The Destruction of Sin and Death

Last week, I wrote a post about Good Friday (that can be found here ). Good Friday was the day that Christ saved us from our sins. It is a very important day, but equally important was the Sunday after. Jesus saved us on Friday, but, through his resurrection on Sunday, he destroyed the power of sin and death.

This is the reason that "we are no longer enslaved to sin." Jesus has crushed the power of sin and death. I want to share from 1 Corinthians 15, because Paul is way smarter than me:

1 Corinthians 15:12-22

"Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.

We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also 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.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive."

And one more passage; Romans 6:1-10:

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Happy Easter

Over the last several years I’ve heard of this wonderful concept called resurrection eggs. I heard of them both by people saying how cool they are and also by those making fun of them. Until 2 weeks ago I had never actually seen them though. Personally I think that they are good tools to use as long as the gospel is presented well and the toys/symbols are not a distraction. As I walked through the story of the resurrection with my group that night it started to sink in how close Easter was fastly approaching which has lately been met with preparation by reading the Gospel of Matthew.

Now after reading the Lords supper passages it has brought me to looking over some sermons on the subject and I found one by John Piper that intrigued me entitled The Lords Supper as Worship. He say’s in it “The essence of worship is the inner experience of treasuring the true beauty and worth of God. And the outward forms of worship are the acts that show how much we treasure the beauty and worth of God. Therefore God created all of life as worship because he has told us, “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Do everything you do in a way that expresses your treasuring of God.”

The base scripture of the sermon was 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. In this Paul covers alot about the Corinthians and needs that they have but he warns of the seriousness of taking the Lords Supper. It is not to be taken lightly. But I do believe that it is also to cause us to worship through remembering, acknowledging, and proclaiming the gospel and all that it entails. Especially with the cross and the perfect sacrifice of the Son of God in mind.

Happy Easter!
Grace and peace