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Tag: resurrection

Grief in View of the Hope of Resurrection

The Easter season is a unique time filled with not only great joy at the resurrection of Jesus but also great sorrow in recognizing the sinful state of man, our own sins against God that led to this predicament. Jesus bore our sin and shame on the cross, but we know that we still live in a broken world that is constantly presenting us with difficult circumstances and what may seem like random attacks against the life we desire to have. As we reflect on the message of the cross, we can understand what great anguish Jesus endured in our place, and we can look to His example as we consider the grief that the world brings us.

First, we must recognize that we are not ultimately bound to this world, but we are awaiting a new heaven and new earth. Peter talks about this greatly in his first letter (emphasis mine)-

1 Peter 2:9-11- But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

The temptation to be focused on the present circumstance is common to man. But as those saved by grace through faith in Jesus, we are called to live differently in this world.  We are not bound to the darkness around us- we have been delivered into His glorious light! This is both a present reality and a future hope. This is why we pursue holy living. It is also a practical testimony to the world, as we see in the next verse-

1 Peter 2:12- Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

People are always observing us, whether they know we proclaim to follow Jesus or not.  And those who know we call ourselves “Christian” have a concept of what that should and shouldn’t look like.  When we get lost in the murkiness of this fallen world and allow our flesh to spit hurtful words or make short-sighted decisions, it is because we have lost sight of what God has in store for us at the end of our lives, whether upon the second coming of Jesus or after our death-

Revelation 21:1-5- Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Jesus will comfort us directly! What a picture, the Savior that I betrayed in sin, who had to die for me so that I could have an unbroken relationship with, will comfort me when I see Him face to face. If that doesn’t motivate us to pursue Him, then maybe we must consider that He experienced a human life here on earth. This reality is hard to wrap our finite minds around, but it is the truth proclaimed in God’s Word.

But this truth is not far off! So we must recognize that our Savior lived a life on this earth that had temptations, grief, and difficulties.

The author of Hebrews describes this truth in chapter 4-

Hebrews 4:14-15- Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Accounts of the temptation of Satan against Jesus can be found in Matthew 4, Luke 4, and Mark 1.  But we can also find other places of temptation to prove His power, including to avoid death on the cross as seen in Matthew 16:21-23 and Mark 8:31-33, or in the situation regarding Lazarus as told in John 11.

John 11:1-3- Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

And what was the response of Jesus hearing this news? Verse 4-6:

But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Jesus made decisions based on His knowledge of God’s greater plan, not based on how He felt in the moment. Jesus could have kept Lazarus alive while he was not near. He could have done what any human who had the power of God would likely expect to do in such a situation. But He didn’t, because His primary concern was that God would get the glory. And the crucial part of this story comes in two simple words, as recorded in John 11:35-

Jesus wept.

The Creator of the universe. The Savior of the World. The Lamb of God. The Protector, Healer, Redeemer…. He WEPT.  Is there any surprise that we who are called to become more like Christ will face the griefs of this life? Jesus was a man of sorrows, as described in detail in Isaiah 53.  But the beautiful truth of what all this means is summarized in Hebrews 4:16-

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Our Savior, acquainted with grief, tempted but without sin, knows how life on this earth can be for us.

Therefore, we must finally recognize that we have not been saved out of difficulties, but we have been saved to live differently in spite of those difficulties.

Since the death of my wife, the words of 1 Thessalonians 4 have been one of many strongholds I use to combat the temptation against fear and despair in view of the grief and loss I have felt.

1 Thess 4:13-18- But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Brothers and sisters, we will face grief, not just because we are Christians, but because this world is not the end-all be-all of existence. But we must fight vigilantly against letting hard times define our existence. We can and should grieve the loss of loved ones, the unexpected employment change, the dissolvement of relationships that ought to have lasted a lifetime. But we cannot look at those things as isolated events, but instead trust that God is working in those circumstances to draw us close to Him, as said in Romans 8:28-

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

If we trust Scripture, if we believe that there is more to life than what’s here on earth, if we see that Jesus doesn’t just theoretically know about life but experienced it, if we can see that the difficulties of life draw us to more dependence on God, then we can begin to grieve in a way that draws us closer to God and further from this world. 

My last thought is another tentpole I hold on to, from Psalm 119-

Psalm 119:68- You are good and do good; teach me Your statutes.

When your family fails you, when your plans blow up, when the unexpected diagnosis comes, know that your Savior knows, He understands, He is with you and near you, and His Spirit is in you to help you as you walk through the grief.

Love in Christ,
Pastor Ben

Why we are having a Passover Seder

We are just days away from Easter Sunday, the day marked on our calendars to set aside and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In reality, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus every time we gather because we understand our gatherings are in vain if Jesus does not resurrect from the dead.

As we prepare to gather on Easter Sunday, there are two events that we host that are intended to draw our hearts to the finished work of Jesus Christ: Passover Seder and Good Friday. Both of these events I encourage you to attend with your family.

The Good Friday service is a time where we look directly at the brutality of the cross of Christ and sit in the violence of the crucifixion for the sins of the world. We will also participate in the Lord’s Supper together. Register for Good Friday here.

The focus of this post is on the Passover Seder. Let me first state that hosting a Passover Seder is in no way required for Christians to participate in. In fact, if we required it, we would be in the wrong! (See Galatians, Colossians 2, Romans 14) We are no longer under the Jewish Law, but we have freedom in Jesus Christ!

We host the Passover Seder simply as a discipleship opportunity for the entire family that connects the teachings of the Old Testament to Jesus. We constantly say at Grace Life that the Bible is one big story of Redemption, meaning, as Sally Llyod Jones states, “Every story (in the Bible) whispers His name”. While we won’t go into the full meal that was celebrated in the Old Testament, we will look at how the different elements of the meal connect to Jesus. Here’s an excerpt from the book we read from at the Seder.

Passover is the oldest and most important of Jewish religious festivals, commemorating God’s deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and his creation of the Israelite people. In its earliest forms it marked the beginning of the Jewish religious year (Ex 12:1; because of changes in calendars, later Judaism observed the beginning of the year in the Fall with Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana). It is based on the rituals of ancient Israel preserved primarily in Exodus 12-14 in which Israelites celebrated their deliverance by God from slavery in Egypt. The term Passover refers to the tenth and final plague God brought upon the Egyptians to persuade Pharaoh to let the people go, the death of all the firstborn of Egypt. In obedience to God’s instructions, those who believed placed the blood of a lamb on the door posts of their homes, so that God would pass over” those homes. The festival actually celebrates the entire sequence of events that led to the Israelites’ freedom from slavery. While thoroughly based in those historical events, the celebration encompasses much more as it becomes a vehicle to celebrate the very nature of God and His gracious work in the world. It is in this larger dimension that Jesus adopted the Passover service as a sacramental remembrance of God’s new work of deliverance in the Christ, and allows Christians to celebrate this ancient festival.

One of my favorite aspects of the Passover (and really the Jewish culture as a whole) is the family integration. Our culture sends kids off to different classes and places but in the Jewish culture, the family was always together. I love family integrated worship. I love our Family Sundays and I love serving alongside of our kids. The Passover Seder provides an opportunity for families to sit together, participate together, and celebrate Jesus together.

At the Seder, your children will have a role at the table. They will participate just as if they were in a Jewish household, but they will clearly see that all of this is about Jesus. Any opportunity to point our kids to Jesus is an opportunity we must make.

And really that is why we do it. The more we can understand how the Old Testament points to Jesus, the greater appreciation we will have for God’s grand story of Redemption. From the beginning (Ephesians 1) God’s plan to redeem people from their sin was going to be through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Passover looked forward to His coming, we now look back at His finished work and look forward to His soon return. And when that day comes, we will gather as the people of God around the table and eat and celebrate all that Jesus has done for us.

If you haven’t already, register your family for the Passover Seder here.

Marvelous Grace

On our way out of town for vacation, Julie and I took the kids on a slight detour past our first apartment in Knoxville, TN. It was the first time we had been there since we left in a Penske truck back in 2008. It looked just like we remember it. 

We then drove the winding road back towards the highway, a road I traveled quite a bit for classes, work, and church. We drove up the hill where I spun out the winter of my freshman year. I hadn’t learned how to drive in the snow yet. We drove past neighborhoods where our friends used to live, places we used to eat, and stores we used to shop at. Finally, we drove past the college and church I attended for close to four years.

With memories flooding back of the different places and people from those years in Tennessee, there is one word that explains how thankful I am for this short time in my life: grace.

Those four years were quite difficult to say the least. Everyday I fought the legalistic posture of my heart. I was working so hard to please God. I tried doing everything right and still didn’t feel like it was enough. I couldn’t keep the rules of the school the way they were intended to be kept. I was often scrutinized, questioned, and ridiculed. After an accidental rule breaking, I was asked a question that I didn’t have an answer to at the time: “What would Jesus think of you right now?” 

“He’d think I was a failure”, is how I wanted to answer. But I didn’t. I didn’t know at the time how much Jesus truly loved me. It was around this time I realized I was never going to be able to do enough to be good. I was never going to be good enough. I was never going to be righteous. 

Legalism is a deadly weight. It devalues the finished work of Jesus and elevates our filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). It is an unbearable task to earn any favor with God. There is nothing we can do to earn the righteousness of Jesus. No matter how often we keep the rules, no matter how “good” we are, no matter how churchy we appear, legalism is a lie from the pit of hell. Legalism continues to yell, “Do more! Do more! Do more!” while Jesus lovingly declares, “It is finished!”

It had been close to 10 years since I had placed my faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of my sins, but in the Rocky Mountains of Tennessee, I learned and came to appreciate the grace of Jesus. While I was never going to be able to do enough to be good enough, Jesus did. While I was never going to be righteous, Jesus was and now through His grace, His righteousness covers me (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are so underserving of the grace of Jesus. His grace is truly marvelous.

The good news of Jesus reminds us that we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. It is faith that pleases the Father (Hebrews 11:6), faith in His Son, Jesus. While our natural tendency given to us from Adam (Genesis 3) is to cover ourselves, there is freedom in knowing that we can’t. Our sin covering, our standing before God, only comes from the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Our joy comes from the victory we have through His resurrection. And none of this was deserving. When we fell short of God’s standard of righteousness, Jesus measured up (Romans 3:23). It is all because of grace. 

As the old hymn says, 

“Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt! Yonder on calvary’s mount out-poured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt. Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all our sin!”

If I were to be asked the question again, “What would Jesus think of you right now?” I’d respond with great joy, “He loves me as His own, not for what I have done, but for all that He has graciously done for me”. And it is this grace of Jesus that frees us to live in obedience to all his commands.