Here We Stand in a New World
Notes
Transcript
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Do you remember a time when your whole understanding of the world changed?
Do you remember a time when your whole understanding of the world changed?
Car shopping for a specific car and you start seeing it everywhere?
Where you were when you first heard Covid was going to shut everything down?
When after 108 years the Cubs finally broke the curse?
Jesus’s resurrection changes our whole understanding of the world.
Jesus’s resurrection changes our whole understanding of the world.
The restoration of all things has already begun.
The first human being has already risen from the dead & eternity has begun.
The reign of forgiveness and peace is already here.
Because of Easter, the restoration of all things has already begun.
Because of Easter, the restoration of all things has already begun.
Jews always believed that all creation would praise the Messiah because He would be restore & reunite Heaven & Earth
Jews always believed that all creation would praise the Messiah because He would be restore & reunite Heaven & Earth
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! 12 Young men and maidens together, old men and children! 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. 14 He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord!
So when Jesus shows Thomas the holes in His hands and scar in His side, He shows Thomas that He has joined Himself permanently to His people and this earth (the Horn for His people!)
That’s why Thomas cries out, "My Lord and My God!”—Thomas knew he was standing in a new world because the Easter resurrection had commenced the Day of the Lord.
It’s as if God took a page from the end of the book and pasted it in the middle!
What does Jesus say each time he appears to the disciples? “Peace be with you”
What does Jesus say each time he appears to the disciples? “Peace be with you”
Not just a friendly greeting; it was shalom; a peace that meant all creation was in harmony, health, and abundance, & the end of all hostility.
Shalom is the pre-fall state of the Garden of Eden; everything in creation is right and godly.
So when Jesus says, “Peace be with you”, He’s not just saying, “What’s up!” He’s “shaloming” the world!
We might still be waiting for the final and ultimate Day of the Lord, but Easter means Jesus has robbed the grave and hell of all power. This world is resurrection territory!
Easter means we stand in a new world, because restoration of all things has begun!
Easter means we stand in a new world, because restoration of all things has begun!
Because of Easter, our bodies will be resurrected.
Because of Easter, our bodies will be resurrected.
Many Christians believe in something I like to call Christian Hinduism (goal is to escape the prison of the body).
Many Christians believe in something I like to call Christian Hinduism (goal is to escape the prison of the body).
Likewise, many Christians have been taught that the goal of Christianity is to die and go to heaven (float around in some heavenly form)
We’ve been taught that the body is bad and the spirit is good
Gnosticism (heresy): body, matter, creation bad & temporary; spirit, knowledge, “inside”/spark good & eternal
And yet, Heaven is not what the Bible is about.
And yet, Heaven is not what the Bible is about.
If the end goal is just heaven, that’s gnosticism, makes Jesus impossible!
It was Jesus’s crucified body that rose again from the dead never to die again (Not reincarnation or “spiritual” phantom)
Sure, heaven is a thing (thief on cross in Paradise), but the real story is the resurrection.
Our bodies will rise like Jesus’s. It’s why Jesus breathes on the disciples
Our bodies will rise like Jesus’s. It’s why Jesus breathes on the disciples
Genesis 2:7: “The LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
Jesus breathes on the disciples because He makes a new humanity called the church
You are made a new human in baptism; eternal life doesn’t start at death, but at baptism!
Easter means we stand in a new world, because the first human being has risen from the dead & eternal life starts now!
Easter means we stand in a new world, because the first human being has risen from the dead & eternal life starts now!
Because of Easter, forgiveness & peace reigns through God’s people.
Because of Easter, forgiveness & peace reigns through God’s people.
21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
Not only does Jesus breathe on them, but Jesus’s breath is contagious!
Not only does Jesus breathe on them, but Jesus’s breath is contagious!
The breath of God that created Adam & that Jesus breathed on the disciples also recreates you. It doesn’t end in that room!
That’s why Jesus says to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Every Sunday, our whole world changes: we get Jesus's breathe, forgiveness, peace (same status before God that we will have for eternity)
The Day of the Lord is here because the reign of forgiveness and peace is for all.
The Day of the Lord is here because the reign of forgiveness and peace is for all.
In the new creation, all things will be restored, all sins will be forgiven, and peace will reign.
Just like in that new world, today Jesus is restoring people through the breath of His Word, He is forgiving all the sins of those who repent, & shalom is spreading.
And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold
Church is an embassy of heaven, colony of the new creation, & we make new citizens of the new world by forgiving sins.
When you breathe Jesus’s forgiveness to others, you are declaring them to have shalom with God. Absolution is evangelism, re-creation & restoration!
Easter means we stand in a new world, because the reign of forgiveness and peace is already here.
Easter means we stand in a new world, because the reign of forgiveness and peace is already here.
It’s time we change people’s whole understanding of the world.
It’s time we change people’s whole understanding of the world.
The resurrection of Jesus means that restoration of the world and the restoration of people has begun.
As Christians, we give new life to others by breathing Jesus’s Word of forgiveness and peace to them.
Alleluia, Christ is risen! And here we stand in a new world.