Days of darkness have broken open into glorious light! The tomb is empty. Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed.
On this day, over two thousand years ago, the world changed forever. A new day dawned as the people of God began to see Him through newly opened eyes, realizing that His plan for salvation was bigger than they could have ever imagined.
When Jesus stepped out of the grave in His resurrected body, His life became proof of His victory over death, and it imparted new power to all who would believe in Him.
Jesus’ words, spoken days before His death, have fuller meaning with Easter in mind: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). How easy it is to nod our heads at the familiar words. However, the question Jesus posed in that very conversation with Martha, “Do you believe this?” is now aimed at us (v.26).
Do we believe the power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us?
Friends, it’s Resurrection Day, and we are resurrection people. As such, we have power at our disposal to live hidden in Him – and to live in the world for Him. That resurrection power in us is meant to transform us, sustain us, grow us, and fill us in such a way that we become Christ’s ambassadors for His kingdom now.
As our guide through Lent, Paul, would tell us, “if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it” (Colossians 3:1 MSG).
God’s Story in Five Acts
It might be tempting to see today – Easter Sunday – as a celebration of the final act in God’s play. But, we’d be wrong. Christ’s resurrection is not the conclusion of God’s great plan of redemption, but it is a pivotal component of it.
When I taught writing to seventh graders a million years ago, I borrowed a co-workers idea of using the plot structure from every Scooby Doo episode (ever) in order to teach a five-part plot formula. It looks like this:
- Introduction – The gang arrives at a new location and discovers a ‘monster’ is terrorizing everyone
- Rising Action – Scooby and friends are on the case, typically splitting up to hunt for clues
- Climax – The chase scene ensues (a psychedelic tune plays and our pulse rises)
- Falling Action – Someone in the gang figures who the monster is and develops a trap to catch them
- Conclusion – The villain is unmasked, announcing they’d have “gotten away with it if not for those meddling kids”
Shakespeare himself used a very similar structure when writing his five-act plays:
Even now, we can consider God’s redemptive story (aka: Scripture) as a five-act play – albeit a much upgraded version of the Scooby, or even Shakespearean, structure.
Act One
Genesis one and two make a nice prologue, introducing us to God’s original intent for the world He’d created.
Act Two
The conflict jumps right in, during Genesis three, when the serpent ensnares the humans in the ultimate temptation – to be God. To know it all and to have it all.
The rest of the Old Testament builds on the conflict and rising action, offering up patriarchs like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; leaders like Moses; judges like Deborah; prophets like Isaiah; and kings like David. It’s packed full of stories of deception and denial, greed and guilt, corruption and cleansing.
Act Three
As the gospels open the New Testament, the rising action ramps up several notches when angels start showing up to announce the Messiah’s arrival. Jesus is born and His ministry takes off. And, racing toward the climax, we make it to Holy Week with Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, torture, death.
For most, Jesus’ death felt like the end – the worst sort of cliffhanger. Story over.
But, the cross isn’t the climax – the resurrection is! It’s the moment we realize God is not actually finished. In many ways, He’s just getting started.
Act Four
The Book of Acts ushers in the Holy Spirit and narratives full of (falling) action, showing how the Gospel spread from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The epistles of the New Testament continue to lay out the (falling) action of the early Church – lots of drama and loads of miracles.
Act Five
Revelation rounds out Scripture, doing its best to describe what those End Days will look like. John gives us a picture of the “Denouement” of God’s story. We get a glimpse of the way God’s Rescue Plan1 finally ushers in the end of the curse that the world has been living under since Genesis three: death and destruction, sin and sorrow. Upon Christ’s return, all darkness and evil and everything associated with them will finally be purged. The end will finally happen.
Well, an end that’s really a new beginning. But that’s for another day…
So. Today we rejoice! We shout our hallelujahs because Christ has risen! We celebrate the climax of God’s story. It’s the climax for good reason – without Christ’s life and death and resurrection, we’d have no hope of ever attaining holiness or heaven, grace or goodness. We’d still be stuck in the vicious cycles of the people under the old covenant.
Today we take the time to raise our hands while we fall on our knees – because Jesus’ resurrection changes everything. If the cross defeated sin, then the resurrection defeated death. And once Jesus ascended into heaven, the Holy Spirit became God’s agent, living IN US.
And we…well, we live in the proverbial fourth act. We live on the ‘other side’ of the cross – freer and fuller than those who had lived before Jesus. And we’re meant to be living our lives as agents for God’s Kingdom, working and preparing for the day of Jesus’ return. We’re meant to be living the resurrection life!
The Resurrection Life
We’ve spent the last six weeks of Lent unpacking what it means to live “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). And, for the most part, each week we’ve focused on the here-and-now. We’ve dug deep into the well of living this life with Christ and for Christ:
- It’s a life packed with the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;
- it’s a focused life, looking up at Christ in heaven;
- it’s living tucked inside Him just as He is in us;
- it’s stepping boldly into our new selves, surrendering to the work of daily sanctification;
- it’s desiring more of God – settling into His presence; it’s building relationship with God – praying; and it’s doing more for God and His kingdom – proclaiming.
These scratch the surface of resurrection-living, but they give us a great place to begin. And instead of being overwhelmed by all of it, we can anchor ourselves into one of them – with God. One at a time, each aspect of living hidden in Christ shapes us until we look more and more like Christ.
There’s a counselor, Roger Edwards, who has his own way to sum up how ‘resurrection life’ in the here-and-now might look: It comes down to what we depend on to feel okay about ourselves.2
I’d love for you to reread that line. Because I find his insight fascinating. He goes on to outline three ‘relational techniques’ we use when we depend on ourselves rather than Christ:2
- Pleasing others
- Blaming others
- Distancing others
Then he contrasts those with how Christ covers each of these tendencies as we step into the ‘resurrection life’ with Him:
- Christ takes notice of us, making us pleasing to God.
- He took the blame for us, bearing the penalty in Himself.
- He closes the distance, hiding our new life with Him in God.
The zinger comes when this counselor states, “Because of Easter, we don’t have to live the old life. We don’t carry the old burden of covering ourselves. Jesus has done this for us. People don’t make or break us anymore. We’re already re-made.”2
We are already remade.
When we live the ‘resurrection life’, in the power and presence of the Resurrected One, how we live now looks different from everyone else in the world. It’s the abundant life, full of the power of the Spirit, that Jesus promises (John 10:10). Another way of putting it is that “real life for the believer is not about Jesus Christ; it is Jesus Christ.”3
Yet, living the ‘resurrection life’ also has a future aspect, for we live in the reality of the now-and-not-yet. How we live now matters. And what is to come matters too.
John Piper does an incredible job teaching this ‘not-yet’ idea of what it means to live “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).4 There’s no way to adequately summarize what he says, so I recommend his video to you.4 But, here’s the crux of it: as we live in the here and now with Christ, we are hidden. The world does not see ‘resurrection’ in us. We look more like “sons of man” than “children of God” – because on the outside we’re human and quite fallible (Romans 8:19-21).
This hidden, ‘resurrected life’ with Christ in God goes unseen in the ‘now’. BUT. When Christ appears, when He returns, everyone will actually, literally see us as resurrection people.
Here’s the challenge. Despite the fact that living in the unseen places with Christ goes unnoticed by people, it doesn’t mean we stop choosing this surrendered, sacrificial life with Him. Remember, we’ve already been remade. In Christ, we no longer have to hide our insecurities by pleasing people, cover our shame by blaming others, or hide in fear by distancing others. We can live full, abundant lives hidden with Christ in God – no matter who notices.
Happy Easter! This is a day to raise our voices and praise the Almighty for all He is and all He’s done – and all He will do. His story is not over yet, and neither are our stories. As we step out of our tombs of fear and shame and pride, let’s run toward the Son and trust Him with all our hearts. Friends, with Christ, we can desire to be resurrection people. We can live full of resurrection power. And, we can get serious about the resurrection life – and act like it.
Father God, how great You are! How mighty and wise. How forgiving and gracious. To think that You had a plan to redeem us even before the great fall happened is too much to consider. To think that You were willing to send your one and only Son to the earth to live and die for us is too much to consider. Yet You did all this because You knew resurrection was coming – and with it came new power and new life in Christ! Lord Jesus, we thank You for being the once-and-for-all sacrificial Lamb. We’re overwhelmed with awe and wonder at the way You surrendered to death for the joy set before You – the joy of death’s defeat, the joy of offering resurrection life to all who believe in You. May we be faithful to live out the promises You have spoken over us, trusting that You have us covered, living only to please God. Holy Spirit, it was your power that raised Jesus from the dead! And we ask for your help in living as though we believe that power is in us and available to us. We long to be resurrection people, so we ask that You would lead us each day in the ways we should go in order to live in the hope, the love, the joy, and the power that Christ’s resurrection brings. Teach us to live abundant, hidden lives in the here and now while, at the same time, living for the promise of the perfect life to come – when all things will be revealed! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
(Inspired by the hymn, “How Great Thou Art;” Epic of Eden;1 1 Peter 1:2; John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 5:17, 12:9; John 1:29; Hebrews 12:2; Colossians 3:1-3; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Galatians 1:10; Romans 8:11, 14, 19-21)
Lent closes, and now we enter into the Easter season — fifty days from now till Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was released into the world, to dwell in every believer ever! Here, in this space, we’ll continue our exploration of ‘hidden’ by diving into the various “Hidden Agendas” we come up against — in ourselves, in others, and even in Scripture. So, you can guess — not all ‘hidden agendas’ are bad! 😉 I hope you’ll be back next week!
Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.
- 1 – Sandra Richter’s phrase that describes God’s plan of redemption, as laid out in her book, The Epic of Eden.^
- 2 – Counselor, Roger Edwards’ article elaborates further on how our ‘resurrection lives’ might look today.
- 3 – This Got Questions article does some unpacking of Colossians 3:3 at a higher elevation.
- 4 – John Piper’s webpage/video on Colossians 3:1-4 (so good!!) – it gets deep; its main focus is the ‘not yet’ of the hidden life, which motivates us in the ‘now’.
- 5 — Christy Nockels book The Life You Long For^
- 6 — Randy Alcorn’s article, “Things Above”
- 7 — Sarah Geringer’s book Hidden Manna on a Country Road^
- Several songs our Hidden in Christ playlist stand out: the holiness of “King Jesus,” “A Thousand Hallelujahs,” and “Holy Forever” awaken my heart of worship. The Bristol House song, “Hidden,” which I warned you would make several of our Hidden playlists this year, has lyrics that beautifully capture the idea John Piper was trying to convey — about how hidden we are in the world now. Hear these lyrics through that lens:
Let a hidden generation
Carry fire to the nations
King Jesus our Salvation
Raise an army
Let a faceless generation
Go to every tribe and nation
King Jesus our Salvation
Raise an army, raise an army
It’s all for Jesus! For me, this adds a whole new layer as to what it means to be ‘hidden’ in Christ!
And the final song on our playlist, “Everything Is Mine In You,” is by Christy Nockels. She shares the story of this song’s origination in her book,5 written with a friend while both were in seasons full of turmoil and trials. So many of their phrases come straight from our studies in this series! Read these lyrics and hear them as an anthem for all our lives. May they become our truth-anchors to sing out on good days and bad:
Everything is mine in You
Even when my heart is breaking
Everything is mine in You
Even when my hands are empty
Everything is mine in You
You are, master over all and
You say, You are my inheritance and
In You, I have everything I need
And You are, seated in the heavenlies and
You say, forever You’re my hiding place and
In You, I have everything I need - This Wednesday, I’ll post the final “Teacup Video” of our Lent series — where I’ll compare our resurrection lives to handmade pottery! You can find all the videos on my Facebook Author Page and Instagram — and…a brand new YouTube ‘channel’!
- And! It’s nearly time to send out the next issue of The Abiding Life newsletter. I’m so looking forward to sharing more with you about my own experiences throughout Lent, as well as further resources you can tap into as we all seek the abiding life. You can subscribe for future issues here!
Rhythms: As my newsletter’s title infers, we seek to develop an abiding life in this space — a place where we can get informed but also be transformed as we learn to abide in God’s presence throughout our days. I like to think that developing rhythms is one way to aid us in our desire to become more Christlike. This Lent, we’ve put our focus on the rhythm of worship, and I want us to leave this season knowing two important things:
- First is the role of the enemy whose attacks are spiritual and, therefore, unseen. And one of his biggest strategies is to keep us “from grasping our standing in Christ.” As Randy Alcorn reminds is that the enemy wants us to doubt, or at the very least not consider, such high and holy standing (as we’ve seen throughout Colossians) — because “if we see ourselves in Heaven with Christ, we’ll be drawn to worship and serve Him here and now, creating ripples in Heaven’s waters that will extend outward for all eternity.”6
- Second is the reality that when we abide with Jesus, it’s not only time well spent for us — but for Him too! In Sarah Geringer’s book, Hidden Manna on a Country Road, she says,
“I have struggled to see that quality time with him matters on both sides of our relationship. I also sense that our times together somehow matter for eternity, and that’s an area of wonder and mystery.”7
How can we expand our understanding of abiding in Christ, of being hidden in Christ, as meaningful for Him as much as us? How can rhythms like worship enhance those moments with Him, and how does it all matter for eternity? Points to ponder as we remain a moment longer in all the Lent has meant and will mean as we move into the next season. - Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s story with others! And, don’t be shy to tell your God-stories, too.
- Easter somehow opens people up a little more to hear God’s story and the work of Jesus. One way you can do that is by sharing this site. We don’t want anyone walking through this life alone, lost, or over-burdened and without hope. We can all get ‘hidden’ in Christ together!
Featured Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash. “All the Bits and Pieces” photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
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