Easter 2014

Why is Easter such a big deal?

In short, without the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, nothing else matters: not the miracles, the healing, the feeding of 5000, not the amazing teaching, not the work of the disciples, the Virgin Birth.  Unless Jesus died and then rose from the dead then the rest of Jesus' life is just Vacation Bible School Fun Facts.

Annoying Christians.
We like to talk about Sin.  Your sin, our sin, the sin of the world.  We like to dig into it and let everyone know why they are bad.  It can be hard to take, but our intentions are good.  It really does come from a place of Love.  We talk about sin for a couple of reasons.  
      1.  It accurately describes the world around us.  Things are jacked up.  The world seems not quite right.  Other people seem awful and if we are honest, we see that our own hearts are incurably selfish.  Instead of shouting "Everything is Awesome.", we are forthright about what's broken in the world and our part in it.
      2.  If Christians are talking about Sin correctly, we are conveying that we are all in the same boat, we are all sinners.  Most of the time, though, it sounds like we are talking about how wrong everyone else is, and how right we are.  But the reality is that a true Christian will see that distance between the worst guy in the world and my sweet Grandma is not very far...we are all sinners.  
     3.  Sin acknowledges that we need a Savior.  It not only puts us in the same boat, but it explains why that boat is so far from God.  He wants to be near us, but in his perfection and our serious imperfection he cannot.  We need to be saved.  And the reason we need to be saved is so we can be clean, cleared of this sin and near our Creator.  People don't like to be in need, they don't want a savior, they want to do it all themselves, they don't trust God and they resist the notion of Sin.  This resistance, is also because of sin.

Mercy. 
God could just wipe everything out.  The fact that we are still here, in spite of sin, is mercy.  Justice is that we all get wiped out, Mercy is that we continue to exist.  

Grace.  
But God didn't stop there.  He came here to make a way for us to be saved.  He came to show us love, give signs of his divinity but most important, he came to make a way out of this Sin struggle.  We inherently understand the terms of sacrifice because we have Justice written in our very being.  Do you ever ask yourself why you crave fairness, why injustice is so sickening?  If we understand Sin, even a little, then we will understand that a price has to be paid.  The Cross is this price.  On a cosmic scale, it is that point in a movie where the Villain is about to kill the child and then the hero steps in and says, "Take me instead".  We get sacrifice because we understand injustice.  But God blows our understanding out of the water, when he himself steps in.  We can't quite comprehend it.  We are left with this inescapable choice in life.  He leaves us no out.  Either we accept this is true or we reject it.  Either Jesus is God, or Not.  Either he is my Savior or I choose my own route.  Either he died that we might be with him in eternity or it's just Time+Matter+Chance.

Resurrection.  
People like to call Jesus a great teacher, a powerful leader, an amazing figure in History that changed the world.  But they do not like to call him what he is: God.  This is why the Resurrection matters, why everything hinges on it.  It declares God's victory over death, over sin, and points to our life eternal, with him.  It is the point in history that allows for everything to be made right.  We clearly aren't there yet, he has to come again, but without Jesus rising from the dead, all things being made right cannot happen.  When Jesus died, all his believers ran scared, scattered and went into hiding.  But when Jesus came back, we have 12 clumsy men ready to change the world with their message of Salvation for all for those who believe: The Gospel: The Good News.  If Jesus didn't rise for the dead, he is just a nut job cult leader who said he was God and not worth following.  If he did, well what does that mean to you?  Who do you say he is?

He is asking...What's your answer?  If he didn't love you, he wouldn't ask.

John 14