ALIVE

Take a few minutes to read through Mark 16:1-8. These are just some reflections from that text. To watch the full message that was preached on this text, go to www.vimeo/genesisboston, or to listen to the message, go to - www.genesisthejounrey.com/media. Message title - ALIVE

We all know we will eventually die, but then what? What’s next? Heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Don’t know, don’t care?

This is the question that ALL of us must answer – ‘Beyond death, is there life?’ If YES, then how does one conqueror death? If NO, then there is even a great question one must wrestle with. What’s the point? Why are we even here? Are we the brunt of some cosmic joke? If there is no hope in death, then what hope is there in LIFE? Why care? Why love? Why do anything?

The final verses in Mark’s Gospel deal with death & life. Specifically, the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Bible makes clear that Jesus was brutally murdered, but that on the third day after His death, he was raised back to life. But if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then I would have to agree with 20^th Century Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said –

“If he did not rise from the dead, then he decomposed in the grave like any other man. He is dead and decomposed. In that case he is a teacher like any other and can no longer help; and once more we are orphaned and alone. So we have to content ourselves with wisdom and speculation. We are in a sort of hell where we can do nothing but dream, roofed in, as it were, and cut off from heaven.”

SO – Why does the resurrection of Jesus ultimately matter? ‘So what?’ The following are three truths about the ‘so what’s’ of the resurrection…

1. Because Jesus is ALIVE, our relationship with God changes –

A. We are justified before God {made right with God both now and in eternity}

Romans 4:25 – “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

B. We are raised up with Jesus to eternal life with God (Heaven), not eternal death (hell).

1 Corinthians 6:14 – “By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.”

John 11:24-25 – “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”

2 Timothy 2:11 – “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him…”

John 6:40 – “For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

2. Because Jesus is ALIVE, our relationship w/ourselves changes –

A. Jesus resurrection sets us FREE to live a NEW LIFE!

Romans 6:4 – “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.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Galatians 2:22 – “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Philippians 1:20-21 – “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

John 15:5 – “"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

QUESTION – is how you are living today (who you are, and what you are doing) – is this how you want to be living when He returns for you? If no, then make the decision tonight to REPENT – turn away from self, and turn to the One who gives you new life.

3. Because Jesus is ALIVE, our relationship w/humanity (the world around you) changes –

Those who came into contact with the resurrected Jesus were compelled to introduce the world around them Jesus! The Good News that Jesus was ALIVE compelled His Followers to share this Good News, urging the world around them to be reconciled back to God (Read 2 Cor. 5:13-6:2).

The RESSURECTION of JESUS MATTERS b/c it changes our relationship with God, with ourselves, and with the world around us! Following the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the disciples – they were NOT THE SAME! There was NO more arguing over who’d be the greatest! There was NO more desertion, denials, or doubting who Jesus was and is! There was NO more life as NORMAL, rather what we see is a community of followers who preached fearlessly about the resurrected Jesus, who lived fearlessly the mission Jesus set before them and figuratively became the hands, feet, heart and mind of Jesus to the world around them.

They became known as ‘Christ-ones’ (Christians). The resurrection of Jesus Christ enabled them to live differently. The resurrected Jesus changed them, not just their circumstances, but it changed them from the inside out. They were forever different and the world around them began looking very different as well. Is He (Jesus) changing you so much so that you and the world around you is looking different?