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Easter 2008 ● I’ve discovered that you can believe a lot of really ridiculous stuff and still be a Christian (i.e. in Loch Ness monster, or that Elvis frequents a Burger King in Wisconsin, or that WWE is a real sport); but, you can’t believe that Jesus is still dead and be telling the same story. ● When we consider the resurrection, we have to consider it not as this awkward-shaped piece which we are struggling to make fit, but as an integral part of the story that we have entered as Christians. We are not, therefore, at liberty to either leave it out altogether or reshape it to fit our expectations or explanations. Resurrection is what defines the story. ● Early Christianity was decidedly a ‘resurrection movement’. They held that what God did for Jesus at Easter, he would one day do for the whole of creation; and at the consummation of God’s new world, it would demonstrate that God is right. That meant going through death and out the other side to a new kind of bodily existence and it would happen in two stages: Jesus first and everyone else later! ● The early Christians argued that the resurrection was God’s ‘stamp of approval’ on Christ’s work and a guarantee of his ultimate purposes: to rid the world of evil (all the corrupting influences on God’s good world) and to restore ‘shalom’- set things right. ● I also admit that sometimes it’s hard to reconcile all the claims about the resurrection with all the ‘disorder’ and ‘corruption’ we seem to still be experiencing. ● We find that the biblical writers were honest about our limitations. What we realize is that none of us fully experiences the implications of the resurrection life. What we do experience, they tell us is like a ‘taste’ of something to come; at other places it is likened to a ‘down payment’ or ‘guarantee’ of something we rightfully possess, but have yet to grasp; at one point Paul says the best we have is like a ‘distorted image seen through darkened glass’. ● So central to the message of Christianity was the resurrection that Paul said… 1 Corinthians 15:14 “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…” 1 Corinthians 15:17 “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins”. Jesus was just another poor over-zealous Galilean with a ‘messiah-complex’ who met the same fate as all the others before him. ►It is in the resurrection that the idea of atonement becomes complete. “Atonement”- every movement of God toward his creation motivated by his purpose of setting things right. ● Without the resurrection, atonement would certainly deal with the problem of sin, but would provide no power to transform our present life or the world in which we presently reside [like a scene from a storm ravaged community: the storm has subsided, but there’s no restoration]. 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 Atonement is not only about forgiving sins, but about restoring the image of God in us (‘icon’) so that we might implement God’s new creation and be ‘servants of reconciliation [to live as God’s new people in God’s new world]. “ministers of reconciliation”… Involves the constant struggle to bring God’s new world to bear in our every day, walking around lives. The tension often resulting in ‘conformity’ rather than ‘transformation’; called to live in this world, but to somehow walk out of step with it. I’ve often wondered, “What does the resurrection life look like?” ROMANS 8 [Paul gives us a grand overview of creation/new creation] vs1- “there is now no condemnation…”- that means very little to us unless if we think that sin is ‘no big deal’ or that God will not ultimately judge it. Remember, in God’s judgment we find his loving refusal to let things go on as they are; it’s his passionate response to all that he loves. Romans 3:25-26 “God presented him (Jesus) as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice at the present time so as to be just, and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus”. ● Paul starts by portraying the environment of the resurrected life as an ‘environment of grace’. When we establish an environment of grace, we forgive because we have been forgiven. We reach out and access the future so that a bit of our present can be restored; healed. So, since God is for us, we can be for the world! vs.9, 11-12- “But you are not controlled by you sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you”. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. Therefore, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.” (picture of indebtedness) ● The picture would be familiar to the Jews: their indebtedness to Egypt; obligation to serving their purposes. You don’t have to live as if sin controls you. You no longer have to be subject to your ‘urges’ or ‘impulses’. You are called to live as if the death Jesus died to and for sin, you died too! ►Resurrection is not simply an event to be celebrated, but a life to be lived! It says, in effect, “You don’t have to live like that anymore!” A bold statement? Fitting for such an extreme action as resurrection. ►Reconciliation requires that we ‘groan’ with the world and ‘intercede’ for the world’. vs.18- “… what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are… the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. All creation as been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. We believers groan even though we have the Holy Spirit within as a foretaste of future glory… And the Holy Spirit comes alongside us in our weakness…” Our present response to the current conditions and anticipated restoration: “groaning” (Gr. ‘deep sigh’). It’s what we do while we wait; it’s what we do when we’re overwhelmed. ● Paul speaks about the new life we have received and the birth pains that we encounter until delivery (i.e. when a woman first discovers that she is pregnant, often there are very little noticeable evidences. For the most part, she has simply had someone confirm the truth of a new life which is developing in her and although that new life is very real, she is yet to fully experience it). In the process, there is a great deal of turbulence and episodes where it appears that nothing much is happening. There is also a re-ordering of life in order to accommodate the arrival of the new life. In the meantime, there’s always a lot of ‘waiting and groaning’. ● The resurrection life requires that we meet the world at the place of its pain and stand with them for God, and with God for them. ►Ultimately, the resurrection was not just God asserting himself, or putting his power on display: it was an act of ‘love’. Romans 8:35 “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?” ● The resurrection was meant to defeat and eliminate everything that prevented us from knowing love. Love is not just a sentiment or fond posture toward us, but God’s determination to ensure that nothing would stand in the way of experiencing his dream for our lives. ►The resurrection says that no matter how destructive and corruptive the powers of evil currently on display in our world, they are not ultimate; God’s dream of shalom can never be thwarted. Resurrection is the ultimate triumph! What other effect can sin have on you if you refuse to stay dead!? ● The greatest evidence of the resurrection was/is the transformed lives of those who have chosen to identify themselves with Jesus and accept his invitation to participate in God’s new world.
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