He is risen, indeed!

It's Easter Sunday -- a day I love, but a day that seems really strange and confusing for a lot of people. The whole concept of God dying a physical death? Weird. That this Jesus guy rose from the dead? Impossible. And, yet, it's what the whole of Christianity clings to. 

Today, I want to share with you an excerpt from a sermon by Matt Chandler. The context is Colossians 3, and I love this part in the middle where he talks about what the cross means for us:

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...the Scriptures say, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” So here’s what you’ve got to do if you’re a serious thinker. What is the joy set before Christ in the cross? That He was purchasing for His Father many sons and daughters. You and I, in this strange way, become the joy that is set before Christ on the cross. He is, by His wrath-absorbing sacrifice on the cross, purchasing for the Father many sons, many daughters. It was with joy that He endures all of this. 

Why? Because He loves you. That’s why. You have to grasp this truth (and it’s a big one) that He loves you. Not only does He love you, but He knows. 

You see, that’s the thing that makes it hard to believe. We’ve got this weird compartmentalization thing that happens where you don’t think that God sees all that you are. Or we think that if He could have known who you were going to be, He wouldn’t have gone to the cross. Listen, God knew you were going to be messy. Christ knew that you were going to be messy. God knows that you’re going to screw up often. He knows that you’re going to be drawn to things that are wicked. He knows. 

That’s what the cross is all about. The whole point of the cross is that you’re going to fail, you’re going to stumble and you’re going to feel dirty. The whole point of the cross of Christ is that there be this mighty picture of His love and pursuit of you despite you. 

So the cross is necessary because of you, but it’s also the picture we have of just how far God is willing to go because He loves you.

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And so something horrible becomes something beautiful. But it doesn't end there. He is risen! And the resurrection of Christ means death has no power. It means victory. It means hope.

Happy Easter.