WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:06.300 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 2 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.000 This changes everything. 3 00:00:11.600 --> 00:00:16.400 That was the tagline when the first Apple iPhone was introduced in 2007. 4 00:00:17.500 --> 00:00:22.000 Well one could say that that was debatable whether it changed everything 5 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:23.800 some critics pointed out. 6 00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:28.200 It didn't change everything but it might be fair to say that was in 7 00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:33.800 some sense a game-changer within the cell phone market place. The 8 00:00:33.800 --> 00:00:37.500 Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a game-changer as a 9 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:42.400 newly-introduced element or a factor that changes an existing 10 00:00:42.400 --> 00:00:45.300 situation or activity in a significant way. 11 00:00:46.900 --> 00:00:47.800 Notice 12 00:00:48.900 --> 00:00:53.000 two parts to that. First a newly-introduced element or factor 13 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:56.000 and when that happens 14 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:01.600 in tern changes in existing situation or activity in a significant 15 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:01.600 way. 16 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:07.000 Now as far as I'm concerned if there's anything that warrants a 17 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:09.300 phrase, this is a real game-changer. 18 00:01:09.300 --> 00:01:12.500 It is a resurrection of Jesus Christ. 19 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:19.100 The resurrection of Jesus brings in a new element a new creation 20 00:01:19.100 --> 00:01:23.900 that breaks into the present world of a dying and decaying creation. 21 00:01:24.800 --> 00:01:28.200 Introduces a new element into the world naming 22 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:31.300 not only that God loves bodily life 23 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:37.300 but that bodily life will continue to do creation forever. To live 24 00:01:37.300 --> 00:01:41.200 under the gracious lordship of our embodied Savior Jesus 25 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:41.500 Christ. 26 00:01:43.300 --> 00:01:47.800 And so Hermann Sasse well-known Theologian in the 20th century once 27 00:01:47.800 --> 00:01:54.000 made the point that the message of Easter is not that Jesus lives, but 28 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:55.400 that Jesus is risen. 29 00:01:56.900 --> 00:02:00.400 Now at first glance there may not appear to be much of a difference 30 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.900 between saying that he is risen and that he lives. 31 00:02:05.300 --> 00:02:09.100 He might even appear to be a distinction without a difference after 32 00:02:09.100 --> 00:02:12.200 all if he is risen, then it must mean he lives. 33 00:02:13.100 --> 00:02:16.900 And furthermore does not Job say as we often sing on Easter 34 00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:23.600 I know that my redeemer lives and of course, that is true. 35 00:02:24.700 --> 00:02:28.800 So yes to say that Jesus is risen is also to say that he lives. 36 00:02:29.900 --> 00:02:33.700 But the distinction made by Hermann Sasse becomes important as a 37 00:02:33.700 --> 00:02:40.600 game-changer when we consider how we often speak of death and of the 38 00:02:40.600 --> 00:02:41.700 death of those who have preceded us. 39 00:02:43.600 --> 00:02:49.200 And perhaps more importantly the confession that Jesus is risen and 40 00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:53.800 not only that Jesus lives becomes a game changer and how we regard our 41 00:02:53.800 --> 00:02:57.300 bodily life or our embodied life. 42 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:03.800 In both cases the resurrection brings to the forefront the importance 43 00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:06.600 and the value of bodily life. 44 00:03:07.600 --> 00:03:11.400 When it comes to the nature and content of our Christian hope. 45 00:03:12.900 --> 00:03:14.300 To see where the game changer 46 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:19.200 this is we might consider to views regarding bodily death that can be 47 00:03:19.200 --> 00:03:22.700 found within or culture both historically and today. 48 00:03:23.900 --> 00:03:28.000 Neither of them rises from the Christian message of the Resurrection. 49 00:03:29.600 --> 00:03:33.800 First within many cultures and traditions death is the end of the 50 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:36.500 body, but it is not end of life. 51 00:03:37.500 --> 00:03:41.400 In other words in some way life can and does exist apart from the body 52 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:45.100 and apart from the physical creation that we see around us. 53 00:03:46.300 --> 00:03:51.700 The life that continues is often portrayed not as life in the body but 54 00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:52.700 life in the spirit. 55 00:03:54.200 --> 00:03:59.900 As a result the death is the end of the body or death as the end of 56 00:03:59.900 --> 00:04:01.900 the body might actually be 57 00:04:04.100 --> 00:04:04.700 seen as a good thing 58 00:04:05.600 --> 00:04:10.000 in as much as suffering and pain are often situated within our bodies. 59 00:04:11.100 --> 00:04:14.400 Thus me may welcome death even regard that there's a friend that sets 60 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:18.600 us or our spirits free from a body that is wrecked by physical pain 61 00:04:18.600 --> 00:04:19.300 and suffering. 62 00:04:20.300 --> 00:04:23.800 On this basis one might even seek to comfort others by speaking of 63 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:27.700 bodily death as actually some kind of a gateway or transition to a 64 00:04:27.700 --> 00:04:29.100 higher and better life. 65 00:04:30.300 --> 00:04:35.800 In a sense such an approach defangs death as to render our bodily 66 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:36.300 death 67 00:04:36.300 --> 00:04:40.300 perhaps is a little less frightening and perhaps even a little 68 00:04:40.300 --> 00:04:42.500 comforting. After all 69 00:04:42.500 --> 00:04:47.500 it rids us of our suffering and pain our grief and sadness and most 70 00:04:47.500 --> 00:04:49.800 especially of our ailing and weak body. 71 00:04:51.400 --> 00:04:55.400 But is the end of only one form of existence it brings an end to the 72 00:04:55.400 --> 00:04:57.900 body as something of a temporary vessel, you might say? 73 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:02.300 Now again there's an element here that may resonate with us in 74 00:05:02.300 --> 00:05:03.200 that when we die 75 00:05:03.200 --> 00:05:08.200 we are with Jesus awaiting our Resurrection on a last date. 76 00:05:09.900 --> 00:05:13.500 But apart from the resurrection, this is ultimately a distorted story 77 00:05:13.500 --> 00:05:14.900 and not the entire story. 78 00:05:16.300 --> 00:05:20.200 Secondly more recently within our Western world death is not only the 79 00:05:20.200 --> 00:05:22.200 end of the body but the end of life as well. 80 00:05:23.500 --> 00:05:24.800 Where as in the former case 81 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:29.200 it was the end of life in the body, but not the end of life in the 82 00:05:29.200 --> 00:05:29.400 spirit. 83 00:05:30.500 --> 00:05:35.000 In this regard Peter Blackaby a person who might well describe 84 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:38.500 himself as an atheist or at least not one who believes in God 85 00:05:39.700 --> 00:05:42.400 writes honestly and bluntly about this. 86 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:44.800 He writes. 87 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:49.100 First of all, it is worth reflecting on the most difficult problem 88 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:55.800 we face as human beings that we know we are going to die a knowledge 89 00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:57.700 almost certainly no other species lives with. 90 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:04.200 A starting point the stresses we are born alone and we die alone and 91 00:06:04.200 --> 00:06:08.700 that we do not carry on after that might appear pretty bleak 92 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:11.800 but for me, this is a bottom-line. 93 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:16.500 I believe the facing up to this reality is the ultimate challenge of 94 00:06:16.500 --> 00:06:21.200 being human and I do not want to fabricate any false promises or 95 00:06:21.200 --> 00:06:24.000 positions to try to make me feel better about the situation. 96 00:06:25.500 --> 00:06:28.600 Rather, I want to develop the qualities that enable me to live a life 97 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:33.200 with its knowledge and without fear. And then he goes on to speak about 98 00:06:33.200 --> 00:06:34.600 what that means in terms of 99 00:06:35.700 --> 00:06:39.500 inspiring us to live our lives as richly as we can knowing that our time 100 00:06:39.500 --> 00:06:41.400 here here is brief. 101 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:47.400 Well again, and there's an element or that may resonate with us in as 102 00:06:47.400 --> 00:06:51.700 much as many of our is in as much as for many of us are years are 103 00:06:51.700 --> 00:06:55.600 winding down and we see that perhaps she has spent all her life 104 00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:59.400 working and neglecting the importance of time with family and friends. 105 00:07:00.900 --> 00:07:04.700 But again by itself, this is a distorted story and not the entire 106 00:07:04.700 --> 00:07:05.300 story. 107 00:07:07.100 --> 00:07:13.000 Over and against these views the bodily resurrection of Jesus manifest 108 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:19.300 and declares the goodness and the value of bodily both in the here 109 00:07:19.300 --> 00:07:22.700 the hearing now and in the hereafter, 110 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:29.700 What better affirmation that God loves his physical creation can be 111 00:07:29.700 --> 00:07:31.900 found than in the resurrection of Jesus? 112 00:07:33.700 --> 00:07:37.600 God first created our bodies and breathed into them the breath of life 113 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:41.000 at which point we became living bodies. 114 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:46.800 This means that I am not who I am apart from my bodily life. 115 00:07:48.300 --> 00:07:52.100 But since the fall of Adam and Eve and due to the original sin and here is 116 00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:58.500 within us our bodies bear the mark and the curse of death by which 117 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:02.600 our bodily life is returned to the ground from which God made us. 118 00:08:03.700 --> 00:08:07.000 Yet God will not give up on his creation or would he give up on the 119 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:08.900 embodied life envisioned us to have. 120 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.200 And so when he sent his son into the world to rescue and renew the 121 00:08:13.200 --> 00:08:17.200 world he did so by sending his son into the world to take on for 122 00:08:17.200 --> 00:08:22.000 himself or bodily existence or human bodily existence. 123 00:08:23.200 --> 00:08:27.600 And it was his life as embodied life that he suffered and died. 124 00:08:28.900 --> 00:08:32.299 And even then God would not leave his fatherly life in the grave. 125 00:08:33.400 --> 00:08:38.400 Instead with his Spirit God breathed new life into the lifeless body 126 00:08:38.400 --> 00:08:38.700 of Jesus. 127 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:45.100 Inhaling that breath he sat up and walked out of the grave. 128 00:08:46.400 --> 00:08:47.800 And now into Eternity. 129 00:08:48.800 --> 00:08:55.600 Jesus the Eternal begotten Son of God lives an embodied life as our 130 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:58.000 brother and as the Lord of all creation. 131 00:08:59.900 --> 00:09:00.800 Because of Jesus 132 00:09:02.200 --> 00:09:06.100 death is not the end of life. More specifically 133 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:14.300 because of Jesus death is not the end of bodily life. That life by 134 00:09:14.300 --> 00:09:18.100 which we interact with each other and by which we interact with the 135 00:09:18.100 --> 00:09:21.300 world and by which we interact with God 136 00:09:22.800 --> 00:09:26.600 by way of our bodily minds, reason and senses. 137 00:09:28.300 --> 00:09:33.000 So although death separates our body and soul temporarily there will 138 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:38.200 come a time when Jesus returns at which point he will unite reunite our 139 00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:43.900 body and soul by breathing new life into us and raising us up from the 140 00:09:43.900 --> 00:09:48.700 ground whole and complete as he first did in Genesis 2. 141 00:09:49.800 --> 00:09:52.900 And in raising us body and soul from the ground 142 00:09:52.900 --> 00:09:57.200 we will leave behind forever the marks and scars of the curse that 143 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:00.400 currently characterize our bodily life in the here and now. 144 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:04.800 On that day, we will be able to draw upon those wonderful words of 145 00:10:04.800 --> 00:10:07.200 Job in chapter 19. 146 00:10:08.700 --> 00:10:13.800 For I know that my redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the 147 00:10:13.800 --> 00:10:14.000 Earth. 148 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:20.700 And after my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh 149 00:10:20.700 --> 00:10:29.800 I shall see God whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes will behold 150 00:10:29.800 --> 00:10:31.500 and not another. 151 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:37.800 It is this conviction this confession that is the true game-changer 152 00:10:37.800 --> 00:10:44.600 within the world and in a real sense in a comprehensive all encompassing 153 00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:48.100 sense this changes everything. 154 00:10:48.100 --> 00:10:49.900 Amen. 155 00:10:51.100 --> 00:10:51.900 He is risen. He is risen indeed. 156 00:10:53.700 --> 00:10:55.400 Hallelujah.