From death to Life

Happy Easter

We celebrate the Easter because this is the day our LORD Jesus has risen from the dead.

Last week we learned the definition of the good news based on 1 Cor 15.

Today we will talk about why we celebrate the Easter.

What is the most important holiday of the Christians?

Christmas or Easter?

My answer: Easter

(Even though I only got 2 cards and one gift vs. million cards and many gifts in Christmas. But let me tell you one gift that surpasses all the gifts that I got in Christmas.)

Today we will look at Lk 15 and see why we need to celebrate.

The anchor verses is 15:32

³² But we had to celebrate and be glad,

because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again;

he was lost and is found.’”

The context of the story

Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners. The religious leaders muttered and condemned Jesus who ate with the ‘sinners’.

The triple grace of Jesus

What do you react to those who do not understand your intention of helping the helpless?

We might do:

· Lash back

· Get even

· Make fun of

Was that did Jesus do?

He told the most beautiful stories, not just one but three. Can we see the triple grace of Jesus? On the other hand we are so blind and our hearts are so hard that we need three stories. We need the cocktail drug treatment like AIDS patients.

Plan

We will look at three stories in view of the context of Luke 15. We will see

· Who God is

· Who we are

Stories

	The lost sheep	The lost coin	The lost sons
Who God is	· The shepherd who had 100 sheep and lost one · strong and passionate · Did not do the benefit analysis-think not the business perspective but from the lost perspective · Did not give up until he found the lost sheep · Put a heavy sheep on his shoulders · So joyful and want to share his joy	· The woman who had 10 coins and lost one. · Careful and gentle and systematic · Did not give up until he founds the lost coin · Joyful and want to share her joy	· The father who had two sons · Respect his second son’s reckless wish · Welcomes the second son and restores him as his son · The Father humbles himself and goes out to the older son who had no love for the younger son · He rejoices with the younger son and wants to have this joy with everyone and with his older brother
Who we are	· A dumb, hairy, dirty and impulsive, fat sheep · Loved by his shepherd · Can be lost in our impulse	· A useless coin on the floor · Intrinsically valuable because we are made by God · Useful on the hands of our God · Can be lost even though we are in the house of God but do not want to do anything or used by our LORD -doing motions and coming on Sundays but so dry and bitter inside	· We can be lost in two ways · Like the lost sheep · Like the lost coin Precious sons of God
Lost -dead	The sheep away from the shepherd is a certain death	The coin on the floor is useless. Which one do you prefer –the lost coin or one dollar in your pocket?	We want to move away from the good Father and even if we live with the Father we do not appreciate him
Found –become alive	The sheep founded by the shepherd	The coin founded by the woman	We become alive when we are found by our true brother Jesus who died and rose from the dead. Without knowing him, we do not know our Father. We become alive when our brother tells us the good news of our Father and welcomes us.
Jesus in the story	The shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep	The woman who is so gentle with the lost sinners	The true brother who understands the Father’s heart and went out for the lost brothers. In doing so he was killed by his brothers and God raised him from the dead. By his death and resurrection we becomes sons and daughters of God.

Why we celebrate the Easter?

Happy Easter.

Are you convinced that the Easter is bigger than Christmas?

We are lost without Jesus. When we look at the stories we can see that our Father is good. He is kind and patient. Humble and gentle and loves his sons.

But why the younger son moved away? Why the older son thought that he was a slave of his father?

Augustine gives us some clues. In Confessions Augustine tells us that when we are sick, we do not want to eat the bread. It does not matter how good the bread is. To the sick and lost people it does not taste good. Likewise the lost sons cannot appreciate the good Father’s love.

What is the solution? Let he younger son suffer more? Let the older son become more righteous? No.

We need the gospel of Jesus. Jesus came and told us the good news of our Father who can heal us and welcome us make his his sons when we come back to him.

So our true brother Jesus came and welcomed us.

We did not appreciate Jesus' coming. We went out for other bread. In his great love for us Jesus came and died for our sins. That’s not all, God the Father raised him from the dead. By doing this he opened our eyes and made us to see the deep love of our Father.

This Easter we celebrate and be glad because what Jesus has done for us. We pray that many brothers of Jesus can be found when we preach the good news of our Father who sent his son for us, not just in words but faith expressed in love.