Good Monday Morning MABC,
He is risen! If we are honest, this shouldn’t be just something we shout around Easter time. I can be guilty of that. But this should be a spirit that propels us all year ‘round! People need to know about this important event and the impact on their lives if they choose to join us in following Jesus. I think back to one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time. It is the 1947 black and white version of Miracle on 34th Street. Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) is visiting with Doris (Maureen O’Hara) about Christmas. Kris tells Doris that he is worried Christmas is losing its meaning. She remarks that “Christmas is still Christmas.” And Kris responds with one of the best lines in the movie:
“Oh, Christmas isn’t just a day,it’s a frame of mind…and that’s what’s been changing. That’s why I’m glad I’m here, maybe I can do something about it.”
Christmas has continued to lose importance as a faith-based event and slowly becomes more and more secular as fewer people identify as followers of Christ. I am afraid Easter is falling prey to the same. As followers of Christ, we make a big deal of it because Jesus defeated sin and death so that we may have eternal life. But it’s much more than that! Easter is also a frame of mind. It is not just a singular day or event. The Apostle Paul tells us that it is much more than just making sure we get to spend eternity in Heaven. It’s about changed lives…new lives:
So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 1 Cor. 15:21-22 NLT<
And it isn’t just about a life to come after death on earth but it’s also about the life we live on earth. The resurrection should change the way we live NOW:
For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Rom. 6:4 NLT
Easter is about changed lives. Baptism is the key Paul says because it represents our death and resurrection into new life just like Jesus! And our lives shouldn’t just be changed because change is fluid. The recent presidential election is evidence of that. Things are changing from the previous administration and in four years things will change again as someone new leads our country. The word “transformed” is much better than “changed.” I like Paul’s pleading that we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2).
Next Sunday, we will look at Paul’s life “transformation” beginning in Acts 9. Paul was one way…and then he was another. The thing that changed? His relationship with Jesus. We will begin and end our message with Acts 9:20…
And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”
Pastor Rick
But you man of God, flee from all of this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. I Timothy 6:11
