Sermon – Acts 10: 34-43 - On the Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Acts 10: 34-43 - “On the Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead”

Easter Sunday

March 31, 2013

On this glorious Sunday morning, like all Sundays, we remember the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostles Creed has been helping us to remember and understand this important event for nearly two thousand years. It preserves the memory and teachings of the Apostles who witnessed the resurrection. This memory is preserved by the proclamation of the church in preaching and teaching. And so we proclaim it again today. Christ has risen from the dead! Let us pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Luella Tatem taught English to many of you at Pocomoke High School. When you learned to write English you were taught about paragraphs. A paragraph, you might remember, usually starts with a subject sentence and end with a conclusion. In between is the body of the paragraph which amplifies the subject and leads to the conclusion. If you need a refresher on all this Luella is up at Atria in Salisbury, and she would love for you to visit.

Ancient writers also used a specific structure in their writing that is different from what we use in writing paragraphs. For them writing was a little like digging a hole. You start digging. As the hole gets bigger you stand at the bottom until it is big enough. Then, you climb out and you have a hole. This is how ancient literature is constructed, and you will see it all over the Bible. You descend into a hole, see what is there and then get back out of the hole. We see this in the Apostles Creed. First you go down: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell;” You have reached the bottom of the hole. Now it is time to go back up. “He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.”

So what is written at the bottom of the hole? What is the most important phrase in the Apostles Creed? What is the one thing the Apostles wanted you to know and remember. The most important thing that we learn from the Apostles Creed, it's central theme is: “the third day he rose again from the dead.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important part of our faith. The Apostle Paul tells us that if we profess that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in our hearts that Jesus was raised from the dead then we will be saved. Our salvation depends on the historical event of Jesus resurrected from the dead.

This has been hard for people to believe in modern times. Historians have looked for evidence, independent from the Bible, that would allow them to conclude that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. They have found no such evidence, Scientists have looked into whether or not a dead person could be brought back to life. They have concluded that it is not possible given our current understanding. With the academic disciplines unable to support our belief many Christians find it hard to continue to believe in Jesus' resurrection. Many theologians, over the last 150 years, have tried to make sense of this. This morning, let's look at the evidence we do have that supports our faith.

Jesus died sometime in around 30 AD. There were numerous witnesses who saw an empty tomb which had been been sealed by a rock and guarded a sentry. These witnesses also met the risen Jesus, saw with him their eyes, heard him speak with their ears, and even touched his wounds with their hands. There was no question in their minds that Jesus' body really was resurrected from the the dead.

These witnesses began to have meetings to tell others about Jesus' life and teachings and most especially about his resurrection from the dead. They held these meeting on Sunday mornings, the day of the week the empty tomb was discovered. Sunday was a work day so they had to meet before dawn in someone's home to hear what the disciples had to say. These groups began to grow and people would learn the stories of Jesus. Eventually the witnesses of the resurrection would move on to other homes and other groups and within just a couple of decades groups were meeting on Sunday mornings all around the Mediterranean Sea. Witnesses of the resurrection began writing letters to other groups to deal with specific situations in those groups and combat any false teachings that were beginning to creep in. The witnesses of the resurrection wanted to make sure that people could learn and remember exactly what they had seen and heard.

In each of these groups people had to be taught the stories of the witnesses. At first the witnesses of the resurrection taught themselves. Eventually there were other teachers. And so a creed, a statement of the church's belief, was developed to help train initiates. This was called the Old Roman Symbol. And led to our Apostles Creed.

People in these groups began to write down the stories and teachings of Jesus that these witnesses remembered. These became the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The groups began to share these gospel accounts and letters they had received with others. All this was read out loud in the early Sunday morning meetings and eventually became what we know as the New Testament.

A doctor in the church of Rome named Luke listened to what the witnesses were saying. He collected all of this and wrote it down for everyone who loves God to read. This is what Luke wrote about what one of the witnesses of the resurrection said.

Acts 10:34-43 ³⁴ Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, ³⁵ but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. ³⁶ You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ-- he is Lord of all. ³⁷ That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: ³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. ³⁹ We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; ⁴⁰ but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, ⁴¹ not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

The witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ made certain that what they saw and heard would never be forgotten. They became known at Apostles, those sent to proclaim the good news of Jesus' resurrection from the dead. And they have left us a church, the Bible, a creed, teachers and preachers who authentically preserve their memories of Jesus and his resurrection. We know that the resurrection of Jesus is an historical event because the church was established and continues to remember it.

And so this is our obligation as followers of Jesus Christ. We are to preserve the memory of his resurrection from the dead. We do this by talking to our friends and family about our faith. We do what Christians have always done, invite people to our meetings on Sunday morning where were talk about what Jesus did and said and what it all means. We continue the process of the witnesses of the resurrection to instruct new initiates into the faith using the Apostles Creed as our guide. We obey Jesus' command to make disciples and baptize them into our faith. And we continue to proclaim our saving faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ every Sunday morning.

So rejoice because death could not contain Jesus. He defeated death and our slavery to Sin so that with him we may be resurrected to new life. This is not only our remembered history; it is also our hope that one day all of us, our loved ones and all who believe will one day be resurrected from the dead to live eternally in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And how do we answer our critics? What do we say to the scientists who say resurrection cannot happen? Our response has to be that with God all thing are possible. And God has demonstrated that resurrection is a scientific fact through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And what do we say to the historians who say that it never happened? Our response must be that they are just looking in the wrong places. Tell them to come to church where in the reading, teaching and preaching of the Bible they will hear the evidence they are looking for. There is no reason for the modern mind to not believe in the resurrection. It happened and will happen again. Let us pray.

“O God, you gave your only Son to suffer death on the cross for our redemption, and by his glorious resurrection you delivered us from the power of death. Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.” (Book of Common Worship, p.317)

Christ has risen from the Dead! He is risen in deed!