Not Me!

Well, another Easter celebration has come and gone and as always, I am amazed at the love God demonstrated to us when He sent His Son to this world as a baby and to live a sinless life and to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins! And then wonder of wonders, He raised Him from the tomb and defeated the power of death and sin! The empty tomb really does say all that needs to be said about God's love.



As usual, I taught a pre-school Sunday School on Easter. Anita and I attended the early worship, which was really great and then I taught 4-year olds. The weather was very cold and rainy, so attendance was very low. This resulted in a very small Sunday School class, which was nice because I was able to interact individually with the children. I am a firm believer that children are never too young to learn Biblical truths and to begin to understand the basics of the Gospel. So, Easter is always a great time to talk about the resurrection and yes, the crucifixion. I am always careful not to be overly graphic about the agony of the cross, but I do explain that Jesus had to die on the cross for the "bad things" we have done in our lives. Yesterday, as I talked about this, I made the statement that we had all done things that were not right and had disobeyed God. As I let this sink in, one little boy cocked his head and looked at me and said, "Not me! I've never done anything wrong!" Now, coming from any 4-year old, this would be quite a stretch. However, this particular little boy is 100% boy and I suspect that God got quite a chuckle over this! Obviously, the Holy Spirit has a little more conviction to do on this one!

Emotions or Fact!

Well this will be my third or fourth post about Easter and the resurrection story. You might say I am obsessed with it...and that's a good thing! However, today my post is really about the picture of Easter that we get in many churches and certainly in the world in general. As I have had the opportunity to hear a number of "Easter sermons" on the radio the past two weeks, I began to think that in many of them, there was something missing. Oh they were nice talks about how Easter is a "second chance", or a time of rebirth, or a time for hope and from most of them I walked away, feeling a little better about myself. However, the one thing that I did not do was walk away from them with a deeper understanding of the reality of the gospel message. You see, the problem with most of those sermons I heard is that they are heavy on the emotions of Easter, but light on the reality. It is almost as if, like most things in our world we have traded in the Gospel for Gospel Lite - a gospel that doesn't confront us with the real awfulness of sin and the price for that sin and the holiness of God. The real problem, is that we want the gospel and the Easter story to be all about us when in reality it is about a holy God and a sacrificing Saviour and the grace extended from them to us. My pastor often says, "It's not about me!", and that is the truth.
In the early days of the church, believers knew that the Gospel was a reality. It was a historical fact that was recognized by all. The Jewish leaders tried to make it go away and the Gentiles denied it, but there were over 500 witnesses to the fact that Jesus Christ came out of the grave, alive! Historians of that time record the event just as historians of our day recorded the attack on the Twin Towers in New York. The facts of the event were never in doubt in the minds of most people. The phrase, "He is risen!" and "He is risen indeed!", were not just "Easter" catch phrases. They were significant statements of truth! In fact, they state the single-most important difference between the Christianity of the Bible and all other religions of the world - the tomb of our Lord is empty and the others are not!
So this Easter, as you contemplate the Easter story, I hope you will see that the Easter story is a factual event that does not rely on emotion or self-help sermons but on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and raised again. And remember, while Easter is emotional, it is even more importantly, factual! I pray that you would be richly blessed by the grace of our Lord this Easter!