2003.4.20. Easter - Rev. Young-Jin Cho

"Have you met your living Jesus?"

I Corinthians 15:1-11

We have a traditional greeting for Easter. When one says, "Christ is risen!" we reply, "Indeed, he is risen! Hallelujah." Let us exchange these greetings together.

Today is a joyful day. Today, we are very thankful. It is an exciting day. It is because Jesus has been raised from the tomb. It is because, by raising Jesus again, God has given us new lives and the start of the new history.

Now, chain of sins has been broken. The illusion of the ruling of unjust has been shattered. The despair about the death being the end also has disappeared. A path to God is wide open. Finally, the triumph of righteousness and truth has been proven. The life beyond death has been proclaimed.

There are not many testimonies in the Bible that are disputed as much as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This dispute has been going on since the early church. There has been a theory that says the disciples stole and concealed the body of Jesus, then insisted that Jesus resurrected. Someone people say Jesus was not dead but just fainted and woke in the cool stone tomb. Other people say that the women were confused and went to a wrong tomb, then, they insisted on the resurrection. There also is the illusion theory that the disciples loved Jesus so much that they saw him in illusion and they insisted on the resurrection. Some theologians think the resurrection of Jesus is not a historical event, but they understand the resurrection of Jesus as an incident of belief and realization in the lives of the disciples. All these theories seem to reasonably explain the resurrection of Jesus; however, we see that they all have numerous logical mistakes or unreasonableness. They are efforts to extend their assertions of the resurrection of Jesus not being a historical event. There is a fundamental question for these assertions. This question is recorded in Acts chapter 26. It is the question Apostle Paul asked King Agrippa who did not believe the resurrection: Why would any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? Resurrection is the work God has done. It is the work where God relieved and revived Jesus Christ from death.

Pastor Lee Strobel who is serving Saddleback Community Church in California wrote a book titled "The Case for Christ". Pastor Strobel, who has a keen sense of a former journalist, elaborately reviewed the biblical records about Jesus, particularly about the event of his resurrection. He interviewed experts in that field and asked the questions brought forward from objections. As results, he verified that the records about Jesus in the Bible are obviously credible, and the resurrection of Jesus is clearly a historical event. He, challenged by his wife's changes after she had become a Christian, began to attend a church. He is now living a new life as a pastor and a writer who influences this time of era. I strongly recommend everyone to read this book.

I.

Today's scripture is introductions of Corinthians chapter 15, which is called 'the chapter of resurrection'. This part takes a very important position as one of the initial transmissions of the early church. Particularly, Apostle Paul had never been evangelized by anyone. He became an apostle after he met Jesus on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians. This transmission-Paul had received from the Jerusalem Church-shows us what the core of the gospel the early church testified is.

There were two essential transmissions in the early church about the resurrection of Jesus. One is the transmission of the empty tomb the other is the appearance of Jesus. The transmission of the empty tomb, which is usually seen in the four great Christian Gospels, tells that the tomb of Jesus was empty. On the other hand, the transmission of the appearance records the events when Jesus appeared before his disciples, which may be seen in John or letters of Apostle Paul.

Today's scripture is the typical phrases representing the appearance transmission. The scripture reads Apostle Paul received the transmission of the news that Jesus was dead and buried for our sins as in the Bible, and he revived as in the Bible. And the revived Jesus appeared to Peter, the twelve disciples, and to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time. Paul wrote that Jesus appeared to his brother James and last of all, even to Paul himself, as to one abnormally born.

II.

There is a message in today's scripture.

(1) First, the resurrection of Jesus is an event what had already been promised in the Old Testament, in the history of the Israelites.

The resurrection of Jesus is not an event happened all of a sudden or by chance. It was an event already announced in advance in the Old Testament. It was an event included in the great plan of God to save the mankind, and it was a promised to his people. God kept this promise, sent the savior Messiah, and He came to accomplish his work of salvation of the mankind. He revealed endless love of God by being crucified on the cross. He opened a door for us to come before God. God freed and revived Jesus from death. He raised him in three days as written in the Bible.

The event of resurrection is not an event occurred by chance. It was not an accident. It was already promised in the Bible. God had kept this promise. Sincere God revived Jesus as he promised in the Bible.

(2) Secondly, the fact that Jesus resurrected reminds us of an important message. That is, Jesus is living today.

Dear everyone, what does it mean to believe in Jesus? Is it to believe the teachings Jesus taught over 2000 years ago? Does it mean to trust and follow his ideas? Is it to look back upon his memory and to follow his footsteps? As professor Kang-Nam Oh asserted in his book, "Jesus does not exist", is it to keep Jesus' faith in our minds and follow him as an example rather than believing in him?

Of course, all of these are meaningful theories. However, there is more fundamental meaning of the resurrection. That is the fact that Jesus is living today, if he resurrected from death. He is not confined in some idealism. He is living today. Since I haven't heard that Jesus died after his resurrection, He must be still living today.

Therefore, to believe in Jesus means to have relationship with him who is living today. It means to have a fellowship with him. Without fellowship with him, our faith may be at a level not far from the stage of rudimentary knowledge. That is not believing the living Jesus, but believing him as information. We are not reaching to the level of a personal relationship with Jesus as 'I & You.' It remains as impersonal relationship as 'I & It', 'I & Knowledge.'

(3) Thirdly, provided the fact that Jesus is living today, to meet him is essential for the faith to believe in him.

Today's scripture introduces people who experienced encounters with resurrected Christ. Let's read chapter15 verse 5 and thereafter: He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time…Then he appeared to James…Then he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. Resurrected Jesus appeared to his disciples. He met his people. He encouraged, acknowledged, and called them to the mission.

To meet Jesus was crucial for their faith. They could establish relationships with living God through the meeting with Jesus. Through fellowship with Jesus, they could have faith as relationship, and live faithful lives in fellowship with Jesus.

It is same for us today. Without meeting with living Jesus, our faith is nothing but mere knowledge. We may not experience Jesus Christ as the LORD. We may not understand the fundamentals of faith that is serving the Lord with fear. We may never experience the lives of faith. For our faith today, meeting with living Jesus is essential.

(4) Fourthly, meeting resurrected Jesus started new lives for the disciples. It led them to walk on the way of new lives. Everyone, what is the most significant evidence for you to believe the resurrection? That is the changed lives of the disciples. Without the resurrection, how could it be possible for Peter, who denied Jesus three times that he did not know him, to die hung upside down on the cross? How could Thomas, who insisted to see Jesus' wound to believe in Him, go to India to deliver the joyful news of the resurrection and dedicate his life for the Gospel? Without meeting resurrected Jesus, how could His brother James, who doubted Jesus' mental stability, dedicate him as a leader of the Jerusalem church? Particularly, transformation of the Apostle Paul is more dramatic. He was a man persecuting Christians. However, through the encounter with resurrected Jesus, he started a new life. He confesses in today's scripture 15:10:

"…by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me."

Paul said he doesn't deserve to be called an apostle. But by God's grace, through the encounter with resurrected Jesus, he took the obligation of an apostle to deliver the Gospel for the Gentiles. In order to keep this amazing grace not to be futile, he served more and worked earnestly than any other apostles. Yet, all these are because of the generous and abundant grace of God. Paul had changed. He transformed to walk on a new way of life.

III.

We have a new task. There is a question all of us who are celebrating and grateful for the resurrection of Jesus Christ should ask. The question is, "Have you met the living Jesus?" Dear everyone, have you met Jesus who is living today because he has resurrected? Are you living your new life in Jesus?

The essence of our faith in Jesus is the meeting with Jesus. It is the fellowship with Him. It is because he is alive today. It is because there has been no news that he died again after he broke the gate of the tomb and resurrected. Dear everyone, where is Jesus Christ in your life? Two thousand years ago, Jesus opened the tomb and resurrected. It is important to believe this historical fact. Though, what is more important is to experience the meeting with Jesus. It is important to have Jesus resurrect in my life. It is important that this living Jesus controls my life and makes changes.

Dear everyone, where is the resurrected Jesus now? We confess that Jesus is now seated on the right hand of God's throne. This confession is not of a passive meaning that he is merely seated. It means that he rules our lives and history today. Living Jesus is with and among us as the Holy Spirit. He holds us with the Holy Spirit, and renews us. Therefore, when we meet Christ, we cannot help but change. Meeting with Christ greatly influence our lives. It changes our thoughts and our steps.

As we celebrate Easter, those who are being baptized today have finished the 6 week prep course. They submitted their confessions of faith, and they had question-and-answer sessions with me. As talking to each one of them, I have experienced the resurrected and living Jesus once again. I was touched by God's work of transformation in their lives. Indeed, Jesus is alive. Jesus is meeting us today, and is leading us to live new lives.

Pastor Hyo-Sup Choi in New Jersey, eager for transformation in resurrected Christ, wrote this poem of prayer.

Let me be born again

I only chased after the emptiness in the world,
Let me be born again as an eagle that aims at the higher ground.
I took pleasure in weaknesses and mistakes of others,
Let me be born again so I can wrap their wounds and weep with them.
I was gloomy and sigh with loneliness,
Let me be born again as a skylark chirping to bring joy to others.
Do not let me be the robber, who slandered Jesus until the last moment,
Help me be the saved one who had repented and sought forgiveness.
I leaped like a colt to the extent of my greed,
Help me resemble Jesus who obeyed Father's will.
I used to grab everything to succeed in life,
Help me become a Samaritan who empties himself and share with others.
Help me come out of my small boxed world.
And let me be born again as a new person who has broader and higher views.
Grant me a peaceful heart,
And help me find and take upon my cross.
Help me see the Sun of hopes through the dark clouds,
And before anything, help me obey the words of Jesus.
Help me experience the dawn of resurrection when death became a start of an eternal life, and the tomb became a door to the heaven,
And let me be born again like a butterfly shedding off its cocoon.
Resurrected Jesus, let me be born again. Amen.

I would like to close my sermon by introducing a story. During my sabbatical last year, I attended the International Sermon Conference held in Edinburgh. I heard this story in the sermon of Pastor William Willmon who was a professor at Duke University. There was a young man who attended the Duke University Chapel every week. One day the pastor invited the young man to his home for some sandwiches. The youth told the pastor he had something to say. The youth unfolded the story of his life. He spent his youth wandering much. He gave his parents so much trouble that he was sent to a mental institution when he was 16. He ran away from the hospital, hitchhiked his way to Chicago. For three months, he worked for prostitutes and he wandered on the streets. Then he was arrested by Police for stealing and misusing a customer's Credit Card. He was convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

The life in the prison was like that of a hell. He thought his life was finished. However, an old prisoner felt sorry for this young man and was kind to him. The young man became close to the old prisoner, and had to listen to the Bible he read every evening. He read and listened to the Bible for the first time in his life. This old prisoner read him one chapter every night before he went to bed. Due to lack of education, it took him a long time to read one chapter. They chose Luke to read and he was introduced to the parables of chapter 15, about the stories of Lost Sheep and Drachmas, and the Prodigal Son. Just then, he had an unexpected experience. He felt Jesus was with him in that jail, and pushing him against the wall. And he heard the voice of Jesus. Jesus told the youth: "You owe me something. You owe me something." He was afraid and fearful. Before the existence of Jesus this young man found a new life. He received a real salvation. He became a well-behaved prisoner and returned home after six months. Then he finished high school course and went to the Michigan State University with full scholarship. There he studied really hard, one year later; he transferred to the Duke University he always admired. He was studying hard at the Duke University as an 'all A Student.' The youth told the pastor, "Pastor, you know why I told you my story? It is Easter after a few weeks. Pastors are endeavoring to find an episode in their efforts to prove the resurrection of Jesus being the truth. Use my story as an anecdote. I am the proof of Easter."

Jesus has resurrected.
Yes, our LORD is risen.
He is living today.
Dear everyone, have you met our living Christ?
Have you found your new life in the LORD?