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June 11 - June 24, 2025
Verses like Romans 4:25—“he … was raised for our justification”—show us that it is not just the death of Jesus but also his resurrection that saves us. Yet when most Christians give a “gospel” presentation to explain how we can be saved, they talk exclusively about the cross and make the resurrection an afterthought or leave it out altogether.
Christianity opens not with “Here’s how you have to live,” but “Here’s what Jesus did for you in history.” First, he died for our sins and was buried, and second, he was raised to life on the third day and he appeared to many eyewitnesses.
“A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of Christ without a Cross.”1 And, he could have added, without a resurrection.
grace
grace
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“raised … for our justification” (Romans 4:25)
“know the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).
The “not yet” means more charity in nonessentials, more humility and dialogue and tolerance and openness in areas of disagreement.
The “already” means more confidence that anyone can be changed, that any enslaving habit can be overcome.
The “not yet” means more patience and understanding with growing persons; it means to not be condescending nor impatient with lapses and failures.
We must not, then, be harshly critical of imperfect congregations, nor jump impatiently from church to church over perceived blemishes.
But the term signified not just that it was a gift but that it was a “pledge of the remainder,” a promise or “assurance of a full harvest.”
First, the risen Christ, the King, brings us freedom from the fear of guilt and shame.
How do we know he actually paid the debt in full? Because the door of death opened, and he went out.
“If Christ has not been raised, … you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17),
The Father looks at you and he sees a treasure. To the degree you live in consciousness of that, to that degree you are free from shame for anything in your past. You are free from what people say. Otherwise, you’re taking your identity from what people say about you and how you’re doing, and so you’re up and down. At night you toss in bed because somebody snubbed you. The next day you’re elated because you did well. But if Christ is risen and you have put your faith in him, you are not in your sins.
“This payment is sufficient. You never have to pay for these things again. Never.”
Second, because it brings freedom from guilt and condemnation, the resurrection brings freedom from the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14–15).
Third, the death and resurrection frees us from other “authorities” that would enslave us.
all of us live in the kingdoms of false gods to whom we look for significance and security, for identity and meaning.
The one who seeks power is controlled by power. The one who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our life.”
Societies make corporate idols out of military might and war, material prosperity and comfort, sexuality and romance, technology and science, or state power. At the cultural level these become ideologies of nationalism, capitalism, sexual liberation, technocracy, and socialism. Each of these can become a “power and authority” in our lives. The more we look to them for happiness, significance, and security, the more they enslave us. The cross freed us in principle from these powers, these idols. But the resurrection brings into our lives the power we need to live this freedom in practice. The
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But even within that framework, as the years mount, we see that we have not lived up to our own standards. The burden, barely noticed at first, gets heavier as the years go by. For more religious people that may be guilt over specific sins they have done; for nonreligious people it may be a less specific shameful sense of not being the persons they should be.
union with Christ
Christ now stands before the Father as our advocate, representing us so that our prayers for forgiveness are always accepted (1 John 1:8–9; 2:1–2; Hebrews 7:25) and so that all things work together for our good and nothing can separate us from his love (Romans 8:28–30, 33–39). Only a risen Christ can intercede for us. So
Many features of the Garden of Eden appear in the design of the tabernacle and, later, the temple.
. The new temple was not the one that was prophesied (Haggai 2:1–8).
Christianity is instead a radical regeneration of the heart and a reorientation of the life.
being a Christian makes us partners and participants with Christ
temple,
priest,
heaven
anointed
And yet it is now fatal to us to have the very thing for which we were designed.
made his light shine in our hearts
the church is an alternate society, not simply a collection of individuals who are forgiven.
they pointed to the uniqueness of the community.
he says that when Christians make the love of their neighbor and the glory of God the highest aims in their work, then in the fields of “science … art … the state … [and] commerce and industry” more just and right relationships will be established.
I am the axis mundi. Heaven and earth intersect on me. It’s my living and dying and rising that will bring the Spirit of glory into the world and into your life.”
“transferred”
the message of God’s kingdom will subvert the dominant beliefs of our own culture.
The world’s expectation was for a Messiah to come once. Instead Jesus announces a Messiah who comes twice, and that means something completely unlooked for—a Messiah who comes twice comes the first time in weakness, not strength.
suffering in life is inevitable, and when it comes upon you, your simplistic worldview will cause you to collapse into despair or cynicism.
even the good things you’ve done you’ve largely done for self-interested motives. All your strivings, even religious ones, have been ways to get control of God, putting him in a position so that (you think) he will have to serve your interests.
Therefore
There are some gifts that can’t be accepted without admitting weakness.
no human being seeks the true God.
Christian salvation is never our attainment, a prize after a long struggle while God waits for us. No, he comes to us and wakes us out of sleep. It is always a gift of grace.
