LIVING FEARLESSLY!
REV. 1:12-18
Sermon Objective: As believers, we can fearlessly “practice the resurrection.”
INTRO:
Good Morning.
CHRIST HAS RISEN!
HE HAS RISEN INDEED!!!!
May I ask you to read the Apostle’s Creed with me? It will not be on the screens. I would ask you to turn with me to in the hymnal to #8.
The Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into Hades.
The third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit;
the holy Church universal;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
In Tewin England’s St. Peter’s churchyard stands a great four-trunked tree growing out of a grave. Its presence there is a constant reminder of resurrection for residents in the community. The grave from which it grows is that of the 18th century’s Lady Anne Grimston.
Lady Anne Grimston did not believe in life after death. When she lay dying in her palatial home, she said to a friend, "I shall live again as surely as a tree will grow from my body."
She was buried in a marble tomb. The grave was marked by a large marble slab, and surrounded by an iron railing. Years later the marble slab was found to be moved a little. Then it cracked, and through the crack a small tree grew.
The tree continued to grow; tilting the stone & breaking the marble masonry until today it has surrounded the tomb with its roots, and has torn the railing out of the ground with its massive trunks. The tree at Lady Anne Grimston's grave is one of the largest in England.
It would appear that God Almighty took her challenge.
Speculation about the resurrection abounds. Lady Grimston’s unbelief is not unique or novel.
In Revelation 1:12-18 Jesus is described by John in His post-resurrection brilliance. However, Jesus also describes Himself in the very same passage. There are five “words” he gives that help us grasp the power and potential of His resurrection.
12I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
1. I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST
“The church is the community that God has set at the center of the world to keep the world centered.” (Eugene Petersen, “Living the Resurrection.”). John begins his letter to the church by helping them find that “center” in none other than the Resurrected Christ!
To be a centered church, we must be defined by that central truth.
The ailments of humankind spawn from its rejection of the resurrected Christ. The solutions to war, poverty, suffering and injustice would be on the road to recovery if all inhabitants of the earth could declare with the church that:
CHRIST HAS RISEN!
HE HAS RISEN INDEED!!!!
The title "The First and the Last," belongs to God and is used twice in Isaiah; 44:6 and 48:12. It means that YHWH alone is God, the absolute Lord of history and the Creator. By referencing it to Himself, Jesus telling us that he is divine.
The primacy of Jesus – being first and last – segues into the deeper truths of His person which he discloses here.
1. I am the First and the Last
2. I AM THE LIVING ONE
ONLY A GOD WHO LIVES BEYOND THE THREAT OF DEATH CAN OFFER LIFE EVERLASTING.
Are you familiar with the name Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin.
During his day he was as powerful a man as there was on earth. A Russian Communist leader he took part in the Bolshevik Revolution 1917, was editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda (which by the way means truth), and was a full member of the Politburo. His works on economics and political science are still read today.
There is a story told about a journey he took from Moscow to Kiev in 1930 to address a huge assembly on the subject of atheism. Addressing the crowd he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity hurling insult, argument, and proof against it.
An hour later he was finished. He looked out at what seemed to be the smoldering ashes of men's faith. "Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded.
Deafening silence filled the auditorium but then one man approached the platform and mounted the lectern standing near the communist leader. He surveyed the crowd first to the left then to the right. Finally he shouted the ancient greeting known well in the Russian Orthodox Church: "CHRIST IS RISEN!"
En masse the crowd arose as one man and the response came crashing like the sound of thunder: "HE IS RISEN INDEED!"
Bruce Larson said, “The events of Easter cannot be reduced to a creed or philosophy. We are not asked to believe the doctrine of the resurrection. We are asked to meet this person raised from the dead. In faith, we move from knowledge of a doctrine to belief in a person. Ultimate truth is a person. We met him. He is alive”
1. I am the First and the Last
2. I am the Living One
3. I WAS DEAD, AND BEHOLD I AM ALIVE FOR EVER AND EVER
Jesus’ resurrection provides the energy and conditions by which we, to quote Psalm 116:9 … “walk before the Lord in the land of the living.”
Paul Azinger, the professional golfer, tells of a conversation he had with another golfer who was also a Christian. The part that strikes me was one comment from the other golfer, Larry Moody. "Zinger, we’re not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. We’re in the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living."
At the University of Chicago Divinity School each year they have what is called "Baptist Day." On this day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area. Every Baptist Day the school would invite one of the greatest minds to lecture in the theological education center
One year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr. Tillich spoke for two and one-half hours proving that the resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection, the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal sense.
He then asked if there were any questions. After about 30 seconds, an old, dark skinned preacher with a head of short-cropped, woolly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. "Docta Tillich, I got one question," he said, as all eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. "Docta Tillich" . . . CRUNCH, MUNCH. "My question is a simple question." CRUNCH, MUNCH . . ."Now, I ain't never read them books you read . . . CRUNCH, MUNCH, and I can't recite the Scriptures in the original Greek. I don't know nothin about Niebuhr and Heidegger." . . . CRUNCH, MUNCH . . . He finished the apple. "All I wanna know is:
This apple I just ate - was it bitter or sweet?"
Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion, "I cannot possibly answer that question, for I haven't tasted your apple."
The white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at Dr. Tillich and said calmly, "Neither have you tasted my Jesus."
The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers. Dr. Tillich thanked his audience and promptly left the platform.
Sometimes we miss the power of the resurrection and the startling reality it must have brought to the first century followers who knew Jesus firsthand. For them, the grave was certain and final. FOR SOMEONE TO ESCAPE THE GRAVE WAS SOMETHING STRAIGHT OF A GREEK MYTHOLOGY. AND YET HERE IT WAS … RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM! JESUS CONQUERED THE CLUTCHES OF DEATH … JESUS WAS ON THE LOOSE! EVEN THE GRAVE COULD NOT HOLD HIM!!!!!!!
1. I am the First and the Last
2. I am the Living One
3. I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever
4. I HOLD THE KEYS OF DEATH AND HADES
It is called Silent Saturday. It is the day between the crucifixion and the resurrection. We don’t know much about the dynamics of that day but we do know something AWESOME was underway.
The apostle’s creed reminds us that silent Saturday is critical to the liberation theme of the Gospel of Jesus.
And in Jesus Christ … was crucified, dead, and buried.
He descended into Hades.
The third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
“He descended into Hades.” Hades (or its Hebrew equivalent, Sheol) is the grave or abode of the dead. The event in question is referred to as “The harrowing of hell.” “Harrowing is an old English word that means “robbing”.
The Apostle Paul speaks of the harrowing of hell. Specifically, he says Jesus “descended into the lower regions, the earth” and “led a host of captives” to freedom! (Ephesians 4:8-9, ESV).
Peter says: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.” (1 Peter 3:18-20)
And
“For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.” (1 Peter 4:6)
An ancient Christian hymn found in the old hymn book “Odes of Solomon” (from the first one hundred years of the Christian church) has a climactic celebration of the harrowing of hell. It gives us insight into the first century church’s understanding of Jesus holding the keys to death and Hades.
I was not rejected although I was considered to be so,
And I did not perish although they thought it to be so.
Sheol saw me and was shattered,
And Death ejected me and many with me.
I have been vinegar and bitterness to it,
And I went down with it as far as the depth.
Then the feet and the head it released,
Because it was not able to endure my face.
And I made a congregation of living among the dead;
And I spoke with them of living lips;
In order that my word may not fail.
And those who have died ran towards me;
And they cried out and said, “Son of God, have pity on us.
And deal with us according to your kindness,
And bring us out of the chains of darkness.
And open for us the door
By which we may go forth to you,
For we perceive that our death does not approach you.
May we also be saved
Because you are the Savior.”
Then I heard their voice
And placed my faith in their heart
And I placed my name upon their head,
Because they are free and they are mine.
(Odes to Solomon, 42:10-20)
Wow! I love that poem!
As one Methodist preacher put it …
Jesus was not content to just descend to earth, being born of the Virgin Mary. He went the extra mile, the furthest distance - leaving no rock unturned, no darkness un-illuminated. He descended into hell because God's love knows no bounds - not even the gates of hell and death can keep this God from knocking, searching, and loving.
He descended to the dead. Why is this so important? Because Jesus' assault on sin and death is now complete. Jesus, the One whom we sing of as never "saying a mubblin' word" during his trial and persecution is now the one who … steps into the pulpit right smack in the middle of Satan's lair - proclaiming life and hope and good news to anyone who has ears to hear.
This is Jesus on the offensive; Jesus walking right smack into the teeth of evil and proclaiming it destroyed by love. Jesus had put Satan on notice long before. He had stood in the synagogue and proclaimed that he had come to set the prisoners free. What jailer could be more vicious than Satan? What jail cell could be more permanent than death? … If Good Friday was Satan telling Jesus to "go to hell" than Holy Saturday was Jesus taking him up on it - go to hell? Don't mind if I do! Scoot over and let me use this grave stone as a pulpit. I can hear Jesus' Holy Saturday sermon even now: "Death, where is thy victory. Death where is thy sting?”
(http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs030/1101736933999/archive/1102645283972.html)
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When I was a youth pastor in Illinois we used to play a game called “Capture the Flag.”
It was a team game so we’d divide into two teams on a moonlit night and play the game. Each team had a clearly defined “territory” and flag that was tacked to a tree in plain view of both teams. The object of the game was to sneak into the enemy’s territory and steal the flag and get back to your own territory without being captured. If captured, you would be placed in an area that served as a prison. The game ended when someone stole the other team’s flag and made it back safely. The inevitable shout at the end of the game was, “I’ve got the flag! I’ve got the flag!” All the prisoners would then be freed, and victory was declared.
In a manner of speaking, that is exactly what Jesus did at the resurrection. He went into the enemy’s camp, stole the keys, and came back. And here in this passage, He makes the proclamation of victory: “I have the keys!” The prisoners are freed.
The grave is no longer a prison-house to which death holds the key. Death need no longer be feared. This is why Jesus began talking to John by placing his comforting hand on him and saying “Do not be afraid”.
CONCLUSION:
1. I am the First and the Last
2. I am the Living One
3. I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever
4. I hold the keys of death and Hades
5. DO NOT BE AFRAID!
The bedrock premise behind everything … EVERYTHING that happens in “The Book of The Revelation” is the resurrection victory of Jesus Christ. It is clear and undeniable.
THAT IS NOT ONLY THE BEDROCK PREMISE OF THAT BOOK BUT IT IS AT THE VERY CORE OF FAITH FOR EVERY FOLLOWER. WHEN ONE GENUINELY BELIEVES IN THE RESURRECTION IT SHOWS ITSELF IN EVER ASPECT OF LIFE.
A phrase from Wendell Berry’s poem, “Manifesto” says “Practice Resurrection.” The gist of that poem is to live fearlessly!!! Not because you are “self-actualized” but because you know the one who said
● I am the first and the last
● I am the living One
● I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!
● I have the keys
That was John’s call to the Church in “The Revelation.” That is his call to you too.
You can live fearlessly and “practice resurrection” because you have “tasted Jesus.”
There have been many like Lady Grimston or the unbelieving scholar who did not feel the resurrection was significant for their lives. Some, maybe even some among us today, may not be quite that cynical and yet they have never acknowledged the risen Christ as their Lord and Savior.
A cognitive acknowledgment of Jesus’ authority is not enough. It requires us to bow the knee in surrender and accept him as Lord. There is no better day to receive new life from Jesus than Easter Sunday. I encourage you, even today to come. “I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2)
CHRIST HAS RISEN!
HE HAS RISEN INDEED!
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
