H. Michael Brewer
Crescent Springs Presbyterian Church
February 11, 2007
IF CHRIST HAS NOT BEEN RAISED...
Jeremiah 17:5-10
I Corinthians 15:12-20
When the apostle Paul dictated a letter, he didn’t know he was writing the New Testament. He only knew that
another problem had come up in one of his congregations and he was trying to set it right from a distance. Most
of Paul’s letters were prompted by some crisis, some conflict, or some wrong-headed belief. Among the many
problems in the Corinthian church, there was apparently a misunderstanding about the resurrection.
Apparently, the Corinthian disciples believed in the resurrection of Christ, but not the resurrection of Christians.
They believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead, but they did not expect to be raised themselves from
the dead.
For the Corinthians, there’s a disconnect. It’s like when you’re running the sweeper and you accidentally pull
the plug out of the socket. The power is still there, the tool is still there, but because they’re disconnected it’s not
working the way it should. The Corinthians have allowed their belief in the resurrection to become disconnected
from the power of the resurrection.
As Paul writes to them to set things straight, clearly he wonders why the Corinthians have bothered to
become Christians at all. If the resurrection of Jesus Christ has no impact on our own lives, then what’s the
point?
Christ is risen!
So what?
There is an unbreakable bond between the resurrection of Jesus and our own resurrection. This is why Paul
calls the risen Christ “the first fruits of those who have died.” This means two things. It means that the full and
final harvest is guaranteed. We can go to our graves confident that God will raise us up, just as Christ has been
raised.
But to confess Jesus Christ as the first-fruits also means something to us in the here and now. It means the
resurrection is not just something far in the future, something we will experience at the end of time. The
resurrection has already begun to bear fruit, both in Christ and in the people of Christ.
When the resurrection goes to work in us, it makes a difference in our lives. It’s like yeast working in bread
dough. The result may not be immediate, but the effect is real, and transformative, and it reaches into every
corner of our life and our world.
What is it like, this resurrection life? Come with me. Come with me to the south of Israel. We’re standing in a
broad valley not far from the banks of the Dead Sea. The sun is fierce. The land is parched. Worse than parched,
the land is poisoned, an alkali desert, the soil heavy with salt.
Over that way there’s a bush. Believe me, it stands out in this landscape. Let’s walk over for a closer look.
The poor plant consists of a few gnarled, leafless branches, reaching up like claws. I can’t tell if this skeletal
plant is alive or dead. Maybe half-way in-between.
If we were able to fly, we could mount into the cloudless skies over the Dead Sea valley and we’d see that
the Dead Sea is fed by one river--the Jordan River. We could follow the meandering course of the Jordan River
up to the north. Flying very high and peering down, the river looks like a bright green ribbon unfurled across the
desert. But when we come in for a landing, we see that the green is a lush growth of grass and rushes, bushes
and trees that hug the banks of the Jordan for a few yards on both sides of the river.
It’s quite a contrast: the vitality of these bushes beside the river, and the shriveled shrub barely clinging to life
in the desert. This is what the prophet Jeremiah had in mind: Those whose hearts turn away from the Lord, they
shall be like a shrub in the desert. They shall live in the parched places, in a salty land. But those who trust in
the Lord, they shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.
This is a picture of the resurrection life! The resurrection life is a life that is rooted in God and is growing ever
more deeply into God. Think about that plant beside the water. Over here is the river, and over here is the desert.
Which way do you think the roots are growing? Further and further into the desert? Or deeper and deeper into
the river bank?
Shouldn’t we expect the same thing to be happening in our own lives? To put more and more trust in God,
and less and less trust in what Jeremiah calls “mere flesh.” Let’s be realistic. We Christians use money and
medicine and retirement plans and seat belts, just like everybody else uses those resources. In some degree
we trust the resources in the world around us. But our ultimate trust is in God.
We know that someday we may have an illness that the medicine will not cure, and if a drunk driver crosses
the line at eighty miles and hour and hits us head on, we ought not to count too much on that seat belt, or even
that air bag. The most generous pension will not save us from our final retirement, and as for money, it can do
all sorts of wonderful things, but it always promises more than it can deliver. Always.
Resurrection life reserves its ultimate trust for God. The orientation of a Christian is toward God. Our roots
are always reaching for God, always sinking deeper into God. If the rain falls on us, we’re grateful for that. If the
sun shines gently on us, we rejoice in that. But we know that whatever else may come our way--of blessing or
woe--the river alone is our life, and we don’t dare depend on anything else. So when the drought comes and the
skies close up like a fist and the sun leeches every drop of moisture from the soil, we just keep drawing our life
from the river.
When the money dries up, or the job runs out, or our health fails, or the ones we love have stopped loving
us, or the foundations shake and our certainties fall down like a house of cards, then we just drink that much
deeper from the life of God given to us in the resurrection of Christ.
That poor bush out in the desert shrivels and withers, but “in the year of drought those who trust God are not
anxious,” says Jeremiah and we do not cease to bear fruit.
That’s because Christ is the first-fruits. Christ is raised from the dead. Either that means nothing to us or it
means everything. The resurrection of Jesus promises not only that we will live after death; it also promises that
we will live before death.
Christ is risen! And so are you!
Soli Deo Gloria!