What's the big deal about Easter?
I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Galatians 2:21
We celebrated Easter earlier in April, commemorating the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I always find it interesting that Christmas always gets more secular fanfare than Easter does. But when you understand the reason behind this phenomenon – the fact that Christmas is a time that boosts commercial transactions, feeding the bottom line of our market driven economy – it is not surprising to see why Easter is almost relegated to “that other Christian holiday” status. It is ironic that even non-believers celebrate Christmas, as it is a time of good cheer for all. But when you examine the spiritual facts behind both holidays, you would realize that Easter (or Resurrection weekend as some Christians call it) should trump Easter in significance. During Christmas, we celebrate the birthday of our Savior; during Easter, we celebrate the purpose of our Savior. Yes, Jesus came to show us what God’s love looks like in person; yes, He came to perform miracles and heal the sick and set captives free; but ultimately, He was destined for the cross as the only complete sacrifice possible for our sins, the only source of genuine hope. And in His resurrection, we have the hope that we worship a living Savior who constantly intercedes for us.
When it is all said and done, there are only two ways of trying to be accepted by God or your “god”. All religious beliefs can be broken down into one of two categories: You can either by faith accept the free gift of salvation and love through Jesus Christ, or you can toil endlessly on a performance treadmill trying to gain favor from your god. I choose the former method, because when I come face to face with my own foibles, sins and fallibility, I realize that I need a place where my acceptance is not based on how well I perform. The only place where I know you can get this kind of love is from God through Jesus. Yes, we Christians often do a poor job at exemplifying what this agape (or unconditional) love really looks like, with our pious platitudes and prideful claims of “I would never do something like that..” We walk through the door of grace and then foolishly think that we somehow earned our spot in the kingdom; we enter the kingdom by grace, then negate this grace by trying to secure our spot by works – instead of being motivated to do what we do by God’s love. I will say it quite emphatically, grace and works are NOT compatible, and you cannot embrace both at the same time: it is either one or the other. You either accept that this life and all that is great about it is a gift from God, or you arrogantly stick your chest out and say “I earned all of this!” You can’t have it both ways. Unfortunately, It often takes the trials and difficulties of life to humble us into the realization that we are who we are because of Jesus and Jesus alone. We have made the Christian walk so complicated with our endless formulas, endless doctrines and lists of dos and don’ts, but it all comes down to one thing and one thing only: being broken by the Law into an acceptance of God’s grace through Jesus. It’s just that simple. The degree to which we appreciate this message will be reflected in all we do.
We reject this notion of God’s grace – albeit subconsciously – because of stubborn pride. In a “do it yourself” world, we are convinced that somehow our talents and our competence bring us praise in God’s sight. But when we come to understand what the full implications of the Gospel really are, we are in so much awe of God’s love that we want others to experience the same thing. Why have we replaced the essence of the Christian life with petty religion? Because that is what we are used to, and it makes us feel like we have accomplished something on our own (this is the essence of “pride”). But when we can fully relax in the fullness of Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross, knowing that in His resurrection lies all that we need (our identity, our hope, our life), we can say without a shadow of a doubt, "I am God’s child, secure in being and purpose because of our Savior".
Bruce Bawer has a powerful quote in his book titled "Stealing Jesus: How fundamentalism betrays Christianity". Here is what he says:
"Why after all do (should) we become Christians? Because we think God is going to love us more than he loves non-Christians and will give us a ticket to eternity that he denies to them ? Because we think he'll give us everything we want and solve our problems exactly the way we want him to? No. We become Christians because we can't help becoming Christians - because we've fallen helplessly in love with what Jesus is about. We become Christians knowing that God loves non-Christians every bit as much as he loves us and knowing that in our baptismal covenant we promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons and to respect the dignity of every human being. We become Christians knowing that some of the most Christlike people in our society are atheists and that some people who call themselves Christians have made the term a synonym for horrible things. We become Christians knowing what a lie it is to suggest that any of us is a model of Christian love. We become Christians knowing that even if we're sinful, God will love us and forgive us - but precisely because we do know that we struggle not to be sinful. And we struggle , and we struggle, and we struggle"
Very poignant words. When I think of why I am a Christian, my answer is simply "Because only in Jesus do I find a real reason to go on in my darkest hours of despair". Only in Jesus do I find acceptance in the midst of my faults and addictive tendencies. Have you discovered this God of grace, or are you still worshipping the idol of works?
I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Galatians 2:21
We celebrated Easter earlier in April, commemorating the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I always find it interesting that Christmas always gets more secular fanfare than Easter does. But when you understand the reason behind this phenomenon – the fact that Christmas is a time that boosts commercial transactions, feeding the bottom line of our market driven economy – it is not surprising to see why Easter is almost relegated to “that other Christian holiday” status. It is ironic that even non-believers celebrate Christmas, as it is a time of good cheer for all. But when you examine the spiritual facts behind both holidays, you would realize that Easter (or Resurrection weekend as some Christians call it) should trump Easter in significance. During Christmas, we celebrate the birthday of our Savior; during Easter, we celebrate the purpose of our Savior. Yes, Jesus came to show us what God’s love looks like in person; yes, He came to perform miracles and heal the sick and set captives free; but ultimately, He was destined for the cross as the only complete sacrifice possible for our sins, the only source of genuine hope. And in His resurrection, we have the hope that we worship a living Savior who constantly intercedes for us.
When it is all said and done, there are only two ways of trying to be accepted by God or your “god”. All religious beliefs can be broken down into one of two categories: You can either by faith accept the free gift of salvation and love through Jesus Christ, or you can toil endlessly on a performance treadmill trying to gain favor from your god. I choose the former method, because when I come face to face with my own foibles, sins and fallibility, I realize that I need a place where my acceptance is not based on how well I perform. The only place where I know you can get this kind of love is from God through Jesus. Yes, we Christians often do a poor job at exemplifying what this agape (or unconditional) love really looks like, with our pious platitudes and prideful claims of “I would never do something like that..” We walk through the door of grace and then foolishly think that we somehow earned our spot in the kingdom; we enter the kingdom by grace, then negate this grace by trying to secure our spot by works – instead of being motivated to do what we do by God’s love. I will say it quite emphatically, grace and works are NOT compatible, and you cannot embrace both at the same time: it is either one or the other. You either accept that this life and all that is great about it is a gift from God, or you arrogantly stick your chest out and say “I earned all of this!” You can’t have it both ways. Unfortunately, It often takes the trials and difficulties of life to humble us into the realization that we are who we are because of Jesus and Jesus alone. We have made the Christian walk so complicated with our endless formulas, endless doctrines and lists of dos and don’ts, but it all comes down to one thing and one thing only: being broken by the Law into an acceptance of God’s grace through Jesus. It’s just that simple. The degree to which we appreciate this message will be reflected in all we do.
We reject this notion of God’s grace – albeit subconsciously – because of stubborn pride. In a “do it yourself” world, we are convinced that somehow our talents and our competence bring us praise in God’s sight. But when we come to understand what the full implications of the Gospel really are, we are in so much awe of God’s love that we want others to experience the same thing. Why have we replaced the essence of the Christian life with petty religion? Because that is what we are used to, and it makes us feel like we have accomplished something on our own (this is the essence of “pride”). But when we can fully relax in the fullness of Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross, knowing that in His resurrection lies all that we need (our identity, our hope, our life), we can say without a shadow of a doubt, "I am God’s child, secure in being and purpose because of our Savior".
Bruce Bawer has a powerful quote in his book titled "Stealing Jesus: How fundamentalism betrays Christianity". Here is what he says:
"Why after all do (should) we become Christians? Because we think God is going to love us more than he loves non-Christians and will give us a ticket to eternity that he denies to them ? Because we think he'll give us everything we want and solve our problems exactly the way we want him to? No. We become Christians because we can't help becoming Christians - because we've fallen helplessly in love with what Jesus is about. We become Christians knowing that God loves non-Christians every bit as much as he loves us and knowing that in our baptismal covenant we promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons and to respect the dignity of every human being. We become Christians knowing that some of the most Christlike people in our society are atheists and that some people who call themselves Christians have made the term a synonym for horrible things. We become Christians knowing what a lie it is to suggest that any of us is a model of Christian love. We become Christians knowing that even if we're sinful, God will love us and forgive us - but precisely because we do know that we struggle not to be sinful. And we struggle , and we struggle, and we struggle"
Very poignant words. When I think of why I am a Christian, my answer is simply "Because only in Jesus do I find a real reason to go on in my darkest hours of despair". Only in Jesus do I find acceptance in the midst of my faults and addictive tendencies. Have you discovered this God of grace, or are you still worshipping the idol of works?
posted by Stephen O. | 11:18 AM
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