Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

Early in the morning, two women named Mary went to the tomb where Jesus was buried. Instead of finding the body of Jesus, an angel told them that Jesus had risen! The women were now at a loss. What should they do next? We must ask ourselves the same question: what should we do now that Jesus has risen?

“It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:6-9)

The first thing we must do when we hear that Jesus has risen is simply believe it (v. 5-6). The women could have listened to the angels and then refused to believe it. Until we accept this truth, it will not change who we are. We must believe that Jesus has risen!

Once we learn of the resurrection of Christ, we all have a mission: to tell others about Jesus. This was the task given to the women when they learned the news (v. 7). They were to go and tell the disciples that Jesus had risen.

Notice what the women did (v. 8). They ran to tell the news to the disciples! We also must run to tell others that Jesus has risen! We ought all be excited about this news!

I like the common analogy that those who are growing in Christ are on fire. Everyone knows when a fire is burning. Fires spread. Once a fire stops spreading, it stops burning. It grows smaller and smaller until it eventually goes out. We’re much the same way. When we’re growing in our faith, we will inevitably share our faith. But when we stop sharing our faith, our faith becomes smaller and smaller until our light no longer shines before men.

But we have good news to be excited about! Jesus is victorious over the grave! We, like the women in this story, ought to run to share the good news!

But notice how the felt while they ran (v. 8). They still had a bit of fear about this whole situation. But it also says they had great joy. When we set out to tell people the news about Jesus, we may still fear.

General George Patton was once commended for his bravery during World War II. Patton replied, “Sir, I am not a brave man. The truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I wasn’t so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands.” Patton later wrote in his autobiography, “I learned very early in my life never to take counsel of my fears.”

It’s one thing to have fear. It’s quite another thing to allow your fears to dictate how you live. When we set out to tell people the news about Jesus, we will also have great joy! Telling others the good news about Jesus gives us great joy! Seeing others believe the gospel because of our witness gives us great joy! Serving God brings us great joy! But our greatest joy is not in anything that we do, but in Christ alone, who paid the debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.

Because of the resurrection, Christ can comfort and encourage us as we seek to be faithful to Him. That’s what He did for the women who were still afraid (v. 9-10). The angel told them that they would see Jesus in Galilee, but Jesus saw their apprehension and decided to comfort them sooner, even while they were on their way to tell the disciples the news.

Know that Jesus Christ is always with you in the form of the Holy Spirit, living in you. When you fear, when you rejoice, when you’re scared, and when you’re happy. And because Christ is always with you, you will always have the strength to obey Him.

Psalm 30 is a beautiful prophetic passage about the resurrection of Jesus. I love how it describes the emotions we feel in thinking about the resurrection. Verse 11 says, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness.” Christ turns our morning into dancing. He looses our sackcloth and clothes us with gladness! That’s certainly what He did for the women that morning. They approached the tomb full of sorrow that their friend had died. But they ran from there full of joy will great news: Jesus is alive!

The resurrection of Jesus is good news that many in our world have still not seriously considered. The news about Jesus is not to be hoarded. The women were to pass this news of Jesus on to others! This is the task given to all of us (v. 16-20). We’re not to keep it a secret. We’re to embrace the gospel ourselves and tell it to the world: Jesus is alive!