Christ has risen, he has risen indeed, hallelujah! Christ has risen, he has risen indeed, hallelujah! Christ has risen, he has risen indeed, hallelujah!

Living in grace because the tomb is empty. You may be thinking, how in Heaven’s name does an empty tomb tie to living in grace?

My friends in Christ, it has everything to do with grace.

A lot of people think that grace was what Jesus did on the cross and there is no doubt that is the case, but when you think of the second half of what Jesus did for us after He took our sin upon Him and went to hell to dump them where they belong, He came back and made it very clear that this Grace isn’t just forgiveness of sin, but also everlasting life.

That promise was fulfilled when the stone in front of tomb where He was laid to rest miraculously rolled away and He walked out, alive.

You don’t see that happen too often anymore do you? Someone in the tomb for three days and – bingo! – up He gets and out He walks?

It was one day shorter than Lazarus was in the tomb, but Jesus was playing a part in that one as well.

Remember Lazarus?

Max Lucado says this about Lazarus: “What Jesus did with Lazarus, he is willing to do with us, which is good to know, for what Martha said about Lazarus can be said about us too, ‘But, Lord, it has been four days since he died. There will be a bad smell.’ Martha was speaking for us all. The human race is dead in sin, and there is a bad smell to it. We have been dead a long time. We don’t need to fix us up; we need someone to raise us up. In the muck and the mire of what we call life, there is death, and we have been in it so long we’ve grown accustomed to the stench. But Christ hasn’t. And Christ can’t stand the thought of His children rotting in a cemetery. So, He comes in and calls us out. We are the corpses, and He is the corpse-caller. We in fact are the dead, and he is the dead-raiser. Our task is not to get up but to admit we are dead. The only ones who remain in the grave are the ones who don’t think they are there.”

“The stone has been moved. “Lazarus, come out!” He yells. But today is the same as then for He still calls out, ‘Larry! Connie! Sue! Mike! Chris! Come out!’

“The question for us all is this - will we come out?”

The stroll Lazarus took from the grave would ultimately lead to a return to the grave at some point. He would die again but live again as well.

The stroll Jesus called Lazarus to take from the grave was a stroll to eternal life, a promise to all who believe that their sins are gone, and the way has been paved for salvation.

Although we will die on this earth it was this stroll of Jesus from the grave that assured us of continued grace and certain salvation.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, it is time to lead by example as we change this community for Christ and to do so, we have to first live in the grace He has offered us, so we are protected from the evil that seeks to destroy us.

We must embrace each other in love and live each and every day in God’s grace. When that happens, this community will flourish once again.

We will talk more about this at First Lutheran Church on Easter Sunday.

The day begins with Bible Study at 9:30 a.m., worship at 11 a.m., a hot Easter lunch after worship and an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids at 1 p.m.

Please come as you are and join us for this wonderful day of celebration.

Chris DelCol is pastor of First Lutheran Church in Lucerne, Calif. The church is located at 3863 Country Club Drive, telephone 707-274-5572.