Sermon: A New Creation Sent

Scripture Text: Exodus 3:1-15 and 2 Corinthians 5:14-6:1

Quotes for Reflection

Ed Welch, When People Are Big and God is Small
In the biblical sense, what we fear shows our allegiances. It shows where we put our trust. It shows who is big in our lives.

N.T. Wright, 2 Corinthians
The gospel is not just a mechanism for getting people saved. It is the announcement of a love that has changed the world, a love that therefore takes the people who find themselves loved like this and sends them off to live and work in a totally new way. The energy to get up and go on as a Christian, as one who works for the gospel, therefore, comes not from a cold sense of duty, not from a fear of being punished if you don’t do your bit, but from the warm-hearted response of love to the love which has reached out, reached down, and reached you. It may, of course, make you do things in ways that surprise or even shock other people. The gospels are full of that sort of thing; so is the story of Paul’s life. But, as he now goes on to say, if a new world has come to birth, you wouldn’t expect it to look exactly like the old one, would you?

Charles Hodge, 2 Corinthians
What constitutes a Christian? It is being so constrained by a sense of the love of our divine Lord to us, that we consecrate our lives to him. Hence faith in his divinity, faith in his love, faith in his having died for us, is the principle or source of the Christian life.

Application Questions

1. What questions does the resurrection raise for you—and how might following those questions lead you to deeper truth?

2. Jesus rose from the grave after three days. How might the resurrection invite you to trust God’s work in your life, even when it feels quiet or unclear?

3. If the resurrection creates a people, not just individuals, how might being part of a church community deepen your experience of it?