Psalm 98 - We praise God for the results of the resurrection

If a Man could lie dead in a hole in the ground for three day, and then come back to life, then anything can happen. If a Man’s body could be so beaten and bruised and bloody, if His heart stopped and He didn’t take a breath for three days, and then suddenly His eyes opened and His lungs expanded and He sat up and smiled and shook off His grave clothes, swung His legs over the edge of the seat, got up and walked out of the grave, then anything can happen.

This is the truth, the hope, the power of the resurrection. This is what we live and breathe and enjoy and praise all day every day, because Jesus came back from the dead. This is why we’re here, and this is what keeps us going, because we constantly remember the resurrection.

We do remember it, right? It’s a topic that comes up every day, right? We’re always being amazed at the power and the effects of Jesus coming out of that grave, right? We don’t, do we? It’s a topic that often comes up once a year, in the Spring, at Easter. We’ll certainly come back to it when we have a funeral, because that hope gets us through those terrible times. But in between those moments, the resurrection gets shelved, pushed back by all the here and now and "practical" parts of our lives.

But you know what happens when we forget the resurrection? We become afraid. We become frustrated. We get tired from trying so hard to fix what is broke. If we can’t see the resurrection and the effects of Jesus coming back to life, what are we doing? Why are we trying? What is this all about, without the resurrection.

But when we remember, we rejoice. There’s a spring in our step and a hope in our eyes, because we know something. We know that our greatest, last enemy, death, does not have the last word in our lives. And if death can’t defeat us, then nothing else can either. Not illness, not broken relationships, not financial struggles, not temptation, not confusion, nothing else can win. Because Jesus walked out of that grave.

So, saints, remembering the resurrection, verse 1:

We know this, on a general level. We know that the Lord is great, and He does great things. But is there something in particular He’s done that you’ve noticed? Is there some miracle, some act of salvation, some ripple from the resurrection that He’ brought to your life?

If you can think of something, a gift, something that brought you relief, something that you really wanted but never really dared to hope for, then you won’t need to be told to sing to the Lord a new song. Your praise will happen.

You’ll wake up in the morning, and it won’t have hit you yet exactly what has happened. And then all of a sudden you remember! That’s right! The report came back and it’s clear. The baby finally arrived. We’re caught up with the bills. I finally have a job. Whatever it is, it sinks in again what the Lord has done, and you praise Him all over again. It’s not tired praise, it’s not the same old thanksgiving you’ve been giving all along. It’s new, you’re singing a new song to the Lord. And maybe you’re not actually singing, but you’re praising in your way, with love and gratitude in your heart, a smile on your face, and hope in your eyes. Because the Lord has worked mighty acts with His strong hand and holy arm.

Now, take that experience, and multiply it by a 100, and then again by 1000, and then again by a million, and now we’ve had a glimpse at the power of the Lord through the resurrection. Because that goodness wasn’t shown just to you, but many, many others. Verse 2:

The work of salvation and the effects of the resurrection have rippled out through the world. There is not one person who has not been affected by Jesus coming back from the dead. This is not to say that everyone has believed it, or even that everyone sees the effect. But everyone has felt it, in large, miraculous ways and in small, subtle ways. Unfortunately, these effects are often explained with something else.

For example, there are hundreds, thousands of hospitals that were started by Christians, people who were changed by the resurrection. A lot of us have spent time in St. Mary’s hospital, or Methodist. The resurrection has brought about health care.

Slavery was condemned by Christians first, and then the government caught on. It was the Church of Jesus Christ, operating in the power of the resurrection, that light the spark that ended slavery in the United States.

Child labor laws were created and enforced in our nation in the early 1900’s in large part because Christians saw how children were being treated, and they spoke up. They worked to create those laws.

We could go on. Schools, disaster relief, food pantries, orphanages, these were begun by Christians living the resurrected life. This is God working His salvation in the world. Verse 3:

But they haven’t seen, have they? Eternal life flows all around them, and they can’t even see it. It was science that brought health care. It was the government that created schools. It was politics that made this nation better. Right. They haven’t seen the salvation of our God, and they’re suffering because of it. Since they don’t know that it’s God who was acting, then they go looking for the answers in all the wrong places. They expect the government to help them, but the government can’t help them, only God can. They look to science to heal them, but science can’t heal, only God.

Which is why Psalm 98 points us all in the right direction. Verse 4:

Over here, all the earth. Shout for joy TO THE LORD! He gets the credit. Not presidents, not senators, not court justices. The Lord. Not corporations or pharmacies. The Lord. Not geneticists or heart surgeons. It’s the Lord.

If they only knew they would turn their faces to God and shout their thanks. They would turn from their sins and act out their gratitude. So, world, look! Look at what the Lord has done and is doing. Look at the goodness He brings.

But they don’t see. They can’t see His goodness. They only see the bad things in this world, and they blame Him. They see wars and acts of terror, and they blame it on God. They see problems that just never seem to be fixed, hungry people, AIDS, racism, and they put it on God. They see hurricanes and tornadoes and wildfires, and they think God caused those things. Insurance companies even call them acts of God.

Why don’t they call a sunset an act of God? Why don’t they call the nourishing rain an act of God? Why can’t they see that every grain of corn is a miracle, every soybean a sign pointing to the providence of our Lord. Every person who is NOT a terrorist as someone that God is restraining from evil. If they could see Him, if they could see what He is doing, if they could see the power of the resurrection, they would drop to their knees and praise. Verse 7:

That’s us, isn’t it? We know. Do we know? Have we seen it? If we haven’t, something’s off. Maybe we’re not seeing the effects. Maybe our eyes are blinded or we’re looking in the wrong direction or we’re giving credit where credit is not due. Maybe we’re not recognizing the might act of salvation being carried out by God’s holy arm

But we can see it, can’t we? We’ve seen the effects of a dead man coming back to life. We’ve seen it in our lives? We’ve seen people having a good connection with a church after years and years of separation. They had a bad experience a long time ago, and vowed they’d never see the inside of a church again. And they haven’t, yet, but they’re becoming connected to a church. They’re spending time with people who love Jesus. The resurrection is having an effect.

Marriages have been broken beyond repair, and yet they’re doing better, maybe even better than ever before. Words that were filled with anger have been replaced with words of understanding and empathy and love. Time together is nourishing rather than filled with tension. There is forgiveness rather than resentment. The resurrection is having an effect.

We getting to know Jesus better. We knew Him a year ago, but we know Him better now. We knew He loved us, but we see now that His love is deeper than we ever knew. We knew He showed His grace, we just had never seen how effective that grace was, how it showed up in so many different place. How amazing His grace was. The resurrection is having an effect.

We’ve seen people with illnesses healed. The prayers that we were praying for them a year ago, we don’t have to pray them anymore. We’ve thanked the Lord for the healing and we’ve moved on. Take a look at a prayer gram from a year ago, and you will find examples of the Lord’s healing all over the place. The resurrection is having an effect.

And then, there are some of us for whom we are still praying, some of us with illnesses that probably maybe won’t be healed until the ultimate, complete healing happens. But we see them hanging on to their faith, being held by God, living with the light of eternity and the hope of heaven in their eyes. And we know that the resurrection is having an effect

And then there are some of us who are home. And we don’t have to pray for them anymore because they are whole and healthy and happy and holy. They see Jesus. They are alive. They are praising God as they wait for the resurrection of their bodies, as they wait to be reunited with us. And we know, we know that the resurrection has had it’s effect on them.

So we wake up tomorrow morning, maybe not remembering all these things. And then it occurs to us, "Look at what the Lord has done and is doing." And a smile grows on our faces and the light comes up in our eyes and we sing a new song to the Lord and we pray a new prayer to our God as we give Him thanks. He has done marvelous, incredible things.