Title: Living Beyond a Good Friday World

Welcome to Haven Today, a program that tells The Great Story; it’s all about Jesus. I’m Charles Morris asking you “how low can you go?” Some people can go pretty far in a downward spiral. For them as well for all of us these next few minutes are very important. The program is called “Living Beyond a Good Friday World”. Anne Herring of “2 Chapter of Acts” wrote a song that takes us beyond Good Friday, it’s called “Easter Song”.

Song: Easter Song

What a song sung by Haven to get us beyond Good Friday living. Don’t get me wrong, thinking about Good Friday is important, Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins. But it is in the resurrection that we find hope. I normally don't read to you out of a newspaper but a few days ago USA Today had an editorial by Diane Cameron called “We Are Easter People”, she writes; one of the lowest points in my life occurred several years ago when I was living in Washington, DC at Easter time. My older sister recently died and both of my brothers were seriously ill, my best friends was leaving town and on top of that I was questioning my work. In my journal that April I wrote; am I depressed? When I read those pages now I laugh and shake my head, depressed? In the long year I thought I'd never laughed again just as I thought I'd never again feel love, the joy of easy friendship or the satisfaction of good work. I went to church that Easter out of both habit and desperation. I had grown up in a churchgoing family it was what we did and so to honor the family that I was losing I went to church. Easter after all is the centerpiece for Christians honoring and recalling Christ's triumph over death. The minister said that Easter Sunday many things that I don't remember but one sentence has stayed with me all these years, he said; we live in a Good Friday world. That I understood, a Good Friday world is full of suffering - questioning - unfairness - trouble - mistakes - hurts - losses and grief. Good Friday in the Christian faith is the day Christians commemorate Christ's suffering and death on the cross so that certainly made sense to me at that difficult time in my life. But, the minister continued; we are Easter people. These words stopped me cold I was stunned to be reminded that painful morning that there was something other than what I was feeling. I don't know Diane Cameron but I'm sure like me you know what she's talking about. So in the next few minutes I want us to talk together about how we can live beyond Good Friday and become Easter people. It is possible and it can happen this week and even today. Metropolitan Opera singer Jubilant Sykes sings a hymn that takes us back to that Good Friday week and I think it will help us to become Easter people.

Song: Let Us Break Bread Together

That was Jubilant Sykes leading us to break bread together with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That was from his “Jubilant” album, a CD that we have for you this Easter. Easter people that's what Christians are, we're not Good Friday people. Jesus is risen, he is risen indeed! That simple fact is the foundation of all hope. If it weren't true - if he hadn’t risen from the dead there would be no hope. I don’t want to talk about whether Jesus rose from the dead, and I believe it! I want to talk about why it matters so much that he did. I’m not addressing the question of whether he is live from the dead because there is no more proven fact in history and the resurrection of Jesus. Again and again when people of undertaken the task of disproving the resurrection they've ended up proving it instead. In the 18th century there were two beyond cynical students named West and Littleton who agreed between them to disapprove of two of the foundational historical claims of Christianity. West took on the conversion of Saul of Tarsus in Littleton took on the resurrection of Jesus but the next time they met they were a little embarrassed. Each of them had to confess that their study of the evidence had forced them to conclude that these claims were true. Littleton could not deny that Saul, the famous persecutor of Christianity, had indeed turned into Paul the Missionary. The young student named West was just as convinced that Jesus rose from the dead - he wrote a book called “Observations; on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus” in which he laid out the overwhelming evidence that he had found. More recently a former professor of history at Oxford wrote; “I've been used to for many years studying the history of other times and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who've written about them and I know of no fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort than the great sign that God has given us - Christ died and rose again from the dead. I am not going to spend time examining that evidence although I would invite you if you're a skeptic to do so by praying. Pray that the Lord would reveal that too you, to reveal that God is there, that God is real and Jesus rose from the dead. What I want to talk about is the significance of the fact that Jesus is risen from the dead, the “so what” of his resurrection. Jesus was dead and buried and if it stayed that way the light of hope would have been snuffed out and the world would have been plunged into the darkness of permanent hopeless despair. But on the third day his tomb was empty, his grave clothes were folded neatly nearby. Women, friends and followers of Jesus went early in the morning on the third day to perform the burial rituals that have been neglected - and you can do things like that on the Sabbath. An Angel met them at the tomb with this wonderful question; “why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen.” Their sorrow and hopelessness turned to joy. The same thing happened over and over again as Jesus appeared alive to all his followers and disciples and prove to them that he was alive from the dead. We can understand why these people would've been hopeless at the death of Jesus, they loved him. They were grief stricken, they had left everything to follow him, and not only that, they had anticipated that he would accomplish great things. As one of them put it; “we had hoped that he would have been the one to redeem Israel”. They had their hopes up because of Jesus and his death and it seemed to be the death of all their hopes. It was excruciating to think of going back to their old lives but obviously never occurred to them to pretend that he was alive as some people and suggested through the centuries. The only thing that could possibly have restored their hope and relieve their grief was the living resurrected Lord Jesus. When he made himself known to them they were ecstatic, to put it mildly. As I said, we can understand their transformation from udder dejection to complete joyous hope. What about now, 2000 years later? Why do I say that the fact that Jesus is alive from the dead is the pivotal point of existence for all time? Why should it bring about in us the same kind of transformation? I’m going to read what the apostle Paul had to say on the subject and I'm reading from 1 Corinthians 15; “if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain and your faith also is in vain”. If Christ has not been raised your faith is worthless and you are still in your sins and those who have fallen asleep or died have perished. He goes on to say; “why, if Christ has not been raised, am I in danger every hour. If it was from human motives that I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus what does that profit me, if the dead are not raised let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” Now Paul is arguing that the cost he pays for preaching the gospel of Christ only makes sense if Christ is now alive otherwise he might as well give it all up and just have a good time for whatever days he has left on this earth. But he saying something much more comprehensive even than that, he's actually saying four things that are true if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead. First, if Jesus isn’t alive it means he was no one special, he was just another son of Adam who got defeated by death in the end. Second, it means that death still has the last word and always will. Third, it means that our sins are not forgiven and fourth, it means that all work, everything anyone ever does, is totally in vain. Pretty depressing isn't it? You see death is the thing that makes life so hopeless. Death is a constant reminder to us that we are sinners. Because of death everything we do is in vain - only the resurrection of Jesus from the dead sheds hope in a hopeless situation. The light of the hope it sheds is a great light, and great hope, it's like the sun rising in the morning after a long dark night. You see in the same chapter in 1 Corinthians Paul reverses each of his four points on the basis of Christ's resurrection. He says that because Jesus has been raised, first; we know he is not merely someone special but the first fruits from among the dead is the last Adam who will give his people imperishable immortal bodies just like his on the day of resurrection. Second; because he was raised from the dead death has finally met its match, it won’t have the last word. Third; because he is alive from the grave we can know for sure that God has excepted his sacrifice and it has removed our sins. Fourth; because of the resurrection our work in the Lord is not in vain. These four great pillars of hope are firmly placed on the Lord Jesus.

Song: Endless Praise

This is Haven Today, I’m Charles Morris thank you for being with me and thank you for letting me urge you to get out of Good Friday living and to be an Easter person, to live in Easter all year long. The apostle Paul says that everything is hopeless if Christ is not raised. The language and argument he uses are taken right out of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes was written to establish this very fact that because of death everything in life is vain - everything is futile - everything is meaningless. Paul uses the word vain four times in 1 Corinthians 15. Now listen to Ecclesiastes 1:1; “vanity of vanities” says the preacher, “vanity of vanities all is vanity”. You see, both men, Paul the writer of Ecclesiastes are trying to hammer down this fact; life is in vain because of death. As long as death continues to be our unavoidable destiny then anyone who gets up any hope is always going to be disappointed in the end. The best thing you can do is just eat and drink and don't strive for anything. Don’t get worked up about anything, don’t get your hopes up about anything just try to enjoy your few years here on earth. That's the best you can do in light of the terrible fact of death. That's Good Friday living by the way, I know that sounds depressing but that's because it is depressing, right? Ecclesiastes doesn't offer any answers, the preacher says he's looked at everything from every point of view and in light of the facts his advice is that it's best not to think about it too much. Ecclesiastes is a book written to show us what is true if there were no resurrection from the dead. That's why the Bible needs to be taken as a whole because it's in the New Testament that Paul teaches us there is a resurrection, Jesus is raised. Think about what would be true if there was no resurrection so you can get hold of the glory of the resurrection. Think about the fact that life is utterly vain because of the fact of death so you can grasp the significance of the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead. This fact, and I say it is a fact, is the reason for all hope in this world today. Death has now been conquered in Jesus. Don't treat this as a ho-hum fact, lift up your eyes and see what it means and be full of hope as an Easter person today. “Living Beyond the Good Friday World” that's the name of this Haven Today. I don't know about you but I need to move beyond living in a Good Friday world, I want be an Easter person and I pray you do as well today. This can only happen because Jesus Christ is risen indeed. Would you join me in prayer right now, Lord so many days I'm just a Good Friday liver, I live with pain and I live with horror - sometimes I live with depression. I'm in a downward spiral some days and then when I just think about Christ dying on the cross on a Good Friday, Good Friday becomes Bad Friday - Lord move me on beyond that. Lord move me beyond that may I see the risen Jesus my risen Savior may Jesus Christ be my Lord and King. May that happen today because I believe that Jesus died for my sins and I asked for this forgiveness that only he can deliver. Lord may I live with the hope of the resurrection may I be an Easter person right now in the name of Jesus, Amen. I want to take just a moment and give a hearty thanks, thanks to everyone who has been in communication with us the past few days especially if you're one of those who has sent an Easter gift. It means a lot to hear from you and especially read the notes that so many people sent along with their Easter gift. If you listen to Haven Today quite often, if God uses this program in your life, if you are an Easter person and not just living in a Good Friday world then I feel like I can invite you to send an Easter gift so that we can share this great story of Easter living with others, we do it every day on Haven Today. If you enjoy Easter living music by Metropolitan Opera singer Jubilant Sykes then I would like to send you his CD that's called “Jubilant”. You can see the song titles by visiting our webpage at haventoday.org and for your gift of the least $25 (and a special thanks to everyone who's sent an even higher amount this week) we will get you out a copy. If you'd rather pick up the phone and call our toll-free number at 1-800-65-2836 and then you can make your Easter gift and also get the CD. One other thing, if you've never received our daily devotional guide “Anchor” I'd like to send you a sample copy and you can ask for that either online or by phone. If you would like to write to us, here is our mailing address: Haven Today, P.O. Box 79997, Riverside, CA 92513 and in Canada the address is: Haven Today, Box 6800, Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 4C9. Fewer and fewer people are writing us today in this busy world but if you prefer to write would you please include the radio station that you listen to Haven on. I’m Charles Morris and thanks for being with me, come back again tomorrow, we are going to do some more Easter living and we will do it together because of Jesus, here on Haven Today.