Attempts at Honesty

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Resurrection People

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I read this sentence in Surprised by Hope by N. T. Wright and thought I would share it with you.

“Our task in the present . . . is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second.”

Resurrection PeopleThere is a challenge at the end of this sentence. The way Christians live should give evidence of the truth of Easter. The way Christians live should also give people a foretaste of what life will be like when Jesus comes back to make everything right.

If Easter really happened (I believe it did), then why do I get upset by the small things in my life. If death is truly conquered, what problem that I face is bigger than death? (Tweet This)

Also, the fact that salvation is only on the basis of God’s grace and the work of Jesus, we can live in the confidence that when the final day takes place, it will be a day of rejoicing. The king will return, depose the usurpers and set everything right. That will be a party and our life right now should reflect that hope.

As N. T. Wright points out, this hope will affect our worship and our mission. It will affect our gatherings and what we do out in the world.

We are to be resurrection people.

An Easter Meditation for 2016

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EasterIt appears to me that God is stripping away any illusion of security that we might have as Americans at the beginning of the 21st Century.

  • We have dysfunction in our political process where both of the major political parties are more concerned about conserving their power than they are about doing the right thing. In this election year we are bombarded by attack ads or insipid campaign slogans that are nearly devoid of the power to resolve the issues facing us.
  • We have an ever growing threat of Islamic terrorists who think that by blowing themselves up with innocent people around them they will achieve distinction in the afterlife.
  • We have dysfunction in our corporate leaders who think that it is acceptable to earn millions of dollars in bonus for destroying the earning ability of hard working men and women by announcing a “restructuring” which eliminates their jobs.
  • We have “Christian” leaders who repackage the pop psychology in a “Christian” wrapper. They make millions of dollars selling books and giving conferences that offer superficial help but no lasting change. They are like doctors who put bandaids on a cancer.
  • We have racial tension that is causing upheaval throughout our country. We should be long past judging a man or women based on the color of their skin but we are not.

I’m not arguing that times are worse than they have ever been. Even a casual reading of the prophets in the Old Testament provides ample evidence that the Nation of Israel faced many of the same issues.

Into similar social, political and moral chaos, God spoke these words through Isaiah:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah 9:6–7, ESV)

The answer does not lie within political reform or building a wall around our country or religious reform or tolerance training. The answer lies in the one who came to fulfil Isaiah’s prophecy. The answer lies in Jesus of Nazareth.

It is Easter Sunday, 2016, the day when Christians around the world celebrate The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

About The Resurrection, the Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus “was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). The Resurrection validates that Jesus is who he claimed to be and that he is the one who will one day set this world right.

The Resurrection tells me that it is safe to find my security in Jesus, even when everything around me is messed up.

The Resurrection tells me that God has the power to accomplish what he purposes.

The Resurrection is like a down payment which holds our destiny in lay-a-way until Jesus comes back to complete the deal.

If ever I felt the need to appreciate and appropriate the meaning and the power of The Resurrection, it is today. I thought that perhaps you would also benefit from this meditation as we consider the empty tomb.

May we move forward with the encouragement that the empty tomb demonstrates that the evil and chaos will not win out.

The Resurrected Jesus will return and fix the mess we’ve made.

He is Risen!

A check that won’t bounce

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The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:4 that Jesus was declared “the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” He did not become the Son of God as a result of the resurrection. Rather, the resurrection demonstrated the fact that Jesus was indeed the Son of God.

During a recent Bible study where we were discussing the resurrection of Jesus I thought of the analogy of writing a check. Jesus claimed to have power over death, he claimed that he would die and then rise again. Using the analogy of writing a check, Jesus wrote a large check to us when he promised that we could be raised to new life.

The analogy of a check

Blank CheckIf I wrote you a check for a million dollars and you went to the bank to cash it, after the branch manager stopped laughing, he would inform you that I do not have sufficient funds to cover the check. By writing that check, I would have made a promise that I could not keep.

Now, if Bill Gates wrote that check, the story would have a different ending. He could make such a promise because he has the ability to keep the promise that the check represents

The fact that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead proves that he had sufficient funds to cover that check. He made a promise and proved that he has the ability to keep that promise.

I’ve heard Ravi Zacharias make the point on several occasions that Jesus could have taken the easy route and promised that he would rise in a spiritual sense. Whether or not anyone rises spiritually is not a subject for empirical verification. There would have been no opportunity to falsify Jesus’ claim.

Jesus did not say he would rise spiritually, he promised that he would rise physically. If, he would not have actually done so, all of his promises and teaching would then become suspect. All the enemies of Christ had to do was present a body and Christianity would never have gotten a start.

Why this matters

If (since) Jesus proved his mastery over death, we can live with a different perspective as we meander through this life. At the end of his discussion of the resurrection and its importance in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes:

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:55–58, ESV)

As a result of this knowledge we are to be steadfast. We are to be immovable. Sure, we are not always this way, but when we are not, it is because we have lost sight of who God is and what he has promised to do for us.

The funds to cover the check have been in the bank waiting.

Go and sin boldly

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Recently I Tweeted this out:

“If Easter is not history, we must become cynics.” – Brennan Manning

This quote was taken from Brennan’s book, Ruthless Trust. As I recall (I don’t have the book with me right now), the point is that if the resurrection did not happen there is no hope for humanity.

BoldlyThere comes a point at which we must choose to believe the evidence we have. It is no good putting off the decision until there is no choice but to believe. God does not work that way. Believe me, I often wish he did work that way. It would be so much easier if we just had detailed instructions like a standard operating procedure to step us through the process.

One of the by-products of growing up in a legalistic system is that one can get frozen into inaction because the “right” thing to do is not obvious. When you live by rules, there is discomfort in any situation for which no rule has been established.

For those of us who claim belief in Jesus, times come when our claim to belief is tested. If the resurrection of Jesus is true, then I can allow myself to trust that God will work things out in the end. I can step out in faith that no matter the outcome, God is working things out for his good purpose.

If Easter is history, then even when I mess up (a regular occurrence), the resurrection shows me that my mess is not the final word. If God can take the travesty of the crucifixion and turn it into the means of our salvation, he can take my mistakes and use them for his glory.

The resurrection should free me from the bondage to rules and legalism. If I am seeking to please God by living in harmony with his command to love God and love others, then I am not likely to go far off track and even when I do, God can turn the situation (and me) around and provide a means of recovery.

I believe it was Martin Luther who said, “go and sin boldly.” The point is not that we are to intentionally sin, but that we cannot allow fear of sin to inhibit us from living life. Life remains a messy business and we will make mistakes and the brokenness inside of us will manifest itself. But the resurrection is evidence that all this will be conquered.

If the resurrection is history, the power of fear has been broken.

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