Easter Sermon

Living Outside the Tomb

Easter Sunday Sermon

Theme:         Living Outside of the Tomb

Goal:            That the hearer see beyond death and look at life with an eternal perspective.

Sermon Outline

Introduction: Have you ever tried the exer­cise "Thinking outside the nine dots"? First set up nine dots in rows three across and three down. The task is to connect the nine dots with four lines, never lifting the pen or pencil once started. Usually people struggle to accomplish the task because they limit themselves. They are reluctant to take the lines outside the perceived boundaries formed by the outside dots or outside of the box if the dots are connected. Anyone can easily con­nect all but one dot with four lines. The trick is that one must draw outside the nine dots to con­nect them with four continuous lines.

We often impose boundaries or limits on our lives. We limit our perspective. We think only that what has worked for others or what we grew up learning will work for us. We accept the limits of medical or physical science and cannot see the greatness of God. We need Easter to experience with Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John "Living Outside the Tomb."

1. Our education and upbringing help us live inside our world.

A. Our world is limited by space and time.

                   (1) Mary, Peter, and John knew where Jesus was buried.

                   (2) Jesus' followers shaped their life around the Sabbath.

          B. Our world is limited by cause and effect.

                   (1) Mary, Peter, and John understood death as the end of life.

                   (2) The loss of death is followed by grief, not hope.

2. God intervenes to open us to life beyond our earthly limits.

          A. God is above space and time.

                   (1) Jesus now fills all heaven and all earth.

                   (2) Jesus is present everywhere forever.

          B. God lives beyond all the laws of cause and effect.

          (1) Death is transformed from an end to a beginning.

          (2) Life is freed from its limits.

(a) Sin need not end in death.

(b) Seemingly irreconcilable differ­ences need not end in divorce.

(c) Mistakes need not end in failure.

(3) God gives new life in Christ by Baptism.

          (a) We live in forgiveness and forgiv­ing.

          (b) We live free from death and the devil.

          (c) We live with new life emerging daily.

Conclusion: Can we see beyond the tomb? Not only does Jesus live as the resurrected Lord; not only is he the first-fruits of those who die in Christ. Jesus is the beginning of our new life in Christ. We can live in new ways with him who made us alive in the first resurrection. Baptized into Christ Jesus we have the new perspective of the first resurrection. We live outside the tomb.  Amen.