Graham Snow – Risen with Christ – Watta Convention – 2018

Colossians 3:1-3, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

Colossians 2:12, “Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.”

This is about the risen ones, about the resurrection. We all understand that the first day of the week commemorates the resurrection of Christ. He rose on the first day of the week. On Sunday morning, we have the breaking bread and taking of the cup commemorating His broken body and yet on that day He rose from the dead. It is right to do this, to not forget He rose again on the third day.

Sometimes I feel: Do I really understand what it means, the meaning of the breaking of bread? We do it every Sunday morning. Do we really understand what it is all about? I do not understand the full price, the depth of what it means to break bread and take the cup.

In Mark 14, we read about two events. One, a woman broke the alabaster box. In the very same chapter, Jesus is led away to be beaten, cruelly mistreated and crucified. It helps me to understand what it really means to take the cup. Sometimes, we thank God for the bread of life. It is not about the bread of life in the first instance. We thank God for the bread in the meeting. It is not about that. There is a different meaning. “This is My body which is broken for you.” There is that aspect of the body of Christ, a broken Christ is what that represents.

A woman with the alabaster box: there was ointment and there was a wonderful sweet smelling savour. When the ointment was poured out, it filled the house with that sweet smelling savour, but only when that box was broken.

Think of that woman going from her abode, walking all that distance. There was no sweet smelling savour. That was imprisoned in the box, held fast in the box. Only when she broke the box, could that sweet smelling savour be sensed or smelt. It was the breaking of the box which released that sweet smelling savour. It couldn’t be appreciated, until the breaking of the box released that sweet smelling savour. Think of the life of Jesus, the way He healed people, full of mercy and full of love towards mankind. We read all about that. There was one thing contained within Him, the most precious thing in the body of Jesus was His blood. It was His blood shed for our redemption that gives such hope for cleansing and forgiveness. There is no forgiveness without the blood being shed. Here was Jesus giving perfect teaching, living a perfect life, but it needed more than that. His body had to be broken, then the blood was shed, the precious blood came forth. This sinless life, only when the blood was shed, would it avail for our redemption, when it was broken, willing to be scourged, mistreated, crowned with thorns, nails piercing His hands and His feet, that the precious blood could be released. A tremendous sacrifice, and that is for me, the meaning of the breaking of bread and taking the cup. We are thankful for the bread and the cup. It is speaking specifically of the body of Christ, the only way for mankind to be cleansed and forgiven for all eternity.

In the gospels, we read about the women coming after three days expecting to find a dead body, expecting to anoint a body. They came with that thought. How was it for them those previous days? What ran through their minds when they saw Jesus, their leader, their hope, nailed to the cross and dying there? When they saw all that happening, what is the future? They have succeeded, got the victory over Him. Is this the end of everything? I am sure some thought that way. Thoughts, agitation in the minds of those women: we are just like orphans. He is gone! All the thoughts, sad thoughts, many a tear shed those three days, a feeling of loss, separation, He is gone, He is no longer here. They went towards that tomb on the third day with that thought. If they had believed, they could have passed the three days with great expectation and hardly able to wait for the third day to come. “Yes, they will arrest Me, kill Me, it is going to happen, but on the third day, God will raise Me up.” If they had grasped that fact, really believed the words of Jesus, believed what He said about rising again on the third day, they could have come with great expectation. Instead, three dark days, turmoil, wondering what is going to happen. There could have been three happy days if they had have had faith, those three days would have been much easier. If we had faith, life would be much easier, to understand the will of God and the word He has spoken to us, believe it and really trust it. It would make life so much easier.

Before this, John 12:21, some Greeks said, “We would see Jesus.” His answer was quite a strange answer. They seemed to have the sincere desire to see Jesus and He answered, verse 24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” What was that for an answer? We have heard about Him and with our eyes we want to see what manner of man He is, how He lives and how He speaks. Jesus was telling them: if the corn of wheat doesn’t die, there is nothing to see. You can sow the very best wheat in the soil, but if it doesn’t die in the ground, there is no new plant, no hope of harvest in the future. The seed has to fall and die for something to be seen. He came down from heaven, took upon Himself the form of a servant, lived a perfect sinless life and taught so many. He humbled Himself, couldn’t have come down lower, He died on Calvary’s cross like a criminal. He fell into the earth. “All My miracles that have helped people, it is all lost if I am not prepared to go to Calvary’s cross and die on Calvary as a criminal.” You can plough a field to sow the very best seed, if the seed which has fallen doesn’t die, there will be nothing to see. “Of My sinless life, there will be nothing to be seen unless I go to Calvary’s cross and die on the cross.” We are so thankful for this aspect of the life of Jesus. So much depends on it. My only hope is the sacrifice of Christ. Only that, makes everything valid. Everything depends on it. Here was Jesus saying: “I go to the cross and I die.”

Colossians 2:12, “Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.”

1 Corinthians 10:1-2, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” The meaning of baptism, it is death to self. It is more than that, rising to new life to experience a resurrection already in life today. We “were all baptised unto Moses in the Red Sea.” What do we understand? It helps me to understand the meaning of baptism. The Israelites came to the Red Sea, passed through, and reached the other side. The Egyptians tried to follow and all died in the waters. That is an illustration of what baptism is: there is dying to self and rising again in our life already, today. When the Israelites saw the Egyptians “coming to overtake us, the past is going to catch up with us.” They feared those soldiers and weapons, feared, “they are coming after us to capture us again…they are getting closer.” What happened to those whom they feared? They all drowned. We may fear the enemy, the power of the world and what is against us, the power of Satan, in this walk of life. When we take the step of baptism, the fear is overcome through the power of Christ.

God put the cloud between the Israelites and the Egyptians, a cloud taking care of the past. The past couldn’t be seen, God had taken care of the past. Things we worry and worry about, our weaknesses and sins of the past, if we are prepared for the will of God every day of our lives, God will take care of the past. Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…” If we are prepared to follow Jesus, prepared to die to ourselves. That was the same cloud that led them all the way. There were no indicators to show where to go to the promised land. Even Moses didn’t know the way, but the cloud was there to show the way and the pillar of fire by night. They were willing for the step of baptism. God takes care of the past and He will take care of the future. We can leave all these things in the hands of God: baptism and direction.

Verse 3, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God,” being hidden with Christ. Something which is hidden can’t be seen. If you hide something, it is out of sight. This old self can be put in a place where it can’t be seen, hidden, “ye are dead.” When someone dies, what do we do? We hide the body, the body is hidden, buried, but you don’t hide it until it dies. If we want to be hidden in Christ, we have to die to ourselves. It speaks of rising: of those who “sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” We have sat down here to eat and drink. Those people sat in the presence of idols, false worship, they weren’t sitting where we are sitting, in the presence of God, in the presence of the sacrifice of Christ. We are going to rise up, we are going out to fight the good fight of faith, because we are staying in the right place. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus. Mary rose up to anoint Jesus, did that which helped Him to go to the place of sacrifice. She helped Him to do that because she was sitting, first of all, in the right place. It is a great thing when we can encourage one another to die to self, be true and faithful, sitting in the right place, not sitting in the presence of idols.

Noah built an ark: it took a certain type of timber to build that ark. Twenty years later, coming to Noah, you would see a lot of stumps, because he had fallen all those trees. After 50 years, what would we see? We would see the ark is rising higher and higher and also, more trees have fallen. Noah had to go further to fall trees further away. As the ark rose even to the third storey, there had to be more falling of trees further away. First of all, falling. For that ark to rise higher and higher, first there had to be the falling. There are certain things, we had to take the axe to them, in order to rise, to have this risen Christ. On getting higher and higher, it depends on how much we are willing to fall. There is no rising of a new plant until the seed falls into the ground and dies. It was evident in the life of Noah.

Paul, on the road to Damascus…fallen to the ground: “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” “I’ve done it all wrong. I have become a murderer and persecutor, I have made such a mess of things. How can I put things right? I cannot reverse it all. How? I cannot put it right. People have died, been beaten, cast into prison…what can I do?” The answer: “You arise and go to Damascus.” Sometimes, things burden us within and almost crush us and we realize we have made mistakes. How can I put it right? I don’t know. “You arise.” The prodigal, “I will arise and go to my father…”

If we can just get to our knees, God will put us on our feet. Getting above ourselves, it is possible through the power of the gospel, through Christ, what we have learnt of Him.

David, King David, a great man, committed the two worst sins, humanly speaking, adultery and had a man put to death. Along comes Nathan the prophet. God said, “The child will die.” In Psalm 51, there was so much remorse, so much sorrow in his heart, so much regret for what he had done. He couldn’t have been more repentant. He felt so bad about things. (II Samuel 12:14) God has spoken: the child will die. For seven days, night and day, he lay on the ground, pleaded with God, prayed to God, begged for the life of His son, that God would be compassionate…he begged and begged…the child died. His servants were afraid to tell him, he was so discouraged. Do we dare tell him? “The child has died?” When he understood the child had died, he arose and washed himself. He arose. When we fail, don’t stay there, there is also a time to arise. I must rise again. Sometimes, the past crushes us, and can God forgive, and can I arise again? He rose and became a most useful man in the Kingdom of Israel. You arise and go. David understood, “I have done wrong.” “If ye be risen with Christ…set your affection on things above.” We are thankful for the broken body, it gives us hope and courage and helps us to rise and go on in future days.