Article of the Month

In 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, we read the Apostle Paul highlighting that if the resurrection of Jesus Christ never took place or was not an actual physical bodily resurrection, then we above all people are ‘most pitiable.’ All Christians would immediately find themselves in a terrible predicament of a holding a completely pointless faith if Jesus did not rise again from the tomb. As philosopher Douglas Groothius observes, ‘The resurrection of Jesus is at the centre of the Christian worldview and Christian devotion. The Gospels do not end with the death of Jesus but speak of an empty tomb, of his appearances and of a commission by the risen Jesus.’

Yet there seems to be an ever-increasing trend of solely fixating on the death of Christ Jesus on the cross in much of modern preaching, as many sermons and messages neglect the immensity of importance that hangs upon the truth of Christ’s physical, bodily resurrection. As Pinchas Lapide (an orthodox Jew who accepts the death and resurrection of Jesus, but denies His deity, holding that God brought Jesus back to life due to the fact that He was a good person) shrewdly noted, ‘Resurrection is by far the more important of these two pillars of the Christian faith (referring to the Crucifixion and the Resurrection)....Without the experience of the resurrection, the crucifixion would have remained without consequences and forgotten,

just as were the innumerable crucifixions of pious Jews which the Romans carried out before Jesus, during the lifetime of Jesus, and up until the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD...thus the Christian faith stands and falls not with Golgotha, the infamous ‘place of the skull’, where thousands of Jesus’ brothers were murdered cruelly by Roman mercenaries, but with the experience ‘on the third day’ after the crucifixion, an experience which was able to defuse, refute, and even to make meaningful this death on the cross for the

community of the disciples.’

Even those of no religious affinity are sharper than many Christians in their esteeming of the truth of Christ Jesus’ bodily resurrection as the pinnacle of Christianity. The atheist German New Testament scholar (just because someone studies the Bible, doesn’t make them a believer!!!) Gerd Ludemann wrote, ‘(Arguments) from fellow theologians along with further work of my own on the subject have convinced me that disproving the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus ultimately annuls the Christian heritage as error.’

Why then do so many preachers today focus on the sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the cross, but then neglect His victory over death as witnessed in His resurrection from the empty tomb? As a pastor, I am familiar with the heart felt desire to reach others often cold hearts towards God so that they might find salvation through repentance of sin and the placing of faith in the risen Lord Jesus. It is an easy trap for the preacher/pastor to fall into then to seek to overly appeal to the emotions of the congregation by exclusively aiming at their sensibilities over the very real suffering and agony that Christ Jesus experienced on the cross. The potential pitfall in this emotion led appeal is that it creates a sense of pity within the congregation towards Christ Jesus, and not reverential awe. It is essentially a shortcut to hopefully, potentially leading a soul to true redemption in Christ Jesus.

Pity makes us feel sad over the plight of the other, making us feel as though we can/must do something to remedy the situation. The truth however is that we cannot do a thing to make what Christ endured in our place better. He needed no help from any man, woman or child to fulfil His work at Calvary, and He obeyed the will of the Father in the immensity of His power and righteousness. We must remember keenly that Jesus is the King of kings, the Creator God and Lord Almighty, He needs so assistance from any created being in any capacity, and so requires no pity at all. The applying of pity towards Jesus takes up the room in our hearts that should be reserved for awe, awe that the Lord God Almighty came in the flesh of man to willingly take upon Himself the sins of the world and thereby receive the just wrath of the Father, all in our place.

Where there is suitable awe in the triumph of Christ Jesus rising again from the grave, there comes with this good and Godly reverence a wisdom to see how climatic the Resurrection is to so many key doctrines of the Christian faith. As church leader, author and clinical psychologist Adrian Warnock noted, all of the following tenets of our faith in Christ Jesus would’ve never come to be if the Resurrection never took place. These key areas include:

 - Salvation by union with Jesus (Acts 4:11-12)

- Sending of the Spirit (Acts 2:33)

- Physical healings (Acts 3:15-16)

- Conversion of sinners (Acts 3:26)

- Jesus’ role as leader of the Church (Acts 5:30-31; 9)

- Forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:30-31)

- Comfort for the dying (Acts 7)

- Commissioning of the Gospel messengers (Acts 9; 10:42)

- Freedom from the penalty and power of sin (Acts 13:37-39)

- Assurance that the Gospel is true (Acts 17:31)

- Our own resurrection (Acts 17:31)

- Jesus’ future judgment of this world (Acts 17:31)

(list referenced from Evidence That Demands A Verdict, pg 238)

As you will have no doubt noticed, all these crucial points of the Christian faith are all established in the earliest days of the Church, as all are recorded in the Book of Acts, which details the birth of the Church and its spreading of the Gospel. This massive, rapid and richly blessed expansion of the Christian faith was only possible due to the determined and pointed defence and delivery of the truth of Christ Jesus’ physical resurrection. The Gospel was so eagerly received by many because it spoke and centred on Christ’s victory over sin and death; not a singular fixation on His suffering and Crucifixion.

Let’s be clear, preaching on the suffering and agony that Christ Jesus endured for us at Calvary is to be done, that is not up for debate. But when it is delivered without the preaching of the triumph of the Resurrection, it is message devoid of hope. It is like reading a story to a class of children and then declaring the story has ended right at the moment the hero of the tale is at his lowest ebb. Why should we be surprised to find many of the class distressed, confused and frustrated, making them reluctant to join us in our request that they should still find the hero mighty, able and strong, thus a worthy recipient of our praise? It would be nonsensical to do such a thing. Yet many Christian leaders today are doing this very thing (often times well-meaningly), and they are perplexed as to why people have a low view over Jesus Christ.

Many times, we as Christians assume the person we’re witnessing to for Christ, knows the basic framework of the Gospel. The sad truth in our modern society is that the only familiarity many have today with Jesus is using His name as a cuss word! We can never assume that when we appeal to others to come to saving faith in Christ Jesus, by pointing out His atoning for our sins at the Cross, that they are fully aware of the triumph of His resurrection three days later. By drawing the non-believing eye to Christ’s victory over sin and death in His resurrection, then we can begin to highlight the significance of just who Jesus is, not what He can do for us. We can instruct the non-believer that we should be seeking Christ’s forgiveness for our sins because it was He who paid the debt of our sins. Not only that, but that He was pure and powerful enough to conquer death and rise again from the tomb, and that by His victory and through faith in Him, we too have no reason to fear death.

The Resurrection clarifies to the non-believer that Jesus is the Son of God, and that because He is alive today, He is able to hold each of us to account for our sins. It places the good and correct fear of God upon our hearts that concerning the sacrifice He made for us, He will require an account from the non-believer as to why they thought this same sacrifice for their sins wasn’t good enough or even necessary. The preaching of the Resurrection is the lifeblood of the Gospel, for it brings the awesome fear of God upon a proud heart; but then offers hope that the Judge of all Creation loved us enough to take the penalty we incurred for our sins, so that we might be returned to the eternal loving embrace of God.

I pray this piece is an encouragement to all Christians to never sideline or neglect the preaching of the Resurrection. When we place it at its correct point in our faith, at the pinnacle of our hopes, thoughts and deeds, then we are strengthened daily with a deep reverence and remembrance of just how gracious and glorious our Risen Lord Jesus is truly. Amen