{more than}

Tomorrow I’ll hear all kinds of details about what the Easter bunny brought...about how much fun it was to dye eggs...about the new dress that was bought and all the pictures mom made them take before AND after church...

But will I hear about Jesus?

Will I SPEAK about Jesus?

Did Jesus play a bigger role in my day other than #HeIsRisen?

Who is risen? Risen from what? 

Jesus Christ...the Son of God the most high. The King of the world. 

Perfection personified. Holiness embodied. Righteousness displayed. 

Jesus Christ...Willing to submit to His Father, living a life of humble obedience. 

Leaving His throne on high. 

Entering a world full of sin in order to speak of the Kingdom of God. 

Living a sinless, perfectly righteous and holy life...such that no one else could possibly even imagine living. 

Suffering persecution, beatings of the worst kind because of His claim to be the Son of God and the long-awaited Messiah.

And dying...

Jesus Christ...Dying a brutal death on the cross. 

Dying as the sacrificial Lamb for the sins of all God calls to Himself. 

Dying in the place of us...taking on our sin, our shame, our punishment.

Dying to satisfy the wrath of God against this fallen world, to pay the price for the redemption of His people.

God required a perfect sacrifice for the sins of humankind and since we failed to deliver, Jesus Christ came to fulfill that demand.

I try, but I will never succeed.

I am “good,” but I will never be good enough.

I  follow the rules, but my heart strays far from the truth.

I, on my own, am completely and utterly lost. Hopeless beyond description. Bound for hell.

But Jesus.

Jesus came.

Jesus lived.

Jesus died.

And Jesus ROSE AGAIN. Conquering death FOREVER. 

Why?

To make a way for God’s people to be united with Himself once again.

We are made new, given life with Christ after our earthly bodies fail us.

We are made clean by God.

Christians...my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do you believe THAT truth? Do you believe in that Jesus? 

If so, are we living our lives according to the beauty that it is? 

Do we treat the gospel, the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ, as wonderfully and incredibly as it should be treated?

Or do we treat it like another day on the calendar?

Do we treat it like a simple, rushed prayer before mealtime?

Do we treat it like an after-thought gift in the offering plate?

Do we go to church so that we can “check” it off our list?

Do we go through the motions because it's what we've always done?

I’m afraid I treat the Creator and Upholder of the universe as commonplace.

I’m afraid I treat the gospel as no more that my daily dose of “You can do it Neva.”

I’m ashamed that I fail to treat Jesus Christ with the honor and significance and praise that He so rightly deserves.

If I believe the gospel....if I believe that I am a sinner headed for eternal hell, saved ONLY by the grace of King Jesus....if I believe that my Savior is One that defeated death by leaving the grave ALIVE....it should revolutionize my entire life.

What if we treated our job the way that we treated our relationship with Christ? 

What if, the same amount of energy and attention we invest in worship, was the same that we invested into our jobs?

Would we be "alright," or would we join the ranks of the unemployed?

Christians have been and continue to be brutally persecuted because they follow this Jesus...not the idea of Jesus, or the stories of Jesus, but they follow JESUS HIMSELF. 

Beaten, rejected, ridiculed, arrested....All because they profess Christ as King. 

People who have devoted their lives to knowing, loving, serving, and sharing this great Jesus are being "...killed all the day long." 

And yet, they don't stop...the beating, rejection, ridiculing, arrests, and the killing doesn't stop these people. Christ is worth it to them! They, like Paul, embrace the reality that "To live is Christ, to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)

It's quite extraordinary.

“What God has made clean, do not call common.” (Acts 10:15)

Those who call on the name of Jesus will be saved.

Those who are saved are made NEW CREATIONS.

God made us clean, washing away the crimson stain of sin, making us as white as snow.

Through Jesus Christ, we are made NEW.

Jesus Christ makes a difference. Changing hearts of stone, dramatically. 

Jesus Christ makes the sinner clean.

Jesus Christ makes a way for us to know and BE with God forever.

Jesus' death paid our debts, and His life gives us HOPE.

So let’s not treat this great news as common. 

Let’s not treat worship as some sort of emotionless ritual that we have to go through in order to feel good. 

Let’s not treat our Pastor’s sermons as a hurdle to get over before we can enjoy a nice Sunday lunch. 

Let’s not enter into God’s presence arrogantly and flippantly.

Let's remember that it's a heart issue...That it doesn't matter how nicely we dress, if we have a perfect church attendance record, or how involved we are with ministry. 

It's about "Denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Him." It's about CHRIST.

Let’s enter into His presence with thanksgiving, with praise, with humble adoration and fear for Who He is and what He has done!

Let’s dive into His word, eager to know everything we can about this Risen King.

Let’s spend uninterrupted time in prayer, communing with a God who listens and cares deeply for His children.

Let’s fight the sin that draws us away from Him.

Let’s seek to bring honor to Him in the way we think, act, and speak.

Let’s make His Name and His truth KNOWN.

Easter is more than #HeIsRisen.

It is more than a “shout-out to Jesus for being awesome.”

It is more than treats from the “Easter Bunny.”

It is more than a pretty dress and good pictures.

It is more than going to church because “it’s what we do.”

And it’s not just to be celebrated on one day of the year....

Today, and everyday, we should celebrate that Jesus Christ is the best and the greatest.

He is risen.

Who? Jesus Christ.

Risen from what? Death. A death that tore the veil and made a way for us to enter into life with Himself for all of eternity. 

Risen to a life that is FOREVER.

The resurrection of Jesus is what makes the gospel such good news. It didn't end at the grave. 

The King we follow is very much ALIVE.

That's why He is worth it.

Jesus Christ is what today is about friends.

Enjoy the egg hunts, enjoy the chocolate bunnies, enjoy the new outfits, enjoy the pictures....

But let’s not forget that it’s really about Jesus. 

Let’s not treat Him as common.

He is far from that!

Tomorrow, when I am bombarded with stories from excited little kids sugared up from loads of candy, I want to tell them about Jesus and what He did for us.

Join me. 

Let’s talk more about Jesus than we do about anything else!

He is WORTHY. 

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to HIM be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)