Easter and Faith

It is so simple that it is easy to miss, after all, people are busy Easter weekend with hunting down eggs with the kids, eating chocolate bunnies.  That we almost forget about the empty tomb, that Christ defeated death and sin so that we could have a relationship with Him.  But Easter doesn’t amount to anything unless we put our faith in God.  If we come to God but, we do not really believe that Christ was His Son, or that He raised from the grave then this is really just all about nothing.  Paul wrote this to the Romans; “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.  He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised. And because of Abraham’s faith, God declared him to be righteous. Now this wonderful truth—that God declared him to be righteous—wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was for us, too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God. Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” (Romans 4:20-5:2)

Let us for just minute think about what Paul is telling the Romans and us in this section of His letter.  He is saying that just believing in God or in a god isn’t really going to do much for you.  He is saying that we must put our faith in God, we must come to an understanding that God is not just real but that He is all powerful, that He is the great and mighty creator.  If He so desires He is able to not only raise the dead but He can raise a nation.  If we decide to only half believe or we believe the majority of what the bible says that does nothing for us.  We have to put all of our faith in God.  What does our faith in God do for us?  Paul tells us this, “because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”  Our faith in Christ brings us to a place of privilege, but with this privilege comes a responsibility we are to share our faith with others we are to let others know about God’s great glory.

Think about the last great movie you saw or book you read, you didn’t keep it yourself did you?  No you told your friends, your coworkers about it.  You wanted them to experience it to.  You don’t keep your favorite dessert to yourself you are so sure that others are going to like you tell them about it.  You see when we put our faith in God we should want to share it with others, Easter is about the defeat of sin, darkness, about the light of the world conquering the darkness of the world.  If we truly believe in the empty tomb then we need to put our faith in God, and watch Him work in mighty ways.  In verses 20-22 in Chapter 4 Romans Paul tells us this; “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised. And because of Abraham’s faith, God declared him to be righteous.^”

Seeking Out The Praise Of Man, Is It Worth It?

I wonder how many times have we laughed at a joke, talked bad about someone, did something that just makes us feel like we betrayed ourselves?  We did so others would like us and maybe later on praise us.  There’s just something about most of us that wants to be liked and even praised by others.  Yet if we begin to study the life of Christ we begin to see that He lived His life not to be praised by man but to please God.  In fact we may begin to understand why Christ spent His time pleasing God and not man as we begin to look at the events of  the week leading up to His crucifixion.  Let us take a quick look at Matthew 21:1-11 “As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. “Go into the village over there,” he said, “and you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately send them.” This was done to fulfill the prophecy, “Tell the people of Israel, ‘Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey— even on a donkey’s colt.’ ” The two disciples did as Jesus said.  They brought the animals to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it. Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. He was in the center of the procession, and the crowds all around him were shouting, “Praise God^* for the Son of David! Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!” The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.  And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Notice how the crowd loved Christ at this point in His life they give Him the welcome of a great  King.  Yet in just a few short days they would turn on Him and have Him crucified on a cross.  It was on the cross that Christ would bring honor to His Father.  Let us take a second and think about what this means, Christ could have taken this opportunity and soaked in the praise and milked it for all that it was worth.  He could have said look at all these fans of mine I will have them follow me and I will take over this empire. But this is not what He does why?  Because He knew that people are fickle, that one day they love you and the next they do not.  Ask anyone who holds a public office and they can tell you that as well.  You see we may find ourselves at some point of saying if I do this people are really going to like me, but if I don’t they won’t but God will be pleased with me.  This is the point where you have to realize that God being pleased with you is more important then what others think of you.  Because people will not always follow you and praise you.  But if we follow God and we put our faith in him He will give us true life and true joy.

Remember, “Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.  All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God’s anger just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus. God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Eph 2:1-10

Are We Ready To Give Up?

I want us to think about your life for just a minute, are you living a life for God?  A life where you feel the presence of God guiding and directing you?  Or are you living a life that you may feel the presence of God once a month but you’re not really sure if that is the presence your feeling? Are you living the life that your friends tell you is great, it’s centered around getting the stuff that you want?  Is your life full of giving to others and sharing love with those around you?  You see the world we live in tells us that if we really want to live a life that is full and meaningful that we must go and find a high paying job, get a big house, a great car, and have lots of so called friends.  Yet if we look to the bible we begin to realize something, that it promotes giving up our lives in order to have true life.  If we want to live a life that is going to bring us true life then we must first give up our life on earth that is leading to death.  But what is great is that we serve a God who brings us true life.

We read about an experience the prophet Ezekiel had that he wrote about you can read about it in Ezekiel 37:1-14.  I am going to give a brief description of what happened.  God had carried Ezekiel to a valley full of bones and told Ezekiel speak these words to these bones.  “‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to breathe into you and make you live again! ⁶ I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”  So I spoke these words, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as they had been before. ⁸ Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Speak to the winds and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so that they may live again.’ ”  So I spoke as he commanded me, and the wind entered the bodies, and they began to breathe. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army of them.”

Everything that God was showing Ezekiel, was to let Him know that there is a rebirth of the spirit, you see what was happening here is not about a physical resurrection but about a spiritual resurrection.  If we want to be living a life for God and have a really meaningful life here on earth we must first realize that we are dead inside.  That without giving or dying to our own wants and even needs then we are not really going to be living for God.  You see at this time in History Israel was no longer living for God they wanted to live for the world, they saw what the world had and it looked good to them, but instead of being good it brought death.  If you want that life where God is molding you using you and you feel His presence each day you must first give up your life and give it to God.