Celebration worship
What are the objections to the resurrection of Jesus? Did Jesus rise from the dead? Why is His Ressurection important? What’s next after today? We are here because we believe Jesus rose from the dead, but believing something is true, does not make it so. That is what I want to explore today. It is true that not only Jesus rose, but it is also true our lives should completely change because of His Resurrection from the dead. One of the most prominent editors and writers of our time, a believer in Christ, did not start that way. He was an atheist for as long as he could remember. Educated at the University of Missouri (Bachelor of Journalism degree) and Yale Law School (Master of Studies in Law degree), this individual was a journalist for fourteen years at The Chicago Tribune and other newspapers, winning Illinois’ highest honors for both investigative reporting and public service journalism from United Press International. Throughout most of his life and career, he was not a believer. Then he met his wife Leslie. She became a believer after their marriage, which prompted mixed feelings in this writer. One day, Leslie asked her husband “Why don’t you investigate if Jesus rose from the dead yourself?” Her husband took her up on her offer for two years and found in his investigation that Jesus rising from the dead was not only believable but for this man, he knew it happened. He would write a book about his experience called “The Case for Christ”, his name is Lee Strobel. Church, today is Easter. Did Jesus rise from the dead? What are the objections to the Resurrection of Jesus? Why is His Ressurection important? What’s next after today? What you will hear today is not a 100 percent proof that Christ is Risen, they are reasons to strongly consider His Ressurection is true, as you read the Gospels. Let’s explore those considerations together.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit: We believe the Resurrection of Jesus is true through reporting, and analyzing history in the Bible. “For what I also received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,”-1 Corinthians 15:3-7. The vocabulary in these verses—“according to the Scriptures,” “on the third day,” and “the Twelve” are not terms Paul uses elsewhere in his writings. So this was a gospel summary that was already in widespread use by Christians all around the Mediterranean world when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15. The church in Corinth was battling wild accusations that the Risen Christ wasn’t real. Paul addresses their fears right off the bat “I want to remind you of the Good news…I also recieved.” Remember Anninias in Acts 9:17-19?“Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.”-Acts 9:17-19. That moment, is when Paul recieved the news of Jesus raising from the dead. Think of it church. Paul is healed, fed, and stays several days with the disciples and presumably Ananias. What Paul received from Ananias and the disciples that he writes in our text was not just a teaching about Jesus, it was a creed. Paul received this Creed so he could live by and remember the facts of the resurrection of Jesus. Paul’s encounter with Ananias happened 15 years before 1 Corinthians written in 49. A.D, and a year after the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is where we need to think, church. No Bibles circulated, just a creed 15 years circulating 15 years after the death and Resurrection of Christ. A creed that stated: A dead man didn’t stay that way! He is the Messiah, our Lord, and King, God himself, as scripture portrayed! The practice of using creeds to communicate the resurrection of Jesus is literally how the faith survived. Colossians 1:15-20, Philippians 2:5-11, and our text today to name a few were the creeds in use by the early church. It is worth noting that such creeds owe their legacy to women who were the first witnesses to the Ressurection of Jesus in the Gospels. Especially given their status as illegitimate witnesses in first century Judaism. Luke, Matthew, and John’s Gospel (24:1-7, 28:8, and John 20:1-18) all report it was women who not only saw the empty tomb, but also reported back to the disciples that they had either seen the Lord, or Angels who told them what happened. Without the power of the Holy Spirit working through the women, the men never would have even left the rooms to see the empty tomb for themselves!
What are the objections to the Resurrection of Jesus? We may all believe the resurrection of Jesus happened, but it is our job as believers to know the stuff that’s out there people are using to say they can’t believe the resurrection happened “Be sure to give a reason for the hope that is in you”-1 Peter 3:15. One of the things critics of the Ressurection will say is Easter is a pagan holiday to a Babylonian God. The problem with that is it should be noted that the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus is called “Easter” only by English-speaking Christians. The rest of the Christian world celebrate today with “Christ is Risen, and the response “He is Risen indeed!” The world calls this week Pascha— Passion Week, or some derivative of that—which means “Passover” or “To Suffer” to commemorate the sacrifice of Our Lord, our “paschal lamb” on the Cross, who rose from the dead 3 days later. That is why Easter rotates dates each year. Passover is determined by the lunar cycle, and since the cross followed by Easter Sunday happened around Passover, the Easter dates change every year. To claim Easter is pagan is ignorant, not only of Jewish history, it also means that even if Easter was at one time pagan, it’s not anymore! The death and resurrection of Christ have made sure of that. Some critics will say that using the Bible to prove the Ressurection happened doesn’t prove that the Ressurection happened. Yet, William Lane Craig cites that in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul is following the customary method of Greek historians, such as Herodotus, in proving a historical event, namely, the listing of witnesses. Ancient world history writing in the Bible itself is not just a story, it is a method. The method in our text is to report how the Ressurection happened. That alone challenges the theory that Jesus’s resurrection was a legend developed only after all the people who were present at his death were gone. Historical method, and 500 witnesses is a lot of witnesses to go around! The massive number also challenges another objection, that the witnesses of the Ressurection all pretended, or hallucinated. That is a lot of crazy people if that many people saw Jesus to hallucinate! Paul’s response to the charge he was hallucinating about the Risen Christ was to taunt Agrippa and Festus in Acts. “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. The king is familiar with the discussion of the Ressurection of Jesus, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner.” (Acts 26:25–26). Another objection is Jesus didn’t rise from the dead Jesus was eaten by dogs or stolen. Scripture and history disprove this! Ezekiel 39:14-16 tells us that bodies should be buried immediately after death “People will be continually employed in cleansing the land. They will spread out across the land and, along with others, they will bury any bodies that are lying on the ground.” The Jewish Qumran written before Christ stated, “You shall not allow bodies to remain on a tree overnight most assuredly, you shall bury them, even on the very day of their death.” What’s more, Rome isn’t the bad guy after people died on the cross. Bodies were given back. Giving back the body was seen as a “kindness from the Emperor.” The Roman law code Pandectae states“The bodies of those who are condemned to death should not be refused their relatives; and [Caesar] Augustus the Divine, in the tenth book of his Vita, said that this rule had been observed. That is why Pilate, wanted to keep the peace by giving the body of Jesus back to His followers after dying on the cross. The last thing he wants is to lose his job! The Jewish people were the same way as Rome was with dead bodies. The Jewish historian Josephus quoted Herod giving the body of John the Baptist back to his disciples after beheading. Sorry to disappoint, but the modern explanations of the resurrection of Jesus such as legend, the body of Jesus eaten, and hallucinated, just don’t stick!
Even if you can explain and believe Jesus was resurrected, the question is, why is His Resurrection important? Paul’s letter to the Roman church answers: “He was raised for our justification.”- Romans 4:25. Critics of the faith will try and replace Christianity’s important message not of a dead God who rose to life, but of someone who had good teachings for us to learn and live by. Once again, the Bible begs to differ! Justification is a forensic term in the Roman world, as opposed to condemnation. Biblically, justification is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ. The Greek word for justification is acquitted! A declaration of not guilty! The message of Easter is the tomb of our sin, our anger, hate, and death itself is empty. One way or another, hateful people won’t always be that way. Anger will run its course, and the risen Christ will take away our bent to sin, and change us into His likeness. That is why Jesus was raised! So we might be justified, and begin to be more like Jesus.
Christ is Risen, what’s next? What’s next is Communion! Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him. Not a GMC table, UMC table, etc, it’s the Lord’s table! We are taking Communion because at last: Pauls’s words ring true! “Who brings a charge against God’s chosen? It is God who justifies…who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”-Romans 8:34. The Christ who has risen from the dead is here, with us, and helping us, not just at Communion, but is with us for all time. We invite you to come in just a minute. I want to encourage you. Take what you have heard today and read the Gospels for yourself. Consider Jesus, raised and all! And today just might be the first day of giving it all for Jesus, who died, and rose from the dead, to give it all for you. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.