Easter's Sequels

Okay, here is the transcript again, with filler words and similar conversational polishes removed while trying to keep the speaking style intact, and with pronouns referring to God and His Word capitalized.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ.

Have you ever heard of a sequel, like a movie sequel or a sequel to a book? You know what has a whole franchise of sequels? Star Wars. I've been told I'm permitted to mention Star Wars in the sermon like twice every year, because otherwise I need to curb my passion for Star Wars and not go overboard. Today is May the 4th, and I do want to make a point that Star Wars has made an entire franchise of sequels. The first movie came out almost 50 years ago. That's a long time. Ever since then, they've seen what a wonderful story Star Wars is, and they've come out with sequel after sequel after sequel after sequel. And not just movies, but also TV shows, novels, and comic books. They keep the story going on and on and on. They take this one point, that very first story that was told, and they go into the future, and they go into the past, and they come up with all these stories all around it. Star Wars is a franchise of sequels.

Whether it be Star Wars or something else, sometimes sequels are not that good. Now, there's no bad Star Wars sequels, but other franchises sometimes have sequels that are not so great. Have you ever seen a movie and said, "The second movie is always the worst," or "that the book is not as good"? The reason is that often they see what a great story the first one was and they say, "Oh, we can make more money off of this." They see dollar signs and opportunities and all that kind of stuff, and sometimes the second is not as good as the first. A good sequel shows you what happens next. A good sequel captures the heart of the original story, and a good sequel will show you the continuation of the characters or the events or the themes. It shows you the impact of the first story. It keeps the story going. A good sequel asks this question: What did the first story set loose in the world? Or maybe, how does that first story now change everything that follows? That's what a good sequel does. What happens because of what happened?

Easter works this way. On Easter, Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And that's not the end of the story; it's just the beginning, because a whole new reality flows from the resurrection of Jesus. It unfolds from that Easter morning into a brand new story. Today, and in the weeks following, we're going to be talking about Easter's sequels, the rest of the story. Today, we're going to see how the sequels of Easter are giving us a perspective in heaven and on earth, and also through the church.

I want to talk first about the reading from Revelation that we had this morning. Has anyone ever read through Revelation and understood everything that's going on? We're not going to be able to do justice to all of Revelation this morning, and so you won't go home completely understanding every nuance of the book of Revelation, but perhaps think of it this way: Revelation is Easter's sequel from heaven's perspective. After Jesus rises from the dead, Revelation depicts what that looks like from heaven's perspective, the rest of the story. The reading this morning gave us a very beautiful and amazing scene in heaven right after Easter. This is from Revelation 5:1-4. The apostle John is having this vision of heaven. It's actually happening, but it's coming to him through a vision. And so John says, "Then I saw in the right hand of Him who is seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?' And no one, no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth, was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look into it."  

Let's pause here. The scroll is God's plan for salvation. That's what makes the scroll so important. That's why John is weeping loudly, because nobody is going to open and unfold God's plan of salvation. You get the feeling that all of heaven is about to weep and cry and wail because nobody is worthy to open the scroll. But what happens? Verse five says, "And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered.'" Jesus rose from the dead so that He can open the scroll and Its seven seals. Nobody is able to open and unfurl the scroll of God's plan of salvation until Jesus dies on the cross and rises from the dead.  

Then John gets to witness as the lamb who is slain but is now alive walks up and takes the scroll to open. As He takes the scroll and begins to unseal it, the angels and the saints and the elders and all the church and even all creation start to sing, because they finally have the one worthy to take the scroll, God's plan of salvation, and open it. And why do they sing? Why do they sing for joy? You can kind of hear that. It starts like the string quartet in heaven, with the elders, and it starts to grow into this mighty orchestra and choir that is all of creation. They sing because Jesus is Lord and Jesus is in control.

If you were to go home and read the rest of Revelation, the rest of Revelation is the unrolling of that scroll, Jesus unrolling God's plan of salvation, unveiling the sequel of Easter. The whole point of the book of Revelation is comfort. I know you hear a lot of scary stuff about Revelation, and there might be a lot of scary stuff in there, but the whole point of the book of Revelation is comfort, because you know Jesus is in control the whole time. The lamb who was slain, He has begun His reign. He rules over everything, and everything is under His control. The point of the book of Revelation is that heaven sees what our eyes don't: that Jesus is the one who writes the rest of the story. Jesus is the one who writes the sequel to Easter. And that's why you, dear Christian, can have comfort even in these last days, because you know who's in control.

If Revelation is the sequel to Easter from heaven's perspective, then we come to the book of Acts. Has anyone ever read through Acts? It's gritty, isn't it? And it's this motley crew of disciples. It's kind of scruffy. But you see these beautiful things happen in such an earthly way. The book of Acts is Easter's immediate earthly sequel. So, while Revelation gives heaven's perspective on what happens after the resurrection, Acts gives the earthly perspective. Revelation is full of this heavenly glitz and glam; even if there's some scary stuff, it's all in heavenly terms and images. And Acts, meanwhile, tells this gritty story of the scrappy church trying to get started.

But Revelation and Acts have the exact same message. If Jesus is in control and reigning according to the book of Revelation, what does Acts say? Jesus is in control and reigning. It doesn't matter how scrappy or how scruffy or how motley it looks, Jesus is the one in charge. Perhaps the message of Acts is best displayed and seen in the story of the conversion of Saul. You might know Saul, you might have heard His story. He was a zealous Jew who couldn't stand those Christians. He was probably best compared to modern-day ISIS. He's this zealous Jew who goes door to door to find men and women and children who are following the way, following Jesus. He'll drag them out of their homes, drag them through the streets, drags them to Jerusalem, throws them in prison, beats them, and sometimes He even kills them, because that glorifies the Lord. Except it didn't. And what an interesting turn of events!

Saul is on His way to continue His calling, His life's work, of finding these Christians. And who appears to Him? Jesus. Jesus appears to Him: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And Saul is converted, and Saul is baptized. And now He's called Paul. This terrorist of a man who terrorized the Lord's church, you know what He goes on to do? He goes on to write most of our New Testament. He goes from a persecutor to a preacher. He goes from a sinner to a saint. I know that maybe you've heard that story before. I hope you have. I know that it is a familiar story, but I can tell you that when I've told that story to non-Christians, they get a look on their face that is priceless. I wish I could capture it. They react with surprise, "What?!"

A guy like Him is allowed to be a Christian? He's allowed to be loved? God would choose Him? And you said that He wrote most of what? Friends, that's the message of Acts. That no one is too far gone, and that Easter transforms sinners. Why? Who's in charge? Jesus. He's the one in charge. He reigns and rules over all things, including even the worst of the worst, including people like Saul himself, the chief of sinners. And if the Lord wants to use a guy like Saul to write most of His New Testament, well, guess what He's going to do?

Friends, that's the sequel to Easter. In fact, if you go home and you read the book of Acts, the full name of the book of Acts is usually referred to as the Acts of the Apostles. But if you really want to understand the message of Acts, it's probably better labeled the Acts of the Risen Christ through the Holy Spirit. That's the entire point: that Jesus is still here, and He is still present, and He is still active, and Jesus still reigns just as much as He did when He was walking around.

That brings us to the third sequel that I want to talk about: the sequel of the church. You and I, we live in the sequel of Easter. The church is kind of like Star Wars; Star Wars is a whole franchise of sequels. The church is a franchise of sequels to Easter. In the book of John, we read this morning Jesus tells Peter three times, "Feed my sheep. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep." Friends, that's the whole plot of the sequel of Easter called the church. Jesus is not gone. Jesus is still present and He is still active, and He still reigns, and Jesus's ministry continues toward us, and His ministry continues through the church to the whole world. We get to see a sequel to Easter.

Every single baptism, we get to see a sequel to Easter. Every time the word is spoken by a Christian, we get to see a sequel to Easter. Every time a sinner is forgiven of their sins, we get to see a sequel to Easter. Every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper and we proclaim the Lord's death and resurrection until He comes, we see a sequel to Easter. And every single believer—can you all raise your hand this morning?—dear Christian, you are a sequel to the resurrection. What Jesus has done has happened also in you. You were once dead, but now you are alive. You were once an enemy of God, but now you are His beloved child. You were once a sinner, and now you are a saint. You are forgiven. And that eternal life that Jesus won by His death and resurrection now is in you.

Dear Christian, Jesus writes you, writes your name, writes your story in Revelation's scroll, and the church is the quill in Jesus's hand. He writes others into the story through His church, which means that the sequel continues. Dear Christian, Jesus continues to write other people's stories through you, which means: get out there! Make relationships with people. Invite people maybe to church. Invite people to know Jesus. Share His word with them. And do not underestimate the Spirit's power through your words, because it's not you doing it. Jesus is in control; He reigns. Don't underestimate the words spoken through you, because they are not your words; they are Jesus's words.

All that leads to the greatest and final sequel of Easter: the resurrection. It's what it's all been leading to. It's all leading to this story: the sequel of all of our own Easters, so that just as Jesus died on the cross and rose again, you and I also will die, and we will rise again. And dear Christian, until that day when you get to live out the rest of that very long story, until that day, you are not living in an out-of-control world, because Jesus is in charge. Jesus reigns. He is present. He is not gone; He is present and active. He is ruling over all things. And His word is still transforming lives. Sins are being forgiven. Salvation is being freely given. Eternal life is beginning. And the lamb who was slain has begun His reign, and He is the author of the rest of history. So, Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.