The Power of Christ's Resurrection Bursts through Obstacles

Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, tells the following story about the power of Christ's resurrection:

“A minister was in Italy, and there he saw the grave of a man who had died centuries before who was an unbeliever and completely against Christianity, but a little afraid of it too. So the man had a huge stone slab put over his grave so he would not have to be raised from the dead in case there is a resurrection from the dead. He had insignias put all over the slab saying, "I do not want to be raised from the dead. I don't believe in it." Evidently, when he was buried, an acorn must have fallen into the grave. So a hundred years later the acorn had grown up through the grave and split that slab. It was now a tall towering oak tree. The minister looked at it and asked, ‘If an acorn, which has power of biological life in it, can split a slab of that magnitude, what can the acorn of God's resurrection power do in a person's life?’"

As you read the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ resurrection and the effect it had on the lives of Jesus’ followers, you can see this resurrection power at work in their lives. Consider these examples:

• Peter denied Jesus three times during his trials, but became the powerful preacher who proclaimed the message of the resurrection on the Day of Pentecost.
• Thomas insisted on seeing the nail prints in Jesus’ hands and feet before he would believe. When he did, he responded, “My Lord and my God.”
• Paul persecuted the church until he met the living Christ, and then took the Gospel across the Roman empire.
• Then there was a woman out of whom Jesus drove seven demons who became one of his most faithful disciples and one of the first witnesses to his resurrection. We will meet her through my message on Easter.

Keller comments that Jesus’ resurrection can have the same effect on our lives.

“The minute you decide to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, the power of the Holy Spirit comes into your life. It's the power of the resurrection—the same thing that raised Jesus from the dead …. Think of the things you see as immovable slabs in your life—your bitterness, your insecurity, your fears, your self-doubts. Those things can be split and rolled off. The more you know him, the more you grow into the power of the resurrection.”

This is the message we will consider again on Easter Sunday, but it is a message that needs to mark our lives everyday. Let Jesus’ resurrection burst through the obstacles in your life.

MAKE READING AND STUDYING THE BIBLE A LIFELONG PRACTICE

One of my mother’s possessions that I now have since we went through her things after her death is the Bible (King James Version) she always carried when we went to church as I was growing up. As you can see it is torn and tattered from use. I also still have my first Bible (also King James). It shows wear and tear as well, although not as much as Mom’s.

The Bible is meant to be read. It is meant to be used to gain insight from God’s Word. When a Bible is used, it will show wear and tear.

I read this week about a worn Bible from China that has an amazing history. Here is a part of the story:

“Jiang Yuchun was a boy the first time he attended a Christian gathering in a home in Anhui Province, China. He and his father walked fifteen miles under cover of darkness because any kind of Christian gathering during the Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976 was an act of subversion according to government policy. Thousands of believers were martyred during those dark days; every Christian leader exposed was imprisoned or killed; the Bible was practically extinct. Yuchun watched the leader teaching the group, holding a tattered copy of the Bible tightly in his hand. The pages were torn and dirty, the corners worn to a rounded shape.

“The red edging had been worn to a faint pink. The cover hung by a thread to the binding. The preacher, who travelled from one location to the next to teach even during the Cultural Revolution, would not allow anyone to touch this Bible. Too much was at stake. But one day, one time, he allowed Yuchun to take it for a moment to glance at it. Yuchun was only in elementary school, so he could not make out much of the traditional Chinese script, but decades later he still remembered the reverence, awe, and joy he experienced when he held that subversive book in his hands.”

Thirty years later, he again found that preacher. Yuchun said about that meeting: “He gave the precious bible to me and I will forever treasure it” (read the full story here).

Since the Bible deserves to be studied and treasured and worn, I have been teaching a delightful Bible study for the last month on Monday mornings at Sawyer Terrace, the apartment complex where three of our ladies live. On March 8, Marion Greaser will begin a second Bible study for the residents at Sawyer Terrace. It is a joy to see these senior citizens, including one delightful couple who are from Sri Lanka, rejoice at the opportunity to study and to share insights from God’s Word together.

I still remember some of the early passages of Scripture that I read and memorized when I was young. I still cannot get enough treasure from the Bible. I hope you feel the same way. As Jiang Yuchun’s story reminds us, many people in the world find the Bible precious because it is banned. We should not take it for granted, but should make reading and studying it a lifelong practice.