Date: 20/04/19
Sermon Title (And Listen here): The Resurrection Should Change Everything
Pastor Dan’s Thoughts:
We have now shared our first ‘Resurrection Sunday’ as RELOVUTIONARY Church and it was a blessed time of worship through song, prayer, God’s Word, communion, and fellowship. Pastor Jon brought the Word of the LORD to us as we focused on the centrality of the resurrection to our Christian faith and also the transformative impact that the historical veracity of the resurrection should have in our own lives.
We discussed how the resurrection is very much the make or break tennant of the Christian faith as per God’s Word through the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 where he posits this pertinent portion of Scripture:
“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Cor. 15:12-19)
If our hope in Christ is only in this life and not beyond it, then we’re of all people most to be pitied! This is provocative! Yet, Christ has been raised! We know this through the historical veracity of the resurrection which has been attested to by eyewitnesses, has been tested by various well-known opponents-come-Christ-followers, so forth and so on. However, this begs the question of those who aren’t following Christ, does that which you are putting your trust in have hope for you beyond this life? If not, then perhaps this Scripture speaks to you – and perhaps you need to put your trust in the One who makes you not “of all people most to be pitied” but rather of all people most to have hope for all of eternity and even so – eternal life – the Lord Jesus Christ. Won’t you trust in Him today?
Pastor Jon reflected upon the reality that what has historically held water when it comes to testing the validity of what a person trusts in trust in is the question: “Does it positively practice what it preaches?”
The reality in the life of the one who trusts in Jesus Christ is that they’re now indwelty by the Holy Spirit and consequently their lives are changed through the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. We spent considerable time reflecting upon this miraculous transformative power of God in the life of Peter – whom we know as the one who denies the Lord three times, even to a servant girl, as our Lord is on the way to the Cross of Calvary. Yet, this same Peter, indwelt and emboldened by the Holy Spirit, we see in the Book of Acts leading, preaching, challenging officials, and boldly exerting his faith in Christ the Messiah in every facet of his now-lived-existence.
Thus as believers we think: ‘What made Peter different?’ Because what made Peter different should make us different as well! The reality of Jesus rising from the dead made a substantial and quantifiable difference in Peter’s life. And so it should in ours. Not because we’re great or amazing, but because we’re indwelt by God’s Spirit who transforms us from the inside out unto the glory of God.
From historical tradition we know that all of the apostles, with the exception of John, died through some form of martyrdom. These early Christ-followers were driven by the conviction of Christ’s bodily resurrection from among the dead and this both transformed and consumed their lives, which they in turn poured out as offerings unto God for His glory throughout the remainder of their God-given days on earth.
Is your life, as a Christian, transformed by the conviction of Christ’s bodily resurrection from among the dead?
Is your life and times reflective of Christ’s primacy in your life – the fact that He truly is your Lord/Master?
The apostles were ordinary, common, uneducated men (Acts 4:13), and the Lord transformed their lives to the degree that as is often quoted “they turned the world upside down”.
What could/will the Lord do with your life completely yielded to Him?