BECAUSE HE LIVES
Death Has Lost Its Sting
EASTER CHANGES EVERYTHING ETERNALLY

1. Sin brought _______ into this ______
2. Jesus buries _____ and _______
3. Faith in a _______ Jesus gives _________ purpose

Welcome to worship today at Morrison Zion Lutheran Church. We exist to glorify God. We have set out to do this by gathering around the Gospel so that we may grow in the Gospel and go to others with this Gospel.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from Jesus Christ, our Lord:

Think of one of the great classic movies, Back to the Future, with Doc Brown and Marty McFly.  In movies like this where there seems to be such a big problem to fix, like how do you get Marty McFly back to the future and how do you get someone to understand what is going on.  There are a few times where you will hear Doc Brown say, “Do you realize what this means?!” like when Marty shows him the picture of his family and the siblings are disappearing.  Then they are trying to get him back into the future and Marty knows the time when the clock tower is going to get struck.  We know Doc Brown says “Great Scott!!” more often when he is surprised.  But he also says often, “Do you realize what this means?  That changes everything.”  There is this huge problem that you have to solve.  You have to figure out how this thing is going to get fixed.  Then you see it, you hear it, and you see what is going to fix it and you say, “Do you realize what this means?”

Today as we come together on Easter, that’s a question I want you to consider.  Why are we here on Easter?  Why is this an important day, not just for the church but for all of humanity?  Do you realize what this means?  What I would say is that Easter changes everything eternally.  That’s what it really means.  Easter has lasting consequences in this life but also in the next.  To understand that it has consequences and changes, we have to take a look at what this life is and what is in store.

As we see in our text, Paul is writing in this great resurrection chapter and he talks first about a mystery.  We will not all sleep…  He is talking about death.  There is death that we are all going to face.  A few verses later he is going to explain why there is death in this world and what sin is all about.  In Verse 56 he says, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”  Have you seen what happens in this world?  Sin brought death into this life.  God created everything perfectly, so this world really wasn’t supposed to be this way, but what does that mean for you in this life?  “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”

My question is when you go about your day; do you consider all the ramifications of sin and death?  That sin brought death into this life?  What does it mean that there is death in this life?  What does it mean that there is sin in this life?  What does sin do?  A big problem is I think there are lots of people who go about their life not considering death, like “I’ll just go on living.  When I get to a certain age, then I’ll start thinking about this.  But I can live my life however I want.  I don’t have to consider God.  I don’t have to consider spiritual things because that’s such a far off thing.  Death seems like such a foreign thing and something I don’t have to worry about.”  Until you do; until it stings someone you love way before they were supposed to be leaving this earth.  Why is that here?  The pain of sin is here and that brings about death.  Sin is in everything!  Our world doesn’t want to talk about sin.  The biggest thing I think our world doesn’t want to talk about is that sin is in you and in each and every one of us.  I like to say it this way:  The world likes to talk about things like the problem is out there.  That person needs to change.  If that party…; If those people…; If the people in your relationships…; If they would just change, then everything would be fine.  I don’t need to change.  I’m not the problem.  But death tells us that sin is in each and every one of us because we think we’re in control.  We think we have it all under control.  We think we know what is right and good, but death tells us we don’t have control and that sin is in each and every one of us.  It destroys us.  It destroys relationships.  It separates you from God and it separates you from one another.  It makes you prideful.

Here it talks about the power of sin is the law.  Think about your relationships with your kids.  When you tell them what to do, “Don’t do this.  Do that,” do they say “Okay” and then follow that law?  Or is it when we hear the law, then our sinful nature just bubbles up all the more?  This is the problem with each and every one of us.  Because of that sinful nature, our hearts are idol factories.  We desire what is best for us but we don’t know what that is, so we need something, something that will change everything.

This is what this whole chapter, this whole section is about.  Something that happens that changed everything.  It changes not just your eternity but your here and now.  It’s that Jesus really came and that Jesus really lived and He died.  What does that mean?  Look what we see.  “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  “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.  Though sin and death are here, Jesus buries sin and death.

Jesus is no longer in the tomb, but what is?  Sin and death are there.  Jesus came here to live perfectly for you, to be a Servant of all, to go to the cross.  His closest disciples, as we heard in the Gospel Lesson, were continually confused and didn’t understand Him because they were always thinking about themselves as well, the same as we do.  “Can I have a place of authority?”  But, He came to suffer and to die for each and every one of us, to bury sin and death, because He died and rose again.

He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  These words are very similar to another writing of Paul.  Romans 7 is one of my favorite sections of Scripture because often people will talk about what a Christian life should look like.  Paul, in Romans 7, describes that he, as a believer, understands he has this horrible struggle inside of himself.  Because of baptism, because of faith, because of God’s working in him, he has a new self but that old self is still in there.  He says “I don’t do the things I want to do.  No, the things I do not want to do, I keep on doing those things.  Who will rescue me from this body of wrath?!”  His answer is “But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We have the Savior that though in this life we continue to struggle with sin, we have a Savior that overcomes the greatest of your sins.  Is there anyone who is not worthy to be in these seats today, to hear of this love and forgiveness—that Jesus died for you and rose again?  This is for you.  This is the truth.  We can struggle with it, but our feelings don’t equal facts.  What are the facts?  Jesus died and He has risen again.  We can feel this way and we can feel that way, but we need to be reminded that Jesus really died.  He is really the Savior.  What that means for you is that it’s true.  Cling to this!  Each and every one of you, because of what Jesus has done, and that faith, that baptism that connects you to Him, you died with Him and you rise again to live a new life so you can glorify Him and give thanks, knowing you are forgiven.

But we still have some pain and suffering in this world.  If you’ve suffered loss, if you understand that there is this sin, what do we do with this life now?  How do we deal with death?  We understand that you can work and you can strive for so much.  What are the things that you can put your identity in?  You can put your identity in being the best parent and put your identity in your kids and make it all about them.  Yes, be a good parent, but is that your only identity?  Or, you could put your identity into your work or your spouse or all these other things—your money, your reputation.  As we do this, we can work for so many things that in the end are temporary, but what is actually eternal?

Paul writes in the last verses:  Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm.  Let nothing move you.  Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  People work for so much in this life but often they still find themselves unfulfilled.  They reach this accomplishment and then, “Okay, now what?  What is next?”  But faith in a risen Jesus gives eternal purpose.  As we know, He has given us that forgiveness.  In the rest of the world, you will strive and work.  You’ll hear about the law.  But here in the Bible, here in worship, you hear that you are loved and forgiven and that everything we do in the name of Jesus, if that’s loving my family, if that’s serving at work faithfully, and especially sharing about Jesus, it has an eternal purpose.  It’s not just for this life but for life eternal.

Death is something we know that we will all face but I want you to remember two things especially.  Your resurrection is as certain as your death.  And if you are fearful, if you are worried about death, if you have friends that are uncertain of what is ahead, tell them about Jesus.  If you are struggling, remind yourself about Jesus because our resurrection is certain.  That’s what it means to have an eternal purpose.  Our faith in Jesus gives us that.  For you, as a Christian, death is not the destiny, but eternal life.  Through all our striving, when we are in the Lord, when you have faith in Jesus, we have hope and peace.

There still is the sting of sin.  The hurts and the pain that other people cause you, the pain that this world causes us and that sting of death are still here.  But the reality is what is death and facing death without Jesus, without the hope of this eternal life, without a certainty of the resurrection?

When we go to a funeral, we have joy and hope and peace because it’s like someone who is outside and there is a bee out in the yard.  If you’re immune to it, are you afraid of that bee?  It might frighten you.  You might not want the sting.  But it’s not going to kill you.  Without faith, that stinger is deadly!  But there is help.  With faith, because of the work of Jesus, that sting has been removed.  That pain, that poison is gone.

So yes, in this life there still is sadness and struggles, but Jesus gives it all a purpose.  He gives us all hope because it’s not just for this life but for eternity.  When we look at the difference between our short lives and life with Jesus forever, it changes everything.  You have an identity, an eternal identity, in Jesus.  You are not defined by your sin.  You are not defined by your mistakes.  You are defined by Jesus and that empty tomb.  Do you realize what this means?  Do you realize what Easter is all about?  Easter has changed your life eternally.  So we go with life, not living out anything in vain but standing firm, believing the truth that Jesus really died and rose again to give us life eternal.  Amen.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ^{(Philippians 4:7)} Amen.