Saint Paul's Lutheran Church of Irvine
4Apr/15Off

Tomorrow Sunday April 5th, 2014 The High Feast of the Resurrection of The Lord: “The Sign of Power”

Divine Service: 9:30 am

There is no Bible Study or Sunday School tomorrow due to our Easter Breakfast and Easter Egg Hunt!

Location: Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine: 12500 Sand Canyon Ave., Irvine, CA 92618

Directions: Exit Sand Canyon from the 405 or 5, head East towards the hills, cross Irvine Blvd., turn right on Saint’s Way (this will put you on the campus of Crean Lutheran High School…we worship in the event center/gym)

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We’ve been counting through the days of Lent — living in repentance and faith — and preparing for Easter. Tomorrow, Easter will be here!
As you know, we’ve been journeying through the series: “The Sign of the Cross.” Tomorrow morning is the last installment: “The Sign of Power.” But why continue to speak of the cross of Christ on the day we celebrate His resurrection? The two — Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection — are more connected than we realize. Tomorrow, we demonstrate that the resurrection is also a sign of the power of our Lord’s powerful crucifixion which achieved our salvation and commenced the obliteration of death.
In the morning we will receive the life-giving Word proclaimed and we will receive the restoring and forgiving body and blood of our Savior.
After the service we will enjoy a congregational Easter breakfast and we will offer the children our annual Easter Egg hunt. Please have your children bring Easter baskets!
 
We are so blessed to gather as the family of God, but the gifts of Jesus are not just for us. He calls us to share them with everyone for the Lord has won salvation for all people, so please invite family and friends. We would love to serve them and include them in tomorrow’s special service.
I hope to see you in God’s house tomorrow morning!
Here is an excerpt from tomorrow’s sermon:

“The Sign of Power”

(Last Installment of the Series “The Sign of the Cross”)

The Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ

April 5th, 2015

Pastor Espinosa

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Alleluia! Christ is Risen! [Reply:] He is risen indeed! Alleluia! We began this series on “the Sign of the Cross” with an important commentary on the distinction between “just” crosses and crucifixes. There’s most definitely a difference. Crosses can mean all kinds of things, and while the crucifix might be misunderstood, it is hard to get around from what they exactly represent: Jesus died on the Cross of Calvary. It happened. This is the stuff of real history. When our Lord was dying on His cross from 9 am to 3 pm on the first Good Friday, something very interesting happened at 12 pm — high noon — the Scriptures record “there was darkness over all the land” (Matthew 27:45) and then at 3 pm when our Savior breathed His last, the Scriptures say that there was an earthquake: “the earth shook, and the rocks were split.” (Matthew 27:51) And this is where if Matthew was in on a fabrication, a mythological tale, then this is where he surely blew it…why did he have to go and include all of this other drama, things that people could check into…unless of course what he was recording actually happened. Yes, perhaps this is all about what is real, including Jesus’ really living with us today, right here, right now! As for the darkness and the earthquake. Ancient scholar Julius Africanus (writing around AD 221) referred to Thallus who wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan War to his own time. In a history Thallus wrote around AD 52 (about 20 years after Jesus died on the cross), Thallus also dealt with a cosmic report that occurred during his lifetime in the land of Jesus’ crucifixion:

 

On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness, and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea, and other districts were thrown down. (Gary Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for The Life of Christ (Joplin, Missouri: College Press Publishing Company, 1996), 197.)

 

How ‘bout that? Isn’t that a coincidence? No its not. Thallus is describing what the Scriptures also recorded. It happened.

 

But why all of this connected to the crucifixion? Last Sunday among the wonderful 14 confessions of faith of our confirmands, Joshua Bradford compared the power of the Word of God contained in the water of holy baptism to be greater than the force of gravity, greater than a 8.0 magnitude earthquake, and greater than the power of electricity.  Joshua reminded us that the power of the Word of God in holy baptism is the power that created the heavens and the earth! This is the power of the Word of Christ which unites people to Jesus when they are baptized and when this happens they are flooded not merely by water, but flooded by the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. You the baptized have been flooded with eternal life, because you’re now clothed with the Living Lord Jesus! Yes, the Word is powerful…to put it mildly.

 

These things point to the cross of Jesus therefore as a sign of power. Remember who Jesus was; remember who Jesus is. He is the Word and the Word of God is powerful. He was the One who created the heavens and the earth…it was the Word that went forth to create…Jesus was creating all things!

 

And Jesus – the power of God unto salvation – entered into death. We spoke of it night before last. When Jesus entered death on the cross of Calvary, it was as if a super virus had injected itself into the universal virus called death. A super power beyond all description entered death; death which supposedly had the power to quell all power. Not this time.

 

The sign of the cross of Jesus includes the sign of power and of victory over death. And this is why it is appropriate to speak of the sign of the cross on Easter Sunday. Sometimes we Christians can get confused. It was on the cross that Jesus won our salvation. What could be more important than that? But it is the resurrection that we call the “pivotal event” of the Christian faith. St. Paul proclaims its crucial importance in 1st Cor 15…if Christ is not raised, then we are to be pitied more than all people; if Christ is not raised, then we are still in our sins. So what could be more important than this? So what are we do? The crucifixion seems indispensable, but so does the resurrection! But they are not in competition, they are inextricably linked. They are forged. Because the Lord of Life; the God of Light entered into the darkness of death, there was only result that could occur: death had to give way. Death could not conquer Him, but He conquered death. Result and the sign of power? The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ!

 

But let me remind you that of the most powerful signs, there are signs. Of the sign of the crucifixion, there was darkness…a sign that the very Son of God while on the cross knew separation from His Father who turned away from the Son to accept His taking your curse and sin. And while we are glad that our curse and sin in the eyes of God are gone, at the time, it was a terrible and horrific time…the Father turned from His Son and treated Him as we deserved to be treated. This terrible separation of the Father and the Son was reflected in the agony of the cross and in the darkness. The sign of His death was the earthquake. Something unimaginable had occurred: God enfleshed died…the natural order He created had to react…and His power that invaded death had instantaneous results: death was already disrupted! The creation had to respond. These were the signs of the sign.

In Jesus’ Love,
Pastor Espinosa
Comments (0) Trackbacks (0)

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Trackbacks are disabled.