Saturday, November 9, 2019

Pentecost 22 - Proper 27

Proper 27 – Pentecost 22
10 November 2019
Luke 20:27-40
After Death - Anything


In the creed we confess: “I believe in the resurrection…” To believe in the resurrection gives life an aim, purpose and goal. We all need goals in life. The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field but you never score – putting points on the board! 

Jesus our Lord and Redeemer gets us off the bench and into the game and guarantees that we will be productive.  Jesus’ words about our resurrection, which is the cornerstone of our faith, have meaning for us today as we close out the Church Year. Your Christian life is lived and expressed through resurrection power for we truly are EASTER PEOPLE!

Christians live as “sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36), for the Lord our God “is not God of the dead, but of the living.” (Luke 20:38) For the Lord, who was, and is and is to come, knows all about your sufferings and has “come down to deliver them.” (Exodus 3:8)

Two words make up our theme for today, “Saints Triumphant”. What is a Saint? A saint is any believer in Christ. Because of faith in the Savior you are blessed – you are a ransomed and redeemed child of God. You have been given a connection, a union, with the Lord Jesus.

But there’s more, you are a triumphant saint – successful conquering and victorious. Because Jesus has triumphed over the forces of sin, death, and the devil to Him belongs the victory. As the Savior reigns He passed the spoils of victory to you.  You have a Savior full of mercy! He does the work and gives you the credit. In Christ we are saints triumphant!

I.                     The Old Testament teaches the resurrection from the dead.

A. The Sadducees try to use the Old Testament to disprove the resurrection Saying, “Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.  There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took her to wife, and he died childless.  And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also: and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? For seven had her to wife.” (Vv. 28-33)

B.    Jesus uses the Old Testament to prove the resurrection. “And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:  But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.  Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.” (Vv.34-38)

C.    Other Old Testament passages support the resurrection. “For I know that my redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:  And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” (Job 19:25-27)

Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” (Isaiah 26:19)     And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2)

II.                   The New Testament teaches the resurrection.

A.  Jesus is the resurrection and the life. “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25)

B.      The resurrection consists of the restoration and glorification of the body. “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”  (1 Corinthians 15:42-49)

The reunion of the body and the soul. The definition of death according to Scripture is the separation of the body from the soul. Solomon writes thus, “and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”  (Ecclesiastes 12:7) When you and I say farewell to someone we love who has died it is not the last good-by. We shall see each other again. On earth they heard the Savior’s voice. In heaven they see His face.   

Yet, soon and very soon we shall see the King. On the last great day soul and body will be reunited. Our souls will be reunited with our transformed physical bodies, brought back to life from the dead. Says St. Paul, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:52)  “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.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

C.    Our resurrection has its basis in Christ’s redemption of the human family and in His resurrection. “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”  (1 Corinthians 15:17)

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” (1 Thessalonians 4:14)

D. Application: Jesus’ resurrection has significance for us not only on Judgment day but also right now; already in this life it effects us. The spiritual resurrection empowering us to live even more and more in harmony with the Father’s will.

III.                  It is consistent with the nature of God

A.    God created human beings for life not death. “For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.” (Vs. 38)

B.    The Father sent His Son to rescue fallen humanity. He buys us back redeems us. “For even the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

He gives us new life. – “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

C.    This gives power, purpose, and meaning to our life “…for all live to Him.” (Vs. 38)

Christ the life of all the living, Christ the Death of death, our foe. Who, Thyself for me once giving. To the darkest depths of woe, Thro’ Thy suffering, death, and merit, I eternal life inherit: Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, Dearest Jesus unto Thee.” (Christ the Life of all the Living, Lutheran Service Book copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis)
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Words – 1,435
Passive Sentences – 7%
Readability – 79.9%
Reading Level –5.7 
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