The Resurrection: A Second Chance At Living
Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 5: 14 - 17
Introduction
Illustrations
In the Secret Service
A gentleman was in front of a preacher coming out of the church one day. The preacher grabbed him by the hand, pulled him aside and said to him, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!" The man replied, "I’m already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor." The Pastor questioned, "How come I don’t see you except at Christmas and Easter?" He whispered back, "I’m in the secret service. "
What is Easter?
A Sunday School teacher was attempting to teach her young students the true meaning of Easter. "Why do we celebrate Easter?" she asked. When the children replied ’because of the Easter bunny,’ Easter eggs, candy, spring, etc., she said, "No, those are Easter traditions and symbols, but what is the REASON why we celebrate Easter? What happened at the very first Easter?" A little girl raised her hand and said, "Easter celebrates Jesus coming out of the tomb." "Yes!" said the teacher, excited and relieved that finally the correct answer had surfaced. Encouraged, she prompted, "Jesus arose from the tomb, and what does He do for us?" The youngster replied, "He looks to see if he can see his shadow, and if He can, he goes back in for another six weeks."
Transition
But whether this is your first time back in a long while or your sixteenth Sunday of the year, it is just good to be alive! In fact that is why Spring and Easter go so well together because they are both symbols of a new beginning, a new life, a new transition. Bees are out, bears are out, bunnies are out, buckets to wash the cars, and boats to ride the waves are out. And the angels told the Mary’s Jesus was out.
The trees are blossoming, the flowers blooming, and the grass is sprouting. Days have gotten longer and temperatures are getting higher. Yes, time to set a date to weed, feed, and seed. Time to clean out the attic, the garage, and the shed to make room for new stuff. We are talking Spring/Easter – the new beginning. We are talking the resurrection --- the risen Savior.
Listen, anybody who has the chance to channel surf will not have to surf long before you run into those infamous infomercials. You will see them in the morning, you will see them in the afternoon, and you will see them in the evening. And if you can not sleep at night you will find them saturating the air time there too.
They are advertising everything from kitchen gadgets to money magic. You have your car waxes, bed regulators, grass aerators, thigh master, buns of steel, ab-flex, bow flex, the glide, and the slide. Take the hair away, put the hair on, color the hair, and twist the hair.
George Forman’s grill, Tony Little’s glider, Vanessa William’s acne cremes, Ronco’s set it and forget it rotisserie, Billy Bank’s TaeBo, and Sheryl Lee Ralph’s skin salon good collection. You name it they sell it.
But there is one thing you will agree with me on and that is they all have something in common and that is a “before and after” storyline. That is a before – what your life was like before the product or service and an after --- what your life is like after you use the product or service.
Do you see the testimonials? Happy people everywhere; no one dissatisfied by the products or the service. Everyone achieving the results they were looking for.
1. Before I used to weigh a lot, but now I have lost 20 pounds and 6 inches off my waist. --- Thanks Jenny!
2. Before I used to just sit around feeling miserable, but thanks to the patch, I feel better about myself. I can go on with my life.
3. Before I was just living paycheck to paycheck, but thanks to Fred’s system for buying property I earned a whopping $50.00 last year.
4. Before I couldn’t even buy a date, but thanks to sheer white whitener and breath refresher, my phone as not stopping ringing for weeks. (smile)
While Easter or Resurrection Sunday is not an infomercial, it does have a “before and after” storyline.
Before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ you were an enemy of God. Your wrongs and your imperfect goodness made you estranged from God. You didn’t seek after God. We were by nature selfish, consumed with our rights, our feelings, our plans, our future, our life; giving no thought to the Creator who made us.
But after Jesus came into your life or He will come into your life, now you have been changed. And that’s what the Bible text we have selected today makes clear.
What is it that we wish to remind some and inform others concerning Easter Sunday? That it is an opportunity to walk in a new life. It is an opportunity to let go of the past and reach forward to the present. It is a second chance at living.
I. You Have A New Life To Live (So live it!)
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.(KJV)
What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun! (NLT)
Whether you admit it or not - we all have joint history. Our joint
history is that we were all born messed up. I know that goes beyond
some of our historical teaching of our families.
No matter who your momma is, who your daddy is, no matter what city you were born in, no matter what school you attended, no matter what college you graduated from - you started messed up.
It was not because you were born incomplete. You were not born on one day and had to return on another day to pick up your feet. You did not have to return to pick up your hands.
It was not because of separation. We were all born and attached to our mothers via the umbilical cord that attached us to the placenta.
We are messed up not because of family heritage or separation. We are messed up because of the fact that we were born in sin. I know that some of you are now too cute to remember, but we were born in sin.
The Bible says we were born in sin and shapen in inquity. No matter
your blood type - we’re all born with bad blood. We are born this way because of the disobedience in the Garden of Eden, which has led to separation between God and man.
You do know that God and man, at one time, fellowshipped with one another? So much so that the Bible declares that even the voice of God walked in the midst of the Garden. We were separated from God.
That’s why we need Jesus! Not only is He a bridge over troubled waters; He is our link up back to the Heavenly Father!
Every one of us was born messed up! I don’t care if you’re from
Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, California, Oregon, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, or any other place - we were all born in the state of "messed up."
But there is good news on this Easter Sunday morning! You can be born messed up, but you don’t have to stay that way! Matter of fact, there should be a room full of people in here right now who can testify yes, I was messed up but I’ve been
changed!
The Bible says that if any man, woman, boy, or girl who becomes a Christina, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away and behold all things become new. I’m in Him now. He’s in me now. In my first birth I was born with the tendency and nature to sin.
Have you noticed that children don’t enroll in "Lying 101?"
Have you noticed that children don’t enroll in "Stealing 101?"
Yet they know how to lie and steal. Thanks be to God, I’ve been changed. I can never, ever be the same person that I once was. If something has happened to you, your testimony ought to change. I once was lost in sin, but Jesus took me in....
Christians are brand new people on the inside. The Holy Spirit gives them new life, and they are not the same any more. Let me make this clear, we are not reformed, we are not rehabilitated, we are not reeducated --- we are brand new.
We did not merely turn over a new leaf; we began a new life under a new God. Not the gods of the Egyptian culture, not the gods of the Roman culture, not the gods of the Greek culture. Not the gods of the New Age movement or the cult/occult, but the God…
…Of Noah – protected from the flood
…Of Abraham – kept by the promise
… Of Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego – protected in the fiery furnace
…Of Moses – protected from Pharaohs command
…Of Esther – protected from annihilation
…Of Peter – who God changed from cussing to blessing
…Of Jesus – who was raised from the dead
I’ve come to suggest that you should not just come into God’s house quietly. You should come here with some Thanksgiving.
You should come here with some waving of the hands. You should come here with some hallelujahs. You should come here with some thank you Jesus’s. Because we are new creations!
We are no longer strangers, foreigners, or enemies to God when we trusted in Christ. Paul the author of the chapter under examination reminds us that…
Whatever we do, it is because Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for everyone, we also believe that we have all died to the old life we used to live.
15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live to please themselves. Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them.
So what do we as Christians have to say to you at this hour? 20 We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, "Be reconciled to God!" 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
When we are made right with God we have a new life. We have a second chance at living. A new way to use my words, a new way to show kindness, a new way of being patient, a new way of dealing with what life will throw in my way.
You have a new life to live, so live it…
Live it by remembering that the old you don’t exist, so you can say no to sin.
Live it by remembering that now there is more to your life than stuff that don’t last.
Live it by remembering that trouble won’t last always.
Live it by remembering that change will happen, so adjust to it.
Live it by remembering that life is to short, so kiss and make up.
Live it by remembering that for every moment you hold a grudge against your husband, somebody else has lost their husband; for every moment you refused to say I’m sorry to your wife, somebody else has lost their wife; for every moment you haven’t loved your kids, somebody else has lost their son or daughter to war, to drugs, to MS, to cancer, to sickle cell, to murder, to abuse;
Every moment you complain about your pain, somewhere a doctor has called the time of death at that moment on somebody else; every moment you complain about your job, somebody else has been laid off;
Every moment you don’t reconcile with your church leaders or your church members, somebody else has strayed, backslidden, fallen away;
Every moment you don’t come to God, somebody else somewhere has been destroyed and defeated by Satan.
Live it by remembering that God will give you new grace and new mercy for your new life, so live it.
Conclusion
The surgeon may be able to give you a new face, a new stomach, a new neck for your new lease on life…
The banker or mortgage broker may be able to give you a low interest rate and 120% equity value for your new zero balance…
The fitness expert may be able to give you a new body, a new heart rate, and a new tan for your new you…
The beautician may be able to give you a new do, a new manicure, a new pedicure for your new look…
But only God can give you a new way to walk, a new way to talk, a new way to think, and a new way live…but it will only come through Jesus Christ.
Do you see the implications of Easter?
· This one event makes death something positive rather than negative
· This one event frees you to live with joy because you know that the promise of salvation is real . . . even for those who have a past that is stained.
· This one event points you to the source of truth. Truth is no longer changing with the wind. It is established and verified by the Savior who rose.
· this one event gives our life meaning and purpose. We are not living for nothing. It is NOT all a "waste of time". Life does matter. What we do in secret is seen by God. No matter what we are going through it is NOT hopeless.
A father wanted to read the paper, but was being bothered by his little daughter, Vanessa. Finally, he tore a sheet out of his magazine, on which was printed the map of the world. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to Vanessa, and said, "Go into the other room and see if you can put this together."
After a few minutes, Vanessa returned and handed him the map correctly fitted together. The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly.
"Oh," she said, "on the other side of the paper was a picture of Jesus. When I got Jesus in His place, then the world came out all right."
