Remember Christ Risen from the Dead

Intro SLOW DOWN

What’s up y’all, how are y’all? Good! so who is ready for DNow? Sweet! I’m stoked, if you still want to sign up you can, I can’t guarantee the correct shirt size, but maybe.

Okay, so before we begin tonight, I need to just say something, I’m not going to go into why, but —

if you are going through something, know two things: one, there is nothing in this world worth taking you life for. If you think this world is better off with out you, you are wrong. If you need friendship, if you need community, please look here for it. Two the Lord is good. Suicide is not the answer Christ is.

If you are going through something reach out to me, reach out to a friend. We would love to talk to you in person then sit at your funeral and wish we could have must talked.

For the rest of us, reach out to your friends, check in on them. You will not bother them, even if you do bother them, it’ll be okay. Check on your friends. We were not designed to lone wolf this life. Check on your people.

So sorry to start this off super heavy, but had a weird interaction today, so i felt like i needed to tell you these things.

That being said, I’m pulling an audible tonight, I know we are going through Hebrews but tonight I’m switching it up,

So earlier this year, someone told me that when you are preaching, “Remind them.” Remind them of Christ.

And so this tonight, I want to do that, I want to remind you of the goodness of Christ, I want to remind you of the sufficiency of the Cross and the Blood, I want to remind you of that we are people who have hope. There is nothing in this world that can take our hope from us.

So question for you as we jump in to this, have you ever had someone older and wiser than you give you some advice that just sounds like really simple, like to the point of wondering why they told you that?

Oh cool, all of us.

Yeah, someone at some point in our lives has given us a piece of advice that was so simple, but really made a ton of sense for when we were older and wiser. two things I can vividly remember my dad telling me, one when I was learning to drive was, “the goal is to get from point A to point B with having your car hit anything.” revolutionized learning to drive. Like you don’t have to remember all the right of way rules, all the weird if this than that rules of driving,

it’s “well I could go, but my car will hit that car, so i’m not gonna go.”

Remember that and driving will be so much more simple.

The other thing that my dad told me and my brother that stuck in my head is, “no one is getting check” he told us all the time, and told me that when I first started to play church league softball, no one is getting a check. This kept me out of trouble on the softball field plenty of times,.

both of these are some of the most simple advice, that if we forget them, could really turn our world upside down.

You might have had the right of way, but that mack truck is bigger than you, it might have been a dirty play and the team wants to fight, but you gotta go to work tomorrow.

So that is where I want us to be this morning, simple advice, that if we forget to live like it is true, we will think too highly of ourselves and begin twist our thinking on how we do life in and out of the church. Begin to get our priorities out of sorts. I want to Remind you to the goodness of Christ.

So that is where we are at this tonight, simple advice from Paul out of his second letter to timothy,

context SLOW DOWN

So if you have a bible go a head and grab that and flip on over to 2 Timothy 2:8-13, go ahead and get there.

While you’re flipping over there let me set the scene for you, so Paul is writing this letter to Timothy from a Roman prison. And in this letter Paul is encouraging Timothy to endure in the ministry of the Gospel. Telling him the Gospel is powerful and is worth devoting your life to.

And for Paul this is pretty much the last thing he gets to write to anybody. These are pretty much his last words, so these are the last things that Paul gets to tell Timothy.

These are the last encouragements Paul gives Timothy, the last instructions.

Paul is telling Timothy, do these things, endure for the sake of the Gospel.

And for Timothy he is at the church in Ephesus, the letter to the Ephesians is written to the church that Timothy was at, so all the problems at Ephesus is what Timothy is going through.

And on top of all of this, this letter is written during the reign of Nero, the famously crazy and brutal emperor.

This letter is written around 64ish AD and around that time there was a fire that destroyed about half of the city of Rome, and Nero blamed the christians on and set an edict called the Religio illicito basically, it was open season on Christians. Christians are being arrested and killed at at a really high rate, Nero is crucifying them and lighting them on fire to light His gardens parties.

Like some next level cruel and just weird things happening to Christians.

So that is the world Paul is writing to Timothy in, this is the world that Timothy is receiving the letter in.

And what is Paul telling Timothy? He is encouraging them to endure, protect the Gospel.

So that is where we find ourselves in this passage, Paul’s last words to Timothy, Some of Paul’s last words to us.

And Last words are important, if you know you are not going around much longer, like Paul did, you’re going to tell them what you think they need to hear the most.

So let’s read this whole passage together, then let’s go through it. But before we do that, will you pray with me for our time in the word tonight.

Pray with me

pray SLOW DOWN

2 Timothy 2:8–13 ESV

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

Remember Christ Jesus, risen from the dead. SLOW DOWN

Okay so look at how Paul begins this thought. He starts by telling timothy, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.

Thats curious, why does he tell Timothy that? Like Timothy is an elder at his church, one of the church leaders in Ephesus, he was super strong in the faith, grounded in his walk with the Lord.

This would be like if Randy told me, “Hey Austin, don’t forget, Christ is risen.”

it’s as basic as saying

“Hey! Chick-fil-a sells waffle fries” yeah they do

Yeah he has. Christ has risen. Seems like a no brainer if you’re a Christian, because that is the foundational truth of what we believe.

So why? Why is Paul telling Timothy, Remember Christ Jesus, risen from the dead?

Because he better remember that Christ is risen from the dead.

He needs to have the reality that Christ is Risen close in His mind, because the reality of suffering is ever present.

Paul tells Timothy to remember Christ Jesus, risen from the dead, because of the reality of suffering.

Remember the world they live in, suffering, the church he is at in Ephesus has forgotten their first love Paul tells them in his letter to the Ephesians.

The word their in the greek means to remember and respond.

So Paul is telling Timothy Remember and Respond accordingly, that Christ is Risen from the dead.

He is telling us Church family, to remember and act accordingly, because suffering is real and it will bog you down if you do not remember the hope you have in the reality of Christ Jesus being risen form the dead.

The Old Gaither Classic, Because He lives, the line is because he lives, i can face tomorrow. the line isn’t because I am a monster of a human i can face tomorrow, one because that doesn’t flow off the tongue as well and two, because we can’t live apart from Him, who is risen from the dead.

Remember Christ Jesus, Risen from the dead.

I don’t want to sound like i’m repeating this point, but the rest of this passage, only works if we remember Christ Jesus Risen from the dead.

Like Paul is writing this from Prison, from a roman Jail, if Christ has not been raised, or if we just gloss over the fact that Christ is raised, the Paul sounds like a lunatic, “I know I’m in jail, but, you keep pressing on!” For the sake of what?

if Christ isn’t raised we don’t have a Gospel, we don’t have a hope.

Remembering Christ is Risen from the dead does something to you, remembering Christ is risen causes you to act accordingly, when suffering comes, Remember that Christ is Risen, he knows what suffering is and will sit there in it with you. When suffering comes, remember Christ Risen from the dead, because he is making all things new, He has defeated death and all things will be redeemed.

The Gospel is not bound SLOW DOWN

Okay so let’s keep going, we know Christ is Risen from the dead, Remember and act accordingly, now what do we do how do we act accordingly? Look at verses 9 and 10 2 Tim. 2:9-10

2 Timothy 2:9–10 ESV

9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

As House beat in to our heads when I was a student here, and I’m sure still beats in to the students here, what is the Therefore there for?

There for I endure, because Christ is risen from the dead. So we act like this.

We Act like the word is not bound, how we act is to act like the Gospel is not bound.

The Gospel is not bound. Paul says to endure everything for the sake of the elect, endure everything so that some will be saved.

Endure, this is the mission of the church, endure for the sake of the Gospel. In spite of suffering, remember Christ is Risen, because there is power in the Gospel the gospel is not bound.

Charles Spurgeon great english preacher, had this to say about the power of the Gospel. he wrote, “If the Gospel is indeed the gospel of God, and these truths are a revelation of God, omnipotence is in them. It is not possible, that the omnipotent Word can be bound.”

The message that we carry, has the power of God in it, think about that, the message of the Gospel carries the power of God in it.

That should tell us who we are and who we aren’t we are messengers of the King, no more no less. We are not here convince people in our own power that they need Jesus, but we are here to bring them a message, the Good News.

so a couple weeks ago, I was able to meet up with a guy who is planting a church just outside of London, and he was telling me how he came to know the Lord. he didn’t know the lord at all. he worked hard in finance and played hard, struggled with drugs and alcohol. and he said, “i was in a park about 8 years ago with my wife, marriage on the rocks, and a pastor just approached me, and told me, I’m supposed to come and pray with you and tell you that there are two eternal destines, Eternal redemption or the eternal judgment of God, and right now, you are under the eternal judgment of God. But Good new, Christ died for you and rose again. He shared the Gospel with him right there. and then was gone.

and when he finished telling me this he was like, and that was it, that message ate at me because i knew it was true, a week later i think he surrendered to the Lord.

and when you hear that you think man that is really blunt. but at base level that is what we are called to do, we are messengers, carriers of the message of the king.

That’s it, can you work on how you convey the message, sure, but the power of the Gospel can work and grow in any circumstance. Christ has called broken vessels to carry a prefect message. We are called to tell.

who has ever ran a full marathon in here? or even half marathon? 5k, any sort of running? anyones family get up and run 5k on thanksgiving? why? anyways, the word marathon it’s an endurance race, but it comes from greek history, probably most of you know the story, the greek army fighting the Persians at marathon and they win a battle the greeks had no business winning, this would be like if Ga Tech beat Georgia last year, — but anyways they win, but they see a Persian ship start sailing what towards Athens to try and claim a false victory and get Athens to surrender.

So this guy takes off, drops all his armor, weapons, everything, runs the whole distance from Marathon back to Athens, gets to the assembly bursts in there and exclaims we won! then he dies. I know you’ve heard that story. but he ran, he endured, he was carrying the message of victory. He tells the message, and then he dies. right there on the spot. We don’t even know really know his name, scholars debate, which is code for scholars have no clue, we don’t know the name, we don’t know much, but we know his message.

That is the Gospel, it doesn’t matter who you are, doesn’t matter where you were born, the Gospel changes you and tells you to take this message, take it, tell it, die, and be forgotten.

That is what we are supposed to do, we are messengers of the King. We are to endure, we are to unleash the message of the Gospel. the Gospel is not bound, we serve a God who is not bound, remember Christ is Risen from the dead.

Endure, through suffering, tell this message of the Gospel, of Good news, bring as many as you can with you.

One of my professors when it came to evangelism would tell us, we are just beggars showing other beggars where to get bread, so bring a line with you.

We are messengers of the King.

The Lord keeps His Promises SLOW DOWN

Okay let’s keep going, how do we know it’s true? Let me read the last bit here again 2 Tim. 2:11-13

2 Timothy 2:11–13 ESV

11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

The Lord keeps his promises, if you are in Christ, the Lord keeps his promises. He remains faithful.

And so look at this last part here, this is not original to Paul, this is probably a very early church creed, look at the way it is laid out on the page, at least on my page, it is broken out like a song.

If this, then this.

So Paul is citing an early church creed or hymn. This was how they endured, this is how they remained faithful. This passage is bookended with reminders, Christ is risen, Christ is Reigning. This is how, Paul is saying to endure, keep these thoughts present in your mind. So what is this creed saying?

It is saying the Lord keeps His promises. God is either calling us to himself for the first time or He is call us back to him.

God is saying, I am here, I have always been here, let me take your burdens, and you take mine, for His are light.

This is saying if He is with you, you are with Him. He is going to keep you, He is going to be there beside you.

Despite how we may act sometimes, the Lord is going to remain faithful.

Christ is our hope SLOW DOWN

So how do we remind ourselves daily and act accordingly? What does that look like? It looks like taking the Lord up on His offer, endure with Him, come sit by Him. Saturate your life with the goodness of the Lord, that despite our circumstances, the Lord is Good.

So when we remember Christ Jesus Risen from the dead, we are reminded that Christ is our hope. We are reminded that the hope we have is a hope that all things will be restored, the Hope we have is that Christ has a mission to redeem and restore this broken world.

So when we remember the hope we have, that hope invites us to join Him in his mission of restoration, invites us in to his mission of redemption. So that when we see the suffering in the world, when we experience suffering, when look around and realize this world is not how it should be, we know that we are the ones with hope.

The author of Hebrews tell us that in Christ we have an empathetic High Priest, one who has suffered like us and for us. We Him have seated at the right hand, a Savior who knows.

We have this Hope, that is, Christ can raise from the dead, God can restore all things, if he can restore Christ to life, he can restore this world to glory.

The new heaven and the new earth are coming. the kingdom is at hand and is now here.

if we endure, we will also reign with Him. He remains faithful.

We know how this ends, Revelation 21:1-4

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

So Church, what do we do from here?

if you are a follower of Christ

Look around us, ask the lord to show you what breaks His heart, and find a way to join Him in the mission of restoration.

Church do not lose sight of the Hope we have, for we are not a people who have no hope, no, Church we are the only people who have a hope that cannot be taken.

Let that hope fill you let that hope move you. Share that hope with the world. Share the good news of the hope we have.

Remember Christ Jesus Risen from the Dead.

For those of you in here who may not be a follower of christ, can I tell you that without Christ, you have no hope. you may think you have hope, but there is none.

but the good news is that, Christ died for you. Christ died so that you can live and join Him in the mission of restoration and one day you will be his people and He will be your God.

the Good news is that Christ is restoring all things and he wants to restore you. I’m not saying suffering will end, honestly, suffering might increase, but you will have a hope that will one day become reality.

Your suffering will turn to joy and your ashes to beauty.

So consider your life with hope and without hope.

Remember Christ Jesus Risen from the dead.

if there is anyone who needs to pray or talk, come see me, or find a friend, come see House.

but Come see Christ as Lord, Come see Christ as King.

y’all pray with me.