Because the Lord Has Risen
Pastor Tan Thai · Apr 21, 2019
This Easter sermon affirms the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a genuine historical event while emphasizing that the resurrection is not merely intellectual knowledge but a transforming power available to every believer. The pastor draws on the testimony of women witnesses, the apostles, and Paul's dramatic conversion to substantiate the reality of the resurrection. The central question posed to the congregation is whether they have not only believed in the resurrection but also personally experienced its transforming power.
The sermon opens by observing that every Easter season, major American newspapers publish articles casting doubt on the resurrection of Jesus, proposing theories such as mass delusion among believers, a metaphorical survival in memory, or a fabricated story. The pastor cites 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 to define the Gospel: Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again on the third day. He emphasizes that if Jesus did not truly rise from the dead, the Gospel message is meaningless, faith is futile, and believers are the most pitiable of all people.
The central section presents two dimensions of the resurrection: it is a verifiable historical fact, and it is a transforming power that believers can personally experience. Three lines of evidence for the historical reality of the resurrection are offered: the testimony of women — especially Mary Magdalene — in a society that did not legally recognize women's testimony; the existence of more than five hundred living witnesses at the time Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 15:5-8); and Peter's first sermon in Jerusalem only weeks after the crucifixion, delivered while witnesses were still alive to refute any fabrication (Acts 2:23-24, 32).
The pastor highlights the dramatic transformation of the apostles as the most compelling living evidence. Before the resurrection they were cowardly — sleeping in Gethsemane, fleeing at the arrest, Peter denying Christ three times. After the resurrection they became extraordinarily courageous, willing to die for the Gospel. Eleven of the twelve apostles were executed for their faith. This transformation is inexplicable apart from the actual event of the resurrection.
Special emphasis is placed on Paul's testimony in Philippians 3:8-11. From a persecutor who imprisoned and killed believers, after the risen Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, Paul counted everything he had once prized — lineage, education, religious status — as rubbish, in order to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. The pastor uses the metaphor of eyeglasses to illustrate: the Holy Spirit is the spiritual lens through which believers see all of life through the risen Christ, echoing C.S. Lewis: "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."
The application section calls the congregation to self-examination: Where does Christ stand in your life? Is the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience — growing in you? The pastor distinguishes two kinds of people: those who have religion but lack the resurrection's regenerating power — attending church but giving the Holy Spirit no place in daily life; and those truly transformed by the resurrection — people for whom the Holy Spirit is Lord of the house, who commune with God in every circumstance of joy and sorrow, and who remain content even in want as long as Christ is near.