Crucifixion and Resurrection

The Easter Sunday sermon was preached by Pastor Harry on “Crucifixion and Resurrection” (Romans 6:4b; Luke 24:1-12; 1 Corinthians 15:1-10 and 42-44a). The sermon and the whole service can be watched on our WIC YouTube Channel:

Jesus Christ rose from the dead – Alleluia! The power of Almighty God was in Him, because He Himself is God, and was therefore able to do such a thing. The crosses or necklaces that we see with Jesus hanging on them do not tell the whole story. Jesus is not eternally crucified! He died to pay the penalty for our sins, but only once and for all – it’s not a constant sacrifice! That’s why Protestant crosses don’t have Jesus on them. The Protestant cross is empty – just like the grave was empty.

 

Yes, Jesus died and has risen. But why? Our opening verse (Romans 6:4) tells us why: so that “we also may live new lives”. New wine has to go into new wineskins. Without the Resurrection, we wouldn’t be born again. Without the Resurrection, there would only be dead, traditional religion. The new lives and the new wine are the changes that the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus – brings: the old forms of traditional religion can’t contain them. Traditional religion – even traditional Christianity – doesn’t understand what being “born again” means – this crucial teaching of Jesus isn’t even taught in such churches (I know that from my own childhood experience). Unless a person is born again, they cannot see the Kingdom of God. Unless we rise from our spiritual deadness, there is no hope for us. That’s the heart message of the Resurrection. The traditional idea of having a so-called religion which we must somehow practise is a dead concept. We are to worship God – not “practise a religion” or “go to church for a service”, whatever that means.

 

So much happens before Jesus’ resurrection takes place. Each event leading up to the crucifixion can make for a separate sermon: Jesus’ betrayal and arrest; Peter’s denial; Jesus before the high priest; Jesus before Pilate the Roman governor; the crowd calling for Jesus to be crucified; Jesus sentenced to death; His humiliation by the people and the soldiers; the criminals on the cross; Jesus’ actual death; and Jesus’ burial. But more important than all the facts are the interpretations – what does it all mean? What does it mean for us today?

 

The thought that’s in my mind is the coincidence that today – being the first Sunday in the month – is a Communion Sunday. What were Christ’s words at the Last Supper?: “This is My blood, poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. This is My body, broken for you”. Crucifixion meant a slow, agonising death. The soldiers broke the legs of the two criminals who were also crucified, while they were still alive. But they didn’t break Jesus’ legs, because He was already dead. And in that way, Scripture was unwittingly fulfilled – because in the Book of Exodus, the Israelites were instructed not to break the bones of the Passover lamb to be sacrificed. Now, Jesus is the true Lamb of God, who sacrificed Himself to forgive our sins and save us from the devil, when we believe in our hearts that He was raised from the dead, and confess to others that He is our personal Lord and Saviour.

 

If we turn to the Resurrection now, we can again start with the facts. Our first reading gives Luke’s version of how it was made known: various women associated with Jesus went to the tomb, and found it empty. They then saw two men “gleaming like lightning” who were standing right beside them. The men told the ladies that Jesus had risen from the dead – and when Peter went to see for himself, he too found an empty tomb, and just pieces of linen lying around. No one could grasp what had happened. Imagine you go to the cemetery first thing at daylight, and find the grave of your loved one dug up, and an empty coffin nearby. Maybe that gives us some idea of the shock these people felt.

 

But what interests me today is the connection between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection: not in the physical realm, because we’ve mentioned the facts already. I want to focus on the spiritual meaning and connection between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, as they apply to us. That’s what Paul draws attention to in our second reading, from 1 Corinthians 15: that death is simply a prelude to eternity; and that without death there can be no eternal life.

 

It reminds us of Jesus’ words concerning seeds, in John 12:24: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces much fruit”. Jesus relates that to Himself, by predicting that His death will result in many lives being blessed – but He also gives it a twist, by adding an extra meaning: that if we love our life in this world, we will lose it forever. But if we aren’t so caring about our life in this world, but rather more concerned to serve God entirely and not ourselves, then paradoxically we will keep it for eternity. The “old man” must die, so that the “new man” can take over.

 

And what do we get, when our self is sacrificed, crucified? We get brokenness. Psalm 51:17 says: “The sacrifice You – God – desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God”. But of course, you can’t break yourself – any more than you can give yourself repentance or faith. God has to break you, in His mercy – and it’s not a pleasant experience for you. Notice how in life we put things totally upside down. We keep saying: “Why is it that God lets people suffer?”, when actually the question we should be asking is: “Why is it that God lets some people have a good life, without ever breaking them”? Only a broken person can find the way to God.

 

But if you are broken, rejoice! – because God’s working on you, to make you spiritually whole, and to give you second birth, and to give you everlasting life. Not only will you be resurrected, to live a life passionately devoted to Jesus, but the church will be resurrected from its dead traditions and habits, to become a church that’s passionately on fire to serve Christ. Then you won’t want to leave the prayer meeting – and the whole church will be out on the street, pleading with the perishing to turn to God before it’s too late.

 

This Easter, may we pray that the spiritual fire in our personal lives, and in Warsaw International Church, may grow ever stronger in the Resurrection power of Jesus Christ. And may Jesus give victory over sin; victory over indifference and deadness in the church; and victory over anything which is not in accordance with the will of God. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.