Easter Sunday 2023
The Easter Proclamation!
Luke 24:1-7 & John 11:25-26 (NAS95)
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.”
Let us pray.
Before Easter Sunday, Jesus promised in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” The resurrection of Jesus Christ is our hope, not only for eternal life, but for today. In Romans 5:1-5, Paul taught us that this hope comes from Jesus’ death and resurrection:
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
I don’t know about you, but I have had periods of hopelessness in my life, and those seasons have been dark and dangerous at times. I have found it to be a critical part of my faith to train the hope of the resurrection into my bones. It’s not enough to know about it and affirm it once a year on Easter Sunday; to experience its victory in your everyday life, you must believe and trust it with every ounce of your being, as if your very life depended on it. I invite you today, on Easter Sunday, to anchor yourself – heart, mind, body, and soul – to the hope we have from Jesus Christ’s victory. As Hebrews 6:19 teaches us to do, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil.”
Hope is not wishful thinking – Christian hope is the certainty of the resurrection and life of Jesus Christ, which provides you stability during the trials and tribulations of today. It is an anchor when storms come, and they will come when we you least expect them to come! We need to find stability in something greater than ourselves – the victory of Jesus Christ who has overcome death! John stated this in 1 John 5:4-5, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” You can have hope in your most difficult circumstances, moments filled with hopelessness and situations marked by despair because Jesus lives – He has overcome! Paul taught us in 1 Corinthians 15:20-26:
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
While there is still sickness and death in this world, Jesus says that this sin-sick world will not end in death, but all things will be made new for the glory of God. He proclaimed this in Revelation 21:3-5:
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.”
We must believe our own Easter story in our everyday lives – Jesus is making all things new! Don’t forget – grip tight to that which we believe! God commands us to live out the implications of the promise of the resurrection and life in our everyday lives: to unbind the captives, set free the oppressed, give sight to the blind, and preach the gospel in word and deed. We see this in Jesus’ miracle of resuscitating Lazarus in in John 11:39-44:
Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
This is our work to do today: to “unbind [them], and let [them] go,” just as God, in Christ Jesus, has set each of us free! Jesus said in John 8:36, “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” We must encourage and embolden one another with the hope of the resurrection! Paul taught us this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15:
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.”
We all need courage and comfort in these dark days. The resurrection of Jesus Christ, just like the final victory revealed to us in the New Heaven and New Earth, is given to us to give us hope when hope feels forlorn. Have courage, and face your day, knowing the victory is won – there is hope! There is a certainty of that which cannot be seen – there is the promise of resurrection and life!
To solidify today’s message, we are going to do two things in response: 1) we are going to make a declaration of our faith. 2) We are going to participate in communion together a sign of our unity in Christ’s Victory!
Therefore, hear the Word of God for the church of Jesus Christ from 1 Corinthians 15:50-58:
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O 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. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
Beloved church of Jesus Christ, my brethren, we come to the Lord’s Table on this Easter Sunday as a declaration that God has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World. The victory of God is the defeat over the evil forces of hell, of sin, and of the final enemy, death. Paul declared in Colossians 3:12-15:
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
Jesus declared in Revelation 1:17-18, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”
- Do you believe in Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, who took your death on the Cross of Calvary, which every person deserves as the wages for sin, so that you may experience forgiveness for sin through the sufficiency of God’s grace?
- Do you believe that Jesus Christ, defeated death, experiencing the resurrection from the dead after three days in the grave, revealed himself in His resurrected body to His followers for forty days, and is now ascended to the right hand of God where He intercedes for you today?
- Do you believe that God loves you and has chosen to make His dwelling place in you through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who has sealed you for the day of redemption?
- Do you believe that even now you have eternal life through the precious blood of Jesus Christ and that nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing?
- Do you believe that Jesus Christ will come again, soon, to bring His people to Himself and restore justice to the nations through His iron rod of judgment?
- Do you believe that on the Day of the Lord, Jesus Christ will make all things new and restore on the earth the dwelling place of God with humanity, in the New Heaven and New Earth?
This is our faith, and this is our victory, bestowed upon us through the love of God in Jesus Christ! Faith, according to Hebrews 11:1 is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” It is our faith in the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and imminent return of Jesus Christ that is our victory because it is through faith that we take on the life of God through the forgiveness of our sins and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit.
As a regular practice of our faith and as a proclamation of our unity as the people of God, we declare the victory of God through the partaking of the elements of the Lord’s Supper – the bread represents His body, and the cup of the New Covenant symbolizes His blood. Our participation in this commemoration meal causes us to yearn for the abundance of the great wedding feast we will enjoy together in the very presence of Jesus Christ in Heaven—our union with Him and reunion with those who are in Him throughout all time.
Hear now the words of institution over the elements of this ancient ordinance of the church, as given to us by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23-33:
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
Prayer of examen
Let us, the one body of Christ, in concert with the church of Jesus Christ throughout the world and throughout time, partake of the elements together as a sign of our unity:
- His body broken for you…
- His blood shed for the forgiveness of your sin…
This is the eternal covenant of God with humanity, which is for the forgiveness of your sin and the eternal union of your soul with God. May God have mercy on His people and may you find rest for your soul in the easy yoke of Jesus Christ. May this partaking of the Lord’s Supper remind you of your baptismal vows to God and your forsaking of the devil, the flesh, and of the world. The Cross before you, the world behind you, no turning back! Empowered by the Holy Spirit, through the grace of God, may you live the life of faith – to declare the victory of Jesus Christ through His resurrection from the dead!
Allow me to pray over you the words of the Apostle Paul from Ephesians 4:1-6 & 1 Corinthians 15:58:
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. … Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
I dedicate you to Jesus Christ and His righteousness and may all your days left upon this earth be in the service to the King of kings and His eternal kingdom. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.