An Open Letter
Dear Church Member: Don’t wait until the hearse hauls you to church. If you do, you will go, regardless of the weather. You will go, regardless of the condition of your body. There will be beautiful flowers there, but you won’t enjoy them. You will go, regardless of how your family feels. The minister may say many good things, but they will do you no good. There will be beautiful music, but you won’t hear it. There will be heartfelt prayers, but they will not touch your heart. There will be friends and relatives there, but you won’t worship with them. You will go, no matter how many hypocrites are there. You will go, no matter how much you are needed at work or at home. You will receive no blessing from the service. You won’t feel concerned about your clothes. You will never have to decide about attending church again. Aren’t you glad to be alive and well and full of zest and able to choose to go to church?
The Resurrection is what gives us faith I Corinthians 15:1-8
"The Gospels do not explain the Resurrection -- the Resurrection explains the Gospels." --John S. Whale
The truth of being a Christian knows there is one Lord and He is Jesus Christ, who was born, lived in this world, was crucified and was resurrected. The disciples followed Christ for three years and confessed He was the One to save us from our sins. When the devastation of the crucifixion happened, their confession was crushed. This lead to them deserting and denying Him. It was Easter that changed their hearts and the history of the world. It was the risen Lord that changed these men from being aimless wanderers, faith without someone to have faith in and gave them hope that is still alive today.
1 Cor. 15:17 If Christ hasn’t come back to life, your faith is worthless and sin still has you in its power.
A. In Christ, only we find faith with a future. Faith in any other has no future because anything else has no resurrection power.
1. Today, our faith has a future because His life triumphed over death.
Jesus was perfect in all he did and before God even in His thought life. He did what was right all the time and never sinned. He was put to death by those guilty of sin because they did not want have to live under the love He demanded people to give. Teaching of Scripture will come true: "Death is turned into victory! Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" Sin gives death its sting, and God’s standards give sin its power. Thank God that he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrection proves right the message of Christ. Death cannot defeat life. GEN 3:15 “From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." We do not have to fear the threats of Satan for it has been caused to be ineffective and incapable to hurt those who are in Christ Jesus. Those without belief in the resurrection have problem in that they have no future to look forward too. It even says in this chapter that if in this life 1 Cor. 15:19 “And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.” As we put our hope in this world and the things of this world, we are miserable. Only the resurrection of Christ gives us hope that goes beyond this world.
2. Today, our faith has a future because His light shines in the darkness.
John 1:4 “Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never quench it.” Jesus is the Light of the world. When He came, He brought the light but the men of this world did not want that light and shortly after He started giving the light that would bring the truth of God, they set out to put Him to death. They tried to keep Him from teaching and loving. They did their best to keep people from listening and walking in the new light He was giving. (Man born blind). They got their way they felt when they nailed Him to a tree and there was darkness that covered the earth for three hours. Just think for three hours the world was left to itself while evil, hate, the lie and death held its influence. Three days later, He ascended from the tomb and the Light now shines brighter than ever. That lights now shines through all those who declare He lives! Those who tried to stop the light cannot stop what the Bible says in that "Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
You might remember comedian Yakov Smirnoff. When he first came to the United States from Russia, he was not prepared for the incredible variety of instant products available in American grocery stores. He says, "On my first shopping trip, I saw powdered milk--you just add water, and you get milk. Then I saw powdered orange juice--you just add water, and you get orange juice. And then I saw baby powder, and I thought to my self, "What a country!" Smirnoff is joking but we make these assumptions about Christian Transformation. That people change instantly at salvation. Some traditions call it repentance and renewal. Some call it Sanctification of the believer. Whatever you call it most traditions expect some quick fix to sin. According to this belief, when someone gives his or her life to Christ, there is an immediate, substantive, in-depth, miraculous change in habits, attitudes, and character. We go to church as if we are going to the grocery store: Powdered Christian. Just add water and disciples are born not made. Unfortunately, there is no such powder and disciples of Jesus Christ are not instantly born. They are slowly raised through many trials, suffering, and temptations. A study has found that only 11 percent of churchgoing teenagers have a well-developed faith, rising to only 32 percent for churchgoing adults. Why? Because true-life change only begins at salvation, takes more than just time, is about training, trying, suffering, and even dying (adapted from James Emery White, Rethinking the Church, Baker, 1997, p. 55-57).
3. Today, our faith has a future because His love puts an end to hate. The devil does not want people to live in a loving way. He tries to make it seem to love others is showing a weakness life. When you really love, you only open yourself to being hurt. Love means turning your cheek, loving your enemies and praying for those who wrongly use you. The resurrection changes the hate of this world because we no longer can live to self but must live as Jesus lived. It was love that put Him on a Roman cross but God who is love and life raised him up on that third day. Love rules because of Jesus.
I remember one time I was hiking on the Appalachian Trail and I walked into town. It was about a five-mile walk from the campsite down the trail and down into town. And when I got there I went into a restaurant and I was eating, and this person started talking to me and we had this great conversation. We were having a good time, and he said, "Hey look, it’s dark and it’s five miles up the road to your campground. Why don’t I drive you up there?” And I said, "Hey, great!" And so we got in his car, and just as we pulled out from under the last light in that town, the person said, "You know what; I should probably tell you that I’m gay." And I said, "Oh! I should probably tell you that I am a Christian." And he said, "Well, if you want out of the car." I said, "Why?" And he said, "Well, I’m gay and you’re Christian." I said, "It’s still five miles and it’s still dark." Then he said, "I thought Christians hated gays." I said, "That’s funny, I thought Christians were supposed to love. I thought that was our first command." He said, "Well I thought God hated gays." And I said, "That’s really funny, because I thought God was love." And then he asked me the big one. He said, "Do you think I will go to hell for being gay?" I was ready to say, "Yes, of course you’ll go to hell for being gay." But when I opened up my mouth, it came out, "No, of course you won’t go to hell for being gay." And I thought to myself, ’Oh my goodness, I’ve only been in New Hampshire for one week and I’ve already turned into a liberal! What am I going to tell this guy now?’ Then I said to him, "No, you won’t go to hell for being gay, any more than I would go to hell for being a liar. Nobody goes to hell because of what they do. We go to hell because we reject the grace that God so longs to give to us, regardless of what we do [or have done]." By Rich Mullins Love changes, what we say to others.
4. Today, our faith has a future because His truth has conquered the lie of the devil. The Bible tells us that he Devil was a liar from the beginning and is the father of lies. It says that in him is no truth. The liars of the world in the time of Jesus would not bet bothered by the truth that Jesus was proclaiming. Because of who they were, they could not deliver what they promised. They could not get their facts right and had to have liars appear to say He was guilty worthy of death. In what they did, they actually blasphemed God to get rid of His Son. The resurrection showed us that Jesus was the truth He said He was. He came back just as He said he would which is the truth He spoke. The truth overcame the lie.
5. Today, our faith has a future because His righteousness had defeated evil.
A baseball man said. “Good guys finish last.” Mark Twain wanted us to believe that God helps those who help themselves. The resurrection says at the center of existence is goodness, which is God Himself. His Righteousness defeats evilness. Resurrected living lets one live in goodness in all relationships.
Our lives are enriched when we commit ourselves to the realities of life, light, love, truth and goodness. We base that all the fact that Jesus lives.
Because of the resurrection, we are in living possession of a living faith with a future. We also possess a guarantee with a future. Christ was the first fruits of this resurrection and we are next if we belong to Him. Christ’s new covenant takes away the cycle of sin and death that began with Adam. In the first, Adam there was only gloom and desperation but in the second Adam, we have deliverance and expectation.
