Death can sting in many ways. First, death can sting by casting a shadow over every moment of life. No matter what earthly joy you are experiencing, death guarantees it won’t last. Second, death can sting by separating loved ones. There are no phone calls or hugs from the dead. Third, death can sting by instilling fear of what follows. Deep down, every human being senses that after death there is some sort of reckoning… a judgement. Yes, death can sting in many ways.

Note that word can. Because he lives, death has lost its sting for those who put their faith in the living Lord. Because Christ lives, we have all the proof we need that God accepted Jesus’ death as the complete and final payment for all our sin. Those who are in Christ need not fear God's judgment.. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. More, Christ’s resurrection is the assurance that our Christian loved ones are not lost. We will see them again in the resurrection. For, Christ’s resurrection means we will rise to a world of incomprehensible and unending joy.

Death remains unnatural. But Christ has defeated death. So, while death may still cause tears, death does not cause dread. Because he lives, death has lost its sting. Celebrate Jesus' resurrection this Sunday at Trinity's Easter festival services offered at 8:00am and 10:30am. A free community breakfast will be served in the Fellowship Hall from 9-10:15am.

In the darkness before dawn, the women walked to the tomb with heavy hearts. Jesus was dead. His mission was over. In their mind, they were feeble followers of a failure. All that was left to do was finish embalming the corpse and then try to move on. Yet, Jesus wasn’t dead. And because he lived, they were not followers of a failure at all. They were disciples of the one who had conquered sin and defeated death.

It is as simple as this. Because he lives, we have a whole new identity: not sinners, but redeemed saints; not rebels, but God’s chosen nation; not doomed, but saved; not only servants, but sons and daughters of God Almighty; not losers, but victorious, because Christ gives us the victory. The living Lord has given us a whole new identity. It is all because of him. It is all because he lives.

In the light of Easter dawn, see with greater clarity who the resurrected Lord says you truly are! Easter Sunrise worship begins at 6:30am this Sunday. Lord's Supper will be served.

On Good Friday we remember the crucifixion and death of our Lord both with sorrow and solemn joy. Though the events of this day fill us with horror, the implications of those events give us every reason for praise. Jesus’ death had this breathtaking significance. Once and for all, it paid for the guilt of all of us and for all of time. Standing in our place, our substitute was forsaken by his Father on the cross so that we could be reconciled to God and have an eternal home in heaven.

We look at Jesus on the cross, and there is sorrow. He is there because of us. He is there because he loves us that much, so much that he gave us his last breath. Jesus took all our guilt into the tomb with him. It will stay there. He will not. That is why we can call this Friday good.  

On Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus began to execute the terms of the New Covenant. This New Covenant replaced an old one and was fundamentally different from in it every way. While the Old Covenant was more like a contract, the New Covenant is more like a will. The old offers rewards in return for work; the new makes unconditional and lasting promises. The old will always leave us starving in our relationship with God; the new satisfies the deepest hunger of our soul.

This is precisely why Jesus connected this new covenant with a special meal. To an uninformed outsider, the Lord’s Supper looks like a poor snack—a bite of bread and a sip of wine. But the followers of Christ understand that this holy food provides all the blessings of the new covenant.

How does one abuse God’s Commandments? That seems like an easy question. You abuse God’s Commandments by breaking them. However, there is another way to abuse God’s Commandments—by striving to not break them in an effort to win God’s favor and earn our place in heaven. The second abuse is infinitely worse than the first, as it sets aside God’s perfect plan of salvation for a completely different plan that will never work.

Satan often works by turning a blessing into a curse. God intended for his law to serve as a mirror, enabling us to see our sin and thus our need for a Savior. Satan would have us believe the law is more like a ladder, and that with focused effort we can climb our way up to God. This misguided belief leaves us in one of two undesirable places. Either we are overwhelmed with guilt when we realize we cannot climb that ladder, or we are swelling with damnable pride because we think we are near the top rung. We conclude our Lenten series by calling out: “Lord, have mercy, for abusing your Commandments!” We rest secure in the gospel truth that since Christ was lifted high on a cross, we don’t need to try and lift ourselves up to God. God’s favor, salvation, an eternity in heaven—these things are already ours! Our attempts to obey the Commandments can therefore flow from gratitude, not desperation.

We use the word “integrity” to refer to something being in good condition. So, we talk about the structural integrity of a building or of a ship’s hull. We mean those things are “sound” and “whole.” We use “integrity” in reference to people too. Generally, if we speak of someone having integrity, we mean that there’s a wholeness to their character. Their morals are sound. If someone lives with integrity, it is not simply that they talk and behave decently. We would say the reason their behavior is proper is because their values and desires are proper.

The first six Commandments deal with our relationships with others: God and our fellow man. The final four Commandments get at the question of personal integrity. When someone steals, lies, or covets, it is a clear indication that their values and desires are highly improper. Such a person lacks honesty, empathy, and contentment. They say and do bad things because they are bad, not “sound and whole.” It is harsh, yet unfailingly true. Thus, when we break one of these Commandments, it is pointless to make excuses. Let us simply cry out, “Lord, have mercy, for failing to live with integrity!” And let us trust the Christ, who died so that we might be made “sound and whole.”

“Let us make mankind in our image” (Genesis 1:26). God’s intent was that being made in his image, mankind would not only live in close communion with him, but that we would reflect God’s love and care in our dealings with each other. The Fourth, Fifth, and Six Commandments are all about different aspects of healthy human relationships: respect and obedience for those God places in a position of authority; valuing and defending the life and well-being of others; expressing relational bonds, particularly marriage, in appropriate ways. God wants us to treasure our fellow man. Yet, in virtually every type of relationship that can exist—parent and child, husband and wife, employer and employee, neighbor and neighbor—we invent new ways to hurt one other.

Breaking these Commandments shows how we feel about our fellow man. More, that disobedience speaks volumes about how we really feel about our God. Jesus said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me… Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not d0 for me” (Matthew 25:40,45). This week we see that Jesus is the only one who lives up to God’s expectations of how we should treat each other. So, in Lenten faith, we cry out to him, “Lord, have mercy for treating others like trash, not treasure!”

The Second and Third Commandment both relate to how our merciful God saves us. The Second Commandment deals with God’s name. God’s “name” is more than words we use to refer to him: the Lord, Jehovah, Jesus. God’s name includes his reputation, i.e., everything the Word tells us about God. The Third Commandment deals with the Sabbath rest God wants his children to enjoy: resting from fear of condemnation, resting in his promise of mercy.

When we use God’s name flippantly… when we take God’s reputation lightly… when we are apathetic about his Word… when we have little interest in the spiritual rest he offers… we demolish these Commandments. That hurts us way more than it hurts God. Disobedience of these Commandments are attempted acts of spiritual suicide. If we continue in this rebellion, we are guaranteeing that hell is our eternal home. So, this week, we ask the Spirit to give us the ability to sincerely pray, “Lord, have mercy, for demonstrating irreverence for your name and despising your Sabbath rest.”

If a loved one needed serious heart surgery, would you prefer a first-year medical student to perform the operation, or would you rather it be a seasoned doctor who has done that surgery two-thousand times? How about if you were accused of a serious crime you didn’t commit? Would you be content with a legal intern defending you? Or might you want a more experienced, skilled attorney? You want the person who will best care for you. So, apply that reality to the First Commandment.

When God tells us not to have any other gods, our sinful nature’s first inclination is to think it is because God is a narcissist who craves the attention. That is projecting what we are often like onto him. But God commands us to have no other gods, not because he seeks attention, but because he knows there is no one who loves us as much as he does… no one who can care for us anywhere close to as well as he can. It is he, by a infinite margin, who can best care for us. Therefore, when we love or trust anyone or anything else more than God, the sin doesn’t simply offend him. It is incredibly self-destructive. As we begin our worship series on the Ten Commandments, by the Spirit teach us to say, “Lord, have mercy, for our incessant idolatry.”

Whenever someone accuses us of doing wrong, it’s easy to get defensive. We make excuses. “I’m not that bad.” We try and balance the scales. “OK, that was wrong. But look at all the good I do!” We play the comparison game. “At least I’m not like him!” With our defenses up, repentance is impossible.

God, however, has a strategy for lowering our defenses. He assures us that his door is open, and that his home is the place we don’t need to pretend to be something that we’re not--perfect. Our Father does not ask us to come to him and confess our sin so that he might know what we’ve done. He already knows. He asks us to repent so that we might fully know what we’ve done. Only when we grasp the true weight of our sin will we call out to God for mercy. When we do, God is always quick to forgive.