EASTER 2010

It has been over 2,000 years since Jesus came from heaven, incarnated, and sacrificed his life for sinful man. Christians celebrate not only his dying for us but God raising Him from the dead after 3 days. It is interesting to me that those who were closest to Him, the disciples, were with Him for three years and yet they came right up to Passover and still Thomas says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” The all important truth of Easter is summed up in Jesus’ reply to Thomas and the remaining disciples: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Well, are we any better 2,000 years later? I just read in the Baptist Standard, and I quote: “While most Americans describe Easter as a religious holiday, fewer than half of the adults surveyed link it specifically to the Resurrection of Jesus,” a Barna Group study shows.  Seven in 10 respondents mentioned religion or spirituality in their response to an open-ended question about how they describe what Easter means to them personally. But just 42 percent tied Easter to the Resurrection. The age group 18-25 were the least likely to describe Easter as a religious event.

If Jesus was who He claimed to be then the CROSS and the EMPTY TOMB are the two most important symbols in all of humanity. If Jesus was who He claimed to be then WHERE you spend ETERNITY is tied to a choice. The blood of Jesus covered the sin of humanity period! Will you believe that Jesus is the way to heaven, was telling the truth? If you do He offers you ETERNAL LIFE in Heaven with Him. If on the other hand you choose to reject His blood sacrifice for you then you will still have ETERNAL LIFE, but you will be forever separated from Him and Heaven.

If what I just shared is the truth, and I know that it is, then the CROSS is of eternal importance. What we learned from the Barna study is this…”the Easter holiday has a distinctly religious connection for people, but…the specifics of it are really fading in a lot of people’s minds.”  I hope the empty tomb is of paramount importance to you and your family. What the Barna study says to me is this, we need to be sharing the Easter message boldly with every opportunity that presents itself to us. If we are obedient to sharing the Easter message with the excitement of the 1st century believers we can turn this decline in believers around. “He is not here, He is RISEN!  Just as He said!” Luke 24:6

At IRVING BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP we serve a RISEN SAVIOR He’s in the world today! Have a Blessed Easter! DF

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