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Easter Sunday, April 20
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be firm, unmovable, abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
The day that changed history began like any other. The sun arose over the Holy City as millions were still crowded into Jerusalem from Passover. The death of Jesus of Nazareth was not an unusual event—Rome cruci ed its enemies and insurrectionists all the time. The authorities were certain that their plot had succeeded, that this upstart was dead and gone. But with that single sunrise, the crucifi ed carpenter became the resurrected Lord.
The stone rolled over his grave was but a pebble compared to the Rock of Ages inside. Battle-hardened soldiers trembled and fainted. Cowardly disciples became fearless apostles. A fledgling band of frightened followers became the mightiest movement the world has ever seen. Eleven men became more than two billion believers today. All because of Easter.
His disciples' changed lives are testimony to the reality of the resurrection. Men who denied Christ to servants now preached him to the highest authorities in the land. People don't die for a lie, but more than a million Christians died in the fi rst generations of their movement, all of them for the One they knew to be their risen Lord. I have met him for myself, and can testify that he is who he says he is: the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. On the day he returns to this planet, all will know it's true.
Does the world see the risen Christ in you?
What God's word means
The longest chapter in any of Paul's letters is devoted to the most revolutionary and foundational subject the apostle ever addressed. After defending the logic and relevance of Jesus' resurrection, Paul concludes: Therefore, dear ("beloved") brothers (a term that includes all Christians, whether men or women), be rm ("be steadfast"), unmovable ("unable to be moved by any force"), abounding ("giving yourselves fully and unconditionally") always in the work ("labor, tasks, occupation") of the Lord.
The Corinthians can make such a complete commitment to Christ as their King knowing ("having full understanding that") your labor ("trouble, diffi culty, toil") in the Lord is not in vain ("is not empty"). Why Easter matters If Jesus was not raised from the dead, there would be no Christians and no Christianity. Because he was raised from the dead, his followers soon "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6, KJV). Now you and I can know that our labor in the Lord is known, received, and rewarded by our living King. We can know that the cost of serving Jesus is always outweighed by its benefi ts. We cannot measure the eternal signi - cance of present faithfulness.
How to respond
Historian Philip Scha ff:
"This Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mohammed, and Napoleon; without science and learning, He shed more light on things human and divine than all philosophers and scholars combined; without the eloquence of schools, He spoke such words of life as were never spoken before or since, and produced e ects which lie beyond the reach of orator or poet; without writing a single line, He set more pens in motion, and furnished themes for more sermons, orations, discussions, learned volumes, works of art, and songs of praise than the whole army of great men of ancient and modern times."
Peter Marshall noted: "No tabloid will ever print the startling news that the mummifi ed body of Jesus of Nazareth has been discovered in old Jerusalem. Christians have no carefully embalmed body enclosed in a glass case to worship. Thank God, we have an empty tomb. The glorious fact that the empty tomb proclaims to us is that life for us does not stop when death comes. Death is not a wall, but a door." Now you and I are invited to step through that door to the abundant life Jesus o ffers us, in this life and the next (John 10:10). We are invited to make the crucifi ed Christ the King of our lives, every moment of every day. When we consider what he did for us, the love he showed us at Calvary and at Easter, how can we do less?"
F. M. Lehman wrote these wonderfully poetic words about God's love shown at Easter:
"The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And rescued from his sin."
But the best words to the hymn are the third stanza, written not by a famous poet but found on the walls of a mental asylum. Before the man who lived there died, he somehow came to know God's passionate love for him. And so he wrote,
"Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky."
Philip Yancey notes: "Sociologists have a theory of the looking-glass self: you become what the most important person in your life (wife, father, boss, etc.) thinks you are. How would my life change if I truly believed the Bible's astounding words about God's love for me, if I looked in the mirror and saw what God sees?"
How would yours?
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