April 30, 2024
Celebrating the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday is the highlight of the annual Christian calendar, and rightly so. I love the expectancy around the holiday. I am grateful that many unbelievers will don their brightest colors in order to attend a worship service at the local church in their town. I appreciate the enthusiasm and attention of believers who may not be as energized the 51 other Sundays of the year. Nothing rivals the joy and anticipation of a packed worship center. The glory of this Sunday admittedly exceeds all others.
But why?
Better still, is this how God intends it to be? While I appreciate the laser focus on Jesus’ victory over sin and death, could I suggest that every Sunday is resurrection Sunday? The earliest Christians worshipped on the first day of the week precisely because Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19). They shared the word (Acts 20:7), received offerings (1 Cor. 16:2), baptized new converts (Acts 2:41), broke bread in fellowship, and prayed together (Acts 2:42). No wonder the Apostle John referred to Sunday as the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10).
All these gatherings in the early church have the resurrection as their focal point. Apart from resurrection, Jesus is no different than any other religious leader and the message of Christianity is a farce. This single doctrine elevates the call to follow Christ above all world religions. Because a dead Savior cannot save anybody, no honest person can call himself a Christian while denying that Jesus Christ physically rose from the grave. Simply put, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins (1 Cor. 15:17).” Every Sunday, every celebration of Jesus occurs against the backdrop of His glorious resurrection.
Furthermore, what is true historically regarding Jesus is also true practically for every Christ follower. Thus, our lives should give witness to the victory of our Lord because we, too, have been raised to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4). And for what reason? In order to do away with our old selves, releasing us from the slavery of sin (Rom. 6:6). God buries our transgressions with Christ and frees us to live as He always intended. Simply put, the resurrection is the means by which God changes who we are!
In this sense, every day is resurrection day for those who know Jesus. Life transformation is a resounding testimony that our Savior lives! Though life change does not cause us to be born again, it is the fruit of a genuine relationship with God (Eph. 2:10). Attempting to follow Christ while holding on to our old way of life no more constitutes biblical Christianity than a cold corpse in a tomb equals resurrection. Justifying the very lifestyles we should crucify makes a mockery of our risen Lord.
Every generation has had its own deviances that competed with Christianity. Unique to this day, however, are the repeated insistences that we should affirm blasphemies as acceptable expressions of true faith. Mainstream propaganda nothwithstanding, the notion that you can pursue Christ while holding on to “your truth” is false. The pursuit of sexual immoralities like homosexuality, fornication, and adultery is not compatible with a resurrected life. Prizing pride and vanity is the opposite of taking up your cross to follow Jesus. Celebrating materialism and greed is to forfeit eternal wealth and significance.
When we advocate open rebellion to the clear teaching of Scripture, the power of Christ’s resurrection is lost on us. Modern attempts to deconstruct the faith are usually nothing more than selfish endeavors to celebrate what God calls us to die to. By repackaging lies as old as the Garden of Eden, contemporary prognosticators invite us to put question marks were God placed periods. Yet, Christianity has never been an encompassing affirmation of who we are without Christ, it is an expressed ambition of who we can become with Christ.
So, let’s consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11). Let’s resist the lusts of the flesh so as not to be instruments of unrighteousness (Rom. 6:12-13). Though we were dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), let’s live in light of God’s rich mercy and love toward us (Eph. 2:4). We should resist rather than applaud the futility of our minds, the hardness of our hearts, and the immorality of our will (Eph. 4:17-19).
___
Dr. Adam B. Dooley is pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, Tenn., and author of Hope When Life Unravels. Contact him at adooley@ebcjackson.org. Follow him on Twitter @AdamBDooley.
