Resurrection: The Above and Beyond - Louie Giglio

I've been praying, we've been praying, our team's been praying about this little season of above and beyond. And as I've been thinking about today, one word in particular has risen up to the top in my heart. And it's the word resurrection. Because there's no word, no moment in time, no place in history that is more above and beyond than the day that Jesus Christ beat hell, beat death, beat the grave, came out of the tomb, resurrection life, ascended to the Father, seated on a throne, ruling and reigning and inviting anybody else into his resurrection life. And I know it's not Easter, but I'd love to just remember it today. And feel free to amen, even though you know how the story turns out. Any point along the way that it moves you, then let it be so. This is Matthew's Gospel, chapter 27. And the header is the death of Jesus. So there's a below and right here before there is an above and beyond in this story. From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice. And he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When some of those standing there heard that,

they said he's calling Elijah. He wasn't calling Elijah, but that's what they thought. So immediately one of them ran and got a sponge and filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him. And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. He died. At that moment, here comes the above and beyond, friends. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rock split, and the tombs broke open. Now check this out. A lot of people miss this. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. So the moment he died, lots of tombs break open and dead people come out alive. Resurrection, this is our story. And they came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went in the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified. And they exclaimed, surely he was the son of God. Many women were there watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene,

Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. As the evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea. Now this is, we're gonna come back to this at the very end today, but this is the spirit of what we are doing today. His name was Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. And Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and he went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb. The next day, the one after preparation day, the chief priest said to the Pharisees and the Pharisees went to Pilate, sir, they said, we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, after three days, I will rise again. So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first. Take a guard, Pilate answered,

go make the tomb as secure as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting a guard. Now this wasn't just a guard, this is a guard, a guard of a lot of people, elite people. But now the story is about to change. After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. That's where the term shook came from originally. The angel said to the woman, do not be afraid for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here. He has risen just as he said. Go to him and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, tell him what? That he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. So the woman hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy. And they ran to tell his disciples and suddenly Jesus met them. Hey, he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. And then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me. But then look what happened while the woman were on their way. Some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priest everything that had happened. When the chief priest had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money telling them, you are to say his disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews and to some other skeptics around the world to this very day. I can't think of anything that says above and beyond more than that. On the third day, just like he said, Jesus was raised from the dead. He went into the depths of the earth,

the scripture tells us, but now by the power of God, he is raised to the heights again, ascending to his father and seated on the throne of thrones. I'm just reminding us today that we live in a resurrection story. I'm just trying to remind us today that we are resurrection people. We're not just church people. We're not just spiritual people. We're resurrection people. That is our story. It is our DNA. It is who we are and it is where we are going. A couple of things about resurrection really quickly. And then we're going to come to our time of consecration. If you didn't come prepared for that today, let me just take a pause. There's a card on your seat. And if you brought a gift today, then let us know and pray over that gift when we pray in just a moment and put that gift in the tray as it comes by. If you did not come prepared to give today and can't give today, then on the card, you can write a prayer request and we would invite you to do that. Put it in the envelope and our team is going to pray over every single family, every single person who lets us know what your prayer request is. So if the message kind of gets to a little bit of a slowdown at some point, take time to write your prayer request on the card. And we're going to kneel down together as much as we can. Cumberland and here at 515 and consecrate our lives. Today's not just about bringing a gift into the storehouse, although it is about that. Today is about consecrating our lives to remember again that we're resurrection people in a resurrection story. We should be thinking, praying, and believing into the above and beyond every single moment of our lives. The first thing I want us to see about resurrection is that that was our desperate need. Spiritually before Christ, resurrection was our desperate need. We did not need a good church. We did not need seven principles to how to live a better life. We didn't need a program of self-improvement. We were dead and we needed life. We needed resurrection. Paul says this so clearly in this text that we know in his letter to the Ephesians. He said, as for you, talking to these believers at Ephesus, you were dead. Can we just say that together? Read it with me. As for you, you were dead. You weren't lost, although we were lost. You weren't just unchurched, although we probably were unchurched, although some people may be churched. We didn't just need some help or a new direction. We were dead in our trespasses, our transgressions, and our sins. He says in which you used to live. And he comes down to the ending conclusion and he says like the rest we were by nature deserving of wrath. That's what we

deserved. We were spiritually dead and the wrath of God was coming. But this is our story. This is our gospel. This is what we're singing about today. Because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ. Now remember the kingdom economy. We have the earthly currency to help God do what he wants to do on the earth, but we didn't have the currency of mercy to get ourselves alive from the dead. He had that currency and he was rich in it. He was a trillionaire, a jillionaire in mercy. And he made us alive. Oh wow. This is the gospel. He made us alive. How? With Christ. Even we were dead in our transgressions. It is hallelujah by grace, hallelujah, that you have been saved. Hallelujah. And God raised us up above with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms in Christ. In order that in the coming ages he might show, how beautiful is this, the incomparable riches. He's also a gajillionaire in grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved. We were in desperate need of a resurrection. Yesterday I was trying to take this car that we have, this older car. It's been sitting in the garage where we live. And for a long time, hasn't been driven for months. And the registration is due so I can get a new sticker for my tag. So I was gonna take it to get the emission test done. So I go down and I get the key out and I go to unlock the door and nothing happens. And I'm like, oh man the fob is dead and should be dead. It's been in this drawer for months, you know, hadn't seen the light of day. So I get about the process of changing the battery in the fob. Now has anybody changed the battery in your fob lately? This is akin to doing minor surgery on a small animal. And this is an older car, it's an old fob. The thing hasn't been changed in a while. Everything's kind of stuck together. And so I've got YouTube guy showing me how to get the battery out. And it's just not coming. Just slide this and push this. And I got pliers, man. I'm working this thing like heavy machinery. Nothing's happening. Finally, oh I got it out. Thank goodness we have a battery. Miracle. Put the battery in, put this thing back together again, open the door, nothing. Turns out the battery in the fob wasn't dead, the battery in the car was dead. I'm just trying to get a sticker for the tag.

In the middle of a Saturday, well I got a sermon cooking. We have no jumper cables in the garage. Ah, thank God I remember. I have a pastor friend on the north side of Atlanta. And for my birthday last year, he gave me this guy right here. He said, you're going to need this one day. And I remembered it was in the box, in the cupboard, in the garage. I got it out, ripped the cellophane plastic off of it, opened that thing up and thought, well, no way it's going to be charged and that'll take a week or two. But hey, at least, you know, maybe next time I'll do the sticker. And I turned it on, hello, and when I turned it on, which I'm not going to do right now, it had three out of four lights. And I was like, hallelujah. This thing's been in the garage for a year. This thing came ready. So all you got to do, open the hood, stick this on the black and this on the red, and voila. Car started. Isn't that awesome? This little guy right here. This guy is fierce. I highly recommend you get this. Cost a hundred bucks. This is what we're talking about today. It's a puny illustration, really. I'm sure God is not really, you know, calling all the angels together today. You're not going to believe what they're doing. They're comparing me to a thing that will jump start your car. That's not what we're doing today. But what we're saying today is that God has the ability in Christ to bring the dead to life. He's got the ability in Christ through His

mercy and His grace to bring the spiritually dead to spiritual life. That was our great need in God. We needed not just help. We needed resurrection. And that's going to be the offer on the table today. Maybe for you, it's not what you have in the envelope. Maybe it's what God has in the envelope. And maybe today is your day. Four people at Trillith at 930 put their faith in Jesus for the very first time. I'm sure it happened at Cumberland. It also happened here at 515. And I believe it will happen in this gathering today. Because this is our desperate need. The second thing I want us to see about resurrection cruising along is that resurrection is our testimony. In other words, when we're brought from death to life and then brought through the trials of life, God doesn't take our scars away. Our scars actually become our testimony that tells

the story of His grace and His mercy. In other words, God brings us through so that our testimony is I was dead, but God brought me to life. I didn't think I was going to make it, but guess what? I made it. I didn't think I would make it through that season, but guess what? I'm standing here right now by the grace of God. I made it through that season. And I'm not going to hide that or downplay that. I'm actually going to preach that from the rooftop because my scars are lifeboats to the world. We even saw that with Jesus. He walked through the wall to the disciples who were huddled, you know, afraid and in fear, not sure what was going on. And one of the disciples who said, I'm not going to believe unless I see the wounds in His side, in His hands, and in His feet. And Jesus comes through the wall. Resurrection body, but you could still see the scars on His forehead.

You could still see the scars in His hands and feet, and you could still see the scar in His side. And He said to that disciple, Touch it. Touch it. And what looked like His demise three days ago was now His testimony of victory. And when He showed the scars, Thomas believed. The evidence of His death caused Thomas to believe in His resurrection life. The thorns hadn't won. Amen. The nails hadn't won. The spear did not win. The cross did not win. The grave did not win. And I wonder if there's anybody in this place today that's got a testimony of resurrection. Anybody got a resurrection testimony?

The third thing about resurrection is that resurrection is our daily expectation. We're going to talk in just a second about the fact that resurrection's our ultimate destination, but that same power is in us now. Resurrection power is available to us right now. That's what Paul was saying when he wrote to the Romans. He said, But if Christ is in you, verse 10, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit, Holy Spirit, of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you. Now Paul's thinking more long-term here. He's thinking the long game here.

He's thinking the same way the Spirit caused Jesus to come to life again, that same Spirit is gonna cause you to come to life again in the last day. But he's saying in a bigger picture, in other places he emphasizes that the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is living in us if we're in Christ. So my daily expectation has got to elevate. It's gotta go above and beyond the normal, I can't, it won't, he won't, I'm sure it won't, I know it won't, I won't, we won't, I can't, we can't. We have the same Spirit. We're learning right here that the agent of the Trinity that raised Jesus out of the grave was the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is in us in Christ. So our prayers ought to have some above and beyond in them. Our faith today should have some same power in it. Our thoughts about life and about where we're going, our ability to trust God with our lives should have some above and beyond. Fourth thing I want us to see is that it is true that resurrection is our destination. Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. Hallelujah. In a flash, just like that, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Oh, come on, we can clap for that, people. This is our destiny. This is our destination. This is what we have to look forward to. None of us are gonna rot in a tomb. Our ashes are not gonna stay scattered in the woods, but in the twinkling of an eye, in an instant, we are gonna be raised up, and we're gonna be clothed with immortality, because resurrection is our story, and we are resurrection people. This is our hope. Newton taught us about gravity, and its power to pull everything down. Jesus taught us about resurrection, and its power to propel us into the heavenly heights. This is our story, praise God. We are resurrection people. And then the last thing about resurrection is that resurrection is our opportunity of kingdom investment. In other words, I can invest in someone else's resurrection moment. I love Matthew 27,

just thinking about what we were preaching around last week. He or she who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord. If you weren't here, hello. You can loan God money, because he has the heavenly currency. He's rich in grace, and he's rich in mercy, but he doesn't have a lot of dollars on him, so he needs us to step into the story and say, we just wanna worship you. Use our dollars. Do you have a need? Is there someone that needs help? Use our dollars. Well, saw later in the week that Hannah loaned her son to the Lord, Samuel. She lent him to the Lord, the Bible says, and for his entire life, he was lent to the Lord. Did you know you can loan your kids to God? A lot of my kids don't wanna be loaned to God. I know, but you have override in your prayer and faith, and you can say day after day, God, they don't wanna be loaned to you, but I loan them to you. I am lending them to the Lord. I am lending my very offspring to you to be a part of you. Your kingdom purpose and kingdom plans. I'm not gonna try to huddle them in to the to the flock I'm gonna release them into your flock and then check this out as evening approached there was this rich man We just talked about him a man from Arimathea. What's his name? Anybody don't look what's his name? What's this man's name? Who's a hundred percent sure you know his name?

You look No, she did Joseph we all know his name Do you want to know that at the end of the day heaven's gonna know your name Don't you want to live in such a way that when the story is finished and all the glory goes to God Somebody at least knew your name in the story How did they how do we know Joseph's name? Well good thing about him is he'd become a disciple of Jesus and We see what discipleship looks like in just a moment so going to Pilate You see I I wish we could preach a whole sermon here Probably a poor man couldn't go to Pilate and make this request But Joseph of Arimathea had a reputation he had a standing in the community he had prominence That allowed him the opportunity to knock on Pilate's door God has put you where you are in this moment in time for the very same reason You may not be a rich man. Maybe God doesn't need a rich man in this moment Maybe you don't have standing in the community. Maybe God doesn't need someone was standing in the community He just needs somebody standing right where you're standing who is a disciple of Jesus so that when the moment comes you have the opportunity To do it only you can do You have the opportunity to play in the story the role that only you can take play. I have a feeling that as Dusk is coming and daylight is fading that Joseph of Arimathea was the one shot to get Jesus into this tomb And thank God His hands were open Pilate ordered that the body be given to him and Joseph took the body wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and placed it in his own new

Tomb that he had cut out of the rock in his own New tomb and He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and he went away Did you know that you can loan God your tomb You Know he could have said man, it's brand-new Don't stick a dead guy in there We just got it finished It's exactly the way we want it. It's pristine It's amazing No, he said great. How long do you need it for? And then he overheard the authorities saying hey spread the word that they stole his body because remember he said in three days He was coming back to life again. So put a guard out there at least till the third day. Oh You just need it for three days I Don't have to go Carve out a new tomb Because you only need it for three days And then I'm getting it back again come on and His story will forever be Jesus was raised from the dead in my tomb He was raised from the dead in my tomb The same tomb That when the trumpet sounds Joseph of Arimathea is going to be raised from the dead in the same tomb that Jesus Was raised from the dead two people getting raised from the dead out of that tomb Man his bones are disintegrated by now But God's gonna in an instant in the twinkling of an eye clothed him with

Immortality and for all of eternity For all of eternity, we're gonna know that guy right there. He's the one Jesus was raised from the dead in his tomb I want To to offer to God what I have so that he can bring resurrection in this world. I am coming with Shelly today so Holy Spirit led and convinced of our gift. And we are offering it today in faith that there are going to be stories to be told of people coming to resurrection life again. We are investing in resurrection. You know why? Because we are resurrection people and we're in a resurrection story. Joseph even made it into a Hillsong worship song. Jeff Johnson's favorite worship song of all time. Amen. Yes. Oh, praise the name. And they laid him down. Do you know that line? Where? In Joseph's tomb. All the glory goes to God. But Joseph made it into worship song. All the praise goes to Jesus.

But don't you just want to at least be mentioned that you were a part of the process of proclaiming his glory to the nations. What kind of world is this? I don't know what you need today. But I pray that as we consecrate our lives and celebrate his faithfulness, that you'll believe today that God makes dead things live. And he can bring your relationship back to life. He can bring your mental health and peace of mind back to life. He can bring your confidence and faith in him back to life. He can bring the intimacy that you once had with him back to life. He can bring your kids back home. He can work in your need of a miracle in your health. God has power. Again, it seems dumb to be holding this up, talking about God having power. God has all power to do exceedingly more than we could ask or think. Praise God. If we watch him work, he's gonna work all things together just like he said he would.