Sunday, April 20, 2014

April 20, 2014 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: 1 Corinthians 15:20-26 “THIS JOYFUL EASTERTIDE”



EASTER SUNRISE
April 20, 2014
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: 1 Corinthians 15:20-26

“THIS JOYFUL EASTERTIDE”
1.     Away with sin and sorrow.
2.     Death’s flood has lost its chill.
3.     My flesh in hope shall rest.

1 Corinthians 15:20-26 (NIV1984) “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

          Why did you choose to come to the Sunrise service? It’s so early. Most of the time people don’t want to come to church at 6 AM which is a big reason we don’t have a regular 6 AM sunrise service. So why Easter? It seems most people who choose the Easter Sunrise service seem to want to  kind of be like the women who went to Jesus’ Tomb. They were the first ones to find out that Jesus was alive. If we want to be like them though we need to remember how they felt and what they were thinking. Remember their last memories of Jesus? The last sights and sounds were, well awful. They were the sights and sounds of death. The nails pounded in. The haggard pain filled face. All those people jeering him. His mother Mary’s grief. The sickening thuds as they broke the thieves’ legs. Blood flowing from Jesus’ side. They watched as Joseph of Aramathea and Nicodemus had his body taken down, carried to the tomb, gently staged for burial. All too quickly the tomb was shut and sealed. They had to hurry to their homes as the Sabbath approached.
          Now remembering that background, how do you think they approached the tomb that first Easter morn? Probably not like we did. This morning we came with joyful hearts, already knowing how things turn out. We came probably thinking of all the special things of today. Do you think they ran with a pep in there step and eager anticipation? Or was it with grim determination? Someone has to treat Jesus’ body with respect. Do you think their hearts were happy or heavy? We know. At first there was no joyful Eastertide. But everything changed in an instant when they discovered Jesus is alive. Their hearts and lives were filled with joy.
Our theme hymn for this Sunrise Service is “This Joyful Eastertide.” It makes use of the Apostle Paul’s look at the Resurrection of Jesus and how useless our faith is if Jesus didn’t rise. But He did and so we have the privilege and right to have a joyful Eastertide and every time. But we don’t always have that joy, do we? There are joy stealers. Come along with me this morning as the Apostle Paul helps us see how Jesus’ resurrection helps us deal with those joy stealers mentioned in our theme hymn.
          First, this joyful Eastertide, away with sin and sorrow. “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” Sin and sorrow go hand in hand as joy stealers in our lives. It’s ironic that sin often seems to be a joy giver. Sin makes us stupid. No one says, “Ah sinning sexually is going to change the whole course of my life and lead me to consequences that are hard to deal with.” No, at the time the temptation to sin seems like it will be fun, not lead to sorrows. No one says, “Ah, I’m going to lie so that no one will trust me and then I’ll have to tell more lies and I’ll finally get caught and all the rest of the time I have to live wondering who knows and if I’m going to get caught so I will be miserable.” No, at the time, the lie seems like a way out of a bad situation. We could play that game with any sin. Sin leads to sorrow, guilt, harms our ability to view God as the God of love, cause griefs to and with other people we love. So why do we sin? As in Adam, all die. We inherited a sinful nature which is stupid and leads us to make sin stupid decisions. But, this is Eastertide. God sent Jesus. In Him we are made alive. The eternal consequences of sin which would steal joy forever and leave us in eternal sorrow are gone. Paid in full. In Christ all are made alive. While we may feel sorrow over our sins, this joyful Eastertide we can say away with sin. Jesus has taken away our sins. Away with it sorrows for Jesus will be with us while we deal with earthly consequences.
          This joyful Eastertide death’s flood has lost its chill. The death of our loved ones can  be a joy stealer. It has a chilling effect. When loved ones die we have sadness. That’s why we often talk a little differently when a loved one dies or we are at a funeral. We use hushed tones. We may cry. We don’t like being separated from someone we love for a time, not being able to call them, talk with them, be with them. But Easter tells us it won’t last. Like a nice bonfire on cool spring night takes the chill away, Jesus Resurrection has done the same for us. “But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” God’s Word tells us that Jesus is the firstfruit of those who are made alive. What does a firstfruit mean other than there will be second fruits and third fruits and thousand fruits. Death is not permanent. Death can't hold us or our loved ones. Think of your loved ones who have died belonging to Jesus. Imagine how you are going to feel when you see them again. And you will because Jesus rose. It’s a joyful Eastertide.
          This joyful Eastertide means my flesh in hope shall rest. Thinking about our own death can be a downer, a joy stealer. But this joyful Eastertide it doesn’t have to be! “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” What’s next? Now what? If you’ve traveled with kids you know those questions aren’t rare. They’re actually quite natural. We all want to know what comes next. God answers the need to know part of that question. The order goes like this. First Jesus died. Then He rose from the dead. Then He ascended into heaven. What’s next? Well at the right time this world will end. Jesus will come back with the trumpet call of God. He will hand over the kingdom and remember kingdom is people. The ability of the Devil and the demons and our own sinful natures will be destroyed. Death will be destroyed. It won’t happen again.
          But what’s next for us? My flesh in hope shall rest. While we do talk about death with hushed tones there really is no need to. When you and I physically die the “us” part, the soul goes right to heaven to be with Jesus. Our flesh, our body rests. Oh to the world it looks like it decayed, turned to dust and ashes. But like a seed planted in the ground doesn’t yield the same dead looking seed so when Jesus comes back at the end of the world, what He will raise up will be glorious bodies unaffected by sin. All because Jesus rose. A joyful Eastertide.
          If your reason for choosing to attend the Easter Sunrise service is to try to recreate the mood of what it must have been like for the women that first Easter morning you know that it is a little tough. For us it’s kind of like watching a rerun of a Super Bowl. When it’s at the point where the game is tight it’s hard to feel nervous when you know you’re going to win. So really feeling how the women felt is impossible for us. What we do share with them though is the reason for coming. Loyalty. To Jesus. They came to serve what they thought was a dead Lord. We come to serve what we know is a living Lord. This joyful Eastertide and always. He is risen indeed! Amen.

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