The Resurrection-Empowered Gospel!

The Resurrection-Empowered Gospel!

Acts 1:1-8;4:33;Eph 1:15-22-23

The gospel is a good news announcement of total victory, immeasurable power, and exhaustless provision. People living in New Testament times would quickly recognize and understand the “gospel” because it was “a technical term for “news of victory.”

“Good News” in the Greek is the word, “Euaggelion.”  Before the days of mass media, here’s the way the “good news” announcement would be made: The messenger, officially sent by the great King, appears in the center of town, mounts a platform, and waits for the crowd to gather, and even while he is waiting the people gathering can already tell by his appearance that he brings good news. His face shines, his spear is decked with laurel, his head is crowned, and he swings a branch of palms. When the town square is filled with people, he raises his right hand in greeting and cries out with a loud voice: “Rejoice …we are victorious” — and great joy fills the city!

Almost 2,000 years ago, the Friday News in Jerusalem seemed everything but good. A Nazarene construction worker named Jesus who claimed to be none other than God manifest in the flesh, the long promised Messiah of Israel and the worlds only Savior, had been nailed to a rugged cross on a skullshaped hill. Within the brief space of six hours, the news was shouted forth – He is Dead!

For the handful of disciples of Jesus, this seemed everything but good news. Their dreams were shattered, plans frustrated, and their hopes dashed upon the rocks of despair. It was the Blackest Friday of their lives. Life seemed so powerless, hopeless, and pointless. Then very early on that first Easter Sunday, the Father in Heaven looked down into the occupied tomb of His Son and said in the words of the songwriter, “Arise my Love, the grave no longer has a hold on You! And up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph over His foes.”

When the “Good News” of their risen Lord led these disciples to a personal encounter with the Risen Christ, suddenly hearts that were grieving turned into hearts filled to overflowing with joy; hopes that were dashed were dramatically energized; feet that were like lead sprouted wings as they ran to and fro announcing “Good News” — “He is Alive!”

The Resurrection of Jesus is a confirmed historical event that has a clear theological explanation. But it was meant to be more than concrete history and cold theological facts. It was meant to lead to an experience with the Risen Christ that brings us to know the “good news” personally and then become “good-news-announcers” ourselves.

The gospel we announce is God-authored, Kingdom-based, Christ-centered, Cross-shaped, and Resurrection-empowered!

The Resurrection of Christ is the Starting Point for a Whole New Way of Seeing the World and Everything in It!

In Acts 1, the resurrected Christ instructs His disciples concerning basically three things: His resurrected person; His present kingdom; and His powerful gift that was coming down after He went up – the Holy Spirit (Read Acts 1:3,6,7,5,8). In Luke 24:25-27, He opens the eyes of the Emmaus road disciples to a whole new way of understanding the Old Testament scriptures by revealing that He was the key to all scripture. As a result, they all became “Good News” believers. What are some of the traits of good news beleivers?

A. Good News Believers are those who Perceive that the Resurrection of Jesus was the Creation of a New World! 

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus a new order of things had come into being.  Not just a new reality in the hearts of believers (although this is true, just as one hymn declares – “you ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart”—wonderful!, but there is so much more  — there is a new reality in history. 

The fullness of time has already come (Gal. 4:4); a new creation had been birthed (2 Cor. 5:17); the long-anticipated age of the Spirit foretold by Joel had arrived (Joel 2:28-32, Acts 2:17-21). Now the last days of this present evil age have come (Heb. 1:2; 1 Pet. 1:5,20; 1 John 2:18) as well as the first day of a new world through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead (Acts 2:22-36; 2 Cor. 5:14-21; Gal. 6:15).  If we were to put this in a single sentence, we could simply say, as Paul did, that we are those upon whom the fulfillment of the ages has come (1 Cor. 10:11). 

To receive the good news that is God-authored, Kingdom-based, Christ-centered, Cross-shaped, and Resurrection-empowered is to cease to be a last days people and become a new days people in a new age!

Jesus’ call for repentance was nothing less than renouncing all competing allegiances and abandoning all worldviews that precluded His resurrection from the dead and becoming a part of the world that He brought with Him – the Kingdom of God! 

B. Good News Believers are those who Proclaim that the Resurrection of Jesus Promises a Salvation from All Our Wickedness!

Col 2:13, “ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, Col 2:14  by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

It makes no difference how dejected, defeated, despairing, depraved, or demonized a person may be, an encounter with the Risen Christ breaks the power of canceled sin and sets the prisoner free, restores the fallen to usefulness, and re-signs those who have resigned on Jesus!

Believing the resurrection-empowered gospel brings assurance that the Risen Lord Jesus has displaced indwelling sins reign in me, dissolved the claims of the broken law of God, detoxified the sting of death, and destroyed the chains of satanic bondage! Glory!

Rom 4:25, “…who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Resurrection-empowered good news declares that we who believe now have peace with God, participation in God’s family, personal access to the Father, and perfect assurance that we are no longer aliens but citizens in the kingdom of peace.

C. Good News Believers are those whose Participation in the Resurrection of Jesus Prompts Celebration in Our Worship!

Luke 24:52-53, “And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.”

Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth and joyfully honoring God. When there is no celebration or joy, there is no worship.

William Tyndale described the Christian gospel as “good, merry, glad, and joyful tidings, that makes a man’s heart glad, and makes him sing, dance, and leap for joy.”
Paul writes in Roms 14:17 that “the kingdom of heaven is not a matter of eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” He prays in Roms 15:13 that “the God of all hope may fill you with joy and peace in believing….”

Encountering the risen Christ transformed the disciples of Jesus. He became their life, instead of just their leader. They became a living organism instead of just a laboring organization. The disciples, filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, were so exultant, so excited, so joyfilled, that the people accused them of being drunk with new wine!  The converts at Pentecost came together with “gladness and singleness of heart.” He writes in Acts 13:52 that the disciples “were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.” Wherever the gospel came in power in the book of Acts, there was “great joy in that place.”

Encountering the Risen Jesus means that we have been given beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. We can go out with joy and be lead forth with peace.

D. Good News Believers are those whose Persuasion of the Resurrection of Jesus Produces a Motivation for Witness!

The resurrection of Jesus is something to shout about. It is an explosive event whose fall-out affects the whole human race.

A.W. Tozer was right when he said, “The moral obligation of the resurrection of Christ is the missionary obligation, the responsibility and the privilege of carrying the message and telling the story.”

When the disciples became persuaded that Jesus was raised from the dead, suddenly there was a radical and abrupt change in their lives. All at once disciple after disciple, that had feet of lead after Christ’s death, now seemed to get winged feet as they run here and yonder.

Matt 28:1 says, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.”  Verse 8 adds, “and they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy; and did run to bring His disciples word.” Mark 16:8 says, “And they went out quickly.”Luke 24:12 says, “Then Peter arose, and ran unto the tomb.” John 20:12 says, “The first day of the week came Mary Magdalene early unto the tomb, and saw the stone taken away from it.  Then she ran…”  John 20:4 says, “Peter and John both ran to the tomb.”

Everyone who met the risen Master became like Olympic runners, oblivious to everything else, totally captured by the victory of the resurrection and the Person of the Risen Christ.  Yet this was not a brief sprint that they grew weary of but keep on running to the ends of the earth to the end of their lives – proclaiming the gospel.

However we should note that all there witnessing wasn’t just a lot of loud, long talks or proclamations – there was a demonstration of resurrection power as well — Acts 4:33, “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” 1Thess 1:5  because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. 1Cors 4:20  For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. All of the members of the early church went forth as powerfilled soldiers of the cross confronting pagan darkness and depravity, powerful demons, and painful diseases, not with just a word of proclamation but with a demonstration of the power of God.

Here is the amazing truth, the same Jesus lives in me that lived in them. Christ is in me  the hope of glory! Because of that we dare confess with Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who is my strength.” Believing and announcing resurrection-empowered good news means that we that there is power over disbelief, over demons, disease, and power over death!

Resurrection power is still available today. A case in point involves Jennifer Rees-Larcombe who is the mother of six children. In 1982, she was stricken with a very serious illness which left unable to do hardly anything for herself, her family, or other people. For eight years she was in constant pain and increasing disablement through repeated, life-threatening attacks of encephalitis. Medically, she was told that she would not recover. They provided her with a lift, a smart wheelchair, a home help and many helpful gadgets. She asked a doctor in hospital once if all the morphine she was given would make her a junkie. “We don’t bother about that with terminal cases,” was his bland reply.

Then on the 13th of June in 1990, while she was speaking at a meeting in her wheelchair, she begin to sense that the impression that she had had for over three months that God was about to heal her by just sending someone “out of the blue” to confirm this conviction and then pray for her, was about to come to past.

A young girl, who had only been a Christian a few months, suddenly stood up as the meeting was closing and said she felt God wanted her to say I was going to be healed. I knew inside that this was the person for whom I had been waiting and when the meeting was over, I asked her to pray for me as many gathered round us. She was most reluctant, never having done such a thing before. Her hands shook with fear and she did not use any of the “right words” the healing books say should be used. I was not “slain in the Spirit” and I don’t think I did any of the “right things” either! Yet God healed me, and I stood up instantly.

When I arrived home I did not need any of my powerful pain killers – for the first time in years I had no pain. I iced my daughter’s eighteenth birthday cake – the first I had done in eight years. I blew up balloons and climbed on the table to tie them to the light. I picked armfuls of flowers and arranged them everywhere and then I did the ironing! Words can hardly describe what life has been like for us as a family!

E. Good News Believers are those whose Persuasion of the Resurrection of Jesus Produces a Victory-Orientation in Our Warfare!

Eph 1:19-21, “….and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” Col 2:15, “…. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. “

In the resurrection Christ has taken the cross and, using it for a battering ram, He has, as was promised in the Garden of Eden, smashed the old Serpent, the devil’s head, and has disarmed him and his demons, putting them to open shame. He has taken the cross and driven the back end out of the tomb to let in the light and life of resurrection power!  The grave has become a gateway. 

After learning on December 7, 1941 that America had declared war on Germany and would be joining the Allies in fighting, England’s Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, recorded his thoughts as he went to bed that night.
“No American will think it wrong of me if I proclaim that to have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy…. So we had won after all! Yes, after Dunkirk; after the fall of France … after seventeen months of lonely fighting and nineteen months of my responsibility in dire stress. We had won the war. England would live; Britain would live! … How long the war would last or in what fashion it would end no man could tell, nor did I at this moment care…. Many disasters, immeasurable cost and tribulation lay ahead, but there was no more doubt about the end. All the rest was merely the proper application of over-whelming force. . . I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful.”
The war would drag on for another four years. It would continue to be a bitter struggle, but even in December 1941, Churchill could say, “We had won after all.” The outcome was certain.
After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the world seemed the same, the powers of darkness seemed just as powerful, but there was and is even two thousand years later, no doubt about the outcome! We engage in spiritual warfare, not for victory but from victory; defeats and casualties may be massive at times, but never decisive. From victory unto victory His army shall He lead til every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed!

F. Good News Believers are those whose Persuasion of the Resurrection of Jesus Produces a Transformation in Our Work!

Acts 4:32, 34, 35, “No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had . . . There were no needy persons among them.  For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need”

Resurrection life impacted the early church in every area of their lives. It not only transformed their personal life, but their family life, and their work lives. They practiced a radically new, countercultural economics.  Instead of trying to find meaning and significance in buying, owning, possessing, and accumulating, they started living out a new social order that was a foretaste of the age to come, a taste of the reality of the last things in time.  One can imagine what the natural response would have been, “What’s going on here?  Are you all crazy?  Why are you doing this?”  And of course, the Church was ready with the answer. They said, “Because a man has been raised from the dead.  His name is Jesus and He is Lord.” “…With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 4:33).

The gospel touches and transforms every area affected by the fall, and this includes education, government, science, art, and work. Work must begin to be seen, not as a part of the curse, but as a partnering with God as He works; as a “kingdom enterprise” and not just a way to make a living.

Today our churches often have missionary reports. But those missionary reports have one thing in common. They are invariably given by the same kind of people who do the same kind of thing, and they all do it someplace very far away. If we ever get hit with the full impact and import of the resurrection-empowered gospel, we’ll start adding another kind of “missionary report” to the mix — a “Report from the Front.”  But this time the front is city council, or the factory, or the local political party headquarters, or the university, or the community center.  The format of the report is the same.  “I’m serving Jesus in our local city council, as CEO of a company, as an educator, a lawyer, etc., Here are the spiritual battles I’m fighting.  Here is where I see God working. Here is my vision for how I and other believers are praying and working to advance the rule of God.  Here is how you can be praying.”  Can you imagine the impact this would have on fellow believers!

Sure the problems in the world are huge! But the power of the gospel is humongous! Because Jesus has been resurrected from the dead, we have hope that all things can change.

I close with the words of Martin Luther King Jr. as he faced remarkable odds against his message in 1957. He was no pessimist as he stood against the forces of prejudice and injustice. His outlook was illuminated by the light of a resurrection-empowered gospel.

“I conclude by saying that each of us must keep faith in the future.  Let us not despair.  Let us realize that as we struggle for justice and freedom, we have cosmic companionship.  This is the long faith of the Hebraic-Christian tradition:  that God is not some Aristotelian “unmoved mover” who merely contemplates upon Himself.  He is not merely a self-knowing God, but an other-loving God forever working through history for the establishment of His kingdom.

And those of us who call the name of Jesus Christ find something of an event in our Christian faith that tells us this.  There is something in our faith that says to us, ‘Never despair; never give up; never feel that the cause of righteousness and justice is doomed.’  There is something in our Christian faith, at the center of it, which says to us that Good Friday may occupy the throne for a day, but ultimately it must give way to the triumphant beat of the drums of Easter.  There is something in our faith that says evil may so shape events, that Caesar will occupy the palace and Christ the cross, but one day that same Christ will rise up and split history into a.d. and b.c., so that even the name, the life of Caesar must be dated by His name . . . Go out with that faith today.  Go back to your homes in the Southland to that faith, with that faith today.  Go back to Philadelphia, to New York, to Detroit and Chicago with that faith today, that the universe is on our side in the struggle.”

We go to the world because history has been split in two. We can go with a God-authored, Christ-centered, Cross-shaped, Resurrection-empowered gospel that announces a new creation, in a new age, in a new covenant can be entered into right now — “Why?”  “Because a man has been raised from the dead.  His name is Jesus and He is Lord.” 

HALLELUJAH!