The Witness and Power of the Resurrection | Sunday, August 29, 2021

And to the angel of the church at Sardis write... "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die... He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life..." (Revelation 3)

When a culture has "killed God," only the witness and power of the resurrection can bring it back to life.

A Church on Life Support

At the beginning of this month we began a series called First Things First, starting in Revelation chapter 3, where Jesus writes to the church in Sardis: "Strengthen the things which remain, that are about to die." Looking at the landscape of Christianity in the West, one-fifth into the 21st century, it can feel as though the church is like that church in Sardis — almost on life support. That is a disconcerting thing to see, especially for someone called to pastor and to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

Nietzsche's Madman

In 1864 a young German of about twenty began studying theology and classical philology at the University of Bonn. He hoped to become a minister, but after only one semester he stopped his theological studies and eventually lost his faith. Nearly twenty years later he wrote a parable:

He told of a madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning, ran to the marketplace, and cried, "I seek God! I seek God!" Those standing around who did not believe in God mocked and laughed. The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes: "Whither is God? I will tell you. We have killed him — you and I. All of us are his murderers... God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?"

The madman then said, "I have come too early. My time has not yet come. This tremendous event is still on its way... it has not yet reached the ears of men." He forced his way into churches and sang his requiem, asking, "What are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchres of God?"

The author published those words in 1882, then died as a madman on August 25, 1900 — 121 years ago this last Wednesday — in a mental asylum in Weimar. His name was Friedrich Nietzsche.

The Consequences of a Dead God

Nietzsche proclaimed the death of God and asked what would become of the murderers of God. He recognized he had come too soon; the people of his day only laughed. But he could see that this "homicide of God" would result in untold horrors — and the 20th century showed us what it looks like to live in an advanced, technological culture that has effectively killed God.

At the turn of the 20th century Germany was perhaps the most progressive and intellectually advanced society of the modern era. It had been the center of the Reformation and the launch point for modern missions, the epicenter of the Enlightenment, the home of the printing press, the bicycle, the automobile, the diesel engine, aspirin, and rocket engines. And then, in the 20th century, Germany also innovated in extreme misery — death camps, gas chambers — and helped plunge the world into two world wars that killed more than 130 million people. Ideas have consequences, and we are still living with the reverberations of Nietzsche's philosophy.

The Only Hope

I set out to do this series because I am afraid we don't learn well from history. Though there were scattered revivals in the second half of the 20th century — I think of the Jesus People Movement — here in 2021 it seems we are again on the path of the madman. I am convinced that the only hope for our culture, and for the world, is still the gospel of Jesus Christ and the salvation He brings.

Recently I listened to a podcast interview — not a Christian one — with Andrew Sullivan, a writer for Newsweek, Slate, and others, a homosexual man who has lived with HIV for decades. When asked what would help the culture, he said, "I think the only hope for our culture is a revival of Christianity." When even people without a connection to Scripture observe that, it should say something to us.

But before there can be revival in the West, revival needs to take place within the church first. Far too many Christians have almost mourned the death of God themselves — living as though God were dead. So we need to be reminded that God both died and rose from the dead 2,000 years ago, and that it is still reasonable to believe the things of Scripture, especially in a time when so many are deconstructing their faith.

A Tale of Two Stories

The narrative of our time says there is no God and that everything came to be in a massive explosion 13.8 billion years ago. But I believe there is evidence supporting a much better story. We have a tale of two stories. One says everything happened by random chance and mutation over billions of years, ordering itself out of chaos. The other says everything was designed and created for a purpose by a superordinate, superintending mind.

One story leads to what one author called "zero-point nihilism" — no value, no objective knowledge, no objective morality, no objective beauty, no meaning, and therefore no hope. The other posits the existence of God and the possibility of love, joy, peace, goodness, purpose, destiny, and hope. Given the option, which story would you choose? I know which one I would want — especially when facing the seeming hopelessness of a broken world of Haitian earthquakes and Taliban warlords.

Answering an Objection About Science

Many, like Nietzsche, would say, "I would love to believe the Christian story, but it sounds like a fiction in light of the discrediting evidence of science." Last week I presented the chief story of science — the 13.8-billion-year big bang narrative — and I admit I read it with a tone of mockery, perhaps presenting a bit of a straw man. Afterward I had a good conversation with a young man and his mom who had a valid question: Are you saying we shouldn't value the findings of science?

The answer is no. The scientific method is amazing, and the discoveries of the last 500 years speak for themselves. The issue is not the method but the a priori assumptions many researchers bring — the fixed starting point that there is no God. If you begin your research by ruling out a God hypothesis, you will always end up with skewed observations. And it happens often that scientific study brings you to a point where things look designed in biology, astronomy, physics, or mathematics — and those who start with "there is no God" must find a way to explain that design away.

It is important to leave room in our studies for the possibility of the God hypothesis. On this point I highly recommend Dr. Stephen Meyer's recent book, Return of the God Hypothesis. He is a research scientist and philosopher who reveals how science in the last 25 years points back to the fact that there is a God.

General and Special Revelation

As Scripture says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). Paul writes in Romans 1:20, "Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." Creation, consciousness, and conscience reveal that God is — and that He is powerful, intelligent, good, true, loving, just, and desires relationship with us.

But God has revealed Himself not only through general revelation but through special revelation. Hebrews 1:1 says, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets..." He has revealed Himself in intelligible ways so we would know His nature and His will, and so we might know Him relationally. The Bible tells us that God came to earth as the man Jesus of Nazareth. Philippians 2:6–7 says that Jesus, "being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men." And John 1 declares, "In the beginning was the Word [the Logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory."

These are the basic things every Christian needs to know — first things first — if we are going to stand on a firm foundation of faith.

The Proof Point: The Resurrection

I will grant to the skeptic that this glorious story can seem fanciful. So how do we come to assurance that it is true? The smart people of Paul's day in Athens wanted proof too, and in Acts 17:31 Paul says God "has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." The proof point — or the breaking point — of this whole story hangs on the resurrection of Christ.

This is what we call apologetics. Peter writes, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense [apologia] to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." We don't merely say, "I believe it because the Bible tells me so." We can give an account of why it is reasonable to believe.

The Minimal Facts of the Resurrection

The leading expert on the historical evidence for the resurrection is Gary Habermas, who holds a PhD in the history and philosophy of religion and chairs the department of philosophy and theology at Liberty University. His book The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus presents what he calls the "minimal facts" argument. When he defended his 1976 doctoral thesis, his advisors required him to argue the resurrection from sources outside or beyond the Bible — and you can download all 350-plus pages of that thesis online for free.

Habermas presents five facts granted by virtually all scholars on the subject, even skeptical ones:

First, Jesus of Nazareth was a real individual in history who died by crucifixion — recorded in all four Gospels and by a number of non-Christian, extra-biblical sources.

Second, Jesus's disciples believed that He rose from the dead and appeared to them alive, and they went to their deaths proclaiming it.

Third, a church persecutor and skeptic of the resurrection, Saul of Tarsus, reversed his position after an encounter with the risen Jesus and became one of the greatest preachers of Christ in the first century — the apostle Paul.

Fourth, another skeptic, James the half-brother of Jesus — whose own family had worried Jesus might be crazy — was radically changed by an encounter with the resurrected Jesus and became a leader of the church.

Fifth, the tomb was empty. If the Jews or Romans wanted to disprove the resurrection, all they had to do was produce the body — and they could not.

When you consider these facts, I believe it is reasonable to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the evidence supports the claim that Jesus of Nazareth died by crucifixion and rose from the dead. If you want to examine the evidence yourself, I encourage you to start with Habermas, but also Lee Strobel's The Case for the Resurrection, Josh McDowell's Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Sean McDowell, and J. Warner Wallace's Cold-Case Christianity. All are very accessible.

The Evidence Demands a Response

If there is no God, as Nietzsche said, what is the effect? Look at the consequences 150 years later: no meaning — we are having a meaning crisis in the West; no morality — people will emphatically say it's wrong to say anything is wrong, not recognizing how self-defeating that is; no objective truth — exactly what postmodern thought celebrates; no ultimate purpose; no hope.

But if the resurrection is true, it means what Jesus said about Himself is true. It means there is a God who is our Father, who created you and me for a purpose. It means life has meaning, there is objective truth, goodness, beauty, and morality, and there is hope for life beyond this life. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." If all of this is true, the fact of the resurrection should radically transform everything about our lives.

A Living Church Before a Dying World

I have been grieved over the last 17 months of chaos — political, racial, medical, and global — with all its division, anger, anxiety, fear, and doubt. I have been grieved because the transforming power of the resurrection should be far more evident in us who believe. Paul wrote, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

The transforming power of the resurrection needs to be seen in a living church by a dying world. That is what this world desperately needs to see. As I look at the church at large in the West, it seems the power of the resurrection has been overshadowed by chaos — and the chaos has only inflamed the flesh: impatience, anger, unkindness, an unwillingness to forgive. I do believe God is doing a great work here at Cross Connection, even through 17 months of great pruning — even now we have an outreach set up, with nearly half of those who come on Sunday mornings serving to help. But the power must be visible.

Philippians 2: Love That Lays Itself Down

Let me show one necessary way this power should be seen, from Philippians 2. Paul writes there about the humility and exaltation of Jesus — words that were probably one of the earliest Christian hymns. Why does he include it? Because the church at Philippi, a church near Paul's heart, was a divided church. Division in the church is not new, and one of its effects is always a tarnishing of the church's work and witness.

In Philippians 1:27 Paul writes, "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ... that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel," not terrified by your adversaries, counting it granted both to believe in Christ and to suffer for His sake. Then in chapter 2: "Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ... fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others."

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant... He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name."

The Evidence in Us

Bringing it all to this point: the transforming power of the resurrection should be evident in our lives by the way we love and the way we lay our lives down for others. Isn't that exactly what we see in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus? He loved us and laid His life down for us. On the night He was betrayed, after washing His disciples' feet, He said, "I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you."

We are living through historic times. I keep telling my kids that, if the Lord does not return soon, these days will be written about for hundreds of years. For those whose lives have been transformed by the resurrecting power of Jesus, it needs to be evident — and one of the chief ways it will be evident is in the way we love other people and lay our lives down for them. In that same passage Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." So may God do that work in us, that we would let nothing be done by selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind esteem others better than ourselves — because that is exactly what Jesus did when He came into the world.

Closing Prayer

Father God, as we close out this series, we have considered the general revelation — the heavens declare Your glory — and the special revelation, that through the prophets You revealed what You are like and what You like. Jesus, You came to the earth that we might know You, and all of these things are proven by the resurrection. There is evidence that the resurrection happened, and it is reasonable for us to believe it. But if it is true, it ought to change us in a very powerful way. So I pray for myself, for this church, and for the church at large in America and in the world, that You would do a work in us by the transforming power of the resurrection — that we would shine so brightly that people would look at us and say, "Those people love like Christ, and they lay down their lives like Christ." God, do this work in Your church, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.