Easter
Commentary
Easter is a stark reminder that nothing we can do can overcome the power of God. No matter how dastardly our deeds there is one who persists in seeking to make us his own.
Unfortunately so much emphasis has been put on the expected event of resurrection to eternal life in the future that many have missed the main thrust of the meaning of Easter.
When we think of death we think of that moment when the heart stops beating, breathing ceases and the line on the monitor of the brain flattens. It is in that context that we think of the resurrection.
We need to remember that to think this way was something new for the early church. For them death was something more sinister and more threatening. Death was a power in life, that which came and robbed life of shalom, peace, wholeness. It was a power that stalked daily existence.
When we think of it that way we become aware of the fact that it is true and we can add a dimension to the resurrection. It is best if we focus our attention on the power of the resurrection rather than the event. Then we can talk of the power of God both in this life and in the next.
The New Testament speaks of a power that is present now, that can come into life if we let it, that can enable us to do more than survive or cope; we can become victorious.
Read Paul again. Discover that he knows of that power that can drain life of meaning and that he knows of that resurrection power that can be unleashed in life now and make us what he calls more than conquerors, through Christ. Re-read Romans 8:38, 39 now and listen to resurrection and Easter, not in the context of the hereafter but in the context of the here and now.
OUTLINE I
The spread of the gospel
Acts 8:26-40
Introduction: One has to go back to Acts 1:8 to see what is happening here. Remember the formula, "in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That is Luke's outline for his book. Already the good news has been made known in Jerusalem and Judea; now we find in 8:14 that Peter and John are sent to Samaria to strengthen the people there. After the giving of the Holy Spirit, they preach among the Samaritans and then Philip is directed to an Ethiopian. Now they are beginning to enter that last phase, the world.
A. Interpreting the past. Philip finds the Ethiopian reading the prophet Isaiah without understanding. Philip fills in the blanks and reveals Jesus as the Suffering Servant. The good news is then shared.
B. The response. Here Luke shows that the whole world is ready for a word of good news about God. The eunuch is baptized and the command is fulfilled.
C. Caught up by the Spirit. What is one to make of this? It seems to me that we just take it as it is. Whether it is true or exaggeration does not matter. The story is told to reveal the power and the spread of the gospel. It is meant to say that God is involved and tht things are happening in that early fellowship which can be explained in no other way.
Conclusion: We are those privileged, as was Philip, to tell others the good news. It ought to be base of all we have to declare. The simple gospel that God was in Christ, the simple telling of the story is most effective.
OUTLINE II
The greatest command of all
1 John 4:7-12
Introduction: Sometimes I hear someone say that love cannot be commanded, tht it must be spontaneous if it is to be real love. It is important that we begin by reminding ourselves that the love we read about here is not erotic love, nor filial love, but agape love, self-giving love that is centered in the well being of others. We can fall into erotic love. We can accept filial love or reject it. We must jump into agape love. To love in this manner is an act of the will and the will can be commanded. That is why the answer to the question in the marriage ceremony is "I will." It means that it is an act, a voluntary act of the will.
A. Love is of God. Agape love is. Only God could have sufficient grace to love even sinners without reserve. Only God could stick with his purposes throughout all the ages. The rest of us would give in and give up, despair of any change in the object of our love. God never despairs.
B. He loved us. Here the initiative is with God. We may think that we have loved God first and that he responds to us but the truth is that when we turn to do his will and thus to love, we discover that we are face to face with that God who never ceases to pursue us and seek to make us his own.
C. Love one another. If we do not love one another, if we do not have that spirit of good will toward others, how can God love us? The truth is that we block God out. We close the door. God is love and to fail or to refuse to love is to shut the door and deny him entry into our lives.
Conclusion: Tell your people to stop trying to muster up a feeling of love for others. It will not work. All they need to do is to open their lives to the love of God and then become channels of that love to others.
OUTLINE III
Burned or pruned
John 15:1-8
Introduction: There is a real sense in which Jesus spells out just how life works in verse 2. If a branch does not bear fruit and is using the strength of the vine for no good purpose it is cut off and cast into the fire. If it does bear fruit, then it is cut back each year, pruned, cared for, in order to become more fruitful. Try some examples:
A. In personal life. All of us know that if we do not use some talent or gift or power that soon it is gone from us. The unfruitful will not continue to exist. We also know that if the gift or talent, or power is to be effective it must be trained, corralled, stretched, (pruned), so that it will become even more fruitful.
B. The church. There are those who are alarmed at the state of the church these days. On every hand they see loss of members, loss of influence, loss of power and they are afraid. Not to worry. God is at work. That which bears fruit is going to pass away. That which does is always going to find the rough edges taken away, the useless pruned away, the fruitless severed. We ought not to be afraid. God is at work in our personal lives and in the church.
Conclusion: So we ought to take heart. In either case God is at work seeking to make us his own and to remind us that we can be truly faithful only as we gain our strength and power from him. Apart from him we do nothing worthwhile. Those who are in fellowship with Christ need not worry.
Unfortunately so much emphasis has been put on the expected event of resurrection to eternal life in the future that many have missed the main thrust of the meaning of Easter.
When we think of death we think of that moment when the heart stops beating, breathing ceases and the line on the monitor of the brain flattens. It is in that context that we think of the resurrection.
We need to remember that to think this way was something new for the early church. For them death was something more sinister and more threatening. Death was a power in life, that which came and robbed life of shalom, peace, wholeness. It was a power that stalked daily existence.
When we think of it that way we become aware of the fact that it is true and we can add a dimension to the resurrection. It is best if we focus our attention on the power of the resurrection rather than the event. Then we can talk of the power of God both in this life and in the next.
The New Testament speaks of a power that is present now, that can come into life if we let it, that can enable us to do more than survive or cope; we can become victorious.
Read Paul again. Discover that he knows of that power that can drain life of meaning and that he knows of that resurrection power that can be unleashed in life now and make us what he calls more than conquerors, through Christ. Re-read Romans 8:38, 39 now and listen to resurrection and Easter, not in the context of the hereafter but in the context of the here and now.
OUTLINE I
The spread of the gospel
Acts 8:26-40
Introduction: One has to go back to Acts 1:8 to see what is happening here. Remember the formula, "in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That is Luke's outline for his book. Already the good news has been made known in Jerusalem and Judea; now we find in 8:14 that Peter and John are sent to Samaria to strengthen the people there. After the giving of the Holy Spirit, they preach among the Samaritans and then Philip is directed to an Ethiopian. Now they are beginning to enter that last phase, the world.
A. Interpreting the past. Philip finds the Ethiopian reading the prophet Isaiah without understanding. Philip fills in the blanks and reveals Jesus as the Suffering Servant. The good news is then shared.
B. The response. Here Luke shows that the whole world is ready for a word of good news about God. The eunuch is baptized and the command is fulfilled.
C. Caught up by the Spirit. What is one to make of this? It seems to me that we just take it as it is. Whether it is true or exaggeration does not matter. The story is told to reveal the power and the spread of the gospel. It is meant to say that God is involved and tht things are happening in that early fellowship which can be explained in no other way.
Conclusion: We are those privileged, as was Philip, to tell others the good news. It ought to be base of all we have to declare. The simple gospel that God was in Christ, the simple telling of the story is most effective.
OUTLINE II
The greatest command of all
1 John 4:7-12
Introduction: Sometimes I hear someone say that love cannot be commanded, tht it must be spontaneous if it is to be real love. It is important that we begin by reminding ourselves that the love we read about here is not erotic love, nor filial love, but agape love, self-giving love that is centered in the well being of others. We can fall into erotic love. We can accept filial love or reject it. We must jump into agape love. To love in this manner is an act of the will and the will can be commanded. That is why the answer to the question in the marriage ceremony is "I will." It means that it is an act, a voluntary act of the will.
A. Love is of God. Agape love is. Only God could have sufficient grace to love even sinners without reserve. Only God could stick with his purposes throughout all the ages. The rest of us would give in and give up, despair of any change in the object of our love. God never despairs.
B. He loved us. Here the initiative is with God. We may think that we have loved God first and that he responds to us but the truth is that when we turn to do his will and thus to love, we discover that we are face to face with that God who never ceases to pursue us and seek to make us his own.
C. Love one another. If we do not love one another, if we do not have that spirit of good will toward others, how can God love us? The truth is that we block God out. We close the door. God is love and to fail or to refuse to love is to shut the door and deny him entry into our lives.
Conclusion: Tell your people to stop trying to muster up a feeling of love for others. It will not work. All they need to do is to open their lives to the love of God and then become channels of that love to others.
OUTLINE III
Burned or pruned
John 15:1-8
Introduction: There is a real sense in which Jesus spells out just how life works in verse 2. If a branch does not bear fruit and is using the strength of the vine for no good purpose it is cut off and cast into the fire. If it does bear fruit, then it is cut back each year, pruned, cared for, in order to become more fruitful. Try some examples:
A. In personal life. All of us know that if we do not use some talent or gift or power that soon it is gone from us. The unfruitful will not continue to exist. We also know that if the gift or talent, or power is to be effective it must be trained, corralled, stretched, (pruned), so that it will become even more fruitful.
B. The church. There are those who are alarmed at the state of the church these days. On every hand they see loss of members, loss of influence, loss of power and they are afraid. Not to worry. God is at work. That which bears fruit is going to pass away. That which does is always going to find the rough edges taken away, the useless pruned away, the fruitless severed. We ought not to be afraid. God is at work in our personal lives and in the church.
Conclusion: So we ought to take heart. In either case God is at work seeking to make us his own and to remind us that we can be truly faithful only as we gain our strength and power from him. Apart from him we do nothing worthwhile. Those who are in fellowship with Christ need not worry.
