Hope in the Resurrection
Notes
Transcript
Handout
what happened
why it happened
……
the hope of the resurrection
We can hope in the resurrection of Jesus
redefining hope
the hope of the resurrection
if Jesus stayed in the tomb then all we could do it honor his memory… and keep his memory alive
chapter 24 — angels are shocked that they don’t believe!
their reality collides with our reality
for the angels, the idea of Jesus dying was the unbelievable things
for the people, resurrection was the unbelievable thing
the women show up to honor Jesus’ body to mask death with spices and fragrances — and Jesus is destroying death through the resurrection — the glory of the irony of the picture
Welcome
If you’re visiting today, we’re glad you’ve joined us.
We believe God is alive, we believe God is good.. and we believe the primary way God has chosen to communicate to us is through what has been written in the Bible.
We’re going to be looking at the letter of
If you don’t have a Bible, there should be one in the pew in front of you… that is our gift to you. The passage is on page 568.
If you’re able, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Word.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
First, let’s start by saying — Easter is a day when many people make the dutiful sojourn to their local church… right. It’s become a tradition in our American context.
It’s a formality. It’s ritual.
It’s something we might do to appease our religious family members.
“A light nod to a God, if there is one, we put our agnosticism down for a minute… to hopefully curb off any chance of hell or something like that… right?!”
We’re here, we’re good… we’re doing our part
This is not how the the early Christians in the 1st century treated the resurrection of Jesus.
Because that’s what this about, we must remember. Easter is a time when we remember about Resurrection. [FROM DEATH TO LIFE — IN THE PERSON OF JESUS — AND WE REFLECT ON WHAT THAT MEANS FOR US]
The main point I want to drive home today is this: We can hope in the resurrection of Jesus.
This isn’t a flimsy hope, or a fleeting hope — we have something firm that we can stand upon, when we recognize and come to terms with the resurrection of Jesus.
THREE THINGS: (1) The Dilemma in Which We Find Ourselves , (2) How the Resurrection Addresses Our Problem, (3) The Response that is Required...
(1) Problem
(2) Solution
(3) Response
The Dilemma in Which We Find Ourselves
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
“And you were dead”
Paul isn’t abstract here… we don’t have to guess what he’s trying to communicate.
Paul boldly describes our problem.
“You were dead in your sins...”
ESV SB says
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 2
Human beings as sons and daughters of Adam enter the world spiritually dead. They have no inclination or responsiveness toward God and no ability to please God.
According to the Bible, when we are apart from Jesus, we are spiritually dead.
And don’t my word for it, look at the text — it’s right there.
This language is used elsewhere… in the story of the prodigal son in
The younger son leaves his father, dishonors the father… to squander his inheritance… but ultimately comes back home… and the father’s response is
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
The problem, the dilemma we find ourselves in, is that many of us are spiritually dead!
Without Jesus, apart from Jesus, we are spiritually and morally bankrupt.
eph 2:
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
“passions of the flesh”
Apart from God, we live according to our own standard.
We determine what is good, on our own
We are God, in our own eyes.
We don’t answer to anyone… why would we?
“children of wrath”
Meaning: we are deserving of punishment.
We aren’t as we should be...
We’ve distorted the truth… we’ve went our own way.
We’ve lived according to our own version of truth.
All of this is so offensive to modern ears...
“this is the problem with Christians, they’re always talking about sin & rules & right and wrong… why can’t we just focus on love?!”
“this is what’s wrong with the world.”
But even there we have a problem: because in order to have true love there must be wrath!
If God is loving then he has to despise wrongdoing!
In order for God to be just, he would have to punish sin.
For example:
300 Illustrations for Preachers Football Player Vindicated after Being Accused of Rape
In 2002, a high school girl falsely accused a football star named Brian Banks of rape. That accusation caused the loss of several college scholarships. Instead of going to college to play football, Banks served a five-year sentence. He likely could have played professional football with a brilliant career full of honors, records, etc., but we will never know. He served five years in prison, and was still on parole in 2012 when his accuser admitted that she had made a false accusation. He tried out with a few teams, but didn’t make it in the end. In 2014 he got a job working at the National Football League offices in New York.
“Why can’t we just focus on love?”
Because true love is just!
We hear a story like the one about Brian Banks and we think, “oh my goodness that’s not right… something must be done… and so they put him in prison for rape —> no loving person would look at person who sexually assaulted someone and say, “yeah, that’s fine. no big deal. They need to be punished.” And for the women who lied… that’s not right… it’s heavy and hard to think about the injustice of the consequences of the lie.
Justice is about wrongs being righted… and so in order to have true love there must be wrath!
And what we’re recognizing is that we’re guilty because of our rebellion and sin against a perfect, holy, and good God.
And if God is loving, there must be wrath — there must be consequences.
How the Resurrection Addresses Our Problem
How the Resurrection Addresses Our Problem
Ephesians
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Look at verse 6 again...
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
ESV SB
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 2
Raised us up with him means that, because of Christ’s resurrection, those who believe in him are given new life spiritually in this age (regeneration). They will also be given renewed physical bodies when Christ returns (future resurrection).
This is good news!
We can hope in the resurrection of Jesus.
This isn’t a flimsy foundation… this is something firm we can build genuine hope around.
“seated us with him in the heavenly places”
Here we see how the resurrection addresses our dilemma!
Because our sin, we deserve God’s wrath — we should’ve lived rightly, but didn’t…
And then Jesus lives sinlessly, is killed, buried, and resurrects!
It’s in his death that Jesus destroys death.., and it’s in his resurrection that we can have the HOPE of life with God!
This is where we see the love of God on full display!!!!!
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
eph 2:
“because of the great love with which he loved us!”
What you need most isn’t more money… what you most need isn’t the perfect romantic partner… what you most need isn’t the security of a healthy future… WHAT YOU MOST NEED IS TO KNOW THAT THE GOD WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSE LOVES YOU…
We’re used to focusing on ’s “God loved the world...” which is true… but we see here in … “God loves YOU.” It’s personal!
The wrath we deserved because of our sin… something had to be done about it — and Jesus took the wrath on himself in the cross.. and resurrected!
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
We can hope in the resurrection of Jesus.
It’s in the resurrection of Jesus, where we see the power of God — we see the vastness of God’s power.
And God chose to show us his power in such a gracious way… God chose to be good with us, although we deserve nothing but punishment!
That’s a beautiful picture… this is a wonderful reality… and this is found uniquely in Christianity!
Nowhere else can we find sacrificial love like this!
This is where it begins and this is where it ends… in Jesus!
We’ve examined (1) the problem and (2) the solution… now let’s reflect on (3) an appropriate response.
The Response that is Required
An Appropriate Response to the Solution
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
let’s read this one more time…
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
“this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God...”
God has extended this invitation of mercy towards you as a gift!
There’s no way we could ever merit what God is offering us…
The hope we are offered, as a result of the resurrection, is more than we could ever afford!
What’s the appropriate response to a gift?
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Again, Paul is hammering at any ability for us to become self-reliant.
“You can’t boast in yourself. None of you have anything to boast about… even your best attempts at goodness are flawed in some way… none of us are clean.”
We are invited to relationship with God, but that invitation is not because we deserved it!
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
There it is!
Anything good that comes from us is from God… “we are his workmanship...”
This is how God designed for things to work — he’s in charge… this is a part of his design… for us to flourish and for God to be glorified!
“that we should walk in them”
“What’s the appropriate response to a gift?”
To follow Jesus.
Colossians
so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
The proper response to this gift is to embody a posture of: gratitude and humble obedience to Jesus… To follow Jesus!
We are told that to follow in this way leads to boredom, heaviness, or lack of freedom… but in reality, this kind of following leads to genuine HOPE & JOY!!!
We can hope in the resurrection of Jesus.
We were dead in our sins...
God has made a way for us to have life with him through the death and resurrection of Jesus
Our response should be that of FAITH: “I will walk in the ways of Jesus...”
So if you’re new to faith: The big question now is: “What does it look like for me to walk in the ways of Jesus?”
I encourage you: start attending a community group so you can begin walking alongside others that are trying to do the same.
Let’s pray.
Community Group Reflection:
Read . What is the main problem with the world and with us?
Read . What solution is Paul proposing?
Read . What is the appropriate response to God’s gift of Jesus?
Read . Practically, what does it look like to “walk in the ways of Jesus?”
Communion
L: In the night in which he was betrayed, Our lord Jesus took bread,He gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.Do this for the remembrance of me.
L: Again, after supper,He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying; this cup is The new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.Do this for the remembrance of me.
Silent Reflection – to prepare our hearts toCome to the Lords table
L: Jesus' death brings us life and this meal reminds us that we are fed by Jesus and forgiven because of Jesus.
C: We rejoice that You have died, have risen, and are now with the Father advocating for us. Amen.
L: With our money, time, and talent we give generously, knowing that through Your Son, Jesus, You have generously given to us.
C: We rejoice that You have given everything and we joyfully give everything back to Your care. Amen.
L: If you believe Jesus died to forgive you your sins you are welcome to come,
L: Come for all is ready
Benediction
May you go forth with joy because Jesus our Savior lives! He has defeated death, risen from the grave and will one day soon return to gather his church to himself! Go resting and rejoicing in what Jesus has done for us, and living for his glory in all that we do. Peace be with you.