He is risen! He is risen indeed! Good morning and welcome to worship! If you are a guest with us or listening on the radio we are thrilled to have you as part of the family. I’m afraid, however, that I have some problems to report to you concerning the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

 

You see, everyone in the 1^st century, including the disciples believed death was a one way trip. People didn’t bodily rise from the dead.  Jesus was killed with the intention that he stay put!

 

Their were those in Jesus day who believed that one day the spirits of the dead would come out of their tombs and fly up to heaven to be with the Lord forever. Some even believe that the moment you die, your spirit zips up to heaven or maybe down to hell. But everyone agreed, the body stayed put to rot in the grave.  Whatever happened that first Easter morning had never happened before and hasn’t happened since. That presents us with a huge problem!

 

The whole Easter story would be easier to accept if Jesus died as a martyr, was buried in a tomb we could visit to honor his teachings. His spirit would be in paradise with his Father and no longer suffering the pain and restrictions of a physical body!  One day we would escape this flesh and fly up to be with God forever in that spiritual place. That’s what everyone expected.

 

But that’s not what happened! What happened is the stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty, the grave clothes were vacant and the enemies of Jesus, who were determined to silence the disciples by producing his mangled body, could not. But there’s more.

 

I can just imagine the conversations between the soldiers and their officers.  “You bungled the job, now get out there and find this guy and finish what you started.”  “No way, we bungled the job, we know dead, and he was dead!” “Well, he’s evidently not dead now, get out there and find him.”  They searched, and Jesus kept appearing here, there until finally 40 days later, he ascended into heaven surrounded by a growing crowd of believers.

 

Here’s another problem. The first witnesses to the risen Christ were women. In those days a woman’s voice carried no credible authority as a witness. Yet God choose women to bear the news, “We have seen the Lord, he is risen!”  back to the disciples.  And the disciples not only believed them, publically, gave them the credit for seeing the risen Lord first. Nobody who wanted to make up this story and have people believe it would have told it like that!

 

On top of that, the disciples’ lives were utterly transformed from trembling and running and hiding to fearlessly proclaiming the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Over 500 people at one time testified that they had seen, touched, communicated with Jesus and he was no ghost.

 

These testimonies became the central conviction of the early church. No one had ever taught with the authority that Jesus had, yet it wasn’t his teaching, it was the conviction that he had been bodily raised from the dead that united them.  One of their earliest creeds proclaimed, Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.

 The Apostle Paul was nobody’s fool. He thought this whole bodily resurrection thing was a crock until he met the ascended Lord on the Damascus road. He testified, “For what I received, I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, through some have fallen asleep.” 1 Cor 15:3-6

 

The early church grew exponentially under the unshakable conviction that Jesus had risen from the dead and that he was the living Lord of the Church. The Kingdom of God was breaking in on the world and nothing, not religious leaders, not Caesar, not the devil, not sin, not suffering, not even death itself could stop it. “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.”

 

Something happened that first Easter morning that changed history so dramatically that we still bear witness to it every time we out a date on a check, letter, calendar- even when we party down on New Year’s Eve! 

 

Millions of men and women and children across the world and stretching back through 20 centuries testify that the power of the risen Christ resurrected and brought their lives, their marriages, their homes from death to life.

 

The resurrection of Jesus has more historical evidence than any other event in ancient history. But “What does it mean for us today?”

 

First, the resurrection of Jesus is about the problem of death. So what about death? We not only know about the death of our physical bodies. We will all die, and some of us will die within the coming year. But we also know about the death of relationships, marriages, plans, dreams. We can try to ignore it, deny it, rationalize it away, but death is a problem we can’t solve. Death is God’s final “no” to all our attempts to be our own god. 

 

So is there life after death? Jesus was clear that there was. He said to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  He told the disciples the day before he died, “In my Father’s house are many rooms, I’m going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come back and take you to be with me, so that you may be where I am.”  

 

But this paradise is not the final state. Our final destination occurs at the end of this age when the trumpet will sound and the present heaven and earth will roll up like a scroll, the bodies of the dead will be resurrected, raised to life and a new heaven and a new earth will come together as One and God will dwell in our midst.  Jesus taught us about this.

 

This new creation and our resurrected bodies will not be merely spiritual, but more solidly real than anything we have known so far. CS Lewis called this world the shadow lands because it is but a shadow of the reality to come.  A new world, more real and solid than this is coming.

 

This new creation will be ushered in by a great judgment. We will each stand before the throne of God where two books will be opened. One book is a record of all we have done and left undone. It will record every sinful deed, word, thought that has ever occurred in our lives.

We will stand before the righteousness judgment of God without excuse. God cannot remain holy and not judge sin. Sin destroys people. Sin destroys relationships. Sin is hideous. If God were less than absolute in his hatred of sin, his love could not be trusted. God’s great love and his holy wrath against sin go together and can’t be separated.

 

But there is another book.  It’s called the Lamb’s book of life. And everyone whose name is written in that book has passed from judgment into life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not die but have eternal life.

 

The Father placed our sin on his Jesus. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin in full on the cross. The Father took Jesus’ robe of righteousness and placed it us as a gift to be received by faith. Jesus’ blood shed on the cross washes away the sin of all who believe completely, forever.

 

Receiving that gift means dying to ourselves. The Apostle Paul put it this way. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives within me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal 2:20

 

The time we have left on this earth is practice for the wonderful tasks we will enjoy in the new creation. Paul writes “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer life for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised to life.” 2 Cor 5:15

 

Brothers and sisters in Christ - Jesus didn’t save us to have us abandon the world and simply hang out, killing time, waiting for him to come back and rescue us out of this mess so we could be with him forever in some disembodied bless.

 

We have been sent into the world to proclaim his resurrection until he comes. To use what ever gift we have in his service. To prepare the world for his return.  “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.”

 

So where are you at with the Lord this morning? Are you using the gifts and abilities he has given you to build a kingdom that is decaying even as we speak. Or are you using your God given gifts and abilities to bring the light, hope, love of Christ’s resurrection life into a dying world where death still holds many captive?

Are you ready to meet him? He stretched out his arms and allowed himself to be nailed to the cross so that we could stand before God just as if we had never sinned. It’s a gift we receive by faith. But requires that we die to all our attempts to be our own God.

 

If we are willing, he promises that we will by pass judgment and he will raise us to new life, resurrected life, eternal life that begins now and reaches its fulfillment not only in paradise with him when we die, but in the bodily resurrection and the wonder of a new creation, a new heaven and a new earth, joined together with God in our midst.

 

Imagine yourself standing next to the resurrected Christ on that first Easter morning! Imagine feeling the warmth of his real body, holding his real hand still bearing the scars of those nails. Imagine the aroma coming from him?  It’ not the stench of death, it is the aroma of life!

 

Are you willing to be the aroma of Christ, the aroma of resurrection and hope in your family? In the place you work or go to school? In this community, nation, world? It’s what you were created to do. It’s why Jesus died for you.  If you’ve never turned your life over to him, declared him as Thomas did, My Lord and My God!  Why not now? Why waste anymore time? 

 

Let’s pray… “Lord, I believe you died for sinners and I certainly qualify. I believe you died on the cross to save me so that I could be brought from death to life and live with you forever in your new kingdom. I ask you to forgive me for my sins and enter into my heart and life. Cleanse my heart and put your Holy Spirit in me. Let me be your light to lead others out of death and into life. In Jesus name.  AMEN

 

If you need spiritual help with your decision, come see Pastor Ralph or I and we will be happy to guide you into the new life the Lord has for you.