Rising with Christ

Our Theme for 2025 is “Live Like Jesus”

It comes out of a simple desire to follow Jesus - and to learn better what that means.

We are spending the entire year in the Gospel of Matthew.

Here we are - resurrection Sunday 2025!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Since the middle of March we have been in the season of Lent

During this time we follow Jesus through the events leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection.

It is a season normally referred to as “passion.”

It comes from the Latin root meaning “suffering.”

This season of passion is a time to allow ourselves to experience what Jesus experienced as he fully entered into the human experience.

We want to fully enter into His passion - His experience.

When we last met, you saw the words “To be continued...”

SO for the recap...

Jesus was in the tomb.

The women were weeping.

The disciples were scattered.

Soldiers were guarding the tomb.

Things are looking pretty dark, both literally and metaphorically.

But three days later… He is risen!

A couple years ago some one said, “Pastor, we should have some flowers on Resurrection Sunday” I think they even offered to buy them. Since then, I haven’t forgotten to get flowers.

Why? Because flowers emerging in the Spring are a reminder that there is life even after death. In the winter, it seems like all the flowers are dead an gone. But in the Spring, they push their way up through the earth and display the vibrancy of their colors. Winter is only for a season and death is not the end, because Jesus is raised from the dead and similarly offers us the hope and the promise of new life.

We have only just begun our study in Matthew and we are covering the last chapter.

But when we live like Jesus, the end is just the beginning.

There is a dying to self, to our old way of life and of thinking.

And there is a new life and a new person whose identity is in Christ that emerges.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t have any conflicts, struggles or doubts.

Quite the contrary, we may have more, because we are not just going along with the ways of the world and buying what everyone is saying.

But we have a new perspective and a new purpose, which is to live like Jesus!

Romans 6:4 ESV

4 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.

We have done the hard work of identifying with Christ in his suffering and death - so lets also celebrate the vibrant and beautiful emergence of new life of rising with Christ.

Walking in new life.

Matthew 28:1–4 ESV

1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

Jesus’ death on the cross was an earth-shattering event with huge implications for all of time and eternity.

Remember the curtain in the temple - the barrier between God and man was ripped from top to bottom -meaning that God Himself removed the barrier.

The Passover lamb had been slain.

Atonement- the covering for sin - has been made.

The blood is on the doorposts meaning that those who trust in Jesus Christ come under the protection of His sacrifice.

When Jesus said, “It is finished” - a chapter closed and a new chapter was begun.

Picture a movie where the main character faces insurmountable odds and seemingly meets their tragic end, only to reveal they’re alive in the sequel! That’s what the resurrection does for our faith. It’s not just the end of the story with the crucifixion; it rewrites the entire narrative, bringing hope to every Christian’s life, like a plot twist that changes everything!

The resurrection changes everything!

It changes the entire story of Jesus crucifixion and death.

And it changes your story as well.

So your sins are forgiven, what do you do now?

So the barrier between you and God is removed, how do you approach Him?

So death is not the end, but how does that change the way you live now?

What did Paul mean when he say that we may now walk in newness of life?

Well it means that Jesus’ journey through death and into life creates a pattern for us to follow.

That is why we have spent more than a month identifying with Jesus’ suffering and death.

So that we can identify also with His resurrection to life!

Let’s follow the story to see how it relates to our story.

What you are accustomed to seeing is not there.

Matthew 28:5–7 ESV

5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”

As we were relating to Jesus’ suffering and death, we identified the conflicting feelings and experiences which are part of our human experience.

Perhaps you related to the disciples who acted impulsively or who ran away.

Or perhaps you also related to the woman who literally poured out her love and affection on Jesus and she worshipped and anointed him.

Part of taking up our cross daily is cultivating the awareness of everything that we are experiencing, whether good or bad.

We cultivate and nurture the good stuff, while the bad stuff gets nailed to the cross with Jesus.

We recon the old sinful nature as dead.

Romans 6:11 ESV

11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The women who followed Jesus did that.

They sat in silence when Jesus was buried.

They grieved the loss of the life that they had.

They came looking for a corpse, because they had fully reckoned themselves to Jesus’ death.

But then suddenly, they encountered something different.

You are looking for a dead person, but He’s not dead anymore.

You are expecting to continue in your sorrow an mourning , but things have changed.

You are expecting to have to deal with old habits that you nave been accustomed to struggling with, but transformation has occured!

First you recon it as dead, and eventually you find that it really is gone!

It’s new life - resurrection power!

The change is real.

Personal and spiritual transformation is possible.

Not only is there life after death, there is healing, rehabilitation, recovery and wholeness after brokenness.

Abundant life is possible, even to those who were once steeped in sin and shame.

If fact, to those who remember where they came from, life is even more full and more abundant!

Embrace the new life that you have discovered.

Matthew 28:8–10 ESV

8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

When they found Jesus, they took hold of his feet and worshipped him.

What does this passage suggest about their posture.

They were literally bowing to the ground in worship!

If fact, taking hold of his feet calls to mind the worship of the woman who anointed Jesus.

If that was Mary Magdalene, as later church traditions have taught, then here she is doing it again!

The worship that we exercise as a discipline in our suffering becomes our full expression of joy as we are transformed by the resurrection.

When you encounter Jesus, not as a man or as a ghost, but as the most powerful being in the universe made even more powerful by passing through death unharmed.

If you think suffering and death are scary - wait until you experience resurrection.

It will blow your mind!

There is a reality that is far beyond what you have allowed yourself to imagine.

And when you experience it; it will either liberate you or terrify you.

And maybe a little bit of both.

The words of Jesus, “Do not be afraid” finally penetrate our mind and soul.

“Tell the others,” Jesus said, “and they will see me too.”

Dealing with your doubts.

You would think that Jesus’ resurrection would have put an end to every argument - that all opposition would have simply melted away - you would be wrong.

If sin and death were the only enemies of God, the cross would have fixed everything almost immediately.

But the backdrop for the Biblical story of redemption is a spiritual rebellion that goes back to before the creation of mankind.

The cross and the resurrection didn’t eradicate evil; though it did turn the tables in the spiritual battle for all time.

As humans, we became even freer free agents, but we still have a choice to make.

We still have our doubts - as even some of Jesus disciples did.

We still have minds and imaginations that bend according to our will.

And we must each choose what we will believe and do with the information that we have been given.

There is a trend that is happening among younger people for some time now to deconstruct their faith. Christian deconstruction is a process of rethinking and questioning one's faith and beliefs. It often involves challenging the authority of God, the Bible, and the moral value system that one was raised in.

During deconstruction, people doubt their beliefs, identity, and practices. They may struggle and experience anxiety. Some eventually modify their beliefs into something more satisfactory to the believer. This results in a rejection of religion for some, and a revised or renewed faith for others.

I think it has always been normal to question one’s faith as a part of maturing in adolescence.

At some point every child needs to decide if their parent’s beliefs will become their own.

But the postmodern tendency to “question everything” especially the most foundational beliefs related to authority

and the introduction of moral relativity into our society’s code of conduct has left today’s adolescents especially vulnerable.

No, everything you have ever learned is not wrong!

But you have every right to sort through it.

Some things that we have been popularly taught really are outdated.

But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Perhaps you should question your doubts more than your faith?

The foundational truths of Christianity have stood the test of centuries

and that is more than you can say for most of what you read on the internet - or even the internet itself!

So does the Bible have anything to say about deconstructing our faith (or perhaps our doubts rather) responsibly?

I think so...

Question the narrative that you have been told.

Matthew 28:11–13 ESV

11 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’

Imagine that… 2000 years ago a false narrative was created, complete with bribes, to try to counter the story of Christ’s resurrection.

Why is Matthew telling us this?

Plainly because he suspects that some of his readers may have heard it and need to know the rest of the story.

Remember, Matthew was a tax collector - he had inside sources.

What’s beautiful about history is that the story of the disciples taking the body didn’t stick.

The story of Jesus raising from the dead did.

Josephus, a Jewish-Roman historian, not a Christian, writing at the end of the first century wrote this about Jesus:

The Works of Josephus: New Updated Edition Chapter 3: Sedition of the Jews against Pontius Pilate; Concerning Christ, and What Befell Paulina and the Jews at Home

3. (63) Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ; (64) and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.

There are competing narratives out there - you are right to question them.

Anyone who tells a story has a bias.

Your bias is whatever you think the bigger picture of the story should be - in other words, the larger narrative.

People conveniently leave out parts of the story that don’t fit their narrative.

It is fair to question what is being said;

It is even better to ask about what is not being said.

In the case of Jesus’ resurrection, the Chief Priests were engaging in and active cover-up, but it didn’t work.

Note the inconsistency of your own beliefs.

Matthew 28:14–15 ESV

14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

Maybe the problem isn’t with how other people are telling the story.

Maybe your doubts are because you are not thinking it all the way through?

Take for example the story of the soldiers who were posted at the tomb.

If they say that the disciples came and stole the body, what are they really saying?

If they are saying that they witnessed it, then they also allowed it to happen?

If they are saying that they fell asleep and presume it to be so, they are confessing to dereliction of duty.

Any plausible scenario to explain their report would result in them being punished.

Oh - and the Roman punishment for this sort f thing is usually death!

So the Jewish leaders needed to plan a cover up for the cover up!

If word gets back to the governor, we have some way of framing it that will motivate him to go along with it.

Have you ever noticed that one lie just leads to another.

One cover up usually means covering up for the cover up.

Comedy shows are made for this sort of thing. Someone, usually the main character, has a scheme to get something that they want. And then they have to come up with another scheme to keep from getting caught in the first scheme. And after a couple rounds of failed schemes, they find themselves doing silly things and giving such absurd explanations that the audience is rolling with laughter. They they typically end with the confession, if only I had just told the truth....

Maybe the reason we laugh at these plots is because we see ourselves in them.

People go to such great lengths to justify their own thoughts, actions and narratives - until it’s absurd.

The truth of Jesus Christ is so simple and so plain, if only we would just believe it!

Do you know what keeps most people from doing so?

Do you know what makes people scheme and go to great length to avoid coming to that simple conclusion?

If only people questioned their faith honestly, I think they would eventually come around to a stronger faith in the end.

The main problem with accepting the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as it happened is that once we accept it as true, it demands a response on our part.

If Jesus is really the Son of God, who died for my sin and rose again, then I owe my whole life to Him.

If the whole world is in rebellion against God and Jesus came to prove that God still loves us and wants us back, then how can anyone remain neutral?

That is exactly what the Bible says and why the gospel is too important to ignore.

John 3:16 MSG

16 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

That verse shows up everywhere from billboards to football games.

It is popularly used as a summary of the “good news” that Jesus Christ offers, which we also refer to as the gospel.

This is what author Josh McDowell calls “Evidence that Demands a Verdict.” McDowell was training to become a lawyer and was a self-proclaimed agnostic. We wrote a paper on Christianity in college intending to disprove the claims of the Bible and found that the weight of the evidence in fact proved the claims of Jesus. He then had to decide what he was going to do with that evidence. He became one of the greatest Christian apologists of the last century.

The appropriate response to the gospel is to become a follower of Jesus.

Finishing his mission.

We are not quite done with Matthews gospel - the resurrection of Jesus Christ may seem like the climax of the story, but it is not the end.

You see, the story is still being written.

And you and I are part of it.

So let’s finish Matthews account, but please continue to see yourself in the story!

Keep Christ at the center of everything.

Matthew 28:16–18 ESV

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

After Jesus was raised from the dead, he commissioned his followers to carry on His mission.

Notice that he meets with them on a mountain, just as he preached the sermon on the mount.

The setting recalls the sermon, except now it is time to go and do what He taught them.

Notice also that worship is mentioned for a third time in the passion narrative.

What does repetition mean in the scripture? _Emphasis!

The appropriate response, both before and after the resurrection, as well as when being sent out is worship!

Why worship? Are we just supposed to praise Jesus all the time!

Well, yes, but the point of worship is the perspective that is gives.

Put Jesus at the center of everything.

Put Him at the center of your life.

Put Him at the center of your decisions.

Put Him at the center of every day.

Put Him at the center of ministry and what you do for Him.

Worship not only reminds us, but helps us to actively center ourselves on Jesus.

Oh, and some doubted - I like how Matthew casually interjects this thought.

It’s as if to say - by the way, you nay still have some doubts - but don’t let that stop you.

Some of Jesus’ closest followers had doubts too.

Specifically, the other gospel writers mention Thomas who wanted to actually see and touch Jesus’ scars.

Thomas may have had his doubts but he still lived and spread the gospel as one of Jesus followers.

In fact, he went to India and there are three regions that he impacted there.

I have friends from India who trace their spiritual heritage to Thomas - the guy who doubted.

Notice how Jesus commission begins with the declaration that all authority is given to Him.

That is really important, precisely because off the spiritual rebellion in the world.

Jesus became the prototype of a new humanity.

Romans 5:17 ESV

17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

It’s all about Jesus!

He is the new Adam.

He is the One who brings heaven and earth together.

He is the One who brings your brokenness and my brokenness back together.

He is the One who brings all of us together in love and mutual service to each other and to the world.

Make it your goal to live like Jesus.

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus tells His followers to spread out and multiply themselves by making more followers of Jesus.

It is essentially the same command that God gave mankind after creation and before the fall.

Genesis 1:28 NLT

28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

God gave the same command again to Noah after the flood.

Now He gives it again to His disciples - not just to have children and reproduce - but to multiply spiritual children who live in the power of the resurrection.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

It’s new creation time - the world is changing and the earth itself is being restored.

You know there is a reason why the calendar centers on Jesus. Everything up until Jesus came was the story of the fall and decline of humanity. Everything since then has been the story of the restoration of humanity through God’s people.

Oh, it hasn’t alway gone perfectly - there is reason for some doubt and questioning.

But where Jesus followers have questioned honestly, keeping Jesus Christ at the center of everything -it has led to the improvements that we enjoy today.

Science and religion are not opposed to one another - religion gave birth to science and until relatively recently, most scientists were also Christian.

Christians are responsible for advancements in medicine, technology and government - especially the idea that people should be free -

even to doubt if they want to - but free to pursue and discover the truth.

We don’t have to all think and believe exactly the same.

But we would all do well to keep Jesus Christ at the center of everything and at the center of our conversation.

In fact, I can find common ground with people that I disagree with as long as long as I know that we are both honestly seeking the truth.

And especially if I know that they know that Jesus Christ died, was buried and is risen from the dead.

The it just comes down to the simple question: what does it mean for me and for you to live like Jesus?

Questions for reflection:

1. He is risen! (He is risen indeed!) Is that your personal witness and testimony? Has His resurrection transformed your life? How is “walking in newness of life” reflected in your daily routine?

2. Are you perhaps one of those who has been deconstructing your faith? Or are you just a curious person who is inclined to question everything? Absolutely, ask away! But pay more attention to what Jesus actually says than to what people say about Him.

3. Do you agree that Jesus is the center of everything. (He is whether you agree or not!) The point is that if this is true and you are a follower of Jesus, then what does it mean for you to “live like Jesus?”