Rooted Church
April 12, 2026
  • Goodness Of God
  • Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery
  • Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me

      • Exodus 14:1–18NIV2011

  • Exodus 13:1-22

    Intro:
    Good morning, Church, and Happy Easter!
    You’ve just heard the Easter story read aloud by Alison, and this morning, I want us to see that story in light of another… long before an empty tomb.
    On Good Friday, we started a new series in Exodus called From Passover to Promise.
    And in Exodus 12, we stood in the shadow of that first Passover night.
    A night filled with both judgment and mercy. A night where God declared that death was coming… but also made a way for His people to be spared.
    Every Israelite household faced mankind’s ultimate question on that night: Will judgment fall on you?… or on a substitute in your place?
    And the difference came down to one thing….the blood of a lamb.
    If the blood was on the doorposts, judgment passed over. If it wasn’t, judgment was coming in.
    For on that night, God’s power was coming to expose and condemn:
    every demonic false god,
    the false power of Pharaoh,
    and to make it clear: salvation belongs to Him alone.
    But as we saw Friday night, Exodus 12 wasn’t the end of the Passover story.
    Because that lamb, that blood, that rescue, was all pointing forward:
    Pointing to a greater deliverance from greater exodus still to come.
    And a greater, more perfect Lamb.
    And that’s who we celebrate today.
    Because on Easter, God’s promise was fulfilled, but not in the way anyone expected.
    The Perfect Lamb had been slain. The judgment had been poured out. And for a moment, it looked like death had won.
    But on the third day… everything changed.
    The Lamb who was slain… lives!
    And so now, as we turn to Exodus 13, we’re stepping into what comes after the Passover, what life looks like on the other side of deliverance.
    Because God didn’t just save His people from something… He saved them for something.
    And that was true for the people delivered at the Passover, and it’s even more true for us as a post-Easter people delivered through the Promise!
    So this morning we start in Exodus 13. The tenth and final plague has just brought Pharoah to his knees and he relents and releases the Israelites from bondage.
    They have left Egypt, but are still very much at the begenning of their journey, and Moses stops to address what life post-redemption would be like, and this morning, I want to consider 5 takeaways that continue to pertain to us as a post-resurrection people today.
    But first, let’s pray.
    Moses begins this journey, by making it clear, that as one redeemed by God:

    1. You’re Not Your Own Anymore (v. 2)

    Exodus 13:1–2 ESV
    The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”
    When God’s judgment came to Egypt, it was a judgment of death, the just penalty for those who reject the very source of life.
    This wasn’t arbitrary. This was justice.
    For generations, Egypt had hardened its heart against God, oppressed His people, and trusted in false gods that could not give life. And so, God’s judgment fell, not just as punishment, but as a revelation: when you turn from the Author of life, death is what remains.
    And yet, even here, we see mercy.
    Because this judgment was contained, it fell only on the firstborn of every household. And that was not random. It was intentional.
    For in that culture, the firstborn son represented the future. He carried the family name, the inheritance, the burden of legacy.
    So when God strikes the firstborn, He is doing more than bringing judgment, He is bringing an end to legacies built on false worship of false gods.
    He is saying, in effect: everything you have built apart from Me… will not last.
    But at the very same time, in His grace, God is creating a new kind of legacy.
    Because for His people, He provides a lamb.
    A substitute.
    And when the blood of that lamb is placed on the doorposts, that household is marked, not by their goodness, not by their effort, but by their dependence on God’s mercy.
    They are saying, “We belong to God. Our hope is not in ourselves, but in the blood.”
    And that night, the difference between life and death… was not who they were, but what they trusted.
    Now, step into Exodus 13.
    On the other side of deliverance, God comes back to the very thing He spared, the firstborn, and He says:
    “Consecrate them to Me.”
    In other words: “They are Mine.”
    The ones redeemed by the blood now belong to God.
    And this is the pattern of redemption:
    God rescues… and He claims.
    He delivers… and He defines.
    Because salvation is not just about being spared from judgment, it’s about being set apart for God’s glory by living in submission to the One who created you.
    And the same is true for us.
    Because on a greater Passover, the blood of a greater Lamb was shed, not just to spare us for a moment, but to secure us forever.
    Which means if you have been redeemed by Christ… you are not your own anymore, for your freedom was bought with a price.
    Your life, your future, your legacy, it all belongs to Him.
    Not as a burden… but as a grace, for His banner is a place of freedom, and His presence a place of refuge.
    And so Moses tells the people, tells us, to live in light of this divine legacy:

    2. Don’t Forget Where You Came From (v. 3)

    Exodus 13:3 ESV
    Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
    Being owned by another man or his fraudulent god is the most wicked reality a man can know,
    but being owned by God, is not a burden, it’s the greatest joy a human being can ever experience,
    because it’s a return to where we come from.
    But… it requires clarity. It requires that we see rightly, and that we remember honestly, what the alternative is.
    Because the road ahead is not easy.
    And that’s not a flaw in God’s plan… it’s part of it.
    Human beings don’t grow in the midst of easy, we corrode in the easy. We drift. We get soft. We forget.
    A couple months from now, school’s going to be out, and I’ll get the football boys back in the weight room. And we’ll find out real quick who spent the spring doing hard things… and who spent it on the couch playing Xbox.
    Because growth requires resistance.
    If you want strong lungs, you’ve got to move. If you want strength, you’ve got to put weight on the bar, tear the muscle down so it can be built back stronger.
    That’s how we’re designed.
    And it’s not just true physically, it’s true of your soul.
    Spiritual growth doesn’t happen in the midst of comfort. It happens in the midst of pressure… in the midst of testing… even in the midst of pain.
    And Israel is about to learn that.
    So before they even begin the journey, God tells them:
    “Remember this day.”
    Remember when the Lord, by a strong hand, brought you out of slavery!
    Because God knows something about His people:
    There will come a day when Egypt doesn’t seem so bad. A day when slavery starts to look easier than freedom. A day when obedience feels costly, and the past feels comfortable.
    And on that day, you must remember.
    Christian, you were not just drifting… you were enslaved before Christ showed up. Dead in your trespasses and sins.
    But when Christ walked out of that tomb, He made you alive together with Him, that you might now walk in freedom, seated with Him in the heavenly places.
    But don’t be deceived, there will be days when your old life calls to you. When sin looks appealing again. When compromise feels easier than faithfulness.
    And in that moment, you must remember what God has done!
    Remember the weight of your sin. Remember the grace that rescued you. Remember what it cost.
    And notice this, this is not just a personal command.
    Moses doesn’t say, “each of you remember.” He says to remember, as a people…
    Because this wasn’t just an individual experience… it was a shared deliverance.
    God even built it into their life together through the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a regular, corporate rhythm where the people would come together and remember what God had done.
    Because we are prone to forget… and we need each other to remember.
    And this pushes against how we often think.
    In America, we talk a lot about a “personal relationship” with Jesus, as if salvation is just an individual experience.
    But in the New Testament, salvation is almost always spoken of in the plural.
    Titus 3:4–7 ESV
    But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
    God didn’t just save you… He saved a people.
    A people who belong to Him. A people who remember together. A people who help each other keep going when the road gets hard.
    Because the journey of freedom was never meant to be walked alone.
    To belong to God, is to belong to a family, and to belong to this family is to walk with it, sacrifice for it, and grow in it!
    Corporate worship is an essential part of God’s saving plan, it not just a bonus, this is why Paul warns the church in Corinth - DO NOT neglect to meet together as is the habit of some.
    You are not a christian on an island…and if you live as if you were, then you are not living as a Christian (Affects)!
    Worship is not a suggestion…it’s a command (sing!).
    Church is not an option…it’s an imperative (show up!).
    And to live otherwise, is to reject the reality that you belong to God.
    For it’s together, that we spur one another on to daily:

    3. Trust God’s Direction, Not Your Shortcut (vv. 5, 17–18) 

    Th
    Exodus 13:5 ESV
    And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month.
    Moses tells the people, God’s gonna do what He promised, He will get you to the land of Milk and Honey, a place of abundance, but there are gonna be obstacles, there will be enemies that stand in your way. The people of God are literally gonna come up against Giants on their way to the promised land.
    And the thing is, when you carry the trauma of slavery…and you come against a real enemy, it’s real easy to cower down and slip back into that slave mindset. And the Israelites can’t argue that, because they survived in Egypt in by cowering down and embracing false gods.
    So God tells the people through Moses, keep this service in this month. In the midst of those who don’t know your God, hold fast corporately, to what He has instructed you, don’t find solace in their practices, but trust in what God has instructed you to do alongside His people.
    In the moment, that part of this plan likely seemed easy…because he bigger question that hung in the air, and still does today…is why are you taking us through those lands at all!
    Exodus 13:17–18 ESV
    When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.
    There was a clear route to the promised land, a coastal highway called the Via Maris, or, the way of the sea).
    This was the OBVIOUS shortest route to where they were going. And when I say “obvious” I am talking about the difference between a few weeks and 40 years!
    I want you to feel the weight of that for a moment…(elaborate, envision)
    God intentionally does not lead them the easy way.
    Because that path would have brought them face to face with war they weren’t ready for.
    And God says, “I know my own, if they face war, they’ll change their minds and return to Egypt.”
    Don’t miss that. God knows His people.
    You ever find yourself asking the question…why God did you lead me this way?
    Why is my marriage so difficult.
    Why has building a family been so hard.
    Why didn’t that job I wanted work out.
    Why can’t I serve in the way I desire to.
    Whatever it may be, we question why we can’t just go the way we want to go!
    But God sees what’s down that road:
    He sees the battle we are not ready for
    The enemy that’ll overcome us
    The failure that’ll wreck us
    The temptation that will derail us
    And so often, He calls us down the long road, for He is not in a hurry.
    A few weeks or forty years, it’s of no consequence to the eternal God, but what is of consequence, is us learning to rely on Him.
    He knows that when you’ve lived under slavery long enough, it shapes you. It forms how you think, how you react, how you see the world.
    So when pressure comes… when opposition shows up… it’s very easy to default back to what’s familiar.
    To shrink back. To retreat. To think like a slave again.
    Because in Egypt, survival meant keeping your head down. Don’t resist. Don’t push back. Just get through the day.
    And now God is calling them into freedom, but they don’t yet know how to live free.
    So what does He do?
    He doesn’t just promise the destination… He carefully shepherds the journey.
    He leads them the long way.
    Not because He’s holding out on them, but because He’s forming them.
    And in that context, Moses says: “Keep this service in this month.”
    In other words, don’t forget what God has done, especially when the road gets hard.
    Because when the journey gets difficult, you’ll be tempted to go back. When obedience costs you something, you’ll start to question if it’s worth it.
    And in that moment, what will anchor you is not your strength, it’s your remembrance.
    Remember the God who delivered you. Remember the God who is leading you.
    And trust that even when His way is longer… it is better, and it’s essential in order to:

    4. Live a Faith Worth Passing Down (vv. 8–10, 19)

    Exodus 13:8–10 ESV
    You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.
    The redemptive work of remembering, isn’t merely for your benefit, but for the story that you’re merely a chapter in.
    We are tempted by the shortcut, because the enemies message to us is that this life is all there is, and if that’s true, then what matters is that I get mine!
    But the gospel tells a completely different story.
    This life is not the whole, it’s a moment. A breath. A sliver in the span of eternity.
    And if we actually believed that. if we really saw it clearly, then the long road wouldn’t scare us.
    Even forty years in the wilderness… would feel short in light of the glory that is coming.
    Which means God is doing more than just getting you somewhere, He’s doing something through you.
    Far beyond what you will personally accomplish.
    He is shaping a real legacy, not a counterfeit.
    Think about it, how many of us are here today because of the faith of someone whose name we don’t even know?
    A great, great, great-grandparent. Or the faithful pastor in the little church house that shared the good news with them. Or a quiet saint who prayed for you before you were born.
    They never saw the full fruit of their faithfulness… but God used it to pave the way for yours.
    That’s what’s happening in Exodus.
    The Israelites had no idea they were living at the beginning of the bible. They didn’t know their deliverance would be written down, remembered, and still shaping people thousands of years later.
    But God did.
    And that’s why He tells them…tell your sons! Mark your lives. Build rhythms of remembrance.
    Because what God is doing in you… He intends to pass through you.
    And then you get to verse 19.
    Exodus 13:19 ESV
    Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.”
    Moses takes the bones of Joseph with him.
    Don’t skip past that.
    When Joseph died he was never buried. His coffin laid above ground for the 400 or so years until it was taken back to Canaan. This was intentional, his bones served for all those years to remind Israel that they were going back to the Promised Land, just as God had said. Joseph wouldn’t live to see this promise fulfilled, but he died believing it, and his life testified of it long after he was gone.
    (Story of church of senior adults…probably fun, but who are their bones speaking too! Pictures in the west hall!)
    Joseph believed the promise of God, even when he couldn’t see it fulfilled in his lifetime.
    And now, generations later, his bones are being carried out of Egypt declaring the truth that: God keeps His promises.
    That’s legacy.
    A faith that outlives you. A trust in God that speaks even after you’re gone.
    So the question for us is this:
    What are you passing down? What will your bones say of you?
    Not just what are you building… but what are you leaving behind?
    Because resurrection life doesn’t just change your future, it reshapes your priorities in the present.
    You are not just living for today. You are not just living for yourself.
    You are living a story that others will step into after you.
    So live in such a way that when your life is remembered… it points beyond you.
    To a God who saves. To a God who leads. To a God who keeps every promise He makes.
    Every time a young child asked their dad about the strange coffin that wasn’t buried…they got to hear that Joseph didn’t want to be buried in Egypt, he wanted to wait and be buried in the promised land, and he got to tell his son that one day God would lead them to that promised land just as He promised…
    (pause)
    Lastly, a people living on the other side of redemption, are a people called to:

    5. Follow Him Daily (vv. 21–22)

    Exodus 13:21–22 ESV
    And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
    Listen again to what God does for His people:
    “The Lord went before them… by day in a pillar of cloud… and by night in a pillar of fire… that they might travel by day and by night.”
    Don’t miss this.
    God doesn’t just give them a destination, He gives them His presence.
    He doesn’t hand them a map and say, “Figure it out.” He goes before them.
    Step by step. Day by day. Moment by moment.
    When it’s bright, He leads. When it’s dark, He gives light.
    And notice this: “The pillar… did not depart.”
    God’s presence was not occasional. It was constant.
    That’s how His people were meant to live, not just delivered… but led.
    Not just rescued from Egypt… but guided all the way to the promise.
    And that same reality is true for us, but even more so on this side of the resurrection.
    Because Jesus didn’t just die and rise again to forgive your sin, He rose again to restore you to the presence of God.
    In fact, on the night before the cross, Jesus told His disciples that it was better for Him to go away…
    Because He would send another.
    Another Helper. Another Guide. The Holy Spirit.
    So that the presence of God would no longer be beside His people in a pillar… but within His people by His Spirit.
    Think about that.
    Israel had a cloud they could see… we have a Spirit who lives inside of us.
    Because of Jesus’ victory over sin and death, the barrier has been removed.
    God doesn’t just go before you— He dwells within you.
    He leads you. He convicts you. He comforts you. He guides you into truth.
    Which means the call of the Christian life is not just to try harder… it’s to follow closely.
    To wake up each day and say, “Lord, lead me.”
    To depend on Him in your decisions. To listen to His Word. To respond when He prompts. To trust Him when the path is unclear.
    Because just like Israel…
    We don’t always know where we’re going. We don’t always understand the path. We don’t always see what’s ahead.
    But we don’t need to, because we are led by the presence of God.
    And here’s the hope:
    The same God who led His people out of Egypt… is the God who will lead you all the way home.
    He does not leave. He does not abandon. He does not fail.
    So don’t just believe in Him— follow Him.
    Daily. Closely. Dependently.
    Because resurrection life is not just about where you’re going… it’s about who is leading you there.

    Closing:

    As we close this Easter morning, we celebrate the good plan of our God, to defeat death and give us abundant life.
    Through the gospel, your life is no longer bound by the fear of death. For us, to live is Christ… and to die is gain.
    But Easter is not just something to celebrate, it’s something to step into.
    Because when God delivered His people in Exodus, He didn’t just bring them out of Egypt… He began to shape how they would live on the other side of that deliverance.
    And in Exodus 13, we see it clearly:
    “You are not your own anymore.”
    “Remember what I’ve done.”
    “Walk in faithfulness.”
    “Tell your children.”
    “Trust My leading.”
    “Carry forward a legacy.”
    “Follow Me daily.”
    That’s what life looked like after Passover.
    And now, because of the resurrection, that’s what life looks like for us after the cross.
    Because Jesus didn’t just die as our Passover Lamb, He rose again to lead us into a new life.
    A life where we belong to Him. A life where we remember His grace. A life where we walk by faith, not fear. A life where we tell the story. A life where we trust His leading, even when it’s not easy. A life that leaves behind a legacy of faith. A life of daily dependence on His presence.
    This is what resurrection life looks like.
    And this is not wishful thinking. This is not imagination.
    History itself bears witness.
    Everything changed after that first Easter.
    The disciples went from cowards to men that no longer feared death and died as martyrs. The disciples stayed loyal to their Messiah in the face of great suffering and persecution.
    Chuck Colson, Nixon’s special counsel on Watergate, once said, ‘I know the resurrection is a fact. And Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified that they had seen Jesus raised from the dead and then proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned, eventually killed, put in prison- they would have not endured it if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in Washington DC, and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks.”
    The day of worship changed from Saturday to Sunday in honor of Jesus resurrection and in contrast to thousands of years of observance in accordance with one of the 10 Commandments.
    The object of worship became Jesus as God...and the resurrection continued to be preached.
    The growth of the church, our presence here today, can only be explained by the fact of the resurrection of Jesus as its cause.
    Because the tomb was empty. Because Jesus is alive. Because His work cannot be undone.
    Genesis ends with a grave. Deuteronomy ends with a grave. Joshua ends with a grave.
    But the Gospels end with resurrection.
    And that changes everything.
    So now the question isn’t just, Do you believe it? The question is, Will you live like you do?
    Because Jesus didn’t rise merely to give you hope for someday, but to give you a mission today.
    To live as people who belong to Him. To walk in His ways. To tell His story. To follow His leading. To bring the life of heaven into the places He has sent you.
    This is resurrection life.
    So Church, let’s not just celebrate this truth, let’s live it!
    Will you join me in praying to that end

    Communion - A better passover feast

    The people of God were instructed to hold a feast each year during the passover, to remember what God had done for them that night.
    And before the Lamb was slain, He instructed us to do the same…but His better sacrifice required a better meal, for it’s a meal of the free.
    (connection to Christ, and one another)

  • Genesis 1-3, Revelation 22, 1 Corinthians 15

    Intro: SEND Network and Radiant
    In Genesis one through three, we find our origin story.
    In the first chapter, God creates the earth and all that fills it. He builds a garden temple where He chooses to dwell, but it’s not His desire that He dwell there alone:
    Genesis 1:26–27 ESV
    Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
    In these verses, God gave life to His most precious creation, those with whom He desired to share “The Life” He would later speak of in John 14.
    Man and Woman were created, to dwell with God, without barrier, and to experience the fullness of His grace every moment, of every day.
    Grace in relationship with each other,
    Grace in nature,
    Grace in their work,
    And above all, Grace in fellowship with God.
    But then…darkness entered the picture.
    Genesis 3:1 ESV
    Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
    The ESV Bible I preach from calls this enemy a “serpent,” but the Hebrew word nahash points to something more complex than a simple garden snake.
    The term is associated elsewhere in Scripture with shining metal, enchantment, and hidden knowledge. It’s language tied elsewhere to mysticism, spiritual deception, and even chaos.
    In other words, the creature confronting Eve likely did not provoke immediate fear or disgust. He appears to have been striking rather than repulsive, intriguing, persuasive, even impressive. He stood upright before her, and his danger was not obvious in his appearance….but was revealed in his message, because he spoke in a way that subtly contradicted God’s word while making disobedience sound wise and desirable.
    And this is where Adam and Eve’s failure hits home. They did not merely eat fruit and break rule; they chose to trust the voice that questioned God over the God who had spoken clearly to them.
    The serpent reframed obedience as restriction and rebellion as enlightenment, and they accepted that reframing…and the world continues to follow suit to this very day!
    Instead of receiving their identity and wisdom from God, they reached for autonomy, desiring to define good and evil on their own terms.
    Thus their sin, was not just rule-breaking, but a shift of allegiance: they believed the deceptive promise of becoming more, and in doing so, they distrusted the One who had already given them everything.
    And what happened in the garden didn’t stay in the garden. When Adam and Eve trusted the deceptive voice over God’s word, sin didn’t just enter their hearts — it entered the human story. Their rebellion fractured creation itself. From that moment on, humanity inherited both the guilt and the consequences of that choice: alienation from God, corruption in our nature, and ultimately death. The world we live in now, marked by decay, conflict, war and death, is not the world as God made it, but the world as it became through Adam.
    And thus Paul writes these words in his first letter to the Church at Corinth:
    1 Corinthians 15:21–23 ESV
    For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
    For as in Adam all die:
    When Adam stood by the sea, and realized he was a man, I can’t help but wonder if he understood the full extent to which he was a representative of every human being that would ever walk the earth. In the same way, I don’t know that we understand the ways in which we represent those who will come after us.
    As I get older, I realize more and more that the traits I inherited from my parents are not just physical characteristics, I also inherited aspects of their unique nature, good and bad, I feel more and more that which I inherited. And initially, it’s easy to chalk that up to experience “your just manifesting that which you grew up observing.” But having spent years working in foster care, I have seen that this is deeper than that, for I have witnessed again and again, children who never observed the nature of their parents, wrestling with the same unique and inherited nature, and I have seen it across generations.
    Adam and Eve, did not share this experience, they inherited no sin, no generational curse…instead they bore the responsibility of laying the foundation of ours, and the decision they made to turn from God’s rule, and toward wickedness, defined their nature as well as the nature of all who would come from them.
    And so through Adam, we have inherited death. Life detached from the garden, life in the wilderness, unsustained, withering, fleeting, and ending in the death of the body.
    But yet, Paul declares the good news, that:
    in Christ shall all be made alive.
    The context of Paul’s words are in response to theological error in the church regarding the resurrection. It seems there were some in the church that were seeking to deny the resurrection, specifically, the future physical resurrection of the believer. Now, to understand this conflict, you have to know that Corinth was a city heavily influenced by the greeks, and the greeks believed wholeheartedly that the soul was immortal. In fact, they saw the physical body as not only inferior to the soul, but as a prison the soul needed freed from. So for them, salvation meant escape from all things physical, and the resurrection of the dead was not only irrational but undesirable. It’s the same greek mindset that Paul encountered in:
    Acts 17:32 ESV
    Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
    So though people believed that the soul be rise again, they couldn’t bring themselves to believe that physical death would be overcome, but Paul’s language here addressed that head on as he declares that what shall be physically dead, shall be made alive through Christ, the better Adam. And the emphasis of his point, is that if they believe we are not going to be raised, then how can they believe that Christ was raised? And if Christ, was not raised, then he says:
    “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
    In other words:
    If Christ raised was raised from the dead, we should care about nothing else.
    If Christ was not raised, then we should care about nothing!
    For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
    In Adam, the seed was corrupted and with it, the harvest ruined. BUT, Christ planted a new seed, a seed that contained both physical frailty (that being, a body that would wither and die) and, divine life (God Himself). And this seed, was the “firstfruits” of a new and better harvest.
    In agricultural terms, the “firstfruits” is the first produce picked from a new crop, it’s how you know the result that is to come. The firstfruits not only assure you that a crop is coming, but it tells you the condition that is to be expected!
    And thus, Paul describes this firstfruits later in the chapter:
    1 Corinthians 15:35–49 ESV
    But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
    Paul’s point is that resurrection is not merely about coming back to life: it’s about being raised into a new kind of life patterned after Christ Himself. Adam passed down a corrupted humanity, one marked by frailty, decay, and death. But Christ, the true firstfruits, rose with a body that was still physical and recognizable, yet transformed, no longer subject to decay, weakness, or death.
    His resurrection body is not less real than ours, but more real: embodied, glorious, and alive with the power of heaven.
    Paul explains this using the image of seed and harvest. What is buried is not the final form but the starting point. The body we sow into the ground is perishable, dishonored by sin, and weakened by mortality. But what God raises is imperishable, glorious, and powerful. Just as a seed contains continuity with the plant that grows from it, so our future bodies will still be us, embodied, personal, and human, yet transformed into the likeness of the risen Christ.
    This is why Paul contrasts the “man of dust” with the “man of heaven.”
    We have all borne the image of Adam, fragile, mortal, and earthbound. But those who belong to Christ will bear the image of the risen Lord. The post-resurrection body, then, will be:
    • Imperishable — no decay, sickness, or death • Glorious — no longer marked by shame or corruption • Powerful — not limited by weakness or mortality • Spiritual — not immaterial, but fully alive and aware of the physical and spiritual realms, and sustained by the life of God!
    And we know this is not theoretical, because we have already seen it in Jesus Christ.
    He ate with His disciples, spoke with them, and could be touched…yet He also stood beyond the limits of ordinary human life . His resurrection is both the proof and the preview of what is coming.
    So Paul’s message is not simply that we will live again. It’s that Christ’s resurrection has begun a new humanity. We have died to, and put off the former inheritance of Adam, and we have been given the life and in inheritance of Jesus.
    For when He stepped out of the grace, a new and better harvest began, and everyone united to Him will one day stand in bodies like His, not merely restored to Eden, but raised into glory.
    And as glorious as that is, Paul makes clear that this is not only true for the redeemed creatures of the sixth day, but for all that was created on each day before:
    1 Corinthians 15:24–26 ESV
    Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
    That means the resurrection isn’t just about what happens to us after we die. It’s about what happens to the whole world God made. Christ rose to begin the reversal of everything that went wrong in the garden.
    The Bible begins in a garden, with humanity walking with God among the trees of life, and it ends in a garden-city.
    When we turn to Book of Revelation 22, the tree of life stands again, the curse is gone, and God dwells with His people face to face as before.
    What was lost in Eden is restored in the New Jerusalem.
    The story that began with exile ends with homecoming.

    Closing:

    And so to close this morning, I want to consider the revelation of that homecoming found in:
    Revelation 22:1–5 ESV
    Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
    When we reach this final vision in the Book of Revelation, we’re not just seeing the end of a story, but in this last chapter of the bible, we’re seeing the healing of everything that unraveled in the first chapter.
    John shows us the river of the water of life flowing from God’s throne, and beside it stands the tree of life once again. But notice what’s new: its leaves are for the healing of the nations.
    In Genesis, sin fractured humanity, brother against brother, tribe against tribe, nation against nation…how real is that fracture today after the news that flooded the airways yesterday?
    But in the new creation, God doesn’t just save individuals; He restores humanity itself. Every division sin created is healed to its very root…which is something we will never accomplish (elaborate).
    Then John says, “Nothing accursed will be there.” That’s the full reversal of Genesis 3. The curse that brought thorns, toil, decay, and death is finally gone. No more resistance in creation. No more corruption in the human heart. No more shadow of judgment hanging over the world.
    What Christ began in His resurrection is finished here, the curse is undone!
    And then comes the most breathtaking promise: “They will see His face.”
    All throughout Scripture, sinners cannot look directly upon God and live. Moses is hidden in the rock. The temple veil shields His presence. But here, at last, nothing separates God and His people. The goal of redemption was never just forgiveness, it was restored fellowship. We will see Him as He is and walk together again as was always God’s intention and desire.
    And not only that, His name will be on their foreheads.
    In Genesis, God places a mark on Cain not as punishment, but to shield him from harm; in Exodus, the blood on the Passover doorposts spared Israel from death; and in Ezekiel, the “taw” (cross) traced on the foreheads of the faithful marked them as belonging to God.
    In the ancient world, a name marked ownership and allegiance. This is the opposite of the fall. In Eden, humanity grasped for autonomy, wanting to define good and evil for themselves. But in the new creation, we are joyfully marked as belonging to God. Our identity is no longer self-made but God-given, secure, and eternal.
    No night, no darkness, no need for created light, because God Himself is our light.
    And instead of being driven from the garden, we are told we will reign forever.
    Humanity finally becomes what it was always meant to be: God’s image-bearers, rreigning with Him in a world made new.
    So the Bible ends where it always intended to go not just rescued souls, but healed nations, not just forgiven sinners, but restored children, not just life after death, but life with God, face to face, forever.
    Knowing the place we were designed to live, makes it no wonder we are constantly in a place of discontent.
    The struggle is that we daily try to ease our discontent with the false promises of the nahash, thus Paul warns us:
    1 Corinthians 15:33–34 ESV
    Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning.
    C.S. Lewis once wrote:
    “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who goes on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased”
    If the story of Jesus ended on the Cross, we not only cannot imagine a holiday at the sea...but could never attain it....mud pies that the world adores would be the height of our destiny and “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die” would rightfully be our most rational anthem.
    But the story does not end on the Cross. Because Jesus rose from the dead, the offer of infinite joy is no longer just imagined, it is guaranteed, and thus we live in light of that guarentee right now today! We can face every manner of circumstance with love, hope and assurance.
    What was once beyond our grasp is now ours in Him: life, restoration, and the fullness of God’s presence.
    No longer are we doomed to settle for mud pies; we are invited to feast at the table of the King, to walk in light, and to see His face forever.
    Let us give thanks together
    Communion - A seat at the King’s table, a foretaste of the Kingdom to Come.
  • There Is One Gospel

      • 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24NIV2011

      • Exodus 14:10NIV2011

      • Nehemiah 9:9NIV2011

      • Exodus 14:11–12NIV2011

      • John 8:34–35NIV2011

      • Exodus 14:13–15NIV2011

      • Exodus 14:16–29NIV2011

      • Exodus 14:30–31NIV2011

      • Hebrews 3:3NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 10:1–2NIV2011

      • Romans 6:4NIV2011

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