Series: Humble King Sermon Title: Life out of death Passage: Matthew 28:1-20 Preacher: Dan Weyerhaeuser Date: 4-1-18 Antonio Stradivari was the most distinguished craftsman of classical wood instruments in history. He was born in 1644, worked in Cremona, Italy and made 1,100 violins, violas and cellos. Around 650 of these instruments survive. He labored to make beautifully sounding instruments, but perhaps even Antonio could not have anticipated how good they would be! His instruments resonate beautifully and produce an unparalleled rich, refined, deep sound that projects clearly over a distance. There is still considerable debate about WHY Stradivari’s violins sound so much better than modern-day instruments. Some have suggested the wood’s density, others the varnish he used. But in 2006, US researchers floated an explanation. They suggested Stradivarius’ instruments owe their distinct sound to a chemical treatment of the wood that killed woodworm and fungi. The unique sound of a Stradivarius violin cannot be duplicated, in part, because Stradivarius didn’t craft his violin from rare, fine pieces of wood. Instead, he carved his priceless violins from worthless driftwood. Stradivari was a poor man and couldn’t afford to buy the fine wood his contemporaries were using. So instead, he went to the Po River, which runs past Cremona, and fished driftwood out of the water. There is a LOT of driftwood in this river… pictures are easy to find. Stradivari took this discarded, worthless wood back to his shop, dried it out, and from it crafted priceless instruments. As this wood floated around the dirty water of the Po River, microbes ate out the center of the wood’s cells leaving a fibrous structure in the wood cells that act like tiny resonating chambers. Each cell of wood is an air chamber. POINT: In the hands of the master, discarded, useless wood that nobody wanted was transformed into instruments everyone wanted. Trash is transformed into treasure. If a violin’s purpose is to create beautiful music, these instruments “sing” so well precisely BECAUSE of the wood’s weathered and stressed past.

This reminds me of the way that GOD fashions treasures and masterpieces out of discarded, broken PEOPLE. It is His WAY to take the least, the lost, the sick, the discarded, and by His grace, transform THEM into masterpieces who “sing… of the excellences of our great God and Savior.” And the center of His transforming flows out of what we remember today… Easter – the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Main point: God gives us life through Easter Easter is the final and great remedy for the human condition for all who will welcome Him as their King. People have not said with joy to one another, “The stock market has risen… it has risen indeed” or “My 401K has risen, it has risen indeed.” But human beings across every continent and culture for two millennia through incredible difficulty and poverty, disease and pain, hardship and suffering and death have found hope in the words, "Christ is risen. He is risen indeed." Turn to Matthew 28 to see the story. 1. Easter CONFRONTS a hurting, dark world Humanity DESPERATELY needed Easter. We see some of what is wrong with our world in the first verse! Matt. 28:1 Now after the Sabbath, (the Jewish Sabbath was on Saturday) toward the dawn of the first day of the week (Sunday), Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

The light of sunrise is just noticeable on the eastern horizon and off these two women go. They are INCONSOLABLE! They have been afflicted deeply with common but terrible parts of life in our world! CONTEXT: Remember, they were IN Jerusalem because they had followed Jesus there Who had completely transformed their lives! Take Mary Magdalene. We first hear of her from a glancing comment in Luke 7. Luke 8:1 Soon afterward (Jesus) went on through cities and villages (of Galilee), proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,

2 Mary had been afflicted by 7 demons. Talk about HORROR story! In Mark, a man possessed by demons cut himself on the rocks and was completely insane and a child who was demon possessed often threw himself into the fire. She’d been tormented with filthy, hateful thoughts and fears. Mary’s life must have been a living hell! But all that changed when she met Jesus. Travelled through Magdala (a fishing village on the west side of the Sea of Galilee), Jesus met Mary. He knew immediately what was wrong, spoke a word of cleansing, and at His command the demons fled. (Demons run from Jesus like darkness runs from light!) For the first time in years, Mary’s affliction left, and there stood the Jesus who freed her and she realized how WONDERFUL He is. She became a follower Jesus instantly… a “disciple.” But on THIS morning, He’s dead and she is inconsolable! There are LAYERS to what was wrong with this scene. 1) Mary was Jewish. Over the last days, she’d heard HER own Jewish spiritual leaders, including the High Priests, condemn Jesus on the testimony of liars, and provoke their fellow Jews to CRY for His crucifixion before Pilate! What do you DO with that? Totally disillusioning! 2) Never has a man been LESS deserving of death been executed by civil authorities. Imagine the rage you might feel when civil leaders condemn and crucify as guilty the least guilty man in history! This was the greatest act of civil injustice in human history. What do you do with THAT? 3) Mostly she experienced the deep grief that the Savior she loved was now gone! She is living through the agony of the death of someone she loved, totally unexpectedly. A week before the crowds had hailed Jesus as God’s Savior! But just days later, she was at the cross and HEARD Jesus cry out, “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken me.” (Literally that word means, “To shriek.” She would NEVER forget that sound!) She saw Him suffer, mocked by the soldiers and Jews. She saw Him breathe His last and then saw His body taken from the cross, dead. She likely saw Him prepared for burial and placed in a tomb and sealed. That was Friday night. Saturday, she couldn’t go to the tomb because of Sabbath laws. She carried that awful, soulful ache in her heart! Sunday morning at the first gleam of sunrise, she is off with her friend to Jesus’ tomb. She just wanted to be near Him. PA Do these things seem like causes of hurt and darkness in our world today? How much harm has civil injustice done in our world? How big a deal are leaders who abuse their power? (Do you know who Time’s man of the year was in 1938? Adolf Hitler). How much sorrow and grief over death and loss and separation do people endure? I’m not saying the world is ALL bad, but I am saying there is incurable bad in all of the world. GRATEFULLY, These are the VERY things that Easter confronts in a way these women could not have expected! (IF these are things that trouble YOUR world, you will be helped by what we see here!) 2. Easter REMEDIES hurt and darkness in our world. As they approach, something has happened… 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake,

This quake isn’t a seismic event! It was an angelic event. for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven

An ANGEL, coming from heaven (not just form the sky), radiating God’s glory is a seismic event! When God’s glory approaches, the earth acts like water. As this angel arrives, the earth quakes. (What will it be like when GOD returns?) 3 His appearance was like lightning,

To look at this angel hurt their eyes, he radiated so brightly. and his clothing white as snow.

What did He do? 2b (He) came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

The angel opened the tomb, not to let Jesus out, but to let Mary and Mary IN! NOTE: There is an immediate power encounter here. This single angel approaches the place where several Roman Guards are standing guard. These are professional warriors, 1000 miles from home, who are legendary for their fanatical obedience to follow orders to their death. They are also members of the civil force that had unjustly condemned and crucified Jesus.

3 When an angel descended from heaven and God’s glory shook the earth, the representatives of civil authority react… 4 …for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

Where does TRUE power reside? And then He begins to speak. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

Then best words EVER 6 He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said.

Jesus DIED! But this morning He is ALIVE! He hasn’t risen “in their hearts.” He doesn’t just “live on in their memories.” The Savior Who was dead, isn’t dead any more! He has risen never to die again! Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

POINT: These women had been in the grip of the great sorrows of life (injustice, disillusionment, loss, fear, grief) and ALL of them were instantly gone! 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Every wound evil has inflicted is turned back in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Everything wrong for these women is made right at this moment! The key to this… 3. Easter’s TRANSFORMS hurting, wicked people The masterpiece God is making in the Easter story… is not violins… its PEOPLE! All of this happened because God wants to transform PEOPLE, to restore PEOPLE, to redeem and forgive, cleanse and love and adopt and welcome to Himself PEOPLE. He makes sons and daughters of God out of people because of Christ’s resurrection! He is the antidote for our emptiness: The reason there is a hole in your soul that is SO vast and un-fillable is that you were created to have God in your soul! Have you noticed… The more abundantly the benefits of civilization come streaming our way, the emptier our lives become. With all its wealth and power, it only shows that the human heart, in which God has put eternity, is so huge that all the world is too small to satisfy it. Herman Bavinck

As CS Lewis once said…

"God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

He quiets our hearts with His love! He is the answer for what is wrong with this world: Injustice will be brought to justice, disillusionment with leaders is a thing of the past because HE is a faithful leader, the resurrection means we live forever with Him, united with our family and friends who know Him. He is the antidote for our sinfulness: He died for the forgiveness of our sins. ALL, those things we’ve done that we are ashamed of, the words and actions and thoughts that are unclean in us… are forgiven, proven by the resurrection. NOTE: The people who have RECEIVED what Easter offers are called, “Disciples.” Disciple means “learner, follower.” Disciples of Jesus (Christians) are people who have turned to God and trusted HIM to lead their lives. They have received Him as a free gift, but it is a BIG DEAL to become a disciple of Jesus because following Him becomes the most important thing about us! (He IS God after all!) How do you BECOME one? It starts with recognizing who Jesus is! Matt. 28:16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him…

What a GREAT moment! 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

4 That is an AMAZING development. Authority is legal “right to decide for another and the power to carry out your wishes.” Jesus has all authority over heaven and on earth. He has control of every sub-atomic particle and every galaxy, every mountain and every leaf, every fish and every cloud, every government and every small child, every terrorist and every soldier, every bird and every whale, and ever moment of every life that has ever, or will ever live. There is nothing over which Jesus does not have absolute authority...the right and the power to do with as He pleases (Piper)! You become His disciple when you install Him as King in YOUR life. Earlier in Matthew Jesus said, Matt. 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,

Jesus’ yoke is His rule… His Lordship. You are saying, “You take charge of my life.” This OUGHT to feel like a big thing. This is the decision of someone who is looking for a BIG ANSWER! You loose NOTHING with this, though. …for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Becoming a disciple is returning to the life you were created to know! When you are running your own life, you aren’t free so much as lost. But when you ask HIM to run your life, you are living the life He created you to live! He is STILL inviting people to become disciples. How? He tells His disciples… 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

People become disciples when they respond to the invitation of other disciples! HE reaches out to each of us through His disciples! The EXTERNAL act of beginning a relationship with Jesus is baptism! …baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

When a person becomes a Christian, the emblem of that commitment is baptism. Its like the betrothal ceremony for a Christian. Publically we acknowledge that we have been cleansed by Jesus, that we are united to Him, that something old in us died and in its place we walk in newness of life. He gives us baptism for OUR sake… as Christians and as a church! If you are a Christian, you should be baptized! It will HELP you in clarifying Who’s you are! This is the BEGINNING of a new life with Him. He goes on to say…. 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

When you become a Christian, you want to spend time with Christians and learn how to obey Jesus! If you are a Christian, you want to be helping people learn. Remarkable truth… And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus is present in His people’s telling people about Him. All of this and more is happening through Easter! Response: 1) Become a disciple. Is there pain and emptiness in your heart you want filled? Are there things you would LONG to be forgive for? Are you willing to humble yourself and tell God, “I need You!” Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to rescue me! I confess to You that I need you. I need Your forgiveness, and I need Your love. Forgive me for my sins, Lord. I turn to you and place my trust in You as my Savior and King of my life. Come into my life and make me the person You want me to be. I want to be your follower. In Jesus’ name, amen. 2) Be baptized: Maybe you just prayed! You can be baptized today. The math is simple… if you love Him and trust Him, then obey Him in this. Baptism was His invention. There are 17 people being baptized in our services, but you can still come forward and be baptized today. You will be HELPED by this. In a moment we’ll hear the stories of folks who will be baptized. If as they share, and as we baptize them, you want to join us, its not too late. Mike Urton… any time during the remainder of our service, you can get up, come to the team, and they will help you get ready! 3) Live an “Easter life” He has made you into a masterpiece. Make it your aim every day to find joy in Jesus’ resurrection, and like Stratovarius’ violins, “sing” often about Him. Eugene Peter paraphrases Philippians 2:15 with these words:

5 Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns.

Next week. We start a short series called, “I AM – Greater than my trials” Even as God’s people, we face many of life’s challenges just like everybody else… but we don’t face then alone. We’re going to take 7 weeks looking at Exodus 14 and things we learn about how we trust God when we feel cornered. God gives us LIFE through Easter. Let’s hear the stories of some of some of our church family who have found life in Christ?

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Small Group Leader Notes April 1, 2018 From Pastor Dan… Hello Small Group Leaders and anyone else using these notes, I hope your Easter celebration has been holy and encouraging. Your study of Matthew 28 should be something! There is much more in these verses than we got to experience. A quick head’s up – Next week we start a 7 week series based on Exodus 14, and lessons we learn about what is really important when we are “cornered” in circumstances in our lives. You group will have lively discussions on this material. Grace to you! Warmly, Dan Our Scripture Study… Series: Message #: Sermon Title: Passage: Preacher: Date:

Alive: Humble King 3 Life through death Matthew 28:1-29 Dan Weyerhaeuser 2018-4-1

SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS Getting to know each other: What has your experience with “authority” been like in your life? Personal Study: As you study (read, reread, consider, ponder, reread) the passage, list observations you make from the text. What is the main point of this passage? How is the theme developed? What “Aha’s” come to you as you read? What questions come to mind? How do you respond to the God seen in these verses? Bring your observations and questions to your Small Group this week! —————————

Inductive Study Matthew 21:1-17

1. Context: V. 1 Our passage opens early on Easter morning. What is happening? Can we guess what these women are feeling at this moment, and why? From the message manuscript above: They are IN Jerusalem, 150 miles from their home in Galilee, because they followed Jesus there. He was like NO ONE they had ever known. He’d come into their lives, told them to repent because the God’s Kingdom was at hand, and proved He should be listened to by things He did. He healed lepers and the lame, fed thousands with a little bread and fish, came to them when they were in trouble in a storm by walking on the water. He had said to each of them, “Follow me.” He’d loved them, and taught them about God and give THEM authority to heal people. So at

7 one point when a crowd abandoned Jesus because He asked for a huge commitment, He looked at His disciples and said, “Will you leave me too?” Peter said it best, “Where would we go? You have the words of life? (Jn 6.68).” But since late Thursday night after supper, think of the things Jesus’ followers had experienced: 1) Surprise! All seemed to be going GREAT and then he’d been seized by the temple guard in the Garden of Gethsemane. 2) Fear: those guards looked like they wanted to arrest us also. 3) Confusion that Jesus was on trial for blaspheme at the hands of your own spiritual leaders, the Pharisees, 4) Dread as momentum built against Him. In the crowd, Jesus was in the custody of Pilot and everyone around you was screaming for that He be crucified. 5) Foreboding that things had turned so bad so quickly. 6) Rage at the injustice of HIM being tried by those in authority for blaspheme! 7) Horror at the sight of Him being scourged 39 times, 8) Dismay watching this Savior your love drag the cross towards Calvary, 9) Sickened & violated that HE was laid on a cross, his hands and feet nailed to the beam, and He hung, 10) Utterly helpless to do anything about it, and 11) After 6 hours if this anguish inconsolable grief at His death. 12) Grateful that Joseph of Arimathea was given permission to take Jesus’ body, prepare it for burial, and place it in an unused tomb with a stone sealing the entrance. 13) They had to feel completely disoriented about what to do now, 14) Guarded about what you can show… Jerusalem is suddenly a very hostile place for His followers. That was Friday night. Then through all of Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, they were not permitted to visit his grave. It was the longest day of their life with your thoughts and feelings.

2. Do people in our world still experience some of these same kinds of feelings today? What are causes of these feelings? What effect do they have upon us? Group reflection question. The question begs an obvious “yes” answer. But the point is to help your group label some of the sorrows THEY feel that Jesus’ followers were feeling that day. The point of this question is to help your folks identify with the scene into which Easter came. 3. V. 2-4 What happens? If that were you, what would you be feeling? An angel of God descends from heaven about the time the women are on the way. As he arrives, the earth quakes. This is owed, not only to his holy presence, but his holy mission and message – the announcement that Jesus has risen from the dead. Question: What were the Roman soldiers feeling at the angel’s arrival? Was this a typical Roman-soldier response? To what do you attribute their reaction? 4. V. 5-6 What is the angel’s message? How important is this news? Why? They need not be afraid. (God’s power and glory will not harm God’s people.) More, he knew they were looking for Jesus who was “crucified.” (Note: To be crucified, is to be killed. You wouldn’t say, “Your looking for the man who was beheaded… he’s sitting in the other room.” ) THEN the angel says, “He is not here… He is risen!” 5. Inconsolable sorrow, rage, guilt, and fear are all things these women might have been carrying. How does the angel’s message (v. 2-6) speak to these things? Every one of them is overturned by the news of Jesus’ resurrection! 6. V. 7 what is their mission? (Notice: It is God’s plan that the news of Christ’s resurrection be spread by personal witnesses). The last piece of his message is that Jesus has gone on ahead of the disciples and will meet them in Galilee. 7. V. 8-10 What happens? What must THAT have been like? As the women hurry off to carry out their mission from the angel, Jesus meets them. He greets them. They respond by grasping His feet and worshipping Him. (NOTE: The NT word here “worship” means literally, “towards – to kiss.” How is that a great description of worship?”)

8 Jesus assures them that they need not be afraid. THEN, he repeats the angel’s instruction about telling His disciples to meet Him in Galilee. QUESTION: Since the text does not explain this, we can do nothing more than speculate. But why do we think Jesus had this meeting with the women in which he simply repeated the words the angel had spoken to them which they were carrying out? My guess (and that’s all it is)… They came out to be near Him and He didn’t want them (or Himself) to wait any longer to be untied with these two. Jesus loves those He leads!

8. V. 16-17 What happens? When the disciples get to Galilee, there on the Mount they find Jesus waiting for them. They too worship Christ when they see Him! THAT must have been a reunion!!! 9. Apparently even the sight of Jesus’ resurrected body was not enough for some people to not “doubt.” What does this tell us? Here too, the text doesn’t explain exactly what about Christ’s resurrection they doubted. (Perhaps they doubted that this was Jesus. Or perhaps they doubted that He had actually died and then rose.) What is clear is this… here they stand in Jesus’ presence, with Jesus declaring He had died and rose again, and they doubted. What does it tell us that a person could be confronted with the actual evidence of the resurrection of Christ and still doubt? A: Their doubt is not rooted in not enough evidence. Some doubt is not about doubt… so much as unwillingness. 10. V. 18 What is Jesus’ first message to His disciples? What does this mean for them? All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me! John Piper, years ago, elaborated on “all authority” with the following paragraph. You might read it and then ask, “How does this news help us as Christ’s followers? He has authority over the angelic host: Satan and all demons, over all angels -good and evil - / over the natural universe, natural objects and laws and forces: stars, galaxies, planets, meteorites; / authority over all weather systems: winds, rains, lightning, thunder, hurricanes, tornadoes, monsoons, typhoons, cyclones; / authority over all their effects: tidal waves, floods, fires; / authority over all molecular and atomic reality: atoms, electrons, protons, neutrons, undiscovered subatomic particles, quantum physics, genetic structures, DNA, chromosomes; / authority over all plants and animals great and small: whales and redwoods, giant squid and giant oaks, all fish, all wild beasts, all invisible animals and plants: bacteria, viruses, parasites, germs; / authority over all the parts and functions of the human body: every beat of the heart, every breath of the diaphragm, every electrical jump across a billions of synapses in our brains; / authority over all nations and governments: congresses and legislatures and presidents and kings and premiers and courts; / authority over all armies: Generals and weapons and bombs and terrorists; / authority over all industry and business and finance and currency; / authority over all entertainment and amusement and leisure and media; / over all education and research and science and discovery; / authority over all crime and violence; / over all families and neighborhoods; and over the church, and over every soul and every moment of every life that has been or ever will be lived.

There is nothing in heaven or on earth over which Jesus does not have authority, that is, does not have the right and the power do with as He pleases. Both the right and the power. John Piper

11.

V. 19-20a What is Jesus’ command? Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything God has commanded.

12. V. 20b What is Jesus’ promise? How does having this Jesus (v. 18) with you always change the way we live our lives?

9 He will be with us always, even to the end of the age! This same Jesus who has all authority. This same Jesus who has commanded us to make Him known!

13. What do these verses show us about Jesus and following Him? Is there one thing you can do between now and our next meeting to follow Christ?