A decisive moment

 I want to begin by saying happy Easter. Today is the day when we can celebrate that because of Jesus‘s resurrection death has been conquered. It is the day when we remember the moment when God showed us that He has the ultimate victory.

Today is also a day when we are challenged to think about our own faith. If someone asked you what does Easter mean to you, what might you say? I remember a little girl who told me that she loved Easter and she loved chocolate. She told me that at Easter you went to church first and then when you got home, you could eat chocolate. Now I’m not going to embarrass any of you but it would be interesting to know how many people have already eaten some Easter egg today.

I love chocolate, so today has extra special luxuries ahead. Although, if I was asked what does Easter mean to me? I would say the most indescribable joy ever. Jesus by rising from the dead showed that what he had said about himself was true. After all, there was no way that Jesus was not God when He was able to rise from the dead. It made it so obvious who He was, what He had done and what He could do.

My family has a lot of people who support sports in it. This means that I have a very strange knowledge of football which I’ve picked up. One piece of knowledge is from an old Facebook post. In this post someone had pointed out that the then manager of Arsenal football club Arsene Wenger had said that Christmas is important but Easter is decisive. Of course he was talking about the difference that certain times of year make within the football season. Actually, I think that the reason this Facebook post has stuck so much in my memory, is hearing those words. Christmas is important but Easter is decisive.

In our reading this morning from the book of Acts (10:34-43) we heard the disciple Peter explaining both how God sees people and how He loves them. I think it’s rather poignant that Peter is remembered today. After all, when Jesus was arrested, Peter denied knowing Him three times. Just as Jesus had told Peter that he would. He must have been sad when he realised that he had done this.

After the resurrection Peter met Jesus and Jesus forgave him. Later on Peter experienced the Holy Spirit at the Jewish festival of Pentecost. Peter had followed certain laws about who he could and could not eat with, as well as the food that he could eat. Later on Peter changed as he saw in a vision that the food he ate and where he ate was not important. It had been a big part of Peter’s faith, but God showed Him that the most important thing was knowing Him and telling others about Him.

In the reading today we heard Peter saying that God has no partiality. Everyone matters. We heard of Peter explaining the message of Jesus, then the crucifixion and then the resurrection.

Happy Peter, and well done Peter. He had been changed, changed by the love of God for him, and changed by the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus had not risen He would have been just another person who people had hoped in but had been proven wrong. Jesus rising from the dead proved that He was and is God. God is with us always, and He is alive. God is not dead – God is alive and alleluia, our lives are changed by the joy of knowing that even when times are tough God is with us, and He will never leave us.

Peter was convinced, and this conviction made him want to tell everyone about Jesus. He had experienced a decisive moment. Have we understood what today means for us ? You may believe but have you made the decision to take Jesus seriously ? To be convinced of who He is and how Jesus changes us, to such an extent that we are happy to tell others about Him and the change He has made in our lives.

Easter means that we have the best news ever to proclaim. I am not saying that we need to preach to lots of people, or that we need to go off and preach about Jesus on the TV. Although, you never know what situations God may call you to. There is one thing that we can be sure we are called to do and this is to be more like Jesus. By doing this, then by our lives we can show in the way we live that Jesus is Lord. He is alive and He loves us.

Jesus is alive and we have the best news ever. Today is an important day, it is a day to celebrate yes, but it is also a day when we can change.

Today is about new beginnings. It isn’t a day to look back at things that we may have done wrong, it isn’t a day to feel guilty. It is a day to give thanks that God is not dead. He is with us, God loves us and we know that He offers us all new life and new hope.

The best bit of all is that we are forgiven and we can truly know that like Peter, even when we have messed up God still has a job for us to do. It is a really great job, it is about telling people all about God and His love.

It is about us being more like Him, it is about us living everyday knowing that we can rely on God for strength. For strength to follow Him, to be more like Him, and to face difficult times.

Peter changed because of the new life that Jesus brings. By Jesus’ death and resurrection we know that we can be changed. Every day, as many times as we want we can turn to God knowing that He loves us.

Easter is decisive, we have to decide to follow Jesus, or to keep following Him. We are also to decide if we want the joy of Easter to be with us always, and if we will share that joy with others.

So, on this Easter Day, this decisive day, I want to say, ‘The Lord is risen, He is risen indeed, Alleluia. AMEN