Lift Your Glad Voices #175

The Hymn:

Authored by Henry Ware- born in Massachusetts in 1973

The son of a minister, studied and graduated from Harvard, became a minister for 12 years

Became a Harvard Professor

As described last week the hymn (Edwin Hatch) very simply articulates the foundational truth of the christian life- the resurrection of Jesus- which had that not happened we have no reason to gather here this morning

Now we are in the in between- the time between the resurrection and Jesus’ return- in this in between He has not left us on our own but has given us his spirit as a guide- as the “energy” we need to live the life of Christ

And our daily prayer becomes “Breathe on Me Breathe of God”

This hymn becomes our daily song of triumph, song of thanksgiving

Work through the Hymn:

notice the “and man shall not die” declaration that appears, its in every verse

not only did Jesus triumph over death and the grave but because He did, we also through Him triumph over death and the grave

its one of the works of the Spirit in us that I didn’t specifically last week but if we go back to the last verse of the hymn

“Breathe on me breathe of God so shall I never die, but live with Thee the perfect life of thine eternity.”

Paul says it this way in Ephesians 1:13-14

Ephesians 1:13–14 NIV

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

The spirit is the deposit the signature that says we belong to God, then that spirit works in us to bring us into the likeness of Christ

The Resurrection:

Luke 24:1–8 NIV

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.

The question- “why do you look for the living among the dead?”

It’s both a question and a statement of what has taken place

The reality is you wouldn’t be looking for the living among the dead, and they weren’t.

The women weren’t going to the tomb that morning expecting a miracle, they were going to anoint the dead body of their friend

We know they had no expectation of a resurrection because Mark’s gospel records the conversation they were having on the way there and they were wondering how they would get the stone rolled away.

They might have dismissed what they saw or the angels words but they recited to them what Jesus had been telling them before his crucifixion

Luke 24:7–8 NIV

‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.

Then they remembered his words, they knew that what the angels had just said must be true.

Why are you looking for the living among the dead?

The question reminds me of an old country song- “Looking for love in all the wrong places.”

Except in this case I would tweak the words a bit to say- looking for life in all the wrong places

Where is it that we are trying to find life, in each other, in a political party, in government, in our work, in what we eat or wear, in how much we have or make, are we looking for life in images on a screen or in substances that you can buy

we are looking for life in all the wrong places, we find ourselves “wandering around tombs of failed human wisdom when the Son of God is alive and working in our midst.”

when we have the spirit in us that gives us life

Don’t put the tight shirt back on-

Like Paul urged the Galatian believers live freely, you have been set free, you have been given life, don’t keep living among the dead