He is Risen!!
April 17, 2022
Have you ever wondered . . . .
Why sandwich meat is round, when bread is square?
Why is it that lemon juice has an artificial flavor while dishwashing liquid has real lemons?
If man developed from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?
Why can’t the professor on Gilligan’s Island fix a hole in a boat, but he can make a radio out of a coconut?
Why do adults say they “slept like a baby” when babies wake up every few hours?
Why is it that your nose runs but your feet smell?
We can go on with lots of fun and silly questions, and one that lots of people ask as well is — — “How can a man who died come back to life again?”
Isn’t that one of the Easter questions? And it’s not a silly question. It’s one of those questions where the answer defies logic. It moves beyond logic and centers on something called faith and trust in God. In all honesty, how did it happen?!
None of us have a clue. Medically speaking . . . it just doesn’t happen. But with God all things are possible. We trust in that! We need to trust in that! We place our faith in the God of the miraculous, the God who can do more than we imagine.
I want to share with you various passages from 1 Corinthians 15. You can call it the “resurrection chapter.” Paul talks all about the resurrection in various ways. He wrote - - -
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Oh, I love that last line. Even though it’s a negative, it’s a reason for the hope we have in Christ.
Think about it . . . . if you were a Hindu, your hope would be that there was a powerful outworking of karma in your life. You would return, you would be reincarnated, into a different existence to pursue your next cycle of life. Depending on your goodness, you might be an ant, a snake, a flower, or a really good person, until you finally get it right and enter nirvana.
If you were Jewish, you would trust that by your faith and commitment to the Torah you would gain eternal life. Much of it being according to your good works and the prayers of others after your death.
If you were Buddhist, your assumption would be that you’d be absorbed into the formless beyond.
If we you’re a secularist, with no real conviction of a God, you’d have nothing to hope in. You’re just a blip, an asterisk between life and death. There would be no future hope. When you die, that’s it, that’s all there is, because there’s nothing afterwards. You would simply cease to exist.
BUT - - - - I believe there is a far better answer, and we celebrate that answer today. If there is no Easter — then I don’t have a better message, no better answer. That’s what Paul’s getting at. Our faith would be futile. We would have no forgiveness of our sins AND there would be no hope in life everlasting. We would be pitied and should be pitied and laughed at.
If there’s no answer, then live it up, because that’s all there is. But the message of Easter reminds us that there’s hope beyond death — there’s resurrection! Resurrection is more than a pie-in-the-sky wish — it’s demonstrated by the fact that Jesus rose from the grave.
This is where we find our great hope. If we don’t have an Easter faith . . . a resurrection faith, then we can’t have hope beyond death. But because we do have an Easter faith, I know I will once again see those who have died before me who are in Christ.
I will see them once again, fully alive, no wounds, no pains, no scars, no viruses, no hunger, no cold or hot weather. We will be in the place of perfection.
That’s what Easter gives me. The resurrection changes everything, because it gives me hope that I didn’t have without Christ! It has to change everything. It has to change us! I guess, one of my questions today is this . . .
“Do you have a resurrection faith? Has the resurrection changed you?”
Is your theology a Theology of the Cross or a Theology of the Empty Tomb?
You see, Paul was talking to a very secular, worldly crowd in Corinth. It was a major port city. There were lots of sailors there, making a quick stop and they partied hard in Corinth. They worshiped idols. Prostitution was rampant. It was Mardi Gras every night. That’s the place Paul is ministering and proclaiming Jesus in. Not the place where you have a captive crowd.
So, these people were skeptical. They weren’t grasping what a resurrection was. For many of these idol worshipers it was far fetched. They prayed to idols . . . talk about far fetched. They talked to useless pieces of wood.
So, Paul used a metaphor to help them. He explained in verses 35-44, to think of it like a seed. Like a seed that must be buried in the ground, in order to be transformed into a plant. His point is that something radical is going to happen.
I love having a garden. It always amazes me when I plant something and it grows right on schedule. I plant spring flowers in the fall, and the bulbs lie dormant throughout the winter and they know their appointed time to start growing again, and up they come. That’s the kind of transformation Paul is talking about.
Paul wrote in verse 42 - - -
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. - 1 Corinthians 15:42
Paul’s reminding us that our bodies which are very perishable will one day be raised imperishable. Never to decay or be destroyed. There will be no more death. There will be no more sickness, no more pills, no more frailty, no more surgeries and doctor visits, there will be no such thing as hospice.
Peter puts it so well in 1 Peter 1, when he wrote - - -
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you - 1 Peter 1:3-4
That’s the future hope we have. We will be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If that’s not great news, Peter added, we’ll gain an inheritance that’s imperishable, (it’s the same word Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 15) undefiled and unfading.
That’s our inheritance, that’s our heavenly reward. It’s not going to get old and rusty, it’s not going to wear out like our bodies do and need to be replaced, it’s not going to fade away. Our inheritance is always going to be perfectly new, perfectly perfect.
Paul goes on to talk about what’s coming. When Christ returns what will happen? Later in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul tells us - - -
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
Again, we have that same image Paul and Peter gave us earlier. We will be raised imperishable. What a great theme for us. What an amazing hope that gives us. Paul’s telling us we’re all going to perish, but if we’re in Christ, we’re not going to experience that eternally. We’re going to be raised imperishable.
So, he asks the question . . . which he answers.
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, we get the victory! Our fate is already determined if we way yes to Jesus. We will have a sure and certain victory in Jesus. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Man I love that image. Death no longer has a hold on me. Yes, we’ll all die, but I don’t have to fear my eternity because Jesus paid the price for me.
He went to the cross on my behalf so I wouldn’t have to suffer the penalty for my sinfulness, but God didn’t stop there. Actually, that would have been pretty good on it’s own. I don’t have to pay the penalty for my sins. You, in essence, get a free get out of jail card.
But God goes further and offers us eternal life. You see, too many people believe God can’t forgive them for what they’ve done. God didn’t come to beat you up. He came to save you . . . to redeem you and to forgive you.
That’s what Jesus was getting at in the great passage from John 3:16-17 - - -
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. - John 3:16-17
That’s part of the great news today. God didn’t send Jesus to condemn you and tell you how bad you are. That was never the plan. That’s satan’s plan. He wants you to wallow in self pity and beat yourself up about what a slug you are. But God doesn’t! He tells us we’re His kids, we’re holy, dearly loved, chosen, given a royal inheritance, gives us a banquet, the kings robe, and the family ring.
He does it for one simple reason. He loves you.
So, my question for you is do you know my Jesus!?
Maybe you do and you’ve kind of lost that first love, that’s Jesus.
Maybe you’ve never said yes to Jesus, and your heart is burning right now. You want it, but you’re kind of afraid to come forward. Man, there’s no better day to come forward and embrace a relationship with - - -
? the One who died for you,
? the One who forgives your sins,
? the One who calls you friend.
? The One who intercedes for you, He actually prays for you and
makes requests to the Father on your behalf, AND
? He’s the One who gives you the hope of life everlasting with Him.
Embrace Him this morning as your Lord and Savior. He’s here for you! He sent the Holy Spirit for you to fill you and love you and comfort you and bring you a peace which is beyond logic and understanding.
Dear friends, just say yes to Jesus.
Pastor and author Tim Keller wrote - - - The good news of Christianity, what we call the gospel, is this, “We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” No one has lived up to his or her own personal standards of morality yet alone God’s holy standard. We’ve all missed the mark, and the penalty for our sin is eternal death and separation from God.
But God, in His love and mercy provided a way out, a rescue plan. He sent His one and only Son, to die in our place and for our sin. Jesus was the perfect and final sacrifice for sin, fully paying the spiritual debt we owed God. He was buried in a tomb and three days later He rose from the grave. The tomb was empty, His body was gone.
We celebrate Easter because the resurrection means absolutely everything to the followers of Jesus. Remember, without the resurrection, the Apostle Paul says that we have no hope and our faith is futile and we’re to be pitied.
If you are not yet a follower of Jesus - - -
First, accept his love for you. Put down your guard and accept what Jesus did for you. Believe that He died for you, to redeem you from your sinfulness and offer you total forgiveness.
Second, believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
Third, turn away from your sin (repentance).
Fourth, commit your life to following Jesus Christ. It’s not about becoming more religious. It’s cultivating a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you want that, come forward. Embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior. If you need prayer, come to the throne room of God and call out His name.
