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Notices
Easter Day 2009
I Corinthians 15.1-11
Easter Day has dawned and for many people within this community, and beyond, today will mean only a holiday. There will be very little understanding as to what today is actually about. There will be Easter eggs, bunny rabbits, flowers and maybe a weekend break for some, if they can afford it in the current credit crunch. You may have come this morning because you always come to Holy Trinity or you may be here as a guest this morning, the important thing is that you are here. I want to take a few minutes to try and bring this all together for you and to explain the significance for you personally of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
In verses 1-2 of our reading Paul wants to remind, for them to know, them of what they may have forgotten - namely the death and resurrection of Christ and its significance for them. Paul stresses that the gospel which he has preached to them is the same gospel they owe their very existence to.
Look at verses 3 and 4. These verses are generally accepted to be an early creedal statement of the Christian church and Paul is here repeating them. Paul, who wrote this letter to a church at Corinth that were fighting over many things, one of them being the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead, tells the people in the church some basic facts about the good news of Jesus Christ:
First, he tells them that Christ Jesus died. There is nothing unusual in that fact. All men die at some point. It is the only certainty of life. From the moment of birth we know, we may not think about it, but we know that one day we will die. Yet Paul adds a significant fact to the statement that Jesus died. That Christ died 'For our sins' is a basic tenet of the Christian faith. Christ Jesus died for the sins of the people that Paul was writing to and for the sins that you and I have committed in our lives. Just take a moment and think over the past week. Mentally think about the number of times you thought something wrong, said something hurtful, lied, and well if we started counting the things we did wrong the list would soon grow and that is only for the past week. I am 42 years old and I would not like the list of my sins to date to be added up - it would be a difficult task and the thing is your life would be no different than mine. For those things that I thought wrong, said wrong, and done wrong - Christ died. He also died because there were good things that I failed to do. In an old prayer book service we used to confess that to God - the things I ought not to have done I have done, and the things I ought to have done I have not done - sins of commission and omission. Christ died for my sin and your sin. This little phrase presupposes that there is alienation between God and mankind. It presupposes that this morning there is still alienation between God and mankind. You may not think you are a sinner this morning. You may think you are a pretty good person at heart. Let me ask you a few questions: Have you ever lied? Have you ever entertained the thought of getting even with someone? Ever thought I could kill him/her? Ever looked lustfully at someone? Ever felt like the mother in the news this week? She just could not take anymore and simply got on a plane and flew to Spain leaving her family at home. So you are a liar, a murderer, an adulterer and there have been times when you have wanted to abandon all your responsibilities - maybe only in your mind but with a few simple questions I think we have established that we are all sinners this morning and Paul says in this bible passage for people like that, such as you and I, Christ died.
Paul next says Christ was buried. There was no doubt that Christ had died. No one survived being nailed on a cross and hung there for all to see. He died, physically died and they took his body and buried it in a tomb. You only bury someone if they are dead. The gospels even tell us that they sealed the tomb with the governor's seal and posted a guard outside so no one could steal his body.
Paul then says that on the 'third day he was raised from the dead as the Scriptures say.' The implication of what Paul has written is that Christ was both raised and still lives. For two days the body of Christ lay in the tomb. For two days his disciples and followers hid away fearful of those who had killed Christ. For two days they thought all hope had gone. On the third day Christ rose from the dead. The disciples were still blissfully unaware that it had happened. They were still living in fear when Christ had conquered death and rose again.
Paul then lists for his readers a catalogue of people to whom Christ appeared - Peter, the other disciples, 500 people on one occasion, James and lastly Paul himself.
For a moment let me share a few thoughts with you about three of those people;
Peter - this man had been one of Christ's closest friends. For three years Christ had shared his life with Peter. They ate from the same bowls, they slept in the same places and travelled throughout Judea together. Peter on one occasion confessed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. But it had all ended rather badly for Peter. On the night that Judas, another disciple betrayed Christ with a kiss, Peter had chopped off the ear of a servant of the high priest and then ran away. When he was challenged by a little girl that he was a friend of Christ he denied it with such vehemence, not once but three times, he cursed her. He wept his heart out when he realised what he had done when he heard a rooster crow three times. So Christ appears to a man who had denied him after being his friend for three years. Have you ever denied knowing Christ?
James - he was the brother of Christ. He grew up in the family home with Christ but let me read you a verse from Mark 3.21. James on one occasion thought his brother was mentally ill. In fact he thought he was insane and he came with other family members to bring him home. To such a brother Christ appears after he has risen from the dead. Have you ever thought the story of Christ is complete fiction and to believe in Christ rising from the dead you have lost your faculties? Have you ever thought those Christians are ever so slightly mentally unbalanced? You ever found yourself thinking I could not possibly believe Christ Jesus to be true? You are in good company - Christ's own brother thought that way but Christ appeared to him after he rose from the dead. If you want to see the effect of that on James read his letter, you will find it in the New Testament.
Paul - this was a man who had spent a considerable part of his early life seeking out the followers of Christ and having them beaten, put in prison and on at least one occasion watching one of them, Stephen, being stoned to death. Paul actually says of himself that he was the least of all those chosen by Christ to be an apostle, a messenger of the gospel. To such a man, full of hatred and murder in his heart Christ appears. Can you identify with Paul? A man who spent part of life attacking the Christians? Persecuting the Christians? You may have never attacked one physically but verbally or mentally? Dismissed out of hand the claims of Christ?
Here we are this morning and in this room there will be people who are celebrating the resurrection because they know it to be personally true in their own life experience. You know Christ personally this morning and you just want the world to know He is alive.
There will be some of you in here and some time in the past you believed Christ died for your sin and rose from the dead but for a long time now you have never given him a second thought but this morning you find yourself here and for some reason you know there is a void in your life and there is a voice in your heart whispering the name of Jesus. You haven't thought of Christ for such a long time and this morning you realise that He is the answer to your need and the only hope for your lie.
There will be some of you and his morning you know deep in your spirit that Christ is calling you to come to him this morning. Right at this very moment you know the burden of your sin, you know that you are alienated from God because of the way you have lived your life but this morning you know the love of God in Christ is calling you to himself. For some of you this is the final step of a long journey that maybe began many months, even years ago but today, this Easter Day, this Resurrection Day 2009, is the day for you to come to Christ.
LEAD IN PRAYER OF COMMITMENT.
