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Who We Are - Sermon, Easter Sunday, April 20th, 2003
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CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES
1 Corinthians 15:16-17, 20a as follows --
"For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sinsÉBut Christ has indeed been raised from the dead."
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,
Do you know that for $28,000, you can arrange to have your body preserved after you die? The Cryonics Institute will guarantee that immediately after your demise, they will take charge of your earthly remains. They'll prepare your body, inject some kind of fluid into your veins, cool you down swiftly and suspend you in liquid nitrogen, at 300-plus degrees below zero. Why in the world...?! Well, the theory behind cryonics is this. Whatever causes your death today will probably be curable in the future. Ten years from now or 50 or 100, medical science will have discovered a way to fix whatever was wrong with you. So, the theory goes, your body can be thawed out (revived) and they can repair you and you can live again.
Cryonics is a fairly recent development. The desire to cheat death is as old as dirt, almost. The desire for immortality or eternal life is programmed into the human soul. And the question, "If a man dies, will he live again?" is nothing new. Thousands of years ago, a man named Job posed that question. In his unspeakable misery, having lost everything but his life, Job wondered, "If a man dies, will he live again?" Is there any hope for me beyond the grave? And at first, it seems, he was inclined to answer, "No." Based on our own experience and observations, we might agree. Honestly, the only time we've ever seen anyone come back from the dead is in movies. And those are called "horror movies" because when the dead come back to life, bad things happen! The consequences are not pleasant.
Still, everything we've heard today tells us that the answer is, "Yes, the dead can live again!" At the heart of the Christian gospel is this simple assertion: Jesus Christ died and rose from death. This morning let me ask you to consider the two possible answers to Job's question, and to consider the consequences of each answer. "If a man dies, will he live again?" The answer is either "Yes" or "No." Consider the consequences, first of all, if the answer is "No." That's what Paul did in our text. Someone was undermining the faith of the Christians in Corinth, with the assertion that the dead are not raised. Paul very carefully deals with that argument and follows it through to its logical conclusions. In effect, he said, "Some are telling you that the dead do not live again. OK, let's consider the consequences if that is true."
He wrote: "If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either." Nice clean logic, a simple, objective deduction. If dead people do not live again, period, then obviously Christ did not live again. Then Paul goes on with an extremely personal consequence: "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless." The Christian faith is faith in Christ, the Son of God, who was sacrificed for our sins and rose from death as the validation, or the proof that his sacrifice was accepted. His resurrection demonstrates that his death accomplished its purpose. But if it's not true that he rose, if he stayed dead, your faith in him is useless. Faith in a still-dead Christ is of no use whatsoever!
Here's another consequence to consider. If the dead do not rise, and if Christ did not rise, and if your faith is useless, then . . . "you are still in your sins." If he stayed dead, that means he failed. It means he was not the Son of God and was, in fact, a liar. It also means his sacrifice for the sins of the world was not accepted, which means he didn't save anybody. That means, dear friends, we are stuck with our sins, stuck with trying to make ourselves acceptable to God.
If Christ stayed dead, I have to find my own way out of my sins, and that's not easy. Somehow I have to find a way to clear my record, erase all my infractions, blot out all my transgressions of God's holy will. But how can I do that? How can I, for example, erase my lies? Even if I could tell the truth every minute of my life from now on until I die, I'd still have my past lies to account for. Even if, somehow, I could from this moment on love God purely and perfectly, my past sins of idolatry would still accuse me! The same goes for my adultery, even if it was "just" in my mind. How can blot out my greed? or my lack of compassion for others? How can clear my record of ill-chosen words or my explosions of anger, all my spiteful thoughts or self-centered attitudes? How can I ever remove my guilt for a life-time of failing to love God and my neighbor?
God's evaluation of our lives is quite straightforward: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And, he says, "the wages of sin is death." We have already earned death, we really deserve to be cut off from God and the life that comes from him. And physical death is no escape hatch; there is life for our soul beyond the grave! God's Word tells us that you die once and then you face judgment -- and it's not pleasant to think about that if we are still in our sins. Consider the consequences if the dead are not raised. Then Christ was not raised and any faith in him is useless. You're stuck in your sins without a way out, without a Savior.
It's not pleasant to consider all that, but remember, all that is based on the assumption that the dead are not raised. And all that is wiped away by Paul's confident assertion: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead." That's the fact that blows away all the terrible consequences we've just considered. Is it a fact that Christ was raised from the dead? As we heard earlier, in this same chapter Paul already laid out the evidence for anybody to refute if they can. He started with this: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." The prophetic writers of the Old Testament predicted that Christ would die as the sacrifice for the sins of the world, and he did die. He was buried, Paul points out, because he was truly, proveably dead. Next: "he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." That same Word of God said that the Christ who died would return to life, and he did. Just how do we know that? "He appeared" -- appeared alive to many witnesses, people who were not gullible nor hallucinating nor making things up. In fact, as you read the Gospel accounts, you get the impression that Jesus really had a hard time convincing them that he was truly and physically alive. "Touch me and see," he pleaded with them. "Give me something to eat so I can prove it to you!"
Of course it was true; he had risen, just as he said -- and just consider the consequences of that! The Son of God who suffered and died, who gave himself up for us all, then rose from death on the third day. That means that his sacrifice for sins was accepted. God's Word says, "He was raised to life for our justification." In other words, God has declared sinners "not guilty." Through faith in Christ we are not in our sins any more, for he is the way out, and we need not fear any of the consequences of sin. In place of death, spiritual and eternal, we have life, spiritual and eternal. Our Savior promised, "Because I live, you also will live." He said, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
So.... so, I am not going to spend that $28,000 to have my body suspended in liquid nitrogen when I die. After all, even if that theory would somehow be true and I could be thawed out and revived and repaired, I'd just have to die all over again, wouldn't I? But I know it doesn't work that way; I know that you die once and then face judgment. Well, I'm ready to do that, and I hope that you are, too. Ready to face God's judgment not in your sins but in Christ, who died for you and was raised from the dead.
It's an age-old question: "If a man dies, will he live again?" Remember, I told you that at first, Job seemed to feel that the answer was "no." That, however, didn't last long at all; he soon came out with a resounding "yes!" It was Job who gave us these words, Job who confidently confessed, "I know that my Redeemer lives -- and therefore I too will live. In my flesh I shall see God!" Jesus lives, my friends, and through faith in him you too will live. That's what the Christian faith is all about -- a real person, the Son of God who became man and appeared here in real time to save you and me eternally. It's about Jesus who died for our sins and rose on the third day. The consequences of that are pleasant to consider indeed. And more than pleasant, those consequences are powerful as well, for they change your life -- immediately and forever! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Amen.