Immanuel Lutheran Church, Springfield, IL November 9, Resurrection from the Dead Twice!

Transcription

1 The Twenty-second Sunday After Pentecost Rev. Darrell Debowey Immanuel Lutheran Church, Springfield, IL November 9, Thessalonians 4:13-18: 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. Resurrection from the Dead Twice! TEXT Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Grace and peace in Christ especially to Maddie and her family on this special day! The text for today s message is the Epistle reading from St. Paul s first letter to the church in Thessalonica. INTRODUCTION When we want to soften the impact of bad news, or talk about a difficult subject, we use euphemisms. A euphemism is a friendly, polite, or even humorous way of talking about the difficult things in life. If you need to fire someone, what do you do? You let them go. A person isn t unemployed, instead he s between jobs. In the old days, you never said that a woman was pregnant, you said she was in a family way. And, as you would expect, we have a lot of euphemisms for death. Most often, we hear that a person passed away, or he simply passed, or departed. Page 1

2 But there s others, lots of others: He s pushin up daisies. He s six feet under. He bit the dust. He bought the farm. He cashed in his chips. He met his maker. He kicked the bucket. He s sleeping the big sleep. He shuffled off his mortal coil. He became a root inspector, which is another way of saying, he s on the wrong side of the grass. These are ways we talk about death without mentioning the word, death. Now, the Bible isn t afraid to talk about death directly, but God s Word also uses euphemisms for death. In the Old Testament, when a person died, he went down to Sheol. Sheol is a euphemism for the grave or death. And in the New Testament, when a believer in Jesus dies, that person has fallen asleep. Thus, the apostle Paul writes in our text: 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. God s Word doesn t mince any words: Jesus the incarnate Son of God died on the cross to save you from your sins and He rose again for your justification to make you right with God. He didn t pass away; He didn t buy the farm; He isn t pushing up daisies He died on the cross and He rose again to win for you and for all people the forgiveness of sins. And along with being very forthright about the death of Christ, this term that the New Testament uses for the death of a believer in Jesus to fall asleep is more than a euphemism it s a theological reality. For the person who has been baptized into Christ Jesus, death has lost its power its grip on that person. In Christ, the death of the mortal body is merely sleep; and when Jesus returns on Judgment Day, He who has the power over death will raise all the dead and give everlasting life to all who believe in Him. Page 2

3 There are two words for resurrection in the New Testament. One is anastasis it means to stand up again. If you know an Anastasia, her name means, resurrection. The other word for resurrection in the New Testament is, to wake up. In Matthew s Gospel, when Jesus came to the house of Jairus, where people were gathered to mourn the death of Jairus daughter, Jesus told them, Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping. Then Matthew records what Jesus said and did: Taking her by the hand he said to her, Talitha cumi, which means, Little girl, I say to you, arise. In modern English vernacular, Jesus said, Little girl, I say to you, wake up! As God, Jesus has power over all things even death. Death is no more a challenge for Jesus than for a mom waking up her kids unless its for school or church! In the little town of Bethany, Jesus had three good friends two sisters, Mary and Martha, and their brother, Lazarus. Lazarus became sick and died. Jesus arrives four days later, and Lazarus is already in the grave in the tomb. When Jesus arrives, Martha confronts Him: Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world. Then Jesus goes to the tomb where the body of Lazarus was already decomposing, and by the power of His Word, raised him from the dead. Page 3

4 The apostle Paul comforts the Christians of Thessalonica with this promise of resurrection from death and the grave for those who die in Jesus. They were worried about the fate of believers who died before Jesus returns on Judgment Day. They thought wrongly that those who died before Jesus return would be lost. But Paul assures them of Jesus power over death: 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. Paul assures not only the Christians of Thessalonica, but all Christians, that on the Last Day, the dead in Christ will rise first their souls and bodies reunited in the resurrection and together with all believers living and dead they will live with Jesus in the new heavens and the new earth forever and ever. Paul can give this kind of assurance to the Christians of Thessalonica because he knows that all who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have already been raised from the dead! That s right, the baptized believer has already been raised from the dead once raised from the spiritual deadness of sin. For that person, temporal death and the grave are merely sleep in Christ Jesus. Listen to what the apostle Paul teaches about this first resurrection in the Book of Romans: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we Page 4

5 have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. CONCLUSION A few moments ago in her baptism, Maddie died to sin and rose again to newness of life in Christ. In those holy waters, by the power of His Word, the Holy Spirit came to Maddie; He gave her the gift of life and faith in Jesus and the forgiveness of all her sins. In those waters, Maddie became a child of God. But those wonderful gifts of baptism aren t holy magic or voodoo. Her young, Baptismal faith in Christ Jesus is a lot like a plant when it first sprouts it needs sunlight, water and nutrition to live and grow. So, Maddie s young faith in Jesus needs spiritual sustenance to grow. That spiritual sustenance comes through the life-giving Word of God. Her faith will live and grow as you spend time together in God s Word at home, talking about Jesus in your devotions but especially through regular worship where she can receive God s gifts of life and forgiveness in Christ and be assured of God s love and care Sunday School through confirmation classes and Bible study, and eventually through the Lord s Supper. Her faith needs these things to live and grow, so that she may not only live in Jesus now and always, but one day Page 5

6 die in Jesus as well with the hope and promise of the second resurrection the resurrection to eternal life in heaven with Jesus. In Jesus Name. Amen. Page 6