What are you afraid of? That’s a pretty personal question, isn’t it. Let’s soften that a little by looking what the rest of our fellow Americans are afraid of. A recent study ranked the top 80 fears in the country. It might surprise you that the #1 fear was corrupt politicians. I don’t think anyone would argue that there is corruption in politics, but the #1 fear? Since it is Easter it might be helpful to scroll down the list… and keep scrolling down to #48 where we finally find death – tied with insects! At first this bothered me a little. Is this poll skewed?! What kind of people did they ask? But consider a couple things.
First, how often do we see death? I have only seen a dead body at a funeral and a few times when ministering to very sick members. We don’t see dead bodies in the street. People don’t die at home. If someone is sick they go to the hospital – if someone is REALLY sick we take them to hospice.
Second, of all the fears we face, on a daily basis, death isn’t really that high. Oh, to be sure it’s scary, but I can see how watching the news and looking at our taxes we might think more about corruption than we do death.
What does Easter have to do with all of this? Easter is all about god keeping his promises. We might like to see God keep his promises on a day to day basis – or maybe week to week. “God, let’s start with my car repair, and then maybe we’ll talk about death.” That attitude might be understandable, but God comes at it from a different angle. What is the one fear that there is no hope for? How do you handle your guilt? God doesn’t make little promises – to be sure the details matter to him, but God goes for the fences. He hits the biggest promise anyone could imagine! Easter is the proof that he can keep it! Want to hear more? Watch this years Easter sermon taken from the book of Isaiah.
Also, at the end of the sermon I reference the story of Essie Dunbar.
Topic(s): Easter
Book(s): Isaiah
Series: New Life
Tag(s): Easter, Resurrection
Speaker(s): Fred Guldberg