The Theatre of the Cross

Resurrection Sunday 2011

Title: The Theater of the Cross (phrase coined by the theologian, Calvin)

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, (Ephesian 1.18-20 NIV)

The tomb is empty...Christ is risen!!

How did we get here?

☛Garden/Fall/Flood/Tower/New Family/Covenant/Bondage & Exodus/The Law & Moses/New Nation/Judges/Prophets/Monarch/New Kingdom/New Tribe/Corporate Neglect/Destruction/Reformation/Promise of God’s visit...

☛Christ’s birth...Christ’s ministry...Christ’s claims & deeds...Christ’s Cross.

Cross: Displayed the Self-Humiliation of God (began with incarnation & ended with crucifixion)

• In my humble opinion, the self-humiliation continues as God lives in me!!

Cross has 4 major benefits by demonstrating 4 facets of God’s Divine Plan & Nature:

1. The JUSTICE of God
1. Execute justice against wrongdoers needed to happen
2. Cross=place of great shame & is a deterrent to others

1. The LOVE of God
1. 1 John 4.10 (He would send Jesus to die in our place...bearing our punishment)
2. God wanted to die for us rather than live without us!!
3. Gladys: “I’d rather live in his world than to live without him in mine”

1. The WISDOM of God
1. The ability of God to expertly carry out justice against our sin and love for our souls.
2. God’s needs for justice were met
3. Our spiritual needs were met

1. The POWER of God
1. Saved those who believed by restoring our fellowship & increasing our position!

Why? God’s plan was ALWAYS imputation vs. amputation.

• According to Gal 2:13-15 (Titulus): free us from bankruptcy by paying out dept and destroying incriminating documents
• Cancelled our debt or bond
• Wiped the slate clean...
• By nailing to Christ’s cross (Raynor story: made me take my finances more seriously)

☛Resurrection:

• Empty tomb symbolizes: Just as Christ’s crucifixion was ours too; so was his resurrection.

• Christ’s bodily resurrection/Our Spiritual Resurrection/Ultimate Raising of the Dead in Christ

There were many resurrections: Shunamites’s son, Jairsu’s daugher, Widow of Nain’s son, Lazurus, Eutychus by Paul, etc.

• They all have graves!!!
• They were brought to life; not raised to POWER!

☛Jesus’ resurrection:

• God’s Approval (Check out lanes)
• When I grow up..... In my next life...
• Who are you in light of Resurrection?
• Accepted by God
• Resourced with Christ
• Undefeatable by the devil

God IS glorified in:

• Christ’s cross
• Christ’s resurrection
• Our Christ-centered lives
• We have now become a part of the sphere where God rules.

Challenge:

#1 You’ve been raised from the dead...what graves clothes are you still wearing?

#2 God continues to be glorified as we lay down our lives to His purposes.

#3 Live Christ-centered, Heaven-resourced, Love-fueled lives!!

#4 Allow your life to reflect a Christ who experienced hell, escaped the tomb, is seated in heaven next to the Father & who lives to make intercession for us.

Know Your Place

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Know Your Place!: A Message to Misfits

Recap: Paul describes God’s gift of grace, then prayed for the ability to grasp and apply it.

Chapter 1: God’s plan concerning us

Chapter 2: God’s strategy to rescue us by and for lavishly loving on us

Knowledge= information

Wisdom= Power. Why? Wisdom= the application of knowledge. Putting it to practice.

(*Paul prays for wisdom so that the mind of God (knowledge) is put on display)

1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions (offsides) and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air (influence of dark powers of this world), the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh (our un-renewed mind) and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. (Ephes 2:1-3)

*Triple Threat (past sins, our sins, our own self-centered mindset) God freed us from all 3!! (This is one of scripture’s clearest definitions of salvation)

Remedy

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show (display upon us) the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork (poem...masterpiece), created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Eph 2.12-13 NIV) *Christ gave us the benefit of his righteousness just as were give the penalty of Adams violations. Therefore, Christians mustn’t apologize for the Centrality of Christ.

Ahas in Chapter 2

• Risen Christ in Heaven isn’t prone to forget us, our plight or our assignment
• Since we are in Him...let’s act like Him
• Horizontal reconciliation & vertical reconciliation
• God is Rich in mercy!------> Made Us Alive in Christ

Theological Insights

• Christ is central to salvation (why...not to compete...he claims divine origins therefore could deliver)

• When Christ was raised, it changed the status of every person who’d choose to identify with Him.
• God’s plan was to invite us into a salvation which was inaugurated without our help!!

• God’s workmanship: Product of God’s labor... we are not a perversion of good...we are the example of it. We are something that God takes pride in. We are not a mistake or an afterthought.

• Reconciliation is a cosmic reality: Earthly (with each other) & Heavenly (with Christ)

• Christ destroyed the dividing wall (elements of the law that separated Jewish community from the Gentile (non-Jewish) community.

• We are members of God’s Household
• We are not house-guests!
• When we work, it isn’t service, it’s chores!

Applications

• Pray that Paul’s prayer would come true in your life
• Seek out the reality of God’s presence in your life by seeking out reconciliation
• “If you don’t know how to act at home...you won’t know how to act out in public”
• Acts 19: Seven Sons of Sceva faked their position and withstand the evil forces of society. You cannot influence others POSITIVELY until you know who you REALLY are in Christ.

Assignments for the next 2 weeks:

• Read Acts 19 to look at examples of unity and spiritual authority, then read Ephesians 3-6
• Pray for your mind & and the minds of seekers to opened to the truth of God’s love & provision for them.

Purge

(Poem that accomponies my sermon Gideon's Purge from Judges 6-7)

I think I heard the Lord say “purge”

To cleanse, remove, deny the urge...

To allow my light & this world's sin to merge

Sin says "you’ve been good & deserve to splurge"

Sin goes on to say "God’s too good to scourge"

"Shoot if you fall, you’ll emerge..."

"This is America, respect the urge."

I think I heard the Lord say verge

Of where wisdom and power and revival emerge

Of when God’s word & love & will converge

Baptizing us in the Spirit’s surge

Filling us with love’s overwhelming gurge

Till God’s ways and my ways soon diverge

To live like this, Lord, I’ll need your “curge”

‘Cause I know I heard the Lord say to purge.

©Alexander Gee Jr 2011