We Are Easter People, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: 1st Peter 1:17-23
1:17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.
1:18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,
1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.
1:20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.
1:21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
1:22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.
1:23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

Let me start right out with the title of this sermon. We are Easter people. We are the people of the resurrection. Jesus Christ was crucified, dead, buried and rose again. He is the resurrected Christ. When we are baptized, we go beneath the water and rise up again, sharing with Him symbolically the resurrection from death to life.

We are the people of Easter, the people of the resurrected Christ.

But Peter is telling us that if we are going to follow God, we need to follow Him all the way while we are here on this earth, living as though we expect God to be the impartial judge that He is. We need to draw near to God until His presence overcomes our pride, our ego, and our self-interest to the point that we praise Him even for the difficulties and tragedies of this life.

For we are a special people, as followers of God, set aside for His purposes. We walk in the righteousness of the Son, Jesus Christ, redeemed from sin by His shed blood on the cross. People look to us, watch how we respond, to see if God is real in our lives.

But this is not like trading in a coupon for a free bag of chips. Not something we can pick up now, lay it down when it pleases us for some special desire we wish to satisfy, then pick it back up again. This is a life given over in violence and blood, to save us. This is blood that oozed from the scourged back of the Son of God, who allowed them to do that to Him, for you and I. This is a body racked with pain as bones strained against sockets, while muscles and sinews gave way and screamed in agony. This cost the Son of Man and Son of God something, something terribly painful. Then there was the darkness of death as He was taken down from the cross and laid in a cold, borrowed tomb.

So Peter reminds us, "Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart." And it is here we stumble around so badly.

That car in the other lane cuts you off, someone grabs your parking spot, someone takes out their anger on you, you are falsely accused, you fall into temptation and succumb to it, life isn't fair. So the first time you have a chance to unleash your anger on someone else, to make their life unfair, well, there you go. So much for loving your neighbor as yourself.

There is so much evil in the world most of us have no idea what's out there waiting for us. If it were not for the protecting arm of our Lord and Savior, life wouldn't even be worth hanging around for. If we had any idea -- and some of you who have traveled abroad, perhaps in the military, indeed do -- we would not add to it. Because none of us has any idea what load the other guy or gal is being ground down with. We might wish they had our troubles, but if we had theirs, we would want ours back.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we walk a fine line where loving our neighbor is concerned. We are told not to judge one another, but we are to be conscientious with the truth, to avoid people who would tempt us, use us, and draw us away from God.

John 12:47-48 gives us Jesus' example when He advises us, “If anyone hears My words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day."

So on the one hand Jesus is saying don't judge others when they deny Jesus Christ, for God will take care of that. But on the other hand, He is also saying we who follow Him are to keep His words. And as to keeping His words, 2nd Timothy 2:15 gives us wise counsel: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." For if we are rightly dividing the word of truth, we will save ourselves a great deal of consternation and confusion, and be able to share truth and clarity with others.

There is across this nation at this moment a mistaken effort to align Islam with Christianity by those unschooled in the ability of "rightly dividing the word of truth." They mistakenly believe that both Islam and Christianity spring from the roots of Abraham. They do not, and the "evidence" that they use is colloquial, not historic.

Part of their argument is that Islam also speaks of Jesus, and it does. But our crucified, risen Lord is considered a prophet by Islam, not the Son of God and not resurrected. Muslims teach from their Qu'ran that Jesus will return to earth and rule the world from the Islamic Qu'ran, not from the word of God.

Anyone who has studied the Qu'ran knows it is full of deception, permission for and advice to lie, full of the abuse of young girls, the oppression of women, and advocates violence against those who will not worship their Allah.

When pressed regarding this, Muslim priests, called Imams, respond that the Bible is also full of violence. And they are correct, except the violent wars of the Bible are documented as history, not advocated against those who will not worship Jesus.

It is also worthwhile pointing out that the love, hope and peace of the Olivet Discourse and the Sermon on the Mount found in the Bible are nowhere found in the Qu'ran.

There has never been, and will never be, anything like the living word of the Living God, of which Hebrews 4:12 tells us "The word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and the joints and the marrow, and is a critic of the thoughts and the intents of the heart."

There is no truth or love like there is in the Living God.

There is no forgiveness like that gift of eternal life given through Jesus Christ.

There is no future, no hope, no promise like that of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

If you know the word of God, in all of its entirety and context, God-breathed, then you know that. It stands alone. Exodus 20:1-7 is a listing of God's original Ten Commandments to us, and the very first one is "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." And the second is like to it, that we shall have no images or likeness to which we will bow down and serve. There is only one Living God, and He is found in neither Islam nor the Qu'ran. Nor is His Son, Jesus who is the Christ, nor the Holy Spirit.

In days of old, the people of Islam called Christians "The People of the Book," because we held so closely to the inspired word of God. And they were right. We still must hold very closely to the true word that God has given us. For in the culmination of that precious Book known as the Bible, we find the mystery of the ages coming to fruition in the New Testament -- just as today's scripture says He was "destined before the foundation of the world" -- the virgin birth of the Son of God, His walking among us as the Son of Man, his healing and teaching, and His death, burial and resurrection; the mystery revealed. The reason we will forever be Easter people.

Now, if you are not certain that you belong to Jesus Christ, that there is enough evidence to judge you a person of the Book, or an Easter person, you need to take care of that right away. For there is only one God, creator of heaven and earth, one death on the cross that took away your sins -- if you will accept that gift from Jesus Christ -- and one destination for those who believe in Him. Everything else misses out on Easter.

Amen.