He is Risen

Matthew 28:1–10 NASB 2020

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook from fear of him and became like dead men. And the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to report to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Rejoice!” And they came up and took hold of His feet, and worshiped Him.Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go, bring word to My brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

Intro

“One of the common axes of criticism of the contemporary culture of authenticity is that it encourages a purely personal understanding of self-fulfillment, thus making the various associations and communities in which the person enters purely instrumental in their significance. At the broader social level, this is antithetical to any strong commitment to community. In particular, it makes political citizenship, with its sense of duty and allegiance to political society, more and more marginal. On the more intimate level, it fosters a view of relationships in which these ought to serve personal fulfillment. The relationship is secondary to the self-realization of the partners. On this view, unconditional ties, meant to last for life, make little sense. A relationship may last till death, if it goes on serving its purpose, but there is no point declaring a priori that it ought to.” -Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity

We live in a world of commodification. As a culture, we have commodified nearly everything in life down to the sort of brands we use, our relationships, and even our own personal identity. We put a tangible value on everything and nearly everything is for sale or trade based merely upon our current perceived value of it.

But this way of living, or sort of putting a price on everything and judging the value of people and things based on their relative worth to us is antithetical to what it means to be truly human. This is especially true with the commodification of our relationships and our physical bodies.

We were made in God’s image and as such we are designed by God to be image bearers of Him. When we don’t respect our bodies and when we don’t value others for more than simply what we can get out of them, we are missing the point of why we exist in the first place. Divorced from a firm understanding of our very purpose for existence, we tend to be a very miserable lot indeed.

Christ’s life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to the Father teaches us much regarding our understanding of life itself and what it means to be truly human.

It is only by entering into the death of Christ on the cross with Him that we are able to enter into resurrection life; and only the resurrection life can be counted as authentic human living. Everything else is a counterfeit ripoff at best.

Truth

Psalm 16:10 NASB 2020

For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

Death could not hold Jesus hostage. Neither can it hold a single one of us who are in Him.

I. Jesus chose to become one of us because we are valuable to Him.

John 3:16 NASB 2020

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

God created many creatures, but only within one creature did God invest His own image and likeness.

This means what we are holistically is important. It isn’t only our soul that matters to God, but the material also.

II. Jesus invested His life into people because people matter.

Jesus dedicated His life and ministry to people. Why would he do that? His example shows us that the lives of people matter greatly to Him.

The women who came to care for Jesus’ body genuinely loved Jesus because Jesus had invested His time into them.

The God of the universe put skin on and He chose to spend the vast majority of His time just being present with people whom He has created.

It should tell us something when we see this example from God. It is a critical cue and clue as to our purpose for existence.

Let us not forget that God Himself exists for all of etenrity in a perfect, loving relationship with Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

His relational nature is imprinted into our DNA.

Genesis 2:18 NASB 2020

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

We busy ourselves with many things, but our God focused mostly on relationships.

The disciples were devestated at Jesus’ death because they had come to know Him so personally.

Rarely does one grieve deeply over the death of a person whom they do not know closely.

III. Jesus died because His death was the only path by which we could be restored to life.

John 12:23–26 NASB 2020

But Jesus answered them by saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. The one who loves his life loses it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

In God’s kingdom, life comes through death.

Mark 8:35 NASB 2020

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

IV. Jesus’ resurrection is proof that this material world matters to God and is worth fighting to redeem and restore. (9)

Jesus was not resurrected as come ethereal, incorporeal spirit. He was raised as a physical man as evidence by Him being help physically by physical humans as they wept for joy and worshipped.

Revelation 21:5 NASB 2020

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”

V. Jesus’ resurrection means that we a new reality that comes with a story to tell (10)

The resurrection is not something were to believe in and participate in merely for ourselves, but rather we are to share its reality with the whole world, beginning with those who are near us.

Acts 1:8 NASB 2020

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”

Gospel

Who is God? He is the Son, eternal and almighty who took on a body in order to identify with us, to redeem us, and to restore us.

What has God done? He was fully obedient to the Father by submitting Himself to the cross and rose from the dead to conquer sin and death forever.

Who are we? We are a people whom Jesus loved so much that he was willing to die and eise for that we might have true life in Him.

What we will do? We will repent of our sins, believe the gospel about Jesus, and live like He is truly risen from the dead!

Challenge

Repent and believe my friends! Receive Christ! Receive the fulness of the Holy Spirit in your life which is Christ’s gift to you!

If you are already a Christian, renew your devotion to Him and let us go forth from this place with renewed resolve to honor Christ’s bloody cross and empty tomb.