Sermon Series on the End Times: The Resurrection of the Dead
It seems that in life we are always looking forward to something. When you’re single, you look forward to getting married. When you get married, you look forward to having children. When you have children, you look forward to sending them off to school. Then you look forward to retiring. It goes on and on.
Where are you in life? Do you have something that you are specifically looking forward to in the near future? Is it a birthday party, renovation, vacation, a pay raise, a new job, getting married, or graduating from school? How about. . . the resurrection? “Ah, that wasn’t on the top of my list, pastor.”
When the only thing we plan for is how to pay off our houses or take a vacation - something is wrong. The brother of Christ put it this way - Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Could it be that we have gotten too wrapped up in the things of this world, that we are not keeping focused on what we should? Instead, God wants us to -
Remember the Resurrection
When Adam and Eve decided that life would be better if they could be their own gods instead of living UNDER God - a terrible thing happened. The threat of the Lord became a reality - as they SURELY DIED on the spot. Instead of looking at the beautiful world that God had created, they became consumed with how THEY looked. Instead of living to be with God - they ran from God. As time goes on, this death is prominent in the world. It isn’t just like living with a dead body that just sits there. This kind of death is an infectious kind - like gangrene - it is interconnected with the world. It’s more like living with a night of the living dead - in a dead world that wants us to join them. If you don’t agree with me, just turn on the news or your computer. Just yesterday I saw an interview with a father of a ten year old boy who had been abducted and murdered - one of about fifty this year. Why did the culprit do it? A part of the reason was because his evil lusts were fueled by a web sight called the man boy love association - or something like that. In Norfolk, NE, three men entered a bank, killed five workers and a customer in cold blood and left. These are sick and deadly people. The danger is real. We probably walk by these kinds of people every time we walk through Wal-Mart. We live in a deadly world.
This isn’t the only kind of death we have to live with. Walk through a nursing home or a hospital - or maybe your own home or life - and you are also faced with death. Heart problems, cancer, wrinkly skin, bad backs and sore legs are all reminders that death is on the doorstep. Yet how do we continually respond? We look forward to the next remedy. We plan to purchase a security system. We buy more comfortable beds. We are bred and groomed to look for physical answers to the surrounding death - to lessen the curse. And we’ve done a pretty good job of it in some ways, and a pretty bad job of it in others. We’ve got pain killers, mercy killers, air conditioned and heated homes, luxury mattresses and electric massages. It is not wrong for us to use the physical blessings that God has given us. But God didn’t just curse the world so we would try to find remedies to the curse. There was a higher purpose.
How did Paul respond to the death he encountered in the world and in his body? Did he say, “I want to find a good chiropractor, join a good health club, and try to live without pain? No. He said, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3) In the midst of a sinful world - Paul looked forward - not to a time of peace on this earth - not to a time when people would stop persecuting him - but to a time when he would rise from the dead. Only then would he be free from his sinful body. Only then would he be free from persecution. Only then would he really be able to LIVE.
He based this faith on the death and resurrection of Christ. Paul said in Romans 4 that “he was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” He knew that Jesus died for his sins, and that God accepted that sacrifice - since He raised Jesus to life. With that faith - Paul told the Corinthians - what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15) The resurrection was an essential part of Paul’s conversation.
It’s interesting to note WHY the resurrection was so important to Paul. The resurrection was important to Paul because it also had significance for his life right now. He tells us that this was not a special thing that just happened to him but to all of us in Romans 6 - We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. This gave Paul a whole different perspective on life. He told the Corinthians - Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2 Co 4:16). So in his mind, even though his body was dying and this world was dead, his spirit was raised from the dead and he was becoming more and more alive - because the risen Christ was living in him through his baptism. As a result of this, Paul talked a lot more about the resurrection. It wasn’t only a funeral text - it was a life text. Listen to these verses -
Romans 7:4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died——more than that, who was raised to life——is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
And so he encouraged Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel.
As I was walking into the Settle Inn on my way home for Wisconsin, they had a picture from the paper saying, “we remember”, referring to 9-11. That one moment will be etched in our minds for probably the rest of our lives. In a more positive way, Paul told Timothy and us to “remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.” This is where I must admit that I don’t concentrate on as much as I probably should. We have Jesus on the cross on our altar. This is a MOST IMPORTANT teaching - the crucifixion of Christ. If it weren’t for Christ’s substitutionary death, we would still be under God’s wrath. And we talk about it a lot. But equally important is Christ’s resurrection. Paul calls to us this morning and says, “remember the resurrection!”
How do you remember something? You look at pictures of it. You think about it, and then you talk about it. Think about the fact that Jesus raised from the dead. Every day when you wake up, remind yourself that you were baptized. Maybe put your certificate up on your wall. Or perhaps cross yourself and say to yourself, “I am baptized.” Remember what that means - it means that your old sinful nature was crucified with Christ - and that the living Christ has now joined Himself with you and given you a new spiritual life.
When we say “we remember” 9-11, it also means that we will take action to deal with the evil. In the same way, when we remember our baptism, there are implications of actions. Plan to live out the consequences of that action. Paul put it this way - Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Co 9:24-27). Now is not the time to be lazy. Now is the time to LIVE. Think to yourself - “since I am a spiritually alive person - living in a sinful body and a sinful world that wants to put me to death - I am not going to lie over and die.” Say to yourself, “I am going to live. I am going to fight. I am not going to let evil thoughts get the best of me. If it means turning off the TV, I’ll do it. If it means not hanging out with kids at school, I won’t.” That’s what it means to be alive. Those are the results of having Christ live in you. Living in Christ means dying to the world.
We sang a song a few weeks ago that went like this -
Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand;
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.
Through the storm, through the night, Lead me on to the light.
Take my hand, precious Lord; Lead me home.
When my way grows drear, Precious Lord, linger near,
When my life is almost gone,
Hear my cry, hear my call; Hold my hand lest I fall.
Take my hand, precious Lord; Lead me home.
When the darkness appears And the night draws near
And the day is almost gone,
At the river I stand; Guide my feet, hold my hand,
Take my hand, precious Lord; Lead me home.
It’s kind of a sad song, isn’t it. It seems that the writer was focusing on the trials and troubles he was facing. A part of living as a baptized Christian means that you’ll be tired from the fight. You’ll be frustrated. But it also means that you’ll still have hope - because you know that some day - the fight will be over. That’s also what the song reflects when it says, “take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.” At the second resurrection - at the coming of Jesus Christ - your body will be free from sin. Luther liked to sometimes speculate as to what this would be like - The body, weak and devoid of all strength and power though it may be now when it lies in the grave, will be so strong that with one finger it will be able to carry this church . . . and play with a mountain as children play with a ball. Nothing that it decides to do will be impossible for it. It will become so light and nimble that it will soar both down here on earth and up above in the heavens in a moment.
Have you lived with this hope? Several years ago I purchased a gift for someone of music that I thought that person would enjoy. But when I arrived at their home a few years later - I saw the same gift unopened - not listened to - never enjoyed. One of the saddest things to see is someone who has a gift to neither acknowledge it or to use it or to let it go to waste. How many people are there in the world who just let a ton of potential go down the drains because they’re lazy, ignorant, or just plain foolish?
My friends, we have a wonderful gift in our baptisms, and a wonderful gift in the coming resurrection. You have life within you - Jesus lives in you! You have eternal life ahead of you! There will be a day when you and your loved ones in Christ will rise from the dead - without sin - free from pain. Even though we haven’t talked about it much, God hasn’t taken it away. Through faith in Christ, we still have forgiveness. By the grace of God, we still have a sure hope in the resurrection of the dead. Is this something we want to ignore? Is this something we want to keep quiet about? Is this something that we want to forget? Never!
Some of the most difficult jobs in this life - I believe - would be being a police officer or in the medical profession or in a funeral home. Why? You are constantly working with death. Police officers have to deal with dead sinners - hardened in their sins - in a more obvious basis than most. Physicians and nurses have to see people suffering every day as a result of the curse of death. Funeral homes have to deal with and handle those who have been bitten by the curse. To me, it would be easy to get depressed.
However, when I am put in those situations, I also have another reaction. I remember leaving the house of someone who had been bedridden for over a month. She was sad and depressed - and I could see why. It was difficult for her. But as I left, I couldn’t help but say to myself, “thank God I don’t have those problems.” Next time someone asks you how you’re doing or what’s new - think about it in light of the resurrection. Instead of saying, “alright,” or “ok,” or “I’m going to buy a new stove,” etc., remember the resurrection. Think about how good it is to know God loves you and lives in you. Think about how good it is to know that you will rise from the dead, and boldly proclaim to them “I live!” Amen.
