Your Faith Is Not Futile

"For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied." 1 Corinthians 15:16-19

Although it will happen to all of us one day, dying is something we try not to think about, even though it is around us all the time. That is why for Christians, it is easy to look at the death of Jesus Christ and be in awe. Most of us don't like to think of dying. We may consider dying for a loved one if we believe it is absolutely necessary, but for the entire world? Not a chance. That is why all we can do is look at what Jesus did and say, "Thank you." What is even more sobering to think about is the fact that Jesus died for us when He didn't have to. We are the ones that deserve death. We are the ones who, in Adam, didn't believe God and ushered in the sin and death we struggle with today. But, the most humbling aspect of it all is that while we deserve death for our sin, we don't even have a life to give that would satisfy God. Sin is so terrible that it required the death of God as payment! Yet, for most of us, we still try to appease God; not believing the death of Jesus was once and for all. Because we don't believe Jesus when He said, "It is finished (John 19:30)," we come up with our own bloodless sacrifices that God doesn't require and does not accept; confession booths, short accounts, altar calls, repetitive prayers, etc. Even the Jews, who do not believe in Jesus, much less His sacrifice for their sins, have initiated plans to rebuild the Temple in Israel so they can once again perform sacrifices for their sins. It would not surprise me to see Christians flock to Israel to try and take part in these ceremonies and even give financial support to the building and maintaining of the Temple. Despite what Jesus said on the cross with His last breath, despite the Bible saying that God no longer remembers our sins and lawless acts (Hebrews 10:17), despite our being told that sacrifice for sins is no longer necessary (Hebrews 10:18), and despite scripture saying that the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins (Hebrews 10:4), we still put Jesus back on the cross to die all over again because we don't believe He did enough. When I was younger and before I came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, I was given a prayer to recite each time I asked God to forgive my sins. It was called an "Act of Contrition." The prayer went as follows: "My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have mercy." God, in His love, listened to me say this prayer repeatedly, but I can't help but wonder if when He heard it, His heart broke and made Him want to shout, "I already forgave you!" With so much focus on sin, is it any wonder that most of us don't grasp the true meaning of the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

All believers acknowledge the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Believers in Jesus Christ will experience resurrection because, having the life Jesus gives, it is impossible for death to defeat us. We know that when we die we will go be with God for eternity. However, it is incomplete and worse, it misses the main point about the resurrection. The death of Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation. However, the death of Jesus Christ does not save anybody. We are told that without the resurrection we are to be pitied and are still in our sins. Why? The main problem between man and God is not that we are sinners in need of forgiveness. The problem is that we are spiritually dead to God and in need of His life. Salvation is the restoration of the life of God. In Genesis 2:7, it says, "Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." When God created Adam, He breathed His life into him and Adam became a living being. However, in Genesis 2:17, God warned Adam that if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would die; "..but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." Adam didn't believe God and ate from the tree. When Adam sinned, he didn't die physically. That would come later as a separate consequence of his sin. We know that because he lived to be 930 years old. What happened immediately is that Adam died spiritually; God removed His life, the Holy Spirit, from within him. Adam was created in the image of God; a reflection of what it is like to have the life of God indwelling him. But Adam did not have any children with Eve prior to his sin. Therefore, all of mankind is born into this world in the image of Adam; a reflection of what it is like not to have the life of God indwelling us. Genesis 5:3 says, "When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth." God, in His love, desired to once again indwell mankind. However, before He could do that, He had to deal with the sin that caused His life to leave Adam. Jesus Christ, being born spiritually alive, is the only man ever born who had a life to give that would satisfy God as payment for our sins. Now, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God is able to offer His life to mankind. "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life (Romans 5;10)!" And because of the eternal consequences of the cross, there is now no sin that will cause that life to leave. That is why it is called an eternal life. A life that will carry a believer through this life and on into eternity. Hebrews 9:12 says, "He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption." The Gospel is sin, death, forgiveness and the restoration of life. This Easter we celebrate the moment when Jesus Christ rose from the dead to offer the life of God as a free gift to all who will receive Him by faith. Let us not forget the importance of the empty tomb because we are stuck at the foot of the cross. Happy Easter!