I listened in on a few sermons yesterday on TV before we had our own family church together. Apparently, the resurrection of Jesus Christ happened to give you peace in the midst of life’s storms. Funny, I don’t ever remember any apostle putting it quite that way. They cared about people, I’m sure, and the common sufferings we all go through – including struggles with anxiety and peace.
But doesn’t it seem to you that resurrection deals with death more than life here and now? I think it does. And I also believe that we all struggle with anxiety because we are sinners, fallen mentally and emotionally, and shall be until the resurrection. And frankly, being a sinner means making myself and my problems in the center of this life, and putting my emphasis in life on the wrong things – like making anxiety my greatest problem. You too.
Anxiety is not, in case you’re wondering, your biggest problem. Getting along with a holy God is, in this life and the next. And resurrection provides the foundation for getting along in both. If God shall give you a promise of resurrection, then the worst thing that can happen to you is the best thing that can happen to you: death.
And if you are shot through with sin having learned it at your mother’s knee, then the best thing that can happen to you is resurrection.
And if you struggle in this life, unhappy with yourself, your well-being, your job, your everything, then again, resurrection is the best thing that can happen to you.
The Declaration of Independence promises you “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” God doesn’t. He does it better by promising resurrection to all who trust in Christ for their sins before God.
Your biggest concern is a holy God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And every problem in life is only as big as He is small in your eyes. Can not a God who freely grants resurrection based on His Son’s work on the cross not also give you freely all things to enjoy with Him? Why would He promise the greater and renege on the lesser?
Look death squarely in the nose, right now. It isn’t your greatest enemy, because the One who holds death is more powerful than it: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Revelation 1:18, NKJV).
“He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18).
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- - - - - - - - -Sent out to all who attend Grace Bible Church by Pastor Ted Bigelow, Pastor of Preaching and Development and Pastor Steve Ridge, Executive Pastor.
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