“An Easter Worth Celebrating!” [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

April 12, 2020

Introductory Comments:

Happy Easter, once again!

Easter is a time to celebrate, and this Easter, like any other Easter, is an Easter worth celebrating!

Nothing in this world can take away the reasons that Easter is worth celebrating! I don’t care if it’s the Coronavirus, death, war, famine, poverty, evil; nothing can take away the joy of Easter Sunday.

Today we’re going to look at three elements of Easter that are worth celebrating. Before we do, join me in a spirit of prayer.

(prayer)

You know, many people have concerns right now. Some of us are concerned about our health, some of us are critical of leaders, some of us think conspiracies are in the works, some of us are low on groceries, some of us are without jobs, some of us are concerned about the stock market, some of us have family members who are suffering from health issues, some us may have recently lost loved ones, some of may even be ill ourselves; however, this is an Easter worth celebrating. Today is a day worth celebrating. 

I asked some of you to share what you liked to celebrate about Easter. Here’s what we came up with. Check out this video:

[show video compilation of favorite things to celebrate about Easter]

Well, those are some great things to celebrate. There are some other great aspects of Easter to celebrate that we’re going to look at this morning. 

First, . . .

I. The sacrifice of Jesus is worth celebrating.  [on screen]

We just commemorated Good Friday just a couple days ago. Good Friday remembers the death of Jesus; Good Friday remembers the sacrifice of Jesus.

Listen, church, the sacrifice of Jesus is worth celebrating. 

The Bible says in John 3:16,

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. [on screen]

God gave His Son so that we might have eternal life! He sacrificed His Son so that we might have life! 

The apostle Paul says in Romans 5:8,

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [on screen]

God loves us and He proved His love for us by sending Jesus to die for us. God’s love for us shown in the sacrifice of Jesus is worth celebrating!

Also, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross gave us the opportunity to be made righteous before God. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21,

He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. [on screen]

The sacrifice of Jesus is worth celebrating because instead of us being considered guilty and unrighteous before God we can be counted as holy and righteous. The sacrifice of Jesus is worth celebrating this Easter Sunday. 

You know, in ancient times Jewish times families would have to bring animal sacrifices before God to atone for their sin. They would have to bring sacrifices to seek redemption. Well, the writer of Hebrews explains what Jesus did by His sacrifice on the cross. Listen to Hebrews 9:12:

he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. [on screen]

Jesus obtained eternalredemptionfor us on the cross. That is worth celebrating.  

Church, don’t let anything take away the joy of celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus. 

Second, . . .

II. The resurrection of Jesus is worth celebrating. [on screen]

Although the death and sacrifice of Jesus are worth celebrating, we also celebrate the fact that Jesus did not stay dead! Jesus rose from the dead! Jesus was resurrected. 

The resurrection of Jesus is worth celebrating!

Let’s read now about the resurrection. Let’s look at Mark 16:1-7:

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they could