Easter Sunday: How The Resurrection Makes Us Unafraid

Matthew 28:1-20

Transcript

 Matthew 28, verse 1 to 20. Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first
day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went 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 and sat on it. His appearance was like
lightning and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards
tumbled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, do not be
afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified. He is not here, for he
has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 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. So they
departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his
disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, greetings. And they came up and
took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be
afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.
While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the
chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the
elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers
and said, tell people his disciples came by night and stole him away while we
were asleep. And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and
keep you out of trouble. So they took the money and did as they were directed.
And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. Now the 11 disciples
went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they
saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them,
all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. These are the words
of our God. Let's take a moment and pray. Lord God, as we read and consider
these words, familiar to some of us, unfamiliar to some of us, Lord, we ask for
the work of your Holy Spirit to speak to us, to illuminate our hearts and minds,
to help us to see, believe, receive by faith. Lord, we ask for that in Jesus'
name. Amen. Okay, the message this morning from Matthew 28 is how the
resurrection makes us unafraid. How the resurrection makes us unafraid. And
before I get into that, I want to say there are times when there are times on
Easter or around this holiday where we'll speak about the resurrection and maybe
do more of an apologetic about why we believe that this actually happened. That
is not so much the focus of this message, but if that's a conversation that
you'd like to have, I would love to talk about that, reasons why we believe that
the resurrection actually happened. But I want to say out front, it's not
necessarily the focus of this message. So on Good Friday, we read through the
account of Jesus' arrest, crucifixion and burial. And we stopped without getting
to the end of the story. This morning, we're here celebrating the resurrection
in the empty tomb. It's the grand finale of all four gospels. These writers
clearly saw that everything changed with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For
background, let's briefly read from Matthew 27 to bring us up to where we are
this Sunday morning. And before we begin, I want us to notice when Jesus is
crucified and buried in this interval between Friday and Sunday, everyone is
fearful and rightfully so. Look at verse 57. I'll start there. Matthew 27, verse
57. When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who
also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped
it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out
in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went
away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
The tomb is above ground. Most Jewish tombs had square or rectangular stones to
close off the entrance. Wealthier people, like Joseph, had enormous rolling
stones about four or five feet in diameter that could be positioned to seal off
the tomb. So at this point, Jesus's disciples have scattered. They've obviously
recognized the danger of being associated with him. We don't see them here in
the tomb. They're terrified. They are terrified. And Matthew's text continues in
verse 62. The next day, that is after the day of preparation, the chief priests
and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, Sir, we remember how that
imposter said while he was still alive, after three days I will rise. Therefore,
order the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and
steal him away and tell the people. He has risen from the dead and the last
fraud will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, You have a guard of
soldiers. Go make it as secure as you can. So they went and made the tomb secure
by sealing the stone and setting a guard. So we see in these final verses of
chapter 27 that the Jewish Pharisees request that Pilate mobilize Roman soldiers
to guard the tomb, seal it. So despite their seeming victory that Jesus had been
crucified, these religious leaders were not able to relax. They're still afraid.
They're still concerned that there might be some foul play. And they want to
make the grave secure. And the work involved in safeguarding the stone, sealing
the stone, safeguarding the tomb, it's not something they can do because they
are so busy observing the Sabbath. They needed Gentiles, Roman soldiers to do
this work for them. So they asked Pilate to go send a guard. And Pilate at this
point has resigned himself to what's happened. And he basically tells the
Pharisees, Do what you need to do. The tomb is sealed and Roman soldiers are
placed in front to guard it. And as we move into the passage that John just read
in chapter 28, it's Sunday morning, it's the early pre-dawn hours. By 6 a.m. the
Jewish Sabbath would be over and the women would be able to tend to the body.
Matthew 28 one, after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. Two women, both have the
same name, are on the way to the tomb. They've been there already because these
same two Marys were there when Jesus' body was put into the ground on Friday.
During the 24-hour Sabbath period, work had to stop. So this is the time that
these women have to prepare the corpse and embalm the body. And now that the
Sabbath is ending they can do that work. Verse 2 and 3, Behold there was a great
earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled
back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing
white as snow. Jesus didn't need any assistance getting out of the tomb, but we
see just as at the beginning of Jesus' birth, we see the majesty associated with
the event where this angel appears in this event that is literally earth-
shaking. When Jesus was born there were angels announcing his birth and after he
dies and rises again we see an angel standing on the tombstone. His appearance
was dazzling, his clothing was like lightning, and for fear of him the guards
trembled and became like dead men. Just like the Roman centurion, I think we can
assume that these guards were men who had seen some disturbing things before.
But they have not seen anything like this and they are paralyzed with fear at
this appearance of an otherworldly being. So just notice a little bit the fear
that everyone has. The disciples are fearful in hiding. The chief priests are
still paranoid that something may happen with the tomb and the body and now the
guards they see an angel and they are paralyzed with fear. It's hard for us to
really, I think, grasp the terror of the weekend. Here these soldiers shook to
the point of paralysis. The appearance of angels in the bible always produces
fear and these guards are no different. They are terrified. But think about
these women and what they have undergone. Imagine being a patriotic Israelite
hoping that Jesus was the Messiah who would deliver you and your people from
their enemies and then believing that and living according to that hope for
several years and then seeing the full force of the Roman Empire on display as
they cruelly murder the man that you loved. And crucifixion is not only a way to
torture an individual. It was meant to send a psychological message to all the
observers. It's meant to terrify everyone who observed and illustrate the power
of Rome. Imagine the danger that Jesus's followers felt for themselves in the
midst of their grief. Imagine their fear. And now in the early dawn hours these
women encounter an angel whose presence is so overwhelming that these soldiers
fall down like dead men. And it's appropriate we might understand why the first
thing that the angel said to the women was do not be afraid. And those words do
not be afraid. They're not just for those two women. They're for all who are
gathered here on this resurrection Sunday and for all who have believed the good
news of the death and the resurrection of Jesus. So this is what we want to talk
about this morning. Why can the resurrection make us unafraid? Or maybe to put
it in a different form of a question, how does the resurrection address our
actual fears? At Easter time it's springtime and the sun is finally out and
we're happy and we think about things like bunnies and jelly beans and green
grass and all the things that symbolize new life. But at the same time we can
struggle to think, maybe to put into concrete terms, how the resurrection
actually or concretely or practically addresses our fears and concerns. How does
it really affect us in a concrete way? Well as we come back to the tomb there's
another angel, another announcement. It's the same words. Jesus has been
betrayed and killed. There's been an earthquake but the angel says do not be
afraid. I know you seek Jesus who is crucified. He's not here. He's risen as he
said. Come and see the place where he lay. Don't be afraid the angel says Christ
is risen. When Jesus walked out of the tomb it wasn't just personal victory or
victory over his enemies or the religious leaders or the Romans. It was cosmic.
It was victory over sin and death and satan. He died and he went into the grave
but is raised to life by the power of God and the angel says come and see the
place where he lay. 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've told you. So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and
great joy and ran to tell his disciples. The women are sent off with this news
of this mind-blowing news but it would be fair to ask okay supposing we believe
this who's it for? Who gets to receive the news of the resurrection? This hasn't
been a good weekend for the disciples. When Jesus prayed in the garden they all
fell asleep. When Jesus was arrested his disciples scattered. Shortly afterward
it was Peter who denied that he ever knew Jesus and on that Sunday morning if
you could have convinced the disciples that Jesus was alive would they even have
wanted to see him? How would he treat those who have been those that have
betrayed him? The angels send the women on their way verses 9 and 10 behold
Jesus met them and said greetings and they came up and took hold of his feet and
worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them do not be afraid go and tell my brothers
to go to Galilee and there they will see me. Go and tell my brothers. He tells
them again do not be afraid and he says go tell my brothers. Isn't it amazing
that Jesus risen from the grave and victorious over death is thinking of these
disciples? These same fearful men who betrayed him so recently he calls them his
brothers. He embraces these women his sisters the two marries and he gives them
this message of peace. Go tell my brothers. When we hear that we know the
resurrected Christ is gracious and forgives. Do not be afraid. The resurrected
Christ is full of grace and forgiveness. And the Gospel, Matthew's Gospel
concludes on the mountaintop in Galilee. This is what's known as the great
commission. One of the most well-known passages in all the New Testament and
when we look at this passage we usually think of it as the marching orders for
the church. It's about what followers of Jesus are meant to be doing after he
ascends. We are about the work of making disciples and that is completely and
totally true. That is the mission of the church to make and mature and multiply
disciples of Jesus Christ. But I also want us to see as we read this passage
that Jesus in this famous passage is also explaining what the resurrection means
and why we when we look at it can say can also see why he would say do not be
afraid. In this great commission passage in this left time that we have
remaining they just want to give us three reasons that Jesus gives us not to be
afraid. Let's read the text and I'll explain what I mean by that. Matthew 28 16
through 20. Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus
had directed them and when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted and
Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given
to me go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name
of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all
that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age.
So Matthew's gospel concludes and Jesus is standing bodily on the mountain. He
makes this incredible statement all authority in heaven on earth has been given
to me God the father has given the resurrected son absolute and comprehensive
authority. So one reason we don't need to be afraid is the resurrection means
that Jesus now has all authority in heaven and on earth. Do you know where Jesus
is now? The Bible tells us he's seated at the right hand of God. Paul says this
in Ephesians 1 verse 20 to 22 that the power of God worked in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand at his right hand in
the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and
above every name that is named not only in this age but in the one that is to
come and he put all things under his feet. Now you might say what does that
really mean like what is the practical impact of that truth that Jesus is seated
and thrown at the right hand of God that he has all authority that still seems
pretty pretty abstract to me. How would that actually address our fears in a
real way? Because we all have these things that we're afraid about things that
are real and concrete things that are hypothetical. We have fears about any
number of things money and work and health family children relationships things
that we're worried about anxious about things that are coming up this week the
things that are on your mind when you wake up at three in the morning those are
the places that your mind goes very quickly we all have these fears and
anxieties. How does the resurrection something that happened so long ago
actually address that. Look at act seven with me for a minute it's the account
of Stephen the martyr and if you recall Stephen was preaching with boldness
before a hostile audience. His opponents at the conclusion of his sermon are so
enraged that they are gathering around him to stone him. Stephen preaches this
message that they don't want to hear that Jesus is the righteous one who God had
sent to deliver them from their sins and they had crucified him. The end of act
seven verse 54 says when they heard these things they were enraged. These are
this is Stephen's audience his opponents and they ground their teeth at him but
he full of the holy spirit gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus
standing at the right hand of God and he said behold I see the heavens opened
and the son of man standing at the right hand of God. Most people if we picture
ourselves in this scene most people if they were surrounded by an angry mob we
might fight we might run we might negotiate. Stephen says something that doesn't
even really seem related to the matter at hand. When we first read it he said I
see Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He saw in that moment what Jesus
said in Matthew 28. He saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He saw that
Jesus has all authority on the horizontal level. He had more to worry about than
any of us do. He had plenty to be afraid of. His opponents were gathering around
him they were picking up stones to kill him but he looked up and he saw Jesus at
the right hand of God ruling and reigning and Stephen knew even that moment is
under the rule of the sovereign and resurrected Christ. The resurrection means
that Jesus has all authority. That's not that's not an escapist idea. That's not
the same as saying this too shall pass or everything will be okay. Stephen was
actually stoned by his opponents. In the sovereign plan of God it was the means
by which the gospel went from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria. But if Jesus has a
authority in heaven on earth that means there is nothing that can happen to you
or I that's outside of his sovereign control. If we're going to be unafraid in
our circumstances and our fears our worries our concerns we need to see this.
Jesus is standing at the right hand of God and all authority has been given to
him. Second thing is the resurrection also means that Jesus is with the church.
Look at what Jesus says in verse 20 lo or behold I am with you always. I'm with
you always. Now typically we think about that in terms of Jesus is with me when
I drive off to work. Jesus is with me when I have a test at school or when I go
into that interview. And that is not untrue but it's not actually what the verse
is saying. When Jesus says behold I am with you always that you is plural. It's
a plural word. So I'm from Buffalo I get a little twitch when people say y'all.
But that's the idea it's second person plural. In other words Jesus is with us.
He's with the church. He's with the Christian community. The church has this
work of doing of going and making disciples and teaching others to observe
baptizing and teaching others to observe all that Jesus has commanded. We're a
local expression of that universal church. In a church like ours like many we
have we have seasons of obvious fruitfulness we've had hard seasons and dry
seasons we've had different degrees of effectiveness in our work. But whatever
season it's been the risen Christ has always been with us and is with us today.
The risen Christ is found in the Christian community. I remember a conversation
that I had with a man in my small group. We were reading a book together as a
group and he said I read the book during the week and it's good. Then we get
together on Wednesdays and it comes alive for me and I see so much more. Well
why does that happen? It's because Jesus is with the Christian community as we
gather. I don't know how many times Micah or I have preached and someone comes
up to one of us afterwards and says I read that passage so many times before I
read that passage my whole life I never saw that before. It's not really it's
not really the quality of the preacher the sermon is the sermon. What happened
is that Jesus came and is present in a unique way as the church gathers. And
what happened is Jesus came and preached to you. That's why even today we hear
Jesus's words Do not be afraid. He's with us in the work of making disciples. In
some ways it would seem like Jesus had given these 11 men an impossible task.
They were given the task of going and making disciples of all nations. They were
not effective people. They had let Jesus down already. They denied him. They
couldn't pray with him. They were afraid. There weren't enough of them. They'd
never been into the world. Imagine if these Galilean men actually knew anything
about the size and scope of the earth. Or if they actually knew what that phrase
all nations meant. In some senses it's similar to when God told Moses to go to
Pharaoh and deliver the Israelites from slavery. Seems impossible. Seems
impractical. Seems like it makes no sense. Sometimes the church seems like this
little feeble institution in the midst of the world that has no regard and no
respect for it. But there were 11 disciples on the mountain with Jesus. The
whole cluster of followers of Jesus of the resurrected Christ was about 120. All
of them were failures and there were some who doubted even then when they saw
him physically on the mountain. They were given really an impossible task. But
they were given this incredible promise that he would be with them. This is
about 33 AD. So let's say 1900, 1992 years ago. And the risen Jesus is still
with the Christian community. There are hundreds of millions, perhaps billions
of people around the globe, people of all nations and tongues celebrating the
resurrection of Jesus this morning. Still with the church. Still with the
church. And look at this final thing. When we see that Jesus is with the church,
look at how this ends. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Even to the end of the world. The third reason why we do not need to be afraid
is that Jesus is with us always. Not even just this moment. Even to the end of
the age. What that means is whether we die or whether we see Christ return
physically, when history winds down, our personal histories, or that of this
earth, he'll be there. He'll be there. And we will not see that our lives have
been meaningless or chaotic or pointless. We will see that he is there risen and
reigning and with us at the end of the world. Look at what Revelation says. When
John the Apostle saw a vision of this, he said, I saw a new heaven and a new
earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was
no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from
the throne saying, behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell
with them and they will be his people. And God himself will be their God. He
will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither
shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have
passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, behold I am making all
things new. When history winds down, he will be with us and there will be no
more sin, no more curse. We will dwell with him in unhindered fellowship. When
Matthew's gospel begins, it starts with the birth of Jesus, Immanuel, God with
us. When it ends, he is with the church, God with the church in the middle of
this broken and cursed world. And when history winds down, God will be with us
and sin will be no more. And we have the hope of the resurrection as our seal of
that day. So we rejoice this morning on Resurrection Sunday. Let's pray together
and we'll respond to God in song. Lord Jesus, what glorious hope that we have. I
pray that your resurrection would strengthen us this morning as we think about
the things that we are worried about, concerned about, afraid of. Lord, I pray
that we would know that you have all authority, that you are with us and that
you will be with us at the end of the age. Strengthen us in this way, we pray.
Lord, I pray for anyone here who does not have this hope that you would open
their eyes by the power of your Holy Spirit, that they would turn to you in
faith. Lord, we thank you for the hope that we have. We rejoice in it and we
praise you. In Jesus name, amen.