Resurrection Is the Point.

“Behold,” Jesus said, “I make all things new!” {Rev. 21:5}; “all things new,” not all new things.  Resurrection / restoration is the point.  The very reason those first and closest friends of Jesus focused on “miracles, healings, and the hopeful aspects of the Faith like the Ascension and the Resurrection” was simply that these are what demonstrate the mighty hand of God at work in the lives of men.  These things are the point.  A dead man is not much help to you and I; a dead God is an even worse proposition.  But real Life, that is Life Eternal, true Love, that is Love Eternal, shining Light, that is Light Eternal for the darkness of our present days, the power of Christ to restore our souls and redeem our lives… that’s an entirely different matter.

Here are three things we can take with us, three lessons we can learn and live, from the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 I.  In Jesus’ Resurrection we have the solid assurance that our Savior-King conquered sin, death, and Satan.  The empty tomb is the resounding cry of victory over death!  We trust in a crucified Savior, but we serve and proclaim a risen King.  Paul in Romans 1:4 say’s it was Jesus of Nazareth “who through the Spirit of Holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His Resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord!”

II.  Through our faith in Jesus’ Resurrection we are guaranteed our own as co-heirs of His Kingdom {Rom. 8:16-17; 1 Jn. 3:1-3}.  Romans 8:16, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit [He ‘bears witness’ ...Spirit to spirit, Soul to soul, Heart to heart.] that we are Abba’s Children.  Now if we are His Children, then we are also heirs— heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,” v. 17a.

III  Through moment-by-moment faith in Jesus’ Resurrection we are empowered by His Spirit to “live a new Life” {Rom. 6:4c}.  Over the years, we’ve seen— each and every one of us— life after life transformed from the shadow of sin and shame to become shining trophies of mercy and grace.  Every last Child of God is called to live as “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” {Rom. 8:37b}.  This power is due to one thing: the reality of the Resurrection of Jesus, the triumph of the Son of the Living God and Savior of all Mankind.

May we live and love in its Light!

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

Born to Die ...and Rise Again.

“Every other person who ever came into this world came into it to live.”  Jesus “came into it to die.  ...The Scripture describes Him as ‘the Lamb slain,’ as it were, ‘from the beginning of the world’”— Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

The Life of Christ fulfilled all righteousness and provided the ultimate example, One in whose footsteps we are to follow.  The Cross of Christ brought a forever forgiveness to every Son of Adam and Daughter of Eve— for every single sin, misstep, and mistake, every ounce of anger or arrogance to course through your soul, every slanderous word or shameful slight to ever cross your lips, every hurt or pain you’ve caused another or suffered yourself.  He paid a price no other could pay by dying a death no other could die!  The power of the Cross with its substitutionary death is a phenomenal truth— heart-healing, soul-freeing, redemption-realizing.  But apart from the Resurrection and the Eternal Life God so freely gives His Children, there is no hope for anything remotely resembling Life beyond the walls of this world.  The Resurrection of Christ gives us this Hope— the glorious Hope that Death is finally dead and the Grave is a conquered enemy!

Jesus in John 10:15b said, “I lay down My Life for the Sheep.  ...The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My Life— only to take it up again.  No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord.  I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again...,” vv. 17-18b.  Though Jesus had to be born as Man in order to die, He also died in order to rise!  I’ve heard many, many messages through the years, beautiful, powerful messages that focus in on the Crucifixion and the Work accomplished there... but far, far fewer that focus in on the Resurrection.  And yet Resurrection, restoration, healing and wholeness, these are the point.  They were, in fact, the focal points of the early Church, the Body of Christ in its apostolic infancy.

For a perfect example of this, read the Gospel account recorded by Mark— cf. Mark 15:1-16:7.  It contains the teaching of the apostle Peter concerning the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Another fascinating account would be the Gospel of Luke.  I love how Luke frames the angels’ words to the women in ch. 24 of his Gospel.  He says, “in” the terror of “suddenly” finding “two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning standing beside them” {v. 4}, “the women bowed down with their faces to the ground [Not an unusual response in Scripture when humans are confronted with a higher order of being.], but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the Living among the dead?’”  It’s a great question ...one Abba is still asking to this day, at this very moment, in this very place: “Why do you continue to look for Life in what can only bring you Death?  In people, in places, in things— idols and addictions— with the stench of death hovering over them?  Why, when I offer you in communion with the Risen Christ ‘Life— to the full’ {Jn. 10:10}?”  “He is not here; He has risen!,” vv. 5-6a.  The way this last phrase is constructed in the Greek Luke uses for his Gentile readers it means: ‘At a particular point in real Time, real Space, and real History, He was raised from the depths of darkness and Death!’  Amen!

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, in his beautiful book The Life of Christ, said, “Christianity, unlike any other religion in the world, begins with catastrophe and defeat.  Sunshine religions and psychological inspirations collapse in calamity and wither in adversity.  But the Life of the Founder of Christianity, having begun with the cross, ends with the empty tomb and victory”  Victory, indeed— to resound for all Eternity.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

Resurrection Is the Glory of the Gospel

Now, let me show in the rest of the Scriptures how powerful and profound this singular theme is: Peter in Acts 1:20-22, along with the other Apostles, the “women” who followed Jesus, His mother “Mary” and “His brothers” {vv. 13-14}, said of Judas Iscariot, “‘May another take his place of leadership.’  Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John’s Baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us.  For one of these must become a witness with us of His Resurrection.”  Matthias was to become a “witness of His Resurrection,” the astounding fact of the 1st century Faith.

In Peter’s preaching on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the majority of what he has to say— from vv. 24-35— is occupied by the Resurrection and Ascension.  Acts 4 tells us, “the priests and the captain of the Temple Guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people.  They were greatly disturbed because the Apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the Resurrection of the Dead,” vv. 1-2.  It’s the same thing in v. 33, “with great power the Apostles continued to testify to the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.”

We can go on.  Paul in Athens testifying before Greek philosophers— Acts 17:18  and 32 {“Paul was preaching the Good News about Jesus and the Resurrection.”}; Paul speaking to Jewish theologians in Jerusalem— Acts 23:6 {“I stand on trial because of my hope in the Resurrection of the Dead.”} and 24:21.  We see the Apostle testifying in his own defense before King Herod Agrippa and the Roman Governor Festus in Acts 26:22-23, “I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike.  I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim Light to His own People and to the Gentiles.”  Peter in 1 Peter 1:3-5 wrote: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In His great mercy he has given us new birth [Anagennao- lit., ‘we are born again:’] into a living hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade— kept in Heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the Last Time.”

In Romans 6:4 Paul say’s, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new Life,” a Resurrection Life …in Time.  This is for now, not later.  In v. 11 he says, “In the same way, count, consider, add up the facts and come to the conclusion, to this relational reality: that you are dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore, in light of this, do not let sin reign over you, don’t let it run amok, wreaking havoc in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires” {RRExp}.  In Ephesians 2:4 he wrote, “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions....  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” vv. 5a-6.

We believe Christ died for us, that’s true, as a Substitute on our behalf— 2 Corinthians 5:15-21.  But He was also raised for us {1 Cor. 15:12-22}; His Resurrection as much for us as His sacred Life and sacrificial Death.  Romans 5:17: “For if, by the trespass of the one man [the First Adam], death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and …the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man [the Second Adam], Jesus Christ.”’  Let me ask you a question.  Are you ‘reigning’ in your life, right now?  “Through the one Man, Jesus Christ”?  If not, why not?  We have been abundantly provided for in grace, we’ve been given the gift of a “righteousness” not our own to last beyond any Time we could conceive, we’ve been sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit and this same Spirit sealed in us as a down-payment on “God’s possession” and the guarantee of “our inheritance” as Sons {Eph. 1:13-14}.  We were meant and we were made to “reign” in this Life as preparation for the next.

Let this be the challenge lingering in our hearts and lives this Easter Son-Day: as Sons and Daughters of the Most High God, we were meant and we were made for so much more than we have known, so much more than we presently possess in our daily experience.  May the Light of Christ’s Resurrection lead us to these riches.  Amen.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously

The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing.

In Mark 10:23 Jesus and His Disciples watch this ‘prince’ of Judea walk away, head bowed low, downcast and dejected, back to his life of money and ease.  “Jesus looked around and said to His Disciples, ‘How hard it is for the rich,” for those who are defined by their property, their wealth, their means, their money, “to enter the Kingdom of God!”

It says in v. 24, “The Disciples were amazed at His words.”  I want you to notice their astonishment, because this isn’t the last time it comes up or the last time it’s expressed.  The reason is Jesus had just taken their entire understanding of morality, of formal adherence to law and order, and the accepted agreement that this always resulted in wealth, in blessing, in the favor of God showering a man, and turned it upside down.  Thus, if a man had all the outer accoutrements, he must by necessity be a righteous man with one foot in the Kingdom of God.  The rabbinic argument of 1^st century Judaism, universally accepted, was that wealth was a sure sign of rightness with God and thus blessing from His hand.  Jesus takes this entire notion and turns it right-side up, whereas before it had been upside down.

“But Jesus said again [reinforcing His original point], ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God [‘How utterly and incredibly difficult for those bound to the idol of Mammon.’].  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle [Greek word here is ‘a sewing needle;’ it’s a proverb for the impossible.] than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.’”  A couple of points along this line.

 I.  Possessions have the ability to rivet our souls to the present world.  As Samuel Johnson was being shown a beautiful castle and its gorgeous grounds in the English countryside he said, “These are the things that make it difficult to die.”

II.  When our motivation is materialism, we begin to think of everything in terms of its price {and sometimes everyone}.  “Well, if I can afford it, and I’m not hurting anybody else, then there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it.”  But you see, price and value are two different animals.  We live in a luxuriant culture that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing!

There’s a true story from the early 20th century of a shepherd from the highlands of Scotland whose children were raised as simple, unsophisticated, believers in a simple, unsophisticated Savior.  The father was given a position in the nearest town with a salary and a much higher standard of living.  When introduced to ‘city-life’ and the culture of the kosmos, the children began to change radically and almost immediately… and not for the better.  His wife wrote a fascinating letter to the local paper, the last paragraph of which read: “Which is preferable for a child’s upbringing— a lack of worldliness, but with better manners and sincere and simple thoughts, or worldliness and its present day habit of knowing the price of everything and the true value of nothing?”  Mmhhhmmm, which indeed?

III  Jesus was saying that great wealth is often a great worry.  It ends up becoming two things to the Children of Men: [i] a true test of character— for every hundred men who can withstand adversity only one can withstand prosperity; and [ii] a very real responsibility: to use it and not abuse it.  Money is always judged by two criteria: how you get it; and how you use it.  The more money one has, the greater the responsibility resting upon them.  The real question is are you going to use it as if you’re its undisputed possessor— as if God has no claim to His Creatures— or as a steward of the Savior, a servant of the Master?

After Jesus lays down His point a second time, Mark say’s the Disciples “were even more amazed [‘amazed beyond measure, exceedingly astonished’] and said to each other, ‘Who then can be saved?’  Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God,’” vv. 26-27.  In v. 27 we have Jesus stating the doctrine of grace in salvation in a nutshell: “If salvation depended on man’s effort or ingenuity, on man doing anything, it would be utterly impossible.  But salvation is the gift of God {offered in grace and received in faith} and all things are possible with Abba!”  The man who trusts in him self or his savings can never experience Eternal Life; the woman who trusts in the finished Work of Christ and the redeeming love of the Father can enter the fold freely and find all the pasture her heart desires.  This single thought is the foundation of the Christian Faith.

HJC	Ric Webb  |  Shepherd Heart’s Journey Community 9621 Tall Timber Blvd. |  Little Rock, AR 72204 t +1.501.455.0296
hjcommunity.org
Heart’s Journey – Live Generously and Love Graciously