Sermon manuscript:
There is a man named Elon Musk who is very busy. He owns and
oversees several companies. Tesla and Space X are the most famous. For a brief
time this year he surpassed Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, as the richest person in
the world when his stock prices went way up. The reason why Elon Musk is so
thoroughly believed in that people are prepared to throw their money at him is
because he is so forward looking. He is looking for the next big thing.
There is one project of his that seems to be more along the
lines of science fiction than what is actually possible. He’d like to make a
direct connection between our brains and computer systems by implanting wires
into our skulls. This would mean that we could control computers just by
thinking. We wouldn’t have to use our fingers (which Elon Musk likes to call
“meat sticks.”) This would give human beings even more power than they already
have with our current, slow, keystroke by keystroke communication with computer
systems.
It also opens up one more possibility that is relevant to
Easter. This is where it seems to be really far out. If this project works as
well as Elon Musk is hoping it will work, then human beings might be able to
save their consciousness on machines. It would be like how we save documents
and pictures on our computer or on the cloud. Perhaps it would eventually be
possible to download consciousness to another body after this body wears out. A
person could perhaps extend his or her consciousness indefinitely. The goal is
eternal life.
This goal is an old one, and its predecessors have not
worked out very well. About thirty years ago there were people who were very
excited about cryogenics. This is where a body is put into a deep freeze in the
hopes that eventually technology will advance to the point where they can be
resurrected. Thus there are a few dozen bodies moldering away in freezers in a
warehouse in California. The ancient Egyptians also believed that they could
preserve a person’s body. They began the practice of embalming bodies several thousand
years ago. Despite Hollywood, those mummies have never yet come back to life.
But even if these things could work and would work, the
resurrection that they promise is still a far cry from the resurrection of
Easter, and Jesus’s resurrection that is promised to those who are his. Those
like Elon Musk, who are searching for eternal life, are looking for a mere
continuation of this present life. There is no fundamental change that takes
place. Things just continue on like they always have. The hope, even for those
whose lives might be extended in this way, is to just make the most of it.
With Jesus’s resurrection from the dead, there are most
certainly fundamental changes that make post-resurrection life very different
from pre-resurrection life. Jesus’s resurrection was not just a return to
“normal.” When you are resurrected, it also won’t be a return to “normal.” So
today let’s explore what Jesus’s resurrection means and the way that it changes
our life.
First of all, when Jesus died the devil was defeated. When
Jesus rose, we were able to know that and make use of it. To speak about Jesus
defeating the devil is about as fundamental as we can get when we are speaking
about our life. The bible speaks of the devil as the prince of this world. He
has many powers and authorities. Since we are born in sin, we naturally belong
to him, and we serve him as we carry out his will. The change that took place
in Adam and Eve with their fall into sin makes us all subject to the devil. And
even when we have been converted and baptized, we find it all too easy to
return to our submission to him.
But while we are weak, Jesus is strong. His death broke the
devil’s power completely. The devil no longer has any real power. He has no rights
over anyone. The only way that he has any power whatsoever is by lying. He has
to steal people away from Jesus with his lies, falsely convincing them of what
is not true. Because the truth is that all human beings and every individual
belong to Jesus. He has purchased us, not with gold or silver, but with his
holy, precious blood, and with his innocent suffering and death. Atonement has
been made. Justification of the ungodly has taken place. Jesus’s resurrection
is proof of that.
Let’s explore how Jesus’s resurrection is proof of our justification.
This is similar to the way that death was proof of Adam and Eve’s
transgressions and God’s anger concerning that sin. When Adam sinned, a
fundamental change took place. The Scriptures say: “The sting of death is
sin, and the power of sin is the Law.” Sin is the sting of death. It’s what
brings it about. The power of sin is the Law. The reason why sin brings about
death is because God says that in the day you eat of it, you will surely die.
Or, as it says elsewhere, “The wages of sin is death.” Death is proof of
God’s righteous anger against sin.
Resurrection, therefore, is proof of God’s approval. God the
Father is well pleased with God the Son, Jesus Christ. Having judged,
condemned, and punished the sins of the whole world in Jesus, the guilt is
atoned for. The Father is pleased to raise him back to life. Jesus fulfilled
what God’s Law demands for transgression. He died, even though he is God.
Thus God would now deal with us according to Jesus instead
of according to the Law. Jesus has brought about reconciliation between God and
mankind. In him we died and are raised. This is all Jesus’s doing. It is none
of our doing. The Law is all about our own thoughts, words, and deeds. Our
relationship with God doesn’t have that as the basis now that we are in Christ.
If that were still the basis, then nobody would have God’s approval. But Jesus
died for all, therefore all died. All died when Jesus died. All were raised
when Jesus was raised. Through Adam came sin, then death. Through Christ comes
righteousness, then everlasting life.
So let’s loop back again and relate what we have said to our
question: What is the difference between life pre-resurrection and life
post-resurrection? What does the defeat of Satan and God’s approval for Jesus’s
sake have to do with how life has been changed? Already we can see that life
has completely changed just by talking about life using these terms and ideas.
We are not predisposed to think or talk or act this way.
When was the last time you told somebody that Jesus has
defeated the devil? Has it been a while? When was the last time that you
meditated on God’s perfect and wholehearted approval of you since you have been
baptized into Christ? Has that been a while too? Well, then, what have you been
doing with your time? All kinds of things, right? A goodly chunk of that stuff
has probably been good too. You’ve done some work. You’ve enjoyed your friends
and family. You’ve enjoyed the weather. We are preprogrammed to think that
basically all the stuff besides God and the devil is the real stuff of life.
Folks might go days and days, weeks or years, without thinking about the devil
or God. They are too busy living their life.
The resurrection suddenly brings God to the forefront. All
of a sudden life isn’t about money, entertainment, creating memories, or
advancing civilization. Life is about you and the God who created you. We have
a remarkable ability to pretend that God doesn’t exist. There are all kinds of clever
resources out there to help further people along in that delusion too. But he
does exist, and you will see him face to face. This is always either the best
thing that has ever happened to somebody or the worst thing that has happened
to somebody depending on whether they believe in the way, the truth, and the life
that is Jesus Christ, or whether they believe the devil’s lies.
Either way, this life is going away. Nobody will be able to
remain in this limbo, where a person can end up having a pretty nice life even
while ignoring both God and the devil. The pleasures and richness of this life
isn’t too bad. This is why Elon Musk and others are interested in perpetuating
it, hopefully indefinitely. By the way, this is also the popular conception of
heaven. Heaven is seen as a continuation of this life, with all the rules that
we are familiar with in place—including an absence of the Holy God of the
Bible.
But this in-between state, where we are free to enjoy God’s
pleasures without having anything to do with him, will not go on. In fact,
sometimes, God, in his mercy, will take away the pleasures of life so that we
are less distracted by them. He did this with Job, who wrote what we heard in
our Old Testament reading. He came about as face to face with God as anybody
has in this life. A confession was squeezed out of him like juice from a
winepress. But it is infinitely better to have a life like Job’s during this
time of grace where a person can still repent, than to die comfortably in your
bed, surrounded by loved ones, but believing that you can live a blessed life apart
from God and his Christ.
Life will not be lived apart from Christ and apart from God.
Just prior to where our Epistle reading picks up, Paul says, “Then comes the
end, when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has done
away with every other ruler and every other authority and power.” A little
bit later he says, “Then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one
who subjected all things to him, in order that God may be all in all.”
The end point of all existence is that God will be “all
in all.” All things are going to be brought into subjection to Christ.
There won’t be independent existences out there where someone can safely ignore
God, like they seemingly can do in this life. In fact, Jesus himself will
subject himself to God so that, as Paul says, “God will be all in all.”
How can we imagine that heaven will merely be a family reunion or a mere
continuation of life as we have known it in this world? God will no longer be
avoidable. He will be all in all.
This is bad news for all those who want to continue to live as
though God doesn’t exist, or as though God has not revealed himself in Scripture,
or as though God has not ultimately spoken to us by his Son, Jesus of Nazareth.
It is bad news for all those who want to remain in darkness so that their evil
deeds will not be exposed. But it need not be bad news.
From the beginning Christians have called this message not “bad
news,” but rather, “good news.” That is what the word “Gospel” means. It means,
“good news.” And the Gospel is good news, because it tells us what the will of
God is towards us. God does not want us merely to continue on forever with this
earthly existence. This earthly existence is not good enough. The goodness that
is within it is all too easily perverted. Even the very best of things that we
might enjoy in this life are always mixed with a little bit of evil. In the
life of the world to come God is all in all. God is not evil. The evil,
therefore, is no more.
We have not yet experienced this, so we can’t know what it
is really like. We’ll have to wait until we meet God in heaven to begin to
understand that. But we can and do already know something of God’s goodness. We
know the goodness of being loved as a child. We know the goodness of loving as
a parent. We know the goodness of laughing with friends. We know the goodness
of being a man or being a woman. We know the goodness, even, of sexual
relationships.
We also know that all of these good things get messed up and
disordered. The evil one does all he can towards that. But God sets these
things straight. By the blood of Jesus he cleanses. He heals. He sets you on
the right path. That path will take you to that place where God is all in all.
That is something to look forward to. Brace yourself, in fact, it is that good.
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