Raised to Life (Easter 2025)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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.
Well church, I will keep today’s message brief. We want this to be a day that we celebrate those who have been baptized. And we want this to be a day that we celebrate Easter.
But I want us to consider for a moment how both baptism and Easter celebrate the work of Jesus on the cross.
Easter is a season in the church where we gather around the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But what exactly does that mean?
The resurrection means that the dead body of Jesus was brought back to life.
Not His ghost, or some spiritual version of Him.
But His buried body began to breathe and walk among us.
This proves that He is so much more than a carpenter, or a teacher. But that He is who He says He is. God.
The resurrection means that Jesus is God.
What’s true of God is true of Him.
He cannot lie. He is faithful to His Word, and He is making all things new.
The resurrection means that Jesus has victory over sin and death.
The resurrection means that the gospel is true.
And the gospel is this:
While we were dead in our sins, in all of our ugliness, Jesus loved us to make us lovely, not because we were.
He died for us that we might live. And He rose and released us on mission to reclaim all who would have faith to believe what He has done.
The resurrection is everything.
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.
Scripture says that Jesus Christ is the firstfruits of many resurrections to come.
All those in Christ, will be literally raised to life.
But we do not have to wait until we have physically died to experience that new life.
Pastor Phillips Brooks says,
The great Easter truth is not that we are to live newly after death, but that we are to be new here and now by the power of the resurrection.
We are called to experience new life right now.
Through the power of His resurrection He invites in to that new life. To join Him on His mission of making all things new.
To pursue the lost.
To love sinners, in all their ugliness, so that He might make them lovely, not because they are.
And He calls us to be a part of His church.
Not because it checks off a box, or makes us happy, or because its a good place to network.
But because he obtained it with His own blood!
The resurrection means that we can faithfully preach the gospel, and He will raise the spiritually dead to new life!
That is what we are celebrating today.
We celebrate these baptisms so we can remember our own and what they represent.
That we were baptized into His death, so that we might walk in newness of life.
We have been raised with Christ brothers and sisters. Do you believe that?
And Paul says in
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
He goes on to say in
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, we are called to live in a beautiful new way. As one body, honoring Christ as King, and honoring each other as royalty in His new kingdom.
Today we celebrated some brothers and sisters proclaiming their place in that kingdom.
We praise God for that!
But it is only possible because of the resurrection.
We are raised to life, because He was put to death.
He went to the cross for us.
We see this in several places in Scripture.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
If you believe in the resurrection, you are not your own, but you have been bought with a price, in order to glorify God in your body.
That is what the church is called to do. Believe the resurrection and give our lives to glorifying God within our body.
What a high calling. But He gave His life so that we might give ours.
The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
If you are not a part of a church body, I urge you to find one here or elsewhere, but do so with the understanding that Christ purchased that Church with His life, and set that church on mission to develop and deploy disciples through the power of His resurrection.
So, we gather today in Jesus name, praising Him for the work He has done in our newly baptized brothers and sisters, and we gather today to remember our own baptism and the meaning of His resurrection.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words,
Remember His words today.
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
The last thing He said on the cross was “It is finished.”
As believers we are made perfect in Christ. Our pasts, our failures, and our sins, no longer define us.
He nailed them to the cross.
By His wounds we are healed.
And by His resurrection we are invited to live as heirs in His Kingdom. We have been raised to new life with our king.
Pastor Rich Bitterman said,
The manger is empty—He outgrew it.
The cross is empty—He endured it.
The tomb is empty—He overcame it.
But the throne? Never empty. Never will be. Jesus reigns. Forever and always.
Today is a day of celebration. The King is risen because death could no longer hold Him. And we have been risen with Him so that death may no longer hold us. And now we may live life to the fullest, helping people know Jesus by living lives that show Jesus. May we believe that with all that we have.
We thank you for your kingdom, King Jesus.
We thank you for your resurrection, and what it teaches us.
That death no longer reigns, but you do, forever.
We have been raised to new life, so that we can reign with you, beginning right here, right now in your church.
Help us to live that out, like the royalty we are, by remembering our place in your kingdom through the power of your resurrection.
With that, I want to pray for us to prepare our hearts to receive Communion or The Lord’s Supper, but before I do, I want to make sure I tell you what this is and who it is for.
The Lord’s Supper is where we remember the death of Jesus, and remember that He will return to feast with us in glory. The Lord’s Supper is for baptized and committed believers. If you are not baptized or committed to a church, there is no shame, but we invite you to observe, rather than partake, and we invite you to know Jesus, and to commit to Him. If you aren’t sure of what that might look like, please come talk to me after and I will tell how that looks at the Garden. Scripture says that those who eat and drink in an unworthy manner, eat and drink judgment on themselves. So, we are doing this because we trust the Word of God, and we want you to trust it too.
So with that, would you bow your heads with me?
Father, thank you for sending Jesus to absorb the punishment our sins deserved.
And thank you for the resurrection of His body, which reminds us that our bodies will be raised to spend eternity in Heaven with you. But we have also been called to proclaim the beauty of heaven, right here and right now through your church.
We praise you for the baptisms we witnessed today. May we commit to walk out life with these brothers and sisters in Christ.
As we prepare to receive the Lord’s supper for the first time as a body today, would you bring to mind any unconfessed sins, or unresolved conflicts, and may we lay those at your feet this morning. For you tell us to examine ourselves before we eat the bread and drink the cup so that we do not eat and drink judgment on ourselves. So give us a moment to do just that (pause).
Thank you for the ordinances of baptism and communion. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for the resurrection. Let us honor you in it now. We ask this all in Christ, Amen.
Brothers and sisters we have stations set up to receive communion. We are going to eat the bread and drink the cup. Fathers, I urge you to lead your family in praying as you take the elements together. If you are alone and would like someone to pray with you, my family would be honored if you would join us. I know the same is true for all of our leadership team.
So, before we rise and come to the table let us remember what our Lord said.
On the night He was betrayed, He took bread and when He had broken it He said, “This is my body, which is for you, Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, He took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
So Father, meet us here this morning through the power of the Holy Spirit. We remember you. We remember our baptism. And we celebrate with your church.
COMMUNION & SONG
Church, read with me from God’s Word.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Church, you are sent from here on mission, through the power and remembrance of His resurrection to boldly proclaim the gospel with your voice and your life. Go in Peace.
What does baptism symbolize in relation to Jesus' death and resurrection?
How does the resurrection affirm Jesus' identity as God?
How can we actively support those who have recently been baptized in their new faith journey?
What does the phrase 'we have been raised to new life' imply for our daily walk as Christians?
What practical changes can we make to seek 'the things that are above' in our daily lives?
