Introduction This story confronts us with the inescapable truth that we are not okay. The words the Bible uses to describe us apart from God’s grace are lost , blind , wicked , rebels , idolaters , fools , and transgressors , as well as other words like these. It is not a very attractive list! If you are any of these things, you are a danger to yourself, and your only hope in life and death is to be rescued from you. The Easter story is the story of that rescue. God confronts us because he loves us. Expose us. This story serves as a great spiritual mirror. Like the mirrors we have in our homes, it is scarily accurate. Look into the mirror of the Easter story and you will see yourself as you really are. This story silences our ability to deny who we really are, silences our argument that we are okay on our own, and silences our hope that our righteousness is enough before God. God exposes us be- cause he loves us. Comfort us. A person who has been confronted and exposed needs to be comforted. The comfort of the Easter story is not rooted in flattery but in substitution. God doesn’t work to make us feel good about ourselves; no, he comes to put himself in our place. He lives the righteous life we could never live; pays the penalty for sin in our place; rises again, conquering sin and death; and ascends to the Father to intercede for us. The comfort of the Easter story is a person, Jesus. God comforts us because he loves us. Identify us. In the Easter story, God doesn’t just forgive us; he gives us a brand-new identity. No longer known by our track re- cord, our foolishness, our inability, our weakness, and our sin, we are now “in Christ.” In Christ we are blessed with every eternal blessing, provided with everything we need, and indwelt by the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. We are his new creation and nothing can separate us from God’s love. This is who we are. God gives us a brand-new identity because he loves us. Motivate us. There is no more purpose-infusing, empowering, and motivating story than the Easter story. Think about the fact that by God’s sovereign plan, your little story has been embedded in the most wonderful story ever. And because it has, everything in your life has new meaning and purpose. You are now part of the
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs