Resurrection Life Inside

There is this fantastic notion in the Christian faith that Jesus was actually raised from the dead by the Spirit of God.  It’s the core of our entire faith as Christians.  And if the resurrection is not real, then our entire faith is empty and in vain.

In I Cor. 15,  Paul addresses the question of whether there is a resurrection.  The sects of the Jews called the Sadducees believe that there is no resurrection, and we causing some believers to doubt.  

I believe this is why the Sadducees were Sadd-u-cee.  (I just had to through that out there.) for them there is not hope.

Paul explains that after the resurrection, He (Jesus) was seen by over 500 people.  There is irrefutable proof that Jesus rose from the dead. He also points out that if there is no resurrection we believers are still dead in our sins and of all people most pitiable.

The resurrection is crucial to the new life that is given to us.  Without that, we are no different than before the God-man came to us.

I love how the Message bible put is in Romans 8 around verse 12-13. “When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!”

Wow!  what a magnificent statement.  What a glorious promise for now, not the future.  It is not longer an expectation but a reality!  And I believe that if we believe in this reality, our entire way of life would change.

If we could see more clearly into the abundant life that Jesus gives us in the resurrection, we would access more of the benefits of this resurrection.  Let me name a few.

First,  an absolute release from the self-help and performance mentality.

What would it look like for us to come into the realization that Christ lives and works in me and that I do not need to help myself, but simply lean into the life that is already in me?

No more do-it-yourself living! No more coping with sin in order to get by!  No more searching outside of ourselves to find life because we have found the life source lives in us.

Second, we are adopted into God’s family

Vs. 15-16 of this same passage goes on to say this: “This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending live. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike ‘What’s next Papa?'”

Now we have a life of adventure and excitement because creator-God is our daddy!  Not more toiling in the slave-worker trenches of orphan life. We have been brought into the castle and adopted as His children!

Friends, if we could only take the time to settle this as a current reality and not a future hope, we would see our lives radically change.  We would move exponentially into the abundant life that Jesus has brought to us.

Let’s take time to do that this holy week.  Let the resurrection of Christ be your resurrection and start living life to the fullest.