Easter Sunday devotion: Fact or Fantasy? Matthew 27:64

Matthew 27:64            “So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

 

This last deception will be worse than the first.

Do we realize that if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then all of our faith is a tragic lie and inhumane deception? Millions of people will have lived and died for their faith in Christ, but if He was not resurrected, then their lives and deaths will have been in vain. In my opinion, to actually be a Christian is to put all of your belief eggs in that one basket of faith; to be a disciple of Christ means that you truly have to believe that He rose from the dead.

The relevance of our faith all comes down to that one fact in history. If the resurrection never occurred, then Christians could be called the most stupid people in the whole universe. However, if the resurrection did occur, then the converse is actually true - Christians are the smartest people who have ever existed because their faith in Jesus will prove to be the most successful and eternally rewarding belief that has ever been given to humanity.

So, the question of faith seems to be this: either Jesus was deluded and Christianity is the biggest deception in history, or Jesus rose again and our mission is to broadcast that Good News to our families, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, neighbors, and even strangers. The choice about what we do with the Resurrection is ours; the challenge of its truth comes solely from God.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, as Christians we believe that You are the Savior of the world because You died for our sins and rose from the dead. We thank You for Your mercy and forgiveness. We praise You for Your glorious resurrection and heavenly ascension. We eagerly anticipate Your Coming again. In Your Holy Name, we expectantly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment about today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is one of John’s latest Christ drawings. It’s called “The Baptism” and is a crayon drawing of Christ being baptized in the Jordan with the Holy Spirit descending upon Him. If you would like to view a larger version, please click on the following link: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7194/6924951609_4fc7a8a94e_b.jpg

Church Meeting Devotions: Simple Church

2 Thessalonians 1:11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.


I had a coffee this morning with an old friend who belongs to another church. We talked about missions and ministries in the post-modern world, and what it means to be disciples in our local communities. My friend talked about deliberately growing smaller churches where members could concentrate on strengthening their faith and sharing the Gospel. He envisioned a simpler church where Christians would only be committed to short term projects instead of long term programs. Congregations would rediscover what the First Christians used to call “The Way,” – a much less complicated faith which brought people closer to Christ.

As he talked enthusiastically about this new “old style” church, I could only nod in agreement. Doing church has replaced being church. Pro-active membership has displaced prayerful commitment. Instead of giving our lives to God through Christ’s work, we want Christ to work at making our lives better. Rather than adding to our knowledge of God, we invent another program to add to our church schedules and bury our spirituality with busy-ness. Our congregations are smothered in satisfying our needs, instead of silently sitting at the feet of Jesus. In short, we have forgotten the Way and wearied our spirits.

It seems to me that God has called us to be congregations and churches to simply glorify Christ and share His Good News. Everything else is just fluff and merely burns out our exhausted souls. I think it’s about time we rediscovered the Way.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to climb out of the morass of church activity that we have painfully created for ourselves. Enable us to focus on a few faithful things that will simplify our commitment and lead to a better understanding of what You want us to fulfill. Keep us from over-extending our time and help us to find our way back to You through prayer, study, and worshipping. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.


John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message or ask a question, please contact him, by email at pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Today’s image is one of John’s latest drawings. It’s called “Jonquils for Julia” and depicts the first bloom of daffodils heralding that Spring is near. If you would like to view a larger version of the image, please click on the following link: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5059/5427279505_5ed72e7ac5_b.jpg