Rev. David Holwick K Easter
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
March 23, 2008
Luke 24:1-11
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I. Everyone believes in Easter.
A. Belief in the Easter event is widespread.
1) Pollster George Gallup: 84 percent of Americans who never
go to church believe Jesus rose from the dead.
2) Super-Pastor Rick Warren (author of The Purpose-Driven Life)
thinks this is because Easter is obvious:
"It is historical fact; it wasn't done in secret.
The whole city of Jerusalem and the whole Roman Empire
knew about it.
It was news.
If CNN had been there, they would have had it live."
#8288
B. How obvious is Easter?
1) Is it a slam-dunk doctrine?
2) Should we just take it for granted and wrestle with other
issues?
II. I don't think Easter is obvious at all.
A. The resurrection itself WAS done in secret.
1) There were no witnesses - no one actually saw it happen.
2) The Bible doesn't even describe the event itself.
a) External details are given: an earthquake, a torn
curtain.
b) The transformation of Jesus' body is not described
at all.
c) Those who saw the aftermath - the risen Jesus - were
considered to be hallucinating by their friends.
B. The evidence is mostly negative evidence.
1) The tomb was empty.
2) The grave clothes had no body in them.
C. It is not something that happens every day.
1) Some would say that it is something that can happen
on NO day.
a) Resurrection presupposes an unseen world with spirit
beings.
b) Not just "ghosts" - they have some kind of physical form.
c) But no man-made telescope dealing with any part of the
electromagnetic spectrum can detect them.
d) Can we trust something that our eyes can't see and
our hands can't touch?
2) When a heavy casket is carried into this church, it is just
as heavy when they take it out.
a) Normal life is more like Good Friday than Easter morning.
1> People suffer. People die. Live moves on.
b) Miracles only seem to happen to other people.
III. Easter may not be obvious, but it is true.
A. The earliest Christians grew to be convinced of it.
1) Even they didn't think it was very obvious, at first.
2) They tried to convince others, but usually the others had
to have their own encounter with Jesus. (Doubting Thomas)
B. The evidence is indirect, but powerful.
1) Several levels of New Testament documents record the
stories.
a) It is not just one story repeated over and over.
2) The earliest Jewish traditions assume his body was missing.
3) On multiple occasions, under different circumstances, a
variety of individuals and groups saw Jesus alive.
4) Their belief went against their expectations:
a) Jews did not expect a Messiah who would be executed.
b) According to Old Testament law, Jesus' execution had
exposed him as a heretic, someone cursed by God.
c) His resurrection goes against Jewish expectations,
because they foresaw just one event in the Last Days.
5) Their belief carried a heavy price for them, even death.
#24849
C. The resurrection is more believable that any other explanation.
1) It fits with the extraordinary claims Jesus made about
himself.
2) Rival theories about the resurrection are less believable:
a) the conspiracy theory
b) the apparent death theory
c) the hallucination theory
1> None of these naturalistic theories have been
widely accepted by scholars.
#24849
IV. Easter cannot be separated from faith.
A. Faith requires us to accept some things that we cannot prove.
1) As the book of Hebrews says, it is being certain of what
we cannot see.
2) This doesn't mean we have to believe in impossible things,
or stupid things.
a) Our faith always "touches base" with physical reality.
B. Faith assumes there is more to life than we can perceive.
1) It is interesting that scientists have the same dilemma.
a) By some calculations, 95% of reality is made up of
dark matter and dark energy.
b) We cannot see them, we don't even know what they are.
c) All we know is that massive galaxies rotate as if
they weigh twenty times more than they do.
d) You might say they cannot see it, but they can see
its effects.
2) Christians have a similar perspective.
a) We cannot see God or Jesus or angels.
b) But by the changes we see in our life, we know that
something is out there.
c) And if something supernatural is out there, my ordinary
life has the potential to be extraordinary.
V. Easter fits with God's style.
A. God operates quietly for ages, then smashes in.
1) Big miracles are grouped around a few key periods.
2) Most of the time, things unfold in a normal pattern.
B. God is not limited to our imagination.
1) He can do more than we expect - when we least expect it.
C. The supernatural can break in to us, but does this rarely.
1) We must still live with disappointment.
a) Loved ones still die.
b) Financial problems still burden us.
c) Questions still haunt us.
2) But we can also live with hope.
a) There is a God and he can pull off miracles when we
need it the most.
April 22, 1973. It was Easter Sunday, just like today.
Kefa Sempangi was a pastor in the African country of Uganda.
His country was under the absolute rule of Dictator Idi Amin, an
unstable man who was turning the country into a place of terror.
Amin made his official title "His Excellency President for Life,
Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, ...
Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and
Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and
Uganda in Particular."
Everyone else simply called him "The Butcher of Uganda."
Estimates of his murder tally range from 100,000 to half a million.
The movie "The Last King of Scotland" deals with this period.
Pastor Sempangi thought of the situation in more personal terms.
Still fresh in his memory was a face burned beyond recognition,
the sight of soldiers cruelly beating a man, and the horrible
sound of boots crushing bones.
The whole country was living in fear. No one was safe anymore.
Sempangi was exhausted and wondered what difference his Easter
sermon that morning could make.
He prayed for wisdom and strength and then delivered his message
to the 7,000 people in his church.
Afterward he made his way to the church office, tired but joyful.
He didn't realize five men had followed him into the small building.
They closed the door behind them, and Sempangi turned around to
find five rifles pointed at his face.
He had never seen any of them before, but immediately recognized
them as the secret police of the State Research Bureau - Idi
Amin's assassins.
Their faces were full of pure hatred and rage.
"We are going to kill you," said the leader.
"If you have something to say, say it now."
Sempangi stood there feeling himself lose control.
He thought of his wife and child and began to shake.
Somehow he managed to speak.
"I do not need to plead my own cause," he said.
"I am a dead man already.
My life is dead and hidden in Christ.
So if I die, I'll be alive.
It is your lives that are in danger; you are dead in your sins.
I will pray to God that after you have killed me, He will spare
you from eternal damnation."
The leader looked at him with curiosity.
Then he lowered his gun and ordered the others to do the same.
"Will you pray for us now?" the leader of the assassins asked.
Though fearing it was a trick, Sempangi asked them all to bow
their heads and close their eyes.
"Father in heaven," he prayed, "You who have forgiven men in the
past, forgive these men also.
Do not let them perish in their sins but bring them unto yourself."
Sempangi lifted his head, waiting for the men to pull the triggers.
But then he noticed their faces.
Gone was the hate and rage, and when the leader spoke, it was
without contempt.
"You have helped us," he said, "and we will help you.
We will speak to the rest of our company and they will leave you
alone.
Do not fear for your life.
It is in our hands and you will be protected."
Relief and joy flooded Sempangi's heart.
God's love had given him the strength to say a simple prayer -
one that changed the lives of those five men forever.
No, six men, for Kefa Sempangi's life was changed forever too.
No, a church of 7,000 people was changed forever.
#35293
1) You can be changed forever, too.
2) Christ experienced something extraordinary, so you could.
3) Have you been born again?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 8288 "What Difference Does Easter Make?" by Rick Warren,
http://www.christianitytoday.com, April 10, 2006.
#24849 "Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?" by William Lane Craig,
Baptist Press, http://www.baptistpress.org, March 20, 2008.
#35293 "His Easter Prayer Changed Men," by Rev. Jimmy Gentry,
www.preaching.com; adapted from a story in WEAVINGS: A JOURNAL
OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (May/June 1988) 3, pp. 33-36.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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