Dear Readers,
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
There is so much truth contained in that age old Easter greeting. In the Lutheran tradition and practice, the above sentences are said from the Pastor to members and from the members back to the Pastor as a form of greeting. This greeting is packed full of truth. It is true that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. "How do you know that?" some people may ask. Some continue, "After all, the only evidence is a book that was written by men. Men are sinful, so therefore the product of their writing must also be sinful. It's not a reliable witness for the truth."
My reply to a statement like that is, "The truth of the matter is, I can't 'prove' what happened to Jesus with any sources outside of the Bible. But the truth of the resurrection is not dependent upon evidence outside the Bible. The truth of the resurrection is dependent upon what is contained inside the Bible. I use a phrase to describe my understanding and belief in the truth. That is, "If it's in the Bible, and God inspired sinful men to write God's truth, then God can inspire the writer to write the truth without any errors or fabrication." To me, the truth that the resurrection happened is contained in God's Word. Now I must ask a related question, "Why is it necessary for the resurrection to be true?"
The resurrection must be true, as St. Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 15, "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the first fruits; afterward, at His coming, the people of Christ. Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when He abolishes all rule and all authority and power. ..." (1st Corinthians 15:20-24 Christian Standard Version) What Paul says for us is, if Christ didn't rise from the dead, then our faith is of no value. Paul also says that Christ did raise from the dead. It is true. There is no doubt.
And Christ's resurrection leaves us with such a great joy. Christ's resurrection guarantees that we will rise with Him. Christ's resurrection guarantees that we live with Him is great grace and mercy, until we are raised from the dead. And finally, Christ's resurrection guarantees that we, who are sinful by birth are forgiven by Jesus' death and a new life was created for us when Jesus rose from the grave.
And the greeting that we use is an exclamation point to emphasize the truth. The truth of, "Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!"
Monday, April 13, 2009
Monday, April 06, 2009
Going Back to the Roots
Dear Reader,
I'm going to change my train of thought today from what I have been doing. I looked at the title of the blog, "And the truth shall set you free." I realized that I haven't been focusing on that theme in many of my previous posts. Don't get me wrong, the truth of what I've shared with you, does set you free. Yet I haven't been as deliberate to point that out as perhaps I should have.
That is going to change today, and I pray, for the future posts of this blog.
It is my belief that a fundamental part of who is God is that He is truthful. The Bible is full of God being truthful. God didn't, and doesn't, have a whole lot of tact. As a matter of fact, God is extremely blunt. God isn't "politically correct." God is painfully truthful. And that is good for all of us. We need people to be painfully truthful with us, don't we? We need brutal truth sometimes because we will never grow out of our comfort zones, we will not mature without some painful, brutal truth. We may not like it. We probably won't want it. But it's not a matter of want. It is a matter of need. We need God to be brutally honest and truthful with us. We need ourselves to be brutally honest with ourselves.
Please, please, please, do not misinterpret me. I do not want to convey the truth of God as "mean," "angry," "selectively punishing groups of people." God wants us to know that He is not mean, nor angry, nor punishing a certain group of people. God is just, right, and sent His punishment for sin on a SINGLE PERSON. That single person is His Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible presents the truth of God and what God ultimately wants from all of us. It is written down in the book of John, chapter three.
There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Him [Jesus] at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him." Jesus replied, "I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." "But how can anyone be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked Him. "Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?" Jesus answered, "I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit, is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it come from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." "How can these things be?" asked Nicodemus. "Are you a teach of Israel and don't know these things?" Jesus replied. "I assure you: We speak what We know and We testify to what We have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony. If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven? No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven - the Son of Man. Jesus as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, bu tha the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the ON and Only Son of God. This, then, is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deed were evil For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his woks may be shown to be accomplished by God." Christian Standard Version, John 3:1-21
Jesus was truthful about God's plan to Nicodemus, as well as to us. The Savior of the world is Jesus. God's wrath, judgment, and grief about sin was taken out upon Jesus, not us. God is not angry with us. God wants us to believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world. God wants us to live in His promises of life, light, and immortality. God wants us to live a joyous, praise filled, life that lives by means of the light of God. In other words, we follow the will and direction of God because of what Jesus did for us. This is the truth. This is the freedom that we have because of the truth.
So, from now on, I will be more deliberate in my presentation of the truth; the truth of God for our freedom from sin, death, and the power of Satan.
Talk to you soon, freed people.
I'm going to change my train of thought today from what I have been doing. I looked at the title of the blog, "And the truth shall set you free." I realized that I haven't been focusing on that theme in many of my previous posts. Don't get me wrong, the truth of what I've shared with you, does set you free. Yet I haven't been as deliberate to point that out as perhaps I should have.
That is going to change today, and I pray, for the future posts of this blog.
It is my belief that a fundamental part of who is God is that He is truthful. The Bible is full of God being truthful. God didn't, and doesn't, have a whole lot of tact. As a matter of fact, God is extremely blunt. God isn't "politically correct." God is painfully truthful. And that is good for all of us. We need people to be painfully truthful with us, don't we? We need brutal truth sometimes because we will never grow out of our comfort zones, we will not mature without some painful, brutal truth. We may not like it. We probably won't want it. But it's not a matter of want. It is a matter of need. We need God to be brutally honest and truthful with us. We need ourselves to be brutally honest with ourselves.
Please, please, please, do not misinterpret me. I do not want to convey the truth of God as "mean," "angry," "selectively punishing groups of people." God wants us to know that He is not mean, nor angry, nor punishing a certain group of people. God is just, right, and sent His punishment for sin on a SINGLE PERSON. That single person is His Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible presents the truth of God and what God ultimately wants from all of us. It is written down in the book of John, chapter three.
There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Him [Jesus] at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him." Jesus replied, "I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." "But how can anyone be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked Him. "Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?" Jesus answered, "I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit, is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it come from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." "How can these things be?" asked Nicodemus. "Are you a teach of Israel and don't know these things?" Jesus replied. "I assure you: We speak what We know and We testify to what We have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony. If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven? No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven - the Son of Man. Jesus as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, bu tha the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the ON and Only Son of God. This, then, is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deed were evil For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his woks may be shown to be accomplished by God." Christian Standard Version, John 3:1-21
Jesus was truthful about God's plan to Nicodemus, as well as to us. The Savior of the world is Jesus. God's wrath, judgment, and grief about sin was taken out upon Jesus, not us. God is not angry with us. God wants us to believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world. God wants us to live in His promises of life, light, and immortality. God wants us to live a joyous, praise filled, life that lives by means of the light of God. In other words, we follow the will and direction of God because of what Jesus did for us. This is the truth. This is the freedom that we have because of the truth.
So, from now on, I will be more deliberate in my presentation of the truth; the truth of God for our freedom from sin, death, and the power of Satan.
Talk to you soon, freed people.
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