Anchored in Hope: The Power of the Resurrection

Covid has been this strange subject because in one sense it seems like it has been a medical anomaly but it's also created so much interpersonal conversations and global divisions in how to have this conversation. And quite honestly, it has affected people personally at a very personal level. Because of Covid, it's reported that four in ten Americans self-identify struggling with anxiety or depression. Before Covid, it was only one in ten. [00:02:00]

A question in the middle of this is, "Can we have hope?" Well, I'm here today to tell you that we can but perhaps not from the places that we have been looking. It is not in the hope of a future without masks. It is not in the hope of a future to travel without restrictions. It is not in the hope of a future where you might have the educational accomplishments that you're looking for. It is actually something quite different. [00:04:31]

Well, interestingly, it's not what's going to take place in the days ahead that'll help you. It's actually what took place in the years behind; specifically, what took place two thousand years ago in a historic event that is a better source of hope for you no matter the problem that you see or read about today or will yet experience in the future ahead, and it's the conversation about the resurrection. [00:05:02]

Friends, what we are seeing here in the text in Ephesians is this sort of, you know, verses 15 and 17, "your faith," he is praying for you. He wants them to know that God has given them wisdom. But then look at what he says there back in that text: "That you make know what is the hope to which He has called you," and he ties this hope to the reality of an empty tomb, of an empty tomb. [00:06:18]

But ironically, in the Christian life, we are putting our hope in what is absent. There is no body in the tomb. There is no one there. As the angel said to the witnesses who came, "For the one you look for, He has risen." In His absence, we find the presence of hope that what He promised He fulfilled and how that unlocks the door of hope for us. [00:09:47]

Friends, when God tells you of an invitation to hope, it's not divine spam mail. He is not trying to get you to double-click on something only to then mislead you and deceive you. He intends to deliver on every single promise He makes. He does that to the resurrection of His Son. Because there is an empty tomb, there is a filled heart with hope. [00:12:23]

This life was always meant to be transitory and just part of a larger story. What was important to the Christians was to orient one's life towards the larger story, the cosmic story, the story of eternity. They did live in this world, they did experience pain, and loved others, but the Christians of that time were called to see the story of this life as just one of the stories in which they lived. [00:13:03]

The second lesson that we want learn from the resurrection, not only that it introduces hope, secondly, secondly, we want to see that it introduces the beginning—I'm really getting my money's worth out of this chalk now—of the end. Introduces the beginning of the end. Here's what I mean by this. It is about the conversation from the Scriptures about the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God. [00:15:00]

I mean, just consider this. You look around you and you see from, well, I'm from Miami, it's where I live, and all you have to do is just get in your car and go for a drive to go, "This is a crazy world." In Miami, we communicate through our horns and not our turn signals. In fact, if we use a turn signal, you should not trust it. You should not. [00:16:04]

What Paul does here in Romans 8, he says, "Listen, we acknowledge brokenness, we see the mess, but our hope is not in what we see, politicians, friendship, social media accounts. Our hope is what we do not see but we believe; the risen Savior coming for His people again." How that encourages us. So, whether it's over the brokenness of this world, the anxiety over our future, the shame over our past, we see how God encourages us with the truth that the tomb is empty but our hearts can be full. [00:18:04]

They ask for a receipt. They want to know what you're walking out with, and what you paid for. When you're young it's great because they do like the little smiley faces for you, but when you are older, it's like, "Just swipe it, let's go." They want to make sure that what you are actually claiming belongs to you is actually yours, you paid for it. Christians, you're walking through this life eventually one day to cross the Jordan River and into the promised land with hope in your hand and in your heart, but here's the deal. You didn't pay for it; Christ did by His perfect righteousness in His life accomplishing what you and I have never done, His substitutionary death on the cross, receiving the wrath of God that we otherwise should receive ourselves, and then resurrecting from the grave three days later physically appearing to over five hundred witnesses before He ascended to the right hand of the Father where He reigns today and promises to return for you. That's a receipt of hope you hold in your hands today until He comes again. [00:20:23]

What gift there is to not only forgive us our sins through faith in Your Son but also to credit us with all the righteousness of Your Son. God, we thank You that our hope is attached to You and not ourselves or each other but we know that that's true. Help us to live in light of that today. Amen. [00:21:30]