Easter Sunday

Listen to the Easter Sunday sermon from Dan MacGillivray.

For further information about Fort St John Alliance Church, check out our website fsjalliance.ca

Our desire is to become a community of people who practice the Way of Jesus together, and through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, live on mission to meet the social and spiritual needs of the world around us. Each week, we gather as a community to worship, learn from God’s Word, and be encouraged in our walk with Christ.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the fourth of John Alliance for the Sermon Podcast on Earth, Mr. John. So practice the way that we live together. And for the empowering of the Holy Spirit to live on the sense of social and spiritualness of the world around us. Each week together as a community to worship, learn from God's Word, and be encouraged in our walk with Christ. In this podcast, you'll hear the latest message from our Sunday service. Whether you're listening from right here in Fort St. John or from afar, our prayer is that God will speak to your heart and strengthen your faith. Let's lean in together as we hear today's sermon.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

The reading is from John 20 concerning the resurrection. And it reads Chapter 20. Now, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. So Peter ran out with the other disciple, and they were as they were going toward the tomb, both of them running together. But the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first and stopped to look in. He saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came following him, and he went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth which had uh been on Jesus' head, lying not with the linen cloths, but folded up by its uh by itself in a place. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in and Esau unbelieved. For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead.

unknown 2:48

Thank you very much. Oh, I'm good. Oh, I'm okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Well, good morning, everybody. My name is Dan. I am thrilled that you were with us this morning. So glad you're here today. Uh for those of you who may be here for the first time, welcome. I am just so excited that you chose us today. Uh, I hope this feels right at home for you this morning. Uh, because we we're a pretty friendly bunch, so I hope you feel really at home this morning with us. So um, just before we dive into our sermon this morning, I'm just gonna pray. Um we've had a little bit of a uh family moment just to kind of pause in here. Um the uh uh sorry, uh Sean and Yvonne Dick. Uh so Sean's dad, Sam, has been in hospital since Friday. Um and um uh it's been a really tough time for the family here in kind of the last probably two days or so. So um I just want to pray for them. Um I just want to pray for their family, uh, and I want to pray for Sam this morning before we dive. And I recognize that even on a day that is so full of joy, that uh it is easy to come with all kinds of emotion still and all kinds of weight on our hearts. So I just want to pray in into that just for a moment. So let's just pause and pray together, uh just as a church family. So, Lord Jesus, thank you that you are here with us in the room, that you are present, that you are alive, and that you see each heart. You see everything on our minds, you see everything currently that we are experiencing, and you are with us in these things. And so, Jesus, we just want to pray for the Dick family this morning. Father, we pray that they this morning might experience your peace, your mercy, your grace. Jesus, that just in the last couple days, which I know have been painful and hard, that they might know that you are with them, that you love them more than they could ever possibly imagine. Jesus, we want to pray for Sam this morning. Father, we pray for your hand of healing upon him. Jesus, we know that you are with him even now and that you will never leave his side. And so we trust, Lord Jesus, that you know what you're doing, even when we don't. Jesus, as well, just I mean, for Kathy, we pray for her heart this morning. May she experience just a deep well of just I mean, at peace from you today in all that you have for her. And so, Jesus, just as we now take a moment just to come to your word, we pray that we might come with both everything we're feeling and the joy of this morning, knowing that those two things don't have to be at odds, but rather you meet us exactly where we are today. So, Lord Jesus, we love you. Lord, we just offer this moment to you and we ask these things in your name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, everybody, just for taking that moment there. I have a question for us as we get started today. How many would say you are a morning person if you were to raise your hand? God bless you all. I'm a morning person too. I really enjoy the mornings. Um, I have loved the mornings ever since I was a kid. I feel like I used to get up at like six or seven in the morning when no one else was awake because you could do whatever you wanted. It was really great. Um, I would go right for the uh cereal. I would make sure I'd have a nice big bowl. On a uh Saturday morning, you could find me on the couch. No one else was up, so I could just eat it all to myself and I could watch whatever cartoons I wanted. It was a glorious time in the 90s. I loved it. Um and I still really, really love the mornings. It's just such a great time just to ease into the day. Like it just is so relaxing. But now my mornings started a little bit different. I don't have the giant bowl of cereal that I used to have anymore. I don't sit down and watch as many cartoons, maybe every now and then, because I'm a big kid at heart still. Um but now it starts off with something like a workout, uh, which I just kind of have to do more than anything else because I feel like I, you know, want to make sure that I stay in shape still. Uh, usually coffee. I love coffee in the morning. Coffee in the morning feels so good to the soul. Um, I spend a lot of time with Jesus in the mornings, just you know, kind of pausing before my day gets going. Just kind of sitting and resting and all that he might have for me in that day. Sometimes I'll even maybe read a good book every now and then too. But I just like to ease into the day and I just start by just breathing deeply, just taking a deep breath, just before my day gets going, and allowing my heart just to be hopeful for what the day is going to bring. There is optimism in a new day for me. I'd so look forward to whatever it is the Lord has in store. Imagine, though, what the Sunday morning felt like after last Friday, after Good Friday. In the story in scripture just a week ago, Jesus just rode into the city on a donkey. And everyone who was there watched him ride in like a king. They heard the crowd shouting as he rode into the city, save us. They waved just Aminya palm branches as a sign showing that he was just Aminya victorious. They were welcoming in their Messiah coming into the city. All through this last week, this hype has been building around Jesus, the momentum of who he is and what he's done. Started stirring around the city. He is teaching, he is just sharing all kinds of good things with people. He on Thursday night, he actually has a meal with those that he considers close to him. And everyone is just waiting for the moment when Jesus will assume the throne, where he will finally kind of take seat as to who he actually is. All that will happen. He will lead the nation out from under the boot of Rome. He will finally liberate them and free them for what they have been longing for. The city is holding its breath in anticipation of what's to come.

unknown 8:50

Right?

SPEAKER_02 9:00

And yet, meanwhile, during that same week, one of Jesus' closest followers, one of his good friends, begins to conspire against him. See, the religious leaders, they see Jesus as a threat, a threat to the way they lead, a threat to their authority, and with just, I mean, a Passover approaching, which is such a sacred time there in the nation of Israel. They need a way to arrest Jesus in secret. They can't do it in the open because of all the attention he's getting. And so Judas, who has been with Jesus for three years, tells them where to find him. When no one else will really be around, all for 30 pieces of silver, he offers up this information. Late Thursday night after the Last Supper with his followers, Jesus is arrested in a garden while he's praying. He is betrayed with a kiss, so the guards know who to arrest. The optimism starts to shake. The hope starts to waver. Jesus is forced to stand trial. He's accused of things he hasn't done. One by one, followers around him begin to disappear and vanish as if they never knew him. To deny even knowing him is the story of Peter. He's dragged in front of a Roman court. He's sentenced to be whipped and scourged and then to death. Just a matter of days ago, Jesus came into this city to the praise of all the people. Now he's walking those same roads out of that city, carrying a cross, a symbol of shame and humiliation. Hope seems all but lost for the followers of Jesus. They can't seem to catch their breath now, as everything they had hoped for starts to vanish. All the hope they had is literally being murdered in front of them. They watch Jesus led to a hillside, stripped naked, nailed to a cross where he hangs for all to see. He is mocked and laughed at, ridiculed, utterly humiliated. And in his last breath, he says, it is finished. Instead of bringing new life like he said he was going to do, he is now buried in a grave on Friday. Hope seems lost. You see, the hope of the Messiah coming would be that he would set us free, that the curse of just, I mean, sin and death that started way, way long ago in the Garden of Eden would be undone, that death would no longer have the last word on you and me. That we wouldn't be slaves to sin, but that Jesus, the Messiah, would bring about this new way to be human, a new way to experience humanity, where we are free from the chains of sin and death. But how can that happen if Jesus is dead? Imagine being those followers, waking up the next morning on the Saturday. All the hope they once had no longer there. They would be questioning everything, right? Is this really how it ends? Was he really the Messiah? Was he really the man that we'd been waiting for to save us, to heal us? Is it really all over? Just imagine what's going through their minds. And with all those same feelings and questions and doubts hanging in the air, they wake up on Sunday. See, in John's Gospel, he gives an account of that morning. You see, in fact, in uh Luke's accounts of the Gospel, it's a little bit more detail, right? Because Luke's a doctor, he likes to kind of give as much of the detail as possible. He talks about who's there, he talks about the angels at the tomb. It's this beautiful picture. And while John's lens of that morning doesn't necessarily mean all that other stuff didn't happen, John shares it from his perspective, who was so intimately close with Jesus. He shares it from what he saw, from what he felt, from the things that he heard. He shares it through his eyes, and he gives this deeper look into the empty tomb that morning. And what I'd like to do today is just to read that account again. And that we would just take time to go through, that we would picture ourselves in the moment with John. What it must have been like to have those last two days feel so hopeless. And then you wake up on Sunday. Just imagine being in their shoes. Jesus has now been dead for two days, and on the third day, his followers are up early. It says this in John 20, verse 1. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. On the third day, Mary wakes up early between about 3 and 6 a.m. in the morning, and she heads to the tomb. This cool air morning, I'm sure, the cold ground that she's walking on. Mary's long walk to the tomb would have felt so disorienting. You see, because Jesus died a day before the Sabbath there, and so late in the day on Friday, there wasn't a lot of time to get everything ready for his body and his burial. So his body would have been washed, it would have been, you know, like ready with just, I mean, a grave clothes on it, but there would have been so much more they didn't get to do just yet. There were things that they had to go back and finish, but of course you didn't work on the Sabbath and you didn't handle a dead body on the Sabbath. So Mary has to come back on Sunday to finish the preparation, all the work that hadn't been done. But imagine showing up and already finding the stone moved away. Mary would have expected that the stone would actually have to be moved because at some point she has to go back in. That wouldn't actually be that strange, but it's not just that the stone had been moved, it was how it was moved. You see, these rolling stones were meant to just, I mean, were just I mean it meant to just I mean, it's were meant to uh uh cover the entrance of the tomb, and they would be kept in place against the door by a groove. They would roll into the groove downward. The groove would slant towards the door, making it easy to roll in front. But it was said of Jesus, though it was this, I mean it said of the stone in his day that it was a massive stone. It would take close to 20 men to roll it out of the way. But see, in John's report, it wasn't just that it was rolled, but in the original language, it was removed. It wasn't even in the groove anymore. It was off on its own. It was like it had been tossed aside to John. Like it was nothing. Just imagine the very worst fear for Mary. Not only is Jesus dead, but someone has now come and stolen his body, is what she thinks. This is why such a giant stone, this is why there were guards were there, because they wanted to stop something like this from happening. What was supposed to be a somber, quiet morning has changed all of that. It's now a hard morning, a difficult morning, a disorienting, painful morning. It's now moved to a whole new kind of grief. Now she can't even mourn Jesus properly. Just imagine the heartache and pain that they have already felt, and now she experiences again on Sunday morning. In verse 2, in Mary's shock, she runs back to go tell the others. It says this, so she came running to uh Simon Peter and the other disciple, meaning John, the one Jesus loved, and said, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him. In the quiet of the morning, she finds Peter and John, who I'm sure were having a similar morning, like Mary, before she arrived at the tomb, heartbroken, doubtful, unsure, so disoriented. And Mary tells them, Someone has taken Jesus. We don't know where he is. That same grief that hits Mary now lands on these two. In the next verse, John describes it this way in verse 3. It says, So they started for the tomb, both were running, but the other disciple, meaning John, outran Peter and reached the tomb first. Just imagine hearing that the body of the person that you have been following for three years had been taken from their grave. Haven't they been through enough? Right? Like you would think. They've been through so much already. From John watching Jesus die on the cross, he's there on the hillside to see it. Peter, who is living with the shame of saying he doesn't even know who Jesus is just a couple days before. All of this going on, and they're trying to make sense of all that's happened, and they find out that Jesus is missing, and so they run, which is uncommon for men in the Middle East. They don't run. It'd be seen as weird. That was not the custom. They walked wherever they went, but not these two, but rather in the quiet of the morning, in the angst to know what's happened, they run to the tomb. Like just imagine the sound of each foot hitting the ground in the cool of the air, heavy breath panting as they're running. They are in pursuit of the truth. What has really happened? And just like Mary, they find themselves at the tomb to look in, and that's the invitation this morning. Just like them, we are invited to come and see for ourselves. To see what's really happened. Because here's the thing: this resurrection moment of Jesus is the most important moment in all of human history. Nothing else matters more than this. Nothing. All of what Jesus didn't said, God's just, I mean, a redemptive plan hinges on what is inside the tomb. Everything depends on this moment. Absolutely everything. You and I are invited in the same way to run to the tomb. To be the first one there to look in. Because if Jesus is still dead, then so are we. Right? Because the curse of sin and death still exists and nothing has changed. But if Jesus is alive, then everything has changed. Everything has changed if he's alive. And like John, we are invited to run ahead, to be the first one to the tomb, to look inside. Most likely out of breath and exhausted from the race they just ran. John writes this. It says he bent over, meaning John and looked in at the strips of linen lying there, but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. John arrives first and sees the same scene. He sees the stone where it shouldn't be. He sees the Roman guards not at their post. John just gets close enough just to look inside, but doesn't go in. But when Peter gets there second, he goes right into the tomb. Peter, who has always been the one to take charge and kind of needs to let everybody know he's in charge, Peter goes in first. And what they see is not what they expect from grave robbers. For one, the just I mean grave clothes are still there. Which would lead to the question: who would go to the trouble of taking those off? Why would anybody do that? But they're not just around the ground scattered, they're not just all in shreds ripped apart, but they are lying as they were. They're exactly the way that they were left on Friday. You see, one of the oils they used in the preparation for burial is myrrh. Myrrh is just, I mean, this just like it's almost like a gummy kind of texture to it. It was used as almost kind of a glue on the grape clothes. You would actually take the clothes and they would be just just, they would just be just um almost uh uh uh saturated in myrrh. And then once they would be saturated in myrrh, you would put the grape clothes onto the body. It would make this strong kind of adhesive glue that would stick to the skin. In fact, it was said over time that even after a day in that space, it would turn to almost lead. It would be impossible to rip off without tearing skin. Literally impossible. It would be painstaking to pull it away, it would come off in pieces, there would be no way to remove it neatly. But yet they look inside and these clothes are exactly as they were. They're not ripped, they're not torn. It's like they were taken off easily and gently. It's like Jesus slipped right through them. This is not a scene of chaos, but rather this is a scene of purpose. This was intentional. As they look in, they see that something happened that has deep meaning. Something has been planned here. This is not by accident. These last few days have felt so purposeless, so meaningless, perhaps, even. Everything that they had hoped for, everything that they thought would happen, everything that Jesus had said felt like it was hanging in the air, everything they hoped he would do. But the clothes were as they were in an open grave. When we look into the empty tomb, we see that the grave clothes were exactly as they were. And it reminds us that God has a plan, that when things feel hopeless, lost, defeated, it's a reminder as we look in that God is not finished, that he's not done. That God will do what he said he will do, that God has the final word on everything. That's the message when we look into the tomb. That the promise of hope and salvation and redemption and the renewal of all things still exists as we look in the empty tomb. As John finally has the courage to go inside, listen to how he describes the moment in verse 8. Finally, the other disciple, meaning himself, who had reached the tomb first, also went in and inside. He saw and believed. They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. You see, the moment that John walks in, everything changes for him. You see, where Peter sees the grave close and he still wonders what happened. John sees something deeper. He sees the open tomb and the undisturbed close, and with what I can only imagine is all the words that he heard from Jesus over the last several years, hearing all the teachings, all the things that Jesus said about himself, that he would die and rise again, that in that moment John walks in and he sees and he believes that Jesus has left the grave behind, that death has no hold on him, and that everything has changed in that moment. You see, witnessing the empty tomb is not just about understanding an event, it is about accepting a transformation of reality. Way back in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned, that changed everything. When humanity, you and I, when we chose our own way, we took on the consequence of that, of choosing what we wanted. And the consequence is death, physical and spiritual. Because when we choose our own way, our own wants, our own desires, when we go against God's plan for life and we put us first over what God wants and over others, that is sin. At the heart of sin, it is selfishness. It's about us choosing our way above every other way. It's when you choose your own comfort over someone else's need. It's when you choose your own success over someone else's good. It's when you choose your way instead of loving others well. It's in the words that wound instead of heal. It's our greed that's never satisfied. It's the envy that resents seeing good in other people. It's every time in word or action we decide that our way is better than God's way. And death is the consequence of all of that. But in that moment in the garden, God would plan to make everything right again, to set us free from the curse of sin and death. And so God comes to dwell among us in the flesh. Jesus became like us, he took on our humanity perfectly. He lived a perfect life without sin. He did what we could not do. And he then became sin. He became your sin and my sin. Every sin you and I have ever done, he became that. Every sinful thought, every hurtful word, every painful action, he took all of that on himself. Every bit of it. And he paid the penalty by dying on the cross. And friends, this is the good news this morning is that when we look inside the empty tomb today, that we can see that sin and death no longer have a hold on us because of what Jesus has done. That when Jesus died on the cross and said, it is finished, that was God saying, the old way of being human is over. The old way of existing is done. As Jesus walked out of the grave, he left behind the old way of being. It's all finished. But rather, something new starts. New creation started that day where God would now put everything right. And in the present time, he is putting people right. You and I. So that we can be a part of the work that Jesus is doing. What he started at the grave continues on. This new creation. God is making all things new, and it starts with you and me. This is the good news of Jesus this morning. This is the good news of the gospel. Like just about every other day on Easter Sunday, I wake up early. And I breathe deeply. But it's a reminder for me that my hope is not in something, but it's in someone. That because of what Jesus has done, he is inviting me each and every day into new life. Where my past doesn't define me, where sin no longer has a hold on me. And because Jesus has defeated death, that that same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now lives in me, and I can step into that new life every day. You see, hope is alive and his name is Jesus. This is the good news this morning of the empty tomb. I don't know where each one of you is at this morning. You know, like we shared this morning, I know some of you have come today with hearts that are heavy, some have come today with hearts that are excited for the day. Some of you have been here for a long time in church, some for a short time. Some of you are just here because someone said if you come, I'll buy you lunch when it's all done. No matter why you're here, you are here on purpose. You are here completely on purpose. And Jesus is inviting you this morning, the same way he's inviting me, to look into the empty tomb and see that he is alive. He is risen. This has changed everything. Everything we know. That we might look in and just like John, that we might believe, that we might choose to leave the old way of being human behind, that we would choose to follow Jesus out of the grave and into a new way of being human. This is the invitation that's extended to us. And so this morning, here's how I'd like to close. I want to pray for you. So I'm just going to invite you to have your heads bowed here, just as we pray this morning. Lord Jesus, thank you for the cross. Thank you for the empty tomb. Thank you, Lord, for new life in you today. That you came and you took on our humanity, Lord Jesus, that you took our sin, you took our shame, you took all the things that we have done wrong. You saw everything that we would do. And in your mercy and in your grace, so that we might be right with you again, you paid the penalty for that. You took on the consequence of that. And you went to a cross where you were humiliated, mocked, beaten, scorned, where the nails pierced your skin, where the spear pierced your side, and your blood was poured out so that we might have new life. And Lord Jesus, thank you that the story does not end on Friday, but that in your power, in your might, and in your strength, you rose from the dead. And you are alive today. That you left the grave behind, that the clothes of death that were holding you no longer hold you and they no longer hold us. That we have been invited into new life with you. And you are inviting us to respond as we look in and see. Lord Jesus, for some who have been just, I mean, following you for a long time, for some in this room who feel like this is just another day on the calendar, perhaps. Lord, I pray for each one that feels like this is a story they know all too well. That each day that they would keep waking up to the reality of the risen Jesus. That that story, that this story would never get old, that it would never fade, but it would be the motivation, it would be the reason, it would be the hope that we wake up to every morning that no matter what comes our way, we might say, Jesus, you are alive. And that you are making all things new. Lord, for others, you have an invitation for them today who maybe don't know you yet, where you are inviting them to choose today to follow you, to leave behind the old way of living, to leave behind their sin, their shame, and to step into new life in Christ and join him in the new creation. To be a part of what it is you are already doing, Lord. So Jesus, I pray for each one that is in that space this morning, that they might just take a deep breath. And just with your heads bowed and eyes closed, if if that is you this morning, here's a prayer that you can say after me, just in your own heart. Jesus, I believe that you left the grave behind. I believe that you died for my sin and rose again. I confess that I have gone my own way. That I have put myself first and sinned against you and others. Thank you for taking my sin on the cross. Thank you that through your resurrection death no longer has a hold on me. Today I turn to you. I leave my old way of life behind and receive the new life that you offer. Forgive me, renew me, and lead me. From this day forward, I choose to follow you. Fill me with your spirit and help me walk in this new life every day. Amen. Amen. If you're here this morning and that's a prayer that you have prayed out loud, we would love just to have a moment with you just to say welcome to the family of Jesus. We would love just to meet you. We would love to have a moment just to say hi to you. And so if that's you today, I want to invite you to do a couple things. There's a couple things you can do. The first thing is tell somebody in the room. Tell somebody that you're sitting next to. Tell somebody that's maybe else in the room that you know. If you don't know anybody in the room, come and tell me. I would love to hear your story about how you came to know Jesus. Maybe give a phone call to someone at home today. Or that you know that was just be dying to know that this is something you did today. Just don't keep this decision to yourself. Make sure you share it with someone. We would again love to meet you. We would love to walk with you as you learn to walk with Jesus. And so, just as we close now, just as a way to respond, why don't we stand together? We're gonna sing this last song. So let's stand.