The Resurrection:Truth-vs-Myth

I became curious while working on my Sunday school lesson this week about what others believe or think about the resurrection so I decided to search for a few “good responses.” Our Sunday school lesson this Sunday (Easter Sunday) is from 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 and we are focusing on how Christ has victory over all things because he did defeat death and rose again. The apostle Paul was challenged by the Corinthians about the reality of the resurrection just as much as we are today, yet too many Christians today cannot simply state answer the question, “Why is the resurrection so important to the Christian faith?”

As I struggled with that question and wondered how the students in my ministry would respond, I decided to search out the reason why people do not believe in the resurrection. To my horror I found reason after reason as to why people do not simply want to believe in the resurrection, the most important thing that has for ever more changed history, people choose not to believe because of uncertainty or lack of evidence! But instead of arguing my position on the resurrection I have chosen to enclose a link that will help you think through any myth you may have about the resurrection. This was a very helpful tool for me as I hope it will be for you.

Please enjoy the videos that are provided in the link and have a very happy Easter and Resurrection Day this Sunday!

http://www.risenjesus.com/top-10-myths-about-jesus-resurrection

Devotion for Holy Week: Monday

The most important life ever lived was that of Jesus Christ and the most important part of His life was the momentous week that ended it. This is what we today have come to know has Holy Week and it starts off with the Sunday before Easter (Palm Sunday) with Jesus’s triumphal entry. During this week, I think we sometimes lose the meaning of what is going on during this week. We know and recognize Palm Sunday and then it’s like we automatically skip on ahead to Easter Sunday with no regards of the events that has led up to Easter Sunday. We sometimes seem to overlook when Jesus cleansed the Temple for the second time, His final teaching, the institution of the Lord’s Supper, His arrest, trial and crucifixion and ends with His resurrection. This was by far one of the most exciting and saddening 8 days in all of history!

The final week of Jesus’s life is so important that the gospels give a rather large amount of time to the last eight days. For example, Matthew devotes one-fourth (21-28) of his gospel to Jesus last days, Mark devotes one-third (11-16) to it, Luke gives a fifth (19:28-24) of his chapters to it and John, who is the most remarkable gives half of his gospel towards this (12-22). In other words, if you put all the chapters together from the gospels it would total eighty-nine chapters, with twenty-nine and a half recounting the last week and days of Jesus’s life and ministry. The beauty of all this is that it was planned from the beginning of creation and our salvation from sin depends on them.

This climatic week begins with the triumphal entry which is found in all four gospel accounts and they all begin with Jesus arranging what was going to happen. He enters Bethphage and he sends two disciples to go and get a donkey for Him to ride on as he enters the city. The interesting thing to me is that here is a king entering a city not on a mighty horse but on a donkey. Another thing, Jesus didn’t really need a donkey to ride on, because after all, they were already walking and getting close to the city. But Jesus needed to ride on a donkey so that Zechariah 9:9 would come true. (“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey”). And what a king he was. By coming on a donkey it’s as though he is saying I’m king of peace and mercy, not of war and destruction. We see the disciples lay down their cloaks for Jesus to sit on, they throw their cloaks on the ground along with all the people for him to walk on as he enters the city. Some even throw down palm branches. The people were before and behind Jesus shouting and praising Him. It’s also interesting to remember that Jesus was entering the city during Passover week, the time when people would be bringing their lambs to offer has a sacrifice. If only they recognized that Jesus was coming as the perfect sacrifice to save them from their sins once and for all! (But more on this later in the week).

The Jews did not recognize that Jesus had come has the promised Messiah, the one who had come to save them from their sins so that they would know God and live with Him eternally. They recognized him as a great prophet and maybe even the one who save them from the Romans, but they did not recognize Him as God’s Son!

Who is Jesus to you? Take time this week to read through the above mentioned Scripture and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you who Jesus Christ really is. Easter and Holy Week is not just about reading through the Triumphal Entry and the crucifixion and resurrection, it’s about knowing that Jesus is the Son of God, the one who came to save us from our sins, the one who came to offer us life eternal with him in heaven. I close with a quote from C.S. Lewis…

C.S. Lewis wrote similarly, “You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool; you can spit at him and kill him for a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Thinking of Jesus merely as a good man or a good teacher is impossible, but what are the alternatives?

WORDS?

Words. Have you ever thought about just how powerful our words really are? For example, what do the words you say to others say about who you are or better yet who you choose to follow? Think about it for a minute, if someone gives you a compliment or a praise, you feel like your day has just been made, right? But, what about the other spectrum? When someone lashes out at you with hurtful, mean and bitter words? All of a sudden your world seems to have been in a train wreck and you find yourself feeling down and out.

God’s word says some amazing things about the words we use and say to others.

Psalm 19:14, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

Proverbs 16:24, “Pleasant words are a honeycomb: sweet to the taste and health to the body.”

James 4:5-6, “So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body it boasts great things. Consider how large a forest a small fire ignites. And the tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell.”

Our words are powerful! Sometimes, I don’t think we even realize just how powerful our words can actually be. Especially when we live in a sarcastic, cynical society that we would rather tear someone down than build them up. (The sad thing is, I’m just as guilty, if not more than anyone else.) As a husband, father and pastor I have to constantly make sure the words I say are edifying and encouraging and that they always will point people to Jesus. That’s what I strive for everyday, but more times than not, I fall short of that. So, I say all this because I really love the new song by Hawk Nelson called, “Words”. I have included the video below, but I love the message in this song about just how powerful our words can be. Our words should start a fire in someone’s heart and point them to Jesus Christ! This is one of the most powerful songs Hawk Nelson has ever done and I am completely on board with them!

So, have the words you spoken today encouraged, blessed and strengthen others and pointed them to Jesus? Or, have the words you spoken today completely destroyed your testimony and your witness for Christ? Let me challenge you to go back and look at the verses above and meditate on them as you go throughout your day, because I cannot think of a better time than Easter to begin sharing the good news of the Gospel to a lost and dying world.

 

http://youtu.be/yaW-bG6y_5A

Who Do You Say That I Am?

I am truly excited that Sunday is Resurrection Day, the day when Jesus Christ rose from the grave, defeated death, conquered sin and saved me from death! Jesus Christ did something that Hitler, Ghandi, Alexander the Great, Abraham, Moses or anyone has ever done by rising from the dead! I cannot even begin to imagine what that day must have been like not only for Jesus, but the disciples, his mother, his friends and even the Jews.

That is something that I have thought about all day, in the after math of Jesus’ crucifixion I wonder what the scene must have been like for everyone their? I thought about how the disciples must have felt when they saw Jesus hanging on that cross and then placed in the grave. I sometimes wonder what were the emotions running through them like, what was the discussion like between them and their friends that day? I also wonders what the day itself was like. The curtain had been torn in two, so did the religious leaders truly realize at that moment that He was God’s Son? How did Mary feel having to bury her oldest son?

I know that a lot of my questions are not very deep theological questions nor can they be answered in the bible, but it is worth thinking about a little, right? I guess I find it interesting because the disciples spent three years with Jesus, everyday for three years they heard Him teach, they saw Him heal the sick and afflicted and they saw Him do many other things and wonders that are not mentioned in scripture. But when you read the Gospels, we find the disciples hiding in fear of the Jews when Jesus appears to them after His resurrection!

Now, we all know that they eventually turned this world upside down with the message of Jesus Christ and the cross, but what happened in those few still hours when Christ was no more than a memory to them? I guess it’s really not that important but I do wonder what that day or day after was like when Jesus had been crucified and buried. The most important thing we know is what Luke says in Luke 24:6 “He is not here, but has risen.” That is the most important thing I hope you understand as you read this, that it doesn’t matter what happened after Jesus’s death it just matters what I believe about Jesus Christ!

That is the most important question you will ever be asked is, “who do you say that I am.” Jesus is so much more than ” fire insurance” or “get out of hell free card!” He is much more than occupying a pew for 40 years or serving on any committee! Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and I am so thankful that He called me to be a child of His along time ago! What about you, who do you say that Jesus Christ is? I cannot think of any better time than now to make Him your Salvation, Freedom, Father and Lord and Savior! Oh and Happy Easter!