This blog deals with
Christian living, disability, ethics,
Life Issues, a wonderful miracle,
and faith in Jesus Christ.
“Our once great western Christian civilization is dying. If this matters to followers of Jesus Christ, then we must set aside our denominational differences and work together to strengthen the things that remain and reclaim what has been lost. Evangelicals and Catholics must stand together to re-establish that former Christian culture and moral consensus. We have the numbers and the organization but the question is this: Do we have the will to win this present spiritual battle for Jesus Christ against secularism? Will we prayerfully and cooperatively work toward a new Christian spiritual revival ― or will we choose to hunker down in our churches and denominationalisms and watch everything sink into the spiritual and moral abyss of a New Dark Age?” - Mark Davis Pickup
Sunday, July 10, 2016
THE PIVOTAL POINT OF CHRISTIANITY
Have you ever been so heartbroken and your
hopes so shattered that you could scarcely consider what your future holds or
whether you even had a future? That is what it must have been like for the
disciples the day after Jesus was crucified.
They had placed their faith in him and
dared to hope he was the Messiah and there he lay dead in a tomb. The terrible
events of the previous day left them numb and heartsick. The raw grief within
the remaining 11 disciples must have felt like a gaping wound pulsating in
their chests.
And what about his mother? How could
they console Mary when they could not even console each other? The chief priests and teachers of the
law had mocked Jesus as he hung dying on the cross. They wagged their heads and
said, "He saved others; he cannot save himself."
Were they simply stating the bitter and
cruel truth? Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead but who would raise him from
the dead - or his followers? Jesus restored sight to the blind but now, because
of him, his followers were blinded by sorrow; for a time Jesus gave them a
wonderful vision of how life could be and now that vision was extinguished –
plunging them into a dark abyss of grief. Jesus healed broken bodies but what
about healing their broken hearts?
Their hope was gone . . . or so they
thought. Had the scoffers and cynics won? Had evil prevailed over good?
ROSE FROM THE DEAD
Then, early on that first day of the
week, something happened: the resurrection! Jesus came alive again and
physically rose from the dead. He appeared before them. It was not a
hallucination or a ghost. He had truly, physically come back from the dead.
Jesus was different, yet the same.
Natural laws did not seem to apply to him. He inexplicably appeared before them
even though they were in a locked room. The resurrected Jesus said, "Why
are you troubled? Why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and
my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have
flesh and bones as you can see I have." He showed them his hands and his
feet (Luke 24.36-40). The disciples were overjoyed.
Many people saw the risen Jesus, not
just the disciples. In fact, on one occasion Christ appeared to more than 500
people at the same time (1 Corinthians 15.6). The Book of Acts says the risen
Jesus not only appeared to many people but that he gave convincing proofs he
was alive prior to his ascension to heaven. Is it any wonder that the disciples
were unshakeable in their faith and resolve to spread the Gospel?
DIE FOR THEIR FAITH
Countless Christians of the early
Church preferred death in the most grisly ways to denying Christ. But we should
not limit our recognition of this fact of history to early Christendom;
millions of Christians throughout the last 2,000 years have been willing to die
for their faith in Jesus
Christ rather than renounce or betray Him. This
continues to this day with more Christians than ever suffering and dying for
their faith.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the
pivotal point upon which Christianity stands or falls. Did he rise from the
dead or not? If Jesus did not rise from the dead then Christianity is a fraud
and the millions of its martyrs have died in vain, and so is your faith and
mine too.
The Apostle Paul addressed this point
in 1 Corinthians 15.14-19. If Christ was not raised from the dead then we will
not be raised either and everyone who has died in Christ is lost.
We accept by faith that Jesus Christ
suffered and died to settle with God our problem of sin and evil. We believe in
his resurrection and even though we die too, we will experience resurrection of
our bodies in Christ when he comes again.
This means everything to me. Not only
can I anticipate
wholeness and freedom from disease and disability in the world
to come but I have found meaning to my present suffering in union with Christ's
suffering, and hope in his resurrection. Like Job, I know my Redeemer lives and
I long to see him from my flesh. As the Apostle's Creed proclaims, I believe in
the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. I shall see the resurrected
Jesus Christ face to face in heaven. I will rise. -- Mark [Click image below or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlHUKY3jBv0 for "I will rise" by Chris Tomlin, 5:01]
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