God's Revolution

We are celebrating this morning what we celebrate every Lord’s Day. We are celebrating the fact that two thousand years ago, our Lord burst out of a tomb that had been guarded by a regiment of Roman soldiers. We are celebrating this fact because it continues to be the fact that changes everything. The end of the story always matters the most. The end of the story always has a way of changing what has already happened. And the glory of Easter is that we know the end of the story now, and it changes everything. And I want to remind you now at the beginning of our service of three important things that it changes: First, if Jesus was raised from the dead, so will you as well. You will be raised up with the same body you’re sitting in right now. And if Jesus had scars from his cross, you will too. That scar from the cut you got in middle school, the gash on your chin when you hit the fireplace, the line from that surgery you had. Those are scars that you will never lose, only they will not be signs of weakness, they will be glorious badges and tokens of God’s goodness and power in your life. If Jesus was raised, and he was, then you will be raised. Secondly, all those who have died in Christ will be raised. And we confess this, but we ought to be reminded of the kind of God we serve. We serve the God of Easter, the God of Resurrection grace. And that means that we serve the God who overflows with grace. God is a gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness. When we get there at the last day, we will not be mostly happy, mostly satisfied, mostly pleased. We experience God’s grace and kindness everyday and none of it will even begin to compare to the wisdom and grace of God that will be revealed. God’s mercy and grace will extend to a number that no man can count. His mercy is to a thousand generations and the resurrection will prove it to be true. Lastly, the resurrection of Jesus means that God puts everything back. God makes everything right. The resurrection of Jesus is our battle cry, our refusal to believe that sin and death have the last word because they don’t. The resurrection of Jesus means that God is right, and in Him we are right, and everything will be made right. That’s what we’re celebrating, that’s what we are declaring, and nobody can stop it. A pile of Roman soldiers got bowled over on that first Easter morning, and that will be the fate everyone else who tries to stop it. It cannot be stopped. The life of God has burst into this world, and it will not stop until our bodies and this whole world have been completely renewed by it.