The Resurrection of Our Lord (Easter)
Sunday, 11, April 2004
Exodus 15:1-11
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 24:1-11
Psalm 118:1-2,15-24
Sermon: (Frank Eberhardt)
Don't think of your problems. It's a beautiful day. Don't worry about health, family, job or finances. Don't worry about anything but death itself. Mary Magdaline did. She felt deserted. She saw the body taken down from the cross. She wept outside the tomb and heard a voice from the grave. When she saw Jesus, he told her "stop clinging on me."
Charles Goodeyer was a successful man. He scorned the church. He called Christianity "malarky." He agreed to go to church with his neice. Genesis 5 was read in its entirety. It spoke of the various generations, such and such begat such and such, bla bla bla. The neice asked, "Why did the pastor choose this passage?" But the passage was entirely appropriate, because Goodeyer was confronted with the words "and he died." Noah was 777 and he died. Goodeyer was confronted with his own mortality. And he learned of the ressurrection. "I am the ressurrection and the life." He confessed Jesus as his savior at long last. He heard the same voice that had called Mary. The promise of Jesus was that if you see the Son of God and believe, you will be raised, alive.
A twelve year old girl got cystic fibrosis. The disease attacks the pancreas, the intestines. She was a basketball star in school, the homecoming queen, but at age 20 she died. Before she died, she left a letter. "I want to thank you for making my life so exciting. I want to thank Jesus for making it more. Please remember I'm enjoying the excitement of heaven." How dare she rise from the grave? But she wrote from the word of God.
Internment ceremonies are bleak. They put dirt on the coffin, then the scripture is read. "Death, where is thy victory?" Christ is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep in death. When you see a daffodil or a dandelion in a garden, it's a sign that more will pop up. Christ is the first fruit.
Charles Russel once heard from a doctor that he had a terminal cancer. He went to a pastor. The pastor wondered what to say. He went to his house. Charles told the pastor, "Take that worried look off your face. I'm not in grief, I'm not in denial. I've had a wonderful life, a great house, a great church, and I'm assured of my salvation. If God takes me, my life will be even more wonderful." We're the Lord's, whether we live or die. The book of Thessalonians says that we shouldn't be sorrowful for those we have lost, for God will raise up those who fall asleep in Jesus. We will be changed in the twinkling of an eye.
People spend billions on plastic surgery and facial reconstruction. It never looks as good as the salesman says. In the twinkling of an eye, God will change our bodies, and improve them, and the improvements are guranteed for all eternity. The pyramids are filled with dead mens' bones. The Taj Mahal is a crypt for a king and queen. Lenin's tomb contains Lenin's body, and he still looks dead. Washington's grave is a historical monument. These graves are all known for having a dead body in them. Jesus is the only person who has a grave with nothing in it. What happened to Mary Magdaline? We don't know, but she probably had health, family and monetary problems. Our momentary afflictions prepare us for eternal glory. Think of your life's problems through the light of Jesus. God has prepared us for the eternal weight of His glory.