Already and Not Yet
Already and Not Yet by Rev. L. John Gable
April 9, 2023 (Easter Sunday)
We gather in worship this morning to celebrate the greatest Good News this old world has ever been given: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is the unique proclamation which forms the ground and pivot of our faith. This is the bold pronouncement of the first Christian sermon when Peter preached to the crowd on the day of Pentecost, and it has been the central message of the Church ever since. Martin Luther challenges every preacher when he said, “Any who would preach the Gospel must go directly to preaching the resurrection of Christ. Whoever does not preach the resurrection is no apostle, for this is the chief part of our faith.”
While it is true that the Apostle Paul writes, “I have determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified”; it also true that he wrote those words in the light of the resurrection. Christ’s sacrificial death paid the penalty of our sin and secured the way of our salvation, but it was His resurrection that confirms who He was and all that He said and did. The resurrection is the validation, the stamp of God’s approval, the confirmation that Jesus Christ is uniquely qualified to be our Savior and Lord.
Recall His opening message as He began His public ministry, “Repent and believe, the Kingdom of God is at hand, has come among you!” In Jesus of Nazareth God took on human flesh and became like you and me, so that He could show us a new way of doing life with one another and with God. That new way of living was so radical that it was rejected by the authorities of the day, both civil and religious, ultimately leading Him to the cross of Calvary. But, that which appeared to be an ending was in fact a new beginning! When God raised Jesus from the dead it was the confirmation that all He had said and done was true, that the new world of which He spoke was at hand, that a new era was being ushered in, that the Kingdom of God has come!
However, if we are honest with ourselves, as we now stand 2000 years hence, we can’t help but ask, “Where is it? What difference has it made? Is the world really a significantly kinder, gentler, more just or peaceful place because of what He said and did?” And, on a more personal level, we must ask the same of ourselves, “What difference does it make in the way I live my life to say that Jesus is alive?” That is the question we ask our friends to reflect on for our “Can I Get A Witness?” next Sunday morning. As Christians we must consider our answers carefully because that is the question the non-believing world continues to ask of us. What difference does faith make or are we just fooling ourselves, whistling in the dark?
This is the question the Apostle Paul is addressing in our lesson from I Corinthians this morning. After making the sobering statement, “If Christ has not been raised your faith is futile and you are still in your sins,…and we of all people are most to be pitied”, he goes on to say, “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.” What he is saying is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ on that first Easter morning started something that is not yet complete. It was the inauguration, not the culmination, of God’s new age.
Paul is confirming what we already know to be true about ourselves and the world in which we live: we are a work in progress. There is an “already” and a “not yet” aspect to us and to our faith. Christ has been raised from the dead “already”, but the Kingdom of God of which He spoke has “not yet” come in its fullness. Just as the first daffodils of spring are the sure sign that others will follow in due time, so Christ’s resurrection is the “first fruit” which bears the promise of the same in due season for all who put their trust in Him for salvation. That which is “already” holds the promise of that which is “yet to come”.
Admittedly this “already and not yet” aspect of our faith comes with a good measure of frustration for us. “Let’s get on with it! What are we waiting for? What is God waiting for? Why aren’t our good efforts making more of a difference?” Like children on a long car ride we keep asking, “Are we there yet?” No, we are not! But one day we will be, of that we have been given God’s assurance.
Many of you know me to be a student of history, particularly of Abraham Lincoln. There are many aspects of his life and leadership that amaze and inspire me, one of which is that he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all of the slaves in the Confederate states, on January 1, 1863; but the war didn’t really end until April of 1865, over two years later. When the proclamation was signed the war effort was going poorly and no one could predict how or when it would end. Some saw the proclamation as little more than a worthless piece of paper; the fact is, not a single slave was freed because of it; while others rejoiced at the promise it held for the future. It was for a generation of the enslaved the pronouncement of their freedom even in the midst of their bondage…”already and not yet”, and it gave them a new song to sing.
Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann writes, “The new song never describes the way it now is; the new song imagines how the world will be in God’s good time to come. The new song is a protest against the way the world now is. The new song is a refusal to accept the present world the way it is, a refusal to believe that this is right or that the present will last. The Church is always at its most daring and risking, dangerous and free when it sings a new song because then it sings that the power of the Gospel will not let the world finally stay as it is.” “Already and not yet!”
Another example from history. Many will remember the importance of D-Day during World War II. On Monday, June 6, 1944, the Allied forces crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, France. Leaders of both armies were firmly convinced that the destiny of Europe, and perhaps of the world, would be determined in that crucial battle. Every student of history knows that the Allies ultimately prevailed and established a beach-head that allowed them to move forward to reclaim Europe from Nazi domination.
In every war there are many battles, but in every war there is one battle that is decisive, one decisive event which decides the final outcome. Normandy was the turning point in that war. In the ensuing months many more battles were waged and many more lives lost, but on that day, 15 months before the official end of the war, victory was assured by the Allies. “Already and not yet”.
Theologian Oscar Cullman reminds us that we, as Christians, are living between a D-Day and V-Day of a different kind, in a spiritual struggle. The decisive event in this spiritual war, God’s D-Day, was 2000 years ago on a hill outside of Jerusalem called Calvary. On that day God confronted all the forces of evil that seek to defeat and destroy us. On Good Friday when the nails were driven in to Jesus’ hands and the sky turned black it looked as though all was lost and evil had won the day. But on the Easter Day, God claimed victory over the powers of sin and death by raising Jesus Christ from the dead.
Without question the battle rages on against sin and evil, warfare and greed, prejudice and injustice in our world, but let us not lose hope because God’s victory is assured, God’s Kingdom will ultimately prevail. As Karl Barth writes, “The Easter message tells us that our enemies, sin, the curse of death, are beaten. Ultimately they can no longer start mischief. They still behave as though the game were not decided, the battle not fought; we must still reckon with them, but fundamentally we must cease to fear them anymore.” Because of what God has done for us “already”, as people of faith, we can live in confident hope as we await the coming of the “not yet”.
We know that there is still a “not yet” quality to our faith; we encounter it every day, as we watch the evening news, as we look within our own hearts. There is still unfinished business which needs to be done; there are still powers and principalities of evil which we must confront within and around us. We still struggle in a world where sin and death are painful realities, where violence and hatred prevail, where division and discord seem to win the day; against these we must always contend, and contend we must because we know how this story ends! The cross and resurrection of Jesus become our rallying point because God has broken the power of sin and death rendering them helpless. The powers of darkness have lost their influence; they are as a barking dog, chained to a post, who has no teeth. Let them bark!
As I was studying this magnificent passage from I Corinthians I noted that Paul was keenly aware of this “already and not yet” aspect of our faith when he writes, “But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when He hands over the Kingdom to God the Father, after He has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” There is an order of sequence at work here and God is still working His purposes out. If the Easter day does nothing else it reminds us once again that God is greater than the powers that be. So, we need not fear, and we must not lose hope, for in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been given the assurance that one day “the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever.”
Friends, you and I live in the interim between the “already” and the “not yet”; between the D-Day and the V-Day of the spiritual battle in which we are engaged; between the first resurrection of Christ and that glorious day when He will return to usher in the Kingdom of God in its fullness. Though the battle rages on, the victory is assured. So, we live this life of sorrow and struggle infused with hope and joy, celebrating God’s saving presence with us because Jesus is alive, and bearing witness to the glory of His coming Kingdom, both the “already” and the “not yet”.
To the honor and glory of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. L. John Gable
Tabernacle Presbyterian Church
Indianapolis, IN