The If/Thens of Easter
by Mike Sares
It’s Easter time. Time to eat all the candy and marshmallow eggs. Time to pig out. There’s gotta be a nicer word for pig out. A euphemism, as it were. Hey, try to think up a nicer word for euphemism. And while you’re at it, think up a shorter word for abbreviation. And a synonym for Thesaurus. And why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"? Why is it that to stop Microsoft Windows, you have to click on "Start"? Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons? Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker? Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour? Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food? Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections? Why don’t you ever see the headline, "Psychic Wins Lottery"? Why are there Braille labels at drive-up ATMs? Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together? Why can’t women put on mascara with their mouths closed? And why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ such a big deal?
I mean, there’s gotta be an if/then relationship. If Jesus rose from the dead ... then what? We deal with if/then statements every day. For example, Chris Baker said at one point in his life, "If I go to medical school, then I can be a doctor." Columbus said, "If the world is round, then I can get to the East by sailing west." Enrico Fermi said, "If we can just split the atom, then it’s gonna produce a whole lot of energy." Bill Gates said, "If I copied the Apple-Macintosh desktop, then people would like Microsoft Windows more." Keith Hoerig said, "If I learn to play the bass guitar, then I can get hot chicks."
So ... what’s the big if/then statement for the resurrection? If Jesus rose from the dead ... then what? What are the implications? Does it affect my life more than the fact that I live in 2002 “A.D.”? If Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then does that affect what time I get up in the morning? If Jesus rose from the dead, then does it affect my situation at school or what’s going to happen at work tomorrow? If Jesus rose from the dead, then does it affect what T. Rex will do to Interstate 25, and what kind of season the Broncos will have this year?
My guess is that a lot of you are silently agreeing with me because you’re not sure. And if you’re here at church and you’re not sure, the people you know who don’t go to church are even less aware of why Jesus rising from the dead would have any impact in their lives. The Apostle Paul went out of his way to stress the importance of the resurrection to his friends in the Church at Corinth:
1Corinthians 15:1-8, 17-20
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born...
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead...
So, I’ve got four if/then statements for the resurrection. Some of you will not approve of some of them because they will seem like audacious claims. But I’m not going to candy-coat them for you this Easter. I’m just going to tell it like it is. Here’s the first “if/then” statement.
1. If Jesus rose from the dead, then Christianity is true and every other religion is false. Let’s face it. Of all the claims which Jesus made, rising from the dead was the most stupendous. On several occasions, Jesus said he would die and then come back to life. Sometimes he said it subtly with metaphor:
John 2:19 ¶ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
And sometimes He said it plainly:
Matt. 17:22-23 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.
Matt. 20:18-19 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
Matt. 26:31-32 Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
I could claim to be the greatest basketball player in the history of the game. But, ask me to prove it by going one-on-one with Michael Jordan, or Shaquile O’Neal, or Kobe Bryant. Pretty soon you would see if I was telling the truth. The same kind of thing is true in Jesus’ case. I mean, anybody can claim to be God; but how do you prove it? You prove it by rising from the dead!
So, Jesus makes this stupendous claim. If he does come back from the dead, everything he said about himself -- that He is the son of God; the Messiah; that when you’ve seen Him you have seen God; that He is the way, and the truth, and the life, and nobody comes to God except through him -- then all of that is true, and anything that anybody else has ever said about who God is and what He’s like is false.
Let’s go back to the first century for a moment. Suppose you’re one of Jesus’ followers. His followers all knew what he said. Then He is killed, crucified like a common thief. You’re waiting. Friday, Saturday, and then Sunday -- and when Jesus gets up, comes out of the tomb, and appears to you and hundreds of others -- you are amazed, shocked, dumbfounded and incredulous because you know the implications.
Jesus is no longer just a man. In one swoop, he exposes every other religion for what it is: the schemes and speculations of mere mortals who stepped onto the stage of history for just a season. They said a few good things and then later died, leaving their philosophies behind.
All that stuff the Buddha said about the great nothingness -- it’s false, because Siddhartha Buddha is still dead and Jesus is alive. Followers of Islam believe that Mohammed was the greatest prophet of God. Jesus, on the other hand, was a prophet as well, but not as enlightened as Mohammed, they say. Jesus is alive, but Mohammed is still dead. You do the math. You want to build your life on the words of a dead man, or upon one who came back to life? Frederick Nietzsche said that God is dead. If the resurrection is true, then it’s Nietzsche who’s dead! That spirit guide who told your friend that Jesus is just one of the ways to a higher spiritual plain is dead wrong. And no matter what Tom Cruise or John Travolta say, L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology is dead wrong as well. You see, if Jesus really rose from the dead, then Christianity is true and every other religion is false. You don’t have to believe me; but we’re all going to die. And five seconds after both you and I die, we’re going to find out who was right.
So, this first if/then statement has to do with the nature of truth. The second if/then statement has to do with the nature of life. If Jesus rose from the dead, then life does not end at the grave. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but the theory of naturalism is starting to smell a little bit like the theory of communism. For over 70 years, communism was touted as the only reasonable way to organize society. They said that religion was the "opiate of the masses." They didn’t believe there was anything to life beyond the grave. You lived and then you died. Finito. The end. If Jesus rose from the dead, then life is much more than economic parity. If Jesus rose from the dead, then we are immortal beings with a body and soul who were destined to be resurrected with immortal bodies to match our immortal souls. Marx and Lenin were as wrong about economy as they were about eternity if Jesus really rose from the dead.
Jesus’ resurrection begins to answer some of the big questions of life. Where did we come from, where are we going? Does life have meaning? I don’t know how many of you have had someone close to you die. I remember when my mother died. I was 12 years old, and as I looked at the body in the casket, I knew that all I was looking at was a shell. Whatever I knew of my mom was not there. The essence of who she was, was not there. And her death seemed so wrong. I mean that it didn’t make sense. Something inside of me was telling me that life was not meant to be this way. I have been a Christian for a long time now, and I’ve learned something from my study that I knew instinctively as a 12 year-old -- God never meant it to be that way either. He created immortal beings to enjoy Him forever.
You don’t know any mortals. Nations, philosophies, buildings, art -- these things are mortal, and their lives compared to yours are like the life of a gnat. But the people you room with, speak with, laugh with, date, snub, hurt, and use -- these are immortal beings. You see, if Jesus really rose from the dead, then life does not end at the grave.
On the contrary, life goes on but with an immortal body. That means reincarnation is wrong about the nature of life. The Bible says that it is appointed once for a person to die, and then comes the judgment. When Jesus burst forth from the tomb on Easter morning, his resurrection was the unmistakable demonstration of what the nature of life is all about. You don’t get a bunch of chances to get it right. You get one chance, and then you face eternity.
What that does is to give this life incredible value. Why do you think that historically it has been Christians who start schools, build hospitals, establish orphanages, feed the poor, house the homeless, and generally go to dangerous places in order to spread the love of God through Jesus Christ? It’s because of the resurrection! They know that because Jesus rose from the dead, then life does not end at the grave -- so they are working to help people not just for now, but for eternity!
The third “if/then” statement you may find offensive. It goes like this: if Jesus rose from the dead, then we, as a human race, must have been in very bad shape. In other words, if God had to send his only begotten son to die for our sins, our situation must have been extremely perilous. When a criminal is condemned to die, either by lethal injection or the electric chair, we assume that what he did must have been particularly heinous. In this case, it’s our sins which are so heinous that they could only be atoned for by God himself taking the form of a man and suffering the penalty of divine justice.
We all know the reality of the world in which we live. If I were to take a poll of the people in this room, my guess is that I would find many of you who had been molested as children. Sadly, I would also find that some of you had done some molesting. Some of you have been raped. Some of you have been cut, beaten, or even verbally abused to the point where you thought you would lose your mind. You have been mistreated by teachers, by employers; and you yourselves have mistreated schoolmates and co-workers mercilessly because they looked different, or they spoke differently than you and your small group of friends.
Just read the Denver Post or the Rocky Mountain News and you’ll see the rest of the story. You’ll read about suicide bombers in Jerusalem who think they are doing God a favor by killing and mutilating civilians. You’ll read about people manufacturing crystal meth in hotel rooms so that they can get rich by addicting their friends to the stuff. You will read about respectable businessmen lying to their stockholders and ripping people out of their retirements so that they can receive huge bonus checks from what used to be the Enron Corp. Hey, but they are just doing on a larger scale what we all do when we shoplift from that store in the mall or steal from our employer’s office, right?
I am not leaving myself out of this. You all may think I’m wonderful, but my family knows the truth. I get moody, and I snap at them for no good reason. I try my best to be a great father, but instead I see myself passing on my quick temper, my laziness, and other sinful qualities on down to my children. I remember being especially distraught about this when I was a young father. I went to talk to my pastor about it. No matter how much I listened to Focus on the Family radio broadcasts, or went to Promise Keepers conferences, I was seeing all this sinful behavior pop up in my children which I knew came directly from me. I remember him wisely looking at me, and then saying, "Look at it this way, Mike. In addition to everything good that you’re passing down to your children, you are also providing them a need for a Savior."
The resurrection of Jesus Christ serves notice that my sin is so dreadful, that you and I are so deeply flawed, that nothing short of God’s only son could pay for and break of the power of sin in our lives and the lives of those we love. No matter how hard we try to be better people, no matter how shiny we polish the exterior of our lives, Christianity says it will never be enough. If Jesus Christ rose from the dead, then we were in such bad shape that God had to send his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.
So, let’s review. If Jesus rose from the dead ... then Christianity is true and every other religion is false, then life doesn’t end at the grave, and then we as a human race must have been in very bad shape. My fourth “if/then” statement is this: If Jesus rose from the dead, then God loves you whether you like or not. Look, there’s not a lot of love out there in the big, wide world. People are pining for it. They’re whining for it -- just listen to the radio.
There is that Titanic theme, "My Heart Will Go On," sung by Celine Dion way too many times. There’s "Standing Still," sung by Jewel (who a lot of guys in this room think is hot but won’t admit to it). Listen to anything by the Backstreet Boys -- on second thought, don’t. For crying outloud, what do you think "Space Robot Five" is all about off the Brave Saint Saturn record?
I’ll tell you a couple true stories. She had come to church with a friend of hers no more than three times when I got a call. She wanted to meet and talk about the Bible. She didn’t know how else to phrase it, but really what she wanted to talk about was Jesus. Her life was a mess. She was shooting crystal meth and living in an abusive lesbian relationship. After having breakfast together, Mary and I and her friend prayed with her. Amid sobs and tears, she asked Jesus into her life. She was so overwhelmed with the love of God that she could barely stand up! The four of us were praying together, huddled in City Park, and we three were literally holding her up. Three weeks later, she was in the hospital for eye surgery and several members of Scum of the Earth stood by her and prayed for her. Another Christian woman (whom she did not know) took care of the hospital expenses which she could not pay. She was amazed at the quality of people she was meeting compared to her friends from before. So much love was being shown to her. She was in love with Jesus for the first time. You don’t receive that kind of love from a dead person!
Then there was another guy I met at Scum. He was a musician at night, working restaurant jobs during the day. He couldn’t figure out why he’d start to cry when listening to Five Iron Frenzy songs about God. He’d say, “Mike I don’t know what’s wrong with me!” He was starved for love. The Lord was drawing him close and he responded. The resurrected Jesus was loving him through the truth woven into FIF songs and through his followers at Scum of the Earth. I had another girl say to me, “Mike, Christians are so nice. I’m not used to that. My friends got me high on acid and left me tripping all by myself in some abandoned warehouse. These were her friends, folks! There’s not a lot of love out there aside from the love of God, I’m afraid.
Maybe you have longed for boyfriend or girlfriend who will love you who just the way you are for a long time now. And then you finally find somebody, but it never goes the way you hoped. He or she disappoints you. Unreal expectations are placed upon you because he or she has been looking for someone who will love them just the way they are as well. So then you have two people who are looking for love, but there doesn’t seem to be enough to go around. You begin to quarrel. Fights happen. Next thing you know, you’re breaking up. And all you wanted was to be loved.
Your mistake was that you were looking for perfect love from an imperfect person. A love like that can only come from one place. If Jesus really rose from the dead, then God loves you whether you like it or not with a perfect love you can’t get anywhere else. Don’t bother asking your boyfriend to sacrifice his life for you -- he won’t even sacrifice the music in the CD player he forces you to listen to! Don’t bother asking your girlfriend to sacrifice her life for you -- she won’t sacrifice her idea of what you ought to wear when you go out on a date!
But Jesus Christ sacrificed everything because He loves you. Listen to what his follower, Paul (the same apostle who wrote the scriptures we read earlier), said:
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you:
The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1Corinthians 11:23-26)
When we take communion, we celebrate the fact that God loves us in spite of us. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we know that God loves us even after Jesus died for our sins. Whether you like it or not, God loves you; and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof.
If you are new around here and wondering what this is all about, we encourage you to put your life in the hands of Jesus Christ. At the very least, keep coming back to Scum of the Earth on Sunday nights. If you really want to know if Jesus rose from the dead, keep seeking -- you will find out. God promises that those who seek, find; those who ask, get given to them; and those who knock get the door opened up to them. If you used to be on the right path spiritually, but you wound up in a ditch somewhere, wondering how long the road back to Christ is, all you have to do is turn around. Jesus is right there and He is saying, "Welcome back!" He will help you get your life on track. But you have to turn around. And if you’re a growing, dedicated follower of Jesus, sometime tonight remember the implications of the resurrection. Remember these "if/then" statements which show the difference in life because Jesus rose from the dead.
We’re going to remember what Jesus has done for us by taking communion now...
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Thanks to Bill Hybels for much of the outline and key phrases
Thanks to C.S. Lewis for the ideas about the immortality of persons
Thanks to Joe Hoeflinger for the insight that, in addition to everything else, I also pass on a need for a Savior to my kids
