Sunday September 23, 2012 | Greg Boyd
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
The same power that defeated Satan and destroyed the bonds of evil is at work in you this very day, but feeling that power can be difficult. In this sermon, Greg talks about the deep truth of your life and how to embrace it.
In the Disney movie The Lion King, there is a scene where Simba has a vision of his father in the clouds. The vision tells him to remember his true self. Simba had doubt about going back to his home because he feared what he had done before. The vision was trying to get him to remember his true self, the one that is King.
Humanity lives a life similar to Simba. We too were once in line to rule over the kingdom of earth, but we failed when we turned over our power to Satan. We were created as co-rulers of the earth with God. He wanted us to watch over all the earth; being good stewards with the resources that He had created. But we wanted more, and it cost us everything.
Even though we gave our power away to Satan, we didn’t lose the impulse to rule over things. We try to be rulers of our own lives. We try to control others. Governments are one big control-fest of people wanting to rule over others. Satan uses this impulse to rule over others. Everyone wants to rule the world but no one is competent enough to do so. This creates a world where people struggle against each other and create a broken world.
Jesus rules as we should have and will one day. When Jesus came into this world, he represented the New Adam that replaced the old, failed Adam. He became the ruler that we couldn’t live up to. Jesus was a steward of God’s resources, and he lived the life that a co-ruler should live. He produced the example that we need to follow. And his take-over of the throne was completed on the day of his resurrection.
Christ’s resurrection was more than just a biological phenomenon. He broke the authority that Satan had over the Earth. He broke it by the life he lived. He broke it by overcoming death. And by his actions, we can once again join in co-ruling this earth. Jesus gives us the way to be restored to what we were supposed to be.
This happens because what happens to Jesus happens to us. As we learned over the past few weeks, we are intimately connected with Jesus. When Jesus died, we died. When Jesus was raised, we were raised. When Jesus ascended to Heaven, forever protected from this earth, we ascended with him. And even though we feel like we’re not there, God is calling us to remember who we are.
Like Simba, we need to embrace who we truly are. We have a deeper truth than this life that we live right now. It is beautiful how much God has done for us. We are, right now, enthroned in heaven with Jesus, protected for all time. Nothing can change that. This deep truth is that we have all the power that Jesus had. We have the Spirit to guide us and empower us to live out the life that God originally intended for us. Until Christ comes again we won’t see the earth as it should be with us as co-rulers, but when that day comes, the superficial truth that we currently live by will be burned away, and we will join Jesus in the deep truth that he has already committed for us.