Today is The Day

If you are a Christian, today is the day when everything changed. If you were to look at Christianity as a play the first act would begin with the story of the birth of Jesus and would end on Good Friday with His crucifixion on the cross.

This Act is where most Christians as well as most Christian theology concentrates their beliefs and ideology. Truth be told Christianity has pretty much tried to fit the entire Christian experience around Jesus' life on Earth, focusing on the so called Gospels and trying to accommodate everything that happened before and would happen after around the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

But today, what we call Easter, is a far more important day than any day in the life of Jesus. Today is The Day when Jesus began to be born into Christ. Today truly is the birth of Christ. Today was the beginning of the Second Act of God's play, for without today it is doubtful that Jesus the humble Jew despite his miracles and beautiful philosophy would be much more than a footnote in history. After all it is one thing to talk about being born again, it is quite another to in fact do it.

Actually the Christian faith is based, not on the life of Jesus or his teachings, the entire foundation of Christianity rest solely on whether or not what is reported to have occurred on this day in fact happened. If it did, then the human experience and a Christians outlook towards it is totally changed. If today as reported did not occur then as Paul so aptly put it:

'If Christ is not risen, then your faith is in vain'

So all of Christianity rest solely on what happened today, as well it should. For if there truly be a God and He/She should wish to reveal Himself to man then certainly it must be in a way that is both miraculous and inspiring. It would seem that the miracle of creation itself should convince a mortal of the necessity of Intelligent Design but as we know all of creation itself is not proof enough to the unborn.

Most Christians and their multitude of Babelic doctrines (not a word, I made it up-figure it out)have taken upon themselves the impossible task of creating spiritual life both in themselves and a belief that they are responsible to create it in their fellows. At best we can only be agents but the times are in God's hands and the spiritual truth is that: "

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"

Paul explains:

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.
When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

Sounds rather simple to me, sounds like God has a plan, is God allowed to have a plan outside of our "free will". Oops I have jumped into the third Act, sorry back to Easter.

Just as Jesus life on Earth was just the prequel to his resurrection, his rising was a prequel to a coming truth. How do we know this? The risen Christ told us or at least he told his disciples.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you."

While most Christians are walking with Jesus and trying to convince the unborn to be born again and trying to understand His parables, they pretty much ignore the most important aspect of their faith. Seeking the spirit of truth which according to the man they claim to be Lord will do nothing less than "guide you into all truth" . Seems like this would be a pretty cool thing to have around in a pinch, beats trying to convince the drunk neighbor next door to go to church with you and get "saved" while hungover from Saturday night.

Of course it is understandable why this truth thing kind of gets set on the back burner of Christianity since everyone wants to claim they have the truth in order to help you live in moral superiority to your "unsaved" neighbor.

There is also the idea as Jack Nicholson so famously put it on another matter "you can't handle the truth" Why ? Well the truth will set you free and freedom is a scary place for those who have been taught to be servants when they are in fact sons and daughters. And the truth is downright terrifying place when a Christian confronts the very real truth that he is not the source of his own "salvation", but rather it was just his or her time.

How do I know this is the truth? See Paul's words above.

Again Paul:

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth

Interesting advice isn't it? If every last word of the so called Holy Bible (which version?) is the truth why is Paul telling us through his letter to Timothy to "rightly divide the word of truth"?

Jesus:

"Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old."

Back to Easter. So Today is The Day when a man rose from the dead then met with his friends and told them he would send the spirit of truth which would "lead them unto all truth." So where, all these many centuries later, with all these denominations and "authorized versions " do we go to find the truth? Well if you truly are a Christian:

"The Lord knows those that are His"  (And those that ain't -yet)

Then you might consider the words of the Peter:

And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given to him has written to you; As also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.

Wisdom given to Paul? What's that about? Jesus or rather the risen Christ said he was going to send us the truth-very interesting there huh? Christ says he's going to send some truth our way and Peter tells us to listen to Paul.

Interesting too that the proof of the risen Christ is most validated not by his followers who knew him in the flesh but by his former persecutor who only knew him in the spirit. Truth be told, just as without the resurrection their would be no Christian Faith, without Paul their wouldn't be either.

Christ to Anais about Saul (Paul):

“Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

I might point out that between the gentiles and the Jews that pretty much covers everybody. So where does the third Act of Christianity begin? I guess you could say it began on the road to Damascus, have you traveled it? If not then try this as a new beginning;

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name.

Pretty heady stuff isn't it? The Gospel of God? Let's see Mathew, Mark, Luke, John-The Gospel of God, not exactly your Sunday School Class material is it?

So that is my Easter Sunday sermon . I hope you are confused enough to search for the Spirit Of Truth which is :"Christ in you your hope for glory"

Why did I feel compelled to write this? Well I take these words in my spirit and my heart seriously, which come from God's Gospel via the man who claims to have been separated to give it to us by the Son of God who was risen on this day that we celebrate as the beginning of Christianity-

Paul:

For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially those that believe.

These things command and teach

You ever been taught that? It's in your Bible, to many alls for you all? There's a lot more-ain't that Good News?

Happy Easter or Merry Christmas :)

Jer


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