CLICK HERE for a free copy of Dr. Denison's 2014 Advent Devotional (in a downloadable/printable Adobe .pdf file)
Wednesday, March 19
If in this life alone we have hope in Christ, we are more to be pitied than all men ... (1 Corinthians 15:19)
William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, once took a group of volunteers through an extensive training course lasting many weeks. When it was done he said to them, "I'm sorry our training took so long. If I could take you to hell for ve minutes, none of what I've taught you would be necessary."
A calendar once depicted General Booth in a boat, his hand out to a man drowning in the water. One of his grandchildren saw the painting and asked, "Is granddad helping that man, or shaking hands with him?" What would the lost people you know say you're doing for them today?
What God's word means
If Jesus was not raised from the dead, we could still follow him as a great teacher and religious leader. This is how 1.6 billion Muslims view their Prophet Mohammed, and how Buddhists view the founder of their religion. In that case, we would still have hope ("place our expectation and trust") in ("on") Christ, though the results of this faith would be experienced in this life alone. Why, then, are we to be pitied ("miserable, the object of pity") more than ("above the state of") all men ("every person")? For at least two reasons.
First, if our Lord did not rise from the dead, we follow a liar. Jesus told the authorities that if they killed him he would be raised from the dead (John 2:18-22), a claim they rejected and later used against him (Mark 14:58). If Easter did not happen, they were right and Jesus was wrong. Christians would be inferior to followers of other religions, since no other religious leader promised that he would be resurrected.
Second, without Easter we endure opposition for nothing. Jesus has been widely acclaimed across history as a great moral teacher. If we limit our claims for him to this status, the world will agree and a rm our commitment. It is our insistence that he is the only risen and true Lord that con icts with "tolerance" and pluralism, then and today. Missionaries around the world could be welcomed as educators and benefactors if they would proclaim Christ as one teacher among many. Millions of believers have died because they refused such "tolerant" heresy, insisting that "Jesus is Lord."
Why Easter matters
Without the resurrection, Christianity is a failed religion which Christians are fools for believing. At best, Jesus would be a deluded leader; at worst, a liar and charlatan. But Easter is a fact, not a fantasy. Jesus' dead body was raised from the grave. As we have seen, the evidence for his resurrection is overwhelming. Apologist Norman Geisler's popular book says it well: "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist."11 The resurrection of Jesus means that we have hope both in this life and in eternity.
How to respond
Now the shoe is on the other foot—it is non-Christians who are to be pitied, not believers. Those who reject the gospel have refused their only hope of salvation. Jesus clearly stated, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Peter was adamant: "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Jesus is the only way to heaven because he is the only Person who has ever died for our sins. No one else lived a sinless life, so no one else could die in our place. Their death would pay the debt for their own sins, with no merit left for us. God is not intolerant in requiring faith in Christ—there is simply no other way he can forgive our sins and grant us eternal life in his perfect paradise.
The good news is that this one way to heaven works for every person who will trust it. This one key opens every locked door; this one chemotherapy cures every cancer. If you have not asked Jesus to forgive your sins and become your Lord, please accept his o er of saving grace today. If you have, please share this gift with someone else.
View non-Christians with pity and compassion. View evangelism and ministry not as imposing your beliefs on others but as giving them a gift they desperately need. If every person on the planet was dying of some horrible pandemic virus and you had the only cure, wouldn't you share it with everyone you could?
Which non-Christian will you pray for now? With whom will you share God's love today?
No comments:
Post a Comment