Easter means Victory Over Trials [See full sermon notes]
Imagine your spouse or maybe your parent announces you’re going to the beach. You are so excited. You think okay I am going to get in a little better shape, and so you start exercising more. You think oh, I need a new bathing suit, so you spend hours and too much money getting one. You run to the store and get a beach umbrella, too. You decide you’re going to work on your tan a bit, so you don’t burn at the beach. You’re so excited. Sure, you’re spending time and money and energy, but it is all worth it. You can’t wait for the beach. You gladly do it all. The night before the trip, you even giddily stay up late packing your bags. You gladly wake up early to leave for the trip. But when you wake up, your spouse says bad news, the beach trip is canceled; there was an error with the booking. What becomes of all your effort? It all becomes meaningless. You say why did I waste all my time on that. Why did I waste all my money? Why did I waste all my energy? You see, the preparation and sacrifice was only meaningful and good when it was attached to a happy ending. But imagine then, if suddenly, your spouse says they got an email and the trip is back on. What would happen? Instantly, you would gladly re-accept all that you had done leading up to it. The prep would all, instantly, be deemed “worth it!” That is the power of a happy, victorious ending.
And this is what the promise of resurrection life means for us. If Christ is raised and we are raised with him, and if we will live forever with God, then every moment that leads up to that future has been transformed by this happy ending! And Paul ends this chapter making this very point. He writes, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). All of this current life is transformed by the forthcoming resurrection life.
The impact of this truth on our current lives is twofold…
First, all that we suffer and experience has meaning because we will carry our lessons forward. Paul, in another letter, writes, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison…” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Everything you are going through, because there is life after death, has a purpose. We are being prepared for an “eternal weight of glory.” Like the beach trip, all the preparation becomes meaningful and lighter and even joyful. Now, as you endure hardships and loss, you can think this is not empty suffering of a godless universe coming from nowhere going nowhere. Instead, this suffering is part of a larger story. God is working on you, changing you, getting you ready for heaven.
Second, all that we suffer and experience is now transformed by the promise of victory. How much we can endure when we know there is victory ahead! Our kids ran cross country for years, and every race, no matter the circumstances, no matter the rain or the heat or the trial, when they came around the bend and saw the finish line and they knew they’d done it and victory was in reach, every kid’s pace quickened. When we remember that resurrection life with our Savior awaits, the naysayers are silenced, the doubts dissipate, the burden lightens, and our pace quickens, even if it is a limp.
And so whatever you’re facing, whatever you’re enduring, I hope your soul will rally today because Christ is risen, and that means all your suffer and endure has meaning!
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