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Sermons and More from Saint Peter's Lutheran Church in Door CountyAuthor: Sermons and More from Saint Peter's Lutheran Church in Door County
Sermons, Bible Studies, and other audio media from Saint Peters Lutheran Church in Door County, Wisconsin. Saint Peters Lutheran Church in Door County is located in the village of Forestville, Wisconsin. We are a congregation of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. We are a confessional and liturgical congregation. Saint Peters is located at 316 W. Main Street, Forestville, WI 54213. Phone: 920-856-6420. Email: info@doorcounty.church. Website: https://doorcounty.church. We welcome listener comments, questions, and feedback. Language: en-gb Genres: Christianity, Religion & Spirituality Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Sermon: The Resurrection Transforms Our Minds, Wills, and Emotions [Easter 2026]
Thursday, 23 April, 2026
Text: Matthew 28:1–10Liturgical Date: Easter ACalendar Date: April 5, 2026Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County, 316 W. Main St., Forestville, WI 54213. 920-856-6420.Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Jackson Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County serves Luxemburg and other locations around Northeast Wisconsin. TRANSCRIPT In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Alleluia. Christ has risen. He has risen indeed. Hallelujah. Christ is risen, and our good shepherd has crossed through the valley of the shadow of death and he has emerged unto the green pastures and the still waters of eternal life. And we, his sheep, his flock, follow him. Christ has risen, and he, the second and greater Moses, has led us through the waters as on dry ground. And our enemies—not the enemy of Pharaoh and his soldiers, but rather the enemies of sin, death, and the devil—lay at the bottom of the abyss. Christ has risen, and the lying tongue of the devil, this lying tongue which would seek to corrupt our minds with his falsehoods, his lying tongue that would seek to corrupt our wills unto that which is evil, and his lying tongue which would seek to bring our emotions down into darkness, has been utterly cut off. But instead we hear the message of the tongue of the angels. “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell the disciples that he has risen from the dead and do not fear.” The Angel’s Message to Mind, Heart, and Guts With these words, the angel informs our minds of the resurrection. He gives us the resolution of the will to live as Christians who know that truth. And he as well preaches not just to our minds, not just to our hearts, but he also preaches to our guts: to have joy. Our guts? Pastor Chris, what in the world are you talking about? In the ancient world—and I don’t think this is a mistake that the angel addresses all three aspects of this—the inner life could be divided between the life of the head, the life of the heart, and the life of the guts. Well, the life of the head. This makes sense to us, right? This is where rationality is; this is the seat of knowledge. And the angel proclaims to us that the tomb is empty and Christ has risen. And my prayer is that we would be confirmed in this knowledge. But the angel preaches to the women and also thereby to us that this ought to lead to a particular way of life for the women. They were to go and tell the disciples about what they knew, and that the disciples, in the knowledge of this, should also act in accordance and go and return to Galilee where they knew they could find him. And so also the angel preaches to us. And in the ancient world, the things that have to do with resolution, with loyalty, the principles that you live your life by—well, that was a matter of the heart. The Flightiness of Our Emotions Today we are filled with Easter joy. It is a joy to see all of you gathered here today. I’m sure that as you came and you saw your fellow Christians gathered here, you were filled with joy as well. It is a joy to hear that Easter proclamation, that Christ is risen. It is a joy to sing that wonderful tune, “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today,” and the joy will continue throughout the day in whatever way that is—eating candy, participating in egg hunts, getting together for a family meal. What a blessing to have this Easter joy. And yet our feelings can be so flighty. So now we have joy, but even within this same day, when the family has gone off on their ways and all of the detritus of our celebrations is lying around and it’s late and you’re tired and there’s a sink full of dishes and there’s a mess in the living room, maybe your joy isn’t gonna be quite so pronounced. And maybe you might even speak a cross word to a loved one. It happens. I know it happens. And we are filled with joy today, but maybe tomorrow when we have to go back to work and the day-by-day continues, well, maybe at that point the Easter joy starts to wear off. The Weakness of Our Will And now we come to the will. As we said, the will in the ancient world had to do with the heart, with the principles, the loyalties, the way that we lead our life. And today, on Easter Day, we can feel as if we intend to lead our lives according to the truths of the gospel, and we resolve to do so. “Lord, I’m going to try to—it was so wonderful to be in your house, to receive the gospel of the Lord, to worship with my fellow Christians, and Lord, I intend to be better about getting back into church more often.” But then the next week comes and the next week maybe our will isn’t as strong as we thought. Maybe our will shows weakness in other ways. You know the will is a little bit more steady than the emotions. Our hearts beat steadily day to day, but even our hearts can start to get a little out of rhythm. Maybe even our hearts can start to beat in the wrong way. And man, I’m gonna talk to men specifically here. I think this is a particularly male problem in which at certain points in our lives our wills can become weak and we can have a great change. We see this in the gospels, by the way. We see this in the passion narrative. Judas Iscariot, who ought to have been bound in bonds of loyalty—that ought to have been a matter of the will—instead showed a weak will and a desire for the worthless drops of silver over the precious gospel and the precious gold of Jesus Christ. We see this not only in Judas Iscariot, but we also see this in Pontius Pilate. He knew what was right, but he didn’t have the will to act in accordance with what was right and therefore he gave over an innocent man to die. Or we might think of Peter who, in a moment of resolution, said, “Lord, I will never deny you,” but instead out of weakness of will did so over the curious inquiries of a servant girl. You know that stereotypical male midlife crisis? You get down to it, that’s a crisis of the will. My brothers and sisters in Christ, my prayer for you is that your Easter joy would carry over beyond today. My prayer for you is that your Easter resolution to live as a Christian would be something that carries you through year to year. The Transforming Power of Resurrection Knowledge But how? On the same way that the angel and Christ Jesus sought to transform the will and the heart of the women here at the tomb—and that’s through the knowledge that he has risen from the dead. The angel demonstrates to the women the resurrection. He rolls back the stone from the tomb. And this gets to something that just utterly drives me nuts. Every once in a while you’ll see a picture of the resurrection and it’s got a picture of the stone rolled away from the tomb and Jesus like walking around the corner. That’s not how it was. If you read this closely, that’s not how it worked. I’ve seen stained glass of this, sadly, in churches. No. Jesus rose from the dead. Do you think stone could hold him back? No. The angel didn’t roll away the stone so Jesus could get out. The angel rolled away the stone so the women—and so that we—can look in and know that he had risen from the dead already. Now, the women showed good resolve. They showed a good will in that they did what the angel told them, but yet still the emotions were a little bit flighty. They did depart with joy and also with fear. How did Jesus address that? Once again, through knowledge. He showed himself to them in another demonstration of his resurrection so that their fear—and he says to them once again, “Do not be afraid”—so that fear would give way to joy. My prayer for you, brothers and sisters in Christ, is that through the knowledge of the resurrection every day would become a little bit more like Easter in your resolve and in your emotions. We Can Be Certain Christ Has Risen But here we come to a problem, Pastor Chris. Well, how can I know that Jesus rose from the dead? How can I know that? I was not there. Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is completely and utterly reasonable to believe the truth that Jesus rose from the dead. There is an empty grave in Jerusalem, and the witnesses of this fact were willing to go to their deaths proclaiming that truth. Now you can get people to lie, you can do that, but when they lie, it is hard for them to link up their stories. This is why when detectives seek to get to the truth of the matter, they separate the witnesses so they can get each individual’s own stories. We have the stories, the accounts of the apostles, and they’re all unified on this fact. Not only this, but all but John went to their graves proclaiming this. They lost their lives in bloody witness to this fact. Now you can get people to lie and you can get people to together agree to a lie. But you cannot get a group of people to together die for a lie. They might die for a just cause. They might die for the truth, but you’ll not get them to die for a lie. No, my brothers and sisters in Christ, we can be sure and confident of the truth that the grave is empty and that Christ is risen. Make the Creed Part of Your Daily Life Here’s the one thing that I’m going to put a little bit of an extra burden on you for this day that I would like for you to do. Maybe you’ve got a copy of the Apostles’ Creed in your small catechism. Take a picture of that in your phone. You look at your phone every day. Or maybe if you’re not a big phone person, instead of taking a picture of the Apostles’ Creed, you can cut out the Creed from the bulletin today. Maybe you take that to your desk, you tape that to your mirror, or you tape that to your dashboard somewhere. You see it each day, and when you see it, recite it. Recite these wondrous facts so that your mind would be conformed to them. Recite the truth that out of its infinite and eternal love, God created you and all things. Recite the fact that out of this eternal will, this heart which unlike ours is undeterred in its purposes, that out of his loving faithfulness to you—even though you were faithless in your sins—yet God remained resolute in his faithfulness to you. And in that resoluteness, the eternal Son of God took on human flesh to live a perfect life for your sake, fulfilling your righteousness, and to die an atoning death unto the forgiveness of your sins, that on the third day he rose again from the dead and thereby opened the doors of eternal life to you. Recite the third article, the article on the Holy Spirit, which conveys that the Lord has continued in his resolute love for you to extend this gospel, this forgiveness, through word and sacrament to you so that you might know and believe that Jesus is Lord, your sins are forgiven, and your eternal life is for you. Let Easter Drip into Every Part of You And my prayer for you is that that knowledge as you recite it day by day and week by week, that it would start to drip down out of your minds and into your hearts so that you have the courage and the resolve to live as Christians, to continue in the way of love that the Lord has given you. And maybe then once the gospel has trickled down from your minds and trickled down into your hearts, it will also trickle down into your guts. And maybe instead of bitterness at the end of a long day, you’ll feel joy: “Lord, what a wonderful blessing to have served you by serving others.” Maybe as life’s day comes to an end and you’re on your deathbed, instead of feeling fear, you will feel confidence and joy and express that to your loved ones gathered around. Because you know that as you close your eyes in this world, they will only open in the world to come. Because you know that as you are laid in the grave, it’s not a final resting place. It’s a resting place, but you know that you will rise because you know that on the other side of the return of Christ is an eternity of bliss and joy with God forever. My brothers and sisters in Christ, my prayer for you is that day by day Easter joy is more and more a part of your life, that day by day Easter resolution is more a part of your life, and that all this comes through Easter knowledge. Hallelujah! Christ has risen. He has risen indeed. Hallelujah. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. <p>The post Sermon: The Resurrection Transforms Our Minds, Wills, and Emotions [Easter 2026] first appeared on Saint Peter's Lutheran Church.</p>
