Easter Sunday, 2024

Raised with Christ!

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”(Colossians 3:1-4).

THE BIG NEWS WHICH WE CELEBRATE ON EASTER SUNDAY IS – JESUS IS RISEN!

From the excitement of the garden to the sudden appearance of Jesus in the Upper Room with his familiar voice announcing ‘Peace be with you.’ And when [Jesus] had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side” (John 20:19-20).

And then there is the revelation given personally to doubting Thomas which led him to fall down in worship saying, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

Far from being a mere article of faith - a mythical story designed to show us the possibility of some kind of life after death, the resurrection accounts insist on a literal, historical, bodily resurrection and cites evidence of the Empty tomb and independent eyewitness accounts, of over 500 people including women who had no legal credibility under Jewish Law “Because of their levity and boldness of their sex”(Josephus). THE GOSPEL WRITERS INSIST - HE IS NOT HERE, HE IS RISEN!

Now, I want you to notice that the responses of the people who knew Jesus then are paralleled with the every day responses we hear regularly when presenting this Good News!

Some believed immediately - they observed the evidence of their own eyes or listened to the claims of eyewitnesses and remembered what Jesus had predicted during His ministry, and so accepted His resurrection as genuine.

Some doubted! - Their initial doubt was entirely understandable given what they had witnessed during the horrific crucifixion as well as what they knew about death - ordinary people don’t usually come back to life after death! However, on receiving further information, even if they did not directly see Jesus they beleived, whereas others, like Thomas and the disciples on the Emmaus Road, beleived once the risen Christ appeared before them!

Some did not believe! - Many of the Religious Leaders were in this category. They preferred to construct and then believe the improbable conspiracies of the disciples stealing the body away from beneath the noses of a professional cohort of Roman soldiers who had no natural sympathy to the followers of Jesus or the Jews, nor was their any personal or poliitical advantage from admitting to have failed at their post. And those who refused to believe the evidence, and concocted the story of a stolen body could not retrieve it, and nor could they explain why the disciples were ready to risk imprisonment and personal suffering, even martydom for something they knew was not true!

The GOOD NEWS of Easter is this - In Christ’s crucifixion, sin has been paid for, once and for all time and in His resurection, death has been defeated forever, for those who believe in Jesus as “the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (Jn 11:25,26)

Jesus has given us a new kind of life – we will “never die”! Physical death does not determine where I will spend eternity! My faith in Jesus will!

N.T. Wright commenting on the resurrection said: “The resurrection completes the inauguration of God's kingdom. . . . It is the decisive event demonstrating that God's kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven….The message of Easter is that God's new world has been unveiled in Jesus Christ and that you're now invited to belong to it….Our task in the present...is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second…..Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.” (Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church).

We need to open our eyes to the reality and vital importance of the resurrection and like the two disciples on the Emmaus Road, move from a resigned “we had hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel” to “were not our hearts strangely warmed as he talked with us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us”(Luke 24:32).

So for the rest of our time this morning, I want us to think about what we receive as a result of the Resurrection of Jesus, as RESURRECTION PEOPLE!

I. THE IMPACT OF THE RESURRECTION FOR THE WORLD:

If we think of the impact of the resurrection on the followers of Jesus it was massive!

Tom Holland, the author of Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, testifies that in his youth: “I was more than ready to accept their interpretation of history: that the triumph of Christianity had ushered in an ‘age of superstition and credulity’, and that modernity was founded on the dusting down of long-forgotten classical values.” But reflection on the evidence changed his mind and in 2016, in an article for the New Statement he said: “In my morals and ethics, I have learned to accept that I am not Greek or Roman at all, but thoroughly and proudly Christian.” Holland argues that the West’s commitment to values of  human dignity and equal rights didn’t spring from a vacuum.  After extensive study, he concluded that they grew out of Christianity and that ‘most people are oblivious to the way in which the West’s Christian heritage has shaped modern education, healthcare, music, art, literature and the scientific revolution, to name but a few.”

Holland admitted at the time that he is not really a believer in Christ’s historical crucifixion or resurrection, thinking of himself as philosophically and culturally Christian, yet he concludes: ‘Christianity is the most enduring and influential legacy of the ancient world, (and) its emergence the single most transformative development in Western history.’

That is undoubtedly true, historically, but the reason for this is not primarily because of the legacy of Christianity on education and culture and healthcare, etc, but primarily because these disciples actually beleived in the resurrection of Christ, preached it and “turned the world upside down by their preaching!” and they could not “but speak the things which we have seen and heard"(Acts 17:6).

THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION STILL IS THE ONLY ULTIMATE HOPE FIR THE WORLD and by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ you can live forever!

II. THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE RESURRECTION FOR CHRISTIANS:

Paul in Colossians says: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”(Colossians 3:1-4).

Paul is wanting us to see the practical application of the resurrection of Christ! “Here we have a full, if brief, description of the Christian’s true status. With Christ, he has died, he is risen, and he will appear in glory. There is a perfect balance here between the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’ that are so characteristic of Paul’s teaching on the Christian life. The new age has dawned, and Christians already belong to it. The old age, however, is not yet wound up, and until they die (or until the Lord ‘appears’ again in his second coming) their new life will be a secret truth, ‘hidden’ from view (from others, much of the time: often enough, from themselves too)”(N.T. Wright).

He shows us here that the centrality of Christ's resurrection is not some abstract theological concept, distant from the believer but rather, Christ's resurrection is the heart of the believer's existence. His teaching of Colossians 3 is that Christians are already risen with Christ, sin Col 3:5–11 he details some of the indulgences and sins of the old life, before their conversion to Christ and urges them not to live in that world anymore but rather live in the new world; in the Kingdom “above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (see Col 3:12-17), applying this in detail to daily life in the family and place of work(see Col 3:18-4:1), exhorting them to constant prayer and Christian witness in the world(see Col 4:2-5).

“Christ's friends were utterly transformed by His resurrection. Their friendship, their work, and even their meals together took on a new meaning and purpose. The same can happen to us today” (Eugene Petersen).

“the Colossians have left behind the old age…They have entered the new age, and, belonging there by right, do not have to struggle to attain the status of membership in God’s people: they already have it. They must now simply allow its life to be worked out in them: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on (literally, simply ‘seek’) things above … Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things…The command to aspire to the things of heaven is a command to meditate and dwell upon Christ’s sort of life, and on the fact that he is now enthroned as the Lord of the world…To concentrate the mind on the character of Jesus Christ, on that unique blend of love and strength revealed in the Gospels, is to begin on earth to reflect the very life of heaven.”(N.T. Wright).

THE GRACE OF GOD IN JESUS because of HIS RESURRECTION means you will never be the same again. YOU ARE BEING TRANSFORMED from the inside out!

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then your life is defined by and in the resurrection of Christ. This is the dynamic of the Christian life!

Jesus’ resurrection is not simply of transactional importance - “because He lives we will live also” but it is also transformational because our victory over sin in terms of our sanctification comes from the resurrection power at work in us!

As believers we are called to live in the power of Christ’s resurrected life which is why Paul prays for the Ephesians that “the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is sthe hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”(Eph 1:17-21).

III. THE GOOD NEWS OF THE RESURRECTION TO ALL, TODAY:

Here is the offer of the resurrection benefits of Christ for you to condier today:

(i). We are offered a Saviour who can never die again - "For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again." (Romans 6:9).

(ii). He offers us the opportunity, power and gift of repentance to those who believe - "The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel." (Acts 5:31).

(iii). He offers us a supernatural new birth and “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3).

(iv). He offers us forgiveness of sin - "If Christ has not been raised, your hope is futile and you are still in your sins." (1 Corinthians 15:17).

(v). He offers us the guarantee of our own resurrection from the dead - "We know that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence." (2 Corinthians 4:14 c/f Romans 6:4; 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 15:20).

(vi). He guarantees that there will be no condemnation for us on Judgment Day.

The Bible is clear that,"God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:31) BUT Jesus offers us a guarantee of salvation from the future wrath of God - "We wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." (1 Thessalonians 1:10 c/f Romans 5:10). So, the Christian can rejoice and sing: “"Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God." (Romans 8:34)

R. A. Torrey: “When Jesus died, He died as my representative, and I died in Him; when He rose, He rose as my representative, and I rose in Him; when He ascended as my representative and I ascended in Him, and today I am seated in Christ with God in the heavenlies. I look at the cross of Christ, and I know that atonement has been made for my sins; I look at the open sepulcher and the risen and ascended Lord, and I know the atonement has been accepted. There no longer remains a single sin on me, no matter how many or how great my sins have been” (The Bible and It’s Christ, p. 108).

(vii). He offers to pour out on us the Holy Spirit - "This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear." (Acts 2:32-33)

(viii). He offers us His daily presence and protection - "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

Because Jesus is Risen from the dead and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, He will be with us as his disciples to the end of the age - “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28:18–20).!

So, “Do not be afraid – Jesus is Risen and what we have now to get hold of is this: “In a world where the dead have returned to life, the word" trouble' loses much of its meaning.” ― Dennis Hopper

Nothing is more important and crucial in our lives than this! Jesus has authority over all things He is Lord of the universe, having authority over planets and stars, the sun and the moon! He is Lord of history, it’s all in His control!

He is Lord of the elements; the climate and the weather!

He has authority over governments, over armies and military power!

He has authority over the economy and industry and business.

He is Lord over science and education.

He has authority over the media and the arts!

He is Lord of everything and all!

He has authority over my life!

He is Lord of life! Of health and diseases having authority over life and death – my life and my death!

He is Lord! But is He my Lord?

Believing this and holding on to this is the most important and crucial thing in our lives becaause, “A dead Christ I must do everything for; a living Christ does everything for me.” (Andrew Murray, Jesus Himself!).

We have a great hope because of the resurrection! - Philippians 3:21

Jesus “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

This new kind of life that Jesus gives is different from anything we have known – others had come back to life in bible history but they would resussitate and still be subject to injury, illness and death. They would still be limited by time and space but not Jesus!

And this is our hope! “Because I live, you shall live also”

“Our present relationships are doomed to end, sooner or later, in betrayal, distance or the inevitable demise of each person we know. Seasons of happiness must always yield to seasons of sorrow…but not to worry…Jesus is alive with a new kind of life that he longs to give any and all who will believe….Thank God we have an empty tomb. The glorious fact that the empty tomb proclaims to us is that life for us does not stop when death comes. Death is not a wall but a door!” (Charles Swindoll & Peter Marshall).

Death is not a wall but a door! Jesus offers us hope for life and death! How? Because He is Risen! Death has been conquered! - “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay…..“Do not be afraid. “(Mtt 28:5,6,10)

So today, respond to the offer of the GOOD NEWS OF THE RESURRECTION!

“come and see” that Jesus is alive!

Come to realise your hope for eternal life is entirely bound up in HIm and respond to His invitation - John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Saying YES to Jesus is the best decision you will ever make!

“Some of us stay at the cross,

some of us wait at the tomb,

Quickened and raised with Christ

yet lingering still in the gloom.

some of us bide at the Passover feast

with Pentecost all unknown,

the triumphs of Grace in the Heavenly place

that our Lord has made his own.

if the Christ who died had stopped at the cross,

his work had been incomplete

if the Christ who was buried and stayed in the tomb,

he had only known defeat

but the way of the crosss never stops at the cross

and the way of the tomb leads on

to victorious Grace in the heavenly place

where the risen Lord has gone!

(Annie Johnson Flint).