If you want to go to church for Easter, you have plenty of choices in San Diego. Or, if you’re allergic to church buildings, you can worship on the beach—provided you’re willing to be there at sunrise because that’s when most churches have their resurrection service.
There’s nothing like sunrise service on the beach on Easter Sunday. And, although it’s nippy by the ocean, most churches offer free coffee and donuts to keep you comfy.
But, if you’re not a regular church attendee, why go to church at Easter at all? What can it possibly change?
Some, no doubt, hope to pay their dues and “make God happy” so He might forget some of the bad stuff they did. But nothing could be more alienated from the Easter message than this concept. No one can pay dues to God.
Jesus didn’t come to earth, live a sinless life and die in agony on a cross so we’d then have to “keep Him happy” or pay dues. He paid all the dues—the entire payment for all of mankind’s sinful actions and selfish natures (and those begin manifesting themselves in early infancy—you don’t have to teach a kid to sin). Jesus died on the cross so we would no longer have to pay.
Then why church? And what is Easter?
Church is the outworking of Easter. Or, otherwise put, Easter is why we go to church. All year long. We go because of what happened at Easter—the death, burial and resurrection of the Son of God who died in our place so we could walk with Him forever.
It wasn’t just Jesus’ death on a cross for us that makes Easter important (as if that wasn’t enough); it is His LIFE! Jesus didn’t remain in the tomb. He was RESURRECTED. And, as we turn to Him and allow Him to fill us with His Spirit and lead our lives by His lordship, we walk in that same resurrection life. We have power with God as a colaborer with Him—as His beloved child. That is the miracle of Easter.
Ok, so that’s not easy for some people to grasp. It seems too lofty. Too foreign to our earthy pragmatism. But nothing—absolutely NOTHING—is more pragmatic than the outworking of the cross in our daily lives.
Jesus commanded: “Take up your cross daily” (Mat. 16:24). What did He mean?
Jesus spoke of the metaphorical cross, the dying to self and putting aside of our selfish desires to obey His will, the choice to look to the things that please others within the boundaries of His will. We cast off self and put on Jesus by taking up the cross. This revolutionizes everything. Everything.
Take marriage, for example. Why doesn’t it work most of the time for most people? Because of selfish ambition. She wants him to please her and he wants her to please him and their wills conflict. They have expectations of one another based on their own needs. And since mankind is riddled with flaws, they are doomed from the start unless…unless they take up their crosses to follow Jesus. Here’s how that works.
If they each obeys they Bible and puts aside their own desires to seek God’s will and please one another, not only is God honored but He also changes things. The cross changes everything.
Easter, then, is a reminder that not only did Jesus die for our sins, but He also rose from the dead so we wouldn’t have to be stuck in the prison of selfishness. We can walk freely honoring Him in every step and enjoying the glorious beauty of resurrection. Then we’ll probably wantto go to a good Bible-based church more than just at Easter.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
Copyright © April 2011
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