MOVING THROUGH GATEWAYS by Phil Kinney
Matthew 28:1-7 "Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”"
The past few weeks have been an interesting for my family. We have buried my Father in law, and within the next week seen the birth of a child – the circle of life some would say.... the beginning of the new and the end of the old....
Yet death is not the end, merely a gateway to the next stage of life. Birth is the same – it is merely a gateway from one stage of life to the next.
You see when you are born, you have already been alive. This is not the beginning of life – life began when the baby was conceived. If you ever see a baby on an ultrasound it is incredible to see the baby’s hands and feet, its facial features, it’s arms and legs, watching the baby kick around as it tries to avoid the sound waves of the ultrasound machine against it – or to hear the heart monitor sounding the rapid beats of a baby’s heart. This child is alive inside the mother’s womb, and birth is merely a gateway to the next stage of the child’s life.
It is the same with death. When a person dies – the person does not actually die, and that is the end. No – they simply leave their mortal shell (their body) here on earth and move into the next stage of their life, whether that be in heaven in the presence of God and all the blessing that carries, or to hell with eternal torture and suffering. These points of transition in life are gateways in our lives.
So what has all this to do with Easter. Well everything actually.
On Good Friday we celebrated the death of Christ. It was all about the victory of the cross. On Friday Jesus was crucified to a cross, and he took upon Himself all of our sins and wrong doing, and welcomed us into His family. But let me share an amazing truth with you. He didn’t stay at the cross. Now many of you are saying to yourselves, “Yes we know Jesus didn’t stay at the cross. They took Him down and laid Him in the tomb, and three days later he rose again”.
I say it is amazing because you can look at many Christians lives and they are so focussed on the cross they have not moved on from the foot of the cross. You see Jesus did not stay at the cross, and we as Christians are not meant to either. We are called to move on from the cross to living the Christian life. Matt 28:5-6 “But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen.”
Jesus got on with life after the cross. He shared his faith, he encouraged people, he blessed them and empowered them, He gave his followers the Holy Spirit so they could live a life of victory by the power of His resurrection..... yet many Christians are still at the cross. They come to Jesus who is on the cross seeking forgiveness for things He has forgiven hem for – yet they can’t let go of these things, they hold onto them and declare they aren’t worthy and ask for the mercy of God. We need to let go of our sins and leave them at the cross, and then walk on beyond the cross to the tomb, where we are to leave our old selves (this is what baptism is suppose to be about), and come out as new creations in Christ. Yet many Christians are still living at the foot of the cross – but Jesus is not there – he is risen!!! The cross is a gateway to the new life we have in Christ, the same as birth and death is. We are not called to exist in the gateway, but to pass THROUGH it to what God has for us on the other side of the gateway. We don’t linger in the birth canal living there – no, we enter into this world. We don’t linger between this life and eternity forever – we move from one to the other.
There was an article in the paper last week where a writer suggested that considering Easter is about new life, about transformation – it is the ideal time to make resolutions. She suggested this was more appropriate than at New Years as Easter is a time to celebrate change, so we should be looking forward at Easter to what God has for us. This is the spirit of Easter – the example Christ left for us – to move forward.
Oh but some would quote “Jesus told us to take up our cross”. Yes He did – but why? So we could die to ourselves – and the important part of that statement is to take up our cross... and follow Him! " Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." Matthew 16:24.
He is no longer on the cross; He has risen again and is ministering all around the world. He has called us to this too – not to be stuck in a rut back at the cross, or the turn of the century, or 1920, or 1950, or 1980, or even last week. He is not in the past – we are called to follow Christ because He is moving forward.
The Christian walk is about moving forward. Last week we talked about Jesus being Lord over every part of our lives – that we can’t come to God and have a relationship on our terms – it has to be on His. He has to be Lord over all of our lives or he is not Lord at all. A part of that is surrendering our lives and our will and our possessions and all that we are and have over to Him for His purposes. The thing about Jesus purposes is that they aren’t in 1940 or 1970 – they are for today to build His Kingdom today, and into the future. You cannot follow Christ into the past, only into the promise of victory he has given us for the future. If you live in the past you are a victim of the past and it holds you. Whether your past is good or bad, you cannot live there otherwise it controls you and it is your Lord. No, Jesus can only be followed right now for what He is doing right now and into what he is calling us. We have to move from being victims to victors. We have to move from the victim place of the cross to the victory of new life lived every day in Christ.
We are going to take communion here this morning. I want us to take the bits of wafer and the cup as it is passed, and to eat and drink. As we do I encourage each of you to make it a point of letting go of the past. Celebrate the cross, celebrate the wonderful moments that have occurred throughout your life, mourn for those moments of loss and sadness – then let them go! God no longer lives there – he is looking to lead you forward to victory. Move from being a victim of your past, to victory in your future in Christ. Forgive those who have hurt you, and let it go. If you hold onto past hurts you become a victim everyday to those people and events. Let it go and move into victory.
Let go of your past heritage. Some of you hold on to your heritage like it is all you have. In Christ you have become a new creation – you have been born again into His Kingdom – and your past, your heritage is not important because you have a new identity, a new Lord, a new purpose. Lets use this time to return to Jesus, and make Him Lord. Let’s move on from the past to be victors in life with Christ.
Discussion Questions:
1. Are there areas of your life you still hold on to?
2. Are there certain sins you struggle against? (Leader - take care with this question)
3. Are there relationships that get in the way of Jesus being Lord of your life?
4. What do you think it means to deny ourselves and take up our cross? How can you do that practically in your life/
