Jesus is Risen, Jesus is Lord - Easter Sunday - Acts 2:22-41

On Friday of this week we will come together to remember the death of our Lord on the cross. We will come together and talk about how He was beaten, tortured, mocked and how His blood was shed. But with all of this focus on the cross it’s important for us to remember the reason: Why the cross? Why did Jesus have to die? As we consider these questions it is helpful to remember what God put in place prior to the coming of Christ

It’s Easter season, which means over the next several weeks we are going to hear a lot about the cross. But while this is the time of year when we most emphasize the cross, the death of Jesus is something we talk about year-round. Weekly we gather to read, sing, preach and teach the cross. As we witness baptisms and share the Lord’s Table we are proclaiming the realities of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. But, with all of the focus on the cross, one thing that we may forget is the brutality and the bloody nature of this core part of our faith. At the heart of our faith is the death of the Son of God. And perhaps this should prompt the question: Why the cross? Why was this the means by which God chose to make salvation possible? Could there have been another way?

If we are honest, we should all admit that there are parts of Scripture that seem more relevant to us than others. There are parts of the Bible that we read slowly and prayerfully and there are parts that we skim quickly. For many, Colossians 4:7-18 may be easy to pass over, but if we take a closer look there is much to be learned. One way to approach Paul’s list of names and greetings is to use other parts of Scripture to uncover the lives and stories of the various people

On Friday afternoon Pastor Matthew received word about a death in his family and had to leave town quickly. On very short notice Keith Ingram agreed to serve the church on Sunday and brought this message from 1 Peter 2. A special thanks to Keith for serving the church so willingly and so well. **AUDIO NOTE: The first couple of minutes were not recorded, so the audio begins after the message has already begun. With that said, we hope the part that is available will be a blessing and help to you.

Many of us gravitate toward the stories of those who overcome the odds; people who go from a place of tragedy to a place of triumph. We find these stories compelling. We are drawn in as we hear of those who were hopeless and yet found hope. But how often do we consider the reality that as Christians, this is our story. The Scriptures are clear that we are all born spiritually lost, poor and without hope, but through Jesus we can be given new life (Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22, 2:13-14). But how often do we stop and stand in awe of the change that we have experienced? Or, to go a step further, how often do we share our story of redemption with others in hope that they will see their own need for salvation and believe? Colossians is a letter about Christ and His work of changing people. Paul has dealt thoroughly with the redemption of believers in the first three chapters, but as he moves toward his conclusion he encourages the reader to consider their own responsibility in sharing the Good News. In this short paragraph Paul speaks to three areas of life that we must consider if we are serious about sharing the Gospel: The way we pray, the way we live and the way we speak.

Much of our lives are given to work. For most of us, most days can be divided into three parts with one third being given to some kind of work. Whether it’s for pay or not, work is a significant part of what we give ourselves to day in and day out, and that’s by God’s design. It’s not uncommon for us to think of work as a burden or to be frustrated by the stresses of work, but it’s important to remember that work is God’s idea and that it existed before the fall of mankind in to sin. In Genesis 2:15 we see that before the fall and before the curse of sin, God gave man work to do. Work was included as a part of God’s original plan for His people. In the same way that God designed marriage, but marriage is made more difficult because of sin; and in the same way God created the parent-child relationship and it is made harder because of sin; God gave us work as a good gift, but because of sin our work and the relationships in the workplace are made more difficult by sin. But as those who are in Christ, through the power of the Gospel we can now live as those who have died to sin and have been given new life. We can now pursue marriages in the Lord, parent-child relationships that are in the Lord and work as it is meant to be, in the Lord.

Paul’s primary goal in Colossians 3 is to help us understand what it means to live as people who are ‘in Christ.’ Every aspect of our lives should be informed by our relationship with Christ – including our relationships. In verses 18-19 Paul describes God’s design for the marriage relationship and how God intends for husbands and wives to live toward one another. Now, in verses 20-21 he turns his attention to children and parents. Often verses like these get reduced to being used as simple rules and commands, but the context of Colossians 3 encourages us to remember that Paul’s aim is deeply spiritual and eternally significant. If we simply see these verses as rules to follow then we will miss the true significance of what God is trying to do in and through us in these relationships.

In Colossians 3 Paul is helping Christians understand what it looks like to live as those who are ‘in Christ.’ Part of living in Him is learning how to live in the different institutions and relationships that He created in the way that He intends. The first relationship that Paul wants us to consider is the relationship between husbands and wives.

Culture is a powerful thing. When we first arrive in a new culture the distinctions of that culture may be very pronounced, but the longer we stay in a culture the less pronounced the distinctions become. Over time we tend to take on the characteristics of our culture, for better or worse. Different countries, regions and cities have different cultures and church cultures vary as well. Every local gathering of believers has its own culture