Show Notes
In this hope-filled Eastertide episode of Peaceable and Kind, host Derek Vreeland explores what it means to live a resurrected life—right here, right now. Derek gently guides listeners beyond theological concepts, revealing how the truth of the resurrection moves from belief to practice, shaping the way we walk through loss, healing, and new beginnings.
Rooted in Romans 6 and the message of Easter, this episode walks listeners through the symbolism of baptism, the fear-shattering truth of resurrection, and reveals practical ways to live free from the grip of death, denial, and despair. Whether you’re navigating grief, spiritual renewal, or simply looking to reorient your life around resurrection hope, this episode offers encouragement to walk forward in grace.
Key Takeaways
Resurrection isn’t just belief—it’s a new way to live daily.
The fear of death loses its grip when we live in light of Easter.
Baptism symbolizes dying to sin and rising into a new grace-filled life.
Healthy grieving includes creating meaning through loss.
Avoiding death through denial, debauchery, or extreme discipline misses the path of discipleship.
Romans 6 paints resurrection life as leaving the old country of sin for a new land ruled by grace.
Jesus’ resurrection means death never gets the final word—Jesus does.
The power of resurrection isn’t just future hope—it brings renewal to dead dreams, broken relationships, and weary hearts today.
Scriptures mentioned in this episode:
Hebrews 2:14-15
1 Corinthians 15:32
Romans 6:1-9
John 11:35
Books mentioned in this podcast:
Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief by David Kessler
Preorder Derek’s new book, Incarnation: 8 Lessons on How God Meets Us here: https://amzn.to/42jSZAs
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Transcript
Narrator: Welcome to Peaceable and Kind, the podcast where we explore the transformation. Of living out Jesus’ call to peace and kindness in our everyday lives. Each week your host, Derek Vreeland, will delve into the stories, scriptures, and practical steps that help us embody these essential Christian virtues.
Derek Vreeland: Welcome back to another episode of Peaceable in Kind. I am your host, Derek Vreeland. Thank you for taking time today to join me for this episode. And if you are enjoying these podcast episodes, would you consider leaving a rating? or a review that helps us out a lot. And subscribe wherever you are listening to this podcast so you know when new episodes are available We are in the season of Easter where we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. And today I want to talk a little bit about walking in newness of life. I think theology matters. Theology is important. Now, when we speak of theology, what we mean is what we believe in, what we say, what we hold to be most dear in our hearts about God. And I believe the questions that are raised by theology are maybe the most important questions. Because once we understand who God is, it helps us to understand who we are. and how we are to live in the world. So while theology matters, it’s not just a matter of figuring things out in our heads I think for theology to have its full effect, it must affect how we live our lives. I have little interest or time, honestly, to engage in theological debates, particularly online. Now, if someone wants to meet up and have a discussion about theology, what we believe, what we say about God, I’m always happy to do so. In fact, I enjoy those kind of conversations. I’m not interested so much in debating. I’m not so much interested in proving my understanding of theology to be right and your understanding to be wrong. I don’t see much fruit in that But I don’t want people simply to grow in knowledge, but in wisdom. You know, there’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is having information, which again is important. But wisdom is knowing what to do with the information we have. So in one sense, knowledge is knowing the length of the desert. But wisdom is having the wherewithal to bring enough water with you so that you can survive your journey through the desert. And so wisdom speaks of how we live our lives. And I believe that the resurrection of Jesus which we mark on Easter Sunday, and well every Sunday marks the resurrection of Jesus This is not just an idea in our heads. It’s not just a doctrine. It’s not just a belief. It’s not a matter of simply intellectually subscribing to the idea that Jesus rose up from the dead. I believe that the resurrection of Jesus shapes how we live our lives. I believe that if we fully enter into the resurrection of Jesus, we can walk in a new kind of life. In part, the resurrection of Jesus frees us from the fear of death. The resurrection of Jesus proves that his death Wasn’t just the end of the Jesus story. You have to keep together both the death of Jesus and the resurrection Or as we celebrate in the Christian tradition, it is Good Friday and Easter Sunday And Good Friday, that’s the day that we remember Jesus’ death, is only good when we view the death of Jesus through the resurrection. And so it’s Jesus’ resurrection that frees us from the fear of death The resurrection proves that Jesus’ death was indeed a defeat of death itself Now the scriptures talk about this in a couple of places. One is in Hebrews chapter 2, verses 14 and 15. Which says, Since therefore the children share flesh and blood, he himself, and that’s Jesus, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. And I love how the message translation renders verse 15. Hebrews 2:15 in the message it reads like this: by embracing death. Taking it into himself, he, Jesus, destroyed the devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death Remember, the problem for which the cross is the solution is not God’s need to punish someone. The problem for which the cross is the solution is sin and death. And Hebrews, as well as other places in the scripture, looks at the devil, sin, death, as that which has enslaved us. And Jesus, through his death and resurrection, comes to liberate us, comes to set us free. If Jesus only died and stayed locked in the tomb, then death would have won. But the resurrection of Jesus proves that his death was a powerful death. It was the triumph of life over death. The resurrection reveals what a great triumph over death Jesus’ own death was. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, on Easter Sunday, there’s a little line from an ancient hymn, and the line goes something like this Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, And upon those in the tombs bestowing life. And I love the imagery in that line We celebrate that Christ is risen. That’s what we say on Easter Sunday. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. He has risen from the dead and he has trampled down death by his own death. And upon those in the tombs, bestowing life, new life It’s the resurrection of Jesus that opens up a new way for us to live freed from the fear of death. And I know talking about death and honestly reflecting on the shortness of life that is the shortness. of our own personal lives can be scary. I know this is not the most popular topic, but it is good to recognize, and I certainly have accepted That one day we will each take our final breath, that there is coming a day when each one of us will pass from this world into the next And in celebrating Jesus’ triumph over death doesn’t mean that we ignore that reality. And neither does it mean that we don’t grieve. When people we love die. Grieving is a normal part of saying goodbye to those we love. Even Jesus wept, remember The shortest verse in all of the Bible, John 11, 35, says, Jesus wept. And why did Jesus weep? His friend Lazarus had died. Now Jesus showed up to raise Lazarus from the dead, but even Jesus entered into a process of grief. And so we can both celebrate that we are freed from the fear of death and still fully enter into the grieving process. And I think that we we should When someone we love has passed away, it’s good for us to enter into that roller coaster of emotions that we feel. Now, it’s good, but it’s difficult. You know, there has been this popular understanding of the five stages of grief. This was originally developed by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. It’s been well documented and and I think it’s true that there are stages and I like to think of it as sort of a roller coaster of emotions. And the stages of grief are not necessarily in a one, two, three, four, five, you know, step order. I think the the stages of grief come to us each differently, and we spend different amount of time in each one of them But the five stages of grief, they come at us, and they are denial, which is usually an initial response. You kind of go numb. When you get news that someone close to you has passed away, it’s like that can’t be true. Then there is the anger. That’s a common Emotion, a common stage of processing grief, then there’s the bargaining that is, well, if I would have done something different, or if they would have done something different, There is depression. There is a sullenness and a sadness. Sometimes we weep and we cry and we’re mourning and we just we run out of tears and we just kind of settle into a little bit Of depression or despair. That’s normal. And then Kubler Ross says that the final stage where we want to get to is a place of acceptance. Where we accept the reality that someone we love has passed away. Now, David Kessler was a student of Kubler Ross, and he added a sixth stage To the grieving process, and that is meaning. And by meaning, Kessler doesn’t mean a clear understanding for the reasons why the person has died. He does not imply that death offers some kind of intrinsic meaning within itself. Rather, he talks about meaning as The good that we create in the process of our grieving. In his book, Finding Meaning, Kessler writes Your loss is not a test, a lesson, something to handle, a gift or a blessing. Loss is simply what happens to you in life Meaning is what you make happen. So meaning is our response to the loss we experience. And as Christians, we do grieve. But we don’t grieve like those who have no hope, because we know death is not the end. The sting of death has been removed by the resurrection of Jesus And so we can create all sorts of senses of meaning through the loss we’ve experienced. I advocate for healthy grieving because I encounter so many people that they just simply don’t know what to do. Sadly, there are many people, Christian and non-Christian people, who are still trapped by the fear of death. They are scared to death of death. And they don’t know what to do. Or other people, if you go down a road with them of just acknowledging the truth that none of us are going to live forever in this life. I’ve noticed that people have different responses. Some people go the route of denial. And this is not even denial as a part of the grief process, but people recognizing Okay, I’m supposed to die at some point in my life. I’m gonna pretend like that doesn’t happen. Right? They close their eyes, they stick their fingers in their ears, and they just refuse to even consider it In the words of the Old Testament theologian Walter Brugeman, these people have been unknowingly schooled in denial regarding the reality of death and dying. as a part of our current human condition. Denying death makes the shock of grief that much more jolting So I think it’s good to reject that option and not deny the fact that we are each going to face our final day in this world. Hey friends, I wanted to pause for just a second to let you know that my next book, Incarnation, 8 Lessons on How God Meets Us, is available for pre-order. This Bible study is for individual devotional use or for small group discussion. Link to pre-order is in the show notes. Other people go the route of debauchery. That is, they just look to fulfill all of their desires, assuming that, well, if I’m gonna die one day, then I ought to live it up. And it’s interesting that the Apostle Paul tips his hat to this kind of thinking in 1 Corinthians 15, 32, when he writes, if there is no resurrection, We eat, we drink, the next day we will die, and there’s nothing else to say about it. So even the Apostle Paul recognizes if there’s no hope beyond death Then sure, let’s just live it up. But the way of trying to fulfill all of your desires as if, well, I’m gonna die one day, let me just live it up. Well, that doesn’t always end in a good place. It normally ends in a place of deep, deep despair. Other people, they go the direct opposite of debauchery. They go into discipline. They go this way of recognizing they’re gonna die and they wanna live as long as they can. So they dedicate themselves to the gym and whatever fad diets and supplements are on the market. They’re searching for that elusive fountain. of youth. And while eating well and exercising are really good things to do, the people that go this route of extreme discipline are just trying to work out their denial. They want to find that fountain of youth and live as long as they possibly can And I think that that is also a bit of a dead-in street. And so for me, I really just want to go the way of discipleship. Not the way of denial, not the way of debauchery, not the way of hyperdiscipline, even though some discipline in life is good. I want to go the way of discipleship. I want to follow Jesus in his crucifixion and death. so that I might die to sin and walk in this newness of life without fear of death And I want to invite you to come with me, to follow Jesus, to identify our lives with the death and resurrection of Jesus so that together we can walk in newness of life. This concept of of the way we walk in light of resurrection is found in Romans 6. And so I want to walk through some verses and I want to explore these verses in the message translation As you know, I’m a big fan of the message. I’ve been writing a Bible study series using the message translation. And what I love about the message is it uses contemporary language and it really draws out a lot of the imagery and metaphor. And there are some new metaphors that are used in the writing of this translation that I think really helps us to get at the heart of what Scripture is communicating. So let’s walk through some verses together. Let’s start Romans 6, verses 1 and 2. And again, this is in the message Bible. So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind. When we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace, a new life in a new land. I love that imagery that baptism for us is moving, moving out of the sin sovereign country, right? Leaving the world where sin dominates And through baptism, we are relocating ourselves. We’re moving into a new country. A country that’s dominated by grace. And in this new country, we get to live a new life. Jesus at the Last Supper, in describing what his death was about, remember Jesus says that his blood. was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. His death demonstrated the love of God and it set us right with God. So should we keep on sinning, simply knowing that God forgives? Um, of course not. It says here in the message, I should hope not. That Greek phrase is a highly emotionally charged negative response Other translations will say, by no means. So no, we don’t continue to sin knowing God forgives Because through baptism, we’re living a new life. We’re living in a new country. Let’s continue on, verse 3. That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus. When we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace sovereign country. Through baptism, we identify with Jesus in his death and resurrection And the water of baptism is connected to us dying to an old life and an old country. and then rising again with Jesus to live a new life. Part of my responsibility as a pastor is to talk to people and to connect with people before they’re being baptized. And in our church we teach that baptism is sacramental. It’s sacramental in the sense that there’s nothing magical about the water, but the water is a Physical means by which we connect to this spiritual union with Jesus. So baptism is a really big deal. Baptism is a lot like getting married. So when I talk to people about baptism, I usually draw upon that metaphor of getting married. You are entering into a new covenant. Just like in marriage, you’re entering into a new life. Your very identity gets changed. Right? So when you get married, you go from being a single person to being a married person. And most women, when they get married, will even change their last name. So, baptism is sacramental. It is a physical means by which we connect with the invisible God, but it’s filled with symbolism So when I do our baptism orientation class and even right before a baptism, I will demonstrate to people what baptism looks like. And I’ll say, imagine standing in the water, representing the life of Jesus, and then when I lower people into the water, that’s like being buried in the ground. You’re being buried with Jesus. And then when you come up out of the water, it is like rising with Jesus in his resurrection. And I love the way the message translates Romans 6. 5. That now in this new life, we can see where we’re going in this new life, in this new country where grace is sovereign, where grace is reigning Let’s continue on, Romans six, six. Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ. a decisive end to that sin miserable life, no longer captive to sin’s demands What we believe is this. If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection I like those phrases that are in the message translation. Through our faith and baptism we get to share in Jesus’ death and resurrection, his sin conquering death, In his death, he defeats sin for us and his life-saving resurrection, because through the resurrection, Jesus defeated death So we can’t any longer shuffle along in our old sin-miserable lives because we’ve been set free. And now we’re walking in newness of life. Jesus very death defeated the ominous lurking specter of death once and for all Jesus’ resurrection restored life, and for those of us who believe, we get included in that restoration. As Christ was raised from the dead and we identify with Jesus, God is making us new on the inside. Let’s keep working through Romans 6, verse 9. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead, it was a signal of the end of death as the end. Never again will death have the last word. There is so much fear and foreboding around death Because in a sense there is this cruel finality, right? Every time We have someone that we are close to that passes away. It’s a it’s a it’s a tearful goodbye. And it feels so final. And God has given us an innate instinct to seek out life. I never want to accept death as a normal part of life I want to accept the reality of death and my own mortality and the shortness of life, but I never want to see death. as anything other than an unwelcome guest in God’s good creation. Because God has given us these desires to seek life Death, it seems, runs counter to that instinct to seek out life. Death just seems so wrong. But the resurrection of Jesus marks the end of that finality, the way it reads in the message translation. It’s a signal of the end of death as the end. So it is Jesus who will have the last word, not death. So why grieve In the face of death, but I know that Jesus has triumphed over death I know that Jesus ultimately has the last word. So if if death feels wrong, We can see it as the wrongness of death has now been made right by Jesus’ resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus is a promise from God that God will forever give us a redo. A restart, the opportunity to do things differently. And I believe in that I believe that what God did for Jesus on that first Easter Sunday morning God intends to do for the entire world, and He intends to do it for me and you Which means I believe at the end, at the end of this age, there will be a resurrection of the body. so that when I breathe my last, and they put me in the ground, I know that that body sown in the ground will rise again on the last day But beyond that, I believe in this resurrection power to bring new life into our lives today. So if there is a part of your life that just simply feels dead, maybe it’s the death of a dream, a death of something you you felt called by God to do and it just didn’t work out. Maybe it’s the death of a relationship or a friendship I believe that there is resurrection power available for us. And God can take what is dead within us and cause it to rise again. So I want us to reflect on the joy of resurrection. I want us to enter fully, because Easter is not just a one-day celebration. No, it’s seven weeks. We call it Easter tide. I want us to be filled with the joy and the hope that comes from resurrection. I want us to celebrate that. But I also want us to walk in the light of the resurrection of Jesus. This light that God is the God of the redo. No matter how bad things get, God will always give us the opportunity to restart and walk in newness of life. So I hope you find encouragement in that today, that you continue to walk with Jesus in this New life of resurrection, this new grace, sovereign country where sin no longer dominates and fear no longer dominates. But in Jesus, it is hope and grace dominating in our lives. Well, thank you for joining me for this episode. Go in peace and be kind.
This transcript was generated with AI and may contain errors.