Resurrection Sunday, 2025: Matthew 28:1-10

Matthew 28:1-10

1 Corinthians 15:17-21 “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

The resurrection is the reason we have good news. The resurrection is the reason the church exists, and TRC exists as a local church. The resurrection is the reason we gather to worship, it’s the reason we group up in small groups for ministry and mission, it’s the reason we train children and students to prepare vocationally to be the missionary sent into their vocational domains of society to make disciples, it’s the reason we go to work in our vocations around the world to preach Jesus Christ, his crucifixion, and his resurrection that alone can transform a person and all of created order.

We celebrate Jesus’ resurrection every Sunday. The church gathers on Sunday rather than the Sabbath precisely because of the resurrection.

The truth is that the resurrection is everything to us.  

Jesus is alive and he rules at the right hand of the Father and will return to establish new creation with us and for us together with him forever.

Let’s stand and read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ resurrection in Matthew 28:1-10.

New Testament is loaded with amazing results of Jesus’ resurrection. We will highlight 5 and then make 1 application.

(1) The resurrection confirms Jesus is Lord and God.

Romans 1:1-4 (ESV) 1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Jesus is not merely a prophet, a good man, or some passionate martyr worthy of a monument and some remembrance. The resurrection of Jesus is the Father’s public declaration that Jesus is Lord and God, and thus the Christian faith is not a religious movement that shares the world stage with other faith systems who propose competing truth claims.

No, faith in Jesus stands out as unique and the standard by which all things are judged because Jesus claimed to be Yahweh when he claimed to be the Son of God and Son of Man, claimed to be Creator, received worship from people, and proves he is right by his resurrection, and thus Jesus is Lord, Creator, Ruler, and God. This truth makes us answer worldview questions about who exactly God is, what is he like, and what does that demand of me as his creature with Jesus as the only correct interpretive framework for answering such ultimate first principle questions.

The resurrection confirms Jesus’ word that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

Believe that!

(2) The resurrection guarantees our justification.

Romans 4:25 tell us that Jesus was delivered over to be crucified for our trespass and raised from the dead for our justification.

What does that mean?

It means what this Scripture tells us: 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV) 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The cross is where our sin is paid for by God the Father by putting the sin of the world on Jesus and executing him for your sin and mine.

The resurrection is the “receipt” that the Father accepts Jesus’ sacrifice as payment for our debt in full. All we must do is receive that gift by faith.  

No earning it on our part. Simply believing and receiving the righteousness of Jesus.

Now, let me be clear. The faith that receives this gift is supernatural. It’s not conjured up. It’s not a self-effort to make a guilty conscience go away because we are living in filth and need to get some emotional relief. The supernatural gift of saving faith is powerful and changes the person who receives it. It transforms them.

We need the supernatural gift of faith because sin’s curse has killed mankind’s capacity for saving faith. Thus the Bible says this: Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV) 1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

All the goodness of Ephesians 2:1-10 is only available because of the resurrection.

So, if you had a moment where all the sudden you believed the message, you understood, you “got it”, you sensed a shift, and you have no explanation except that you believe it with no reservation and you want to all of the sudden give yourself to Jesus, you have been born again (John 3).

When you are reborn, you get all of Jesus’ righteousness, and he takes all your guilt and throws it away as far as the east is from the west to never again be counted against you.

This is justification and how it is obtained, and the resurrection makes it available.

(3) The resurrection ensures our resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:20 (ESV) 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Jesus as the “firstfruits” means his resurrection is the first growth of the kingdom of God in the emerging new creation. New creation will culminate in a whole new and redeemed created order that will include the harvest of entire nations of people that are new creations because they have believed in and followed Jesus.

Those new creation people will pass away because that’s what happens due to the curse of sin, but in Christ and his resurrection, we will be raised into the new created order by resurrection because we have been made part of new creation.

Our resurrection in Christ is inevitable because transformed made alive creatures can’t stay dead to new creation when all things are made new. So, we will be raised to be in and part of new creation with each other, Father, Son, and Spirit forever with no sin to hinder us. We will never get old, never die, never stop producing good things, and never tire of it all. And that’s not all, but we don’t have time to unpack it all today.

Those who are not in Christ will be raised, not to inevitable life as part of new creation, but inevitable eternal justice because of faith in death, the dark kingdom, and themselves. Their worship of their own wants and desires buys them the awful reality of being part of eternal justice.

Our resurrection to new creation is the “receipt” that God accepts Jesus’ righteousness as our own on that day.

(4) The resurrection provides new life for those who repent, believe, and follow Jesus.

Romans 6:4 (ESV) 4 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.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus satisfied the wrath of God. It justifies us.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus ensures our future resurrection.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus provides present access to new life.

Jesus said it like this: John 10:10 (ESV) 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

New life in abundance. It’s not abundant life. It’s new life that is not scarce or needing to be rationed. It’s new life so plentiful that it’s abundant.

In John 10, Jesus is speaking about his sheep knowing him and his voice and that he leads them and that they won’t follow a stranger’s voice. His sheep are with him, safe with him, and they have pasture with him.

Jesus’ promise of new life is the promise of constant access to him and his continual work to keep us and care for us. New life is not a promise that there are no thieves who won’t attempt to steal, kill, and destroy. No, new life is that the Good Shepherd will never lose us or stop caring for us in spite of the presence of thieves.

New life is access to the kingdom of God.

New life is practicing awareness of the unseen things lost at Eden now accessible again that influence how we live in the current passing away nature of what is seen.

New life lives by faith in that unseen reality not mere sight of what is passing away. We live by faith not by sight.

New life is abundant and ongoing access to Jesus and the ability to hear him and go to him and be with him and see what those without Jesus can’t see.

Because of the resurrection and new life given to us in abundance, we have constant access to the Father, and the risen Jesus by the Holy Spirit. We can hear him, go to him, and enjoy presence with him.

(5) The resurrection launches and empowers the church for the mission.

Matthew 28:6, 18-20 (ESV) 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay…18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Because of the resurrection, Jesus is Lord and God and has all authority, we are sent as his body and empowered by his resurrection authority to disciple the nations to repent and follow Jesus.

We are not just birthed into the kingdom to sip coffee and hang out. That’s weird. We are saved to get after new creation cultivation by preaching the good news to our cities and all nations and teaching those who believe how to obey the Lord Jesus in getting after cultivating new creation in ourselves, in and through the local church, and we continue that cultivation by starting churches and mobilizing those churches to be the missionary in all created domains of society.

The resurrection gives us that mission and empowers it supernaturally.

Application

Let’s make application of new life.

Since the resurrection makes new life available, how do we access this new life?

Is new life experience and action automatic? Does it just come out of my pores? Does it automatically change my habits? Does it automatically shift my mind’s thinking? Does it change the neurology of my brain instantly? Does it heal my sicknesses or prevent me from ever getting sick? Does new life just make me feel the warmness of the Lord’s presence all the time? Where is it?

I somehow assumed early on that new life meant broken things would just automatically become unbroken as I did my normal routine. I assumed that somehow, I would not worry or be anxious or be afraid because of I have an abundance of new resurrection life. I assumed I would feel God’s continual presence with me without interference until I passed quietly with no pain a the age of infinity because I was an indestructible 20 year old.

At some point in my late 40’s I started asked the question: Where is this “new life” that is supposed to be abundant? Sometimes new life feels more like a negative balance than an abundance.

Does the Bible teach us how to access the new life of the resurrection?

SIDE NOTE: It does, and it’s in the Manual (Bible) and created natural law. God’s word won’t leave us without either the solution in chapter and verse or chapter and verse that will send us to creation “crumb” trails pointing us to God’s created disciplines for us to discover God’s solution that he hid for us to go seek and find (Proverbs 25:2). In the Manual God gives us things that ought to make us go seek and find rather than be mystified and then ignore what’s there and attribute what’s there to Satan and pagans. Remember, the Bible is not a Harry Potter magical book of spells that when read or chanted or memorized the right way it jazzes up the air and makes everything go my way. The Bible is God’s word to show us who he is, who we are, what’s really going on in first principles (metaphysics), and it gives instructions on getting after all of creation to learn it, multiply it, steward it, and see it redeemed for an eternity of joy in it with him and each other.

Access to new life is in the Manual. So, let’s let the Bible speak about how to access new resurrection life that is available to us in abundance.

Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV) 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your (plural)[1] own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

(Romans 6:11-13 and Galatians 5:25 both can be dealt with like this as they have the same grammatical construction.)

Note the highlighted “work out”. The Lord chose the grammatical “middle voice” with “work out” to speak to us about our sanctification, obedience, and spiritual growth (discipleship), and how to “work it out”.

Remember, the resurrection has purchased for us new life, and we want to know how to access it.

Active voice is: I do it.

Passive voice is: It is done to me.

Middle voice is: I do it/I participate in what is being done to or for me.

“Work out” is present tense, 2^nd person, plural, middle/passive, imperative.

2^nd Person Plural – y’all (New life is not individual, but it is corporate.)

Middle/Passive – y’all do/y’all receive what God is doing to and for you

Imperative – Get after it. Not optional.

The word “work out” means to accomplish a task. The task: their salvation.

Let me be clear because Paul is not contradicting himself from what we read in Ephesians 2:1-10. He’s not telling them to go earn their salvation. That’s not possible. He’s telling them how to access new life that is abundant. Now that they have been given saving faith and justified and are God’s workmanship, they are to live in persevering faith (different from saving faith) by getting after the task of living like salvation has taken place.

In other words, being reborn is not the end. Being reborn is the beginning of a life with Jesus and it requires something of us to access what God is doing for us.

Let me give you my biblical theological grammatical interpretive translation of Philippians 2:12-13 which is the application: Y’all get after participating in God’s process he’s working out for you to get you into his will and work for his good pleasure which is the new life of your salvation.

Ok. So, how? What do I do and receive to access new life purchased by the resurrection?

Faith. Jesus kept telling the disciples that faith is how we pray. Faith is how we rest. Faith is how we access the supernatural. Faith is how we are to live. Faith is how we begin to exercise self-control over our minds to calm our brains and bodies.

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Without faith, it is impossible to live pleasing to God. Hebrews 11:6.

There are two key words in Hebrews 11:1 to help us practice faith: Assurance and Conviction.

Assurance is the “hypostasis”, the underlying confidence. Faith is the confidence that the hope (the desired expectation of what God said) is legit.

Conviction is the “elegchos”, the certain persuasion that refutes adversaries. Faith is absolute certainty that moves to action regardless of what opposes it.

Faith is absolute certainty in the reality of what is unseen to the point that it will act on what is unseen even when it is opposed.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (ESV) 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Resurrection purchased faith lives every moment in absolute certainty, regardless of opposition, as if what is unseen is reality and affects the seen world. And that faith will live like that even when everything we see opposes it. Faith will not surrender what it has come to believe, seen, and experienced in salvation even if it costs life. Saving faith cannot unbelieve or unsee what it has seen.

Faith like that pierces the veil between what is passing away into the power of the kingdom that is here and coming in power. Thus, that faith prays: “Your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

You are going to have to go away from today with the resurrection reality that if you have believed in Jesus, you have access to new life by faith, and you will have to begin living every moment of every day like what is unseen is reality regardless of the opposition it brings you internally and externally.

That’s why Paul said it has to be “worked out” and received as we work it out together in fear and trembling. Sometimes acting on realities other people can’t see generates fear and trembling because we don’t want to look like fools.

Jesus has purchased that for us in his resurrection, and it’s the fight.

You live by faith practicing all good disciplines given to us by God, and new life will flow abundantly even in death because it cannot be defeated. How do we know? Jesus rose and promised we will too.

Let’s pray and then sing in worship to the risen Jesus.

Pray: Honor/Contrition/Prayer/Increase/Holy/Send

[1] Parenthesis mine.