What do we think of the resurrection of Christ? That is, what do we really think, not what we might feel we are supposed to think. The burning question is what does the resurrection of Jesus mean to us personally?
At the very least it ought to be accepted as a fact, which was more than some of the disciples initially managed. We recall from the reading of Mark 16 that Jesus “upbraided them”, that is, he gave them a stern rebuke because of their unbelief. How shall they successfully preach a risen Lord if they did not believe it themselves? But the resurrection must mean considerably more to us than that. The fact of the resurrection, we are reminded by the Apostle Paul, means that our faith is not vain, we have hope of salvation. Now that is very good news indeed and ought to be the cause of rejoicing and thankfulness; but the resurrection must mean even more to us than that. In that Christ is the firstfruits, we understand that we shall see loved ones again as Martha said of Lazarus, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” The Apostle Paul invited us to comfort one another in our grief with this thought. All those things are true enough and each in their own way of great importance and yet we have still not considered the real spiritual significance of the resurrection.
Consider Paul’s words, “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Rom 6:9–13).
Dead and alive
From this we can see that here are two critical concepts which Paul draws from the resurrection of Christ and applies personally to each and every one of us. We must be dead to sin – alive to God.
This is what resurrection is really about and it is this that we wish to explore a little by way of exhortation. The concept of being dead to sin is expressed twice by the apostle in Romans 6. When speaking of what we should feel about the old man in verse 11 (“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin”), Paul uses the Greek word nekros (“dead”) from which comes our English prefix necro- that which has to do with death. So what we should feel about the old man and sin is that it is dead and gone. We all wish that were the case but the fact of the matter is, when we consider the Greek word in verse 2 which is the word for dying, we are reminded that it is a process. Are we trying to kill the impulses of the flesh at one time and then perhaps at other times performing CPR on our lusts?
That this is a process is confirmed by the apostle in Colossians 3 where he treats the same subject as in Romans 6. In Colossians 3:5 the injunction is to mortify (nekroo) our earthly members. That is, they ought indeed to be dead. We must all give assent to that, yet how frequently are we reminded that the process has not been completed yet. Verse 3 says, for ye are ‘dying’ and “your life is hid with Christ”. Unfortunately, despite how much we might have desired it, there was no immediate and complete death of the old man at our baptism. As Brother Carter said in commenting on Romans 7, “There is, indeed, a repudiation of the old, but who does not know that it still exists and asserts its power? Who would not wish that it were eliminated entirely?”
Jesus had to spiritually put to death the flesh and live a risen life. This laid the basis for him physically dying to sin and being raised to immortality. For us the spiritual is now. God will not change our vile body if we embrace it. If we declare our body to be vile indeed, if we denounce the things of the flesh, if we strive to kill off our fleshly lusts then we may rest confidently in the knowledge that God will complete and perfect what we can but attempt. This is no concession to lust. We may not, we must not feel that since sin is inevitable therefore we shall capitulate. Surrender to sin is unthinkable. Let us, dear brothers and sisters, be strengthened to continue the fight to kill off sin. Let us help each other in our struggle.
This is no easy task. Daily it is becoming more difficult. We find ourselves living in a world where sin is celebrated, or worse, the average person does not even recognize what sin is and they ‘could not care less’. If the apostle was correct when he warned that “bad company corrupts good morals” then we are facing an uphill battle living in a 21st century Sodom. Ask yourself, is my soul vexed from day to day in seeing and hearing the unlawful deeds of the wicked about us? Lot’s was; and the Apostle Peter commends him for it. Our country is governed by a coalition headed by a fornicator and a homosexual. Does that vex us? We may be certain they will promote and hasten moral decay and we should be doubly on our guard.
We are all aware of the parable of the man who had a devil and removed it. Unfortunately he replaced it with nothing and the devil on his return brought seven friends as vile as he, and the final state of the man was worse than in the beginning. The sins of the old man are like the devil which plagued the householder. We must get rid of them, but in so doing we must fill our house with better things. This is where the second part of our exhortation comes into focus – living to God.
Living a risen life
It is not enough to be dead to sin, we must be alive to God. I think it would be fair to say that we do not give as much weight to this concept as we might. Living a risen life because Christ is risen is a critical concept of our journey towards God’s kingdom. Look again at Colossians 3:1, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (quoted incidentally from Mark 16:19). The resurrection must mean a refocus for each of us. Paul is not speaking passively either; he says “seek” in verse 1 and “set your affection” in verse 2. We must be active in desiring the things of God and Christ; in choosing to think and act like God. It is not easy though, is it? You may be thinking, how am I to achieve it? Godly thoughts do not come naturally. It is not easy to have our mind in the heavens when our feet are planted firmly on the earth.
Jesus offered some practical advice in the Sermon on the Mount, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” If we stockpile and occupy ourselves with earthly things (our treasure) then our heart will be about those things. But if we make our business and our focus the things of the service of Christ we will grow to love him. Our heart will follow our stockpile of stuff. We might have thought that we will stockpile treasure according to the wishes of our heart, and while that is no doubt true, it is not what our Lord said. Jesus meant us to realise that our stuff will direct our heart. Of what does our stockpile of treasure consist? If it consists of the things of this present life, the things of the earth, then inevitably, inexorably our heart will be drawn away as happened to Demas who ended up ‘loving this present world’.
However if we lay up treasure in heaven, not only is it not affected by the GFC or the downturn in the American credit rating, it provides impetus for our heart to “love his appearing”. It is worthwhile each of us asking these vital questions – What is my treasure? And where is my heart?
Acceptance of the resurrection of Jesus implies acceptance of the commands he gives us. We meet every week in response to one such command, and we preach diligently by virtue of another. A risen Jesus Christ is as he said, always with us, and takes note of our response to him. Considering that the risen Lord Jesus knows and sees and cares, are we happy with the things we have thought, done and said this week? There is much exhortation we can draw from the resurrection of Jesus. As we remember our risen Lord, let us be inspired to imitate him, to serve him and to love his appearing.