Pastor Brendan Kelly - Convictions at Easter

Morning Service, March 21 2010

For many people, Easter is about holidays and chocolate. Sometimes we make it hard for others to know what Easter (and other Christian celebrations such as Christmas) is about because we too get caught up in traditions, forgetting the 'why' behind them.

Easter should be a time we celebrate our convictions over celebrating our traditions. There ought to be a greater awareness as to why we do Easter.

We need to take the opportunity to share with others what Easter means to us; not to be arrogant about it, but to help people understand the conviction behind the celebration.

It's one thing to have an understanding of the gospel, but it's another thing to be able to be straightforward about the gospel.

It's Not as Easy as it Looks

In Acts 15, Peter was pretty much the only one who stood up about putting conviction over tradition, making the point summarised this way: 'Christianity is not about customs and traditions, it's about the grace we are saved by.'

11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. Galatians 2:11-16

The same Peter we read about in Acts 15 found it wasn't so easy to be straightforward with the gospel.
Even Barnabas, one of Paul’s closest mates, had fallen into traditions and customs.
Paul was appalled that they let their conviction (it's all about grace) slide.
The 'certain men' described were Jews with customs.
Paul referred to the way they were behaving as being carried away with hypocrisy (saying one thing, doing another).
Paul reminds us that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
To be straightforward about the truth of the gospel that we live by, we need to be able to articulate exactly what our convictions are.

Our Core Convictions to Remember over Easter

1. We live by Revelation

It's crucial that our knowledge that Jesus is the Christ comes from personal conviction.
You can't ride on someone else’s experiences with God or what they've told you.
You have to be so convinced of this yourself—so convinced that you can stand alone for it.

13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” 14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed[a] in heaven.” Matthew 16:13-19

Jesus is asked the question, 'Who do men say I am?' and His disciples are able to answer, but what He was really wanting to know was who they said He was.
Who do you say He is? Is it based off what others have told you or is it from a personal revelation?
Easter is about your personal revelation about who Jesus is!
The starting point has to be 'you are the Christ, son of the LIVING GOD'. We are convicted by the straightforward truth: Our God is living.
Flesh and blood (other people) can't reveal this to us.
We often underestimate the power of being able to say 'I am a Christian'; we can't say it and mean it if He hasn't revealed it to us.
God is building His church on 'this rock' or this revelation that He is the Christ, the son of the living God.

2. We are Redeemed

Because I have this revelation, I know I am redeemed!
Jesus—as God—is the only one who can pay the price for sin and forgive us.

18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 1 Peter 1:18-19

He is able—and qualified—to buy us back from a life of sin.
We are not redeemed with any sort of payment on our part or 'aimless conduct'—even traditions passed down through generations.
Many feel commitment to traditions and customs will redeem them, but only the precious blood of Christ redeems us.
Although we acknowledge the sombre sacrifice of the cross, Easter for the redeemed should be a time of inexpressible joy because of the outworking of the cross.
Although we know it is difficult to explain our convictions to the community with words such as 'redeemed', we need to be able to understand what it means so we can interpret it into words that make sense and, more so, display redemption with the very lives we live.

3. We are Reconciled

18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

We are not just pardoned, we are acquitted! We are justified.
Again the word 'justified' may not be effective in sharing your convictions with others, but to truly understand what it is to be justified and reconciled to God enables us to then outwork God’s intent for each of us to fulfil the 'ministry of reconciliation': reintroducing mankind to the Father.
To be reconciled with the Father means we are at peace with Him.

4. We have been declared Righteous

I am declared righteous—not by my righteousness mine, but His.

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Righteousness could be explained as 'in right standing'.
My conviction is 'God is for me'.
There is nothing between us and God anymore.

5. I am Renewed

The Holy Spirit lives in us and is renewing us day by day.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16

Easter has to be a time when we do not lose heart because we are being renewed day by day.
We are changing day by day on the inside by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us.
If we allow the Holy Spirit to renew us, we know we are not the same as we once were.

6. We know Christ has been Resurrected

Because we know Christ has been resurrected, we have a wonderful hope and future.
We know that because He has been resurrected, we too will be resurrected to a wonderful, immortal life.
Remembering the price He paid is good, but it’s powerful to remember that He rose again! It is a core conviction crucial at Easter.

20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.1 Corinthians 15:20-22

This simply means Christ has risen from the dead and He is the first to do it out of the rest of us.
Because Christ is risen, there is a joy before us.
There is a day coming where we will put off mortality and put on immortality.

51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 1 Corinthians 15:51

7. He will Return

11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11

He is coming back again and we will join Him for eternity.

STRAIGHTFORWARD

Easter is only a few weeks away and it is crucial we understand why we celebrate it.

God is preparing us as a church to willingly desire to stand up and be counted for the gospel. We know the gospel, we know its simplicity and we know we are saved, yet for some reason we seem to want to go with the 'crowd' because it’s easier and suits us. However, if we were to remember the price He paid and allowed it to be the conviction we lived by, the message of the gospel could become a lot clearer.