The Easter Difference Acts 10:34–43; Colossians 3:1–4; 2 Timothy 1:10b

 

Alleluia! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our everlasting Father, and Jesus Christ, His risen, everlasting Son.

 

This morning we’re going to talk about the amazing difference Easter makes.

 

Imagine your life without Easter. 

 

If God had not sent His Son, and His Son had not overcome sin and death for you, how different do you think your life would be? A little different? A lot different?

 

I think it’s safe to say that none of us would be here today, or at any place of Christian worship. Why worship a dead God?

 

So if you wouldn’t be here this morning, where would you be? 

 

In your bed, sleeping… Doing chores around the house… At a restaurant eating breakfast… On the course, playing golf…  

 

If Jesus hadn’t risen from His grave all those years ago on the other side of the earth, where would you be today on this side of the earth… and how would you be, what would your life look like… how might it be different?

 

This is a bit of a trick question… 

 

If there was no Easter, if Jesus had not risen from His grave, not only would we not be here today, we wouldn’t be anywhere… we wouldn’t be, we probably wouldn’t exist.

 

After sinning against God and each other, and bringing death into the world, Adam and Eve would have died on that day they disobeyed, as God had warned them…

 

… and that would have been the end of humanity, a failed experiment… and we wouldn’t be here or anywhere today.  

 

But that’s not what happened… God intervened with His Son.

 

He knew His Son would do all that needed to be done to redeem the world, and do it to perfection… and so Adam and Eve didn’t have to die that day… humanity could continue because God knew His Son would redeem the world with His holy life, His holy death, and His victorious resurrection. 

 

If He had done the first two, been holy and died for us, but not the last, had not risen, we wouldn’t be redeemed, and we wouldn’t live, now or ever.

 

But He did, and now we live, and we shout: Alleluia! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

Before God made the world, He knew His Son would redeem the world.

 

But if He would’ve known that the world would not or could not be redeemed, then would He even have created the world? 

 

The reason God made the universe is to support life in His image, human life. If there was no life to support, there’d be no reason for the world to exist.

 

What this means is that everyone, owes everything, to Jesus. He’s the reason we’re redeemed, and He’s the reason we exist.

 

But God wants far more for us than to just exist. He wants us to exist in the best possible way… to truly live, to make the most of life, and that’s what Easter does.

Jesus said in John 10:10, I have come that you may have life, and life to its fullest, life at its best, a life that, our Epistle says, seeks higher things, the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 

 

God wants a much higher quality of life for us than anything this world can give. He wants us to have a life richly and eternally blessed with His good and perfect gifts.

 

And He wants us to have a greater quantity of life, a longer duration of life, life everlasting, with everlasting love and everlasting peace and everlasting joy, and to sum them all up, everlasting glory.

 

This better and everlasting life, is the life we have because of Easter, because our Lord has risen indeed!

 

Our Lord’s resurrection made all the difference in how God approached the world at creation, and at humanity’s fall into sin, and how He has approached the world ever since, and will forever to come.  

 

In the same way, God would have Easter make all the difference in our lives. 

 

There’s an old song from the 1950s that goes, “What a difference a day makes, twenty four little hours…”

 

What a difference that one day has made for the world… that Sunday morning, when Mary and Mary, Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopas, Jesus’ aunt, and some of their friends, woke up early and walked to the tomb to anoint the dead body of their Teacher.

 

But something happened that they didn’t expect.  

 

Our Gospel says, And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

He flipped the huge stone over, sat on it, and waited for the women to arrive.

 

When they felt the earth quake, and saw the angel, you can imagine how startled and scared they must have been. 

 

But the angel assured them: “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. 

 

Then the angel invited them to look inside the tomb and see for themselves.

 

Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.” He’ll find you there.

 

With mixed emotions, happy, amazed, in awe, maybe somewhat confused and afraid, and with lots of adrenaline flowing, the women took off running, to go find the disciples. 

 

They didn’t get very far before they saw something even more amazing than the angel. 

 

Matthew says, 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” Good morning. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 

 

A short time before this, when Jesus had raised His good friend Lazarus after he had died suddenly, He made an outrageous claim about Himself. 

 

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

 

I am Easter, Jesus says. Believe in Me.

 

We do all these things at Easter, and it’s good that we do them. But all this isn’t Easter – Jesus is Easter! He is the resurrection and the life!

 

He is the lasting difference in our lives. Every good thing given to us… is because of Him.

 

As we said, the fact that we’re even alive, we owe to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

 

But more than, that we’re truly alive, not just outwardly, but inwardly, alive in the most impacting way possible, spiritually alive… and eternally alive, is because of our Lord who died to redeem us, and rose to bless us.

 

Risen and victorious, He now saves us from our sin, and from everything that’s worst about us… 

 

And for the sake of His risen Son, God gives us the best He has to give, and He gives it in abundance… 

 

Faith, forgiveness, love, hope, peace, joy… they are best of things, and we have because them of Easter… because our Lord who died for us, rose for us, and now He richly blesses us.

 

And that means, we have a lot to share… and it’s all worth sharing.

 

Jesus won life for us; He won a better life for us; He won an everlasting life for us.

 

Life isn’t the same anymore; history isn’t the same; eternity isn’t the same – Easter has changed it all.

 

The Lord of Easter has changed us, and for the better, and forever.

 

Rejoice in this Easter life you’ve been given… and share this Easter life… share the gifts of Easter, not candy, or not just candy.... 

Share the love… the grace… the healing… the comfort… share the hope… the renewal; share the joy; and share the good news of a future and glorious life in the magnificent, everlasting Kingdom of our risen Lord.

 

Finally, share the peace that passes understanding, and guards our hearts and minds in our risen Lord, who has changed everything for us forever, and all because… He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen.