Old Erich Proverb - Accomplishment

We do not accomplish things for God; He accomplishes things through us.

A Voice from the Past - Chesterton

On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realised the new wonder; but even they hardly realised that the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn.

G. K. Chesterton, 1874-1936, The Everlasting Man, The Strangest Story in the World (Dover Publications Inc., 2007, p. 207)

How does Easter change everything? How can we live in light of it?

Tale of an Empty Tomb

The resurrection is the heart of Christian teaching and one of the most contested aspects. Some would reject it because they claim science refutes the possibility of miracles. But science tells what happens if nothing interferes, but cannot say whether there is something that can intervene. If we cannot write off miracles in principle, we need to ask what the evidence for the resurrection is.

The most popular alternative is that it was a legend that grew up over time. But we need to remember that the resurrection was, from the beginning, the centerpiece of Christian belief (see 1 Corinthians 15). Without the resurrection it is difficult to see what Christianity is even about. If Jesus had been merely a failed Jewish messiah or a wandering rabbi or a moral philosopher, He would have vanished into obscurity. Now there is abundant evidence to support an early date for the writing of the New Testament. But even the critics generally concede that there are four books written by who they claim to have been written by: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Galatians. These attest to the fact of the resurrection and its centrality to Christianity. If they were indeed written by Paul, it was about 20 years after the event. Further, people were from the beginning willing to die for Christianity. Now people will die for a lie, but who will die for some vague legend? Tradition tells us almost all the original apostles and their immediate followers died martyrs' deaths. Even if this is discounted, Nero, within about 30 years of the resurrection, was putting people to death for being Christians. Also, Christianity had critics from the very beginning, and they would have noticed if Christians had simply changed their story.

Another possibility is a conspiracy, either by the disciples or Jesus Himself. This has many of the same objections as the legend theory. Further, it has the problem of how they would have pulled it off and what they thought were going to get out of it. Chuck Colson relates this to his involvement in Watergate. He asks, if a small group of people with all the power of the presidency could not cover up the Watergate scandal for more than a short time, how could we expect a bunch of powerless Galileans to have pulled off a swindle to fool all history? There are also the ideas of hallucination, wishful thinking, or mystical experience. This might work to explain the support of a few immediate followers but does not explain it being accepted by anyone beyond the inner circle. There has been the occasional person who has claimed to see Elvis Presley alive. But is it likely that any large number of people will make this the basis of their belief system, let alone die for it? I would conclude that the explanation that best fits the evidence is the resurrection really happened and therefore Christianity has a solid basis.      

The Drawing of God

It is the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart that draws people to God (John 6:44; Acts 16:14; 2 Corinthians 4:3,4). Now I, being of a Calvinistic persuasion, believe God brings people all the way to Himself (Acts 13:48; Romans 8:29,30; John 10:27,28). But even if someone rejects this full position, they need to recognize that the building of Christ's church involves the work of God in people's lives (Matthew 16:18; 1 Corinthians 3:5-7; Acts 2:47). And whether the ultimate determiner of whether a person comes to Christ is their choice or God's choice, it is not the ability of the person who presents the message. Now I am not advocating sloppiness or carelessness in presenting the message of Christ. But I am claiming we should be very careful of employing manipulation or anything that might be deceitful in carrying out the work of God (2 Corinthians 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:3-5; 1 Peter 3:10). For the work of God is based on God's power, not our cleverness. 

What Transforms?

The Bible speaks of God wanting to transform His people from who we are to are to who He wants us to be (2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 12:1,2; 8:29). The Greek word here refers to transformation from the inside. It is where we get our word metamorphosis, the change of a caterpillar into a butterfly from the inside. This is not merely the result of putting on a mask or gritting our teeth and trying harder, but is something God works in us (John 15:5; 2 Corinthians 3:5,6; Ephesians 2:10). This is important, but it can lead to various misunderstandings. This is not some one-time event that instantaneously makes us holy, but a process that goes on throughout the Christian life (Philippians 2:12-16; Hebrews 12:1,2; 1 Timothy 4:7,8). Now I do not want to put down people's spiritual experiences, because I believe God can use particular spiritual experiences to minister to people and bring them forward on the journey to being the people God wants them to be. (There may be some experiences that are not genuine, but unless they contradict Biblical teaching, it is not for me to judge.) But the problem comes when we exalt any one experience to be all that is necessary to be spiritual or when we see following a particular formula as all we need to follow God. Further, it is a mistake to claim everyone must have our particular experience to be truly spiritual. If we make some one experience the standard for judging spirituality, it  leads to pride and complacency if we feel we have attained to this artificial level of spirituality or discouragement if we have tried and failed.

We can also conclude that we have no part in contributing to this transformation. But Scripture does call us to respond to what God is producing in us (Romans 6:12-14; Galatians 5:16; Colossians 2:6,7). There is no indication that this involves some high-flown secret, but merely the decision to go along with what God is working in our lives. But it also involves trusting in the fact that it is His work and not something that comes from us (Philippians 2:13; Colossians 1:28,29; Psalms 127:1,2). Nor does this negate God's using various things in our lives to help bring about this transformation: the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16,17; Hebrews 5:11-14; Psalms 19:7-14), prayer (Ephesians 6:18-20; Philippians 4:6,7; James 1:5-8), and the fellowship of other believers (Hebrews 10:24,25; Ephesians 4:11-16; James 5:13-16). The key thing we need to recognize is that none of these things are simply mechanical, that they all depend on God working in us to use and apply them to change us. We need to resist both the idea that we can trust in our own abilities and diligence to produce God's work in us and the idea that we can sit passively and expect this transformation to happen automatically without our engagement. There is a paradox here, but we must beware of oversimplifying the process either way.   

A Touch of Humor - Easter

What is the right perspective on Easter? How can we maintain it?

Old Erich Proverb - Knowledge

Knowing God's truth is meant to change my character, not reinforce my ego.