The central pillar of the Christian faith is the Resurrection. In 1st Corinthians 15, Paul lays it out very carefully that if there is no Resurrection, we’re still in our sins, we are fools, Christ is not God the Son. Paul and the rest of the Apostles proclaimed the Resurrection with vigor in their day. It’s a simple choice to make; there is either a grave in Palestine somewhere where the bones of the man Jesus Christ are rotting today, or there is an empty tomb in Palestine where the bones of the Man Jesus Christ who was truly God Incarnate are not there. Now, the choice is simple. It’s black or white. It’s either or. There’s no way there can be a compromise on this point. Either Jesus Christ has come out of the grave and is alive, and interceding for us in heaven already or He didn’t. If He did, the New Testament is true. If He didn’t the New Testament is a lie. it’s either a reality or is a fairy tale. The Apostles believed it was reality, and they proclaimed. What amazes me about these Apostles is that right after the crucifixion, they were all discouraged. They were going back to their regular vocations. They had given it up; everything was a fiasco, so they thought. But after they met the Resurrected Lord, they came back the next few weeks preaching in front of the officials they were so afraid of before. They were willing to die for the Faith. Something happened to those men. I believe what happened is, when they saw the Lord alive, the Lord made a difference in their lives!

There is really so much more of Christianity than the peripheral Christianity so characteristic of our day and culture, and it’s not that you deny that people have trusted Him. It’s not that you deny that people worship Him. It’s not that you deny that they’ve had an encounter with Him. But when they’ve had an encounter and they continue to live their own lives for their own interest; spending all of their money on themselves, all of their time on what they want to do, and kind of throw in Jesus the what’s left over of their lives, you just want to scream “Don’t you understand?” “Don’t you get it”, and alas, i’m afraid that the church doesn’t understand it hitherto. I believe what modern-day Christians have is a peripheral experience of religiosity instead of an intimate, dynamic, 24/7 life-altering, life-changing experience of the resurrected Christ. The Lord is risen, and things can never be the same again! It’s no longer all about me. Nothing i have belongs to me. It’s all about Him! God help us take the flakes off of our spiritual eyes. Amen!