Dare to Conquer Again – “Up From the Grave” Lent 2003
Easter Sunday, April 20, 2003 – Romans 8:31-39
Intro:
These epitaphs are reported to be from actual tombstones:
On the grave of Ezekial Aikle in East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia:
Here lies Ezekial Aikle, Age 102. The Good Die Young.
In a Ruidoso, New Mexico, cemetery:
Here lies Johnny Yeast. Pardon me For not rising.
In a Uniontown, Pennsylvania cemetery:
Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake. Stepped on the gas Instead of the brake.
In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery:
Here lays Butch, We planted him raw. He was quick on the trigger, But slow on the draw.
A lawyer’s epitaph in England:
Sir John Strange. Here lies an honest lawyer, And that is Strange.
In a Georgia cemetery:
"I told you I was sick!"
Anna Hopewell’s grave in Enosburg Falls, Vermont:
Here lies the body of our Anna, Done to death by a banana.
It wasn’t the fruit that laid her low, But the skin of the thing that made her go.
Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York:
Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the car was on the way down. It was.
In a Thurmont, Maryland, cemetery:
Here lies an Atheist, All dressed up And no place to go.
I have one more, this one a serious one:
Outside the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, who took Jesus body from the cross and placed it in his own tomb: The voice of the angel of God, saying: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”
The Resurrection:
We are here today to celebrate the central fact upon which all of Christianity hangs: Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus is Alive! The angel announced it, the disciples saw Him, and we experience Him in our lives today. Death could not keep him, He broke its power and rose victoriously and in doing so bought for us salvation and forgiveness and freedom from sin. And today we want to celebrate that historical fact, and embrace the risen Lord Jesus. That is what Easter is about! A Sunday School teacher asked her class on the Sunday before Easter if they knew what happened on Easter and why it was so important. One little girl spoke up saying: “Easter is when the whole family gets together, and you eat turkey and sing about the pilgrims and all that." "No, that’s not it," said the teacher. "I know what Easter is," a second student responded. "Easter is when you get a tree and decorate it and give gifts to everybody and sing lots of songs." "Nope, that’s not it either," replied the teacher. Finally a third student spoke up, "Easter is when Jesus was killed, and put in a tomb and left for three days." "Ah, thank goodness somebody knows" the teacher thought to herself. But then the student went on: "Then everybody gathers at the tomb and waits to see if Jesus comes out, and if he sees his shadow he has to go back inside and we have six more weeks of winter.”
Romans 8:31b-39
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? … 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. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Have You Met Jesus?
Most of us have heard the essential message of Easter over and over – and we heard it again in that passage of Scripture: God did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us – Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – lives still and sits at God’s right hand and acts on our behalf.
The passage contains two incredible resurrection promises – a promise that God will “give us all things,” and a promise that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Two amazing promises, expressed in a beautiful poetic way. But they are not for everyone. They are not universal promises.
Earlier in the passage it is clear that these promises are reserved for “those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (vs. 28). Going back to the very beginning of chapter 8, we see “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Vs 9 says, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” So it is clear to me that the promise of blessing and the promise of security are reserved for those who choose to accept the gift of God in its entirety.
The Dark Side
During the Easter season we walk through the end of Jesus life. We follow Him from the upper room where He celebrated the Passover with His disciples, we walk with Him to Gethsemane, we look on as He prays “not as I will, but as you will.” We see Judas kiss, Peter react, and Jesus led away with the soldiers. We listen as He goes through the trials, we hear the crowd choose Barabbas and then cry “crucify Jesus”. And then we hear the hammer on the nails. We see Jesus lifted high, arms outstretched, feet nailed to the cross. We see the soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ clothing, and we watch as the Son of God hangs in agony for hours. We understand now that as He hung there, the physical agony was intense and unimaginable, but not near as painful as the Spiritual agony of receiving on Himself the sin of all humanity, and more specifically the sin of each of us personally and individually, and of experiencing the complete wrath of the Father for all the sin of all mankind – past, present, and future.
I was visiting some friends in Vancouver recently, who have a four year old daughter. Her mom said that she has been asking some really great questions, like this one: “Mom, God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, right?” “Yes, that’s true,” replied her mom. Then came the question: “Why didn’t God do it Himself?” It’s a great question, which we start to get our heads around when we understand that Jesus is God, and that in fact God died for us. And as we take an honest look at the cross, we see God. Dying. In our place. In your place.
That is what God has done for you. That is how far He has gone for you. How far will you go for Him? You see, if we have any understanding of the depth of pain and agony and spiritual death that Jesus, who is “the way, the truth, and THE LIFE” went through on our behalf, we have to respond. And not just with a part, but with the whole. It was my sin that nailed Jesus to the cross. It was your sin that nailed Jesus to the cross.
“more than that, who was raised to life”
The harsh reality of our sin which nailed Jesus to the cross is not softened, is not lessened, by what happens next. We cannot come to the empty tomb and think, “oh good. It’s ok now, no permanent damage. I guess the whole thing is not as bad as I thought.” Rather, we must come to the empty tomb and think, “As horrible as the cross was, it is now overcome. It is defeated, it is conquered.” Then we shout Hallelujah! Then we rejoice. Then we stand amazed at the love of God which would die for us, and amazed at the power of God that raised Jesus from the dead.
Our primary reaction to the empty tomb needs to be one of joy – the kind of joy we experience when a great injustice has been made right – when evil has been defeated – when a kidnapped child is returned unharmed – when someone we love throws themselves into our arms with abandon and we embrace and all of life, for that moment, is wonderful.
That is why I began the service with CS Lewis’ picture from “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.” Let me repeat just a portion here:
“Oh Children,” said the Lion, “I feel my strength coming back to me. Oh, children, catch me if you can!” He stood still for a second, his eyes very bright, his limbs quivering, lashing himself with his tail. Then he made a leap high over their heads and landed on the other side of the Table. Laughing, though she didn’t know why, Lucy scrambled over it to reach him. Aslan leaped again. A mad chase began. Round and round the hill-top he led them, now hopelessly out of reach, now letting them almost catch his tail, now diving between them, now tossing them in the air with his huge and beautifully velveted paws and catching them again, and now stopping unexpectedly so that all three of them rolled over together in a happy laughing heap of fur and arms and legs. It was such a romp as no one has ever had except in Narnia; and whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or a kitten Lucy could never make up her mind. And the funny thing was that when all three finally lay together panting in the sun the girls no longer felt in the least tired or hungry or thirsty.
Our first reaction to the empty tomb is one of great joy. And then we stand convicted. And faced with a choice. Our sin killed Jesus, the power of God raised Him from the dead. Now He is Alive. And He stands before you this morning. I want to read the resurrection account from Jn 20, slightly modified so that you can close your eyes as I read it and imagine yourself in this scene – imagine it is you in the place of Mary Magdalene:
Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, you came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. You ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, "They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him."
Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. And they witnessed what you had told them. Then the disciples went back home.
But you stand outside the tomb weeping. As you weep, you kneel to look into the tomb and see two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. They say to you, "why do you weep?"
"They took my Master," you say, "and I don’t know where they put him." After you say this, you turn and see Jesus standing there. But you don’t recognize him.
His voice says, "why do you weep? Who are you looking for?"
You, thinking that he is the gardener, say, "Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him."
Jesus calls your name.
What are we going to do about it?
Jesus calls your name. And then we respond. How?
We could ignore Him. Put Him out of our minds, busy ourselves with the concerns of our lives, plod on day by day without paying much attention. We could walk out of church and go on with life just like it was before. That is an easy thing to do if you haven’t met the Risen Jesus. But if you have – if you have had your spiritual eyes opened even a crack and have seen anything of the reality of the cross and resurrection – if you have heard Him call your name – it is pretty hard to ignore. But it is doable. I don’t recommend that option. Ignoring Jesus is a dangerous option: it risks eternity separated from God, and it sacrifices life in the company of Jesus.
Or we could decide to make Him a part of our lives. We could say ok, I’ll go to church sometimes. I’ll believe in Jesus with my mind. I’ll pray when I need something. I’ll live a good life, try to do the right thing and think about others much of the time. But I’m going to stay in control. I’m going to decide, I’m going to run my life. I don’t recommend this option either. In fact, the harshest words of Scripture are reserved for people who have met God but then try to control Him – try to manage Him – try to fit Him into their agendas and get Him to do what they want. There was a church full of people like this in NT times, and here is what God said to them: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev 3:15-16). The translators have toned down the image – it means literally “to vomit.” The strength of this reaction makes sense if we have any understanding of the cost of the cross and the victory of the resurrection. And how it was all done for us. There are no semi-Christians. We cannot accept Jesus on our terms – we must do it on His.
Or we can choose to love Jesus “with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.” We can accept Him and turn our lives over to Him and make Him our Lord and Master. We can be “controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” (Rom 8:9). We can be united with Jesus in His death and resurrection. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matt 16:24-25).
The fact is that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and then He rose victorious on the third day. The fact is that the risen Lord meets you in the middle of your life today, and He calls your name. How will you respond to Him? Try to ignore? Try to accept Him on your terms? Or will you choose to make Him your Lord and Master?
Conclusion:
CS Lewis writes:
When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. God is going to invade, all right; but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else comes crashing in? This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing; It will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side.
I want to invite you to make a choice this morning. Jesus hung on the cross for your sins, He rose in great victory over sin and death and the devil, and now He stands before you. Maybe you have never accepted Him. Or maybe you have tried to accept Him on your terms, and it isn’t really working out all that well. God’s desire for you is so much greater than that! His desire is to be “for us,”, as Romans 8 says. It is to “graciously give us all things!” It is to be so united in “Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life” so that we know the reality of His love for us and how nothing will “separate us from the love of Christ! Not trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword!” God’s desire is that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If you want to own that inseparable love this morning – if you want Jesus to be your Lord, then I call you to come out of your seat as we sing a final song, and kneel at the front. I know that is public, it might feel uncomfortable, but it makes it real. And if Jesus can hang on a cross in front of all of history, you can come to the front of the church and meet Him here. One of our elders will meet you here and pray with you if you like.
As the worship team comes, let me close with the rest of God’s words to the people in the church that was “lukewarm”, as paraphrased in “The Message”: from Rev. 3:
“Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.
“The people I love, I call to account--prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!
“Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That’s my gift to the conquerors!
“Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”
