Death

Build Connection

Illustration: Hair spray, “revives dead hair and adds permanent wave!”

Death is something that affects us all. Most of you know someone who has died in the last 3-6 months. Both my mom and my wife’s step mother have passed away in the last 6 months. Death shows no favoritism.

Create Tension

With death such a part of our lives, how do we live in the mist of death…

Provide Solution

Luke 24:1–7

“But very early on Sunday morning* the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man* must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”

We must realize that…

Jesus > Physical Death

Believe it or not Jesus wasn’t the only one raised from the dead!

Detailed list of resurrections in the Bible:

Son of the widow of Zarephath: Elijah raises the boy from death (1 Kings 17:17-24). 

Son of the Shunammite woman: Elisha raises the boy (2 Kings 4:32-37). 

Man in Elisha's grave: A dead man is raised when thrown into Elisha's grave (2 Kings 13:20-21). 

Widow's son of Nain: Jesus raises him from the dead (Luke 7:11-17). 

Jairus' daughter: Jesus raises her from the dead (Matthew 9:23-26, Mark 5:21-43, Luke 8:40-56). 

Lazarus: Jesus raises Lazarus four days after his death (John 11:1-44). 

Tabitha/Dorcas: Peter raises her from the dead (Acts 9:36-41). 

Eutychus: Paul raises him from the dead (Acts 20:6-12). 

All these people came to life again, but they also died again!

When Jesus was resurrected, he did something no one else had ever done. He was raised with a glorified body that would never die again..

Consider these things…

Jesus’s graveclothes. John 20:6–7 “6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings.”

When Lazarus was raised from the dead, they had to take his graveclothes off him. John 11:44 “44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a head-cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!””

Instant transportation. John 20:19 “19 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said.”

He can fly. Acts 1:9–11 “9 After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. 10 As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!””

Here’s an interesting question…If Jesus could go right through things, why did he need the stone in front of the tomb to be moved out of the way?

He didn’t, that was for his disciples and us! to show us he was not in there!

Jesus’ resurrection was not just resuscitation but an eternal return to life, never to die again.

Making Jesus Greater Than physical Death!

I also want to note that our new glorified bodies are not just a refurbishment of our old bodies, but a better version all together.

Illustration: The battery in my golf cart went bad and I had to get a new one.

When we die physically we will receive a body that will never decay, one that is not corrupted by sin.

We also must realize that…

Jesus > Spiritual Death

Believe it or not the term spiritually dead is not in the Bible, so how do we know someone can be spiritually dead!

There are several places where the Bible hints at the idea of Spiritual death but I want to look at some words of Jesus Luke 15.

We read the story of the Prodigal son where a son receives his inheritance early and wastes it away. When his life is ending

Luke 15:32 “32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’ ””

The prodigal son is a story representing our relationship with God. God is the Father, we are the prodigal, and Sin represents our running away from the father which brings death. But when we return to the father/God we “come back to life. Obviously we are not coming back to life physically, so the deeper meaning for Jesus is spiritual. The prodigal son comes back to life spiritually.

Spiritual death is simply a separation from God. That separation being caused by sin.

Romans 3:23 “23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

Romans 5:17 “17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many.

1 John 5:11–12 “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.”

Jesus being > than spiritual death, means he overcame the separation we have with God and now we can live with him!

Finally we need to realize that…

Jesus > Sin and Death

People are looking for real life. But they are looking in a graveyard to find it!

The men asked “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive?”

People are looking for real life, meaning for their lives, hope, significance, purpose, something more than just waking eating sleeping and repeating. They are looking for real life, but they are looking for that kind of life in a place where there is only death!

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 5:17 “17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

Romans 5:21 “21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

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How will you respond?