CityView Magazine

faith Easter Is Everything... Or Nothing F By dan alger or Christians, Easter is everything. At the very foundation of the Christian faith is the vicarious atoning sacrifice of Jesus and his ultimate defeat of death itself by his glorious resurrection, which we celebrate at Easter. Because this is THE fundamental truth claim of Christianity, everything else hangs on its veracity. The resurrection is either the ultimate proof that everything Jesus said was true or the indisputable evidence that everything about Jesus was deceitful. If the resurrection is false we have nothing. In his book The Reason for God, Pastor Tim Keller says: ���If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn���t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.��� The Apostle Paul says that if there is no resurrection then our faith is utterly futile. If Jesus was just a teacher who died like every other teacher that has ever lived then he has nothing of value to offer. In fact, the opposite is true, if his resurrection did not take place, then all of his predictions about his return from death are false, which makes the rest of the wisdom and teaching he offered just the ravings of a mad man who thought that he was immortal. Without the resurrection, Jesus is a liar. If the resurrection is true, however, then we have everything. 14 | March/April ��� 2013 If the tomb really is empty, if Jesus did actually die and return to life, then everything is different: forgiveness of sins is offered to those who will believe, humankind is reunited with its Creator, there is hope for the hopeless, freedom for the captives, healing for the hurting, and the future of the world rests secure in the Christ whose proven claim of resurrection gives validity to his proclamation of his promised to return to make all things new on heaven and earth. I challenge you as we approach Easter this year: which is it for you ��� an empty tomb or a rotting corpse? It is all or nothing: If the tomb is occupied, then all of Christianity is a lie; God has not come to redeem his people; we are still in our sins; we are without hope in the world and there is no use exploring the Christian faith. If the tomb is empty, there is a loving God who desires us to know Him; has gone to great lengths to secure our place with Him; is actively working for the flourishing of those who love Him and is calling us to pursue Him and serve Him in this life and the life to come. It is one or the other. There is no middle ground. Was Jesus a lunatic who deserves our scorn or a Savior who deserves our complete devotion? As for me, I say, ���Alleluia! He is risen! The Lord is Risen indeed!��� I pray you join me in this joyous claim and know this glorious hope. CV Dan is the former Pastor of The Church of the Apostles and can be reached at algerunc@gmail.com.

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