Main idea: Christ Rose from the dead so that the Father would be our all in all
Our response
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good morning faith Bible Church. For our our Ukrainian friends, Christos VAs grace. Did I come close? No. Do we have any Russian speakers? Yes, he is risen and he is risen. Indeed, it is. So such a joy this morning to be with you all. This is just, you know, a high point in the church calendar year for us at Faith Bible Church for me personally. And we have been thinking and praying a lot about all of this, just trying to implant in our hearts. We are in the middle of a series in First Corinthians 15, maybe by the Lord's Providence, and maybe by some planning, we came here today on Easter Sunday. John came to us a long time ago and says, Can we end Corinthians, right about the time that Easter comes because of this great chapter? Sure. Let's let's make that happen. It is such a stunning passage. What is your all in all? You know, what is your all in all? It's really the question. It's that's going to be at the end of this. And so, when you think of what you're all in all is, it's a phrase that means that God would be everything in every place in all of your life. That's what Jesus was raised to do. He was raised to be your all and all the Godfather would be that stand with me for the reading of God's Word. We're going to read first Corinthians 1520 through 28, it will be up on the screen. If you don't have a Bible or Electronic Bible. That's okay. You can follow along with us. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. Amen. It's a fact, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as an Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order Christ the first fruits, and then that is coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, after destroying every rule and every authority and every power, For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For God has put all things in subjection under His feet. When it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain, that he the father is accepted, who put all things in subjection under him, the son, when all things are subjected to him the father, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him that God may be all in all. This is the word of the Lord. our great God and Father, our glorious sun and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our gracious Holy Spirit, we praise you, and thank you for the witness of your unfolding plan and the hope that we have in your rain, Jesus, you have ascended you rain right now from heaven and you are gathering for the father a people for your glory. And one day, you will hand us over to the Father as a gift to him. And we want to think beyond the typical thoughts of Easter. We want to think beyond the feasting and the family time which is sweet in and of itself. We want to look ahead to the day of your return and let let that shape us and then let the final time when the kingdom has handed over the father shape us the destination should shape our values and our goals and our time and how we confess that many things at any moment become our all in all. very mundane, earthly selfish desires easily become our all in all in this, this could wreck rescue us. I pray in this world where hardly anything looks to be in subjection under the father's feet that we would remember the mission we are on until the day that that is complete Spirit of God we pray that you would work help me speak what is necessary and good and helpful. Help us here all together help was here, learn and mark them on our hearts. May May this passage revolutionize us as it's designed to do, may it put our focus in the right place all the time. For the right ends. And I pray is There are preachers preaching and congregations listening all throughout our city helped them be faithful to proclaim the gospel of Jesus as Lord. And as God as all in all. We have many blessings. But nothing is greater than being united to the one on the throne. And I pray that we would relish in that this morning in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Okay, it's back to that question, what's your all in all, all in all means, in this passage in an English, use some some things all in all means it's everything. It's ultimate. It's all encompassing. And Paul is going to say something that's pretty revolutionary, even to a lot of us as Christians, that the whole aim of the resurrection is to get to the place where there is nothing that is not under the authority of God the Father, that there are no rivals, in heaven or on earth. That's where resurrection is going. If you grew up like I did, with some religious background, little Lutheran, a lot of Catholic, little Pentecostal, I bet you'll be able to fill in the line. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, Your will be done. Stop right there. You if that has been a prayer that you have really prayed. You have been praying for verse 28, the whole time. That's what you're praying for, for the full scope of God's reign, with no rivals, running free. It's a profound picture that we have here. Turn with me to John chapter 19. We've been going through a lot of the stories in our scripture readings, as we've been going through a lot of doctrine in our preaching this winter. And it's actually 20 Sorry, and it's it's the story of Mary Magdalene. If there was ever a person that was a disciple of Jesus during His earthly life, that really had Jesus as her all in all, its Mary. Jesus was Mary's all end all which made the crucifixion doubly painful. Because she, he was everything to her. They're not finished after the crucifixion in the burial, they rushed the burial. And so the women go Mary Magdalene is the leader and they get to the tomb, and the tombs empty. And now she's even more devastated. Because the person that was everything to her she can't even do the act of devotion to finishing a proper burial. 2015 Jesus is standing there. 14 says, having said that, she she turned around and saw Jesus standing but but she did not know it was the Jesus. Jesus said to her Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? supposing him to be the gardener? She said to him, Sir, if you've carried him away, tell me. Tell me where you've laid him at I will take him away. Suppose supposing that they got the wrong tomb and somebody's mad. Jesus said to her, Mary. It's the Mary that pierced her soul. It's the Mary that I know you and you know me. She turned to him in Aramaic, and said, Bravo and I, my teacher. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me. For I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, Go but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father to my god. add into your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples I have seen the Lord and that he has said these things.
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It's not quite how I would have imagined, Jesus speaking to the woman who was clear was devoted to him. If there was ever a human who thought of Jesus is all in all, it's Mary. But what he has to tell her is, this isn't everything. Yes, Mary, I am. You're all in all. But this is just stage one, and a three stage plan so that the Father is all in all. There's something so much bigger than this still marry. So much bigger. I am sure Mary is. Mind blown, can't process it. Probably can't process what all this is.
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I know if I were to ask you, what does the resurrection mean to you? You'll have a lot of great answers. But you'll still have a lot of questions. In our passage today. As we turn back to First Corinthians 15. Paul gives us the sketch the outline the summary of that whole plan that he just announced to marry at resurrection, I ascend to the Father, something is happening here. As we're in First Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul has been teaching the Corinthians about the things that are a first importance. He has been teaching about the death of Christ for our sins and the resurrection for our life. And in 12, through 19, which Nathan just did a brilliant job preaching last week. It was so helpful. There were people who were saying the resurrection wasn't real, like there's not going to be a bodily resurrection for any people. And he's like, Well, if that's true, Jesus wasn't raised from the dead. And if that's true, then you're still in your sins, you're not forgiven. Everything that you've been working for is vanity, your faith is vanity. Everything's been useless. But verse 20, in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. Remember, as we think about what that Paul told us, that there were three absolute evidences about the death and resurrection of Jesus first was the Scripture. I deliver to you those things of first important is that Christ, Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture, and he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures, scriptures have always talked about this. So there has been the testimony from the Old Testament, that Messiah must be crucified and raised. And then there were these eyewitnesses. He gets six different accounts from Peter and the apostles and the 500. And James, the brother of Jesus and the rest of the apostles, to the Apostle Paul himself. So there there have been ample evidences if you don't believe it, Corinthians, If you don't believe that, that Jesus is raised, I have 500 names, just go talk to one of them. And there was the transformation of the Apostle Paul. Now certainly what was going on at Corinth was not a disbelief in Jesus resurrection, but a disbelief and resurrection of bodies. A common thought at that time was that the body is wicked and evil, the creation is corrupt and, and ugly and you should reject it when you die. You're released from all those things. Apostle Paul says no, actually, they all go together. So as we look at this today, where Christ wants to take us is to remind us and to teach us that the resurrection is more than just our bodies coming back from the dead, but about God being all in all, and when something is your all in all, it really does shape your life and shape your values. If if government in an election year is your all in all, it's going to shape how you think. And you will either be elated or frustrated, depending on the news of the day. If if having friends or a spouse, which is good to have but it becomes all your all in all. Then your choices and your life and your frustrations and your happiness are all going to be tied to whether how good it is with the friends or the spouse or for you Have friends or you don't have a spouse if you're seeking so that your your children can have success, success and academic success and sports success and art success and music, all of which are very good things, but if their success becomes your all in all, I want to tell you what it looks like, it looks like you're always in the car. You're in the springtime, if it's track, you're always cold, watching them run, we're throw something. And if it's music, there are so many years of such bad music to get to good music. Like it's just a necessary evil, you got to get through the bad music to get to the good music. And as a parent, you are dying of soul sucking fatigue.
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What what Paul's gonna do for you today could revolutionize your life. Because it will help shape what you value. If God being the All in all, the one who was unrivaled shapes the direction of your life, you will choose judiciously, what you do with your time, you will not fall prey to the petty disappointments of the earth. And you'll be able to endure the hard labor when you subject yourself to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. When you say Jesus, you're my king, I will follow you. It's going to cost you it will cost you it will cost you popularity could cost you a lot of money it could cost you but there is one thing that is ultimately worth it. It's going to be following him
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so the Apostle Paul needs to set our trajectory here this morning. We're gonna take it in three headings. Jesus aim in rising from the dead just just for grammatical clarification, grammatical clarification, because we can't seem to get our grammar right. Jesus rose from the dead. God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus has been raised. Jesus hasn't been rose. We're having a hard time with raising rose. He's been raised. So just grammatical clarification, for our for our help, because now we're all like, I don't know, which is it has he had been rose as he had been raised. He's been raised, raised. Proper tense. Okay, here we go. Let's take a look at this the promise, we're going to take three headings, the promise, the plan, and the purpose. He's gonna give us these summary statements, the summary theological statements that make sense of Mary's interaction with Jesus, right after the resurrection. First of all the promise 1520 and 21, he says, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. And you know, when we look at that, and what Nathan just brilliantly went through last week. That means there really is forgiveness that means there really is reconciliation to the Father. That means that the death that Jesus died was the effective substitute. And if you are his subject now you stand at peace with God and not an enemy of God. I mean, in fact, Christ has been raised then you are now permanently united with he the Father and the Holy Spirit. Then he says this, but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. We don't have any modern equivalent of First Fruits but how many of you kids especially kids, how many of you like to go to green bluff and pick fruit any kids like to go to green bluff and pick fruit any parents like to go to green buff and make their kids pick fruit? Okay, that's awesome. So you know it's cherry season raspberries sees and then there eventually becomes peach season and Apple season and squash season. pumpkin season, you know, all of the fun there. So just here's a picture in a rural world as the Israelites raised their crops at the big Counting as the crops started to come in, they would take the first harvest, and they would bring it to God as an offering, the first of the harvest. So the first fruits is the first of the harvest and it really meant something important. First Fruits were first meaning priority. And second, they meant that they were to be perfect offered perfectly. If it was from the flock who knows animal It was to be without a blemish. If that was fruit or grain, it could be without rot, but it needed to be perfect. And it was a signal that this is God's and so is everything else, there's more harvest to come, and the Israelites acknowledge the gods, their Maker. So all of this really comes through his gracious hands. All the harvest is his. With the final aspect being, as the first is whole and perfect, so will the whole. Now apply that to Jesus. Jesus is the first fruit he has first offering to God guaranteeing a whole harvest. He was sinless, spotless, perfect, without stain or blemish, as it were, and he promises a harvest that will be perfect, spotless, blameless, deathless. Here is the promise Jesus is the first fruits, so the whole harvest is coming. The whole harvest is coming. He explains the storyline of the Bible and the redemptive storyline in the Bible in two verses, four as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For those of you who are new to the Bible, the apostle Paul is referring to the first three chapters Genesis one through three where God in his in his greatness in His grace, made this abundant world teeming with life. And the fifth day we've got and we've got fish and birds teaming on the sixth day, we have all the beasts of the field, teeming, you have herds and then you have Adam and Eve and they were made and God bless them, he told them Be fruitful, be multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. They had this glorious work glorious mission set by God, to tame this teaming world of life and make it productive and useful. And Genesis Chapter Three comes in, and this changed just chapter two, God gave all this freedom all you have all the food you could ever possibly need by have one restriction. You can't strike out on your own, and decide your own rules and make your own life. That's that's what it means when God told them of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat for in the day that you will eat it, you will certainly die. What that meant was the knowledge of good and evil is don't by taking that decide you get to run your own life and be your own gods. You don't get to make your own rules for how all this works is Follow. Follow my rules. Serpent, Satan meets them comes to them in chapter three. And he starts talking to Eve sowing doubts in her mind. Adam is standing there she looks at the fruit and says it looks yummy. That's my paraphrase. Beautiful I mean, aren't mangoes beautiful? Aren't they yummy? That's what I think the fruit was my favorite fruit she she took the bait and Adam with her took it and ate and as promised they died. Now right away first their souls were separated from God great chasm between them. And then in due time chapter five died, died died died death came for as by a man came death. Here's the other side of that story by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead promised the Genesis three that the serpent and his craftiness would be crushed, promised by Genesis three that the serpent would bite his heel but the offspring of Eve would crush his head and he did in his resurrection from the dead and here's where life come as by a man also come also the resurrection of the dead.
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This is the totality Jesus resurrection didn't just mean his resurrection, it meant all of those who would be his subjects and follow Him. They would be raised from the dead. Verse 22, For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. So there's two categories, there are all those who are in atom, which is every person who was born into the human race. So also in Christ shall all be made alive. All of those who become believers and are in Christ will be made alive. I know you might look at this and say, pants a bum deal that Adam send him, we got all this? We do. We do have a concept. It's called Corporate solidarity. There's a big fancy word, write it down and take it home. It's super important. But you had corporate salad or you have an example of this. If you'd like to watch any sports. You're watching your favorite match. Arsenal vs. Liverpool in it's actually, you know, Manchester United or something today on Easter, can you believe they play on Easter, how terrible they play basketball on Easter 200 30 seconds left, your favorite player has a shot on goal and he kicks it and it scores. Who wins? The whole team? That's corporate solidarity. One person's effort means a victory for all and in fact, every person who's a fan of that team feels like it's our victory. It's all our victory. We did nothing. But we got a winner. 30 seconds left, kicks it hide to the right. And what happens? Well, we all tie zero to zero. But you know, if it's a free throw, and you're behind, you can all win. You can all lose corporate solidarity. We are lost and Adam. And if you're in Christ, you win because of Christ's victory. Not your victory, Christ's victory. Christ's victory, Christ's death, Christ's resurrection. He's not saying everybody's going to be made alive. He's saying everyone in Christ. So here's the the key question, are you in Christ? What does that mean? Am I in Christ? Do I belong to Christ? Have you come to the end of your sinful self and said, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner, and I have been ruining my life. And I've been ruining my marriage. I've been ruining my friendships. I've been ruining everything around me. I am bearing the consequences of it. It's Justin, right? I need you to rescue me. God, I know I'm a Senator. And I know I violated your rules. I know that I've been in rebellion, I am to this minute, but this is the day the rebellion ends, I repent. And I trust you have you done that? If you have, then you're in Christ. If you haven't, you're outside of Christ. And I want to tell you, there's some some bad stuff coming in just a minute that you need to think through. But what you have to see is the promise of Christ, the first fruits has been raised from the dead, then all of us who are in Christ, if you die, that's that's the euphemism of falling asleep here. If you've fallen asleep, if you have died, then there will be a resurrection for you. That's the promise. It's a glorious promise. What does that do for us now, Romans 811 says this about all of this. Romans 811 promises not only that, but a great power on our behalf. 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 through His Spirit who dwells in you. I mean, being an atom means you have a spirit of death and rebellion that's in you. If you're in Christ, you have the Holy Spirit in you. And here's the spirit of life who can renew your inner man, even though your outward man is wasting away. It's a glorious promise with the resurrection of Christ from the dead. And there is an ame and Romans 829. It says, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son in order that he, the son might be the firstborn among many brothers. All the bad stuff you're going through all the good stuff you're going through, has been by the plan of God to conform you to the image of Christ. And there is a resurrection coming. It's the promise number two, the plan. Number two, the plan. Look at verse 23. And 24 He sketches the whole plan of resurrection right here.
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This is on the path to God being your all in all here, look at this, but each in his own order for Christ the first fruits, stage one, then at His coming those who belong to Christ, age two, then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom of God to the father after destroying every rule, every authority and every power. Stage one has happened. All the scriptures have been pointing to it, Jesus died making payment for sin, He rose from the dead, his resurrection from the dead is the firstfruits offering to God, he has ascended to the Father. That's happened, then his coming his appearing. This is what we're awaiting for the return of Christ. This idea of His coming or his appearing, has been the hope of every saint, the moment of their salvation, waiting for the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. This initiates phase two, where Jesus comes, we find one of the first indications of it in first Thessalonians four, chapter 413, through 18, speaking to Christians who are mourning that their brothers and sisters have died, there is there's a trumpet, the voice of an archangel. And there is the appearing in the sky of Jesus Christ for His own and the dead in Christ, that is everybody who has died, and whose mortal bodies are decaying, why their spirits and before God, those bodies are given new life reunited with the with their spirit, and they are in perfection, their body is perfect. Their spirit is perfected sinless perfection, and they enter bodily forever into the presence of God and heaven. That's the appearing a whole bunch of other things happen after that. And I wish I had time to go through it. We're gonna do a bunch of it. At the end of the chapter, then comes the end, what he's talking about is the final stage of the resurrection. After, after, he gives an after here. So the then comes the end with the after means that there are other things then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule on every authority and every power. So when Jesus appears, here is the stage of human history at that time. Every government, every leader, every ruler, every every clan leader, every family leader, every husband and wife, every child, who is still claiming their spot of land, for their own glory, will be defeated. And you have to remember, at this very moment, there is not a government on earth that is seeking the God be all in all. Every government on Earth, the seeking that they would be the all in all. There is rebellion, and Jesus will come and destroy all opposition, all pretend rivals to God. Then comes the end. What does that mean? This world because of Adam's sin, the world itself was cursed. Everything's hard, like there's good things, but everything's hard. Marriage is glorious, but hard. Having children is glorious, but hard. Trying to eke out a living is glorious, but hard trying to live healthy is hard. mean everything you tried to do that supposed to be good is still it's still cursed. It's still cursed. And so after Jesus defeats all his enemies, there is one thing more to be done. And that is to hand the kingdom of God to the Father and all glorious and the creation itself will undergo a resurrection. A kind of resurrection. This is what the Apostle Paul referred to in Romans chapter eight. Where he says For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in pains of childbirth until now. It's been under the bondage of corruption and it longs for its freedom of the glory of the children of God. First, 23, not only the creation, but we ourselves who have received the first fruits of the Spirit, grown inwardly as we await eagerly for adoption, and sons, the redemption of our bodies. At that time, everything will be made new. Everything will be made new. That's the plan. First parts done. Second parts coming at is coming. New bodies after the defeat of all His enemies, this period of time with a great deal of more text in the Bible about then will be the new heavens and the new earth with a kingdom where there will be no rivals to God. How does this help us? What is what's significant to us about this? Let's talk about significance. A number of years ago, I used to volunteer at Willard elementary school. So local elementary school just a couple miles to the north and I would sit at lunch with a number of kids. I was with fourth graders once one spring season. And it's you know, those fold up tables. And you got to crawl it like they're, they're made for kids. I'm sitting in one of those tables. I have folded myself in. And I like to ask them questions. So Easter's coming out every holiday, I would ask a question. So what's what's what's Easter all about? That's safe, I could ask that question. 10 out of 10 knew that it was a celebration of Jesus resurrection from the dead. Hold. They're all believers, no. Seven out of 10 have never gone to church in a meaningful way. One out of 10 was gonna go with grammar to mass. One was going to go to one was going to go to church with an aunt and another was going to go to church with a friend. I mean, at another table, I could have looked over at Otto or I could have looked at Emily, the kids who do go here and like there were a couple of kids who go here and I knew they were gonna show up, they always show up. But at my table, it was it was 10 out of 10. And you know what they what they look forward to about Easter, we get together with our family, and we cook great food and we hang out all day. What's really exciting to you about Easter I get to be with my family. I love how Jim Gaffigan skewers this with his typical sarcasm. With a satire. Jesus is risen, let's eat ham. Oh, that's it? Yeah, for most people in Spokane can't have any idea the significance of the resurrection? What it means but here we have the significance. tell you you can't go to the feast after today and go, it's just about the ham.
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How does this kind of thing help us? You know, somebody reminded me, you know of watching the great British baking show, which we love to do. The first challenge every week is something that you got to practice. The second one is a surprise. So they just give you the super hard thing that nobody's heard of, to bake, they'll give you the ingredients and tell you the directions, then they're not even very good directions, and they have to bake it. And the people who've already baked it once, or just at least heard of it, do way better. And here's the point, you're going to do way better at navigating life here. If you know the plan, because you're going to choose different priorities and different values, you're going to seek to be like Jesus. Because you're going to be raised like Jesus. That plan will help you that plan is just like a roadmap. You know, when when you want to go somewhere and you want to go somewhere far away. You can just dial it in, you can say hey Siri, take me to wherever the place is. And it will give you the directions of how to do that, including plane travel if you want. But that will help you know that you know it's south that I'm going but we're going to take a four day trip to the east. Right? No, but you know in life if you don't know where the plan is going, you might be taken a long detour that you shouldn't be taking. This helps you keep you on track. Well finally, let's look at the purpose. Let's look at the purpose. What's going on here? Verse 25, it says, For he must reign at his Jesus until He has put all his enemies under His feet. Now if you're like me and you read the he's in subjection, and who is subjection to him and subjection to him, I might suggest that Paul might help us with some further editing. But it's the last thing I would could ever do is saying, I should improve scripture. So it must be me. That's the problem. Here's, I think, a good way to read this. For he Jesus must reign until he, the Father has put all his enemies, the father's enemies under His Jesus feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Here's why I say that. If you have a Bible, we got to just take a couple of quick verses go to the left. Hatton the midway point of the Bible as the book called The Psalms, and Psalm two, Psalm eight and Psalm 110, are quoted in this little section. And I want you to hear them because there has been a rebellion against God from the highest government to the lowest person since Adam and Eve sinned. The consequences have been devastating. I mean, you just think I was I was reminded this this week that Adam didn't actually die first. His son did. His son was murdered by his other son. You think that Senators myosin nose and just as awful consequences So God's announcing at the beginning of the Psalms this promise some to eight? Ask of me this is the king the son you are my son today? Have you gotten you this is Jesus pre picturing deep Jesus asked me and I will make the nation's your heritage in the end of the earth your possession, you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. And here's the picture in the Trinity from heaven, God the Father and God the Son, God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit have had a plan from the beginning to make a people for Himself to make nations for himself to make a nation of nations for himself for all eternity. And the sun volunteers to the mission to destroy the enemies. He does it first by His death on the cross for centers. But here it's promising another face. The son is going to leave the throne one more time, and he is going to come not like a dove not in peace, but he is going to come with a sword to destroy his enemies. There will be no rivals to the rule of the father. He's my father, and my father is glorious, and a holy says You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessels. Nathan read it earlier. Now therefore, oh kings, Be wise be warned the rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear rejoice with trembling kiss the sun, lest he be angry and you perish on the way. Psalm eight, a couple of pages to the right. Speaking of the new creation to come, speaking of the ultimate, verse five says You have made him a little lower than heavenly beings. This is mankind and the writer of Hebrews will tell us that Jesus is going to represent mankind and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands, you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and hawks and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heaven, the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea, all of the things that Adam and Eve had dominion over. Jesus needs to take dominion over someone 10.
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Verse one, says the Lord. This is Psalm of David, this, the Lord says to my Lord, which is amazing for David to say, it's going to be his great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great 14th grade low some grandson, the Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. God the Father exalted Jesus to his right hand and is making his enemies footstool. The Lord says, The Lord sends forth from Zion, your mighty scepter rule in the midst of your enemies. What's he talking about? Jesus the son who is at the right hand of God now and who will never be anywhere else in the authority in Heaven universe, other than the right hand of God does step forward as the general and the son to claim back for himself a fallen corrupt creation. That's what he comes for. Back to First Corinthians
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says For God has put all things in subjection under His feet of verse 25. So he must reign until he has put all things and all enemies under His feet the last enemy to be destroyed his death, the last enemy to be destroyed his death to reverse the curse, death came with Adam's sin. Now, life will come through Jesus life. And after all rivals are destroyed and silenced, then death will be obliterated, death will be destroyed. That's the last enemy. For God has put all all things in subjection under His feet. And just to make sure, this is not like Julius Caesar, who went out as a general to conquer for the Empire, conquered and said, I think I'm the Emperor. Now. Just to be clear, this is not happening. Jesus has been on a mission of love to the Father to reclaim for him a kingdom. He just wants to be playing, it's playing that he has accepted, who put all things in subjection under him. It's not the father, when all things are subjection, subjected to him the father, then the Son himself, will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him. So God did that God empowered him remember, the the members of the Godhead Father, Son, and Spirit never do anything separately. They're always intimately involved with each other. Why would the son go out, go to war with his father's rivals, so that he could conquer and he could come back to the Father, with a new creation with incorruptible people on an incorruptible earth that will endure on forever. And he can say to the Father, my mission is complete. May you be all in all. Mary thought her all in all was here and she had him. But Jesus said to her, no, I need to ascend to the Father. It's not just you that I want. Mary, I do want you and I have you and you are precious, but I have a whole kingdom to populate. And Phil, and I have all the rivals in this rebellious planet to destroy. What will happen in the end? Revelation 21, three and four will happen in the end. There will be a new heavens and a new earth, the final stage of the resurrection
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it says, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with me and He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying or pain anymore for the former things that passed away. Jump to 22 Three, no longer will there be anything accursed. But the throne of God and of the land will be in it and his servants will worship him. Everyone will have God as their all in all. How do we respond to this? We change our focus. We change our focus in the day to day stuff, yesterday. I am like trying to get the message ready. I've got to pick up the truck from Les Schwab. I need to pick up some fishing supplies. I mean, really important things. We need to go to Costco and I'm not sure how I'm going to finish the message and get this all done. I walk out into the kitchen and Linda has just just decorated the Easter table just as she always does. It's beautiful. I look at them and that's nice. Hey, honey. What's the plan for today? And she says, well, first it's to notice the decorations on the table. I noticed I just didn't say anything wrong answer number one
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she's hurt i My mind has been filled with so many good things. You know, it's super easy. For even good plans to become, you're all in all, so that you can't pay attention or notice other things right around you. If I had been praying, Lord, you're gonna get this all done today, I trust you. I could have walked out free and happy instead of stressed. I've got an important Easter message tomorrow, I'm stressed out. You're like that You're horrible. I know. She's got her issues too. If the princess didn't need to be noticed, she allowed me to say this. I got permission. She actually said you need to share this tomorrow. Because this is where people really live. If she didn't need everything of hers to be noticed them, she could have just said, God, you're in my all in all, and I want to set this table to bless my family. But I ultimately want to please you. She might have liked me to notice. But since God was happy, she'd be happy. And don't you see how it works into the everyday issues of life and it could change your focus. I mean, it's gonna give you fruitfulness because now if you're going to be living like Christ, now your life is going to be overflowing with love and care for people and righteousness. And you're going to be able to use your time in a proper and helpful way that matters in eternity, not today. And last but not least, fear will be obliterated. How much do you do? Or how much do you avoid because of fear? I fear dying. So I've got to eat this horrible diet and take these horse pills. I'm taking Tumeric pills now. They're huge. Nice, they're taste good. Not like the multivitamins. I mean. Look what we, you know, we can so easily be obsessed with fear of death are we going to be assessed with fear of what people think or fear of obeying because of the consequences? Fear of what's going to happen to our government fear of what's going to happen to our family, fear of what's going to happen to all kinds of things and you live in fear. But this tells you that God will be all in all he will be. Relax, rest, pray, give it to God, and rest. There's no fear, no fear needed. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these very powerful words and that they would have the revolutionary impact on the daily interactions of life, for how we plan and for how we stay on course, and for those who have not trusted you. Help them realize what's what's coming. There's a destruction of all enemies coming. But this is a day of mercy and grace. And so I pray that sinners here would turn to Christ, while mercy is offered freely. Christ's name we pray, amen.
Dr. Dan Jarms is teaching pastor and team leader at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at TMS Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, gardening, brick oven cooking.
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