Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia! It is so fitting that we say these words loud and clear today. First, because we are still celebrating Easter. Christ lives! Second, because He lives we are gathered here today from all over Utah and Idaho because He has given life to we who believe. And third, Life is God's business, and as those made alive in Christ we are moved to act and share the life of Christ. 

Now, I want to share somethign with you that I would guess is new for most, if not all, of you. Zombies. I bet you've never heard a sermon that has zombies in it, have you? For some reason, zombies are all the rage right now. And, though I'm still fairly young, I just don't get these kids these days and their strange facinations. I don't get zombies. Zombies wander around aimlessly, no point other than to make more zombies

Dead men walking. I think it’s fascinating in part because it’s more true than many people realize. St. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 2 that we are all, by nature children of wrath, dead in our trespasses and sins. By nature, we are conceived sinful, dead to God, deserving only death and eternal punishment.  People walk around in this world spiritually dead, without life, without hope, without direction and a future of eternal damnation. Once how we were

But you, ladies of the LWML, members of St. Paul Lutheran Church, you are not zombies.  No more walking around without a purpose. You who were once dead have been brought to spiritual life in Christ. By Water and the Word, in Your baptism, you were brought to new life in Christ. By the Word and the Sacrament of the Altar, your life is sustained and strengthened. Sin has been forgiven, death has been defeated, life has been earned by the cross and delivered through the means of grace. You are saved to serve.

Bringing life from death is what God does.  It is the Easter joy, the joy of a resurrection of the dead and life everlasting. A reality and good work that God has already begun in you by the power of His Spirit. And it transforms lives. The Scriptures tell us that those who believe in Jesus Christ begin to live differently.  No longer zombies, those who have been given the Holy Spirit are empowered by Him to begin to live a new life, to strive to follow God and His will ever more closely. We begin to seek out good works to do.  As the Lutheran Confessions say: “As soon as the Holy Spirit has begun His work of rebirth and renewal in us through the Word and the holy sacraments, it is certain that on the basis of His power we can and should be cooperating with Him, though still in great weakness” (SD II.65). But this is not because we are coerced to do so, not as if our salvation depended upon it, but because we are saved.  Luther once wrote in his commentary on Genesis 17, “Works do not make a person righteous, but a righteous person does righteous works; and yet the works demonstrate that faith is being exercised in doing them, and through them it increases and shines forth.” (LW 3.169-170)

Lutherans rightly proclaim the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith alone. That’s how we’re saved: by grace, not by works. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” St. Paul writes.   But there is a danger that some people misunderstand this to mean that works are somehow not important. That we are now freed by the Law by the blood of Christ so we can now do whatever we want, or not do whatever we don’t want, and the Law of God in His Holy Word be damned.

The opposite is true: we are saved by grace in order that we might be freed to do good works, not out of fear or guilt or compulsion, but rather out of love and a living spirit. St Paul also writes, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). The God who brings life to His people also prepares His people for good works. He moves us to love the Lord with all our heart and mind and soul and to love our neighbor as ourselves, the 10 Commandments summarized down into two things – Love God and love others. You cannot have one without the other.  Good works is not some outward activity, but love that arises outside of our nature, a gift and work of the Holy Spirit whom we receive through faith. (Chemnitz, Loci Theologici III 1116).  Our love and works of service have their source, their direction, their sanctification only in Christ. Romans 14:23, “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” Dead men can’t do good works. I’ve stood next to dead bodies before and they don’t seem to want to give hugs to their relatives and loved ones.  Dead men don’t serve Lutheran coffee at their own funerals.

But many of you do. Because of Easter. Because Christ is risen, He has delivered that risen life to you, so that you abound in love and good works. And this is all very practical. It includes feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting the imprisoned, as Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25:31-46. In includes changing the diaper of a baby. Watching your grandkids. Praying before meals. Devotions with your family. Taking your faith into the workplace. Simply put, faith in Christ manifests itself in good works of all kinds. We have been saved to serve. We have been made alive in Christ, no longer zombies walking around as the living dead without purpose, without direction, without hope but for this life only. Because we are no longer under the condemnation of the Law, we are free to do willingly what the Law commands. We are motivated by love, not by fear, by the Gospel, not by the Law. You don’t have to wander around aimlessly looking for something, or nothing, to do. God has prepared them, laid them out, for you to do in faith.  In Christ, you have been saved to served.

So, no, you aren’t zombies, at least not anymore. You are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for a purpose. Though your old sinful self still rears its ugly head, and you struggle in this sanctified life, stumbling down the path of holy living, you are led to see your own sins more clearly. The Law daily brings to our eyes our failure, leading us ever back to Christ and the forgiveness He has won for us at the cross. And indeed, it is here at the foot of the cross that the path to holy living finds both its beginning and end. For here we see both our sin and our Savior. Christ takes upon Himself our guilt and gives us instead His righteousness. He takes our death and gives us His life. He saves us to serve others with the good works love of God in Christ our Lord. Alleluia, Christ is risen. He is risen indeed alleluia!