Thoughts on the resurrection

Jesus really rose from the dead, what do I get out of it?

Worship service halfELF, , , Evangelical Free Church Leichlingen, more...

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Introduction

Today, it's Easter, it's about the resurrection.

I skimmed through the headings of my old sermons and realised that I had already preached on the topic of "Resurrection" once before, on Easter Sunday in 2012.

Seven years ago, can anyone still remember?

At that time, I had focussed on the argument that the resurrection must be true, because otherwise our faith is meaningless.

So the fairly widespread thinking in our society, "No matter what you believe, the main thing is that it helps you." is stupid stuff and those who have experienced that Jesus Christ is real will confirm this.

The main chapter in the Bible where the physical reality of the resurrection is established is 1 Corinthians 15.

There, Paul first lists a few people who saw and witnessed Jesus after his crucifixion. On one occasion there were even 500 people at once (1 Corinthians 15:6), most of whom were still alive at the time of the letter to the Corinthians. So there were still many living witnesses back then who could have been asked.

And Paul continues his argument very plausibly and convincingly (1 Corinthians 15:12-19; NL)

12 But now I ask you: If we preach that Christ has risen from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen either. 14 And if Christ has not risen, then our preaching was worthless, and your trust in God is also in vain. 15 Indeed, in that case we apostles would even have spread lies about God, for we affirmed that God raised Christ, and that cannot be true if there is no resurrection from the dead. 16 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 But if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still trapped in your sins. 18 In that case, all people who have died in faith in Christ would be lost! 19 If faith in Christ gives hope only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.

Ultimately, we would only have a placebo faith if Jesus had not really risen from the dead.

It could help a little. We know placebos from medicine, they help too, they even help if only the doctor who prescribes the placebo believes in it.

I thought of homeopathic remedies, which are incredibly widespread. Such remedies can be used on the market without the usual tests and studies that are prescribed for normal medicines because their effect is just like placebos. If they had to be tested like normal medicines, there would be no homeopathic remedies.

Such remedies are usually diluted several times and highly potentised remedies no longer have any active ingredients. D24, for example, corresponds to a dilution of one drop of active ingredient in the Atlantic Ocean (source Wikipedia).

Nevertheless, many believe in it, it is also big business and the research costs involved in developing conventional medicines are usually not as high. And since the pharmaceutical industry is not always honestly orientated towards the well-being of the patient, such placebo drugs often enjoy a certain amount of sympathy.

But let's return to the resurrection. I don't want to argue so much today.

I had worked as a private tutor during my studies and once gave a pupil a Christian book by Peter Hahne. And this pupil had an interesting reaction to this book.

He said that the author had argued very well, but that he wasn't interested. It was not important to him whether the argumentation was conclusive or not.

And I think that's the case for many people. It's not the truth itself that is important, but what it has to do with me.

And I would like to try to emphasise this today: What does the resurrection have to do with you and with me?

Always with you

I read from Matthew 28:18-20; NL, which took place after the resurrection:

18 Jesus came and said to his disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go to all nations and make disciples of them. Baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teach them to keep all the commandments that I have given you. And I assure you: I am with you always, to the end of the age."

"I am with you always", Jesus promises here. And he has all power in heaven and on earth. Other translations write "unlimited authority". So for Jesus there are no limits and he is always with us.

But sometimes we don't realise it. We ask why Jesus allows some things to happen and doesn't seem to intervene, especially when we are experiencing or witnessing suffering. I don't know either, but if we already knew and could explain everything, then we would already be in heaven, wouldn't we?

Corinthians 13, 9.10; NL says it so beautifully:

9 Now we recognise but little, and even our prophetic utterances reveal but little! 10 But when the perfect appears at the end, the little will cease.

Often enough, explanations or attempts at interpretation do not help at all, but only a common carrying helps through.

But this Bible text also predicts that the time of ignorance is over when we are with Jesus.

And Jesus has also promised to carry us through such situations, because he is always with us. He is not an imaginary friend, but a real friend.

Jesus also says this to his disciples in John 15, 13-15; NL:

13 The greatest love is shown by the one who lays down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a master does not take his servants into his confidence. You are now my friends, for I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.

Friend of Jesus, that sounds good. It perhaps grates a little in this text that Jesus' friendship here is linked to the condition "if you do what I tell you to do".

Of course, you have to realise that Jesus has already become a human being like us, but that he is also God at the same time, so he can tell us to do things. But he also gives us the strength and the change to really be able to do this.

That's why you don't have to work for a friendship, you grow into it.

These two sides of this friendship are described in Philippians 2, 12b.13; NL:

Therefore obey God with respect and reverence. 13 For God causes you to desire to obey him, and he also gives you the power to do what pleases him.

Here we have these two sides: On the one hand, "Do something", but on the other, "God gives you the desire and also the strength. This change is real if you let yourself in for it and it is the difference to placebo faith.

As a result, we are no longer trapped in our sins, as Paul says in the Bible text I read at the beginning. We can really be changed for the better through Jesus, not perfectly and not in a hop, skip and a jump, but continuously, like growth.

And Jesus has also sent us the Holy Spirit, as announced in John 16:7; New Testament:

But believe me, it is good for you that I am going away. For if I do not go away from you, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

In this translation, "helper" stands for the Holy Spirit. In other translations, it means "counsellor", "comforter" and "adviser".

Our lives are not easy, we have many tasks, burdens, problems and responsibilities, each a little different, but we have to face them.

And how great it is that Jesus helps us through the Holy Spirit, stands by us, comforts and counsels us.

And this is only possible because Jesus rose from the dead, went to the Father and sent us this spirit.

God personally stands by us.

The future

Let's move on to the topic of the future.

We heard earlier that the little knowledge will cease when the perfect comes. That sounds very abstract.

But Jesus Christ also made more concrete statements about the future (John 14, 1-3 ; NL):

1 Do not be afraid. You trust in God, now trust in me. 2 There are many mansions in my Father's house, and I am going ahead to prepare a place for you. If it were not so, would I have told you so? 3 Then when everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you may always be with me where I am.

Not a place in the sun, but a place with God, that's something.

The Christian musician Keith Green, who died very young, once said in a concert that the dwellings must be really good, because God only needed 7 days for the grandiose creation and Jesus has been working on these dwellings for 2000 years.

I don't really agree with this reasoning, but I still believe that the flats in God's house will be really great. So it's worth looking forward to your own resurrection.

This is not about a longing for death. As part of our Philippians campaign, we talked about the statement from Philippians 1:21 "Christ is my life, and dying is my gain." was discussed.

Of course we can enjoy life here on earth, rejoice in spring, in our family, in the company of friends. That is all good and right and a gift from God.

But that's not all. Ecclesiastes 3:11-13; NL says something interesting about this:

11 God has determined the time for everything in this world in advance; he has even placed eternity in people's hearts. But they are not able to recognise the extent of God's work; they can neither see where it begins nor where it ends. 12 This made me realise that it is best for people to rejoice and enjoy what they have. 13 For it is a gift from God when someone eats and drinks and can rejoice in the fruits of their labour.

It is a gift from God to be able to rejoice in the gifts of creation. Nevertheless, we have eternity in our hearts. We sense that there must be more there.

It never lets us go completely. We have an immortal soul and that's the only reason we can think about eternity, I think.

Those who belong to Jesus will be resurrected after their death and have a place with God, a home that Jesus has prepared for you and me personally.

And so we can look forward to the resurrection.

Summary

I'll come to the end: