What is a Christian?

Three ‘Christians’ go to church each week, one volunteers in the nursery, one is an Elder, the other a member of the choir.  Each has their own story, each continues in their chosen sin unabated.  Which leaves this question?  Is the woman who is having an affair with her best friend’s husband a Christian?  Is the man who sells illegal drugs to pay for his daughter’s education a Christian?  Or what about the man, who divorced his wife because he wasn’t in love with her anymore, is he a Christian? 

What is a Christian?  If you were to ask 100 “Christians” you would get 100 different answers.  I think the reason for that, is partly because we have a lot of anemic, shallow preaching today, which has left the church with a generation of people who think they are Christians but really are not.  These are people who have been told to believe, but they have never been told to repent. They have been promised heaven, but they have never been warned of hell.  They have been told that God wants them to be happy, but they have never heard that God wants them to be holy.  I wonder whether a lot of these people even know what the genuine gospel message is. Recently there was a survey that revealed that 7 in 10 American adults have no clue what John 3:16 means “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (As I have pointed out before believes means to obey, for even the devil believes, yet he is doomed)  

The same study also revealed that barely one-third of all adults know the meaning of the term, "the gospel."  Thus it should not surprise us that the fact is, what is considered as Christianity by many today would not even qualify as such in the first century.  However the Bible is very clear about who is a Christian.  According to the apostle Paul, a Christian is someone who has put his or her faith in Jesus Christ, and Christ alone, as Savior and Lord and God.  A Christian is someone who has turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God “to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.  Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’” Acts 26:18.

It is not for me or you to decide who is a Christian and who is not. That is ultimately up to God.  We are told however that we will recognize them by their fruit.  I do know one thing, what we don't need more of today are 'sort-of Christians'. What we need are 'no-doubt Christians'—people about whom you could say, "There is no doubt in my mind that person is a follower of Jesus Christ."  Could you say that about the three individuals mentioned above, could you say that about those you know, more importantly would they say that about you?  

Rules for Life - Six Little Words

I was reading an essay by a noted author the other day on the rules for life, and he had come up with over 100 of them.  So I started searching and discovered that tens of thousands of “authorities’” have written up "their" rules for life (a Google search turned up over 937 million pages).  Which got me thinking, what are the rules for life in their most fundamental form?  Amazingly they come down to six little words.  If you don’t get these six correct, every other list that has ever been devised is meaningless.  Six simple words …

It does not matter if you choose to have faith in God or not,

“He is”

It does not matter if you seek to know His word or not,

“It is”

It does not matter if you like or obey His rules on life or not,

“They are”

What matters is what you do with those simple six little words in your life,

“He is, it is, they are”

Because at the end of your life there are two more words that apply to everyone, regardless of what you did with those six little words in your lifetime.

“He judges”

Entitlement = Resentment = Anger = Death (Part 5 of 5)

This is the final destination of resentment.  You don’t have to have read the headlines about the studies showing dangerous ill-health effects of anger; some call it the heart attack emotion.  Instinctively you know it is true.  But here is what you miss; this is what the articles don’t point out, what they usually don't tell you is that the harmful effects of anger come not from their frequency or intensity.  Rather they come from duration: how long it lasts.  Unhealthy levels of anger are those that last longer than a few minutes.  In other words, the real culprit is the seed of resentment, which quiets now and then but never stops.

For a model of how anger is supposed to function (in a normal well adjusted person), you need look no further than common house cats.  When your cat gets angry, he'll arch his back, hiss, slash at the drapes, run through the house, jump off the walls, etc.  However, within five minutes, he's licking himself like it never happened; if he was angry at you, he'll rub your legs and purr.  The animal responds to his perception of a noxious stimulus in the environment.  Following his natural instincts about anger, he either corrects his perception (there's not really a threat) or adapts to it - the dog has to live here, too. As quickly as it came over him, the anger is completely gone.

But we don't do anger that way.  We think about it afterwards.  We dwell of how things should be and how unfair they are, how we were disregarded, devalued, disrespected, or wrongly rejected.  We fantasize about things didn't happen: "When he said that, I should have said this.  Then he would have said that, and I would have said this!  He would have replied with...and I would have...." Such imaginary dialogue can recur, off and on, for days, months or even years.

The end result of this is predictable, long-lasting resentment can cause depression and lower immune system efficiency - if you're resentful a lot you probably experience lots of little aches and pains - headaches, stomachaches, muscle pain, difficulty sleeping, etc.  You may get frequent colds and bouts of flu.  Admit it, you know someone like that, it might even be you.  Left to go its course, chronic resentment puts you at higher risk of hypertension, stroke, heart disease, and cancer.

But that isn’t the worst of it, the resentment-laden consciousness cries out to be altered by something - a drink, drug, someone else’s wife or husband,  large doses of caffeine or nicotine, or some compulsive behavior that will ease the tension, dissipate the sour feeling, energize the tiredness, or relieve the leaden mood, because after all “you deserve it”.  Affairs, drinking and drugging, new toys, new thrills create an illusion of power that mitigates the powerlessness of resentment.  It is this illusion of power that twelve-step programs target as the primary barrier to recovery - the first "Step" is admitting to powerlessness over the drug.  

It is the illusion of power and entitlement that traps you into a lifestyle of unrepentant sin, a lifestyle that becomes progressively more self-center, and more destructive to yourself and those around you.  As opposed to reality and truth, resentment greatly distorts thinking - through oversimplification, confirmation bias, inability to grasp other perspectives, and an inability to distinguish thoughts from reality.  Over time, resentment becomes a world view and a way of life.  Because the resentful have to devalue others to protect their fragile egos, resentment inevitably leads to some form of verbal or emotional abuse and, eventually to contempt and disgust.  In the end is the illusion of power that traps you into fooling yourself that you are somehow owed all that you steal, that you are somehow entitled.  When in reality and more importantly in God’s eyes, it is your lifestyle that has become contemptible and disgusting.  

For the originator of entitlement simply look at Satan, he believes he is entitled, is that really who you want to pattern your life after, all the while professing to believe in God?   Entitlement, such a dangerous thought, the seed of much of the sin that you choose to commit begins with one simple thought, "I am entitled".  Painful as it is to admit, you are not entitled, no more than Satan is.  Don't let that truth get too far away from you in life, or you will receive in death exactly what you are entitled to.  

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Entitlement - Resentment (Part 4 of 5)

Stress gets a bad press in America.  Blame for stress-related health problems is everywhere: time pressures, insecure jobs, congested commutes, information overload, fragmented social schedules, complex financial worries, and so on.  It's certainly a tough world out there.  However much of what is labeled "stress" is actually resentment for not getting what we believe we are entitled to.

Resentment enhances stress by breaking down concentration and draining off energy that would otherwise serve the task at hand.  The report you need to write will take longer and have more errors if you feel that it should have been assigned to someone else.  It might have been an interesting assignment, if you didn't regard the quotas placed on you as unfair. You might enjoy driving your kids to the soccer game, if you didn't mummer about your spouse expecting you to do it.  Traffic congestion would be easier to bear if you enjoyed the music or audio book you're hearing.

I have borrowed a little test to see if your stress is inflated by resentment. It actually is very simple; the problem of course comes in requiring you to be honest with yourself. 

Write down the five main things that cause stress in your life.  

On a scale of 1-10, rate your average ability to cope with each item on your stress list.

Now take a moment to imagine that all traces of resentment have been removed from your stressors - there is no unfairness or injustice involved.  Everyone pulls his or her weight; all live up to their responsibilities. You have all the help, understanding, appreciation, consideration, praise, and reward you deem appropriate.

Now reevaluate your capacity to cope with the stressors you listed.  On a scale of 1-10, rate your average capacity to cope with each item on your resentment-free stress list.

Once resentment is removed from the mix, most people notice a significant increase in their capacity to cope with their stressors. It is Resentment that increases stress by lowering your capacity to cope with it.  Chains of resentment, not stress, overwhelm and ultimately dispirit you.  

Living a life of resentment is the complete opposite of living a life of gratitude.  It’s the persistent feeling that you're being treated unfairly - not getting the respect, appreciation, affection, help, apology, consideration, praise, or reward you believe you deserve.  It keeps you locked in a devalued state, where it is extremely difficult to improve or appreciate or to connect positively with people in general. It carries fantasies of retribution, which stimulate small doses of adrenalin and cortisol for temporary increase in energy and confidence.

Resentment never goes away on its own, simply because it doesn't produce enough adrenalin for the amphetamine/crash effect of stronger forms of anger.  While exhaustion limits the duration of rage, you can stay resentful for years on end. Without the exhaustion factor, the retaliatory fantasies of resentment persist long enough to become habituated.  Thus resentment is more of a mood than an emotional state, and the behaviors it motivates are more habit than choice, with disastrous effects on you, your family, friends and community.

The habitual nature of resentment means that it is never specific to one behavior - nobody resents just one thing - and that its content is rarely forgotten. Instead, each new incident of perceived unfairness automatically links onto previous ones, eventually forging a heavy chain.  Eventually it projects itself into the future.  That's when you hear things like, "It's going all right now, but she'll find some way to screw up the weekend," or, "It's fine at the moment, but the ‘real him' will come out, just wait."

The tremendous effort required to drag the chain of resentment through life makes us makes us look for things to resent.  This creates frequent sour moods and an atmosphere wherein no offense is too trivial or too unrealistic to be added as yet another link on the chain.  We'll find things to resent in the news, traffic patterns, a dearth of parking places, the temperature of drinking water, and in other people's tastes, thoughts, opinions, mannerisms, and feelings.  All this because you jumped on the entitlement bandwagon.

A friend of mine who helps counsel those in an anger management class has a colorful way of describing the effects of resentment. He said that dragging the chain of resentment through life is like carrying around a bag of horse manure. (Okay, he didn’t say "manure.")  You want to smear the bag of horse manure in the face of the person you resent. So you carry it around, waiting for the opportunity, and carry it around, and carry it around, and carry it around.                  

And who stinks?

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Previous Post - Entitlement I, I, I, it's about I. (part 3 of 5)

Previous Post Entitlement A Quiz (Part 2 of 5) 

Previous Post Entitlement The Enemy Within (Part 1 of 5) 

Just a quick note to mark that this is the 100th post of this blog and it seems that with each one I find two more topics that I feel compelled to address.  So it is safe to assume that there is not a lack of topics that need examination.  Because at the very genesis of this blog, the intent was to help those who call themselves Christians examine themselves to see if they truly are.

Entitlement - I, I, I it's all about I (Part 3 of 5)

Me, me, me, it is all about me.  To some degree, we all have entitlement feelings.  We carry around a sense of being owed for something we have done or for some wonderful trait we have.  When we feel entitled, we focus on what we are owed, not what we might need to give to others.  It is a "one-way street" mind-set.  When these feelings are strong and people don't meet our expectations, we often find ourselves bitter, resentful, and angry.  Relationships can be (and often are) destroyed by feelings of entitlement.

How much entitlement do you walk around with in your life?  I can see a fair amount of it in mine.  I feel those "I deserve" feelings more often than I want to admit.  Even in small things, I can see the problem.  When I hold the door open for someone, I feel he or she owes me a "thank you" and I get disappointed, when I don't get one.  In my relationships, I sometimes catch myself thinking, "so and so owes me this because I have done that for her or him."

Even with my adult daughter, I run into it.  If I go to a lot of trouble to do something special for her, or to help her out at cost to my own personal time or money, I can sometimes find myself thinking, "Okay, you owe me some good behavior, as well as your lifelong appreciation for what a great dad I am." (Unfortunately, she is thinking, "I are so doggone cute, it must be a real privilege for him to get to do these things for an adorable daughter like me.) 

It's human nature to feel entitled, this isn't pleasant for me to admit.  But unless we do admit to having these feelings, we stay in denial about them and they continue to destroy us.  The painful truth is that we are not entitled to anything on this planet.  You are not entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," despite what the authors of the Declaration of Independence had to say.  Nothing is your birthright!  You are not entitled to anything, not even the next breath you hope to take.

Now, the good news, while we are owed nothing, it is perfectly fine to pursue what we want (within reason and as long as it is “right”).  For example, we aren't owed our spouse's or parents' love, but it is fine to want it.  We aren't owed a high-paying job because we may have a diploma or a special talent, but it is okay to want a high-paying job and try to find one.  We aren't owed a thank you for anything we do, but it is okay to want one and hope to get one.

Entitlement is a self-serving, one-way street attitude that creates bitterness and resentment in the people who feel entitled and in the people around them who don't like being treated that way.  The fruits of the sense of entitlement is seen all about , the person who takes something from work, the wife who cheats on her husband, the child who copies and exam, the man in the car tailgating you.  It plays itself out in the governing of the country, I am entitled to this benefit, this money, this special privilege, regardless if the country can afford it or not, just cut someone else’s entitlement, because I am more deserving than they are.  You see it at your church, if you are honest with yourself, I have been here longer, and I have done this or that.  I, I, I, it is all about I. 

Take a minute to examine your own entitlement assumptions.  Have you fallen into this way of thinking? Toward whom or what do you harbor feelings of entitlement?  How has it affected you emotionally? How has it affected your relationships?

Are you willing to try to let go of entitlement attitudes and feelings wherever they may be directed?  Because if you do not, a sense of entitlement always leads to one outcome… It is the seed of entitlement that once nurtured grows into one of the most destructive feelings a person is capable of.  One that is in the process of destroying a nation, marriages,  families, friendships, and your relationship with God.  Entitlement is but the birthplace of Resentment.   

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Entitlement - A Quiz (Part 2 of 5)

In my previous post, I began a series addressing our sense of entitlement.  However it has occurred to me that perhaps you are under the opinion that while everyone else you know has a false sense of entitlement; but you being a healthy and mature Christian do not possess a sense of entitlement at all.  If that is the case, then any discussion regarding the sin of “being Entitled” would fall on deaf ears.  So before I proceed further into the issue, now would be an appropriate time for a little self examination.  To that end I have borrowed an "Entitlement Quiz" for you to take.

For each of the fifteen statements below, mark a number from one to seven which gauges your personal feeling about the statement (one being the most disagreement and seven being the most agreement).  Please answer the questions below using the following scale:

1          2          3          4          5          6          7

        Strongly Disagree                                                                             Strongly Agree

Do not spend too much time on any one item.  Also please respond in terms of how you actually feel as opposed to how you think you should feel.  Try to avoid using the neutral response if possible, because let's be honest you are not neutral on any of these.

______ 1. I deserve respect from others.

______ 2. I demand good service in a restaurant.

______ 3. My closest friends owe me loyalty.

______ 4. I expect fairness from others.

______ 5. I'm owed a good-paying job for my abilities.

______ 6. People should treat me the way I treat them.

______ 7. When I do something nice for someone, I expect them to do something nice for me.

______ 8. I deserve a "thank you" when I hold a door open for someone or let someone ahead of me in traffic.

______ 9. People should listen to what I have to say.

______ 10. I often feel "owed" for things I have done.

______ 11. Other people have told me I expect too much.

______ 12. All in all, I deserve a good life.

______ 13. I am entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

______ 14. I find myself getting angry inside when others don't do things for me they said they would.

______ 15. My children owe me cooperation and obedience for all the sacrifices I have made for them.

Add all of the numbers of your fifteen responses, and then divide that total by fifteen. The number you are left with will show you on the scale how convinced you are that you are "entitled" to certain things.

If your score is from one to three, you probably are not expecting much from other people in the way of gratitude, approval and response.  As such, while you may be disappointed when such responses aren't forthcoming, the sense of disappointment does not build in you to the point of feeling resentful.  

 If you scored a four, you are showing signs that a sense of entitlement is becoming dangerous to you.  

If you scored from five to seven, you are probably a person who is carrying a lot of internal anger over the fact that people fail to give you what you feel entitled to. If this is the case, it is time you begin to readjust your expectations. You need to remind yourself that you are "owed" absolutely nothing for all you do and that God has given everyone the choice to fly in the face of what you want.  You need to remember that God’s expectation and challenge is for you to do things for people because it's the "RIGHT" thing to do, not because you can earn "frequent flyer points" that you can cash in whenever you want.

Painful as it is to acknowledge, in life you are not entitled to anything, not even the next breath you are hoping to take, everything is a gift.  Don't let that truth get too far away from you in life, or you may just receive what you are entitled to in death.

Next Post - Entitlement It's all about I, I, I (Part 3 of 5)

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Entitlement - The Enemy Within (Part 1 of 5)

Recently I was having a conversation with a friend, That quickly turned to a discussion regarding something that he felt ‘entitled to’; when I disagreed with him regarding it and stated a completely opposite opinion he took offense to my position and the evening came to a fairly quick close, as he abruptly rose to call it a night; primarily because he is emotionally invested in his ‘entitlement’ and ‘resented’ the fact that someone would dare to challenge it.  He will get over the difference of opinion,  but it got me to thinking about how  the American culture both outside and inside the church has radically changed in regards to our now closely held belief of being  entitled.   While this may not at first glance seem to be an issue that is addressed in the Bible, upon closer examination of the problem you will find that the undercurrent of entitlements and their destructive consequences are consistently being addressed.  However perhaps I should begin at the beginning. 

A sense of entitlement means that we feel that we have a right or a claim to something, whether it's the best school, a grand home, a better job, preferential treatment, or the good life.  On its own there is nothing wrong with wanting those things (well excluding the preferential treatment); however we begin down a perverse and eventually self-destructive super highway once we take that first step. 

When I was growing up in the 70’s, my mother had a copy of the best selling book “I’m OK—You’re OK” written by Thomas Harris, which was part of the self esteem movement of that time (how has that worked out for America?), McDonald’s slogan at the time was “You deserve a break today”." In the 1980's, another ad campaign said, "Pamper yourself with Calgon." In the 1990's, it was "You owe it to yourself to buy a Mercedes Benz." Society continues to bombard us with the message that we are such fantastic people; we are entitled to an equally fantastic way of living.  I half expect to see a new book titled something in the vain of “I’m Entitled and So Are You, Just Not as Much as Me”.

Entitlement issues are increasingly becoming a top concern of psychologists, therapists, Pastors and educators.  We seem to have come to the place where we feel entitled to the good life.  We're entitled to have everything work for us.  If it doesn't, someone must be to blame, and you can be sure of at least this: Whoever is at fault, it isn't us.

How crazy  of an idea is that? 

Think of last year’s Christmas, recall the pile of presents under the Christmas tree as large as Diamond Head, that's taken for granted.  That's just the way it's supposed to be.  Every child has a right to presents by the ton, and even that will not be enough if the latest, coolest gadget of the minute isn't to be found.

A person standing on Waikiki beach with a frown on his face, muttering, "I really liked our vacation to Tahiti better" -- that's an entitlement issue, too.

Or how about these?  "I'm a college graduate, so I deserve a high-paying job."  "I've been good to my friends, so they owe me their loyalty."  "I am a senior citizen, so I deserve younger people's respect."   "We weren't put on this earth to suffer, so life owes me a break."  "I took care of my kids when they were young, so I am entitled to some special care from them when I grow old."

The upshot is a culture of complaint. We have, it seems, grown fluent in the language of blame, complaint and grievance, while having lost our linguistic capacity when it comes to words such as, "Please," "Thank you," and "I'm sorry."  We also seem increasingly disabled when it comes to expressing personal responsibility for our part in the problems that beset us.  After all, how can we possibly say, "It's my fault," when we've been weaned and schooled on self-esteem?  If I'm OK and you're OK, then it must be "Them."

How has this pervasive sense of entitlement come to pass? I have my theories, but the how is irrelevant. It is the consequences that matter and whatever the cause, this much seems true: Entitlement is the handmaiden of the ego, the sign of a neglected, malnourished soul, and the cornerstone of Resentment. 

Entitlement signals a rejection of the core values of America and of Christianity. Our national genetic code and faith, at least at one time, was patterned on respect for the common man and woman.  A shared belief in the dignity of human life that's not the consequence of having, but of being created in God’s image.

My grandmother, who lived through the Great Depression in the Midwest, was imprinted with this genetic code and made a point of passing it on to my mother, who was just as determined to pass it on to me.   When I was a teenager during one visit to her modest home with my mother, I said something that must have sounded either arrogant or entitled.  My mother locked her glare on me while my Grandmother fixed me with a stern look and said, "Don't you ever think you are any better than anyone else!"  I have remembered it, precisely because I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I was special to both of them, the apple of their eyes. However even considering that idea of putting myself above others was never to be tolerated.

Here's a project you can undertake, pull out your bible and try to find the passage where Jesus proclaims that as the Son of God He is entitled to special privileges, or Paul claiming a special exemption from suffering because of all he has done. Easier to find (as the others do not exist) are the passages where David thought he was entitled to preferred treatment and see how God dealt with him.

In the end, it's the entitled who, however rich, are truly poor.  Instead of knowing life as a gift from God, life turns into something that's taken for granted -- or worse, begrudged. That's real poverty, and no sense of entitlement can alleviate it, or stop it from digressing to what comes with it….Resentment. 

Next Post - Entilement A Quiz (Part 2 of 5) 
Part 3 of 5 Entitlement - It's all about I, I, I. 

The Sin of Coveting

You have heard it a thousand times from your pastor that the law is external (meaning behavior), many of the churches within America have perverted and neglected the laws of the old testament to the point of making the laws enemies of humankind.  However here is the rub (so to speak) Since God’s moral nature does not and cannot change (Ex. 3:14; Isa. 41:4; Heb. 1:11, 12), the laws which are based on His nature are absolute.  The moral laws of God are those laws which are based on God’s nature.  God Himself is the absolute standard of righteousness. Since the moral laws reflect His nature and character, they are “immutable and irrepealable even by God Himself.”   This brings us to an interesting, but often overlooked umbrella concerning many of God’s Moral commands. 

It's interesting that many of God’s commandments are about coveting, and that God would have to go to great lengths to teach people all the subtleties of the inner workings of the law against covetousness.  You see this played out in everyday life all about you, a person who deceives himself and others without uttering a "real lie" would fulfill the law...in his own mind.  A person who gossips against his fellow man, destroying another's reputation and life and causing grief and hatred to tag along at a neighbor's foot, would not consider herself a murderer.  However in God's eyes, that person is guilty of great sins of the flesh; malice, resentment, adultery, fornication, etc.

Imagine if you can for a moment that you have been enslaved all your life.  Suddenly you are now free.  What do you suppose you would be like?  Slavery does not make people good or pure.  Pain and bitterness and a hard life does not make people holy. Sickness and suffering doesn't make people kind. Interestingly, a bad life --lived without God's constant uplifting strength-- will make people rather nasty and horrible and covetous. They covet the "good life" of others.  They resent the beauty and the popularity of others. They resent the ease and happiness of others.  Sorrow and hurt will bring sorrow and hurt.  Covetousness is not only wanting something that is not --or never has been – yours; it is much, much more.

Covetousness is judging God, and judging others...for our life. C.S. Lewis once said, "the devil of resentment is that it is justified."  Some of the greatest coveters have been the kindest, most sorrow-filled people.  Covetousness leads us to the concepts of envy and to sin in general.  Looking at just one particular sin of covetousness helps to reveal the true nature and destruction that covetousness brings.  

The law of adultery is a tough one, especially for this generation of American Christians, it is one of those trespasses (I will deal with trespass verses a sin in another post) that so-so many people are guilty of.  I suspect that adultery is probably more prevalent in our media-driven society because we always have the media defining our happiness for us (happiness, not holiness or joyfulness).  Just as it shows us the beautiful things we do not have and makes us resent our lowly home....or ungrateful for what we have, it also shows us beautiful women and men who make our spouses look like nothing.  

Paul warns us that Adultery is idolatry.  We look at the person we have and somehow they don't seem perfect.  Paul warns us against emulations, adulations, and fleshly mental sins of that type.  But Christian Americans often have an idealism that is rooted in the world's idealism.  Paradoxically, American Christians are so "idealistic" in a worldly way that they are often quite likely to divorce their wives and husbands to find true love because of their "idealism".  They say they have found the perfect spouse.  But what they feel is lust, and what they have found is Sin.  However, even if it were true love, it is no excuse for adultery.   

Jesus made this clear when He said that if someone divorces someone and marries another, that person has committed adultery (He also made it perfectly clear what the adulterer’s fate is).  Many of those sharing the pew next to you, have or are doing this.  They divorce their spouse and marry their adulterous partner, then use the act of matrimony in a truly blasphemous way to attempt to hide/erase the fact that the marriage began in adultery; which by definition is an act of covetousness.  

With a close reading of the Bible you will discover that many of those things that God declares that He hates are those things that come from the sin of Covetousness.  In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon says: "the race is not to the swift nor bread to the wise."  People often say this as if they are the swift and the wise and life is treating them harshly.  But as for me, Thank God, the bread doesn't always go to the wise!  Thank God that most of us (especially me) don't get what we deserve!  I have a great job, amazing friends, a varied and interesting life; God has graciously given me some wonderful blessings, while withholding some of the things I desired. Thankfully God has helped the weak and poor and sent away the strong and rich.

Easter - How Will You Respond? (Part 5 of 5)

…“Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,  saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”   Luke 24:5-7

Many people are still looking for Jesus among the dead.  I think of scholars who study the words of Jesus and the gospel manuscripts but do not believe in Christ’s resurrection.  I think of the archaeologists who two thousand years later are still trying to find Jesus’ body and bones in the tomb but keep coming up empty.  I think of people who finger the body of Christ on their crucifixes but do not know the reality of the living Christ.  I think of those who attend church on Christmas and Easter (C.E.O’s).  These people all have one thing in common.  They are all looking for Jesus among the dead. And if you are looking for Jesus among the dead, you will not find him. He is not there.

Frank Morison was a man who went looking for Jesus among the dead.  Morison was a British journalist who lived early in the twentieth century.  He was not a Christian. Although he admired the figure of Jesus, Morison was a skeptic at heart who felt that these stories about Jesus were nothing more than myth or legend, especially the story of the resurrection.

So, Morison had a brilliant idea.  Why not prove that the resurrection never happened? Why not use his research skills as a journalist to dig into history and prove that Jesus never rose from the dead?  He would do his research and then write a book presenting the historical facts about Christ and the events surrounding his death.  So Frank Morison went looking for Jesus among the dead.

Guess what? He never found him. What he did find is exactly what Luke said in verses 2-3: He found the stone rolled away, but he did not find the body of Jesus. Instead he found the risen Christ and put his faith in him as Lord and savior.

Frank Morison set out to write a book disproving the resurrection of Christ. Instead, he ended up writing what has become a Christian classic presenting the evidence for the resurrection of Christ  (Who Moved the Stone?).  Morison went looking for Jesus among the dead.  But he did not find him there. You will not find him there either.  If you want to find Jesus this morning, you must look among the living. And that brings us to the good news of Easter.

Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death and the grave. He rose from the dead on Easter morning. He is alive and well today.  You will not find him among the dead, for he is among the living. And he offers new life to you.  The Bible tells us that those who trust in Christ will share in his resurrection.  The fear of death and judgment is taken away. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

That is the good news of Easter.  Only one question remains.  

 How will you respond?

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