Good morning, and a most blessed Thursday to you!

Today, in our time of devotion together, we're going to look closely at life and death. We begin in Luke chapter 24, starting with the first verse.

This is after Christ has died. His disciples watched Him suffer and be tortured. They watched Him be crucified, take His last breath, and die on the cross. They watched as His body was removed and laid in a tomb.

They saw their friend, their Rabbi, their Messiah—the One in whom they had placed all their hope—die and be buried.

And so we come to Luke chapter 24, beginning with verse 1:

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body.

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’

*Then they remembered His words. And returning from the tomb, they told all this to the 11 and to all the rest."

I want to come back to the question those men in dazzling clothes posed to the women. The women were perplexed, and the men asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

We're going to come back to this in just a moment. But first, I want to turn to Luke chapter 9.

This is as Christ is calling people to follow Him, beginning in verse 59:

“To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:59–60)

Now, think about that question those men posed at the tomb to the women who could not find their dead teacher, their dead Christ. They asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

And when Christ tells that would-be follower to let the dead bury their own dead, and that he, as a follower of Christ, is called to go and proclaim the kingdom of God, we need to remember and consider exactly what our state of existence is in our sin.

We are born dead. We are born dead in our trespasses and in our sin. And in all of our efforts, in all that we do, and in all of our desires, we remain dead in our sin because we cannot rid ourselves of sin.

It is death. It is eternal death for us.

And so those who are dead in sin are called to bury their own dead.

But we should not look for the living among the dead.

Christ, who was dead, is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He is the first to cross from death into life, the firstborn from the dead to enter into resurrected, eternal life.

And in Christ, we are made alive. We are alive in Christ!

It is Christ who lives in us.

And so we are not called to look for the living among the dead. Rather, as those who are alive in Christ, we are called to go and proclaim the kingdom of God to the dead.

We are called to go to those who are dead in their sin, dead in their trespasses, and proclaim the living Christ—the One who has forgiven our sin, the One who has risen triumphant over death itself, and the One who freely, mercifully, and graciously gives us life.

This past Sunday, we had such an important Sunday in the life of the church. We had our Response Sunday, when we came forward and gave our responses, our pledges of ourselves, our time, our talent, and our treasure.

And all of this, all of the response that we bring, all that we give of ourselves in response to what the Lord has given us, is to support the mission and the calling that we have as brothers and sisters in Christ, as the body of Christ.

That calling is to go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

It is our response, as those who have been made alive in Christ, to go forth. We go to the dead, not to look for the living, but to proclaim the One who lives, the One who has forgiven our sins and calls us all into life through Him.

It is absolutely incredible to see God at work in and through the various missions at Living Word. And it is absolutely stunning to know that God does so much more than we could ever dream or imagine through His people, through His body, which is the Church.

I am so grateful, so very grateful, to be part of a congregation that is called to love the Lord and to live in the Lord.

And we know this. We know that this is the calling upon our lives, and that we are alive because Christ has made us alive in Him.

What a wonderful and glorious promise we have in Christ! And what a glorious and wonderful purpose we have in serving Him, by loving Him, by serving others, and by loving others.

And I am so eager to see what God is going to do in and through the people of Living Word and the missions to which He calls us.

We are called to bring His Word, His Word of life, His Word of love, and His Word of hope into the world, where we will go proclaiming the kingdom of God, knowing that we are serving Him—Him who lives!

Let's pray.

Heavenly Lord, we thank You so much for Your grace. We thank You for Your Word, we thank You for Your love, and we thank You for calling us to life in and through Your Son.

Lord, we ask that as we go forth proclaiming the kingdom of God, You would use us as Your mouthpieces, use us as Your hands and feet, and use us to reach those whom You have called to forgiveness and to life in You.

May they hear the Good News and turn to You, that they too may have life.

We thank You, Lord, for You are good and gracious. And we thank You for calling us to be alive in You, today and always.

This we lift to You in the blessed, holy, living name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have a most blessed rest of your week, and I look forward to worshiping with you this coming Sunday.

Until then, God bless you!

Pastor Malinak