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Sunday, July 14, 2013

In the First Place

This is the message given in the Wheatland Parish Sunday, July 14, 2013.  The Bible verses are 1 Corinthians 15:1-26.

As we continue our Hymn Hysteria sermon series, we look today at “Because He Lives”.  As with the other songs we've looked at so far, Because He Lives made it to the Elite Eight of our bracket challenge, defeating Standing on the Promises, Trust and Obey, and He Leadeth Me.

Because He Lives is one of the newest songs in our hymnal.  It was written in 1971 by Bill and Gloria Gaither.  Many of you probably know who they are.  Bill Gaither was born in 1936, Gloria in 1942, and they married in 1962.  They've written many hymns over the years, including three others that are in our hymnal:  There's Something About That Name, He Touched Me, and Something Beautiful.  In fact, “He Touched Me” is one we're going to be looking at in a few weeks, because it made the Final Four.

The Gaithers wrote 'Because He Lives” at a time when they were expecting a child.  They were going through a tough time in their lives, and they started thinking about all the problems in the world and how hard it cam be to raise a child the way things are now.  The Gaithers believe God gave them the words to this song as a message of hope that, no matter how bad the world gets, we can still always face tomorrow, because Jesus is not dead.  He lives.

And you know, if we were to try to boil down our Christian faith to one thing, that just might be it.  Jesus lives.  Jesus died on a cross, he was buried, and he rose from the dead.  In doing that, he conquered death not just for himself, but for all of us, too.

The Apostle Paul, in our reading from First Corinthians, said this was “of first importance:  that Christ died for us, according to the Scriptures, that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared” to the disciples and others.  The reason this is of first importance is not because nothing else about our faith is important.  It's because unless this is true, nothing else about our faith matters.  If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then he is not the Son of God.  He's just this guy.  A good guy, maybe, a guy who helped some people, a guy who said some good things, but still, he's just this guy.  If Jesus is just this guy, then the stuff he said is just advice, which we're free to accept or ignore, whatever we want to do.

In fact, Paul takes it even further than that.  Paul says if Jesus is just this guy, then he has no power to forgive sins.  If Jesus is just this guy, our faith is for nothing, because we still have to deal with all the consequences of our life of sin.  In fact, Paul says, if Jesus was not raised from the dead, if he's just this guy, then we deserve pity, because we've put our faith in a lie.

It can be easy, sometimes, to start wondering if we've put our faith in a lie.  We look at the world, the way the Gaithers did forty years ago, and we wonder.  A lot of people would say things have gotten worse since then.  We wonder what good our Christian faith is doing.  We wonder what real difference in makes if we believe or not.

We wonder that about our own lives, too, sometimes.  You know, when I was younger, I used to think that everyone else had their life together, and that I was the only one who did not.  I've come to find out that almost everyone has some kind of struggle in their life.  If it's not us personally, it's people we know.  We deal with the struggles of life, and we think “what good is my faith doing?  I have all these problems.  The people I care about have all these problems.  I pray to God, and I try to trust God, and yet, the problems don't go away.  And if one does happen to go away, here come three more to take its place.  What good is it doing me to believe in Christ as my Savior?”

And I think the reason we like this song so much is that it recognizes that.  It does not claim that faith in God will solve all our problems.  It does not claim that believing in Jesus as our Savior is going to give us an easy life.

What it does, though, is say that our faith will help us deal with the problems and the struggles of life.  It says, “Think about who Jesus is.  He came to love, heal, and forgive.  He lived and died so our sins would be forgiven.  The empty grave is proof of that.”

Then it says what's really the key to the song.  It says that, because we believe in Jesus as our Savior, we can face whatever tomorrow brings, good or bad.  It says that we can face it without having to be afraid.  Because we believe in Jesus as our Savior, we know the future is in God's hands.  And knowing that makes our lives worth living, even while we deal with all our problems.

That's true from the first day of our lives to the last.  A newborn baby is an incredible wealth of possibility.  That child could grow up to cure cancer, or to solve poverty, or to do all sorts of incredible, wonderful things.  Yes, there are bad things that could happen to that child, too, and the song recognizes that.  But it says that the child will be able to face the uncertainty of life through belief in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior.  All of us can face our uncertain days, because Jesus lives.

The song also recognizes that, no matter what happens, no matter what we do in our lives, good or bad, there will come a time when our lives come to an end.  One day, we'll fight the final war with pain, at least in this life.  Death is an uncertainty, too.  None of us can prove what happens to us when we die.  But just as we face the uncertainty of life through belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we can also face the uncertainty of death through belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior.  Again, Jesus holds the future.  Through our faith, we will someday see Jesus in his full glory.

You know, this is really an incredibly simple song.  You know how many words are in each verse?  About thirty-two.  There are about that same number in the chorus.  It's not a hard song to memorize.  In fact, I'll bet a lot of us could sing the chorus and at least some of the verses from memory..

And I'd encourage you to do just that.  If you don't want to sing it, then say it.  When you start to feel like the world is beyond hope, go back to the words of this song.  When you start to feel overwhelmed by the problems of your life, go back to the words of this song.  When you start to feel afraid, when you feel like you cannot face another day, go back to the words of this song.


Think about how Jesus lived and why Jesus died.  Think about how Jesus conquered death, not just for himself, but for all of us.  Think about that empty grave, the proof that Jesus Christ, our Savior, lives.  And remember that because he lives, we can face the future without fear.  Jesus holds the future.  Our lives will always be worth living because Jesus Christ, our Savior, lives.

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