"Transforming the Stone"
Easter Sunday, 4/8/12
Matthew 28:1-10

Introduction: When it comes to Easter, people have many responses. I’m not talking about Easter as a holiday. I’m talking about Easter, the event; the event of Jesus Christ being raised from death to life. The scope of thought stretches from unbelief to horror, curiosity to true belief./ I mean, just the words spoken to the women from the angel: “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen just as he said.”

What amazing words. “He is not here.” Jesus had said He would not be in the tomb after 3 days. But nobody really believed it. The women didn’t, because they were coming to visit Him in the grave. The disciples didn’t, because they were off grieving. And so, the question for us today is: Do we believe it? I mean believe it in a way that will transform our lives like it should!

To do this, let us walk through the positions that many others hold.

I. Unbelief- (Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 3:1; Hebrews 9:27; John 18:36;

Luke 7:21-23; Matthew 17:22-23)

a. A fictional story- The first is unbelief. Many treat the resurrection like

a fictional story. I mean, all people die, and once they are dead, they are dead. Right? So a story about someone dying, and then coming back to life has to be fictional. Doesn’t it?

Illus. You might remember the television show “The Twilight Zone.” Each week

the crisp voice of Rod Serling would come out and set-up the show. And his last words before the show started were always: “As we travel into another dimension known as….The Twilight Zone.” And each week the show would indeed take us into another dimension where things would happen that could never happen in our dimension. The events of the show were bizarre and wild, and led us into facing our fears./ But the truth of the show is that it was not real; it didn’t happen.

That is what so many people believe about the resurrection. It wasn’t real; it didn’t happen. Something like that could never happen in our world. Death is final and cannot be changed once it happens. Even scripture affirms this:

Genesis 3:19- “You will have to work hard and to make the soil produce

anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed…”

Ecclesiastes 3:1- “There is a right time for everything: A time to be born and a time to die…”

Hebrews 9:27- “Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God.”

So if scripture itself teaches this, then how could we believe that Jesus could have been raised from the dead?

b. A real twilight zone- To believe this would mean that we would have

to go into a real twilight zone; a dimension apart from our own. And to do this, we need to follow the thinking, the teaching of Jesus Himself. Jesus Himself would talk often in ways that didn’t fit into the thinking of this dimension. Jesus often made statements that sounded other dimensional.

Let’s look at a few of them: (John 18:36) ³⁶Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

Jesus tried to tell people that earth was not where He came from and not where He was going to stay. He had a mission, and after that mission He would return to His place; heaven.

Then in Luke 7:21-23, ²¹At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. ²²So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. ²³Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

Now even though Jesus didn’t raise anyone from the dead in this passage,

He did start to speak about this possibility.

Matthew 17:22-23, ²²When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. ²³They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief.”

Here Jesus straight out gives the statement that He would be raised from death to life. The disciples were filled with grief because they did not believe it could be possible. Others I’m sure just scoffed at His statement. But Jesus is talking about accessing a power beyond this world; the power of God that can bring people back from death to life.

II. Horror- (John 3:16)

a. A willing response- Another response that many people have to the

death of Jesus is that of horror. How could a father let his son die? If you don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and if you don’t believe in the resurrection, then this event of Jesus being killed is a terrible, horrible thing. How often do we listen to the news and hear of a story of someone who is young dying a terrible death. We listen in horror.

But even worse is the story where a father or mother either watches as their child dies, or maybe even kills them, themselves. There is nothing more horrible than this kind of story. How could a parent ever just stand aside and let their child die? And isn’t this what God the Father did? John 3:16- “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…” The Father willingly gave up His Son to death.

Amusing Grace: Page 107, #327- “There is a true story of a minister who was giving the eulogy of a prominent citizen and extolling the virtues of this individual. At one point in the eulogy the minister said/ while pointing to the body in the casket: ‘We have here only the shell—the nut is gone.”

Maybe this is fitting for Jesus. So many thought of Jesus as a nutcase. Maybe it was better that He was gone./ The religious leaders sure felt this, because they were the ones that sought to have Him killed using trumped up charges. But still, this couldn’t condone the act of a Father letting his son be killed.

b. The effect- We need to go back and read and understand the second

half of John 3:16- “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, (and then it continues) so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”/ The “so that” is important, because it is telling us that there is a purpose to Jesus’ death. While the death is a horrible thing, especially if you understand how He died, the effect of the death is a wonderful thing; it brings life to all who believe.

What would actually be more horrible is God leaving us in our sin to die, which would cause us to be eternally separated from God, from God’s love, and from God’s goodness. What would be more horrible is to have no hope in this life. What would be more horrible is for us to be lost in our sin with no idea of what direction to turn.

Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection keeps these horrible events from occurring.

III. A Passing Fancy-

a. Can it last? Still others believe that Christianity is not true and will

not last. The French philosopher Voltaire once said: “The Bible and Christianity will pass within a hundred years.” Voltaire died in 1778. Christianity still continues strong.

Friedrich Nietzsche, in 1882, said: “God is dead.”/ Because of the dawn of science, Nietzsche believed that Christianity was doomed. And yet, Christianity continues.

And over the years, people have tried to bury Christianity, replace Christianity, or exchange Christianity for another belief. And while some have thrown away Christian beliefs, Christianity is still the largest faith in the world.

We are told by God in Isaiah 55:10-11, ¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, ¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

b. Standing Strong- It is said that 33% of the world is Christian. The

next closest religion is Islam at 21%. Now that is not an overwhelming amount of people by percentage, but by number it is approximately 2.1 billion people! The Christian movement has never been stronger. How can we explain this; how can we show that Christianity is not a passing fancy?

At first glance it is astounding. Jesus, who started this whole movement

was just a lowly peasant. He never wrote a book or held an office. He never journeyed more than 200 miles from his hometown. His friends left Him because His teaching was too hard to follow. One of His close followers, Judas, sold Him out to death. Those whom He helped forgot Him after He was arrested, and abandoned Him right before His death. But after His death they couldn’t resist Him.

WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE? His death and resurrection.

IV. A Transforming Belief-

a. The difference- Jesus’ death and resurrection make the difference,

because when He died, so did our sin. And when He rose, so did our hope. When Jesus rose from the grave/ your grave, and my grave, and the grave of everyone who believes was changed. It was no longer a final residence, but temporary housing. When we die, our permanent address will be heaven, and our permanent place will be in God’s glory.

But as important/ is that it changes our life here on earth as well. We are told in the book of Romans, 6:4- “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.”

When we believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are committing ourselves to a different, better kind of life. We seek to die to our old, sinful, hurtful way of living, and try to become born, and transformed into a new kind of life. We should be more ethical, more honest, more kind, and more loving. We should be able to overcome life’s hardship, because we have the power of the resurrection behind us. When we fail to live as Christ would live, it bothers us to the point where we know we need to change our behavior.

When King Herod heard that Jesus had been born, he gave this sentiment: “Kill Him, there is room for only one king.”/ That is true. There is room for only one king, and that king is Jesus! Jesus needs to be the king of our lives. And if this happens, then our lives will be transformed!

The “Dark sucker”- There was an article printed in the Journal of Sucker

Theory, from Bell Laboratories entitled “A Light in the Dark.” Here is a portion of that article… For years it has been believed that electric bulbs emitted light. However, recent information from Bell Labs has proven otherwise. Electric bulbs don’t emit light, they suck dark. Thus, they now call these bulbs dark-suckers. The dark theory, according to Bell Labs spokesman, proves the existence of dark, that dark has mass heavier than that of light, and that dark is faster than light. The basis of the dark-sucker theory is that electric bulbs suck dark. Take for example the dark-suckers in a room where the light is turned on. There is less dark right next to the lights than there is elsewhere. The larger the dark sucker, the greater the capacity to suck dark.

As with all things, dark suckers don’t last forever. Once they are full of dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the black spot on a full dark sucker. A new candle has a white wick. You will notice after the first use the wick turns black, representing all the dark which has been sucked into it. If you hold a pencil next to the wick of an operating candle, the tip will turn black because it got in the way of the dark flowing into the candle. Dark is also heavier than light. If you swim deeper and deeper, you will notice it gets darker and darker. When you reach a depth of approximately fifty feet, you are in total darkness. This is because the heavier dark sinks to the bottom of the lake and the lighter light floats to the tops.

In conclusion, Bell Labs stated that dark suckers make all our lives much easier. So, the next time you look at an electric bulb, remember that it is indeed a dark sucker!

As I read this, you might have wondered it if is true. Of course, this thinking of a dark sucker is ludicrous. At first it might make some sense, seeing that I mentioned Bell Labs. I also mentioned about the shadows by lights and the darkness of the deep ocean. As long as your focus is on the “dark” you can get confused very quickly. This is true in life as well. We hear someone teaching a different truth than that of the Bible, and we take our focus off of the truth of the Bible. This false teaching can sound true to us, unless we filter it through the truth of the Bible. The real truth is that light shines in darkness. Even the smallest of light can pierce through the thickest darkness.

Conclusion: The stone of the tomb represents the truth of the Bible. Jesus came to die for our sins, but He was also raised from the dead so that He could continue to be our living Lord. As our living Lord, He brings light inot our lives. As we believe this, our lives will be transformed, just as the moved stone in front of the tomb transformed the lives of the women who first came to the tomb. These women then proceeded to take this truth to the other disciples, who ultimately proclaimed it to the world. Because of this we can bring the light of Christ to the world and share this great truth! Let yourself be transformed by the stone, so that you can in turn help the lives of others to be transformed. Amen.