April 5, 2026
"Jesus Is Alive!"
Colossians 3:1-4
It shouldn’t be a surprise to us that we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. This is one of the most important celebrations in the church. Why? Because the resurrection of the dead is one of the key teachings of Christianity. If Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead, there wouldn’t be much of a point to Christianity. The teaching of the resurrection of the dead is what distinguishes Christianity from many other religions. If Jesus hadn’t risen bodily from the grave, Christianity would resemble other religions of the world.
So, the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection is a very special day for Christians all over the world. Christians believe in a God who lives and not in one who died and will never be seen and heard from ever again. Christians rejoice that Jesus rose from the dead and lives in heaven with God the Father. Jesus is alive. We Christians believe in a living God, a God who is life and gives life.
God has given us the life we experience on this earth. Life didn’t just happen. God created all the forms of life we see on earth, contrary to the lie that all life simply evolved. Common sense tells us that life comes from life. Life doesn’t come from nothing. Life begets life. All life on earth comes from God who is Himself life.
It appears that all life ends at death. I’m sure most of us have been to a funeral. The body lying in the coffin was lifeless. There was no movement in the body whatsoever. It looked like an inanimate object. It appeared to us that it would never come back to life. Maybe the thought of its rising from the dead was the furthest from our minds at that moment.
It is true that earthly life comes to an end. The evidence is all around us. We are going to end. Our bodies in this form will cease to function. This is going to happen to each of us. It won’t be for the other person and not me. We sometimes think that death will happen to everyone else but not to us. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but none of us will escape death. These bodies of ours in their present form will cease to function someday.
But God’s plan for us is that we live. He intends to raise our body on the Last Day. He will raise us from the dead. Now that is wonderful news. God will once again give this body of ours life. This is what the Lord has in store for us.
Now, if Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead, this would not happen to us. How could God raise us from the dead if He couldn’t raise Jesus from the dead? Jesus rose from the dead in our dimension of time and space to prove to us that He is truly the living God who can bring our dead body back to life. Jesus rose from the dead and revealed Himself to many people after He had risen for our benefit, to show us that the dead coming back to life is possible.
The resurrection of the dead isn’t a far-fetched idea. Jesus’ resurrection is proof that the resurrection is possible. With God all things are possible.
A moment ago I said that Jesus rose from the dead in our dimension of time and space. He didn’t do this for Himself. If He had, what good would this be for us? If Jesus had risen from the dead to show off to the world and nothing more, how would we benefit? The answer is we wouldn’t. I’m not sure if we would celebrate Jesus’ resurrection as we do.
Jesus’ rising from the dead means we will rise from the dead. Jesus resurrection wasn’t just for Himself. It is for us as well. Our celebration of Jesus’ rising from the dead is a celebration of our rising from the dead at a future time. That’s what makes our celebration of this great event each year a central part of Christianity.
Now, if the resurrection of Jesus never took place, then our faith and belief in Jesus Christ is for nothing. We might as well pack up and go home. Christianity has little meaning without the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Some might argue that Christianity could still be relevant without the resurrection of Jesus Christ in that it could serve as a guide on how to live life on earth. There are already many religions that prescribe how a person should live life on earth. Christianity would be just another among many religions that fall into this category. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it wouldn’t matter what religion we follow.
I hope we understand my logic here. If Christianity is only for this life, what good is it to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus? The fact that Jesus rose from the dead, however, means there is more to come for us. It means there is life beyond this life. As I’ve said, our God is a God of life in all respects. He is the God of life in both the visible and invisible worlds, in the material and spiritual worlds.
If our God is not a God of life, what’s the point of following such a God? There is no point. If God created us only to exist for a number of years and then never be seen or heard from again, why did He create us in the first place? Was it so He could be entertained by us for a bit? Then, when He got tired of us He could get rid of us. Is that why He created us in the first place? No, it’s not. God created us to live forever. But because of sin, our body will die and be dead for a while, and then be raised to life.
The proof that our body will be raised to life is found in Jesus. His body came back to life after it had been dead for three days. Because Jesus rose, we too will rise.
The people we loved who are no longer with us will be raised from the dead as well. Funerals can be sad. It’s not wrong to mourn the loss of our loved ones. They meant a lot to us. We became very attached to them. It wasn’t easy to lose them. Life without them was hard to imagine.
Just think how much harder it would be to cope with the loss of our loved ones if there was no such thing as the resurrection of the dead. If there was no resurrection of the dead, our last time ever seeing our loved ones would be in the coffin. How sad that would be. But the fact that they will be raised from the dead means we will see them again alive. And that can make a funeral a much less somber occasion.
Without the resurrection, there isn’t much hope for us. But with the resurrection, we have all the hope in the world. And we have Jesus Christ to thank for the hope we have of being raised from the dead.
Since we have the hope of the resurrection, what is our focus in life? The answer is in verse 2 of our reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” The reason Paul exhorts us to set our minds on things above is because earthly things are going to perish. The earth isn’t going to last forever. So why put hope in something that is already dying? It makes much more sense to focus our lives on that which will never cease, and that is God’s kingdom.
Maybe some of us think this is too hard to do. It’s not practical. We have to pay bills. We have to work. We have to take care of children. We just don’t have any time to focus on things that are above. This life consumes us.
The reason this life consumes us is because we let it. We let it take control of us. That’s why our minds are often times set on earthly things. We’re not thinking about the glorious resurrection that is ours in Jesus Christ. Rather, it’s we have other things to think about like our 401K, cars, homes, land, money, and so on. These things got our attention.
Well, it’s time to change our focus. Set our minds on eternal life, peace, happiness, perfection, love, and so on. These things are much better for our souls than the earthly things which we think will make us happy.
When Christ raises us from the dead, we are going to go up. We are going to come up out of our grave. Why not think, then, about the spiritual things that are up. Let’s not keep our minds down here. This is all going to disappear. Set our minds on above.
I pray that we understand the implications of Jesus’ resurrection, and why it is one of the main teachings of Christianity. Without the resurrection of Jesus, our faith in God is futile, and we are without hope.