REFLECTING ON THE RESURRECTION

This summer we’ve been on a theological journey of Bridging the Gaps, seeking to understand the trajectory God has His people on as He builds them into His people and incarnates His life into their lives.  On this journey last Sunday, August 11, pastor Scott Chamberlain took us to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  As I listened to his message, setting on the third row from the front on the left side of the Bresee Chapel, agreeing with every point he shared, I thought to myself how silly this must all sound to people who have not yet come to Christ.  Resurrection!  Come on now.  Isn’t that pushing it a bit?

This is what we believe, however.  That Jesus was raised from the dead is at the very center of all it means for us to be followers of the One we believe is, in fact, both Son of man and Son of God, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1: 29).  This faith statement, precious to us, for some is “a stumbling block” and for others “Foolishness” (I Cor. 1:23).  To us Jesus is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Cor. 1:24). He has caught us up into God’s amazing grace and we lived stunned and in awe that God would be so good. 

Spiritual things are spiritually appraised so I would ask, “What if the resurrection of Jesus actually did happen?  What if God chose to enter into human history, to live within the confines of the very world He created, and to take upon Himself the full weight of humanity?”  Sound outrageous? Of course it does.  Gods don't empty themselves of the perks that go with being gods. If there is any bending it will be done by the servants of the gods, and never the gods themselves.  There are some things that are just beneath the dignity of gods.

Yet, this is exactly what the God of the Bible did.  He came into human history in the person of Jesus, took upon Himself what it means to be human, died on a Roman cross, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and then, (are you setting down), rose up from that borrowed tomb, took up His life again showing us the height, depth, and scope of what it means for God to be God.

We Christians are a resurrection people.  In fact, we are a crucifixion-resurrection people.  What it means for God to be God gets all meshed into our lives and our lives take on a magnitude of meaning that comes from what it means for God to be God. Death couldn't hold Him because in the depth of what it means for God to be God, He is Life. 

In His life our lives are given a hope that is energized with an authority that permeates us and sets our lives on a journey of meaning that engulfs every part of what it means for us to be who we are.  Of this I would say don’t be too hard on people who don’t believe.  Love them.  Pray for them.  Live the life of a fragrant aroma among them.  Serve them.  Make God look good to them.  But, don’t be too hard on them?  Only God can touch a human heart and bring it to the place of understanding and believing.  Let the Holy Spirit do what He’s supposed to do, and let’s do what we’re supposed to do – live the life of a new creation.

Let me pass this off to someone who says it better than I could ever say it. In an Easter sermon preached around 400 AD John Chrysostom proclaimed,

Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.


He has destroyed it by enduring it.


He destroyed Hell when He descended into it.


He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.



Isaiah foretold this when he said,
"You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below."


Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.


It was in an uproar because it is mocked.


It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.


It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.


It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.



Hell took a body, and discovered God.


It took earth, and encountered Heaven.


It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.



O death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?



Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!


Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!


Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!


Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!



Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;


for Christ having risen from the dead,


is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.



To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!

Blessings on you,

Rick

  

REFLECTIONS ON THE CROSS

If you missed pastor Dave Robert’s message last Sunday, August 4, I would encourage you to check it out at www.montrosechurch.org/sermons.  He spoke to us of the reality of things that led to the cross of Jesus. On the cross Jesus experienced the outcome of life in a broken and sinful world. God, being just, and without sacrificing His integrity or our freedom, took upon Himself the wages of sin, stretched out his arms and died the death we deserved.

One of the many things we see in this is the distance God will go to reconnect with that one lost sheep who became separated from the other ninety-nine.  God's love moved Him to seek us out, invite us home, do the necessary work to get us home, lavish His grace on us, and then treat us like we had never gotten separated at all.  No wonder John Newton called it "amazing grace."

From before the foundation of the world God had a plan to redeem His creation, which He knew would choose against Him.  Adam and Eve, and you and I, didn’t catch God off guard and unprepared.  Knowing full well what we would do with our freedom of choice, God created the heavens and the earth.  In love He set the redemptive process in motion so that “when the fullness of the time came,” Jesus would enter into the storyline and make His way to a cross on which He would die for you and me. (See Ephesians 1:4 and Galatians 4:4).  This led Charles Wesley, back in 1738, to write these wonderful words

Amazing love! how can it be

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!

He left His Father's throne above,

So free, so infinite His grace;

Emptied Himself of all but love,

And bled for Adam's helpless race;

'Tis mercy all, immense and free;

For, O my God, it found out me.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free;

I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach the eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Amazing love! how can it be

God hasn’t been fair with us, has He?  Instead, He comes to us in great mercy and grace.  He enters into our stories and redeems us.  He takes us seriously and re-creates us into a people who live in light of the fact that God has loved, accepted, and forgiven us. The God who could have written us off instead “emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam’s helpless race.”   He shocked and stunned us all so much that we have to conclude with Mr. Wesley, “'Tis mercy all, immense and free.”

The amazing thing is that God has acted on our behalf.  I’m not quite sure how to process a thought like that.  It is so overwhelming, so incredible.  God has acted on our behalf, out of a love so deep that it bleeds for us.  Maybe we don’t have to “process” it to some sort of intellectual satisfaction.  Maybe this kind of love is simply to be received, accepted and embraced.  Maybe it’s okay just to let God be God, to let grace be grace, to let love be love.  Maybe it’s okay to live in a mercy that testifies, “My chains fell off, my heart was free.”  Maybe we ought simply to quit processing and do what Wesley did when he said to Jesus, “I rose, went forth and followed Thee.”  I bet a decision like this would translate into one great ride, wouldn’t it?

Blessings on you,

Rick Savage