18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 12 “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:
I invite you to open your bibles if you have them to Romans chapter 8, or the passage is also there in your worship guide. Romans chapter 8. We'll begin reading in verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
Joel Brooks:
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, And not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope, we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes and what he sees. This is the word of the lord.
Joel Brooks:
If you would, pray with me. Our father, we are so thankful to be able to gather in this place as your children. We're thankful for the work of your son, Jesus, and that through his death and resurrection, spirit, and he unites us together. And your spirit is just a deposit of the good things that await us, and we long for that day. And now father through your spirit, I ask that you would speak.
Joel Brooks:
I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, But Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So if you were to take away the stories of Jesus' birth, if you were to take away the Christmas stories, what you essentially lose from the Bible is a couple of chapters in Matthew and a couple of chapters in Luke. But if you were to take away the resurrection, you essentially lose the new testament.
Joel Brooks:
You certainly lose Christianity itself. And none of us would be gathered here today if Jesus was not risen. It's a glorious day outside. I would have probably slept a little late, got up, maybe taken my kids to the park and just really enjoyed the day. But since Christ is risen, there is no, there's nothing I would rather do than to gather with his people in this place and to celebrate that.
Joel Brooks:
That's why we're here in this place. Jesus is alive. What makes the resurrection a little odd though, even though it's the central moment in all of history, what makes it a little odd is that the resurrection was not even on the radar of Jesus' closest friends. The disciples who followed Jesus around, that the thought that Jesus would rise from the dead had never come across their mind. So when Jesus died, when Jesus died, they thought it was over.
Joel Brooks:
They, they packed their bags, they went home, and they thanked their lucky stars that they got away with their lives, but they, they certainly weren't waiting outside the tomb. A matter of fact, no one was waiting outside of the tomb for when Jesus rose. He was greeted by nobody. And this isn't because Jesus didn't talk about his resurrection. He consistently talked about how he would rise from the dead.
Joel Brooks:
It's just that it fell on deaf ears or that nobody comprehended what he was trying to say. So they'd walk away confused. I mean, what what could Jesus possibly mean when he says rise from the dead? I mean, they're not thinking physical resurrection. So we we see this when we come to Mark chapter 8, and Jesus, he is telling his disciples that he's going to be rejected.
Joel Brooks:
He's going to suffer and die. And then on the 3rd day, he is going to rise from the dead. And so the response of his disciples was Peter stood up and rebuked Jesus, rebuked him. And he said, far be it that you should ever do such a thing. Now do you think Peter's talking about the resurrection?
Joel Brooks:
He's not talking about the resurrection. He didn't get the resurrection. His response shows that. He understood that when Jesus said he was gonna suffer and die, that computed with him. Okay.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus is going to die. But when Jesus said, I'm gonna rise again from the dead, it just went straight over his head. And as a result, Peter says, far be it that you should ever do that. There was no place in their mind for this notion of a resurrection to lodge. We even see this, in the gospel accounts themselves.
Joel Brooks:
So when when Jesus was resurrected, there seemed to be some ongoing confusions. And as the gospel writers wrote about this, it it shows itself. So when they when they wrote about the crucifixion, they had more of a framework of understanding what the crucifixion was all about. And so they would tie in the story of the crucifixion to the Psalms, or to Jeremiah, or to Isaiah. And that was their framework for understanding what happened on the cross.
Joel Brooks:
But then Jesus rises from the dead and they don't connect it to anything. They're honestly not sure what just happened, just that they needed to tell everybody about it. And that's the sense you get when you read the gospel stories about the resurrection. They had no framework for understanding what had just happened, But they knew it was good news, and that Jesus was alive. So the question is this.
Joel Brooks:
What exactly happened during the resurrection? Why are we all wearing our Sunday best, coming here, about to go eat some egg salad, you know, whatever it is after this, be with family, be with friends, celebrating the resurrection. Why? We celebrate today because in the life of Jesus, we've been given new life. We celebrate today, because when we look at Jesus, we get to see our future, our resurrected future.
Joel Brooks:
Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Says 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 first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has also come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Joel Brooks:
But each in his own order, Christ the first fruits. Then at his coming, all those who belong to him. So Paul, when he says if you wanna understand the resurrection, you need to understand it in terms of this word first fruit. Christ is the first fruit. Okay.
Joel Brooks:
So yesterday was tax day. Alright. April 15th, tax day. Tax day is also the day that the Brooks family always plants its vegetable garden. It's our way of coping.
Joel Brooks:
And so we, we work really hard and so we love, we've got okra planted, green beans. We've got all different types of peppers, but by far, our favorite thing is tomato plants. So we have 7 tomato plants planted out there, and we will begin watering and taking care and weeding, for the next 6 to 8 weeks, all in hopes of seeing that first fruit. That first fruit, that that first little tomato that forms. And we know that when we see that first fruit, we're filled with joy because we know what's coming behind.
Joel Brooks:
It means that there's gonna be a lot of fruit. There's gonna be an abundance, and we will get to enjoy that all summer long. Paul says when you look at Jesus, think of that. He's the first fruit. He's the first fruit of an entire new humanity that will be coming in behind him.
Joel Brooks:
His resurrection gives us a glimpse into the future of a new heaven and a new earth and what that will look like. This is this is when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, thy kingdom come. This is the beginning of the answer of that. The kingdom coming. The will of heaven being made manifest here now on earth in the resurrected body of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
Now now, we usually don't think of the resurrection in this way, especially in western culture where we like to, make everything individualistic. And we certainly have done this with the gospel. Does of us here would say things like, the gospel is that Jesus died for my sins. The gospel is that on the cross, I am now forgiven because of Jesus' work on the cross. And this is absolutely true.
Joel Brooks:
The gospel is nothing short of that, But hear me, the gospel is so much more than that. It is so much more than God just trying to solve your personal sin problem. The gospel's more glorious. It's about so much more than just restoring our relationship with God so that we could someday die and then escape this world, go off to live in the clouds in some disembodied state. It's more real, more tangible than that, more glorious than that.
Joel Brooks:
And the overarching story of the entire Bible shows us this glorious gospel. You see, when God created the world, every step of the way, as he was creating it, he declared it is good. Every day of creation, it is good. It is good. It is good.
Joel Brooks:
Now, why would God create a world like this and declare it is good and then put man in that world whose sole purpose is to someday escape it and to live off in the clouds. It's crazy. That's not God's plan. When Jesus prayed, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, he was praying that heaven would come to earth and would transform earth. And when Jesus rose from the dead and the disciples are looking at his resurrected body, They're seeing that this is the first fruit of a new humanity.
Joel Brooks:
This is the first fruit of what earth will look like. Not just a resurrected body, but a resurrected world. It's what we just read about in Romans 8. The gospel is good news for all of creation. So as we were reading through Romans 8, I don't know if you noticed it, but you you hear you hear these words that are all about the fall.
Joel Brooks:
You hear words like suffering, groaning, longing, futility, bondage, corruption, pains. There's words all throughout Romans 8, and those are words used to describe the fall. This is the language of a world that is broken, that's fallen under the curse from when Adam sinned. This is the language of a world that's filled with violence and injustice, a world that's filled with cancer and miscarriages, a world that's filled with divorce and broken relationships and heartache. It's the language of a world filled with depression and loneliness.
Joel Brooks:
This is the world that we live in. When Adam fell, the entire world fell with him. Alright. Let me give you a confession. I spend way too much time looking in the mirror.
Joel Brooks:
Alright? Way, way too much time. And so, you know, so if I'm in the bathroom, I'm looking at myself in the mirror, I I examine everything. You know, I'm like, you know, you're stretching your skin, you're moving your nose sideways, you're looking at every pore and mock me, but I know every one of you do it too. Okay?
Joel Brooks:
For some reason, we we we look at ourselves in the mirror a whole lot, and, about a week ago, I'm I'm looking at myself in the mirror, you know, and checking everything out, and, and I didn't have my shirt on. Alright? And I and I take a step back, and I just look at myself for a while. You all do it too. I mean, you're judging me, but I know every one of you do this.
Joel Brooks:
Alright? And and as I'm just kinda looking at myself there, I remember I had this thought. I look like an alien. Alright? I I look I look like an alien.
Joel Brooks:
And I'm not talking like a space alien that that comes down, but I remember the the word that popped in my mind was alien. Meaning that the person looking back at me, I looked, I felt strangely detached to. Like, is that really me? I mean, the the the person there has too many wrinkles who's staring back at me, has some crazy gray hairs that just, like, spring up overnight, and then, you know, they're popping out all over the head. The the person looking back at me has far too many scars for that to be my body.
Joel Brooks:
And I remember just staring for a while just thinking, that just I just that that can't be me. But it is me. And it's my body breaking down, is what it is. It's my body in the process of decay. Death has entered into my body.
Joel Brooks:
And I was watching it. I was just looking at it and something in me was going, that's not right. It shouldn't be that way. But as a child of Adam, death has entered my body, and it has begun its process. It has entered your body, and it has begun its process as well.
Joel Brooks:
And every day brings a little bit more of decay, and you feel it. And it's not just me. When I when I was looking in the mirror and I see that, my image was simply a representation of what is happening in the world. The world is broken. The world is undergoing decay.
Joel Brooks:
I feel like I I live in an alien world, and and something in me is just saying it's not right. It was not meant to be this way, and perhaps you feel that way too, that life shouldn't be like this. You are not meant to live in a world where you die, and to live in a world like this, that is so fallen. And so what does the resurrection mean to me? It means this, that Jesus is the first fruit.
Joel Brooks:
He's the first taste of what will come later. And when I look at his body that will no longer under undergo any decay, I get a picture of my own body, and I get a picture of the world that awaits me. The world will in a sense be resurrected just like my body will. God didn't give up on the world that he created. Instead, he sent his son to die and to lift the curse, not just of us, but to lift the curse for all of the world.
Joel Brooks:
It's now broken, and Easter is the time in which we press into that, in which we remind ourselves to live in light of that hope, in light of the first fruits, knowing all the fruit that is coming our way. And we remember that God is giving us not just the world, but he's giving us the world we've always longed for, a world with no sickness, and with no death, no loneliness, no depression, no miscarriages, no cancer, a world that doesn't fight against us, but works with us and sustains us. This is what awaits his children. And now, I know many of you in here have been doing our Lenten readings 46 days ago when the season of Lent began. We we handed out all these different Lenten readings that we could read through each week, and they were taking us through the or not through the gospel, but through Isaiah, through the book of Isaiah.
Joel Brooks:
And this past week, as we reached the end of our Lenten readings, we read Isaiah 52 and 50 3 together. Did you notice the language that was there? Once again, it's the language of the fall. You read words like wounded, unclean, dust, grief, sorrow, despised, rejected. All language of a fallen world.
Joel Brooks:
But then, you get to come to chapter 55. Chapter 55, all of Isaiah is moving in this direction. And so read with me these words. Isaiah 55 verse 10. It's there in your worship guide.
Joel Brooks:
We read this, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing which I sent it. Now, this is a pretty famous verse here. Verse 11 is a famous verse. It's often quoted by pastors before they preach their sermons.
Joel Brooks:
It's a, it's a comforting verse to me knowing that if I do get out and I proclaim the word of the Lord, that even at times when I feel like my sermons have failed and I'm speaking to deaf ears, whatever, that if I stick to the word of God, God's word goes forward and it accomplishes his purpose. It never comes back empty handed, but it does what the word of God purposed to do. And so, so I love this verse. We know this verse. But here in Isaiah, what exactly is the word that goes forward?
Joel Brooks:
What is it? It's for you shall go out in joy, and you shall be led forth in peace. And the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and the trees of the field will clap their hands. And no more is there going to be, thorns. Instead, there will be the cypress.
Joel Brooks:
No more will there be briars, but instead there will be the myrtle. And it will make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be removed. That's the word that goes forward. That's the word of God speaking new life and bringing about a new earth. That's the world that we will live in.
Joel Brooks:
God's word will not return to us void because God's word came in flesh through his son, Jesus, declaring this word. And through his death and resurrection, Jesus has lifted the curse, and our future is not to live in some disembodied state in the clouds playing harps or whatever view of heaven you have in mind. This is our future. Real bodies living in a real redeemed world, and we will go forth in peace, and mountains and hills will sing, trees will clap, and there will be no more thorns and no more briars. In other words, remember, thorns were the result of the fall.
Joel Brooks:
Thorns grew up after Adam's sin, and God says the curse will be gone. Instead, I will put trees of substance. And he said that it will make a name for him and an everlasting sign that will not be cut off, meaning it will never ever ever end. That's the word that God has spoken. That will not return void.
Joel Brooks:
That's the life that we were meant to live right before us. So what does the resurrection of Jesus mean? It means hope. It means the kinda, the kinda hope you can build your entire life on hope, unshakable hope, that when you look at the resurrected Jesus, you see your future and this world's future. And that should make your heart burst with joy.
Joel Brooks:
Pray with me. Our father, we are so grateful that you did not give up on this world that we so destroyed. You have not abandoned us, but you declared your word that someday, the thorns will be gone, someday, mountains will burst in singing, and trees will clap, and we will enjoy that. And your word came forth through your son, Jesus, who has secured that for us. And when we look at him, we see our glorious future.
Joel Brooks:
All of our hope rests on Jesus. We pray this in his name. Amen.