The Resurrection Brings Us…
Matthew 28:1-10
November 22, 2009
Me: I’m not generally a very pessimistic person.
I do get down once in a while, and I’ve been through some deserts and hardships that caused me to wonder if it was really worth going on.
But thankfully those have been few and far between.
The reason those have been few and far between is because I have hope.
It’s a hope that doesn’t come from my abilities, whatever they may be, or from my awesome physique.
My hope is based on what Jesus did for me. And it wasn’t something anyone else could have done.
He died. Now, anyone can do that, and everybody up to this point has, with the notable exceptions of Enoch and Elijah.
But other than that, the mortality rate for humans is still right about 100%.
But Jesus didn’t just die. He rose again. And because of that, I have hope. I have hope for my past, which is ugly enough, for my present, which is hard enough, and for the future, which will be awesome enough.
We: I think everyone wants to be a hopeful person.
I don’t think there are many people, if any, who enjoy being sad and without hope.
Probably most have been in situations that looked hopeless. I know I have.
But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus gives us hope – hope for our past, hope for our present, and hope for our future.
Jesus gives us that hope because He not only died, but He rose again.
God: Last week we looked at some false theories regarding the resurrection and why we can discard them.
Today I want to focus on what the resurrection brings us.
A man went on vacation to the Holy Land with his wife and her mother. While in Israel, the mother-in-law died from a heart attack. The couple went to a local undertaker, who explained that they could either ship the body home which would cost more than $1500, or they could bury her right there in the Holy Land for only $150. The man said, "We’ll ship her home. "Surprised, the undertaker responded, "Are you sure? That’s an awfully big expense, and we can do a very nice burial here. "The man said, "Look, 2000 years ago they buried a guy here and three days later He rose from the dead. I just can’t take that chance." (SermonCentral.com. Contributed by Jim Kilson)
Matthew 28:1-10 (p. 706) –
1 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ’He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you."
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
I kept wondering just how I should approach this message about the resurrection.
And the message that I kept coming back to is this: HOPE
Maybe for others of you, the resurrection means different things, and that’s cool as long as it comes from Scripture.
But for me, the main message of the resurrection is hope. Hope for our past, hope for our present, and hope for our future.
If I had to boil down the message of the resurrection, at least for my own life, it comes to hope.
This passage from Matthew is the setting for our message today, but the passage I want us to really make the basis for our time today is 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (p. 815) –
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
I’m going to reference some other Scriptures today as well, but this is the main one I want to focus on today.
From this passage, we can find three areas of hope: hope for the past, hope for the present, and hope for the future.
Let’s take a look at each one of these, and I really hope that you’ll find some encouragement from them.
1. Hope for past.
Verse 17 – if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
A couple weeks ago we focused on the fact that Jesus paid for our sins on the cross.
But for the “transaction” to be complete, Jesus had to be raised from the dead.
Paul says here that if Christ has not been raised, then we are still in our sins – and therefore we have no hope of forgiveness.
That means that everything that you’ve ever done that is contrary to the Word of God – in thought, word, or deed, is yours to carry to the grave and to an eternity paying for those sins.
Thank God for verse 20 - But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.
Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we can be forgiven of the past.
The Bible says that when we put our faith in Jesus we become a new creation of God. And from that point on we be people who live for God instead of ourselves.
Our past is wiped clean. We’re given a new start as a child of God instead of a child of the world.
It’s the hope that says you don’t have to keep looking over your shoulder waiting for God to lower the boom on you and send you to hell.
Jesus took care of that.
We all have things in our past that we’re ashamed of. Some of us more than others.
But if you are in Christ, that past is taken care of. Your sins are forgiven. And you can move on to take hold of the second hope we have because of Jesus’ resurrection.
Let’s go ahead and talk about that now.
2. Hope for our present.
Verse 19 implies that we have hope in this life because of Christ, but let me show you another verse:
Galatians 2:20 –
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
If you are a believer in Jesus, He lives in you. And if you’ll let Him, He’ll change your life.
He can transform your life from what it is now to what you were created to be by God.
I think that all of us can look in the mirror or our hearts and see something in us that we don’t like and that is contrary to Christ.
And if you can’t see something, let me tell you that it’s there. You just have to get past that other little thing – pride and then you’ll see it more clearly.
Believe me, that’s no fun. I’m still digging through things in my own life that I’m not happy with.
But the good news is that because we have Christ living in us, we can move forward and make real progress in becoming the person God has created each of us to be.
How does He do that? He uses the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit to help us understand what He wants of us, to give us the desire to be what He wants us to be, and the strength to do our part.
The result of that is Christlikeness – and that’s the goal of our present. To be able to truly love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Folks, just to know that we don’t have to remain the way we are now is good news.
But also knowing that we have Christ living in us as face the grind of our day-to-day living makes it easier to go on.
It’s what helps me get up each day, even when I’m going through a hard time. I have the hope that Christ is with me and will help me get through that day.
One of the great facts about God comes from Lamentations 3 –
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
This is true for everyone who has Christ living in Him.
And you know what? We weren’t created to go through life alone anyway.
We were created for relationship with God Almighty and with His people – the Church.
Part of the hope of the resurrection is that we have hope for the present because Christ isn’t just in heaven waiting for us.
He’s in us. Loving us, guiding us, making us more like Him through the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures.
That’s good news, folks. I hope it’s real in your life.
Let’s move on to the third hope brought by Jesus and His resurrection, and that is…
3. Hope for our future.
Death is not the end. For anybody. Everyone will spend eternity in one of two places: heaven or hell.
Jesus made it possible for us to spend eternity in heaven by rising from the dead.
The resurrection of Jesus makes our own resurrection possible.
John 11:25-26 –
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
Folks, we will all die a physical death, unless Jesus returns during our lifetimes.
But death is not the end.
In a very real sense, it’s only the beginning.
How can I say that? Because we’re going to spend a whole lot more time in eternity than we did on earth, and death is the gateway to that eternity.
Those who have put their faith in Christ can look forward to spending eternity in the presence of God Almighty.
Our body may pass away, but our spirits remain alive. And we will be with Jesus.
One of my favorite passages from the Psalms is from Psalm 73:23-26 –
23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
It’s a great passage of hope.
Folks, when we have Christ, we have hope for our future – our eternal future.
Death doesn’t have to be dreaded. It can be faced with the certainty that it won’t win, because we’ll be with Jesus.
Remember what Paul says here in our main passage for today?
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
If there’s no resurrection, we have no hope – past, present, or future.
But because of Jesus’ resurrection, we have hope.
And let me tell you, if hope for the future was all I had, I still believe it would be worth it to live for Jesus – even if all I ever got for it was hardship, even if my sins weren’t forgiven this side of heaven and I had to carry the burden of my sins myself until death, just knowing what was on the other side would be worth it.
But thank God none of that is necessary.
Jesus, through His resurrection gives us hope in all these areas.
Aren’t you glad?
You: Wolfhart Pannenberg is a German theologian. In a magazine interview he was discussing the resurrection and he said this:
“The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.”
Perceptive, isn’t he?
One of the sadder truths I find in ministry is that I can lay out all the great stuff that Jesus makes available to us – eternal life, forgiveness of sins, all that stuff.
But even when they agree that what Jesus has to offer is better than what the world is offering, they turn Jesus down.
Why? Because of what I just read. Jesus demands that believers live for Him instead of themselves.
Even when I tell them that Jesus helps us want to do that and helps us to actually do it, it still doesn’t matter.
What’s behind that? It’s simply an issue of the will.
They don’t want to believe it because they don’t want God running the show.
They’re willing to forfeit eternal life because they think they know better how to run their lives than the One who created them.
Doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?
But you know what? Those outside of Christ aren’t the only ones guilty of that.
There are many who would call themselves Christians – people who prayed to receive Christ once upon a time.
They say they believe that Jesus died and rose from the grave. But they don’t live like it.
I’ve been guilty of that. Even recently.
Pastors aren’t immune to living for themselves instead of Christ from time to time.
So what do we do about it?
For those who haven’t yet put their faith in Christ, you start there.
You tell Jesus that you’re ready to believe – really believe that He is the only way to heaven, and that His death and resurrection made it possible.
And that you need His help to live for Him instead of yourself.
For those of you, including myself, who find ourselves putting ourselves and our conveniences ahead of Christ, we need to recommit ourselves to living for the One who died for us and rose again.
During our prayer time after the message, that’s what we’ll focus on.
We: Folks, the world offers nothing but despair, ultimately.
It offers pleasure and happiness, but no foundation for it except the idea that this life is all there is.
Jesus offers us something else – hope – hope for our past, hope for our present, and hope for the future.
And I think the church in America, and the church right here in Brown County, needs to do a better job of showing the world that hope.
We can’t just talk about it. We need to show it in how we live our lives. We need to show it on our faces. People need to see that we have something to live for – now and forever.
The world needs the hope that Jesus offers – and it’s up to you and me to see that they can have it.
Let’s pray.
