BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING
Romans 4:25
(This sermon and the subsequent series is inspired by the sermon series BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING, by Rick Warren of Saddleback Valley Community Church.)
I think one of the easiest traps we fall into is taking the blessings of God for granted. We are so blessed in so many ways and yet we often just assume that we have a right to it. We often forget that most of the world is barely struggling to survive.
Let me just put this into perspective. According to the International Programs Center, U.S. Bureau of the Census, the total population of the World, projected to last Friday night at 10:14 PM EDST was 6,359,256,483.
*If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a bed to sleep in you are richer than 4,769,442,362 people in the world. You¡¦re in the top 25%. You are blessed.
*If you have any money in the bank, some money in your wallet, or just some spare change in a jar, you are richer than 5,850,515,964 people in the world. You are among the top 8% of the worlds¡¦ wealthy. You are blessed.
*If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation, you are better off than five hundred million people in our world today who have experienced those things. You are blessed.
*If you can attend a worship service without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are more blessed than three billion people on this planet. What we¡¦re doing right now is illegal for three billion people somewhere in the world. You are blessed.
We forget how blessed we are. That¡¦s why we¡¦re starting today a new series called, ¡§Blessed to be a Blessing.¡¨ Not only are we blessed in material and physical ways, we are blessed by God in spiritual matters, also.
Last week, we focused on how Jesus paid our sin debt as He gave His life on the cross. Fortunately the story does not end there. As a matter of fact, today is when the story really gets good. Just look what Paul writes to his friends at Rome:
Holy Bible, New Living Translation Romans 4:25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God.
Jesus died so that we could be forgiven from our sins, and he rose again so that we could have a relationship with God when we accept Jesus by faith. So what about the blessing of God that we have because of the resurrection? Is it really true? Did Jesus rise from the grave? Let¡¦s plunge into our story and see the:
Evidence of the resurrection:
First there is the:
„h The empty tomb
Today we put somebody in a coffin. We put them in the ground and we cover them up with dirt. Then, they buried people in caves. After Jesus died they put His body in a cave hewn in a rock and rolled like a giant millstone in front of the mouth of the cave..
Matthew 27:59 Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long linen cloth. 60 He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great
stone across the entrance as he left.
Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man who had bought the cave for his own family burial cave. It had never been used before. So they wrapped Jesus¡¦ body in the linen cloth, put Him in the tomb and rolled the stone in front of it.
But that¡¦s not all, the enemies of Jesus were so worried they asked Pilate to put guards around the tomb. They said, ¡§While Jesus was alive He claimed that He was going to come back to life in three days.¡¨ So, Roman soldiers guarded the grave to make sure no one stole the body. But boy were they in for a surprize!
Matthew 28:1 Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to see the tomb. 2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, because an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled aside the stone and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell
into a dead faint. 5 Then the angel spoke to the women. ¡§Don¡¦t be afraid!¡¨ he said. ¡§I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn¡¦t here! He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.
Notice that no one took the body because the soldiers kept their guard. Not even the angel rolling the stone away, was necessary for the body of Christ to be released from the tomb. The angel didn¡¦t open the tomb to let Jesus out, but to let the world see that Jesus was not there¡KThe tomb was empty!!!
Not only is there the evidence of the empty tomb, but look at:
„h The empty grave clothes
John 20:3 Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. 4 The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn¡¦t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus¡¦ head was folded up and lying to the side.
Peter and John saw the grave clothes, the linens, lying there as if the body had just vanished out of them. They were still in the basic shape of the body. But the head piece was folded by the side.
Yet the empty tomb and the empty grave clothes are not the extent of the evidence, let me introduce you to:
„h The eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ
We have already mentioned the women and the disciples but check this out
Acts 1:3a During the forty days after his crucifixion, he appeared to the apostles from time to time and proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive.
Notice it wasn¡¦t just a one-time deal. That could have been explained away as perhaps just a emotion induced hallucination. For 40 days He continued to appear to them. That¡¦s why about half the city of Jerusalem, a city of about a quarter million people, became believers. Archeologists and historians tell us that within twenty years of the resurrection, between 100,000 and 125,000 believers lived in Jerusalem. Why? There was a large number of believers who were eyewitnesses.
1 Corinthians 15: 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. 6 After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are
still alive, though some have died by now. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, I saw him, too, long after the others, as though I had been born at the wrong time.
The evidence of the resurrection is staggering, but that isn¡¦t the most amazing thing. Let¡¦s now look at the:
Results of the resurrection:
Here¡¦s a little secret just for your benefit. The power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, it is available to you to help you with your problems if you let Jesus Christ in your life.
„h The power of God made available to you
Romans 8:11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.
Ephesians 1:19 I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God¡¦s right hand in the heavenly realms.
If I were to ask you how many of you wanted God¡¦s blessing on your life every one would raise their hand. Yet God is more anxious to bless you and put His power to work in your life than you are to let Him. The truth is you¡¦re not waiting on Him. He¡¦s waiting on you.
Not only has God made His power available to you, but He has ministered through His Son to put us in:
„h Right standing with God
God has already taken the first step so you can be blessed.
(New Living Translation Romans 4:25) He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God.
God made you. And He made you to know Him, to love Him, to serve His purposes here on earth and then to live with Him in eternity.
Yet, you have not known God. You have not loved God. And you have not served His purposes here on earth. The Bible calls this sin and it says we¡¦ve all done it. You¡¦ve done it, I¡¦ve done it. We¡¦ve all gone our own way.
That is why God sent Jesus Christ to come to earth to bring you back to Himself. He came and died on the cross so that all the things you¡¦ve done wrong could be forgiven.
Then Jesus rose from the dead so you could come back to God.
Perhaps today is the day that you finally see the need to let God have His way in your life. At the end of trying to do it our way, we can come to God and say:
¡§Dear God, Thank You for getting me here today so I can know about You. Thank You for making it possible for me to know You and to be loved by You. God, I¡¦ve lived for myself and not for You. I¡¦m sorry for that and I ask You to forgive me for the things I¡¦ve done wrong in my life. I want Your blessing on my life. So today I give my life to You, God, through Jesus Christ. Amen.¡¨
Some of you prayed that prayer today. Congratulations, you just stepped across the line from death to life. You have made the most important decision ever in your life because it determines your eternal destiny as well as the direction of your life here on earth.
The purpose of Enon Chapel is to help you grow and understand that decision. If you made this important decision today, I want you to step out in the aisle and make your way here to the front during the invitation song that we are about to sing,. By doing that, you will be saying, ¡§I¡¦ve committed my life to Christ.¡¨ We¡¦ll pray with you and give you some material that will help you get started in the Christian life.
