The Reality of the Resurrection

1Corinthians 15:13-14 -- "But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain."

This is the reality of Easter, the fact that Jesus rose again from the dead. How important is this? Well, without the resurrection Christianity never gets off the ground but it becomes nothing more than a man-made concocted religion that mythologizes a dead religious leader. Now, the truth is that Jesus rose again from the dead and the evidence is overwhelming. Paul gives a great list of eye witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8, starting with Jesus' Apostles and going on to over 500 witnesses who saw Him at one time. Now, a list is one thing, but a quality of a life that has seen the risen Christ and is living without a fear of dying for that truth is something else. These disciples who at one point fled the garden and even the cross to hide away in an upper room due to fear because of their association with Jesus of Nazareth are now preaching and proclaiming with boldness this Jesus as a resurrected Messiah who they had personally seen. People will die for a lie believing the whole time that it is truth but no sane person will die for a lie when they know it's a lie. Many of these disciples paid for their faith with their blood because the hope of the resurrection was so real once they had seen Jesus alive.

Let me add that the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the validation of God upon His life. The cross was the place where He offered His blood for a ransom for the world of sinners and the resurrection is the assurance that His offering was worthy and accepted by the Father. When Jesus arose, God was demonstrating that Jesus was His Son and that all that Jesus claimed must be taken as the truth of God revealed to humanity.

Paul wrote: "...Jesus Christ our Lord...was...declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:3-4)." Easter holds such power significance for the world, because it offers the world hope through Jesus Christ...a hope that is eternal...a hope for forgiveness, restoration, healing and life everlasting, all through Him who told us that He alone is "the way, the truth and the life," and the fact that He rose again from the dead validates that His words are truth.

Building Bridges

John 4:13-14 Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

These two verses are from the great story of the God ordained encounter between Jesus of Nazareth and a woman of Samaria (to get the full detail, read John 4:1-42). The Lord in His journey this day, seems to take a course that is "out of the way." Yet, as we see, He knew exactly what He was doing. Left alone at a well in Samaria while the disciples go to purchase lunch, Jesus interacts with a lady who has come to draw her water at the time of the day when she is expecting that no one will be at the well. She is a lady who has felt pain, heartache, failure and rejection. Jesus knows this well and even points out that she has had five husbands before and even now she is "co-habitating" with a man. But He didn't come this way to condemn her (her life was already one of condemnation), but He came to set her free. Free from sin, free from guilt, free from a sordid past, free from the weight of meaninglessness. He tells her that what He can offer her will quench her deepest longings and thirsts for love, affection, acceptance and relationship. See, that's what all of humanity desires...love and acceptance and a clear conscience. God offers that through Christ, but like this lady, many times we throw up walls of resistance. She threw up walls of racial barriers (I'm a Samaritan and you're a Jew). She erected a wall of religion (I worship this way). In spite of this, Jesus is not deterred, for He builds bridges over her walls and at the end of this day, we behold a lady and a community who has found a true source of joy and meaning..."indeed, the Savior of the world (vs. 42)."

Life with Meaning

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11, 17 – “I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, "It is mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?" I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine--my heart still guiding me with wisdom--and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the children of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun…So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.”

Here Solomon reveals to us that as King of Israel, there was nothing that he kept from his desires. Pleasure, popularity, fame, fortune, sex, possessions, and riches filled the life of this great king and yet his final analysis was that it was all “…vanity and a striving after wind.” Even Christ our Lord added, “for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (Luke 12:15)." So many today live a meaningless life and pass this on even to their children and we see the despair that hangs over a generation as suicide is the number two killer of teens in America…why, there is nothing to live for, for even pleasure has left man empty. Ravi Zacharias stated: “Meaninglessness comes not from a weariness of pain, but from a weariness of pleasure.” As a follower of Christ, I realize that life finds meaning in relationships and that ultimate meaning is found in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. From this truth comes the understanding that pleasure, pain, possessions and life’s necessities find their ultimate meaning. Solomon in the end found this to be the truth when he wrote: “Remember now thy Creator…and… Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13-14).”

All Things New!!!

2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

A new house, a new car, a new boat; there is something exciting about owning something new. But after a while, it seems to loose its luster. It fades with time regardless of what the material possession may be and then we find ourselves ready to move on to something more exciting and new. Now when I placed my faith in Christ and what He did for me on the cross, I received a brand new life that never looses its luster or newness. My old lifestyle and the baggage of sin and death that I carried truly passed away and in Christ I became a brand new creation. Oh what a change He has wrought! I left darkness and entered light, I passed from death to life, I was alienated from God but now I am near to God, I was an enemy of God but now I am a child of God. I was once living under condemnation but now I am justified as innocent in His sight. I was polluted but now I am washed and sanctified. I was once devoid of His Spirit but now I am the temple of the Holy Ghost. It's not something new that we need to look for, it's just that we need to take another look and see what He has done in us, for us and through us and to see that God has made all things new.

Psalm 119:130 - "The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple."

Have you ever tried to assemble something while disregarding the instruction manual? Most of us have done this at least once in our lives and we found the results to be frustrating at best. Life would be easier if it came with an instruction manual at birth, but it doesn't. With that said, let me boldly declare that God, the Supreme Being who created man and woman in His image and likeness, has given to us in the Bible, simple instructions for living a life of wisdom, understanding, fulfillment and most importantly, how to know Him in a loving relationship. Through the bible, we find that God has addressed every area of life from pain and suffering, to marriage and child-rearing, as well as, a healthy work ethic and how to tend to our possessions (yes even God calls them our possessions, true capitalism), and how to treat our fellow man (just to name a few). He has given us wisdom in His words and as David has written in this verse, the unfolding of His words gives light (illumination) and it imparts understanding to the simple (foolish; silly). As a Christian, read this book daily, search out it's teachings, and apply its instruction and you will find light to guide you in every area of life.

Pure Conscience

Acts 23:1 - "And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day."

Wow, what a statement! To live before God and even our fellow man with a good conscience is something that all Christians should strive to do. Before a watching world, our greatest witness is not so much what we say (although that is very important), but it is the way we conduct our lives, business, manners, and all or our interactions with our fellowman. To live before men in a way that glorifies God is the greatest testimony you can give. Let our conscience always bear witness that, what we do towards our fellow man, we do with a pure motive, and God, who sees the heart, will guard us in all of our actions and workings for His kingdom.

Practicing Apologetics

Acts 21:40-22:1 - "And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying, Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you."

Here we have the Apostle making a defense of what he believes and why he believes it. This should be what every Christian is prepared to do. Peter wrote : "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (3:15)":
In other words, know and understand what you believe as a follower of Christ so that when a watching world asks you of this hope, you are ready with an answer. In my experience, a good number of Christians love church, listening to good preaching and teaching as well as worshiping corporately, but Sundays are as far as their knowledge of God goes, and when pressed with the tough questions of life, they have no answer of the hope that is within them. Let me state that I am offering no diatribe against us today, but trying to make us aware of a reality that is prevalent in American Christianity. We must remedy this. The Christian worldview takes a back seat to nothing and no one. Whether to the rich or poor, educated or uneducated, in the market place or at the university level, the Christian worldview has the answer. Sadly though, the case of Christians living out their beliefs and being able to defend them is lacking greatly. George Barna Research found out a couple of years ago that only 6% of professed believers actually live out a Christian worldview and the Pew Forum discovered last year that Christians in America are at the bottom of the list when it comes to knowing what they believe; the atheists and agnostics know more about Christianity than Christians in this nation. We have to right this course, I encourage you to seek after God and to apply your heart and mind to know Him, His word and the reason you hold to your beliefs. In other words, let us study to show ourselves approved. By the way, you have the greatest helper in doing this, the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth.