The Three Tombs

If you read your Bibles closely, you might be surprised to know there were 3 tombs that are extremely significant to us.

The first one was the tomb that Joseph owned. In Luke we read that no one was ever laid in this tomb. This tomb was the grave of anticipation. It’s job was to lie in wait completely empty. It’s very purpose is to house the dead, but until Jesus’ mission was complete, it’s aspiration was unfulfilled.

The second tomb is the one Jesus was laid in. This is the tomb of defeat. When Jesus slept here, the world wailed in disappointment. The only thing worse than having a messiah is to get one and then lose Him. Was Jesus simply crazy… or did they kill their only hope? Men’s hearts hurt deeply when this tomb was occupied. Everything was questioned and nothing made sense. How could the man that raised the dead succumb to death himself? This was one of history’s darkest days. Three of them, in fact. Men sobbed, demons cheered, and the great I Am was seemingly buried having not yet fulfilled all of His promises.

The third tomb still exists to this day. It’s the one that the women and the disciples and the soldiers all found open and empty. In it rests neatly folded burial garments. This tomb has many names. Hope! Victory! God lives! This is my favorite tomb, because it’s not just an empty one, but it’s one whose purpose has been fulfilled.

You might be thinking, these are all the same tomb! Please understand, they are each very different from the other. Each could not be without the other and each one gives birth to the next.

We too are three different people. Not at the same time of course, but each one is a possible us. Just like the first tomb, without Jesus, we are empty. We have no purpose other than to hope something somehow happens to us.

Just like the second tomb, if we reject Jesus, or ignore His pleas for too long, He will leave us to lead a life without Him, should we Choose. Of course, we still have Jesus… He doesn’t actually leave. But… rather than keep Him in our hearts, which were prepared for Him, we wrap Him up and seal the door. What makes this tomb the saddest is that, just like the guard at the cross, we don’t realize what we are doing. We think we are ‘living’, but all we are doing is wrapping our Savior in the clothes He is to be buried in… away from our active lives.

The last tomb is by far the most amazing. It sits empty. But not like the first tomb. The first never had anyone lay in it. The third tomb has. It’s purpose is fulfilled. How many bodies don’t need their resting places anymore? How many times can you resell a full burial plot? You can’t. There is no value in an occupied grave. And all the unoccupied graves are waiting on time to fulfill their destinies. But what about this strange anomaly? This one tomb in all of history that both served its purpose and sits open and empty? This is our tomb if we have Jesus. We serve a risen Savior that defeated death. Not just for Himself but for us too.

To reach our full potential we each die to self. Through Jesus we exit the tombs of our past and arise victorious with Him. We leave fear, uncertainty, condemnation and defeat behind and take on hope, peace and love. This third tomb is a crucial part of God’s plan. He planned for His Son to take the tomb so that we could follow and arise. It’s important to remember all three tombs. But of greatest importance is to make sure we fulfill our purpose. To fill that tomb, take on Christ, and exit a new creation.

Three tombs. One who has no Savior at all, one who has a Savior but hides, rejects, or ignores Him, and the last one… the one that lets you enter a sinner and walk out redeemed.

It’s not JUST about remembering Christ. It’s not a story to be told about a man that deserves our respect on Easter. It’s about opening our own tomb doors and leaving dead end lives behind. It’s about emerging with Christ out of the grave and in our hearts where He Has always wanted to be. And it’s about living each day for the one that did this for us.

This day, more than any other, is about where you put your Jesus. have you never met Him? Is he banging on your heart’s door never to be answered? Or have you followed Him to a new life?

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Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay

When Will God Fix My Life?

One of the more difficult tasks I face as a Christian is to see the perfect and holy plan of God play out in a fallen world.

There are some great selling points in the Bible. Lining up behind God means I never have to fear again. God is my rock, my strength, my resting place. Rest! Oh, how I love the sound of rest. Peace is also promised along with never having to worry again.

Verse, chapter, and book, all line up to show the amazing, wonderful, and awesome life of a Christian. Sign me up twice!

Then I have a bad day at work. The car breaks down. The kid gets in trouble. My friends are all on sabbatical, I get sick, A loved one dies, moths have taken up residency in my wallet, and in this crowded world with so many people in my face I can hardly breath… I feel all alone.

Do you ever flip through the pages of your Bible like you just signed a bad agreement with a used car salesman? I have. This isn’t what I thought I had bought. Is there fine print in there? Where are the parts that talk about fun, freedom, and constant happiness? I could have sworn those were in there somewhere.

Part of my problem is my ability to selectively read. When its positive, I tend to take it as literal and immediate fact. But when the Bible mentions picking up my cross and following in the footsteps of Jesus… the one who stepped through torture, and death, I tend to feel like this part is more symbolic.

When the disciples faced fear while Jesus was in the boat with them… or when we are told that prophets are never accepted in their own home towns, or even when Jesus promises suffering and persecution… well I thought He meant that for everyone else.

When we look at Christianity as a fix to our problems we end up being sorely disappointed. It’s not a cure for sickness, nor immunity to pain or loneliness. God isn’t our genie and Jesus didn’t die to take away our pity parties. With Christ we still suffer and we will all die.

Jesus didn’t take away death, he defeated it. He took away its sting. He turned it upside down. Instead of death being the end, its now the beginning. Where it once was the defeat, its now the victory. Funerals have become celebrations.

When Jesus said, “it is finished” as He died on the cross, He created the ability for us to do the same. We get to bury our loved ones knowing they are in rest. They have now gone to a place where pain can’t get to them. After a life of loss they have passed into an eternity of gain. They will never be taxed, cheated, or mistreated ever again.

No more alarm clocks, no sickness, no barking dogs, no crying babies, no traffic… we retire from the pains and losses of this life. Jesus made this possible by going first. He heaped our sins on Himself and paid the price.

He didn’t sacrifice Himself to cure hangnails or stop cars from breaking down. He came to us to take the permanency away from death. His empty tomb is the real promise made. Yes, life is better with Jesus. Yes, God can and will do amazing things in this life… but we will still suffer. We are still human. We still live in a fallen world with a terrible enemy that wants to destroy everything.

The promise Jesus made is that one day, our grave will be empty too. And because Jesus paid that ultimate price for us, we get a choice. Do we want to spend our eternity on the other side of death with the one who causes pain, promotes sickness, breaks up families, destroys lives, and deceives… or do we embrace the man who meekly climbed on the cross?

The man who cured blindness, raised the dead, walked on water, prophesied the future, and exposed the true hearts of all He encountered… just calmly allowed human men to torture and execute Him. Why? I mean, really… why?

We have to grapple with that question and come to terms with our own understanding of why someone capable of commanding the weather and the seas would simply give up Himself. The answer I have come up with is that He loves me. He loves me so much, He wants me on His side of eternity. He loves me so much He doesn’t want me to be sick anymore. He doesn’t want me to lose loved ones. He can’t stand seeing me in poverty.

And His solution is Heaven. He is going to take us home. To the place where we belong. With death defeated, we will still die… but the grave becomes a cheap hotel on the way to an amusement park. It’s the temporary place holder until the amazing and indescribable happens.

So today, I’m going to stump my toe, deal with a headache, work a tiresome job, offend someone unintentionally and get offended. Soon, I’ll lose a loved one, get sick, and eventually die myself. And that is what I live for. I have a relationship with God that assures me that life begins with Jesus’ return.

Until then, there is an enemy who has everything to lose. More specifically, he has me to lose. He will lie, corrupt, and kill to get at me. But I love the one who loved me first. The man who gave it all to me… I will give to Him. He will call my name and I’ll run out of that grave.

But this choice we have… it isn’t made at the gates of heaven with one of the saints holding a list, like we see in so many cartoons. The choice is made while we still live. It’s the decisions we make in spite of the pain. It’s how we respond, how we act, and what we do with the minutes afforded to us.

If there was a really long line to get into a great club, would a complete stranger invite you to skip the line and stand with them? Would they give up their spot for some random person wandering by? No. But a friend might. I believe Jesus plans to vouch for His friends. He is going to mark our sins as “paid” when He recognizes those that chose Him in those darker moments of life. He has every incentive to because He chose us in His absolute darkest, most lonely, moment.

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Photo by Hunter Haley on Unsplash

Two days, No Hope

For two days we had no hope.

For two days we had no Savior.

For two days our king was gone and the kingdom He promised with Him.

For two days the healer was dead.

For two days there was confusion, weeping, and mourning.

For two days sinners in need of salvation were devastated and lost.

For two days believers hid in fear and quaked with uncertainty.

For two days evil laughed, mocked, and taunted.

For two days our Messiah and Lord was a man in a tomb.

Can you imagine the range of emotions?  Witnessing miracles, hearing stories, laying eyes on this man who is so different.  The heart tugs, the stomach produces butterflies, and you just can’t shake the urge to follow this man.  What He claims is absurd, but what He accomplishes is even crazier.  The dead are rising, the sick are healed, and the powers of the world want to stop Him.  It all lines up and you start to believe.  Not just that He can open blind eyes or get rid of a nasty cough… but that He is who He says He is.

Can you imagine Letting go of logic and letting your heart take over to what you know to be true?  To allow yourself to feel the freedom of FINALLY receiving a just and kind king?  He isn’t corrupt, He isn’t selfish, He isn’t greedy.  He doesn’t desire power and He doesn’t want wealth… your wealth.  Unlike any ruler before Him.  As this becomes your new truth you envision life with grace, peace, and happiness.  You don’t know fully how it will all work out, but you have seen His power.

Who could stop a man that raises the dead?  Who would want to?  You have backed the wrong horse before, but not this time… not with this man.  You sell possessions, you get the family together, you make life changing decisions because that is what followers are called to do.  And just when everything couldn’t be better… it all falls apart.  How could someone with that much power die?  Just like that, He is gone.  For two days, He is dead and buried and in the eyes of man, all that He promised is buried in the dirt with a man, who was either going to be as great as He claimed, but killed before He could do so… or He was just a fraud.

Either way, now your life is in shambles.  You put everything into the promises of this man.  You put your faith and hope in this man.  And you watched them bury this man.  I can’t comprehend the thoughts racing through their minds.  We know they mourned.  We know some were scared and hid.  But how do they come back from that?  He WAS their hope.  Now they have none.

I catch myself living life like this.  Grumpy in traffic, angry at online interactions, furious with horrible customer service.  Bad days at work, kids make bad choices, food tastes bad.  I can choose to make life as frustrating, horrible sounding, and pointless as I want to.  Some days I feel lonely, sad, and like everything in the world is out to get me.  I covet parts of my past while abhorring other parts of it.  I fall in ruts, or sometimes cannonball into them with steadfast determination.  And at the end of the day I just sit back and feel sorry for myself.  Like I have no choice.  Like I have no hope.

On the third day, something happened.  For us, we know the story, but they hadn’t documented it quite yet.  It started as a rustling of guards.  I’m sure there was finger pointing and great defenses laid out as to why it wasn’t their fault.  Then rumors started spreading and dreary eyes started to open.  Rumors turned to sightings and wobbly legs began to stand.   When all the pieces were put together and the full story told there was praise, worship, rejoicing.  Hallelujah!  He arose!  It was all true.  It IS all true.  It will all be true.  Now there is hope again.

From the third day on, there will always be hope.

From the third day on, we have a Savior.

From the third day on, we have a King, a kingdom to look forward to, and salvation to complete the story.

Lets be third day on, Christians.  The evil one celebrated for two days… lets not give him any more than that.  When the lies start to spread and you begin to feel tired, burdened, sad, alone, empty… remember day three.  The stone was rolled away.  The tomb was empty.  The tomb is empty.  The throne is not.  Praise God for day three, let us never again live like our ancestors did in days one and two.  We have the hope.  We have a Savior.  He is coming back.

The Greatest Cliffhanger

The new TV seasons are slowly cropping up to finally deliver on that promise they left us all with so many months ago… What will happen next!!!!????!??!

As I’ve been pondering some of the more clever (and cruel) cliffhangers we have been left dangling with… Who shot JR?, Ross saying ‘Rachel’ at his wedding, ‘not Penny’s boat’…  I wonder how we would be affected if we binge-watched the life of Jesus.

He’s born… lots of gifts…teaches in the temple… makes some enemies… heals, prays, travels, yada yada yada… He dies.

“It is finished” he speaks out loud, as it actually is… finished.

Well, it can’t end there.  There wouldn’t be another season.  The cameras are still rolling.  My wife will look at the clock and see there is still time remaining in the final episode of the series.  That just wouldn’t make for good TV anyway.  The cliffhanger is an art.  You have to leave the viewer wanting more, but “wanting” is not accurate.  The viewer must crave.  The proper cliffhanger creates enough anger (yet not so much the viewer will quit the show) mixed with enough emotion and stirred in with the proper amount of enthusiasm, so that when the time comes to pick up the story… you can’t be found anywhere else but glued to the TV soaking in what happens next.

Killing off Jesus is a mixed bag.  Some were devastated, some cheered.  The line in the sand didn’t move, it was erased.  Victory, defeat… depends where you stood, but it doesn’t matter because the story is over if its truly finished.  So they put Jesus in a tomb.  Still no plot twist.  Oh, I hate it when they do this.  They killed off the main character and then for 3 more episodes they go on some side plot that no one cared about.  They know, each week, we are going to tune in to check on the main character only to find out, yet again, they decided to put a pin in it.  Not just 3 shows, but it was during the super bowl, so you go like 5 weeks salivating at where the plot could possibly be going.

Then you happen to see the camera pan by that familiar tomb.  They alluded to it for months, but we didn’t think much of it.  Just another sad reminder of what they did to our hero.  Wait, why is the big stone gone?  Don’t they know that… hold on!  The garments are neatly folded on the…. !!!!  and then it happens.

… To be continued

That is not the end.  That is a cliffhanger.  The story isn’t over.  Jesus’ part of it is mostly done.  But now comes the payoff.  The big reveal.  The final moment where we take over in our own lives and decide what it all means to us.  The credits won’t roll because we haven’t all decided yet.  It’s not “finished” because WE STILL HAVE A CHANCE!  Can you fathom that?  The writers have collected their checks.  The producer has left the set.  The crew is packing up cameras and props while loose script pages are being swept away.  Yet… the show isn’t over folks.  One thing still remains.  Our part is yet to be decided.

The stone was rolled away… queue the person reading blogs on the internet, its time for them to make a decision.  Can you step up under the heat of the stage lights and respond to the story laid before you?

The stone was rolled away.  The burial garments folded and left behind.  The tomb is empty…. “ACTION!!!”

Let me ask one final question.  When Jesus does return, where will you be?  Will you still be trying to learn your lines?  Or, will you be glued to the Bible, waiting on the return, so you can finally be a part of what happens next?

Easter Sunday… why bother?

This may step on some toes.  I pray that it steps on the right ones.  I also pray that everyone will honestly evaluate themselves in their current relationship with God and make adjustments to bring Him more into focus at the center.  Amen!

Church can bring out a lot of emotion.

For some, its pain.  Christians are sinners and even in corporate church, we make mistakes that can leave scars.

For others, its discomfort.  Jesus prayed to God that we would be united.  He knew how we would fight.  If it isn’t politics its church politics.  In my life I’ve seen churches split over chosen songs, dress codes, overhead projectors, hand clapping, instruments, and many other seemingly trivial issues.  So why bother?

Especially when very few churches get it right?  The church isn’t where the Christian goes to be built up… its where the sinner goes to put God first.  Think about that for a moment.  How many scenarios exist, where the person in the wrong shows up and dictates how the event is going to play out?  When the sinner shows up and bows humbly before the loving God… church happens.  Everywhere else is, sadly, people vying to be the next pharisee.  To me, its an issue with definition.  ‘The Church’ isn’t that big building.  It’s the loving God that sacrificed His Son for us, so that we might gain, should we choose to do so.  Our acceptance of that sacrifice doesn’t come with judgement or condemnation.  It comes with us loving back.  The Bible says that God is love.  Shouldn’t the church be love also?  It is.  And where it isn’t, it can be.  Why bother?  Because when it is done right… When God is the focus… the world begins to function just as God (it’s creator) intended it to.  The sick are healed, relationships are repaired, bridges are built, and love is shared freely.  Lives are strengthened and when we walk out that door, its a new world to face.  This may sound silly to some, and to those I claim its because you’ve been unfortunate in your church experience.

For those who don’t understand church, or for those who feel lost in one, or for those who have tried and left running out the back door:  I’d like to offer 10 simple rules to measure by.  If many of these don’t hold up well, something needs to change, as its not what God intended.

1.  Does your church consistently hold its values and beliefs in line with the Bible?  Do they do things because a church leader said so, because an established family said so, because their grant said so, or because the Bible said so?  (note the words ‘values and beliefs’.  Obviously, leadership will need to ‘lead’ in clerical, business, and logistical matters).

2.  Are the songs, prayers, and messages building up the members or are they praising God?  There is certainly scripture that gives validity to building up the members.  But what is the core purpose of worship?  “Worship”.  Reverence… adoration… thanksgiving.  That has to be first and foremost and consistent.

3.  Is your church growing?  Or trying to grow?  The issue isn’t about butts in the seats, its about souls.  Does your church’s message care and even yearn to save the lost?  Are you fired up and sent out on a mission after church?

4.  Is the money going to God?  Either in future planning, current budgeting, or missionary spend, is the church making the most of the money?  Are they following the Biblical examples to stretch each dollar, grow each cent, or are they effectively burying it until needed?

5.  Is the message consistent?  One simple example, I’ve seen over and over again:  Does your church accept an offering every Sunday, but they don’t have the time to offer communion as well?  What an odd priority.  With PayPal, credit cards, websites, donation boxes, and even snail mail to the building… collection is the one thing that can happen outside of corporate worship.  But when leadership justifies that it can’t… I see a red flag.

6.  Is the entire message taught?  Jesus is a loving Savior who gave up everything to get to us.  But He is also jealous and can be angered.  He keeps His promises, both good and bad.  (i.e. the floods came when promised just like relief comes when promised).  The life of a Christian is a hard life filled with self sacrifice, scrutiny, and persecution.  God hates all sin and we are not to judge.  Christians are supposed to look different from the world, not following it and /or adjusting our beliefs… etc.

7.  Is every member involved?  Another common malpractice I’ve seen quite consistently is a tiered version of church, where one group will be the leadership of the church and the other group will be the spectator.  Almost divided like classes, an entire group of people will go to church on Sunday, never serving in any capacity and never being asked to.  This feels eerily like how the Pharisees practiced their faith.  They were the ‘in’ crowd.  This isn’t God’s church.  He asked the fisherman, the commoner, the family-man.  ‘Leave it all behind and follow Me’. (he roughly said).  Jesus came to save everyone… so church is FOR everyone.

8.  How welcoming is the church?  This has to do with each and every member.  When a visitor walks in, how many people will they walk past before they are jubilantly greeted?  How long will they sit alone before someone joins them?  How long will they attend before being invited to a small group, a meal at someone’s home, or an event to get to know them better?  We are all some level of shy, awkward, and uncomfortable.  The ‘church’ (meaning God’s real and intended church) will bury those feelings behind the genuine excitement over seeing a new face to potentially join the mission with.

9.  Is the story current?  Is everyone still talking about the good ‘ole days?  Are you always hearing about the last pastor or some amazing family that moved on or has passed?  Churches doing the will of God will have new stories to tell.  New souls, new testimonies, new prayers answered.  It’s OK to reminisce on the past… but we can’t live in the past.  Just like your car, your stomach, and your wallet… that tank has to be filled again, and again, and again.  Jesus didn’t perform one miracle and then go back to heaven.  He spent a lifetime serving the Father and then finally gave up His life as well.  He gave it all!  Not just one thing, 15 years ago.

10.  Are children leading?  Jesus said we are to be more like children.  When the disciples tried to stop the children from coming to Jesus, He corrected them.  “let the children come to me”.  Why would the church not follow this example?  They may not be able to execute perfect exegesis of Revelations but they do know love.  And in many cases, they know love in ways that we have long forgotten.  Not only do they need to be trained, they need to be mentored and allowed to serve as any other member of the church.

No church is perfect.  But there is a clear distinction between those trying to be a perfect church and those trying to serve God perfectly.  If you don’t know the difference yet, I sincerely promise, you want the latter.   I want to encourage you to stand firm.  You will walk in and out of buildings filled with sinners.  When you find a place where the sinners are working with God to live a life of thanksgiving to Him… stick around.  I didn’t provide this list to shame existing churches or to start an argument over semantics.  This is for those searching.  I searched for over 20 years.  And I’m so thankful that I didn’t give up.  It’s far too important to abandon.  In some cases the church will be wrong.  In some cases you will be wrong.  I could easily write about all of the wrong expectations we bring into the church.  (and I might in the future :p ).  For now… encouragement.  Don’t give up.

An often overlooked scripture in the Bible is when Jesus told His disciples to wipe the dust off their sandals and move on when people didn’t receive the message.  Many, many Christians need to hear this scripture and stop trying to force God on people that aren’t ready for Him yet.  But I also find a broader meaning here.  This verse is about freedom.  We aren’t tethered to a location until success occurs.  We are simply asked to try.  Give it all you’ve got.  If it doesn’t work, move on.  Never quit.  There is never a quitting reference in the Bible unless its a tragic story.  Move on?  Yes!  Quit?  Never.  Jesus never quit.  Paul never quit.  Martin Luther King never quit.  Some of us find ourselves wanting to live life among those great and precious names, but only as long as things are going well. (reread point 6).  If you are a threat to Satan (i.e. if you are doing church right) life will not be going well.  He will attack.  But thank God you will be prepared with God at your side and a loving church at your back.

If you feel compelled to visit church on Easter Sunday… GO!  But think about why that is.  Think about what you may be missing throughout the year.  Consider why so many keep coming back week after week.  Talk to some friends that may be stronger in the faith.  Talk to someone at the church of your choice if you go.  One advanced step you can try in the privacy of your own home is to turn off all distracting devices (TV, radio, PC, etc) and speak to God.  You don’t need special words, you don’t need any scriptures.  Just chat.  Tell Him what is wrong.

God doesn’t want you in church… He wants you in heaven.  But the church is such a valuable tool, we often get the message lines crossed.  I don’t want to see you in church because there are some bad churches out there.  I want to see you accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior!!!!!  And that… will put you in search of a good church, serving Him.   God bless!