Resurrection Life

Ezekiel 40-48

Ezekiel 43:1-9, 47:1-12.

In 1941 CS Lewis gave one of his most famous sermons entitled, “The Weight of Glory.” In that sermon he challenges the Christian’s pursuit of God. Most of us, it would seem, are far too apathetic in our faith. We make too many compromises with it and approach it with such a measure of casualness that one who observed you might wonder why you believe at all, as it makes so little difference in your life. What about you? Would your neighbor say of you, “wow, he really believes in something more” or would he have no idea you believe anything different from him.

The resurrection of Jesus should mean something to you so powerful that it upends everything about your life. It should turn it upside down. And if it doesn’t, you ought to be asking, “what do I really believe about it?”

In his sermon Lewis wrote this famous line,

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

His point was that if a Christian really knew what the resurrection was about, then his life would look radically different because his desires would be radically changed.

The world says you ought to pursue a good career with good pay and you will be happy. The world says sign your kids up for sports and extra curricular activity because that will put them on the path to success. The world says join a gym, eat healthy and get shredded and people will admire you. Jesus says, “take up your cross and follow me.” Which seems the better option?

As Christians we say we should take up our cross and follow Jesus, but it is often the promise of these other things that drive our decisions. Why is that?

We get caught up on the “take up your cross” part of Jesus’ teaching. We remember the story of Jesus and see that those who followed Jesus, his disciples, did that and suffered for it, just as Jesus did. No wonder what we do doesn’t match what we say we believe.

This morning I want to turn things upside down for you. I want to show you the other side of that statement. Yes, we take up our cross, but we do it that we might “follow Jesus.” Jesus didn’t end on the cross. Not at all. The cross was cosmically important, but it was just a stop on the way to something greater. And we forget that. If we really understood there was something greater, then taking up your cross would be a piece of cake.

Take up your cross, and follow Jesus because it leads to resurrected life.

Ezekiel gives us a vision of what is so great about life promised by the resurrection.