His forever resurrection.
A call to worship.
Themes
The wages of sin • Christ became sin • Condemned • Forsaken • Crucifixion • Resurrection • Easter • New humanity • Remission • Deliverance • Acquittal • Redemption
He became our sin, and it took Him all the way to the grave. With our sin, He was condemned; He was forsaken. And under the power and curse of our sin, He descended into the abyss.
Scripture reading
2 Corinthians 5:21 Romans 6:23 1 Corinthians 15:21–22 Romans 6:6 Romans 6:9 2 Corinthians 5:16–17 Colossians 3:1–3
This call to worship1 is assembled from the letters that Paul wrote a couple of decades after the resurrection. The Holy Spirit opened Paul’s eyes, heart, and mind to what had really taken place at the resurrection. And Paul writes about it in all of his letters.
I’ve written the selections as though they have been written directly to you.
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for you so that in Him you might become the righteousness of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Since death came through a man (and that man was Adam), the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man (and that man was Jesus Christ). For as in Adam, you die, so in Christ, you will be made alive. For you know that your old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with. You also know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if you are in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Prayer
Father in Heaven, your Son, Jesus, took our place. He took the place of sinners. And that’s us. And He took our place in every way possible — from our conception all the way to our death. And His death was nothing less and nothing other than the wages of sin — sin that He became. In fact, He became our sin and it took Him all the way to the grave. With our sin, He was condemned; He was forsaken. And under the power and curse of our sin, He descended into the abyss crying, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” So why, God? You sent Him from beyond to redeem us — to re-create us — not from a distance, but from within our fallen humanity. And because He existed there — existed within our fallen, broken humanness — and because He chose to share in our humanity, we now get to share in His divine life — the life that He is living out right now, a life that is still in our humanity, but freed from ruin and wreckage. From a virgin womb, with our very flesh His own, He penetrated the depths of our human nature, and He opened a way from within our old sinful humanity… a way into the new. He subjected the flesh He assumed from us; He subjected it to crucifixion, and He destroyed “the body ruled by sin.” And then, Father, You raised Him from the dead. And He was raised the first human being of a new humanity. From a virgin tomb, You resurrected Jesus Christ out of “a body of sin.” And He didn’t return to a prehuman state of diety. He didn’t return the way He came. Instead, God in Christ Jesus, is forever embodied in human existence. The new humanness, the new humanity of our incarnate Savior is now forever preserved in His resurrection. And this resurrection can never be undone. This forever resurrection, Father, is Your forever remission of our guilt and the penalty of sin. This forever resurrection, Father, is Your forever deliverance of us from the power and curse of death. This forever resurrection is Your forever acquittal and acceptance of the One Who Became Sin — the one from whom You turned as He descended into the abyss. This forever resurrection is the forever redemption of the One Who Became Sin, and so it is our forever redemption. Christ’s resurrection is our resurrection. Even now, sitting right here, Easter Sunday, we are no longer regarded according to our flesh. We are even now new creations. In the name of Jesus Christ, in whom we eagerly anticipate our own future bodily resurrection, and until then, sin, death, evil can never gain the upper hand on those whose life is hidden with Christ in God, Amen
Inspiring resources
A call to worship creates wonderment, amazement, curiosity, yearning, captivation, provocation, hopefulness, thankfulness, affection, rapture, delight. As these mix together, the response is worship.
If this call to worship leaves you wondering or curious or provoked or hopeful, consider diving into this awesome book that inspired me.
This call to worship was given to the small assembly of Christians that gathered in Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on Sunday, April 17, 2022.