Colossians 3:1-4 St. John 20:1-10

Risen With Christ

The message of Easter Day is more than the message of the empty tomb. Our
Lord's resurrection is not merely an obscure historical event, but a reality
in which we, as His people, may freely share. Christ died to bear upon His
own sinless Self the penalty for sin which was rightfully ours. In Eden God
invoked the sentence of death upon the first Adam for sin. By raising the
Second Adam from the dead He declared His acceptance of His propitiatory
sacrifice of Himself as well as His acceptance of all those for whom that
sacrifice was made.

But Christ was also raised for the consummation of our salvation - for our
justification and our sanctification (cf. Romans 4:25; 1 Corinthians 1:30;
Hebrews 9:28). Indeed, we were chosen by God from the beginning for
salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to
which He called us by the Gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). In our Epistle passage for this
resurrection Sunday, St. Paul presents us with three main consequences to
our incorporation into Christ which confront us with three clear challenges
to be transformed and conformed to His image.

The first consequence is that we are reckoned already to have died, having
paid the penalty for sin through our proxy and our substitute, Christ
Himself. In Romans 6, St. Paul stated that this death was accomplished at
our baptism. "Do you not know," he asked, "that as many of us as were
baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death?" Christ died on our
behalf and therefore those of us who have been buried with Him in the
Sacrament of Holy Baptism are all reckoned to be dead. The sentence is thus
paid in full. We who have heard His Word and have believed on Him shall not
come into judgement, as we have already passed from death to life (John
5:24).

The second consequence is that our lives are hid with Christ in God. In the
resurrected Christ, we are reborn into a new life given to us by the Creator
Himself. Indeed, as the Apostle pointed out in verse 4, Christ is our life.
We can only enjoy this new life because of our union with Him, but, what's
more, as St. Paul stated in Ephesians 2, we have been raised up together
with Him to be seated with Him in Heavenly places. According to this
evaluation, our current spiritual position is no less than heavenly. We are
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Thus, by being in Christ,
we all share in His death, His resurrection, His life and His ascension.

The third and final consequence of our incorporation into Christ is that we
shall one day also appear with Him in glory. "Christ's fulfilment in his own
person as Man of men's true destiny means that, when this is fully revealed
for all to see by His open manifestation in glory, we, who are united with
Him now, will be glorified with Him then. Also, our participation in His
resurrection, which we already enjoy spiritually, will then be experienced
bodily. Then we shall all share, as we confess in the Creed, in "the
resurrection of the body"." (Stibbs) Then, as St. Paul wrote in Philippians
3:21, Christ "will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His
glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue
all things to Himself."

Such a union presents us with three clear challenges. Firstly, St. Paul
wrote, "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are
above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your minds on
things above, not on things on the earth." In other words, as we are united
to One Who has died and is risen and Who ascended into the heavenlies, we
should devote ourselves to heavenly concerns and not earthly ambitions.

Now, whereas the first challenge is to a heavenly focus, the second
challenge is to an earthly denial. St. Paul instructed us to "put to death
(our) members which are on earth." Union with Christ demands that we
distance ourselves from all things carnal and that we curb our fleshly
appetites. The obsession with any form of sin is in conflict with the
confession of faith in the One Who died because of and for sin. In fact,
loving anything more than Him is idolatry, which renders any devotion to Him
impossible. "Indeed, all who in disobedience to God's Word devote themselves
to such activities are certain to encounter the opposition and judgment of
the wrath of God." (Stibbs).

And thus we come to the final challenge which is for us to be done with our
old wicked habits and to embrace our new God-given life to the full. "We
ought never to forget that apart from God's saving grace in Christ, the life
of sinful disobedience which St. Paul described is the kind of life we
(would) still be living." (Stibbs) However, as the message of Easter clearly
tells us that Christ is risen, we may be rest assured that God has
intervened and has not only raised us with Christ, but has also, as our
Collect reminds us, "put into our minds good desires". It thus remains for
us to beseech Him to assist us by His continual help to "bring the same to
good effect".

The message of Easter Day is more than the message of the empty tomb. It is,
as we have seen, a reality in which we who are born again in Him may share.
Because Christ is risen from the dead.because we have been raised with Him
and have been seated together with Him in heavenly places.we may confidently
expect to succeed in walking in newness of the life He has given to us
because Christ Himself is our life.

© Johann W. Vanderbijl III 2004