What amazing changes have you seen? Have you seen someone go from rags to riches? Or deathly ill to perfectly healthy? Have you ever heard of anyone going from dead to alive? Of course you have! You've heard of Jesus. And... you've heard of you! You were once spiritually dead, but are now alive in Jesus! And because of that great change, your sorrow is turned to joy and your silence to praise! Read or listen to (download or stream) this sermon based on Psalm 30 and rejoice! Shout, "Alleluia!" because Jesus lives!
Alleluia! Jesus Lives!
Alleluia! Jesus Lives!
A sermon based on Psalm 30Sunday, March 31, 2013 – Easter Day
Amazing changes take place every day, don't they? Perhaps you've heard stories of people who have gone from poverty to riches, who have been ill and suddenly recovered, or perhaps you yourself have undergone such a change. But do you know anyone who's status has changed from being dead to being alive? Well, hopefully you all said, "yes." You know Jesus. Jesus was dead, but now he lives. And you know yourself. You too were once dead, but now you're alive.
Maybe you've seen this piece of art before… Here an artist cleverly turned death into life by simply turning it upside down.
This morning we rejoice, shouting, "Alleluia!" Jesus lives. And we'll see how he changes death into life. And by doing so, we'll see how he turns our sorrow into joy and our silence into praise. Listen now as we read Psalm 30, a psalm of David…
1 I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. 2 O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. 3 O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. 4 Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. 6 When I felt secure, I said, "I will never be shaken." 7 O Lord, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. 8 To you, O Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: 9 "What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me; O Lord, be my help." 11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
I. To Change Death into Life (v.1-3)
"I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me." You can almost hear Jesus speaking these words Easter morning, can't you? He was lifted out of the depths, out of the suffering of Good Friday, out of the tomb in which his body lay, back to life—forever! His enemies couldn't gloat over Jesus' death because they couldn't silence the report of Jesus' resurrection.
Jesus' enemies today can't gloat either—though they want to deny the resurrection, they still can't explain the absence of Jesus' body. It would have been all too easy to end the resurrection "myths" by simply producing Jesus' dead, lifeless body. That would put an end to the Romans' and the Jews' problem of these pesky disciples and their growing sect quickly and easily. But of course, they couldn't find his dead body—Jesus was no longer dead.
We can be certain of Jesus' bodily resurrection, that God lifted him from the depths of death. And because of his resurrection, we can be certain of our own resurrection too. Jesus said, "Because I live, you too will live." His resurrection is our proof or guarantee that our forgiveness has been approved by God the Father. His words become ours, so we too can say, "I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me... O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit." The word translated "lifted up out of the depths" is literally "hoisted up." Like you hoist water up from a well, God hoisted Jesus out of the grave, and he hoists us out too.
Imagine for a moment that you're stuck in the bottom of a well with no possible way to climb out—the walls are too steep, too slippery and too far apart to climb out, and no matter how loud you shout, no one hears your cry. You're out there for days with no food or water, with death drawing ever closer and closer. Finally, someone does hear your cry, they throw down a rope and hoist you up, saving you from your hopeless predicament. That person has changed your situation from imminent death to life.
That's exactly what God has done for us. Though we deserve to go to the grave for our sins—for the wages of sin is death—though we deserve to go down to the pit—namely the pit of hell, that's not what we get. In grace, God sent his own Son to that pit for us. Jesus went down to the grave when he died on our behalf. And in doing so, he removed our sin and saved us from death to life.
But if that's how the story ended, we might be left wondering if God really did accept that payment Jesus made on our behalf. But that's not how the story ends. God hoisted Jesus out of the grave on Easter morning. He raised him from death to life. Now we can be certain that we too are lifted up out of our eternal death in hell, to eternal life in heaven. For though it's a death we deserve all too well, our sins were paid for on Good Friday. Our forgiveness guaranteed Easter morning. "Because I live, you too will live."
So dear friends, take comfort. Jesus turned death into life! Death is not the final answer, but only leads us to eternal life. And just as the man rescued from the pit of the well that would have been his grave, is no longer terrified or full of despair, so too, our sorrow is turned to joy. That's why David says…
II. To Change Sorrow into Joy (v.5-7, 11)
"Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 5For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning... You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy…"
God's anger and wrath lasted against Jesus for a moment—a few dark hours on Good Friday. But now, his favor rests on Jesus for the rest of his life—for all of eternity. Though Jesus wept for a night on Maundy Thursday, he rejoiced Easter morning. And because he was restored by God, exalted by him to rejoice, his followers can't help but rejoice too.
Mary Magdalene was full of tears and sorrow when she went to the tomb Easter morning. Her Lord, her Master, her Savior, was dead. All hope was lost. And now his body was missing too! But when Jesus appeared to her and showed him that he was no longer dead, how everything changed! By changing death into life, he also changed sorrow into joy.
And he does the same for us. He turns our wailing into dancing—literally twirling about. So full of joy that we can't contain it! As we illustrate in historic liturgical colors, we change the dark colors of mourning and sack cloth that we display for Lent and Good Friday, for the bright, joyful colors of Easter morn!
While we suffer now—and we may suffer brutal pain—thanks to our Savior's suffering on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter morning, we'll soon be in heaven. Our suffering will soon be over forever. We've already been brought from death to life, from the despair of certain hell to unimaginable glory. Now the eternal day of our joy can't compare with the brief moment of our suffering.
Mother Theresa put it well when she said, "Our worst suffering in this life will be like a night of inconvenience at a bad motel." The apostle Paul put it like this: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Corinthians 4:17)
We learn from this Psalm that trouble will come and hurt, even deeply—that's assumed in this Psalm—for Christian's aren't exempt from pain in this life. But, in sorrow, suffering or pain, we can still be full of joy and rejoice. Not to trivialize our problems, but to bring them into perspective, they're light compared to the burden of hell we've been rescued from, their miniscule compared to the joy of heaven, like a drop of blood dissolved in the ocean. And so we do rejoice. We can't help but sing our praise to our living Savior who changes our silence into praise…
III. To Change Silence into Praise
With his death turned to life and his sorrow turned to joy, David couldn't help but sing his praise to God. His silence was turned into praise. That's why he wrote… "I will exalt you, O Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths… Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name… You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.
And again our response to our gracious God changing our death into life is the same as King David's. We will exalt the Lord, sing his praises and give him our unending thanks, literally forever.
Just think, if someone did pull you out of a well you'd been stuck in for a week, would you complain that he pulled you too hard causing you to scrape your elbow and bruise your knee on the way up? Not likely. Would you simply say, "Hey thanks, man, I appreciate it"? No! You wouldn't be able to contain your thanks and joy! You'd offer to do whatever you could to thank your rescuer.
Or imagine if you were in financial ruin and on a whim decided to play the lottery and won a million dollars. Would you say, "Boy, I'd better jot down a note so I remember to tell my spouse tonight"? Of course not! You would be overwhelmed with joy so you couldn't keep quiet.
Well, dear friends, you and I were saved from a fate far worse than death by starvation in the bottom of a well. We were saved from far more than mere financial ruin. We were saved from hell itself. Our death has been turned into life! What an amazing change! And what did we have to do to bring that change about? Nothing! Christ did it all for us. He made us saints by taking away our sins. He gives us life by his death. He guarantees our resurrection by his own! And we can't contain our joy! Our silence must be turned into shouts of praise to God!
Dear friends, some of you may not be the best singers in the world, in fact you may be shy about letting the person in the pew next to you hear you sing, but don't let that stop you from singing for joy—if not with your voice, with your heart! Praise him in the way you live to serve your spouse and your kids, your co-workers and friends. Praise him in the way you faithfully spend your dollars and your minutes to his glory. Don't complain about the skinned elbow or bruised knee God may still send you from time to time, but rejoice in the salvation you have. You have eternal life! Praise God! And give him your thanks forever, because you do know someone who's had an amazing change—from death to life. You know your Savior who rose again Easter morning! And by that knowledge you know that you too are now alive with him and will live with him forever and never die! In the name of Jesus—our risen Savior—amen!
In Him,
Pastor Rob Guenther
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
47585 Ciechanski Road, Kenai, AK 99611
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