What a glorious Easter Day it's been, an outdoor Sunrise Service with more people than I imagined, and now our Festival Service!  Christ is risen!  It's such a pleasure to come to Easter worship each year, partly because it's spring and partly because we're fresh and nicely dressed.  But mostly it's the pure joy of Resurrection Day.  Today is the center of the Christian faith.  Without Easter we're just a sorry bunch of losers.  But because of the certainty of His resurrection we know the truth about life, truth that saves us, Truth that sets us free.  To one and all here today, Happy Easter!

          Some folks object to the word "Easter".  They say it smacks of heathen festivals, pagan goddesses, or of rabbits and eggs, those worldly signs of fertility.  They would call today Resurrection Day and that's good, too.  But call it what you will, it only has meaning because of an empty grave.  The events surrounding that empty grave are the heart and center of the Gospel, the Good News that God's Son broke the bonds of death, that though we're condemned, yet in Him we're forgiven, though sinners, in Him we are saints.  Thus, with Christians of the ages we shout, "Christ is risen!"

          Many years ago, one of Christ's disciples, Paul, wrote this:  "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:  that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures..."

          The Christian faith in based on faith that Rabbi Jesus is the Son of God who came alive again after being dead.  But is Christianity only a matter of faith, or can we really be certain He arose?  People today can have faith in most anything, faith in their friends, faith in their abilities, even faith in the future.  But is the Christian message more than faith?  Can we be certain it is true?

          Absolutely!  We can be certain of God's love, and we can be certain about Jesus Christ.  One part of this certainty is the resurrection message itself.  It has not changed one iota since the day they found Jesus alive.  Every major religion with a miracle surrounding its founder has changed its story, often several times, but the news of Christ's empty grave has never changed.  It's more than faith - it's certainty.

          A second certainty of the Christian faith is its ability to survive.  Two thousand years of attempts to debunk it have failed.  Nero tried to kill all the Christians, but only drove them underground in stronger numbers.  Hadrian destroyed all the grave sites of Christ's life, but only guaranteed their location.  Islam tried to kill off all Christians in its first two centuries of existence but failed.  Atheists have tried to discredit it and New Agers have tried to cut out its heart.  But every attempt to kill Christianity has failed.  You see, it's more than faith - it's certainty.

          Another certainty of the Christian Faith is its message.  The Gospel of a forgiving Creator God is unique in all the world.  The message of an almighty God who lovingly interacts with His people is unheard of in other religions.  A holy book of 66 smaller books that survives countless translations and yet is unified throughout is without equal.  It's more than faith - it's certainty!

          Another certainty of the Christian faith is what it does to people.  It has changed millions, even billions of lives, making them better.  It forgives the murderer, turns the selfish into care-givers, and heals the wounded.  It humbles the proud and exalts the humble.  It comforts the afflicted, and afflicts the comfortable.

          But perhaps the most amazing certainty of the Christian faith is what it does to death.  It proclaims that death is the beginning of new life.  While never down playing sadness over human loss, it changes a cemetery from a spooky place of the unknown end into a place of transition.  In Christ the grave becomes a garden where we plant the seed that grows and blossoms into new, beautiful, God-given eternal life.

          Cemeteries become God's garden, where He plants the lifeless seed into the ground, the bodies of those who have died trusting in their Savior.  There they await the day they will live again and grow, bearing fruit for eternal life.

          Some 1970 years ago Jesus was buried in a garden.  They put His lifeless body into a cold grave and rolled a rock over the entrance.  His loved ones never expected to see Him again, and because they loved Him, that really hurt.  They'd lost Him for sure -- or so they thought.  But His place of burial was the garden of God, and soon a glorified Savior arose, the firstfruits of all who die.  Firstfruits are the first of the harvest and God's guarantee there's more to come.  Thus, we too shall rise!  It's more than faith - it's certainty!

          Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life;  whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live." (John 11:25)   He also said, "If you continue in My Word, you are truly my disciples; you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." (John 8:31-32)

          Pastor George Thomas of New England came to church one Easter carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it on the pulpit as he began to preach.  Noticing the raised eyebrows, he said, "I bought this from a boy who was walking through town yesterday. In the cage were three little wild birds, nearly dying from fright.  I stopped the lad and asked, 'What have you got there son?'  'Just some old birds,' he said.  'What are you gonna do with them?' I asked.  'Take 'em home and have fun with 'em, maybe tease 'em and pull out feathers to make 'em fight.  I'm gonna have a real good time.'

          "'But you'll get tired of those birds sooner or later.  What will you do then?'  'Oh, I got some cats.  They like birds.  I'll take 'em to them.'  I thought a moment and asked, 'How much do you want for those birds, son?'  'Huh?" said the boy, 'You don't want them birds, mister.  They're just plain old field birds.  They don't sing, and they ain't even pretty!'  'How much?' I asked.  The boy sized me up as if I was crazy and said, '$10?'  I gave him a ten-dollar bill, and in a flash he was gone.  I carried this cage to a place where there was a tree and a grassy spot, opened the door, and persuaded those birds out.  I set them free."

          Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and then the pastor continued his sermon.  "One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation.  Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting.  'Yes sir, I just caught a world full of people down there.  Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn't resist, and got 'em all!'  'What are you going to do with them?' Jesus asked.  'Oh, I'm gonna have fun!  I'm gonna teach them how to marry and divorce each other, how to hate and abuse each other, and how to make guns and bombs so they can kill each other.  I'm really gonna have fun!'

          "'And what will you do when you get done with them?' Jesus asked.  'Oh, I think I'll kill 'em.'  'How much do you want for them?' asked Jesus.  'Oh, you don't want them.  They're no good.  Why, you take them and they'll just hate you.  They'll spit on you, curse you, maybe even kill you.  You don't want those people!'  'HOW MUCH?' said Jesus.  Satan looked at Him and sneered, 'All your tears and all your blood.'  And right there Jesus paid the price.  Then he picked up the cage, and HE OPENED THE DOOR."

          In Christ, we are free!  God freed us and all people from the chains of sin, the terror of death and control of the devil.  We're not caged any more, but free to live our life as God gives it to us, loving each other, and overcoming obstacles, and serving the Lord.  Most of all, we live in the certainty of our destiny of eternal life.

          Around us this morning are all the signs of Easter - beautiful lilies, joyful music, and loving fellowship.  Mostly, it's an air of Easter excitement, caused by the news we all have a new start.  "O God of new beginnings and second chances, here we are again!"  No matter what's happened in the past, God gives us all a new beginning today.  We are the church of the Resurrection.  We live on the Easter side of Good Friday.  Death no longer terrifies us, the grave no longer has us in its grasp.

          Years ago a photographer had brought to him a faded old daguerreotype, a picture made on tin.  It was so faded and corroded that it was impossible to distinguish the picture.  He took this apparently useless image into his workroom, poured over it a certain solution and then subjected it to intense heat.  And the image reappeared.  And lo! it was the face of his own mother who'd died when he was an infant.  A face of beauty and sweetness was revealed where there was only a blurred image.  And it was the face of the one who had brought him into the world.

          If an earthly photographer can restore a likeness that seems hopelessly lost, how much more surely can our Heavenly Artist bring back the beauty of the soul blurred and defaced by sin.  That's what today is about - renewal and resurrection.  You can be certain of it.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Amen

Copyright © 2000 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.