Easter 2025
Notes
Transcript
Today is Resurrection Sunday.
Here at The Gathering, we say we’re here to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus every week. That’s true. What then makes this special/different?
We come together for more than just celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, though nothing less than that. We come here for more than singing songs, and simply listening to someone talk about the Bible. What is so important that we meet together every week on Sunday morning?
We come to remind ourselves of what we believe. We come to say, “We believe this together,” and that it makes a difference in our lives. We come to be strengthened by the Word of God and songs about and to God, to encourage us and strengthen us to stand on what we believe throughout the week, not in open rebellion to a lost world, but in testimony of the goodness of God and the salvation of Jesus. We come together to make sure we don’t forget the gospel. If we forget the gospel, we’ve lost the substance of our confession.
We’re here today to remind ourselves again, why the resurrection of Jesus was so important and why He had to die in the first place. So with James 3: 14-17 as an anchor, that’s what I hope to accomplish today.
Where do we start?
All starts back at the very beginning. Actually, before the beginning when God determined to create the world according to His wisdom.
19 The Lord founded the earth by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding. 20 By his knowledge the watery depths broke open, and the clouds dripped with dew.
The Lord founded the earth by wisdom
and established the heavens by understanding.
20 By his knowledge the watery depths broke open,
and the clouds dripped with dew.
After 23 verses of describing the creation of the world, the psalmist says:
24 How countless are your works, Lord! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
How countless are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
What is the wisdom of God?
[SLIDE] “God’s wisdom is the divine intelligence and purpose behind the design, order, and sustenance of the universe, reflecting His glory and power.”
God made the universe and declared it good. He made mankind and said it was very good. All was right in the Cosmos, until Genesis 3:
The god of the self was born in Eden
All things provided for man, but Man wanted the one thing God couldn’t give him: lordship
Satan tempted the woman to take control, doubting God’s goodness and His wisdom.
From the point she bought into it and rebelled against God, the god of self was enthroned on the hearts of each person, unwilling to share that throne with any other person, so strife was born.
The curse of God was that relationship with Himself was broken, man and woman would be at odds with one another, as would be their offspring. The wisdom of God was replaced within each person with what James describes as earthly wisdom, summed up in a statement made over-and-over in the book of Judges: “And everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”
Everyone has been doing what was right in their own eyes ever since.
ILLUS: “One of our Triple Cross racers called me Friday and said, there was such depravity at that race. It makes you wonder what kind of difference we can really make.”
What was he really saying? Everyone was doing what was right in his own eyes.
The result found in James 3:14 when the worship of God is replaced with the worship of ourselves: “bitter envy and selfish ambition”.
14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and deny the truth.
He describes this “wisdom” (said not because it is actually wisdom, but it replaces true wisdom from above) as earthly, unspiritual, demonic
“Earthly” – the origin (Fallen; not of God)
“Unspiritual” – the nature (of the flesh)
“Demonic” – the source
“Death” (spiritual and physical) – the result (the only one not mentioned by James but is in Genesis 3)
James says that “where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.”
We see that throughout the Old Testament, all of human history, and today.
James paints a picture of what was going on during his time, which also describes what we see today:
(James 4:1-5) What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you?[a] 2 You desire and do not have. You murder and covetand cannot obtain. You fight and wage war.[b] You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
1 What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? 2 You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
4 You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. 5 Or do you think it’s without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely?
4 You adulterous people![c] Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.
That’s the problem: we ALL by nature are of the world, and so we ARE enemies with God. Therefore the wrath of God is being poured out on the world today:
18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,19 since what can be known[m] about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
Paul made clear later that (Romans 3:23) all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, which means that all are under the curse of God that leads to spiritual death. (Romans 6:23) The payment for sin is death.
God IS a wrathful God against sin; against the rebellion that resides within mankind; against the desire to overthrow His reign and replace it with our own. But God is also compassionate, loving, merciful, and gracious, not delighting in the destruction of any, and so the wisdom of God included a plan of redemption of mankind that would solve the problem.
The Problem
· Adam and Eve were perfect in the Garden of Eden because God made them that way. That was the only way they could be in the presence of a perfect, Holy God.
· Their sin ruined their perfection, necessarily breaking the relationship with God – they were no longer fit to be in His presence, and His perfection demanded justice -- but the payment (perfection) was no longer possible.
· Man simply can’t fix it. We can’t save ourselves. God gave Moses His law, commanding the people to keep it. They couldn’t. God knew it. Paul tells us in Romans 7 that the very purpose of giving man the requirement for being made right with God was to demonstrate to them how impossible it was. It is outside of our ability to do enough “good” to restore perfection. Any flaw at any time ruins the chance for perfection and our sin nature won’t allow it anyway. The god of self rules. We are bound up in sin and do bad things even when we don’t want to.
The Solution
The only hope for man is God. Humanity fell, so it was going to require a human to make atonement with God. The plan all along was to send God, the Son, to become human and accomplish all the requirements of God’s Law on behalf of Man, then make the payment to satisfy the curse: death.
Jesus - God, Himself, according to Scripture - would do what had to be done.
Paul said of Jesus in Colossians 1:15-7
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
16 For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him.
17 He is before all things,
and by him all things hold together.
That can only be said of God, and it is being said of Jesus.
This Jesus came to earth to live a perfect life and to die in order to pay the penalty of sin against man. But if he only died, the curse of death would remain. He had to live again. That is what today is all about. By being raised from the dead, death is defeated, and we can have eternal life.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8: I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time,[a] he also appeared to me.
3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time; most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me.
In Romans 4:22-25(4:22ff), he spoke of the result of that resurrection in relation to Abraham believing that God would keep his promise, he said,
22 Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, 24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
“Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness.[l] 23 Now it was credited to him[m] was not written for Abraham alone, 24 but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered up for[n] our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
What will be credited? Righteousness!
Paul calls on us to be reconciled to God by faith in Jesus and to receive His righteousness:
2 Corinthian 5:20 – 21: We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin[e] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
That’s what makes us positionally holy.
Paul would go on in Romans 5 to say: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace[a] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Result
With Christ’s righteousness becoming our righteousness, we can live in God’s presence. We get the eternal life that was designed for us at Creation. Not only that, we have access to all of the blessings of God for our lives now.
Ephesians 1:3, Philippians 4:19
Before, we were bound by sin. We had to live for our own desires, pursuing our own efforts of joy that are always beyond our reach. Now, the Spirit of God indwells us, allowing us to find joy not in living for ourselves, but for God, who is love, letting us experience joy through love.
Earlier, I mentioned that James said the earthly wisdom was characterized by bitter envy and selfish ambition – picture Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol” – but he goes on to say James 3:17-18,
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.
“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without pretense.18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace.”
That describes Jesus.
The Holy Spirit of God makes us into the likeness of Jesus and this is lived out in heavenly wisdom by our good conduct (James 3:13), the result, not the cause, of a life transformed by God.
What if you don’t have this kind of wisdom?
1. You’ve trusted in Jesus – so ask: James 1:5-8
5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, 8 being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.
5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith without doubting.[b] For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, 8 being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.
2. You’ve never trusted Jesus, thus not transformed: Romans 10:9-13
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, 12 since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame,[g] 12 since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lordof all richly blesses all who call on him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
