An Orthodox Catechism - Lord’s Day #17

Introduction

Over the last few weeks, while on Facebook,

I saw some of you doing …the ice bucket challenge…

it has became popular again recently

It was something popular for a few months about 10 years ago, yet somehow it found the light of day again

This challenge only lasted a few months back in my day, and this time around will be similar

There have been other challenges and things like it that have come and gone

It isn’t the only thing like this

We are often obsessed with things for short periods of time, then we forget about them soon after

Certain things are all over the media, and everyone is talking about them, then boom, it’s like they never existed

We call these “Fads”

Other examples are:

Game of thrones…

Planking…

The Harlem Shake…

Fidget Spinners…

Gagnam Style…

You may not even know what these things are

And that’s the point

These are all passing interests, they were once popular, and there will be more

The reason they eventually go away is that, most of the time, they’re kind of weird

Imagine dumping ice on your head, then telling all your friends to do the same, and they do it!

I did, in fact, do it back in the day

If it wasn’t popular on the internet, no one would normally do it…

They’re cool in the moment, but usually, if we’re honest, they’re a little dumb

Which is usually why they die out

But every so often, new things come along, that catch on, and they stay, some good, some bad

Usually only things of quality, or that are truly importance actually last

Sometimes they can even last generations if they’re important enough

One example is the person of Jesus

No one in history is more well known and more controversial than him

After his death, His disciples were telling everyone about him,

And they even developed a following

But many were skeptical about what they were saying about Him,

They thought the movement would die out quickly

This is what some of the religious leaders had to say about the whole thing,

Acts 5:35–39 LSB

35 He said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. 36 “For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who were following him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 “After this man, Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away people after him. He too perished, and all those who were following him were scattered. 38 “So in the present case, I also say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or you may even be found fighting against God.”

They thought Christianity was just another “Fad” and tried to leave it alone, hoping it would die out

But it didn’t,

Although many through it was dumb, there was a deep, transformative reality behind it

It was, in fact, the single most important event in all of human history

If true, there is nothing more important than the death and resurrection of this guy named Jesus of Nazareth

But why? Why is his death so important?

Why should the death of a first century Jewish carpenter matter to you?

Not only his death, but the fact that he was raised from the dead?

In other words:

If Jesus did rise from the dead, why should you care?

He lived a long time ago, in a land far away

He spoke a different language,

Even if it’s true, who cares?

Some guy came back from the dead

That is the question of this evening

Why you should care about the resurrection of Jesus

Why should it not just pass away into history, like all the other cultural trends?

Why should it actually be the centre of your life?

Reading the Catechism

Please open your catechism books to Lord’s Day 17

Question 45:

How does Christ's resurrection benefit us?

Note

It starts with a fact, then explains the 3 benefits

Answer:

(Fact) First, by his resurrection he has overcome death,

(Benefits)

so that he might make us share in the righteousness he won for us by his death.

Second, by his power we too are already now resurrected to a new life.

Third, Christ's resurrection is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection.

Overview

The answer starts with a statement of fact

It simply states the death and resurrection of Jesus

Yet it is the central point of everything

Without which our faith would be useless

His resurrection means something to us

Here are the words of the apostle Paul on how the resurrection affects us

Romans 8:11 LSB

11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

As you have seen in previous weeks, you were dead in your sins,

Separated from God, and in great need of a saviour

But through the resurrection of Jesus, we can find salvation and new life

A resurrection of our own

The same power that raised Him to life can also raise you to a new life

This new life Jesus gives to us works itself out in 3 steps or benefits that flow from his resurrection

The first benefit is our justification

The second benefit is our sanctification

And the last benefit is our glorification

All three steps are essential, and tied together

We often say that Jesus saves.

What do we mean by that

Did he save us or will He save us?

The answer is both

The first step is how he did save us,

The second step is how He is saving us now,

And the third step is how he will save us,

Once this process is started in you, it won’t stop

Each step forms a chain, linked together

This is called the golden chain of salvation which Paul explains in Romans 8

Romans 8:29–30 LSB

29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; 30 and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.

We won’t be talking about every link in the chain this evening

The chain starts with the resurrection of Jesus

And all the benefits of this continue on and finish with you being with him in heaven forever

Justification

Starting with the first link in the chain,

It says that we share in his righteousness that he purchased for us

This is referring to what is known as the great exchange

2 Corinthians 5:21 LSB

21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

This verse talks of a switching of places, or a transfer of sorts

He takes our sin from us, and puts it on his shoulders

Our debt is credited to him

He takes our dirty clothes covered in sin and wears them himself

Then, in exchange, He gives us his perfect life, a righteous life that he earned himself

He earned it by being perfect

By never sinning once

This earned him what the Bible calls righteousness

A right standing before God

God cannot be in the presence of Sin, but if someone has no sin, there’s no problem

And this is what Jesus gives to us

His clean clothes for our dirty ones

Before we were covered in sin, now,

we are covered, not with our sin, but with his righteousness

His robes of glory

And he has our sin

The purpose for this exchange is 2 fold:

When God looks at us, he only sees the perfection of Jesus

Like a pair of sun glasses that blocks out our sin from the eyes of God

He doesn’t see our sin, he only sees the perfection of Jesus

Our sin was taken away, and we are covered in his perfect life

As a result, we are declared Just before God

Declared not guilty of our sin

Not because of anything we did, but only because of what Jesus did

2. The second reason, is so that Jesus can pay for our sin

because the wages of sin is death

Someone must die because of our sin

It’s either us or Him

And since our sin has been transferred to Jesus,

His death on the cross is that payment

And his resurrection serves as proof that the payment was accepted

If Jesus had stayed dead, it would mean that he was still paying for us

That the payment wasn’t complete

But since it ended, it means the payment for sin was enough and fully accepted

His resurrection was a triumph over death

He beat death

He went into the grave due to our sin, and was victorious over it

This is how God deals with our sin so that we can not only be removed of our sin,

but be able to be in the presence of God

Application

Let’s stop for a minute and focus on what the catechism says at the end of the first benefit

It says that He won it for us

It doesn’t say that it was a team effort

It was a battle that only Jesus could fight

And He alone fought, and won

We are passive in this whole thing

Think about this

The very thing necessary to save you from Hell, needed to be done by someone else

And He was willing

You do not need to work your way into heaven

Christ is enough to get you there

This means that you do not need to be perfect for God to accept you

You can’t do it

Only Jesus can

You don’t need to go to the spiritual gym every day to earn your place before God

Your parents may demand perfection from you in your grades at school,

always pushing you further, which is good,

But God isn’t like that,

Jesus took the test of life for you, and you got an A

In the eyes of God, that is enough

Rest in this fact

Rest in Him alone

This is how Jesus saved us at the cross

This is the first benefit of his resurrection

Sanctification

Next, the second benefit

After being declared just before God, the catechism says

We have now been resurrected to a new life

Referring to the process known as sanctification

The progressive purification of sin from our lives

Though I just told you that Jesus did everything for you to make you just before God,

You’re not completely off the hook yet

Though Jesus paid the price for our sin, the effects of it still remain with us

And we are to fight this sin every day

After being justified before God,

The new life is the first step in the process of purifying us from sin

Ephesians 2:4–6 LSB

4 But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

We are made alive with Christ, but his power,

By the same power that raised him up, we are raised as well

We are made alive with Christ

Once we were dead, now we are made alive

We have a new life, with new desires

The old body of death that only desired sin

The new, clean clothes that Jesus gives you slowly cleans you

And a new heart that cleans you from the inside-out

Application

This new life that we have, affects us in how we live every day

Mainly, it changes your desires

Once you were dead in sin, meaning you were enslaved to sin

This means that the desires of the heart are only for darkness and not for God

A great example of this is addiction,

Its being chained to something

It can take many forms in our lives

Addiction to vaping, porn, fighting, etc.

This is what it means to be enslaved to sin

But, through Jesus, you can find freedom from these bondages

Freedom from sin

But it is a process

The sin that remains in you, needs to die

Take up the weapons that God has given you to fight your sin

Just to remind you, that this is the second step in the Christian life, not the first

The first is being right with God through Jesus

The second is fighting sin

Do not mix this order up

Otherwise, you will find yourself trying to prove to God that you’re worthy enough, that you’ve killed enough sin to be good in His eyes

The tools God gives us is the very spirit that raised you from the dead

Romans 8:13 LSB

13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the practices of the body, you will live.

The holy spirit is the tool to break addiction and sin in your life

When you become a Christian, the spirit of God changes your desires

You will desire the sinful things of old less and less

And desire the things of God more and more

Follow this desire,

Follow God more and more, and you will be further and further from your old sin

Sin is like a growling lion

If you feed it, it will grow

If you feed the lion of sin, it will continue to grow in your life and eventually devour you

But give it no food, and it will curl up and die

Avoiding situations of temptation is usually the simplest and greatest tool against sighting sin

Carful who you follow on facebook or instagram

Carful who you talk with at school

Carful who you start dating

Instead, feed the desires of Godliness in you

Feed it by reading the bible regularly, and thinking about God

But it is nevertheless a battle

One that the spirit of God has equipped you to fight

And through his strength and grace, you will come out on the other side victorious

This is how Jesus is saving us day by day

This is the second benefit of his resurrection

Glorification

The last and greatest benefit is the one to come

The one we don’t have yet

So far, the most any of us have experienced are the first 2 benefits, while the third is future

We only have a guarantee, a hope of it

A hope in our resurrection to be with Jesus

That is to say, life in heaven

After our death, we will be completely purged from the remaining sin in our bodies,

and we will be given glorified, perfected bodies

Similar to that of Jesus

A body that will be completely free from sin

A hope that death is not the end

That the grave isn’t where it will all end for us

There is a life afterwards

A life far, far better than this current one

Application

This we must eagerly await in hope and anticipation

The hope of deliverance from the presence of sin

The process I talked about earlier, the fighting of sin that we must do, has an end

It ends when we move on to the next stage of life

The stage that never ends because it is eternal

Today, you only have a taste of what eternal life means,

but at the resurrection, we will know fully what that means

When the days are dark, rest in the hope of the world to come

Look forward to being in the kingdom of God with Jesus our saviour

With a place is prepared for you there

John 14:2–3 LSB

2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

Heaven is not like a hotel room

In the sense that, if there’s space, you can show up and have a room for a few days then you need to leave

Bad food, dirty rooms

Sleeping on an uncomfortable bed,

Hearing the neighbours watch TV in the next room

No, heaven is like a warm home, a home prepared for the people of God by God himself

Prepared for you

As the last step in your salvation

And we have a guarantee as the catechism says of this

He is our guarantee

Since He was raised from the dead, so too will we be raised

To be received by Him, as the host of the house he built with open arms

This is how Jesus will save us completely from the presence of sin

This is the third benefit of Christ’s resurrection

Conclusion

It has been said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link

This chain which I have been describing to you this evening, is one that cannot break

It is one that is held by Jesus, and is as strong as He is

He is the guarantee that you will make it to the end

It’s as if you’re being pulled upwards by this chain as Jesus draws you closer and closer to himself

Step by step

Summary

This is how Jesus saved us, is saving us, and will save us

Starting with giving you a right standing before God

Not based on anything you did, but completely based on His work

His work on the cross taking your sin, and giving you his righteousness

Next, it is the process of purifying you from your sin, through giving you a new life

The struggle of sin becomes real here, and we kill the remaining sin in us

Finally, the hope of the completion of salvation

The final step of being with Jesus where He is, in heaven

In the Father’s house, received by him with open arms

Final words

The resurrection of Jesus is not simply important because no one else has done it,

It is important because it is the only thing that can save you from death and hell

Let him not be a passing interest in your life,

But make him the centre, and lord of your life

He alone is worthy of that place

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Show us the power of your resurrection every day

Help us to never forget what it was that you did on that cross

You saved us from our sin

Something you alone could do

Help us in our struggle against sin

Help us to honour your name with how we live our lives

And help us to look to the future life and being finally united with you,

Amen