that we cannot always be at our children's beck and call,

and we have other important priorities.

Yet it's also crucial that we play and spend quality time with our children,

because if we don't, we're not genuinely loving our children, right?

If we're always working or busy doing chores or scrolling on social media or

playing games on our phones or on our computers,

then we're not available to love our kids and grandkids with the central characteristic

of love, which is quality time.

This is similar to our relationship with Christ. How often do we spend making

ourselves available to be used by Jesus and then spending time with him?

How deep is our love for Jesus?

Back in Matthew 28, the women came to the grave of Jesus just as the dawn began

to rise and saw a sight that they would never forget throughout their entire lives.

The women encountered the angel and the empty tomb.

This event was designed to invite the eyewitnesses and us to experience the empty tomb.

A number of years ago, I crewed on my friend's drift boat out on Nishkak Bay in Bristol Bay.

We moored up over by Icock.

It was a weird night, hot and humid. It wasn't particularly stormy where we

were, but from our vantage point on the water, we could see lightning strikes all over the horizon,

up by Wudtichik Park and Lake Aleknigig,

over up along the Nushkak River, even striking the Nushkak Bay itself while we were on the water.

Thankfully, the lightning was not very close to us. That was the year there

were so many fires around Dillingham, most likely set by lightning.

I share this story with you because although we were not very close to the lightning

strikes, they were still extremely bright.

They lit up the sky with their brilliance and sheer power.

And when God sent an angel to open Jesus' grave, the angel appeared to the ladies

and the soldiers like lightning.

Matthew 28, verse 2, proclaimed, And behold, there was a great earthquake,

Matthew 28:2

for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.

And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow.

And the guards quaked from fear of him and became like dead men.

And the angel answered and said to the woman, Do not be afraid,

for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.

He is not here, for he is risen, just as he said.

Come, see the place where he was lying.

As the ladies traveled up to the tomb of Jesus, when a great earthquake happened

and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven right in front of the ladies and the soldiers.

The angel then rolled the stone away and sat upon it.

I want you to observe two things in this passage. The first observation is that

the angel rolled away the stone. And this is awesome.

The tomb was empty. Meaning that Jesus had already risen from the dead,

and yet Jesus did not roll the stone away.

And how did Jesus get out? He walked straight through the stone.

Death could not hold him. Stone could not hold him. The question is,

why did the angel open the tomb?

To let the women in so that they could see it was empty.

Secondly, I want to point out to you the reaction of the guards and the women to the angel.

His appearance was like lightning. His clothes were as white as snow.

We've all seen fresh snow. There is not much whiter than fresh snow.

The automatic reaction of the women and the guards' nervous systems was all out fear.

In Matthew's account, the women were with the guards when the earthquake and

the angel of the Lord appeared.

I want you to notice that these guards were professional soldiers.

They were tough, hardened men, used to battle.

They dealt with death on a semi-regular basis. Men like these didn't scare easily.

But they were not prepared for their encounter with an angel of God.

And in front of this angel, they fell down like dead.

To the women, the angel gave the typical angel greeting, be not afraid.

Angels seem to have an effect on people. However, I have to point out that Matthew

in this passage and the other gospel writers all made clear that it was not

just an angel that visited people,

but the angel or messenger was described as an angel of the Lord,

meaning an angel that belongs to the Lord.

In today's world, so many folks worship and revere angels too highly.

But the gospel's focus was on the truth that the angel belonged solely to the

Lord and derived its purpose and power from God alone.

So what can we learn from verses 2 through 6?

We can learn that the Lord Jesus has invited us in through the account of the

women and the eyewitnesses of the empty tomb so that we will know with absolute

certainty that Jesus has indeed risen.

Without the resurrection, Jesus was just a man.

He was a good man, a man that taught biblical truth about God.

But all the things that Jesus said about himself, about his oneness with the

Father, the nature of God, who God is, and the resurrection of the dead,

would all be a lie if the resurrection did not happen.

Jesus rose from the dead, not only to break the power of death over us and destroy

sin over us, but to demonstrate once and for all that he is exactly who he says he was.

That He is the one and only Almighty God, Yahweh, the great I Am.

And as believers in Christ, Jesus has not called us to be onlookers,

but Christ invites us to come into the tomb to know and experience and to live

in His resurrection power,

a power that can and will transform your life and my life to be like His as

we surrender in faith to the Lord.

I am convinced that we, and I'm meaning myself included, often live with so

little power in our life.

And I'm not talking simply about miracles, although those indeed show God's

power, but also the power of Christ's joy in our life,

of Christ's tireless energy for His ministry and the power of being able to

love and forgive when others are not loving and forgiving us,

to be faithful, unfaithful world.

Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit,

We have access now to Christ's resurrection power. And please listen to this.

We, you and I can, I mean, we can live by Christ's resurrection power.

And we can live by the resurrection power of Jesus because Jesus is alive.

Let's continue on with Matthew 28, verse 9 through 10.

Matthew 28:9–10

And behold, Jesus met them and said, greetings.

And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him.

And Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and report to my brothers to leave

for Galilee, and there they will see me.

The angel announced that Jesus is alive as Jesus had promised.

And he showed the ladies the evidence of the empty tomb.

And look what happens next. This is very important. They left with great fear

and joy that the Lord had risen. and they obeyed the angel and went to tell the disciples.

My friends, this has to be our response to what God has spoken to us.

Into the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Fear, joy, and obedience.

Let's look at the women's response to the angel's words.

The first response was that the women feared because Jesus really is Christ and God.

Our God is more powerful than anything else in the universe.

A healthy fear of God is absolutely essential.

Psalm 111, verse 10 through 11 stated, The

fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom a good

understanding has all those who do his commandments

the second response that i want you

to see is that the women had great joy because all the promises and stories

and prophecies about jesus the christ were true these women were overcome with

the joy of the lord because jesus was alive and all the promises of the old

testament that they were waiting for had come true.

They loved him, and then the women were overjoyed at the happy news.

And they couldn't wait to tell the news to the apostles and the other disciples of Jesus.

And through Jesus' resurrection, we know that Jesus is God and that we do have life in him.

And this is such cause for joy for us as believers, isn't it?

As Christians, we often live as if We have little hope.

And yet in Christ, we are living in and by his resurrection power.

Christ Jesus is alive and he's dwelling in us and he's operating us by his resurrection power.

Do we believe and trust the truth that Jesus is truly alive?

Is the reality of Christ's resurrection real in your life?

Do you really believe that Christ is alive in you and working through you as you trust him?

The third response that the ladies had to the news of Jesus' resurrection was obedience.

They obeyed God's command through the angel to tell the news to Christ's disciples.

Yes, they were excited, but the women were also obedient to God's Word.

Remember, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and out of that healthy

fear of God comes obedience.

And that obedience gives us spiritual wisdom and understanding.

This is what happened with the ladies here.

In Matthew's account of the women's response to the angel and the great news of Jesus'

resurrection was that they responded with holy fear of the Lord and obedience,

which then led the women to the spiritual understanding that Jesus really is God, as he had said.

And this leads us to the next main truth of this passage, which is that the

ladies worship Jesus as Lord God.

In this passage, Matthew displayed a contrast between the women seeing the angel and seeing Jesus.

The angel blinded the women, and they were afraid of the angel.

But we must, must notice that the ladies were not tempted to worship the angel.

But when they saw Christ, what did they do?

They fell down at his feet and worshipped him.

Every single person who came face to face with God throughout the Old Testament

did this exact same thing.

They fell down on their face and they worshipped God.

While Jesus was alive, the ladies and the other disciples thought of him as

the Messiah, their teacher.

Even though Peter had announced that Jesus was the son of the living God,

The disciples really did not know Jesus as God.

The resurrection changed everything for them.

Their understanding was changed. Their attitudes were changed.

Their lives were changed.

And these women's lives changed because Jesus was their God, and they now knew it.

This should be our response to Jesus. Not only is Jesus our Savior,

our Master, and a great Teacher, But Jesus is the Lord, Yahweh,

Almighty God, who is very much alive.

Jesus is alive in each of us as we are part of Christ's church.

And one day Christ will return as the ultimate Lord of glory and power and might

and all of creation everywhere will see that He has indeed risen.

The resurrection changes everything

without the resurrection jesus is dead but

jesus dead and buried all that he taught about himself was a lie but through

the resurrection of jesus all his promises are true and real with the resurrection

jesus demonstrates the apostles and to us that he He is God.

In John's gospel, Jesus told the disciples not to fear because he had overcome the world.

He had overcome the world. And on the cross, Christ broke the power of sin.

However, through the resurrection, Christ also overcame death.

And because of the resurrection, this life is not the end. We,

you and I, can be with Jesus forever when we die.

And what a life that is going to be. That's not going to be boring.

Jesus will encompass every part of our senses. He will be all to us.

Yes, we will see our loved ones again, those who have put their faith in Christ.

But if we truly believe that Jesus is our God, as we rightly fear and obey Jesus

in the love of God, our lives will transform.

And by the Spirit's power, we will understand life God's way. We will live God's way.

We will be operated by the risen and very much alive Jesus Christ.

And we will share the wonderfully good news that Jesus has arisen.

Jesus is God and King. He is no longer dead. He has risen.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the merciful love that you have just overwhelmingly

bestowed upon us in Christ.

Thank you for his death. we also thank

you for his resurrection thank you that now we

need not fear because you are with us

you are alive not only in heaven the right hand of your father but also here

within us operating us for the power of the holy spirit as we live by faith

in you and as we are connected to the body of Christ, the church.

I'm so grateful and we're so grateful that we get the opportunity today to praise

you for the resurrection.

May we constantly live in the reality that you are not dead,

but that you, Lord Jesus Christ, are very much alive.

Thank you, Lord God. We praise you and bless you. In your precious son's name, Jesus Christ, pray.

Amen. I'll leave you with this blessing.

Colossians 3,15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,

to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.

Have a wonderful Sunday, and Happy Easter.