Our Living Hope
Easter, April 16, 2006
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
Jeremiah 29:11 (GW)
11 I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.
Easter is a day of hope. It’s a day where we are reminded that though today may be Friday in our lives – though things may look dreary – though we may suffer and struggle – though we may look around us, and above us and below us, and inside ourselves, and see a bunch of lost causes - though today may be Friday, Sunday is on the way. Life will come from death. Light will spring from darkness. As the hymn says, “For the darkness will turn to dawning, and the dawning to noonday bright. And Christ’s great kingdom will come on earth, a kingdom of love and light.”
Luke 24:1-8 (NIV)
1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?
6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:
7 ’The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’"
8 Then they remembered his words.
The angels said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” My friends, I’m afraid many people today are still looking for the living among the dead. People are searching for the meaning and purpose of their lives in a universe that seems cold and hostile, where there simply cannot be any real meaning unless there is a “mean-er,” any purpose unless there is a “purpose-er.” Many want to believe life means something but do not want to look to the one who made it so. Many want to find purpose in their lives but refuse to seek that purpose outside of themselves and their own interests. But if in fact life actually has any meaning, that’s only because God means it, intends it, purposes it, and to find meaning we must look outside ourselves.
This is my question for you this morning: Are you looking for the living among the dead? In other words, are you searching for meaning in your life in places where there can be no meaning, where your only hope is false hope?
Fear grips a lot of people in our world today. It’s an increasingly scary place to live, isn’t it? It’s easy to feel hopeless in our world, to give up and say we can never have peace, we can never live without fear, we can never see an end to terror and war and disease. It’s easy to feel hopeless when the kids are sick for months at a time, when the money is never there to pay the bills, when you have tried to work out your marriage for the 97th time and run into failure again. It’s easy to feel hopeless when your health just will not stabilize, when your body won’t do what you dream of doing. It’s easy to lose hope of ever getting that promotion at work. Sometimes it’s hard to keep hoping that life might still have some exhilaration out there on your horizon. Age wears away at us sometimes and we feel tired. We sometimes feel we’ve lived a million years, yet it all seems to go by so fast. In the 80’s, John Mellencamp sang, “Life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone.” The times when we feel that way are the worst times. It seems like as we age and get a few miles on us, we’ve learned so many secrets, seen that so many things are not what they appear. We’ve hoped and been disappointed, we’ve prayed and felt ignored, cried out and not been heard, asked questions and been ridiculed, took risks and failed, loved people and then lost them, reached out a trembling hand and been rejected. We’ve come face to face again and again and again and again with the crushing reality that life is birth, some good times, some times that are so bad you wish during them that you hadn’t been born at all, a few times of immense joy, and then an often long, slow spiral to the end of our days. We’ve realized the extremely scary fact that there’s not one love on this earth, not one union, no matter how blissful, that will not eventually end in painful separation by death. Sometimes we can get fixated on the cloud inside every silver lining. Even in the good times we can begin to think, “Oh man, times are good. That means trouble is on the way!”
It’s easy sometimes to lose hope because the fear and tragedies and difficulties of life sometimes feel like they’re tearing it from our grasp. It’s easy to resign ourselves to living without much hope, because it feels easier to not have hope than to have hope and always be disappointed.
Isaiah 43:1-2 (NLT)
1 But now, O Israel, the LORD who created you says: "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine.
Here’s this woman, just sitting there having her Coke – having her day. And she has all the stuff people have when they have given up hope: bitterness, cynicism, suspicion, fear. And in comes Jesus and turns everything on its head. God called her name. God picked that moment to show himself to her. Is it possible that today could be your day – that today hope could sneak up on you, take you by surprise? I mean, you probably aren’t going to run into Jesus Christ in the flesh at the bus stop or at work this week. But is it possible that today – this week – you might have an encounter with God – with living hope? I mean let’s face it – some of you are only here today because it’s Easter – you weren’t actually expecting to run into anything that might matter in your life. I’m not being critical of that, I’m glad for every one of you who is here. But is it possible that maybe today, God might call your name? I believe that today it is possible for you to have an encounter with hope, and that this hope is possible specifically because God knows your name, because Jesus died but did not stay dead.
Matthew 10:29-31 (NIV)
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
The hairs of your head are numbered? Easter is about the hope that maybe that’s true, and what can happen in your life if it IS true. Easter is about the possibility that God knows your name and what can happen if you embrace that. Easter is…
Well, let’s face it. Easter is ridiculous isn’t it? Easter tells a ridiculous story about a guy who was put to death using one of the most hideous means of torture and death ever devised, then put in a hole in the ground with a huge stone over it, and a soldier in front of it, and says that that man killed and buried in that way is now seated powerfully at the right hand of God – is in fact God Himself. I mean, that story is ridiculous. Isn’t it? If you don’t think that story is ridiculous, I question your rationality and intelligence. You shouldn’t easily believe that story. But what if it’s true? Let me tell you something. If that story is true, and if you DO choose to believe it, watch out. Because this ridiculous story can take the broken pieces of your life and put them back together again. It can provide the purpose in life for which you seek. It can explain to you why you ache for meaning in a universe that seems to have none, for hope in a hopeless world. Have you ever wondered why you ache for meaning and hope?
C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, but I believe his best work was the non-fiction writing that he did. He once wrote that when he is hungry, food exists to satisfy that longing. He is thirsty, and water exists to satisfy that longing. He desires sex and intercourse exists to satisfy that longing. But when he finds himself with spiritual longings for which there is no satisfaction in this world, the only logical conclusion is that he is made for another world, and that in that world, these longings are fulfilled. His point is that we do not have desires for which there is no possible fulfillment. You ache for meaning and hope because you were made for a world where those things can be found.
The Easter story seems ridiculous because it does something amazing – it points to another world. A world where someone can be dead and then be alive again. A world where blind people see and lame people walk and deaf people hear, where the desires you have to live forever, to transcend this world, to not suffer or hurt anymore will be fulfilled. This is the world Jesus lived in and, on Easter, he welcomed you and me to be part of that world. On Easter Jesus assured you that your desire for a future and a hope are not in vain. Jesus assured you on Easter that the impossible is possible.
Romans 6:4-11 (NCV)
4 When we were baptized, we were buried with Christ and shared his death. So, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we also can live a new life.
5 Christ died, and we have been joined with him by dying too. So we will also be joined with him by rising from the dead as he did.
6 We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin.
7 Anyone who has died is made free from sin’s control.
8 If we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.
9 Christ was raised from the dead, and we know that he cannot die again. Death has no power over him now.
10 Yes, when Christ died, he died to defeat the power of sin one time--enough for all time. He now has a new life, and his new life is with God.
11 In the same way, you should see yourselves as being dead to the power of sin and alive with God through Christ Jesus.
In other words, your life really can change. You really can know God in a way you never imagined. You really can start a new life that begins now and lasts forever. Easter is about not only the hope that this life ends up meaning something, but hope that there’s another chapter beyond that that hasn’t been written yet, that this isn’t the end of the story.
But what is the hope, really? Is our hope in Christ a real hope, or is it just symbolic? People sometimes say, “Well, Christianity is good for you if it brings you hope. It doesn’t really matter if Jesus actually rose from the dead or not, what matters is that it brings you hope – it helps you get through the day.” But if it’s a myth that brings hope, then I say it’s mythical hope! What’s the point of that? Christianity is a religion distinguished by faith in a person who claimed to BE God, not simply to know him or represent him. Our beliefs are rooted in history – that Jesus was born, he lived, he died, and he rose again, and actually lives now today because he is God and has always lived, and will always live. In fact, far from being a mythical hope, Christ and Christianity are referred to in the Bible as a “living hope.”
1 Timothy 1:1 (MSG)
1 I, Paul, am an apostle on special assignment for Christ, our living hope...
1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
And look at this. We just finished a series on the New Testament book of Titus. From the first couple verses of chapter 1:
Titus 1:1-2 (NIV)
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness--
2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
See that? Not only do we have this hope, but the faith itself rests on that hope. Christianity rests on the hope of eternal life – on the hope that one day you and I will be raised to life. Paul believed this so deeply that he vigorously argued for it. There was a group of religious scholars called Sadducees who argued that there was no afterlife, and their teachings were influential in the early church. Paul writes a letter to his church in the city of Corinth to deal with this idea.
1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (MSG)
12 Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection?
13 If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ.
14 And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors.
15 Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection.
16 If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead.
17 And if Christ wasn’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever.
18 It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves.
19 If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot.
20 But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.
What I want you to see this morning is that Easter is not mere symbolism for Christians. We do not celebrate the symbolism of new life – we celebrate the fact of new life – that God raised Jesus from the dead, and will raise us also, that this is real. Let me show it to you in a form called a logical syllogism. Philosophers use these forms to examine sentences all the time to tell whether they are logical or not.
A. Jesus Christ is our hope
B. Jesus Christ is living
C. Our hope is living
Paul wrote to the Corinthians to explain this to them. He said:
A. Jesus Christ was our hope
B. Jesus Christ is not living
C. Our hope is not living
What do you hope in? Is it real? Is it just something that brings you a little inspiration for a few short years, or does it have teeth? Is there real power behind it? Or is it mythical hope? Any hope that has no real chance of being fulfilled is mythical hope. In his hit song Praying for Time, George Michael wrote about “…hanging on to hope, when there is no hope to speak of.” That’s mythical hope. Use the formula.
A. I am hanging onto hope
B. There is no hope
C. I am hanging onto nothing
Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
1 What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.
It is foolish to look for the living among the dead – in other words to search for something in a place where it could not possibly be. The living do not hang out with the dead. Meaning and purpose do not live in a godless, random, purposeless universe. Yet we look into ourselves and find that we crave meaning and purpose and want to believe that our lives count for something. And I suggest to you today that they DO count for something – that you were created for a purpose by a God who knows your name and has – like in the sketch – called you by name and wants to communicate with you.
On Easter you need to know that the God who has called you by name invites you into relationship with him – not some fundamentalist freaky thing, but the life you were meant to live – knowing and being known by your Creator. Jesus rose from death and invites you into a world where even death is not the end of life. Christ calls all of us into a new and living hope. This new hope does not tie up all the loose ends in this life. It doesn’t explain why doctors sometimes bear bad news, why people suffer and die, why children starve, why tsunamis take a hundred-thousand lives, why skyscrapers fall out of the sky, why hard-working men and women lose their jobs, why marriages fail despite our best efforts. We often think (or hope) that allowing Christ to forgive our sins and be the leader of our lives will explain all these mysteries. In fact, the hope we have in Christ is itself a great mystery. We do not get to escape all the other mysteries by joining ourselves to Jesus Christ. Instead we join ourselves to a mystery greater than them all. The difference is that this mystery tells us that Sunday’s coming. We may not understand why suffering and death and tragedy and poverty happen right now. In the darkness of Friday nothing can be seen clearly. But Easter teaches us that Sunday’s coming – all is not as it appears – resurrection will come – new life is on the way. Darkness will give way to light.
I’m going to pray. I invite you to join me by closing your eyes so you can concentrate on God and on the state of your own heart, and by praying along with me in your heart whatever I say that you believe applies you to this morning.
God, lately it seems I have run out of hope, or run low on it. And maybe it was false hope anyway. It seems like every road I take dead-ends and leaves me stuck. I’m tired of being stuck and finding hope so hard to hang on to, and wondering what I’m really hanging onto anyway. I’m tired of the things I hope in disappointing me all the time. I want my hope to be living hope, and I guess that means I come to you. I know that sin is a fact in my life – I’m human and sin like everyone does. But God, today I ask you to forgive my sin because of your Son Jesus who died and was raised to life again to pay the price for my sin. Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice you were willing to make. Please be the forgiver of my sin, and the leader of my life from this day on. Send people into my life to help me learn about you and what it means to live for you. Thank you for giving us living hope. God, I pray these things in the name of your Son Jesus and through the mysterious power of your Holy Spirit – Amen.
