Everything Is Changed
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PRAYER
Our reading this morning comes from 1 Cor 15:51-58.
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where 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 beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
EVERYTHING IS CHANGED!
EVERYTHING IS CHANGED!
We have come to Easter morning and we see it as a massive celebration! And it is!
Everything has changed.
In history everything changed.
In the lives of the disciples everything changed.
In OUR lives everything has changed.
Up until this point in history death was considered final. Well, except for a few individuals. As we study the gospels we know that Jesus raised a 12 year old girl that had died from the dead, and of course we remember Lazarus. But they too would die again.
In our culture we have forgotten about Holy Week, and we tend to focus only on Easter. And Easter is HUGE, but you don’t get there without going through the week first. And the week is filled with such dichotomy.
Pageantry of the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And Jesus wept over the city
Jesus going to the temple for worship - and then overturning the tables of the money changers.
The celebration of the Passover Meal - and finding that one would betray the Lord.
Praying in the garden, such a tranquil spot where the disciples had often gathered for prayer and teaching - Jesus’ arrest
The affirmations of the disciples to never desert Jesus - the scattering of the disciples.
Peter saying he would never deny Jesus - and then denying him three times before morning.
The Messiah has come - and is then is on a cross being put to death.
All who have had a loved one die can relate to the emotional exhaustion of the disciples - all of this happened within a weeks’ time.
Then, early on a morning three days after the teacher was put on a cross and died, the disciples have locked themselves in a room for fear of what would be next for them. And Mary Magdalene comes and announces to them that the tomb is empty, and that she’d seen the Lord.
EVERYTHING IS CHANGED!
He is Risen! Jesus is alive!
Everything is changed. And that is not just a historical fact that is a personal fact.
What do I mean by a personal fact?
First, let’s remember who we are!
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
God made humankind out of dust. That’s what the Bible tells us. At the beginning of the Lenten season we recalled that from dust we were made and to dust we shall return. And though that is scriptural it sounds rather depressing.
But that’s not the end of the story - God who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion at the day of Jesus Christ! (Philippians 1:6).
The God who made you from dust created you for a purpose!
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
God’s workmanship!
The Bible says you are fearfully and wonderfully made. In Genesis in the creation of all things it is not until humankind was created that God said, “It is VERY good!”
We are God’s children.
Created for good works! - That phrase rings difficult for many.
Many people don’t feel like their works are very good. And truly that is the beginning. Because no matter how good you are, you’re not holy.
All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This is the whole point of Easter. This is why this is such good news. This is why we celebrate today.
Sin = death. The Law and trying to live a good life = death.
Everything has changed!
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is not by anything you have done, it is a gift that God chose to give us. We all know John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
God loves you, Christ died for you because God sees you as His children. And I love the verse that follows John 3:16 because it says so much about how we think. We tend to think about punishment for our lives and that’s a reality, but that’s not why Jesus came to earth.
The next verse after John 3:16 says:
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
God loved you so much that he sent his son to die in your place
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
You and I are called to live in a post Friday world. Jesus is no longer on the cross for us. Our sins were nailed to the cross with him. We have been set free from the law of sin and death. Death is the result of sin, and Jesus paid the price for that sin. Jesus died for our sins, not for his own. But that was Friday and now it’s Sunday!
And you and I have been offered an incredible, outlandish, mind blowing gift! If you know that gift today is an amazing, glorious day! If you don’t, your being here today is no doubt out of a feeling of duty and you’re still living under the Law. Jesus Christ went through the most tortuous, agonizing, demeaning, horrific death sentence ever conjured up by man for you to give you a gift.
If you simply receive that gift...
EVERYTHING IS CHANGED!
EVERYTHING IS CHANGED!
The apostle Paul wrote
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
This is a new truth for us. It changes everything -
You cannot earn God’s love - it’s a gift!
As sinners you cannot be good enough to God - He loves you simply because you’re His creation.
You cannot earn your way to heaven - Jesus has opened the door, all you need to do is follow.
The Apostle Paul wrote the Galatians:
I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
And grace is a gift! To the Ephesians Paul wrote:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Grace is a gift! Faith is a gift! Easter is a gift!
So here is God’s Word to you today:
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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 imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where 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 beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
You and I are perishable in our sinful lives, but we’re invited as a gift to join with Christ, to put on Christ and seek to live for Him. Then Easter becomes so much more than just another Sunday. The Easter becomes about life, new life, and everlasting life.
Then, we no longer live looking to death on a Friday.
No, we look to new life, on a Sunday!
He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!
He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!
He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!