For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life. Shall appear, then ye shall also appear with Him in glory. (Clossians 3:3-4)

This August will mark 20 years since I was ordained a priest in the Church of God.

A year and a half before that I was ordained a deacon — on Easter Eve, actually. So I have been in the ordained ministry for two decades now. During that time, I have prepared twenty Easter sermons trying to both understand and teach the meaning of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every year I have preached about the stone being rolled away, every year we talk about Christ being bodily raised from the dead, coming out of the tomb.

But this week, as I reviewed a number of those sermons I realized that in all those sermons I had never preached on Colossians 3:3-4. And it suddenly occurred to me that there is a dimension to the Easter story that we should know, but all too frequently overlook:

Listen closely to Colossians 3:3-4: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life. Shall appear, then ye shall also appear with Him in glory."

The essence of Easter truth is that Jesus Christ was raised on that first Easter morning, and that you and I were also raised from the dead.

St. Paul says, "You were raised with Christ." In that sense, that first Easter morning, that tomb did not just contain one person, it contained the souls of every Christian, all coming forth on that first Easter morning. At Christmas, we speak of there being "no room at the inn". But on Easter, there is no room in the tomb for those who trust in Christ.

On that first Easter, even though you had not yet been born, by the mercy and foreknowledge of God, you were also raised with Christ.

Now before a person can be raised from the dead, they have to have died. You can't be raised from the dead, unless first of all, you've died.

So St. Paul also teaches that when Christ was nailed to the cross on Good Friday, in taking our sins upon Himself, His crucifixion is also about our death. In Christ, we have died to sin . In Romans, St. Paul writes: "For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So if we are Christians we die to sin with Christ and are also raised with Him. In fact, baptism symbolizes death and burial and resurrection.

Mark Twain once remarked, "Rumors of my death have been highly exaggerated." But you know what, if you are a Christian, there is no exaggeration about it. In Christ, you are dead — dead to sin and alive in Christ. This death to sin is a first, spiritual death, not to be confused with physical death.

Someday, each of us will die physically, and people will attend our funerals. But, spiritually speaking, our physical deaths have been transcended by the fact that we have already died — died with Christ — died to our pre-Christian life, died to the ways of the world, died to lifestyles that are self-destructive and have been reborn with Christ in His resurrection. As St. Paul puts it "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive."

So the Good News of Easter is not only that Christ has been raised from the dead and has come forth from the empty tomb, but also that we are raised with him. In this world, we live as creatures trapped in time, but God lives in eternity and those raised in him also live with him in eternity. We are already dead to sin and already alive in Christ.

So (to make it personal), on that first Easter morning, it was not just Jesus Christ that came out of that tomb, it was also Mildred and Linton, Bather, Richard and Rita Bland, Catherine Peak, Dick Teal, Sr, Harvin Lewis, Harry Ashmun and Frank Spaulding. It was every member of our family, and all the other people we have known and loved who have departed this life in the faith and fear of the Lord.

All of these, and a numberless host of those who have died with Christ and been raised with Him.

This is Easter Day. St. Paul says ""for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ." But St. Paul goes on with what we might call a post-mortem. Since we are dead to sin and alive in Christ, St. Paul says we should act like it.

In verses Colossians 3: 5-10 (NIV) St. Paul's writes: "So put to death anything that belongs to your earthly nature. Get rid of your sexual sins and unclean acts. Don't let your feelings get out of control. Remove from your life all evil longings. Stop always wanting more and more. You might as well be worshiping statues of gods. God's anger is going to come because of those things. That's the way you lived at one time in your life. But now here are the kinds of things you must get rid of. You must put away anger, rage, hate and lies. Let no dirty words come out of your mouths. Don't lie to each other. You have gotten rid of your old way of life and its habits. You have started living a new life. It is being made new so that what you know has the Creator's likeness."

Well how do we do that? Paul goes on to say, "Set your minds and hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Don't set your minds and hearts on earthly things, set them on the things above." What does that mean? Does that mean that you and I as Christians are to withdraw from the world and walk around with our head in the clouds?

That's not what Paul is getting at here. The key phrase that you and I need to hang on to, the verse that helps us to understand what Paul is saying is the phrase "seated at the right hand of God." What Paul is saying here is symbolic language that gets across two post-Easter truths that you and I need to hang on to with all of our lives. The first is this: that Jesus is alive. And the second is that He is seated at the right hand of God. That means that He is sovereign. That He reigns supreme over heaven and earth, over everything in human history.

He is alive. He is not some storybook character from 2000 years ago that we gather sentimentally to stir up memories of. He is alive and he reigns supreme. And he has purchased each one of us from the law of sin and death and now your life and mine must become part of his ultimate purpose.

Caught up in the everyday struggle to earn a living, raise children, cope with the joys and sorrows of life, we are not always in touch with this reality.

Easter reminds us that we have been raised with Christ. Since we have died with Christ. Since we have been raised with Christ. Since Jesus reigns supreme and since he is coming again, Paul says, your life and my life has yet to see what it is really going to become. And one day, Paul says, Christ is going to return. And then who you really are — what's real and what you are becoming — will be revealed in the glory of Jesus Christ.

Set your minds on what's above, not on earthly things. Since Christ has died and been raised, since you have died and been raised in Christ, then you know what? That means you and I have the privilege of going through life and looking at our life with the choice of two lenses. You see, what Paul is saying is that Christ is seated at the right hand of God, what he is saying is that Christ reigns supreme and that is the lens. The sovereignty of Christ is the lens through which you and I need to look. But we're tempted to look at the other lens, the earthly lens, which falls far short of reality. As Christians we need to remember that while this life ends at the grave, our ultimate future is eternity with God.

That Easter reality caused Winston Churchill, the great British statesman to do something unusual, but entirely appropriate in the planning of his own funeral. Churchill planned his funeral to take place in St. Paul's cathedral. In that service he included some of the great hymns of the faith. At the end of the service, per Sir Winston's instructions, after the benediction was pronounced, a lone bugler in the dome of St. Paul's cathedral began to play Taps, the universal mournful signal that the day is over.

But when that bugler finished... the service took a dramatic turn, because, per Churchill's instructions, another lone bugler, this time on the other side of the dome of St. Paul's cathedral began to play an exuberant rendition of Reveille. "It's time to get up, it's time to get up, it's time to get up in the morning..." That, my friends, was Winston Churchill's testimony to the Easter reality: that when all of human history comes to an end (and when your life and my life comes to an end as a believer) the last note that will be sounded will not be Taps, but will be Reveille. Since Christ has died, and since Christ has been raised, and since you have died, and since you have been raised with Him, the tomb is now empty. Christ reigns supreme, and you will also share the glory of His victory. As Christians, we are not immune to suffering, sickness, sadness, and death. But for Christians, the bad things will never, never, be the last things.

Do you believe that? Through the centuries, on Easter day, it was common in worship for Christians to reaffirm their baptismal vows. Maybe you were baptized as an adult and you remember those vows. Or maybe you were baptized as an infant. This Easter, let us renew our Baptismal vows and be reminded of what it means to belong to Christ as covenant members of His Church.

Turn if you would to page 277 of the Book of Common Prayer. Please stand.
 
Minister: WELL-BELOVED, you have come hither desiring to receive Holy Baptism. We have prayed that our Lord Jesus Christ would vouchsafe to receive you, to release you from sin, to sanctify you with the Holy Ghost, to give you the kingdom of heaven, and everlasting life.
 
DOST thou renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the sinful desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them?
Answer: I renounce them all; and, by God's help, will endeavor not to follow, nor be led by them.
 
Minister: Dost thou believe in Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God?
Answer: I do.
 
Minister: Dost thou accept him, and desire to follow him as thy Savior and Lord?
Answer: I do.
 
Minister:Dost thou believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith, as contained in the Apostles' Creed?
Answer: I do.
 
Minister: Wilt thou be baptized in this Faith?
Answer: That is my desire.
 
Minister: Wilt thou then obediently keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of thy life?
Answer: I will, by God's help.
 
Minister: O MERCIFUL God, grant that like as Christ died and rose again, so these thy servants may die to sin and rise to newness of life. Amen.
 
Grant that all sinful affections may die in them, and that all things belonging to the Spirit may live and grow in them. Amen.
 
Grant that they may have power and strength to have victory, and to triumph, against the devil, the world, and the flesh. Amen.
 
Grant that whosoever is here dedicated to thee by our office and ministry, may also be endued with heavenly virtues, and everlastingly rewarded, through thy mercy, O blessed Lord God, who dost live, and govern all things, world without end. Amen.
 
Remember your baptism and be thankful. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
 
Please be seated.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life. Shall appear, then ye shall also appear with Him in glory.