Easter Sunday

Order of Service

• Hymn — O Lamb of God (congregational)
• Call to Worship — Philippians 2:5-11
• Hymn — All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Colossians 1:15-20
• Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 15:12-28
• Hymn — Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
• Special Music — Before the Throne of God Above (choir)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — Worship Christ the Risen King
• Sermon
• Closing Prayer
• Hymn — Low in the Grave He Lay (Up from the Grave He Arose)
• Benediction — Revelation 1:4-5
• Gloria Patri

---

Sermon Title: The Resurrection Reveals All

Scripture: Acts 17:22-34

I. The Resurrection Reveals One God

A. Paul addresses the Athenians at the Areopagus, the intellectual center of the Greco-Roman world, where philosophers gathered to discuss new spiritual ideas

1. Paul's description of the Athenians as "very religious" (Acts 17:22) carries a double meaning: pious (positive) or superstitious (negative)
2. The altar "to the unknown God" represents the ancient and ongoing human tendency to fashion deity according to personal preference

B. The appeal of an unknown God is that man can define and enjoy him on his own terms — idolatry in all forms is man's word dictating who God is, as opposed to God's word making him known

C. The resurrection of Christ confirms that all of God's word is true and that God can be known

1. Just as Jesus' healing of the paralytic in Matthew 9 confirmed his authority to forgive sins, Christ's resurrection confirms the truthfulness of all Scripture
2. Paul argues in Romans 3:21-26 that the death and resurrection of Christ brings a "but now" moment — all mankind is now accountable to the one true God
3. Galatians 4:4 — "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son"; the resurrection marks the age of maturity in God's redemptive plan
4. Before the resurrection, fallen man groped after God like a blindfolded child; the resurrection removes the blindfold and makes the one true God clearly known

II. The Resurrection Reveals One Man

A. Paul confronts Athenian ethnic pride by declaring that all humanity shares a common origin in one man — Adam (Acts 17:26)

1. Religion is not a matter of cultural conditioning or tribal tradition but of common human ancestry
2. Paul quotes the philosopher Epimenides — "In him we live and move and have our being" — and the Stoic poet Aratus — "For we are indeed his offspring" — applying pagan insights to the one true God

B. Idolatry is not only an offense to God but an offense to man — it is the loss of human dignity

1. Adam was given dominion over creation; to bow down and serve creation is to invert the created order
2. Psalm 2 — God laughs at mankind's foolishness in idol worship

C. The resurrection restores the dignity of man

1. The cross (Good Friday) represents the shame of fallen man; the empty tomb represents man's restoration and reconciliation to God
2. In Luke 3, Luke traces Jesus' genealogy back to Adam, whom he calls the son of God — Christ came for all humanity, not one culture
3. 1 Corinthians 15 — Christ is the last Adam, a life-giving spirit; as we have borne the image of the man of dust, so we shall bear the image of the man of heaven

III. The Resurrection Reveals One Judge

A. Paul models the proper balance in evangelism: finding points of contact with unbelievers (following Francis Schaeffer's concept) without softening hard truths about God's judgment

1. Christians err either by speaking so much of judgment that they fail to truly engage the person before them, or by so overemphasizing common ground that they avoid speaking of repentance and judgment
2. Paul's point of contact is always aimed toward conversion — turning from idols to believe in Jesus Christ

B. The resurrection is the guarantee of Christ's return to judge the living and the dead (Acts 17:31)

1. An invented god would never include judgment of oneself — the appeal of the unknown God is precisely that he can be shaped to excuse the worshiper
2. The resurrection confirms not merely some of God's word but all of it — including judgment

C. God is merciful, gracious, and slow to anger, but his patience must not be presumed upon

1. As long as the tomb remains empty, Paul's charge stands: repent and believe
2. Christ has not yet returned — but the tomb is still empty, and the empty tomb guarantees he will come again