04-12-20 Kevin Goins - Defeating the Status Quo, Conclusion

“Defeating the Status Quo” (Conclusion)

In the first century “life as usual” for the people of Israel included poverty, illiteracy, hunger, sickness, and being under the thumb of the Roman empire. “Life as usual” is what we mean by the status quo, and for Israel the status quo was depressing, to say the least. But then Jesus came, and through his teaching and healing and feeding the hungry, he overcame many of the most negative elements of the status quo. Then he was put to death on the cross, but what followed his violent and humiliating death brought about the greatest reversal of the status quo the world has ever seen. In what ways did the resurrection of Jesus defeat the status quo?

I When we look at the Passion Story, we see, first, that Jesus said No to the status quo of lying to protect oneself.
II When we look at the Passion Story, we see, second, that Jesus said No to the status quo of hating those who hate us.
III When we look at the Passion Story, we see, third, that Jesus said No to the status quo of separation.
IV Finally, when we look at the Passion Story, we see, finally, that Jesus said No to the status quo of ______________.
A. There is no better illustration of what status quo means than the human m_________________ rate. The Latin term status quo literally means “the state i_____ w______________.”
1. We are all on a journey toward ____________.
2. Sartre said that there is no ____________ from this life with its inevitable death sentence. He called us “beings t___________ death.”
3. The more we try to hold on to each day, the ______________ each day seems to slip away.
B. There is only one foundation that can enable us to die in __________________, and that foundation is the resurrection of Jesus.
1. Oftentimes, at Easter, we talk about all the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, but the most obvious evidence is staring us in the face: that evidence is ___________.
2. There was no Christian ______________ and there was no Christian ________________ before the resurrection of Jesus.
3. Christianity was only a tiny movement when Jesus died, and when he died his followers looked for ________ to __________ into to escape the same fate Jesus had experienced, and that fate was being _________ to a cross.
4. If Jesus had not walked out of the tomb, there would have been nothing powerful enough to t_________________ the fear of a tiny ragtag band of followers into the w_________________ force that Christianity is today.
V When the status quo is changed, it does not take long until the ________ change becomes the _________ status quo. But here is what is so amazing about Jesus: the changes he brought about are still just as profoundly r____________ today as they were two-thousand years ago.