The Firstborn from the Dead

Colossians 1:18 “He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.”

The Human Problem: We Need New Life

We all have regrets (choices/actions you don't like to remember)

We all have things in our past that seem inescapable (consequences that won't ever leave - we keep paying for our mistakes)

Negative parts of you that feel set-in-stone? (behavioral patterns you feel powerless to break, no matter how badly you want to)

EXAMPLE: Life feels like a losing game of Monopoly - You get to a point in that game, where the game is far from over, but you can no longer win and you know it, so you just ride it out

Even as believers we still struggle and fail

We know we have new life in Christ - forgiveness, healing, hope

But we still make mistakes and struggle through so much fear and doubt

We wonder if we will ever make it - will we ever be free of our weakness and shortcomings

We see this same frustration in Paul’s letter to the Roman church: Romans 7:22–24 “For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

Will we be able to hold on? Will we be able to endure? Will we ever actually be like Christ?

What the resurrection of Jesus actually means

It means new life for us now - the “Firstfruits” of what is to come

Romans 6:4–5 “Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.”

The conditions are clear: a death like His - i.e. total surrender and submission to the Lord

Then we receive the resurrection like His - freedom from the eternal claim of sin and death

It means a guarantee of sanctification - God will ensure that we will become like Christ

Romans 8:29 “For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

What is the Christian predestined to? To become like Jesus - Philippians 2:12–13 “...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.”

God is guaranteeing the results of the work you are contributing to your growth and maturity - He is ensuring that when I see Jesus I will not be ashamed

It is a guarantee of the permanent defeat of death - and in fact, its reversal

1 Corinthians 15:12–26 “12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised… 20 But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… 23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ… 25 For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be defeated is death.”

We will not be disembodied spirits floating in a cloudy heaven

God will redeem our bodies, undoing the ravages of death and disease, and live with us on a renewed Earth

We will live as mind, spirit, and body - together with Him and Christ forever

A Final Exhortation

Hold fast, be faithful, and pursue holiness, so that you may receive these things

Colossians 1:21–23 “Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard...”

1 John 3:2–3 “Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure.”

Discussion Questions

What stood out to you in the passages we read?

What is an aspect of Christ’s resurrection that you hadn’t considered before?

What do we contribute to God’s work in our lives? (Sanctification)

Prayer Points

Thank the Lord for the resurrection of Christ and the Hope we have in Him

Let’s stir our hearts towards faithfulness and the pursuit of holiness

Devotional Question

Another way to think of faithfulness is “consistency.” Being faithful to God is about being consistent in your relationship with Him. In what ways have you been inconsistent with God? What one thing could you do differently that would have the biggest positive on your faithfulness?

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