The Real Hope of the Resurrection

This past Sunday was Easter, the most important day of the year for Christians. It marks the day that Jesus rose from the dead, forever defeating death. While it doesn't get the press that Christmas does, it is certainly more important. For some perspective, if you take away the accounts of Jesus' birth, you lose about 4 chapters in the bible. But if you take away the death and resurrection of Jesus, you lose the entire meaning of the New Testament, in addition to the last 2000 years of history! Here are some things that we know about Jesus' resurrection, according to 1 Corinthians 15:1-11:

It is the most fundamental truth of the Christian faith (v. 1-3a). Paul is reminding them of the gospel - the good news that God has graciously saved sinners. The resurrection is of "first importance."

It is upholds the truth of the bible (v. 3b-4). Everything about the Jesus' death, burial, & resurrection is supported by scripture. Isaiah 52:13-53:12 speak most directly to Jesus as the "suffering servant." Psalm 16:9-10 echoes the resurrection. But a deeper echo of the resurrection I believe is found in Genesis 1-2 where we see God as Creator. For what does God create? He creates life, not death, which led Jesus to teach himself on the resurrection in light of God being "The God of the living" (Mark 12:26-27). Interestingly, the Jews didn't expect the Messiah to resurrect. They only believed in a corporate resurrection, not an individual one. So when Jesus resurrected, that actually cemented his claim as the True Messiah in a day when there were many so-called "messiahs' who would get caught & killed...and stay dead.

It is an historical fact (v. 5-8). There were hundreds of witnesses that Paul mentions here that he is begging the Corinthians to talk to in order to check out his story about Jesus. 1 Corinthians (along with Philippians and Colossians which contain some early creedal hymns about Jesus' deity) predates the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, & Luke by a decade and John by two decades. 1 Corinthians was a public document meant to be distributed and read. By going so public with Jesus' resurrection, it underlines the truth of the event. And, there is simply no other way to explain the transformation of people's lives, the explosive growth of the church, and the impact on the history of mankind if the resurrection never happened.

The core of the resurrection is grace (v. 9-11). At the heart of the resurrection is a loving God who did what we were unable to: rescue us from our sin. Sin leaves us powerless. We can't work hard enough, do enough good things, serve or give enough, be kind enough, etc to be connected to God and have the promise of heaven. So God decided out of love to show his lost children grace - giving them a blessing they did nothing to deserve. Jesus took all of our punishment and penalty for sin on the cross and then defeated death by his resurrection. That grace is what then motivates us to work, give, serve, and do good. All we're asked to do is believe it (v. 11).

I pray that you believe the truth of Jesus' resurrection. Because if (or should I say since) the resurrection is true, then everything changes. You can have real hope. You can have real healing. You can experience true transformation. If you do not have this faith in Jesus, or if your faith is struggling, all you need to do is ask God to give you faith to trust in His grace that He gave us in Jesus through his death, burial, & resurrection - the fundamental truth of the Christian faith.

Killing the Religious Idol

The last post dealt with the types and symptoms of religious idolatry. I want to be clear that I don't believe that religion in and of itself is bad. Religion can be a good and beautiful thing, as long as it's kept in its proper context. Formal religion (liturgies, creeds, systems, structures, denominations, etc) is simply a tool to help us know Jesus and grow in our faith. We are finite, linear creatures that need structure, even in our spirituality - thus, religion comes into play. God himself is the author of this, when he first gave Moses the law.

But where everything gets jacked up is when people put too much stock into the form of religion and not the object of religion, namely Jesus. The result is a heavy, weighed down, performance-driven life that doesn't free people to love God, but enslaves people and puts fear into them, because if they don't "do things right", they will no longer be acceptable to God (nor the religious community).

How can this religious idol be killed? The answer is one word: faith.

We see this in verses 13-14 of 1 Corinthians 10. Verse 13 is an oft-quoted verse about being able to get out of a sticky situation where you'll be tempted to sin. But what we need to keep in mind is the context of the verse. Paul exposes the religious idol in verses 1-12, and then writes the refrain in verse 14 "Therefore my beloved, flee from idolatry." The context is of utmost importance.

Here's what's going on, I believe: at the heart of religion is our efforts to be acceptable to God and be about his work. It's basically what we "do." And I will propose that this is the default of the human heart, particularly in American culture. If we want something done, we need to do ourselves. We believe that if we work hard enough, we can accomplish anything. People really, really believe these statement. And since they really, really believe them, they really don't need God to do anything for them. They can do it themselves. Enter the religious idol. The "temptation common to man" is the temptation to depend on moralistic, legalistic, religious effort and performance to be acceptable to God.

The point of verse 13 is that we may be able to endure the temptation (or "testing", which is the root word). If we always had a tangible "escape" from all testing, the result would be an extremely weak faith. Think of it like lifting weights. You strain (or test) your muscles in order for them to grow and get stronger. Same with your faith. The only way for your faith to grow is for it to be tested. And every time you are able to endure a testing of your faith, you can endure a greater testing the next time. And what's more, as a Christian you have the ability to endure any temptation. Why? Because as a Christian you have the Holy Spirit - God Himself - dwelling inside of you. And nothing is too great for God!

So what is the way of escape then? It's the exercising of your faith. Sometimes the "escape" we need is simply to wait on God and let Him be God. When you find yourself in an apparently overwhelming situation, don't look to act right away; pray and wait on Jesus. (what I don't mean is intentionally putting yourself in a sinful situation - sometime you do need to flee like Joseph did from Potiphar's wife; I'm just saying that's not exactly what this particular passage is talking about). But if you try to do God's job for him simply because you refuse to wait on Him, then you will fall into religious idolatry; just like the Israelites did with the golden calf in Exodus 32 (they stopped waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, so they took things into their own hands, and paid a dear price for their idolatry).

So in order to fully kill the religious idol, we must first keep religion in its proper place and remember that it is a tool to help us connect to God and grow in Him. Secondly, we must exercise faith in Jesus when we feel tempted to simply get something done on our own. We need to remind ourselves that through our faith in Jesus and his finished work on the cross, are we fully accepted by God. And as we wait upon the Lord, we will find our faith strengthened and will experience a very real reality of God in our lives, and will experience much joy and give much glory to God.

Guarded for the Gospel

First, this is a landmark post...it's number 100!  Woo-hoo!  So what...let's get moving.

One of the more curious things to figure out about Christianity, specifically about the Bible, is what we're supposed to do with the Old Testament, particularly what's referred to "the law."  Being on this side of the cross, how are we supposed to read it?  Is it outdated like an old rotary phone?  Why use it when we have the "iPhone" of the New Testament?  Seriously, are we really supposed to follow the rules about not eating shellfish and not wearing mixed-fiber clothing?  How can David write the longest chapter (119) in the longest book (Psalms) and it's all about how he "loves" the law?  We hear the word "law" and we all grimace and feel disdain.

This is what Paul addresses in Galatians 3:15-25.  In the previous section, he talked about the negative effects of the law.  In this section, he talks about the positive effects of the law - and why we continue to need it, even on this side of the cross.  So let's establish a framework from this passage:

First, we need to understand what Paul meant by "covenant."  God always has made covenants, which are basically "promises."  The most common usage of this word in Paul's day was in context of a last will and testament, the most unalterable of all human contracts (this was verified by Dave Edwards, a lawyer and one of Delta's deacons). So basically Paul is saying that when God makes a promise (that He initiates, set up the parameters, and ratifies) that promise will never change and will be fulfilled.

Second, we need to understand the relationship between the covenant and the law.  First, they are exclusive of each other - they are different.  In verse 18, the teaching is basically this: if you are given something based on a promise, it's NOT because of your performance, and conversely, if you get something because of what you have done (ie, a paycheck), it's not because of a promise.  But in versese 21-22, we see that the covenant and law are in agreement.  The law was never expected to grant salvation (because keeping it fully was impossible); if it could, the Jesus never would have had to come (Galatians 3:17)!  So basically, the law shows us our need for salvation by faith through grace - the law points to the promise.  Everything in scripture is either looking forward to the cross, or looking back at the cross.

Third, we need to understand where Jesus fits into all of this.  According to verse 16, Jesus was the true fulfillment of the "offspring" promised to Abraham.  Additionally, Jesus was the only person to keep the law 100% in deed and in spirit (Matthew 5:17).  Jesus fulfills BOTH the promise AND the law!

Fourth, what purpose does the law truly serve?  Verse 23 says that the law "imprisoned" us like a jailer.  The law kept people in bondage until the fullness of time when Jesus would come (Galatians 4:4).  The law kept us "locked up" to protect us from our great propencity to sin.  But then in verses 24-25, we see this word "guardian" which is better translated "tutor."  In this, we see the ultimate end of the law was to instruct us for maturity, namely faith in Jesus - that we would be obedient not becaus we have to, but because we want to.  So, while we are no longer under a guardian, we still have great need for a guardian.  Paul wrote in Romans 7:7 that if it wasn't for the law, he would not know what his sin was.  John Stott beautifully wrote, "It is only against the inky blackness of the night sky that the stars begin to appear, and it is only against the dark background of sin and judgement that the gospel shines forth."

So with those points as our framework, we know can make these three conclusions:

1) We know how to read the Old Testament.  When reading through the lens of the gospel, we see it all pointing to Jesus.

2) We have a different starting point for obedience.  Fear and guilt are transformed into love and grantitude.

3) We are released to attempt great things for God.  We now have the FREEDOM to fail!  Our acceptance & relationship with God is not on the line, we do not live in performance-based Christianity.

The law exposes our need to be connected to God and provided a limited pathway for that.  Jesus has come completely fulfilling everything that God requires on our behalf so we can be vitally connected to God in the fullest sense.

There is a reality of law and sin.  But there is a greater reality of faith, grace, love, and mercy.