4/12/20-Easter 1 Cor. 15:1-11 “It’s Friday, But Sunday is Coming!”

10 Apr 4/12/20-Easter 1 Cor. 15:1-11 “It’s Friday, But Sunday is Coming!”

4/12/20-Easter    1 Cor. 15:1-11   “It’s Friday, But Sunday is Coming!”

Isn’t this a great Easter morning?  I wrote that line earlier knowing full well that I would not know what kind of day this would be.  It might be raining or snowing or the sun might be shining.  But I really knew deep down that no matter what kind of day it was outside, it would be a wonderful day inside.  This is probably the biggest event on the Christian calendar.  I know that we make a bigger deal out of Christmas, but our pagan society has had a lot to do with that.  Easter is far more important than any other holiday because without the resurrection, we really have no religion at all.  Without the resurrection we are no better than any of the other world religions around us.  Today we are going to take a look at a famous passage that Paul wrote and see if his Easter message applies to us today.

I hope that you don’t get tired of hearing about old Post Office stories because after working there for 25 years, I have so many of them.  I remember when I first walked into the place.  I was thrilled to have a job that actually paid some money.  But there was one thing that bothered me.  This was the absolute most negative place that I had ever worked.  Everywhere you went, the people were down on something or someone.  There was rarely a kind word said to anyone.  I tried to resist the best I could.  For 25 years I would tell people ‘good morning.’  And the answers that I really hated were the ones I got the most.  The answers were, “What good is it” or ‘Yeah, for a Monday.’  Whether or not they were going to have a good day depended on what day it was.   Everyone lived for Friday when they could have their weekend.  I never really got used to this.

So it made me wonder a little this week, if these good folks, and there are lots of good folks there, were looking forward to this past Friday, Good Friday.  I don’t know why anyone really would because of all the tragedy that happened.  But then, we know that all these things had to happen so that we can all have our salvation.  So maybe we should be thinking in a more correct way and say, “It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming.”

As we begin the reading today we find that Paul is showing the proof to the Corinthians that Jesus died and that there were witnesses.  He is telling them that this actually happened.  He is saying that this is true just like you have a nose on your face.  These types of things are important to know even today.  So why is the cross so important?

First of all, the cross transforms things.  In those days no one even talked about the cross because of all the bad meanings that it had.  It was a way of torture that the Romans used on their conquered people and certain criminals.  Everyone avoided the subject.  So the very image of the cross was transformed.  Today we have a crosses in our churches.  We wear cross jewelry.  We talk of Jesus being on the cross.  So the meaning of the cross has changed.

Also, what happened on the cross helped us to change the meaning of the tomb.  The tomb was a place of death.  There was no future.  There was no nothing.  You were gone.  You were dead.  Now since the cross, no one has to fear the tomb anymore.  This is not the end.  Thanks to Jesus Christ you can live on in eternity in heaven until it is time to come back to the new heaven and new earth.  And you then will be a part of the real paradise, the one that came through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Because of Friday, you can look forward to Sunday.

In our own private worlds, how many times have you been on your own personal cross?  There are times in our lives when we have bills to pay and we don’t know how to do it.  Some of us wonder how we are ever going to come up with the money to pay our taxes this year even if we can file later.  Or some of us have an illness that has taken all of our energy.  We feel so bad that we wonder how we will make it through the next day.  Or maybe all of the dreary things that we read about in the newspaper have finally got us down to the point of depression.  How do you cope?

You need to look forward to Sunday, today, Easter.  Paul is giving us some proof here that Jesus did exactly what He said He would do.  You need to grab onto this hope especially during this time of coronavirus.  You need to look to Easter Sunday for the help that you can only get through the cross on Good Friday.

Now there maybe someone here today who will say that this really isn’t enough proof.  Well how about this.  All but one of the disciples were tortured to death and there was not one of them, not one who denied Jesus!  Jesus was such a force in their lives that they would lay down their own lives for Him.  Jesus was that special to them and us.

Plus look at all the witnesses who saw Jesus after He had risen.  We can begin with the women who found the tomb empty.  Paul talks of the 500 people who saw Jesus.  We have the whole New Testament written by people who saw Jesus or were a direct result of the work He did.  I dare you to try to go into the world and find any other religion that has this volume of evidence.  As a matter of fact, try to find any evidence at all in any of these religions that was witnessed by anyone other than one person. Christianity has lots of witnesses and this is more than can be said of any other religion.

Jesus Christ is unique.  No other religion in the world has a person like Jesus who was half human and half God at the same time.  Brian Mavis tells this story of Dr. E. Stanley Jones who was a missionary in India.  He would often speak at meetings of Hindus with the Hindus running the meeting.  At one meeting the chairman was the chief minister for all the Hindus of the state.  He opened the meeting by saying that he would hold his remarks until after Jones had spoken for no matter what Jones said; he would find parallel things in the Hindu sacred books.  At the close of the meeting, the chief minister had nothing to say because Dr. Jones had not presented things.  He had presented a person, Jesus Christ and that person was not found in the sacred books.  This wonderful person is only found in the Bible and Christianity.  All other is false.

Now let’s look at the physical evidence.  Jesus died on the cross.  The descriptions given to us are exactly what doctors would expect from this type of death.  One of the real miracles of this scene where we have Jesus on the cross was that Jesus wasn’t already dead before He even got to the cross.  He should have been dead from the beatings and massive blood loss.  But He wasn’t.  And after He rose from the dead, people actually touched Him.  He also ate with them to show them that He was actually alive.

Or how about the prophetic evidence?  Jesus Christ fulfilled something like a hundred or so of the prophecies in the Old Testament.  By using mathematics, we find that one man fulfilling just a few of these prophecies is very, very unlikely.  And the chance of one man fulfilling all of those prophecies is more than improbable, it is impossible.  It is impossible unless that one man is who He said He is.  And Jesus Christ is that man.

Other people don’t believe because the scientific evidence says that this couldn’t have happened.  If we just look at the archeological evidence, we find that more and more of these Biblical events are being discovered or unearthed.  The skeptic researchers are finding Biblical evidence all the time.  And we can go right back to the beginning and the creation story.  Science has absolutely no proof or evidence of any kind that we evolved from anything.  As a matter of fact, more and more scientists are coming to believe that God actually made life because there is no other rational explanation.

So Paul is presenting some proof in our Scripture and I am giving you some more.  And if you really want to get into it, I have a list of books that will really help you.  And the last part of this reading has to do with the grace that Jesus extends to us because of the cross.  The cross that changes lives.

I hope that I don’t get all tangled up in Christian talk as I am going to try to tell you what grace is.  For today’s purpose we will say that grace is what God extends to us so as to forgive our sins and our bad way of life in return for our acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  Grace is the love that God has for the people He made.  Grace is the forgiveness that Jesus grants us.  And it is because of grace that we have all that we have today.  Grace is God working.

It is through grace that Jesus Christ transforms lives.  Changing lives is what Jesus does best.  This is why we have Easter.  Paul is telling us today that he doesn’t even deserve to be called an apostle.  And if we must call him an apostle, he considers himself to be the least of the least.  He is not worthy of being a child of God because of all the bad things that he did.  Remember he was the Pharisee overseeing the stoning of Stephen.  He killed people because they followed Jesus.  He persecuted Christians every chance he had.  He did this until the day that Jesus met him on that road and Jesus blinded Paul, who was at that time called Saul.  Paul had a life changing experience because of the risen Jesus Christ.

And Paul wasn’t the only one.  Peter, Andrew, John, Matthew and the other disciples had life changing experiences because they followed Jesus.  Mary Magdalene changed her life.  All the people who followed him were changed forever and for the good.

Throughout the centuries people have been coming to Jesus and they have been transformed into disciples.  There is the story of a man named Albert McMakin who was a 24 year old farmer when he came to faith in Jesus in 1934.  He was so excited about Jesus that he went a revival meeting that was nearby. He not only went but he would fill his truck with people and take them to the meeting so they could hear about Jesus also.  And there was a special farmer’s son who he wanted to take to the meeting in the worst way but he was almost impossible to persuade. He was too busy falling in and out of love with the local young ladies.  He didn’t seem at all interested in Christ.

But Albert McMakin didn’t give up.  He finally persuaded the young man to come by asking him to drive the truck full of people.  When they got to the meeting, Albert’s guest decided to go in and listen being he was there.  He became spellbound and he had thoughts that he had never had before.  He kept coming back night after night and he finally went forward and gave his life to Jesus.  Since that night, he has gone on and spoken to more than 250 million people all over the world about Jesus.  He has been the spiritual advisor to 9 US Presidents.  And of course, the name of this young man who drove the truck that night was Billy Graham.  Jesus Christ changes lives.

He changed my life.  I used to be a no good for nothing, low down vermin who could never get up and speak in front of people.  He transformed me into a no good for nothing, low down vermin who absolutely loves Jesus and gets up here every week to try to tell you just how much Jesus loves you in return.  Jesus Christ changes lives and He always changes them for the better.  If you are tired of your life, if you are just sick of how things have turned out for you, if have nowhere left to turn, then turn your life to Jesus today.  Confess you are a sinner and ask Jesus to take over.  You can be a transformation story also.  I guarantee that you will never regret your decision.  I would rather spend one day living my life in Jesus than a million days without Him.  And I know.  I’ve tried it both ways.

Today we have taken a look at a piece that Paul wrote that tells of the greatest nonfiction story ever told.  He has given us proof and I have given you proof.  Last week, my message was a little on the condemning side.  I apologize for that but we do need to know where we stand and just why we need this gift that Jesus is willing to give us.  Just this past week we have found that He has given us His communion table on Maundy Thursday.  He gave us His life on Good Friday.  And today He is giving us His resurrection from the dead.  Today He has defeated death.  Where, O death, is your sting.  It is gone.  You never have to fear death again as long as you have a life in Jesus.

Today is a time for celebration.  I hope that you are able to celebrate somehow during this coronavirus.  I hope that this has been an uplifting service for you.  I hope that you will go from this service and continue the celebration throughout the day whether it’s talking to family and friends or having a nice meal.  I hope that you will carry forward this message to wherever you go and live this message in whatever you do.  This message has been about life, life in Jesus.  I know for a fact that a life in Jesus just doesn’t get any better.  Join Him and bask in the love that He gives you.  Thank you Jesus for your forgiveness and your endless love.  And thank you for first loving us. Let’s pray.