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Preacher: Pastor David Ball
Scripture: Luke 24:1-12
Today, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a cornerstone of Christian faith that offers hope for eternal life and transforms our present existence. The empty tomb, the testimony of women as the first witnesses, the disciples’ newfound courage, and their willingness to die for their belief all provide compelling evidence for this historical event. The resurrection fulfills our deepest longing for purpose, belonging, and restoration, giving us significance in God’s redemptive plan, connecting us to Him and fellow believers, and assuring us that God is making all things new.
Transcript
Well today is a day to celebrate uh you know it’s a day to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and it’s certainly true that uh you know every day is a celebration of the resurrection of uh Jesus Christ uh from the grave just in the sense of you know you only have a birthday once a year but I certainly hope that every day you’re thankful and rejoice for the fact that you’re alive right uh but there’s a but today is a special day in the church calendar where we take special attention and rejoice in the hope that we have that Jesus was crucified that he died that he was buried and on the third day he rose rose again from the dead and everything in our lives depends upon it everything depends upon it the resurrection is the uh is the chief article of our faith it’s the substance of our faith it’s the cornerstone of all hope it’s the foundation of all Christian belief 1 Corinthians 15 if there is no resurrection then Christianity is just a vain attempt to try to make sense of life and I would actually argue that uh not a very compelling one at that ji Packer uh the great Anglican theologian said “Without the resurrection Christianity would be a mere moral system a set of ideas.” And then Tim Keller taking that same idea said ‘If the resurrection didn’t happen Christianity is just another religion with good advice but if it did happen it changes everything it changes everything and that’s why I think it’s important uh to talk about the proof of the resurrection because I think that if we just listen to the world and we just listen to the the culture we’ll be led to to believe that well there’s no real proof you you can’t prove the resurrection there’s no real arguments for it is something you just have to take by blind faith and just accept and uh check your brain at the door uh and just receive it and while there’s certainly a sense of in order to embrace it into your own life and put your faith and trust in the resurrection you do have to take a a step and and a leap of faith uh but but it also is true that there is plenty of proof especially by all standards that we put every other ancient historical event to uh the resurrection lines up incredibly well with them and so I think it’s important to look at some of those proofs together one the first proof is that the tomb was empty the tomb was empty when those first women came to the tomb that we just read about uh in our gospel reading uh where Jesus had been buried where he had been laid in the tomb it was empty and no one has ever argued against that fact some said the disciples must have snuck in and and stolen the body you know later to try to make sense of it but the gospels all attest to something very different they all attest to how afraid all the disciples were uh these weren’t emboldened men and women who were looking at trying to pull one over on all of the world they were scared so it’s not reasonable to believe that they would have been so bold as to have pulled off uh and attacked the guards and stolen Jesus’s body and then for that word not to have gotten out some say it was just a big conspiracy derived from the disciples to just perpetuate this idea that Jesus uh rose from the grave well Chuck Coulson the uh instrumental player in the Watergate scandal uh he he later came to Christ when he was in prison uh after being convicted of that and he’s he’s the one who looked at this and he said uh having personal experience with a conspiracy he said it’s absolutely impossible to have that many people involved in any event and for the truth not to come out uh it’s going to come out uh there’s also the reality that if the tomb was really not empty uh and this was just a trick on the disciples part then the Jewish and the Rome authorities would have simply just produced Jesus’s body they would have produced it it would have put an end to it all it would have squashed it all right there the second proof for the resurrection of Jesus is those first witnesses to this event the gospel accounts of the empty tomb are all the same and they all uh they all well they’re all the same and that they agree that women were the first witnesses of the empty tomb in the first century a woman’s testimony was considered to be invalid it wouldn’t stand up in court so why would the gospel writers if they were trying uh to perpetuate this lie this great conspiracy why would they make women to be the first witnesses unless of course they were just telling the truth of what actually happened the third proof of the resurrection of Jesus is the disciples newfound courage their newfound courage the gospel accounts make it perfectly clear how terrified the disciples were we talked about that uh they all abandoned Jesus for fear of the Jews and the Roman authorities when he was arrested uh they locked themselves up in an upper room uh but something happened to change it all something happened that absolutely transformed their lives and gave them courage and what it was was their encounter with the risen Christ it changed everything it emboldened them to break out of their shelter of fear and to proclaim uh the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ to everyone but Jesus did tell them to wait until the Holy Spirit came and he empowered them for that work the fourth proof of the of the resurrection the disciples died for their trust and faith in Jesus if this had indeed been some big lie drumed up by these disciples to perpetuate a myth that Jesus had risen from the grave and try to create some new religion out of it they never would have been willing to give their lives for a lie they wouldn’t yet nearly all of them were martyed because of their belief in the life transforming power of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the grave and then there’s the written record the written record itself you know think about history and the way we look at written records uh do you believe that Julius Caesar was assassinated you probably do right uh I would imagine you do it’s reasonable there were the primary uh the primary sources were written uh about 80 most of them 80 years after the event and there’s three uh primary sources that uh that talk about it there was Cicero he wrote sooner than the rest he wrote not too far after the actual event uh but then there’s Cesatinus uh he wrote it 80 years later and then there’s Plutarch 70 years after the event he wrote about Julia Julius Caesar’s assassination and those last two they weren’t even alive when it happened and yet we regard that as the historical event don’t we we we believe it we rely on it well Jesus’s resurrection as a real event in history had the four gospel writers first of all all writing separately who were contemporaries of Jesus Matthew Mark Luke and John and then Paul himself as well all wrote about the resurrection within their own lives that they had they had they had experience the power of the resurrection by historical standards the proof of the resurrection is clear it’s it’s more than plausible it’s an historical fact by every standard that we apply to uh to all other ancient historical events and because it’s a fact our faith is not in
vain our faith is full of life and it’s full of hope that’s why we’re gathered this morning to celebrate the hope of the resurrection our hope in new and unending life in him that Jesus was crucified for our sins that he died the death that we deserve becoming the perfect atoning sacrifice for our sin and that he rose again that by faith in him trusting him with our lives we are raised to new and unending life in him our future hope is clear it’s clear death has been destroyed death no longer is our end it’s just a new beginning with God in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul wrote about it this way death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is your victory oh death where is your sting the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ that’s why we flowered the cross today we flowered the cross is first time we’ve done that but we thought it’d be a beautiful picture as a reminder of what was intended for death and for defeat has become through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ for us a symbol of life and victory in him our future hope is clear our future hope is clear but the resurrection isn’t just about a future hope as we sang it’s our hope in life and death it’s our hope here and now it’s our hope in the present today and every day that breath remains in our lungs the resurrection is our hope but how is it our present hope not just a future one that’s coming one day uh in the future when we die uh but right now as we live and breathe the resurrection is the answer to all of the deepest longings of the human heart you know we did uh as a a church staff a search using AI ai isn’t bad for everything although one day it will overtake the world and destroy us all uh but you’ve seen Terminator right or is it Terminator yeah you’ve seen Terminator um but for now it’s actually can be a useful tool and one of the things that we were trying to figure out is hey what are the people that are clo you know within a certain distance around the church what are the things that they’re they’re what are the questions they’re asking what are the things that their hearts uh are longing for that are revealed and one of the ways you can find that really quickly is through what internet searches people do and you and you can find that out you can find out what are the main topics the main questions that people are are asking when they’re when they’re putting into their search engines uh and there’s a lot of them that are really compelling and things that we should all be we should be addressing as relevant to the Christian life and how we answer but there’s three of them in particular that I want to speak to that the resurrection speaks into these longings and the first one is the longing for purpose and meaning the second is the longing for belonging and connection and the third is a longing for redemption and restoration uh these are questions that people are asking that they’re longing for and it just appears when they’re in their quiet of their home and no one else is looking and their hearts are are telling on them they’re writing in the questions because they’re feeling anxious they’re feeling worried they’re feeling disconnected and they want to find out what can I do and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gives us the most compelling answer to all of these com these these questions not just a future hope but a present hope here and now and so first let’s look at the longing for purpose and meaning we all want to know that our lives have significance don’t we we all want to know that our lives are significant that they have purpose the internet searches that that showed this what is literally what is my purpose that was that’s an easy one to discern right uh but then another question that that popped up that was frequently searched was why do I feel
lost and then is there a plan for me is there a plan for me these are frequent searches that happen uh in people in people’s lives and I don’t think that’s just in our area by the way I think these are universal human longing things uh in our hearts at all times of our lives we long for this uh but you know at least in when I’m counseling people maybe this is just because these are the transition points in people’s lives when they really want to come and talk about it we see it like most pronounced when uh young adults who are trying to figure out what to do with their lives and what direction to go they want to know what purpose they have but I’ve also see it with with older adults as you make a major transition from retirement and what you had been living into is a purpose of your work and uh and your vocation has come to an end now what or a transition into uh from independent living to assisted living and it can be a major a major hit to what is my purpose what’s my significance do I have any any at all anymore do I have any value or worth anymore the human heart longs for significance in this world and the resurrection speaks directly to it because the resurrection validates all of God’s work and Jesus’s teachings without them they’re of no purpose of no use the resurrection tells us that we are part of God’s story and his purpose we’re a part of it creation fall redemption restoration all of God’s plan we’re a part of it jesus rose from the grave to give us new birth into God’s story we are not just random meaningless cogs in the neverending wheel of time we have significance we have purpose we have meaning just as those women on that first Easter morning they quickly went to the apostles and told them all about this wonderful event that they had they still didn’t understand it fully but they went and told them about this wonderful thing they found in an empty tomb and those apostles then later went out and told others and then those that they told went out and told others and so on and so on and so on all the way up to us we are the chosen witnesses of the resurrection our lives have purpose always we’re witnesses to the power of the resurrection in our own lives that given this new life that we have lives that are full of hope and joy and peace all because of Jesus finished work on our behalf because of the resurrection our lives are always full of purpose and meaning always the second longing that the human heart has that was revealed in that study was longing for connection and belonging the human heart longs for connection and belonging the internet searches were this why do I feel so alone how can I make friends how can I find community you know very honest questions of things that people are longing for you know I remember how before I came to a personal relationship with Christ I had this overwhelming feeling of being alone which was strange uh because I had a great family i had parents that loved me i had siblings that loved me and I had great friends and lots of good things in my life and I had community but I still sensed that there was something deeper that was missing and it left me feeling alone i didn’t know then but I’ve come to to understand since coming to Christ because we were created for relationship we’re created for relationship first and foremost for a relationship with our loving creator but through our sin and our rebellion we become separated from him but because of Jesus’s death and resurrection when we put our trust and our faith in him alone our sins are forgiven and we’re given new life a new life of relationship with God when we trust in the resurrection we are re reborn into God’s family into the relationship that we were created for the the relationship that our hearts are yearning and longing for we’re made sons and daughters of the King our longing and for connection and belonging it’s satisfied first and foremost by our new life with God through Jesus’s resurrection but it it doesn’t end there we’re then we’re reborn into a new family of God with fellow brothers and sisters of the resurrection the fellowship of believers the body of Christ the church there’s a place for us all because of the resurrection friends we live in a world that’s never been more technologically connected and yet more personally isolated jesus’s resurrection from the dead is the answer to our deepest hearts longing for connection and belonging and without it there will always be a sense of isolation and aloneeness the third longing that that that search brought up was a longing for redemption and restoration we all struggle in this life with uh the effects of the fall that means we make mistakes that means we hurt people means we feel guilt and we have a yearning inside of us to make things right we want to make things right we don’t always think that it’s possible that we can or that it’ll ever happen because we feel the effects of our sin we can see it in our families and many of our closest relationships of people that uh that we’ve been uh we’ve been separated from brokenness that’s come has come from our own sin and pride and deep down even if it’s too hard to admit to ourselves our hearts long for restoration our hearts hearts long for there to be restoration and redemption and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that God is at work restoring all things that Jesus is the first fruits of God’s restoration project in this world and it’s work that he’s continuing to do here and now in our lives god will make all things new revelations 21 tells us he’s at work even now which means there are no lost causes all things are possible with God you know we have a a prayer on Good Friday um that’s in the the prayers that happen after uh the message that I thought that I read this Sunday and especially hit me in this area of this longing for God’s restoring work and how the resurrection speaks to it and this is how the prayer goes let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up things which had grown old are being made new and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things are made your son Jesus Christ our Lord what a beautiful picture that’s the restoring work of the resurrection that God is at work doing in the world that Jesus was the first fruits of and that he’s still doing now the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:18 said “All this from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” Another way to translate that word that we translate here is reconciliation is restoration and that word ministry it just means service and so as resurrection people those who have put their trust in the resurrection of Jesus Christ we are to be about the work of God’s restoring efforts in this world knowing that we are following and serving the God who is currently at work restoring all things i know we can lose sight of this things can the brokenness can go on for so long and can hurt so deeply that we can think there’s no hope for restoration is there hope for resurrection there is and if there’s hope for resurrection friends there is hope for restoration god is at work making all things new friends the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just the future hope of eternal life it’s the gift of life with God here and now a life that’s full of purpose and significance and God’s redemptive plan for the world we’re a part of it a life that is full of relationship with our loving father and savior Jesus connected and belonging to him in perfect fellowship and with all other believers it’s the hope of a life of restoration serving God and his work of restoring all things friends because Jesus Christ resurrection from the dead as Alexander Pope wrote hope springs eternal in the human
breast receive the gift of Christ’s resurrection today put your faith and your trust in the toal event of the empty tomb and find the fullness of life that God has for you in his son Jesus Christ amen
