为什么在死人中找活人呢？Why Look for the Living Among the Dead?
路加福音 Luke 24:1–12
Remember these points
I put these points at the top of my sermon-prep template to remind myself every week:
- Show that main point of passage relates to Jesus and his saving work
- (1 Cor 1:18) A truly gospel-centred message will not be acceptable in a synagogue or mosque
- Did I proclaim the gospel as the headline news of the sermon, rather than as a “by the way…”?
- Unbelievers are called to repent, believe, and be saved
- Believers are encouraged to abandon their old self, renew their minds, put on the new self in Christ
- Preach simple sermons, so that God’s people can see Christ more clearly and love him more dearly
News
English worship next Sunday, 27 Apr 2025.
Hook
Do you want to overcome death?
Very familiar (after reading Exodus) of Egypt, pyramids, mummies, etc.
Egypt’s most famous legacy: all dealing with death
Actually, it’s all about preserving things for the afterlife.
Now we go to China
Similar thing in China.
These is the world famous Terracotta Army, in Xi’an province, China.
The army guards the tomb of emperor Qin Shi, the first emperor of China (~210 BC).
What we see is probably only about 1/4 of the army.
The entire mausoleum complex is 35–60 square-Km, about 1/4 the size of Laval island.
Same purpose in China: the wish to live forever, to conquer death
What about today, with science and everything?
We move to modern day, we also do the same as the ancients!
This is the process of cryonics, trying to preserve human bodies for the future.
Again, the purpose is to extend life, to live forever, to conquer death.
We all want to conquer death, to live forever.
When people have this wish of living forever, where do they think they’ll be living?
We’re all thinking of prolonging our life on earth.
But the Bible tells us we can have eternal life, it’s available to us already.
No need to do all these strange (and very questionable) things to preserve our bodies!
Passage
他们期望在坟墓里发现什么？What did they expect to find at the tomb?
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见不到身体，因为耶稣已经复活了。They can’t find Jesus’ body because he’s already resurrected.
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“Dazzling apparel” means shiny material, not what they’d expect.
Gospel of John tells us they are angels.
Now we come to the main point of today’s sermon:
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
He’s not in the tomb, because the tomb is for the dead.
Jesus is resurrected. He’s alive!
They were in Galilee a while back, so Jesus told them about this early on in his ministry.
So they (the women) forgot!
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Women were first to know of resurrection.
But they’re culturally not considered reliable witnesses.
God purposely used women to testify to the resurrection.
He wants us to believe in the fact of the resurrection.
The men (disciples) didn’t believe.
This is especially because they were women.
Peter went to the tomb. What does this tell us about Peter?
It’s not that he doesn’t believe. He realised something monumental has happened.
What do you think was going through Peter’s mind?
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与我有什么关系? So What?
- We wish to live forever, but we’re only looking to continue this life.
- The only person to have ever conquered death is Jesus Christ.
- His resurrection is one of the best-testified event in human history.
- After his resurrection, he stayed with the disciples and others for 40 days.
Hundreds have seen him, touched him, ate with him, interacted with him.
It’s kind of difficult to say it’s all a legend. - Many deny the resurrection, even some so-called Christians (like in Corinth).
Many feel that the resurrection isn’t important.
This is just another kind of looking for the living among the dead.
- When we believe in Jesus, our lives will be changed (just like the disciples’).
The Holy Spirit will indwell us, confirming for us the fact of the resurrection. - Do you want to overcome death?
The Bible tells us: We will all experience eternal life,
the question is where will we spend our eternal life?