Sermon - Easter Sunday - “Sing Ye Saints The Victory Song” - Mark 16:1-8 - 4/16/06
April 16th, 2006Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
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I can’t remember who it was, but someone once said that “there has got to be something wrong with a theology that doesn’t set men to singing.” How true. Today, the one, holy, Christian Church is set to singing. We sing that song of victory to our God that has remained pent-up within our hearts for these last 40 days. And we would explode if we had to keep in any longer – Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!) This is the feast of victory for our God and there must be something wrong with men who come to this feast and don’t find themselves compelled to “sing with all the people of God and join in the hymn of all creation…” When St. John is given his revelation and told to write what he sees, so much of what he writes is of heaven singing. He saw the same angels that Isaiah had seen, singing the same song - “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” (Rev.4:8)
He saw the 24 elders casting their crowns down before the throne and sing, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive, glory and honor and power…” (Rev.4:11).
And then the angels join the elders and sing, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Rev.5:9).
John sees a choir of saints with “harps of God in their hands” singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb, “Great and amazing are your deeds O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.” (Rev.15:3).
And then it is as if heaven itself is not big enough to hold the choir that sings the song highest joy. “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder singing, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just…’ ‘For the Lord our God almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come…” (Rev.19:1-2, 6-7).
I. The Names of Those in the Choir Though St. John doesn’t identify any of the individual voices in this heavenly choir, we know who they are because they lived by faith in crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
A. Adam and Eve There is Adam and Eve, who alone, in the beginning heard all of God’s creation sing together in perfect harmony. They heard the waves of the sea sing to the sand on the shore and the wind in the air sing to the leaves on the trees and the morning stars in the sky sang to each other in songs of praise to the God who had created them so wonderfully and out of nothing.
And there in the garden was one voice that sang so beautifully that it could only be the voice of an angel. And it sang a different song than all the rest. A song that questioned God and His goodness and created doubt about God’s intentions. And Adam and Eve liked the beat of the song and they found themselves tapping their toes to its tune. And before they knew it, they were singing the serpent song themselves. And suddenly there was the sound of static in the air and for the first time songs were sung in a minor key and the harmony became discordant. And men and women began to sing the blues and funeral dirges were heard more and more. And Adam and Eve were responsible for all of this.
How does one live when faced with personal failure? How are we to go on when the consequences of our selfish and sinful actions face us squarely and cannot be ignored?
The answer is, by listening once again to the voice of God who promises, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers and you will bruise His heel and He will bruise your head.” (Gen.3:15). Adam and Eve listened to the Word of God. The Word of God is living and active and overcomes even death, even our death. “And Adam named His wife Eve because she was the mother of all living.” (Rev.3:20).
And God made Him who had no sin be sin for us to be the enmity that is between you and the devil. The offspring of the woman has had His heel bruised by those nails that pinned Him to the cross. But on the third day, He rose again and crushed the head of the serpent. So sing Adam and sing Eve. FOR YOUR FAITH IS NOT IN VAIN. HE HAS MADE ALL THINGS NEW AGAIN.
B. Abraham And in that heavenly choir there is the voice of one whose name is Abraham. “And the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you and… I will bless you.” (Gen.12:1-2). “And Abraham went.”
Here is what it means to “listen” to God. “If anyone loves me he will keep my word….” (John 14:23). Whoever listens but doesn’t do might has well not have ever bothered to listen. And doing what God says is always hard. Painfully hard – never easy. If you find it easy then your probably listening to some other voice – probably your own.
It was painfully hard for Abraham to leave everything behind and go without knowing the destination. Certainly, he had to flog that inner impulse of his, that begged him to “BE REASONABLE!” – “God wouldn’t ever expect you to give everything up to follow Him.” And there were surely many stripes that had cut Abraham deeply into Abraham’s ego by the time he left home to go to who knows where.
And at 100 years old and still childless, Abraham evaluated his life and deemed it to have been misspent for God had not been true to His promise of an offspring and a family as numerous as the number of stars in the sky. And His wife Sarah laughed when she was told that it wasn’t too late. And added to those stripes were the bruises of a battered mind that wondered “why” and “why not” and “what’s the sense of it all.”
And then God said, “kill Isaac.” And as Abraham raised the knife over his son, his only son, Isaac whom he loved, it was his own heart that was being pierced.
How does one live when living by faith is so hard and requires so much? How are we to live by faith when living by faith brings such suffering and pain, all of which could have been easily avoided if only we had not listened and obeyed the Word of God and just continued peacefully on with our attachments and securities in this world?
But sing Abraham, for your faith in God’s promise has not been in vain. For there is one who will be called a descendant of Abraham and by His stripes yours are healed. And the sword that pierced His heart brings forth a gush of bloody water that lifts up your heart and you are blessed with every blessing in the heavenly realm. And sing Sarah, FOR IT IS NEVER TOO LATE. FOR FAITH IN GOD’S PROMISE NEVER IN VAIN. THERE IS NOTHING HE CANNOT DO AND HAS NOT DONE FOR YOU.
C. David And in that heavenly choir is one whose name is David. Who when faced with an enemy much bigger and stronger than he, by faith in the promise of God took five small stones and slew the giant Goliath. Sing David, YOUR FAITH WAS NOT IN VAIN, for by the five small wounds in the Son of David – the enemy of God and all God’s people has been slain.
D. Rahab And in that multitude of voices is one named Rahab. She gave a friendly welcome to the Israelite spies. Sing Rahab, YOUR FAITH WAS NOT IN VAIN, for God has given you a friendly welcome into His heaven.
E. Prophets And in that heavenly chorus are all of the prophets who were told to preach the Word of God and who suffered greatly for it. Sing Isaiah, sing Jeremiah, sing Ezekiel and Daniel, sing Hosea through Malachi. FOR YOUR FAITH WAS NOT IN VAIN, for the word which you spoke has come to pass and the Messiah you promised has come and saved His people as He said.
F. Hebrews 11:25-40 “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of all the others - who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy— wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”
Sing all you saints. FOR YOUR FAITH WAS NOT IN VAIN. Sing loud, sing clear, O company of heaven. Surround us like a cloud of witnesses with your singing for our faith is faint and weak and we are filled with a great many doubts and we forget the victory song.
G. The Mary’s. “When the Sabbath was past, Mary Madalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’”
Sing you Marys. YOUR FAITH WAS NOT IN VAIN. For the stone has been rolled away and “the One whom you are seeking, Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified, is not here.” “Christ is risen!” “He is risen indeed!”
H. Peter They were given detailed instructions. “Go. Tell his disciples and Peter…” Peter. Peter who was asked, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” And who replied, “I am not,” “I don’t know the man.” Peter sung one of the worst songs ever sung. And he sang it three times. And all the other disciples of Jesus sang it too as they ran away and abandoned Him. And even to this day, this terrible song is sung by His disciples who deny their Lord and run for fear.
Sing Peter. Sing the victory song. YOUR FAITH WAS NOT IN VAIN. For He calls you by name and He is not ashamed of you. He forgives you all your sins and you are His precious and His beloved.
I. The Lutheran Church of the Resurrection And in that heavenly choir can be heard the voices of those who are still on the field of battle, living the live of faith, struggling against doubt, resisting every temptation to give in, daily dieing to sin through repentance and being raised to new life through the word of forgiveness that rings out from the cross.
Sing Lutheran Church of the Resurrection. YOUR FAITH WILL NOT DISAPPOINT YOU. Join your voices in singing with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. Sing the song of victory to our God. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
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