April 8, 2007 Easter Sunrise Service
Sermon Title: “The Empty Promises of Easter”
Series: The Path of Discipleship
Text: Luke 24:1-12
Dr. Steve Jackson
Delivered at an Easter
“He is not here, but has risen.” Luke 24:5
The Empty Promises of Easter
Many of you know I’m a huge Star Trek fan—the “old” Star Trek too, you know, the one with Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner—that’s really the only Star Trek as far as I’m concerned. Star Trek was a great show from the sixties, that heady time when we were racing to beat the Russians to the moon and science was as popular and prevalent as computers and ipods and the Internet are today.
Anyway, those of you who might have seen the show might remember a storyline that came up from time to time on the show—it was a scientific concept that’s fun to ponder called anti-matter. Nobody really seemed to be able to explain anti-matter, but in principle it involved the mysterious world where everything is the opposite of matter. Several episodes involved anti-matter and even though you never quite understood what it was, one thing any “Trekkie” knew for sure was you never wanted to mix matter with anti-matter because if the two ever came into contact the world as we know it would end. Again, this was a prevalent theme in a show during the Cold War, a time when the possibility of a nuclear holocaust was on everyone’s mind.
At any rate, I say all this about Star Trek and the matter/anti-matter conundrum to say that for this Easter Sunrise Service I am presenting the anti-matter equivalent of an Easter Sermon. It’s called the “Empty Promises of Easter.” Before you get all upset and think you’ve drug yourself out of a warm bed this morning to come here and here a depressing “anti-anything” sermon, hold on a second and listen to what I have to say.
This morning, we’re going to talk about
the promises of Easter. In particular we’re going to look at three of the
promises of Easter found or alluded to in today’s text, each of which is marked
by something empty: An empty cross, an empty tomb and empty burial
clothes. I think it’s safe to do an anti-matter Easter Sermon, don’t you? I
mean, think…God always sets the world on its ear. In God’s upside-down,
anti-matter kind of a world it turns out that that the fact that each of these
is empty is what actually ends up assuring us that God’s promises are real. Since
none of the three could hold Jesus, not the cross, nor the tomb, nor even his
burial clothes—we can be sure of the fullness of God’s promises in our lives
today.
The Empty Cross — the promise of forgiven sins
Let’s begin with the empty cross. Because the cross was empty, we have the
promise of forgiven sins. Now I admit
the cross isn’t specifically mentioned in today’s text, but obviously we all
realize that’s how Jesus got into the tomb to begin with.
To be perfectly honest with you, when it comes to the cross as a symbol, there are basically two schools of thought. Roman Catholics usually portray Jesus hanging on the cross—called a crucifix—because they believe the cross gains its significance from Jesus being there on it. They believe an empty cross is a powerless cross because it is what Christ did while on the cross that frees us from sin.
Protestants, on the other hand, usually depict an empty cross because in our minds the work of Christ on the cross is complete. We don’t need to keep him hanging there because his work is done. In our service here Friday night several people commented on their thankfulness for the seventh and final word of Jesus from the cross where he said, “It is finished.”
It’s like the father and son who were
traveling down a country road on afternoon in the spring time when suddenly a
bee flew in the window. Being deathly allergic to bee stings, the boy began to
panic as the bee buzzed all around inside the car. Seeing the horror on his
child’s face, the father reached out and caught the bee in his hand. But then,
shortly after that he opened his hand and the bee began to buzz around in the
car again. Again, the boy began to panic. The father reached over to his son,
and opened his hand showing him the stinger still in his palm. “Relax, son,” the father said, “I took the sting, the bee can’t hurt you
anymore.”
The empty cross is God’s way of saying to us; “Relax, my child, I took the sting, death can’t hurt you anymore.” Your sins are forgiven. The work is done.
To be honest with you, when it
comes to the cross I don’t think the real problem today is whether one views it
as empty or as if Jesus is still on it. I think the real problem today is our
watered down understanding of sin and how God really views it. I know, I know,
sin is a word you don’t hear much anymore. It’s not “politically correct.” And
God knows not at Easter! But, the simple fact is we have all sinned. Every one
of us – you, me, the Pope, Billy Graham, the person sitting next to you, everybody.
The Bible says we’ve all sinned, and fall
short of the glory of God. The only person who ever lived a sinless life is
Jesus. Everyone else has fallen short. So, here is the problem – according to
God’s law - “the wages of sin is death.” He says; “The soul that sins will surely die.” Because, we have sinned, we
deserve God’s just punishment. We deserve “eternal death” – Hell. Oops, there’s another unpopular word you don’t
hear on Easter very often. But instead of giving what we deserve, God gives us
what he earned for us himself: eternal life with him. So when you look at that
empty cross – it’s a reminder of God’s promise that we have been forgiven. On that cross – Jesus paid the penalty for our
sins. God’s word tells us again – “God demonstrated His own love toward us, in
that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
It was on that empty cross that Jesus Christ offered his perfect, sinless life
on behalf of each one of us. No one else – not Moses or Abraham, Muhammad or
Buddha – no one else has ever lived a perfect life and then offered his spotless
life for our salvation. That is why the Bible tells us that “there is no other name given under heaven
by which we can be saved.”
Like I mentioned a moment ago, as Jesus breathed his last breath he cried out; “It is finished.” The penalty was paid, the “stinger” is gone. Before that fateful Friday, God could open his Book of Life and look up each name, and written in black were the words – “guilty.” But when Jesus went to the cross, God literally transferred our accounts to His name. On that day, across every name – he wrote – in Jesus blood – “Forgiven – Forgiven – Forgiven.”
Because of the work that Jesus did on that cross – you and I now stand forgiven.”
The first “empty promise” of Easter is the empty cross – filled with the
promise of forgiven sins.
The Empty Tomb — the promise of
eternal life
The second “empty” promise of Easter is marked by the Empty Tomb. Because the tomb was empty, we have the promise of Eternal Life.
Why was the tomb empty? Because Jesus was alive. Look at verse 5, the angels said to the women, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” And the promise to us is that we too shall live even if we die. That’s the second wonderful “empty” promise of Easter.
When I was in the seventh grade I traveled to
It’s like something that happened to me years ago when computers were first out and disk space was costly and no one had much of it. My first PC had 10 megabytes of memory. My current PC has 60 gigabytes of memory. I’m no mathematician, but that’s a whole lot more! At any rate, that old computer had slowed to a crawl and I was told to do several things by a tech support guy to try and speed it up. Finally he asked me to check to see how many “temp” files I had on my computer. I had hundreds. I didn’t understand at the time, but the files in the “temp” folder of a computer were once important, but are not essential after you’ve used them. They become redundant as soon as they’re used and if there’s anything PC’s are good at it’s making redundant “temp files.” Accumulating too many of these files takes up disk space and slows down your system.
Easter is a good time to realize that there are lots of things in our lives that could be classified as “temp files.” They don't yield eternal value. They don’t really matter. Think for a moment about all the “temp files” in your life. You won’t need them in eternity you know. What they really turn out to be are extra burdens that slow you down in your spiritual walk with God.
Because of the empty tomb we have God’s promise of eternal life. I realize eternity is a hard concept to get your hands around. How can we contemplate eternity when we’re having a hard time waiting for a pancake this morning?
I had a good lesson in eternal conceptualization last week. Donna and I
went up to
The Empty Burial Clothes — the
promise of a personal relationship with Christ
The third “empty” promise of Easter I want to talk about this morning is marked by the empty burial clothes. Because Jesus’ burial clothes were empty, we have the promise of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Look at the last verse I read, verse 12 – it says “But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen clothes by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.” Peter looked inside the empty tomb and found the clothes Jesus had been buried in. Like the tomb itself they were empty. This could only mean one thing – Jesus was alive! If someone had stolen his body, they wouldn’t have removed the burial clothes and folded them up neatly and left them where they lay. Truly, Jesus was resurrected!
Of course as we know in hindsight it wouldn’t be long before Jesus himself
would appear to Mary Magdalene, and to all of the Apostles, and eventually to
over 500 people. Over the next few weeks he would sit down with them, walk with
them, talk with them, and eat with them. Once again, they would be able to
fellowship with their Lord. But you know what, that promise of the empty burial
clothes—that Jesus is alive, and wants to fellowship with us—it applies to you
and me as well. Jesus isn’t some
nebulous “force” out in the universe influencing people. He is a living Savior,
and he desires to have a personal relationship with each one of us, just as he
did with his disciples 2000 years ago.
I have to admit it—this is my favorite promise of all. The idea that we can personally know Jesus—God himself, is an amazing promise for us to receive at Easter.
When I think of all the people I’d love to meet I think of people like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, George Bush, and a few others. Funny thing is, I know a lot about these people too; it’s not too difficult to find out all kinds of information about your favorite celebrity these days. But you know what? We don’t really know these people do we? And the truth is, we never will. But because of the empty tomb we can know Jesus Christ. We can know him intimately. We can know his love, his care, his healing, and his forgiveness. He says in the Bible, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” What an amazing promise!
Back in Jesus’
day I suppose you could know him too, if you were one of the lucky few in his
immediate circle of friends. But now, because his burial clothes were empty, we
can all know him, and we can know him personally.
I want to ask you a very important question this morning. Do you know Jesus Christ? I don’t mean; “do you know about him?” Do you truly know Jesus Christ? I believe with all my heart and soul that that question is the most important question you’ll ever be asked. When this life ends it is one of two questions I believe God will ask you. I believe he’s going to ask each one of us two questions: What did you do with the life I gave you? Did you squander it, consume it selfishly, or use it to help others? And the second question—and I believe the most important one—is “What did you do with my Son?” Did you have a personal relationship with Him? Do you today?
This morning in my “anti-matter Easter Sunrise message I have been calling these three promises of God the “Empty Promises of Easter.” I hope you realize by now that even though the world often tries to lure us with empty promises, God never does.
Every so often
I go through the spam filter on my email account and I look through hundreds of
empty promises that have been sent my way. Promises of riches from someone in
God’s promises are different. Instead of promises full of emptiness, on Easter, he gave us emptiness that is full of promise. The promise of forgiveness given by an empty cross, the promise of eternal life given by an empty tomb, and the promise of a personal relationship with him given by empty burial clothes. These promises of God aren’t like the promises the world offers us. They are as sure as the God who stands behind them.
John Maxwell tells a story that I’ll close with. Several years ago he bought a new navy blazer at Nordstrom. But he says after he got the blazer he began to realize it was one of those situations where you buy an item of clothing and the more you wear it, the more you realize you don’t like it. You know how that is, don’t you? He says the blazer wasn’t the right color, and to make matters worse, it attracted lint like it was going out of style. After wearing it pretty regularly for six months or so, he stuck the blazer in his closet and didn’t wear it for a long time. But all along, tucked away in the back of his mind was the famous Nordstrom unconditional-return policy. But he would then think to himself how he’d now owned the thing for a year and a half and he’s worn it lots of times, and there’s just no way they’re going to take it back.
But then finally he decided he had nothing to lose so he pulled the blazer out the closet, threw a lot of lint on it to make sure it looked its worst, and he took it down to Nordstrom’s men’s department. He walked in, and immediately felt nervous, like he was trying to pull a scam of some sort, but he played it straight. He walked right up to the first salesman he saw and gave him his little prepared speech. He said, "I am about to put your famous unconditional-return policy to its ultimate test. I have here a blazer. I’ve worn it lots. I’ve had it for a year and a half. I don’t like it. It’s the wrong color, and it attracts lint like it’s going out of style. But I want to return this blazer for another blazer that I like."
Then he says he stood there. He couldn’t believe it. This guy with a big handlebar mustache just looked at him and shook his head. He said, "For heaven’s sake, what took you so long? Let’s go find you a blazer." Ten minutes later Maxwell says he walked out of the store with another blazer that was marked seventy-five dollars more than he paid for the one that he brought in. It was perfect and it didn’t cost him a penny.
Maxwell concludes by saying in some small way, Nordstrom’s Department Store is a lot like God. They always back up back up their promises. And he’s right.
At Easter, more than any other time of the year, we realize that God has made
all sorts of outlandish promises. So outlandish, that some of us cannot bring
ourselves to believe. Or, can we? My question for us all this morning is this;
will we take him at his word? If so, listen to this final promise – it’s not in
the Easter story, but it’s a little further over in the New Testament in Romans
10:13 and it says this: “…everyone who
calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
This morning, if you have never accepted God’s promises for your life, He is
waiting, a lot like that Nordstrom’s salesman and he’s wondering, “For heaven’s sake, what took you so long?”
Don’t wait another day, do it today, and know the joy of eternal life in Jesus
Christ. I trust the Lord will truly bless each on of you this Easter. Let’s pray.