Sermon Theme
CHRIST’S HUMANITY SEATED ON THE THRONE
Anyone of Importance Here?
How do WE rate ourselves? How important are we in the scheme of things?
“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Corinthians 1:26–29, NIV84)
We already possess a status that puts us way beyond the most lofty earthly position anyone can aspire to “Fundamental to New Testament Christianity is this concept of the union of God’s people with Christ. What constitutes the distinctness of the members of God’s new society? Not just that they admire and even worship Jesus, not just that they assent to the dogmas of the church, not even that they live by certain moral standards. No, what makes them distinctive is their new solidarity as a people who are ‘IN CHRIST’. By virtue of their UNION WITH CHRIST they HAVE ACTUALLY SHARED in his resurrection, ascension and session”. (John Stott- The Message of Ephesians)
“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30, NIV84)
LD 17 Question “How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?” Our problem in answering this is we might answer that question in terms of the future → our own physical resurrection
Yet our text does not speak about something future, but the here and now.
Sermon outline
- UNITED IN CHRIST’S DEATH & THE FREED FROM SIN
- UNITED IN CHRIAST’S RESURRECTION TO LIVE A NEW LIFE
- A FUTURE RADICALLY TRANSFORMED
Readings reproduced on this page:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, 1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Readings
John 20:1–18 (NIV84)
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone
had been removed from the entrance.
2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord
out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.
4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.
6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there,
7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the
linen.
8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.
9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
10Then the disciples went back to their homes,
11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb
12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know
where they have put him.”
14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15“Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said,
“Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
17Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said
these things to her.
John 20:19–31 (NIV84)
19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
22And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”
26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”
27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
28Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Text
Heidelberg Catechism: Lord’s Day 17, QA 45
45 Q. How does Christ's resurrection benefit us?
A. First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, so that He might make us share in the righteousness
He won for us by His death.
Second, by His power we too are already now resurrected to a new life.
Third, Christ's resurrection is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection.
Ephesians 2:4–7 (NIV84)
4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us
in Christ Jesus.