Easter in Three Acts - Romans 8:10-11

©Copyright April 4, 2021 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

All across the world today people are celebrating Easter. For many, the historical basis of the celebration is lost. To them, Easter is a time for candy, easter egg hunts, and family gatherings. Others celebrate Easter as a historical holiday. It is a time for remembering what happened to Jesus a long time ago. It is like other historical holidays with little personal relevance.

I trust you are here today because you understand that Easter is a celebration of a life-changing historical event. It is a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the profound impact that event potentially has on our lives. In order to examine the relevance of the Resurrection we turn to Romans 8:10-11 and look at just two verses.

10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

What we see here is Easter played out in three acts and we’re going to look at those acts today.

Act 1: The Bodily Resurrection of Jesus

The foundation of what Paul says in these verses is the Resurrection of Jesus. Jesus died to pay for our sin, and He rose from the dead to open the door to life everlasting for us. For the Greeks Paul wrote to in Corinth (1 Corinthians 15) this was life-altering. They did not believe in bodily resurrection. They believed the soul may live on after death, but not the body.

Paul called Jesus the “first of a great harvest of all who have died.” (1 Cor. 15:20) His resurrection made it possible for others to enter into God’s presence. It was God’s stamp of approval which proved the sacrifice of Jesus was indeed a sufficient payment for our sin. Not only that, He made it possible for us to live, even after we died.

I hope, if you have been attending here for a while, that you know the resurrection is a historically verified fact. People scoff at the resurrection not because there is no evidence but because they don’t want it to be true! If Jesus really did rise from the dead, we have to pay attention to this man. So, let’s go quickly through the main pieces of evidence. It is good to have this information at your fingertips for those who question the resurrection.

1. There was an empty tomb. Everyone acknowledges the body of Jesus was missing. If the women went to the wrong tomb (as some claim) all the Jewish leaders or Romans had to do was produce the body.

2. There were eyewitnesses (a lot of them) who testified to seeing Jesus alive. He convinced these people He was not a Jesus who was unconscious and came back to life. After the beating Jesus took, He would have barely been able to walk much less make people believe He had risen from the dead.

3. The first witnesses were women. That is significant because the testimony of women was not accepted in court. If you were going to fabricate a story you would have made the first witness a man.

4. The details of the resurrection vary just a little in each gospel which is not a problem it actually tells us the story is not contrived. You expect differences from true witnesses.

5. There was a radical change in the disciples. They went from hiding so they wouldn’t be arrested, to rejoicing if they were arrested because they had the great honor to suffer for Him.

There are many other evidences but these are five main arguments that point to an actual physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This is important because this fact matters!

The Apostle Paul reminds us that if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, our faith is useless, and there is no forgiveness of sin.

Act 2: The Spirit Within

The second act is applying the resurrection to us. We read,

And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is now alive in us! Our bodies are still tainted with the sinful nature. They will decay and die. But, when we turn to Christ as our resurrected Savior and King, the Spirit takes up residence inside of us. HE makes us new on the inside. He is changing us, transforming us, assuring us, guiding us, praying for us, in groans too deep for words. We were once dead in our trespasses and sins but now “we have been made alive.” We are not only not enemies of God . . . we have become part of His family! We have a new intimacy, a new assurance, a new power within us.

This is why Paul could say,

anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Cor. 5.17)

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2.20)

John says much the same thing . . .

Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. (1 John 3:9)

This is not easy to see because we still look the same in the mirror. We still have aches and pains. We still sense those sinful desires trying to overwhelm us. However, when we come to faith in the resurrected Christ, something changes within.

1. First, we are set free from the guilt, the shame, and the feeling that we do not measure up. This is the Good News of the Gospel applied to our sin. We are forgiven.

2. Second, we are no longer controlled by the sinful nature. We still sin, but not like we used to. We have been given a power and a desire to overcome those habits. It’s not easy, but it is possible!

3. Third, we begin to think differently. Our heart, our language our desires begin to change. We start seeing with an eternal and spiritual perspective.

Because the Spirit lives in us we see the life and character of Christ beginning to well up inside of us.

Jesus said to us,

15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. (Matthew 7:15-17)

The Spirit also makes the Bible come alive to us. Without the guidance of God’s Spirit, the Bible is just a book filled with words. However, when the Spirit resides in us, He becomes our teacher, opening up the Scriptures to us. He gives us a hunger to know and to understand the things of God. There are times (many of them) when we are reading the Bible and we read exactly what we need to read and hear, at exactly the time we need to hear these things.

The first time this happens to us it is easy to dismiss it as a happy coincidence. But when it keeps happening, you begin to realize that God’s Spirit is guiding you and leading you as you read His Word. The Holy Spirit shows us things we need to see about ourselves. It tells us the truth about what needs to be altered because we are children of God. His Word becomes “living and active” inside of us as the Holy Spirit guides us. Slowly, more and more of the Bible makes sense.

Why does it take so long? It is like learning a musical instrument. Most people don’t just sit down and start playing; most start with simple exercises to get your hands to work separately. You practice scales, you learn chords, you learn rhythms, and you practice, practice, and practice. Slowly you learn the skills you need to know. If you try to rush the process it will lead to frustration and you will give up and walk away.

It is like that with God’s Word. We learn a step at a time. We grow in Christ the same way we grow in anything . . . slowly and hopefully steadily. The Holy Spirit guides us in a way that keeps us from becoming overwhelmed and lose interest. God’s Word grows sweeter and sweeter as we keep moving forward.

Third, The Holy Spirit binds our hearts together with one another. The church should be the example of racial equality and reconciliation. The reason is, everyone comes to Jesus the same way. We must come humbled and repentant before God. The young man who is really trying to atone for past failures could be on his knees right next to the Judge who sentenced him to time in jail. In the body of Christ there are no races, no genders, no labels, nationalities, profiling, or distinctions based on money or power. We all partake of the same Spirit. He makes us one in Christ. This is true whether you are a believer in Illinois, Iowa, Africa, the Soviet Union, Iraq or China. In the body of Christ, the only thing that matters is our relationship with Him. Jesus is what binds us together.

The church should be the place where people are “seen” rather than looking past them. There are all kinds of people who feel desperately alone in this world. They feel invisible to the world around them. That should not be the case here. This should be a place where EVERYONE has equal value, as they do to the Lord. The people of God need to lead the way in our country. We should be bringing people together in the love of Christ rather than dividing people. This isn’t something we can tell people, we have to SHOW them.

Act 3: The Resurrection of Our Body

Act 3 of the Resurrection is still future. Paul says,

And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

The final act is when our bodies are redeemed and transformed. It will all happen in the twinkling of an eye. It will happen when the trumpet sounds and the Lord descends in victory. This is when our redemption will be complete. Jesus promised He would return. This could be at any time. We will be given new bodies so we can live on the new Heaven and New Earth with the Lord. Our salvation and resurrection will be complete.

One of the most haunting questions of our life is “what happens after we die?” A very popular answer today is: “nothing”. Many, sadly believe when life is over, all that remains is a lifeless corpse. This belief impacts the way those people live. Since this life is all there is, the only thing that really matters is now. So you should grab what you can now and indulge in it for as long as you can. This is all there is, so there is no use worrying about other people.

Life becomes meaningless apart from whatever fleeting pleasure it can provide for me. The tendency to selfishness (which is already part of our nature) becomes even more pronounced. The concept of right and wrong steps aside and is replaced by what brings the most pleasure or satisfaction in the moment. People become increasingly alienated from each other. Life is more and more a matter of every man for himself.

This is not the message of Christ or those who follow Him. He taught us when we die, our spirit, the life that inhabits our body will go to be with the Lord. We will see friends, family and the Lord in the place we have longed for all of our lives whether we knew it or not. I believe the moment of our death we will be greeted either by the Lord or one of His angels. That first step into eternity will either be one of inexpressible joy or overwhelming sorrow and grief.

What kind of body will we receive? Will people know us? How old will we be? Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 15 by using the analogy of a seed. He said crops don’t grow unless the seed “dies” or “is buried” in the ground. And when the seed is “buried” it produces something completely different from what was planted. One tiny seed can produce a giant tree or a huge stalk of corn or exquisite flowers. In the same way, our new bodies will be vastly different from our present body. The Bible tells us,

1. The body will be free from sin

2. It will be incorruptible

3. It will be eternal

4. It will be free from pain, sorrow, and tears

5. It will be perfect and what God created us to be before sin.

I believe we will know each other in much deeper ways than we do now. I don’t know if people will golf, dance, play cards or any of the amusements we enjoy here. Life will be so much richer I don’t know if those things will be necessary. But, whatever this new life is like . . . it will be incredible.

So those are the three parts of the Resurrection of Jesus: His personal resurrection to mark the sufficiency of His payment for our sin; the new Spirit given to those who believe, and finally a new body that is incorruptible given to us for all eternity.

Conclusions

How should these great truths impact us today; right now? First, the Resurrection of Jesus is not only the cornerstone of our faith, it is also the primary reason for our joy, confidence, and celebration. No matter what doubts come into my mind, what things are happening in my life, or what critical statements others make . . . Jesus rose from the dead. He’s got this. Life is NOT out of control!

Second, it means we don’t need to live in fear of anything. Jesus conquered death and that means nothing can ultimately hurt us. The world around us will at times seem to paralyze us with fear. We need to stop listening to the world and listen to the One who came back from the dead! He is true to His Word, we can trust the promises He gives to us. He promises He will never leave us or forsake us; He will work in every situation to bring good from it; He will supply our needs; we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength; NOTHING is too hard for Him. Nothing can ever separate us from Him. That reality siphons fear from our lives.

Third, we have the power to live differently that we have in the past. When you turn to Christ as your Lord and Savior you are given a supernatural power. The power that raised Christ from the dead is now in you! That power is what makes it possible for you to overcome. You can overcome bad habits, nagging sin, bitterness and resentment from hurt, and even powerful addictions because there is the power of God’s Spirit living inside of you. That defeatist attitude that has plagued your life can be dismissed. You are not fighting in your own strength and by the power you can “muster,” He is working in you.

If you are like me, you tend to excuse some things by saying, “That’s just the way I am.” You may hate the fact that that is who you are, but you believe you can’t change who you are. But here’s the thing: you are not that person anymore! You are filled with the resurrection power of Christ. You are a new creature . . . the old has passed away and the new has come. (2 Cor 5.17). Stop living defeated lives and embrace the new life you have been given! He is remaking you!

Finally, we must not put off responding to the Resurrection because it is a matter of eternal significance. You can’t say you trust Jesus as your Savior if you don’t believe in the actual, bodily, alive-again-after-three-days resurrection of Jesus. Since Jesus is the only way to be forgiven, to have new life, to be filled with the Spirit of God, and to have Heaven in your future, this is the biggest question of your life: Do you trust, and will you follow, the Jesus who rose from the dead?

If you aren’t sure, I ask you to go back and look at the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus. The evidence is there . . . examine it! Be sure! Once you are sure of the historical nature of what happened, the question becomes more defined: Will you trust and follow the man who rose from the dead? Or won’t you?

This isn’t about saying magic words or doing something dramatic. This is about a conscious decision that will change your life forever. However, if you wonder how to get started, you could pray something like this:

Lord, I believe you died for me. I believe you also rose from the dead proving your sacrifice was sufficient for my sin. I don’t know why you loved me so sacrificially, but I am so very grateful that you did. I run to you as my Savior, and I desire to follow you as my Lord. Fill me with the Holy Spirit and give me the strength to follow you fully. Lead me as I seek to honor you with my life and enjoy and worship you for all of eternity. Amen.

If you pray a prayer like this sincerely, the three acts of Easter will come to your life!