01 Apr All Things Crucified
Last Sunday, Pastor Jeremy Chasteen closed our 2 Corinthians series with a message from 2 Corinthians 13:5-14, entitled, “Examine Your Faith.” Jeremy pointed us to join the Corinthians in examining our faith to see whether or not it is genuine faith. Genuine faith leads to repentance, restoration, and unity.
Read: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
This Sunday, we celebrate Easter. Our Lord is risen indeed! Pastor Jason will begin our new series: “The Risen Christ,” with a sermon from 1 Corinthians 1-11. We will consider the reality that humanity’s ultimate problem is sin, and Jesus Christ is the only solution to our sin problem. As you prepare to gather for worship, let this devotional from Milton Vincent lead you to further die to self that you might “taste the power of the resurrection of Jesus.”
Reflect: “All Things Crucified”
Thankfully, the gospel teaches me that dying is not an end, but a beginning. For after Christ took up His cross and died, God raised Him from the dead (Ephesians 1:20), exalted Him to the highest heaven (Philippians 2:8-9), and drew Him into His bosom (John 1:18). These facts surrounding Christ’s resurrection stand as proof positive that God will not leave me for dead, but will raise me similarly, if I would only allow myself to die. Indeed, on the other side of each layer of dying lie experiences of a life with God that are far richer, far higher, and far more intimate than anything I would have otherwise known (Romans 6:4).
In God’s economy, death is the way to life. “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,” Jesus says, “but whoever loses His life for My sake, he shall find it (Luke 9:24).” Indeed, the more conformable I am made to the death of Christ, the more I experience freedom from sin (Romans 6:6-7) and taste the power of the resurrection of Jesus Himself (Philippians 3:8-10). The path to such power is paved with many dyings, and each stage of resurrection is achieved with each incident of dying to myself and reckoning myself dead to sin (Romans 6:11).
The more I contemplate the gospel, the more I understand that this “word of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18)” stands as a blueprint for my own life story. The death that Christ died is the death to which I also am called, and the death to which I am called is my entry point to union with Christ and life at its fullest (Romans 6:5). So, come what may, I’ll let no one take this death from me!
“All Things Crucified, Part II,” in A Gospel Primer for Christians, by Milton Vincent
Sing: Song List for Sunday
1. “Christ Is Risen, He Is Risen Indeed,” by Keith & Kristyn Getty
2. “Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me),” by Casting Crowns
3. “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death,” Arr. Shane & Shane