Astore

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Why do more people come to church on easter?

Easter Message


Many people go to church on Easter Sunday that normally would not go to church. Why is that?

Honestly, I don’t know!


Why do you think people are more likely to visit on Easter?


Could part of it be that in this country we are ingrained to go to church on Easter and Christmas as part of tradition? I suppose that is a factor.

Could it be because on Easter most churches do some king of play or entertainment that makes sitting in the pew less boring and easier to take?

Perhaps it is because Church goers are more likely to actually invite someone on Easter? My pastor said that Easter is a great time to invite people that do not normally go to church, because they are more likely to go on Easter and Christmas. So could it be that since church goers expect people to accept the invitation they therefore actually do more inviting? And since they are inviting, people actually come. This become on of those self-fulfilling predications.

My pastor also said he wished every Sunday was Easter, because the church members seem to be more lively, energetic, open, and friendly toward visitors. I assume Christmas is the same way. Now my church is good at making people feel welcome, but Easter we do a little better.

So could people come more on Easter because they have learned that on Easter the people in the church will be nice and friendly to them, but the rest of the year it is not the case? Now I am not saying this is true, but do you think people might believe it is true and therefore come on those days they believe they will be treated nicely?


What do you think? Is any of those plausible? Does one stand out as the reason, or do you think it a combination of those? Perhaps you have another idea on why people come to church on Easter only?

My wife tells the story of a friend whose husband comes to church on Easter and Christmas only. Then one Easter he told his wife that he was not going, because they give the same message every time he is at church. She let him know that if he would come on others day he would see that the messages do vary.

I have one more idea. Could God be drawing them in more on that day than others? If that is true then it begs the question why Easter? If God is “not willing that any perish should perish but that all should come to repentance”(2Peter 3:9), then why not draw them in every Sunday. Why the big push on Easter?

If God is drawing more people in, and or moving church goers to do more inviting on Easter, then there must be something important in the story surrounding Easter. The concept of Easter is given other times in the year, but something must be different about the message proclaimed on this day.

I believe that the message given by most churches on Easter is the purest preaching of the cross that is done during the year. The Apostle Paul, in a letter he wrote to the Corinthians, explained that he preached the “gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” (1 Cor 1:18) He goes on to say in the next sentence that the cross is to those being saved the power of God, and those perishing foolishness.

Since the cross is a central and integral part of the Easter story and very few churches would leave it out, it would make sense for God to want more people to be there that day. I believe that most pastors and church members know this and is a major part of the reason the invite more people than the normally do.

Most churches do a great job of explaining the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. So I want to look at another side of this story.

Many people wonder why was Jesus crucified? Who is to blame for His crucifixion? In fact some have committed great crimes against humanity because they thought they were taking vengeance for Jesus Christ. Many were afraid Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ” would set ablaze once again those who do those evil things.

I believe that we must understand why He was crucified, before we look at who is to blame for His death. While it may seem silly, I would like to conduct a game to help illustrate this point. Since many have called Jesus a good man , and in one case He told a person “why do you call me good, no one is good but God.”

So I want to host the Good Person Game.


Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever taken anything that did not belong to you without permission of the owner? This includes downloading copyrighted songs and copying games and software. Have you ever looked at someone with lust? Have you ever used God's name in vain or as a four letter filth word to exress disgust?

If you have you are, by your own admission, a lieng, thieving, adulterer at heart, that has blasphememd the name of God. Bearing in mind that all liars will have thier part in the lake of fire, no adulterer or thief will enter the kingdom of God, and God will not hold anyone guiltless that has taken His name in vain, would you be innoncent or guilty? Were would you spend eternity? That is the bad news read the rest for the good news.



See we all have failed to keep God’s Law. Even though it is within us, even though our conscience tried to warn us, we still choose to violate it. So the penalty for violating God’s law is death, but not merely death and then you do not exist, but death that is cast into the lake of fire.

You understand that we did the crime, and when we stand before the judge we are without excuse. Because the judge is good, just, unable to lie, holy He will punish those that have lied, stolen, used His name in vain, etc.. The fine will be paid, justice will not be perverted. You cannot bribe him by doing something good. You can’t sing song to get out of it, you can not read the Bible to get out of it, you can not worship Him to get out of it. You can’t feed a homeless person to get out of it.

That leaves us in a bad place. So what did God do to save us from the consequences of our sins against Himself. (((John 3:16)))

Jesus Christ never lied, stolen, looked with lust, dishonored his parents, etc.. He therefore did not have to die. However the Father sent the Son to pay our fine. The Son asked that if there be another way, He wanted that way. But nevertheless Your will be done. Jesus told the Disciples that He would lay down His life and take it up again. He told Pilate that Pilate would have no authority to kill him except that it came from above(GOD).

“God commended His love towards, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Supposing you murdered an entire family while the father was at work. You are caught, convicted, and your appeals are used up. You are walking toward the electric chair. You have broken the law, your guilt is proven, and you are getting what you deserve. People are there to watch the event. A man walks up to you and says “you have broken the law and deserve to die, but I also love you, you are important to me. I am going to take your punishment myself.” You watch in amazement as the man who is not guilty pays your fine.

You have come to a place were you realize that what you did was wrong, and you decide to take advantage of your freedom to go and apologize to the father of the family you killed. It took a few days to find out were He lived. You decided it would be better to drop in because you are not sure He will let you come by otherwise. You remember the anger and wrath that He had toward you.

You arrive at His home and notice that a wake is being held. You go in to the house you find the Father and apologize and ask Him to forgive you.

You decide to pay your respect to the deceased, hoping it is not the Father you wanted to ask forgiveness of.. As you lean into the coffin you see the man that took your place in the electric chair. Dropping to your knees you remember that that Father had a Son that was not home that night you committed that heinous crime. Not only did you harm the Father and His family, but now His Son took your place in the electric chair.
You now see that because of your violation of the Law, His son died to set you free.. You cry out weeping over what you have done.

The Father comes in the room and says, I loved you enough that I sent My Son to take your place. He loved you enough to do it. I no longer hold your crime against you.