The Proof of God's Love

Easter Sunday

Text: Isaiah 25:6-9

Focus: The Resurrection

Function: The resurrection is proof of God's love.

Form: GOK

Intro:

I choose this scripture for Easter Sunday because Mt. Zion represents the People of God.

And on the mountain, God, apparently through God's People, presents a banquet for all the peoples of the world.

We, the Church, present a banquet, as the text says, a feast of the richest food and the finest wine.

The best and the finest.

God's people give to the world the best and the finest.

And, God's people give it to the world for free.

One of my children is sort of estranged, or was estranged, from me because of politics.

I don't blame the child.

At times in my life, I have been what might be known as a hard preacher.

I remember in 2000, I preached revival services at 3 different Brethren Congregations and one Methodist one.

And if there is one thing a preacher, or any leader, or any person out to remember is that we should be very careful believing the praise that people say about us.

I had a reputation for not providing a clear call for coming to Christ.

And because I was so dogmatic, my child has become dogmatic as well.

So this week, I was truly blessed when this child called me to talk about the sermon heard last Sunday.

The text was Jesus clearing the temple of those who turned religion into a marketing concept.

They were taking advantage of people who came to celebrate and had to buy worship supplies. They had to exchange the Roman coin for Jewish coin in order to pay the temple tax. And the exchange rate was high. They had to buy the sacrificial animals, again at a higher price.

Jesus was angry that they turned this holy act into unfair profit.

Funny thing. Everyone was commanded to come to Jerusalem to worship.

God anticipated the problem of supplies. And God told the people to travel light, that is without the sacrificial animals. And when they got to Jerusalem, find a family to share the sacrificial animal. The guest was to buy the beer and wine for the party. It's right there in Deuteronomy 14.

But instead, it had become a money making altercation that stymied the whole idea of community sharing and worship.

Here is what impressed my child. Here is what God spoke to my child through the passage: Jesus said “My house shall be an house of prayer for ALL Nations.”

ALL NATIONS.

That is what God lead my child to focus on.

What my child heard the Holy Spirit say to them was that God's house is for everyone.

The child felt convicted that somehow we close it up to just those who are like us.

As my child contemplated those words, all week long, the Holy Spirit was showing my child just how much God cares for the entire world.

And, my child got it all right in a scholarly way.

The Child asked if “all nations” actually meant every genealogical sub group.

The Greek word translated for “all nations” is the same root word that we get genes, or tribes, or families from.

It definitely picks up this idea from Isaiah 25 of the incredibly huge inclusive nature of God's salvation.

Generous grace is implied by Jesus and this passage.

It is not only the Hope that the wrong in this world will not only be set to the right, but it is a banquet for everyone.

Everyone.

When I trusted in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Something wonderful happened to me.

God saved me!

God restored me to God's own self!

God healed and forgave me.

And God proved it by both the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So look again at verse 7: Here is more of the promise. ⁷Here he will suddenly remove the cloud of sorrow that has been hanging over all the nations.

I love the call of the Church.

We are called to provide this banquet to the world.

I want to call it “the banquet of grace.”

In love feast we focus on it with one of the scriptures. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Christ, the one who knew no sin became sin for us.

It is a mystery.

The mystery of the Atonement.

I like to call it better: The mystery of reconciliation.

Because the call to reconcile the world to Christ and each other, or to each other and Christ is proclaimed in the passage

A being. A person. And entity complete with a corporal body became a concept, a thing when God became sin.

He became sin.

He became brokenness.

He became failure.

He became evil.

He became wickedness.

He became greed.

He became war.

He became betrayal.

He became theft.

He became loss.

He became every single thing that keeps us from, and robs us from peace.

And all of that was killed on the cross.

History has pictured God in several different positions.

One of them being ANGRY GOD.

Regardless of our view of God, both angry and loving, angry only, or loving only, one thing is clear to me.

The sin problem, the wrath problem and all of that was satisfied on the cross.

So, I go back to the text and God's great big plan to bring the entire world together for a banquet.

For a banquet provided by God's people, the Church, the body of Christ.

God suddenly removed the cloud of sorrow that hangs over human history.

One day, all will be pit to the right.

Every injustice will be forgiven.

Every injustice will be vindicated.

But, as I believe, not in wrath, but in love.

I am glad that God is able to love my enemies.

Because of God can love them, then God can love me.

And here we are, inviting the world, inviting a broken, bruised, hurting, violent, sinful and sometimes even evil world to a feast given by the Grace of God, through God's people to this place of suffering.

Sorrow and death are eventually destroyed.

And do we need proof?

Yes!

The proof is in the resurrection. No matter how hard, no matter how evil, no matter how difficult life has become for everyone. God has prepared a feast for them and it is proven by the power of the resurrection.

Through this concept, people from all walks of life have come together in order to serve others.

We are the hosts of this great banquet.

Jesus didn't just die and rise again to save us for eternity.

Nope, Jesus died and rose again to create this community of believers who live by a different standard.

He created this community of believers to live as Easter People.

We are the people who no matter what refuse to give up hope that someday, God will make everything right again.

And He proved it by the resurrection.

He proved it by the community created by the Resurrection story.

He brought hope back to the hopeless.

This isn't just proof of God the Supernatural being.

This is proof, the God whose name synonymous with love.