RESURRECTED

Well, back to my favorite chapter of the Bible for helping to understand the Christian life.  Paul spells it out for us as he puts life in perspective for all who belong to Jesus.  And he starts off with a very exciting premise.

“Since you have been raised with Christ.”  To all of us who remember our grammar and verb tenses this is profound.  Not someday when you are raised with Christ, but since you have been raised with Christ.  What!  We have already been raised with Christ?  We are already seated at the right hand of God?  Yes!  This supernatural gift in our treasure box is the gift of living a resurrected life right here in the midst of the crazy world that surrounds us, and because of that we are admonished to live and walk in that reality.

“Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Can we choose to focus on earthly things?  Sure.  But do we have to? Absolutely, not.  “Because you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”  We are already resurrected with Christ and are seated with Him at the right hand of God!  Do I understand that?  No, but do I believe it?  Absolutely.

And here are some more of Paul’s writings to confirm this amazing gift.

🌻To the Galatians, he wrote

For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

🌻To the Romans

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.  The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.  In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Rom. 6:1-11

🌻 To the church at Ephesus (2:4-10)

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

🌻To the Corinthians (4:16-18)

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

So, let’s practice that.  Fix your eyes on what is not seen,  you seated with Jesus at the right hand of God. You already redeemed, already sanctified, already in eternity with your Savior.  Already a victor over death.

SINCE, then, you HAVE BEEN raised with Christ, set your heart on things above.  This is not in the future tense.  We already have been raised with Christ and we should live in that reality. It is this reality that allowed the Apostle Paul to live in victory and freedom inside a prison cell, because only his body was imprisoned.  His spirit was seated right there with Jesus at the right hand of God, right there beside you.

Here is a song that reminds us of these truths.