Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church     
 
Pastor Tim Janiszewski - "Four Days that Changed the World"

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Messages of Grace

(Past Recorded Sermons) 

















Preaching 
Dr. Bruce Bickel


 
This Sunday
Easter 
March 27, 2016



Sermon Title:
"Resurrection:
A Living Hope"



Scripture:
1 Peter 1:3  
Picture of Pastor Tim
March 24, 2016
 
Dear MLEPC Members and Friends:
 
Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday: These four days changed the world forever. They changed the world more profoundly than any other four days in world history. I realize that to non-religious people this statement may seem farfetched. In fact, it likely seems ridiculous to most of our young people who receive secular education through public schools and universities, most of which systematically underplay or denigrate the role of Christianity in world history. Be this as it may, over two billion of the world's approximately six billion people claim an affiliation with Christianity. Until fifty years ago, Christian faith clearly was the primary influence at the foundation of Western culture. The Bible was the most read and cited book in the world.
 
None of this would be true were it not for these four days. If Jesus simply had gone about living His life as a charismatic teacher and wonderworker, if Jesus eventually had married and raised a family, and if Jesus had died as an old man in His sleep, the story of history would be remarkably different. Because Christians believe that during these four days:
  • The One who is the Son of God and Son of Man was denied, abandoned, and betrayed by His trusted associates (Maundy Thursday).
  • He was attacked by the most vicious form of evil that men or demons have ever concocted. Though utterly innocent, He endured suffering and shame, not simply of gruesome physical proportion but of spiritual blindness and chaos that cannot be fathomed (Good Friday).
  • When it was finished, He was laid in the utter darkness and stillness of a stone tomb, sealed and guarded by those who despised Him (Holy Saturday).
  • But it was not finished. What could only be imagined in the best of night dreams burst into the full daylight of Reality. The One who called Himself "the Resurrection" rose from the grave. The One who called Himself "the Life" broke the shackles of death with invincible power (Easter Sunday).
Non-religious people don't need to believe what Christians embrace about these four days. But surely they still can see that its impact changes the world precisely because Christians do believe it. And we Christians remind ourselves of these world-changing four days every year because they have changed us. Because they have changed us, they change the way we live our lives in the world--a practice that continues to be world altering.
 
For this reason, I urge us all to participate in our Christian observance of these four days that change the world. Come on Maundy Thursday for dinner (6:00 p.m.) followed by our worship service in remembrance of the Upper Room and betrayal (7:00 p.m.). Return on Friday night (7:30 p.m.) for our Service of Word, Sacrament, and Darkness. Pause at the church Prayer Chapel in personal reflection, meditating on these four world changing days (Fri. 8:30 p.m.--Midnight; Sat. 8:30 a.m. --12 noon). Finally, join our celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday with worship (9:00 a.m., 11:15 a.m.) and fellowship breakfast (10:00-11:00 a.m.).
 
After once again experiencing the depth and height of these four days that change you and me, let us go out to change the world in the name of Jesus Christ, the Resurrection and the Life.
 
Pastor Tim

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