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Tag: resurrection

Jesus is Lord

May 3, 2018 /

Jesus

Jesus is Lord. The earliest and most succinct words of confession. They echo Thomas’ declaration upon seeing the risen Jesus, “My Lord and my God”  (John 20′:28) and Peter’s stunning confession “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16) To say “Jesus is Lord” is an exclusive statement. There can be no other. All other powers, authorities, rulers, and nations are secondary to the authority and lordship of Jesus.

Over these past few weeks following Easter, we have been looking at the implications of the resurrection of Jesus. Our guide has been the writings of Dr. Stephen Seamands, and his book, Give Them Christ: Preaching His Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Return. We have explored many topics.

Jesus’ resurrection gives us confidence that the promises of God are true. He is wholly trustworthy and reliable. Even in the darkest of times, we know that righteous has and will be vindicated. God always gets the last word.

The resurrection of Jesus gives us hope that all is being and will be made new. For God so loved all of creation that he gave his son that all of creation might be saved.

The resurrection of Jesus means to be a Christ is to be one who has been saved from the penalty of sin, set free for the power of sin and who lives a life of holiness following the example given to us by Jesus. Our personal salvation is a charge to live a life worthy of the good news of Jesus.

Finally, this week we witness the resurrection of Jesus manifesting the Lordship of Jesus to the world. When we say Jesus is Lord we declare God’s unconditional and absolute claim.

First, Lord (Kurios) indicates the ‘unconditional claim of God in the face of the whole universe.’ Such a claim . . . includes cosmic lordship. As the one through whom all things were made (Jn 1:3; Col 1:16) and are held together (Col 1:17), he has absolute power over all created things. Furthermore, it includes moral lordship over the conscience of every human being. He has the right to place moral demands on us. It also includes community lordship. He is the King of Israel (Jn 1:49) and the head of the church (Col 1:18) and exercises divine lordship over the community of believers. Lordship, therefore, extends over every sphere of creation, every knee and tongue, every height and depth. No cosmic, societal, communal or personal space stands outside it. He is Lord of all, period. Consequently, . . . ‘There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ‘This is mine! This belongs to me!’ Second, lordship signifies . . . God’s absolute claim on us. He is Lord in all things and in every situation. Thate means there can be no other lords. He will tolerate no rivals. (Seamands 111)

The implications of Jesus’ absolute and unconditional claim of lordship upon all of creation cannot begin to be understated. In our debate and disagreements, we often seek to demonstrate that Jesus is on our side. To do so is to make Jesus submit to our intellect. In what ways might we instead invert our lives to be in total submission to him?

Jesus is Lord.

Blessings,
Stephen

 

 

Citations:

Seamands, Stephen A. Give them Christ: preaching his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and return. IVP Books, 2012.

Righteousness Vindicated

April 21, 2018 /

stone pillars

What’s the use of living a righteous life? Why bother wasting all of your energy trying to follow God and his commands? How can anyone even know what the right thing to do is anyway? Where was God when it mattered most? Are God’s promises even worth the paper they are written on? We prayed, why didn’t God come through and rescue Jesus? What’s the point to holiness? Why stand out in a crowd? Why live a life that is anything other than ordinary? See where it got Jesus? Dead, on a cross, like a common criminal.

While we will never know, these might have been some of the questions swirling in the heads of Jesus’ followers as they watched him arrested, tortured and killed. Questions steeped in doubt and confusion as to the reliability of God, Jesus, his word, and promises.

Over these past few weeks, following Easter, we have been looking together at the wider significance of Jesus’ resurrection. We have already seen that Jesus’ resurrection means freedom from the penalty of sin and our personal salvation. We have also seen Jesus’ resurrections means creation healed and the broken relationships between people and God, each other, themselves, and creation redeemed. Still, the significance of Jesus’ resurrection is even greater.

For Jesus’ followers, still consumed by questions, everything would change three days after Jesus’ death when he would be raised to life and walk, talk, and eat with them. As Jesus was raised from the dead, righteousness was vindicated. The character of God was tested in the public square and proven to be true and reliable by Jesus’ resurrection.

In the book of Deuteronomy, as the people of Israel is being formed into a nation Moses is giving the people instructions on how to live and who they should follow. He cautions the people to be careful of words spoken by one claiming to be a prophet:

“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods'(gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer . . . That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God. . .” (13:1-3, 5)

Jesus is a prophet who predicted his own death and resurrection three days later. Even more, Jesus was the one predicted by the prophets of old. In Luke 24, shortly after his resurrection, Jesus would join two travelers confused by the events of the past week on the road to Emmaus. As they walked along, Jesus, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in the Scriptures concerning himself” (vs. 27). Wouldn’t it be great to have a transcript of this conversation? As they walked along Jesus demonstrated to these travelers the faithfulness of God throughout history.

Jesus’ resurrection gives us confidence in the promises of God and true and reliable and the words of Jesus are faithful.

Blessings,
Stephen

All Things New

April 14, 2018 /

Sun over Daytona Beach

Easter is over. Target has marked the last of their pastel-hued sugar infused egg-laying bunnies 90% off and life has returned to its savage monotony. Yet the significance of Easter of far is from over. Last week the question was raised, what if the resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate at Easter means far more than just our individual personal salvation? Over the next few weeks, we are using a book by Dr. Stephen Seamands, Give Them Christ: Preaching His Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Return to help us explore the great depths of meaning found in Jesus’ resurrection.

In John 11 we hear the story of the death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. As would be expected Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, are grief-stricken and confused. Confused because Jesus didn’t come and heal their brother like he had healed so many others. In response to their questions Jesus says, “Your brother will rise again” (vs. 23). The words sound to us like the words of comfort we give so often at funerals. “One day you will see them again . . .” Martha agrees with Jesus, assuming he is talking about a future resurrection when God will set all things to right, but Jesus is not talking about some random day in the future, Jesus is talking about today. Jesus is pronouncing than an event, he is telling them the resurrection is a person, it is him, and the day of resurrection has come. The day has come when God will make right all that has been broken by sin, our “alienation from God, from each other, from ourselves, and from the land” (Snyder and Scandrett 78). The day every Jew ached with longing for had come.

“What was so stunning, then, to the early Christians about the resurrection of Jesus was not that God raised the dead. Like Martha, they already believed in a general resurrection when God would raise the righteous at the last day. What stunned them and sent them reeling was the timing of it. In the case of Jesus, the general resurrection, which was supposed to happen on the last day, had moved forward from the end into the present. What was supposed to happen on the final day had happened now” (Seamands 105).

Jesus’ resurrection does not mean all has been made new yet. The final redemption of creation is still to come. Still “the resurrection of Jesus has . . . set in motion the final redemption and transformation of all creation” (Seamands 108). The resurrection of Jesus means creation healed from the penalty of sin, death, the power of sin, and ultimately the very presence of sin.

Therefore, as Christians, we are people of mammoth hope. We are able to step into the absolute darkest of situations in life with extravagant hope because we know the power of sin has been broken and the day is coming when all of creation will be made new by Jesus and the very presence and effects of sin will be no more.

In summary, the resurrection of Jesus means not only personal salvation but also the salvation of all of creation. But even these just scratch the surface as we will see in the weeks to come.

 

 

Blessings,
Stephen

 

 

Citations:

Seamands, Stephen A. Give them Christ: preaching his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and return. IVP Books, 2012.

Snyder, Howard A., and Joel. Scandrette. Salvation means creation healed: the ecology of sin and grace: overcoming the divorce between Earth and Heaven. Kindle Ed., Cascade Books, 2011.

Photo by Ravi Pinisetti on Unsplash

But if Jesus is Raised

April 5, 2018 /

He is Risen

Dear Friends,

A few days ago many of us gathered in our churches for Easter celebrations and the retelling of the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. At my church we enjoyed a tremendous breakfast prepared by the men of the church, the children made and launched rockets (yes, you read that correctly) and our church family and many guests joined together for a great Easter worship service.

Of all the holidays and festivals in the church, for Christians, none is more important than Easter. Without Easter Christmas is nothing more than a weird and tragic story of a child being born. It is impossible to overstate the importance and significance of the resurrection of Jesus to Christians and human history. As Paul says, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17 NIV). But if Christ is raised, well then that changes everything.

While it is helpful to speak in generalities and say that “everything” has changed but what is the specific significance of the resurrection? Many of us would answer that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin so that we might have eternal life and get to go to heaven when we die.

This answer is basically accurate, but it is also significantly inadequate. The resurrection of Jesus means so much more. Over the next several weeks, with the help of a book by Dr. Stephen Seamands, Give Them Christ: Preaching His Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Return, we are going to dive deeper into the meaning and significance of the resurrection.

Before we get there, I want to ask you a question: What would you say is the significance of the resurrection of Jesus?

Please feel free to send an e-mail or post a comment. I would love to hear what you have to say.

Blessings,
Stephen

Does He still move stones?

April 20, 2014 /

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.
(Mark 16:1-4, NIV)

The women came to the tomb to complete the burial process on Jesus’ body. There was just one problem. A large stone stood between them and what they were to do. It was an impossible dilemma for the women. Or, at least, so they thought.

When they came to the tomb they found the stone rolled away. They also found out that the task they thought they came to complete was really something very different. They did not come to this tomb to prepare a body, they came to this tomb to witness and declare a resurrection.

This week, I was asked a question, “Does God still move stones?” I will admit the first thought that came to my mind was kidney stones . . . yes; my mind works that way some times. Once my mind came back to the actual question I was asked I started to think about what the stones in our life might be that he would move. I think the stones are impossible, immovable situations in our life. As much as we may push, scratch, claw, hammer, and chip away at it, we cannot move the stone. We are stuck in our tombs. We are unable to do what we are to do and unable to reach Jesus.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” We quickly miss that Jesus said this before he was raised from the dead. Resurrection and life are part of his very character and identity. They describe, in some way, who he is and not just what he experienced.

Jesus is our resurrection and life. Moving stones is part of his very character and being. Whatever the impossible situation in your life is, he can roll the stone away and say to you, “Come out!”

Blessings,
Pastor Stephen

 

 

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