Confession Time

Its confession time. I didn’t mean to do it. I know I should not have done it. I don’t usually do it. Every week I carefully avoid looking but this Friday I did. I don’t know what possessed me. I put it down to a mid-life crisis. My eyes just wandered and there it was, the most enticing, the most tantalizing, the most tempting job offer I have ever read in the Church of England Newspaper. Here’s what it said.

 “It’s true, Adelaide is a great place… No doubt you’ve read about Adelaide’s fine weather, fine beaches, fine food and fine wine. Its all true! South Australia wants people who see their future in its progressive climate. The archbishop of Adelaide welcomes enquiries from clergy wishing to minister in parishes and schools. Find out more about South Australia at www.southaustralia.com. Send your expressions of interest to…”

Interestingly, the advert said nothing about what they were looking for in candidates, nothing about what the role required. It didn’t need to. I confess that purely out of curiosity I visited the website and, yes, it is true.

Then reality caught up with me. I remembered my age and my recent medical hiccups and my heart sank. And my soul yearned to be 20 years younger. If only… Do you ever do that? Do you ever feel life has passed you by? Do you ever feel over the hill? That you have had a raw deal? That you have been short-changed? That time is running out? Like the sand in the egg timer? If only you could turn it upside down and start again? Well you can – kind of. Because of Easter. Because the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ has radical implications for the way we view the future. In the resurrection of Jesus we see the basis for the Christian hope of eternal life.

At the end of the Apostle John’s account of the life of Jesus we read these words: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31)

Here is the purpose for John's biography of Jesus. John’s intention is that we experience a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The resurrection is like the final piece in the jigsaw of God’s progressive revelation. There was the evidence of the Old Testament scripture prophecies pointing to Jesus. There were the miraculous signs and wonders which Jesus performed as proof of his divinity. There were the eye witness testimonies of those who saw him die and rise to life the third day just as he said he would. We believe by taking God at his word, and by placing our trust in Jesus, we experience the life that he promises.

There was and is an energy which flows from Jesus, like a wind blowing, like running water, like light shining, a power which transforms the self consciousness of men and women that transcends time, old age and death. This energy is called ‘anastasis’ in Greek. The word ‘resurrection’ comes closest to it. The Apostle John explains further:

“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:11-13)

Do you have that assurance? Do you know that you have eternal life? You can. Last week I did something really stupid that taught me a deeper lesson about life after death. I drove to Byfleet to visit a bookshop and put on my sunglasses because the sun was shining. I rested my brand new titanium rimless glasses on my knee but forgot where I had put them. When I got out of the car, my glasses fell into the road. Back home, half an hour later, I realized what I had done. I phoned the shop and they kindly found my glasses in the road – in pieces. They had been run over by a car – probably mine. While one of the glass lenses was broken, the titanium arms were fine – you could drive a bus over them and they would bounce back into shape. As I temporarily superglued the glass lenses back together this morning, I marveled at the strength of the titanium arms. I will reuse them with new lenses. Our bodies are like the glass lenses, they are fragile and will one day wear out. But our souls, like the titanium arms, will survive death, and if we trust in Jesus, we shall receive new bodies that will never wear out. In the same letter John writes,

 “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

The resurrection of Jesus provides a glimpse all God intends for us also. Through his own resurrection Jesus gives us his peace to live in, his purpose to live by and his power to live on, forever and ever. Today, God the Father calls you to trust His Son, the Risen Lord Jesus Christ and let Him transform you by the power of His Spirit, from someone who is living to die into someone who is dying to live.

May the Lord bless you and those you love.