Who Brings Peace
Notes
Transcript
Witnesses To The Word of Life and Joy
4.7.24 [1 John 1:1-4] River of Life (2nd Sunday of Easter)
Rom. 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope. Amen.
A brush with death changes how you live the rest of your life. It would be strange for a man to wake up from a successful heart surgery and tell the nurse he’d like a double bacon cheeseburger and fries. A brush with death tends to change the way you live. At least for a little while.
A little more than a decade ago, cardiologists in the Kansas City area did a study of their heart attack patients. 884 self-reported eating fast food at least once a week prior to their heart attacks. 6 months later, 503 were back in the drive-thru lanes. Doesn’t a brush with death change the way you live? It can. For a little while.
It’s not just an American issue. Italian doctors did a study of 1200 smokers who had heart attacks. Each of them stopped smoking while they were in the hospital and expressed the desire to stop smoking. But, a year later, more than 60% started smoking again. In fact, almost half of them started within 20 days of leaving the hospital.
A brush with death tends to change the way you live, even dramatically, at least for a little while. It should. It seems like it would in the long run too. But old habits die hard. A brush with death changes the way you live less and less the more that brush feels like a distant memory.
The past 10 days have served as brushes with death for the people of God. Good Friday is a brutal brush with the second death—spiritual death. As we contemplated Christ’s crucifixion we were forced to confront the true cost of sin. The wages of sin is the second death, separation from God’s loving presence, and excruciating and eternal condemnation. The grisly glimpse of that ought to be enough to make us all abhor all sin.
But Easter Sunday is a brush with death, too. Not eternal death, but physical death. Because our Christ tasted death for us, we can taunt death. (1 Cor. 15:54-57) Death has been swallowed up in victory, which has been given to us in Jesus. (1 Cor. 15:51) We will all be changed. (1 Cor. 15:49) We will bear the image of the heavenly man, Christ. We will be clothed with the imperishable. Mortals like us will don immortality for eternity. Death has no sting. It can only be our gain! But the more and more those brushes with death feel like distant memories, the more and more we fall back into the habits of the Old Adam, the sinful nature that will only harm and destroy us.
You may have thought it was silly for heart attack patients to fall back into old harmful habits so quickly. It’s not silly. It’s foolish. They ought to know better. In reality, they do know better. But those who know better don’t always live better, do they?
That applies to us as well. In fact, our brushes with death should work an even more profound change. But instead, we often fall into old harmful habits. We think and live as if death has the final say. John tells us that he has heard, seen, and even touched the One who was from the beginning, who is the Word of Eternal Life, the One who unites us together with the Father and our fellow believers. This brush with death ought to transform us!
But we quickly lose sight of that, don’t we? There are two ways we forget these brushes with death. The first is that we treat some sins—especially hidden sins, or socially acceptable sins—as if they're inconsequential. No big deal. The 2nd is that we operate as if the resurrection doesn’t impact life here and now. No real change. We know better. But that does not mean that we always do better.
We know better than to act as if sin is inconsequential. The cross makes it clear that the consequences are staggering. But in our day-to-day lives we tend to sort and rank sins. The really bad ones are the ones that hurt us, our loved ones, and our community—things like stealing, adultery, and murder. But things that are hidden, like our anger, our pride, and our covetousness, seem to be harmless—especially if they are only thoughts. There are even socially acceptable sins that we may argue are necessary evils. We think we must lie a little if we are going to make it in this world. We must bite our tongue when people attack God’s truth if we are going to have any friends. We must turn a blind eye to sin in the lives of others if we are going to have any fun. We must refuse to forgive those who sin against us if we don’t want to be hurt again.
As people who have seen the Word of Life die for these sins, we know better. But that does not mean we always do better, does it?
But Christ's brush with death ought to change more than just our attitude toward sin. His Resurrection changes our present lives, too.
But we frequently forget that. In our day-to-day lives, we are fearful, just as the disciples were. We know Christ is risen. But we worry about what might happen to us here and now. We’re fearful for the future of our families and our country. We see a world that is violent, selfish, and unholy and think Jesus cannot be Lord here and now. We let earthly suffering and temporary hardship rob us of the joy that Christ has secured for us. Sometimes, we grieve as if we do not have any hope. Losses of jobs, our health, and our loved ones devastate or embitter us. We should know better. God knows that. So he inspired his beloved Apostle to encourage & assure us.
Listen to John’s certainty. (1 Jn. 1:1) That which was from the beginning—and that can only describe God who was the one One who is from before the beginning—that which we have heard…seen with our eyes, inspected, and touched, this One we proclaim. The Word of life. You can almost hear John smiling. John has no doubts that he heard, saw, and touched God in the flesh. In fact, he is so certain, that he, like his fellow Apostles, was willing to die for it.
Now compare that with what we see in this same John’s Gospel on Easter evening. He and nine of the other disciples are hiding together for fear of the Jewish leaders. Do not forget that John was one of the two who personally went to the tomb and saw the grave clothes lying there. Do you remember what he said about that experience? After outrunning Peter and reaching the tomb first and glancing in, but not going in until Peter had first, John finally went inside the tomb. He saw the cloth lying in its place and the strips of linen lying there and he believed. He believed that Jesus rose from the dead. But he still struggled with fear. His fellow disciple Thomas still had his doubts.
So Jesus, Life, appeared. He spoke with them and said Peace be with you. He invited them to look at his holy wounds and even inspect them carefully. He wanted each of them to be certain.
And John tells us why. Christ’s brush with death was meant to change our lives—now and forever. When I say brush with death, I do not mean that Jesus did not really experience the full weight of hell or really physically die. I mean that he passed through both deaths into life. Christ’s brush with the second death assures us that we do not have to fear eternal death. Our sin debt has been paid in full. We have been redeemed. We can and should take all sin seriously. Take it to God in confession. Repent and believe the good news. God died for you. Christ’s brush with the second death changes how we treat sin.
Christ’s brush with physical death assures us that death does not have the final say. Jesus does. The losses we experience in this life are not lasting. Jesus promises that those who have left houses and loved ones and lucrative career opportunities (Mt. 19:29) will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. We have hope that cannot be stolen from us. We have peace that transcends all understanding and guards our hearts and minds. We have Jesus.
His brush with death makes us a part of a new family. John speaks of a fellowship with those who were eyewitnesses and even with God himself. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. This transforms our lives, too. We know our heavenly Father to be good. He is the source of every good and perfect gift. We know his Son to be good, too. Jesus is our Good Samaritan, Shepherd, and Advocate. He heals us when we are hurt. He looks for us when we are lost. He pleads our case when we have sinned.
And our good God has united us with a family of believing brothers and sisters who strive to do what is good. They rebuke us when we have grown too comfortable with sin. They reassure us when we have begun to think that we have sinned too much for God to love us. They share our burdens. They pray for our needs. They encourage us with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. They bring us joy.
That’s the final thing our brush with death changes. Our joy is complete. That’s what Jesus promised John. Right before his death on the cross, Jesus said to John: (Jn. 16:22) Now is your time of grief. But I will see you again. And you will rejoice. Just as a mother has pain in childbirth and then forgets her anguish when her child is born, so it will be with you. No one will take away your joy. It will be complete.
So it is for us today. Joy shared is joy multiplied. If you’re a parent, you know how joyful you were to welcome a child into this world. Your joy was multiplied when you shared it with others. Joy works like that.
Our joy is multiplied as we proclaim what we have seen and heard about Jesus. About his love. About his power. About his peace. About all the realities his Resurrection secured and assures us of. Then our joy is made complete. This brush with death gives us a new, eternal, and joy filled lease on life. Amen.