On this Easter morning we conclude our two-part series called Questions for Easter. We are using as our key text Romans 4:25, which says, "He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God." As anyone with even the faintest knowledge of Christianity knows, Christians believe two central things about Jesus: that he died on the cross and that he rose from the grave. There are some, as there were in the centuries following, who called themselves Christian who want to tweak the historical realities about either of these and claim that he really didn’t die and if he did, then he really didn’t rise. Yet true Christ-followers accept as objective fact that Jesus died on the cross and that he rose again physically from the grave.

Our problem, as we discussed last time, is that even true Christ-followers become so comfortable with the stories of the cross and the resurrection that we forget the meaning behind the stories. So it helps us to ask questions about these stories. It’s good that we have "Questions for Easter." Last week we asked the question, "Why did Jesus die?" We said that Jesus died on the cross so that forgiven people could go to heaven. We made the distinction that we don’t get to heaven by trying to be good because we can never be good enough. The only way we go to heaven is by trusting; believing that Jesus has done all that was needed to forgive my sins. Good people don’t go to heaven; forgiven people go to heaven. Why did Jesus die? Paul said, "He was handed over to die because of our sins…."

Let’s ask the other question for Easter: Why did Jesus rise? This morning is a morning of mystery. This morning is a day that we remember that we live in a world in which God raised his Son from the dead. We proclaim that this historical reality changes everything about our universe and our eternity. Yet why this story? Why this event? What is behind it? The stories of our lives run on two levels: What is seen or what actually happened and what it means. The story of the Resurrection of Jesus is like that. There are things that actually happened but there is also another story running underneath it and that is what it means. Paul said, "…and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God." Why did Jesus rise? What I want us to see today is that Jesus rose to restore forever my broken relationship with God.

So what is the story of Easter: Paul simply says, "…and he was raised from the dead…" (Rom. 4:25b). Each of the Gospels tells its own story about this event. Each has its own beauty and magnificence. Each is different, adding some detail that another writer left out. However, they each affirm two significant things: Jesus was physically dead and was physically resurrected.

Matthew’s story of the resurrection presents those two things as facts: He was dead and he was resurrected.(Matt.28:1-10) Two of the women who were at the cross, Mary Magdalene and another Mary, had also followed two of Jesus’ friends as they took his body to a tomb. They had witnessed his death and did what they could on Friday to prepare his body for burial. Because of the Sabbath regulations, they were not permitted to finish the task so they came back to the tomb to complete the preparation. Arriving at the tomb, they are confronted by an angel who knows they came looking for the crucified Jesus. He invites them to see where the dead body was and twice tells them he has been "raised from the dead." Matthew records that the women were confronted with the fact that Jesus was dead, physically dead.

Matthew presents the other side of this by proclaiming through both the angel and later the women themselves that Jesus was resurrected. The angel tells them, "He isn’t here! He has been raised from the dead" (Matt 28:6). He offers proof in that the tomb was empty. He then tells them to go back to his followers and tell them this fantastic news. As they do, full of fear and joy, they met the Risen Christ himself and fall at his feet in worship. They were the first messengers of the news we share today: Jesus is alive! That death could not hold him in its grip. Matthew’s story makes clear that Jesus was physically raised from the dead!

The question comes to mind though: How did it happen? How was he raised from the dead? Well, look back one verse to Romans 4:24 for there we read, "…God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead." The New Testament testifies that God "brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead." Paul would later say, "For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."(Rom. 10:9) Peter would say in his sermon to the Jews in Acts 2:24, " However, God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life again, for death could not keep him in its grip."

What this tells us is that, just as we discovered last week, Jesus was handed over to die due to God’s predetermined plan and purpose so Jesus being raised from the dead was through the work of God as well. It’s important that you understand this because it leads us to our next idea. Just as God sent Jesus to earth to suffer the agony and death on the cross because of our sins, even so he had a reason and purpose in giving life back and transforming the body of his Son. This wasn’t something Jesus did on his own for he was fully and completely dead. It was something God did fully by his inconceivable power and might.

The story in Matthew and the New Testament declares: Jesus was dead, Jesus was raised and God was the one who did it. The question is, though: Why did he do it?" Did he do it to make up for the horrible death Jesus suffered? Did he do it to cover up some sort of cosmic "oops"? Did he do it so we could hide eggs and have ham on a certain Sunday each year? This is the meaning behind the story that we search for: Why did Jesus rise? Paul tells us simply, "…to make us right with God" (Rm. 4:25b). Other translations use the word "justification" but for our purpose this morning we’ll just use the words "to make us right with God."

Here, though, is the question this statement raises: What was so wrong between God and me that something needed to be made right? I mean this whole death and resurrection thing is good but why did I need it? We have the idea that God, because he is a God of love, the one who "so loved the world" that somehow everyone gets a pass for the wrong things they have done. We like the "God so loved the world" part of John 3:16 but we aren’t quite sure about the "shall not perish" part. Why would a God who loves me allow me to "perish" in separation from him?

God has his own standards of right and wrong. Those standards are spelled out clearly in the Bible. Those standards are impossible for me to keep because as part of my nature I am a totally broken person. We said last week that the Bible is right when it says, "No one is good—not even one." And " …all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard." (Romans 3:10, 3:23) The Bible explains that our relationship with God is a broken relationship, that no matter how many times or ways that God showed people he wanted to have a relationship with them, we rejected it. "All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one." (Romans 3:12) So we have, because of our own choice, a broken relationship with God.

Here’s the problem, though, while God loves me, I am at the same time the object of his justice. In other words, he loves me but he will not lower his standards. If he lowers his standards of right and wrong in one place then he isn’t completely good. Remember, God has a zero tolerance policy. If a little lust is okay, should he not say that someone else’s "one night stand" gets a pass as well? God must, if he is just and fair, punish my sins. Jesus died to forgive my sins but God’s forgiveness is only part of the plan. My sins require punishment or justice, not excuse. It’s like when a criminal, who is clearly guilty, receives a pardon from a governor or a president. The pardon resolves the issue of being in prison but it leaves the idea of justice hanging in the air. God didn’t send Jesus to merely pardon my sins. That is why the Bible says that God sent Jesus: "For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us…" (Rom. 3:25). As the song "The Power of the Cross" says, Jesus "took the blame, bore the wrath…" the justice of God on our sin.

You see God could not accept eternity with a broken relationship with his creation. Yet neither could he lower the standards of his justice for all the sins we have done. So he sent Jesus, not only to earth and not only to die, but also to take the "blame," the punishment for all my sins and by his death he satisfies the standards and justice of God. Jesus died for my sins, yes, but he also applies all of his righteousness, all of the goodness, all of his perfection, all of his worthiness to me! Now when God looks at my life he does not see my life as merely one that is fully pardoned from sin but fully and completely right according to his standards. At last the relationship with God that was totally broken is now restored forever! There will never be a need for me to worry if there is something more that I can do to secure my relationship with God because Jesus Christ has done it all and all of that is now mine.

But why did Jesus rise? God raised him from the dead because it would have been unjust to leave him in the grave, since he had fully paid for our sin. So God raised him from the dead to prove the reason for Jesus’ taking our place on the cross. The resurrection of Jesus was the declaration that what he accomplished in his death was completely successful. Since God’s justice had at last been accomplished, there was no reason for Jesus to stay in the grave. It would have been unjust for him to stay there when his mission was complete! Sins were paid for and justice was satisfied. We were, at last, right with God!

But here’s the thing: we have to accept this for ourselves. I know this isn’t very Baptist but it would be like buying the winning lottery ticket, knowing you could be instantly wealthy for the rest of your life and not cashing in the ticket! All of the forgiveness and rightness of Jesus is waiting to be applied to my life but how does it become mine? Paul said in Romans 4:24, "…that God will declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead." It becomes mine when I "believe," That’s it: "believe." Earlier, Paul said, "We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us." (Rm. 3:25) The Bible says that all that Jesus has done for me becomes mine when I place my absolute trust, confidence and faith in what God says has been done for me.

God doesn’t ask me to do more good things—not that he is against that. He doesn’t ask me to go to church more, give more, pray more, do more—not that he is against any of that. It’s just not needed to restore the relationship with him. That has already been done. We believe that God’s power raised Jesus from the dead. We believe that the death of Christ was completely sufficient to restore my relationship with God. We believe that by raising Jesus from the dead God proves triumphantly that Jesus did in his death all that was needed to make me right with him.

In 1985 our youngest daughter Amy was born in the Lafayette County Hospital in Lewisville, Arkansas. The hospital was a small rural hospital that eventually was closed. The hospital was so small that the cooks came to your room and asked you what you wanted to eat and the administrator, Frank Schwitzer, prepped you for surgery. (He was a deacon in our church.) The only doctor in town was Dr. Robert Patton. His wife Susan was his nurse and assisted him the long night of Amy’s delivery.

The cost of Amy’s delivery was the enormous sum of $1500. After we got home and settled, we began making monthly payments of $25. I don’t know how many months we paid the bill but one day I went in to pay and the administrator, told me that my bill had been paid. I was stunned and thrilled all at the same time. I never found out for sure but we always suspected Dr. Patton paid the bill. There was nothing more for me to do. Nothing more for me to say. I could have gone back day after day and asked, "Are you sure?" but the answer would have been the same: the account was settled. All I needed to do was to believe that it was true.

On this Easter morning we celebrate that Jesus "was raised from the dead to make us right with God." The relationship you had with God that was totally broken by your sins has been restored forever. The account is settled. All that is left for you to do is to believe and God will immediately count your life right with him. It won’t be something that you could do or have done. It has already been done, now just believe that it is for you. The story is real: Jesus is alive! The reason remains: He rose to make you right with God. The decision is yours. Will you believe? Jesus rose to restore forever my broken relationship with God. He is waiting on you to believe it.

Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas