Resurrection Hope

Hope in the Resurrection - HE IS RISEN - we will often tell each other when we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. This is a message of Hope. Just look at what the disciples and other followers of Jesus where going through during this time. They where sad, they seemed to be without hope. And when the tomb was found empty, they where shocked. The angel that appeared to them told them to have hope. The disciple that denied Jesus, Peter, was given a special message they where told to go tell the disciples and Peter about the hope that they now had.

We are to share this message of hope, the hope that we have in Jesus defeating death. Life without Jesus seems a little hopeless.

I have always loved the Story of David Wilerson and Nickey Cruz. Nickey Cruz was a man seemingly without hope, going down all the wrong paths. Cruz was born in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico where he was raised by his parents. His parents practiced brujeria and were followers of spiritism. They mentally abused him; his own mother would call him "Son of Satan". The neighborhood in which he lived was one of the worst in Puerto Rico and Cruz was always getting into trouble. According to his book Run Baby Run, his parents sent him to live with his brother in New York City when he was 15, and Cruz soon ran away and started living on the streets of the city. He became a member of the Mau Maus street gang, and about six months later Cruz was selected Warlord of the gang. He quickly rose to become their president. Shortly after Cruz became the gang leader, David Wilkerson was preaching in the neighborhood when Cruz encountered him. The preacher told Cruz that "Jesus loved him and would never stop loving him". Cruz responded by slapping Wilkerson and threatening to kill him. Wilkerson attempted again later to convert Cruz, and received the same response.

Later, Wilkerson organised an evangelistic meeting in the neighborhood with the intent of converting the Mau Maus. When Cruz heard about it, he headed with some of the members of his gang for the boxing arena where the meeting was being held, on a bus sent specially by Wilkerson. According to Cruz, when he arrived at the arena, he "felt guilty about the things that he had done" and began to pray. After preaching, Wilkerson asked the Mau Maus to take up a collection. Cruz volunteered and led a group of the gang through the crowd, insisting on people giving money. Going backstage, he saw an exit, but convinced the group to give the money to Wilkerson on stage. Later, Wilkerson gave an altar call, and a large number of gang members responded. Wilkerson prayed with Cruz, and Cruz asked God to forgive him. Afterward, Cruz and some of the gang members who were converted went to the police and turned in all of their bricks, handguns and knives, shocking the police officers in the station. They stated that if they had seen the group approaching, they probably would have shot them down. Cruz began to study the Bible and went to Bible college. He became a preacher and returned to his old neighborhood, where he preached and converted more of the Mau Maus to Christianity, including the gang's new leader.

HBI: Today we celebrate that Jesus was raised from death to life and Jesus resurrection means the followers of Jesus future resurrection when death will be defeated. This may not seem like your traditional Easter Message, but it fits. What we celebrate today is a future hope that we s followers of Jesus have, and you can have as well.

The First Epistle to the Corinthians b. But Christ Has Been Raised (15:20–28)

Christ’s resurrection demands our resurrection; otherwise death is never defeated and God cannot be “all in all

The Resurrection - 20-22

We start out in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 15:20 (CSB)

20 But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead

We start out with the Resurrection.

This is what we come here to celebrate, but why is it so important. The sad fact is there are any people out there, even some who call themselves Christians who do not believe in the resurrection. This is the key to this passage, the key to the Christian faith. The joy and hope that we have in Jesus raising from the dead.

But we tend to take for granted that people coming in have some sort of reference point for the resurrection and what it means. But something to ask even those who grew up knowing about this, do you know the importance of the resurrection? what if it didn't happen at all, what would it do to our faith.

The first thing that we need to understand about Jesus raising from the dead is that He raised bodily from the dead.

I know it sounds crazy to believe, but Jesus actually raised bodily from the dead. He ate food, He talked to people, He was touched. The gospels are filled with accounts like this.

We need to understand that if Christ did not rise from the dead Then our faith is non existent. We can not have the Christian faith, we have nop lkegs to stand on if Jesus did not raise bodily from the dead. It says this just a few verses earlier.

Jesus predicted His own death and that H would rise again. If he didn't rise again then he wouldn't be perfect, he wouldn't be God and wouldn't have any power to forgive our sins.

The Firstfruits Of those who have fallen asleep

But Jesus did raise from the dead, He did have the power to forgive our sins and this has implications for us as well.

1 Corinthians 15:20 CSB

20 But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

There have been m,any people that came around after and even during the time that Jesus was around that claimed to be the messiah. But Jesus is the only one who hasn't been lost to history. He is the only one who raised from the dead. His followers are even willing to go to their deaths claiming that Jesus rose from the dead.

Not only that but Jesus death and resurrection demands his followers future resurrection from the dead. This is what it means to be the firstfruits.

What this is saying is that the resurrection of the believing dead is inevitable. Think of it in the way the metaphor is given to us. The firstfruits function as sort of a guarantee of the future full harvest. ALso kind of like a down payment being the assurance of the full payment later.

The resurrection of the dead is inevitable. We have seen that in the book of Revelation.

The true and better Adam.

Christ was raised from the dead by God it set forth an inevitable chain of events that will end in God’s authority over all things. We see Jesus being referenced as.

1 Corinthians 15:21–22 CSB

21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

One of my favorite songs is about Jesus being the true and better Adam, come to save hellbound man. It is a theological concept that some people might find a little hard to follow.

We see here that Jesus is referenced to Adam, the true and better Adam. Saying sin entered the world through one man and death through sin. Adam and Eve ushered in sin and death for all man for all man came from them. Eternal life and freedom from sin entered in through one man, Jesus.

The resurrection of Jesus means that we can all be made alive in Him, because He rose from the dead.

As a down payment proves that the rest will be paid, as the firstfruits guarantee the rest of the harvest (at least as a metaphor) so the bodily resurrection of the messiah gauruntees His followers will one day be resurrected to be with Him.

Jesus did rise from the dead. Generations of martyrs who died for their faith prove this. a group of disciples that went from being scared and hiding to going out boldly proclaiming the gospel proves this. The apostle Paul going from persecutor to missionary proves this. And one day Jesus is going to come back again and finish the Job.

Our Resurrection 23-24

Christ’s resurrection demands our resurrection, if we are followers of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:23–24 CSB

23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power.

Whether you believe in Jesus or not, you are going to want to pay attention to what is next. It expands on what was before. If the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is true and did happen, then the resurrection of all those who follow Him with their lives is also true and is going to happen.

After this comes the reign of Christ on earth. This is our eternal hope as followers of Jesus.

This tends to make us a little fatalistic, or I guess maybe apathetic towards the state of the world. We think that since the world is getting worse and worse, that the bible says it is going ot happen then we can just not care about the world at all. But this is not the case. Our eternal hope in the coming of the end doesn't change the fact of what we are to do about it now.

We are given this world as stewards to take care of it till the Lord comes back. Now I am not an environmentalist but on the other side of that means we are to take care of the world God has given us and also be faithful to spread the message of the gospel with those that are going to see Jesus without faith in Him.

There will be those that are raised from the dead to be in eternity with Jesus. This is what the resurrection means for us. There will be those though that will not. Our responsibility is to those that have not given their lives to Him. What are we doing with the message of the resurrection hope that we have.

Death and the enemy defeated - 25-28

The resurrection points to the end - Jesus will reign.

1 Corinthians 15:25–26 CSB

25 For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be abolished is death.

1 Corinthians 15:27–28 NLT

27 For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) 28 Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.

We need to remember that the resurrection of Jesus on Easter morning points to the end of time when we as His followers will be raised again with Him. It points to the end when death will be abolished, the enemy has been defeated, death will not win. Jesus will reign.

Jesus has authority over all

It was prophesied that Jesus would have authority over all, and that is what we read here. It will come the day when we will either reign with Christ, or we will be considered enemies of God.

This last verse is in reference more to function then to Jesus being. It is in reference to Jesus work of Redemption. At the end of time, God will rule over all banishing those who have rejected Him and His divine offer of eternal life and lovingly ruling over all those who by grace have lovingly entered into His rest.

So What?

I want to circle back to the beginning. Resurrection hope. That is what we celebrate today. The hope that we have in Jesus rising from the dead.

The First Epistle to the Corinthians b. But Christ Has Been Raised (15:20–28)

The resurrection of Christ has determined our existence for all time and eternity.

Jesus resurrection from the dead is something that has set in motion a series of events that will take place. This should for one give us hope. The reason why I like the story of Nickey Cruz is that he was a man living without hope.

He was caught up in all of the wrong things. Then a street preacher, ignorant of the danger it posed Him, or at least not caring, shared the hope of Jesus with Him. Which set off a chain of events leading to many gang members coming to know Jesus as their Lord and savior.

If Jesus is our eternal hope, then we need to share this with others. What this passage tells us is that Jesus resurrection means that those who are His followers will one day also be raised to reign with Him. This ought to change us, to reshape our worship into unbridled joy, even amidst the pain of this life. For Jesus has Risen!

The Resurrection hope should give us purpose then, It should bring meaning into our lives. Hope that we need not fear that the world may end in a horrible way because if Jesus did rise from the dead then He will come back again.

When we seem to lose all hope, we need to but turn to Jesus. Where we can look forward to the end for we will be with Jesus. But on the other hand we are also given a job to do now. We must share the hope we have in Jesus rising from the dead.