Living Resurrection a sermon fo

Living Resurrection

a sermon for Easter Sunrise on Romans 6.1-11 by David C. Mauldin Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama

A certain woman was, for a brief time, at age 12, abused by her uncle. We claim our faith is relevant to life, so let’s see how it is relevant to the worst parts of life. She experienced all the trauma you might expect. Depression. Guilt. She should not have felt guilty, but she did. Not an uncommon occurrence in victims. Her self-esteem was shot. In her teens she mostly stayed away from boys. It continued to haunt her in her adult years, despite counseling. This is the sort of thing one does not “get over.” Her life was marred by shame, hatred, fear, and stigma. The pain grew less intense, but it never went away.

What words are appropriate to describe her? “Victim”? “Damaged”? “Broken”? I put it to you that these words are appropriate to describe her in exactly the same way the world “dead” appropriately describes Jesus. Is Jesus dead? No! He was, but he is no longer, and he never will be again.

I want to talk to you this morning about living resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus is not just something we believe. It is a way of life. Jesus lives inside the heart of every believer. His Spirit gives us strength and resilience to overcome anything.

This woman found that strength. She discovered that her identity and her worth are based on God’s love for her—not on anything anyone had done to her or anything she had done. She experienced God’s power to heal her heart and soul. By his grace she did the impossible. She forgave her uncle. He was dead by that time, so it had nothing to do with patching up a relationship, which I would caution against in that sort of case anyway. Once she was able to forgive, what he did no longer had power over her. Until that time, anger and fear and all the rest ruled her heart. The pain stayed fresh. Once she forgave him, his evil deeds no longer had the power to hurt her. She was free. Like the risen Jesus, she had scars. Jesus’ scars were on his body and hers were on her spirit. But like Jesus she was alive again. A scar is different from a wound that still bleeds.

Consider another serious example: a man who loved beer, not working, and himself. He bounced from one low paying job to another, not because he couldn’t do better but because he just didn’t like to work. He drank too much. But the worst part was when he left his wife and baby daughter for a woman he found who was willing to support him. I’m not making this up. I could tell you his name, but I’m not going to. It’s no one you know.

What words are appropriate to describe him? “Reprobate”? “Good-for-nothing”? “Loser”? “Sinner”? A few his wife said but I won’t? I put it to you that these words are appropriate to describe him in exactly the same way the world “dead” appropriately describes Jesus. Is Jesus dead? No! He was, but he is no longer, and he never will be again.

It was several years later that this new woman’s kids got involved in a church with an active children’s ministry. Long story short, the man came to faith in Christ. Normally you think someone who becomes a Christian is full of peace and joy. Not him. He was overcome with remorse for what he had done. He was genuinely repentant. He asked God to forgive him and to help him live the way he should. He changed his ways.

Like the risen Jesus, he has scars. He will never get over what he did. Yet like the risen Jesus, he has been transformed.

Did you know that resurrection hope began under cruel oppression? It’s appropriate, don’t you think? It was a couple hundred years before Christ. God’s people found themselves crushed under the heels of pagan conquerors. Alexander the Great had swept through the Middle East, leaving behind him Greek language, culture, and government. God’s people were now ruled by Greeks in Syria—the Selucid dynasty. These rulers wanted to make everyone like them. A few of them also wanted to be worshipped by their subjects. And so it was that Antiochus IV tried to get the Jews to stop worshiping God and to start worshiping him. Naturally they resisted, and he inflicted cruel and barbarous punishments upon them.

God’s people never doubted God’s justice or his power. They knew he would reward the righteous and punish the wicked. And yet the wicked seemed so strong! How could God reward a faithful believer who gave his life for his faith? The answer was resurrection. Read Daniel 12.2-3: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Resurrection hope was the practical consequence of a God of power and justice on one hand and a world full of evil on the other.

Yet it remained merely a hope, until God did something no one had ever expected. He raised Jesus from the dead, not at the end of history, but right in the middle of it. Jesus, who came preaching God’s kingdom and claiming to be the Son of God—this Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried. Then on Sunday morning, some of his followers found his tomb empty, and later he presented himself to them alive. He was not just alive again. He was raised to a glorious new life. He was, in fact, the Lord of life. He had conquered death. Through him, God had conquered sin and death and evil.

One of my favorite authors, Tom Wright, told once about a friend who did not believe Jesus really rose from the dead. His doubt had nothing to do with historical evidence. Rather, it was based on the fact that the world is still a mess. If Jesus rose, where is the kingdom of God? One pastor compares our situation to a chess grandmaster playing an amateur. The game lasted 20 moves. The amateur felt proud. “I held out for a long time,” he boasted. “Not really,” replied the master. “It took me 15 moves to beat you, and 20 moves for you to realize you had lost.” The resurrection of Jesus is not the final victory of God, but the decisive one. From this point on, we know who wins. Another writer, I think it was Brian McLaren, compared the resurrection to a turtle a couple of his friends rescued. They found this little turtle that was deformed. Somehow it had become stuck in a plastic ring. The ring went around its shell, and the shell was growing past the ring, so that the little turtle was getting pinched in the middle, like a spider. The little turtle was OK, but the people who found it knew it would die if they didn’t cut the ring. It could not grow much bigger and live. So they cut off the ring, and at that moment saved the turtle’s life. The turtle did not instantly grow normal, but it would eventually. Jesus’ resurrection is the moment God cut the ring of sin and death that was choking all creation. Now life is possible.

I find those illustrations helpful, and it also helps to understand that God is a lot more patient and surely experiences time differently from the way we do. And yet, I would disagree with Tom Wright’s friend. I agree that the world is in a mess. But I disagree that we do not have evidence of God’s resurrection power. I have experienced it in my own life. Think back to the two people I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon. You and I are very much like them. We have perhaps suffered different sins and committed different sins, but we are both victim and perpetrator. We also suffer in many other ways, whether it is physical limitations or circumstances or whatever. Nevertheless, because Christ lives in us, we are never overcome. Our identity is grounded in God’s love. Our worth is grounded in God’s love. Our future is secure. We are resilient in the face of every trial.

I love the way Paul said it: “We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies” [2 Cor 4.7-10].

I like to call myself a cheerful pessimist. I am a pessimist because I see life in terms of struggle. And let me tell you, this is confirmed for me everyday in my work as a pastor. Do you want to know how many families have problems? All of them! How many people have problems? All of them. I am a diehard pessimist. Yet I am cheerful, because although life is a struggle, I believe we are winning—or rather, God is giving us victory, or will give us victory, or whatever … we win in the end through our Lord Jesus Christ.

All of this works, by the way, for two reasons. First, because Christ lives in us. He lives and works in us with the power of God. Second, because he really did rise from the dead and has promised to raise us from the dead too.

When Jesus appeared to his disciples on the first Easter Sunday, he was the same Jesus with the same body, but he had been gloriously transformed. His resurrected body could never die again. He has promised that all who belong to him will share in his resurrection. Someday God will raise the dead and make all things new. When he does, our bodies will be glorified like Jesus’ body. The life he enjoys with the Father right now, we will enjoy with him forever. That life will be more thrilling than you can imagine. You will experience direct, face-to-face communion with God. If that doesn’t sound exciting, consider this: Think of the trill of falling in love. Now remember that God created us male and female and gave us love. Think about the joy of holding a newborn baby. Who came up with the idea of babies in the first place? The excitement of a championship, the beauty of nature, the wonder of discovery—where did all these originate? Who made you capable of experiencing them? God. And he did so in order to give you just a little taste of the fulfillment you will find in him in eternity. It will be all those things added together and increased exponentially.

Now, if that is our future, and we know it is because Jesus rose and is alive. If we look to the risen Jesus and see in him our destiny, and we do. Then what? We do not have to be afraid of death. And if you do not have to be afraid of death, then you do not have to be afraid of life either. No matter what happens, God is bigger and stronger, and he will deliver you. Even if you are crushed and utterly destroyed, he is still able to save you. He is the one who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that do not exist. Nothing can separate you from his love, and nothing can rob you of the destiny God has determined for you if you are in Christ.

For me, that makes a difference. I hope it does for you too. I hope you know Christ and the power of his resurrection. Live joyfully for him. Be confident in him. Take risks for God and pay any price for holiness. Be resilient, for his strength in you is greater than anything you will ever face in the world. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice! Always rejoice.

Let us celebrate, for Christ is risen. Alleluia!

rev_mauldin@yahoo.com
April 8, 2007

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