Your Resurrection Is the Pinnacle of Your Christian Faith!

5th Sunday in Lent, 3/26/23 Romans 8:11-19 Your Resurrection Is the Pinnacle of Your Christian Faith! I. Secured by the Holy Spirit in you II. Reflected by the new spirit empowering you III. Focused on the glory that awaits you How often have you recited the words of the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds? Well, that depends on several variables. One, how old are you and how long have you been a Christian? Two, how long have you been a Lutheran Christian or a member of a Christian church that regularly speaks the creeds? Three, on average, how often are you in worship monthly, either in person or virtually? Here at Resurrection, we speak one of those creeds at least 52 times a year. So, depending on the variables I listed, how many times have you spoken the creeds? 500? 1,000? 1,500? 2,000? More? And for all those times you have recited one of the creeds, how often have you paused to consider the eternal impact these words have on you, “I believe in the resurrection of the body” or, “We look for the resurrection of the body”? Maybe not all that often. Maybe never. And that’s unfortunate. With those words we’re not referring to the resurrection of Jesus. We’re confessing that we believe in our own resurrection. Today’s worship theme calls for us to embrace the truth that Jesus is the Savior we needed because he gives life for the dead. He has promised to give us life from the dead. But if my suspicion is correct—that we don’t ponder our resurrection as often as we could or should—what blessings might we be missing out on? After all, our resurrection from the dead might not occur for 100 years, 1,000 years, or more. If you might be thinking that way, then the Apostle Paul has some truths he’d like you to consider this morning. He wants you to know and believe that your resurrection from the dead isn’t some promise God makes to you that only applies to your distant future; it’s incredibly useful and beneficial to you right now. In fact, your resurrection is the pinnacle of your faith. It’s the crown jewel of Christian truths. How so? Let’s see how our Lord answers that question as we delve into these words before us this morning. Part I. Have you ever encountered a worthless guarantee? I’m guessing you have, more times than you care to recall. When the product you purchased no longer performs as expected, you check the manufacturer’s guarantee and, in some cases, it’s worthless. Perhaps the company that sold you the product is no longer in business. Perhaps the fine print, which you didn’t bother reading, gives the manufacturer a wide berth of exclusions. The implied promises from the manufacturer are almost worthless. There are many teachings of the Christian Church that are unique, and one of them is the teaching of the resurrection of the dead. No other religion teaches it. But our risen Lord Jesus promises it to us. He repeatedly called on his people to watch for the day of his return when he will raise all the dead. But how certain is that promise? None of us has witnessed a single resurrection from the dead, let alone all humanity. How can we be sure that Jesus isn’t promising something to us that he has no intentions of delivering? Paul lists one reasons in the opening words of our text, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” He asks you to recall an amazing truth. You have the Holy Spirit living in you. That has been the case ever since the Holy Spirit brought you to faith in Jesus. In another one his letters, Paul calls the Holy Spirit a deposit from God, a deposit that guarantees he will deliver on every promise he has made to you, including your resurrection. The reason the Holy Spirit entered your heart is to give you spiritual life by faith in Jesus Christ. That faith in Jesus is not only your guarantee of life in heaven when you die, it’s also your guarantee of your resurrection from the dead in glory on the Last Day. Yor resurrection is the pinnacle of your Christian faith, a resurrection that is secured by the Holy Spirit in you. Part II. But that’s not all. Paul lays before us a second reason that your resurrection is the pinnacle of your faith, and it has to do with your life right now, today. Let me ask you something. Have you ever had something happen to you that changed your life? Perhaps it was a tragedy that occurred in your life which brought you an entirely different outlook and purpose for your life. Perhaps it was the birth of your first child. Your life hasn’t been the same since. In the next section of our text, Paul speaks about just such a life-changing event in your life. “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” Paul reminds us that we have an obligation—not an unwanted one, but an entirely blessed one. Since we have the Holy Spirit living in us, and the Holy Spirit created a new spirit—a new person—in us, our first obligation is to crucify our sinful natures. Well, how do you do that? Martin Luther wrote, “We drown our old Adam through daily contrition and repentance.” We put our sinful nature to death by daily feeling sorry for our sins and daily trusting in Jesus for our forgiveness. That’s a daily reminder of the power of sin in our lives, but also a daily reminder of the far greater power of Jesus in our lives. And then we naturally live by the spirit. Our new person lives in us and leads us to live as the children of God our Lord has made us to be. It empowers us to bring glory to the Lord who has redeemed us with his holy precious blood. It causes us to live for Christ instead of living for self. Paul highlights one aspect of that new life. As adopted children of God, we have the right and privilege to call on our God as, “Abba, Father.” Our God is not some capricious tyrant who fills us with fear and trepidation. He’s the God who loves us so much he sacrificed his Son for us to bring us into a holy relationship with him. So, we have the privilege of going to him in prayer as our dear Father. The resurrection is the pinnacle of your Christian faith. It’s reflected by the new spirit empowering you. Every day. Parwt III. And every day it also provides this comfort: “We are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” How many days a week do you feel overwhelmed by life, if not for the entire day, then just for portions of it? More often than not, right? As hard as we try to make things in our lives better, we don’t succeed. We don’t even keep even. We fall behind. The disappointments and tragedies of life pile up. At times they bury us under them. In another one of his letters, Paul calls these towering disappointments and tragedies “light and momentary” (2 Cor. 4:17). Who is he trying to fool? There’s nothing light and momentary about them! They often crush us, and they seem to do so every waking and sleeping moment. So, how can Paul call them light and momentary? Because he’s looking at them through the lens of eternity moving forward. What are 80 years of trouble compared with an eternity of bliss with our God in heaven after the Last Day with glorified, perfect bodies? They’re light and momentary. In fact, they get far outweighed by the glory we’ll experience forever. Can you imagine life in heaven? Neither can I. That’s because our minds can’t conceive of what a perfect, happy, blissful life is. Everything we know about life is tainted, marred, and ruined by sin. Even the times we call “good” in our lives aren’t perfect, and no matter how good they are, they all come to an end. Not life in heaven. And now, imagine that life with a glorified, perfect body. Imagine—living in a perfect place, with a perfect body, surrounded by perfect people. And all of us living in the presence of Jesus to boot. That’s the hope and joy and comfort your resurrection gives you. Your resurrection is the pinnacle of your Christian faith. It’s focused on the glory that awaits you. As I mentioned when we began, our Lord’s intent regarding our faith in our resurrection from the dead is not for it to be some stuffy Christian dogma that seems to have little if any direct influence on our lives in the here and now. His intent is that it powerfully impacts us, reminding us of the fact that we have the Holy Spirit living in us, empowering us to live as the children of God he made us to be, and influencing daily how we look at the disappointments and tragedies of this life. So, how’s that going for you? Are you living on cloud nine as far as your daily Christian life is concerned, or, are you barely getting by? Are you enjoying daily Christian victories or are you going through another losing streak? Can our eyes of faith see past the muck of life in order to focus on the glory to come? If only that were the case! Instead, we drag ourselves out of one day and into the next. So, what should we do? Focus first on your Savior, Jesus Christ. He never suffered a single defeat in all of his life. And when it mattered most, he pounded Satan into eternal submission to him and opened the doors of eternal life to us. And now that life is yours by faith in him. In fact, he has glory in mind for you—eternal glory for both soul and body. Keep your eyes daily on that goal—your resurrection to eternal glory. Now what can be more practical and impactful on your daily life than that? And it’s yours by faith in Jesus. Amen.