Why Are You Here?

A Sermon Given to All Saints Anglican Church on Easter 2008 @ the Convent Chapel of St. Mary's Medical Center, Huntington, WV.


Why are you here today? …. Is it because Easter is a cultural Holiday and you feel that you are expected to go to church before eating a meal with your family and having an Easter egg hunt with your kids? Is it because Christmas and Easter are two religious holidays that you can’t avoid – and so you must make an effort to attend so that God isn’t perturbed with you?

Or …. Do you come in order to recognize that the event we celebrate today actually happened and has changed Human existence more than any other religion or philosophy in the World?

I would suggest that for most, if not all, of us, it is the latter. We’re here because we have come to recognize that Jesus arose from the grave and this singular fact has changed our lives forever.

Jesus rose from the Dead. The grave is empty! This fact was noticed by the Roman soldiers who were charged with guarding the tomb against Jesus’ followers who were thought to be plotting to steal the body for their own purposes.

The Disciples noticed that the grave was empty and thought it was significant enough to turn the world upside down as they spread the News.

You and I have noticed that Jesus is not dead – and it has changed every area of our lives: how we think about ourselves, how we treat others, how we spend our money, and how we spend our Sunday mornings.

When we say that Jesus arose, this also entails several other things logically; namely, that Jesus actually existed! You might think this is a silly point to bring up – but there are those who have tried to say that Jesus never existed as a real historical person. There are those who say that he didn’t actually die on the cross, but swooned and was later revived, going on to get married and have a family with Mary Magdalene. People say all kinds of things about Jesus other than what the Bible says – because they don’t like the central focus of Jesus’ mission – to shed his blood on your behalf and mine.

You see, people don’t like to be told they have inherited the original guilt and stain from Adam and Eve, and that the natural condition of humans is to be alienated from God – even as ‘innocent’ children. We don’t like to hear that what we really deserve is death like the thieves on the cross, not peace and prosperity.

The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. (Rom. 3.23). That doesn’t mean that you have a good heart and just lack a few things to be perfect. No, that means that there is an infinite gap between your human goodness and the absolute perfection of God – a gap that is unbridgeable by human effort.

Our problem as humans is not that we are unenlightened, that we just need better self-esteem, or that we just need to clean up our act somewhat before God can accept us fully. The problem is that the Sin we inherit by being human fatally separates us from God.

It’s like on your computer when you se a message that says: “A Fatal error occurred and your computer must shut down”. Sin has shut down the human race and humans have no religious I.T. techs to get them started again via natural means. It’s not in our original software!

The only thing that will bridge the gap between us and God is Blood Sacrifice. This is what separated Able’s sacrifice from Cain’s. This is whey God set up the elaborate rituals for animal sacrifice in the Jewish Temple. This is what Jesus came to offer God on our behalf. And this is what the world objects to.

This past week I got a news letter from Lynn and Karen McAdams, who were dear friends of ours at Trinity and have served as missionaries in Germany for the last 25 years. Writing about the future of the church in Germany, Lynn quotes TV pastor Jurgen Fliege, who asserts,

“The church should offer a more positive picture of Jesus and not be continually talking about suffering and death…Jesus was a master of happiness. If the church keeps repeating that ‘Jesus died for me and my sins,’ that’s lie a dark cloud which hangs over people … Instead, we should learn from statements like ‘plants can teach us something.’ This is not esoteric, but a lesson from creation, as tress and plants are ‘the oldest siblings of mankind.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m convinced that some of my teachers in school were actually plant life -- But you see, this statement tells us what the world wants: A religion that helps them to feel good about themselves and to realize that you’d be much happier if you just thought about your leafy siblings – and stopped thinking about Sin, Death, and Blood all the time. It’s just as CS Lewis said, “Christianity is not the kind of religion you would make up on your own…” It’s too bloody, too messy, and too difficult to believe. Easier to believe that “Plants are your friends”…

But friends I am here today to tell you that the only reason we are here today is to affirm and celebrate the uncomfortable facts of the Gospel: Jesus was a real Human being who was also real God at the same time. He came down from Heaven to live a perfect life and to teach us about God – but more importantly to die for us and to open the way to Heaven for us.

Jesus was the perfect Lamb of God who offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice. His blood is the only way to God. There is none other, and no other Name under heaven by which we can be saved. You can make up your own religion and sell it on TV all you want – but without the blood sacrifice you will not satisfy the necessary condition to bridge the gap between yourself and God.

It was because Jesus offered his own blood on Friday that we celebrate the empty tomb on Sunday. It’s the Blood of Jesus that we celebrate and re-present to God every Sunday in Thanksgiving. It’s the Blood of Jesus that Cleanses, not just covers Sin. And it’s the blood of Jesus that separates Christianity from all other religions.

If you’re here today because you have placed your faith and confidence in the blood of Jesus – I welcome you as a brother or sister in Christ. If you have never trusted the blood of Jesus to cleans you from sin and present you spotless before God, I challenge and invite you to do so before you leave this place today.

Make your time here today eternally meaningful by turning away from your own feeble attempts to be good, and trust in the shed blood of Christ. Come now and give yourself to Him. Now is the Time. Amen.