Children of the Resurrection

S - 1 Corinthians 15:1-7, 14-17, 20-22 (NLT): "Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it--unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me--that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.  … And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can't be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins.  … But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man, Christ. Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other man, will be given new life."

O - The focus of this passage is the resurrection of Jesus. It is the resurrection which validates the preaching of the apostles. In fact, without the resurrection of Jesus our faith is useless and we are still under condemnation for our sins.  Why is there so little preaching on resurrection (except for Easter)?  Why is there so little focus on this in our day to day living?  Why is there so little emphasis on this in our witnessing?   Romans 10:9 "For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Why doesn't this say and believe in your heart that Jesus died for our sins (and he did)?  The entire context of God's Kingdom and Family and our place in it is the resurrection of Jesus not the crucifixion.  The resurrection is "proof" of Jesus' person; he is God's Son, the Judge of All, the Lord of All, the Savior of All, One with Father, because God raised him from the dead.  The resurrection is the context for all the content of God's Kingdom.  It is the basis of our faith and our requests (ask anything).  It is the basis for our interaction with God's being (nothing is impossible, nothing is too difficult, and nothing is too wonderful for him).  The transformation of Saul of Tarsus to faith in Jesus and our confessions of faith are to be based on the resurrection of Jesus from dead … and without this truth nothing else matters.  Let us feast and get drunk, for tomorrow we die. The cross and sacrifice of Jesus is not unimportant, it is not the end and ultimately not the point.  The source of our new life, real life, is found in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Our reconciliation to God was not completed on the cross but at the resurrection.  The cross was not for our amnesty but for our adoption … and this requires a completely new life … the old has gone and the new has come.  Even so, come Lord Jesus!

A - The jaws of death, the inevitabilities and the impossibilities of earth, the limits and liabilities of fallen humanity are all put on notice in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  His life, his irrefutable and irrepressible life is now in me.  He is in me and his Father is in me and his Spirit is in me … Christ, resurrected, glorious, all-powerful is in me (all believers) the hope of glory.  My worldly point of view is forever invalidated.  My logic, reasoning, evaluations, and beliefs are all to be inspired, shaped and based upon this awesome reality.  Why should any of us in any situation consider it incredible for God to raise the dead? While the fullness of resurrection reality awaits the day of the return of Jesus, its beginnings, influence and manifestations are now.  We are not so much soldiers of the cross (a phrase never presented in scripture) as we are children of the resurrection (a phrase used in scripture - Luke 20:36).

P - Lord who is the resurrection and the life,

I love you back.  Thank you for loving me and for making me a child of the resurrection.  I yield to your awesome brilliance, limitless power (resurrection) and extreme goodness.  Lord, your kingdom is a matter of power and so I ask for your power, your life, to come into me and to come out of me.  Help my thinking, speaking, acting, living to be like you, in you and empowered by you.  Let me be a reason others believe.  Thank for the finished work of your cross that I/we might live in the glory of your resurrection.
Listening and following,
Steve