WHAT IT MEANS TO BE RISEN WITH CHRIST?

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: COLOSSIANS 3:1-6




INTRODUCTION:


1.     When we consider the Messianic credentials of the Lord Jesus Christ, several things come to mind.

2.     First we consider His virgin birth.  Then we consider His sinless life, matchless teachings and amazing miracles.

3.     We also think of the impact of His life upon history.  Today is April 16, the year of our Lord (AD) 2006.  

4.     Anno Domini (abreviated as AD) is Latin for, “In the Year of our Lord.”   Before Christ (abbreviated as BC) is used to refer to the days before the birth of Christ.

5.     Another important and undisputable Messianic credential is fulfilled prophecy (cf. Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 53:1-12; Micah 5:2, etc.).

6.     This morning I want to speak about another important Messianic credential.  In fact, in many ways this is the most important of all – the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Matt. 28:1-10).

7.     H. P. Liddon said, “the resurrection is the very keystone of the arch of Christian faith, and, when it is removed, all must inevitably crumble into ruin.”

8.     That is a beautiful illustration.  When I was in Rome, I was amazed at all of the ancient archways.  I saw them everywhere – in churches; all over the Coliseum; there are archways as you enter the city, etc.

9.     It was the Romans that first began using a keystone in their arches. The keystone is the topmost stone in the arch. The keystone helped to distribute the weight down the side supporting blocks of the columns. With this design, the keystone is the “key” to supporting the arch, because if you remove this stone, the arch would collapse.

10. In like manner, the resurrection of Christ is indeed the very keystone of the arch of our Christian faith!

 

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

1.     Our Lord frequently predicted that He would be crucified and that He would be raised from the dead (cf. Matt. 12:38-41; 16:21; 17:9, 22, 23; 20:18, 19; 26:32).

2.     When we move from the four Gospels into the book of Acts we see that the apostles emphasized the resurrection of Christ in their preaching (cf. Acts 2:23, 24, 32).

3.     The resurrection of Christ is one of the great themes of the epistles (cf. Romans 1:1-4; I Cor. 15:1-4; Phil. 3:10).

4.     When we get to the last book of the NT, we see the resurrected Christ saying to the apostle John, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore” (Rev. 1:18).

5.     So we see the importance of the resurrection of Christ.  When the apostle Paul writes in Colossians 3:1, “If ye then be risen with Christ…” there is no uncertainty.  It literally means, “Since ye have been risen with Christ…” (Cf. Col. 2:20).

 

II. OUR UNION WITH CHRIST

1.     Normally when a person gets saved we baptize him, encourage him to come to Sunday School and church regularly, encourage him to go soulwinning, and give him a box of tithing envelopes.

2.     This is all very important, but there is something else that we must emphasize and that is his union with Christ (Col. 3:1-4).

3.     When we speak of our union with Christ, we are referring to our identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (cf. Rom. 6:1-5).

4.     The average Baptist convert understands that baptism is an important step of obedience but he often does not understand the importance of his union with Christ (Col. 3:1-4).

5.     Some times people stumble over this concept of identification.  Let me illustrate by asking you to turn to Leviticus 1:1-4. 

6.     All of these OT sacrifices pointed to the cross of Christ.   When Christians carelessly skip over these Scriptures they are missing out on a wonderful blessing.

7.     When the transgressor brought his animal to the tabernacle, and then laid his hand upon its head, and then confessed his sin to God – a great transference took place.

8.     God reckoned as if the sin of the man were laid on the sacrificial animal, and then that animal was put to death as bearing the man’s sin, and suffering in his stead.

9.     These OT types and pictures all pointed to the cross. We know that these OT believers were saved the same way you and I were saved – by the blood of Christ (Romans 3:25).

10.The great hymnwriter Isaac Watts put it this way:

Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain
Could give the guilty conscience peace
Or wash away the stain.

 

But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb,
Takes all our sins away;
A sacrifice of nobler name
And richer blood than they.
   


My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of Thine,
While, like a penitent, I stand,
And there confess my sin.

 

My soul looks back to see
The burdens Thou didst bear
When hanging on the cursèd tree,
And hopes her guilt was there.

 

Believing, we rejoice
To see the curse remove;
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And sing His bleeding love (“Not All the Blood of Beasts”)

11.By this identification by faith, we are joined in union with Christ.  We are dead to sin and alive to walk in newness of life (cf. Rom. 6:4, 8, 11).

12.On account of our union with Christ, we are to “seek those things which are above” (Col. 3:1), and set our “affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (3:2).

13.The bent of the Christian should be towards heavenly, not earthly things.  Worldly people seek after earthly things but God’s people are to be different (cf. Phil. 3:18, 19).

14.There is an interesting scene in the second part of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, where the Interpreter takes Christiana (Christian’s wife) into a room where was a man that could look no way but downwards, with a muck rake in his hand.

15.“There stood also one (angel) over his head with a celestial crown in his hand, and proffered to give him that crown for his muck rake; but the man did neither look up nor regard, but raked to himself the straws, the small sticks, and dust of the floor.”

16. “Then said Christiana, ‘I persuade myself that I know somewhat the meaning of this; for this is a figure of a man of this world. Is it not, good sir?’”

17.Interpreter: “Thou hast said the right,” said he: “and his muck rake doth show his carnal mind. And whereas thou seest him rather give heed to rake up straws and sticks, and the dust of the floor, than to what he says that calls to him from above with the celestial crown in his hand, it is to show that heaven is but as a fable to some, and that things here are counted the only things substantial. Now, whereas it was also showed thee that the man could look no way but downwards, it is to let thee know that earthly things, when they are with power upon men's minds, quite carry their hearts away from God.”

18.Christiana: Then said Christiana, “Oh, deliver me from this muck rake!”

 

III. THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST (cf. COL. 1:18).

1.     Notice the emphasis in Colossians 3:1-3 – “with Christ…where Christ…with Christ…when Christ.”

2.     Christ is not just the most important Person in our life – He is “our life” (Col. 3:4).

3.     If we could just grasp that we would not have any empty chairs in our services.  We would come to Sunday School on time.  We would make every effort to come to prayer meeting – because Christ is “our life” (3:4).  We would bring more visitors.

4.     Churches would not have financial problems if their members understood this.  Missionaries would have no problems getting to the mission field.   In fact we would see more Christians volunteering for the mission field and other spheres of Christian service.  Because Christ is our life (3:4).

5.     When we think of the preeminence of Christ, we think of His ascension into heaven (Col. 3:1).

6.     When we think of the preeminence of Christ we think of His finished work on the cross.  Note that now He sitteth on the right hand of God the Father (3:1).  His work on the cross is finished.

Lifted up was He to die;
“It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in Heav’n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior! – Philip P. Bliss

7.     When we think of the preeminence of Christ we think of His intercession for us.  Hebrews 7:25 says “He ever liveth to make intercession” for us.

8.     When we think of the preeminence of Christ we think of our security in Christ – Colossians 3:3 says our life “is hid with Christ in God.”   Is there any place safer or more secure than that?  It is beyond the reach of Satan and all his demons.

9.     Jesus said in John 10:28 that no man can pluck us out of His hand.

10. When we think of the preeminence of Christ we think of the indwelling of the blessed Holy Spirit for Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16).

11. When we think of the preeminence of Christ we think of His second coming (Col. 3:4).

12. The hymnwriter put it this way:

Our Lord is now rejected,
And by the world disowned,
By the many still neglected,
And by the few enthroned,
But soon He’ll come in glory,
The hour is drawing nigh,
For the crowning day is coming by and by.

 

Oh, the crowning day is coming,
Is coming by and by,
When our Lord shall come “in power,”
And “glory” from on high.
Oh, the glorious sight will gladden,
Each waiting, watchful eye,
In the crowning day that’s coming by and by
– Daniel W. Whittle.

 

CONCLUSION:


1.     This Easter Sunday let me ask you, “Do you have Christ? (Col. 3:3).

2.     I am not asking if you have religion, or if you have a knowledge of Christ; I am asking if you have Christ (cf. I John 5:12).



| Customized by Jun Gapuz |