For the Christian, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important thing to celebrate.
Christianity is the only “religion” that suffers abuse because of its holidays. Imagine if we would start making fun of the pagan holidays? Or what about other religion's holidays? What about the Muslim religion?
I like to make fun of the atheist’s holiday but they only have one. April 1. A fool does a good job in making a fool out of himself. Enough said.
I think Solomon hit upon it in one of his Proverbs.
“As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly” (Proverbs 26:11).
The fact that Christianity is under attack in our culture is rather significant. This war and Christianity will not lessen in the years to come.
Doesn’t it seem strange that when our country is going through such turmoil and facing such disaster that we would turn back to our roots to that which made us great in the first place?
However, many are rewriting the history of America in order to exclude the “Christian element.”
An atheist once said, “If Christians started acting like Christians I might become a Christian myself.” Many have their own definition of Christianity. Christianity that which is convenient, that embraces the culture that caters to the flesh. During a religious holiday, everybody is a Christian.
The question that the Angels asked is very important.
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
To understand this I need to bring in a verse from the gospel of John.
“For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead” (John 20:9).
If you go through the Gospels, you will discover that on many occasions Jesus told His disciples that He would die but on the third day He would rise again. They had this information. Yet, when it happened, they did not know what happened.
It is not enough to have information. It is not enough just to read the Bible, rather the Holy Spirit needs to open up our hearts and our understanding concerning spiritual truth.
Every false cult and heresy in the world is based upon some Scripture.
In order for someone to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ there has to be a work of the Holy Spirit within that person working on the Scriptures and opening up the understanding as only He can.
When we do things that marginalize the work of the Holy Spirit, we hinder people from coming to the knowledge of the truth.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the defining factor of the Christian life bringing us into full harmony with God.
To understand the resurrection of Christ is to understand what Christianity is all about. This I say is the Holy Spirit factor in our life. (Illumination).
The question the Angel poses brings to the surface the reality of the time.
The disciples and people who knew Jesus assumed that they understood what just happened. After all, they saw Jesus die on the cross. Many witnessed him being put away in the tomb. They assumed that what they saw was what they saw.
When they went to the tomb, their assumption was they would find the dead body of Jesus. Imagine their surprise when the body was gone. Some tried to understand it and explain it by saying that somebody stole his body.
Many people miss Jesus by looking for him in all the wrong directions.
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
People seek the living among the dead because they assume they understand what is going on. They are interpreting the facts from their point of view. Many have what I call the Thomas-factor. Remember what Jesus said to Thomas?
“Thomas, because thou has seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
Like Thomas, when we insist on rationalizing truth we face the dilemma of misunderstanding truth. If I misunderstand truth, I am not going to be able to apply it to my life correctly.
What we really have to decide on from our own perspective is, are we going to follow a dead religion or a live Christianity?
Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us the difference.
How many people on Easter Sunday are seeking the living among the dead?
I want to lay out the resurrection of Jesus Christ in two categories.
First, I want to show you the pre-resurrection aspect of Christ and Christianity.
Second, I want to show you the post-resurrection aspect of Christ and Christianity.
All of us today, if we call ourselves Christians, are living our lives under one or the other. What I want to do today is to challenge you to bring your life completely under the domain of the post-resurrected Christ. He is alive!
I. The Pre-Resurrection Aspect of Christianity.
From the actions of many people who call themselves Christians, the vast majority are living their lives under this. They are, as the angels said, “seeking the living among the dead.”
The best way to define or describe this is to say that they are in bondage to sin.
Do they believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins? Yes.
Do they live lives that are free from the bondage of sin? No.
A. W. Tozer says, “Your behavior always reveals your belief.”
Remember the old motto, “Your actions speak so loud I can’t hear what you’re saying.”
Many people believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins. They treasure such verses as John 3:16. But the life they live each and every day belies the reality of this truth.
This is why there is so much dead religion today.
People striving to be good but not quite making it.
So if you cannot make it you redefine it. We are living in a generation that is redefining sin in an alarming manner.
I find it rather disturbing that the same lifestyles out in the world where people are pursuing sin with vigilance are found inside the church. The same sin is found in the church. Christian leaders are caught up in the same lifestyles as the world.
To get around this people will say, “Nobody’s perfect.”
The tragedy of all of this is a lack of power to overcome the struggles against the world, the flesh and the devil.
It has come to the point where there is no difference between out in the world and in the church. The only difference between the worldly and a Christian, so called, is that when convenient the Christian goes to church on Sunday morning.
Outside of that, nothing is different.
If the Christian wrestles with the same bondage to sin as the man who does not profess to be a Christian, the man out of the world, why should anybody become a Christian?
Of course, the answer will come back to us, “So we can go to heaven.”
Unfortunately, for many Christians this is all the Christian life really is. This is trying to live the Christian life under the aspect of pre-resurrection.
II. The Post-Resurrection Aspect of Christianity
Here is where the difference lies. The importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that He validates the work He accomplished on the cross.
Yes, on the cross he paid for our sin.
His resurrection made it possible to break the bondage of sin in our life. The resurrection of Jesus Christ made it possible for us to live Christlike in a culture that hates Christ.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ brought into our life victory. The Christian who is not living the victorious Christian life has not really embraced the resurrection aspect of Jesus Christ.
It’s one thing to believe the Bible teaches that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. It is an altogether different thing to allow the resurrection of Jesus Christ to transform my life into Christ likeness.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?” (John 11:25-26).
Does the believer still have conflict in his life and the temptation of sin? Of course. The difference is, now we do not have to yield to the use exterior influences. We have something deep within that contradicts the powers on the outside.
“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:4-6).
There is something in us that connects us with something in God. The resurrection of Jesus Christ made all of that possible. We now live a life that has been brought into God’s favor. We pleasure God. We belong to him. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the same power that transforms us into the sons of God.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a miracle to be sure.
The transformation within us as believers is also a miracle.
The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that transforms us into Christ likeness.
“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:4-6).
For the Christian, Easter is not just a religious holiday. We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ every day of our life. The early church when they greeted one another would say:
“He is risen!”
“He is risen indeed!”
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just some dry old doctrine that we have to believe to be part of the church. A truth that dramatically transforms us to where God wants us to be.
Sin destroyed God’s purpose for our life.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ restores that purpose to the glory of God.
My closing question is simply this. What side of the resurrection are you living today?
Does your life evidence the resurrected power of Jesus Christ? Do people see something in you they cannot explain? Do you see strength in your own life that you cannot explain?
My life enjoys daily fellowship with God because Jesus lives. My life is the evidence the world needs to know that Jesus lives
BECAUSE HE LIVES
(BILL GAITHER)
Because He lives,
I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives,
All fear is gone.
Because I know
He holds the future,
And life is worth the living
just because He lives.
Make sure you are on the right side of the resurrection.
