July 9th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

This weekend my family will be having a funeral for my paternal grandfather.  He lived an incredible life and left a rich spiritual legacy.  I can only imagine how thrilling his time in heaven has been this past week – I wonder if he’s still meeting all the people who are there because of his influence!  We rejoice that he is free from a 93 year old cancer-wracked body and finally in the presence of the God he so faithfully served… but we grieve our loss.  He was a pillar in our family.

I’m sure many of you are either currently in a season of loss or have gone through loss that still pains your heart.  I thought I would repost this (from our “understanding pain and loss” series last fall) for us all to ponder.

Of all the things we face in our broken world, nothing haunts us like death. No doubt, funerals for children and friends in their prime are devastatingly difficult. But there is no good time for death. Solomon’s struggle with the issue of death is one we all can relate to.

In Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 Solomon starts out his book with the lament – vanity of vanities! All is vanity!

[Remember our definition of vanity: futility, frustration, limitation, and ultimately death which every person experiences as a result of living in a sin-cursed world.]

He then points out that generations of people come and go, but the earth remains forever. The sun keeps on rising, the wind keeps on blowing, the water keeps on flowing… and yet humanity dies and is forgotten.

There is something so awful about driving from a funeral home to a cemetery, watching regular traffic and business continuing around you. Don’t they know what happened? Why is life just carrying on? If it’s raining at the cemetery it is miserable, but somehow if it’s sunny and beautiful that doesn’t feel right, either.

There is a reason that doesn’t feel right to us: the physical creation around us is temporal – it was not intended to last forever. However, humanity was created immortal! We were supposed to outlive this earth, not the other way around! Solomon’s observation of the sun and wind and water cycle continuing on through their existence while mankind lives and dies and is forgotten is a tough one to swallow.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. And the thing is, there’s nothing we can do to change it!

In Ecclesiastes 2:12-23, Solomon points out that both the wise man and the fool will meet the same earthly fate – death awaits them both. The wise man might show much greater fruit of his labors and wise living, but he must leave it behind to someone else who might very well be foolish.

Cheery line of thinking, isn’t it?

There’s no getting around it: death is awful. Awful, awful, awful.

Consider the story of Lazarus dying and being raised from the dead by Jesus. This account in John 11 is moving to me, because it gives us a small glimpse of God’s feelings about our sufferings with the reality of death.

In verse 4 we see that Jesus purposely waited long enough for Lazarus to die before going to him. He knew that He would go and raise Him from the dead. The text carefully points out that Lazarus’ sister was Mary, the one who anointed his feet and wiped them with her hair. We are told specifically in verse 5, “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.” But He let him die.

Once Jesus was approaching their village, Mary meets Him on the way and falls at His feet weeping. She says, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” The next verse is so moving to me – “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” (33) Then we are told succinctly in verse 35 that “Jesus wept.”

Let that sink in. Jesus knew that Lazarus would be alive again in just a few minutes. Why was He weeping? He was troubled when He saw Mary and others who loved Lazarus mourning.

Death is the most haunting part of the curse – it feels unnatural because it is. The fact that Jesus weeps with His friends in this passage is so profound. He knows the end of the story – that not only will Lazarus be resurrected at the second coming, but that he would be alive and reunited with his family within the hour. And yet He wept. Separation and loss through death is horrible, and Jesus knows – He weeps with us.

This story is also the location of a familiar couple of verses – “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26) Jesus’ resurrection changed everything – He was the firstborn from the dead, the promise of our resurrection yet to come. (Colossians 1:18)

As Barbara Mouser states so well, God is redeeming His creation in the order in which it fell. When we rebelled, we died spiritually. The curse and all of its yuckiness reflects that spiritual death and decay in the physical realm. God has redeemed us spiritually, and one day, He will redeem His physical creation, as well. Right now we are caught in the middle.

So, even while we mourn death and disease in this life, it is a different kind of mourning from those who have no hope. Our separation, our loss, our struggle with death is temporary. One day, all will be made new. One day, death will be a distant memory. One day, there will no longer be any curse. (Revelation 21:3-5, 22:3)

We as believers in Jesus have tremendous hope. But death still hurts. It looms around us and steals away those we love. Even while we celebrate the hope that is in us, we must guard against calloused and pat answers which gloss over the real pain we all face.

Even Jesus weeps with us.

All the “understanding pain and loss” posts are indexed here.

Image from http://www.freefoto.com

May 13th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Ann Voskamp often talks of the “Easter people” – I love that concept. As we discussed earlier this spring, the reality of Jesus’ resurrection should compel us. It should change us. Those of us who follow Jesus should be deeply marked, every hour of every day, by the Truth of that empty tomb – it cannot be something we merely sentimentalize one day per year!

The church at Smyrna was full of the Easter people.

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.

I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.

Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.

Revelation 2:8-11

This church was deeply afflicted.  In the midst of a wealthy city, these believers were poor – most of the believers in this church were most likely slaves or destitute free men.  They were severely persecuted – both by their pagan culture and by unbelieving Jews who handed them over to Rome under false accusations… and Jesus prepares them that the worst is yet to come.

His message, His encouragement, the basis for His command to not fear?

• He is the one who died and came to life again!
• Their death may come soon, but they will receive the crown of life!
• The overcomers, those who are truly His and stand firm, will not be hurt by the second death – their debt has been paid, their punishment suffered on their behalf, their life secured by His own.

The empty tomb will make you a radical. Belief in a Jesus who lived, died, and conquered sin and death itself – the Jesus who is the First and the Last – turns us into Easter people.

Polycarp was the pastor at Smyrna around 50 years after this letter was penned – his remarkable martyrdom has been recorded for us in early church writings.  I will give you just a sampling here.

They, therefore, did not nail him, but bound him. But he, having placed his hands behind him, and being bound, like a notable ram appointed for offering out of a great flock, prepared as a whole burnt-offering acceptable unto God, having looked up unto heaven, said, “O Lord God Almighty, Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received our knowledge concerning thee, the God of angels and powers, and of the whole creation, and of all the race of the just who lived before thee,

I thank thee that thou hast deemed me worthy of this day and hour, that I should have my portion in the number of the martyrs, in the cup of thy Christ, unto the resurrection of eternal life, both of the soul and body, in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. Among these may I be received before thee this day as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, even as thou hast prepared and made manifest beforehand, and hast fulfilled, thou who art the unerring and true God.

On this account, and concerning all things, I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify thee, together with the eternal and heavenly Jesus Christ thy beloved Son, with whom to thee and the Holy Spirit be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”

May we be faithful to the end.  May we be radical Easter people, clinging with all we are to the hope of the resurrection.

If you have missed posts from the Revelation series, you can find them all listed here.  To make sure you don’t miss any more, I hope you will consider subscribing in a reader or by email!

Art used (with permission) by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. To order prints visit her “Revelation Illustrated” site,  http://revelationillustrated.com.

April 8th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

1 Corinthians 15:17-23

In recent years I have become fascinated by the feasts of Israel.  While we are not under the Old Testament law and therefore are not required to keep the feasts, I am convinced that we miss some of the profound depth in the Scriptures because we do not understand the “Jewishness” of what is being said.

The feast of firstfruits was held in the spring – the Israelites were to bring the first crops they harvested in the spring and present it before the Lord.  As they thanked God for providing for them what was ultimately from His hand, they also expressed faith in the next crops to come.

Did you know that Jesus rose from the dead on the feast of firstfruits? When Paul says that Jesus is the “firstfruits” of the dead, he is making a clear statement: Jesus’ resurrection was the promise of more to come!

Suddenly, this strange happening at the death of Christ (which I have never actually heard discussed in a sermon!) makes sense:

The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

Matthew 27:52-53

Zola Levitt comments about this passage, “The Lord, not unlike a Jewish planter, gratefully showed the Father the early crops of what will be a magnificent harvest later on.”

Jesus is the resurrection and the life!  It is His resurrection that promises the resurrection of my own broken body and those I love!  As Paul stated so eloquently, if it is only for this life that we hope in Christ – if this is just a good way to live that gives us meaning and peace in this life alone – we are to be pitied more than all men.  We have bought a great lie.  We are fools.

But if Jesus has been raised – what hope!

Death, where is your victory, where is your sting?

Our faith is not futile, friends.  The life of Jesus offers us more than a feel-good bedtime story and a reason to wear a new dress on Easter Sunday.

His resurrection is everything!  Without it, our faith is futile.  But with it… if Jesus really is alive…

it changes eternity.

You can join me on a daily journey as we seek to run in the path of His commands! Click here to subscribe in a reader or by email!

April 7th, 2010 by Kristi Stephens

Yesterday we asked the question, “what difference does the resurrection make?”

Seeing the risen Jesus transformed His followers.  It changed them from a beleaguered band, hiding and locked away in an upstairs room, afraid for their lives into a courageous group willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the Gospel.  It changed Paul from a murderous, self-righteous legalist into a man who contended valiantly for the faith he had worked so hard to extinguish.

If we internalize the reality of the resurrection of Jesus, it will change us.

It is the resurrection that makes following Jesus more than my religion of choice – His empty tomb means it is irrefutable truth.

The resurrection, if we really grasp what that means, will compel us.

• It will compel us to share the Truth, as it did Jesus’ disciples – what have we to lose?  Even in the face of threats, man can kill the body, but my Jesus holds the keys to death and promises new life!
• It will compel us to live courageously in the face of suffering, loss, grief of all kinds – because we know that in the end, the ultimate battle has already been won!
• It will compel us to long for His return – His resurrection guarantees that He can and will return to claim what is rightfully His.

The resurrection erases all doubt from my mind – if Jesus is really alive, if that tomb is empty, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! He is everything He claimed to be!  Even when the world calls me narrow-minded, or claims that I depend on my Jesus as a psychological crutch, or calls out to me that I am naive… my only response can be, “to whom else would I go?  He has the words of eternal life!” (John 6:68)

The resurrection compels me.  It requires that I make a choice – if I believe it really is so, my life has to line up.

How has the resurrection compelled you?  Does your life testify to the fact that you have cast your whole self on the reality of the risen Jesus?

You can join me on a daily journey as we seek to run in the path of His commands! Click here to subscribe in a reader or by email!