Grace Church-Burlington

"The resurrection is not merely important to the historic Christian faith; without it, there would be no Christianity. It is the singular doctrine that elevates Christianity above all other world religions." Adrian Rogers

What a wonderful day this is, as all over the world Christians are celebrating Jesus as the Son of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, alive forevermore! Today we celebrate that we serve a living Savior, who arose bodily out of that tomb. And we look forward to that day when we shall stand with Him in a glorious heavenly Home which He has prepared for all who committed their lives to Him as their Lord and Savior. But even as we celebrate, our hearts are heavy with the realization that there is so much wrong with our world. Unrelenting hatred and evil seem to rule in the hearts of so many. This world is not a "nice" place and it is no friend of grace.

On Feb. 27, 1991, at the height of Desert Storm, Ruth Dillow received a very sad message from the Pentagon. It stated that her son, Clayton Carpenter, Private 1st Class, had stepped on a mine in Kuwait and was dead.

Ruth Dillow would later write, "I can’t begin to describe my grief and shock. It was almost more than I could bear. For three days I wept. For three days I expressed anger and loss. For three days people tried to comfort me, to no avail because the loss was too great." But three days after she received that message, the telephone rang. The voice on the other end said, "Mom, it’s me. I’m alive." Ruth Dillow said, "I couldn’t believe it at first. But then I recognized his voice and he really was alive." The message had all been a mistake! She said, "I laughed, I cried, I felt like turning cartwheels, because my son whom I had thought was dead, was really alive. I’m sure none of you can even begin to understand how I felt."

Jesus’ disciples certainly would have understood how she felt because they experienced the same emotions themselves. One day they watched their best friend, their leader, their teacher being nailed to a cross. They witnessed His pain as He cried out, "I thirst!" and "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" They listened as finally He bowed His head and said, "It is finished!" and "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit." They watched as His body was taken from the cross and buried. And all of their hopes and dreams were buried with Him.

Then, Friday and all day Saturday they mourned, until finally, on "the first day of the week, early in the morning," Scripture says, some women made their way along the path that led to His tomb, wondering who would roll away the stone for them. But when they arrived, they found that the stone had already been rolled away. And an angel there told them, "You’re looking in the wrong place. You’re looking for Jesus among the dead. He is not dead. He is alive. He is risen, even as He said!"

"He is risen!!" That’s what we celebrate this morning and every Sunday morning! Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and what a difference His resurrection has made! Have you ever thought about some of the transformations that the resurrection of Jesus has already made?

It transformed death and the grave. Before the resurrection, the grave was looked upon as the final chapter, the closing of a great door, the end of everything. But because of His resurrection, we can rejoice today that beyond death is where life really begins and it will never end. Doesn’t that make you wonder why we spend so much time worrying and scurrying and fretting about material things? Dale Evans once insightfully said, "I spent most of my life searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Then I finally found it at the foot of the cross."

All our lives, it seems, we work and struggle to accumulate things that we think are important. But when we’re dealing with death and what happens after death, then all of these things seem so trivial. What difference does it really make what kind of car we drive? Or what kind of house we live in? Or what clothes we wear? If we’re talking about eternity, then what difference do things really make? On one side of the resurrection, everything we see is temporary. Only the things we cannot see are eternal. What a difference the resurrection makes!

It transformed time. Before the resurrection, time was a limited thing. The Bible talks about the breath of life that we have in our nostrils and it’s gone. There’s no guarantee that when we exhale, we’ll ever inhale again. Life is brief indeed. Time is quickly slipping by. It’s going so fast that it’s hard to hold on to anything, isn’t it? On one side of the resurrection, time is brief. But on the other side, there is Jesus and eternity. That should change our whole purpose, as well as the meaning and scope of our life.

It transformed life itself. Have you been listening to the messages of the world lately? Have you been hearing the voices of fear, hopelessness and despair that seem to be so pervasive today? Suddenly we’ve become very painfully and personally aware of the presence of terrorism on our planet. Men and women of our armed forces are spread across the globe engaged in what is continual battle against the forces of hatred and evil. Then, there are diseases for which we have no cures. Our economy seems to be in one long downward spiral. There are problems in the home. Marriages are falling apart. Children are being abused. And if you watch and listen very long, you can be filled with despair. If the only hope that we have is the hope that this world offers, we have no hope because the message of this world is despair.

In direct contrast, Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). So even if life is wracked with pain, even if there is loneliness and sorrow, believers are able to go on, to find the strength and perseverance that comes through Jesus and the power of His resurrection.

That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." It’s Christ’s resurrection that makes all the difference both now and forevermore!