Essential Christianity

Good morning. My name's Chris, for those of you who don't know me. Happy New Year. Good, let's hope it improves from that.

I think, like most men, I have a habit of forgetting things. Wallets, keys, visas, like you name it, I have lost it. You can ask my wife afterwards, she'll give you the list.

And I think one of wives' most significant roles in a marriage is to remind their husbands of things that they have forgotten.

She'll say things to me like, how many times do I have to tell you that the washing up brush does not go in the sink?

And I normally reply at that point, probably a few hundred. And I'm not joking.

Because at the beginning of a new year, we need to be reminded of things because we forget if you're anything like me.

And we're coming back to the book of 1 Corinthians.

And we're going to remind ourselves of some of the essentials of what it means to be a church, what it means to be Christians.

And in fact, we're going to look at one chapter for the next four weeks.

It's the longest chapter that Paul wrote, even though he didn't write chapters, but it's the longest chapter we have.

And it's one of the most significant chapters in the whole of the New Testament.

And we need to really get this because the church of Corinth, if you remember back way again, kind of a few months ago, if you were here,

they were a church which had got sidetracked.

They'd been focusing on secondary issues and they'd forgotten what the main thing that they were supposed to be about.

They was.

So they had forgotten what real spirituality was.

And they were focusing on things like who the best leaders were.

They were focusing on who'd got the best gifts.

They were focusing on questions of sexuality and all kinds of things, eating food.

And they'd forgotten that there was something which was more important than all of these, which tied all of these things together.

And Paul starts off this chapter saying to the Christians, I want to remind you of the main thing.

And the main thing is the gospel.

It's right up here.

Okay?

Because as a church, we also want it to be the main thing.

And so he says in verse 1,

I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved,

if you hold fast to the word I preached to you.

And what he's saying is, it doesn't matter how long or short you've been a Christian,

there's a past, present, and future reality to the Christian life.

The Christian life isn't just a decision you made 20 years ago.

It's an ongoing journey of walking with Christ.

And he's saying, if you want to get to the checkered flag,

if you want to get through to the finishing line without your engine dying,

without your wheels falling off your spiritual car,

you've then got to hold on to this word of the gospel.

And that word, it says hold fast,

it's actually a word, it's kind of like a policeman rugby tackling a thief,

and getting him on the ground and not letting go.

That's what it is.

That's what you've got to be like with God's word, he says.

You've got to be tenaciously clinging to the gospel.

And because I used to think the Christian life is a little bit like,

do you know one of those trick candles?

Did you ever get those when you were a kid?

I used to have, I used to hate them.

Because, you know, it'd be your birthday, you'd blow them out,

and then two seconds later it'd come back to light again,

and then you'd be like, ah.

And then you'd have to blow it out again,

and then two seconds later it would come back to life again.

Right?

And you would just be so frustrated after trying this a number of times.

But that's actually what the gospel is like.

That though you may flicker, though sometimes you may fall,

that if your candle is that gospel candle,

you're never going to go out.

You're actually going to shine brighter and brighter and brighter

if the gospel is what you're clinging to.

And cancer may come, temptation may come,

relational difficulties may come,

job layoffs may come,

but if you're clinging tightly to this word,

then you and this church will be like that candle

which is never going to be put out by anything.

That's what Paul wants the Corinthians to get.

That's why he's going to come on and say,

this is what you guys in our church need to get.

But the Corinthians, the reason Paul wants to say this

is because the Corinthians had,

teachers had come into the Corinthian church

and were teaching stuff from the culture

and they were saying, you can't really believe this gospel.

You can't really believe this stuff about being raised from the dead, can you?

And they're beginning to doubt whether this is really true.

And so we're going to look a little bit more about what Paul says

we really need to be clinging to

if we're going to burn that gospel candle that doesn't go out.

And I want to focus just on kind of three themes from today's passage.

One, Jesus the Messiah is risen.

Two, your past is redeemed.

Three, the future is secure.

Christ is risen.

The past is redeemed.

Your future is secure.

Verse three.

Let's have a look at it together.

It says,

Paul gives a basic gospel presentation.

It's what I like to call CDR News.

CDR News.

If someone says to you, what's the gospel?

Tell them it's CDR News.

Okay?

It's Christ.

Do you see that word Christ?

Christ, that's not his surname.

That's a title.

Okay?

That's a title for Jesus.

It's a title which means the Messiah,

the promised king who is going to come

that the whole of the Old Testament was looking forward to.

And it's saying,

Jesus, the promised king, has come.

That's the C.

Come.

And he's died for our sins.

That's a D.

He's died for our sins.

The punishment that we deserved was on him.

He's died for our sins.

Buried deep in the ground with Jesus.

He was dead.

Our sins are dead and buried.

He died our death and he rose.

That's the R.

He rose to resurrect us.

He rose to restore the world.

That's the gospel.

I don't need to say anything more.

But that's completely nuts.

Have you thought about it?

That is a crazy message.

Go into your office and say,

last week my pastor was raised from the dead.

And go and see how people respond to you.

Or if you go down into Lang Kui Fong,

I don't know how many conversations you're going to have with people saying,

hey, my friend got raised from the dead last week.

It's not going to happen.

It's not normal conversation.

And back then, it wasn't normal conversation either.

It's not the kind of thing human beings do, rise from the dead.

And as you read the gospels,

you find that the disciples are just as surprised as anybody about this idea,

this CDR news that Jesus had risen from the dead.

You see, they didn't get Jesus at all.

Just when you think, okay, Peter says,

Jesus, you're the Messiah.

Then he says, you're not going to die.

And Jesus has to rebuke him.

When Jesus is arrested, they all run away.

Anyway, when someone says, do you follow Jesus?

Peter denies him.

And they're so scared after Jesus' death that they lock themselves in a room,

hiding, hoping that nobody finds them.

Why?

Because these disciples, at the same time,

I don't know if you know,

but there are actually quite a number of Messiah figures

who were going around Judea.

In the period of about 100, 150 years,

there's five to 10 other figures who claim to be the Messiah

coming into Judea at this time.

In Acts, one of them is mentioned, Judas of Galilee.

And do you know what happened to those Messiahs?

They all got killed by the Romans.

And do you know what happened to their followers?

Well, if the Romans didn't get after them,

then they kind of slunk away and went off to retirement

somewhere in the countryside

because they didn't want to get known

because the Romans were not really particularly pleasant people at times.

So it's not surprising that the disciples are very scared

after Jesus' death

because they knew what might happen.

So then why would a bunch of scared followers

of a failed, dead Messiah figure

suddenly be transformed to be so bold

that they would go throughout the whole of the Roman Empire

willing to risk their lives proclaiming

that the Messiah had risen from the grave?

Why would a bunch of people be willing,

who were doubting, who were clueless in so many ways,

be willing to put their lives on the line

and be martyred for Jesus' sake?

What caused them to start churches

across the whole of the Roman Empire

which was so radically sacrificial

and transformative in that culture

that even one pagan emperor, the Emperor Julian,

writes to his high priest, pagan high priest, saying,

listen guys, we've got to do something about these Christians

because do you know what?

They love people so much better than we do.

And he even writes and says,

they look after the poor.

They look after their own poor.

They look after our poor.

They do so much better than we do.

We've got to do something

because these Christians were making such an impact

in the Roman world.

Why?

And historians throughout 2,000 years

have been trying to put this together

and say something happened.

Different people have different explanations

but the early Christians,

and if you look in the book of Acts,

the thing that they keep coming back to,

the sermons that all the early church preachers,

is Jesus has risen from the dead.

Now, in our world,

we have a slightly different view of things.

In their world, you know,

they believed in monsters and myths

and magic and things,

but we're very scientific in our day.

And science has shown us

that fairies don't live at the bottom of our apartments.

You know, mental illnesses are caused by chemicals,

not demons.

Evolution proves that we don't need God.

Now, even though they lived in a more supernatural world,

people didn't rise from the dead any more than they do now.

That's why Thomas doesn't believe.

That's why the disciples keep thinking that they see a ghost.

That's why the pagan writers at the time

continually mock Christians for believing

that Jesus could possibly have bodily raised from the dead.

If it's a story that was made up,

well, why would you put women

who in the culture had no credibility as a witness,

as the main people who were witnesses

for the resurrection?

It totally undermines the story.

Why would you do that?

Unless it's true.

And for those who thought that maybe they're all hallucinating,

well, Paul in this passage tells you,

okay, maybe one or two people you can think,

you know, after death, they see a vision,

but 500 people at the same time see Jesus.

This is not a hallucination.

It's not a flashback.

It's not, I saw my great,

I kind of felt my great-granddad's presence

in the kitchen kind of thing.

This, Paul is saying, is real.

It's real.

And if it's real, then it's the defining moment

in the whole of history for Christians.

Because Buddha came and he spread his teaching

throughout the world and he died.

Muhammad came and he claimed to have a message from God

and he died.

Genghis Khan defeated enemies,

created the largest empire across the world

and he died.

Gandhi came and led to the largest peace movement

in the whole of history and he died.

Steve Jobs created technology

that went across the world and he died.

Jesus the Messiah came without an army,

without a degree, without a marketing strategy,

and he died.

But on the third day,

he did something that no one else

in the whole of human history has ever done.

He defeated death itself.

And he rose from the dead.

He's not just the king over a few enemies.

But if he really rose from the dead,

then he's the Lord over everything.

Because what's the ultimate enemy

that no one else has defeated?

It's death.

If Jesus has defeated death,

then he is Lord over everything

and nothing can stop him.

He's the risen Lord.

That means,

if it's true,

then he's Lord over Hong Kong.

He's Lord over the stock market.

He's Lord over the Chinese and U.S. governments.

He's Lord over your boss.

He's Lord over your families.

He's Lord over your lives.

Jesus is Lord.

Do you see why

a small band of Christians

in the early church

were willing to go out

and risk their entire lives

sharing this message

because they believed

in their heart of hearts

that their Lord was the one

who had defeated death.

He was the almighty King of kings

and Lord of lords.

And if he's in control of death,

then what else have you got to lose?

Now, why is that important?

In our society,

we like things

and we don't like things.

Look up Facebook.

We judge things

by how we feel about them.

We get offended.

We kind of pick and choose.

We say we like this bit

about love in the Bible.

We don't like these things

about maybe sex or money

or those other things

in the Bible.

The problem comes

when you start dealing

with facts.

Facts are annoying

because just think about it.

If I say to you,

you will die

and you say to me,

but I don't like that.

I'll say to you,

it doesn't matter

if you don't like it.

It's a fact.

You have to deal with it

if it's a fact.

I used to have a housemate

who when we would argue

over who should have

vacuumed the floor,

I would look at the roster

on the side of our wall

and I'd point out his name

and I'd say,

you were on there

and he would say,

stop confusing the issue

with facts

because he knew

if you have facts,

whether you like it or not,

you have to deal with them.

If you're a Christian

or you're not a Christian,

the issue isn't

whether you like Christianity

or you like bits

or you don't like bits.

I mean,

a lot of people say,

yeah,

I kind of like Jesus

but I don't like the,

I don't like the Old Testament bits

and I don't like the,

the kind of bits

about sexual ethics there.

I think that's wrong

so I'm not going to trust in Jesus.

Well,

if Jesus has risen from the dead,

whether you like bits or not,

that's what you've got to contend with

before anything else.

That's the issue.

It's not whether you like

some in the Old Testament.

You can deal with that afterwards.

The key issue is,

did Jesus rise from the dead or not?

Because if he did,

if he did,

that means you and I

have to reckon

the whole of our lives

and reassess

whether Jesus is truly

Lord of our lives

and whether we're surrendered to him.

If he didn't,

then Christianity is a fraud

and we might all as well

go away

and just kind of watch

daytime TV or something

because it'd be a better idea.

Because Paul didn't like Christianity.

He was offended by it.

In fact,

he was so offended by it,

he thought young children

might be influenced by it

and so he actually went out

and started persecuting

and killing Christians.

Now,

you've got to be pretty offended

by something

to start doing that.

You know,

even Richard Dawkins

and people don't do that.

Okay?

But Paul met Jesus

face to face

on the road to Damascus

and then it was irrelevant

whether he was offended

by those things or not

because he'd met

the risen king

and his only response

was to surrender his life

and trust him.

And Paul is saying

to the Corinthians

who haven't met Jesus

face to face,

he's saying,

this message is trustworthy.

Every one of us

has a Lord.

It could be your job,

it could be your status,

it could be your family.

Christians say

that their Lord

is the one

who is the all-defeating

conqueror over death.

He is risen,

he is Jesus

and he's our hope

for resurrection.

Jesus is risen.

What does that mean?

Secondly,

resurrection means

your past is redeemed.

Your past is redeemed.

Verse 17,

we'll jump a bit,

verse 17 says,

if Christ has not been raised,

your faith is futile,

you are still in your sins.

If there's no resurrection,

you've still got to live

with your past.

We all have pasts.

Some of us

are proud of our pasts.

Some of us

are ashamed of our pasts.

Some of us

are a little bit in between

about our pasts.

And Paul has a past.

He says this,

last of all,

this is verse,

verse 9,

8 and 9.

Last of all,

as to one untimely born,

he appeared to me.

For I am the least of the apostles,

unworthy to be called an apostle,

because I persecuted the church of God.

But,

by the grace of God,

I am what I am.

Towards the end of his life,

in 1 Timothy 1,

when he's coming to the end of his life,

he's still saying the same thing.

He says this,

I was a blasphemer,

a persecutor,

an insolent opponent,

but I received mercy,

and the grace of our Lord

overflowed for me

with the faith and love

that are in Christ Jesus.

The saying is trustworthy

and deserving of full acceptance

that Christ Jesus came

into the world

to save sinners,

of whom I

am the worst.

That's what Paul says,

I am the foremost sinner.

Some of us feel like

we're too messed up,

too broken,

we've got too much wreckage

from our pasts,

from the poor choices

we've made again and again

in our lives.

Some of us wonder

whether Christ would really forgive us

for some of the things

that have happened.

But Paul says,

if you want to have

a badness competition,

well, let's go then.

He says,

okay,

I'll beat your hands down.

You've got a porn addiction,

I'm a murderer.

You've treated

your colleagues badly,

I persecuted

and tortured

God's own precious family.

You've shouted at your kids,

I've blasphemed

and opposed

the living God himself.

That's my past,

Paul says.

But,

and it's a big but,

bigger than my but,

but by the grace of God,

I am what I am.

Paul says,

I was one untimely born.

This is a really strong word.

It actually means

an aborted fetus.

That's what it means.

He says,

I was an aborted fetus.

He's saying,

I was dead spiritually.

I wasn't birthed

like the other disciples

who walked alongside Jesus.

Yet,

God,

in his incredible mercy,

came and met me.

He forgave me.

He wiped away my past

and he graced me

by bringing me alive

with his resurrection power.

And he looks around

at all the Corinthians

and he says,

and even all the other apostles

and says,

I have achieved more

than anybody else

in this room.

I've worked harder

than anyone else,

but it's only

by the grace of a God

whose resurrection power

takes a desert of a heart

and brings green shoots,

brings blossom,

brings springs of water

where there was only dust

and dirt

and death before.

And it's all to do

with God's grace.

What do you do

with your past?

Maybe your past

is your sin

from this morning.

Maybe it's from 20 years ago.

I don't know.

For some of us,

our past is a bit like

one of those mosquitoes

at night.

You know,

it just kind of

buzzes round

and buzzes round

and you try and

swat it away

with your hard work,

with your achievements,

with shopping,

with drinking,

and you try and drown out

the noise in your head.

And for a while

it goes quiet

and you think

everything's okay

and then suddenly

you hear that

buzz again

and it's back

to haunt you.

And the poor choices,

the people we've hurt,

the painful memories

we have,

some of it sticks to us.

But,

but,

but,

but,

but,

but,

but,

but,

but,

but,

Christ says,

and this is amazing,

your sin

is buried

with Christ

six foot under.

It's wiped away,

it's nailed in a coffin

and it ain't ever

coming back up.

That's what Christ done.

and Christ,

death and resurrection

for you

is like,

do you know one of those,

those bands

or one of those badges

when you get to a conference

or you go to

like a music event

or something

and they give you that

and,

and you've got to pay first

usually

and,

and you get in

and some of those

dodgy security guards

are around

looking after you,

looking for you

and then you just

kind of hold up your band

and they're like,

okay,

fine,

you're good.

That's what the resurrection

is like

and the death

and resurrection,

because what it is,

when those thoughts

come in,

when Satan comes

and accuses you

of your past,

you just hold up

that band of Christ,

death and resurrection

and say,

it is finished.

My past is dealt with.

My past does not define me.

Christ,

death and resurrection

define me.

I'm forgiven.

I'm cleansed.

Christ has done it all.

Just hold it up.

That's what those words

for when I'm tempted,

when Satan tempts me

to despair

and tells me

of the guilt within,

upward I look

and see him there

who made an end

to all,

to all,

to all,

to all my sin.

That's the gospel

and it's grace.

But some of us may say,

it's okay.

I put the past behind me

by my hard work,

my self-discipline,

my determination.

I am what I am.

I can do it.

I was actually

a bit like this,

I think,

before.

I'd never have said it

that bluntly.

But I kind of lived

like that.

I was self-reliant.

I was kind of

a little Donald Trump.

You know,

I was disciplined.

I was hardworking.

And I would look down

on those people

who I thought,

you know,

they couldn't put

their lives together.

They were lazy.

I didn't have time

for them.

But God brought me

to a place

where he showed me

that when you rely

on your own strength,

you'll lack compassion

for people

who aren't as strong

and disciplined you.

And he led me

through a journey

where he brought me

down to a pit

and I had a breakdown,

a mental breakdown

and depression

for four years.

And in that pit,

and it was because

of my own pride,

my own choices,

in that pit,

he began to show me

the devastation

that my own pride

in thinking

that I could do it

by myself

would cause.

But when I was

in that pit,

then God began

to start using me.

And suddenly,

I began to see

that it wasn't

my past performance

that meant God

would use me.

It was only because

of unfathomable grace

that he would come to me

and he would say,

I want to use you.

And that fuel injected me

to want to start

following him

and obeying him

like I'd never done before.

It was like,

you know,

the former slave ship owner,

John Newton,

who met Christ

and became one

of the most influential people

in the anti-slavery campaign.

And he wrote the words

which you all know.

Amazing grace,

how sweet the sound,

that saved a self-reliant,

sinful person like me.

A wretch like me.

And that became real.

And when that grace

becomes real,

it changes you.

God doesn't just

forgive your past.

He redeems your past.

If you surrender

to Christ's lordship,

he takes the crap

and the manure

of your lives.

He buries it

deep into the ground.

And from that,

from the sewage

of our lives,

this garden grows.

By the spirit of God

bringing life in,

you begin to blossom

fruit and flowers

which otherwise,

only God could have done that.

And I've seen

how God's done that

in my life

as he's changed my heart

to be able to minister

to some people

only by his grace

with more compassion

than I ever would have done before.

And I don't know

what your past is.

I don't know

what your sins are.

But God,

I know this for sure.

He wants to take

all of those things

and he can transform them

if you surrender to him

with resurrection power.

He takes the dead,

he brings them to life.

And there are people around

who God wants to use

through your own life

and your own pasts

who only you can minister to

if you allow him

to redeem those things.

That's what he wants to do.

And at the end of it,

you look at it

and you say,

it's only the grace of God.

It's nothing to do with me.

I cannot stand here

because I'm clever.

I stand here

because the grace of God

is amazing.

So let me ask you,

if someone was to look

at your life,

would they see

your life

is a testimony

to resurrection power?

Not that you're perfect,

none of us are.

Does your life

show the graciousness of God

who takes what's dead

and brings it alive?

Or are you still

trying to prove yourself

with your work

relying on yourself?

Are you trying to shake off

your guilt by yourself?

Christ is risen.

Your past is redeemed.

Thirdly,

your future is secure.

He says,

verse 19,

and if Christ

has not been raised,

your faith is futile

and you're still

in your sins.

Then those who have

fallen asleep

in Christ

have perished.

If in Christ

we have hope

in this life only,

we are of all people

most to be pitied.

There are a number of theories

about what happens

when you die.

Some people believe

that you just kind of

go to nothingness,

you become food for worms.

Some people believe

you come reincarnated

in some way,

come back into the world.

Others believe you kind of

meld in and mesh

into the universe

in some very vague

kind of way.

The problem with many

of the theories

that people have out there,

it's all very impersonal

and it's all quite scary.

Chinese culture

is riddled

with the fear of death.

Just think about it.

If there's a flat

where there's been a suicide,

who wants to go

and live there?

Think about the number four.

Think how many times

people are trying to avoid

areas with the number four.

And just think about things

like anti-aging creams.

Why they sell so massively?

Because we're scared

of getting older.

We're scared of dying.

Think about midlife crises.

What is a midlife crisis?

It's suddenly the awareness

that I don't have

very much longer left

and what have I done

with my life?

Right?

You see,

we are afraid of death.

And even if you say

you're not afraid of death,

I think you're probably

just living in denial.

Or,

you're young enough

to think you're immortal.

Okay?

And time will soon

tell you that you're not.

But if you actually

really think about it,

death is actually

very scary.

It is.

It's very scary.

Because we all,

our deepest desire in life

is to be loved

and to have love.

And yet,

death is the great thief.

Because death,

I mean,

just think how

people are afraid

of someone coming in

and robbing your flat.

Right?

Now,

think about what death does.

Death robs you

of what you love the most.

It robs you

of who you love the most.

It mercilessly strips you

of the things

which are most precious to you.

And it's unquenchable.

You can't stop it.

And those of us

who have lost loved ones,

you know that pain

of that emptiness.

If there is no resurrection,

Paul says,

the only hope you have left

is in this world.

And if it's only in this world,

then when death steals it from you,

you're still left

longing for love.

It's an impersonal,

loveless future.

And you've got to try

and refill it.

But the gospel says

that if death steals

everything from you,

what awaits

is not a cold,

impersonal grave,

but the very epitome

of love.

It's a personal future

with Jesus waiting for you

at the gates

of death.

And he's the Lord

over death.

And he's the one

who loves you

more than anyone.

It's a personal future.

Not only that,

it's not just that

your future is personal.

But if your only hope

is in this world,

you can't get your life back.

And once it's gone,

it's gone.

Paul has been shipwrecked.

Paul has been beaten.

Paul has been thrown in prison.

Paul has had numerous people

mocking, insulting.

I mean, his life has been a mess

all because of the gospel.

And he says,

if there's no resurrection,

basically he's wasted

all his time.

His life is a waste of time.

There's no second chances.

Our society says,

hope is only found

in this world.

And so that means

we're crippled

by a fear

of missing out now.

You know,

it's actually a word.

It's now in the Oxford Dictionary,

FOMO.

Fear of missing out.

FOMO.

Okay?

You all need to know this.

Okay?

Why do we constantly

check our phones

for messages

all the time

like a drug addict?

FOMO.

Why do we have to be

at every single networking event,

every party,

FOMO?

Why do you have to panic

about all your kids' education?

FOMO.

Why do you have to complete

that bucket list

of all the countries

you've got to visit

before you die?

FOMO.

Can I hear that?

What is it?

Oh, good.

If we've taught you one word,

you'll remember this one.

Now,

the singles here,

I think this really affects

singles today

in our culture

because I think

many singles

are terrified.

Firstly,

we're scared

to commit

to a relationship

because you're afraid

that you'll miss out

on your career.

And then,

once you've reached

the plus 30 mark,

you're scared

that you're never

going to get married.

And you'll be lonely

for the rest of your life.

And when you're 70,

the only thing

that will be looking

after you

is a bunch of cats.

That's the fear

that cripples

so many people.

And some of you singles

are tempted

to compromise

right now

because you should

either be getting married

and you're not

and you should be

or you are choosing

to date inappropriate people

because FOMO drives you.

But the resurrection says,

listen,

if you don't get it all now,

you're not just going

to get a bit of consolation

in the afterlife,

you know,

a little bit of

spiritual bliss

like to make up

for what you lost,

which is what other religions

will tell you.

The resurrection of Jesus

who rose to resurrect us

tells you

you're going to get back

more than you ever lost.

Not consolation,

but full restoration.

Tim Keller puts it like this.

You don't just get

your body back.

You get the body

you always wanted

but never had.

Doesn't that sound good?

You don't just get

your life back.

You get the life

that you always wanted

that you never had.

And I have male

and female friends

in this church

and in previous churches

who have said,

because I know

the resurrection is real,

and if Christ does not bring me

an appropriate spiritual partner

in my life,

then I can trust

in the risen Lord

because I know

in the resurrection

I'll have a better husband

or wife

than I would ever have had

here on earth.

Many of you married people

will know what I'm talking about.

That's a joke.

But that husband

will be Christ

and he'll be waiting

to take you

and me

and us

up the aisle

when we see him.

You won't miss out

on anything.

That is what

the resurrection

of Jesus

tells us.

You are not

going to miss out.

FOMO

is not

in the Christian vocabulary.

The future

is personal

and secure.

So what would

your life look like

if you really believed?

If you really believed?

Not just up here,

but if you really believed

that Jesus

was risen

from the dead.

What would this church

look like

if you really believed

Jesus

was risen

from the dead?

I think it looked

like a church

that could be honest

about their past

like Paul was

that no longer

looked down

on people

who are struggling

but has compassion

and walks alongside

others

because we know

there but for the grace

of God

that could be me

and it's only

by grace

that I am

what I am today.

So we could be honest

and hopeful

in our struggles.

That's the kind of church

he wants to make us.

I think it also

looked like a church

that looks a little bit

like the early church

in Acts.

Maybe the church

that that pagan

emperor Julian saw.

It's a church

that doesn't cling

to its time,

its money,

its kids' tutorial classes,

above everything else

because as we see

the needs

of the people

around us,

we're not afraid

that if I don't go

on that holiday

then I'm going to FOMO

and miss out

of everything else

but we can spend it

serving people

around us

sometimes

or joining

a community group

because normally

we're afraid

that if I go

then I'll miss out

on opportunities

to network

at work

but that wouldn't

grip us so much

because the gospel

says Jesus

is risen from the dead.

We will work hard

with a new mission,

with a new energy

but not because

it's based on us

trying to prove ourselves

but it's only because

we know who our Lord is.

He's taken us

who are dead,

who are in the dirt

and he's lifted us,

infused us with

resurrection power

and now sends us out

to go out to a world

which is crippled

by FOMO,

crippled by their past

and it says

that if this church

is to be that candle

which is burning brightly,

this is the gospel

which we carry

to the world

which we need to keep

reminding each other

of time and time again

because we'll forget

but the call is

will you surrender

your life right now,

your time,

your money,

whatever's going on

in your life

to the risen Lord.

Will you trust him

with your past

that he's forgiven,

wiped it out?

Will you trust him

with your future

that he's got it

as secure

as any bank

could ever have?

In fact,

far more secure than that.

Jesus is risen,

your past is redeemed,

the future is secure.

Let's pray.

Let's pray.

Let's spend a moment

thinking about that question.

What would my life

look like

if I really believed

that Jesus

has risen from the dead?

I have found some

with me.

I've been thinking about it

especially today.

Father, the gospel is amazing news.

Forgive me.

Forgive us when we kind of know it in our heads,

but actually in our lives.

It's another galaxy away.

I pray that you would make this truth become so real in our lives,

in my life, in the life of this church,

that we would see you are the Lord.

You are the Lord.

You're the one who we worry about so many things,

and yet if you've got death covered,

well, you've got everything else covered as well.

Whatever's going on in our lives now,

Lord, I pray for those who are struggling from their past.

There's guilt.

There's things which hold them.

I pray that right now you would minister to them

and tell them it's finished.

I've risen.

Lord, I pray for those of us who are self-reliant,

who think we can do it.

I pray that you would show us

that we are dead without you,

and yet when you come in

and you break us and you bring us that new life,

you send us out with a new compassion,

with a new mission

to love those around us.

Make us that kind of church.

I pray for those of us who are worried,

fearful about the future,

that we would see you got the future.

We're so worried about so many things which may happen,

and yet you know the future,

and you're there in the future.

Father, you're here with us now.

Help us to trust you.

In your name.

Amen.