“The Sure and Living Hope” 1 Peter 1.3–9 Easter2A April ‘26

 

1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father, and from our crucified and risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Christ is risen, He’s risen, indeed, alleluia!!! The message from God’s Word on this 2^nd Sunday of Easter is taken from 1 Peter 1:3-9, it’s entitled, “The Sure & Living Hope,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2. There’s an old idea that if something can go wrong, it eventually will. You park your car at night in your garage, everything is fine, and in the morning it won’t start. Nothing touched it, nothing changed—or so it seems. And yet there it is. That’s life in a sinful & fallen world. Things wear out, break down, and fade away. Even the best gifts do not stay as they were, because time, sin, and decay see to that. And if that is true for everything in this world, it raises a serious question: what about your hope?

3. The Tree of Ténéré was for three hundred years believed to be the loneliest tree on earth. It was an acacia tree living in Niger’s Sahara Desert and was the only thing around for 250 miles. Such a distinction made it an obvious landmark for travelers passing through the arid Sahara. Yet, in 1973, man accomplished what only man can do. Someone ran the tree over with a truck. Of course, many suspect the driver was drunk in order to hit the only obstacle for miles around. (See: www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-most-isolated-tree-in-the-world-was-killed-by-a-probably-drunk-driver-5369329/).

4. We praise God that he keeps our hope, the great gift of eternal life, away from our earthly hands, for we as sinners will ruin it. He keeps us in the faith on this side of creation, keeps us fighting the good fight, as Paul says, not letting our sins or our sinful nature have anything to do with eternal life with him. Because we are cloaked in the righteousness of his Son, our hope is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,” kept safe in heaven for us” as St Peter says in our Epistle lesson for today (1 Pet 1:4).

5. Everyone lives by hope, but not all hope is the same. People hope for a better job, a stronger relationship, good health, financial stability, or a peaceful retirement. These are not bad things; they are good gifts. But every one of them comes with an expiration date. Jobs change or disappear, relationships strain or break, health declines, and money comes and goes. Even when these hopes are fulfilled, they do not last as we imagined. Often the pursuit itself leaves us anxious or disappointed. That is because earthly hope rests on uncertain things—on people, circumstances, and even ourselves.

6. But St. Peter speaks of a very different hope. Writing to Christians facing trials and suffering, he does not offer wishful thinking. Instead, he proclaims, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). This is a living hope—not a wish, not a possibility, but a certainty grounded in God Himself. And this hope is described as “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). Unlike everything in this world, it cannot die, cannot be corrupted, and cannot lose its glory.

7. The reason this hope is so certain is that God Himself has won it for you. Your eternal life is not something you achieve but something God has accomplished. Peter reminds us that this is “according to His great mercy” (1 Peter 1:3). Left to ourselves, we would have no hope before God—only sin, guilt, and death. But Christ took your place, bore your sin, and suffered your death. He rose again victorious, and because He lives, your hope lives also. This is why Peter calls it an inheritance. An inheritance is not earned but received because someone has died. In this case, the One who died—Jesus Christ—now lives forever. Through His death and resurrection, He has secured your forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.

8. Not only has God won this hope for you, but He also keeps it for you. Peter says it is “kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:4–5). Your hope is not left in your hands, where you could lose it. If it were up to us, we would ruin it. Human beings have a way of damaging even the most precious things. But thanks be to God, your salvation is not dependent on you. It is guarded by His power, and He sustains your faith through His Word and Sacraments.

9. Yet Peter also acknowledges that Christians face trials: “Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). These trials are not meaningless. They serve to test and refine faith, “so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7). Even suffering can’t take away your hope. Instead, God uses it to strengthen your faith and draw you closer to Christ.

10.                  This leads to a deeper truth about the Christian life. God does not promise constant happiness, which depends on circumstances and comes and goes. But He does give something greater: joy. Peter writes, “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him… you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8). This joy is rooted not in how life feels today, but in what you know to be true: Christ is risen, your sins are forgiven, and your future is secure. This joy remains even in sorrow, even in hardship, even in the face of death.

11.                  St. Peter says to us today, “though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and you believe in Him and rejoice with joy…” I asked the school children a question in chapel this week, “will you believe it if you see it?” Like an old fisherman’s tale of his big catch of fish, will you believe it unless you see the picture of the big fish? It’s common for people to say, “I won’t believe it unless I see it.” 

12.                  The disciple we often refer to as “Doubting Thomas” as we see in our Gospel lesson from John 20 said these words regarding the resurrection of Jesus; he just couldn’t believe that the Jesus who died upon the cross and was placed in the tomb was now alive and walking the earth. And his doubting had to make him a little bit like an Eeyore. You know, the donkey from the children’s classic Winnie the Pooh that simply can never look on the bright side.   

13.                  Eeyore and Doubting Thomas both show a kind of hesitation. Eeyore expects the worst and struggles to believe anything good will happen, while Thomas struggles to believe the good news of Jesus’ resurrection without seeing it for himself. Both reflect our human tendency to doubt. But unlike Eeyore, Thomas doesn’t stay there. Jesus comes to him, shows His wounds, and leads him to faith, so that Thomas confesses, “My Lord and my God!” It’s a reminder that when we struggle with doubt, Christ meets us too and strengthens our faith through His Word and Sacraments. As St Paul says in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing the message and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.”

14.                  And so you can rest—not in yourself, but in Christ. Your eternal life is not fragile or uncertain. It is sure and living because Christ is risen and because God Himself keeps it for you. Peter concludes by reminding us that this faith is “obtaining the outcome… the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9). That outcome is already secured, even as we await its full revelation.

15.                  Therefore, take heart. Because Christ lives, you shall live also. Your hope is not fading or slipping away. It is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). Until the day you receive it in full, you live with a deep and steady joy, knowing how the story ends—in the resurrection and the life everlasting. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

 

 

“Middle C” and the Rest of the Story” Col. 3.1–4 Easter April ‘26

 

1. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! The message from God’s Word today as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is taken from Colossians 3:1-4, it’s entitled, “Middle C and the Rest of the Story,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.  The four verses of our Easter text bring to mind a particular radio program of news commentator Paul Harvey years ago, his daily broadcasts always ending with a human-interest story. This particular day’s story was of a one-room schoolhouse in a remote area of Wyoming, whose teacher one day brought his violin with him to school. Later in the day, when he got out the violin, it quickly became evident that it was seriously out of tune, and his hurried efforts to adjust its strings were of no avail. At this point, as per usual for Paul Harvey, he interrupted the story for a final commercial break, assuring his listeners that he would return to tell “the rest of the story.”

3. Upon returning, Harvey told how the teacher wrote a note to the manager of the Casper radio station, requesting a favor, namely, that the station manager please play a single note, a middle C, loud and clear on the station’s grand piano during the next Sunday evening’s eight o’clock broadcast. Thus, as requested, middle C was heard loud and clear all across Wyoming that Sunday evening, from which the teacher was able to tune the strings of his violin. Paul Harvey then ended the story by signing off the broadcast with his customary words, “And now you know the rest of the story.”

4. You’ve all heard, you know, you believe, you rejoice in the story of our Lord’s resurrection from the tomb at Easter. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! But have you heard, do you know, the rest of the story? The Glorious Story of Christ’s Resurrection Gives Rise to the Beginning and the Rest of Our Own “Middle C” Stories.

5. In Paul Harvey’s story, middle C was all-important for the teacher to be able to tune and play his violin. But much more important, we who are baptized Christians—even as we live out our lives on this earth—have our own “middle C” in order to keep us in tune with our baptism. Staying in tune was also a dire need of the early Christians in our text, their “middle C” being “Christ.” The earliest Christians confessed their faith and identified with and supported one another by using the simple outline of a fish. Remember, the five letters of the Greek word for “fish” (ichthus) served as an acrostic for “Jesus Christ God’s Son, Savior,” one of Christianity’s earliest “middle C” doctrinal statements.

6. Fifth-century missionary to Ireland St. Patrick was likewise determined to keep his very difficult ministry in tune with “middle C.” He wrote for his own good what is now often called St. Patrick’s Breastplate; here is part of it: Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

7. No one has been more intent upon maintaining Christianity’s “middle C” than Martin Luther. In his Small Catechism’s explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed, he loudly and clearly sounded the “middle C” for all of our lives as Christians: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

8. The thing is, staying in tune with “middle C” can, as we all know, be difficult, given constant opposition from the old evil foe, the world around us, and our own sinful flesh. In the case of the Colossian Christians, it was increasingly so. The apostle Paul had become aware of their struggle with false teachers, whose opposition was growing ever stronger. They were promoting dabbling with cosmic beings, initiations, asceticism, and things of this world. In the verses preceding our text, St. Paul writes: “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’ (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?” (2:20–22).

9. In the first two chapters of this letter, Paul had already warned all who would read it—including the Colossians and all of us today—of “human precepts and teachings” that “have indeed an appearance of wisdom” but are always seriously out of tune and contrary to the Colossians’ and our “middle C,” Christ.

10.                  Today, the distractions have for the most part changed, asceticism and worship of angels having been long since replaced by such human precepts and teachings as the historical-critical method, rationalism, modernism, socialism, evolutionism, postmodernism, progressivism, globalism, and transgenderism. Also to be included are DEI, wokeness, CRT, abortion, LGBTQ, and the like. All of these and more belong to the “appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body” that are “of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (2:23), seen so readily all around us in our day.

11.                  In the verses following our text, Paul therefore instructs and exhorts the Colossian Christians and us to stay in tune with Christ, to “put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. . . . You must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (3:5, 8–10). Instead, “put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (3:12–14)—this is what it is to be in tune with Christ, our “middle C.”

12.                  Questions come to mind after hearing Paul Harvey’s story: Why did that teacher bring his violin to school in the first place? Was it to teach his students about music, or that they would learn to sing in harmony with one another, or that they could participate in a music contest of some kind? Or maybe was it so that the students could entertain their parents during an upcoming open house? We will never know the rest of that story.

13.                  But here’s a good thing! We can already know the rest of our own stories, provided we, with the help of the Holy Spirit in our baptism and all along the way, strive to stay in tune with our own “middle C.” This is the really good news in our text this morning. It is “the rest of the story” of all who are baptized and thereby have been “raised with Christ” and who “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God,” who have “set [their] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1–2), who have “put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Col. 3:9–10).

14.                  We know this is coming: “When Christ who is your life appears” at the end of this world’s limited time, “then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4). This is our happy ending. Except that it is clearly not the rest of our story either. Verse 4 of our text is the really good news for all who are baptized, thereby having already died and been raised with Christ. Our life is now “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3), so that “when Christ who is your life appears” on this earth’s final day, “then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4) to participate in the rest of our story, the one that will have no ending, when we will be numbered with all the saints, who, having lived and died on earth with “middle C” at the center of their lives, will forever from their earthly labors rest. Of course, that will be a whole new story, and most of its marvelous details have yet to be made manifest. We truly have much to look forward to. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

 

“Christ Is Risen! So What…” 1 Cor. 15.19-26 Easter Sunrise April ‘26

 

1.                Christ is Risen, He’s risen, indeed! Alleluia! The message from God’s Word as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead on this wonderful Easter Sunrise service is taken from 1 Cor. 15:19-26, it’s entitled, “Christ is Risen! So, What?” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen gobs of them. Infomercials. Paid advertisements trying to sell you this thing and that other thing and those new things over there that are bigger and better and faster and cheaper and easier than that other stuff we sold you last year. Who’s to say if they’re right, really? Maybe it really is bigger and better and faster and more equipped to make your life a step above where it is right now! The problem is, of course, usually, it’s not. They’re just trying to sell you something. But you don’t know it’s no better than the last one you had but didn’t need until you’ve already bought it and it’s too late to send it back. If something really doesn’t work, and if it in the end has no factual basis to its claim, it’s just junk.

3.                Well, the same goes for the Church. Did you know that? If this guy named Jesus of Nazareth didn’t actually die on a Roman cross two thousand years ago and come back to life three days later, we might as well pack it all up and go home. Everything the Church believes and teaches means absolutely nothing unless it has a basis in a historical event. Justification by grace through faith, the declaration that God has paid the price to repair the gap between us and him, depends completely on the fact that Jesus’ tomb was empty that Sunday morning. Our Christian Faith Depends Entirely on the Fact of the Empty Tomb.

4.                The resurrection of Christ is a fact. If Christ did not rise from the dead, you are still in your sins. Historians are certain of one thing. Whether they believe Jesus rose or not, it’s considered a historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth did die by crucifixion on a Roman cross. What if Christ did not actually rise from the dead? Let’s suppose for a moment that he did not—that he died and maybe his disciples stole his body as the Jews claimed.

5.                If Christ did not rise from the dead, then you and I are in a lot of trouble. Because we’re all sinners, we all deserve death. We need Christ’s death to pay for our sins, and his death doesn’t mean anything unless he defeated death by rising again to life. If Christ did not rise from the dead, it’s even worse. Not only do we have no forgiveness of sins and promise of new life, but neither do our loved ones who have already died. If Christ did not rise from the dead, then of all people we are truly most miserable (1 Cor. 15:19). We have no present, no future. We have only this life, a life full of death, pain, suffering, hardship. We have staked our lives on a fantasy. “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20).

6.                Dear friends in Christ, Christ has been raised from the dead. That, too, is a fact. Yes, there are many theories about what really happened in that tomb. Maybe you’ve seen some on the History Channel: the stolen-body theory, the wrong-tomb theory, the theory where Jesus only appeared to die, the theory where the women were hallucinating, or the lettuce theory where the gardener was so upset at his lettuce being trampled by curious onlookers that he moved the body.

7.                All of these theories fall short because they all raise more questions than answers. For instance, not one accounts for why the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb went along with the alleged plot. If the body was not discovered, those guards were probably killed. All they had to do was come up with the body of Jesus, but they couldn’t do it. In fact, none of these theories ever produced the body of Jesus. How could they? Jesus was alive!

8.                The disciples were so convinced of the fact of the resurrection that they staked their lives on proclaiming it. Only one, John, is known to have lived to old age, and he managed that only because he was exiled. The rest died bloody, premature deaths because of the faith. Andrew was crucified; Peter, Philip, and Bartholomew were crucified upside down; James was beheaded. You get the idea. They would never have done this if they were making it up—die for a lie. If they knew where Jesus’ body was, somebody would have spoken up. So Christ rose from the dead. That is established by the Scriptures and by clear historical testimony. So what? The “so what” is that From this fact grows all the blessings of our faith.

9.                It means we have life. “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:21). The fact that Christ rose from the dead means you and I and all believers in Christ will also rise from the dead. It means that death is not forever, but that death is forever dead. It means that if death couldn’t hold on to Christ, it also can’t hold on to anyone who is in Christ. And that includes you and me. For us who are baptized into Christ, it means that the death we all face is not the important one. The death that we all will endure unless Christ returns first is not the one that actually matters. The death that actually matters is already in our past!

10.             That real death, the death to sin, the one that counted because it lasts forever, we already died in Baptism. It’s in our past. Christ died our death for us that day on the cross. His death and his resurrection are given to us now on that day when we were baptized and God’s triune name was placed on us. That’s what Christ’s resurrection from the dead means for us. It means the last enemy will be destroyed.

11.             On the Last Day, you and I and all believers in Christ will be gathered joyfully around the throne. After our very flesh is given new life just as the flesh of Jesus received new life, we will rise with new bodies and gather around Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God. Victorious over sin, death, and the power of the devil, you and I will reign with Christ forever. Death will no longer be a menace to us who are in Christ. That wicked weapon of the devil will have been completely removed, once and for all. Death’s sting will no longer have any power or sway over us whatsoever, for Christ has destroyed death with his own death.

12.             Even though for now we sin and repent, rise and fall, are born and die, we look forward with all hope and confidence to the resurrection of the dead. Just as Christ rose from the dead, in the same way we, too, will be brought to new life. And there is nothing that the devil or his minions of death-wielding demons can do about it, for the battle has been won.

13.             What happened in Jesus’ tomb that Easter Sunday morning so long ago is real, as unbelievable as it seems. It is an event that took place in the real world, witnessed by hundreds. Just as Christ Jesus himself rose to new life after being put to death on that Roman cross, God will not abandon us to the grave after our own flesh loses its life. We can be glad, secure in the reality of the empty tomb. We can rejoice with our whole being in the certainty of our resurrection. We confess a doctrine based on a historic reality. Therefore, we can shout, “I believe in the resurrection of the flesh!” Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.