Easter
Sunday – 2008
Text: 1 Peter 3:12-18, 22
"Awake my heart with gladness, see what today is done;
Now after gloom and sadness, comes forth the glorious Sun.
My Savior there was laid, where our bed must be made
When to the realms of light our spirit wings its flight.
The Foe in triumph shouted, when Christ lay in the tomb
But, lo, he now is routed, his boast is turned
to gloom,
For Christ again is free; in glorious victory
He who is strong to save has triumphed o'er the grave!" (TLH 192)
Dear
Christians, this is the day that the
Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it! And may the God of peace who
brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 make you complete in every good work to do His will,
working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to
whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
Our
text for this most hallowed morning is found recorded in the First Epistle of
Peter, the Third Chapter:
1 Peter 3:12-18, 22 For the
eyes of the LORD are on the
righteous, and His ears are open to
their prayers; but the face of the LORD is
against those who do evil." 13 ¶
And who is he
who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if
you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "And do not be afraid of their threats,
nor be troubled." 15 But
sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a
defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with
meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they
defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be
ashamed. 17 For it is better,
if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For
Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit… 22
who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and
authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.
These are the perfect, holy words of our Savior God.
Acknowledging the power of these words both to bring the spiritually dead to
life and also to sustain each of us in that saving faith, we also trust that
our God will provide these same blessings among us this morning. To this end we
pray: “Sanctify us through your truth, O Lord.
Your word is truth.” Amen.
Welcome, fellow Christians, to this the greatest of all
Church holidays. It is so, of course, because it is the holiday of completion.
Nothing is left, nothing remains to be done. The battle for the eternal souls
of all mankind has been fought. We won, you and I – in Christ – and Satan and
his minions lost, forever. Our side shouts with unbridled joy on this day because
our humble, clever, dedicated Lord defeated our soul's great enemies in a most
unique way: he allowed himself to be killed. Who would have imagined that this
was his battle plan all along – to allow his enemies to capture and kill him,
and that in so doing they would seal their own doom and our eternal victory?
No one guessed God's plan until Jesus had carried it out.
Even those who believed in Jesus tried to alter his course, reckoning that
anything was better than death. In death they saw defeat, yet in his death every
sinner gained an eternal victory. This battle, having been won, will never have
to be fought again. The empty tomb of Easter is God's declaration of the final
outcome: our victory, Satan's defeat. What is even more, nothing can ever undo
or nullify that outcome. For all time and eternity, Jesus has removed the
penalty of sin by paying the price in full. God has declared it to be so by
raising Jesus from the dead on the third day. Therefore you and I celebrate on
this day not only because our Lord was raised to life, but because out sin-debt
has been declared to be paid in full. Salvation is ours; thanks be to God who has given us this victory is Jesus Christ, our
Lord.
So now let me ask you: Is that why you are here? Is that why you are reading this sermon
on this day? Don't misunderstand; it is absolutely the right thing to do. Yet
motives are also important – critical even. To do even the right thing for the
wrong reason can still be very bad. In fact we ask this question on this day because
this is one of the two most common occasions for folks to come to God's house
for wrong reasons. Some come for the sake of tradition; some because their
spouses would never forgive them if they did not (and probably refuse to feed
them this afternoon). Others attend on this day because they believe that they
are fulfilling some sort of minimum spiritual quota or standard if they can
just manage to make it to church on Christmas and Easter. The most common wrong reason, however, is a guilty
conscience. I pray that's not your motive today.
Our text talked about that, didn't it? It talked about
conscience, but how good it was to "have a good conscience." Everyone
has a conscience; not everyone has a good conscience. In fact the conscience remains
for me the single greatest tangible,
extra-Biblical evidence that there is a God and that he created us. There is no
other possible explanation for that little voice inside of you that tells you
when you have done something wrong, or accuses you if you consider not doing
the right thing. The myth of evolution surely cannot account for the existence
of conscience, since a conscience is actually a tremendous detriment in any
"survival of the fittest" eco-system. How long would a lion last if
his conscience prevented him from attacking and eating especially the youngest,
easiest, most tender prey? The existence of a conscience just doesn't fit into
Darwin's nonsense about origins.
The existence of the human conscience does, on the other
hand, fit perfectly into what God in the Bible has told us about who we are and
how we came into existence. The only reason a conscience makes any sense is if
we are accountable to a higher power, and will therefore have to answer to that
higher power at some future point in time. The Bible tells us exactly that – that we were all created by our Triune God, and at the time
of our creation he wrote his natural laws into our very natures. What is truly
amazing and revealing about a conscience is that everyone has one – no matter
how or where you were born or raised. Even more telling is the fact that unless
the conscience is perverted by our upbringing, or deadened by a lifetime of
sin, the basis of the conscience is the Law of God summarized by his Ten
Commandments. Even those who have never read the Bible, who don't even
acknowledge the existence of God, even they still have a conscience that speaks
to them in remarkable harmony with the Ten Commandments. Paul talked about this
phenomenon in Romans 2:14-15: "When Gentiles, who do not have the
law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law,
are a law to themselves,
15 who show the work of the law written in their
hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else
excusing them."
Conscience, then, is not a bad thing but a very, very
good thing. It is a gift from our God. It serves as a guide to believers and
unbelievers alike. In fact it is hard to imagine what kind of a brutal, wicked world
we would live in had God not blessed mankind in this way. But we have to
understand something about our consciences if they are to remain an asset
rather than a spiritual detriment. Your conscience is only capable of sounding
the natural warning from your God. It can never be used to silence that
warning. It can sound the alarm, but it can never turn it off.
Some things are that way, as I once discovered the hard
way. Hanging out with a bunch of bored high school friends is seldom a good
situation. One night we decided to see what the fire alarm sounded like in the
building that housed our student lunge. No big deal, we figured (drawing on our
vast teenage wisdom) we would just flip it on and then flip it off again – just
to hear what it sounded like. What we found was that fire alarms, for obvious
reasons, can be turned on by all sorts of switches located throughout a
building, but they can only be turned off by a master switch in a locked panel.
What is worse, the only one who had a key was the school's president. Looking
back, I think it would have been highly advantageous for me had I only known
that my daughter would one day marry his grandson. That little tidbit would
undoubtedly have come in handy.
By the way, in case anyone here is thinking about giving
this a try, you might find it of benefit to know that several years later
another bored young man gave the old system a test, and ended up spending the
night in the city jail. Just thought you'd want to know.
The point for us today is that our consciences work in
much the same way as that fire alarm. They sound the alarm, but they can do
nothing to silence it. That's what our text is telling us when it says, "For
the eyes of the LORD are on the
righteous, and His ears are open to
their prayers; but the face of the LORD is
against those who do evil." To silence the alarm raised by our sins we
need another, because our sin caused God to turn away from us, to refuse to
hear or acknowledge us. To silence the condemnation of our consciences we
needed someone with a key, someone with special access and authority. For that
we needed our Savior Jesus. Like a dim-witted teenager, mankind naturally
supposes that he can get out of pretty much anything he gets himself into. Our
natural assumption is that if we do something that causes our conscience to
condemn us, then we must also be able to do something to silence that
condemnation. The problem is that in God's system it just doesn't work that way
– and if we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that we know that to be
true. You and I can't make up for a theft by never again stealing. The deed is
done and there is a consequence. We cannot un-murder someone or take back our
filthy language or perverse thoughts. We cannot un-commit adultery. We cannot
pay for the bad, even by doing good. And with our
sins, we have pulled countless thousands of fire alarms, none of which can be
silenced by any human being.
Understand then that if you and I are here because our
conscience bothers us, we are in the right place, but not because being here
makes up for anything bad that we have done in the past. We are in the right
place because it is in this place that we hear about the only hope any of us
has to silence our terrified conscience – which is, in fact, the very message
of the empty tomb of Easter. We cannot silence the accusations, but Jesus can,
and has. He did so by asking his Father in Heaven to punish him in our place.
He asked his Father to take all of the guilt and condemnation for what you and
I have done and to pour it all out on him – without mercy and without
exception. Jesus thereby made himself guilty before God the Father of every sin
of every human being who has ever or will ever live. Again,
no exceptions. If you can think of a sin in your life, Jesus died to pay
for it.
This, again, is exactly what our text was talking about
when it said: "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust,
that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive
by the Spirit." Coming to church a couple of times each year –
coming to church every Sunday for
that matter – does nothing to make up for sins of the past. Yet what we do gain here is the comfort and
assurance that Jesus Christ has already done all that is necessary to pay for
our sins, and thereby our terrified consciences are calmed, reassured,
comforted. The empty tomb is God's message to all mankind: "Don't be afraid. I punished my Son instead of you. Your sins are
forgiven. Believing that this is true, the gift of forgiveness is your personal
possession."
This is not just the message of Easter; it is the sum and
substance of the entire Christian faith. Our actions can only condemn us, alarm
us, terrify us. They can never offer us hope or comfort of any kind. That hope,
that comfort, that perfect obedience had to come from
another source, and we know now that it was supplied by our Savior Jesus.
Whatever then brought us to this house of God today, whatever caused us to read
this sermon at this time, know now without a shadow of doubt that your Savior
has removed all threat and has opened to you the doors of heaven. Our text
concludes by telling us that Jesus, having been raised from the dead, has now "gone
into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers
having been made subject to Him." The great Christian joy of this
day is hearing God's promise that, because of what Jesus did for us, one day
soon we will join him there. How we now long for that great day, with now no
terror of conscience, and glory in the promise and assurance of the empty tomb.
Amen.
Easter
Sunday Bulletin and Scripture Readings
St.
Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church
Mr. Mark
Johnson, President Mrs. Eileen
McEnroe, Organist
Michael Roehl, Pastor
Pre-Service
Easter Music and Anthems
The
Opening Prayer by the Pastor
The
Opening Hymn by the Choir -
Pastor:
In the name of
the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Congregation:
(Spoken) Amen
P: O Lord, open Thou my lips.
C: (Spoken) And
my mouth shall declare your praise.
P: Hasten to save us, O God, our
Strength.
C:
Make haste to help us O Lord.
P: The Lord is risen!
C: He is risen indeed!
A Hymn
of Praise - #188
Jesus Christ is ris’n today,
Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day,
Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross,
Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss.
Alleluia!
2) Hymns of
Praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ our heav’nly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and
grave, Alleluia!
Sinners
to redeem and save. Alleluia!
3) But the pains which He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured. Alleluia!
Now above the sky He’s King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!
4) Sing we to our God above, Alleluia!
Praise eternal as His love; Alleluia!
Praise Him, all ye heav’nly host, Alleluia!
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Alleluia!
A Harmony of the Easter Story from the Gospels
The
First Lesson
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a
great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and
rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards
shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and
reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.
Very
early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb
bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they said among themselves,
"Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?"
But when they looked up, they
saw that the stone had been rolled away; for it was very large. Now when He
rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom He had cast seven demons. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early,
while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the
tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom
Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the
tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
Then
they (the other women) went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And
it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that
behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid
and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek
the living among the dead? He is not here; for He is risen,
as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and
indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I
have told you. He is not here, but is risen! Remember
how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of Man must
be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day
rise again.'" And they remembered His words. So they went out quickly from
the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.
A Hymn
of Confidence in the Message of the Empty Tomb -#200-
1) I know that my Redeemer
lives; 2) He lives to silence all my fears,
What comfort this sweet sentence gives! He
lives to wipe away my tears
He lives, He lives, who once was dead; He
lives to calm my troubled heart,
He lives, my ever-living Head. He lives all blessings to impart.
The
Second Lesson
Peter therefore went out, and the other
disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other
disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and
looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon
Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths
lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with
the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other
disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.
For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise
again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. But
Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and
looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head
and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to
her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."
Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and
did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you
weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, supposing Him to be the gardener,
said to Him, "Sir, if You have carried Him away,
tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away." Jesus said to
her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him, "Rabboni!"
(which is to say, Teacher). Jesus said to her,
"Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to
My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and
to My God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that
she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.
The
Congregation Responds -
3) He lives triumphant from the
grave, 4) He lives, all glory to His name!
He lives eternally to save, He lives, my Jesus, still the same.
He lives
all-glorious in the sky, Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives,
He lives exalted there on high. "I know that my
Redeemer lives!"
The
Third Lesson
And as they went to
tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" So
they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them,
"Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go
to Galilee, and there they will see Me."
…Some of the guard came into the city and reported
to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled
with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the
soldiers, saying, "Tell them, 'His disciples came at night and stole Him
away while we slept.' "And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will
appease him and make you secure." So they took the money and did as they
were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this
day.
Then
they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all
the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the
other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.
The
Congregation Responds
Now all the vault of heav’n
resounds, in praise of love that still abounds:
“Christ has triumphed! He is living!” Sing, choirs of
angels, loud and clear!
Repeat their song of glory here: “Christ has triumphed!
Christ has triumphed!”
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
2) Eternal is the gift
He brings, therefore our heart with rapture sings:
“Christ has triumphed! He is living!” Now still he comes
to give us life
And by His presence
stills our strife. “Christ has triumphed! He is living!”
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
3) Oh, fill us Lord
with dauntless love; set heart and will on things above
That we conquer through Your
triumph; Grant grace sufficient for life’s day
That by our lives we truly say: ““Christ has triumphed!
He is living!”
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
The
Fourth Lesson
And
truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are
not written in this book; which if they were written one by one, I suppose that
even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. But
these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you
the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you
stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached
to you; unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that
which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the
twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom
the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that
He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by
me also, as by one born out of due time.
Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised
from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the
dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is
empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of
God, because we have testified of God that He raised
up Christ, whom He did not raise up; if in fact the dead do not rise.
For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you
are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the
most pitiable.
But now Christ is risen
from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
The
Easter Sermon by the Pastor
Sermon Text
1 Peter 3:12-18, 22 12 For the
eyes of the LORD are on the
righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil." 13 ¶ And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if
you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed.
"And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled." 15 But sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you,
with meekness and fear; 16 having a
good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your
good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for
doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that
He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the
Spirit… 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the
right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject
to Him.
The Prayers of the Day, Followed by The
Lord’s Prayer
The Benediction by the Pastor:
The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit be with you all.
Congregation: (sung) Amen! Amen! Amen!
He is arisen!
Glorious word!
Now
reconciled is God, my Lord;
The
gates of heaven are open.
My
Jesus did triumphant die,
And
Satan's arrows broken lie,
Destroyed hell's direst weapon.
Oh,
hear, What
cheer!
Christ
victorious, Riseth glorious,
Life He giveth--
He
was dead, but see, He liveth!
Silent Prayer
Announcements
Welcome—To our visitors this morning we offer a warm welcome,
together with our thanks for allowing us to share the message and joy of the
empty tomb with you. If this is your first visit, please introduce yourself to
the Pastor and join us again. All are invited to remain after the service this
morning for light refreshments.
Sign Up Sheet for Greeters—In an effort to make our visitors feel more
welcome and comfortable, St. Paul is establishing a Greeter Program. Please
consult the sign-up sheet on the Entry Table if you would be willing to
participate.
Delegate Conference and Convention Volunteers—We are again
seeking volunteers to represent St. Paul at the West Central Delegate
Conference in Watertown (May 27-29) and at the CLC Convention in Eau Claire
(June 16-20).
Automatic Contribution Enrollment—As approved by the Voters last Sunday, we have begun
implementing the automatic contribution program. The first step, for those who
want to participate, is to fill out the enrollment form that you will find in
your mailbox. Please direct any questions either to Financial Secretary Gary
Miller or to the Pastor.
Church Council Notes—The
Council met on March 18. Four members, plus the Pastor, were present. Treasurer
Weiss reported strong February offerings and a month-end balance of $1437 with
all bills paid. Pastor Roehl submitted year-end membership statistics,
including 72 communicant members, 18 precommunicant
members, and 8 additional souls under our care—for a total of 98 souls served
here at St. Paul. Repairs were made to several florescent lights and to the
parsonage garage door. Details for implementation of the Automated Contribution
Program were discussed. The Council resolved to solicit volunteers for the new
Greeter Program suggested by the Outreach Committee. A request to host the
Carrie’s Kids Tree was respectfully declined. The Council discussed the need
for a Greeter/bulletin table, and approved the Women’s Fellowship chair sale
and purchase plan. Missionary Koenig has been invited to speak on June 15.