Resurrection Gives Us Hope

Introduction

Object Lesson: Hope = waiting for something exciting in the future

There’s something we lose when we grow up, isn’t there? I wish I could make myself get as excited as Owen does about Christmas and Easter and birthdays. Instead I’ll settle for living vicariously through them, I guess. But seriously, there’s something amazing about watching a child get excited about something like a holiday isn’t there?

Now you guys might be thinking that Easter is in fact over, but I’m here to tell you that’s not the case. Traditionally, the Easter season goes from Good Friday to Pentacost Sunday. Pentecost Sunday this year is May 24th. This means we still have, including today, six Sundays of Easter left. This is great news for me, as I’ve been wanting to increase the profile of Easter in our year, and what better way to do it than extending the Holiday out? Plus that sets it apart from Christmas, since Christmas is celebrated into the lead up, whereas Easter is preceeded by fasting traditionally through Lent.

All that to say that we’re going to keep talking about the resurrection. One Sunday is not enough to talk about just what the resurrection means. Why? Because the resurrection changes everything! So when I was preparring for this Easter series I sat in my office and asked myself, “what does the Bible say has changed because of the resurrection?” What’s different on the other side of the empty tomb? So I explored Scripture looking at all the passages I could find about the resurrection and asked what each of them teaches us about the implications of the empty tomb. By far the most common of these is the hope that the resurrection gives us. Our foundational passage this morning is 1 Corinthians 15:20-58

1 Corinthians 15:20–58 CSB

But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death. For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception. When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all. Otherwise what will they do who are being baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are people baptized for them? Why are we in danger every hour? I face death every day, as surely as I may boast about you, brothers and sisters, in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus as a mere man, what good did that do me? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” Come to your senses and stop sinning; for some people are ignorant about God. I say this to your shame. But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come?” You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow—you are not sowing the body that will be, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. But God gives it a body as he wants, and to each of the seeds its own body. Not all flesh is the same flesh; there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones. There is a splendor of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars; in fact, one star differs from another star in splendor. So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power; sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Through this passage and many others I’ve come to the conclusion that we learn three particular things about the hope of the resurrection. First, that we are given hope that we will one day rise from the dead just like Jesus did. Second, that we have a foretaste of the future even now by being given new life in the resurrection. Finally we see that Jesus defeated death and takes the shadow of death away for those who are in Jesus.

Hope of the Resurrection of the Dead

Illustration: One of the keys to teaching is repetition. This is true in a classroom setting, but especially true when it comes to raising children. The other parents know exactly what I’m talking about here. If you want something to stick, especially a rule you want your children to follow, then you better be prepared to say it over, and over, and over, and over again. Eventually if you stick with it they’ll get it.

As the one who created all of us God knows the value of repetition for getting something through to us. So then it stands to reason that if God highly values our knowing something in particular, we should expect Him to have repeated it a lot, right? Well when you read your Bible you definitely see some repeated themes in there.

I mean that’s kind of how I put together this whole series was asking the question, what ideas about the implications of the resurrection repeat the most often in the Bible. And it was really no contest. There is one idea that comes up over and over again emphasizing what has changed most because Jesus rose from the dead. So what is this idea? The most emphasized hope of the resurrection? The hope of our own resurrection.

Don’t believe me, believe Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:14

1 Thessalonians 4:14 CSB

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

This comes up all over the New Testament. If I gave you the full list it would take a long time. The biggest implication of Jesus raising from the dead is that He will also raise us from the dead. That’s the future hope that’s waiting for us. In fact in one of Paul’s most in depth discussions about the resurrection he says that denying OUR resurrection is denying Jesus’ resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:12–14 CSB

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 not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.

Now when Paul references people denying ‘the resurrection of the dead’ he’s not talking about philosophically denying the possibility of resurrection. He’s talking about people who deny a future resurrection, people like the Saduccees of the time. This is clear from further context that we’ll get to in a moment, but Paul’s whole discussion about the essential nature of Jesus’ resurrection is actually a defense for our resurrection. Those two things are inextricably connected in his mind. This is why later he calls Jesus the “firstfruits,” because His resurrection is a preview of our own.

1 Corinthians 15:20–22 CSB

But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Why does this matter you might ask. Why make a big deal about the physical resurrection? Why be so bothered when people talk about the afterlife as if it’s disembodied in heaven? For one because we care about truth and we believe that the Bible is truth. If the Bible teaches it, we do. The Bible teaches that we will be resurrected and live in the New Earth.

Second, because some cults like to treat this like secret knowledge they know and most Christians don’t, so they can suprise you with Bible verses.

Third, because it shows the continuity between this life and the next one. This life matters. Your body matters. This world matters. We aren’t just waiting around to die and go somewhere else. This earth will be remade, yes, but it will be a perfected version of this earth. This body will be remade, yes, but it will be a perfected version of this body. So take care of both.

Fourth, because it means we can look at Jesus and see our future. We can point to the resurrection as the hope we have for our own future because that’s what’s going to happen to us. So it shifts from “Jesus rose in bodily form and I’ll fly away to the clouds” to “Jesus rose in bodily form and so will I.”

Yet the resurrection is not simply a future hope. It’s also a present hope. The Bible teaches us that Jesus’ resurrection doesn’t just guarantee our future resurrection, but gives us a new life even now.

Hope of New Life Now

Illustration: So I have a car that’s getting old, as far as cars are concerned. It’s a 2013, so it’s a teenager now. I’ve done a lot of work to this car. It sort of gets me wondering, if eventually I replace every individual part of the car, at what point does it become an entirely different car? You know what I mean? Over the course of a long time it’s hard to pinpoint a moment it becomes “new,” right? But let’s say hypothetically I took out everything on the inside. The engine, the drivetrain, the exhaust system. Everything that makes the car work. Then I swapped in new and better parts for all of those. Well it would be new on the inside but look the same, right?

Stick with me here, this is kind of like what happens to us when we are saved. The body is still the same, but we are transformed on the inside. This is because we believe that we aren’t saved just to wait for a future resurrection. No, like much of the faith the resurrection is an ‘already but not yet’ reality. Meaning that though the full true resurrection is yet to come, we are in some sense resurrected even now.

Let’s take a look at what Paul says in Romans 8:10-11

Romans 8:10–11 CSB

Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.

Paul is not talking about the future resurrection here. Why do I say that? Because Paul specifically says that Jesus will “bring [our] mortal bodies to life.” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that our mortal bodies will be replaced with immortal bodies in the New Earth. So if he says our mortal bodies are brought to life by the Spirit, than that means a sort of a resurrection even here and now. Or in other words, Ephesians 2:1-5

Ephesians 2:1–5 CSB

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

If you’ve ever heard the quote “Jesus didn’t come to make evil men good, he came to make dead men alive” than this is exactly what that means. A person is not simply bad without Jesus. Without Jesus we are dead. Remember that although physical death came because of the fall, spiritual death came with it. We are not flawed people we are the walking dead.

But we don’t have to stay that way. Jesus died and rose again so that we could do the same. This is why baptism is so essential. Promising to follow Jesus with words is good, but look at the beautiful description Paul gives of baptism in Romans 6:3-4

Romans 6:3–4 CSB

Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

We lower new disciples into the water so that they may die and be resurrected with Jesus. So then if you believe in and follow Jesus you will have newness of life. In other words, a resurrection even here and now.

This should fundamentally change the way that we see ourselves. I think we make the mistake sometimes of beating ourselves up as Christians. Though well meaning, I dislike the phrase “just a sinner saved by grace.” I understand the heart. It’s meant to humbly put ourselves on the same level of worth as everyone else and give all credit to God. Yet my friends, we are not “just sinners” in the eyes of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus died to make us His righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21

2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB

He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

That’s written about us. We are the righteousness of God if we are in Jesus. Because He gave us the resurrection. That old person you used to be is dead. You are a new creation! Earlier in that same chapter Paul says 2 Corinthians 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

So my heart for all of us who follow Jesus is that we would start to see ourselves and our brothers and sisters the same way God sees us. Not as some positive motivational self-talk to make us harder workers, but as the beautiful divine reality given to us in Scripture. We are not “just sinners saved by grace.” We are “saints saved by grace.”

Death Is Defeated

Illustration: So I’ve been to a few funerals in my time. Always of course appropriately somber, but there’s a very real difference between going to the funeral of a dedicated Jesus follower and those who don’t follow Jesus. There’s an entirely different mood in the room. There’s still sorrow, there’s still a keen sense of loss. Yet that loss is also lined with… hope.

So what is it that makes such a difference in how Christians face death compared to others? When the family knows their loved one truly lived for Jesus, why does that change how they view the funeral service? It’s because of what Jesus accomplished with the empty tomb.

Think about it for a moment. Look at the empty tomb display here in the church. Think about what that empty tomb represents. It represents a man getting back up from the dead. What does that do to death? If we personify death, how would he react to what Jesus did? What would it mean for the authority that he holds over us?

Think about how the shadow of death lingers over our lives. I can remember anxiously waiting with each pregnancy until we got past those first few months where most miscarriages happen. When children are small the fear of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome takes over. Even in these times where child mortality is at an all time low, we feel that anxiety as parents. Then somewhere along the years children start to feel that fear themselves. I remember sitting awake at night thinking about and fearing death. Then as we get older and feel less invincible every year that hypothetical is feeling less and less unlikely. But then we meet Jesus, and if we truly believe in that empty tomb… it changes everything.

Death becomes nothing but a gateway to the presence of Christ. Paul says in Philippians 1:21

Philippians 1:21 CSB

For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Death becomes gain. There’s a song I love by a band called Showbread called “You’re Like a Taxi.” Part of it goes like this:

To some you're like a prison, when they've yet to taste freedom, and maybe you feel bitter because Jesus broke your kingdom, Once you were so powerful and power made you happy, but now you're like a ferry boat, Now you're like a taxi

So then how true are the words of 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

1 Corinthians 15:55–57 CSB

Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

This means that we no longer need to live in the shadow of the fear of death. The greater our confidence that someone was in Christ, the more we can rejoice for them at their funeral that they are now with Him in paradise. The sting of death is removed. What does that mean for us? According to Paul this fact leads to a boldness in doing the Lord’s work. He continues in 1 Corinthians 15:58

1 Corinthians 15:58 CSB

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Think about it, if we need not even fear death, what can stop us from going out and boldly proclaiming God’s truth to the world? This was no mere hypothetical to Paul and his contemporaries. They lived in a time and place where they really could be killed for trying to tell people the good news about Jesus. But they did it anyway, because to live is Christ and to die is gain.

I wonder friends if we really live as if this is true. If you’re like me maybe you catch yourself still living in fear. We need to keep reminding ourselves that this is true until we really feel that it is. Jesus’ empty tomb should remove all fear and fill us with nothing but hope.

Conclusion

So today is all about hope my friends. That’s the main thing that the resurrection means for us. This is the main change to the world since Jesus rose from the dead. His resurrection gives us hope, hope that one day we will be raised in the same way that He was. Hope that even now we can be made alive because of His resurrection. And hope that the shadow of death no longer hands over us because He defeated death.

So we should not be a people of despair. A people of worry. A people of anxiety. We should be a people charactarized by hope. Not a naive hope that expects that this life will all be sunshine and roses and that nothing will go wrong, but a hope built on the solid rock, Jesus Himself who is alive at the right hand of God the Father and whose resurrection is the greatest basis of hope there ever was. Hope that is so incredibly real that we can hardly believe it. Hope that cannot be shaken.

So as we prepare to go today FCC, let’s remember that we go in the name of our Risen Lord. He is Risen!