Jesus

Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? He is Risen; He is Risen Indeed!

Every year my wife and I cast aside the suburban shackles and do something that in our world is truly adventurous: a six hundred mile road trip to GeeGee’s house with an SUV full of kids. From the windows of our traveling roadshow we enjoy the skyscrapers of Dallas, the Cracker Barrel of Abilene, the windmills of Sweetwater, the corny dogs of Post, and of course the aliens of Area 51, Roswell, NM. Ever been to Roswell? There are t-shirt shops, hotels, souvenirs, alien burgers, all based on a tale that ET landed and the USA covered it up.

Every year around this time. My mailbox fills up with postcards inviting me to easter egg hunts, walkthrough adventures, iPad giveaways, and church services. There are musicals, movies, parties, dresses, bonnets, baskets, waxy eggs with hardened sugar inside and chocolate rabbits with creepy little edible eyes. All of this activity is based on the tale that 2000 years ago a man named Jesus died and rose again.

It leads me to a simple question: Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

Christian or not, it’s a question with which we all must grapple. Jesus is easily the most influential man who’s ever lived. His impact on government, art, education, social justice, architecture, healthcare, law, and faith are indisputable. Impactful? absolutely! But the greatness of Jesus hinges on the question of Easter. Did Jesus really rise from the dead? After all, Jesus’ big claim to fame was that he is the Son of God and that he would prove this by dying and rising again.

Let’s consider some of the common “conspiracy theories” about the resurrection:

The Swoon Conspiracy—believes that Jesus passed out on the cross and in the coldness of the tomb he was revived. Essentially, he broke out, killed the Roman soldiers, and appeared to his followers. As loony as this sounds, many have fallen for the swoon. But, if there was one thing that Rome did really well it was kill people. Furthermore, how could a man who was whipped and crucified move a massive stone and overcome armed soldiers?

The Directionally Challenged Conspiracy—believes that the women who reported the resurrection went to the wrong tomb. Now this may be more believable if it had been men and not women who discovered the empty tomb. Everybody knows, men are usually too stubborn to stop and asks directions when they get lost!  But had the empty tomb been the result of poor navigating, the Romans could have easily produced the body; interesting, no one has ever produced the body.

The Every Body’s Tripping Conspiracy—believes that all the people who saw Jesus were hallucinating. Perhaps, the feast had a Woodstock theme that year or something? Had it been one or two people that claimed to see Christ then maybe. But over 500 people at different times claimed to have seen Christ. People touched him and talked to him over a 40-day period of time.

The Thieves Conspiracy—believes that someone stole the body and started a rumor that Jesus rose from the dead. Well, this is more conceivable than the others conspiracies. But still it is vastly lacking. Who would want to steal Jesus’ body? The Jewish leaders and the Romans had no motive. The apostles had lacked courage: from Gethsemane through the cross they were running for their lives. Yet, these are the men who are supposed to have found the courage to overcome the guards, steal the body and begin the church movement?

Now, let’s consider some evidence that Jesus really did rise from the dead:

The tomb was empty—this was no small feat. After all there were Roman soldiers guarding the tomb and a seal protecting it. To this day no one has ever produced the body or remains of Jesus.

Hundreds of witnesses—I Corinthians 15:3-8 relates that over 500 people saw Jesus and many of these continued to share their testimony for years to come.

Radical change in the disciples lives—Following the horrific crucifixion, the natural thing for the apostles to do was go home, keep a low profile, and get back to fishing. Instead they went all over the world preaching the resurrection. Their testimony dramatically changed the Roman world and was foundational in the establishment of the church.

The disciple’s deaths—History reveals that most of the disciples died torturous deaths. They were crucified, boiled in oil, and torn to pieces. Look, there is only so far you take a lie. When the threat of nails and a crossbeam comes your way, if you’re telling a lie, you back away. But the disciples died proclaiming the resurrected Jesus until their final breath.

Is it reasonable to believe that Jesus really did rise from the dead? Absolutely! Now I realize that not everyone will believe. But that doesn’t change the fact that there is ample evidence to believe. It also doesn’t change the reality that Jesus has impacted the world to such a degree that anyone with intellect must wrestle with the veracity of his claims.

Millions of people over thousands of years have surrendered their souls and believed in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord. Christians believe that Jesus is the eternal son of God, born of a virgin, perfectly revealed and without sin. Christians believe that Jesus died as a substitute for sinners, making atonement for sin, and providing redemption for all who believe. Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead, appeared to his disciples, ascended to heaven and will one day return to judge the world and complete his redemptive mission.

Easter is a celebration of life. Not just any life but eternal life that is found in Jesus Christ.

He is Risen!
There are a lot of good books on reasonable reasons to believe in Christianity (apologetics).  One, easy to read, apologetic on the resurrection is Josh and Sean McDowell’s book Jesus is Alive!

The Divine Contrast

As I was preaching through Jesus’ life in the book of Luke, I was struck by the “divine contrast” that exists between Christ’s baptism and wilderness temptation. Last Sunday, I shared this writing at the end of my sermon entitled “Is It.”

In each of our lives the brushstrokes of God reveal the masterpiece of divine contrast. Carefully, He blends the cool refreshing blues of the baptism with the warm arid hues of the wilderness.

Whether in the refreshment of baptism or the dryness of the wilderness: two things about Jesus are apparent: His obedience and His humility.

When we are in the cool waters of baptism, it is easy to get puffed up in pride: to believe that God blessings are a result of our goodness rather than His grace, to shift our focus from His will to ours. It is in the cool waters of baptism that the compassionate heart is tempted to fill with judgment, relationship yields to ritual, exhorting words are replaced with venomous words, and the life of courageous risk fades to an apathetic life lived in spiritual opulence.

Yet those that find themselves in the wilderness do not escape the piercing rays of temptation themselves. It is the wilderness that we are tempted to lose sight of grace, obedience, and love. When we succumb to the wilderness’ temptation, we sleep in darkness: replacing grace with doubt, obedience with rebellion, and love with fear. Beneath the wilderness stars we are tempted to show our dissatisfaction with God by embracing a life of self-sufficiency. We forget that the church is God’s gift of community, and we bathe in the mirage of isolated loneliness believing that the path to living water belongs to others.

Yet, when we remember the humility and obedience of our savior:

That is when the refreshing waters of baptism open the floodgates of heaven. When we remember the humility and obedience of our savior, that is when we live our lives in the rhythm of Father’s will; that is when we swim in the flow of the Spirit’s current. The cool refreshing blues of baptism restore our soul, announce new chapters, submerge us to new depths, and carve for us a path of purpose.

And when we remember the humility and obedience of our savior:

The divine contrast of the wilderness becomes a tranquil spring of growth for our souls. We march through treacherous days beneath the cadence of our Father’s instruction. The warm arid hue of the wilderness stretches our soul, burns the master’s mark into the plot of our lives, bends our will, and prepares our heart for the day when the dryness of the wilderness becomes the floor of the refreshing river from which we emerge a humble and obedient child of the Father with a soul that dances to the rhythm of the Divine Contrast.

The Collision of the Cross

Tonight our church gathers for Good Friday. We will remember what Jesus did for us through His atoning death on the cross and celebrate the new life that is found through His resurrection. I’ll be preaching on Philippians 2:8, “He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross,” As I meditated on Christ’s humility, I was reminded of the collision that is the cross:

The ringing of Calvary’s hammer is a collision of pride and love. The cross is necessary because of my pride, but it also necessary because of God’s love. The cross is a clumsy display of my hideous pride and a graceful display of God’s forgiving grace. On the cross, love is pierced by pride and grace is crowned by evil. On the cross pride drains the veins of love: drop by drop pride’s antidote puddles below. When His head bowed in death, pride raised his head in victory. But when the earth stood still and the tomb stood opened, it was pride that had died and love that was alive.

The antidote to pride is the cross. When I look upon the humility and love of the cross, I see the magnificence of His love for me and I have nothing left in which to boast. From the cross the purity of His righteousness shines into the corners of my heart exposing the darkness of my sin and contempt is poured on my pride. From the cross the glories of money, power, and fame lose their allure and my richest gain I count but lost. At the cross, my broken dreams, my manipulated relationships, my cold soul collide with love. When my pride surveys His love, I bow beneath the cross, my faith is transferred from me to Him, and the drops of grace cleanse me and make me fully whole. At the cross, pride dies and love comes alive.

Inspired by my favorite hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” by Sir Isaac Watts

Join us for Easter worship at 8:30, 9:45, or 11:00.  Details and directions at murphychurch.com 

Life from the Margins: Abnormally Normal

Among the battle-grounds in the same-sex marriage debate was an elusive, sought after quality called “normal.” For centuries, those with same-sex attraction were labeled as abnormal, so much so that society cut them off from what Justice Kennedy described as the “foundational” rights to love and marry. But that has now changed. In a 5-4 vote of the Supreme Court, the label of abnormal was officially removed. The White House, Coca-Cola, Cinderella’s castle were among the millions proclaiming their joy and support with rainbow gleam. Our culture celebrates when that which was abnormal is embraced as normal.

Among many Christians, there is a deep seething. You likely won’t see it marching down streets, hash-tagged, or acknowledged in the news. But, as a pastor, I have never seen such despair in the hearts of church-goers, especially those who remember America before the sexual revolution. They are depressed and frustrated; they feel betrayed, lost, and abnormal in their own country. Many of them feel they are being cut off from the “foundational” rights to exercise free-speech and faith. It is a painful irony that many in our culture also celebrate when the normal becomes the abnormal.

As a graduate of approximately 6,500 Christian worship services and 10,000 sermons, I have an observation: American Christians have been obsessed with being normal! We desire Jesus, love, grace, and the blessings of the cross, but we have often run from the scorn that accompanies His message. Have we forgotten that Jesus’ own culture wanted to kill him? The message of Jesus has always been abnormal. In our quest to be relevant, we have often abandoned our heritage and embraced the superficial. We have tweeted self-help with a twist of Jesus and unfriended the substantive preaching of sacred Scripture. We have envisioned church as an amusement park where we ride the Jesus-coaster to our preferred destination instead of a community of believers who profess that Jesus is the destination.

Where has our obsession with normal gotten us? Well, fewer people are now going to church, fewer people are being baptized, our cultural voice is on mute, churches are closing at an alarming pace, and we have a shortage of godly pastors. Meanwhile, our congregants struggle to understand page-one truths of Christianity like: life is a gift from God, gender as divine design, marriage and family as foundational to society and well-being, sexuality as an expression of biblical marriage, and new-life as both the destination of redemption and the action of God’s love. (https://lashbanks.com/2014/10/25/5-gifts-of-covenant-marriage/)

Now Christians are being forced to the margins of the discussion, perhaps we should take a deep breath, familiarize ourselves with our new surroundings, and realize that the margins are our earthly home. Genuine believers in Christ are not normal; we are abnormal. Remember the words of Jesus:
“If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours. But they will do all these things to you on account of My name, because they don’t know the One who sent Me (John 15:18-21,HCSB).

As Christians, we have a unique place within the social order. Our faith is anchored in sacred truth. For centuries, millions have lived their lives, loved their families, and cared for the world guided by the truths of Scripture. We understand that the 100 year window of earthy life is not the tense of past, present, and future. Our lives here are but a vapor and our future is with Christ in eternity. The cross is the place where the normal become abnormal; heaven is the place where the abnormal become normal.

When Good News Gets Twisted

I’m currently leading a Bible-study on the book of Galatians.  Galatians is one of my favorite books in the Bible, because it teaches us what it means to find freedom in Christ. Ultimately, our freedom is anchored in the gospel, and so Paul begins Galatians with a passionate plea to never twist the gospel or “good news” of Jesus.

Christ has rescued us from the world by giving Himself for our sins according to the will of God. Those who repent of sin and believe in Christ, receive the grace and peace of God and live for His glory forever and ever. This is the heart of the true gospel that Paul describes in Galatians 1:3-5:

3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. 5 To whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The gospel of Christ is the most uniting force on earth because it answers our universal problem of sin and our most basic need of forgiveness. The gospel empowers me to live a life of true significance where success is measured by eternal rather than earthly means. The gospel causes me to lose control and discover the joy of life beyond the box. It demands that I take the risk of faith and get beyond my sanitized world of control and power. The gospel frees me from the prison of self. To be God’s means that I no longer have to spend all of my energies trying to be God. “I do because I am not in order to be.” I pursue holiness because I am God’s child rather than attempting to be God’s child through my holiness.  Talk about good news!

In Galatians 1:6-7, Paul dropped his jaw in amazement that those who have experienced the liberating power of the gospel, abandon freedom in favor of enslavement to selfishness and pride. Paul wrote:

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7 not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to change the good news about the Messiah.

False gospels are subtle, because they wear Christ’s robes while stripping His message, they speak Christ’s language without God’s dictionary, embrace Christ’s love while ignoring His holiness, and desire the benefits of the cross but not the savior.

In Paul’s day, the Judaizers were luring the young, Gentile Christians of Galatia to a false gospel that taught Jesus + Judaism = Salvation. Today, the equations of apostasy may read like this:

Gospel of Friendship--Church Activities + Friends = Community
Gospel of Accommodation--Your goodness + Jesus’ love = Success
Gospel of Legalism–Jesus + Rules = Control
Gospel of Self–Jesus + Opportunity = Admiration
Gospel of Exhaustion–Pleasing People + Doing Good = God’s Love

Paul’s response to the false gospel was, to say the least, rather firm in Galatians 1:8 he wrote:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you, a curse be on him!

Now, just in case you missed it or thought maybe Paul was just blowing off some steam. Paul and, if you have a high view of Scripture, the Holy Spirit say it again in verse 9: As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

False Gospels are such a BIG deal that they make Paul curse! In Greek, the word translated “curse” is anathema. The root idea is that false gospels should be banned, excommunicated, shunned to extinction. What gets really scary is that if we plunge into our souls there are times when all of us are tempted to settle for a message that only resembles the true gospel. It is often comfortable, encouraging, self-empowering, containable, and rewarding to listen to or communicate. False gospels can win friends, draw crowds, increase budgets, provide comfort, build careers, and elicit cheers. But, in the end, they fail to satisfy, fall short of grace, and enslave you into a prison of works producing a heritage of pride of selfishness.

So Paul brings us to the eternal conclusion in verse 10:

For am I now trying to win the favor of people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ.

Christ has rescued us from the world by giving Himself for our sins according to the will of God. Those who repent of sin and believe in Christ receive the grace and peace of God and live for His glory forever and ever.

Let us shun to extinction any other gospel.

Look Up

I am sure that many of us can look back over our lives and remember times when you looked up and Jesus’ power reigned in your life. But along the way it’s so easy to get distracted. We have our ministries, our job, our church, our families, our friends: all this activity that we do for God. If we are not careful we can lose sight of the one thing that really matters: Jesus.

I have made a decision in my life that there is only one thing in my Christian walk to which I want to be radically committed, and that is Jesus. I’m not talking about commitment like one might have to your favorite team or a loyal dog, but I am talking about a radical commitment that cannot be measured in wins or years. My dream is to follow God’s purposes and abandon my dreams when they conflict with His. I am no longer satisfied with telling or yelling the good news of Christ, but my heart’s desire has become to communicate the good news of Christ in both words and deed. I will not embrace or minimize the sins of the world, but neither will I spend my time judging when I could be loving. I must accept the fact that the world has changed and know in my heart that with a sovereign God this is not by chance. So I must give myself to Him anew to use His gifts in ways that are new. I have come to grips with the fact that leadership is about serving others rather than others serving me. And worship is not about music, tradition, style, or emotion, but it is about exalting Jesus and my changing to be like Him. God has not made me to be an island unto myself; I need other people to love me and encourage me. My goal has become very simple: look up and follow God and don’t get in the way of others seeing Jesus.

An excerpt from the sermon Look Up: God Finishes What He Starts     http://www.buzzsprout.com/17504/197248-look-up-part-1

Lash Banks is Lead Pastor at Murphy Road Baptist Church (murphychurch.com). Lash’s weekly podcast/sermon can be heard at http://www.buzzsprout.com/17504

A Mother’s Day Prayer: What Matters (by Rachel Pakebusch)

As I count the years I have left to make an impact on my child’s life, I am sobered by the brevity of time. For what is my life but a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away (James 4:14). In light of this thought, feelings of shame rush in for all of the teachable moments stolen away with work and other worries.

Father, please guide this mother to remember what is important and lasting in this world. Your greatest command is to love you with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. (Matt. 19:19) Your word says to seek first your kingdom, and all these other things will be added to me. Lord, give me the strength and counsel to live this out for your glory in the eyes of my child. This is the legacy I desire to leave impressed in his/her heart,
Within moments of this prayer, I know that I will fall short of this legacy. So, I call on your mercy that triumphs over judgment and is new every morning. Protect my child from my own wandering heart. Guard him/her from the sins than entangle me. Father, I call on the riches of your grace that abound freely. Divinely use my mistakes as moments for my child to grow in the understanding of the kindness of your character and the vastness of your immeasurable compassion.

As strongly as I feel that my child is mine, my heart also knows that You are the Giver of this great blessing and have favorably trusted me with this precious gift. Father, I humbly recognize that it is only through your mercy and grace that I am even able to stand as a mother. I rest in the intimate familiarity of the sweetness of your forgiveness and your redeeming love. May this mother be found faithful in Your eyes of what you have entrusted to me.

Amen

Rachel Pakebusch is a mother of four, a teacher of many, and wife of Murphy Church’s Discipleship Minister Paul.  

6 Feet Forever: A Good Friday Devotional

Just as the townspeople were finishing breakfast, word began to spread that Jesus had been arrested. Eternity’s trial was in session on the steps of Fort Antonia. Just outside the walls, two little boys, short of breath, ran back to their father, “Papa, it sounds like a riot is breaking out, the crowd is yelling, and the governor is trying to calm them!” “Stay close to me boys; we are going to stop here outside the walls until we know things have calmed down,” said Simon.

It was about 8:30, when the execution parade made its way past Simon and his boys. Their Passover journey had taken an unexpected turn. Instead of simply celebrating the Passover, Simon was now face to face with the Passover lamb. Simon Peter had boasted earlier that he was willing to die for Jesus. But now, as Jesus fell beneath the weight of the beam, another Simon wrapped his dark hands around the cursed wood on which God’s son would absorb the wrath for humanity’s sin and bring forgiveness and grace to all who believe.

The death march featured three victims: the Son of God and two men simply known as thieves. These two men were born into a world of Roman savagery. As children, their parents had hopes and dreams for their lives. Maybe they would be so lucky as to meet the Messiah. The run-ins with Rome were fun: anything to make a soldier’s life more miserable. But then one day, they were found and bound. Deemed unfit to serve a master, power a ship, or dig the roads; the only good these men had to offer was to serve as a warning to all to never mess with the legions of Rome.

Crucifixion was no stranger to any of the three men. They knew its shriek, its gore, its meaning, its end. The wonderment would soon be over: will they use nails or ropes? how long will I hang? will anyone care that I’m dying? It was about 9:00 when the hammers began to ring. The gospel writers describe it best with three words, “They crucified him.”

The scene was dripping with anger. Hardened soldiers gambled for possessions. Religious leaders piously taunted the very God they claimed to worship. How dark is a heart that delights in the cross?

“In the same way, the criminals kept taunting him.” Soon the black drops of anger had saturated the sky. Through the darkness came a voice of grace, “Father forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.”

Hanging six feet from God, the clinched soul, broken dreams, and dark abandonment of one man’s life, began to pour out. The thief began to blaspheme Jesus spewing vileness so reprehensible his tortured body became the reflection of his heart. This man was minutes from death; his life deemed worthless. Soon, all evidence of his days would vanish, but instead of embracing grace, he chose to take his anger to the grave. He died six feet from God, suffocated in his sin. He and God would remain apart forever.

Hanging six feet from God was another angry man. Minutes from death, he had lived a life that no one would remember. His life had been officially proclaimed as worthless. He had nothing to give God, nothing with which to negotiate. All he could do is open his clinched fist of anger and request to be remembered. Wrapped in death’s cold embrace, he met grace through the suffering love of his substitute. He is mere man’s greatest witness to Calvary’s collision of horror and love. He died six feet from God, but remains with God forever. How full is the heart that finds life in the cross?

 

Lash Banks is Lead Pastor at Murphy Road Baptist Church (murphychurch.com). Lash’s weekly podcast/sermon can be heard at http://www.buzzsprout.com/17504