Risen & Reigning

[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to the Erickson Covenant Podcast. We are so glad that you've joined us today. We confess that we don't have all the answers, but as a community, we seek to find and follow Jesus and to discover daily the life he has always wanted for us. We hope this message will be encouraging and will inspire you to take the next steps on your spiritual journey. If we can help you in any way, please connect with us. The easiest way is through our [email protected] let's get started. [00:00:37] Speaker B: Jesus is risen. Do you know what else is rising? You know what else is rising? Gas prices. Food prices. Bombs. Hateful rhetoric. Aunt Betty's blood pressure. There's rising confusion over who's right and who's wrong and how we're going to right this listing ship. Rising conflicts between family and friends, between governments and citizens, between nations and nations with rising differences over how and what we should teach our young people and what we should do with our sick and elderly, and whether or not we should jump on the AI bandwagon or burn it down to the ground. And did I mention the rising gas prices? But some of you, some of you aren't that afraid. Some of you aren't even worried. In fact, some of you seem pretty nonchalant about it all. What gives you courage in the face of these realities? What fills you with light when you're staring into darkness? What renews your energy when it feels like the day to day could suck the life right out of you? Well, this week, after listening to yet another depressing podcast about the war in Iran, I found my mind drifting back to a much older story. The story of one of the early Christian martyrs. I find Christian history helps put our current experience into a much bigger perspective. And I find that helpful. Gives me courage. You ought to try it sometime. So there I was, day drifting back 1823 years ago to the year 203 AD down at the local recplex at the city of Carthage, where two young women, as shrieking crowds cheered, were being tossed and torn by a mad cow and then run through with a sword to finish them off. One of the women, her name was perpetua. She was 22 years old. She had an infant son. She was from an aristocratic family. The other woman was her dear friend and slave, Felicity, also a mom. Having just given birth to a baby girl only three days prior to her martyrdom. Both women stepped boldly into the rising bloody tide of anti Christian persecution and embraced the sufferings of Christ with unparalleled passion, with unshakeable confidence. And with firm hope. Perpetua was given every opportunity to renounce her faith in Christ. But she refused. The authorities kept telling her all the ways she could get off. Her father begged her to reconsider. For his sake. And for the sake of his family. And for the sake of the reputation and, well, for the sake of her child. And when begging didn't work, he'd scream and shout at her. Then he began begging and groveling again. He was desperate. And her response to her father was famous. She said, father, do you see that water pot over there in the corner of my cel? Could that water pot be called anything other than what it is, a water pot? He said, no, of course it couldn't. And she said, neither can I call myself anything other than what I am. And I am a Christian. And we know all this because Perpetua was a literate woman. And she journaled her experience while she was in prison awaiting her fate. And through her journal. Which, incidentally, are the first historical writings we have from a Christian woman. We hear the words of this remarkable woman. So fixed on Christ, so confident in his love, so utterly resting in his resurrection. That she ponders her own death. As simply passing up a ladder into her heavenly reward. With the martyrs who've gone on before her. Waiting just at the top of the ladder to welcome her in, to welcome her home. And she faced her death with such hope and her suffering with such joy. Because through it, she was able to join Christ in his suffering and in his resurrection. And for that hope, in Christ alone, she was martyred. Along with Felicity. Both young women, both postpartum. Both leaving behind nursing infants in the care of their families. And while their story may look to us like the greatest of most awful tragedies. I mean, it's horrifying to the extreme, isn't it? What's absolutely clear when you're reading Perpetua's journals. Was that neither of these women understood it that way. In fact, the day of their martyrdom was declared. Not the day of a tragic death. But the day of their glorious victory. When they triumphed over the devil. And won the crown of immortality in their risen Christ. Listen to the final account of their victory. It was written by an eyewitness. And then added to the end of Perpetua's journal. I quote. Now dawned the day of their victory. And they went forth from the prison. Into the amphitheater, as it were, into heaven. Cheerful and bright of countenance. If they trembled at all, it was for joy, not for fear. Perpetua followed behind, glorious of presence as a true spouse of Christ and a darling of God, at whose piercing look all cast down their eyes. Felicity likewise rejoiced that she had borne a child in safety. I want to give a side note here. She had prayed and prayed and prayed that she'd be able to have the baby first. Because, believe it or not, they had rules back then. They wouldn't throw a pregnant woman to the beasts. She prayed and prayed and prayed that she'd have the baby first so that she could join Perpetua. So she had the baby first. She was thanking God for that, rejoicing that she'd born a child in safety. I'll keep quoting. That she might fight with the beasts came now from blood to blood, from the midwife to the gladiator to wash after her travail in a second baptism. It was the morning of March 7, 203 AD a day remembered forever not as the day of their death, but as the day of their victory. In fact, they would refer to it as their Deus natalis, as in their birthday, into eternal life. Now I ask you, why did my mind remember Perpetua this week as I considered the deep struggles that we're facing today? And why do I find Felicity's life so encouraging as I looked around at the dumpster fires dominating our headlines? Because I witness in these two sisters a kind of fearless faith in Jesus that shores up my own fearful soul. I see in my two sisters a kind of faith filled vision of Christ that compels me to look to Jesus as my only hope too. And I hear in my sister's courageous words a call for us all to gaze upon our risen, reigning Christ and find that all our suffering, all our struggles, all our fears, all our confusions, all our concerns are suddenly subsumed under him, radically reoriented by the risen, reigning Lord. So that whatever is going on right now, and whatever we might be struggling with and whatever might happen in the future and whatever is coming in the days ahead, all of what we experience now is cast under the death swallowing shadow of the empty cross. And it's reframed by the mighty light of the empty tomb. All of what seems confusing or frightening or overwhelming is now flipped over and set right by the risen and reigning Lord Jesus Christ. How much do you need to know this right now? How much do you need to know this? Especially if your mind is spinning with stress and worried about the world? How much do I need to remember this each and every day, even when My heart is heavy for what's going on. And why in the world did I start with this on Easter Sunday? Some of you, all you're going to remember is that we went to Easter Sunday and the preacher talked about two young women who got killed. That's it. I want you to carry away from this message. More than that, please. Why did I start with this on Easter Sunday? Because it was on this Sunday, the darkest of all mornings, when all hope had died in the hearts of these faithful women and these fearful men, when it seemed like God had utterly failed them with the Messiah they loved brutally murdered and dead. All the promises tossed over the side. And the best these women could do was to bring some spices and send Jesus on his way with the care befitting to a failed, yet loved friend. It was on this darkest and hopeless of all mornings that these women found a very empty tomb and a very risen Lord. And their whole world was turned right side up by the resurrection, never to be flipped over again. Listen to those words from Matthew 28 again that we already heard. The longer portion read. The women had arrived at the tomb of Jesus to find it empty, with an angel waiting. The angel said to the women, I'm quoting from verse five. Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus, who is crucified. He's not here. Can't you hear the laughter in the angel's voice? You got to hear the laughter in the angel's voice. He's not here. He is risen, just as he said. Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him now I've told you. So. The women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me on this darkest of all mornings. These women went looking for a dead man that they loved. They didn't find him. He found them. These women went looking to serve a dead body and discovered a living Lord who sent them to bear this greatest news ever told. He has risen. You will see him soon. Hell had poured out its greatest fury and utterly failed. Evil had wreaked out its vicious hate. But love overcame death, had thought itself smugly victorious, only to discover the one who is life had mastered the game. He is risen from the Dead. Do not be afraid. And that if you hear nothing else today is the message that I want to ring out across the headlines of our hearts and our minds. Scrawl it across the headlines of your doom feeds and your media outlets. He has risen from the dead. Do not be afraid. He has risen from the dead. Do not be afraid. The freshly painted printed headlines of the Jerusalem Sunday Morning Times might have declared the death of the would be Messiah. Yet Jesus was already up scribbling over the fake news broadcasts with the overwhelming truth of his astonishing rapid resurrection. Showing up here, popping up there. Oh, he's over there having some fish. Oh, he's over there walking down a road. Oh, he's revealing himself again and again to the chosen witnesses of his resurrection life. And for the next 40 days, Jesus met with his very surprised and very joyful followers. Meeting with, get this, get this. Meeting with over 500 men and women. These are clear eyed people. They knew what a dead body looked like and they weren't looking at one. These were the irrefutable eyewitnesses of his resurrection. They're eating with him, they're drinking with him, they're grasping his arms, they're bear hugging him, they're grabbing his feet, they're laughing with joy. As Jesus told them again and again how all of this had been revealed ahead of time through the Holy Scriptures. How all this was a fulfillment of what the law and the prophets had foretold. Showing Himself again and again to be vitally alive, flesh, blood, bone, soul, just as he said he would be. And constantly pressing home the meaning of it all. That his resurrection meant God's total and complete victory over evil, victory over sin, victory over fear, victory over death. And promising them his presence forever through the coming gift of the Holy Spirit. Whatever fears they had melted away in his presence. Men who had cowered behind locked doors for fear of being found out were transformed into brave witnesses. Spreading the good news everywhere, not worrying about themselves, living before Jesus for the rest of their lives, never changing their story. Many of them, like Perpetua and Felicity, 170 years later, dying for Jesus, but all the while fearlessly declaring the truth of what they had seen and what they knew to be true. That Jesus had risen from the dead and was now reigning as the Sovereign Lord over all creation and over all kings of the earth. Do to us what you will. He is risen from the dead. Do not be afraid. And he didn't just rise from the dead, of course. He rose to the throne. And this is the fear melting truth that we celebrate on Easter Sunday. He isn't just alive, he's the Lord. Try that. I know it's not grammatically correct, but it works. He isn't just alive, he's the Lord. I thought it worked on paper. After 40 days with his followers, so that there can be no question of whether or not he really was alive. He is alive. Jesus ascended to to the right hand of his Father to sit as sovereign, to take up his authority, to rule and to reign, as Paul said in 1st Corinthians 15, until he has put all his enemies under his feet, all his enemies under his feet. Jesus didn't just rise from the dead, he rose to the throne. And so what is this Jesus up to now, exactly? This. Jesus is in the process of putting all his enemies under his feet. And this is ongoing and this is happening right now. And he's saving the greatest enemies, the juiciest enemy, for last. For the last beautiful climactic finish when the last enemy to be destroyed, say it with me, is death. We might not know what all this entails or why it happens the way it does. We may not understand the reason that God allows certain things to happen or seemingly overlooks other things that we really wish he'd deal with immediately. There's so much we do not know. But of this we can be confident. Though the championship game might seem like it's still up in the air, and though we might catch ourselves sometimes on the edge of our seats wondering how it's all going to go, we have to remember the game has already been won, the cup's already been kissed. We already know the victor, and that's because it's Jesus who's on the throne. Remember? The risen Lord Jesus, and we can trust Him. The risen Lord Jesus who sits on the throne is the same Jesus who healed the sick, who touched the leper, who welcomed the outcast, the same Jesus who elevated women and forgave sins and took all the brokenness of this world upon his and went to the cross to pay for our sin completely and forever. It's this same Lord Jesus Christ, so strong, so kind, so just, so merciful, so gracious and good. The same Jesus Christ who came into the world to seek and save the lost, to rescue you from your sin, to win you back to the Father. It's this same Lord Jesus Christ who took your place in judgment and gave to you his righteousness. It's the same Lord Jesus Christ who is reigning until he puts all his enemies under his feet. All his enemies which by the way means all your enemies, too. All his enemies, meaning any and every power or agent, evil. That seeks to destroy his creation. Or deny his goodness. Or deface his human images. Or disfigure his beautiful plans. Some of those enemies, he already won over you. Yeah, while we were still his buddies. No, while we were still his enemies. Jesus died for us. He won us over already. We're all part of the family. We used to be his enemies, but we're not now. But there's still other enemies. And they're going to get under his feet too, one way or the other. These are the enemies that Jesus is winning. Putting them where they belong. All his enemies. Under the feet of the good and holy, risen, reigning Jesus. And this fact moves us from fearful to fearless, from fragile to fierce. Transforming us into a people who can actually look evil in the face. And look into darkness with unflinching courage. Like our sister Perpetua. With undaunted hope, like our sister Felicity. A people who were able to wisely assess the troubles of today in light of the coming future that has been promised. And who can boldly call out any lie that subverts the truth. That Jesus is the rightful risen, reigning king over cosmos and creation, over humans and history. From the macro to the micro, past, present and future. That's what it means to be sovereign overall. He is risen. Do not be afraid. He is reigning. Do not be afraid. In a world that might seem like a dumpster fire floating down a flooded street. Can I get an amen? This is how I keep my head clear. This is how I keep my heart fierce and fearless. And let me share with you how that works for me. First, no matter how dark the world gets, I remember that the risen, reigning Jesus guarantees a good outcome. When I consider all the evils that continue to wreak havoc in this world. And there are many. Human trafficking, terror, war, abortion, suicide, corruption, abuse, just to mention a few. My heart breaks and I cry out to the Lord and I cry out, how long? And we pray, and we pray, and we pray. And when, wherever we can, we speak and we act as the church of Jesus Christ. We speak against evil. We pray for God's kingdom to come and his will to be done. But even in that godly sorrow which we should lament and feel, I know this to be true. None of this evil will win in the end. None of it. Not a shred of it. All of this evil will be vanquished by our risen, righteous, reigning Lord Jesus Christ. He will make it right in the end. He is guaranteed a good outcome. And that should be a great comfort to us. The Father has already taken the greatest evil committed in all of history. The brutal rejection and execution of the purest, most holy, most loving, perfect man, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. He took that evil and used that evil for the salvation of the world. My friends, if he already did that, ha. Stand back and watch what he's going to do with the rest of this mess. We can be confident that he can take the evil and suffering and use it for our good and for his glory. And we can rest in that. We can place our full trust in his good work. For we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him. And through the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus, we are guaranteed a good outcome, resurrection and renewal for us and for God's world. And this kind of faith makes us fearless in the face of evil, no matter what it may do to us. In the short term, our risen, reigning Jesus guarantees a good outcome. Second, no matter how difficult life seems, the risen, reigning Jesus is present with us. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow death, I will fear no evil. Why? For you are with me. For you are with me. And right before Jesus ascended to his throne, he made a promise. After commissioning his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything Jesus had taught them. Then he said, I will be with you always. I will be with you always. Now, how is it that. Bit of a mind puzzler here. How is it that the risen, reigning Jesus is both seated at the right hand of the Father and yet also present with us always? That's the marvel of our triune God. That's the beauty of the Trinity. By the gift of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus promised he would send and did send 10 days after he ascended, Jesus is able to live in us and us in him by the gift and presence of His Holy Spirit. And that presence makes all the difference, my friends. Nothing transforms us from fearful to fearless, from fragile to fierce more than knowing that the risen, reigning Lord of all creation resides in us and is ruling and reigning in in us even now. I mean, if you ever wake up in the morning, you wonder, whoa, in the mirror, you know, do you ever. You don't? Is that just me? You look at yourself and go, oh, my goodness, where'd you come from? Then say, wow, the eternal King is right here. The risen, reigning Lord Jesus Christ is right here. So take that. Say that to the mirror. Where am I Lost my. Yeah, we can have full confidence in his good presence, just as Jesus, you know, he did what he said, but he promised he'd rise again from the dead. Did it. Pretty amazing. I mean, at that point, you've got me, right? If you can do that, you can do anything. And then he promised he would come to us by the Holy Spirit. We have not been abandoned. We may be walking through the darkest of valleys. Those valleys exist, but we do so without fear because he is with us. And he will be with us through this valley and every other valley, into the future world without end. He will never leave or forsake us. The goal of Good Friday and the proclamation of Easter Sunday all culminated with this ascension of Jesus. And you could say the descension of the Holy Spirit, so that we humans, so filled up with God himself would be that home for God, that temple of the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ, so that Christ might fully live in us and through us, ruling and reigning. So whenever you feel afraid, take a deep breath and remember, I am not alone. Jesus, the risen, reigning Christ, abides in me, and I need never be afraid. Third, and this is an important point, I think, in light of everything, no matter how confusing life might seem, the risen, reigning Jesus is the living truth. You know, knowing that Jesus is going to work it all out for our good, knowing that he's with us forever, those are the game changers. I really do think that's true. But let's be honest, we're still in the midst of a really confusing time, a really confusing moment with conflicting truths and mixed messages, and it's hard to know what ends up sometimes, even if we're clear on how it's going to end. Wow, it's pretty foggy. And that's why I think it's important that we keep our minds fixed and our hearts focused on the risen, reigning Jesus, who is the truth personified. You know, Jesus famously declared, I am the way, the truth and the life. And we could think of it like this, if you allow me. Jesus is the way, which was made clear to us on Good Friday because of Jesus and his perfect sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. The way to the Father has been flung wide open. Jesus is that way. Jesus is the life made real to us on Resurrection Sunday. Because of Jesus powerful return to life, death has been overcome forever and life everlasting is available to all who would trust him. Jesus is the life. But Jesus is also the truth who comes to us now by the Holy Spirit and is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through. Through the Holy Scriptures. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus spends most of his time. Luke records a lot of it, actually, if you just read through it. I took the morning and read through the resurrection accounts just in my own personal time. And in Luke's Gospel, Jesus spends most of his time between his resurrection and his ascensions, showing his disciples how all the scriptures pointed to him. All the scriptures had said this would happen. Oh, let me take you back through the law and the prophets. I'm going to show you. He does it over and over again. And the Holy Spirit continues to do the same for us, leads us into the Scriptures so that we understand more of who Jesus is, more of the truth, because the Spirit is the Spirit of truth and reveals to us everything we need to know, everything we need to know in following Jesus, everything we need to know to understand this life with Jesus, everything we need to know to understand and engage in this world in which we are witnesses to Jesus. And he does that by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Scriptures, which means that however confusing things might be, we place our full weight on his truth, the full weight on Jesus, the living truth, the full weight on the revealed Word of God. And we live our lives centered in Christ, who is the truth and anchored in his word of truth. And so we can be more confident than ever that we've been given this gift which equips us to understand and to respond appropriately in a world that's awash with lies and deception and confusion. As people who are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, as people who in whom the living truth dwells. We're not arrogant about ourselves. We're confident in Jesus. He's the truth on which we stand, and he comes to us as the truth to lead us into all truth. And so I just want to say we might be confused at times on a daily level as to what's going on, but I want you also to hear that we are more equipped than we realize, more equipped than we know through the Holy Spirit and through the Scripture, to analyze and understand, to speak the truth about the one who is truth, to pierce through the lies and declare the truth and announce again and again, there is a king on the throne. There is freedom for all. We are more equipped than we realize to do the work he's given us to do. We need not be confused about how this all is going to end. Who's going to win? Who's going to lose. But we also need not be confused about how we are to live in the meantime. As people of resurrection hope, as people of living truth, as people who are centered in the risen Christ and anchored in his written word. Jesus has given us everything that we need. That's why Perpetua and Felicity could face the ultimate test with unwavering courage and hope. They knew the truth about Jesus. They knew the truth about themselves. They knew the promise that they had been given. They also knew the truth about their enemies. They knew the truth about their babies. They knew the truth about their families and about their future. And so they could look into the eyes of a world that had literally gone mad and stand boldly in this Jesus is risen. Jesus is reigning. And they were not afraid. Not one little bit. So we might be, though, still a bit worried, might be a bit stressed at times. We might sometimes even be afraid. But we can take great heart in knowing this, my friends. Jesus is risen. Which means death cannot win. It will not win. It has already lost. In fact, we've already been told who won the game. And now we watch. Can I just say, not arrogant, but maybe a little bit smug? Is that okay to say? Just a little bit smug in knowing who's already won the game? And what's more, Jesus is actively reigning, actively putting his enemies to the boot. Working and working and working to set his creation free. Coming and dwelling in anyone who is willing, coming to dwell in us all so that we can be with him and he and us. He is risen. Do not be afraid. He is reigning. Do not be afraid. The enemy's already lost. The game's already been won by Jesus, our risen reigning king. [00:33:48] Speaker A: Thanks for listening in today. We hope you feel encouraged and challenged. If you know someone who would benefit from what you have heard today, please share this podcast. For more information or if you have questions, you can connect with us through our website, Erickson Covenant ca. You can also find us on Facebook by searching for Erickson Covenant Church.