Genesis 1-3, Matthew 28, 1 Corinthians 15: He is Risen!

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, Resurrection Easter Sunday by Major Michael Ramsay, 20 April 2025.

He is risen! (He is risen indeed!)

 

Easter is the most important date on the Christian Calendar. Do we know why it is the most important date? What are we celebrating? (the resurrection of Jesus) Why does this matter? (it means we can all be raised from the dead)

 

We read the story of Mary and Mary at the tomb today. I think that is a very important story about the first Christian evangelists and preachers: Two women proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Do we know the rest of the story?

 

At the very beginning of the Bible, in the first few chapters of the first book in this holy anthology, we have the story of how God created the heavens and the earth. God created it all and it was perfect. Not only were there no bad things like murder, stealing, lying, etc. There was also no injury, no illness, no decay, no death. Even the trees didn’t die. The animals didn’t eat each other. It was paradise – it was the Garden of Eden.

 

Then the very first people that God created did something – they disobeyed God. This was the first badness to enter the world. The first sin. From that point on all that erodes life and goodness flowed into the world. Not only bad behaviours but also decay of plants, animals, and people; injury, illness and death.

 

The Bible then, as we know, has many books in the Old Testament that tell how people interacted with each other and God ever since. Mostly – but not entirely – after a certain point, the books speak about the family and descendants of Jacob who was called Israel. Many of these books are looking forward to a time when the world will no longer be in the state that it is in – when everything will be finally made right.

 

There are many recorded memories of God’s interaction with people, giving us a glimpse into when and how things might possibly return. Under and after Moses there is the Law that is given to God’s people to help us know how to relate to each other – in short it can be boiled down to, as Jesus later said, ‘love God and love your neighbour’ – while we are waiting for everything to be set right.

 

Before that even, God and Abraham make an agreement, recorded in Genesis Chapter 12, that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham and then in Genesis 15 we get our first glimpse of the cross. There is a ceremony, a covenant and God basically says that if mankind messes up again, like they did in the garden, God will take the punishment, He will die. We do mess up. On Good Friday He does.

 

The word ‘gospel’ that we still use today means, ‘good news’. On Easter – a few days later - we have the Good News. Yes God, Jesus, died. He went to the grave. But then something happened. He came back to life – and when he came back to life, he came back with a body that no longer decays, no longer experiences illness, no longer experiences death. He is the first person to experience life back like it was in the Garden of Eden.

 

Now, I say first ‘person’ for a reason. Jesus is God. Jesus is also a person. He is fully, truly and properly God and he is fully, truly and properly human. At Christmas we celebrate God becoming human – He, who was around at the creation of the world, was also, much later, born. On Good Friday he dies. On Easter He has the first fully resurrected body. His body will now never die, never get sick, never get injured. And when he overcame death on Easter, he really overcame it – not just for himself but for everyone. Jesus never died after his resurrection (like others who have risen from the dead). He went away for a while; but he will come back.

 

When he comes back, he will bring with him the Tree of Life that was in the Garden of Eden and the whole world will be made anew. We spoke about this a few weeks ago while we were looking at Romans 5, Genesis 3, and Revelation 22 where the ultimate return of God is recorded.

 

So that is what we are celebrating today: the first fruits of the resurrection, that the world is set right, and the path has been paved for Jesus’ return. On Easter, God made a way so that we never need to die (again). The Bible says that when he returns, even those who are already dead will raise from the grave and they will never die again and those who are still alive will be changed, healed, transformed into these never decaying, never dying entities that love fully both God and our neighbour forever.

 

Today, as we celebrate His victory over death, decay, and sin; We are even now awaiting Jesus’ return. While we wait, we are we are told a couple of things to do

1.     Never forget what he has done for us and that he will return.

a.     In the Bible they meet regularly over a meal to remember Jesus.

b.     Now we meet on the Lord’s Day, Sunday, and at other occasions, as well as have other ceremonies, to remember what the Lord has done and what we have to look forward to.

 

2.     And the other thing we need to do is to share the love of God with others. We can do this by telling others about God while we take care of one another.

 

So today, as we are celebrating Jesus’ resurrection to eternal life and awaiting his return when the whole world will be set right, let us do our part.

 

God has provided enough to feed, clothe, and shelter everyone in the world; He has given us this beautiful earth to take care of – and He asks nothing more of us that to love Him and take care of each other until He returns  - let us do that until he returns, for when he comes back there will be no more death, no more decay, no more sorrow, no more sadness; only joy, peace and wholeness because He has risen! (He has risen, indeed)

 

Let us Pray

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Genesis 2:15-3:24, Matthew 28:1-20, Revelation 22:1-5: Life and Death and Creation.

Presented to the Community Dinner at the Friendship Center by Major Michael Ramsay, 19 April 2025.

 

Hello,

I am Major Michael Ramsay from The Salvation Army. As well as running The Salvation Army, the Bread of Life Soup Kitchen, shelter and The Salvation Army thrift store, I am a Christian pastor / teacher. This weekend is Easter. That is the most important time on the Christian Calendar.

Christians acknowledge Jesus as God. Our teachings tell us that God, as creator, created the whole world. And when He did it was perfect. Not only did we not harm each other, ourselves or the earth; but we never got sick, we never got injured; and the earth itself – the trees did not fall to the ground and die. Animals did not eat animals. All of creation was in perfect harmony. The Creator even walked in this Garden He created with people He created.

Then something happened. The first people created made a choice.  Because of this choice, death, decay, harm and hurt entered the world. Where there was none before, now there was illness, injury and death for all of creation. Plants, animals and all that is given life now dies. Since that day, Creator would like nothing less than to get us back to what was our life was like in the Garden: with no more death, no more decay.

Today is the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter. On Good Friday 2000 years ago something happened: God died. Creator died. Jesus died. Today is called low Saturday. How would you feel if we were around when God died?

Tomorrow is Easter. On Easter God, Jesus, Creator rose from the dead. He came to life again. He vanquished death. He defeated it. That is why we celebrate on Easter: we can get back to the Garden. By overcoming death, Jesus ended the decay, death and disease that came to the world and as a result when Creator returns to earth no one will ever die; no plant will ever decay; no animal will ever eat another… there will be no more blindness, no more deafness, no more addiction, no more violence, no more pain, no more sorrow. Only goodness. Only wholeness.

In the Christian faith, everyone who wants to serve the creator is invited to live and help others live like this today by providing for those in need until the day arrives when there is no more need. Our sacred book, the Bible, even tells us the ‘Sheep and Goats’ story: that the nations which take care of the vulnerable will be with the creator forever in the new world and those who don’t, won’t.

The Bible often compares life with Creator, Jesus, to a banquet, a feast, a meal, like we have here today – where everyone is invited: the rich, the poor, the old, the young, the widow, the foreigner, the stranger, the… everyone.

Today… Who has been here at the Friendship Centre before? Who has been here a lot and feels at home, comfortable here? I invite you to look out for the new people, the stranger, our guests – those who you have not seen around here before. I invite you to – on behalf of Creator – make the people who have not been here before feel comfortable. Extend to them the Creator’s hand of friendship. Let our guests know that we are happy they are here with us for when we welcome the stranger, the foreigner in the Creator’s name, we are indeed welcoming in the Creator Himself.

Let us pray

John 12:12-19: Morning Palm Sunday Reading

Presented to TSA Alberni Valley Ministries, Palm Sunday, 13 April 2025, by Major Michael Ramsay

 

Similar versions presented to Corps 614 Regent Park Toronto, Palm Sunday, 20 March 2016 (http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2016/03/john-1212-19-st-johns-palm-reading.html ) and to Warehouse Mission 614 in Toronto's Cabbagetown, 25 March 2018, Palm Sunday (http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2018/03/john-1212-19-sunday-palm-reading.html )

Palm Sunday, 13 April, 2025

Welcome and Announcements

Opening Worship Set

I Will Enter His Gates

I will Follow Jesus

 

Introduction: Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is an important day in the Christian Church. Anyone who has grown up in the church or who has been going to church for a few years has inevitably been to a few Palm Sunday services. Do we know what the big deal is about Palm Sunday?

 

John, in his gospel, does a great job telling us the meaning of Palm Sunday. He writes of a triumphal entry. He uses a lot of symbolism – not unlike Shakespeare, other playwrights we may have studied in school, or even well-written books and movies today. This week we are going to pull out five pieces of that imagery and then put it back together for a full picture of what Palm Sunday looks like for us today. First, let’s read John 12:12-19:

 

Scripture: John 12:12-19

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting:

 

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

 

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

 

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

 

Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

 

Song: Sing Hosanna

 

Reading: Triumphal Entry

Image number one: Palm Sunday is about the Triumphal Entry. What is a triumph? It is victory. These days we have victory parades when teams win championships. In Regina, they officially call part of one of their busiest streets ‘the Green Mile’ because the Roughriders have a parade there when they win the championship. Many teams have official parades when they win championships. In 2019 the whole city of Toronto seemed to come out to celebrate the Raptors winning the NBA Championship. Can you imagine if the Maple Leafs ever win? What kind of a celebration would happen then? When British Football clubs win championships, whole neighbourhoods are shut down for parades. When Argentina won the most recent World Cup, the day was declared a National Holiday so everyone could come and celebrate their triumphal procession. This is along the lines of what is happening here. Jesus is riding into the city, and it is celebrated as a triumph. But it is before the game that Jesus' triumph is being celebrated. It is in advance of the final; it is in anticipation of the coming victory.

 

In recent history, we could maybe compare it to the two hockey games between Canada and the USA a few months ago. We (Canada) won the final game and everyone cheered – but remember how loud the cheering was in the first 9 seconds of the first game we played…in Canada… that we lost? Why was it so loud? Our players dropped the gloves and fought their players. This triumphant cheering of patriotism before the game is even under way is probably very similar to people cheering at the Triumphal Entry.

 

Song: Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest

 

Reading: Jerusalem

This brings us to the second of our five images for today: What city is Jesus riding into? Jesus is entering Jerusalem. What is the significance of Jerusalem? Jerusalem is the historic capital of Judah and Israel? 2017 was Canada's 150th anniversary. One would expect a lot of patriotism in any capital city on a day of national celebration. Now Jerusalem, in our text today, is part of the occupied territories. The Romans, the Superpower of their time, had troops in the city and they controlled the government. To some extent they even appointed the religious leaders in Jerusalem. And like all superpowers, they didn’t tend to like rebellion, and they knew that if there was to be a rebellion it would probably happen in Jerusalem – the historic capital city. And it would probably happen now, during Passover, when the population of Jerusalem overflowed with so many people descending upon the city from all over the Empire. Jerusalem is the historic capital city of a seemingly rebellion-prone people.

 

On Palm Sunday we celebrate Jesus riding into this nation's occupied capital city and anticipating what is to come...

 

Song: Mercy is Falling

Tithes and Offering

Communal prayer

Song: Majesty

 

Reading: Hosanna, King of the Jews, Name of the Lord

Our third image to consider today is that of the crowds shouting. Verse 13, John records, ‘They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!”

 

This is significant. We sing ‘Hosanna’ in a lot of songs. We always mention ‘Hosanna’ on Palm Sunday. ‘Hosanna’ is what they are shouting as Jesus is riding into the capital of occupied Judea right under the noses of the Romans, even as the Jewish religious leaders have already put a plan into motion to kill Jesus. Do we know what Hosanna means? Hosanna means ‘O Save!’, ‘Salvation!’, and ‘Save us!’

 

Jesus is triumphantly entering the historic capital of Judah – which is occupied by the Romans and people are saying, ‘Jesus! You are our king! You –like kings are supposed to – you come here in the Name of the Lord! Jesus, you – not Caesar, not the Romans, not the chief priests, not the rich, not the powerful elite – Jesus, you are our King; save us from Rome and save us from our present leaders!’ Hosanna! Save us!

 

The establishment have their people in position: governors in place of recent kings, rotating high priests, soldiers to keep the peace but Jesus (who is from Galilee, which is a particularly rebellious region of a rebellious people) is triumphantly entering the city and the crowds are running out to meet him, calling, ‘save us, save us! Hosanna! O save us!’ The crowds know he is the Messiah.

 

They want him to save them from the occupation and they are willing to serve him as king. This is no small thing. Think of what superpowers do when crowds of people gather in opposition. Today: think of Guantanamo Bay; think of Abu Gharib; think of Afghanistan; think of Iraq; Think of Panama; think of Greenland! Think of Canada. Rome, her sympathizers and the establishment don’t want rivals there and then any more than today's powers and their establishment want rivals here and now. These people, the great crowds may be risking their lives shouting ‘Salvation, King of the Jews, save us!’

 

Song: King of Kings and Lord of Lords

 

Reading: Palm Branches

This brings us to the fourth of our five images for today, the palm branches: John tells us also that the people lining the streets aren’t just yelling, ‘save us king’. This is important.  They are waving palm branches. Today is Palm Sunday. Do we know the significance here of palm fronds? The palm branches are important. What do the Palm branches represent?

 

They didn’t just pick up palm branches because palm branches happened to be near-by; they picked up palm branches because palm branches are a national symbol. It is like with the current tariffs and everything how the Canadian flag instantly became meaningful again to Canadians. It would be like if we all thought someone might be willing and able to free us from US influence and control and then spontaneously we all ran to meet them with maple leaf flags or maple leaves. Everyone recognizes the maple leaf as a political symbol of Canada

 

The palm branch is a national symbol being raised in the traditional capital of an occupied territory. This is where John drives home that Jesus isn’t just a metaphorical or simply a spiritual king; Jesus is a political king as well. He is the King of Kings and His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God, is at hand.

 

Song: Jumping Up and Down

 

Reading: Donkey 

This brings us to our fifth and final image for today: the donkey. Verse 14: ‘Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: 15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” John quotes Zechariah’s well-known prophesy about the king who will save and rule Israel as he comes into his kingdom on a donkey (Zec 9:9). And here and now comes Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.

 

There is more to this too because a donkey is not a war horse; a donkey is an ambassador’s mount. It is an animal of peace! The Romans claimed that their wars brought the ‘Pax Romana’, the Roman Peace, but John here is pointing out that Jesus – not Caesar – is the Prince of Peace. Jesus is King of the Jews, and more than that, Jesus is King of the World!

 

These are exciting times. Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem at this time and place in history is his equivalent to Julies Caesar’s crossing the Rubicon. There is no turning back. And this is what Palm Sunday is: Palm Sunday is the point of no turning back. Jesus is marching into the capital to great fanfare and we who are gathered here today, we can celebrate this moment. We can cast ourselves alongside the men, women and children watching the parade and cheering as our King rides into town. This is a bigger deal than anything that has ever happened to this or any community to that point in time. This moment in our text today is a moment when the world recognizes the arrival of the one whom, as Isaiah 9:6-7 declares, “The government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever! The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this!”

 

Conclusion

Praise the Lord. Today is Palm Sunday and Palm Sunday is a day of celebration. Jesus is King! Do you believe that? Do you serve Him? Today if there are any of us here who don’t yet serve Jesus as King and haven’t laid our palm branches in front of the King of Heaven and Earth – now is our chance to accept His Salvation from the pain of suffering through all the evils of this world by ourselves. Jesus is King and He will – Hosanna - save us. He will be with us in the very midst of all our difficulties and challenges in our world today. And some tomorrow soon and very soon we will all be raised with Him to be in paradise where there is no more pain and no more suffering! Do you believe that? Do you serve Him?

 

Jesus rode into Jerusalem 2000 years ago but even now it is not too late; so why don’t you join us now in celebrating his arrival and in anticipating His triumphant return – pledging our loyalty to the King of Kings by laying our palm branches before the King.

 

On this Palm Sunday, as the people waved their branches before their King, I invite us all to come forward and let us pledge our allegiance to King Jesus; Let us all lay our branches before the King…

 

Song: Hosanna Praise is Rising

Benediction and Dismissal

 

Genesis 2:15-3:24, Romans 5:11-18, Revelation 22:1-5: Back to the Garden

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, Port Alberni BC, 28 July 2019 by Major Michael Ramsay and 30 March 2025

 

This is the 2025 version; to view the 2019 version, click here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2019/07/genesis-215-3-back-to-garden.html

Doctrine 5: We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency, but by their disobedience, they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall, all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.

…and/but…

Doctrine 6: We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will, may be saved.

 

Doctrine 5 has been referred to as the doctrine of Original Sin (or more precisely ‘originating sin’) and that concept goes back at least to Irenaeus and Augustine. Doctrines 5 & 6 are how TSA explains corporate (as opposed to individual) Salvation; Corporate Salvation is like getting back to the Garden of Eden – what life was like before the Fall.

 

This is the garden. Reading from Genesis 2:15-18:

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

 

Then this is what happened there, Genesis 3:1-6:

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it

 

And as a result of this first/original sin, Genesis 3:21-24:

²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²² And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” ²³ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

 

Salvation can be understood then like humanity getting back to the Garden. Salvation is about people and even all of creation returning to our original full and proper relationship with God. In Revelation Chapter 22 it speaks about us being restored to be in the very presence of the Tree of Life (which was in the garden!) and of God Himself.

 

Some people have asked why do we need to be restored? Why do we need to get back? Why were we kicked out, punished for what Adam and Eve did anyway? I never ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge; how come I have to suffer their consequences? I look at the consequences of the original sin like this: Our lives are affected by the choices of Adam and Eve, our original parents, in much the same way that our lives are affected by the choices of our biological or custodial parents and their parents before them. Adam and Eve were evicted and moved from the Garden of Eden; therefore, their children - Cain, Abel, and Seth - weren’t born in the Garden of Eden.

 

I was born and Susan and I were raised on Vancouver Island here – like Adam and Eve were created and raised in Eden. However, Heather was born and our eldest two daughters were mostly raised in Saskatchewan and then Toronto. We left the Island before Sarah-Grace was one year old for our work with The Salvation Army. It wasn’t sin that caused us to move away – like it was with Adam and Eve – but our children had no more say over the fact that they were raised and away from the Island than Cain, Abel, and Seth did that they were raised away from Eden. As our children live with the results of our actions –both good and bad: a life of serving the Lord but also growing up without family nearby – so we all live with the results of our ancestors’ actions – not just moving from one place to another – but the results of all kinds of choices they made over the years: our parents, our grandparents, and their parents, all the way back to our original parents. That is why and how we are suffering the consequences of originating sin. Does that make sense?

 

Walter Bruggemann, one of the foremost OT scholars, has noted that Adam and Eve’s perfect fear here cast out love (Genesis 3:10) and notes that as Jesus sets everything right, perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18-20).[1]          

 

This is the Adamic Covenant. The Bible also speaks about the way in which we can return to perfect love, to the Garden, to Eden. In Genesis 15, through the ceremony of the smoking firepot and the Abrahamic Covenant, we are shown that God (Jesus Christ) will give up His life in consequence of humankind transgressing that agreement with Him; and then Jesus’ death will lead to our Salvation insofar as Jesus receives the consequences for those actions (that of humanity at the time of Abraham, and at the time of Adam, and more) [2] – thus making it possible for us to return to what life was like in the garden.

 

Doctrine 6 of The Salvation Army reads: We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.

 

Good Friday and Easter is all about this and In the New Testament we are told a little bit about this. A few people today have some scriptures to read for us:

·       Galatians 3:13: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

·       1 Peter 2:24: “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

·       Romans 5:6: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

·       Romans 5:17-18: For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.

·       1 John 2:2: He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Again:

·       Galatians 3:13 says Jesus became a curse by dying on the cross

·       1 Peter 2:24 says that He bore our sins and we are healed

·       Romans 5:6 says that He who was righteous died for we who were unrighteous

·       Romans 5:17-18 says that Jesus’ death and resurrection reconciles us all, undoing Adam’s death and banishment.

·       1 John 2:2 says that this atonement was for the whole world, all of creation.[3]

 

And let me read from near the end of the concluding book in this more than a Divine anthology, the Bible. Revelation 22:1-5 speaks about at the end of our age when God will come down with Heaven in the New Jerusalem and there once again will be the Tree of Life (from Eden), freely available to all of us:

 

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

 

Even though sin and death entered into the world through Adam and Eve and we have been living life outside of the garden, Jesus is the light, and because of Good Friday and Easter morning and more He is returning and bringing back with Him when He does at the eschaton, the Tree of Life from Eden.

 

This is what Easter is about. Last time I spoke we chatted about the Mosaic Covenant and the Law. Jesus died on the cross so that we can return to a time before we even had the Law. Jesus died so that we could return to a time before there was even sin; the Law was trying to mitigate sin’s consequences for us. Jesus’ death completes the Mosaic Law. Jesus’ death fulfills the covenant with Abraham. Jesus’ resurrection removes the cherubim and flaming sword from the Garden of Eden. As Jesus has entered new life for eternity so can we; we can re-enter the garden. We can be welcomed back into the garden and see and experience the Tree of Life and reign with Jesus forever. This was made possible through the resurrection and is what we celebrate at Easter.

 

Would you like to reign with God forever? Do you want to be in the eternal city, with the Tree from the Garden of Eden, where there is no more sin, no more hate, no more death, no more deceit; no more decay, no more sorrow, where everyone is honest, and everyone is loving, and serving our Lord? Do you want to? You can. Jesus provided for our Salvation between the Cross and the empty tomb on Good Friday and Easter morning and we can start experiencing the beginning of that very Salvation even today which lasts forever in the eternal Garden of Eden.

 

Today, as we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and leader, we can in essence make our way back to the Garden. If we would like to live forever in this place, where there is no more pain, no more suffering, no more sin, no more hate, no more death, no more deceit; where we are honest and loving and serving our Lord, we can. All we need to do is ask - Jesus has already done the rest.

 

Let us pray.

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https://www.facebook.com/Salvogesis/

 

[1] Walter Bruggemann, Genesis (Interpretation: Westminster John Knox Press, 1982), p 53

[2] Captain Michael Ramsay, Praise The Lord For Covenants: Old Testament wisdom for our world today, (Vancouver, BC: Credo Press, 2010. (c) The Salvation Army). Available on-line: http://www.sheepspeak.com./ptl4covenants.htm

[3] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, The Book of Genesis, (NIB I: Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), 369.

Romans Parts 1 and 2, 1-4 and 5-8: Preschool Class Walking the Line.

Presented to TSA AV Ministries 16 March 2025 by Major Michael Ramsay

 

Before we needed to be away for a little bit, we were looking at Paul’s letter to the Romans quite a bit. Today I want to review a little bit of what we have spoken about and look at some of the broad themes, ideas and context of the first seven or eight chapters. First some questions:

 

·       Who wrote Romans? (Paul)

·       When was it written? (Mid to late 50s CE)

·       Who was it written to? (Holy People / Saints in Rome – which means Christians)

·       Where is Rome? (Modern day Italy)

·       Who is Paul? (an Apostle, a Roman, a Pharisee from Tarsus in modern day Turkey)

·       Where and how does Paul die? (executed in Rome – probably beheaded)

 

This is important. Paul writes these words probably realizing that he is nearing the end of his life. He is respected by the letter’s recipients, and he wants them to be aware of many things. Now this is a very long letter. I have never written a letter this long – even my sermons aren’t near this long! - even in the days when I wrote letters to put in the mail – way back before email and social media, remember that? I never wrote letters this long. Now because this letter to the Romans is so long, he covers a lot of stuff. It is sort of like – do you remember the old days? – Did you ever have a friend or family friend who only sent you a letter once a year – maybe at Christmas – and it would go on and on for pages telling you more than you could ever possibly want to know about their life, children, family and pets, etc.

When Paul writes his letter, he has some things he expects that we will know before he even starts writing. When I used to teach, we would often give students vocabulary sheets of words they needed to know as they read. If the Bible was a Ginn Reader and we each had vocab sheets, words like these may be on them:

 

·       Law – rules the demarcate the people of God (separate out / reveal). Given to the Hebrews through Moses.

·       Circumcision – a sign that specific males are part of the people of God. This was given to the world through Abraham (hundreds of years before Moses was born). Looking around the room, all of us seem old enough that I don’t need to explain how that is done.

·       Flesh – our own body, our own self, our own thoughts, our own mind, as compared to ‘Spirit’ which is of God

·       Sin / Trespass - In Romans this refers to anything destructive that erodes holiness, peace, wholeness and/or life itself. Paul also uses the word to refer to things we do to hurt and decay ourselves and others (often translated ‘trespass’). He also uses the word ‘sin’ or ‘sin nature’ to refer to a desire or compulsion to do something we know that goes against peace, wholeness, and holiness. This is like addiction. We know what is right, we resolve not to do what is wrong but… and Paul spends a lot of time explaining the ‘but’.

·       Faith – this is a key word in Romans. The word faith (Greek: Pistos) also means faithfulness. It is a reciprocal word. Whenever you see it, you should probably read it as the faith of one person (either the subject or the object of the sentence) and the faithfulness of the other,

·       Grace – When one does what is best for another regardless of merit or anything else they are extending grace. Often a person experiences grace and mercy at the same time. You do something, you are awaiting the results or consequences of that action and instead you get a reprieve as grace is extended to you.

 

Romans in Review:

 

Chapter One: Romans 1:16-17 can be read as a thesis of at least the first part of the letter: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith[fulness] from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith[fulness].”

Chapter Two: Hebrews were given the Law but still they weren’t able to do what it said any more than Gentiles and others who were not given the Law.

There are good things in the Law that we should know and let people know about for their own benefit, because if they know in advance, they can be saved the consequences of these things such as: don’t murder, covet, lie, etc. These truths that are written down are all a very good standard for our life that warn us about what not to do to keep us out of trouble.

Chapters Three and Four explain the weakness of the Law. One of the weaknesses mentioned is simply temptation. Sometimes we would never even have considered doing something wrong, if someone hadn’t come up to us and said ‘no, don’t do that’! I remember I got in trouble a few times in elementary school because I just had to try whatever it was that the Teacher had told us not to do, because I had never even considered that before she told us.

An analogy: a teacher gives her class a rule, ‘no walking on the street’. She gives the class this rule because she doesn’t want them to be it by a car: if they get hit by a car they might be hurt, injured, die, and also, in so doing, emotionally hurt their friends and family, the driver of the car, etc. – so there is a good rule: don’t walk on the road.

Now there are some bad things to come out of this good rule: some people tattle. Some people tell the teacher every time a classmate walks too close to the road, every time a classmate accidently touches the road, every time a classmate walks in the direction of the road. Some people are so concerned about the rule – ‘don’t walk on the road’ – that they abuse their classmates with it. That rule which is made to protect people’s lives is now being used to make their life miserable. This is legalism: when we care more about the rules than the people the rules are there to protect, when we care more about punishing people who do ‘bad things’ than helping people to ‘do good things’ and to be safe – which is the reason the law is there in the first place.

And then, of course, there is that almost uncontrollable temptation, as well. Once the teacher tells Johnny not to step on the road, he wants to try it even though he has never even considered walking on the road before: he will walk as close beside it as he can, then he will put a foot on it. Then he will pretend to fall on it – all the while he is testing to see why this rule is here. And then Cindy Lou Who telling on him all the time doesn’t help either. This all makes him want to break the rule, which makes him vulnerable to the natural consequences of breaking the rule, which is getting hit by a car.

Now if you look at your vocab sheets, you will notice that Paul talks about circumcision. Circumcision is a sign that people belong to a group: the ancient Hebrews, the descendants of Abraham. It is like when classes of children are walking near the road how they all have brightly coloured pinnies or t-shirts on. These are the kids that have been told specifically not to go on the road. Now, it would be best for us all not to go on the road, but only the kids in the class wearing the pinnies have been given that rule for their outing: so the Law is the rule not to go into the road (which could result in death and / or other things) which was given to the children wearing pinnies (which is circumcision) but it really is best for everyone not to step on the road, whether they were told the rule or not. Does that all make sense? There are many ‘pinnies’ we have in the contemporary church to identify ourselves as children of God like this today. In the modern/post-modern church I would say that whenever you read ‘circumcision’ in the Bible, it may be valuable to read ‘baptism’ or any other pinnie that Christians put on to show we are God’s children.

Chapter 5 we have talked about a lot and I will speak more about too – but for today’s purposes, it talks about getting back to the Garden of Eden, getting back to a time before we needed rules to avoid doing what is harmful and to do what is good: when we could just do that by being in a relationship with God. Perseverance through the suffering of life brings us back to the garden.

Chapters 6 through 8, which we will look at soon enough, wrestle with sin: the desire of the children in our school/pre-school analogy, to walk in the road, those telling you to (or not to sometimes) walk in the road, and -of course- the act of walking in the road itself. Basically, what Chapter 6 says is that if you just follow your teacher you won’t walk in the road. These days preschoolers, as well as wearing pinnies, often hold a rope to help them follow their teacher. Chapter 6 says just keep holding the rope and follow your teacher – if you accidently step on the road or if someone else does, don’t dwell on it, just keep looking at the teacher, holding the rope and walking – it is when you stop and focus on the road or your friend who is on the road or the one who is nagging you about walking on the road, that you run into trouble (that is not to say you shouldn’t help your friend up if they fall on the road) but you just need to keep on keeping on following the teacher.

Chapter 7 always reminds me of AA. Anyone here who has ever attended AA meetings will know just how valuable they can be. AA’s step one paraphrased, “We admitted that we were powerless over sin [alcohol] – that our lives have become unmanageable.” Chapter 7 speaks of Sin as that force, that temptation, trying to draw us into that which leads to destruction, into the peril of the open road; Sin in Chapter 7 is the Odessey’s siren song calling us to some imagined pleasure that in reality will just wreck the ships of our life on the rocks of death and destruction. Sin is calling the preschoolers away from the safety of the path towards certain doom in the road. In Chapter Seven, Paul sounds like Odysseus strapped to the mast of his ship, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate to do, I do” (7:16) “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law but in the flesh a slave to the law of Sin” (7:25)

Chapter 8 offers us the hope. The teacher sees us on and near the road and still “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. (8:1) The teacher pulls us aside, kneels beside us and offers us much comfort. She tells us that we don’t need to worry about all the do’s and the don’ts of the rules. We don’t need to worry about getting into trouble, taunting others, or even telling on them. We just need to follow our teacher along the path she is leading us along and then we will be okay, Romans 8:14, “for those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.’

So that is my wish for us today. Let us just keep our eyes on Jesus – nothing else can save us from sin or death. Nothing else can make us holy or whole. Let us cast our eyes upon Jesus. For us we turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full in his wonderful face, all the temptations of life will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Let us pray.

 

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