Resurrection Day Message (#2)

2 Corinthians 5:14 – 15

Sermon by Pastor Sylvia Chan

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Today as Christians commemorate the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection, let’s also reflect on our own lives. Do you see that the life you are living now is meaningful or meaningless? The Lord Jesus has chosen us out of this world, that means we no longer belong to this world; therefore our lives should be entirely different from the lives of the people in the world.

How is the life of people in the world? Most people in the world don’t know the purpose and direction of their lives, they just eat, drink and enjoy, but do you know the purpose and direction of your life? What is the purpose and direction of your life?

^NASB 2 Corinthians 5:14 – 15 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (2Co 5:14-15 NASB)

Here it says that the Lord Jesus Christ died for us so that we will no longer live for ourselves, but live for him who died and rose again on our behalf.

What does it mean to live for Christ?

Do you live your life for the Lord Jesus Christ or do you still live for yourself? How can Christians put this into practice?

You may say that living for Christ is too abstract, and too difficult to understand, so I will give a few examples to illustrate this point.

The first example is about people who live for money. We often see this kind of people in real life as well as in movies or novels. Someone who lives for money would use many different means to earn money. Everything he does is aimed towards earning as much money as possible; money is the most important thing for him.

The second example is about parents who live for their children, everything they do is for their children. Let me tell you the story of a mother who lived totally for her daughter. Her daughter loved studying and achieved very high results; she was ranked number one in her class every month. But the family was poor, and the country they lived in was a war-torn backward country in which students had to pay high tuition fees. In order to save up money for her daughter’s tuition fees, the mother would skip taking the bus in order save money, and would instead walk to the market under the hot sun every day, thirty plus degrees. This mother only thought about the benefit of her daughter, and put her daughter’s benefit above everything else.

A person who lives for the Lord Jesus Christ would always think about the will of the Lord; this person would see that doing the will of the Lord is far more important than everything else, even more important than his own will. Everything he does is focused on fulfilling the will of the Lord. That is how living for Jesus Christ is like!

Do you want to live for the Lord Jesus Christ? I am not saying that you don’t think about your own needs, I am not saying that you don’t do anything for yourself, that’s not what I mean. Definitely we need to make a living, we need to take care of our needs and the needs of our family. But we see the will of the Lord Jesus Christ as being far more important than our own interests. In a situation where there is a conflict between our own interests and carrying out the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have to choose between the two, either obeying the will of the Lord or fulfilling our own interests. In that case we would choose to obey the will of the Lord instead of fulfilling our own interests! But what about your needs? You can be sure that Yahweh God will take care of all your needs when you obey His will! Pastor Bentley and I have experienced Yahweh God’s wonderful provision again and again in these thirty plus years when we choose to do His will! Miracles and wonders are following us!

My sharing: Let me share with you one of my wonderful experiences! In the year 2009, I had to come back to Canada to do something for Yahweh God, while Pastor Bentley stayed back in Asia. When I arrived in Toronto I was staying temporarily at a church member’s apartment, but I could stay only one or two weeks, because her relatives were coming. In Toronto, it has always been very difficult for anyone to find a place to live in, especially because I didn’t have much money. I was very tight financially. I just committed this whole thing to the Lord, but I had to finish something for the Lord first before I started looking for a place. I went ahead to do the Lord’s work first, and only after that, I had only a few days left before I had to move out. I looked to the Yahweh God and asked Him to help. You know what happened? I found a very suitable place in around three hours in one afternoon. Please remember that this is Toronto. Some richer people had spent a few months and a lot of money but they still couldn’t find a suitable place, while I had very little money. I didn’t even own a car, I could only take public transportation, but I managed to find a most suitable place in around three hours! Isn’t that amazing? That was all of Yahweh God’s provision! When I choose to place the things of Yahweh God on a higher priority than my own accommodation, He would provide everything I need, indeed far better than what I had expected!

Do you want to live for the Lord Jesus Christ who died and rose again on our behalf? If you don’t want to live for the Lord Jesus, then you wouldn’t be interested in what I am saying here today. But if you want to live for the Lord Jesus Christ, then you have to know what is the will of the Lord Jesus!

What is the will of the Lord Jesus Christ?

^RSV Matthew 20:28 even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mat 20:28 RSV)

This statement comes from the Lord’s own mouth! It tells us clearly that the will of the Lord Jesus is to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people. What does it mean to give his life a ransom for many people?

The original Greek word for “ransom” is λύτρον(lytron), which means paying a price for release from slavery or captivity. During the Roman Empire, there were a lot of slaves. All kinds of slaves lived in Roman society to do different kinds of work for their masters. A slave could never leave his master’s control; if he dared to run away, his master would send people after him, to catch him and bring him back, and the slave would be punished severely. It is only when  someone pays a ransom for him that the slave could be released from his master.

But how come people become slaves, and whom are they slaves of? The Bible says that when you sin, you become slaves of sin.

^NASB John 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.” (Joh 8:34 NASB)

Here the Lord Jesus says that everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. All the people in the world have committed sin. When children reach 4 or 5 years old, they know how to lie and they start lying; they might start bullying other children who are weaker than they, etc. By the time a person becomes an adult, how much sin he has committed over the years! He has committed a lot of sin, and has become a slave of sin. The Lord Jesus has to give his perfect life as a ransom for all the people in the world in order to save them and to release them from the control of sin. That’s the will of the Lord Jesus. His will is to release people from the control of sin, that’s the purpose of his coming into the world.

What should we do to carry out the will of the Lord Jesus?

Do you want to live for Jesus Christ? If you don’t want to live for Jesus Christ, this Resurrection Day would be meaningless to you; you would just be attending the Sunday church service and happily sing some songs, and enjoy your good life.

But if you want to live for Jesus Christ, you have to participate in the Lord’s work. The Lord Jesus gave his life to save people, so you have to help to bring people to the Lord so that they too can be saved! That’s a different kind of work.

If you want to live for Jesus Christ, be ready to be hated by the world! That’s not my word, that’s what the Lord Jesus himself said, that the world hates him and crucified him, so if you live for the Lord Jesus, the world would also hate you and persecute you. That’s the price you have to pay to live for Jesus Christ:

^NASB John 15:18 – 20 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (Joh 15:18-20 NASB)

In the past thirty plus years of preaching the gospel, I have experienced a lot of anger and contempt from the people in the world, even from Christians, because I don’t water down the teaching of the Lord, I don’t want to water it down, and I don’t know how to water it down. I speak the truth to them. That’s the price I have to pay when I choose to live for Jesus Christ. Do you want to live for the Lord Jesus?

Conclusion

Now let’s sum up everything we have studied today:

• The Lord Jesus Christ died to save us, therefore we should no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died and rose again on our behalf.
• The will of the Lord Jesus is to serve people and to give his life as a ransom to save people.
• If you want to live for the Lord Jesus, you will continue in the Lord’s work, you will continue to serve people and help them to come to the Lord so that they may be saved.
• The world has hated the Lord Jesus Christ, so as you live for the Lord, the world will also hate you; that’s the price you have to pay.