Living the Resurrection

“The Christ Way”
Galatians 2:20

Father God
I believe, we believe that You are good, life is short, everyday is a gift, people are more important than things, fame is fleeting, this world is only our temporary home, hard times are meant for our benefit, and we can trust you completely when the details of our lives seem to be spinning out of control. Show us Jesus today.
In His name we pray, amen.

1. I want to begin with 5 experiences from my week…

2. shopping at Haggens – can meet all your fish needs for your Lenten meals – keep us in mind!

3. atheist gives eBay bidders a chance to save his soul

4. swim with a man whose wife went into a deep depression when her German Shepherd dog died. She believes in reincarnation & believed that her dog was her father reincarnated

5. reading latest book by Donald Miller – To Own A Dragon – where he writes God couldn’t make it clearer He wants intimacy.

6. during a weekly appt one of you asked me ‘how much of Jesus do you want? Don’t you want more of Him?’

7. such is the culture we live in & the messages it sends us – some good & some not-so-good. And then all week long I kept coming back to Galatians 2:20

Galatians 2:20
1. as I’ve studied Galatians 2:20 this week I’ve thought about the core beliefs of Buddhism, Hinduism & Islam (I’ve read about them on the internet). And how none of them have anything close to what lies at the heart of our Christian faith:
* a personal God who creates this world – creation
* who enters this world in the person of his Son Jesus – incarnation
* who dies for what he created as a part of his creation – the cross
* who rises from the dead to live in our lives by his Spirit – Spirit existence
* who calls us, predestines us, to become like his Son Jesus – repentance, change, transformation = sanctification
* who draws us into his very life & enters into ours
* who creates an eternity in which he will fully share his life with us

2. by far, hands down, this is the most amazing story I’ve ever heard or found. Beats reincarnation!

3. Jesus. He is the heart of our Christian faith. And Jesus is what sets our faith apart from every other world religion or belief system. It all comes down to Jesus.

4. now to focus our attention on Galatians 2:20

5. the first word in the sentence is Christ (Greek). Literally, with Christ I have been crucified. Christ defines what this verse is all about.

6. what do we learn about Christ in this single verse?
* 1st he is the Son of God
* 2nd he was crucified
* 3rd he rose from the dead
* 4th he loves us
* 5th he gave his life for us
* 6th we no longer live
* 7th he lives in us
* 8th his life is accessed by faith
You could build a fairly complete theology just from this verse alone!

7. our Christian faith is about something that happened. Something that happened to Jesus. Something that happened through Jesus. And then something that happened to us.

1st Jesus is the Son of God
1. all throughout the New Testament – gospels & epistles – Son of God means Jesus is Divine. He is God’s Son. Don’t call him just an extraordinary teacher – he’s far more! He’s God.

2. this is what got him killed. He claimed to be the Son of God. He claimed to be God. His countrymen couldn’t handle that. They did away with him, thinking they were upholding the way of God.

3. when we deal with Jesus we are dealing with God. When we deal with God we deal with Jesus.

2nd Jesus was crucified
1. he was nailed to a cross, suffered, and died. When you read Matthew Mark Luke & John you discover that the last 1/3 to ¼ of these gospels deal with his death. His death is the point of his life. The cross is revoltingly violent.

2. Jesus’ death on the cross is the most radical indictment of our hopeless condition imaginable. The cross is the historical, public, and open display of our hellish nature.

3. the crucifixion of Jesus communicates that the human race has been seriously damaged by evil. And what it needs isn’t simply better self-knowledge, or better social conditions. But help, rescue, from outside itself.

4. the cross tells me who I am – a loved, highly valued sinner. We are fallen. We are helpless. We are rebellious. We are separated from God. We have gone wrong.

5. if we were perfect. If we had our lives altogether. If we were walking in sync with our Creator. If we lived lives of purity & obedience & selflessness, there would be no need of the crucifixion of Christ.

3rd Jesus rose from the dead
1. I know this because Christ lives in me. A dead person doesn’t live unless he or she has been resurrected from the dead.

2. here’s one of the earliest Christian confessions of faith – for what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (I Cor 15:3-4).

3. the resurrection of Christ from the dead is what we celebrate at Easter. Our Christianity hinges on the resurrection of Christ. Paul forcefully & clearly tells us in I Corinthians 15 that if Christ hasn’t been raised from the dead then – faith is useless; so is preaching; faith is futile; we are still in our sinful condition; and those who have died are as dead as a doornail. They have no hope, there is no hope.

4. our faith is a living faith because Jesus is a living Savior.
4th Jesus loves us
1. who loved me. I think this is one of most riveting phrases in the entire Bible. Paul takes this grand, cosmic, historical truth of the death & resurrection of Jesus and personalized to himself.

2. it’s not for God so loved the world (John 3:16). It’s for God so loved Paul, me. It’s not for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men (I Tim 2:5-6). It’s there is one God and one mediator between God and me, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for me.

3. Paul gives us permission to take the person & work of Christ for the world and apply it directly, personally to ourselves!

4. Jesus is the Son of God for me! Jesus was crucified for me! Jesus rose from the dead for me! Jesus loves me!

Summary & conclusion
1. let’s stop right here & come back to Galatians 2:20 next week.

2. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus was crucified. Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus loves us.

3. is that what you believe? Is that what you base your life upon? If yes, I hope you want more & more of Jesus in your life. More of his Divine presence. More of his death to free you of what binds you. More of his risen life to empower & change you. More of his love to embrace & keep you.

4. if you don’t believe this, why not? Why not now? Why not say ‘yes’ to Jesus today?