Easter Sunday – April 24, 2011

Psalm 16:8-11- ⁸I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. ⁹Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, ¹⁰because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. ¹¹You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

What makes you feel safe and secure about your future? Is it your retirement plan or the money in your bank account? You know of course, that a recession or a stock market crash can erase all that in the blink of an eye. Maybe your healthy lifestyle makes you feel secure? But we’ve all heard of the individual, in great physical health, who suddenly and unexpectedly dies from some health issue. Could it be family that makes you feel safe? But what if tragedy strikes and our families are killed? Perhaps it is the advances in modern medicine. But if you think about it, they still haven’t found a cure for death.

It is difficult, in fact, it is impossible to find in this world the kind of absolute security we long to have. And there is a good reason for that. The fact that we cannot find the security we crave in this world teaches us not to rest our hearts in this world. While God may give us some very pleasant times, we must never mistake them for home. So, now that the flimsy rug of worldly security has been ripped from underneath our feet, we let God’s Word replace it with a solid foundation. This solid foundation supports us not only to the moment of death but forever afterwards. It is a security based upon Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. It is our joyful security this Easter day.

Although David wrote the words of Psalm 16, the apostle Peter in his Pentecost Day sermon reveals that David was really speaking for and about Jesus when he said, “I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” This truth, that God is always with us, that he is present in every place at all times, is one that we know.

Unfortunately, many times we let that truth become a sort of religious theory we agree to, but in practice one we tend to forget. And so what happens: we fall apart, come unglued, and get depressed when life doesn’t go our way. Medical tests, unemployment, and the threat of crime fill us with fear. But why - it’s not as though God has forgotten us. Yet, in sinful weakness we act as though God has abandoned us. The fault is all our own. Our worry and anxiety are really self-inflicted wounds. So we need to be reminded again and again that God is always with us to help, to see us safely through this life to himself in heaven.

For Jesus, this truth was never merely a theory. God’s constant presence was what enabled Jesus to sacrifice himself for our salvation. In spite of all the opportunities he had to avoid suffering, Jesus suffered. Jesus set the Lord always before him. He was always conscious of the fact that his heavenly Father was at his right hand. Remember how the author of Hebrews described it? “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). He always set the Lord before him. He was assured that the Father was at his right hand, and he was not shaken in his mission to sacrifice himself for our sins.

That Jesus is alive today only increases our security that God is with us. You see, Paul tells us that Jesus was raised to life for our justification. In other words, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is like a great big banner shouting that we are no longer guilty of our sins because Jesus’ payment on the cross was acceptable and successful. And what does that means for us? It means that when we set the Lord before our eyes, we aren’t looking at an angry and offended God that is getting ready to punish or destroy us. The God who is with us is the one who so loves us that he gave everything to save us from our sins, and he isn’t going to let our present troubles separate us from him. It also means that when we fix our eyes on Jesus, we aren’t just bringing up memories of some dead hero from the past. He is the living Savior who is genuinely present with almighty and divine power to give us the help we need - even to the end of the age. We are secure in our faith – God is with us!

But not only do we have security for this life - our joyful security this Easter Day stretches on to eternity. Jesus resurrection assures us that God will raise us. “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”

Why could Jesus have such joy, even in the face of death? Why did he have a sense of security even about the fate of his flesh-and-blood body? It is because Jesus knew that the Father would not leave his body in the grave to rot. At least three times before his crucifixion, he told his disciples that he would rise again on the third day. Even his enemies understood that Jesus predicted his body would come alive again. That is why they had the tomb sealed and guarded with soldiers. That was Peter’s message when he preached about Jesus’ resurrection to the crowds on Pentecost Day. “David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact” (Acts 2:29-32).

This is what Easter is all about. This is what we have come to celebrate this morning. The immortality of Jesus is not merely the desire to live on in people’s memories forever, like a scientist or leader might achieve when their accomplishments are remembered for generations after their death. That is not what we mean when we say that Jesus lives. He doesn’t just lives in the hearts and minds of his disciples through his Word. Jesus rules the world, but he doesn’t rule it from the grave. Jesus is alive. His real human body did not stay in the grave.

And because Jesus is alive, we are secure in our faith that God will raise us too. We can make the words of the psalm our very own confession: “You will not abandon me to the grave.” Now, we all have been to enough funerals to know that this does not mean Christians never die. In fact, on those occasions when we make our way to a cemetery, it may seem like an abandoned and forsaken place. Row after row of silent stones mark the places where bodies seem to have been abandoned to the grave, where saints of the past have surrendered to the forces of decay.

But Jesus promises us, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). When God made man, he created him from the dust of the ground. Even if our bodies have decayed to the point that they are nothing more than piles of dust; even if our ashes have been scattered to the winds - that presents no challenge to the one who made us and has risen from death to life himself. In whatever form he finds us and our believing loved ones, “By the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, [he] will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). We can confess with Job, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. ²⁶And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; ²⁷I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27)

And what is it that lies beyond that promise? The psalmist gives us a little taste in our closing verse. He reassures us that God will bless us. “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

That hope of heaven is certain! Jesus doesn’t merely show us the way. He is the way and the truth and the life. He had done it all. It is finished. His resurrection is proof that our salvation has been accomplished. That is why we can be secure in our faith that God will bless us.

In heaven, we will find joy in God’s presence and eternal pleasures at his right hand. And note the quality of those blessings: direct communication with God. Being in the very presence of the God of love means that we will know perfectly his love and blessing. Now note the quantity of those blessings. Here on earth, joy and happiness can sometimes be in short supply. But in heaven, the Lord promises that we will be filled with joy and pleasures. These blessings won’t just be occasional experiences, they will be the norm.

Finally, there is the duration of what God has prepared for us. He promises that these pleasures are eternal - forever. On earth, there is always an end to the times we have enjoyed. We must leave the gathering of friends, finish the game, put down the book, turn off the music. But in heaven, the blessings God has prepared are so secure that they will go on and on and never end.

So we know what the future holds. We may not know everything that will happen to us throughout the course of our lives, but we have a place to put our trust. A place of security - our Savior. He holds our present and future in his hands. That is our joyful security this Easter Day. Amen.