Beloved, there is resurrection power available for all of us who call on the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But it is not found in a padded pew, playing church. It is not found in seeker friendly nonsense that pretends the Gospel is no longer relevant enough to reach the lost of this generation. The true Gospel is always relevant enough and if we find ourselves in a church where it is not, the problem is not with the Gospel I assure you. I can see now that those dead churches that strip the sufferings of Christ out of the Gospel are left with a cardboard cutout of the truth. As long as you stare at it straight on, it looks right. It even sounds right. But if we change our perspective we see it is only one-dimensional. It has no depth. If we take off the crown of glory we like to wear and replace it with the crown of thorns, we can see the Gospel being preached is false. The crown of glory is only truly obtained when we first fellowship with the sharing of His sufferings by taking on His crown of thorns. Once we have truly fellowshipped there, then there is nothing man can do to us anymore. We will be set free from religion and truly understand relationship. The Spirit of God inside of us will rise up and we will preach the Good News of Jesus Christ. Not a one dimensional Christ -- but the genuine article. People want to spread lies and gossip about us? They mocked our Lord and spit on Him! People want to try and strip our dignity? They tore His clothing off His back and gambled for it! The power of His resurrection is found beloved -- in the fellowship of the sharing of His sufferings. We cannot expect the power without the suffering. Just take a look around at a lot of the modern churches and you will see what I mean. Paul warned us:
They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! -- 2Timothy 3: 5 (NLT)
Those who are acting religious are merely fooled into thinking they have a form of godliness. They may say the right things. Their worship may seem crisp. They may thrive on emotionalism. But they reject the very power that could make what they do Godly. That power is the power of His resurrection and it is found in the fellowship of the sharing of His sufferings. The very things they strip out of the Gospel because they think they do not market well are the very things that provide the true power in our faith. The cross, the blood, the resurrection. Without these things we are worshiping mere cardboard cutouts of a religion that is devoid of any true spiritual power.
Lastly, we are to be conformed by His death. That means to become more and more like Him in His death. His death was first and foremost - sacrificial. Despite leading a sinless life, Jesus Christ took our punishment as His own so that we might be reconciled to the Father. We need to approach our salvation similarly. Difficult? Absolutely in our selfish flesh, which is why it is so important to consider the things of this world as rubbish! Jesus saw our condition and sacrificed Himself so that we could inherit eternal life. That is how we are supposed to view the lost now. Instead the church stretches out its accusing finger at the world and blames it for the state of affairs in the world. It blames it for an impending judgment that has yet to come. It blames it for sins it neither understands nor believes in. We see a leper and scream unclean! Jesus sees a leper and He reaches out to heal him. We see a woman caught in adultery and reach for the nearest stone. Jesus says cast it if you have not also sinned. We see modern day Samaritans reject Jesus and want to hurl lightning bolts down upon them. Jesus still sees they are separated from God. We need to get to that place where we are conformed by His death and see people sacrificially. Thank God Jesus did not judge us as we deserved and instead, sacrificed Himself for us.
Lastly, to be conformed by His death means to be forgiving in nature and deed. When He hung on the cross He still forgave the criminal who sought Him out. As He was being crucified He still asked God to forgive those who were killing Him. How can we do any less with other Christians, the lost and even ourselves? I understand that forgiveness is not in human nature. Unforgiveness and retribution are celebrated by the world. Everyone loves a good revenge movie! That is exactly why we must treat it as rubbish in exchange for knowing who Jesus is!
I know these lessons are easier taught than caught, as my pastor likes to say. I do not profess that I have achieved that which I preach. God is always ministering to me first. These are things I must strive to do as well. We must however get to the point where we are dissatisfied in the powerless religiosity we embrace. We must get tired of just playing church. Of getting our hallelujah hop on Sunday and then barely making it through life on Wednesday. I saw an interview once with a congregant of a mega church prosperity preacher who gleefully admitted that his pastor "gives me just what I need to get back to him next Sunday." Dear Lord - is that why Jesus died? Did Jesus endure the cross so we could just barely get by?
Everyone wants to tread on scorpions but no one wants to walk the Via Dolorosa, which in Latin means the way of sufferings. Everyone wants to command demons to flee but like the Seven Sons of Sceva, they do not want to take the time to be in relationship with Christ. We want to pick up the praise of men but not the cross of Christ. We want the crown of glory but not the crown of thorns. We want the robes of splendor but not the scarlet robe of contempt and mockery. We want to claim the power of God but maintain our love affair with the garbage of this world. It simply does not work that way beloved. We do not get to the robes of splendor without the robes of contempt. We do not get to the crown of glory except through the crown of thorns. We do not get to Godly power through righteous contentment without the sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings.
Reverend Anthony Wade - April 21, 2014
