Does the Resurrection matter? (Easter 2025)

On Easter Sunday, Shawn Green reminds us of the profound meaning behind the phrase "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." While this sentiment suggests living for the moment, Shawn highlights that true fulfillment can only be found in Christ, who offers hope beyond this life. He emphasizes that the resurrection of Jesus not only reassures us of eternal life but also provides purpose and meaning in our everyday struggles. As we face the challenges of life, Shawn encourages us to turn to Jesus for true satisfaction and to celebrate the hope we have through Him.

Transcript

Good morning, everybody. Happy Easter. He is risen. He is risen indeed. It's good news for us today.

In my young adult years, which are getting further and further away in the rear view mirror, I was a big fan of the Dave Matthews Band. Like, I had all of their CDs. I would listen to them, went to a few of their concerts. I had it. I had the CDs in my car up on the visor holder, if you had one of those, where I could easily pull it out and slip it into my detachable face.

CD player that me and a friend installed in my 1989 Cavalier Z24. It's a pretty great first car for a 16 year old. I'd rock out to him, you know, as I was driving around, I saw him twice at Deer Creek in the late 90s when it was still Deer Creek and not just called Deer Creek by those of us who grew up during that time. And one of their songs that, like, to this day, still gets stuck in my head, like just randomly it'll pop up in my head and then I can't get it out. But one of their songs is a song called Tripping Billy's.

And if you know the song, it's a fun, catchy song. I actually played it for my girls this morning as we were driving into church. And I was like, man, wasn't that great? And Nora's like, that was a weird song. Like, yeah, but wasn't it fun?

He's like, I don't think so. So. But I, I enjoyed it. I still enjoy it. And it gets stuck in my head.

And, and, and, and it's this song that is about making the most of life. Like getting the most out of every single moment of life, not letting anything pass you by. And the chorus of the song, it, it goes like this. It, it starts like this. It says, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

I can barely even say that without, like starting to sing it. And it's this catchy lyric. And at the time I just thought, well, man, Dave just wrote this. And it kind of fit with the theme of the song. And it wasn't until years later, when I became a follower of Jesus and I was actually reading through my Bible, I realized, oh, Dave Matthews didn't write this.

He borrowed this from the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:32, Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. But if you have your Bible, a reference Bible even, you may look and see a little letter next to that verse. And it points you all the way back to Isaiah. And we find that Paul borrowed this from the prophet Isaiah, who writes in chapter 22, verse 13, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

But then if you go to this reference, you'll find that Isaiah is just writing down the words that the Lord God said to him. We tried to find a picture, but we couldn't do that. But it was the Lord. In 700 B.C. dave wrote this song.

In 1994, 95 came out on album 96. In 700 B.C. the Lord writes these words, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. But even though these are the same words that Dave Matthews would sing years later, they have two incredibly different meanings. Dave Matthews once described the meaning of these words in his song like this.

He said, maybe there's a party and. And maybe everyone is venturing into the shadowy corners of their mind. Interpret that however you want, and maybe somebody at the party is upset about what they find in the recesses of their mind. Something that distracts them from making the most of the moment. And all of the other people at the party, they say, look, we're at a party.

You should enjoy things. Just forget about those dark little corners in your head. In other words, venture into those shadowy places by whatever means you want. But if you get there and you find that you don't like it, then just do whatever you have to do to distract yourself from it. Do whatever you have to do to make yourself forget about what you find in those places.

Just eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die. Don't let anything get in the way of the moment. If this life is all there is, then you better make the most of it. And that sounds good, which I think is why it's the predominant worldview in our world today. But if you've ever tried it, you know that there comes a time when you can no longer forget about those dark little corners in your mind.

You can't run from them anymore. You can't escape them. You can't drown them out.

You either eventually have to go there, or you have to spend a lot of energy trying to avoid them. And many of us, we have found that there is no amount of eating or drinking or being merry that can fully erase what feels like an aching in our soul, an emptiness, a longing inside of us, the longing for something more, the aching that we feel for things in this world and in our lives to just be made right. Which is why I think when God says it, and then when the prophet Isaiah writes it down and Then the apostle Paul comes along and borrows it. Years later, when they say, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die, they're not giving advice for how to live and how to escape the pain that we feel. They're actually pointing out the fallacy of that kind of logic.

See, when God, who created us, who knows us better than we even know ourselves, when God says this, he's trying to get us to understand that there is nothing in this world, there is nothing inside of us that can fully satisfy the longings in our hearts. There is no amount of social media scrolling. There are no amount of vacations or friends or partners or achievements. There is nothing in this world that can distract us long enough or satisfy us fully enough to soothe that aching that we sometimes feel in those quiet moments of life in our soul. I think Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us why it says that God has set eternity in the human heart.

God has set eternity in the human heart. It's like God has hardwired this memory into us so we feel the sense of nostalgia. And it's not a longing for a place that we have been before. It is a longing for what we were meant to made for. It's a longing for the way things are supposed to be.

Because the way that they're supposed to be has been implanted in us. It's why we can say this isn't right. It's not supposed to be this way. Like we hunger for paradise. We long for the things that the way things that used to be before sin and brokenness and pain entered into our world and became a part of our story.

And anytime we chase after things in this world to fill that void in our lives, we just end up being disappointed. It lets us down. Vacations end. Kids grow up and leave. Bodies grow old.

Relationships struggle. And we are left wondering why nothing here ever seems to to satisfy us. So what do we do? Some of us cry Amen to that.

Some of us, we try to distract ourselves until this life is over. Some of us, we just try to keep the party going and pretend like everything's okay until we can't anymore. I think that this is where the resurrection of Jesus shouts the loudest. And it points to the real hope that we have in our text today. First Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul is writing to a church that started to doubt the resurrection.

They started to doubt not just the resurrection of Jesus, but that there was even life after death. They started to believe that mantra, eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Like, this life is all that there is. And so we've got to make the most of it. We've got to take advantage of every opportunity.

We got to indulge in every pleasure.

And some in Corinth were living this way. And Paul, Paul writes, and he says in part of this, yeah, I get it. Like, if that's your worldview, then this makes a lot of sense. He says in verse 17, if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is futile. Like, none of this matters.

What are we doing here right now? If Christ has not been raised, you're still in your sins. There's no hope for that. Then those who have fallen asleep, which is kind of Paul's code for who have passed away, who are. Who are just like, waiting for their own resurrection, those who have fallen asleep in Christ, well, they're lost.

They're dead and gone. If only for this life, we have hope in Christ. We are, of all people, most to be pitied. In other words, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then what is the point? All of this is just a huge waste of opportunity and time.

If once we are dead, we are dead, then why wouldn't you try to make the most out of every moment? Why would you deny yourself any pleasure? Grab everything that you can now, because this is all that you get when it's over. Over.

And honestly, if that were true, then that way of living makes a lot of sense.

But we know, like, we don't know just from Scripture. There's something inside of us that just knows that's not enough. Maybe you have pursued that road for miles and you just keep looking and looking, and you still have not found what can satisfy that in your soul, and you just know, anything in this world, it is not enough. And if it's not enough, then maybe we were made for something more than just this life. C.S.

lewis puts it like this in Mere Christianity. If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.

And the Apostle Paul agrees. After sympathizing with the conclusions of this nihilistic worldview, he continues, in verse 20, he comes with this conclusion of his own. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. That word, first fruits is key.

It's key to this passage, and it is key to the hope that we can have today because of the resurrection. The first fruits was that first part of the harvest. It was proof that when you gathered the first fruits it was proof that there was more that was on the way. This wasn't the end. There was more to come.

And Paul, by painting this word picture, he is saying that Jesus resurrection was not the end. It is not just a one time event for him alone. In fact, it is just the beginning of something much bigger. It is the guarantee that those who belong to Christ, we will one day rise with him too. Those who have given themselves to Jesus, who have identified with his life and his death, dying to ourselves and living for him.

If you belong to Christ, then His resurrection will one day be yours too. And this is good news not just because of what we have to look forward to. This is good news for now. This is good news for today. That means that we don't have to try to numb our pain with noise.

We don't have to try to milk every little ounce out of each and every moment, because this is it. When we come face to face with those shadowy places in our own mind or in our world, we don't have to try to distract ourselves until the pain goes away. Because Jesus rose on a day in history, we know that we will rise one day with him. And we have this hope in the middle of his resurrection and our own here today. We have meaning.

We have purpose. We have value. We can face the challenges in this life because there is hope of a life to come. And so we don't have to run to something or someone who will never satisfy that longing we feel because we can run into the arms of Jesus, our living Savior. He alone can satisfy.

Because the resurrection is real. You can hold on to hope even when the news is heavy. You can hold onto hope even when it seems like your prayers go unanswered. You can hold on to hope even when the cancer comes back or when there is yet another mass shooting in our country, when there is an injustice in our world. You can hold on to hope even when doubts begin to creep in and suffering wears you down.

You were made for eternity, and so you can hold onto hope today. This life. This life is the short part. Eternity is the long part. And here today, your body may fail, your heart may break, friends may turn on you.

But if you keep your eyes on Christ, if you are in Christ, you will rise again.

If you are in Christ, you have hope for today. That gives you the endurance to push through whatever comes at you. Paul goes on to say in his second letter to this church in Corinth, for our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. And so we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. Since what is seen is temporary, and what is unseen is eternal.

I imagine that in a room like this, on a day like today, some of us in here, we are tired.

We are tired of chasing things that never quite satisfy that longing in our souls. You are tired of trying to make paradise out of temporary pieces. And as you build them up, they just keep falling apart. You are tired from grieving losses that feel way too heavy for any one person to bear. I want you to know that there is hope for you today.

And it's not this kind of hope that crosses fingers and is wishful thinking. Oh, I hope that things get better. It's the kind of hope that is anchored in an empty tomb. Jesus rose from the dead, and that means one day you can too. And if you've never put your hope in Jesus, I want to invite you to take that step today.

And it's not just stepping into a religion. It is stepping into resurrection life into the only hope that can truly satisfy that life longing that you feel in those quiet places in your mind.

I have a friend today, Pablo, that been building a relationship with over the last several months. A few weeks ago, all of these dots started to connect in his mind of how the Lord's been working in his life for a while. He said, easter Sunday, I want to get baptized. And so we're going to baptize them next service, which means the water is ready. If you've been wandering, if you've been looking, if maybe those dots are starting to connect in you, that, yeah, I've searched and I've searched and nothing has filled it.

I want to let you know that thing that you've been searching for is Jesus, and he is ready with arms wide open to receive you. We'll have some people down along the doors and up here in front. If you want to talk about maybe taking your next step with him, they'd love to help you with that. All right, now we're going to come into Communion. It's the 8:00 service.

Those of you who this is your regular service, thanks for letting us crash your party. We're going to do Communion the way that we typically do it at 9, 30 and 11. We've done it in here once or twice. We got some boxes up in the front and in the back here. In the moment, some music will play just whenever you're ready.

Get up, go grab one of those cups. On one side, there's A piece of bread that helps us remember Jesus body that was given for us on the cross. Another side has cup of juice that helps us remember his blood that was shed. And I was thinking this week how Jesus flipped the narrative of those words that God spoke and Isaiah wrote down and Paul referenced and Dave sang about years later, because of Jesus, we can eat, drink and be merry because we live tomorrow we live. We don't have to run from anything in this life.

We get to run to something. We get to run to Jesus and the hope that we have in him. And so as you take communion this morning, man, remember and rejoice and rest. Remember the price that was paid as you take the bread and you drink the cup. But don't forget to rejoice in the hope and the peace that is yours in Christ.

And then rest in that truth that he is risen. He is risen indeed. And one day we will be too. Jesus, thank you for your resurrection, for the power of God on display in it, thank you that the promise of your resurrection points to our own. And so we have hope that one day it will not be the end, it'll just be the beginning of something so much more.

And Lord, may that hope fuel us, may it give us endurance in this life when things are hard and difficult and the pain feels so real and we just want to escape from it and we turn to all of these things, trying to do that can never fully satisfy us the way that you can. And so, God, may we just rest in your presence, maybe even right now, there's something that we need to bring to you. And just say and help me view this through resurrection lenses. And so right now, God, in this moment, as we share in communion, as we sing, we remember, we rejoice and we rest in you. In Jesus name, amen.