Beyond Holy Week - Resurrected Monday 2025

 

Easter is now officially over.

The question is, what now?

The Resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith.  If Christ is not resurrected, then what hope do we have.

"But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.  In that case, we are also exposed as false witnesses about God.  For we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead but He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised.  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 have perished.  If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men."

1 Corinthians 15: 12-18

The greatest hope of the Resurrection is not that Jesus was raised once.  It's that He remains alive.  He is alive and omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.  He is alive and at the right hand of the Father.  He is alive and reigning on high.

And that is something we can and should celebrate each and every day of the year!

For too many people, Easter is the one time of year that the Resurrection is given any thought.  It may be one of only a couple of times the enter the church, likely as a responsibility to family.  It's the only time they hear the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.  And with the Monday after Easter, everything is back to normal.  Easter is over.  The obligations are complete.  Reality sets back in.

Sadly, I think this is the case for far too many Christians as well.  

Oh, they can quote the verses.  They sing "My Redeemer Lives," "He Lives," and "Resurrecting."  They are in services every week, and they would say they believe every word of the Easter story.  They believe in Jesus' death and literal resurrection.

They just don't live like it.

They continue to try and find life among dead things.

For far too many Christians, the Resurrection is brought out at Easter and then celebrated, but then Jesus is put back in the tomb or back on the cross.

Others may only be celebrating this one time a year; gathering with family for the annual obligation.  Without being able to gather this year, what happened to that obligation?  Did many still view a service out of habit?

Jesus on the cross is marketable.  It's fashionable.  It can be worn on t-shirts and jewelry.  It can be put on Bible covers, hung on walls, and be used as an easily recognizable symbol.  And when Jesus remains on the cross, when he remains a savior that died for our sins, then we have been saved and our present obligation ends.  Likewise, with Jesus in the tomb.

The resurrection is something different.  If Jesus not just rose again, but is alive today, then we have obligations to him.  We have to recognize him as Lord.  As the ruling King of Kings.  And we have to live accordingly.  Jesus as Lord requires more of us.

"For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake.  For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death works in us, but life in you."

2 Corinthians 4: 5-12

Leaving Jesus in the tomb or on the cross misses out on the power that He can demonstrate in our daily lives.  On the mission that He has for us today.  Now.  On the blessings, the comfort, and the LIFE that only He can provide.

This seems to be a great part of why the early church did not use the iconography of the crucifix.  The cross was too recent, too painful, perhaps too close to the reality of what the crucifix did.  It was seen as the instrument of torture that it was.  

Instead, the imagery was focused on the Good Shepherd.  Jesus with a lamb resting across his shoulders.  Jesus with the shepherd's crook.  

And to me, that really re-centers the focus of the Christian life.  Don't get me wrong, the crucifix is still powerful imagery and represents the greatest victory that we have.  There is, however, also a tendency to treat it as a one-time historical event, both in the life of Christ and in our lives.  It's too easy for us to leave Christ on the cross.  To stop at our salvation and not pursue sanctification - to just get "fire insurance" and that's it.  To treat Jesus as just Savior and not Lord.

Focusing on the Good Shepherd reminds us that He is still watching over us.  He is still guiding us and protecting us.  And that we are still required to be listening for His voice.  To follow His voice and His voice alone.  To go where the shepherd guides us and to graze there.   To lie down in good pastures, to drink still waters, to graze along the Paths of Righteousness.

It reminds us that the Good Shepherd is and should be a part of our daily lives. 

So don't let your celebrating end.  Don't let Easter be the end of your remembrance and celebration of the Resurrection of Christ.  Don't keep Jesus in the tomb.

He's alive!

Hallelujah!

Now let's live like it on more than just Easter Sunday.

Breathe, Just Breathe

"Breathe on me, breathe on me, Holy Spirit, breathe on me;

Take Thou my heart, cleanse ev'ry part, Holy Spirit, breathe on me."

"God is as close as your breath."

Janet Wanner

"Then the Lord God formed then man from the dust of the ground.  He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and the man became a living person."

Genesis 2:7

Of all the things we need to survive, oxygen is the most important.  Generally, you can survive without food for about three weeks.  You can survive without water for about three days.  But without oxygen, without breath, you can only survive 30 to 90 seconds.  

There are exceptions.  The world record for voluntarily holding one's breath is near 25 minutes, which is miraculous, but still a blip in terms of average life span.

For its importance, breath is mentioned a lot in the scriptures.  If you think about it, the entirety of creation is God breathed.  God breathed and spoke the world, the universe into existence.  Genesis then gets very explicit in the second chapter describing how God literally breathed man into creation.  We exist because God breathed life into us.

We recognize this importance in the birth of children.  Once they are delivered, the room seems to hold its breath until that child breathes its first one and cries.  The room then breathes a sigh of relief.  All is well.

This importance of breath for life is reiterated in the Psalms, in Isaiah, in Ezekiel.  It's spelled out four times in Job.  This gives us one clear message.

God's breath is our life.  It is His grace to us.

And if we study breathing, that should tell us how important we are to God and how close he is to us.

On average, people usually take 10 to 15 breaths per minute when resting.  That's 14,400 to 21,600 breaths a day.  5.26 to 7.88 million breaths in a year.  420.48 to 630.72 million breaths in an average lifetime. 

If God's breath is our life, are we seeking him as often as we seek oxygen?  Are we seeking him 14,400 to 21,600 times a day?  Is our every breath for him?  That would be praying without ceasing.

And that's just when we are at rest.  When we exert ourselves, when we are working harder, striving for something, under stress, under exertion, our breath rate increases.  We need more oxygen.  Similarly, when we are under stress, when we are under exertion, when we can't catch our breath, we need God more.

This part comes easier to us.  We often seek him when we are running out of air.  But are we seeking him enough to sustain us on the days of rest?

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"Worship is when we give God His breath back."

Louie Giglio

"Again he said, 'Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.'  Then he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'"

John 20:21-22

In the New Testament, we also see the breath of God used as a mechanism for the distribution of the Holy Spirit.  More specifically, an impartation of the divine essence of God into each of us through breath.

We have God living in us because of His breath.

And that raises another question.

The prior section focused on how we needed to be inhaling breath for our life.  Are we taking in enough of God?  With the Spirit in us, the focus then shifts to our exhaling.  Are we breathing out enough of God around us?  Are we spreading the Spirit?

Both to those who have been placed in our lives and to God himself.  Are we breathing out enough praise?

Louie Giglio is a very powerful preacher and his statement above is so profound.  Worship is when we give God back what He has given us.  We exert our breath to give the breath he has given us back.

Here's why that's interesting to me.  The average human can forcefully exhale over two times as much breath out than their normal inhalation.  Normal inhalation and exhalation routines are roughly the same.  But we have the capacity to have a much greater exhalation than what we take in.  

Put simply, our cups are designed to run over.

We're meant to spill out once we have taken in.  We should be breathing out life to those around us because we are taking in life.  If we are receiving the breath of God as we should, then by pouring out praise to Him, we can be breathing out His life to those around us.

The cycle continues then.

Breathing in grace,
Breathing out praise
Breathing in grace,
Breathing out praise.

And so on, and so on, and so on...

It's what we were built to do.  It's how our bodies are structured to live.  

Perhaps we should pay more attention to our breathing.

"You are the air I breathe
You are the air I breathe
Your holy presence living in me

And I, I'm desperate for you

And I, I'm lost without you"

Sheep!

"I'm not feeling alright today
I'm not feeling that great
I'm not catching on fire today
Love has started to fade
I'm not going to smile today
I'm not gonna laugh
You're out living it up today
I've got dues to pay

And the grave-digger puts on the forceps
The stonemason does all the work
The barber can give you a haircut
The carpenter can take you out to lunch
Now, but, I just want to play on my pan-pipes
I just want to drink me some wine
As soon as you're born you start dying
So you might as well have a good time, oh no

Sheep go to Heaven
Goats go to Hell
Sheep go to Heaven
Goats go to Hell
Oh no, oh yeah, alright"

Sheep Go to Heaven, Cake

Sheep have been getting a lot of attention lately, and they've been thrown out as an insult at an increasing rate.

We're sheep if we wear a mask.

We're sheep if we don't.

We're sheep if we listen to CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.

We're sheep if we listen to Fox News.

We're sheep if we believe there was fraud in the election.

We're sheep if we believe there was no fraud in the election.

We're sheep if we're Republican and we're sheep if we're Democrat.

Both sides are convinced that the other is composed of brainwashed sheep, and the divide is continuing to get wider and wider.  Even and especially among those calling themselves Christian.

It's easier to understand why sheep are used as an insult.  They are dumb animals.  They have poor depth perception, are easy to flee and panic, and their flocking behavior can make them liable to follow the first one that moves.  They can become bogged down and trapped by the weight of their own wool, repeatedly trap themselves in the exact same way, and follow the example of other sheep with no reason.

Sheep are defenseless.
Sheep need help to get up.
Sheep have no sense of direction.
Sheep are not meant to carry burdens.
Sheep cannot care for themselves when wounded.
Sheep will settle for less.

They are dumb animals.

But still, it is really surprising to see so many Christians using sheep as an insult.  Particularly as the Bible is very clear that we are all sheep.  (And that we would rather be sheep than goats, but that's a whole other sermon.)

"I am the good shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.  And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.  I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.  So there will be one flock, one shepherd."

John 10:14-16

There are several instances in the Bible where God's people, both Israel and Christ's followers are compared to sheep.  Many have their roots in Psalm 23, in which David identifies himself as a sheep.  "The Lord is my shepherd."  We're sheep for many of the same reasons identified above.

We are spiritually defenseless.
We need help getting up when we are down.
We have no sense of eternal direction.
We aren't meant to carry the burdens we sometimes face.
We cannot spiritually care for ourselves.
We'll settle for the temporal, at the expense of the eternal.

We are dumb creatures.

And yet, Christ's response is one of care, not derision.  He is our Good Shepherd.  He is our nurturer, our protector, our ever-present help in times of trouble. He is the door to the sheep pen, keeping out the wolves and thieves and robbers.  Keeping us in the fold.  He is the one who leaves the 99 to hunt down the 1.

I learned something this past weekend that I had never been taught before. The early church did not use the iconography of the crucifix.  Too recent, too painful, perhaps too close to the reality of what the crucifix did.  Instead, the imagery was focused on the Good Shepherd.  Jesus with a lamb resting across his shoulders.  Jesus with the shepherd's crook.  

And to me, that really re-centers the focus of the Christian life.  Don't get me wrong, the crucifix is still powerful imagery and represents the greatest victory that we have.  There is, however, also a tendency to treat it as a one-time historical event, both in the life of Christ and in our lives.  It's too easy for us to leave Christ on the cross.  To stop at our salvation and not pursue sanctification - to just get "fire insurance" and that's it.  To treat Jesus as just Savior and not Lord.

Focusing on the Good Shepherd reminds us that He is still watching over us.  He is still guiding us and protecting us.  And that we are still required to be listening for His voice.  To follow His voice and His voice alone.  To go where the shepherd guides us and to graze there.   To lie down in good pastures, to drink still waters, to graze along the Paths of Righteousness.

It reminds us that the Good Shepherd is and should be a part of our daily lives. 

That is worth the attention and focus.

So, perhaps, it's time that we as Christians stop maligning the sheep.  Time to embrace our role as sheep and time to focus on the Shepherd.

It's how we'll all get through this.

The Monday After

Easter is now officially over.

The question is, what now?

The Resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith.  If Christ is not resurrected, then what hope do we have.

"But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is worthless, and so is your faith.  In that case, we are also exposed as false witnesses about God.  For we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead but He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised.  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 have perished.  If our hope in Christ is for this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all men."

1 Corinthians 15: 12-18

The greatest hope of the Resurrection is not that Jesus was raised once.  It's that He remains alive.  He is alive and omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.  He is alive and at the right hand of the Father.  He is alive and reigning on high.

And that is something we can and should celebrate each and every day of the year!

For too many people, Easter is the one time of year that the Resurrection is given any thought.  It may be one of only a couple of times the enter the church, likely as a responsibility to family.  It's the only time they hear the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.  And with the Monday after Easter, everything is back to normal.  Easter is over.  The obligations are complete.  Reality sets back in.

Sadly, I think this is the case for far too many Christians as well.  

Oh, they can quote the verses.  They sing "My Redeemer Lives," "He Lives," and "Resurrecting."  They are in services every week, and they would say they believe every word of the Easter story.  They believe in Jesus' death and literal resurrection.

They just don't live like it.

For far too many Christians, the Resurrection is brought out at Easter and then celebrated, but then Jesus is put back in the tomb or back on the cross.

Others may only be celebrating this one time a year; gathering with family for the annual obligation.  Without being able to gather this year, what happened to that obligation?  Did many still view a service out of habit?

Jesus on the cross is marketable.  It's fashionable.  It can be worn on t-shirts and jewelry.  It can be put on Bible covers, hung on walls, and be used as an easily recognizable symbol.  And when Jesus remains on the cross, when he remains a savior that died for our sins, then we have been saved and our present obligation ends.  Likewise, with Jesus in the tomb.

The resurrection is something different.  If Jesus not just rose again, but is alive today, then we have obligations to him.  We have to recognize him as Lord.  As the ruling King of Kings.  And we have to live accordingly.  Jesus as Lord requires more of us.

"For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake.  For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death works in us, but life in you."

2 Corinthians 4: 5-12

Leaving Jesus in the tomb or on the cross misses out on the power that He can demonstrate in our daily lives.  On the mission that He has for us today.  Now.  On the blessings, the comfort, and the LIFE that only He can provide.

So don't let your celebrating end.  Don't let Easter be the end of your remembrance and celebration of the Resurrection of Christ.  Don't keep Jesus in the tomb.

He's alive!

Hallelujah!

Now let's live like on more than just Easter Sunday.

What If Jesus Isn't Coming Back Anytime Soon?

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Matthew 24:36

Or, everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to live (to borrow from Crowder).

That's the question that has been repeating through my head since reading the blog entry by Keith Giles on Patheos.  What if Jesus isn't coming back anytime soon?  Not that he's never coming back, but that it will not be during my lifetime.  What if it's not for another 100 years?  Another 1000 years?

Believers have been looking for Christ to return since the moment he left.  Early Christians expected Jesus to return within a generation of his death.  Christ himself had told his disciples "Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened."  Matthew 24:34  Further, "there are some standing here, which shall not taste death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."  Matthew 16:28.  They took those statements to mean that Jesus' return was imminent and the non-occurrence of the second coming surprised the early Christian communities.  "Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour." 1 John 2:18

In the interim period from that time to now, there have been many moments when the Christian community had to believe that the end had finally come.  When Nero began persecuting the followers of the Way.  When Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in AD 70.  During the Spanish Inquisition when believers were tortured for disagreeing with the Catholic Church on their doctrines.  During the Black Plague.  Certainly during World War II with the rise of Hitler and the Holocaust.  That would seem straight out of Revelation.

For over 2,000 years, there have been proclamations of Jesus' imminent return and each of them have been wrong.

This is one of the great paradoxes of the Christian life.  We both have to live like Christ's return is happening tomorrow and as if it will never happen in our lifetime.  We have to be prepared to meet our maker at any moment and be prepared to continue to run the race, to fight the fight, and continue the task He has appointed us to, as if there were no end.

I, like Giles, wonder if too many Christians are clinging to the hope and promise of an imminent return of Jesus, allowing them to coast into their end.  To be able to continue to pray, "come Lord Jesus," so they can escape this wicked world and their obligation to it.  They want to be vindicated for their belief, rescued from this pagan culture, and whisked to heaven where they will be comfortable for eternity.

Think about it.  How many sermons have you heard that have some component of how wicked the world is becoming and how the day of Christ's return just has to be so much sooner now.  Or people that say that they wish He would just come already.  That latter wish always sounds more like a wish to be rid of a perceived or actual evil than a wish to actually be in Christ's presence.

We are even given specific warnings about the consequences about not continually being in active service to Christ.

"Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their portion at the proper time?  Blessed is the servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.  Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

But suppose that servant says in his heart, 'My master will be a long time in coming,' and he begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.  The master of that servant will come on a day he does not anticipate and at an hour he does not expect.  Then He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

That servant who knows his master's will but does not get ready or follows his instruction will be beaten with many blows.  But the one who unknowingly does things worthy of punishment will be beaten with few blows.  From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from him who has been entrusted much, even more will be demanded."

Luke 12:42-48

As believers, we have been entrusted with much.  What we bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, what we loose here will likewise be loosened.  We have been given a supremely important commission "All authority in heaven and one earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."  We still have responsibility for stewardship of the earth, not something we often talk about.  "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over..."  We are to care for the least of us.  "For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me."  "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Christianity should be at the forefront of making this world a better place, not watching go to Hell in a handbasket.  We should be in the process of addressing every social ill that this world can create.  We, together, should be ending world hunger, ending poverty, ending homelessness, adopting orphans, and rehabilitating the prisoner.

If the world around us is not becoming more like the Kingdom, if it's not becoming a better place, isn't that our fault?

Let's take an easy example.  What would the world look like if everyone who claimed to be a Christian tithed?  I know, the tithe is not arguably required under the new covenant, but let's just assume what if everyone that claimed to be a Christian would give away 10% of their income for ministry and charity.  Rough estimate is that would represent an increase of $160-300 billion that could be put to good use.  And that could do a lot.

For starters, assuming all the additional is used properly and goes to specific causes, it could:

• Add prison ministry to the roughly 1,800 prisons in America.
• Add 5,500 new family counseling centers
• Give $10 billion to people facing financial crisis
• Provide support and housing for every homeless person in America
• Eliminate the financial burden from adopting from foster care $14,000 a year per family
• Train 20,000 new pastors
• Raise their salaries
• End global hunger and starvation in 5 years
• Provide clean water and eliminate deaths from preventable diseases in 5 years
• Eliminate illiteracy in 5 years
• Solve the world's water and sanitation issues
• Free 27 million people living in slavery, AND
• Fully fund the Great Commission, bringing the Gospel to everyone

And that's just with an increase in a monetary donation.  What would if we gave more of our time, our talents, our strengths and weaknesses in such a fashion?  What would it look like if we cared for each other and the world around it like the early church?

The early church worked diligently at these assignments and saw much fruit.  The Lord added daily to their number those being saved.  And they enjoyed the favor of all the people.  The community around them recognized that there was something better about the way these Christians lived.

People noticed what these Christians did.  In the ancient world, children who were orphaned usually met one of three fates: death, slavery/prostitution or Christian “adoption”.  Of the followers of the way, it was said, “Falsehood is not found among them; and they love on another; and from widows they do not turn away their esteem; and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly.  And he who has, gives to him, who as not, without boasting. And when they see stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother.”  Apology of Aristides the Philosopher 15, c. A.D. 125

We are called to live like this because it shows a better way.  It provides a glimpse of heaven here on earth.  "The whole point of all this is to demonstrate that Jesus really is a better King than any other ruler on this planet.  Our mission is to point people to another way of living and another code of ethics that rivals anything this world has to offer."

But are we?  Or are we just waiting on Jesus to fix it?

Let's personalize it.

Am I about my master's tasks, working diligently at the tasks He has entrusted to me?  Making an impact on the community around me?

Or am I waiting for Him to return to fix it?

What would change if I believed He wasn't coming back in my lifetime?

If your answer is anything other than "nothing," it's time to get to work.