A preacher was
telling the story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ to a group
of children. He asked, “What did Jesus say when he came forth from the grave?”
He was trying to make the point that He didn’t need to say anything; that His
wondrous miracle said more than words could ever say. A young lady however insisted
that she knew what Jesus said. The preacher finally asked her to tell him what
Jesus said. She smiled widely and said in a loud voice, “Ta-Dah!” Now I don’t
know what Jesus said, if anything at all, but from a human standpoint I can
only imagine the excitement of just defying death, and perhaps Jesus doing
something like that, (in part because Jesus still possessed some of his human experience
as well as a great sense of humor). Who knows?
[Romans 6:1-11]
We have just passed that time of the year when we witness most of the religious
world celebrating “Easter”. It might surprise most people to know that the
church of the Bible doesn’t do that. I know that might be hard for some to
imagine that folks claiming to be Christians and yet not celebrating this traditionally
special day. But for the church of the Bible, it is no different than any other
Sunday. You see, the Bible tells us to come together as believers the first day
of the week to worship God. The early church did just that. Paul had to reiterate
what Jesus had said at the “Last Supper” in his first letter to the
Corinthians that they were to remember His death, burial, and resurrection
through the partaking of “The Lord’s Supper” or “Communion”
whenever they met that way (1 Corinthians 11:23-26; [Matthew 26:26-29]). The
early church is seen coming together on the first day of every week to “break
bread” or to partake of the Lord’s supper (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians
11:23-30). In other words, the church of the Bible doesn’t need a special
Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of the “Savior of the World”.
Biblical churches celebrate each and every “First Day of the Week” – every
“Sunday”. I know that some may ask the question, “Won’t doing that make
it something that is no longer special?” My answer is no, not at all, because
it is a continual reminder of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. Jesus’
sacrifice was His willingness to pay our debt for sin, which is death (Romans
6:23), through the sheading of His blood redeeming all who believe and are
baptized to God the Father (Revelation 5:9). The apostle Paul wrote: For as
often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until
He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26). Not only His death, but His resurrection,
because that is part of what the Gospel is all about (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). I
don’t know about you, but I personally need the reassurance of the hope I have
because of “The Great Ta-Dah” every week is a remarkable thing and a
great comfort to me. I pray you don’t think me irreverent about the
resurrection of our Lord. Really, I’m excited that one day I will share in that
resurrection, whether I see Jesus coming in the sky or I raise from the grave –
what a rush that will be! My prayer is that you will see past the “pomp and
circumstance” that so many heap upon this one special day of the year and
understand that it is something you can participate in on every Sunday with the
same sense of awe (Romans 5:6-11).
In Eden, after
man’s fall, God asked Adam, “Where are you?” And Adam said, “I was
afraid… and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:9-10). Having sinned, disobeyed his
Creator, Adam hid among the trees. It is impossible to hide from God. Adam
found that out, so did Jonah. Many think they can hide out from God and cover
their sins. Hiding out doesn’t change a thing – God knows. We need to come to
God in repentance and enjoy His forgiveness through Christ. For in the time
of trouble, He shall hide me… (Psalm 27:5).
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