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 our 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 first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 – For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a Man.
22 – For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
In the fall of 1979, I entered Southern Seminary, which you may or may not know is located in the beautiful city of Louisville, Kentucky. Sue and I had only been married about a week when we arrived on campus to set up our first home and we soon discovered that Louisville is a great place to live. There are lots of things to see and do. It’s right on the Ohio River so boating and fishing are big. Since it is a big city there are several malls and great libraries and tons of community events. You can see all kinds of races in Louisville: Horse races, river boat races and my favorite: balloon races. I remember seeing the sky literally full of colorful hot air balloons each May. And if you get tired of the traffic and congestion you can leave the city very quickly and in just a few minutes find yourself…surrounded by rolling hills of Kentucky blue grass.
Now, you may think this is odd…but, in spite of all these options of things to see and do, one of my favorite places to go when we lived in Louisville was CAVE HILL CEMETERY.
It is a huge grave yard-hundreds of acres-surrounded by stone walls with ornate gates. It’s beautiful-filled with ponds and lakes frequented by majestic swans. And, it has some really spectacular tombs, several of which are actually caves burrowed into the side of a hill, hence the name, CAVE HILL CEMETERY. Well, I frequently took Sue there during our four years in the area. We would drive through or go for walks.
By the way I have always enjoyed graveyards. You can find some very interesting sculpture and architecture there. They are great places to find peace and quiet. It’s a good place to think. But the main reason I like to go is the fact that you can find some very interesting things written on tombstones. I’ve found that people can be very creative when it comes to marking their final resting place. For example I read this week that carved on an old wooden grave marker on Boot Hill it says,
“Here lies LES MOORE, shot four times with a forty-four
No Les, No Moore.”
In a Ribbesford, England cemetery a tombstone has this engraved on its surface:
“Anna Wallace.
The children of Israel wanted bread;
The Lord sent them manna
Old Clerk Wallace wanted a wife;
The devil sent him Anna.”
Another old gray-slate stone in England tells of the life of a gossip:
“Beneath this sod, a lump of clay,
Lies Arabella Young,
Who, on the twenty-fourth of May
Began to hold her tongue.”
One lonely widow wrote the following hilarious epitaph that appears on a headstone in a Vermont cemetery. Actually I think of it as being more of a classified ad because it says:
“Sacred to the memory of my husband,
John Barnes, who died Jan. 3, 1803.
His comely young widow, aged 23, has
Many qualifications of a good wife
And yearns to be comforted.”
Now, whenever I would ask Sue if we could spend a few hours at CAVE HILL CEMETERY on a beautiful Sunday afternoon she would always sort of grimace. It seemed peculiar to her that anyone would want to spend time exploring tombs, and I admit-that is kind of odd. But on the other hand, when you think about it, the Christian faith is unique in that it is based on exactly that activity. Christianity is founded on the results of a journey some women took one Sunday morning long ago to explore a graveyard.
Last week I based my sermon on what many non-Christians would think to be an interesting question. Namely: “Why cling to….why would anyone cherish…the cross of Jesus Christ?” And this week I want us to explore the answer to another one: “Why go to the tomb?” I mean, doesn’t it seem a bit morbid that our faith would be oriented around a grave? Well, let me pause to remind you why it is. As Charles Swindoll notes in his book, The Darkness and the Dawn, most religions-and the world is filled with them-are built on PHILOSOPHIES. But the four MAJOR world religions, are built on PERSONALITIES-and of those four only Christianity claims that its Founder is still alive, that His tomb is not occupied. Abraham, whom Judaism affirms as its founder-has been dead since about 1900 B.C. The book of Genesis records that, he died at a “ripe old age” and was buried by his sons, Isaac and Ishmael. I believe the tomb that his body occupies is in Hebron. Buddhist literature says that when it’s founder, Buddha died, “…it was with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind.” So, Buddha too is dead. His remains reside somewhere in the far east. Mohammed’s grave in Medina is also occupied and visited each year by thousands of devout Muslims. But not so with the founder of the Christian faith. As those women discovered when they visited that graveyard outside the walls of Jerusalem, Jesus’ tomb is empty because our Lord is risen! HE IS RISEN INDEED!So, this is why our faith is oriented around a tomb-because the tomb of the one and only Son of God is empty.
Well, this morning I want us to join with Christians all around the world, believers who are orienting their worship today around that empty tomb. And, as we do this I want us to remind ourselves why Christians do this-why it is that each Easter we GO TO THE TOMB of Jesus Christ. You see, the wonderful truth that Jesus’ tomb is empty has changed so many things!
1. First of all, it has validated our FAITH.
In our text for today Paul said that without the resurrection of Jesus Christ the very structure of our Christian faith would fall apart, and our gospel would be null and void. Remember his words in verses 14 & 17? He said, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is pointless….if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” Think about what Paul has said here. Can you feel the blows of despair that would hit us one after the other if Christ had not been raised?
- Our preaching and teaching would be useless,
- Our faith would be hopeless,
- and we would still be lost in our sins.
But you see, since Jesus DID rise from the dead, our faith is verified!
This week I read of a church cemetery that had a sign over the entrance in big, bold letters that said, “The Church Victorious.” I like that because it reflects the faith of that church-a faith that was validated by the discovery those women made that first Easter Sunday morning when they visited that empty tomb! The discovery they made by going to that grave proved that Jesus’s claims were true. He WAS the only One qualified to die for our sins. He WAS-and still is-God’s only Son. He WAS-and still is-able to conquer death on our behalf! These facts were established once and for all when He walked out of that tomb and left it empty.
You know, I’ve seen several old movies where the plot involved a man who believed oil could be found on a certain piece of land. He’d done geological studies and just believed in his gut that oil was to be found there. In the film no one believes him. They think he’s crazy and that his claims are ridiculous. But he gets some financial backers and he drills and drills and drills. As weeks go on and no oil is found everyone abandons him. In these films there is always a climax where the bank says, “No more money. You’ve drilled and found nothing. We are cutting our losses and refuse to back you after tomorrow.” Well, the man refuses to quit. He drills all night and at the last possible minute there is a rumbling from deep in the earth and sure enough POW! A fountain of oil bursts from that hole in the ground! When that happens the man’s claims are substantiated. Everyone realizes that he was right. Oil was there after all. From then on everyone believes in this guy. Bankers stand in line to finance his drilling.
Well something like that happened to Jesus. I mean before His resurrection, He was ridiculed for the things He had said and the claims He had made. Remember? As He hung on the cross the bystanders said, “So! You Who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save Yourself.” They continued to mock Him and said, “He saved others, but He can’t save Himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel, come down from the cross that we may see and believe.” Even His own disciples abandoned Him and fled.
But when He rose again on the third day-when, after his death on that cruel cross, a death that was verified by the Roman soldier that plunged his spear through His heart, when He then walked out of that tomb Jesus proved that He was the Christ, God’s Messiah. He restored His followers’ faith in Him. They believed that He was indeed “…..the resurrection and the life…” and that whoever put their faith in Him would live “…even though he were to die.” Jesus’ resurrection validated their faith and as a result they became bold in their evangelism. They found the answer to their SINS in the death of Jesus and the answer to their DEATHS in His resurrection. And Jesus’ continued living presence with them, even after His ascension, motivated and empowered them to share this message with all people. They literally turned the world upside down because Jesus’ resurrection changed faith once and for all. It authenticated it.
And you know Jesus’ message is just as fresh, relevant, and powerful today as it was when it was first preached and written, for He still lives! This is why Christians all over the world can sing, “MY FAITH has found a resting place not in device or creed: I trust the EVER-living One-His wounds for me shall plead.” Even after two millennia, men and women across this planet embrace a faith in Jesus Christ. They still exult in the forgiveness of sins and the assurance of life everlasting that ONLY Jesus brings. Millions of trustworthy people CONTINUE to testify that they have actually met and continue to relate to the risen Christ. Now please note. I am not talking about one or two or even a few hundred cases of individuals who have put their faith in Jesus. I am referring to thousands of years of human history in which some of our best and finest thinkers-well-adjusted, educated, emotionally healthy people all over the world who have borne witness to a real experience with the living Christ-political leaders, chief justices, scientists, sociologists, economists, as well as honorable butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers. They all testify to being loved by God, and to having received forgiveness from Him. They claim to know Jesus and that He walks through life with them giving His personal guidance. All these thousands of millions of people from every different culture and sociological strata are not hallucinating. They are not part of some global conspiracy. They actually know Jesus and have put their faith in Him and, as I tell you every Easter, I am one of them! The risen Christ has been my constant Companion and Guide for over 40 years now. If you know Him, if you have met and follow our RISEN Lord, would you raise your hand? He is risen! He is risen indeed. And because He is our faith is not in vain. My preaching each week is not pointless. We are not lost in our sins.
So, you see when it comes to religion-when it comes to relating to the one true God-Jesus forever changed the concept of faith. By rising from the dead-He proved that He is the ONLY Son of God, THE way, THE truth, THE life-the only One Who is worthy of our faith.
You know, people often make the mistake of thinking that religion is like a huge buffet table, from which you can pick and choose the beliefs that you personally find appetizing. Since 9-11 this philosophy seems to be spreading. It’s getting more and more popular in our culture to believe that religion is a “personal thing” that each individual can develop or discard according to his own whim. Well, as far as religious freedom goes, that is true. Everyone does have the constitutional right to choose whether or not to worship and, to some extent, how to do so. But as far as TRUTH goes, it’s a whole different ball game. You see, truth is not determined by a matter of taste or preference. Truth is based on fact. And this is what makes the Christian faith so unique. It is not based upon religious whim. It is based the historical fact that Jesus Christ died and rose from the grave.
In an article published a few years ago in NEWSWEEK magazine, Billy Graham said, “I have crossed paths with people who hold virtually every kind of religious and philosophical view imaginable. Often I am moved by the intensity of their spiritual searching and by the depth of their commitment. But at the same time as the years have gone by, I myself have become even more convinced of the UNIQUENESS and truth of the Gospel of Christ. Jesus was not just another great religious teacher, nor was He only another in a long line of individuals seeking after spiritual truth. He was, instead, TRUTH itself. He was God incarnate. When I seek to point people to Christ, it is because I am convinced that He ALONE is God’s answer to life’s deepest problems. I have seen Him bring changes in the lives of countless individuals who have turned to Him in true repentance and faith.”
You see only FAITH in Christ is VALID because only Jesus rose from the dead. No other religious leader defeated death so none other can make these claims. So, saying “All roads lead to heaven” is ridiculous. It’s like saying I can dial any number and the phone will still ring at my home. By His resurrection Jesus forever changed our perspective on faith for in so doing He proved that He is the ONLY way to God and that faith in Him is the only VALID faith. But you know, the validation of our faith is not the only thing that has been affected by that visit to Jesus’ empty tomb.
2. It has also affected the way we LIVE our LIVES.
In verse 19 of today’s text Paul said, “If for this life ONLY we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Now, Paul wrote this at a time when professing a public faith in Christ could very well cost you your life. Many Christians of his day lived with the threat of death or persecution because of their faith. In fact throughout the 2,000 year history of the church, including this very day, Christians have suffered torture, abuse, persecution, mockery, and death. Now, if this life is all there is, anyone would have to be nuts to endure such mistreatment. If Jesus did not rise from the dead and in so doing conquer death for us, then anyone would be a fool to allow themselves to be even slightly inconvenienced for the sake of their faith. As Paul wrote in verse 32, “If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'”
But, the fact that Jesus HAS indeed risen proves that eternity is real which leads us to change our perspective on living. It leads us to focus on things that have eternal value instead of wasting our time on things that don’t. We learn to “…lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupts and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Earthly things diminish in importance.
You see, without the Resurrection, we don’t take the afterlife seriously. When we don’t take that seriously, we aren’t’ apt to make any radical changes on this side of life. A few years ago I was zipping around the beltway when I saw a State Trooper parked on the side of the road. I instinctively hit the brakes and slowed-you know, just to be sure I was under the speed limit. Then, as I passed the patrol car, I discovered that it was only a prop-a life-size cut out of a police car, very realistic-but only a prop. I checked my speed that day because I believed the speed trap was real. And you and I are like that because reality that we take seriously, seriously changes the way we live our lives. And when Christians take seriously the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and all that it implies, then they make serious changes to their lives on this earth.
In that same issue of NEWSWEEK magazine from which I quoted Billy Graham there is an article that chronicles the impact that the resurrection had on Christians in the early church. The writer observed that once death lost its power over their lives, life itself took on new meaning for these first Christians. The article quoted sociologist Rodney Stark of the University of Washington who saw dramatic evidence of this in the way that Christians responded to the plagues that repeatedly hit the citizens of the ancient Roman Empire. He wrote, “The Romans threw people out into the street at the first symptoms of disease, because they knew it was contagious and they were afraid of dying. But the Christians stayed and nursed the sick. You could only do that if you thought, ‘So what if I die? I have life eternal.'” The resurrection of Jesus caused these early Christians to focus on things of eternal significance so, they had special compassion for widows, orphans, the aged and the sick.
But you know, not only does Jesus’ resurrection help us to see the importance of living for things of eternal significance; as I said last Sunday, it also provides the POWER for us to do so. And this is what He had promised. In John 8 Jesus said, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin…so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Now think about that for a minute. Let’s consider the POWER that the resurrection has provided for you and me. As Bill Hybels suggests, think about all the times you felt powerless to fight off a particular sin. Now, add to that sense of powerlessness the defeat you feel after every other sin you have ever committed-all the times you’ve let a cruel word slip out, lied, yielded to greed, were selfish, had an adulterous thought, lost your temper, spoke a malicious word in gossip-add it all up.
Pretty intimidating, isn’t it? But you’re not done yet. Multiply the power needed to overcome the sins in your own life by the numbers of all the people who ever lived. From Adam and Eve, through Homer, Plato, and Socrates, to Genghis Khan, King Arthur-all the babies who have ever been born or ever will be. Take ALL their sin and add it together-not just the sins they did openly, but also the secret sins that held them prisoner and that frustrated them in defeat. Don’t’ forget to throw in the sins of Adolph Hitler and Osama Bin Laden and all the suicide bombers as of late. And don’t leave out the serial killers, drug addicts, the Enron executives who in essence stole the retirement funds of their employees. Make sure all that gets put into the equation.
Now, the power to break out of your sin alone seemed unlikely enough, but the thought that there could be enough spiritual power to completely obliterate the choke hold of every sin that would ever be committed by anyone who ever lived-well that is beyond our comprehension. Every person who has ever lived added to, rather than subtracted from the pile, everyone, that is, except for One individual.
That’s the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a power that could overcome every spiritual failing, every sin, every weakness, in one explosive act. What we are powerless to do in our own lives, Christ was powerful enough to accomplish for everyone who would believe and access this power. This is why Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13). This is what he was referring to in Romans 6 when he said,”…since Christ was raised from the dead, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires, for sin shall not be your master…you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness.” Our Risen Lord truly frees us from enslavement to sin.
This means He also frees us from any power the adversary exerts on our life-the evil one who tries to discourage us and weaken us so that we give up trying to live for Jesus. You know, I have discovered a trend. Every Easter and every Christmas as I hunker down and study and attempt to prepare to proclaim the wonderful truth of Jesus’ birth and life and death and resurrection-each year at this time the adversary attacks. In fact this year pretty much every Monday for several weeks he has done so through some sort of crisis-one of those difficult “nightmares” that threaten to discourage me and distract me from my primary task. I think of them as “discouragement bombs” that weaken me and sap my strength.
In the midst of one week’s discouragement I thought, “Well, I’m just not going to go into the office next Monday. I’ll take my laptop and my Bible and get away from the phones and that way I will avoid the depressing assaults of the adversary.” But Jesus must have heard me, because He said, “Mark, it doesn’t matter if satan sends a bomb to you EVERY day. I will be there to help you deal with it! Practice what you preach man! Remember, ‘Greater is ME Who is in you than he who is in the world.” That is the power of the resurrection in my life. I have a living Lord Who stands beside me and helps me deal with the inevitable problems that come from living in a fallen world. The visit those ladies paid to that tomb transformed my life in that way.
So, because of His resurrection, Jesus has validated our faith and changed the way we live our lives. But He has done more than that.
3. His resurrection has also changed our perspective on DEATH.
As I told you last Sunday, all people have a deep, abiding fear of death. This is why most people tend to evade graveyards. We don’t like to hang around things that remind us of our mortality. And this is nothing new. Death has always been humanity’s greatest enemy. Cloaked in mystery, clouded by darkness, death has always touched the human heart with a chill of despair. Homer hit the nail on the head when he said, “What is called life is destroyed by death, and none can take away its terror.” This fear of death comes from the belief that what waits us at the end of our lives is destruction and nothingness. This is what Paul was referring to in verse 18 of our text when he said that”If Christ has not been raised, then those who have died in Christ have [indeed] perished.”
But you see, since that tomb was empty-since Jesus did conquer death-then we now know we have nothing to fear. As Hebrews 2:15 says, Jesus came to, “…free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” That first Easter Sunday morning Jesus knocked both ends out of the grave and transformed death from an alley with no exit-into a thoroughfare from earth to heaven for all who put their faith in Him.
Through His resurrection Jesus has shown us that our lives can be lived without a fear of death. As Paul said, “Now death has all its sting removed.” We can now live a life that is really IMMUNE to death if we put our faith in the Risen Lord Who promised, “he who believes in Me will live even though he dies.” Because He lives we know that death is not the end-it is the beginning.
People debate over whether or not Ben Franklin was a Christian. Well I came across the epitaph he requested for his own tombstone and I think it shows Who he put his faith in:
“Like the cover of an old book,
Its contents torn out,
And stripped of its lettering and guilding,
Lies here food for worms.
But the work shall not be lost
For it will (as he believes)
Appear once more,
In a new and more elegant edition,
Revised and corrected by the Author.”
Another man, known only to God expressed the same faith by having this engraved on his tombstone:
“Peas is not here…only the pod. Peas shelled out…went home to God.”
You know, Mark Twain once told of the night in the mid-1800’s when the Mississippi River cut through a narrow neck of land and actually changed course. He wrote that there was a black man-a slave-on a boat in the river that night. He went to sleep as a slave in Missouri and woke to discover that, because of the river’s change, the land he was in was Illinois, and he was a free man. That one day changed everything for him. And on Easter we celebrate because that one day has changed things for you and me. The day Jesus rose from the dead validated our faith. It has changed the way we live our lives, and it has even changed our perspective on death itself.
But you know in Jesus’ kingdom this change is done one person at a time. So, hear this: today Jesus wants to change your life. If you are not a Christian that change begins the moment you “confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.” I would rejoice all the more this Easter morning if any of you were to decide today to make that confession public.But you know Christians need to change too. And maybe all the activity of this past Holy Week has made some of us realize that there are areas in our lives that need changing. You may need a church home and feel God calling you to change this aspect of your lives by joining our church today. Or you may just need to recommit your life to Jesus, asking Him to help you change your focus on life, so that you learn to give up what you cannot keep in order to gain what you cannot lose. We sing to give you a chance to make public your desire to let Jesus change your life in any way.