Because He Lives

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 27th of April, 2025, the first Sunday after Easter and Resurrection Day.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

As we read our Bible and hear the stories and learn of all Jesus did, we may lose track of just how short His ministry actually was.  He didn’t really get started until He was about 30 years old, just after being baptized in the River Jordan by His kinsman John.

We know very little about the first thirty years of His life, except for His birth and then up to around two years old when the family had to flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s slaughter of all young boys under the age of two.  Then there was the time when He was about 12 when He was found teaching in the temple instead of heading home in the caravan.

We learned that He pretty much followed His earthly father’s trade as a carpenter and craftsman.  We’ve seen recitations of His heritage and lineage, His ties to the line of David, the house of Judah.  But that’s about it – thirty years wrapped up in a few chapters of the Gospel writers’ accounts.  And then Jesus gave up His mortal life on the cross when He was around 33 years old, as near as we can reckon.

So our Lord’s ministry on earth, His mission from God, lasted a mere three years, give or take.  But in those three years, He changed the world.  This man with the very common name, from a little backwater village in the north near the Sea of Galilee, is still known, praised, worshiped, and followed to this day by millions of believers, because of all He did and taught in those three short years.

During that span, Jesus often hinted to His twelve closest disciples, His apostles, how things would go in the days to come.  I mean, as God, Jesus knew everything that would happen, and when it would happen.  So He tried to prepare His chosen friends for what would come, including the nature of His imminent death.  Sadly, it just confused them and probably frustrated Him a little.  Sometimes they just couldn’t understand His meaning, and sometimes they simply refused to believe Him.

And now the end was near, the time had come and the disciples truly needed to understand.  The Apostle John recorded the conversation between Jesus and His followers just after their Last Supper together, when He stated pretty clearly what would very soon come to pass, and what they should do next.  Please listen and follow along to John’s reporting of our Lord’s words, from the 14th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 15 through 27, and I’ll be reading mostly from the New American Standard Bible this morning…

15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.  16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; 17 the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. 19 After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you. 21 The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what has happened that You are going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. 24 The one who does not love Me does not follow My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

25 “These things I have spoken to you while remaining with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful." 

--John 14:15-27 (NASB)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to atone for our sin, and then giving us Your own Holy Spirit to dwell within us and guide us, the Spirit of Truth.  Thank You for inspiring the Gospel writers to tell us all about Jesus and His ministry so that we can get to know Him better.  But Father, we admit that sometimes we are like His disciples and just don’t understand all that He tries to tell us.  Sometimes we even deny that He is talking to us, we don’t listen to Your Spirit when He is convicting us of wrongdoing.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Give us the mind and the heart to grasp our Lord’s meaning when He speaks to us.  Help us follow Your Spirit’s guidance and advice.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying time.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with shouts of, “He is risen!”, and “He lives!”, but what does it mean to live?  What is life?  Comedian Flip Wilson is reported to have lamented that, “If I had my whole life to live over again, I don't think I'd have the strength.”  Humor columnist Erma Bombeck encourages us to, “Seize the moment - remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.”

But perhaps the best commentary on life comes from astronomer and popular author Carl Sagan, who noted in his book Other Worlds, that, “A story making the rounds concerned a Biology I examination in which the students were asked:  ‘Suppose you could take to Mars any of the laboratory equipment used in this course.  How would you determine if there was life on Mars?’  One student responded:  ‘Ask the inhabitants.  Even a negative answer would be significant.’  The student got an A.”

I remember many years ago some wag bemoaned the question of whether there is intelligent life on Mars by responding that, “We can’t even determine for sure that there is intelligent life on earth, let alone anywhere else in the universe.”  That doesn’t speak very well of us, does it.  But regardless of the question of life, intelligent or otherwise, we believers can be certain that our Lord Jesus lives, because over 500 people saw Him alive in the flesh, walking around and showing His wounds, days and weeks after He had been crucified, died on the cross, and been buried.  Yet not one of them ever refuted the fact, or their witness – not one.  We might not have seen it for ourselves, but we can take the words of those who did as truth.

I believe that verse 19 in our scripture reading holds the key to our faith, or a least a huge part of the key.  Jesus promised us that, “After a little while, the world no longer is going to see Me, but you are going to see Me; because I live, you also will live.”

Because He lives, we too will live.  The Living Bible version of that verse has Jesus putting it like this…

19 “In just a little while I will be gone from the world, but I will still be present with you. For I will live again — and you will too.”

--John 14:19 (TLB)

Now remember that Jesus is talking about after His death, when the world is no longer going to see Him, when He will be gone from the world.  He is saying, “Because I will live again after dying to this world, you will also live again after dying to this world.”  That’s our promise of life after death, life with Jesus, because He will be in the Father and we will be in Him.  And what is required of us to gain this great prize?  He tells us at the start.  We are to love Him, and if we love Him, truly love Him, we will keep His commandments.

But He’s not going to leave us alone.  He’s not going to abandon us, forsake us.  He’s going to send God’s Holy Spirit to guide us and help us keep those commandments.  Oh, and by the way, as soon as we accepted Jesus as our Lord, the Holy Spirit came to us and took up residence in our hearts, just as Jesus promised.

He told us these things while He still walked among us.  And now, even though He is still and always will be with us, Jesus is back in heaven at the right hand of our Father God.  So God’s Holy Spirit has taken over the job of being our constant Companion and Teacher, reminding us of all that Jesus said, did, and taught.  For this reason, we have no need, no reason to be troubled or fearful.

Much earlier, shortly after the feeding of the 5000, Jesus spoke in the synagogue in Capernaum.  John also recorded this teaching, in the 6th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 51 through 58…

51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give for the life of the world also is My flesh.”

52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, the one who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread that came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

--John 6:51-58 (NASB)

This should sound somewhat familiar.  It brings to mind the Last Supper, and the words of our sacred rite of Holy Communion.  It also speaks to our promise of eternal life, life anew after death to this life.

First Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats from this bread, he will live forever.”  Then He adds emphasis, saying, “The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”  And one more time, just to be sure we heard it, “Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, the one who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.”  And one last time, to complete the point, “This is the bread that came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

“This is My body, My flesh, which is broken for You.  Take, eat, in remembrance of Me.”

When we truly, fully believe in Jesus as the Son of God, the Christ sent to redeem the world of sin, and accept Jesus as our Lord, we are eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood.  And in that act we become His body, left here on earth to continue His work, to keep His commandments, to show the unbelieving world the love and wonder of Jesus.  This is a spiritual meal Jesus invites us to.  It feeds our faith.  Family, we will live because He lives.  Thank You, Jesus!

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, who not only took away our sin but also gives us eternal life.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for choosing us to believe in and follow Your Son Jesus.  Thank You for giving us the faith to accept Him as Lord and to trust in His promise of eternal life.  Father, we admit that we don’t always keep our Lord’s commandments as we should.  Too often we fall victim to the temptations of the world, to its hatreds and anger, to its false promises and lies.  Please forgive us those times, dear Father.  Please help us release our grasp on the world and its ways.  Help us prepare ourselves for the next life and the world that is to come.  Help us show Your love to others by giving of ourselves, giving of our love freely, unconditionally, sacrificially, just as Jesus gave of Himself for us.  And please help us share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, so many times You tried to tell Your disciples about Your mission, how Your time on this earth would end, and what would follow, yet they struggled to understand.  Lord, while we now understand what they didn’t, we too have struggles sometimes understanding how to carry out Your commands.  We seem to especially have trouble loving others, all others, just as You love us.  Please help us in our struggles, Lord.  Show us how to love.  Help us be more like You, loving all others, even those who hate us and wish us harm.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.