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Corinthians 15: 12-17 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the
dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If
there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and
if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your
faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God,
because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it
is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then
Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is
futile and you are still in your sins.
Good
morning and welcome to the second part of this sermon series on Jesus
Commandments to us, what do they mean and how should they become an integral
part of our lives. Today I want to talk about the resurrection and eternal
life. How does one form the other and how do we measure up if you will in order
to gain from the one, the eternal part of our life journey? In order to start that
discussion, we may need to regress a bit and discuss the idea of divine grace.
Why do we need it, what is its impact on humanity and what do we have to do to
deserve it or gain it?
But
we start out with our need to understand what Paul is doing here in this
passage. He is providing a rebuttal argument for the Jewish population who is
arguing against Jesus resurrection. But he is doing it through an argument that
has long been going on between those who believe in the resurrection of the
dead and those who do not. You have heard me say that there are those in Paul’s
day who believed that this is all there is in life, there is nothing after we
die, we simply go back to the cosmos as energy to be used in the greater
infinity of time in some other way, that which we are is then lost forever.
Seems sad to me to believe that but some do even today. In Paul’s day these
folks were called Sadducee’s, since their belief is “so sad you see”. So Paul
is arguing that in fact the resurrection is a part of the life journey of
everyone, culminating in the resurrection of the soul to heaven with God. The
argument then is that if there is a resurrection of the dead that occurs, then
it is not only probable that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, but a
definite that it occurred. Resurrection is a part of our heritage from as early
as the Samarian and Egyptian times of humanity, recorded in the annuals of the
Book of Job and carried as tradition for the Israelites from the earliest times
of their traditions. We will get back to the resurrection in a moment.
We,
because of the disobedience of Adam, all suffer in sin. Sin is the willful
disobedience to God, the desire to be in control and to not want anyone or
anything to tell us what to do. That power of sin is inherent to the very
nature of humanity, most often seen when we throw our little tantrums, have
fits when we don’t get our way and treat each other horribly when we feel that
someone has stepped into our turf. War, hatred, bigotry, and prejudice are all
forms of this willful disobedience. How do I know? Because Jesus commanded us
to love God and love one another. So every time we break that love we are
disobedient to God. And we do it daily or I might argue, constantly. Why?
Because it is inherent to our very nature. We can’t help ourselves but to be
willfully in control of our lives and our situations even at the expense of
someone else’s life. Now that may seem harsh and yet each of us can recognize
the truth in it. That willful nature cannot be tamed by our own natures so it
required something greater than us to tame it. It required God. God created us
and gave us free will. One could then argue that God set the path to sin even
though God cannot sin. Perfect love has no strings or binds and allows us to
choose not to love back. So Adam did and as Paul says that through Adam all
sinned and all fall short of the glory of God. So it is only when the divine
grace of God is superimposed on this willfully disobedient nature that we can
find our way back into the kind of love and existence that God intended from
the beginning of creation.
“This, then, is the foundation of the new birth, -- the entire corruption
of our nature. Hence it is, that, being born in sin, we must be "born
again." Hence every one that is born of a woman must be born of the Spirit
of God.”[i]
Without divine intervention we would be incapable of redemption and
so God provides the means through Jesus, his life, death and resurrection. The
death and resurrection of Jesus is the single most pivotal moment in the
history of the world. That was the pivotal moment when Christ won the victory
over death and took dominion of the world from Satan through his descent into
hell and rising from the dead. “Indeed,
because of Christ, all persons stand before the possibility of a new
relationship to God, whether they recognize and acknowledge it or not.”[ii]
From scripture we recognize that Jesus, in
this resurrected form was physical with divine capabilities, he could eat and
yet walk through walls. Paul through scripture reminds us that our sin which
leads to death comes from Adam and yet through the resurrection of Jesus we are
made whole.
So
what then does the resurrection mean to us? It is validation that we have the
promise of resurrection in front of us. It is the promise that we will know one
another in that resurrection since we see that Jesus is fully recognizable and
known by the Disciples. It is knowing that God has provided us the opportunity
to live beyond our physical existence and Jesus ascension lets us know that
what He told us about going and preparing a place for us is true. Through the
resurrection we know that God has the power over death itself and now we know
that death has no hold on us. It gives us the knowledge that death is not the
end, only the continuation of a longer journey.
“When George Bush served as Vice President under the
Administration of Ronald Reagan he was called upon to represent the U.S. at the
funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a
silent protest carried out by Brezhnev’s widow. She stood motionless by the
coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched
the lid, Brezhnev’s wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture
that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience
ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her
husband’s chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of
the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that
there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who
died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her
husband.” [Gary Thomas, in Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p.26.
www.bible.org/illus/r/r-57.htm]
Eternal
life is the gift that Jesus’ death and resurrection has given through our
reception of Him by our faith. (Mark
10:29) “Jesus said, "Truly I tell you,
there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father
or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, (30) who
will not receive a hundredfold now in this age-- houses, brothers and sisters,
mothers and children, and fields with persecutions-- and in the age to come
eternal life.” The scripture reminds me that I have been promised
and now have eternal life as a result of the gift of Jesus Christ and my
willingness to follow Him in the ministry in which he called me. As a result I
believe that one day we will shed this earthly vessel and take on a spiritual
one as Paul describes to us in his writings because of God’s grace through
Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
Father William Bausch told a story of a boy who one morning
had arrived very early at school and waited patiently at the door. Next to
arrive was a lady who was surprised that this youngster had arrived so early.
"It’s locked" the pupil said as the teacher tried the door. She began
to fumble for her keys and the pupil immediately brightened up.
"you’re a teacher!" he said enthusiastically
"How do you know that?" she asked
The boy hesitated for a moment, then said with respect
"Ma’am, you have the key"
The teacher in this story was overwhelmed by that simple statement "you have the key" which got her pondering on her responsibilities as a teacher.
"you’re a teacher!" he said enthusiastically
"How do you know that?" she asked
The boy hesitated for a moment, then said with respect
"Ma’am, you have the key"
The teacher in this story was overwhelmed by that simple statement "you have the key" which got her pondering on her responsibilities as a teacher.
Through the resurrection and ascension of Jesus we have the
promise of eternal life. Jesus says, whosoever believes in Him shall not
perish, but have everlasting life. We have been given this promise of
immortality. Last week our young people confirmed their faith in God and belief
in Jesus. We shared that reaffirmation with them in our own vow and commitment
to lead lives worthy of the calling in which we have received and participate.
Eternal life is our reward for that belief. As the teacher learned in the
story, we have the key to life itself in our faith. My friends let your
immortality be the path to show and demonstrate your love for one another and
for God.
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