Sunday's message was inadvertently not recorded. Below is the unedited, uncorrected manuscript that Jim used.
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
Wouldn't you love to be able to go back in time and witness all the events of Easter?
To walk with Mary Magdalene and the other women as they head to the tomb, feel the earthquake, see the angel roll away the stone, and watch the soldiers guarding the tomb pass out, revive, and then run away?
To run with all those who ran to tell the disciples, sprint with Peter and John back to the tomb. Witness Mary encounter the Gardner and find out is Jesus. Walk along the road to Emmaus with Jesus and the two disciples. Watch Jesus and the woman disciples, listen in on Peter and Jesus, and see the fear turn to joy as the apostles encounter Jesus together for the first time. Whew. What a day Easter was!
Imagine interacting with the High Priest, members of the Sanhedrin, Pilate, and folks throughout Jerusalem who had been raised from the dead as well... or the people who encountered them...
Wouldn't you have just loved to have been there? I'd probably be preempting conversations, interrupting people... warning the smug and encouraging the timid, the weak, and the fearful disciples... It's not what you think... it's not how it seems... He is risen!
Fast forward to the next scene. On another road. This one is to Damascus. No disciples present only enemies of the young church on their way to persecute. The resurrected Lord appears to their leader... Saul. And Saul is saved instead of damned, What amazing grace, marvelous mercy, and compassionate kindness.
Now Saul is Paul as we fast forward yet again. And Paul is writing, years later, to his Christian friends in what we now know as Turkey.
Paul informs them that he is praying for them. Praying that, among other things, that they might grow in, increase their experiential knowledge of, KNOW the greatness of God's power... his powerful working in them and on their behalf.
Paul tells them that this power that is at work in them is the same power - "power" being a descriptor of God's gracious activity and presence - the power presently at work in them is the self same power that raised Jesus from the dead on that first Easter morning.
Then he goes on to remind them of their past, he explains their present, and he points to their future... and all through the lens of this "power".
So, let's look at what Paul is saying to them and what God is saying to us. Ephesians 2.1-7. Now in the original language these verses are a single sentence with "God" being the subject and the primary verb being "made alive". A summary statement might look something like: "God made us alive in Christ... and here is all that that this entails..."
So, let's read Ephesians 2.1-7 ESV together and then briefly ask the text a few quick questions to get a feel for some of what is being said.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Now another way to summarize this for us today might be to say that "God has graciously saved us by his awesome power - the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead on that first Easter Sunday.
Ok, there is the text... and a few summary statements. Let's now move on to some quick questions so we can apply this to us this morning.
Why did God do all this? Verses 1-4 indicate that we needed saving from his wrath and judgment. And instead of giving us what we desired and richly deserved - eternal torment in hell - he forgave us our many sins out of pure mercy, grace and kindness and at great cost... the death of his Son on a cross.
What did God do? In verse 5 and 1.19 we discover that we were all dead... in sin... but that God made us alive... in Christ. God gave us new life. We share in the new life that the human body of Christ received when he rose from the dead.
Where did all of this occur? Wherever you were when you repented of your sins and put your faith in Christ. But in verse 6 and in 1.20 we see that the Easter story and our story have parallel places... stuff takes place in two locations.
On earth. We were in bondage on this earth. In bondage to ourselves... to our flesh... the sin within. And in bondage to the wicked ways of the world, the temptations contained within this fallen and wicked world and it corrupting culture. And we were in bondage to the ruler of a rebel and rival kingdom that deceived our first parents and continues to cruelly rule over all humanity to this very day.
That was then. This is now. God made us alive. God saved us. His power has now seated us with Christ in heavenly places. The slavery to the sin within has been broken by God's strong power. Culture's control has been neutralized as we now notice that our center of gravity has shifted from earth to heaven... where Christ is. We now see and seek after the things above instead of stuff down here that will one day go away. And the power of Satan? It has been crushed under Chris's feet as that old serpent is no longer our master. Christ is now our King!
And our Messianic King, the God/man... Christ Jesus? As the second Adam, THE promised seed, the head of a new humanity... he has been given unparalleled honor, total and universal authority, and ultimate and unlimited power as he shares the throne of God the Father, being seated at his right hand.
Seated, as his work on earth has been completed. It is finished! And his claim to divinity, sonship, and messiahship has been fully vindicated by his resurrection from the dead by God's mighty power.
When did all of this occur? In verse 7 and 1.21 Paul is basically describing our salvation. Salvation already accomplished because of Christ' virgin birth, his perfect life, his atoning death, his burial and resurrection and his ascension and exaltation into heaven.
A salvation already accomplished... but also actively and actually applied... power given to us today and every day. God has made us alive in Christ now. Christ is our life today. We possess eternal and abundant life here in this fallen world.
A powerful salvation already accomplished, actively and actually applied today and every day... and still offered by God to anyone here and anywhere who will come to Christ for this salvation. Anyone... anywhere... who will repent of their sins and run to Jesus and believe all that he has claimed about himself and his mission. Have you done this yet? Will you do it now? Today can be your first Easter too.
God powerfully at work in salvation then... now... and in the future too. We have yet to experience our full and final salvation. We still look forward to THAT DAY... the day Christ returns and we will receive resurrected bodies as well.
What a day that will be. Heaven and earth no longer separated. Paradise restored. God lavishly... in rich over the top abundance... pouring out even greater grace and power upon us in the coming age... in the next and best of all possible worlds.
When we proclaim He is Risen... He is Risen Indeed.... we are proclaiming: He lives - and lives forever! He reigns - and reigns forever!
And we also proclaim that the power with which God used to raise Christ from the dead on that very first Easter is the very same power that is at work in every Christian this Easter too. He lives! And he is our life. He reigns! And because of him, we are victorious in this life... and safe and secure in the next one as well.
No, we can't go back in time. But we can do this Easter what we might have done on the first one... we can lovingly warn the smug and encourage the timid, the weak, and the fearful disciples... It's not what you think... it's not how it seems...
He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!
Some questions to consider before Caregroup:
What family traditions have helped you prepare your heart for Good Friday and Easter?
What passages of Scripture or good books do you typically go to in order prepare your heart for Good Friday and Easter?
What would you like to do different next year in order to better prepare your heart (or your family) for Easter?
