Pastors
Dan Eddy and Robert Schipul
1
Corinthians 15:1-4, 12-14
The
Sure Bet
4-24-11
Easter Sunrise service at
(Pastor Schipul)
THE SECOND
The
Apostle Paul writes to the church at
1 Now I would remind you,
brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you
stand, 2 and by which you are
being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed
in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as
of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in
accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that
he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the
Scriptures,
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from
the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no
resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been
raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
P:
This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
(Pastor
Dan)
I. Introduction: Few sure bets in life
There
is little in life you could call “a sure bet.”
Take
a bet I bet some of you made on Sunday, February 3, 2008. Do you remember the
day? It was Superbowl 42 and the undefeated New England Patriots with a record
winning streak of 18 and 0 were taken on the 14 and 6 New York Giants.
It
was a sure bet that
And
the Boston Globe had even pre-printed a front cover with 19-0 printed across a
picture of Quarterback Tom Brady.
If
you were going to place thousands of dollars on a game…this was the one to do
that.
And
for most of the game the Patriots were winning….right up to 35 seconds left in
the game. But, the sure bet didn’t come through as the Giants scored at the
last moment to make it a 17-14 final score.
If
you had put money on the Patriots…your sure bet didn’t come true. And even to
this day many Patriots fans do not fondly think of that season, even though it
was incredible the number of games they won.
Not
a lot in life that is a sure bet. And I think that skepticism can affect the
way we look at Easter after today.
Sometimes
we think that Christ coming back to life in the flesh was a long shot and so we
think that our eternal life, our chance to be in a perfect, everlasting,
harmonious relationship with God and others is not a sure bet.
(Pastor Schipul)
II. Law –
How do we question the
resurrection?
Why
does it seem that the reality of Easter is a long shot (or not a sure bet)
In
the world of Jesus’ time few thought of a great afterlife. Greco-Roman culture
was concerned about the here-and-now…temporal life…the moment and they had a
great affair with the mind. Conquered nations did their bidding, leaving them
time to observe both athletics and culture from the Roman “couch”. Almost like…what I think must be true. Not so far removed from popular thought and activity today….
Into this comes the reality of life. It
has a beginning and an end. There is someone/some Being who created it all…we continue to misuse it and others around
us…and there is SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS TO
US AFTER THIS IS ALL OVER?
And
like our own times the believers at
It
may be a sure thing/bet that Christ will come back but that doesn’t mean it’s a
sure shot I will. There may be very little around me that upholds this reality.
Family and friends may all have the same questions, the same doubts, the same
devil whispering into my ears or validating unbelief in the news media and even
scholarly writings. Doubt seems to come so easy and we can find so many reasons
or reasonable answers why not to believe in the resurrection.
We
have heard it all before. We have sung “I Know That My R3edeemer Lives” so many
times and still have doubts. But as we get older the end time for me let alone
the world comes closer. And my death raises real questions which I may have put
off for too long. I have held on to the tangible and decided to deal with the
intangible “LATER.” Well…each Easter
Sunday you hear the story once more and today…LATER is now for you. Will you listen to the “GOOD NEWS?”
(Pastor Dan)
III. Gospel –
Why is the reality of
Christ’s Physical Resurrection the sure bet?
First,
Jesus predicted His resurrection several times over the life of His Earthly
ministry. They are recorded in the Gospels.
And what’s ironic about His predictions was His enemies were aware of
them but didn’t believe them, and His own Disciples and followers, His own
believers, heard the predictions but they never really listened to them. Look at this morning’s Gospel reading…the
women were coming to a tomb to see a dead man, but what was proclaimed to them by
the angel was the risen Savior.
Second,
if Christ did not rise from the dead, then what we believe about God is truly
in vain. This means our sins were really not forgiven, because Jesus never
really died, and therefore never really defeated death by rising from the dead.
Jesus
wants the reality of His death to be so vivid in our hearts and minds that it
brings us to repentance…to bring us to humility so we can confess our sins…to
realize our brokenness so that the burden of our many shortcomings can be lifted
knowing that because Christ lives…we who have faith alone in Him will live
forever. The darkness of Good Friday is dispelled by the Light of Salvation.
Easter
is a reminder of the sure-bet, when we allow Christ to put new or renewed faith
in our hearts by the Power of His Word being proclaimed to you at this
moment. Then we see Easter as not only a
celebration, but the celebration where we live in certain hope grounded in the
sure bet…already delivered to you. The game has been won. The victory has been declared.
Hold onto your ticket of faith…so you can redeem it at the End because Christ
has already redeemed you.
And
there will be no more tangible proof of that then when our Savior will grab
Your hand and embrace Your risen body on the Last Day to say “Welcome. I love
you, forgive you, and give you life in all ways forever.”
Don’t
let time fool you…the reality of what Christ did then is as real today…the
difference is we are closer to Him coming back to end this awful world and to
give us a new one that will never fail.
(Pastor Schipul)
IV. Sanctification –
What
does this all mean to you and me today standing here at the lighthouse…We weren’t there but God was!
First
of all, it takes faith to believe in those things not seen and yet hoped for.
Like
this lighthouse which marks the
opening/the Gate to Scituate Harbor where ships and their crew can find
safe-harbor in a real storm or the way to come home each night… a sure bet they
could count on… so Paul became a pro-claimer of what he truly believed.
What
about you and me? Jesus has done it all. He has lived and died and rose
again…paying the price for our sins…giving us the gift of eternal life…a
relationship with our Heavenly Father now and beyond the grave.
Faith
in Christ…gave Paul something to LIVE for and something to DIE for. Faith in
Christ does the same for you and me.
Knowing and believing that the victory over death has been won…enables
me to live in the peace and power and grace of that great love of God here and
now. It has the power to change my life and yours. It has the power to help us
greet each new sunrise as an opportunity to love again and forgive again and
bless again through our daily words and actions. And…most importantly… because
we are talking about reality, to come back to our Heavenly Father to seek
forgiveness for our sins and re-conciliation to start anew with each sunrise.
So our goal in life is to live in the promise.
How can we do that?
Paul would
not have been sustained without believers around him. Find a faith community,
if you have none…fill out the prayer request card this morning and a Scituate
Faith Community will pray for you today…take an active part if you do belong… listen…learn…and
become a vital part of that living witness to: the One who causes the Sun to
rise,..our sins to be forgiven…and the One who strengthens us to live in a real
world with a real God! Amen.