Resurrected Hope: The power of the ressurection.
Notes
Transcript
Church welcome
Church welcome
Good morning everyone! I want to welcome you here on this Easter Sunday morning! I welcome you not just to church, but welcome you to with the presence of Christ our risen Lord and Savior.
Christ is not only with us here at church on Sunday mornings, He is with us all the time as believers.
Each Sunday morning is truly a special time for us to gather together for the purpose of worship.
So welcome this morning!
HE IS RISEN!
Our day has already looked a little different this morning sharing a meal together, and our service will look a little different as well.
Stand and sing with me if you are able.
Intro
Intro
As a church these last few weeks approaching Easter with the theme of Resurrected hope.
Easter reminds us of the hope we have because of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.
The foundation of our hope is the resurrection of Christ.
Because of his resurrection, we can have hope in the trials and difficulties of this life.
Because of the resurrection we have hope for the future.
This morning I want for us to see that the power of the resurrection is not only for the future but for how we live our lives today as well.
One common way we hear the need for salvation shared is with the need for eternal salvation.
How Jesus life, death, and resurrection has an impact on us for eternity.
If we place our faith and trust in Jesus, the sacrifice He made on the cross to pay for our sins, and believe that he rose again.
That we can have a relationship with God and be with him for eternity.
That is wonderful news!
I think that what we hear and talk about less though is the impact the resurrection has on our daily lives.
There is power in the resurrection.
Last week I drew our attention to the word that Jesus used referring the the new world that God is creating,
Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
and how Paul used the same word.
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
The washing of regeneration and renewal is a description of recreation.
complete change of life, rebirth of a redeemed person
Paul continues in his letter to Titus.
the Holy Spirit -
whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
What is this regeneration exactly and how does it occur?
Before we get to the what and how though, we need to discuss the why.
Why do we need regeneration.
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) (Regeneration)
re•gen•er•a•tion \ri-ˌje-nə-ˈrā-shən, ˌrē-\ noun
14th century
1: an act or the process of regenerating: the state of being regenerated
Regenerate -
to re-create, reconstitute, or make over, especially in a better form or condition.
SEE MORE
verb (used without object),re·gen·er·at·ed, re·gen·er·at·ing.
to come into existence or be formed again.
Theologically we use the word in terms of
2: spiritual renewal or revival
Medically or biologically we use the word in terms of
3: renewal or restoration of a body, bodily part, or biological system (as a forest) after injury or as a normal process
Spiritually, each and every one of us are born as sinners.
Those of us who have raised children know that it is fully displayed as soon as a child gets mobile.
You look at them, they look at you, you tell them no, they look at you again and then continue on to do whatever it was anyways.
We all need spiritual regeneration
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The why is clear, now for the what.
What is this regeneration.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.
This regeneration is God working in the lives of His followers bringing them new life.
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
In the OT Ezekiel describes it as a heart of stone being replaced with a heart of flesh.
God’s regenerating work involves changed attitudes, changed desires, a conviction of sin.
I think of situations in my own life, being around certain behaviors.
Drinking for instance.
It is not sinful to have a drink.
I have been in situations since I have been following the Lord where others were drinking, not excessively but in larger quantities and I realized, you know, I don’t fit in in this situation like I used to.
My desires have been changed.
I did nothing to change them myself, there was not wild or crazy things happening, it was just not for me.
C.S. Lewis in his book The Great Divorce paints a picture of the Lord’s redemptive killing power.
Some people from hell are allowed to take a bus trip up to the outskirts of heaven to see if they’d like to stay.
They get off the bus and find themselves in a beautiful valley, with heaven just over the mountains to the east.
The visitors from hell are surprised that, compared with how normal they looked back down below, now they seem faded, like ghosts.
And the heavenly beings who come to talk with them are solid and big and radiant.
At one point in the story, a man from hell is walking around carrying a talkative red lizard on his shoulder representing sinful lust.
This little red lizard sits on his shoulder, flicking its tail and whispering lies in his ear.
You can tell the guy hates the embarrassment of it, hates its annoying chatter, but he won’t let it go.
It’s a can’t-live-with-him, can’t-live-without-him kind of thing.
So the man turns away from the mountains, keeping his distance from heaven.
A voice calls to him, “Off so soon?”
It’s an angel!
The man admits that, yes, his pet (“this little chap,” he calls him) doesn’t really belong up here.
The lizard had promised to keep quiet on the trip, he says, but the thing just won’t shut up.
So they’re heading back down to hell, where they belong.
“Would you like me to make him quiet?” the angel asks.
“Of course, I would,” the ghost answers, honestly.
“Then I will kill him,” says the angel, stepping forward, ready to act immediately.
The ghostly man freaks out, falling back with a howl of fright.
He isn’t ready for anything as drastic as killing his little darling!
What plays out then, for quite a while, is the man bobbing and weaving with excuses and evasions, while the angel sincerely, repeatedly offers to kill the wretched lizard.
“Don’t you want him dead?” the angel presses him.
Well, uh . . . “It’s the only way,” the angel explains.
Gee, really? I’m not so sure . . .
“May I kill it?” the angel asks again and again.
But the guy can’t believe he needs such an extreme remedy.
He wants his little pet quiet and tame—but not dead.
Yet the angel keeps insisting there is no other way.
So, “May I kill it?”
Finally, the man gets angry, defensive.
His feelings are hurt.
The angel is humiliating him, he says.
Making fun of him, he says.
Trying to pressure him, he says, into doing something against his will.
Not at all, the angel says. “I cannot kill it against your will.”
But it can be over—with one bone-crushing decision.
Okay then! the man finally gives in and agrees—with a whimper.
“Go on. Do what you like. Just get it over with,” though he’s terrified at being separated from his little pleasure.
With a sudden twist of his mighty hands, the angel squeezes the breath out of the filthy lizard, flinging its lifeless body to the ground.
The man reels, screaming in agony, as if dying himself.
All becomes still.
Is that the end of it?
Both of them dead?
No.
The man who had been weak and whining looking like a ghost, became solider and materialized into a man, not much smaller than the Angel.
At the same moment something seemed to be happening to the Lizard.
The lizard, rather than dying was struggling and growing, becoming bigger.
Rising into something new, the lizard becomes a great white stallion.
The greatest stallion one has every seen.
Silvery white but with mane and tail of gold.
The man, now free from his torment, climbed upon the stallion that had been his sin and rode into the glowing sunrise towards the Savior.
This story so perfectly illustrates the power of the resurrection in our lives today.
What we need to do though, is submit that thing, that sin ion our lives to the Lord.
What do you have to lose?
That lizard of sin, whatever it may be whispering enticements.
We must quit playing with it, quit making excuses for it.
Kill it!
As often as you need to.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you.
He will!
That is also why Jesus died on the cross, for your life not, not just in the future.
The resurrection is more than just an event that happened once in history.
It’s the source of the power you can experience in your own life, every day.
The same resurrection power that brought Jesus from death to life is available to you when you trust in Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Make use of that God-given power to help you overcome sin right now, and every day you’re alive.
Regularly confess your sins, repent of them, and embrace the forgiveness and grace God offers you to keep growing.
Being a Christian is not about following/holding to a specific religion.
Trade religion for a relationship.
Trade religion for a relationship.
Instead of pursuing hope through performing religious rituals,
believing right doctrines, or doing good deeds,
realize that those things are valuable yet can’t produce hope.
Place your hope in a dynamic relationship with Jesus.
As you live for Him, relying on His resurrection power at work in your life,
you’ll experience the fulfillment of all God’s good purposes for you.
Instead of focusing on what you can do for God, focus on what God can do through you.
Ask God to help you see your life from His perspective.
Look beyond the world’s values (which are only temporary) to what has eternal value.
Base your decisions – for all aspects of your life – on what matters most in eternity.
Make the most of your time here on earth,
keeping in mind that it will soon be over and you’ll be accountable to God for how you used your time here.
In closing, I have seen this before and perhaps you have as well.
NOAH got drunk.
ABRAHAM was too old.
ISAAC was a daydreamer.
JACOB lied.
LEAH was ugly.
JOSEPH was abused.
MOSES was a murderer and couldn’t talk.
GIDEON was afraid.
SAMSON was filled with lust.
RAHAB was a prostitute.
JEREMIAH and TIMOTHY were too young.
TIMOTHY had physical stomach issues.
DAVID was a murderer and adulterer.
ELIJAH was suicidal.
JONAH ran from God.
NAOMI was a widow.
JOB went bankrupt.
JOHN THE BAPTIST was awkward, eating bugs, wearing strange clothing.
PETER denied Christ.
The DISCIPLES fell asleep while praying.
MARTHA worried about everything.
MARY MAGDLENE was demon possessed.
The SAMARITAN WOMAN was divorced…more than once…
ZACCHEUS was too small.
PAUL was a murderer among other things.
and LAZARUS was dead!
And there is you.
Maybe today you are feeling like the king or queen of disappointing people.
Like you don’t even have to try.
It is good you are here!
It is easy to feel defeated by this reality, to believe that you are only as good as how approved you feel in the moment.
Maybe you feel like you just can’t get life right.
Maybe you have trouble feeling free from scrutiny, disapproval, shame and condemnation.
The beauty of centering on Christ’s gospel is in the fixation on the foreverness of justification.
Think about that for a moment.
If the gospel is true, then Christians are justified.
John 1:16 tells us that from the fullness of Jesus comes “grace upon grace.”
That means there is grace ready and waiting for you every single moment
Let us remember the words of the apostle Paul:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Go forth and walk with the King!
HE IS RISEN!