Well, maybe you want to have those verses in Romans chapter 8 open in front of you.
But in the end, it's only a passing thing.
The shadow, even darkness must pass.
A new day will come.
I wonder what your heart's response is to the words of Tolkien's character,
Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings.
As they come at you this morning.
Right? Check them out.
Fanciful fairy tale.
Wishful thinking.
If only it were true, could it be true?
Well, here's what I want to do just for the next 15 minutes or so.
Whoever you are here today,
wherever you've come from,
whatever you think about this man Jesus,
I just want to present you for 15 minutes
with the great Christian hope.
And why Jesus Christ walking out that tomb some 2,000 odd years ago,
the first Easter Sunday,
is the most magnificent and significant moment
that you and I can ever hope to hear about.
Now, I've got three children.
Probably heard one of them this morning.
And I was there at the Edinburgh Royal
for each of their births.
I watched, I listened,
I shed a tear or two,
which for a Scotsman is saying something.
Right?
But the primary feeling I remember having
as I was watching our children being born
is that feeling of being utterly helpless
in the situation.
In my struggle to work out as a man
how I could help in those final hours,
I learned that there's things that are helpful to say
and there's things that are unhelpful to say.
Can I get you some water?
It's a really helpful line.
Would you like me to hold your hand?
Another helpful line.
I'm so proud of you.
Another helpful line.
All helpful lines.
But here's an unhelpful line.
Can you guess it?
I feel your pain.
That's a dreadful line.
Dreadful line.
Because you don't have a clue about the pain.
And yet, to totally contradict what I've just said,
here's what the Bible would say.
To the everyday follower of Jesus
who's living their lives in this world
day after day after day
that so often, if we're honest,
feel exactly the same,
is that you do know the pain.
Maybe it surprises you to hear me say today
that the central metaphor that the Bible uses
to talk about the great Christian hope
is the pain of childbirth.
Now, that might seem completely bizarre to you.
Surely there was a better one
that we could have picked.
I mean, does God need a new PR team?
One that's more in touch with the needs of 2022 people.
And yet, when you think about it,
yes, bizarre,
but when you think about it,
how deeply profound,
how real,
how earthy.
It's what people,
when they become Christians,
I've so often heard them say
that the Bible became the most real book
of their lives
because it is the word of our creator.
You see, this idea that on the other side
of all the pain and the suffering
and the tragedy that we experience now
as we live our lives in the world,
on the other side, there's joy.
Let me explain.
You see, in the beginning of the Bible story,
there's perfection.
God forms the world.
The sky, the seas, the sun, the stars.
He speaks.
It does his bidding.
This God is all-powerful.
It happens.
He forms the world
and then he turns to fill the world.
Plants, animals, sea creatures,
and the pinnacle.
And get this.
Human beings.
Every single life stamped
with inherent dignity and worth.
You see, the very concept
that all life matters
is not a 21st century discovery.
You come to the pages of the Bible
and you'll see that it's an
in-the-beginning declaration
that's made over every single human life
because we are made in the image
of our creator God.
And so right there is Adam and Eve,
the first human beings,
they're enjoying God
and his good creation
in the Garden of Eden.
And most importantly,
they're enjoying the blessing
and the right,
the blessing that comes
through that right relationship
with the God who made them.
And whoever you are here today,
if you want to find joy and security,
in your life,
the Bible will tell you
that the place to find it
is in relationship
with the God who made you.
Make sense?
Purpose and meaning
are to be found
in life with this God.
But you see,
Adam and Eve's defiance against God,
and that's how the Bible
would describe the sin
that's in every single one
of our hearts and lives,
causes Eve to eat the fruit,
which means
that God has to banish
the pay of them
from his presence.
And the ripple effects of sin,
they go wide
and they go deep.
This is where we tap
into our verses today.
You see,
creation
has felt the effects
of sin.
You see,
when humanity
fell into sin and death,
the created order
somehow shared
in that fall.
Nature is beautiful
as it is.
It isn't
what it ought to be,
nor is it
what it was
fully created to be.
We often use that phrase,
don't we?
It's something that's just,
it's not quite firing
in all cylinders.
You heard that phrase?
Not quite firing
in all cylinders.
I think if we're honest
this morning,
in all of us
at some level,
we would acknowledge
that about the created world,
would we not?
Every time we hear
of a natural disaster,
every report
that reaches our ears
of the effects
of climate change
and the future
of our planet,
instinctively,
what do we want to do?
We want to reach
for the instruction manual.
We're on Google.
We're Googling
a number of customer services.
We're looking
for that guarantee
because I don't think
this was the way
it was designed to be.
It's the same
with our human bodies.
They too have been affected.
Illness,
sickness,
joint pain,
asthma,
cancer,
death,
yeah,
all things that weren't
at the beginning
of the Bible story.
You know,
a friend recently
down at the school playground
was telling me
how she was,
she's been caring
for her mum
as her mum's been
getting older
and getting frailer.
Every day she would
go and see her mum,
day by day by day
and she said,
I knew it was getting bad
towards the end
when the wedding ring
just fell off her finger.
It's not how it's meant to be.
That's tragic.
I think we've maybe
just got so used to death
that we've become numb
to the fact that death
is the ultimate intruder
and the Bible would call it
the last enemy
in God's great story.
And our emotions
are caught up in this.
Do you not know
your own heart?
Anger,
bitterness,
envy,
rage.
You look at it
on a global scale.
Wars,
jealousy.
And on top of that,
for the Christian believer,
we have this indwelling
battle with sin.
We know the life
that God has called us to,
He saved us for,
and yet we struggle
in so many ways.
And for many around the world,
physical persecution.
Again,
the same question
comes at us,
is this the way
that we were supposed to be?
You know,
let me ask you
if you're here today
and you're not a Christian,
what do you do with that?
It's all well and good,
isn't it,
whistling the jolly tune
of Monty Python?
When you're chewing
on life's gristle,
don't grumble,
give a whistle,
and this will help things
turn out for the best.
But we know
that life's not as simple
as that.
It's not a helpful line
if talking of
unhelpful lines.
It's not one to pull out
at a funeral,
is it?
What do you do with that?
Where do you go with that?
How do you process that?
Well,
for the Christian,
the follower of Jesus,
here's where our metaphor
kicks in.
As we live in,
our lives in this world
and in these bodies,
as we experience
what that is,
we groan,
we long,
we yearn for
the day when this
would all disappear,
this would all be
a distant memory.
As we do that,
we are experiencing,
the Bible would say,
the pains of
childbirth.
We know the pain
of those things,
but there's hope.
And that's what
Easter Sunday is.
It's a declaration,
heaven's declaration
of hope.
What?
Where?
How?
Why?
The answer to all of these,
the Bible primarily presents us
with a who.
You see,
Jesus of Nazareth
walks onto the stage
of human history.
You have to say,
the most absorbing
personality
ever to have walked
this planet.
You know,
I was looking at it this week.
In fact,
back in 2013,
data researchers
at Wikipedia
announced Jesus
as the most famous
person in history.
Napoleon II,
Shakespeare,
coming in for the bronze.
To be or not to be,
it wasn't to be
for Shakespeare.
Jesus,
the most absorbing
personality of history,
compelling individual,
wonderfully true.
You cannot read the Gospels
and conclude
anything other than
that this Jesus
is magnetically wonderful.
I mean,
I often,
as a Christian believer,
just read the Bible
and think,
who would have come up
with a Jesus
as good as this?
But Jesus says
that he's more,
not just popular,
but Savior.
He is God
in human flesh.
And yet,
with those credentials,
his life ended
on a cruel Roman cross.
What's going on there?
It's just a substitution.
He is taking the punishment
that the sins
of his people deserve,
and he's taking them
on himself.
He dies in the place
of his people.
He pays the debt,
the enormous debt
that we've racked up
against our Creator
and one that was
standing against us.
And on the third day,
he rose.
It's heaven's verification
that this man
is who he says he is.
He did what he said
he'd done.
You see,
when Jesus rose
and walked out of that tomb,
his,
I need to get this,
his earthly body
having been replaced
by his new resurrection body,
the perishable,
having given way
to the imperishable,
the body that was subject
to death
now replaced
with a body
never to see decay.
He was doing more
than pulling off
a neat trick.
Jesus was putting
the curse of sin
and the inevitable
destination of death,
and sin and death
are just two sides
of the same coin.
He was putting
the gear into reverse.
Bringing in the dawn
of a new age
is the first fruits.
I love that phrase,
first fruits.
You ever wonder,
I remember our kids love,
they love strawberry picking.
We go up to Fife,
you might have done that.
I always love the thought
of a farmer
working hard
over the winter
and then at this point
in the year,
the first strawberry's there.
Bang,
the rest of it's going to come.
First fruits.
That's Jesus.
You know,
it's almost as if
when he walks
out of the tomb,
he gets a rope
and he throws it back in
and says to all of creation
and to all those
who would hope in him
and trust him as Savior,
and he says,
grab hold.
You're coming out with me.
For the truth is
that one day
when Jesus returns
all of creation
and every single believer
will,
as it were,
follow him out
of that tomb as well.
As Jesus returns
and ushers in
this new creation,
you see,
creation at the moment
is like a full,
as C.S. Lewis
described it like this,
is like a full
piece of orchestra
all set up
ready to play
but sitting in a darkened
hall gathering dust
and yet on that day
when Jesus returns,
it will gloriously play.
Similar with our bodies,
right now,
death and decay
but then we'll be
transformed to be
like his glorious body,
never again to see decay,
enjoying the new creation
with the God
who made us
and the God
who loves us.
Having banished
all evil.
And that's why
this comes this morning
as a loving,
inviting warning
to those of us
who do not know
this Jesus
as King and Savior.
If you reject him,
if you continue
to do that,
the groaning
that you feel
will not end in hope.
Your sins
will see you
end up facing
eternal death
and judgment,
caught up in the victory
of Jesus
over his enemies.
And that's why
this morning
the news that
Jesus is alive
should grab
your attention
and cause you
to fall on your knees
and worship him.
When the old
order of things
is gone
and the new
order with Jesus
as King
has come.
And viewed like that,
you can see
why childbirth
is the perfect
metaphor.
And that's why
you do know
the pain.
And some of you
will be feeling
the pains
of that right now
in all sorts
of different ways.
Medical conditions,
mental struggles,
relational tensions,
family concerns,
the death of loved ones
that is just
bringing a sting
and it's a scar
that you will probably
be carrying
for the rest
of your life.
Bring them together.
What is it?
It is the pains
of childbirth.
You know,
sometimes I find
in my job
when you hear
and you walk
with people
through certain
things in life,
all you've got
is a soul
which cries out
and he says,
come Lord Jesus
and make it new.
I pray,
whoever you are
here today,
that your soul
is strengthened
by God's Holy Spirit
living in you,
dwelling amongst us,
that in this
risen Jesus
there is hope
abounding.
And I love that,
just as he said
at the tomb
that very first
Easter day,
we heard it read,
Jesus just said,
Mary.
This follower of Jesus,
she had her life
transformed by him
and yet the one
in whom she hoped
was gone.
And yet Jesus says,
doesn't just say
generic woman,
he says,
Mary,
I know you,
everything's changed,
life's going to be
all right.
Do you know why?
Because I've died
for your sin
and I live
and I love you
and everything's changed.
Would you hear
through the Spirit
of God living in you,
would you hear
in a similar way,
I pray,
him speaking your name
today,
that there is joy
on the other side
of the pain.
You know,
sometimes in life
you just have to stop
what you're doing
and you just have
to remind yourself,
don't you,
that 2,000 years ago
somebody walked out
of the grave
and it's changed
everything
because in the end
it's only a passing
thing,
this shadow.
Even darkness
must pass
a new day
will come.
So what do you reckon
this morning?
Fancy,
fanciful fairy tale?
Wishful thinking?
If only it were true,
can it be true?
Jesus says
to each of us today,
he says,
I am the resurrection
and the life.
The one who believes
in me will live
even though they die
and whoever lives
by believing in me
will never die.
Do you believe this?
So that's the question
we've got to think
about today.
If you'd love to explore that,
you'd love to read
about this Jesus,
make up your own mind
as to who you think he is,
it would be our joy
to do that with you.
Please just speak
to somebody
who maybe you came with today
or somebody at the door
or grab me afterwards.
We'd love to make
that a possibility
because there's life
to be found in this Jesus.
So why don't we just
be quiet for a moment
just before we
close our service together
and sing.
Why don't we just
take a moment
and be quiet,
be still
and then I'll just
bring us back
and we'll close
in prayer.
Amen.
For in this hope
we were saved,
but hope that is seen
is no hope at all.
Who hopes for what
they already have?
But if we hope
for what we do not yet have,
we wait for it
patiently.
And we thank you,
Father God,
for the wonderful
earth-shattering news
of the Jesus
who walked out of that tomb
all those years ago.
and we thank you that that really
has changed everything.
And so I pray for whoever is here today,
for those who,
maybe this is the first time
they've heard about
this Jesus,
your son,
would today be the day
that they find life
and forgiveness in him.
Father,
for those who are struggling
this morning,
who are feeling the pain,
oh,
may the truth
of the glorious Jesus
capture
and strengthen hearts
this morning.
We just thank you
for
the truth
that he is risen,
that he knows our names,
that he is interceding,
he's praying for us
at your right hand
and that
gloriously
one day he will return.
The one who says,
behold,
I am making
everything
new.
Oh,
Father,
we pray that you'd be with us
as we finish
our time together.
Thank you for this morning
and we pray these things
in Jesus' powerful name.
Amen.