Jesus' Resurrection: The Answer to Hopelessness

 

“Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength 
and beauty and happiness.”  Floyd W. Tomkins 

Dr. Charles Johnson wrote in “Psychology Today”: “I find the degree of cynicism that permeates our world today striking and troubling…It is rare that a young person I work with expresses real hope about what lies ahead…I’m not in fact sure whether hope is warranted. Our times confront us with an array of truly existential challenges—climate change, nuclear proliferation, the specter of pandemic, and digital technologies that could run amok.” In other words, how do we cope with hopelessness?
  If you google suggestions for coping with hopelessness, they’re little more than suggesting cough drops for cancer. Suggestions like…stay present and focus on what’s happening now instead of worrying about the future. Name your feelings. Lean into your friendships. Find hope in a new hobby. Understand what’s behind your feelings. Be gentle with yourself.
  Is it any wonder that ours is such an anxious and often overmedicated culture, whether it’s prescribed or self-medicating with alcohol and illicit drugs? Yet, the world of the first century was similar, if not worse. It was only Christ’s resurrection that brought hope and was world changing.
  Christ-followers have a hope that scientific facts can’t explain. Martha, (John 11), understood this kind of hope. After her brother, Lazarus, died (and had been dead for four days), Martha met Jesus as He was arriving in Bethany. She said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Even now? Four days after her brother was dead, she still has hope? Yes. She desires her brother to live again and fully expects Jesus to make that a reality.
  In the face of death, Martha’s hope was centered on Jesus. Her faith was in the One who is the resurrection and the life. As Christ-followers, we have that same hope. It’s a hope that goes beyond rationality but is not irrational. It requires belief, and to many seems unbelievable. It goes beyond the purview of scientific investigation, and yet is historical fact. We have the hope of the resurrection of Jesus.
  Jesus’s resurrection is the foundation of Christian hope. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we know that death, man’s worst enemy, is defeated. We have hope that we will be fully redeemed. We have hope that there is a new creation coming. We have hope that everything wrong with the world will one day be made right. Our desire to see everything made new, mixed with the expectation that it will be, is what makes life worth it now.
  Resurrection hope is life changing. It defies medical wisdom. It comes face-to-face with death and says, “you lose.” It stares into the face of insurmountable odds and demands the impossible.
  In his book, Surprised by Hope, New Testament scholar N.T. Wright puts it this way, “Hope, for the Christian, is not wishful thinking or mere blind optimism. It is a mode of knowing, a mode within which new things are possible, options are not shut down, new creation can happen.”
  Christian hope is anchored in Jesus’ resurrection. It looks beyond the brokenness of this world and into a future of renewed creation. It’s our reason to live and look forward to the future. We know the worst “hell” of this life is temporary, yet life with Christ will be perfect for all eternity.
  The resurrection moves the credibility of religion from the stage of belief onto the stage of history. It breaks us out of the circle of personal experience. Frequently, those who are not Christians respond to Jesus’ resurrection with, “That’s just your interpretation.” That objection suggests that Christian faith is subjective: I believe it because I want to. However, the resurrection is not a matter of religious faith—it’s a matter of history, open to investigation by anyone who will honestly examine the facts.
  The historical evidence shows that: the grave was empty; the grave clothes were neatly left behind; the stone enclosing the tomb was rolled away; the body of Jesus was never found; the grave had been guarded by Roman soldiers; and no one ever claimed to have stolen the body.
  The presence of the grave clothes is very significant. The spices attached too had value. Anyone removing the body for profit would have taken the wrapped body away and separated out the valuable mixture. The placement of the grave clothes, like the placement of the stone, perfectly fits with the resurrection as the cause, rather than with human agency as the cause.
  Then, there are eleven eyewitness accounts (not counting Paul) recorded of Jesus appearing to people proving that He was resurrected. These appearances were to: men and women, individuals, couples, groups, and at least one crowd of 500. The appearances were inside and outside, in different locations, and at different times of the day. Jesus was physically touched, audibly heard, visually seen, and ate food in the presence of witnesses. None of these witnesses believed that Jesus would rise from the dead before He rose from the dead. All of them knew Him before His death, so they knew He was the same Jesus who died on the cross.
  Many of the principal eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus were killed because of their claim that Jesus was resurrected. Their lives would probably have been spared if they had recanted. This is very significant. We know that people will die for a cause, but these men and women died for a set of facts. They went to their grave rather than say that the facts were untrue. They died because they said the facts of the crucifixion and the bodily resurrection of Jesus were true.
  Christ-followers have a trustworthy hope based on historical fact and faith in God’s Word. We’re blessed, forgiven, redeemed, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing eternal life. We can now live according to our identity as children of God. This world is not our home. We have a new Home and perfect life awaiting us because our Lord is alive! And because He lives, as He has promised, we will live with Him forever! Now that’s true hope!

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

 

Easter Brings Hope

“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”   Woody Allen

  Is there anything worse than hopelessness? I’ve been down that dead end road more times than I want to remember. It seems there is no way out, it’s futile…all hope is gone.

  Can we even then begin to imagine what the disciples and Jesus’ followers must have felt when He cried out, “It is finished!”? It was the death of hope. No wonder they hid out in the upper room. Sure, they were frightened of the Jewish leaders but I think they huddled together in mutual hopelessness.

  Jesus’ resurrection is a message of many things. One of the greatest has to be that there is hope! The greatest enemy any of us will ever face is death, yet Jesus conquered death when He arose bodily from that tomb. And with His victory, He gave us hope.

  Sadly, we’ve tamed or domesticated Easter. It’s become just another holiday. It’s often devolved into little more than Easter egg hunts or baby chicks, rabbits or ducks. It’s about new clothes or family get-togethers. BUT it’s not! Sadly, even in the Church we’ve re-made Easter into something dull and bland. I heard of a church a few years ago where on Easter the pastor threw out beach balls, making it a big party. But Easter is not about springtime and renewal. It’s not gentle or warm and fuzzy.

  Read the biblical account. The Gospels shout at us with words and phrases like “terrified,” “bowed their faces to the ground” and “amazed by what had happened.” Those followers of Jesus had just gone through an unimaginably traumatic experience. Their beloved leader, who’d been called the Messiah and the King of the Jews, had been horribly tortured by Roman soldiers in Jerusalem only three days earlier and then publicly executed by the cruel, gruesome act of nailing Him to a cross. These were the most despondent and demoralized of people. They fled and sought to not to be associated with Jesus at the end. They were nowhere to be found – leaving only a few loyal women like Mary Magdalene and His mother, Mary, at the foot of the cross.

  Author, Annie Dillard, in her book, “Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters,” catches our domestication: “On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us out to where we can never return.” Easter is so awesomely powerful that we need a bomb disposal suit and a crash helmet. Easter is power beyond what we can imagine apart from Scripture and the eyes of faith, because Easter is true hope.

  Easter means that a holy God is satisfied! Jesus died to pay for our sins, the world’s sins, all sin – past, present and future. And a holy, just God is satisfied – the debt has been paid. For those who have come to the Cross and trusted Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, there is no more guilt. The debt has been wiped clean. Jesus paid it all, (Romans 8:1). The only reason a believer confesses sin is for renewal of fellowship, but the relationship is secure and eternal. Nothing else needs to be done. There is absolutely no more debt to pay. “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

  Easter means that all our suffering is temporary! All of us know or have a loved one who’s suffering with a broken, decaying body. Easter reminds us there is hope, because every believer has a new and perfect body awaiting them (1 Corinthians 15:53). No more suffering, no more pain, no more sickness.

  This past week I hit a wall. Being sick for so long began wearing on me. I cried out to my Heavenly Father and began to sob because I was so weary of this sickness. Yet, my time of sickness has been so limited compared to someone who’s been disabled or born with a handicap, or dealing with cancer or some other dreaded disease. And it’s all temporary! It will all ultimately end and there is a new and glorious body awaiting every believer which we will have for all eternity!

  It also means mental anguish is temporary. Many struggle with depression, anxiety, bi-polar disorder or some other mental/emotional malady. They grow so weary of the struggle, longing for relief, even death. Easter means even that any and all suffering is temporary. Easter is God’s dynamite ultimately blowing all our suffering away. It means we have pure joy everlasting awaiting us!

  Easter means that our worst situations are all fleeting! God has blessed me with a wonderful marriage and family. I have the greatest job in that I have the privilege of sharing the Word each week. On top of that, God has blessed me with the privilege of being your Pastor. Yet, this joy was not always my situation. As a teen, I felt my circumstances with an addicted, volatile father and as a motherless child were eternal – they weren’t. And neither is your situation. I know some are in miserable marriages. Some carry the heartache of a wayward child or a fragmented family. Some struggle in horrendous work situations. Yet, because of family obligations or because they’re nearing retirement, they’re trapped. Yet, it’s all temporary. Someday there will be no strained or contaminated relationships. Easter is the power that shouts into our soul – “The worst of this world is transient!”

  Easter means that our sin and the curse of death are conquered! Please read 1 Corinthians 15. At the end Paul seems to shout, ““O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (vss. 55-57).

  Not only is the penalty of sin totally paid, the power of sin has been eradicated and ultimately, the very presence of sin will be removed. It means as I stood recently by the casket of my adopted Mom and so many other loved one through the years who have died in Jesus, it is never “Good-bye.” It is instead only “Good night! I’ll see you in the morning, that great Resurrection morning!”

  Easter is power! Power beyond anything in this broken world. Christian friend, let the Spirit unleash its power in your life (Philippians 3:10-11). Live in Easter’s power! And please share this power and the message of Easter, the only message of true hope with a dying hopeless world!

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