April 8, Easter Sunday

Lessons: Isaiah 65.17-25; 1 Corinthians 15.19-26

An associate pastor was talking about Jesus to a group of youngsters in preschool.

A little girl asked, "Is Jesus still alive?"

"Yes," the pastor replied.

"Then where is He?" the girl asked.

"He died, but He came back and now He is with God," the pastor replied.

"You mean He's still alive" the girl asked.

"Yes, He is," the pastor said.

The little girl wiped her forehead with her hand in a gesture of relief and exclaimed, "Whew!"

--Rev. Denny J. Brake, Raleigh, NC

INTRODUCTION:

PSALM: A Psalm for Easter. Joseph Bayly.

Let's celebrate Easter with the rite of laughter.
Christ died and rose and lives.
Laugh like a woman who holds her first baby.
Our enemy death will soon be destroyed.
Laugh like a man who finds he doesn't have cancer
or knows he does but now there's a cure.
Christ opened wide the door of heaven.
Laugh like children at Disney World's gates.
This world is owned by God and he'll return to rule.
Laugh like a man who walks away uninjured from a wreck
in which his car was totaled.
Laugh as if all the people in the whole world
were invited to a picnic and then invite them.

1. Easter is a celebration of a glorious victory.

1. GLORIOUS comes from GLORY.

1. GLORY = Exalted~ honor, praise, or distinction accorded by common consent.

1. Glorious means having or deserving glory.

2. Glorious is usually applied to the achievements of persons, individually or as a team.

3. It may be applied to experience, i.e., a glorious sunset.

2. One illustration of a glorious victory is that of Ryan White

Ryan White died on April 8, 1990. He was 18 years old. Ryan was born on December 6, 1971. Three days later, doctors told his parents that he was a hemophiliac. Ryan contracted HIV through blood-based products used to treat his hemophilia. His funeral was attended by political leaders and celebrities: Mrs. Bush, Michael Jackson, and Elton John. Ryan White died of AIDS. He was misunderstood, rejected, isolated and demeaned. Ryan fought to remain in school. He emerged as a national poster boy for AIDS. He sought to convince us of the virtues of more and better AIDS education. Ryan wanted to do those things he enjoyed. He wanted to work at a skateboard shop. He wanted to play with his dogs. He wanted to customize his red Mustang. Ryan made the decision to go on life-support if it would help to meaningfully prolong his life. He exemplifies a glorious victory of the human spirit over personal adversity.

2. We have our own glorious victories.

1. Coming to live within the circumstances in which you find yourself.

2. A glorious victory after a surgery that caused temporary or, even a permanent change in your life.

3. You lost that ten pounds and kept it off.

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MAIN BODY:

1. As important and as powerful as these examples are there is still one greater; a victory so glorious that everything else pales by comparison.

1. Unfortunately, Ryan white could not conquer death.

2. Death is the one force in our world that we cannot conquer.

1. Death is not a friend, but a foe.

2. Death is an enemy.

3. The scriptures describe it this way:

The last enemy to be destroyed is death, (1 Corinthians 15:26, NRSVA).

4. Death was stronger than all things, that is. until the resurrection.

3. Death is conquered by the resurrection of Jesus on an Easter morning.

2. Jesus is the glorious victor.

1. The glorious victory of Christ is comprehended through the Easter event.

2. Easter is the ultimate illustration of the power and purposes of God.

3. God is to be seen and understood in all that Christ is and does.

4. He was victorious over the selfishness of the inner person.

1. We have an intimate knowledge of the tragic side of our human nature.

1. Disappointment.

2. Shame.

3. Failure.

4. Anger.

2. Either directly or indirectly, Christ also experienced the effects of the dark side of human nature.

I mean, they killed him on a cross!

3. He triumphed over all weaknesses of the inner person.

4. He was victorious over the forces of evil, no matter what form they took.

1. There were times when even his friends were against him.

1. They wanted him to pursue a course of action that would have protected him or prevented a serious confrontation with those who were opposed to him.

2. He had many enemies.

1. They tried to gain the upper hand so they could control the situation.

2. They used argument, and finally, force.

5. He was victorious over the chaos of life.

1. He created order from disorder.

2. He healed the sick.

1. He forgave the sin and encouraged wholeness.

3. He established goals and followed the plan right to the end.

1. He Knew what he had to do.

2. He knew where he was going.

3. He knew why he followed this destiny.

4. What he did was not for himself.

5. It was for human beings; for us.

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3. If you really want to know what Jesus has done for us, read again Isaiah 65:17-25 (NRSVA)

¹⁷For I am about to create new heavens
        and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
        or come to mind.
¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever
        in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
        and its people as a delight.
¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
        and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
        or the cry of distress.
²⁰No more shall there be in it
        an infant that lives but a few days,
        or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
        and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
²¹They shall build houses and inhabit them;
        they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²²They shall not build and another inhabit;
        they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
        and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
²³They shall not labor in vain,
        or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD--
        and their descendants as well.
²⁴Before they call I will answer,
        while they are yet speaking I will hear.
²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
        the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent--its food shall be dust!
        They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
        says the LORD.

1. It is true that what Isaiah had promised did not come true for the people of Jesus' day.

1. They longed to see the newness.

2. They did not comprehend the newness.

3. They did not know how to achieve the newness

1. The newness of life.

2. The newness of culture

3. The newness of family.

4. The newness of relationships.

5. The newness of all things.

Stephen Covey tells of an unusual experience on the New York subway.

While people were sitting quietly in the car, a man entered with his noisy and rambunctious children. The man sat down and closed his eyes as though he were oblivious to his rowdy children. The once quiet subway car was now a disturbing place of chaos. The children's inappropriate behavior was obvious to everyone except their father.

Finally, Covey confronted the man about his children. The man opened his eyes and evaluated the situation as if he was unaware of all that had transpired.

"Oh, you're right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don't know what to think, and I guess they don't know how to handle it either."

4. We know now how to achieve all these hopes.

5. We know where it is that Jesus now resides.

2. The promise will be fulfilled in God's own time.

3. The scripture reads:

²³But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. ²⁴Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. ²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

1. At his coming those who belong to Christ.

2. Every ruler, every authority and power must be conquered.

3. This has not yet occurred.

4. What appeared to all people as failure, was the revelation of power and victory.

1. He was victorious over death and the grave.

1. Death could not keep him.

2. The grave could not contain him.

5. His glorious victory is the final proof that love will triumph over any opposition.

1. We have our doubts about that.

1. What does the scripture say about disbelief?

¹⁹If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. ²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. ²¹For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; ²²for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.

2. In this case it appears that love is weak and might is successful.

1. It appears that force will succeed.

2. However, power is unable to maintain the seal on the tomb.

3. Love triumphs over power and force.

6. So Christ is deserving of honor, praise, and distinction by common consent.

1. Christ is the Glorious Victor.

2. Easter reminds us to treat God with honor, sincerity, and deep respect.

3. We stand in awe of this kind of power.

4. We are drawn to it for it is the source of hope and life.

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CONCLUSION:

Raymond Lindquist, was asked by a newspaper editor to tell in a few words what Easter meant to him. He said:

"Easter means life. Christ defeated. death in order that life in him might always live. And it is life what we want, life in Christ. whether we put it into words or not, our constant thought is 'Life, more life, always more and more life.'

"We want life in ourselves, in our loved ones, in our friends, the kind of life that cannot be diminished, the kind of life that always expands.

"Easter is Christ's victory over all that would restrict, deny, and. strangle life."

1. Christ is the GLORIOUS VICTOR.

1. Because he lives we too, may live.

2. This is the message of Easter.

1. PreachingNow [preachingnow@preaching.com]

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