Is the Resurrection Real?

For the first time in a very long time I was able to worship with other worshipers in the pew. No frenzied planning for the most well attended worship service of the year. No time spent crafting a fresh Easter sermon. No worship planning meetings to oversee. This has been a stress free Easter for me—at last!

Today I worshiped like an ordinary worshiper unfettered by leadership responsibilities. It’s different I admit, but I kind of like being on this side of the ropes. It was refreshing.

But the preacher in me will not die. He’s hanging on for dear life. After many years of leading worship and preaching Easter sermons it is strange not be in that role any longer. 

I’ve always believed that the first minute of any sermon is incredibly important. For in that one minute a preacher will either capture the congregation’s interest for the duration of the message or loose them for the rest of the worship hour. 

I will confess that I have spent more time over the years crafting an opening statement than I did for any other part of the sermon. That initial statement out of the box is crucial.

So as I sat there listening to the announcements this morning I began crafting what my first sentence would be if I were preaching today. It would be this: 

“I am not here to prove that the resurrection really happened, but rather to demonstrate that it is real.”

I think we spend way too much time attempting to prove our beliefs rather than living them out. The pastor this morning alluded to this in fact. 

You see the subject of Jesus’ resurrection raises some really hard questions. Such as:

Did Jesus resurrect physically?

Did he resurrect as a 30 something? 

Will his wounds ever heal?

If he resurrected physically how could he walk through doors and walls?

How could he appear and disappear almost magically? 

Such questions may be interesting but they are not very helpful. Actually they distract. 

In trying to describe what the resurrection was like the Apostle Paul wrote:

“So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body”

(1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

Regardless of the nature of resurrection, whether it is physical or spiritual, or cosmic, or otherwise, it is for me a game/life changer in the way I live. The pastor mentioned this in his sermon. 

It was a game changer for the disciples of Jesus. Jesus’ resurrection energized those early followers and transformed them from weak fearful humans to outrageously bold followers of Christ. 

Because of Jesus’ resurrection and the promise of our own resurrection we Christians have little to fear in this life. No wonder “fear not” is used in the Scriptures as the single most repeated admonition.

What did the resurrection mean to the Apostle Paul? Well he personally encountered the resurrected Christ on the Damascus road and it became a game/life changer for him as well. 

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39)

The bottom line for both Paul and me regarding the resurrection of Jesus is this: 

I find it much more joyful and meaningful to spend my energy and my time demonstrating how the resurrection has transformed my life rather than proving that it really happened in the first place.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding: In the way I live a courageously fearless life of faith even in the face of incredible dangers and threats. 

You want to prove the resurrection is real?   

Then live like it is!

Easter provides me the fuel to be brave and to trust that God has arranged an outcome for both the world and us that is unmatched and unrivaled by anyone or anything.

He is risen! Yes, he is risen indeed!