What Difference Does Easter Make? - Pt. 2

 

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:1-5 ESV).

 

Those of you who have known me for any length of time also know my “go-to” portion of the Bible for theology is the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Roman believers. Our reading today comes from that book. It starts by teaching us that what happened to us in our conversion to Christ, in our new birth, is that by faith we were spiritually united to Jesus Christ. God established a bond, a union — a living, unbreakable attachment — to Jesus Christ, and the point of this union, this bond, was that Christ’s death and Christ’s resurrection would count as our death and our resurrection.

 

And the key verse of our reading today is “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (v. 5). I can imagine there would be listeners who say, “Whoa, okay, you say we’re united; I don’t know where to look in my experience for that.” If you ask, “How do I personally experience a union with Christ in his death, in his resurrection?” the biblical answer is: by faith in Christ. When the Holy Spirit brings about your embrace of Christ — your believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and Treasure of your life — that is his way of establishing the union between you and the risen Christ.

 

The Apostle Paul explains this even more in his letter to the Galatians when he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). So, there’s the union. I have been united with Christ in his dying. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ [the risen Christ] who lives in me.” And now, here comes the conscious experience of that as Paul describes it: “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” So, by faith, power of God is transferred into our lives through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That secures our future resurrection. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies” (Romans 8:11). So, if Christ is in you now, if the risen Christ is dwelling in you now, you will be raised from the dead. There is the great truth that enables us to face every experience in life with the attitude of an overcomer. Even death has no hold over us any longer. Jesus conquered death and so shall we!

 

The answer to the often asked question, “What’s the worst that can happen?” is not “They can kill you.” Go ahead… kill me… you will only open the door for me to enter into heaven! That’s the difference the resurrection makes!