Church of the Nazarene – East Rock
What We Believe Part 4 What we believe: Resurrection, Judgement, Destiny
Together we want to get a clearer picture of the nature of our faith as the Church of the Nazarene, not just to gain knowledge, but to value the freedom and joy found in living out the way of Jesus of Nazareth
.I welcome you to our teaching series “What we believe”
We begin today with a question: Is this all there is?
Do you ever find yourself reflecting on the pain and challenges of life, or maybe scrolling, or watching the nightly news on television, asking a similar question?
At the risk of being too dramatic, your answer to this question is influencing your life decisions today and your outlook on tomorrow.
As we finish up our teaching series examining what we believe as Nazarenes, I think we will see that for the follower of Jesus, the answer to the question “is this all there is?” is a compassionate and hope-filled NO
Church of the Nazarene Article of Faith 1616. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, that the bodies both of the just and of the unjust shall be raised to life and united with their spirits— “they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”16.1 We believe in future judgment in which every person shall appear before God to be judged according to his or her deeds in this life.16.2 We believe that glorious and everlasting life is assured to all who savingly believe in, and obediently follow, Jesus Christ our Lord; and that the finally impenitent shall suffer eternally in hell.
The Resurrection of Jesus is the central point of the Christian Faith, we celebrate this every year at Easter. It’s like Superbowl Sunday in the Church.
We believe that part of the story of God is that all people will experience resurrection too. Both the just and the un-just.1 Corinthians 15:16-23For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
We believe that those who have lived justly, lived for Christ, will be resurrected to eternal life, with a new and incorruptible body. Existentially more alive, more whole, more pure, free from the ailments and pains that we know now.
Judgement- everyone’s favorite topic… or maybe not…To begin, as we discuss judgement, we must not allow our human tendency towards vindictive judgement pass over onto God.
The reality is, if we believe that God is going to put all things right, that there is coming a new heaven and a new earth, we NEED God’s righteous and holy judgement to be true, for it to take place.
We believe that the results of judgement are eternal.
For those condemned- it will mean eternity separated from God’s presence.
And for those in Christ there awaits a great hope of eternity spent in the presence of God and all the saints.
We believe there is an eternal destiny for every person, and we also believe that how we live and what we believe now will affect our live forever.
John 5:24-29
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.
For some when you hear about resurrection and judgement, you might wonder about Christ’s return.
We believe that Christ will return, and that his return fits into this narrative of resurrection and judgement as Christ returns.
Article of Faith 15 in the Church of the Nazarene.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again; that we who are alive at His coming shall not precede them that are asleep in Christ Jesus; but that, if we are abiding in Him, we shall be caught up with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air, so that we shall ever be with the Lord.
This doctrine has picked up in intensity and diversity in recent years, but For the Church of the Nazarene, the key truth is that he will return. He will appear in the fullness of who he is and those in Christ shall be with Him forever.So, is this all there is? We don’t believe so!
We are called to live now as people of hope now! We are agents in this story!
That’s our mission! “Transformed by God to bring hope to others through Christ”
Let’s get busy living!