#41: 2,000 Years Later… How the Resurrection Changes Everything for Us Today

Easter morning is a breathtaking headline, but the real question hits on a random afternoon in the middle of our lives: what does the resurrection actually change for life right now? To answer this, we can look to Romans 5 because I want Scripture to feel alive when your week feels chaotic, your heart feels heavy, or your thoughts won’t slow down.

In this episode, I share a helpful backdrop to Paul’s letter to the Romans, then we walk straight into four life-giving truths that flow from Jesus being alive. If you need Christian encouragement or a fresh way to apply the resurrection to everyday life, this one is for you.

If this resonated, hit subscribe, share it with someone you love, and leave a review so more listeners can find Life Out Loud.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Ciao and welcome to Life Out Loud. I am your host, Desiree Melfi Bozo. We are going to use this space to share experiences and help you find lasting, unshakable, unwavering, unmassible with joy and gratitude. We're going to be throwing around encouragement a little bit like confetti and giving you support to live your very best life. Ciao friends.

Why The Resurrection Matters Now

Quick Background On Romans

Four Resurrection Gifts For Today

Peace With God Through Grace

Hope That Grows In Suffering

Loved Before You Ever Changed

A Future You Can Trust

Recap And Practical Encouragement

Share Subscribe And Support

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Welcome back to the Life Out Loud Podcast. Today I'm going to dive into a piece of Romans. Romans follows Acts, and Acts follows the four Gospels. You have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the book of Acts, and then the Book of Romans. And so I'm going to give you a little bit of background, but we're going to follow up. Last podcast, we talked about Easter and Easter morning and what happened that very first morning. We looked at the four different gospel accounts of Easter morning, each gave us a different perspective, but all of them led to the irrefutable, amazing conclusion that Jesus is alive. And so the question after this that we're sometimes left with is 2,000 years later, what does the resurrection mean for us? How does it directly impact our everyday life? How does scripture come alive and impact the lives that we walk into every day? Sometimes there's questions of why did Jesus die? Why was the cross necessary? Why does the resurrection matter? Proving beyond proving that yes, a miracle happened, right? So today I want to poke and prod at some of those questions. I think it's timely coming off of this high of Easter, right? This amazing, amazing day. I think it's really important for us to start answering these questions because it makes it applicable to our lives. So Romans 5 holds the answers, Romans chapter 5. Before we answer some of those questions, I think it's um worthy of our time to do a little background dive into the book of Romans, where it's from, where it's situated in Scripture. So before we answer those questions, uh Romans was written. We know it's agreed upon. Many scholars have agreed upon it. It was written by the Apostle Paul. It was around 57-ish A.D. So after Jesus died, I looked into, so I used uh Moody Bible commentary. Um, it dove into Paul's travels, and I'm gonna I'm gonna summarize it, but if you get a chance, read through it because it's very intriguing. Um, based on the passages in Acts, the book of Acts, he was most likely in Greece and more specifically in Corinth when he wrote Romans. Um, he was writing to the Christians in Rome. That was his audience. And there aren't um in Romans, there's no explicit purpose written in here. Um, but we do have some hints and some clues to why it was written. So there's two verses, Romans um 1.5 and Romans 16.26, really bookends um Romans hopefully alluding to the purpose. And it says to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles. So for us, we can maybe conclude that the purpose of Romans, though it's not explicitly stated, was to bring about this obedience of faith. What does this mean for us? 2,000 years later, doing our day in, day out, sometimes chaotic, mostly crazy lives, uh, hopefully joyful as well. What does it mean for us, right? Yes, it's proof that Jesus is alive, and there's a few other things, four to be exact, um, four other things that I want to highlight around this question what does the resurrection mean for us today? So, yes, it's proof that Jesus is alive, and because of Jesus and because of the resurrection. The first one is we have peace with God. The second one of the resurrection and Jesus, we have hope enough, you know, that this life offers some suffering some days, right? Some days are like that. Uh the third one, because of Jesus, we know how much God loves us. And the last one, because of Jesus and the resurrection, we know that our future is secure. And if you are at all like me, a bit of a control freak sometimes, some days, under some circumstances and situations. That is so peaceful and so hopeful, and just like a breath of fresh air to know that my future is secure. No matter what is going on, no matter what is happening, no matter what chaos this world throws at me, my future is secure because of what Jesus did. And so's yours. It's amazing. All right, let's dive in. So, first one, because of the resurrection and because Jesus is alive, we have peace with God. I'm gonna read you Romans 5, 1 to 2. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Paul says we've been justified, right? We've been declared righteous. And sometimes that word righteous, I think it gets a bad rap because people hear righteous, and it's like, who are you to be righteous? We're terrible sinners. Yes, yes, we are. Yes, and righteous simply means being in right standing with God. It means literally and the whole scheme of life, you're on the right side of where you need to be. It's right standing with God. It's not a bad thing to be righteous, okay? Depend well, I mean, depending in the context of the word and how you use it, but we're not diving into that. We're using it purely scriptural. Being righteous is good is a good thing. It means being in right standing with Jesus. So the resurrection declared that Jesus' sacrifice was enough. It was literally enough for you and for me. If Jesus had stayed dead, we'd have absolutely no assurance that sin had been defeated. We might always be wondering, like, how are we doing? Right? And what side am I on right now? But because Jesus rose, we know that payment has been accepted. We've been set free. The resurrection means we no longer have to wonder where we stand with God. Because of Jesus, we stand in grace, right? Through whom we've gained access by faith into this grace, grace in which we now stand. Now, I want to say something here about um a small note. We don't stand in fear, we don't stand in shame, we don't stand in disappointment, we don't stand in disgrace, we don't stand in any other lie that Satan likes to whisper into our ears. We stand covered in grace. I think that's a beautiful thing, and it's something that we can cling to when all of um the shame and the uh disappointment and all that stuff starts to hit us because that's real, right? We can say, no, I stand in grace, right? We can speak scripture over it. Romans 5, 2. No, actually, I stand in grace. The second thing, because Jesus is alive, because the resurrection happened, not only do we stand in grace, but we have hope in the middle of suffering. And I'm gonna turn to Romans 3, uh, I'm sorry, Romans 5, 3 to 5. Not only, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. I want to read also uh Romans 5, 3 to 5 out of the message. So the message is uh that if you're watching on YouTube, uh the this is the message Bible. Uh the message is essentially uh like a contemporary rendering of scripture, okay? Um so let me Romans three. I'm sorry, Romans five, three to five. There's more to come. We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles. I love that. Because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue. Let's go. That's not in scripture, but also let's go. Uh, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy, such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary, we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit. I love that imagery. I can't get enough containers to collect all of the things that the Holy Spirit pours into our lives. I'm so in love with that injury, imagery, injury. I am not in love with injury. So here's the thing, though. Here's what it here's what it's not saying. It's not saying suffering is going to be removed from our lives. Suffering is still going to be there. Things are still going to happen that break us and break our hearts, and things that we will never understand on this side of heaven that will all still happen. However, and the meaning of it changes. Paul says suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, character, hope. There's a purpose to the suffering. I love the message version. It talks about um we can develop passionate patience, and then in turn, that patience forges a tempered steel of virtue. I don't know about you, but that kind of makes me like what? That makes me want to run through a wall, y'all. That was that's amazing. I want to have that virtue that's unshakable, that patience that's completely enduring no matter what is coming my way. Even in painful seasons, this tells us that God is still working. Without the resurrection, suffering feels like the end. Suffering feels hopeless and it feels like it is the end of the road. With the resurrection, we can be assured that God brings life out of death. When I read some of these words, I keep thinking in this past week, I have not been able to stop thinking about Easter morning and the women going to the tomb and seeing it empty on Good Friday. I can't stop thinking about them watching Jesus be crucified. And from their vantage point, they they must have believed to like the gut of their soul that it was done. It was over. They had lost. And meanwhile, God's like, nope, I'm still here working it all for good. I'm still here. You just can't see it right now. When that tomb was sealed, their hearts had to have been completely and utterly devastated and broken. And maybe that's how some of you are feeling listening to this right now. Maybe things have happened in your life lately or in your past that have left you devastated and broken and not understanding it and caring around hurt and pain and all of it. But just like on that Easter morning, God wasn't done. There is a purpose for the suffering, and out of that suffering, we get perseverance and resilience. And out of that, we be we have character. And out of that character, we can have hope. God wasn't done on Good Friday or Silent Saturday. And when they thought he moved his body on Easter morning, God still wasn't done. He wasn't done then, and he's not done now. That suffering that you may or may not be holding, he's not done with it. He's never done with it. The resurrection means doesn't mean we won't suffer. We're going to. Scripture tells us that. We believe in Jesus. There is suffering in this world. It means suffering never has the final word. It didn't 2,000 years ago, and it sure as heck doesn't today. I'm going to move on to the third thing we know because of the resurrection, and because Jesus is alive, we know how much God loves us. I want to point to Romans 5, 6 to 8. You see, just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in that, in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice, but by suffering by, I'm sorry, God put his love on the line for us by offering his son in sacrificial death. Well, get this. Well, we were of no use whatever to him. How about that for some imagery? We were literally of no use to God, and he sent Jesus to die because he loves you that much. If that doesn't move you to like tears, I don't know what will. Paul describes us in these passages as sinners who are ungodly and powerless. God loved us before we ever changed. And to know that He loved me anyway, in the middle of that, oh my gosh. Like truly. Oh my gosh. Jesus didn't die for the best versions of us. He died for the versions of us that were drowning in our sin. Before we were repentant, the one alive today is the one who loved us enough to die in our place. We should have been, we should have died. We should have been the ones hung on that cross. It was our sin that put him there. And because he loves us, he took our place. We don't have to spend our lives trying to earn God's love. There might be some of you out there who are like, I've actually never been loved in ways where I didn't have to earn it first. And if that's you, I want you to go back and I want you to reread Romans 5, 6 to 8. Because that's how much he loves you. You don't have to earn anything. It's been freely given to you by grace because he loves you that much. Human love often depends on worthiness. Human love often depends on uh conditions and circumstances. And, you know, we love when it's deserved. You deserve my love. Are you worthy of my love? We move toward the ones who move toward us. It's human nature a little bit, maybe self-preservation a lot. Not God. He loved us long ago. He loved us long before. Before he numbered the hairs on our heads, he loved us. That's an amazing love. The last place I want to turn us to, because the resurrection happened and because Jesus is alive, our future is secure. Romans 5, 9 to 11. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? For if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more have we been reconciled, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received reconciliation. God loved us enough to save us when we were still sinners. How much more can we trust him now that Jesus is alive? Of course he has our future. The things that keep you up at night, the things you're like, yeah, but I don't know about that. Well, yes, you can know about that. You can know that God is in complete control because when you were acting a fool, he still loved you. Right? How much more is he gonna make sure your future is secured when you have a repentant heart and you love him and you have a relationship with him? I look back over my life and oh man, I'm I messed it up a few times. I sure did, took it into my own hands, man, thought I knew what was best for me. And through all of it, God was like, Nope, nope, not gonna let you stay here. Yep, I'm gonna redeem the time you lost. Yep, I'm gonna redeem it all because that's what he does. He secures our future even when we don't really care if our future is secured or not. God is still working on our behalf, just like he was 2,000 years ago. God is still interceding, he's still holding us in his hand, he is still leading us on the path, on the way to go. The resurrection means the story isn't over. If Jesus conquered death and he did, then there is nothing. Literally nothing. Nope, not even the thing you're thinking of right now, literally nothing in our lives that is beyond his power and that is beyond his grace. Because of the resurrection, and because Jesus is alive, we have peace with God, we have hope, even in the middle of our suffering, we can know how much God loves us and we can absolutely trust him with our future. I hope a couple weeks past Easter that this hit you at just the right time. Maybe the thrill of Easter morning has since passed. I hope that through Romans 5 that you can bring it back and that you can have some peace and hope, and dare I say, joy in your life. Friends, if this resonated with you, if you got something out of this, the biggest compliment that you can offer is to pass this on to somebody you love. Hit the subscribe button on the platform you're listening to this on. Hit the share button and share it with people who might get something out of this in your life that you absolutely love. I hope you have the best week ever. And I hope you're able to hold in the front of your heart and in your mind that you are loved more than you can ever imagine. Come back next time. We're gonna throw more encouragement and scripture around like confetti. Be careful. If you get too close, you're totally gonna get some on you. You're gonna get it all over your Jays, and now that it's sandal weather, you might get it on your sandals too. But that's fine because it's totally worth it. It probably will help you walk in peace or something. Uh, all right. Have a wonderful day, friends. Cheers.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Thank you for joining me, Desiree Melfi Bozo, for this episode of Life Out Loud. I would love to hear from you. Leave me a comment, tell me what topics you want to talk about, and how you take your coffee. If you enjoyed what you heard, text a friend the link, share it on social media, or if you're interested in becoming a supporter, beep up over to my webpage, lifeoutloud.me, and sponsor a cup of coffee that keeps this podcast fueled. Until next time, sweet listeners.