Sermon Outline for April 9, 2023
Easter 2023
Five realities about the ancient world that support believing in the resurrection of
Jesus:
1. The shame of crucifixion in the ancient world.
2. The perceived impossibility of a crucified Messiah in the Jewish worldview.
3. The social and financial loss associated with following Jesus as Messiah.
4. The eternal risk assumed by Jesus’s followers.
5. The sacrificial and culturally-uncommon love demonstrated by
Jesus’s disciples.
Hebrews 12:2, “...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter
of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame...”
1 Cor. 15:19, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of
all people most to be pitied.”
C. S. Lewis: “That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you
could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of
universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up.
But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up.”
Implications – if the resurrection is reality:
• The person, the words, and the work of Jesus Christ are vindicated
as authentically from God. (He is Messiah, son of God, his teachings about God
and salvation are true, He really is the Way, the Truth,
and the Life, etc.).
• The God who raised Jesus stands alone above
all gods and faith systems of this earth.