God’s
grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Children of the
Resurrection, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 20:27-40). Let us pray. Heavenly
Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the
house of the Lord.’” Now that we are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your
Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to
love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
On
All Saints Day 2006, I watched my mother die. In an instant, she transitioned
from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant. When I preached her funeral
sermon, I spoke of Mom joining Dad in heaven, something preachers say when a
surviving spouse dies.
Mom
taught me to avoid certain topics in polite company: politics, religion and any
pet peeves that would set off those joining us for Sunday dinner. To this list,
I would add death. Today, death must be a topic of conversation in a sermon
entitled “Children of the Resurrection.” I cannot speak of death from personal
experience, but I can offer a few thoughts on death, resurrection, judgment and
evangelization.
However
you phrase it – bought the farm, kicked the bucket, or the polite passed away –
death is medically defined as the end of life of an organism or cell,
manifested by the permanent cessation of vital organic functions. Chances are
we will die from cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, a lung
infection or an accident.
If
you suffer from thanatophobia – the fear of death or anything associated with
death – you are in good company. Thanatophobia affects millions. Writers and
movie producers prey on our fears by promoting a steady supply of murder
mysteries and zombie flicks. Others try to comfort us by touting heresy like The
Shack.
Few
people, such as Dr. Eben Alexander, the neurosurgeon who had a near-death
experience, offer anything positive. In his book, Proof of Heaven: A
Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife, Alexander writes, “Science
doesn’t contradict what I learned up there. But far too many people believe it
does, because certain members of the scientific community, who are pledged to
the materialistic worldview, have insisted again and again that science and
spirituality cannot exist.” … The doctor offers a healthy dose of medicine for
skeptics, and leads me to ask what our Church and God’s Word say about death?
Genesis
3 tells us that according to the order of creation, God did not subject
humanity to death, but it is a chief effect of original sin. The real
punishment of death is not the physical termination of life but the psychic
trauma and emotion accompanying it.
However
traumatic it is, Jesus reminds us that temporal death is not the end of the
person. Speaking of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, Jesus told the
Sadducees: “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him
all are alive.” On the cross, Jesus said to the thief, “Today you
will be with me in Paradise,” a reminder that in the moment of death
the souls of the believers enter the joy of heaven, and one’s personal identity
is not destroyed.
Christians
suffer the consequences of sin and death like everyone else, but there is a
vast difference between the death of a believer and a nonbeliever. 1st
Corinthians 15 reminds Christians that death lost its sting because we have the
forgiveness of our sins. Death is not punishment but deliverance. By faith we
overcome the fear of death and depart in peace.
Martin
Luther said that one can prepare for death through baptism, confession and
absolution and partaking in the Lord’s Supper. So, it comforts me knowing mom
prepared herself for death and resurrection.
Death
and resurrection. Our Gospel shows the priestly-class Sadducees understood and
accepted death, but not resurrection. They derived power from the first five
books of the Bible, but did not comprehend them. Jesus explained that while
death is the end of physical life, it is not the termination of existence. The
dead, though separated from this life, continued to exist. Jesus then refuted
the Sadducees by citing God’s revelation to Moses: “I am the God of your
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob”
As
a Christian, belief in Christ’s Resurrection is the guarantee of my
resurrection. Incredibly, some people identify themselves as Christians but
doubt Christ’s Resurrection. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, explain the
phenomenon of Christian movement. Explain the Church’s rapid expansion in its
first centuries despite active opposition if believers were not touched by an
awesome force that empowered them to create a whole new way of living. Explain
what happened if that power was not from God.
Another
day, I’ll address doubters, but as we near the end of the Church Year to begin
another Advent, we turn our attention not only to death and resurrection, but
also to Judgment and Christ’s Second Coming.
Christ’s
return is clearly taught in Scriptures. Acts records the apostles looking into
the sky as Jesus was ascending, when two men dressed in white asked, “Men
of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who
has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have
seen him go into heaven.” Like the apostles, we live in constant
expectation of His return.
Christ
comes to us now in Word and Sacrament, but His return at the end of time will
be visible, not veiled. Like lightning that flashes across the sky, the Last
Day will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Christ will
come in power and glory, appearing in splendor and majesty, accompanied by
angels, and you will recognize Him.
Of
course, we have no idea when Judgment Day will occur, but as a believer, know
that only God can and will raise the dead. As St. John tells us, “All who
are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth.” God will judge
all – believers, nonbelievers and fallen angels.
God
will judge not according to the Law, for that would render Christ’s work of
redemption on the Cross and the work of the Holy Spirit purposeless. God will
judge individuals according to whether they receive or reject the Gospel, that
is, whether or not you believe that Jesus Christ is your Savior.
You
know, some say that there are many ways to heaven. We disagree. There is only
one sure Way into heaven and that is through Jesus Christ. I know from your
presence here that you believe Jesus Christ is your Savior. Like my mom, none
of you should have any problem on Judgment Day. Body and soul, we shall enter
into the full glory of heaven. We will see beloved believers, but more
importantly, we will behold the Holy Trinity and be Children of the
Resurrection.
Children
of the Resurrection. I am certain you believe that you are a Child of the
Resurrection; however, I wonder … When did you last share with a nonbeliever
that Christians are Children of the Resurrection? Was it last week? Last month?
Within the last year?
Each
of us has reasons for not sharing the Good News. I fear sharing Faith more than
I fear dying. I fear people’s rejection more than I fear God’s rejection. I do
not share because I know so little about my Faith. I have not read the Bible
enough to understand everything God revealed. I am ignorant about our Synod’s
history and teaching. … Folks, my last point, evangelization, is simply sharing
the Good News that I am a Child of the Resurrection. … But do we share faith
with nonbelievers? I would venture to say we do not simply because we do not,
despite a laundry list of flimsy reasons and poor excuses.
We
can start sharing our faith with family. We start in simple ways by praying
before our meals. Since, two of our grandchildren and their parents have been
living with us, I ask a different person to pray before our meal. We also discuss
religion and faith in conversation. We love our grandchildren, but also know that
they were born into sin. Imagine that, grandchildren are born sinners! But
because we want them to be Children of the Resurrection, we share the Gospel
with them.
It's
great to share the Gospel with little ones. What prompts us to do that? What
drives us to share the Good News with children is the same force that moves us
to share it with nonbelievers – love.
As
Children of the Resurrection, when we share the Gospel with believers,
borderline believers and nonbelievers, we simply tell them we experienced God’s
love personally and witnessed it historically – in the Bible. God’s love
prompts me to love God and neighbor. I don’t love God and neighbor in the same
way, but I do love them.
If
I love God and neighbor, perhaps the reason I don’t share the Gospel with
nonbelievers is because I have predetermined their rejection of the Gospel, and
in God’s name I will be forced to sentence final judgment on them. … But a
nonbeliever’s no today may not be his final answer; and it’s not for me to
pronounce judgment or to choose who will hear the Gospel. The Gospel is for all
to hear – through me.
You
know, the mystery of God is so immense, expansive and overwhelming that if I
sat down and contemplated what it might be like to be a Child of the
Resurrection, I would pen a prayer in the vein of St. Paul to the Philippians. “For
me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body,
this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I
am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better
by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.”
What
kept Paul in the world is a desire of doing service for Christ and His Church.
This cast the balance with the apostle, and was the only enticing motive to
keep him here a while. He looked upon his abode in the flesh as an opportunity
of service. Paul was willing to die—yet content to live, so that he might be a
factor for Christ upon earth.
Like
Paul, may we be moved to love and serve Christ as evangelists until God calls
us to be Children of the Resurrection in heaven. Until then, may the peace of
God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus. Amen.[*]
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