Stafford Baptist Church "The Green"

Everything is Different Now!

There are events in life that shape us, these events effect who we are so deeply that we can never be the same as we were before the event. I
guess marriage is one of those events, the birth of a child or children is another, the single person becomes a husband or a wife and life is altered completely. When children are born a new role is taken on, that of parent and life is reshaped in accordance with that new responsibility. There are events in life that so alter and transform us that we will never
see life in the same way as we did before.

The disciples had spent three years with Jesus, they had heard his
words, words that had challenged and taught, words that confronted and also healed. They had witnessed things that were beyond imagining and for them life was being shaped and moulded day by day. But when Jesus was arrested and crucified, it looked to them that all that they had dreamed, all that they had hoped had come to nought and they would have to go back to the way things used to be. Peter would go back to be Simon the fisherman, Matthew would return to the collectors booth and the others would go back to their previous lives with only puzzling memories and the ache of unrealised dreams. But then a new day, a day that would change them forever, and not only them, but generations of believers forever.

The death of Jesus made no sense without the victory of resurrection; the resurrection made sense of the death and that event shaped who they were and who we are. If the Jesus story had ended at the cross that Jesus would have been forgotten, but because Jesus rose from the dead, Peter remained Peter the Apostle and never returned to his old life, his old ways. And Mathew left the tax collectors booth behind him forever, why? Because Jesus was crucified to make forgiveness available and the proof was in the resurrection, the vindication was in the empty grave. Jesus was not subject to death, death was subject to Jesus. All authority in heaven and on earth was given to him and now
the disciples could never be the same again. Everything is different
now, for them, for you and for me. Death cannot point its tormenting finger and have the same cruel effect as it used to have. The resurrection has shaped our thinking about death and we are told quite clearly that death, sin and the devil are defeated foes, not defeated by us, but defeated by Jesus for us. Everything is different now in light of the Easter event. We cannot be the same when we have encountered the risen Saviour for ourselves. We are no longer intimidated by the devils mocking accusations. We are free and our worship of God becomes a celebration of his actions in Christ, of his love and of his death defeating victory. There are events that shape our lives, maybe marriage, maybe a child, but no event touches us so deeply as the resurrection of Jesus. No event has altered the perspective of the world as the resurrection of Jesus. No event has such ongoing continual effect as the resurrection of Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of all!

May God Bless You
Pastor Nick