The revelation that came to the apostles—and subsequently, through them, turned the world upside down—is that with the resurrection of Jesus, the eternal life of the future had broken into the present.

Two things:

• First, the moment I say eternal, the temptation is to go into your Greek mind and think about what is otherworldly and immaterial.
• Second, while aspects of our glorious future have entered our present, we still await a consummation, a future fullness. Our life now, in Jesus, is lived between the resurrections.

We are, to use the language of the early church: Those who have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come (Heb 6:4-5).

In Jesus, we live in two worlds.

We are, in effect, living in the present age while also being part of the age to come inaugurated by Yeshua’s resurrection. He put it this way: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (Jn 14:16-17).

I want to dwell on four crucial implications for our life in the Messiah. There are many more, but these four are representative.

Point 1: Jesus’ resurrection means we are redeemed to live redemptively.

Now think about that for a moment. The statement may seem self-evident, but how much evidence of redemptive living do we see in the church? This is another example of how the Passover paradigm is valuable. The LORD redeemed the Israelites to live before him, walk in holiness as befits his name, build a habitation for him to indwell, and be his witnesses.

As I’ve said on other occasions, God passed over in order for Israel to go forth. Most of us think God passes over so we can go up to heaven. The witness of Scripture is that He forgives and removes our sins in order to reconcile and bring us nearer to Himself, as evidenced by the Tabernacle in the wilderness.

The LORD defeats death so we can live in his presence. A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness (Ps 84:10). The house of my God —do you see that? The psalmist understands that his God has been coming down since he made the world.

Yes, you do go to be with the Lord when your natural body dies. I am saying that your present focus must not be exclusively on a future going up but equally on your present usefulness. Ask yourself this question: What has God redeemed me for?

Jesus did not have to be raised from the dead if all that mattered was to take us up; the cross would have been sufficient.

He would have ascended into the heavenlies with the Father so that when we die, our true little disembodied souls can go floating up to him where we, in our tidy little robes on cumulus clouds, will be playing golden harps forever. That may be your vision of glory but that is not the biblical picture.

I know this might sound critical, but from my perspective, we can develop an inordinate preoccupation with the cross based on an undue obsession with self and sin. The Good News is not about the crucifixion only, as important as that is. It is about both the cross and the empty grave.

In the end, the Son of Man will judge us in this world because he is returning to this world. And when he evaluates you and me, what will be his criteria for judgment?

Jesus told a parable about those given a stewardship from their Master. Do you remember it? Those who took what God gave them and put it to work are commended and rewarded. The one who buried the treasure was condemned. I think Jesus will ask us,

“What did you do with the gift of life I gave you?”

Redeemed to live redemptively means you have been saved for good works. That is hard for some of us to say. Works and salvation do not go in the same sentence for us. “Faith is not of works,” you say. Of course not. Salvation is God’s redemptive initiative. But you are his work!

I am being blunt because the Protestant paradigm makes it hard to get to the heart of the matter.

When my chiropractor, a godly man, works on this corruptible, old body of mine, he often says, “Rheumatoid Arthritis has so ravaged and damaged your spine through the years; in many ways, it’s like concrete.”

By way of analogy, many of us have mental paradigms like concrete. We are so structured and conditioned by our religious heritages that it is difficult to see the bigger picture, to, in effect, soften what has set to get moving again. Under the doctor’s care, that which is in concrete begins to move, and you say, “Wow, I feel better! I am free to go out and make my life count.”

You may have already aligned your perspective with the whole counsel of Scripture. Great, now you can help others do the same. You can show them that salvation comes with a summons to serve. What a joy it is to know we are redeemed to live redemptively.

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus the Messiah: Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess 1:1-3).

Most scholars agree this is Paul’s first letter. If justification by faith is the core of his theology why is it not mentioned? Instead, he is commending them for their faithful work and their loving acts of service. He does not exhibit any conflicted conscience about doing good nor Protestant anxiety that they might slip into works righteousness. He tells them to keep at it, to do more.

He commends their steadfast hope that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will raise them up on the last day. It is that same Spirit who is now equipping and enlivening them for a life of good deeds—just like their Master who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Why? For God was with him (Acts 10:38).

Faithfulness is our daily faith response to the God who saves.

Redemptive living is the obedience of faith expressed in good words and works. The biblical witness is so clear. All of us can be rich in deeds of righteousness.

He has saved you and is working on you.

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10).

And, he is working through you.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Heb 10:23-25).

Glory to His Name!