Resurrection. We are a people of resurrection. We have crosses displayed because of what Jesus did for us willingly there, but the true miracle is in the empty tomb. But how do you put that on a chain around your neck right? Without resurrection we don’t have faith; we have a cult of personality—like a sad Elvis convention or something. Without resurrection, we follow a tragic martyr, who gave his life for noble purposes, but in the end came to nothing. Because Jesus conquered sin and death and hell when He rose again, WE HAVE LIFE. Amen?
As we examine Jesus last days this Lenten season, I want us to examine what resurrection means, where it starts and how it changes us. I want us to feel the power of resurrection as it helps us overcome sinful habits and empowers us to live rightly with God. I want us to experience the freedom that comes from bringing resurrection into the way we serve others.
Ultimately we understand the resurrection of Jesus and its power as we understand that He is sovereign over all. And we need to see that THE resurrection helps us understand that God desires resurrection in us—not just someday when Christ returns, but as our spiritual lives are revived, as we live the gospel authentically, as we gain power over sin and Christ’s life is formed in us.
This morning, I want you to turn to Matthew 16: 21-28 (Read)
It says in verse 21, ‘from that time on’. Well, I always want to know what happened just before that. If you look back in Matthew we see Jesus has just fed the 5000 then the 4000, and Peter has just confessed that Jesus is the Christ; the anointed one of God at Caesarea Philippi.
Verse 21 begins to explain that Jesus must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. Luke 9:51 says that Jesus “resolutely” set out for Jerusalem. That’s important. Jesus knew what was coming and was determined to carry out God’s plan for his life. In Marks gospel, he records that Jesus knew he’d be mistreated in Jerusalem: condemned, spit upon, flogged, killed and three days later, Jesus said, I will rise.
I will rise. He knew exactly what was coming. He didn’t get giddy about the abuse he was about to endure. Far from it. In the garden He prayed that if there were any other way, than to give his life, that would be good. But, he said, not my will, but yours be done.
Why would Jesus resolutely set out for his torture and death? Why would anyone? Paul answers that question in Philippians 2: 5-11 (READ)
Jesus took on the nature of a servant and went to the cross. May I suggest to you today that 1. Resurrection begins with obedience to the will of God.
Obviously we know that Jesus’ obedience to the Father ultimately led to the cross and then resurrection. But I think for us, for resurrection to find its place in us, begins with obedience too. You see God wants to see resurrection in us. We can call it life transformation, holiness, a shift so profound that nothing you look at is the same anymore. That’s what resurrection does. As spiritual children of the resurrection, we need to embody what resurrection can be, and it begins with obedience.
A man was so sick and he could not afford going to town to the doctor. The man lived in the deep back woods in an old log cabin, his condition seemed to grow worse. Out in front of his cabin was a huge boulder. The rock was massive in front of his place. One night in a very real vision, God told him to go out there and push the huge rock all day long, day after day. The man got up early in the morning, and with great excitement he pushed the rock until lunch, then he rested a while and pushed the rock until supper time. The man loved pushing against the rock, it gave him meaning.
The dream was so real that it was with great excitement he pushed against the rock. Day after day he pushed. Day rolled into week, and week into months, he faithfully pushed against the rock.
After 8 months of pushing the rock, the weak sickly man was getting tired of pushing the rock so much, in his tiredness he started to doubt his dream. So one day he measured from his porch to the rock, and after daily pushing the rock, he would measure to see how much he had moved the rock. After two weeks of pushing and measuring, he realized he had not moved the boulder not a 1/32 of an inch? As a matter of fact, the boulder was in the same place as when he started.
The man was so disappointed, he thought the dream was so special and now after 9 months he saw his work had accomplished nothing, he was tired and his dream seemed dashed upon the rock. The man sat on his porch and cried and cried, he had invested many hundred hours into nothing. Nothing, it was all nothing!
As the sun was sitting in the west, Jesus came and sat down next to the man as he cried. Jesus said, "Son, why are you crying?" The man replied, "Lord, You know how sick and weak I am, and then this dumb dream gave me a false hope and I have pushed with all that was within me for over 9 months, and that dumb old rock is right where it was when I started."
Jesus was kind and said to him, "I never told you to move the rock, I told you to push against the rock."
The man replied, "Yes, Sir, that was the dream." Jesus told the man to step in front of the mirror and look at himself. As an act of obedience the man stepped in front of a mirror and looked at himself. The man was amazed, he had been so sickly and weak, and what he saw in the mirror was a strong muscular man. The man realized that he had not been coughing all night. The man started thinking of how well he felt for several months and the strength that he had built by pushing on the rock. Then the man realized, that the plan of God was not for the rock, but for the man. Resurrection begins with obedience.
2. May I also suggest that Resurrection begins with a real longing. What is that, right? Longing is an intense desire to please God. In fact, you might have to have this before obedience can happen. Jesus set out ‘resolutely’ for Jerusalem knowing what was in store for him. In fact when Peter told Jesus that he wouldn’t die on his watch, Jesus called him a satan, an adversary, one who opposes the will of God. Jesus said, get behind me—this is something that has to happen, Peter!
This longing isn’t the same thing as hoping that Michigan wins in the final 4, or I really want to lose 20 lbs. This kind of longing is urgent because it responds to the will of God, and it obeys the will of God.
Eugene Peterson, who helped put together the Living Bible paraphrase said, “It is not difficult in our world to get a person interested in the message of the Gospel; it is terrifically difficult to sustain the interest. Millions of people in our culture make decisions for Christ, but there is a dreadful attrition rate. Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim. In our kind of culture anything, even news about God, can be sold if it is packaged freshly; but when it loses its novelty, it goes on the garbage heap. There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier Christians called holiness.”
Folks resurrection begins with the “Want to”. Do you want to change? Do you want to become more Christ-like? Do we have to re-package it so it’s new and exciting? I am talking about a crisis of faith moment here. Jesus invited his followers to go deeper with him, inviting them to eat his flesh and drink his blood. In other words, Jesus was calling them to so identify themselves with him and his priorities that they would be one with him. Today maybe for you, cultivating the longing for God is what Jesus would ask of you. How much of Him do you really want?
3. Third this morning, Before Resurrection can take place, a death must come first.
In verse 23, Jesus rebukes Peter because Peter does not want Jesus to die or even put himself in danger. It wasn’t his plan for Jesus. You can almost hear him thinking, “I didn’t come all this way for it to end in Jesus’ arrest or death—stop talking like that Jesus!”
We often mentally say, “I didn’t sign up for sacrifice and death. I signed up for peace I my life, for blessing, for heaven—not death.” And like Peter, we often refuse to let some things die and without death, there is no resurrection.
When bad habits don’t die—there is no resurrection. When our self-centered focus does not die—there is no resurrection. When our plans and dreams are more important than Christ’s call to obedience—there is no resurrection in us.
Let me remind you of what Jesus said in verse 24-25, “If any would come after me, he must take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lost it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”
Jesus resolutely set his face to Jerusalem—not like some sicko longing to be killed. But knowing he was being obedient to the Father, he laid down his life for us. Can I tell you that I am praying specifically this Easter season, that Resurrection would overtake us. I am praying that God would so radically shake us out of our spiritual lethargy, that the community around us will see it.
Are you sick and tired of easy Christianity—that offers no challenge—that allows you to remain unchanged, unredeemed, uninspired to live a godly life? Resurrection begins with resolute obedience. It begins as a longing that nothing else can fill. It begins as we put to death our will, our way, our lethargy.
Are you ready? Is God stirring in you? He wants resurrection in you today—not just for heaven, but right now. As we sing, I invite you to come and stand or knee before these altars as a sign of your commitment, as a sign of your obedience to God. Respond to him today. Put some things to death. Commit your obedience to him this morning.
Closing Worship: “I Will Rise”
Prayer.
