ROLLING STONES AND GRATEFUL DEAD Matthew 28:1-8
I. Two rock and roll bands.
A. Not very church-like, though they are each a religion.
B. Names fit nicely with Easter story.
1) An old story - older than Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
2) Easter is about rolling stones and grateful dead.
II. Easter begins with a Rolling Stone.
A. An earthquake moved it. Matt 28:2
1) Scientific explanation? Does Easter have a natural cause?
a) Maybe it explains how stone moved, but not how
resurrection happened.
2) Resurrection has no scientific explanation.
a) It requires a pure miracle.
b) No human can figure it out.
1> Can't be explained by geology or physics.
2> Theology can tell you why it happened, not how.
3) The rolling stone was only a little miracle.
a) The Big Event happened inside.
b) Bible never describes how it happened, only that it did.
B. Easter is not about a rolling stone, but what it revealed.
1) Stone had to roll so we could know something happened.
a) Jesus could have gone right through the stone.
1> (He later appeared suddenly in a locked room)
b) But then the disciples wouldn't be sure if it was
only his ghost.
1> They had to peek inside and see an empty tomb.
III. The stone is a symbol of the finality of death.
A. Jesus' death sealed the hopes of the disciples...
1) Just as strongly as that stone sealed his tomb.
a) Disciples on road to Emmaus: "We HAD HOPED he was the one..." Luke 24:21
b) All that Jesus stood for, all that he taught, seemed
to be for nothing now.
2) Pilate wanted to emphasize this.
a) He posted a guard, and put a seal on the stone.
1> He figured this would end the "Jesus issue."
b) Pilate wasn't just burying a man, but a revolt.
1> The teachings of Jesus would be buried with him.
- Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.
- Forgive your enemies and turn the other cheek.
- Woman, has no one condemned you? Then neither do I condemn you.
- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
- If any wants to be greatest, he must be servant of all.
- You must be born again.
c) Pilate was prepared for human schemes, but not for God.
B. God rolled the stone away.
1) It is God's YES to the world's NOs.
2) Easter isn't about bunnies and flowers and springtime.
Theologian Timothy George says the message of Easter is
that God left his heaven to enter fully into the life of
a world that was far from all right.
This is the real world, where aid workers are murdered and
their burned bodies hanged in Iraq.
Where children are given suicide bombs to wear in Palestine.
Where people lose jobs and families and health.
The real world where darkness reigns and evil sometimes
seems to have the last word.
The God of Easter did not shun this real world but came
into the very thick of it, hugging unwanted children,
and forgiving prostitutes.
He dined with the scum of the earth, and got his hands
dirty in acts of mercy, blessing, and love so real and
so deep that they couldn't be crushed by death itself.
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C. He still rolls stones away.
1) Generations of Christians have encountered the Risen Christ.
2) We've heard many testimonies in this church of people who
have gone from ruined lives to salvation.
3) They thought their life had nowhere to go, and then God
stepped in and rolled the stone away.
4) He can do the same for you. Right now.
a) There is no barrier in your life that God can't remove.
IV. Grateful dead.
A. There is one more band in the title. The Grateful Dead.
1) Jerry Garcia has been dead several years now, but the band
plays on.
2) The fans trade concert tapes, sell tie-dyed clothing, put
Dead Head bumper stickers on their cars.
3) But long after the band is a faded memory, people with
grateful hearts will still be talking about Easter.
B. We are all going to be dead.
1) It's a fact. You will die.
2) In a sense, you may be dead now.
a) The Bible says that apart from a relationship with Jesus
Christ, you are dead in your sins.
b) You are only really alive when you have experienced
God's forgiveness.
3) When you are alive in God, you can really live.
C. The far side of Easter - our own resurrection.
1) A foretaste at first Easter.
a) Jewish saints resurrected.
b) And of course Jesus himself.
2) Fulfillment comes for us at the Second Coming of Jesus.
a) It is popularly known as the Rapture.
D. The dead will rise.
1) Jesus teaches that EVERYONE will rise.
a) But there are two categories, the saints and the wicked.
b) Jesus says in John 5:28-29 --
Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
c) Your decision now, seals your fate then.
2) Resurrection isn't limited to the distant future.
a) Jesus goes on to say that the moment you commit yourself
to him, you become truly alive.
b) Eternal life begins at that moment.
3) It is something we can be grateful about.
V. Easter is meant to be experienced personally.
A. Would it be easier to believe if we could peek in empty tomb?
1) A disciple named Thomas thought so.
a) He didn't believe until he actually touched Jesus.
2) Jesus says blessed are those who don't see, and believe
anyway.
B. To believe, you have to be a witness.
He can roll your stones away.
Are you grateful for it?
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