EASTER — THE SPRING OF GOD’S SEASONS
1 Corinthians 15:42-44
INTRO: This morning I am reminded of that old, well known song: "Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day. I’ve got a beautiful feeling, everything’s going my way.” It’s the kind of day that causes one to think of the words in the Old Testament in the Song Of Songs 2:11. "See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season for singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms it’s early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; My beautiful one, come with me. The time for singing has come!” That’s what this day is for us. The winter is over, and the time for singing has come.
Imagine for a moment that the long hard winter was never to end. That we woke up one morning and the scientists informed us that the earth had twisted on it’s axis, and we would never see spring or summer again. Just think of a perpetual February. There is a line in C.S. Lewis’ book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when Lucy enters the land of Narnia, and it’s always winter there. Always snowing. Always cold. Always frozen. Always.
This is what the apostle Paul tells us that life would be like if Jesus Christ had not been raised from the dead on Easter Sunday. Always winter and never spring. Always dying, and nothing beyond! “If Christ has not been raised,” says Paul, “our faith becomes futile.” (V. 14) Hope becomes hopeless. We are stuck in the winter. Always surrounded by death and dying. Pitiful people! Winter people! Hopeless people.
That is what it was like for those disciples on Friday and Saturday. That is what it was like for Mary, after the body of her Lord was laid in the tomb. That’s how it was for Peter, James, John. Pitiful people! Winter people! Hopeless people! And then came Easter morning. And Jesus came back to them. He was God’s gift to them. Something that was precious and was lost and is now found. Someone they had loved was restored. And the winter is over. The time for singing has come! The time for victory is here!
Easter means victory. It means Christ’s victory, but it means more than that. It means victory for each one of us today. He was vindicated on that day, but we too are vindicated. That is the nature of all great victories. They mean something for the individual victor, but it is inevitably a shared victory.
That is the most wonderful thing about this Easter morning. This resurrection Sunday. This Victory day. We have been vindicated with him. It is our victory too!
In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul shares with his audience the tremendous significance for the life of the believer. Vv. 3-8 he takes the time to establish proof of the resurrection. From vs. 12 onward he emphasizes that the basis of our hope is Christ’s resurrection. Without that, all is lost. Then in vv. 42-44 he begins to outline some significant differences between a life centered around the hope of the resurrection, and one apart from it.
I. Victory Over Death’s Defeat.
In vs 42 Paul says we are sown perishable. But because of the resurrection we are raised imperishable. We are born into this life as perishable beings.
But because of the resurrection we have eternal life. From the moment you receive Jesus Christ into your life, you have victory over death. Your physical body might fail you or fade from you, but your soul will never die. You will be raised, forever to live with Christ in heaven.
You become imperishable. In the resurrection account the angel said to the women at the empty tomb, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" They did not understand, but they soon would. When they realized what he meant they no longer spend their lives fascinated with death. They spent the rest of their lives fascinated with life.
One of the greatest historical proofs of the resurrection is that the early church showed virtually no interest in the tomb of Jesus. That is amazing when you consider their background. All of their middle eastern and Jewish counterparts were very interested in grave sites. The most precious and sacred site for ancient Israel and the modern Jew is Mount Zion.
Why? Because it’s the burial site of King David. Throughout the East there are pyramids and monuments dedicated to Pharaoh which remind us of their fascination with death. But after the resurrection of Christ, those New Testament believers had no more need to be consumed by death, because they now had the guarantee of eternal life. In Christ, the greatest and the lowliest have the assurance that death is no longer victor because of the resurrection of Christ.
II. Victory Over Sins Dominion.
He goes on to say that we are sown in dishonor. We are born in sin, but because of the resurrection we are raised in the glory of the father. You see, the Bible says that everyone is born a sinner. When we invite Jesus Christ into our lives we are able to stand before God spotless, just as if we had never sinned.
Then Paul says that we are sown in weakness but through the resurrection of Jesus we are raised in power. We are born weak, with no power to resist sin and temptation, but because of the resurrection of Jesus, the power of sin over our lives can be broken.
The Bible says that "All power is given unto them who believe. Though we were dead, yet shall we live." Do you know what that means? It means that because of the resurrection of Jesus we have power over sin. Power over temptation. Power over lust of the flesh. Power over drugs and alcohol. Power over broken relationships. Power over financial bondage. Power over every circumstance in life. All power is given to us through the resurrection of Jesus. Since the power of God was able to raise Jesus from the dead, how much more can that same power enable us to live extraordinary lives? The resurrection of Jesus Christ can turn a negative into a positive.
May I ask you today, have you experienced that turn around in your life. Or are things still in the negative for you? Without Jesus in our lives, the Bible says that we live under the wrath of God. We are enemies with God, and that is a negative. But when we invite Jesus into our lives, we are at peace with God, and that is a positive. Ask him today. Ask him to come into your life and change the negative into a positive.
III. It Demonstrates the Power to Make a Comeback.
God is the God of the second chance. He can turn things around when they seem hopeless. You see that was not only a negative day in history, but for Jesus it must have seemed like a hopeless situation—I wonder what must have been going through his mind as he carried that cross up to Calvary and then as he hung on that cross and carried the sins of all mankind upon his heart.
Separated from his father he cried: ”Eloi! Eloi! lama sabachtani!” My God, My God why have you forsaken me. But God is the God of the second chance. He forsakes us not and what seemed so hopeless that Friday afternoon was to become the greatest comeback the next Sunday morning.
It might seem to someone here today that the situation is hopeless for you. For you, success and happiness is a long gone memory, never to be achieved again. Let me tell you that no matter how far you have strayed from God. No matter how long you have been on that wayward path, on that broad road, it is not too late. Because of Christ’s resurrection you can reach up from where you are today and take the hand that is reaching out to you, and you can make a comeback.
IV. It Demonstrates the Reach of God’s Redemption.
Look at what Paul writes in vv. 7-8. “Then He appeared to James, then all the apostles and last to me as one abnormally born.” In the Greek the phrase "one abnormally born" is one word which means literally to be "Snatched" from the womb as in a cesarean section, or an abortion. You see Paul had nothing to be proud of—he persecuted the Christians—he says I am least of the apostles—it was only by the grace of God that I am what I am. He was snatched out of the depths of his sinfulness.
What Paul is saying here is that no matter how unworthy we are. No matter how undeserving of his grace. When we come to him confessing our sins and inviting him into our lives, he reaches down to wherever we might be and lifts us into his everlasting arms.
Psalm 119 tells us that there is never a mountain to high, never a sea too deep, never a place too far that God cannot reach us.
Friends, God should have given us the blast of judgment. But instead he offers the blessing of redemption.
CONC: Paul says in Galatians he rescued me from so terrible a sin and friends, he rescues still. My friends, when all is said and done, the question is, What will you do with so great a salvation? You may reject it, at the risk of finding no escape for the situation in which you find yourself today, or you may accept it and experience the joy of knowing that you don’t have to try and make it on your own any more.
Perhaps you have never come to the place where you were conscious of your need for a savior. Somehow you just drifted into the church. Maybe you just kind of got caught up in the tide of religiosity, baptized, but never born again. Religious, but never redeemed.
My plea is that you will consider seriously the demands that Jesus Christ makes upon your life. Come to him just as you are and experience the reality of the resurrection of Jesus in your life today.
