And Easter’s Winner Is…

2nd Sunday of Easter, 4/12/15
1 John 5:1-6


And Easter’s Winner Is…
I. You, because you believe in Christ.
II. You, because you overcome the world.


They won the championship.

She won the vote.

Boeing won the contract.

He won the award.

She won a raise in salary.

He won a scholarship.

No matter where you look it seems as if we describe life on a daily basis as a contest in which we’re constantly trying to win. And if we don’t come out on top, we fear that our lives will be so much less enjoyable and satisfying. As soon as our feet hit the bedroom floor each morning, we get ready to battle in another 24-hour contest we call life.

It doesn’t take long, however, before you wear down. You can’t do it like you used to. Even when you do attain one of life’s victories, it doesn’t seem as satisfying as it once was. You realize how much it cost you to win, and regret taints your victory. So now that you’ve won, you have to defend your title day after day. And what’s the point? What will it matter 10 years from now? Ten months from now? Ten days from now?

All this talk about winning can actually be depressing.

Unless you’re talking about the only victory that is eternal, the victory that never has to be defended, the victory that never has to be repeated, the victory that can never be taken away. And that’s the victory Jesus won when he rose from the dead. We sing about that victory in so many of our Easter hymns. Jesus won the victory over sin, death and hell.

And we win with him! Easter’s winner is…you! What refreshing news that is considering all the losses we face each day. Easter’s winner is you and no one can take that victory from you. Let’s dig into these words from John’s first letter and see what your victory is all about.

Part I.

How are you at following directions? For instance, when you’re using a recipe to make a particular item of food for dinner, do you follow it exactly or do you take liberties? And do your departures from what’s listed always enhance the item of food, or, have there been times when it made it worse or even ruined it? Believe it or not, there are good reasons why the creator of that recipe listed the ingredients and the amounts exactly. If it weren’t important, they wouldn’t have bothered with the minutia.

I’m sure I’m not telling you anything new when I say that our world has taken God’s recipe for salvation and has made all sorts of adjustments, additions and subtractions. And that’s especially true about its view of Jesus. Here are some of the teachings about Jesus that rank as the “biggest losers” in the eyes of our world: The virgin birth, the full deity of Jesus, his sinless life, every one of his miracles, his substitutionary death, his bodily resurrection, his ascension into heaven, his return on the Last Day. OK, just about everything the Bible proclaims about Jesus is denied.

And that’s nothing new. Recall how Jesus’ own people—at times even his own family members—rejected him as the eternal Son of God and the world’s Savior from sin. Then it won’t surprise you when I state that it was happening half a century later among the newly established Christian congregations—the people to whom John wrote these words of our text. There was an attractive yet nasty false teaching called Gnosticism that had taken root among Christians. It proclaimed that faith in Jesus wasn’t needed for a spiritual relationship with God, just a higher form of thinking, deeper spiritual thoughts. It denied that Jesus was true God and that his death on the cross was necessary for our salvation. It even denied the existence of sin.

Sound familiar? Unfortunately those are the same deadly doctrines that pollute our modern world. You wouldn’t have to travel far in either direction from this church to hear some of these deadly false teachings being proclaimed as enlightened truth, things that “thinking” people would readily accept.

But not here. Not with you. And I call that a victory of eternal, saving proportions. Listen again to John’s opening words, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” I’m going to assume that you weren’t simply mouthing the words of the Nicene Creed just a couple minutes ago. I’m going to assume that you actually believe what you stated—that Jesus is true God who became true man to suffer, die and rise again for your salvation. John asserts those very same truths about Jesus when he writes, “This is the one who came by water and the blood.” Bible scholars have debated what this phrase means, but I think it’s best to take it to mean that Jesus began his earthly ministry when he was baptized and anointed with the Holy Spirit and he finished that work when he shed his holy blood on Calvary’s cross. Do you believe that? Then you are born of God. Victory!

But the great news of victory doesn’t end there. John states, “And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is truth.” The Gnostics of John’s day stated that truth comes to us when we think higher thoughts about God. Some of that thinking is still around today. More prevalent is the false teaching that we have to accept Jesus or that we have to believe and do good works in order to be saved. John simply states that saving faith comes to us by the working of the Holy Spirit who shares God’s truths with us. It’s all God’s doing and none of ours. Do you believe that? Victory!

What pleases me as your pastor is when I see that faith in action. Your Christian care and concern for one another. The way you see something that needs to be done and you jump right in to do it. The way you ask what you can do to help. Your prayers for one another. That’s the very same certainty John points to in our text. “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” Your faith is on display in your life as a child of God. When you rise above the godless ways of the people of the world and fight the good fight of faith, living as a child of God, then God has accomplished his goal in your life. He has brought you to saving faith and you are living in that saving faith. Victory! And it’s all due to the power of your risen Lord and Savior.

Easter’s winner is…you! You, because you believe in Christ.

So, do you feel like a winner? I’ll say it with you…not so much. I fail daily in resisting temptations. The good things I know I should be doing, I don’t do. I haven’t lived like a child of God. Even when I do, I get kicked around and emotionally battered. Try as hard as I can and things still don’t seem to work out for me in my life. The problem? We’re looking for victory in the wrong places. Look to the empty tomb of Christ. There’s the victory that no one and nothing can ever take away from you. That resurrection means forgiveness and eternal life are yours. And your God has brought those great gifts to you by faith in Jesus. From God’s perspective you’re already a winner, an eternal winner. What he has always wanted for you he has already accomplished for you. Easter’s winner is…you. You, because you believe in Christ.

Part II.

Is second place good enough? Ask Notre Dame’s women’s basketball team. Ask Wisconsin’s men’s basketball team. Ask Oregon’s football team. Second place for those teams brought tears of sadness and a huge sense of loss, not victory.

Do you know what that’s like, giving it your all but coming up short? Always feeling like you’re just not making it? Like the world beats you at its game every stinking day of your life?

Then listen to your God tell you the exact opposite through his apostle John. “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

You overcome the world. Would you like to know how? Here’s one. Each day you can rejoice in the solid fact that you have forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven. You overcome the world when you fall asleep each night still holding to your faith in Jesus even though Satan and the world have battled all day long to take it from you. Here’s another one: Holding to your Christian values in a world in which operates with the lowest common denominator—cheating, lying, and abusing. You overcome when you play by God’s rules, not the world’s. You overcome when you contemplate how good the Lord has been to you and are content in life rather than driven by senseless materialism. And here’s one “win” the world can’t possibly understand: you endure suffering without bitterness because that’s what Jesus endured. The world proclaims that’s losing. Your God, who always proclaims the truth, says that’s winning. And one final victory over the world and when this one occurs all the world will be held speechless and will cringe in defeat—you rise from the dead and the Lord Jesus glorifies your body and takes you to be with him forever in heaven. Victory! Sweet victory! And it’s all yours by faith in Jesus.

If you’re feeling like a loser, you need to go to that tomb near Calvary. You need to see, know and believe that it’s empty because Jesus rose from the dead. His victory is your victory. And once more I’ll declare it. Easter’s winner is…you! Praise God it’s you! Amen.