Personalizing the Resurrection
Oct 08, 2008
As a pastor I often receive provocative questions from people about faith, God, and the Bible. This week was no different as I found on my desk a list of “Scary Bible Quotes” which attempts to draw out strange or weird things that Jesus said or other quotes from the Bible. Of course, if you read through the Bible you will find some things that you will wholeheartedly agree with and then you will find others that are troubling to you (maybe like God’s judgment, Jesus’ bold claim to be the way the truth, and the life, or Jesus’ teaching on marriage just to name a few). In other words, our current culture preconditions us to respond positively to some statements and negatively to others. One response to such “Scary Bible Quotes” and to other provocative questions is the resurrection. That sounds strange at first glance but it’s true. The bottom line is that there ARE many things that do trouble us about Christian teaching, but there would be no reason to care about it if Jesus never rose from the dead. Tim Keller puts it like this: “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.” If the resurrection is true, then start paying attention because you’re dealing with the King of the Universe but if it’s not, then walk away and never pay attention to anything else the Bible has to say.
In the previous few posts, I’ve tried to show why the only way to explain the facts is by resurrection, making the reality and fact of this amazing event almost beyond a historical doubt. If this is true then you is now a ‘self-involving’ belief. You cannot simply say, yes Jesus rose from the dead but that means nothing to me personally. No, if Jesus rose, the world is different; He is Lord and Ruler of all things. If Jesus rose, He was vindicated and approved in all His actions and teachings. If Jesus rose, the ‘myth’ of Christianity is a true myth. If Jesus, rose, He did so in victory over sin, death, and hell, and provided a payment for the sins of His people. If Jesus rose, He now stands before us wrapped with all authority, power, and majesty, and demands our repentance, our worship, our lives, and our all. Anything less would be sheer treason.
Tim Keller: “Each year at Easter I get to preach on the Resurrection. In my sermon I always say to my skeptical, secular friends that, even if they can’t believe in the resurrection, they should want it to be true. Most of them care deeply about justice for the poor, alleviating hunger and disease, and caring for the environment. Yet many of them believe that the material world was caused by accident and that the world and everything in it will eventually simply burn up in the death of the sun. They find it discouraging that so few people care about justice without realizing that their own worldview undermines any motivation to make the world a better place. Why sacrifice for the needs of others if in the end nothing we do will make any difference? If the resurrection of Jesus happened, however, that means there’s infinite hope and reason to pour ourselves out for the needs of the world.”
