Thursday, April 9

Thursday

Oh yeah, by the way…He is still risen!

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.  The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said,  “Surely this man was the Son of God!”   - Mark 15:37-39

Mark doesn’t use a lot of words to tell us what is going on, but there is a lot of meaning packed into those few words.  The moment that Jesus dies, the temple curtain is torn from top to bottom.  Keep in mind that this temple curtain was no flimsy drapery, it was not a shower curtain.  The curtain which separated the Holy of Holies was heavy and thick, almost as substantial as a wall.  According to the Rabbis the curtain was a handbreadth in thickness, and woven of seventy-two twisted plaits, each plait consisting of twenty-four threads.  It was sixty feet long and thirty wide.  Two of them were made every year, and according to the Talmud, it needed three hundred priests to manipulate it.  The holy of holies symbolized the very presence of God and only the High Priest could enter there once a year on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement).  The people depended on the High Priest to make the acceptable sacrifices for their sins.  Look at what the writer of Hebrews has to say about how Jesus Christ has changed our access to God by His death on the Cross.

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.  Such a high priest meets our need — one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.  Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.  – Hebrews 7:25-27

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,  

- Hebrews 10:19-22

Jesus is our High Priest!

The Temple is His Body!

The massive curtain that kept us out has been removed!

The perfect sacrifice has been made!

We can come in now with confidence and assurance!

Do you grasp that?  We can come in!

Right here in this passage, Mark shows us the first person to “enter in” after the crucifixion.  His confession, “Surely this man was the son of God” is momentous because the very first line in the first chapter of Mark refers to Jesus this way, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  (Mark 1:1)  Up to this point, nobody had yet figured out just who Jesus really was.  Even Peter’s profession of Jesus as the Christ (Mark 8:29) proved to be a partial understanding until after the resurrection.  The first person to “get it” was a Roman Centurion!?  

The only person a good Roman would ever call the “Son of God” was Caesar himself, but this man gave that title to Jesus.  This Centurion would have been a hardened and brutal man, used to seeing blood and death.  But something about the death of Jesus so deeply impacted him that he was moved to confess the deity of Christ.  The Centurion had seen it all.  The loud cry of Jesus is unusual because victims of crucifixion usually have no strength left, especially when near death.  But Jesus’ death was no ordinary one, nor was his shout the last gasp of a dying man.  It was not a cry of defeat, but a shout of victory.  At the beginning of the crucifixion he was an unbeliever.  But he heard Jesus pray for him,  “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

It really is amazing to think about the fact Jesus’ disciples, who had been told by Jesus repeatedly that this would happen, were confused and they all fled in fear.  The religious leaders and teachers of the law, who studied the Scriptures daily, rejected the Son of God as they stood mocking Him in the crowd.  It is a pagan Roman soldier (and a dying thief) who “gets it” and “gets in”!  

Nobody is beyond the love of God!  Whoever you are, wherever you’ve been, whatever you’ve done…The love and forgiveness of God is available to you through Jesus Christ!  His death has paid for your sin, and his resurrection from the dead promises you eternal life!

Jeff Frazier

Wednesday, April 8

Wednesday

Just another reminder that…He is still risen!

Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.  They asked her,  “Woman, why are you crying?”  “They have taken my Lord away,” she said,  “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.  “Woman,” he said,  “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”  Thinking he was the gardener, she said,  “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”  Jesus said to her,  “Mary.”  She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic,  “Rabboni!”  (which means Teacher).  Jesus said,  “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them,  ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news:  “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.  

– John 20:10-18

On the morning of the Resurrection, Jesus didn’t want Mary to hold on to Him, why not?  I have often wondered about this passage in John’s gospel.  I have wondered why Jesus would tell Mary not to hold on to Him?  Is it a bad thing to cling to Jesus?  Aren’t we supposed to stay close to Him?

One thing is clear, Jesus didn’t mean that Mary was not to touch Him at all, because He told Thomas to touch Him and to see that He was the real thing (John 20:27).  He told her not to “hold on to Him”, but what did He mean?

Mary had experienced a powerful encounter with Jesus. But He didn’t want her to

stop there.  Mary still wanted to hold onto Him.  Mary’s reaction was likely motivated by several things.  One is simply her loving devotion to the Lord.  Mary is overwhelmed by the events of the morning, and as her grief turns to joy, she naturally embraces Jesus.  Another motivation is Mary’s desire to restore the fellowship that His death had broken.  She had lost Him once, and she was going to make sure she didn’t lose Him again - she wanted to keep Jesus with her always.  But Jesus spurred Mary on and commissioned her to share with the disciples about His resurrection.  Jesus had not yet risen with God – He was still on the move.  He was essentially saying, “It’s not going to be the way it used to be.  You can’t hold on to Me in the old way.”

In loosening Mary’s hold on Him, Jesus was, in effect, saying this: “I know you desire to keep Me here, always present with you. I know you want everything to be just the same as before I died. But our relationship is about to change. I’m going to heaven, and you will have the Comforter in My place. You need to start walking by faith, Mary, not by sight.”

Jesus told us that it was better for us that He return to the Father. We, like Mary cannot cling to Jesus’ physical body, we need to know Him, and cling to Him through faith.  We do not need to physically hold onto the "man" Jesus. We need to embrace Him, through faith.  One day we will see Him face to face, but for now, we know with Him and we live in His presence by faith.

One of the biggest tasks we have as Jesus' disciples is to not cling to Jesus, not to hide ourselves away in a church and in the presence of the Lord at the expense of going to share His love with others.  We have a message of hope and forgiveness to share with others who are trapped in hopelessness and despair.  As His disciples, we are not to spend the majority of our time in “holy huddles”, but in out in the world, reaching the lost and the hurting and offering hope in the risen Jesus. 

Jeff Frazier

Tuesday, April 7

Tuesday

Just in case you have forgotten already  - He is still Risen!

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.  For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.  Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.  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 useless and so is your faith.

• 1 Corinthians 15:3-14

Many biblical scholars agree that the first few verses of this passage are an example of the earliest Christian creed.  A creed is a clear statement intended to be recited in order to teach and affirm certain beliefs.  Creeds were very important in the early church because only the wealthiest individuals could afford to own a written copy of Scripture.  Usually a church or group of churches would own a few copies of portions of Scripture.  The idea of a personal Bible was totally unheard of in the first century.  Believers would recite and memorize creedal statements together as a form of worship and as a way of encouraging and strengthening their faith in Jesus Christ.

The truly remarkable thing about the passage above is that it is entirely centered on the resurrection.  In other words, the origin of the Christian faith hinges on the historical reality of the resurrection.  Notice how specific Paul is in this passage.  He mentions names and numbers of people to whom the risen Jesus had appeared.  Then he goes on to say that most of them are still alive!  Why would he mention this?  Even in the earliest days of Christianity there were skeptics and doubters of the resurrection.  Paul is essentially saying that anybody who doubts can simply go and ask these folks if it is true.  How could Paul make such a statement in a letter that was going to be widely read and circulated if Jesus had not appeared to these people?  

The very fact that Christianity started and grew at all is evidence for the resurrection.  The philosopher and scholar William Lane Craig writes: “Even skeptical New Testament scholars admit that the earliest disciples at least believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead.”  For Jews, the Messiah was viewed as a figure that would be triumphant and rule on David’s throne, not a figure that would be crucified and die.  The resurrection undid the catastrophe of the crucifixion!  The Messiah, who had died, is risen!  The resurrection validated and verified the claims that Christ had made about his own identity.  The origin of Christianity rests solely on the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

Listen again to what the apostle Paul says about the importance of the resurrection.  “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 useless and so is your faith.”

The early Christians clearly grasped the tremendous importance of the resurrection; they understood that everything about their faith depended on this singular historical fact.  Should we do less?  Let’s take a cue from our spiritual ancestors in the early church and affirm the fact that our Lord is risen and our God has conquered the grace every time we come together.  The resurrection is not something that we should remind ourselves of one Sunday a year, it the truth that we should celebrate and affirm every moment of every day that we live!

Jeff Frazier

Monday, April 6

Monday

Well, Easter is over with for another year.  Actually, it's not done.  According to the Christian calendar, Easter is not just a day, it is a season, 50 days long.  But let's face it, most of us don't really celebrate Easter as a season.  We have one busy Sunday, and then a few more days of making ourselves sick with chocolate eggs and jellybeans.  Then it's back to normal (whatever normal means).  The day after Easter often strikes me as a little bit of a let-down.

Why does this happen?  For those in ministry, I can say that one reason may be the fact that we run around like idiots during holy week, planning a bunch of different services and events.  Easter morning is a marathon, and then we crash.  Perhaps you haven’t been a part of 10 services in 3 days, but all the same, I'm guessing you can relate to having a bunch of work go into something, and then, when it's done, feeling more tired than happy.  But besides the fatigue factor, I think there's a deeper reason for the day-after-Easter blues.

Easter is filled with the message of the power of new life, of death's defeat.  Jesus triumphs over his death and over ours, and it's a day full of hope and joy.  So we sing with all the joy we can muster.  We're full of alleluias as we get into the spirit of the day. "Christ is risen!" we say as we shake hands.  "Indeed!"  The resurrection seems true on Easter Sunday.  It seems possible to believe that things can be different than what they are.  The Easter vibes stuck with us through a nice family get-together, but then...There's the rub. In a lot of ways, we're still waiting for the resurrection, and it's hard to celebrate while you wait.  

Even when we do experience little bits of the life of Christ growing in our souls, it's never a complete transformation.  We sing about resurrection but we also know that we're not there yet.  For all our Easter joy, we're still the same people that we were before Sunday.  We still have to go to a job that we don’t like, or we wish we had a job that we didn’t like.  A friend still has cancer.  There are still bills we can’t pay.  People are still hungry, and sad, and struggling with painful relationships, agonizing decisions, and a thousand other things.  No wonder the day after Easter can be a little bit of a let down.

I don’t think it was this way for the disciples on the say after the resurrection!  I don’t think they were sitting around depressed and bored when they heard that their master was alive, do you?

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.   – John 20:19-20

I have often thought about the resurrected Jesus appearing to his disciples, saying "Peace be with you."  And I have thought about Jesus showing them the wounds on his hands, and in his side.  You know, even Jesus didn't get rid of all his scars.

It's easy to fall into a pattern of wishing that faith would fix things, that God would intervene and immediately turn our confusion to clarity and our sadness to joy, and then feeling disillusioned when it doesn't work out that way, and wondering if there was something wrong with us... or with God.  It's a hard pattern to live in.  We want solutions, and when there aren't any surely it must be somebody's fault.

Perhaps the resurrection doesn't work in the way we expect it to work.  Perhaps we experience God's grace, and all the new life that comes with that, but we still have the same wounds and scars we did before.  Jesus is transformed in the resurrection, but no so much so that he loses his injuries - they just aren't killing him anymore.  Maybe that's how resurrection works in our lives, too.  We carry scars and wounds, but because of the resurrection, we know that they are not fatal.

Easter isn't supposed to magically change everything... it's supposed to remind us that everything has already been changed because of what happened on the third day!  So let’s live this day with grace and courage, with patience and hope. The resurrection is real, even if it's not easy.

Jeff Frazier

Friday, April 3

Friday

This simple poem called “The Incomparable Christ” was written by unknown author in the early-twentieth century.  It has been revised and adapted many times over the years and you have probably heard some or all of it in one form or another.  It has served as a powerful reminder to me of just who Jesus is and why He alone is worthy of our allegiance. 

More than two thousand years ago, there was a Man born contrary to the laws of life. This Man lived in poverty and was reared in obscurity. He did not travel extensively. Only once did He cross the boundary of the country in which He lived; that was during His exile in childhood.

He possessed neither wealth nor influence. His relatives were inconspicuous and had neither training nor formal education.

In infancy He startled a king; in childhood He puzzled doctors; in manhood He ruled the course of nature, walked upon the waves as pavement, and hushed the sea to sleep.

He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for His service.

He never wrote a book, and yet perhaps all the libraries of the world could not hold the books that have been written about Him.

He never wrote a song, and yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than all the songwriters combined.

He never founded a college, but all the schools put together cannot boast of having as many students.

He never marshaled an army, nor drafted a soldier, nor fired a gun; and yet no leader ever had more volunteers who have, under His orders, made more rebels stack arms and surrender without a shot fired.

He never practiced psychiatry, and yet He has healed more broken hearts than all the doctors far and near.

Once each week multitudes congregate at worshiping assemblies to pay homage and respect to Him.

The names of the past, proud statesmen of Greece and Rome have come and gone. The names of the past scientists, philosophers, and theologians have come and gone. But the name of this Man multiplies more and more. Though time has spread nineteen hundred years between the people of this generation and the mockers at His crucifixion, He still lives. His enemies could not destroy Him, and the grave could not hold Him.

He stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, proclaimed of God, acknowledged by angels, adored by saints, and feared by devils, as the risen, personal Christ, our Lord and Savior.

We are either going to be forever with Him, or forever without Him. It was the incomparable Christ who said:

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest.”
(Matthew 11:28)

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through Me.”
(John 14:6)

“There is one God and one mediator
between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus.”
(1 Timothy 2:5)

THEREFORE:

“Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved.”
(Acts 16:31)

Jeff Frazier

Thursday, April 2

Thursday

Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”  - John 20:26-28

"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am.  - John 13:13

If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  - Romans 10:9

Jesus is Lord!

You’ve probably heard this statement, you’ve likely sung it and said it many times before, but what does it mean to say that Jesus is Lord?

If he’s Lord over all, it means Jesus is my Lord. That’s what you’re saying when you confess Jesus as Lord. You’re saying, “Jesus can call the shots for my life. Jesus can tell me how I should think about myself and about marriage and about the world. Jesus is the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth. Not me. I am not an autonomous creature. I live to serve this Master.” That’s what you’re saying.

And when you say that you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, you’re not just saying, “Well, sure, resurrection...that’s cool.  Sure, if a dead person wants to come back to life, okay by me. I mean, I’ve seen aliens and Martians and weird stuff before, whatever.” 

To believe in the resurrection is to believe it with boldness. You’re saying, “He lives and I’ll live. If he’s raised, then I can trust my whole life to him. If he really is the only person in the history of the world who died, did not stay dead, never died again, and rose to heaven, then this is the man I ought to spend my whole life following and give my whole life to worship.” That’s what you’re saying.

But no matter what we say, let’s be clear about one thing: Jesus is Christ and Lord whether we think he is or not. 

He’s not asking for your vote. He’s not standing there hat in hand just saying, “Will somebody down there please sing a song to me. I’m so lonely.” He does not depend on me or my affirmation of him. 

He is in heaven. He is at God’s right hand. He governs the church by his word and Spirit and no matter what any of us think or believe or decide, Jesus is now and forever will be Lord and Christ. He is not begging for you to be his Facebook friend and begging for more followers on Twitter. 

To be sure, Jesus issues a gracious invitation, but it’s not because he is insecure and needs more followers...It is not because He needs, it’s because He loves.

So let those of us who know Him and trust Him say it with great boldness and conviction ... Jesus Is Lord!

Jeff Frazier

Wednesday, April 1

Wednesday

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”       - John 14:5-7

Several years ago I was asked to give the invocation at a particular civic event.  This is not an uncommon occurrence for a pastor, but what caught be a little off guard was the fact that this particular group had one specific request.  They asked me not to mention the name Jesus at all during in my prayer.  I was surprised at first and I half jokingly asked them if they knew that I was a Baptist pastor.  The individuals on the committee said that they just wanted a kind of generic prayer and they didn’t want to offend anybody.  I respectfully declined their request and I am sure they found someone else to do it.  

I have often thought about that encounter, and wondered why would someone be offended by the mention of the name Jesus in a prayer?  If you were to walk into a coffee shop discussion and mention god in general, people might have some opinions, but they would not get too worked up.  Even if you brought up the names of Buddha, Mohammed, or the Dali Llama, people are not nearly as likely to have the same kind of reaction as they do to the name Jesus – why? What is it about the name of Jesus that gets such a rise out of people?  Well, for one thing, this is nothing new.  There have been extreme opinions about and reactions to Jesus since He walked the earth.

Jesus is not a controversial figure because He taught about love, or forgiving your enemy, or self-sacrifice.  Many others have taught and proclaimed similar things.  The significance of Jesus is in who He claimed to be!  

Christians have historically affirmed the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. We believe that Jesus is nothing less than the incarnate Son of God in whom the fullness of the Deity dwells in human form; fully divine and fully human—and the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  It is no surprise that most people in the secular culture reject this idea.  However, a surprising number of those who claim to be Christians are not quite so convinced of Jesus' unique nature.  I have even heard some Christian leaders argue that, in the midst of our pluralist and religiously diverse culture, it might be better to ease off the talk about Jesus as exclusively unique.

The fact is, there is a great deal at stake in denying that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The Way

In the midst of a world teeming with religious diversity, what does it mean to say that Jesus is the Way?  Everybody is looking for the way or the path that is right for him or her, and many are claiming to know what that way is.  Jesus is unique among all other leaders and teachers in that He did say that He knew the way, or that He could show the way, He said that He IS the Way.  It is not popular or politically correct, but Jesus Himself makes it plain that there is no other way, but Him.  

The Truth

What does it mean to say that Jesus is the Truth in a world filled with competing truth claims, as well as people who doubt the very existence of truth? Convoluted and inconclusive speculation about truth has led many to become, like Pontius Pilate, cynical about the very idea —"What is truth?"   According to the Bible, truth is not ultimately to be found in abstract notions or theories, but rather in the person of Jesus Christ, the unique Son of God and the living embodiment of truth. From this perspective, knowing truth depends on being in proper relationship to this one person who is divine truth. Again, Jesus is categorically different from all other prophets, witnesses, and messengers from God.  He did not just know the truth, or teach the truth, He IS the Truth!

The Life

Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came so that we might have the fullness of life, abundant life. Jesus is not just a way we must follow and a truth we must believe, He is an invitation The Life!  To be a Christian means to participate in Life, that is, in Jesus Christ as he participated in the life of the triune God. The fullness of Life in Jesus is found in relationship to the Father through Him. This life is not simply an escape from the divine judgment of death and destruction.  It is not even the promise of getting into heaven someday.  It is the promise of a life lived in fellowship with the God through Jesus right here and now!

Do want that kind of life?  You can have it only in Jesus!

Jeff Frazier