There's Still More!

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

“There’s still more!” What wonderful words! You’re at a concert of your favorite performer. The music is beautiful. You’ve had an incredible evening. The musicians leave the stage as the crowd rises for a standing ovation. It seems that’s all there is. The crowd continues cheering for a few minutes: “More! More!” The band comes back for an encore. They play several more songs, including a couple of their best, which you’ve been waiting for. There’s still more!

In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus is debating with a group of religious leaders known as the Sadducees. The heart of the controversy is between two points of view. Jesus, on one side, is saying, “There’s still more.” The Sadducees are on the other side, are saying, “That’s all there is.” What were they talking about? The resurrection from the dead.

There came to [Jesus] some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked Him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”

This is a very hypothetical question—and purposely so. Sadducees did not believe the day would come when people would rise out of the graves and their bodies would live again. They believed they didn’t have anything more to look forward to that what happened before death. Now, they were usually the more well-off leaders, and so they could enjoy this life. But when death came, they had no joy, no hope, because that’s all there is; there is no more. And with this unbelief in the resurrection, the Sadducees thought they had Jesus in a trap. But they were wrong because they neither knew Scripture nor the power of God.

And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him.”

Jesus taught that when someone dies, there’s still more to come. And He wasn’t talking about just going to be with Him upon death, wonderful as that may be! No, He was talking about the end of time, the Last Day, the day the dead, our bodies, will rise out of the graves, whatever that grave may be—a casket, an urn, the deep sea, or simply bones turned to dust in a desert. There’s still more.

Think of it this way. There’s life—the life we live right now, day by day. Then we die, and there’s life after death—when the souls of those who believe in Jesus go to be with Him, while their bodies are left behind. Then there’s “life after life after death.” That’s the Last Day resurrection of the body when it’s reunited with the soul. That’s what Jesus was talking about: There’s still more. There’s a final day resurrection of the body. The Sadducees said, “That’s all there is.” Jesus said, “No, there’s still more.”

Now, the Sadducees pretty much died out about AD 70, about thirty-five years after Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead. But their teaching, that “That’s all there is,” still lives on. We see Easter TV specials that claim to have found Jesus’ burial box. We hear experts who deny the Bible’s witness to Christ’s resurrection. Atheistic groups are placing messages on buses and billboards such as “There’s probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life.” So many of these try to take away Jesus’ resurrection and with it our resurrection from the dead. What you’re left with is the Sadducees’ spirit that says the only life you’re to enjoy is this one, because that’s all there is, there is no more after you die.

Now, we may not be among those who deny the resurrection or are so spiritually apathetic, but the Sadducees’ spirit still lives on, even in our own hearts, our own minds. Have you ever felt that way, that there’s no more, this life is all there is? Sometimes, the doubts are there, aren’t they? You look at a body in a casket. You see that it doesn’t move. The grave looks so final. You might wonder, “Is this all there is? Could this be it?”

Or perhaps you’re so caught up in everyday life that you’re too busy to think about the Last Day resurrection. Too connected to TV, movies, cell phones, Facebook, the Internet to give much thought to what more there may be. Too worried about the bills or a family member or your retirement to get excited about a “There’s still more!” message. That’s the Sadducees’ spirit swirling around in our hearts and minds. That’s all there is; there is no more.

But Jesus says there is. He says, “There’s still more.” Just before this battle with the Sadducees, He told His disciples He would go to Jerusalem. There. He would suffer. There, He would die at the hands of the Sadducees and Pharisees. But that would not be all there is. He also said that after three days, He would rise from the dead. No long after that, everything He said would happen did happen. Jesus suffered. He died. He was buried. But on Easter morning, Jesus turned every “that’s all there is” into “there’s still more—so much more waiting for you!

Think of Thomas. He didn’t see Jesus that first Easter Day. But a week later, he was there. Jesus appeared to the disciples, and He invited Thomas to touch Him. But Thomas didn’t need to touch Him. He could see Jesus had flesh and blood. By Jesus’ word of peace, Thomas believed. And what does Thomas say? “My Lord and my God.” His whole life changed from “That’s all there is” to “There’s still more, so much more.” He believes not only that there will be life after death, but there will also be life after life after death.

And just like Thomas, we need to believe our God is the God of the living, not the dead. We need so much more than the Sadducee spirit if we’re to live in hope and joy.

I mean, go back to the story of the woman with the seven husbands. We surely find the story the Sadducees tell strange. Who marries seven different brothers? What kind of law is that? But it was certainly on the books. You see, we think of marriage as romantic love, a choice we make when we find the right man or woman, our soul mate. But back then, marriages were often arranged, and it was important to continue the family line, the family name. So, if one brother didn’t carry it on, the next in line assumed the responsibility. The Sadducees used this example to show how ludicrous the resurrection would be because the woman, seven times widowed, would end up with seven husbands.

But Jesus answers with a remark we might find just as strange. He tells the Sadducees that they have it wrong. They don’t understand what the resurrection is all about. Marriage is for this life, for companionship, for having children to repopulate the earth. In the resurrection, no one dies, so no additional people are needed. In the resurrection, everyone will be a child of God, a brother or sister in Christ, part of the Bride and Body of Christ, a relationship so much better than even the best marriage on earth so that the companionship of a spouse won’t be needed anymore.

Oh, loved ones will be there, and we’ll rejoice in each other’s presence. On the day of resurrection, we’ll hug and hold hands and touch and talk once again. But it’ll be different. In this life, a good marriage with a loving, godly spouse is probably the best human relationship that we experience. This is good news for everyone whether you’ve had a wonderful marriage and can’t imagine anything better, or if your marriage is a bit rocky and you can’t imagine it going on for eternity. In the resurrection, free of all sin and the consequences of sin, all our relationships, even those with our spouse—that will be so much better, we can’t even begin to imagine the joys. Now, we can’t say just exactly how that will be, but Jesus says it will, so that’s what we believe. Beyond what we know and love in this life, there’s still more. A wonderful more that we can’t even imagine.

The Sadducees tell this story of a woman who marries seven brothers attempting to show just how ludicrous belief in the resurrection of the dead is. But I see it as just the opposite. I see it as showing us just how important it is that there’s still more.

I want you to place yourself in the sandals of the woman. She’s married but has no children. There’s sadness in the home. Then her husband dies. Imagine her grief. Anyone here who has lost a dearly beloved spouse knows that kind of grief. Having no children, this woman stands alone at her husband’s grave. Then it happens again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Seven times. You know what she needs. She needs hope. She needs to know that “There’s still more.” She needs to know that life after life after death will be wonderful beyond compare, because this life was not.

Yes, she needs to see that Jesus will turn her losses into victories. So do we. We need to see Jesus turning up in our losses to turn them into victories. And He does. The resurrection is all about Jesus turning our losses into victories, our death into life, our sorrow into joy, our weakness into strength, our futility into glory.

Think about it. What is the leading cause of death? Birth, being born. No, it wasn’t intended to be that way—we were created for eternity. But ever since the Fall, it’s been that way. As soon as that heart starts beating, you are on the way to that heart stopping beating. As soon as you start breathing, you are on the way to stopping breathing. And if that’s all there is, if there is no more, then what a depressing way to live! But Jesus says there is still more. There is life. There is life after death. And then there is life after life after death. That, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is reason to hope, to rejoice, and to live life to its fullest now. Because—there’s still more!

We don’t know what today or tomorrow or the day after will bring to us. But we do know how it will all turn out. The day will come when the Lord will raise you and all your loved ones who died in the Lord and you will be with Him and them for eternal life. So, go in the peace of the Lord and serve Him with joy! You are forgiven for all your sins.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.