Why Do You Seek The Living Among The Dead?

I want to share something that I believe is going to speak profoundly to someone reading here today.

"Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here but is risen."

I believe that God is speaking to someone about this very thing. You are seeking the living among the dead but God wants you to know that Jesus has risen.

I was once struck by a profound comment. It went like this. "Before the ascension there must be a resurrection. Before a resurrection there must be a Calvary. Before there can be a Calvary there must first be a Gethsemane." What did he mean by that? Simply this. Christ went through a process and it is a process we are called to go through also. Let me go a bit deeper here. Everyone wants to go to heaven right? {at least most of us do}. The ascension is the word we use for Jesus being taken up to heaven. However this only happened after his resurrection. In other words if we want to follow Jesus into heaven we must first receive resurrection life {It's what we sometimes call being born again}. It goes further than that though. Before Jesus could be raised from the dead he had to die. Jesus has to face death in order to go through death. There was no short cut here. There was no equivalent of an Xbox cheat or fast track solution. If we want to experience this new life there has to be a death first but it goes even further back than that. Before Jesus went to the cross he agonised over what awaited him. Jesus was agonising in prayer in a place called Gethsemane. Here is the process.

Gethsemane - Coming to the place of choice to willingly and specifically submit to the will of God
Calvary - For Jesus literally being crucified. For us the act of dying to what we want and embracing                     and living out God's will for our lives.
Resurrection - Living and experiencing the power of the new life God gives us.
Ascension - Being taken up into heaven to be with God forever.

Now this is what I see happening in many churches. Many will emphasis one thing but exclude another. Many will emphasis that Jesus died for our sins but stay right there but how can a dead man save you? The scripture tells us Jesus rose again for our justification. The scripture also tells us about resurrection life. Jesus rising from the dead testified that he was without sin and this new life and power gives us hope of a new dominion in our lives over sin and all the power of the enemy. Praise God for churches that preach the cross but please don't leave us there. Preach resurrection life! Amen!

Then others will preach on victory and dominion and power and all you can do in Jesus yet they don't mention the cross. Seriously there are churches and ministries that have preaching without the cross. How can you have resurrection life without a crucifixion first?
Still others will preach the cross and offer an easy way of having your sins forgiven because..."Jesus paid for it all and there is nothing you can do" This is one of the most dangerous errors I have seen precisely because it is so true. The danger is that it is preached as mutually exclusive to a Gethsemane message. There is no repentance. No active submission of the will to God. No coming to a conviction of "Not my will but yours be done". "Simply say this prayer and you can make heaven your home" is one of the most common things heard in western churches today yet they are losing as many people out the back door as are coming into the front door.  Why is that? Simply because you've marketed the gospel in such a way as to make it an easy sell. {and lets face it the crucified life doesn't market well to the carnal nature}

Time and again the scriptures emphasis repentance and faith not just faith alone. Baptism was always the outward mark of the new covenant and everyone in that day knew what they were buying into. They understood that baptism was an invitation to attend their own burial. The reason we see so little of the new life in believers is because they never made a decision to die to the old one.

Here is where I want to share something in particular with some of the Christians reading here today. The words from the scripture that came to me were these. "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" In Luke's gospel he describes a group of people coming to the tomb of Jesus expecting to prepare the body as was the custom of the time. They were in for a big surprise. Two angelic beings stood there and questioned them. "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" and right there it struck me! This is exactly what many Christians are doing today. You are focusing on Jesus dying for you and you are stuck there. You have not engaged with the resurrected Jesus. I want to say this to some of you reading this today. These are some of the signs of those stuck at the tomb so to speak.

- You keep emphasising the only difference between you and unbelievers is that you've been forgiven. {That tells me you are still at the cross}
- When you speak about spiritual things and especially your testimony it generally ends with Jesus died for you and you have been forgiven. While this is fantastic why on earth do you stop there? What has the living resurrected Jesus done in your life since? What has changed the last 5,10 or 15 years since your sins have been forgiven?
- Your presentation of the gospel always focuses on Jesus dying for us but little or nothing is said of the resurrection. In virtually every gospel presentation in scripture the resurrection is mentioned after the crucifixion. You might think telling people Jesus died for them is good news but if you stop there it is nothing of the sort. The good news is that Jesus defeated death and therefore proved he has power over sin, sickness and all the power of the enemy and is able to save to the uttermost those who believe. After all a dead man can't save anybody!
- What is it you can do now that you couldn't do before your conversion? If you have trouble answering that one maybe you need to revisit the process listed above {or visit it for the first time if you never have before}
- You avoid talk of the after life because it detracts from this world. Again look at the process. Submission-death to self-new life-glory.

Paul the apostle said if our hope is in this life only than we are the most pathetic of people!
The scripture commands us to set our sights on the things from above and not on this life.
The early believers greeted each other with the word 'Maranatha' which means 'the Lord is coming.' They knew and reminded each other every time they met that we were not staying here. Jesus is coming to take us home. In the book of Hebrews we have the example of what faith is and in summary it tells us that they sought 'another city whose builder and maker is God'.  Praise God this world is not all there is!

So let me leave you with these questions. Are you still seeking the living among the dead? Do you speak of Christ crucified as if he is still dead? Are you experiencing the new life he promised? Our God is not a God of the dead but of the living. Do you 'say your prayers'? {A term I hate as it depicts a religious duty to be done rather than a living relationship} or do you connect with the living God? Do you believe God for victory over sinful habits or do you casually tolerate them by using grace as a get out of jail free card. Are you experiencing the resurrection life Jesus promised?

So where are you on that scale? Have you missed out submitting your will to his {Gethsemane}. Do you actively live that out {Calvary}? Is your mind and heart no longer primarily focused on the attractions and trinkets of this world but rather are you focused and living for what is ahead? This is the way to experience resurrection life. Jesus said I have come that they may have life and life in all it's fullness.

Perhaps you are still seeking the living among the dead.  I have good news for you. Jesus is alive. He wants you to experience life in all it's fullness. Resurrection life. My friend, my advice to you is to go back to Gethsemane regularly. Go back and wrestle with God. Go to that place of making a decision to willingly submit to God and say not my will but yours be done and then live out that decision {your own Calvary} As Paul the apostle said "I die daily". It is there you will experience more and more of the power of resurrection life and there are few that experienced it more than Paul the apostle.

If you feel stuck today, If you feel you are in a spiritual rut, If you feel like you made a decision and are glad your sins are forgiven but you've gone no further then I encourage you to submit your will to God's will, live that out and put your focus on the next world rather than this and you can experience more and more of the life that Jesus promised for those who believe.

Are you still at the tomb today? Then why are you seeking the living among the dead? Jesus says follow me. Follow me through Gethsemane. Follow me through Calvary. But don't stay at the tomb. Jesus said I have life for you and that life is more abundant. I encourage you to go on from the tomb and experience the life that Jesus has for all of us. Amen.