“When There Is No Music in Your Soul” (Easter Sunday)

Dear Friends in Christ,

   Recently I came across a true story that will help to explain my rather unusual sermon title for today.  This story came out of the Nazi concentration camps in Europe back in WW II.  It was about a musician by the name of Gustaf Moeller and especially his niece who was also quite gifted in music. When this young Jewish girl arrived at the camp and it was discovered who she was and the amazing musical abilities she possessed, it was decided she was too valuable to be killed like all the others.  Instead, she was ordered to put together an orchestra to play for the Nazi officers.  She was able to assemble many fine Jewish musicians who were destined for the gas chamber, some of whom were among the most talented in all of Europe.

   Later she described the rather bizarre experience of playing beautiful music for some of the most evil, vile, repulsive human beings who have ever walked this earth. She said they had to practice and play when trainloads of Jewish families were being brought in for what they thought was a new homeland, but in reality turned out to be the horrors of the gas chambers. She shared how she and her fellow musicians wished to smash to pieces the valuable instruments they held in their hands, "For,” as she put it, “how can you sing and play when there is no music in your soul?"

   That is a question that I suspect is on the hearts of many of you as you sit in this sanctuary this morning, for even though today is Easter, you have no music in your soul.  And the reason you don’t is because life has been tough for you lately.  There are those afflicted with sickness, disease, and medical hardships for which the field of medicine seems to have no answer, so they just treat the symptoms. There are young couples wanting to have children, but so far they rock an empty cradle. There are couples struggling to keep their sinking marriage afloat and their home happy. There are those who are struggling with inappropriate lifestyles, morals, and addictions. There are people out of work, not because they want to be but because they’ve been laid off and there simply are no jobs available in our area where the unemployment rate is over 10%.  Consequently there are people struggling to make it on an unemployment check and elderly folks who are trying to survive on a retirement account that they have watched dwindle away during the current economic crisis.  So there is no music in your soul.

   If that describes you, my friends, then I believe you’ve come to the right place today.  But I also want you consider yourself to be in pretty good company because that’s where the disciples found themselves after the horrific events of that first Good Friday.  With all their hopes and dreams buried in a borrowed tomb and wrapped in a linen shroud, I’m sure they could have very easily said: "How do we believe and sing when there is no music or joy in our soul?"

   Well, it’s my privilege today to answer that question because that’s what this day is all about.  My goal this morning is not to give you an academic defense to the question of whether or not the resurrection really happened.  I believe that it did with all my heart, just as the Gospel writers tell us. But I will say that according to experts who know a whole lot more than I do, we have more proven historical evidence for the resurrection of Christ than we have that a man called George Washington was the President of the United States of America.  So it is my privilege today to share with you the incredible Good News about what happened on that first Easter day and what a difference the power of that truth can make in your life.  And the way I’m going to do this is by taking a look at some of the truths that Easter proclaims loudly and clearly.

   To begin with, Easter proclaims loudly and clearly to us that God always has the last word, not Satan.  Some of you may have heard of a dramatic painting that hangs in the magnificent Louvre Museum in Paris, France.  This painting was done by the famous artist Goethe.  It shows his well known character Faust seated at a table engaged in a competitive game of chess.  His opponent is Satan.  And at first glance, it looks like Faust is losing. The devil has a smug grin and an evil leer on his face.  It’s obvious that he thinks he has the victory in hand.  You can almost hear him shouting: "Checkmate! Game’s over! I win!  You lose!" However, just a few years ago, an internationally famous chess player was admiring the painting when all of a sudden he lunged forward and exclaimed: "Wait a minute! Look! Faust has another move he can make and that move will give him the victory!"

   That painting is something of a parable for us Christians, because in it we see symbolized the good news of Easter. Think of it. When we look at the cross on Good Friday, it looks (at first glance) like evil has won. It looks like Christ has been silenced and Satan has had the last word.  But then Sunday morning dawns with the realization that God still has one move left, and it’s the greatest checkmate move of all time as Christ comes out of the grave and ruins for all time Satan’s premature victory celebration.

   So Easter stands as a powerful reminder to us that God always has the last word, not Satan.  Then secondly, it also proclaims to us that instead of living our lives as prisoners of sin and guilt, we can now live as the free and forgiven people of God. 

    Perhaps nobody understood that freedom better than the Apostle Paul, who, prior to becoming an apostle of Christ, was an adversary of Christ.  He considered it his responsibility to eradicate Christianity from the face of the earth.  But then one day when he was on his way to persecute some Christians in the city of Damascus, the risen Christ appeared to him in a vision that literally knocked him off his feet and turned his life upside down.  Years later, in writing to the church he had founded at Corinth, Paul shared what he believed to be the foundation of the Gospel and its power to change even the hardest of hearts.  In I Cor. 15:3-4:  “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”  After Paul became a Christian, he could have very easily spent the rest of his life living in a prison of guilt because of all the horrible things he had done to Christ’s followers before he became one of them.  But instead he took to heart and applied to himself the forgiveness that Jesus had purchased for him through his suffering, death, and resurrection.  And in the power of that forgiveness he lived a life of freedom and service that ultimately led him to become one of the most, if not the most important and influential personality in the early Christian church.

   The famous preacher, Charles Spurgeon, once echoed so well what we see in the life of Paul when he shared these marvelous words: "There may be some sins of which a man cannot speak, but there is no sin which the blood of Christ cannot wash away." (repeat)  Do you understand what that means for you, my friends?  We all have skeletons in our closet.  We’ve all done things that we are ashamed of and that nobody else may know about.  But the story of Easter and the glory of Easter is that there is no sin which the blood of Christ cannot wash away.  So rejoice in the freedom of that forgiveness.  Live in the freedom of that forgiveness.  Serve in the freedom of that forgiveness.

   And that really leads right in to a third thing that Easter proclaims loudly and clearly and that is that we can live as victors rather than as victims.  I love the story that comes from the last battle that Napoleon fought.  It was the Battle of Waterloo.  The allied troops under General Wellington had given Napoleon all he could handle.  News was transmitted by the use of lights across the English Channel to the Brits who were anxiously waiting for word of what had happened. The words were spelled out, "Wellington defeated...." but right at that moment a fog, so typical of England, fell over the channel. The people in England thought the battle was lost and the dreadful news was spread quickly, throwing the land into despair.  But when the fog lifted, they could see the final word, "Wellington defeated Napoleon." And the mood in Great Britain changed from one of tragedy to triumph. The whole country exploded in thunderous celebration as the news was relayed.  

   Well, we know from the Gospel records that there was a great deal of circumstantial evidence that at first clouded the landscape for the disciples on that first Good Friday.  It seemed that the Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities had taken their fondest hopes and greatest dreams and dashed them to pieces.  Consequently, they were living as victims, hiding behind locked doors for fear that the enemies of Christ might want to do the same to them.  It was like they were reading a sign that said CHRIST IS DEAD.  But on Easter morning the fog lifted and all of a sudden the whole sign could be read.  And it said: CHRIST IS DEAD NO MORE!  And though it took a while, that news enabled them to move from living like victims to living like victors.  And it can do the same for us, my friends.  It’s so easy to see ourselves as victims today – victims of an economic crisis, victims of a disease, victims of unemployment, victims of grief brought on by the loss of a loved one.  But the good news of Easter is that no matter what we have to face this side of the grave, when all is said and done with this life, we have a victorious and perfect life waiting for us on the other side of the grave that will far exceed our wildest hopes and dreams, as well as our greatest imaginations and expectations.

   And that takes us to the final thing that Easter declares loudly and clearly and that is that its message is not just for tomorrow, but also for today.  Easter is not just about what’s going to happen to us beyond the grave, but it’s about what’s happening to us right now this side of the grave.

   Of course we love what it has to say about the afterlife.  Kind of like the story of a pastor in Texas who also has a pilot’s license. One day he decided that it was time to teach his seven year old son, Adam, to fly. When they were aloft, he turned over the controls to Adam.  He taught him to climb, to dive, and to bank the plane to the left or right. Adam felt comfortable with all of the maneuvers, and his father praised him for being a fast learner.  Finally they headed back to the airport with Adam still serving as pilot.  But when the runway came into sight, the father noticed that his son had a look of sheer panic on his face. When he asked Adam what was wrong, he cried, "I don’t know how to land the plane."  His father had simply forgotten to tell Adam that he would land the plane.

   Well, that’s the assurance of Easter.  God promises to take over our final landing.  He will see to it that we get safely home.  That promise is guaranteed to all who put their faith and trust in Jesus as their crucified, risen, and living Savior.  And we take great comfort in that, right?

   But the message of Easter and really the whole Christian faith also hold the keys to living life each day to its fullest before our final landing.  And yet, how often don’t we forget this side of the Easter story?  We’re like the young man years ago who picked up a beautiful rock from a North Carolina stream bed and used it as his cabin’s doorstop. A little while later, a skilled geologist was hiking in the area and stopped at the cabin for a glass of cold water. He immediately recognized that rock as a huge lump of gold.  In fact, it proved to be the largest gold nugget ever found east of the Rocky Mountains.  Like the man who failed to recognize gold when he held it in his hands, we sometimes fail to recognize the treasure that we have in Jesus.  Like he once said, “I came that you may have life – and that means life right now – and have it abundantly.”

   By the way, that abundant life does not mean a wealthy life, a prosperous life, a bed-of-roses-walk-in-the-park type of life.  But it does mean abundant hope for your times of hopelessness; abundant help for your times of helplessness; abundant strength for your times of weakness; abundant peace for your times of turmoil.  For the source of all that abundance flows from the bottomless wellspring of God’s amazing grace and goodness.

   So my friends, the next time there is no music in your soul, remember the difference that Easter can make in your life.  For it proclaims loudly and clearly that God has the last move and the last word. It lets us know that we no longer have to live as prisoners of sin and guilt but that instead we can live as his free and forgiven people. And because of that we are not victims but rather victors who can enjoy the abundant life he offers both here on this earth and hereafter in eternity.  I pray that you will allow those incredible truths of Easter to penetrate your hearts this morning all so that they might restore the music to your soul.

Amen.