Hope Beyond This Life - An Easter Message
Read: 1 Corinthians 15:19-26
We have an eventful worship service this morning with children’s Easter play and a communion service. So I am delivering a brief message with four important callings of Easter, which forms the acoustic HOPE. First of all Easter calls us to …
1 – Hope beyond this life
Paul says to the Corinthian Christians, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Obviously, some people in Corinthian church doubted about the resurrection. I am sure some of you might have the same doubt. Is resurrection possible? Is there life beyond death at all?
First of all we have to ask the question of whether death is natural. By natural, I mean the original purpose of creation; whether we were created to die, or to live forever. I think human beings are not created to die because first of all we don’t feel natural with death. We always try to find a way to live forever, as if that was our original state and we want to restore it.
You might have heard of a futurist Ray Kurzweil, who wrote a very popular and controversial book, “Singularity is Near: When Human Transcend Biology,” in which he argues that biology and technology is becoming one—singularity, and that within 30 years—which is actually 25 years from now since his book is about five years old now—that we will be able to live forever because science will be able to cure any disease and replace any parts of the body. For example, if you lose eyesight, you can replace it with a digital camera in a way that your brain can interpret the image.
You might think he is crazy in saying that we will never die by that time, but Kurzweil is not stupid. In fact he is quite brilliant. Among some of his popular inventions are the Kurzweil music synthesizers. He has also invented machines that convert text to speech for the blind. He's the recipient of the National Medal of Technology, our nation’s highest honor in technology, and 12 honorary doctorates. He's also in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
One problem is that he is an atheist, and he forecasts that by that time—25 years from now—religion will become obsolete. On this point, I am sure he is totally wrong because human beings seek religion not just for the fear of death, but mainly for the meaning of life because there are many religions that don’t believe in the life after death. Religions are primarily human attempts to fill the gap in our soul, which can only be satisfied by the creator God alone. No matter how long you can extend this life, you still live in this fallen world where you’ll never feel at home. That’s why Paul says, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
He explained in verse 32, “If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’” In a sense, he says if our hope is only in this life, we are pretty much like wild animals fighting against each other.
Therefore, our life is never satisfied until our hope extends beyond this life because we are created to live for eternity at the presence of God. Paul said death came to us because of Adman’s fall. Now the eternal life is restored to us because of Jesus’ resurrection.
The scripture says that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. If Kurzweil’s theory is true, science might be able to extend our current life, but it won’t be able to destroy death because death came to us through sin, and it has to be destroyed only by paying the wages of sin, which Jesus did on behalf of us on Easter.
The second calling of Easter is to…
2 – Overcome Disappointments through Easter Hope
Life is full of disappointments. We need hope to cope because hope can help us overcome disappointments. Paul says in Romans 5:5, “hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
The death that came to us through Adman was the spiritual death which cannot be removed by technology. We have been sunken into total depravity from the very beginning of the fall. According to the Bible, we are so depraved that we are under God’s wrath. Everything we do is offensive to God. The injustice, crimes, and abusive behaviors we hear and see in the news are just some of the symptoms of our disobedience against God. Without God’s intervention, we would have never looked for God. But, God give his Son for us to take the wrath of God in our place, and with his grace he melt down our resistance to reconnect with him.
Whenever we get disappointed, look at the cross and our disappointment is gone if we realize that God who has given His Son for us has given us his most precious self, and therefore, there is nothing else he wouldn’t give us. The Easter love of God that is pour into our hearts will fill us with hope and overcome all disappointments in life.
The third calling of Easter is to…
3 – Persevere in our Faith Journey by the power Easter
What is the power of the resurrection of Christ? It is his presence with us in our faith journey. Paul says, “But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ… For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”
Many people think that Christ will reign after the end of this world. In fact this verse says that he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. That means his reign is here and now until that time. That means his presence is with you in the person of the Holy Spirit. That means is power is at work in you, and for you. So don’t give up! You will make it to the end. Your perseverance will bear fruit and you will never be disappointed by hanging in there. You will touch many lives in this journey, they will than you when they see you in heaven, which leads to the fourth calling of Easter. That is to …
4 – Extend the Hope to Everyone
The faith that is not worth sharing is not worth believing. In the same way the hope that is not worth extending is not the real hope. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;” You must always be ready to share the hope you have.”
It is a blessing to have hope, but we are even more blessed to share the hope, because this hope is not just individual but also corporate, communal, or societal. Paul said, “Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power.” The conservative wing of Christianity always seems focus on their individual salvation. And the liberals tend to focus on the corporate salvation, such as fighting for social justice. But the Easter hope is not “either or”, but “both and.” In fact it is multifaceted like a precious diamond, that you can look at it from all corners and find it relevant.
How do you share your hope? Just think about Easter, in the backdrop of the empty cross and the empty tomb, and you will have never ending words to talk about it because Easter is like a priceless diamond. At the core of it, it tells the story that God loves you and created you, you’ve sin against God by dishonoring Him by chasing after the idols of power, procession, and prestige, and totally enslaved by the mundane world. But God reached out to you with his irresistible grace, redeem you with his precious blood. He loves you even as a sinner. He loves you the way you are and, in the same time, he loves you too much to leave you the way you are. So with the hope and power of Easter, he is transforming you into his dream child. He is shaping you, and forming you into a fruitful life.
Pastor Charles Roy Angell once talked about the Hope Diamond:
“Not long ago I made a special trip from a nearby city to Washington, D.C., just to see the Hope Diamond which was on display in the Smithsonian Institute. As many of you know, it is the most beautiful blue diamond in the world. There are no words with which to describe it. For a long time, I stood above it and looked through the bullet-proof glass at it and its roommate, the Portuguese Diamond. The Portuguese Diamond is twice the size of the Hope Diamond and brilliantly white. There were four guards in the room.
Finally, one of them walked over to me and I asked, “What is the value of these two jewels?” He answered, “No price has ever been put on the two of them together. The Hope Diamond has been evaluated by Lloyd’s of London for it was sold several times, but now it doesn’t matter what the value of these two diamonds is, for they will never be sold again. They are priceless. They are our own; they belong to America. They are ours forever.””
Easter is ours forever. It’s priceless. It’s filled with hope, love, and meaning. It calls us to hope beyond this life; to overcome disappointment within this life; to persevere in the power of the risen Christ; and to extend this hope beyond ourselves to bring healing to the entire society. “Then comes the end,” as Paul says, “when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every oppressive ruler and every authority and power.”
May God bless you with the love, joy, hope of the Easter! Amen!
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