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Stirring our pot

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Stirring our pot

Stirring each other up to love and good works... Heb 10:23-25.

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Stirring our pot

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Early in the morning, the women went to the tomb. It was the first day of the week, and they had a lot to do, so they got an early start visiting the body of Jesus, making sure everything was as it should be before embarking on their journey home.<br /> <br /> Why did they go to the tomb? Because they assumed they would find Jesus there—dead. They had seen Him die. They had watched His body go into the cave. Dead people then, as now, tended to stay dead.<br /> <br /> But something was not right. The stone was rolled away. And upon closer inspection, they found the grave clothes but not the corpse. There was no body.<br /> <br /> What in the world was going on?<br /> <br /> Suddenly, two men appeared, their clothes shining bright as lightning. “What are you doing here looking for a live person among dead bodies?”<br /> <br /> We aren’t looking for a live person; we’re looking for a dead man.<br /> <br /> “He has risen just like He said He would. Don’t you remember?”<br /> <br /> Hmmm… that sounds familiar. He did say something about that—more than once if memory serves. But He also said He was the Messiah, and Messiahs aren’t supposed to die. Messiahs are supposed to kill the bad guys, not be killed by them. Wow, those clothes are bright!<br /> <br /> “Hurry back and tell the others that Jesus Christ is no longer dead.”<br /> <br /> Bursting back into the room where the dejected followers of Jesus were, these women began to tell them what had just happened. But where do you even begin to explain the inexplicable? It didn’t make sense. The stone was where? There were two men whose clothes were shiny, and they said… what? It had been a long and traumatic week for everyone—especially the women. There had been the parade into the city, that incident in the Temple, the Passover, the death of Jesus, and now this. Maybe these women ought to lie down.<br /> <br /> It was nonsense to everyone except for Peter. Peter started thinking about a conversation with Jesus a while back. Jesus asked everyone, “Who do you think I am?”<br /> <br /> Peter answered Jesus before realizing his mouth was open: “You’re the One—the Messiah.”<br /> <br /> Jesus applauded him for his answer, but then He started talking about death and resurrection. It didn’t make sense at the time, and when Peter tried to interrupt Jesus, harsh words were exchanged.<br /> <br /> Peter bolted from the room, John hot on his heels.<br /> <br /> Arriving at the tomb, they saw the strips of linen—but not the body. What could this possibly mean? You don’t suppose…<br /> <br /> If there’s no resurrection, nothing else makes sense. The demands of holiness, the call to turn the other cheek, the yearning for something greater than this life has to offer—none of it makes any sense. The sinless life, astonishing teaching, unbelievable miracles, gruesome death—none of it makes sense if there’s no resurrection.<br /> <br /> If there’s no resurrection, go home. Go fishing. Go back to doing whatever. Call it a day. Close the book. Mourn for a little while the dream had of things being different. Then eat, drink, and be merry. Go ahead and slap the boss if he’s bothering you. Run that credit card debt up as high as possible. Steal something. Give in to every whim and indulge every desire.<br /> Unless there’s a resurrection.<br /> <br /> All the promises, all the laws, all the waiting, all the discipline—it’s all a bunch of nonsense; they’re all just silly manmade rituals designed to keep people in their place. Keeping clean, maintaining your purity, abstinence, fasting, and self-control are just some humanly devised methods of preserving order in society.<br /> Unless there’s a resurrection.<br /> <br /> Let’s be clear: We’re not discussing a metaphorical, allegorical, symbolic resurrection here. We’re talking about a real-life, flesh-and-blood body that used to be dead but is now upright, walking, talking, and conscious. RESURRECTION! Without that, the life of Jesus doesn’t make any sense. No one’s does. It may be an interesting read for a while, but the ending will be terrible. All die. That’s all. Existence was nothing in the grand scheme of things. Everyone will eventually be forgotten by history. Life is utterly meaningless. None have hope or purpose. <br /> Unless there’s a resurrection…<br /> <br /> Dear Father, You promised the gospel beforehand through Your prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning Your Son. He was a descendant of David according to the flesh. He was declared with power to be Your Son, according to the Spirit of holiness, by Your resurrection from the dead—Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 1:2–4)<br /> <br /> I want to know You, O Christ, and the power of Your resurrection and the fellowship of Your sufferings, being conformed to Your death, that I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10–11)<br /> <br /> Lord Jesus, Your death and resurrection are the foundation of my faith, the source of my meaning, hope and purpose, the wellspring of my salvation, the assurance of Your truth and the basis of my eternal life with You. Life without the resurrection would be a brief episode between nonexistence and oblivion. There would be no long-term, abiding, transcendent hope. Human life and history would be a tragedy of epic proportions. Without Your resurrection, Your life would have been a terrible waste of extraordinary human potential. We would still be in our sins and there would be no real hope as we hurtle toward bodily decay and death. But thanks be to God that You were declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit. If this earthly tent, my bodily house, is torn down, I will have a building from You, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And while I am in this body, I groan for the new body You are preparing for me, which is no longer perishable but imperishable, no longer earthly but heavenly, no longer weak but glorious in resurrected power. I know that my true citizenship is in heaven and that my humble and decaying body will conform to the body of Christ’s resurrected glory. And I know that on that day, I will see how this life&#039;s sorrows, suffering, and scars will be fully redeemed by that glory. Seeing this, I pray that I will be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in Your work, knowing that my toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Stirring our pot

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