It’s been 48 hours since that celebratory worship service. It’s been 48 hours since the proclamation of God’s Word. It’s been 48 hours since we gathered to reaffirm the most significant part of our faith. So I want to ask you today – what will you do with Easter?
What will you do with Easter when a particular area of sin looks attractive to you and you feel weak and unable? What will you do with Easter when you’ve been betrayed by someone and thoughts of vengeance enter your head? What will you do with Easter when you’re struggling in your marriage and it seems impossible for you to love one another as God has designed for you to love?
What will you do with Easter when you’re facing another situation with a rebellious child and you feel like you have nothing left? What will you do with Easter when you lay in your bed tonight, wondering how you will face tomorrow? What will you do with Easter when Easter is gone?
If you like to highlight verses and make notes in your Bible, grab it and turn to John 11:23-26. Or you can just read the passage below:
“Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”
Martha makes a beautiful confession of faith in verse 24 by saying she believes that Lazarus will be resurrected on the last day. It’s absolutely true. It’s good theology. So when Jesus asks her if she believes, he isn’t questioning the soundness of her theology.
Instead, Jesus is asking this question. It’s a question directed towards us today, 48 hours after Easter. Do you believe that you have met the giver of life? Do you believe that Jesus dwells within you and his resurrection power bubbles inside of you?
God wants to do more in us than just have us make a theological confession of the resurrection. He wants more for us than to only recognize the historical fact of this event. He wants us to do more than just celebrate on Sunday. Oh, these are all essential things, but they’re means to this end – that we would live in resurrection faith.There are few verses in Scripture that can summarize resurrection faith better than Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
You no longer live, but Christ lives in you! It’s not just you against that particular area of enticing sin. It’s not just you when you’ve been betrayed by someone and thoughts of vengeance enter your head. It’s not just you when you’re struggling in your marriage and it seems impossible for you to love your spouse.
It’s not just you when you’re facing another situation with a rebellious child and you feel like you have nothing left. It’s not just you when you lay in your bed at night, wondering how you will face the next day. It’s never just you anymore, because the resurrected King Christ lives inside of you, and His resurrection power is available to you.
Do you live in resurrection faith? Do you believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and that those who believe in him will live, both now and forever? Don’t wait for Easter next year to celebrate the resurrection. You can start living out of the resurrection power today – right here, right now – in the place where God has called you to live.
Paul David Tripp
http://www.paultripp.com/articles/posts/what-will-you-do-with-easter