The Time of Your Life (Series: Living Generously - Embracing God's Gifts)

THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE

 

Time is a currency you cannot hoard, and once it is spent you cannot get it back. In fact, you have no choice but to spend time, you cannot keep time from ticking away.

            At the age of 10, time seems to slow right down when you are standing with your mother in a ladies’ clothing store as she examines every piece of clothing as if looking for gold. As a boy, you can only hope and pray that your friends don’t see you in that store. Time stands still.

            At the age of 50, you wonder where the time went. Your children have grown up and have begun to make their own way in life. They get married; they have children; they have careers. Time has become a blur as you get older. And at this stage of life, you begin to evaluate whether you have spent your time wisely. 

            The time we have on this earth is a gift from God. We are given a stewardship of time to use and to invest in things of worth, whether in the present or for eternity. While we like to think that we have control of our time, there are moments, seasons even, where we realize we have far less control than we like to admit. Most of the things that happen to us in life are really out of our control. 

            It’s hard to understand the times we are in, especially when life seems to go against us. The book of Ecclesiastes is an ancient Hebrew book of musings by someone called “The Teacher” who wrestles with the meaning of life. His poem on time in 3:1-8 is a famous passage, but we are going to go beyond it to see what he learned about time and how to understand the times of our lives.

 

1. Recognizing the Times we are facing (3:1-8)

If the poem sounds familiar to you children of the 60s and 70s, that’s because it is the basis of the song Turn, Turn, Turnperformed by the Byrds. Though very innocent sounding, it was a protest song of the Vietnam War. The last line of the song declares there is “a time for peace, I swear it’s not too late,” which is not in the Ecclesiastes version.

            The Teacher states his main point right at the beginning: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…” (1). Then he gives 14 examples in pairs that cover every area of life. If you know Ecclesiastes, you know the Teacher is a pessimist. He deduces that life is melancholy under God’s sovereignty and “everything is meaningless.” He tried to find meaning in pleasure, wealth, education, and found it all futile.

            As the Teacher describes “time” or “seasons,” he seems to suggest that there is a time to kill, a time to tear down, a time for war. Does that mean we are supposed to do all these things? There is a time to kill your neighbor. No, but what he describes is the seasons of life. 

            A summary of the 14 pairs could be compared to the four seasons of our calendar. Spring is a time of new experiences, a time for planting, and starting new jobs. Summer is a time of growth, where we watch the seeds we planted grow, and we observe possibilities. Fall is the time when we reap a harvest, we begin to receive after a season of giving. And Winter is a time of death, when things end, when the bitter cold of life is experienced. We may find ourselves in different seasons several times in our lives. 

            What the Teacher is telling us is that there is an ebb and flow to life, a balance of good things and the not so good. But there are definitely negatives in this list, things you won’t like if you zoom in with me. First, you don’t want everything on this list – you love births; death not so much; healing but not killing. Second, you don’t get to pick what you get. As in the game of Sluff, you have to play the cards you are dealt; you would like a better hand, but that’s not how it works. Third, when you add it all up, it equals “nothing.” Death cancels out birth; killing cancels healing; war cancels love. 

            The Teacher throws up his hands as if to say, “What’s the point?” We are like slaves working on a large estate of a landowner. We have no rights; we are tools; we have no will or say. Everything is determined by the master. And what benefit is there for the slaves? 

 

2. Failure to understand our Times (3:9-11)

 

The Teacher sums it all up in his melancholy way and says, “What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all,” (9-10 NLT). The Teacher is a fun guy, eh? He basically implies that the day of your death is fast approaching, and you have no control over it. How do you cope with this evaluation? Can you control your life? You can’t stop time. You can’t control time. 

            So, stop trying to control it. Life is like a car without brakes and a little bit of steering. James tells us, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that,” (4:14-15). 

            The good news of this passage is that hidden in the Teacher’s negativity is the truth: God is in control. He recognizes that God is in control of time and the seasons we experience. But that is the issue at stake: the Teacher is evaluating God’s actions and his will in all of this. We have free will, but there is a collaboration with God’s will and what he has planned. This can be frustrating or comforting depending on what your will is in all of this. God is in control.

            The bad news for us as humans comes in v. 12, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end,” (12). The bad news is also a bit cryptic. You are a creature of time who was made for eternity. It is said that dogs have no understanding of time. When Sharon leaves the house for a few hours or for three weeks, our dog cannot grasp how long it’s been since she left. All she feels is grief that Sharon is gone. Humans, on the other hand, are capable of asking the bigger questions of life. Our curse is trying to understand or grasp the meaning of life. No other creature has this problem. We want to know “Why?” We want to discern the things that happen to us and find an answer. But we can’t. (to sum up: see slide).

 

3. Embrace the Times you are facing (3:12-13)

 

What are we to do then? We can’t control time. Answers to life’s questions are beyond our understanding. What do we do?

            The Teacher says, “I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That every man may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil – this is the gift of God,” (12-13).

            In short: Enjoy life. I think this prescription is harder than it seems. Are you enjoying life? You may ask, “How am I to enjoy life when I am in the winter season?” But the Teacher does not tell to only enjoy the good seasons. We are to have this attitude in every season, even winter. 

            Remember the Narnia Chronicles lament? Since the White Witch had taken control, it seemed like it was always winter and never Christmas. It feels that way sometimes. The endless of winter of discontent. Paul commands followers of Jesus to “Rejoice in the Lord always!” In every season! It may seem trite to say that seasons pass and this will too. There is a faint hope in this truth. An even greater truth and comfort is that God uses “winter” – those times of deadness in our spiritual or emotional or mental life – to do his greatest work in us. James again gives us this bizarre counsel, “Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance,” (1:2-3).

            What season of life are you in? Can you enjoy the winter season? Can you see that even in the blizzard of this time, God is at work and producing in you spiritual character? Consider that what you can’t see, is the Holy Spirit doing a renovation in your heart. God is changing something. God is challenging something. We can’t understand the negative side of the ledger of verses 1-8, but God works on that side too.

            You don’t have forever. Your time is limited. Make the most of it. Turn off the TV. Put down your cell phone. Enjoy what God has put before you. Don’t waste your life. Make the most of your opportunities. 

 

4. Honor God, the Lord of Time (3:14-15)

 

What else? Enjoying life alone is simply pleasure-seeking. The Teacher goes on to say, “And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.”

            This is the only recourse that makes sense. Once we understand that we can’t control time and life and that only God can – honor God!

            Time is in his hands. Can we understand the course of time? An old man celebrates his 100^th birthday on the same day a child dies in infancy. We build something that we think will last a hundred years only to see it dismantled for something better in 20. We see these contradictions all the time. We don’t get it. But God does. Time is in his hands.

            That should cause us to tremble. I was saying this exact thing to someone last week: We don’t fear God enough. I don’t mean the kind of fear that makes you run away. I mean the kind of fear where you realize how special a relationship is with someone that you dare not do anything to mess it up. Our friendship with God is beyond comprehension, it is so good, that we should fear taking it for granted. He knows the times we face because he has entered into them himself in Jesus. 

            When we realize that he has time in his hands, we can relax. Christ alone was able to know what God did in eternity past. Christ alone was in on the plan to redeem humankind. Paul reflected on Christ’s knowledge of God’s plan when he wrote, “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman under the law, to redeem those under law that we might receive the full rights of (children),” (Gal. 4:4-5). 

God knew the right time to send his Son. He has great timing. And we know that Jesus will come again when the time is right. The events of life are beyond our control, so enjoy God’s gifts and honor him. Every day is a gift from God, and it is a God-honoring privilege to live your life in enjoying something in it. 

 

Honor God with your life.

How do we do that?    

            As we have studied in this passage, if we got its message, we know that life is uncertain. There is a season for every facet of life: spring-summer-fall-winter, even if the order is mixed up at times. Bad times will come, and it shouldn’t surprise us. 

            Second, we need to confess that we are not in control. Say this to yourself, “I’m not in control. I never was.” Does that take a load off of your shoulders? 

            Third, God IS in control of life, the times, and the seasons. We are at the whim of his timing. But he’s good at working out the timing of this life, so we should honor him. Our job is not to steer the course of the future, but to submit in faith to him who does.

            Fourth, God has put eternity in our hearts so that we above all creatures will ask “why” and “how.” We won’t get all the answers, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. It just means we have to rest in the truth that we were made for more than what this fallen world has shown us so far. One day, when Jesus comes, time will no longer matter.

            So then, enjoy this life. How unhappy are we if miss out on the good things happening right in front of us? How miserable if we keep looking over the fence at someone else’s experiences and miss the good stuff right here. We don’t know what winter they are in, even if it looks like summer. God gives the seasons, and your own winter will not last – spring is coming!

            “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” (Rom. 8:31-32)

 

                                                            AMEN

Cross Art

CROSS ART

A Brief Look at How the Church Celebrated the Cross in Art

 

As a symbol of our faith, the cross is a central image of Christianity. Our cross is empty while specific churches will have a dead or dying Jesus on the cross. This is called a crucifix. That our cross is empty is a statement that Jesus is no longer on the cross and symbolizes his resurrection. 

            I want to take you on a little journey of how the church has celebrated the cross in art over the centuries. How did the Early Church view the cross? Why do we view it the way we do today? And how does the image of the cross inform our worship?

            

            Our present culture is obsessed with visual depictions of death. Our TV and movies spare no imagination in showing us exactly how bloody and gory killing can be. This is a huge contrast to the way the gospel writers talked about the crucifixion of Jesus. Look at these scriptures and note the simplicity:

 

John 19:17-18 “Carrying his own cross, he went out to the Place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others – one on each side and Jesus in this middle.

 

Matthew 27:35 “When they had crucified him…” 

Mark 15:24 “And they crucified him…”

Luke 23:33 “When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals…”

 

            What do you notice? Each writer spoke of the crucifixion as a bare fact. No soldiers hammering nails into Jesus’ hands; no details about how his position on the cross made him gasp for air. Simply this: they crucified him. That was enough. The first century readers would know exactly what that meant. 

            Slaves, the poor, criminals and rebels were crucified in the thousands for various crimes. The form of crucifixion differed, but the execution was brutal and violent, designed to publicly shame the victim by displaying him or her in a repulsive manner. 

            

That Jesus suffered such an undignified death was an embarrassment to some early Christians. This is one reason that for three hundred years, the church never painted or carved a scene of the crucifixion. Another reason was that Christianity was outlawed in the Roman Empire and to wear a cross around your neck or hang a painting in your house told everyone you were a hated Christian. 

            The oldest known image of the cross of Jesus is this infamous piece of graffiti dating to the 3^rd century in Rome. It clearly mocks Jesus’ manner of death as it portrays a donkey-headed male figure on a cross. The implication is that Christians were being ridiculed for worshiping a man who died by crucifixion. 

  If the Christians used any symbols for Christ in those early years, they were the “fish” and the “anchor.” The anchor symbolized hope (Heb. 6:18-19).             

Another symbol close to a cross is what’s called a staurogram, used later by Christians.

            But generally, there were no crucifixes in the first centuries. The closest thing was this cross with the first two letters of Christ’s name (the chi and the rho).

           After 400 years, someone carved this ivory panel showing the Jesus story. Note Judas hanging from the tree. They packed a lot of “story” into one image. Jesus is depicted nearly naked with nails visible in his hands and feet.           

 Following a church council that confirmed Jesus is fully human and fully divine, art emerged that reflected this belief. In 586 AD, a Syriac painting revealed Christ as a human nailed to the cross but with a halo and a liturgical or priestly clothing signifying his role as priest in this sacrifice. Notice that Christ’s body does not sag on the cross. He is alive and his arms are straight out as if in exultation. The cross of Christ is flanked by a man offering a vinegar sponge on one side and a soldier piecing Jesus’ side on the other.

 For the next four or five centuries, Christ will be envisioned on the cross but as priest and king. This image is from the 8^th century and shows Christ with arms extended in victory. Jesus wears full priestly garments and a royal crown.

            This Romanesque version has Jesus alive but only wearing a skirt. The arms bend but do not sag from the weight of the body. The intention of both of these choices was to show that death did not master Jesus. 

            Then in the Gothic period, the 12^th to the 16^th centuries, artists began to paint or carve Jesus as dead on the cross. The arms sag from the weight of the body, and blood flows from all five wounds. A simple cloth girds his waist versus the priestly garments of earlier centuries. It seems that the church had accepted the reality of Christ’s death, became more comfortable with depicting it, especially considering the resurrection.             

            Andrea Mantegna painted “The Crucifixion” around 1457 to 1459 in some of the most vibrant colors. Christ is either near death or has died on the cross. He is not alone as we see the two men crucified with him. There is a host of people present: the four Marys, possibly Nicodemus (in red), and Romans waiting for the victims to die. Standing to the right of Jesus is the soldier who thrust the spear into Christ’s side. What is really cool about the way the painting is designed is not only that Christ is the main focus, but the lines of the painting draw our eyes to Christ. Even the two thieves are angled towards Jesus. There are a variety of emotions when we look at this art: sadness at Christ’s death, but the salvation of humanity highlighted in the bright colors.

            

        Today we see in many North American mainline churches this typical crucifix. It shows Jesus expired; he wears an unadorned, simple cloth tied at the waist and otherwise naked; his eyes are closed; his head slumps to one side and the arms sag from the weight of the body. Where the early artwork of the church aimed at showing Jesus’ divinity, the latter works emphasize his humanity – the reality that as a man, he died.

            Cinema is art too. And the ways in which Jesus’s death on the cross has been portrayed has changed over time as well. In “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (1965), the scene of Jesus’ crucifixion is seen in a panorama, zoomed out, not too close in this scene. Even the crowd stands far off, and the Romans keep their distance.

            The Christ of “Jesus of Nazareth” (1977) comes to us as a blue-eyed Western-looking Jesus who frankly did not have much emotion. His gaze would have been terrifying. On the cross, we see a sanitized or clean Jesus – I mean, there is not much evidence of his brutalization before being crucified, no blood, no visible trauma.            

            And that’s fine. As I said earlier, we don’t need our imaginations scarred by the reality of the crucifixion. “The Jesus Film” (1979), put out by Campus Crusade, was not meant to be graphic either. Based on the gospel according to Luke, the intention was to bring the gospel to many nations through cinema. To date, the Jesus film has been translated into over 2160 languages, the most translated film in history. Sharon went to Brazil in 1984 to help show the film in Portuguese.            

 

            Finally, Mel Gibson went all out in the Passion of the Christ (2004) to show us all the gore and suffering of Jesus. It brings us as close to the reality of Jesus’ suffering on the cross that we could ever conceive. Being Catholic, it is no surprise that Gibson’s depiction contains several allusions to the Stations of the Cross bears a resemblance to the crucifixes of those churches.           

             The cross of Christ is a symbol of our faith, an expression of the deeper reality of what happened in AD 29, when Jesus was nailed to a tree. We do not worship the cross. That would be idolatry. But it reminds us of the sacrifice of Jesus and the love of God for all of us. We look upon it to remember, “Oh what a Savior!” and “For God so loved the world.”             

            The Apostle Paul spoke of the cross in this way: “It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So, when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,” (1 Cor. 1:22-24 NLT). 

            So, we preach Christ crucified!!!

 

                                                AMEN

 

            

 

 

The Crux of the Christian Testimony: The Resurrection

THE CRUX OF THE CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY:

 THE RESURRECTION

 

A testimony is a verbal or written statement of something you have witnessed and which you declare to be true. You may be asked to give testimony in court if you have witnessed a crime or observed some injustice. In matters of faith, a testimony is a personal declaration of your faith, what you believe to be true and influences how you live after having believed. 

            Testimonies given at baptism relate experiences of coming to know Jesus. Many of our young people talk about how camp impacted them. Others share how a crisis brought them to Jesus. This morning, I want to spend some time looking at Paul’s testimony in Acts to consider this statement:

The heart of the Christian testimony is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Acts 26:1-23

 

Paul had been in Jerusalem when his enemies tried to make life difficult for him (Acts 21-23). They accused him of being unpatriotic by bringing a Gentile into the temple courts. An unruly mob developed out of this uproar and Paul was whisked away by Roman officers. Following the trouble at the temple and Paul’s arrest, he faced three different trials in Acts 24-26.

            First, he faced the Roman governor of Judaea, Felix. Hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, Felix kept Paul in prison for two years.

            Festus succeeded Felix and once again Paul must relate his case and the reason for his arrest. Festus didn’t get it and would have let Paul go. Except that Paul makes appeal to appear before Caesar and Festus cannot refuse him this request. But he doesn’t know how to write up the charge. So, Festus calls on the Jewish puppet king, Agrippa II (great-grandson of Herod the Great)

            Paul’s third trial then is before Agrippa II and his sister-lover, Bernice (yes, it’s as weird as it sounds). 

            The original charges brought by the Jewish authorities three years prior may have faded in the public mind, but Paul and these trials keep them alive. Paul is accused of:

1.     Stirring up riots throughout the world (The Jews called Paul a “pest,” i.e. pestilence; a disease that rots the body).

2.     Being a ringleader of sect (an illegal religion).

3.     Profaning the temple (bringing a Gentile into the sacred area of the temple courts).

Each time Paul’s case is heard, each time he is on trial, one element concludes his defense, sort of like a final word on the matter: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This theme runs through the book of Acts.

In this way, Paul was not defending himself. he was defending the gospel and his ministry. His supreme defense for actions was the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He does not try to prove his innocence so much as he tries to explain the reasons for the Jewish opposition to Jesus. 

In fact, in the book of Acts, the resurrection emerges as the key to most sermons and testimonies as the main reason for faith in Jesus. 

 

1. The Resurrection is where People Stumble

 

As Paul addresses Agrippa and explains his position, he takes pains to show how the gospel of Jesus does not oppose Jewish faith but actually grows out of it. Paul did not abandon the promises the Lord made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but sees them fulfilled in Jesus. As Paul said, “And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by our God to our fathers…” (6).  

            This is the same God who created the world with the breath of his mouth. This is the same God who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt in a series of miracles (parting the Red Sea; manna in the wilderness). On this basis, Paul asks, “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” (8).

            And yet, that is where many people stumble when it comes to the story of Jesus. God does amazing things in your life, but can he raise the dead?

            Remember the speech Paul gave on the Areopagus (17:22ff). Paul notices the altar to the unknown god and proceeds to tell them about the god they don’t know. Interesting, they think. They’re intrigued. But then Paul concludes with this statement (read 17:30-31). When they heard him talk about the resurrection, they mocked him.

            The resurrection caused a stir throughout the story of Acts. Once when Paul was before the Sanhedrin getting nowhere with the Pharisees and Sadducees, he “poked the bear” by saying, “It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial,” (23:6). The two factions disagreed over the resurrection and began to fight each other taking the focus off Paul.

            Here in chapter 26, Paul tells how the Christ must suffer and, being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to all people (23). Hearing this, Festus erupts and says, “Paul, you’re out of your mind. You’re crazy. Give me a break. No one survives Roman execution.” 

            The resurrection of the dead troubles people - they can’t handle the idea = so the resurrection of Jesus really troubles people; they stumble on this one point of our faith. 

            I have stood at gravesides to conduct burials and at times I will have the mourners look around at the cemetery and have them try to envision it as a sown field that will one day produce a crop. I will point to the body of the deceased and say, “God’s not done with this body. When the voice of Christ calls out, the dead will rise to life with new bodies.” 

            Do you know what kind of looks I get? Incredulous! And this from Christians. They look at me like, “Hey, we’re grieving here. This is sad. Don’t tell me this old, broken body with its diseases is going to rise. Tell me Grandma is in heaven.” Resurrection makes for a nice theology, but we miss the reality, we stumble over it, we can’t grasp it.

            But Jesus is the first-born of the dead. He rose from the dead, conquered sin, and we will too. That should be our great hope.

 

2. The resurrection is foundational to the witness of the church

 

What is the main thrust of the book of Acts? If we said the Holy Spirit and his work through the church, we would be correct. He empowers the witness of the church. But to what do we bear witness?

            As much as the Holy Spirit plays a major part in the story of Acts and the Early Church, that part is primarily to hold up the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the central message of the gospel. The first significant words in Acts come from the resurrected Christ to wait for the Holy Spirit (1:5).

            Then we hear Peter’s sermon at Pentecost. And his argument centers on the prophetic proofs for the resurrection of Jesus and why these once-shy apostles are now preaching in the streets. He says, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses,” (2:32), and in this resurrection, Jesus receives validation and vindication as the Son of God. “Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified, “(2:36). How do the people respond to the message of resurrection? They are cut to the heart! And then they repent and believe. The resurrection of Jesus is cause for belief.

            When Peter and John heal a lame man, they are taken into custody to explain this healing and why they are teaching the resurrection of Jesus (4:2). Their answer to the Sanhedrin shakes the establishment. “…let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead – by him this man is standing before you well, “(4:10). The resurrection of Jesus is the power behind the healing of the sick and the lame.

            Later, Peter has the opportunity to cross the Jewish-Gentile boundary and preach to Cornelius. Again, Peter said that the Jews put Jesus to death by hanging him on a tree, but that God raised him on the third day. Peter concludes saying, “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name,” (10:43). The resurrection of Jesus is the basis for belief and the forgiveness of sins.

            The Church in Acts persistently declares that everything we do and say is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why do we as Christians insist that Jesus is the only way? Because that is what Jesus says about himself. We believe him. And we believe him because he has demonstrated that he knows life better than anyone else who ever lived. The supreme demonstration of that fact is that he rose from the dead.

 

3. The resurrection was the hinge of Paul’s defense

 

Before Agrippa, Paul relates for the third time in the book of Acts his conversion experience. This time he adds an odd quote from Jesus, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads, (26:14c).

            If you know what a goad is, you know that it is like a cattle prod, a sharp, pointy stick that a shepherd might use to poke the sheep and make them move. A goad is also a sharp point on a chariot that a horse kicks to keep its legs from hitting the chariot. 

            When Paul meets Jesus on the road to Damascus, he meets the risen Lord. Jesus tells him to stop kicking against the goads; stop resisting what you know to be true.

            Paul described his life to Agrippa before meeting the risen Lord. He was a man who was convinced he knew the truth. He was zealous for Jewish culture, tradition, and faith. Paul was so convinced he was right about his worldview and his model for living that he persecuted the Christians whom he judged to be wrong, throwing them in jail, voting for their deaths. Paul was a religious man, a privileged, educated man; a man in whom few could find fault (Phil. 3:4-6).

            But then Paul met the risen Christ, and it rocked his world. He got crushed. Paul wasn’t persecuting some weird cult members; Jesus told him, “You’re persecuting me.” But it wasn’t a rebuke Paul received; it was a calling. The resurrected Jesus raised Paul from the dead legalism and religiosity of Judaism. (Read 26:16-18)

            From this point on, Paul became obsessed with the resurrection of Christ. It was the hinge of his testimony. For Paul, everything rested on the historicity of Christ rising from the dead. He even considered all his achievements, his birth rights, his education, his perfect obedience to the law as loss compared to knowing Christ Jesus as Lord (Phil. 3:7-8). Why would he risk everything and throw away his reputation as a teacher of the Law? “…that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain to the resurrection from the dead,” (Phil. 3:10-11).

 

            And I want you to know this morning that you are a testimony of the risen Christ. You have put your faith in Jesus and that also means you believe in the resurrection. 

            Our challenge today is to live like the resurrection of Jesus matters. The resurrection of Jesus is the climax of the gospel story, it is the heart of our redemption. Without it, Jesus is only a dead martyr whose teaching is misunderstood. With it, you and I must stand in awe of the exalted Messiah, the Son of the living God, who gave his life as a ransom for many, and who now reigns at God’s right hand, and who will one day return to fix this broken world. 

            The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. It reorients our thinking, speaking, our behavior – my whole life – because of the resurrection, I’m not the same. The Holy Spirit takes the introvert and makes her a lioness for the gospel because of the hope of the resurrection. The Holy Spirit gives courage to the timid to stand up and say “yes” when asked “Do you really believe in the resurrection of Jesus?” 

            Yes, I believe!

 

Benediction:

            How important is the resurrection to our gospel? Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

If there is no resurrection – Christ has not been raised.

If there is no resurrection – our preaching is in vain and so is your faith.

If there is no resurrection – we misrepresent God by saying Jesus was raised from the dead.

If there is no resurrection – the dead are not raised.

If there is no resurrection – your faith is useless, and you are still in your sins

If there is no resurrection – those who have died are lost forever.

If there is no resurrection – we can only hope that this life will be good enough – woe is us.

 

BUT Christ has been raised from the dead, the first of those whom God will raise from death to life. Hallelujah!!!

 

 

                                                            AMEN