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Easter Recap

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Today’s sermon, Gospel 101, from 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 is now online. The sermon sought to unfold the basics of the Gospel highlighting: The Gospel Message: Jesus (vv.3-8), The Gospel Effect: Change (9-10), and The Gospel Call: Repent and Believe (1-2, 11). We had a great morning and I hope you enjoyed basking in the glory of God through His Risen Son.

Easter Week Help – Easter Sunday

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Today, we wrap up our week long celebration by looking at:

Resurrection Sunday

(See Matthew 28:1-20, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-53, John 20:1-21:25.)

Early on this Sunday morning, some of Jesus’ friends set out to His grave to anoint the body of their friend and teacher. But when they arrived, they were greeted by what one of the Gospel writers calls “a man dressed in lightning.” He tells them Jesus is not there, as He said. He is risen.

In the week leading up to His death, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, went out to meet the wolves of judgment, sin and death, and He did so with all authority. One might wonder, what good has it ever done anyone to die for some cause? This is the glorious beauty of the Gospel. Jesus didn’t die as a martyr for a cause. He was never in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was never at the mercy of anyone. He lived, died and was buried because He meant to be.

No one took His life from Him. He laid it down. For who? For His flock, His people. And He laid it down only to take it up again. The point of the cross was not to die, but to die and rise again, defeating the prowling wolves of sin and death themselves. He said, “I have authority to lay my life down, and I have authority to take it up again.” And this is just what he did. Easter says of Jesus, “He meant it! He meant to lay down His life for you! And as sure as He has taken it up again, He knows you!”

Praise God today for our Victorious Savior.

Easter Preview – The Gospel

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Tomorrow at Crestview, Lord willing, we plan to work our way through 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, looking at the basics of the Gospel. Much like we all love Linus saying, “That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown…” I’m hoping to help people understand exactly what Good Friday and Easter are all about. I hope you come ready to worship our Glorious Savior. If you get a chance, read 1 Corinthians 15 to prepare yourself for our an amazing day.

Easter Week Help – Saturday

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As we continue to think about this week and what it means, we read:

Saturday—The Forgotten Day

(See Matthew 27:62-66.)

The Saturday following Jesus’ crucifixion might be the most unique and overlooked day in the history of the world—the day between Jesus’ death and His resurrection. Less is written about this day than any other in the scope of this week. Yet what makes it so unique is that this is the only full day in history where the body of the crucified Christ lay buried in a cave.

The day before, He was crucified. The following day He rises from the grave. But what about Saturday? Though we may not make much of this day, when we look at the few verses the Gospels give us accounting for it, we find this was by no means a forgotten day to the Chief Priests who had handed Jesus over to death. During His earthly ministry, Jesus said many times that He would die in Jerusalem at the hands of the Chief Priests, but on the third day rise again. (Mt 12:40, Mk 8:31, 9:31, 10:34)

Of course, the Chief Priests scoffed at this. But they didn’t forget it. On the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Jesus’ prediction preoccupied their thoughts such that they simply couldn’t leave it alone. Matthew 27:62-66 tells us the strange story of how they couldn’t seem to simply dismiss out of hand the possibility that Jesus might have known something they didn’t.

Therefore, with your family,

While waiting for Sunday morning to come, set aside some extra time for this fun activity:

As a family make cookies this evening to prepare for tomorrow, Easter Sunday. Check out this blog for the recipe and guided discussion.

Let’s continue to worship Jesus by eagerly anticipating all that tomorrow holds for us.

What Will People See Tomorrow?

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I was challenged by this post on “What Will They See This Easter Sunday?” at the Life2Gether Blog.

Here’s some honest questions to ask about what people will see tomorrow?
As people enter our doors this Easter Sunday, will they see us as real people worshiping a real Savior?
Will they enter a community of grace?

Tim Chester, in his excellent book, You Can Change, lists some great questions to discern if your church is a community of grace, and thus attractive to broken, needy sinners.

* Are people open about their sin or is there a culture of pretending?
* Is community life messy or sanitized?
* Are broken people attracted to your community?
* Is conflict out in the open or is it suppressed?
* Are forgiveness and reconciliation actively pursued?
* Do you constantly return to the cross in your conversation, prayers and praise?

Tomorrow, I’m hoping, first of all, that Jesus is greatly glorified. But, secondly, I’m hoping that we as a Christian community can show how great Christ is our words, attitudes and actions. May God allow this to be true of us.

Easter Week Help – Good Friday

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Lots to think about today on this day of anguish and misery, thinking about our sin putting Jesus on the cross, but also a day in which our redemption was finished as “It is Finished” was declared:

Good Friday

(See Matthew 27:1-61, Mark 15:1-47, Luke 23:1-56, John 18:28-19:42.)

On Thursday night in Gethsemane, Jesus was arrested—betrayed by one of His own disciples and abandoned by the others. The Chief Priests and the Sanhedrin called for secret trials in the dead of night, and the verdict handed down was that Jesus would be crucified. This was something the Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate, would have to execute. And reluctantly, he did.

After a severe beating, Jesus was nailed to a cross where He’d remain for six hours until dead. Never before or since had more been lost and gained at the same time as at Jesus’ crucifixion. The world gained the atoning sacrifice of Christ. But for those present, either the significance of the moment was lost on them or their hearts broke because the One they believed to be the Savior of the world was dying at the hands of Rome. They couldn’t stop it and they didn’t realize it was for them. They hoped in Him, and though He had told them He would suffer many things and rise three days later, (Mk 8:31) how could they have possibly known this was what He meant?

TVC Children’s Blog urges families to:

As we prepare to celebrate Christ’s resurrection, we turn our eyes to His death.

Build a fort and read the story of Jesus’ death in Luke 14:43-15:47 in the fort. Then read Hebrews 12:2 and talk through the questions below:

1. What happened to Jesus before the cross?
2. What do you think Jesus was thinking and feeling?
3. How did Jesus die?
4. What did they do with Jesus’ body?
5. What did Jesus have set before Him that helped Him endure the cross?

As you finish talking, it might be quiet or somber or more serious. Don’t feel rushed to change that. Let the death of Jesus weigh on you as you wait for Sunday – the day we celebrate that Christ has risen and is alive, the day that shows He has authority over sin and death. Amen!

Ponder what these events mean and seek to glorify Jesus as you join others to worship tonight. If you’re able, please join us at Crestview for our Good Friday Service at 7PM.

Easter Week Help – Day 5

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Today, we have a lot to think about:

Thursday

(See Matthew 26:17-75, Mark 14:12-72, Luke 22:7-71, John 13:1-18:27.)

The Thursday prior to Jesus’ crucifixion fills many pages in Scripture. It begins with John and Peter securing the upper room. There, Jesus washes His disciples’ feet, explaining He was there to make them clean.

As they begin to eat, Jesus announces one of them is about to betray Him. Each wonders if He means them. Then He dispatches Judas to do what he intends.

During this last supper, Jesus sets apart the Passover bread and cup and reassigns—or better, perfects—their meaning. The bread is His Body. The cup, His blood. This meal will no longer primarily remind them of God’s deliverance from the external tyranny of Pharaoh, but rather from the internal tyranny of their own guilt and sin against God.

Jesus prays for these His friends and those who will come to know Christ through them—that His Father would make them one. (Jn 17) Then Jesus and His friends leave for the Mount of Olives to pray. (Mk 14:33) But He isn’t there only to pray. He is also there to wait. Soon a line of torches snake their way toward Him in the darkness. This is what He has been waiting for.

In light of this, we are encouraged to:

Grab a basin of water and a towel. Call your children over and wash their feet. After this, have someone read John 13:1-17 and Philippians 2:5-11.

Talk through these questions:

1. What did Jesus do at the last supper with His disciples?
2. Who deserved to have their feet washed? Jesus or the disciples?
3. Who was washing feet?
4. What does this show about Jesus?
5. What is Jesus’ greatest act of humility and service to sinners?
6. Did Jesus deserve to die?

As a family, spend time thanking Jesus for dying on the cross.

I hope as you think about Jesus on this Thursday, your worship would bring Him praise.

Easter Week Help – Day 4

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As we continue to work through this week, here’s how we can think about:

Wednesday

(See Matthew 26:6-16, Mark 14:3-11, Luke 22:3-6.)

The past several days have been a rush of tension and anger for Jesus’ opponents and of unflinching resolve for Jesus. Words have been His currency, and He has spent piles of them. But on the Wednesday before His death, Jesus was still.

He was in the home of Simon the Leper, a man known by what was wrong with him. During their meal together, Mary of Bethany, Lazarus’ sister, (Jn 12:3) came to Jesus with an alabaster flask of perfume. She had been saving this perfume, worth a year’s wages, for this very occasion. (Jn 12:7) She began to pour the perfume on Jesus’ head and feet, which required breaking open its container. (Mk 14:3) Like popping the cork on a $20,000 bottle of champagne, this was a very intentional act. She was there to deliberately offer Jesus everything she had. By giving to Jesus her most valuable possession, she was expressing that she knew what He was about to give of Himself was for her.

What Mary did was beautiful and Jesus wanted everyone to know it. She was preparing Him for burial. There was honor and kindness in her gesture. He returned the honor by saying history would never forget her act of beauty. And we haven’t.

As a practical way to continue to think through this week, TVC Children’s Blog gives this idea:

This evening: Brush your teeth. Put on your pajamas. Find a room without windows (like a bathroom).

Then gather as a family and read about Jesus predicting His death. Using a flashlight, read John 12:20-36 in the dark.

1) What is about to happen to Jesus?
2) Does Jesus know that He is about to die?
3) How does He feel?
4) What does He pray to the Father?
5) How does the Father respond?
6) What does Jesus call others to do once He, the Light, has left?
7) Who are some people you know or have heard about who are children of light?
8) What does it look like to be children of light?

Let’s continue looking to Jesus this week as we think about His work for us.

Easter Week Help – Day 3

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Continuing our Easter Week series, on Day 3, we read of:

Tuesday

(See Matthew 21:23-26:5, Mark 11:27-14:2, Luke 20:1-22:2, John 12:37-50.)

If Monday’s arrival in the temple was marked by Jesus’ all inclusive, living parable of cleansing God’s house, Tuesday’s entrance is marked by a direct, verbal confrontation with the appointed leadership. After Jesus makes the point that He refuses to regard these leaders as having any authority over Him, He elects to spend the rest of the day right there in the temple so that He might teach the people the word of God. But Tuesday afternoon would be the last time Jesus would publicly teach in the temple as a free man. His words on this day would be His closing argument—His manifesto.

When Jesus left the temple that Tuesday, “the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him.” (Mk 14:1) But they couldn’t take His life from Him solely on the strength of the charges they meant to bring—not if He defended Himself. But He would not. Instead, by His silence, He’d offer up His life for a world of blasphemers and traitors and liars who so desperately needed to be upset. This was what He had come to do, and as He left the temple that Tuesday afternoon, He knew He would do it soon.

Encouraging our thinking about this is this suggestion for serving our families:

Go to the store and buy some figs. Then read Matthew 21:18-27. This happened days prior to Jesus’ death, and Jesus knew He was about to die.

Talk through the questions below as a family and let your kids look, smell, feel and even taste the figs.

1) What does it mean for Jesus to have authority?
2) What did Jesus say to the fig tree that did not have fruit on it?
3) What did the fig tree do when Jesus said those things?
4) What are other the things Jesus has authority over?

May you continue to fellowship with your God remembering Jesus’ final week.