Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/88

Contributor - Unknown

Title - Resurrection Life: What Is It?

Topic - Resurrection

Easter is known everywhere as a feast of joy. It does not matter whether you look in a ladies' dress shop or in a chocolate store or on the church advertisements; everywhere the note is positive, the colours cheerful. Why is this so? Children in Sunday School will tell us, "because Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday". Death has been decisively defeated, now we have nothing to fear anymore.

The question, however, is whether a ly this joy of the resurrection is experienced by us churchgoers. I i ne message is indeed that Jesus rose from the dead, so that all who believe in Him will also be resurrected. But for many of us this is still a long way off. It seems like a promise which will only be fulfilled sometime after this life in which we live now. Meanwhile, we have to cope with today, with the here-and-now, and that can be a hard and difficult experience.

Survival Game

When I broke my leg two years ago, I became the owner of a Walkman, a small recorder-AM/FM set with headphones. During a couple of nights when sleep would not come, I listened to some of the music played over the Ogdensburg and Smith Falls stations. The music was as clear as a bell and for once I could understand the words. How little joy there is in the songs our young people listen to, how much longing for a fulfilled life, for happiness, for a meaningful existence. At the same time, how much of a will to survive came through in those words. All they were really singing about was the survival game, and how they needed someone else to make it.

The survival game . . . that is the game we are all playing, with more or less intensity. Some people are literally with their backs against the wall, ready to do anything to get what they believe they have to have; others are fighting for job security, trying to protect themselves from attacks in the future. We also save money to protect ourselves; or we manipulate, or whatever. People everywhere are trying to survive, driven by a strange impersonal will to live. We decide on what we need, we make decisions, we are going to this or that, we are going to go here or there. Circumstances and age do not always allow us to do what we think ought to be done, and so we worry. W carry a burden, because for our survival we would like to arrange everything according to our best interests, but we are not almighty. How difficult it is to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the unknown power of destruction that constantly seeks to suck us under.

When, therefore, many people hear the message of Easter, of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ out of the grave, they think it is great, great for those close to death, and for those who have lost a loved one; but it seems so far away, and so far removed from their survival game, that Easter does not seem to affect their daily lives. That is where we are wrong. It does, for through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ the believer now no longer needs to play the survival game: instead every believer is called upon to play the victory game. Why is that? Because the Lord Jesus in defeating death has defeated him who has the power of death, the evil one, and to our Lord is now given all authority and power in heaven and on earth. When we are united with Him therefore by faith, we are safe from all attacks upon ourselves, and so safe from all fears and all alarms. The worrying thing in our battle for survival is the fact that we are not in control of everything, of every circumstance, or other people, that we are not in control of the government who changes its laws with regard to unemployment benefits as it sees fit in the middle of the game. When the Lord Jesus Christ rose bodily from the grave He was, says Paul, "designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness" (Rom. 1:4). Jesus Christ is Lord over heaven and earth, and we have His promise that He cares for us and will provide for us. We through faith are His body. He tells us not to worry about the things we think we need for our survival, "do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the heathens seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well" (Matt. 6:3 1 - 33).

Enjoying Today

If we could just let this sink in, that as believers we need not be worried about survival any longer, we would realize that we do not need to worry about tomorrow; instead we can enjoy today. This is exactly what our Lord advises us, "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow," (vs 34). Of course, Jesus does not mean that we should be careless, but rather carefree. To enjoy today without worrying about what might happen tomorrow, to thank God for what we may experience today, and to trust Him for tomorrow; that would take a tremendous load off our shoulders. Even when we cannot see daylight, He is in control, for to Him all authority in heaven and on earth has been given, and nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ; He "is the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore" (Rev. 1:17, 18). He is risen and He will work all things out for good. Therefore we need not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving we may let our requests be made known to God and the peace of God shall keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6, 7). All this is very much the joy of Easter. We do not have to wait until we die or lose a loved one to experience the comfort of Easter; here and now we can and should know what it means that Jesus has risen from the dead.

New Creation Now

So great is this difference that the apostle Paul declares every Christian to be anew creature, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come" (II Cor. 5:17). Joy instead of sadness, trust and confidence instead of worry, assurance instead of fear, relaxed instead of uptight, victorious instead of defeated, forgiven instead of condemned. The great burden of works has been lifted off us; that is why the Lord Jesus gives this invitation, "Come unto me, all who labour and are heavy laden trying to save yourselves by your own works and I will give you rest ... you will find rest for your souls" (Matt. 11:28)

Why Little Joy?

If all is so, why are there not more happy, joyful, carefree Christians around? What is keeping the churches from spilling over in Easter joy? The answer is that in order to know the joy of Jesus' resurrection in our day-to-day lives we must give up the survival game and that is much harder than it may seem. For does it not seem easy to trust the Lord for your every need, while you simply do what He calls you to do? But think a little further and you will realize that by entrusting yourself and your loved ones and your future to the Lord you are handing the control of your life over to Him! You are yielding yourself and your whole life over to His direction and decision! Of course, when you think reasonably about this, it should be a very safe thing to do. We have it so ingrained in us that we ought to be in control of ourselves, that we have a hard time voluntarily surrendering ourselves to Him. Suppose He would lead me in a way that I would not like? Or suppose He would let things happen that do not fit in at all with our desires or plans? When once again we think about this reasonably, we realize that our Saviour loves us; and that He is control whether we let Him or not; that therefore if we continue to go our own way we may find ourselves going against His will. We know that what God does is good, that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord, who are called according to His purpose. But, oh! the emotional resistance in ourselves to give ourselves up into the hand of the Lord God. It is really like dying! I have to strip myself of everything, I have to hand over everything including my physical life into His hands: my possessions, my family, my physical health, the work that I do, the hours I work, my time, the length of my life, my whole future: it is indeed like dying, giving up whatever control I think I still have; it is the end of all manipulation to get what I want, or to get done what I want to get done, even if it is for the Lord. In short, it is what the Bible calls "the death of the old self". That is where the resistance comes in. Powerful resistance, and, as we have seen, irrational resistance: we know better, but we cannot let go. Yet until we let go of ourselves, we cannot know the Easter joy. There is, indeed, no Easter without death, there is no new creation in Christ without dying to self, there is no daily joy without daily surrender.

Joy Through Death

When the surrender is there, then there is also joy. Not necessarily excited happiness, but deep inner peace, the joy of knowing that this way is the right way, that this is God's way, and that He is leading us, that peace can be there in the midst of pain, in the midst of setbacks, in all kinds of circumstances. For then we are engaged in the victory game. the coming of God's Kingdom on earth, which will one day cover the earth from sea to sea. We have now become soldiers of Christ, and we know that the victory is His. We gladly serve our risen Lord wherever He calls us to serve. That may be anywhere in this world, in any job or function or place or condition. Regardless of whether we push a broom or sit in the boardrooms of industry, we know that we are solely His servants. He has placed us there and we are in His service. We have His promises and we obey Him in every way. The battle for survival is left behind. We simply pray each day, "Lord, give us this day our daily bread". The all important thing is that His King-dom come and that His will is done in heaven and on earth. Our joy is to do His work. We do everything to the glory of His Name. We accept His plan and purpose for this earth, for this world, for our family, for our church, and yes, for ourselves. We no longer exist for ourselves, we have died to self, we have given up our self, we have now entered into Christ's plan and purpose, we have really entered into Him in such a way that we live in Christ, that we are in Christ. That does not mean that we become pious 12-hour-a-day prayer people. Not at all. It means that we now live for him and not for ourselves. What we now want is what He wants.

Easter Joy Today

What He wants is clearly written down in His Word, in both the Old and New Testaments. We do not have to think, "How would the Lord like us to behave?" We do not have to decide, "I am sure He would be happy if we did this or stopped doing that". He has expressed His will and His direction clearly in His law and word. "how can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to thy word." When we realize that the Lord God has given us the directions for His victory program, that the Easter victory can only be experienced by us when by faith we obey Him, then we will also cry, "With my whole heart I seek thee: let me not wander from they commandments. I have laid up thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee." (Ps. 119:9-1 1) Thus we receive the Easter joy only by faith in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; but we continue in this joy and peace of the resurrection through obedience to His word. Why then do many Christians live without the Easter joy? After believing on the Lord Jesus Christ they continue with their survival game, unwilling to trust the Lord Jesus and His victory over him who has the power of death. They want Jesus to look after them when they die, but until then they cannot bring themselves to let Him also look after them while they live. Thus they continue to carry the heavy burden of trying to be their own saviour of their life on earth. That causes their grim faces, but this is not what the risen Saviour wants for His followers. He wants us to have rest for our souls, that the peace of God may keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Jesus is risen' No longer is it necessary for anyone who believes in Him to struggle through the survival game. Instead everyone who comes to Him in faith may live and share I His Easter victory as it spreads over all the earth, for the Kingdom of God shall be from shore to shore. When we realize this we experience the full joy of Easter.

Happy Easter!

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