Everything - Luke 24:39-43
Pastor Tim Brown, Calvary Chapel Fremont, Sunday April 12, 2009
Everything
Luke 24:39-43
SS teacher had told her 3rd graders about how Jesus was crucified/placed in a tomb/sealed by big stone. She then asked: "And what do you think were Jesus' 1st words when he came bursting out of that tomb alive." A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. It belonged to a most excited little girl. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly, "I know, I know, I know." "Good," said the teacher, "Tell us." Extending her arms high in the air she sang out: "TA - DA!"
* Verdict on creation: it is good | Verdict on sin: it is not good
OT picture - Then he said to the woman, “You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband, he will be your master.” And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return.” G 3:16-19NLT
Everything created has been impacted by sin – pain/suffering in child birth – toil/sweat throughout life - destiny of dust. From childbirth to death – pain/suffering-toil/sweat. Sin has corrupted everything in creation. Making CCCs/no vanilla/substituting lemon extract. Yuck!
NT comment - Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Romans 8:20-23 NLT
Rom. repeats Gen. – pain/suffering, death/decay. But it introduces a new feature – a longing for deliverance & rescue/hope of future glory. And this is where the res. of Jesus from the dead comes in.
Resurrection points in many directions: attests to deity/verifies His teaching/validates crucifixion/fulfills prophecy/ displays the power of Jesus over death-hell-grave. In addition, there is something else very powerful/wonderful unfolding in the resurrection of Jesus - illustrate by an OT story.
David got back everything the Amalekites had taken… Nothing was missing: small or great, son or daughter, nor anything else that had been taken. David brought everything back. 1 Samuel 30:18
It is the purpose of God that everything corrupted/defiled by the sin of man be restored to intended condition. Like David recovering all the Amalekites had taken, God recovers all that sin has taken.
What did sin take? It robbed man of spiritual/physical life. Sin killed man’s spirit (spiritual death)/body (physical death). God desires to recover all sin has taken/reverse all the damage of sin.
4.11.09 Woman jumps into polar bear enclosure at Berlin Zoo/suffers serious bites to arms/legs. Why jump? Don’t know. She did what Adam/Eve did and sin bit into them. God promises to reverse the damage. Heal her? No – raise her from death. Apply 2 U
Jesus not only died for your soul, but for your body, too. God desires to save you, all of you, everything – soul/body. This is one purpose of the resurrection: recover everything – spiritual/material.
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. Psalm 16:10
Why wouldn’t God abandon soul of Jesus to place of the dead nor allow His body to decay? They were valuable to Him. You are valuable to God – your soul/body/everything. He created you, all of you. And though sin has robbed you of spiritual life/you are headed for certain death, God sent His Son on a rescue mission to recover all of you - soul/body– everything. Concern for body is not shared…
Body is of little importance to most other religions/philosophies -
* Greek philosophy has no use for the body. Plato argued for the immortality of the soul – its release from the prison of the body.
* Eastern religions see salvation as the final shedding of the body unto a pure spiritual existence.
* Secular thought attaches no religious/philosophical value to body.
Christian theology soars above Greek philosophy, eastern mysticism and secular indifference. The body doesn’t matter to these, but the salvation of your body matters to God and He sent His son to save you – all of you – He wants to take everything to heaven w/ Him.
Great value of body in Orthodox Judaism/some streams of Christian thought/cremation is seen to be a travesty – a trampling upon the gift of God and a degradation of it.
When David and his men went to rescue their families, they made sure that they picked up everything that had been taken. They put it on donkeys and in carts, because if they hadn’t taken it, it would have been left behind. What they didn’t touch, wasn’t recovered.
So when Jesus came to earth He took on a human nature – which includes the physical body – not just an immaterial soul or spirit. He took to Himself human nature, which includes a physical body made of flesh and bone because the body is of eternal value to God.
Much debate about who Jesus really was in early church. A group of theologians said that Jesus didn’t have a full human nature – this would rob Him of deity. They taught that He was fully God/partially human. The majority of the church saw this as heresy because if Jesus wasn’t fully human, if He didn’t take on our human nature, He didn’t save our human natures – including our bodies. Remember, what David’s men didn’t touch wasn’t recovered. What Jesus leaves untouched is left unhealed. Cyril: What he does not assume He does not heal.
Tanning booth – missed a spot!
In the resurrection (Lk. 24), Jesus had a physical body - see/touch. And it was the same body that went into the grave – w/ some modifications! He wanted to impact them w/ two things: it was really Him/physical resurrection – not just His soul, but His body, too - everything. All that He was as a man was raised.
He became all that man is so that He might save all that man is. He touched all of man that He might recover all of man. He became everything that He might rescue everything. He took it all to the grave that He might raise it all in the resurrection.
J. Vernon McGee/AT Robertson - adjective/noun. Jesus was fully human in His life/death/resurrection. If resurrection of Jesus were merely spiritual, as some argue, why Jesus’ emphasis on the physical?
* What this means for you - Jesus is the 1st born from the dead
Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again. 1 Cor. 15:20
Our earthly bodies, which die and decay, will be different when they are resurrected, for they will never die. Our bodies now disappoint us, but when they are raised, they will be full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised, they will be full of power. They are natural human bodies now, but when they are raised, they will be spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, so also there are spiritual bodies. 1 Cor. 15:42-44
Christ became everything and Christ rescues everything.
Dark side of resurrection – the resurrection of the damned. You have everything to gain and everything to lose.
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power… Revelation 20:5-6
Christ has taken you, but will you take Him?
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Everything
Luke 24:39-43
SS teacher had told her 3rd graders about how Jesus was crucified/placed in a tomb/sealed by big stone. She then asked: "And what do you think were Jesus' 1st words when he came bursting out of that tomb alive." A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom. It belonged to a most excited little girl. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly, "I know, I know, I know." "Good," said the teacher, "Tell us." Extending her arms high in the air she sang out: "TA - DA!"
* Verdict on creation: it is good | Verdict on sin: it is not good
OT picture - Then he said to the woman, “You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband, he will be your master.” And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return.” G 3:16-19NLT
Everything created has been impacted by sin – pain/suffering in child birth – toil/sweat throughout life - destiny of dust. From childbirth to death – pain/suffering-toil/sweat. Sin has corrupted everything in creation. Making CCCs/no vanilla/substituting lemon extract. Yuck!
NT comment - Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Romans 8:20-23 NLT
Rom. repeats Gen. – pain/suffering, death/decay. But it introduces a new feature – a longing for deliverance & rescue/hope of future glory. And this is where the res. of Jesus from the dead comes in.
Resurrection points in many directions: attests to deity/verifies His teaching/validates crucifixion/fulfills prophecy/ displays the power of Jesus over death-hell-grave. In addition, there is something else very powerful/wonderful unfolding in the resurrection of Jesus - illustrate by an OT story.
David got back everything the Amalekites had taken… Nothing was missing: small or great, son or daughter, nor anything else that had been taken. David brought everything back. 1 Samuel 30:18
It is the purpose of God that everything corrupted/defiled by the sin of man be restored to intended condition. Like David recovering all the Amalekites had taken, God recovers all that sin has taken.
What did sin take? It robbed man of spiritual/physical life. Sin killed man’s spirit (spiritual death)/body (physical death). God desires to recover all sin has taken/reverse all the damage of sin.
4.11.09 Woman jumps into polar bear enclosure at Berlin Zoo/suffers serious bites to arms/legs. Why jump? Don’t know. She did what Adam/Eve did and sin bit into them. God promises to reverse the damage. Heal her? No – raise her from death. Apply 2 U
Jesus not only died for your soul, but for your body, too. God desires to save you, all of you, everything – soul/body. This is one purpose of the resurrection: recover everything – spiritual/material.
For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. Psalm 16:10
Why wouldn’t God abandon soul of Jesus to place of the dead nor allow His body to decay? They were valuable to Him. You are valuable to God – your soul/body/everything. He created you, all of you. And though sin has robbed you of spiritual life/you are headed for certain death, God sent His Son on a rescue mission to recover all of you - soul/body– everything. Concern for body is not shared…
Body is of little importance to most other religions/philosophies -
* Greek philosophy has no use for the body. Plato argued for the immortality of the soul – its release from the prison of the body.
* Eastern religions see salvation as the final shedding of the body unto a pure spiritual existence.
* Secular thought attaches no religious/philosophical value to body.
Christian theology soars above Greek philosophy, eastern mysticism and secular indifference. The body doesn’t matter to these, but the salvation of your body matters to God and He sent His son to save you – all of you – He wants to take everything to heaven w/ Him.
Great value of body in Orthodox Judaism/some streams of Christian thought/cremation is seen to be a travesty – a trampling upon the gift of God and a degradation of it.
When David and his men went to rescue their families, they made sure that they picked up everything that had been taken. They put it on donkeys and in carts, because if they hadn’t taken it, it would have been left behind. What they didn’t touch, wasn’t recovered.
So when Jesus came to earth He took on a human nature – which includes the physical body – not just an immaterial soul or spirit. He took to Himself human nature, which includes a physical body made of flesh and bone because the body is of eternal value to God.
Much debate about who Jesus really was in early church. A group of theologians said that Jesus didn’t have a full human nature – this would rob Him of deity. They taught that He was fully God/partially human. The majority of the church saw this as heresy because if Jesus wasn’t fully human, if He didn’t take on our human nature, He didn’t save our human natures – including our bodies. Remember, what David’s men didn’t touch wasn’t recovered. What Jesus leaves untouched is left unhealed. Cyril: What he does not assume He does not heal.
Tanning booth – missed a spot!
In the resurrection (Lk. 24), Jesus had a physical body - see/touch. And it was the same body that went into the grave – w/ some modifications! He wanted to impact them w/ two things: it was really Him/physical resurrection – not just His soul, but His body, too - everything. All that He was as a man was raised.
He became all that man is so that He might save all that man is. He touched all of man that He might recover all of man. He became everything that He might rescue everything. He took it all to the grave that He might raise it all in the resurrection.
J. Vernon McGee/AT Robertson - adjective/noun. Jesus was fully human in His life/death/resurrection. If resurrection of Jesus were merely spiritual, as some argue, why Jesus’ emphasis on the physical?
* What this means for you - Jesus is the 1st born from the dead
Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again. 1 Cor. 15:20
Our earthly bodies, which die and decay, will be different when they are resurrected, for they will never die. Our bodies now disappoint us, but when they are raised, they will be full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised, they will be full of power. They are natural human bodies now, but when they are raised, they will be spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, so also there are spiritual bodies. 1 Cor. 15:42-44
Christ became everything and Christ rescues everything.
Dark side of resurrection – the resurrection of the damned. You have everything to gain and everything to lose.
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power… Revelation 20:5-6
Christ has taken you, but will you take Him?
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