EASTER SUNDAY: The Cruciformed Life
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by PulpitAI (with edits)
Welcome and Prayer
He is risen! Amen. It is so good to celebrate this beautiful morning with you, and I’m so grateful that you are worshiping with us this morning. If you’re visiting for the first time, I’m Pastor Steven Osborne, and again, it is such a great joy to have you here this morning. I know that you have many options, and there’s great options and wonderful churches, but we’re grateful that we get to worship with you this morning. The team has been working hard, and we’ve been praying for this morning together, and so I know that the Holy Spirit will really minister to you this morning and your family.
First of all, I just want to say we’re praying this morning for Lorrie. Lorrie is grieving the loss of her husband Tom this week. And Lorrie, our hearts go out to you and your family, and I pray even this morning—I know this morning will be probably a little harder, but know that we’re standing with you, and we love you, and we are sorry for this hard season. It is bittersweet. We’re grateful that Tom is in a much better place. He loved Jesus. He knew Jesus. And no more sickness and no more pain, and we rejoice in that. But I do know that it is hard for those that are staying behind, and so I just want to let you know that we love you and care for you, and we feel your loss this morning.
Let me pray for us.
Father God, it is a good morning. In spite of everything that might be going on in this world, it is good. Father, it is such a joy to celebrate this amazing day, to celebrate Resurrection Sunday and what that all means for us this morning, and the hope that we have this morning because of these powerful events that happened thousands of years ago. Thank you that it impacts us this morning. Thank you for the hope that we have this morning. And Lord, our desire is to just worship you, to lift up our voices, to lift up our hands, to show our love and our appreciation. And so we just give you the space, this time, Lord. We know that there’s probably many different things—meals and stuff—that’s waiting, but I pray, Lord, that just in these few minutes together, that we would be able to just quiet our hearts and open up our hearts for you. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I also want to welcome everyone that is watching online. We’re grateful that you are joining us.
Scripture Reading
If you have your Bible with you, I want to encourage you to turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And we will start in verse 16. I’ll give you a second to find it. I know it’s on the screen as well, but if you have your Bible or phone, I’d love for you to follow along.
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 anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Can I hear an amen? You’re gonna have to imagine you’re a little bit, like, from Africa this morning. I need to hear you, all right? Amen, thank you.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Comeback Stories
I don’t know about you, but I love a good comeback story. Anybody out there that loves a good comeback story, right? There’s some great movies, and as I think back over my life on some of those—and maybe you’ll remember, and you might say, “Oh, that’s a terrible example,” and, “This is a better movie.” That’s okay. You can grab me afterwards, right? But some of the ones—I connected with Nick afterwards, and we kind of Googled, and he mentioned some of the names, and I was like, I agree with some of these. So here’s the top three, at least on my list when it comes to comeback movies. Alright?
Rocky. Any Rocky fans? Alright. Okay, I see two hands. It’s like, okay. That didn’t go well.
Okay, old timer. Disclaimer: This was one of the first movies I took a girl to. Yeah, and I think I had the courage to take her hand after I was watching this movie. Rudy. Anybody have seen Rudy? All right. Okay. Four hands, so that’s going a little better.
Maybe this is it, all right? Cool Runnings. All right, it sounds like we have a winner. Cool Runnings.
But I love comeback stories because the underdog wins: the wounded soldier stands again, the forgotten voice speaks with power, and—are you ready?—the stone is rolled away. All right, ultimate, that is the best story. You see, I think we are moved by comeback stories because they speak to something deep inside of us—our longing for redemption, for hope of a second chance.
And again, just this week, I kind of Googled some different stories and events, and so some of the things that kind of came up—I think I Googled “ultimate comeback stories.” And some of the ones that popped up was:
Steve Jobs. It says he was fired from the very company he created, only to return to lead it to a world-changing innovation. Obviously you know that’s the Apple brand. Pay attention how I’m not mentioning Windows here right now. Yeah, Windows what?
Tiger Woods endured a public failure and injuries but stunned the world in 2019 by winning the Masters.
Bethany Hamilton lost her arm to a shark attack but was surfing again within a month.
All right, the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots both pulled off historic playoff comebacks when all seemed lost.
And then lastly, and which one is a little bit more personal, Nelson Mandela emerged from 27 years of imprisonment to lead South Africa as president.
The question this morning, as we think about some of these comeback stories—obviously, this morning we are celebrating the most important comeback story of our lives. Right? It’s like, yes, we can celebrate Steve, we can celebrate Nelson Mandela, and all of those are amazing moments, meaningful moments, but nothing in comparison to what you and I get to celebrate this morning. You and I get to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior.
Venessa and Hailey and I watched The Chosen. It’s been in the movies. We haven’t seen the last part, so don’t share. I kind of have an idea how it’s gonna end, right? But the last one that we watched, it was kind of with the Last Supper, and all of the disciples are in the room, and Jesus is sharing with them. And as I’m observing this in the theater, you know, Jesus is talking with his disciples and he says, “You know what, where I’m going, you can’t go. Then I’m coming back. You’re not gonna be alone. I’m gonna send somebody else.” And as I’m observing this and just listening to his words again, it’s like, yeah, I don’t blame them for not getting it, because it sounds very confusing. Right? And probably all of us would have said, it’s like, “Jesus, what are you talking about? What is this? You’re going away, and then you’re coming back, and where are you going we can’t go with you? What is that all about?” But today we have the full picture of what that all means to us, and we understand that Jesus had to go away. We understand now the death and the meaning behind all of his words. And it was such a powerful comeback story.
And again, we can just relate with all of the emotions from moving from Palm Sunday. I mean, first of all, just think about the calling to all of the disciples as Jesus was calling them. Here they’re following this rabbi—they don’t quite have an idea in the full picture and the revelation of who this is that they’re following, but somewhere they say, “Hey we’re gonna leave our families behind, we’re gonna leave our profession behind, and we’re gonna follow Messiah. We’re gonna believe that this is gonna go somewhere.” And then they see all these miracles and some up and downs, and then it’s Palm Sunday, and it’s like, everyone is screaming “Hosanna! Hosanna!” and it sounds like, “Oh this is amazing! We finally arrived. People are getting this.” Right?
And then you have Good Friday, and it seems like, man, this amazing story is now lost. It is lost. Right? And then just the beauty in this amazing comeback story of Resurrection Sunday and what that means for us this morning.
And so this morning, as we ponder, and—I only have four points for us from this passage—we have a decision to make as a church family. First of all, we can say, “Yes, it is a beautiful story. It is a beautiful comeback story,” and we can put it right up there just with a Rocky movie or Cool Runnings, or we can say, “You know what? There’s more to this story. It is not just a movie, but it is a story that can impact my life forever. It can transform my life. And because my life is being transformed because of what Jesus did on the cross, now my life actually needs to reflect that as well.” And so you can leave here today and just say, “That was a nice sermon. That was wonderful worship.” Second service we will see a baptism. Right? We can say all of this, and we can leave without our lives being transformed. But it is my prayer that at least starting today, that you would take this story to heart, these events, and you say, “You know what? I’m gonna allow the Holy Spirit to really transform my life so that my life can reflect this Jesus and what he did on the cross for me.” And so I hope, I pray, that as we go through these four points this morning, that it will truly transform your life and that you would live different this morning and that your family and your friends would look at your life and say, “You know what? There’s something different. Your life reflects the cross. Your life reflects the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” that it’s not just tradition. It is not just going to a Sunday morning church and it’s just same old, same old, but it’s like, no, this is actually something that happened in your life. This all became very real in your life.
And so just kind of a definition as we think about comebacks. It says:
A comeback is the act of rising, recovering, or returning to strength, success, or prominence after experiencing loss, defeat or hardship.
We Are Made New
So point number one this morning when we look at this passage from Paul is this: As we think about our own lives and this cruciformed life, what does it mean for us? Number one, we are made new. Can I hear an amen?
Don’t worry about the Greek word here, but I just want to show you the impact of this word.
This isn’t a spiritual renovation. It is a brand new identity and purpose.
All right? So when we live a cruciformed life, when Jesus becomes part of our life, he’s not just coming into your life and saying, “Oh, I’m gonna just remodel this one room. I’m just not gonna come in and remodel your bathroom and put some new wallpaper on it and give you a pink toilet,” right? It’s like, no, when we give our life to Christ, he comes in, and he gives us a brand new house. It is a brand new life and a brand new identity. We must live like we are new. If we are new in Christ, we must stop clinging to the old labels of guilt, the old labels of an old mindset. We cannot live a cruciformed life if we keep going back to what Christ has already made new. Right? It’d be silly, after a renovation and after you have this dream house, to say, “You know what? Let’s just go back to the old way. Let’s bring back the old furniture. Let’s bring out the old appliances.” Right? No, you’re gonna enjoy the brand new appliances. You’re gonna appreciate this brand new house that is in front of you. And in the same way, when crises become part of our lives, we have a brand new house and a brand new life. Why go back to these old labels?
And yet we often hold onto our old labels. Even after coming to Christ, many of us still carry the names spoken over us, like “failure,” “addict,” “unworthy,” “angry,” “anxious,” “divorced,” “unwanted.” And these labels might come from our past mistakes, family history, and what others have said, or even the voices in our own head. But they are not the names God calls us.
And so this morning as a church, I just want to remind you that you are a new creation. And I don’t know about you, but it is not always easy to live into that new creation. It’s a constant battle and a constant pull from the enemy and from this world, and people that don’t get it, that you are something new, and they’ll constantly want to put on these old labels on you. And Satan is so good to put some of those old labels on you, but it is up to us to understand the new labels that Jesus gives us because of what he has done on the cross for us. And so this morning, if you have given your life to Jesus Christ, if you are a believer and the Holy Spirit is living inside of you, I want you to know that it’s up to you this morning. Because of what Jesus has done on the cross already, you need to take some of those old labels off. Right? And you got to put on some of the new labels.
Here’s some of the new labels this morning:
Forgiven (1 John 1:9).
Beloved (Colossians 3:12).
Chosen (1 Peter 2:9).
Redeemed (Ephesians 1:7).
A child of God (John 1:12)
More than a conqueror (Romans 8:37).
And then I like this one: a masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10).
So again, this morning you have a decision on what type of label are you gonna allow on yourself? And if we’re honest, you know, if you are alive more than, you know, probably five months or five years, you know there’s constant things and labels, all things that we put on ourselves. And it doesn’t just go away, right? Just because you’ve maybe given your life to Jesus Christ doesn’t mean those voices and those labels just go away. It takes some time. It takes some time for you to grow into your identity and to realize who you are in Jesus Christ.
We Are Reconciled
Point number two this morning: We are reconciled, right? Through Jesus, God has restored our relationship with him. No more shame and no more separation. God doesn’t just forgive us; he welcomes us into his family. It is one thing this morning to realize and to know that you and I are forgiven—and we are forgiven. We have this amazing open door this morning as we are reminded of what Jesus did on the cross and the victory that we have in the empty tomb this morning. And so, yes, you and I get to experience forgiveness, but it doesn’t stop there. Guess what? You and I are also invited into his family. You belong. You’re part of something way bigger. You’re part of an amazing family, and we get to celebrate that this morning.
And here’s kind of the hard part. I don’t want to give you just a list of duties and things that you have to do at home if we don’t have these things settled in our heart. But I think a big piece of living this cruciformed life, a life that reflects the cross, a life that reflects the resurrection, part of that—and I have to admit to you, this is hard when we think about this point, about that we are reconciled, is this: that because of what we have received, because of the grace and the love that you and I have received and the forgiveness, in the same way now, as the Holy Spirit transform our lives, we got to let go, and we got to extend that same grace and same forgiveness. And I don’t know about you, but that can be hard. That can be hard. And yes, it is hard, but we still need to live that out in obedience. We still got to act that out. It’s not just something that we can ignore. That is part of what it means to live a cruciformed life.
And so this morning, if you’re maybe holding on to some pain and anger and unforgiveness, maybe as part of the service this morning, the Lord is inviting you and tugging at your heart to say, “Maybe it is time to extend that grace and that forgiveness.” And I get it. It is hard. It’s not always easy as we hold on to some of those things.
We Are Sent as Ambassadors
Next point for us this morning is: we are sent as ambassadors, as we look at verse 20. We don’t just receive reconciliation; we become members or messengers of it. To act as an ambassador, that means living every day as a representative of the Kingdom of God. Being an ambassador is not optional. Paul doesn’t say some Christians are ambassadors. No, he says, “We are.” We are. When you and I leave here, when our lives have been impacted by the cross and by Jesus, by the Holy Spirit, we now become ambassadors.
I was just on my Facebook, a video that showed up of former governor Mike Huckabee. He is the ambassador to Israel, and I think he’s in Israel this weekend. And I saw he—I didn’t listen to his message, but he was speaking from the Western Wall. And so part of his mission and part of his work is to represent the interests and the values and the mission of the United States. And the same way in our own lives, we have a job to do. We have to represent the mission and the value of the kingdom of God in this world. It is truly up to us.
And again, people look at our lives and they can then say, “You know what? I want that.” And the reality is, nobody is gonna look at our lives when it’s just religion and say, “Oh, I want that.” People don’t want religion. They want the real deal. They want the Spirit of God that is inside of you.
We Are Made Right
And point number four this morning: we are made right. We live in grace, not in guilt. Many live under the weight of shame, but Easter declares us forgiven, cleansed, and declares us righteous. We walk forward not as failures, but as favored children of God.
So this morning, this is our comeback story too. Because of Easter, we don’t just celebrate Jesus’ comeback, but we get to live it. The old is gone, the new is here. No matter your past, no matter your pain, Jesus invites you into the resurrection life.
Closing Remarks
It’s been an emotional weekend for me in preparing this message, and on Friday night it was such a joy to celebrate with the team and the youth. They worked so hard. A big thank you to the youth and to all of the volunteers that was part of that, and the staff. And I did not get to be that involved on Friday as they were preparing things. And on Friday night, as I was celebrating Good Friday, and I started there with a conversation with Josh out in the coffee area, and I was just all emotional. So I’m thinking about my season coming to an end here at Salem as your lead pastor, and that this might be my last weekend and Easter with you and preaching this. And so real emotional for me. And as I was thinking about just this message and preparing for this message and thinking about maybe this last Easter together, it is truly my prayer as your pastor that you would leave here today not the same, but that this message and this reality of Easter would truly transform your life, and that we would really be people that reflect the cross well, and that we would be ambassadors, and that people can look at us and say, “Man, the Holy Spirit is inside of him. They live like people that believe in what they preach.” And that’s my prayer and my desire for all of us.
I think we can all agree that that this Christian journey is not always easy, and we know that sanctification and that process to holiness doesn’t happen overnight. Right? You will not be perfect when you leave here or whenever you give your life to Jesus Christ. It takes time. It’s been taking me a very long time, right? And we will not be perfect until we’re in heaven with Jesus. But we can start, and we can open up our hearts, and we can really make this real and say, “Jesus, this story is real. You did die for me, and I don’t have to live under the lies of the enemy anymore.”
And so as you leave today, you will receive a small cross inscribed with the words “Cruciformed Life.” Thank you to the youth that created this for us. And so let this cross remind you daily of your new identity, your restored relationship, and your holy mission. Ask yourself each day as you look at this cross—and it’s gonna look like something like this, or it will look like this, and you’ll receive one at the door—“Am I living like a new creation? Am I walking in reconciliation? Am I speaking as Christ’s ambassador? Am I resting in the righteousness of God?”
