RAISED WITH CHRIST
Over the last few weeks we've been looking at the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus. When Jesus announced to his disciples that he would be tortured and killed Peter was pretty upset. Even though Jesus said he would be raised to life Peter didn't want to see him go through that. But Jesus knew that doing God's will involved sacrificing our will for his so he used the opportunity to teach his disciples this valuable lesson.
Then we got into the dialog that took place between Jesus and the two criminals who were crucified with him. One of the criminals wanted Jesus to rescue him from his physical situation while the other wanted Jesus to rescue him from his spiritual situation. Jesus honored his request.
Then, last week I talked about the seven phrases Jesus spoke from the cross. We saw that although Jesus was suffering and dying he was focused on the needs of others. And we took in Jesus' deep emotion when he cried out from the pain of dealing with the Father forsaking him.
But today we focus on the resurrection; when sadness turned to joy. And since Jesus was raised to life, our sadness can turn to joy because through him, we too are raised to life.
1) "He's not here."
Matt. 28:1-10, "After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
It's understood that the sequence of events were the angel comes down, rolls the stone away, and the combination of earthquake and angel causes the guards to pass out in fear. Then Jesus resurrects and makes his way out of the tomb and then some time after this is when the women arrive on the scene.
So here we have the angel, just sitting on the stone, chillin', waiting for the girls to arrive. "Whassup?" He makes it clear that though they came looking for a dead man, he is instead a living Savior. "You're not going to find him here. Go ahead, see for yourself", as he motions for the women to go inside and verify.
In Luke's version, it states that the angel said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen!" I like that. It's like he's saying, "What are you doing here? This place is for the dead. Jesus isn't dead; he's alive; just like he told you he would be." So the women, trying to process all this, in their mixed emotions of fear and joy leave to go tell the others.
Then they run into Jesus. On the heels of having the unexpected scare from seeing the angel, followed by the unexpected joy from seeing that Jesus wasn't in the tomb, now they are dealing with the unexpected event of running into the risen Lord. They immediately fall to his feet in a mixture of worship and fear. Then he comforts them by telling them not to be afraid.
This reminds me of the song turned movie, "I can only imagine". The songwriter, Bart Millard, contemplates the scenario of what he will do when he meets Jesus. He writes, "Surrounded by Your glory, What will my heart feel, Will I dance for You, Jesus, Or in awe of you be still, Will I stand in your presence, Or to my knees will I fall, Will I sing hallelujah, Will I be able to speak at all?"
I guess at this point we can only imagine but I think it will be similar to what these women experienced; a mixture of joy and reverence. Then, Jesus will say to us what he said to them, "Don't be afraid." Regardless of how it will go the main thing is that someday we will have the awesome privilege of meeting Jesus because he is alive!
2) He has indeed been raised from the dead.
One of the last things Jesus said from the cross was, 'it is finished'. By this he meant that his work was finished regarding the payment for the sins of mankind and he was about to die. However, that didn't mean the mission was final. There was still a very important part of the equation left to happen. in fact, if the resurrection didn't happen then the sacrifice would've been in vain.
1st Cor. 15:12-20, "But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."
"But". This word is used a few times in this passage but the last one is the best one. But we are not pitiful, we are not still in our sins because Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead! Amen! Everything hinges on the resurrection. Find the body of Jesus and all hope is lost. Prove the resurrection didn't happen and everything is a farce.
Prove that Jesus is still dead then I will convert to Judaism because the Messiah has not arrived yet. But, that will never happen because Jesus did rise from the dead. No one has ever been able to prove otherwise.
And, if the disciples came and stole the body, as was reported, then you have a bunch of men willing to die to keep a lie alive. It's understood that all the Apostles except for John were killed for their faith. I might be able to carry on the facade for a while (but even then I don't know why I would), but I would definitely not be willing to continue the fabrication when faced with death. That would be the deal breaker.
Granted, there are many people who follow cult leaders and die for a lie. But they are dying for what they believe to be the truth. But you won't find anyone who would willingly die for what they knew was a lie.
And Jesus being alive was not a figment of the disciples' imagination; it wasn't psychosomatic where they fooled themselves into believing it was true because they wanted it so badly. The disciples were skeptical at first; they didn't really believe Jesus had rose from the dead until they saw him with their own eyes.
And it wasn't just the Apostles that saw Jesus. 1st Cor. 15 says that after Jesus showed himself to the Apostles he appeared to more than 500 others. And the Jesus sightings happened over a period of 40 days. Were all these people delusional? Jesus has indeed rose from the dead and our faith is not in vain.
3) Raised with Christ.
We who believe are not mistaken, we're not naive; we're blessed. Blessed because we too, are raised from the dead; we go through our own resurrection. It happens two ways and at two separate times in our lives. The first time it's spiritual and it happens when we're baptized; the second time it's a literal resurrection, when the dead in Christ are raised at the end of time. Let's focus on the first one.
Rom. 6:1-4, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
Paul is connecting our baptism to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Our faith in Christ moves us to repentance and then we get baptized. When we are lowered into the water, that represents our death and burial. In this our sins are being put to death and buried; they no longer cling to us.
So when we come up out of the water we are made new. We might not look any different but spiritually we are completely different. In our sins we were dirty and putrid. Spiritually we had the stench of death all over us. But then we were washed; we were cleansed; we were purified and we became whiter than the snow.
Also, in this process we are dying to self. At our baptism we officially committ ourselves to live for Jesus. That's why Paul says we died to sin, how can we choose to live in it any longer; for we were made new. We are no longer dead in our sins so we choose to no longer live how we once did. We have a new nature; a new spirit-the Holy Spirit-living in us. He enables us to live a righteous life and please God. When we were born-again we were raised in Christ.
4) "As for you."
Eph. 2:1-10, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
In the preceding verses, Paul said he prayed they would know the incomparably great power that is for us who believe; the power that rose Christ from the dead. Then he went on to highlight how Christ is seated at God's right hand in the heavenly realms far above all rule and authority, power and dominion and how Christ is the head over everything for the church.
Then Paul starts out chapter two by saying, "As for you". If you've ever heard this phrase before you probably weren't too thrilled. Somebody next to you was getting chewed out and then they turned to you. "And as for you". But in this case, it's a good thing because it's addressing something positive.
Although it doesn't really seem that way when he starts out. If the attention shifted to me and I'm hearing, "As for you", followed by phrases like, 'dead in my sins', 'following Satan', 'disobedient' and 'object of wrath', I wouldn't like it; these are not the warm fuzzies I would want to hear.
However, what makes it a positive is the past tense terms he uses. 'Were', 'used to live', 'At one time'. This helps me to realize that I'm not who I was. Yes, I still sin but I'm not the person I used to be before Christ; before I was raised to walk in newness of life. This is supported when he gets to verse four, where another transition takes place.
"But". This is a good but. There are some not so good buts out there. 'You're a great guy, but, I don't like you like that'. 'You're a smart and talented lady, but, we gave the position to someone else'. 'Derrick, that was a great sermon, but, I slept through most of it'. In this case, we have a good but. Paul is saying, 'all these bad things were once true of you...but, now you have been made alive in Christ. But now, you have been raised with Christ'.
Spiritually, we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. Isn't that wild?! I might be looking down at myself right now! I can't think about that for too long or I'll freak myself out. We might not understand how that all works-but-that's what the book says so we believe it.
We have been saved by God's grace through our faith in Christ. God's gift of salvation has been bestowed upon us and we now are in the process of being made into the image of Jesus by the master craftsman. And so we respond to that indescribable gift by committing ourselves to do the good works that God has prepared for us to do. Now our focus is on serving God's agenda instead of our own. We now set our hearts on things above.
Col. 3:1-4, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."
"Since then". Since we have been resurrected and live a new life, there's an expected response we should have. Before I had talked about dying to self. In verse five Paul says, "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature." Then he goes on to list some of those things. And in verse 9 and 10 he says, "since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator".
So in this passage Paul mentions some things we are to stop setting our hearts on (sexual immorality, greed, anger, slander, filthy language, etc.), as well as some of the things we are to start setting our hearts on (compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, love and the like). Since we've been born again, since we have been raised with Christ, we need to replace the old with the new.
5) "Stand firm."
1st Cor. 15:54-58, "When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
Where o death is your victory? Where o death is your sting? It's not there; it has been dealt with, it has been conquered; it has been removed. Because of Jesus' resurrection, death does not have the final say-Jesus does! Eph. 2:1 says we were dead in our sins. Now, because of Christ's victory over death, we who believe have been made alive through him.
And since we have been raised with Christ, we are victorious over death; and that includes the sting of death which is sin. We now have the power to be victorious over the power of sin in our lives. Through Christ the penalty of sin has been removed and the power that sin had over us has been removed. Thanks be to God; he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, don't allow anything to move you from your secure position in Christ. Whether it's tragedy or financial setback or relapse or whatever; we have the power to not allow anything to pull us away from the Lord. Satan will try all sorts of way to move our minds away from being centered on Christ. He will try to get us to veer off the narrow path.
And a good way to keep that from happening is to give ourselves fully to the Lord's work. This isn't saying we all need to quit our jobs and become full-time ministers. But we need to strive to always be in the mindset of serving God. Never tire from being useful to God.
Think about how we can do more for the Lord. Pray for opportunities to do his work wherever we are. How can I serve him at work, school, around my friends, in the store, in my home?
Having our thoughts focused on godly things is the Lord's work. Praying is the Lord's work. Studying his word, going to bible study, getting together with people, helping out-all the Lord's work.
Sometimes it can seem daunting; sometimes it can seem unfruitful. Sometimes we wonder why we're doing this. But, don't give up because it is bearing fruit-some of which we can't see. The work we do for God is never in vain; he sees it and he will reward it.
Therefore, we stand firm; we keep going. We echo Paul's words in Phil. 2:14, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." It's all because we have been raised with Christ.
Poem by Annie Johnson Flint, "Some of us stay at the cross, some of us wait at the tomb, Quickened and raised with Christ yet lingering still in the gloom. Some of us ’bide at the Passover feast with Pentecost all unknown, The triumphs of grace in the heavenly place that our Lord has made His own.
If the Christ who died had stopped at the cross, His work had been incomplete. If the Christ who was buried had stayed in the tomb, He had only known defeat, But the way of the cross never stops at the cross and the way of the tomb leads on, To victorious grace in the heavenly place where the risen Lord has gone."
