I am finding myself fairly busy so I’m going to take my walk whilst I film my message and I’ll intersperse it with some conversations I had with people during this week.
Outside graveyard
‘Popular place, people are dying to get in!’
in actual case it is locked and you can’t get in
What is certain is that none of these people are getting out!
That’s the uniqueness of Jesus’ grave, it is empty, he is risen
We have been staying with the resurrection since Easter, seen him appear to the disciples, Thomas, Peter, Paul
Today I want us to take stock and recognise just how important the theology of the Resurrection is.
Paul who met with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus went on to provide for us much of the theology of the resurrection and one part in one of his letters to the Corinthian church dives into this.
Maybe it would be a good idea if you press pause right now and read 1 Cor 15.
Welcome Back!
Do you have a hope in the resurrection of Jesus
Do you fear death? Many people are afraid of death. But if you put your faith in Jesus, you do not need to fear death. Jesus has defeated the power of death.
The comedian, Russell Brand, said, ‘Laughter is addictive because of the inevitability of death. It gives us a temporary escape – for the moment it stops the fear of the inevitability of death.’
I find that funny in a sad and alarming way.
I love to laugh, but not to keep the thought of death away.
I can enjoy life because I know that death is not the end.
You just read it, if you did as you were told!
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”[i]
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Every human being will face the ‘trouble’ of death. Where does your hope lie?
It has to be on the truth of the resurrection of Jesus. On the truth of the Resurrection the early Christians took their stand. And so do we today.
[words in italics are an attempt to capture what was said in the interviews]
Roy Searle – Community Elder, Northumbria Community
As somebody from an unchurched background, I began my journey of faith on Easter Sunday so Easter Sunday is particularly important for me. For me the resurrection is the very centre of Christianity, without it there is no life and as crucial as it was for Jesus to die on the cross to redeem us to be the means of our salvation, without the resurrection it means absolutely nothing for us. Paul was pretty clear about that if Christ wasn’t raised from the dead then our preaching is in vain and our faith is useless.
I am a follower of Jesus because I believe in the resurrection. Christ defeated the powers of sin and death and brought into being the origins of the beginnings of a new world order and the probations of this is that there is hope. The God who in Jesus suffered and died is the God who conquered all that contributed to sin and death, disease, decay, pollution, poison and for me the resurrection actually proves that Christ has overcome the powers of evil and has paved a way for new world order.
The resurrections is essentially about hope, without the resurrection Jesus death would not have atoned for anyone or anything. The resurrection validates all that Jesus said that ushers in the Kingdom of God, it reveals the power of God and transformation of the word and it brings hope.
It’s interesting at this time with the lockdown and the crisis we are suffering, we are not really suffering in comparison, apart from those who have lost loved ones. In terms of two thirds of the world suffers on a daily basis, what hope do they have, their hope cannot be rooted in coming out of lockdown we will get back to some new normal, their hope is rooted in Christ who brings transformation and hope in the world.
I wish churches, when they put crosses up in churches they would actually be more Eastern Orthodox when we have the cross, can we also have the symbol of the empty tomb. The cross is great, it has a really key place within our faith but actually without the resurrection the cross means absolutely nothing. It’s the big news of Jesus Christ that Jesus rose again from the dead not that he died but he rose again from the dead.
Importance to the early church
1 Cor written AD54, so 20-25 years after death of Jesus, Paul appears to be quoting an established creed which must have been formulated by early Church thus demonstrating the importance of the resurrection.
It’s the message that Paul carried wherever he went
For those of us that call ourselves Christians, followers of Jesus this has to be our message, other wise it makes no sense to be followers of Jesus.
We are not followers of a dead man, what would be the point in that? We are followers of man that is very much alive – The risen Jesus.
So in the words of the angel to the women at the tomb
Why do you look for the living amongst the dead?
So let’s get out of here.
So how did Paul view the resurrection?
Paul didn’t mean life after death in some spiritual state, rather it meant and means new resurrection bodies. I’m sure looking forward to that. Our present bodies are alive because of cells and organs and oxygen and such like, Our new bodies will be no less physical but will be alive because of God’s Spirit and therefore not subject to decay. Next week we celebrate Pentecost. Jesus sent His Spirit to live in His people permanently. This foreshadows what it is going to be like.
Christianity isn’t a set of ideas, it isn’t a path of spirituality, it isn’t a rule of life, it isn’t a political agenda. It includes and gives energy to all these things but essentially it is different to all the things. Christianity is the Good News that an event in history has really happened and because of that event the world can never be the same again. And those who believe it and live by it can never be the same again either. That’s what 1 Cor 15 is all about.
The Resurrection changes everything, God’s people looked forward to it and had all sorts of thoughts as to what this was going to be like. They captured a vision that became part of their cultural expectation – The ‘Day of the Lord’.
Rosa Hunt – Co-Principal South Wales Baptist College
The way I understand it was that the Jews had this belief that the Kingdom of God was going to come in a very very real way. It was going to come on Earth. So the kind of pictures that they had as we see in the bible were really amazing pictures of banquets and parties and safe places on mountains where young people and children can play with snakes and not get hurt and that sort of thing, so it’s a really amazing vision.
As I understand it they talked about THE DAY as they called it, with capital letters. THE DAY was coming when the kingdom of God would come and one of the signs of THE DAY was that the dead would be physically raised with their bodies raised. So for me one of things about the resurrection is that it shows is that THE DAY has come because Jesus with his physical rising from the dead has initiated the kingdom and so that changes everything because it means that the Kingdom is here, it’s here now with us, so basically nothing that we do is in vain because we are part of this new kingdom on earth, this kingdom of justice and mercy, peace and hope. That’s what the resurrection means to me that’s why it’s really important to me that the resurrection is a fact that happened.
The resurrection is Fulfilment of Jesus’ Predictions and of Scripture
The resurrection is a Validation of the Miracles of the Bible
The resurrection is Proof that God is the God of the Living and is a Living God
The resurrection is an Essential Part of the Gospel itself
John 11:25 “Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” (RSV)
Rom. 10:9 because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (RSV)
The resurrection demonstration the divinity of Jesus
The resurrection is the guarantee of every believers’ Resurrection
The resurrection makes it possible for the Spirit to live in us and for us to know Resurrection Power
The resurrection means we can know Forgiveness of Sins
Note especially John 19:30. Jesus’ cry from the cross is “It is finished.” This the Greek word tetelestai. This word was used in commerce at the time. It was often written across a bill to indicate that the bill was paid in full. The resurrection is the receipt that God gave humanity that Jesus’ death did, indeed, pay the full price of our sins. (The world’s sins are not enough to keep Christ in the grave! His resurrection is proof that our sins can be forgiven!)
He is risen! He is risen! That is the best news we can possibly tell a dying world!
Jesus said I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all’ (vv.24–26, MSG).
There is life beyond the grave. Jesus died and rose again. Everyone who believes in Jesus will rise again from the dead, a foretaste of the future.
The story of Lazarus is the story of each one of us. Jesus calls you to rise up and become fully alive in order to give life – to bring hope to your family, friends, work colleagues and the world.
This resurrection power is within you. Paul writes to the church of Rome, ‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you’ (Romans 8:11). The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the basis of your future hope.
Christianity is the largest movement of all time. It is the only one that never loses a member through death.
Mother Teresa was asked shortly before her death, ‘Are you afraid of dying?’ She said, ‘How can I be? Dying is going home to God. I have never been afraid. No, on the contrary,’ she said, ‘I am really looking forward to it!’
This passage (1 Cor 15) also indirectly provides a picture of hope for the church. There is a sickness in parts of the church and many are declaring its death. Some parts of the church seem to have ‘fallen asleep’ (John 11:11). And in some cases there seems to be a ‘bad odour’ (v.39). The Church is closed, people are saying. The buildings may be closed but the church is God’s people, so the church is very much alive and many people are being added to the church at this time of crisis. People are putting their faith in Jesus and I would love for you to do the same.
We are called to be beacons of hope.
This passage reminds us of Jesus’ power to bring even the dead to life. This resurrection power is still at work in the church today. The same Jesus who said over Lazarus ‘this sickness will not end in death’ (v.4), also promised that he would ‘build [his] Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18, KJV).
Some parts of the church seem to have been prematurely buried. Jesus said about Lazarus, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go’ (John 11:44c). Maybe Jesus would say something similar to parts of the church today.
Ed Kaneen – Co-Principal South Wales Baptist College
At one level with the resurrection we can say that this is Gods signature on the bottom of Jesus life, so if anybody was ever in any doubt of what Jesus said was true and that Jesus ministry was significant as he said it was, well the resurrection was Gods stamp of approval that what Jesus has said and done is true and of God and it’s just as world changing as he said. So I think it authenticate Jesus if you like.
And of course it means that Jesus has the victory, yes over death, yes over sin, yes over hell, he has the victory over Satan, over all that stands against God’s purposes and in the resurrection is the promise that actually the defeat is on the way, the final defeat is on the way and that’s going to happen, it might not happen today but it is going to happen.
And of course it means that death is not the end which at a time when a lot of people are sadly dying is an important thing for us to remind ourselves, there are other stuff but frankly that death is not the end because of Jesus is a good message to hold on to.
But I was thinking when you asked me could I say something what I might mention is these 2 verses in 1 Corinthians and Colossians is that says that Jesus is the ‘first born’ from amongst the dead and Jesus is the ‘first fruits’. Both of these are language that are suggesting that where Jesus has gone, others are supposed to follow and so we who are part of Jesus family if you like, we who are brothers and sisters of Jesus; when we become Christians we use that language of being born again but we might also use the language of new creations as Paul puts it. When we become new creations in Jesus then we are somehow beginning this participation in Jesus resurrection life and so this incredible new beginning that beings in Jesus at the empty tomb well that’s meant to be carrying on in us so we somehow living the resurrection life now.
So when we are putting out the bins or when you are paying the TV licence when we are doing those mundane things it doesn’t feel like we’re living the resurrection life but it’s not meant to be so much a feeling but a truth that we live by so I am raised with Christ and that the day will come when I will be fully raised with Christ in the sense of never to die again but for the time being the resurrection life of Jesus is working in me and is meant to be working through me to bring that new creation life into the world, into relationships, into community, into my workplace, into all of those things around me. The new creation life is signalled by Jesus resurrection and it continues through us.
When we are raised again I have an appointment, its a race! A running race with Des. Many Penarth people will remember Des who used to cycle around on his disability tricycle. He always said to me, Yo wait, when we get there I’m going to race you and I’m going to win! I look forward to that appointment with Des!