Are You Making a Serious Error?

Father Jim Fosdick

St. Mary of the Snows Anglican Church

Nov 11, 2007

Lord of light - shine upon us. God of love fill our hearts with your wisdom. Holy Spirit, bring yourself closer to us in my words and how we hear them, in our thoughts and how we think them. Use this time - and use us to accomplish your good will. Amen.

I think there is a revival going on here at St. Mary’s and more and more members of the parish are becoming aware of it and talking about it. They may not be using the word revival, but they are talking about what’s going on and how the Holy Spirit is at work. Our adult ed study of Experiencing God is having a significant impact on those who are coming and we have had some amazing discussions and the Holy Spirit has really increased our understanding. I have had more conversations about our Gospel readings and my sermons over the past few weeks than at any time in my short tenure here. I believe the Holy Spirit is really kindling a hunger for understanding among those who are here. Over the past few weeks at our healing services some people have had powerful experiences of God’s healing and many have noticed the very real presence of the Holy Spirit. Last Thursday we went to the Mission again and a large number of people came forward for prayer of various kinds. People often come forward, but this was the largest number to date.

Someone recently told me they had a vision of a revival taking place in the north woods and they think it’s happening at St. Mary’s. What if a revival is taking place? What’s revival all about? Let me offer some insights from Jim Cymbala the pastor who built the Brooklyn Tabernacle from a couple dozen people in a decaying building to 200 people in a beautiful church in Brooklyn New York. In his book The Church God Blesses he writes, “Every revival in church history has been started by pastors and believers who became deeply dissatisfied with the moral and spiritual climate around them…” He goes on, “The Bible is full of declarations about God’s desire to bring about dramatic change when his children are missing out on his promised blessings.” Later he writes, “Starting with the birth of the church in Jerusalem, the gospel is preached, lives are transformed by the Holy Spirit’s power, and a congregation is formed as shepherds are carefully placed over God’s flock.” For fifteen years I think shepherds have been carefully placed over this flock at St. Mary’s. Starting with Father Miracle and then Father Glenn and then in all humility myself I think God has been building toward a revival in this particular part of His kingdom. Pastor Cymbala goes on to say, “Even though individual lives are being changed by the power of the gospel, God’s special concern is always focused on the local churches that spread his gospel and disciple new converts. “ That’s what we’re about here…spreading the gospel and discipling new converts.

In many ways I see spiritual blessing happening here as we preach the good news and teach and serve our community. At the heart of all this spiritual blessing is belief in Jesus’ power to save.  This belief is what the Saducees lacked in our gospel today.

Let me provide a little context of what was going on leading up to the encounter with the Saducees. As Jesus taught in the temple, one group after another came and took Him to task. First, there are those who came to question his authority to cleanse the temple and to continue to teach daily there (vv.1-2). He defeated them with a counter question, “First, you tell me, Was the baptism of John from God or from men?” (v. 4). When they refused to answer this question, then he refused to answer their question about His authority. Next came those with a deadly political question, “Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not”. This was designed to put him at odds with the Romans or the church. He defeated them by asking for a coin and after receiving a denarius bearing the image of Caesar said, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what belongs to God” . Now in our gospel today, in verse twenty-seven we are introduced to one last group, the Sadducees, who decided they would have to show the others how to put Jesus in his place.

“Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him  saying: ‘Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother should take a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children. And the second took here as wife, and he died childless. Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.  Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.”
Luke helps us to understand who the Sadducees were by saying, they are those “who deny that there is a resurrection.” Furthermore Acts 23:8, states that the Sadducees did not believe in angels or spirits either. In fact they were mainly a political group, although they had control of the high priestly line. They seemed to feel that only the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch) were binding on the Jewish people. At the heart of the trick question was the custom of “levirate marriage.” According to this custom if a man’s married brother died without leaving an heir, he must marry the widow. Deuteronomy 25 reads, “If brothers dwell together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.” It was a way of protecting widows.

But as we look at the question they brought to Jesus we should note that in their question, of one bride and seven brothers, there was no real search for the truth. The Sadducees not only did not expect an answer, they did not want one. They were asking Jesus about something in which they did not believe. In fact, they hoped to stump Jesus and thus demonstrate how foolish the whole idea of resurrection from the dead is, that it is indeed unbiblical and impractical.

The problem presented in the form of a question is of course at its core a sham, however, the issue that it raises is not; “Is there an afterlife? Will people really be raised from the dead?” Life after death… that is just Christian escapism! Why don’t Christians just face the truth that this life is all there is?  When Susan and I had friends from college visiting not long ago we talked about this. The weak believers and the non-believer asked the same question. Is it wrong to think that in this life you should care about others and when you die you just die? One of the women said I’m OK with the idea that you just die. Is there anything wrong with that? I said no there’s nothing wrong with that unless of course that’s not the way it really is. If there is a God and a heaven and if his Word is true and the way to eternal life is following Jesus, then it matters a lot what you believe. Where you spend eternal life depends on it.

Have you ever heard objections to the idea of resurrection raised by the skeptics of our culture? The Sadducees were just first century skeptics who did not believe in life after death.
They said that life ended at death. Undoubtedly they considered themselves just hard core realists, who had to combat this nonsense about the resurrection. But perhaps at least part of the answer is that the Sadducees were so comfortable in their day to day lives that they were not concerned with the after life. This is true of most Americans today as well; we are so comfortable in our day to day lives that we tend to forget that our ultimate hope is in heaven. When is the last time you even thought about where you are going to spend eternity? The truth is that today everyone is one day closer to eternity than we were yesterday. Someone said that death is a subject that people spend a lifetime trying not to think about. But death is an inevitable experience that unless the Lord comes, we will all face one day. President Eisenhower once said, “I am interested in eternity. I am going to spend the rest of my life there.” A president could still say something like that then without being ridiculed as a member of the religious right.

Jesus begins his answer to the question in verse thirty-four, “Jesus answered and said to them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection”
Look back with me and pay attention to  two
phrases. Jesus divides the discussion into two time
periods; “this age” and “that age” and delineates how very different they are from one another. Heaven or the after-life; described as “that age” will be totally different from the way things are in “this age.”

Since the Sadducees had asked about the relationships in the next life based on their understanding of relationships in this life, Jesus explained the difference. Jesus shares with his listeners two great truths about life eternal. First, Jesus says that in life in the kingdom of heaven, relationships will operate on a different plane than in this life.

He notes three crucial differences. First, there is no marriage in “that age.” The point was that life in the eternal state is more than just an extension of what we have here. The Jews of Jesus days thought that the kingdom of heaven was only an extension of the good things in this life. He did not say that we would not know our present wife or husband in the age to come, but rather that the relationship would be different.

Secondly, there is no death in “that age.” Jesus identifies the quality of life when He says “neither can they die anymore,” it is eternal life. Notice that Jesus does not say, “they will not die” He says, “they cannot die.”

Third, they shall be like angels. There is a lot of confusion even in the church about the relationship of men and angels. Here Jesus states in verse thirty six, “nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.” Unfortunately because some translations render this phrase “they shall be like angels” there is some confusion. At least one study states that 15% of Christians thought that angels were “deceased humans.” So let me clear something up before we go on, if you are not now an angel you will never become one. Angels are created beings not humans who have died and are now being rewarded. Angels are not human beings who like Clarence in the old movie classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” are “trying to earn their wings.” So how are we like angels? The main idea is that we will be like angels in the fact that marriage is not a part of their life. So how will we be like angels? The redeemed will be “like” the angels in heaven, seeing and serving and praising God. Like the angels, in that we are equally deathless, equally glorified and equally eternal.
As far as our bodies go, they too will be resurrected in glorified form. Our bodies to use the words of Paul, “will be raised imperishable”. You, not just your soul, will be resurrected. Christians believe in physical resurrection of the body. You’re not going to be some wispy, ghost-like creature. That means that your individuality will be preserved in eternity. We were talking about this at dinner Thursday on our way to the Mission and Vonnie Ellis said we’re going to get perfect glorified bodies and Susan and Sandy and Bonnie all chimed in about how great that will be. Scripture says you will also recognize your loved ones and they will recognize you. Those things that made us unique as individuals in this life will be retained. So Vonnie and Cissy and Ray and Ernie will all retain their wonderful personalities as will the rest of us. And when we see our loved ones again their bodies will be in all their glorious potential, but still their bodies. Their personalities will be at their fullest, their wit, their charm, their tenacity, their love still the same only enhanced. Warren Weirsby wrote, “Our Lord’s resurrected body was the same as before His death and yet different! His friends recognized Him and even felt Him; He could eat food and yet He could also walk through closed doors, change His appearance, and vanish away.”

Our relationships in Heaven will be different than here on earth and….The second great truth that Jesus shares about the kingdom of heaven is that not everyone is going there.
Verse thirty-five introduces another key point, when He says, “But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead…. ” Here it is more implied than stated but the principle is - Not everyone will be resurrected into everlasting life in heaven. If some are to be counted worthy then it follows that some will not. This verse emphasizes that Jesus is talking to those who are saved, not all those who die. Notice that the verse says, the “resurrection from the dead” not “resurrection of the dead.” That may not seem such a significant difference but I think there’s a big difference in from in contrast to of. Brothers and sisters listen to this very carefully because I think this is one of the things people misunderstand more than just about anything about the faith. Everyone will experience the “resurrection of the dead.” Man was created an eternal being and will spend eternity some where. “Resurrection from among the dead” refers only to those who are raised to eternal life.

In proving that the resurrection from the dead was a biblical idea, there were any number of clear Old Testament texts that Jesus could have cited which spoke of the resurrection. The prophet Isaiah said, “Your dead shall live; Together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; For your dew is like the dew of herbs,”
The prophet Daniel said, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

Perhaps some of the better remembered lines concerning the resurrection were uttered by Job Chapter 19 where he stated; “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” I know an old priest at Nashotah House who said recently Oh I hope the Lord takes me soon. He is longing to be there with Jesus in person.
In any event, since the Sadducees only accepted as binding the first five books of the Old Testament (in other words the law, but not the prophets or the writings) Jesus quoted the words of Moses, the author of the first five books of the Old Testament. Quoting from Exodus in verse thirty-seven Jesus said, “But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord the ‘God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,’ For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.”

Jesus reasons that when God stated in the present tense “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” it makes no sense if they are not presently alive.
It is the living God who is greater than death who is the One who has assured us that mankind, will all be raised from the grave, some to their rewards and others to judgment.
The author of Hebrews tells that the Old Testament patriarchs knew the promises of God transcended this earthly existence and were eternal. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off  were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland...  By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called," concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”

In verses thirty-nine and forty we read the conclusion of the matter. “Then some of the scribes answered and said, ‘Teacher, You have spoken well.’ But after that they dared not question Him anymore.”

They were astonished at what Jesus had to say about eternal life. Only one person can speak with authority about life after death, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one who has ever died, gone into the after life and returned to this life. No matter what some may say today about their “near death experiences,” Jesus is the only one I would trust.

There are many areas in life in which a person can afford to make mistakes. In the area of finances, we can make mistakes with the hope that we learn from our error and do better next time. Football players can afford to make mistakes during a game, because of the possibility that later in the quarter or the next game they will get it all right. But in the question of eternity no one can afford to be wrong. In this arena there is no second chance. The mistake the Sadducees were making was that they were gambling with their souls… where they would spend their eternal lives was at stake! And the Lord knew this. Mark reports this same encounter in his gospel and after saying to the Saducees He is not God of the dead but of the living he adds, “You are quite wrong.” In the New Living Translation it is translated, “You have made a serious error.” How about you? Are you making the error the Saducees made? Or maybe you think like our college friend that it doesn’t matter what you think or perhaps that you’re entitled to your opinion. God lets you make your mind up because he wants a love relationship with you. He loves you and he wants you to love him back. It’s not love if he makes you do it. Let me read you again a passage that makes the future clear.

Matthew 25:31 and following reads  "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.   And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” And after several verses where he talks about how you can tell the saved by their behavior Jesus continues, “Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Don’t miss the point here… the alternative to eternal life in heaven is not just that you die and cease to exist, the alternative to eternal life in heaven is eternal life in hell.  Jesus really wants to be sure we understand because at the end of Chapter 25 Matthew records that he said THIS, about what happens to the goats versus the sheep, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

      Jesus tells the Saducees they are making a serious error. He tells

them because he loves them just like he loves you and me. Jesus wants to bring each one of you eternal life. Jesus wants to be in a love relationship with you. If this is what you want, don’t make a serious error. Believe in Jesus and his resurrection. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Follow Him and he will give you eternal life in heaven. I said at the beginning that I think we are involved in a revival. Each of you must first be a follower of Jesus Christ. Once you are he is calling you to bring the good news to others so they can follow Him and grow as disciples. You are God’s plan for the salvation of the world. You are the one that needs to share what Jesus has done in your life. You are the one that Jesus is depending on to bring someone to church:  to mass or to the healing service or to Bible Study. Revival begins with you. Amen.