Easter Sunday Service – Transformed for Life!
Reading: Luke 24:1-12
Kids Talk: Daniel Gibb Preacher: Rev. Phil Swain
This service will be filled with lively singing with the Easter worship band, great joy and lots and lots of butterflies as we celebrate that Jesus is alive. Daniel our children and youth worker has put together an awesome kids talk based on the theme of butterflies … did we mention that there will be lots of butterflies (well not real ones but still … lots and lots of butterflies). While the kids make their Easter Hunt Bags, Phil will be sharing some amazing facts about … you guessed it – butterflies and how they are the perfect analogy to the transformation that Jesus brings to us at Easter. This service will be filled with joy … and butterflies!
Sermon Text
I want to spend a little time while the kids are outside making the Easter Egg bags to talk about one amazing word, share with you one amazing fact, and highlight one amazing truth about Easter – and I might have to talk loud because of the kids excitement drifting through but its ok.
The amazing word I want to talk about is … transformation. Over the past six weeks here at TUC we have been using this word as a theme as we have worked through the Jesus story from the Gospel of Luke. We have been challenged with the idea that God wants to transform Our minds, transform Our hearts and transform our lives!
And here we are now on Easter Sunday – a day where we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and a day which is perfect to talk about transformation.
I looked up Google to see what is the best illustration or analogy for transformation is – what should I use on Easter Sunday to talk about Transformation – and do you know what it said? Butterflies.
Yes – apparently butterflies is THE image or analogy for transformation. As we all know from the very hungry caterpillar … the caterpillar goes through a process in the cocoon and is transformed into the beautiful butterfly.
And – just like Gibbo explained in the kids talk – just like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, Jesus also goes through a transformation process in the Easter story.
On Good Friday we remember that Jesus – out of his love for us – gave his life on the cross so that we can find forgiveness. Jesus was buried in a tomb, but on Easter Sunday morning, Jesus was resurrected, transformed – Jesus is alive!
Lets – dig a little deeper into this analogy (as I move towards the one amazing fact). Let me ask you a question …
Jesus on Good Friday to Jesus on Easter Sunday … Same Same or different? Is Jesus the same as he was before his death, or is he different? Or both … still the same Jesus but different…
The bible tells us that in Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever … but Jesus wasn’t just resuscitated – he was resurrected … so how was Jesus different?
Of course, Jesus’ personality and character would have remained. He still would have been loving and compassionate; and inclusive and kind. And the bible tells us that after the resurrection physically Jesus was the same … he ate fish, talked with people, people embraced him. But he was also different. He could suddenly appear in locked room, some people were having trouble recongnising him … and now the resurrected Jesus can live forever.
So in his resurrection – Jesus was the same but also transformed into something new. It is like the caterpillar being transformed into the butterfly…
Does anyone know how that works? What happens in the cocoon when the caterpillar changes into the butterfly? Does the caterpillar just … I don’t know … sprout wings?
I had assumed that it was a bit similar to a tadpole turning into a frog, that it is extra bits that grow … but it is not like that with a caterpillar. Actually the truth is amazing … and a bit gross.
(Yep … here comes the one amazing fact!)
Once a caterpillar is safe in its cocoon, it then releases a bunch of enzymes which dissolve the caterpillar into goo. Its skin, eyes, organs, brain, nervous system – all the stuff that made it who it was – becomes swirled together in a protein mix. Yet within that liquid mass are the blueprints butterfly legs, eyes, wings, and more. Once its old self finally breaks down, those blueprints use the protein-rich mix to build the butterfly. The caterpillar has been transformed into something new!
And yet, studies have shown how a butterfly somehow remembers what they learned and experienced as a caterpillar. They have trained caterpillar to avoid certain smells, and after they transform into butterflies, they still avoid those smells.
We would assume that whatever could hold those memories would have dissolved completely into goo. And yet, even when it’s been completely transformed, the butterfly does not forget who it’s always been. So yes, the butterfly is different from the caterpillar, but in another sense, it is the same.
Ok – lets bring this home with one amazing truth … how does this relate to us! What difference does the Easter good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection mean for us?
The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 says that the good news of Jesus’ resurrection is of first importance! Because if God raised Jesus from the death, if God transformed Jesus into something new … then God will do the same for us too.
In the same way as God raised Jesus from the dead … God will make us alive too. Did you hear that? Death is not the end for us … God is offering to transform us so that we can experience the fullness of life forever!
We might understand this of God raising us to an eternal life in heaven after we die … and yes, that is true … but the amazing truth that I want to share is that we don’t have to wait for this transformation until after we die. We can start living this new life now! God is offering to work in our hearts and minds so that we can be experiencing the fullness of love and life … now.
What does this look like? Well … the Easter Sunday narrative is a great example of this…
Take the women in our bible reading. At the beginning of our bible reading, Mary, Joanna, Mother Mary and the others were distraught, broken, grieving as they walked in the early morning darkness to put spices on Jesus body. By the end of the reading, they were joyous and passionate proclaimers of this good news. What caused this transformation?
Or Peter … who on the night before the cross was scared, broken and even denied knowing Jesus … but later we find that Peter went on to become one of the great leaders in the Early church … bold and passionate. Peter somehow found forgiveness for his failures, hope for the future and a sense of meaning and purpose for his life. What brought on this transformation?
Or the Apostle Paul in the bible. He was a Christian killer who transformed into one of the greatest missionaries for Jesus ever. What happened to cause this change?
I remember reading an article written by a psychologist writing about the change in these followers from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, from despair to hope, from timidness to boldness, from grief to joy. The writer implied that something significant must have happened to them. He said that most people cannot fake a significant transformation like this – something must have happened.
I want to suggest this morning that something DID happen. Jesus rose from the dead! The women, Peter, Paul, the other followers … they met the risen Jesus and that is what led to this transformation.
We see this over and over again … the good news of Easter is reflected in the lives of Jesus’ followers – from the early church and over the past 2000 years. We can see the transforming power of the risen Jesus in the lives of his followers.
Some of you are nodding because you know it’s true. You know that Easter is Good News, that Jesus is alive – why? Because you have met him.
I have too. I have met the risen Jesus. For me, it initially was through some spectacularly answered prayers but now it is just a realness in the way that I can talk to Jesus and Jesus talks to me. Once again, it is difficult to explain my experience intellectually or logically – but let me tell you that it is real – and it has transformed my life. So much so, that I have given my life to the purpose of walking the way of Jesus and teaching others about Jesus.
And THE amazing truth is that … you too can experience this. You too, can find life in Jesus. You too can be transformed!
What did you think when you walked in this morning and saw the church transformed? How did you feel when you saw the butterflies? Hope? Joy? Wonder?
This is the good news of Easter. This is what Easter can offer you … hope, joy, life … transformation.
God is making something beautiful in your life.
God is transforming you … for life!
If you would like to talk to someone more about this, or how you can experience this transforming power of the risen Jesus in your life, then give me or Kevin or Gibbo a call this week … We’d love to chat.
May we all experience the fullness of the Good News this Easter. Amen