Welcome to Your New Life
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Resurrection Sunday
Resurrection Sunday
Well good morning everyone and welcome to Burr Oak. What a blessed day it is to be able to gather together and remember the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! If you are visiting for the first time this morning or viewing this online I am Pastor Ben and it is my humbled joy to be able to bring you God’s word this morning.
If you are a Christian this morning you ought to be rejoicing. If you have professed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, rejoice today, as today you walk in victory. Now that may not mean that everything in your life is as you would like it. Maybe things at your job are not so great right now. Maybe you are without a job. Maybe things are not good at home right now. Maybe you are at your wits end with your spouse or with a child. Maybe your health is not the greatest. You remember a day when your body was more physically capable. Despite these challenges, if you are a Christian, today you walk in victory. And what’s even better is that it was not a victory that you had to work for. It was a victory offered to you paid by someone else, all you had to do was accept it.
If you were at our Good Friday service you saw how we briefly look at Col 1:19-20. We saw how we come to be reconciled to God through Christ. The death of Jesus brought about reconciliation. His resurrection, brought about the promise of a new life. A debt too steep to pay has been paid, and the promise of a new life free of pain, free of suffering, has been granted. When I reflect on this often what comes to my mind is the song by Don Francisco that Dolly Parton made popular. I tend to want to shout the chorus.
“He’s alive, he’s alive! He’s alive and I’m forgiven, heaven’s gates are open wide!”
What a truth to be excited about. What a reality to live in. Jesus is alive! Forgiveness can be found in him! Heaven’s gates are open wide! We now have direct access to our heavenly Father because of the work of the Son. The Spirit testifies this to us and we ought to be filled with joy! We have been set free from the bondage's of an old life. But how are we to live? Well that is what we are going to look at this morning.
First let us pray.
Father we thank you for this day. You have allowed us to come together this morning to celebrate! And today is a day to celebrate for Jesus Christ is the risen king! Lord we ask that that truth echo throughout our hearts and minds not just today but every day. Through this truth let us learn to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Father as we come to our message for today we ask that you bless this message. That you open our hearts and minds to receive your word. That we may be edified this morning Lord. That we may be stretched in our understanding. But ultimately that we may grow closer to you. Lord this is your day and your service. May we encounter you here today oh Lord. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Well the title of our message for this morning is Welcome to Your New Life: The Promise of the Resurrection. We will be looking to Colossians 3:1-4 for our text. If you brought your own Bible or want to follow along on your device please turn there now. If you want to use the blue pew Bible it is on page 1088. Or you can follow along on the screen.
Let us hear the word of our Lord.
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
May the Lord bless the reading of his word.
This morning as we consider this passage there are two biblical truths we are going to look at. What it looks like to walk in victory and why we can walk in victory.
To Walk in Victory
To Walk in Victory
Victory. That is a word that each of us love to have added to our name as an adjective. We love proclaiming that we are victorious. That we have come out on top, that we are the champion. And as a Christian one of the areas that we most desire to do this is in our battle against the sins that wreak havoc in our lives.
Yet this tends to be an area that we have a muddied understanding. We struggle because there are areas that maybe we do not feel victorious. There are areas that just keep seeming to get the best of us. There are areas that tend to be so difficult that the battle wears us down and we give up. We tell ourselves that it just is not in God’s plan for us to be victorious in this one area. That this must be the thorn in our side. Hopefully through this message we can come to a clearer understanding.
As we begin to look at this section, we need to understand what Paul is trying to communicate here. To find that out we need to go back to the beginning of chapter two. To understand Paul’s arguments what we need to know is that Paul did not have a personal relationship with the Church at Colossae. He had never been there. He was writing them without having ever met them face to face.
1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,
This struggle that Paul had for them was that they would not deem it necessary to live life in such a way that it was the Gospel plus. He wanted them to come to understand that the Gospel, and all of God’s word that points towards the Gospel is all that is needed for navigating life’s issues. He wanted them to understand that it wasn’t just Jesus for salvation and all the ways of man for this life. How do we know this?
4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
What he means here is that he does not want for them to be cleverly deceived, even if the argument seems plausible. They need to know why they believed what they believed and how to live in light of this understanding. That is why nearly the rest of the letter deals out how to do this. From 2:6-4:6 Paul gives generic and specific examples on how to achieve this. Within this section Paul has three big generic exhortations. These would be Paul’s oun statements. The first we see in 2:6.
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
The next is in 2:16.
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
And finally, in 3:1.
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
This section of chapter three is the last of Paul’s generic or general teaching. Following this he will dive into practical application for specific roles. This section serves as the culmination for all the points prior. This section answers the questions; How do I walk with Jesus? How do I live so that no one can pass judgement on me? What are the things above that I am to set my mind on? These are the same questions we wrestle with today as we seek to live out our faith and honor Jesus with our lives. With this let us look to our first two verses.
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
When we look at these verse we seem to have a doubling down of the same command, the things above. In verse 1 we are told to seek. in verse 2 we are told to set our minds on. Melick states that the difference here is verse one is referring to the heart and verse two is referring to the mind. Set your heart, set your mind. As we went through Gospel Treason what was one of the things that we learn about when Scriptures reference the heart or infer to the heart? What we learned was that this is speaking of one’s desires.
The Greek word that we get seek from in this verse can also be translated to mean desire. Paul is telling them, “Look you want to be able to live this Christian life? You want to walk with Christ, you want people to not pass judgement on you, then you need to start by setting your desires on Christ and your thoughts or your mind on Christ.”
You want to know an amazing thing? It does not take a Bible scholar to be able to do this. The moment you give your life to Jesus you can begin this process. You can begin to pray that God changes your desires to desire him. You can begin to read his word and grow in your knowledge and understanding. Will you always get it right? No! Will you have questions? Yes! But the glorious thing is Jesus is gentle and lowly in nature. He is patient and kind. He will walk with you as you learn from him. Hear me you do not need to go to Bible college or seminary to be able to live a faithful Christian life.
Growing in your knowledge and understanding is great. It is a wonderful thing. We are to set our minds after the things of God, but that is only half of the equation. And frankly if that is the half that you have set yourselves after you are probably in a dangerous spot. If your excuse for not committing to Jesus as Lord, or not getting involved in a certain aspect is, “I do not know enough” you are going about your faith wrong. Your excuse of I do not know enough keeps you at the center of the equation. You’ve not put Jesus at the center of your world, you are still there. Yes knowledge is good, but if the point of your surrender is based on your knowledge you will never surrender. You may be saved. Jesus may be your Savior, but you operate as though you are still your own lord.
See your desires need to be changed. Let’s look to a couple examples. Who here has ever become the disgruntle employee? Let’s look at a few verse down from our passage today.
22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
Now this may seem pretty straight forward, especially for those of us who have been working for a while. For younger employees maybe not so much. As I see on the news the issues with employment and compensation and all that that entails, I wonder how many Christian employees sever their employer as if they were working directly for Jesus. We do not need to understand all the ins and outs of the Greek to understand how to put this into practice. What we need to do is surrender our desire.
Let’s look at another.
33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Here’s a good one. This comes at the end of the teaching about husbands and wives in Eph 5. How many of us understand all the ins and outs of this passage? Yet, wives without knowing all the ins and outs of this passage, you probably can right now think of one way to show respect to your husband that would require nothing more than you laying down one of your own desires. You do to even need an example.
Or husbands what about us? How well are we doing at understanding this passage first. We are given an example. Look,
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Think this is easy to understand look what Paul says,
32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
Our example is a profound mystery. How likely are we to ever come to a full understanding of? Yet, we all can probably think of a way to love our wife right now. All it takes is the giving up of our desires. See if all we do is run after the knowledge end but never set the desires of our heart on Christ, more than likely someday this will be what we hear.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
You may set your minds on God and know much about him, but until you set your heart on him and allow your desires to be changed by him, you will only ever know about him and not truly know him.
Now this may seem overwhelmingly defeating. You may ask how can I ever accomplish anything in this Christian life. We are suppose to be walking in victory, but this seems to take all the wind out of my sails. Well that is where our understanding of victory needs to be cleared up.
When we talk about having victory, what we tend to mean is having victory over. That the foe we just conquered will never again raise its head to oppose us. Yet, what both the Scriptures and our experiences tell us is that this is not the case. That we will face those same things again. When we adopt the mindset that it is victory over, this can lead us to feeling defeated.
Bob Kellemen, the founder of the Biblical Counseling Coalition say that while some people do experience the miraculous ongoing victory over, most Christians experience daily lifelong struggles against. He goes on to state,
“But at the end of the day, many times God still says, ‘Not yet. I never promised to remove you from all suffering and temptation. I want you to cling to me continually as you struggle with and fight for victory in your situation.’”
Victory in your situation. But how do we have victory in our situations? That brings us to our next point.
Death, the Means to Victory
Death, the Means to Victory
So if we typically do not experience victory over, but rather should strive for victory in, what does this mean? We still have to wrestle with the definition of this word. Merriam Webster defines it as.
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) (Victory)
vic•to•ry \ˈvik-t(ə-)rē\ noun
1: the overcoming of an enemy or antagonist
2: achievement of mastery or success in a struggle or endeavor against odds or difficulties
See our wrestle is that within the very definition of this word is the idea of overcoming or the achievement of mastery. Yet, we just discussed how we are not guaranteed personal victory over. So how do we make sense of this? Let’s look to our next two verses.
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Wait a minute? Where is the victory in this verse. I see death, that doesn’t seem so nice. I see hidden and appear, not much of a fan of surprises. I see glory, and that seems nice. But where is the concept of victory? Let’s look at these two verses a little closer.
As we look at these two verses we see a handful of nouns and pronouns. Which what are those? Persons, places, or things. We then see some verbs which are, actions, states of beings, or a produced result. These verbs are what we want to look at.
The first verb we run into is the word died. Pretty simple word we know that it means that one is no longer living. The Greek word Paul uses here we get the phrase “you have died” and the ESV does a great job translating it. The word Paul uses is meant to be understood as a past event that has taken place resulting in a state that one resides. You have died, this is a reality that Paul is wanting the reader to understand. But what do you mean for I am very much alive. The interesting thing about this word is that while it means died, it also means to be drowned by water. See this word points back to an event within the Christians life, the point of baptism. When you are put under the water you are pointing to your death to your old life.
Commenting on this section James Dunn states,
The Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Perspective from Which the Christian Life Should Be Lived (3:1–4))
“[T]he fact that when they believed in Christ in baptism they were putting their previous way of life to death and having it buried out of sight.”
That old life that haunts you, that is what you are looking for victory over. That is what you are wanting to overcome, that is where you are longing for achievement of mastery. Your baptism points towards that. This is why I am an advocate for baptism by immersion after confession of faith. Yes we can disagree on mode, church history has showed us that. Yes we can disagree on timing, whether as an infant or waiting for profession. But as I read my Bible as I look at all these passages and way what the writers say regarding baptism, my conviction is that it is after profession by full immersion. And it has power in it. Not the power for salvation. But the power to clear your conscious as it reminds you that you have died. And those who have died where are they? They are buried and hidden away, which bring us to our next verb.
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When we look at this term of being hidden what we need to understand is this Greek word is where we get our English word crypt from. When we think of the word crypt we think of graves or graveyards. We think of things that are buried and hidden away. Your old life, that life of sin that you once were a slave to, you have died to that. Do you know where that life went? It was nailed to a cross and buried in a tomb. It was hidden away in the person of Jesus. That is what we celebrated Friday evening. When you profess Jesus as your Lord, your sin has been crucified and buried with him. When you are baptised you show that you understand this. But it is more than that. It has to be more than that.
I want you to imagine for a moment that the symbol of baptism was only the first part, only the burial. You accepted Christ, you have professed him as Lord. The sign to demonstrate that was the immersion in water to symbolize death and that was where it stopped. You are just held under until the bubbles stop and that is how you show you are one with Jesus. You sins are gone, you have died to your old life, but that is where it ends because you are physically dead. How much of a promise does that seem? It would appear that the sacrificial system is still in place but is demonstrated differently. How likely are you going to sign up for that?
See the glorious thing is that was the removal of the old life so you could now receive the promise. And what is the promise? A life hidden in Christ. And that promise is two fold. Paul has already mention one part of it but before we go back let’s look to the other part and our next two verbs.
The next two verbs are variations of the same word appeared. In one sense it is Christ who is appearing. The next sense is of the Christian also appearing. This second appearing indicates that this is a future promise that happens because of the work of someone other than the recipient. This is where victory over comes in. Victory over your sins comes when Christ appears. The way that the authors of the Scriptures understood this was a promise from the one who is the keeper of his promises. See dear brother and sister, victory over will come one day. This is guaranteed, if you have your life hidden in Christ. If you have believed in your heart and professed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, then this promise belongs to you. If you have believed and confessed but you wrestle and doubt. I would ask you two questions? First, have you followed Jesus’ command to demonstrate this by being baptised? If not let’s have a conversation this may be what you are missing. If you have been baptised, then we need to circle back to the first promise that has already been given.
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
See, baptism doesn’t just symbolize being buried with Jesus, but also being raised with him. And if you have been raised then set your thoughts and desires on him. Where are your thoughts, where are your desires? When you reflect on your baptism what are you reminded of? What thoughts come to your mind? Are you encouraged? Are you strengthen to know that you have been hidden in Christ? Or are you conflicted? Do you find yourself wrestling with what your baptism meant? If this is you please come talk to me.
See while baptism is needed for Church membership because it indicates that you are part of the Covenantal Community, and different denominations have different modes for baptism or differing times to designate when you can enter that Covenantal Community, baptism means so much more than that. It is not a man-made mandate to add undo restrictions. It is a God ordained blessing that testifies as a reminder to the work of Jesus in a believer’s life. It becomes a symbol in this life that one can cling to as a reminder of the hope that they have. It points them towards the one that they have victory in.
Because see while we are not guaranteed victory over until Jesus comes again, Jesus already has victory over, and by our lives being hidden in him, we have victory in him. And not just in his death, but in the very thing we remember today, his resurrection. And that is the Gospel message.
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
If you have accepted these truths, then rejoice today for you have the promise of victory in Jesus now, and one day the victory over sin. Remember these promises are not simply to the death of your old life, but the assurance of resurrection to a new one. As Dunn states the message of the cross without the resurrection is not the gospel. So again if you have accepted these truths rejoice today.
If you have not accepted them, let me ask you why, why are you resisting? Do you believe that you can make your own way? How well is that working for you?
If today you are hearing these truths for the first time and want to accept them I would ask you to say this prayer, either in your heart or in a low whisper, it doesn’t need to be very loud.
Father, I recognize now that I am a sinner and that I need you. I cannot do this on my own anymore. Lord Jesus I accept you as my Lord and my Savior. I believe this in my heart and will confess this with my mouth. Lord I repent of my sins and ask your forgiveness. I thank you for your mercy and you grace. Lord may this be day one of the rest of my life. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
If you said that prayer, I encourage you to follow Jesus by being baptised, showing that you have hidden yourself in him and through him can walk in victory. Please come see me and we will talk about the next steps.
For those of us who have this hope, may today be a reminder that regardless of what our immediate future may hold, we have a promised victory! Let us leave here today clinging to that promise.
Amen and Amen.