How Jesus' Resurrection Directly Empowers Us (John 20, 1 Cor 15, Col 3)

New Testament Theology, Christian Life

The resurrection of Jesus was not simply coming back to life, but the start of a new kind of humanity. It gives us access to a new kind of life within us—empowered for victory.

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Goal:

To get why understanding what happened at the resurrection is so important, and to live our lives in its power!

How Jesus’ Resurrection Directly Empowers Us

  1. The resurrection of Jesus was not simply coming back to life, but the start of a new kind of humanity (and reality)
  2. This “new kind of human” has already begun in us.
  3. We need to live out this new identity.
  • Traditionally the resurrection has been given second place to Jesus’ death on the cross
    • It just proves that he really died, and enables him to still be alive
    • But it is the very foundation of our new existence
  • John Murray has said that one of the main sources of weakness among Christians is the failure to grasp this truth and it’s implications.

John 20 – The Resurrection

  • read first 9 verses
  • What was the difference between Jesus’ resurrection and Lazarus?
    • What did Lazarus look like when he came out?
    • Jesus could just pass through the cloths
  • What else could he pass through?

John 20

  1. Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
  2. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
  3. Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
  • Yet could be touched and eat food (other Gospels)
  • Why was he not recognized immediately (Mary Magdalene, the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus) (Perfect youthful appearance with no wrinkles or aging)

Would you recognize this guy?

Would you recognize this guy?
  • So that was John, let’s look at what Paul adds to this:
    • Paul has a very powerful presentation of what the resurrection means in 1 Cor 15
    • He has been talking about sowing a tiny seed, like a grain of wheat, which is buried in the ground
      but what grows up is a whole new plant

1 Corinthians 15

  1. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
  2. The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
  3. The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.
  4. Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are of heaven.
  5. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.
  • Adam was made of atoms and molecules, the stuff of this world,
    but Jesus... What stuff is he made of, dust?

The Two Creations

Old Creation New Creation
Adam Christ
Dust the Spirit
Perishable Imperishable
  • Second Adam
  • Born of the Spirit, not dust
  • One of the most dramatic descriptions of the resurrection is in:

Colossians 1:18

And he is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead,
that in everything he might be preeminent.

  • Firstborn from the dead: The first of a new humanity - New Creation

2. This has begun in us

  • It turns out that for us, this happens in two phases
    • The new creation begins in our hearts the moment we are saved
    • But we don’t get part 2, the new body, until Jesus returns.
  • This is not what believers in the time of Jesus were expecting!
    • Jesus has actually begun the new before the old is ended—an overlap

Born of the Spirit now

  • John 3
    1. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
  • 1 John 4
    1. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
    %stronger language than adoption! —we become his children, carrying his DNA inside us%
  • Galatians 5 %we see what it is like for use to have this new life of God in us, but still have the old at the same time.%
    1. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

3. How this impacts us now

  • How Paul describes this
    • Spirit and flesh pulling different ways
    • Noticing the new life in us with new desires, and the part of us that wants to go back to the old way
  • See there is a new entity within us, born of God and wanting to love:

Born of the Spirit now

  • 1 John 4
    1. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
  • Galatians 5
    1. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
  • This is very well put in Col 3:

Colossians 3

  1. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
  2. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
  3. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
  4. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
  5. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you...
  • This perfectly describes the tension that is within us:
    Putting to death the urges of the old, and privileging the new life of God
  • I’m going to end by reading one of the most encouraging verses that speaks to this topic:
  • Paul’s prayer. I just love these verses:

Ephesians 1

  1. having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
  2. and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
  3. that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
  • Paul is preaching my message for me today!
    • You don’t have to live in the old way
    • You have the immeasurable power that raised Jesus from the dead available to you
    • Part of our problem is that we are not aware of what we have
  • Andrew, this is all very abstract. How do I actually get in touch with the new life in me?
    • There is a simple way of determining the origin of any thought:
    • Does it come from love
    • An urge inside to love others,
      Or a feeling of being loved
  • Paul puts this so beautifully later on in the chapter we read from earlier:

Colossians 3

  1. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
  2. bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
  3. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
  4. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Examples of old and new voices

  • Nobody loves you
  • I am a loser
  • Of course I make mistakes—because I’m human, but God loves me anyway—I am secure.
  • I am fundamentally broken
  • If I was really a Christian, I wouldn’t have these bad thoughts
  • That person is annoying me, but let me pray for them right now
  • Don’t over-analyze: If you think: “It’s nearly April, I should get my taxes done!”, or “I feel like a cup of coffee”
    • You don’t have to start worrying about where it came from—it is just a thought!
  • My prayer is that Jesus’ resurrection won’t just be a story that we read in the Bible
    but it will be the key to victory in our lives
  • We will know what it means for the power that raised Jesus from the dead to be accessible to us.
  • Notice the new voice within you
    Privilege it over the old voice

 

  • 2 Cor 5:17 “I am a new creation in Christ.
  • Eph 1:19–20 I want to experience more of “the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand…”
  • Gal 2:20 “it’s no longer I who live but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.”
  • Phil 4:12–13 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Galatians 2:20

It’s no longer I that liveth,
But Christ that liveth in me.
It’s no longer I that liveth,
But Christ that liveth in me.

He lives, He lives,
Jesus is alive in me!
It’s no longer I that liveth,
But Christ that liveth in me