"God Does Not Show Favoritism"

Acts 10:34-43

Easter Sunday; 3/23/08

Introduction: I want to share with you some answers from children on questions about science: Q: Explain one of the processes by which water can be made safe to drink. A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes large pollutants like grit, sand, dead sheep and canoeists. Q: How can you delay milk turning sour? A: Keep it in the cow. Q: What causes the tides in the oceans? A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature hates a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight. Q: What happens to your body as you age? A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? (e.g., abdomen.) A: The body is consisted into three parts - the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain; the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels A, E, I, O, and U.

Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes. A: Premature death.

I’m sure that many look at Jesus dying at only age 33 as a premature death. People are supposed to live a long life; right? There was so much more that Jesus could have accomplished with His life; right? But Jesus did what He was called to do, and one of those things was to give His life for you and me.

This morning I want us to talk about how Jesus’ death, and His being raised from the dead, is about His having power over death.

I. Jesus raises the dead- (Luke 7:11-16a, 8:40-56; John 11:38-44)

Story: (“Bonny’s Bunny,” Hot Illustrations, p. 46) There is a story of a

woman whose cat dragged in a dead animal. As the woman looked closer at the animal, she realized that it was the bunny that belonged to Bonny, the little girl who lived next door. Her cat had killed Bonny’s bunny! So her friend had to think quick about what to do. She took the bunny over to the sink and cleaned it up with warm water and shampoo. She then took her blow dryer and dried and fluffed up the bunny the best she could. Finally, she took the bunny back to her neighbor’s house, and placed it in the cage hoping that the family would think that the bunny died in the cage. The next morning she noticed her neighbors gathered around the rabbit’s cage. Everyone seemed to be talking and pointing. So she went over to see what was going on, trying to be as natural as she could be. When she got there, Bonny’s mother looked at her and said: “YOU WON’T BELIEVE what has happened! It’s a miracle. Bonny’s bunny passed away a few days ago, and we buried the bunny right over there….” J

For something or someone to seem to come alive, after they are dead, is a miracle indeed. We might forget that Jesus raised the dead several times.

a. Widow’s son- The first is the widow’s son. We read of this in the

gospel of Luke, 7:11-16a: “Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. ¹²As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." ¹⁴Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" ¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

¹⁶They were all filled with awe and praised God…”

In this passage we see that Jesus shows compassion for the widow. Having lost her husband and now her only son she had no one to care for her. Jesus showed compassion by raising her son from the dead. But Jesus also showed that He is the Lord of hope, and the Lord of life.

b. Jairus’ daughter- Second, we see Jesus raise Jairus’ daughter.

This is found a little later in the book of Luke, 8:40-56. “Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. ⁴¹Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house ⁴²because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying… While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. ‘Your daughter is dead’ he said. ‘Don't bother the teacher any more.’ ⁵⁰Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, ‘Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.’ ⁵¹When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother. ⁵²Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. ‘Stop wailing,’ Jesus said. ‘She is not dead but asleep.’ ⁵³They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. ⁵⁴But he took her by the hand and said, ‘My child, get up!’ ⁵⁵Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up…”

c. Lazarus- And of course, we have the most famous one, which is the

raising of Lazarus. Lazarus dies, and Jesus waits 3 days before he goes to the tomb where Lazarus is buried. We pick up there: “Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹’Take away the stone,’ he said. ‘But, Lord,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.’ ⁴⁰Then Jesus said, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ ⁴¹So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.’ ⁴³When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’”

When Jesus performed a miracle, even raising the dead, it was to display the glory of God, and to show that He was indeed God in the flesh. Jesus wanted the people to know the power He possessed, not to Lord it over them, but to distinguish Himself as the Messiah, the One come to save the people. While it was nice He was raising the dead, this was just a prelude of what was to be!

II. Jesus was raised from the dead- (Acts 10:34-43; John 3:16; Gen. 3:15)

On Easter Sunday, we come knowing that we will be talking about Jesus being raised from the dead. But there are a couple of points that I want us to understand about this:

a. For all- First, what Jesus did on the cross was for ALL. As Peter says in

his sermon in Acts 10:34- “…God shows no partiality.” Or like we have been talking about throughout the Lenten season, from John 3:16, “For God so loved the WORLD, that He gave His One and only Son, that WHOEVER believes, should not perish, but have eternal life.” Eternal life is for all who believe.

In the comic strip Peanuts, I don’t know if you know that Charles Schultz, the creator of Peanuts, invented the character Snoopy to represent the “hound of heaven;” the little Christ who afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted. In many of the comic strips, we see Snoopy comeing to save his friends. IN ONE PARTICULAR STRIP, Linus has lost his blanket. He is so panicked that he is digging holes in the back yard, trying to find it. Along comes Snoopy with the blanket in his mouth. Seeing this, Linus hugs Snoopy and yells out: “Oh Snoopy! You found it!! You found it! You found it! You found it!” At the end of the strip you see snoopy lying on his dog house and thinking: “Every now and then I feel that my existence is justified!”

Jesus Christ came to give Himself over to service for others. But His life was more than just what He was to accomplish on the earth. For you and me, we are given many years to live, and hopefully serve God. We have a purpose in our life. Our death, unlike Christ’s, doesn’t have any great significance. More than coming to give His life to others, more than the accomplishments He made here on this earth, Jesus came to give His life away. And His death is for all who believe.

b. Lord of all- Second, by dying, and being raised to life, Jesus showed that

He has conquered death, and is Lord of the living and the dead. When Jesus died, it was thought by Satan that he had victory. The savior was dead. But when Jesus was raised to life, the victory for God was sealed. As God had predicted in Genesis 3:15, the death AND resurrection of Christ paid the penalty for our sin, and won salvation for all. By this, Christ crushed the head of Satan. Death would not be a punishment for God’s people, because in Christ, they had victory.

And we see also in our scripture reading from Acts 10, that once Christ was raised from the dead, He appeared to others so that they could know that He was not left for dead. WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN AND WORSHIP A DEAD LORD, BUT ONE IS WHO ALIVE, AND SITS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD MEDIATING ON OUR BEHALF!

III. Raised with Christ- (2 Corinthians 5:17; Eph. 2:1-2; Romans 6:4-11)

And so there is great significance for you and me in regards to Jesus’

resurrection. This significance affects our life here on earth, and the life we will live after we die.

a. Raised to new life- 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us: “Therefore, if

anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

To understand what kind of new creation we are, we first have to understand our old condition, and that is being lost in our sin. As Ephesians 2:1-2 says, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” Without Christ in our lives, we get lost in our disobedient ways. With Christ in our lives, we are raised to a new life with Christ. We have power over the temptation and sin that comes into our life.

How does this happen? Romans 6:4, 11-12 tells us, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. ¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.” It is the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead that allows Christ to pass on this power for us to live the life we have been created to live; this new life in Christ. SO, Jesus’ resurrection gives significance to our life here on this earth, from the moment we believe in Christ.

b. United with Christ- But Christ’s resurrection has eternal

significance as well. Going back to Romans 6, verses 8-10, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.”

Since Christ died, He cannot die again. We will die only once as well. Paul tells us that we will live with Him. Where is Christ living? In heaven. When we die, we will be raised to life with Christ, and live forever with God in heaven. God wanted to make sure that we understood this promise. Praise God for the Easter celebration, where we can be reminded of this truth.

In the Gospel of John 20:7, we are told that the linens that were covering Jesus were rolled up (or folded) in a place by itself. They were not thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the linens were neatly folded, and was placed where Jesus’ head had lay. Why is this important? It is important and significant, because in Hebrew tradition, the folded linens had to do with the Master and Servant relationship. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating. Now if the master was done eating, he would rise from the table, wad up the napkin, and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. The wadded napkin meant, 'I'm done'. But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'

Another reminder of the eternal significance of Jesus’ resurrection is in the fact that Christ will come again. So, even if we don’t die, when Jesus comes back, we will be taken to heaven with Christ, and will enjoy this “resurrection of life.”

Conclusion: All of us hearing this sermon today can know that God gives us the opportunity to have the greatest life we could imagine. A life that is alive. A life that is worthwhile. A life that is purposeful and meaningful. A life that has power over the sin that exists in the world. All of this is found in Jesus Christ, the One who was crucified, the One who was buried in a tomb, the One who was RAISED FROM THE DEAD. God does not show favoritism. “For God so loved the world that He GAVE His One and only Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life.” Let us believe this today. Let us live in a way that shows we understand this truth. Let us give thanks to God with our lives. Amen.