Matt’s Matters: Easter—The Most Significant Historical Event

 “Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19b).

A preacher in Chilhowie, Virginia, was visiting a man who continually refused to go to church. “All right,” the man finally said. “I’ll come to church Easter Sunday if I’m alive.” But he didn’t show up. After the service, the preacher took a lily from the Easter decorations, went to the man’s home, and knocked on the door. When the man came to the door, the preacher held out the lily and said, “Where’s the body?”

Where’s the body, is an important question you and I have to determine the answer for ourselves.  I’m not talking about your mother-in-law (LOL), but about Jesus.

That question of where’s the body is an easy one to answer if you are talking about Jesus’ body, because it is not in the tomb. In Luke chapter 24, we find this Man named Jesus who was dead, but He didn’t stay that way. This portion of the Easter narrative really starts with His crucifixion, death, and burial with a large stone covering His tomb, and soldiers guarding His body so that it would remain there, in the grave.  

Bright and early on that first Easter morning, ladies went to the tomb to finish the embalming process which was started on Friday afternoon. They came not looking for a risen Savior; rather they came looking for a dead body. But when they got there, they found something beyond all their expectations.  They found that the stone had been rolled away and the body was no longer there. Then two angels asked the ladies, “Why do you look for the Living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen."

Verse 11 tells us these ladies ran to tell the eleven disciples, but they refused to believe because their words seemed like nonsense. This was the same picture for two men who were walking to a village called Emmaus talking back and forth about what happened. They were likewise perplexed over the way things had transpired over the past few days. They had expected a Savior who was much different than what Jesus ended up being. They were expecting a political Savior, someone to deliver them from their earthly enemies. Thus, they wanted a military and political type figure, not someone who came to save them from their sins. Therefore, when Jesus died, they lost all hope. They didn't understand that Jesus' death offered the greatest hope possible. However, their minds were made up and spiritually their eyes were closed to the truth.

Throughout our society, people are taught that the Bible is a bunch of fairy tales. That it is impossible for miracles to occur and therefore, Jesus could not possibly have been raised from the dead. Only a child would be that gullible to believe things like that.

Much of our society is just like the two individuals on the road to Emmaus for verse 16 (NASB) says that their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. These guys were so preoccupied with their own thoughts that they couldn’t even tell who was walking and talking with them.

They had seen His great miracles and heard His teaching. Yet they still refused to open their eyes. Their hearts were hardened to the truth. So then Jesus basically said, “Hey guys; wake up. Look at what you’re saying has happened. Look at what the Old Testament stated would happen to the Savior. And then finally after a long period of time, their eyes were finally opened to who Jesus was.

This reminds me of Genesis 2:21 which says that God put man into a deep sleep then He created woman. The only problem is that Scripture never says that God woke the man back up. :)

A person who has honest doubts will do their homework to find out the truth. They will research the topic from both sides before making a decision.  And quite frankly, I encourage you to do the same. Are you sure you know who Jesus really is? I encourage you to openly and honestly examine what is told about this and seek to determine what is true and accurate. This is the most important decision which you will ever make. So do your homework.

Now when we examine the evidence about Jesus what do we find? What evidence do we have about who Jesus is in the passage we just examined?

Exhibit A we find is the empty tomb. All four of the Gospels record this. The tomb is vacant. Furthermore, if you look at what is recorded in Matthew 28:11-15, you will find something very interesting.  There we learn the soldiers who were guarding the tomb reported to the chief priests that it was indeed empty. And then when the chief priests found out, how did they respond? They bribed the guards to say that Jesus’ disciples stole His body while they were asleep. Question, if they were asleep, how did they know who it was that took the body?

Furthermore, let’s consider who these chief priests were that the guards were reporting to. These guys were some of the most powerful people in the entire world at that time. They had all the money, all the man power and all the abilities necessary to conduct the world’s largest manhunt in human history. Think about this, all the chief priests would have had to have done, is found Jesus’ body, displayed it publically, and guess what, no more Christianity. It would be over. Christianity would not exist today. Yet they never even attempted to find His body. Why? Because they knew for a fact that Jesus did rise from the dead, period. He is risen; He is risen indeed! That is exhibit A which a person needs to consider when questioning who Jesus is. The tomb is empty and there was no manhunt to find His body.

Exhibit B is found back in Luke chapter 24, verses 25-27. There we learn about all the prophecies pointing to who Jesus is. One resource which I found listed a meager 313 Old Testament prophecies concerning who this Messiah figure would be, and all of them were perfectly fulfilled in One man named Jesus.

Exhibit C is eye witness accounts. 1 Corinthians 15:6 tells us that Jesus appeared to more than 500 people at one time. Now it is possible to fool 1 or 2 people, but not 500 all at the same time. Plus, He also appeared to various individuals over a 40 day period of time. It wasn’t just a onetime occurrence. Thus, exhibit C, more eye witnesses than you can shake a stick at. 

Exhibit D, transformed lives. Some of the individuals whom Jesus appeared to were adamantly opposed to Christianity. In fact Jesus’ own brother, James, didn’t believe in Him at all prior to seeing his Brother resurrected. Yet, after Jesus appeared to him, he became the leader of the Christian Church in Jerusalem, plus he wrote the book in our Bibles named after himself.

Then we can also look at the life of Saul from Tarsus. Saul persecuted Christians; in fact he was responsible for the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Saul sought out Christians to put them in prison and to kill them. Yet when Jesus appears to him on the road to Damascus, his life was completely and totally changed. And his name was changed from Saul to Paul. Maybe you’ve heard of this guy named Apostle Paul before, the man who became the foremost evangelist and missionary that we read about in much of the New Testament. So Exhibit D is transformed lives.

Exhibit E is Biblical support.  Some say you can’t trust the Bible because it’s loaded with errors. Yet the truth of the matter is that there are over 5,400 collaborating New Testament manuscripts proving its authenticity. And there are 39 non-Christian ancient sources documenting the life of Jesus, listing more than 100 reported facts concerning Jesus’ life, teaching, crucifixion, and resurrection. Think about that, even non-believing historians support what the New Testament says. Thus, God’s Word is reliable, period.

Therefore, I encourage you to examine the evidence with an open mind, allowing the evidence to direct what you believe. And for me, the evidence speaks for itself, Jesus Christ did in fact rise from the dead and He is alive this morning. He is risen; He is risen indeed! He is uncontainable! He is unstoppable! He is the undefeated Savior of the world.

So what difference does it make that Jesus is exactly who He says He is? It means everything! He is the Savior of our past. Sin is a disease beyond human cure. It is incurable like AIDS today but much worse. It’s a cancer which we cannot cure by ourselves. And it’s something which all of us have. Scripture says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This disease known as sin will eventually bring death. But, because of what happened some 2,000 years ago, as Jesus took the punishment which you and I both deserve on the cross and rose from the dead, we can have assurance of our salvation. We can be guaranteed that our sins are washed away. As far as the east is from the west, so far can He remove all our sin and shame.

He can save you from your present, giving you purpose and direction in life. And He can save you for eternity giving you a hope that stretches beyond the grave. Just like Jesus Himself said, “Because I live, you also will live.” Therefore, I encourage you to experience Jesus, the uncontainable, unstoppable and undefeated Savior of the world.

In His service,

Matt

Elder’s Corner: Baseball and Attitude

 I turned on the radio after church last Sunday and heard the familiar voice of Mike Shannon doing a Cardinal's broadcast.  It sounded so good and reminded me that things are getting back to “normal.”

It also reminded me of my favorite baseball quote:  “Every strike I take is one pitch closer to a home run.” --Babe Ruth.    

Most of life is about how our attitudes effect how we decide to view our purpose for being here.  Why were you born in this generation, in this particular place on the planet?   People born in different places and different periods of time in history have all had to answer that question— “Why am I here?”

When I get a chance to reflect on the “purpose of life”, it always comes back to my relationship with my Creator.  Does God have a purpose for my existence?  You Bet!  And when I'm in tune with allowing His purpose to be my purpose, I'm most content and most at peace.  The world tries to get us into the mentality to think of ourselves first (just think about TV commercials), when God tries to get us to think of others first.  We should be willing to try His advice, after all He thought about us first instead of Himself when He allowed His Son to suffer on our behalf. 

“For you have been called for this very purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.  Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth, and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously, and he Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:21-24 NASB).  

So when you are lying there on your death bed and asking yourself “Did I make a difference?” I hope you can answer “Yes.”  I also hope you know that every bad circumstance that comes your way means you're one pitch closer to a home run.   

--Alan

Attitude—The Difference Maker #13: The Greatest Obstacle

 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Pro. 16:18).

Perhaps the biggest obstacle that a person has to be able to overcome in maintaining a positive attitude is dealing with failure. Rick Warren said, “The fear of failure is a universal fear–it is often more detrimental than the failure itself. If you never learn how to disarm it, you’ll miss all that God wants to do in your life.” Now sometimes we don’t always realize the things that we are fearful of. Perhaps some of you don’t think that you have a fear of failure. Thus, I would like you to consider the following questions.

 

1. Do you ever worry about what other people think about you?

2. Do you ever worry about your ability to go after a dream or desire that is in your heart? But maybe you have thought, “I don’t know if I could do that.”

3. Do you ever worry that people will lose interest in you? Maybe it is a spouse, friend, or employer.

4. Do you ever worry that people will think you are not smart or competent? Thus, you need to hide because you don’t want people to think that you are not smart.

5. Do you ever worry about disappointing people whose opinion you value?

6. Have you ever told anybody beforehand that you don’t expect to succeed at something in order to lower their expectations?

7. Do you ever get last minute headaches, stomach aches, or other physical symptoms while preparing for something that you think is important?

8. Do you tend to procrastinate and run out of time when you have to prepare for something?

 

If you answered yes to any one of these questions, then you struggle with the fear of failure. Now, no matter how successful you are in some areas of your life, there are other areas that you fail at. In fact, you fail in more areas of your life than you succeed. And that is true of all of us. No one can be good at everything. We can only be really good at a few things. Thus, most things in life you are not good at. In those areas you are a failure.

So we don’t want others to know about those things. Why? Because most people tend to be very preoccupied with the opinions of others. This is a reality for the majority of us. We worry about what other people, especially those we are closest to or admire the most think. If we don’t measure up in their eyes, then we are a failure.

According to the Bible, none of us measure up in God’s eyes; we are all failures (Rom. 3:10-26). However, that is the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to save us from our failures, specifically our sin failures. It is important to note that not every failure is sin, but every sin that we commit is a failure. The Bible says that Jesus came to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). In John 6:40 Jesus says, “For My Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”  Therefore, instead of being preoccupied with the opinions of others, we can focus on Jesus, and His perfect love for us that casts out all our fears, including our fear of failure.

The second key from this scene that can help us to overcome our fear of failure is to accept wise counsel. Often times, our pride prevents us from accepting godly counsel. This was the case with Solomon’s son King Rehoboam.

When Rehoboam became king, the people asked him to lighten the heavy load that his father Solomon had placed them under. At this, Rehoboam did the right thing in seeking out the counsel of others. However, the problem was that he chose to accept the advice of those who told him what he wanted to hear. Thus, he accepted the advice of his friends and rejected the advice of the godly men who had been a part of his father’s cabinet. Then as a result of refusing to accept wise counsel, Rehoboam lost much of his kingdom. This is why it is important to seek out Godly counsel, spend time praying about the matter, examining what Scripture has to say, and then leaving the results in the Lord’s hands.

The third thing that tends to lead people to a fear of failure, again, it is a result of pride. And that is, ignoring the power of prayer. James 4:2 says, “You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.” Anytime we don’t take things to God in prayer, we are naturally setting ourselves up for failure.

The fourth thing that tends to lead people to a fear of failure, again is a result of pride. And that is, depending on one’s own strength. Paul had to learn this the hard way. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 tells us how Paul suffered great hardships, even to the point that he didn’t know if he was going to survive it. Yet all of that was a learning lesson so that he and those with him would stop relying on themselves and learn to rely only on God, who raises the dead.

Elsewhere Paul talked about the Lord giving him a thorn in the flesh to keep him from becoming conceited. In this, I think that it is interesting to note how Paul was hindered from earthly success by his thorn in the flesh. Yet ultimately, as a result, he would stop depending upon his own strength and instead upon the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. So for Paul, he eventually learned that things are not always as they appear and, according to God’s standard, he was strongest whenever he appeared to be weakest.

Therefore, he said in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  So how does one stop depending upon their own strength and instead depend upon the Lord? It begins by realizing your need for Jesus. You and I need Him at every moment of the day. Scripture tells us that apart from Jesus we can do nothing (John 15:5).

Lastly, if you want to overcome the fear of failure, and even overcome your failures, you need to end the habit of procrastination and quitting before you succeed. Often times we are so close to success. Yet we either procrastinate in the matter or quit right before the breakthrough would have happened. Whenever we procrastinate, or we quit before we achieve the success that we are searching for, we are guaranteed to fail. We could literally talk about tons of people who failed over and over and over again in route to monumental success. People like Thomas Edison who failed 10,000 in trying to create the lightbulb. Or how about General George Washington who lost 2/3 of all the battles that he fought against in the British in the American Revolution.

If he would have quit, we may still be a part of Great Britain today. Or we could talk about Babe Ruth. Did you know that not only did Babe Ruth lead the league in homeruns, but he also lead the league in his number of strike outs. Or how about Michael Jordan who was cut from his high school basketball team, yet he became one of the greatest players to ever play the game. How was that possible? Because Michael Jordan refused to accept failure as an option. He endured through the failures.

Similarly, we could talk about several individuals in the Bible who experienced great failures: Noah, Moses, David, Jeremiah, Paul, etc. Yet they are remembered as successful on account of the Lord’s help, and their determination to not give up. Proverbs 24:16 says it like this. “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.” And Galatians 6:9 says it like this, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Therefore, knowing these things we can, with God’s help, overcome our fear of failure as we humbly submit to Him.

In His service,

Matt