Death Doesn't Have the Last Word

Well, good morning and happy Easter. So good to have you with us today. These two events don't always coincide, but you may have noticed that this year Easter weekend also happens to be NCAA Final Four weekend.

Right? So, yeah, it just makes for a really busy weekend. I'm curious how many of us are a little tired this morning because we stayed up to watch a game last night? Great basketball last night. I'm more curious, does anybody have a bracket that is still remotely still alive?

Yeah, Michigan has been so good to me this year. Well, March Madness brings lots of friendly and sometimes not so friendly competition. And where there is competition, trash talk usually isn't far behind. Now, trash talk has become a standard part of the world of sports, and basketball is very much included in that. You ever hear somebody like block somebody's shot and they'd say something like, not in my house or get that weak stuff out of here.

I may or may not have said things like that to my boys in the driveway as they were growing up. On a occasion or two, maybe you've seen T shirts that say things like, I drive by you so much, I should pay you a toll or sorry you have to guard me, hope you taped your ankles or I love this one, you better grab a notebook cause you're about to get schooled. Well, as the name implies, trash talk doesn't really aim to be nice. It's cocky and it's condescending, which means it sometimes blows up in your face. I don't know if you saw this story or not, but in this year's tournament, St. John's who have won back to back championships in the Big East Conference, put up billboards in Connecticut to taunt UConn fans in advance of their expected meeting in this year's tournament.

But those billboards wound up being a waste of money because St. John's got beat by Duke before they ever got a chance to face UConn. Lot of money down the tubes. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. Has gotten some press this tournament. He played for Alabama and he has been really vocal in his trash talking skills. But that came to an abrupt halt when Alabama lost to Michigan.

Maybe you saw the clip from the end of that game where Elliott Cadeau from Michigan told Rightsell, it's over. You just have to read his lips. But that's what's going on there now. Trash talk is all over the world of sports, but it isn't just for sports. Did you know there's trash talk in the Bible?

One of My favorite trash talk stories is found in 1st Samuel 17, where Israel is at war with their perennial enemies, the nation of Philistia. And the Philistines have this giant named Goliath who stood nearly 10ft tall and talked even bigger. Goliath was so cocky that he challenged any man in Israel to settle the entire war just by facing him Manto man in the parking lot. This is what Goliath said. Choose a man and have him come down to me.

If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects. But if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us this day. Goliath said, I defy the armies of Israel. Give me a man and let us fight each other. Now, none of Israel's soldiers wanted any part of Goliath.

But there was a teenage boy by the name of David who heard his taunts. He heard Goliath talking trash, and he volunteered to do what no other soldier in Israel would do. He volunteered to go and face Goliath. Now, David was a shepherd. He was not a soldier.

So rather than a sword or a shield, he took his staff and his sling and five stones to battle. And when Goliath saw this kid approaching, he talked trash again. And honestly, I have a really hard time reading this without hearing veggietales in my head. You know, am I a dog that you come at me with sticks? Anybody else seen that?

Yeah. And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Come here, he said, and I'll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals. Now, David was no combat veteran, but he did have seven older brothers, so he knew a thing or two about trash talk. So David said to the Philistine, you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

This day. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day, I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands. That's some pretty good trash talk, don't you think?

It's right up there. And that's exactly what happened. David drilled Goliath in the forehead with a rock, dropped him to the ground. And then Goliath had his head cut off by David with his own sword. And Israel's army sprang to life and they routed the Philistines.

Well, there's another famous trash talk episode that's found in the Old Testament, Book of First Kings, chapter 18. It's a time of corruption in Israel, and God sends a prophet whose name is Elijah to Mount Carmel to challenge hundreds of pagan prophets to his showdown. So Elijah proposed that they each build an altar, and they prepare a bowl for sacrifice and then pray. And the deal was this. Whoever answers with fire, whether my God or baal, the pagan God that all of you prophets serve, whoever answers with fire, that will be the God we declare as the real God.

So the pagan prophets built their altar, and they called on baal and they danced for hours, and nothing happened. So at noon, Elijah began to taunt them. Shout louder. He said, surely he is a God. I mean, perhaps he's deep in thought or busy or traveling.

Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened. So the pagan prophets obviously are infuriated by that. So they got louder, they got their swords out, and they gashed themselves into a bloody mess. But by evening, still nothing had happened. So Elijah doused his altar, his firewood, and his sacrifice with water three times.

And then Elijah prayed. And when he did, God sent fire that consumed everything. The bull and the wood and the stones and the soil and the water. That day, BAAL was shown to be the fake God that he was. But perhaps the most bizarre example of trash talk involved Elisha, another prophet who was mentored by Elijah.

And this story is so short, I'm just gonna read it. Two verses. As Elisha was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. Get out of here, baldy, they said. Get out of here, baldy.

He turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the boys. Kids, think carefully before you make fun of your dad's hair loss, okay? Just keep that story in mind. But my favorite instance, okay, My favorite instance of trash talk in the Bible, the one I want to zoom in on today and really focus our energies on for a few minutes, is found in the New Testament Book of First Corinthians, chapter 15.

The apostle Paul, who's a famous missionary and preacher, wrote this chapter. And it's all about what our Easter celebration is about, the resurrection of Jesus. But before we get to the trash talk. I want to back up and I want to sketch the context of this entire chapter with a really quick flyover. Paul begins First Corinthians 15 with these words.

He says, now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel, you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. Now, in the Bible, when we run across words like salvation or saved, those are references to God's forgiveness of our sins, the way that he rescues us from condemnation and death and lives within us through His Holy Spirit. According to Scripture, we are saved when we believe his message, which is often called the Gospel.

That's a word that means good news. And we continue to live in that gospel. We continue to live by that good news and the foundation of that gospel. Paul goes on to explain next, here's the foundation of this whole thing, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, which is what we focused on Friday night, a good Friday, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. In other words, Christianity, despite the rap that it gets sometimes, is not primarily about rules.

It is about Jesus, the Son of God who came to earth in human form, lived a life of total obedience to God, and then, just as centuries of biblical prophecy had predicted, gave his perfect life on a cross as a sacrifice for our sins. After Jesus died, he was buried in a tomb like any other deceased person. But three days later, he fulfilled centuries of prophecy by rising from the dead. And over the next 40 days, he appeared alive on multiple occasions to well over 500 eyewitnesses. So here in First Corinthians, chapter 15, Paul made the case that Jesus death, burial, and resurrection are the foundation of all that Christians believe.

Now, Paul wrote this letter to Christians who lived in the Greek city of Corinth, where people believed that resurrection from the dead was impossible. I mean, Paul himself knew that people dying and then rising from the dead, that's not the norm. That is not an everyday occurrence. But Paul contended that since Jesus return from the grave was real and historical and incredibly well documented, resurrection is clearly possible. Paul went on to write this, and this is one of those things you got to listen to carefully because it seems like he's talking in circles.

Paul says if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God. For we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead, but he did not raise him if in fact, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is few, futile. You are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep, who have died in Christ, are lost. If only for this life. Paul says, if only for this life, we have hope in Christ.

We are of all people, most to be pitied. Here's what Paul is saying. If resurrection is really, truly impossible, then Jesus could not have risen from the dead. And if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then living by his teachings and trusting him for eternal life would be a waste of time. Gathering in a church on Sunday morning to celebrate Easter and hear about the resurrection would be a waste of time.

So what Paul said next is pivotal. Verse 20. Paul said, But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. And in that verse, Paul uses a couple of words that we need to unpack and clarify just a little bit. Fallen asleep is a common biblical metaphor for death.

And firstfruits is a reference to an Old Testament Jewish way of acknowledging God as the giver of all good things. By offering the first part of each season's harvest back to him as a sacrifice, as an offering. Ancient Israel offered first fruits to God as a way of thanking him for the harvest and as a way of declaring their trust in him to. To keep providing more where that came from. So when Paul referred to Jesus as the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, this is what he's saying.

He's saying, Jesus proved resurrection is possible and there are more resurrections to come. Now, that promise connects the dots of Scripture from beginning to end. God created a world that was good and beautiful and perfect. But the first people he created, Adam and Eve, rebelled. Disobedience to God is what the Bible calls sin.

And once sin entered the picture, it began to corrupt and contaminate everything. Sin brought death into the world, but death has never been God's desire for us. So he entered our world in the person of Jesus. He paid the penalty for our sins, yours and mine, at the cross. And he pried open the jaws of death with his resurrection.

And we now await the day when he will return to crush death once and for all. Paul described it like this, verse 21. He said, for since death came through a man, the Resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn Christ the first fruits.

Then when he comes those who belong to Him. Then the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. At present, this moment that you and I live in, death is an inescapable reality in our world.

But it won't always be this way. See, what Paul is saying is Adam's sin made death inevitable. Nobody escapes it. But Jesus makes life available. God's promise of eternal life through Jesus is amazing news.

But when we talk about eternal life, we're not just talking about something that comes later. And we're not just talking about an extension of our current day to day existence. God has something that is infinitely better and longer lasting than any of that in mind. And yet these bodies aren't built to last forever. So we can't go to that place that God has in mind for us, just as we are.

We don't have the right equipment. Can you imagine trying to pull a giant camper with a smart car? Or trying to dig a basement with a plastic spoon? See, these breakable, aging mortal bodies are not built for eternity. So we're going to need new ones.

Paul went on in First Corinthians to write this. He says, I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood, these bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, listen. Paul says, I tell you a mystery, something that you see a glimmer of right now, but that will gradually be revealed. We will not all sleep, we will not all die, but we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. When Jesus returns, all of us who belong to him, whether living at that time or whether, like many people who've gone before us, we have already left this life and are waiting for his return. All of us who belong to him will be given new, unbreakable, immortal, resurrected bodies that are tailor made for the new heaven and the new earth that God invites us to share with him forever. And that's because new life in a new World requires a new body.

The book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament is a book that fascinates and sometimes frightens a lot of people. But it records a vision that God gave the apostle John. And in this vision, it provided both John and us a sneak peek of what God has in store for all of us who love and trust Him. John writes in Revelation 21, this is the next to the last chapter of the Bible. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. This new heaven and new earth will be beautiful because God is there. We'll get to see him face to face.

We will get to be with Him. We'll get to enjoy him forever. But this new world's beauty also has a lot to do with. With what is not there. John went on to say this.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. See, that's the imperishable, incorruptible world that God promises all of us who. Who trust in Jesus, death and resurrection. And that sounds great, doesn't it?

But it's also really hard to imagine because all we know right now is a world where war and violent crime are daily headlines. Right here, right now. All we know is a world where cancer and overdoses and car wrecks and suicide take the people we love from us. Right here, right now. All we know is a world where the longer we live, the more obituaries we read and the more funerals we attend.

So can you even imagine a world where no one cries because nothing sad or hurtful ever happens? Can you imagine a world where no one hurts because pain is not even allowed through the door? A world where no one mourns because no one ever dies. See, these promises? They look forward, but they also look backward.

They anticipate future realities that are tied to ancient prophecies like this one that was written by Isaiah 700 years before Jesus came to earth. Isaiah wrote, on this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations. What is that shroud. What is that? That sheet?

He answers that question here. He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces. He will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.

You can count on this. See, all of Scripture points to the reality that a day is coming when Jesus will shut Death up once and for all. And that brings us to our final example of trash talk. Paul went on in 1st Corinthians 15 to write these words. He says, when the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true.

Death has been swallowed up in victory. On the third day, after dying on a cross. For my sins, for your sins, for the world's sins, Jesus walked out of his tomb to allow all of us to ask this trash talking question that we sang in a song earlier this morning. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?

Grave, is that all you got? Isn't there anything more? If our confidence is in Jesus, we win. Jesus took the worst beating Satan could dish out. And then he came back from the grave and won.

Death is a bully. Death has victimized and picked on people and tormented people from the beginning of time. And don't we resonate with stories where we see the tables turned on a bully? There are so many classic stories that follow that story arc. I think about that scene in A Christmas Story when Scut Farkas, the neighborhood bully, gets taken down, and Ralphie's friends watch in shock and amazement as he pummels this much bigger kid who has terrorized all them up to that point.

Do you remember that? I grew up in a Rocky Balboa kind of household, so I remember the moment when Rocky, after being beaten to a pulp by a brutal, arrogant fighter named Clubber Lang, steps back into the ring, much better prepared this time. And this time, he knocks Clubber out. I've seen Rocky 3 so many times, and I still love that rematch where a faster and stronger Rocky just infuriates Clubber Lang by repeatedly ducking his punches, landing blows of his own, periodically stepping in to kind of rub his mohawk and say, hey, ain't so bad. Anybody else remember that?

But we're talking about something so much bigger than a cool movie moment here. We're talking about a permanent, hopeful, indestructible reality that hinges on this truth. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, Paul says, he gives us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. God is good and holy, and his law reflects that.

We have all broken God's law, so we all stand guilty and condemned. But God loves us too much to leave us guilty and condemned. So he put on flesh and he came after us. And his resurrection solution to our sin and death problem allows us to to say what Paul just said there in verse 57. But thanks be to God, he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And that means we have hope. Pain is not permanent. The grave does not win. For followers of Jesus, death is only a comma. It is not a period.

And that means no matter what happens today or tomorrow or the next day, no matter who wins the tournament tomorrow night, no matter who wins the latest war or who wins the next election, Jesus has won. So we can too. If our confidence is in Jesus, we win. Guaranteed. And that's why Paul closed this chapter with these challenging and encouraging words.

Verse 58. Paul says, Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. 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.

That's worth repeating. 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. I know that life is hard sometimes, and I know that hopeful words don't automatically change that.

But the promises of God and the resurrection of Jesus are real. They are the reason that so many of us are living with purpose even after a difficult diagnosis. The hope that we have in the resurrection of Jesus is why so many of us are living with joy despite some very challenging circumstances. They're the reason many of us are living with hope even after we have lost a loved one that we could never have imagined doing life without. If our confidence is in Jesus, we win.

And that reality compels me to ask you this. Where is your confidence? Are you trusting in your own goodness? Your work ethic, your reputation, your job success, your financial resources, your relationship status, maybe your health? Or are you trusting in Jesus?

If our confidence is in Jesus, we win. That means that as Christians, we can do so much more than just grit our teeth and hang on with white knuckles. We cling to to hope, and we anticipate certain victory. And one of the ways we do that. One of the regular rhythms that we practice as the people of God is to regularly remember Jesus death and his resurrection through communion.

This is a symbolic meal that Jesus introduced to his disciples right before he went to the cross. And it's something that Paul wrote about in the same letter called First Corinthians just a few chapters earlier. First Corinthians 11, Paul wrote these words, for I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So today and every Sunday, we remember Jesus sacrifice. We eat a small piece of bread that represents his body, which was nailed to the cross in our place.

And we drink a cup of grape juice that reminds us how Jesus blood covers all of our sins. As you entered today, you received a plastic cup, has a foil seal on both the top and the bottom, and it contains bread and juice. If you didn't get those on the way in, we have tables across the back of the room. There are some baskets there that have more of these communion elements. We would invite you to help yourself to those.

We don't want anyone to feel pressured to participate. There's no arm twisting going on here. But we do want you to know this. What Jesus did on the cross, he did for all of us, for you, for me. So you are absolutely welcome to join us.

Even if you have never participated in communion before, you're welcome. Even if this is your very first time to ever worship with us at Greenwood Christian Church, you are welcome. I'm gonna lead us in prayer, and then after I do, we'll just invite you to join us in a moment of communion where we open those seals, we eat that piece of bread, we drink that juice, and as we do, we remember that Jesus died for us, that he rose for us, that he's coming back for us, and that if our confidence is in Jesus, we win. Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, we're grateful for your sacrifice, For putting on flesh mortality vulnerability in order to suffer and die in our place, for willingly taking the punishment for things that you'd never done so that our guilt and our shame could be removed and we could be restored to the relationship with God our Father that we were always intended to experience.

God, we're thankful for the cross, but we're thankful that Jesus didn't stay there. And we're thankful for the tomb because Jesus didn't stay there. God, we ask that in these next few moments you would remind us all over again of the depth of your love for us and the immensity of the price that you've paid to make a relationship with you possible for each one of us. Father, we can't begin to describe or properly thank you for your goodness and kindness to us. But God, to the full extent of our capabilities, with every fiber of our being, we just want to say thank you for your love and mercy.

We want to spend every day of our lives just focused on that, saturated by that, living in that Lord, we love you. And it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Party.

We're having a little bit of technical difficulties, but we are really, really grateful you guys are here today. We want to take a moment. We know some of you guys have been here for a really long time, and some of you maybe are here in church for the very first time. And we want to take a moment in our service to level the playing field, to understand that all of us are the same. Whether we have walked with Jesus for a long time or we have maybe never encountered Christ before.

We walk through a lot of challenging, difficult things. And so we wanted to take a moment to do that and to share that we are all very, very much the same. And the idea that we, when we come together in a place like this, maybe some of you, it took everything in you to come to church this morning. Maybe you were drugged here by a friend or family member. I don't think it's an accident that any one person is here today.

I believe that God knows you and knows exactly what's going on in your life, what's going on in your family, what's going on in your home, what's going on in your workplace. He knows the challenges that you're facing, and he wants to encounter you for the very first time. Maybe some of you, he needs to remind you of who he is. And so we want to take a moment to share that together and to remind each other of who God is and what he's done. So if you would, before we continue any further, would you close your eyes for just a moment?

Would you bow your heads?

Jesus, I thank you that you know every single person who is here in this room within the sound of my voice. God, we know that you are with us, that you are for us, that you are not against us, that the heavy weight that we carry into a place like this is not too heavy for you to carry. That you say that your yoke is easy and your burden is light. And so we can trust in faith that you are who you say you are and that your word is true. And so, God, whatever heavy burdens that we brought into this place, God, we ask that you would just allow for us to leave space, to let go of those things today, to let go of the burdens that hold onto us, knowing that death has no victory, that death has no sting over our life.

Today we submit to you and we give you control. We release the things that we are holding us, that are holding us back and weighing us down today. And we ask that through the power of your Holy Spirit, that you would move, that you would wake us up to who you are. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen.

Sam sa.

Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive in the name I call you Jesus I call you I call you Healer Risen and reigning in power Something comes out of the grave every time I call you Jesus I call you I call you Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave every time I call your name Change great drive cold wake every time I call your name the gates of hell shame every time I call your name make dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen. Did you see how many lights were held up? There's a lot that we share in common, but nothing that we carry in this life holds a candle to what God is capable of doing and what he has already made possible through the death and resurrection of his son, Jesus. We're so glad you've joined us today. Before we go, we just want to make sure that you understand our desire is not ever just to gather on Easter Sunday and sing some songs and share an encouraging message and then walk out the door, only to do it again a year later.

We want all of us to understand that Jesus desires to walk with us, for us to do life with him every day of our lives. And so we want you to know about three specific ways that you could reach out and take a next step. If there's. If you have questions, if There are things that God is prompting in your heart right now. One of those things that you can do is you can simply text the word next to 317-707-9997.

We would love to hear from you. Just tell us what's on your heart. We'd be glad to reach back out to you and have a conversation. I'm going to invite our Next Steps team to make their way to the front here. We've got an opportunity for you to talk to some folks from our staff, from our leadership team.

If you have questions about Jesus, if we can pray for you, answer questions about our church, help you to find engagement, we would love to do that. And we offer a series of classes every month called Next Steps. It's a series of classes that happens at our 11 o' clock service. So the next cycle begins next Sunday. It's just a very simple way to download some basic information about who we are as a church and what it means to follow Jesus and what it means to connect and engage here with this church family.

So we would love for you to take advantage of those things. Our friends down here in front will be available after the service. If we can talk with you personally, we can pray with you, help in any way. We would love to do that. The last thing I want to remind you of, you're probably still holding an empty communion cup if you haven't already stuffed that into the purse of an unsuspecting person near you as you leave.

There are some trash containers out in the breezeway. We would appreciate your help with clearing the room just by grabbing those. But know that we're here to help in any way that we can. We serve a risen Savior. Jesus came and he lived and he died and he rose so that death would not be the end for any of us.

And if our confidence is in Jesus, we win. Thank you for celebrating his resurrection with us. Go in the hope of the Gospel.