Crazy Talk
I wrote this for my congregation to encourage us all to consider the amazing and scandalous truth of the resurrection of Jesus.
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Athens was a “very religious” place. But their religiosity had nothing at all to do with Jesus. In fact they had never heard about Jesus. They were joyful pagans.
These Athenians “spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.” It sounds like the Athenians and not Mark Zuckerberg have the original patent for the Facebook news feed.
Paul, the missionary tourist, strolled through Athens while waiting for his buddies to finish up some work in Macedonia. But as he walked around the Athenian streets and markets his blood started to boil. One dirty word came his mind to describe the novelty based religion of Athens—idolatry.
So he found a place to start talking about Jesus. The sermon began by undermining religion. Paul pointed the Athenians to the Creator of the world who was also the Redeemer of the world. Then he ran a skewer through novelty, proclaiming that the God of all time now called all men not to interesting religious thoughts but to repentance of sin and faith in Jesus.
But his Athenian popularity was about to come to an end. He made the cardinal mistake of spiritual argument—crazy talk. He mentioned the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And from the Athenian crowd came a single, unified response—mockery. From the mouths of these Athenians came blurting laughter, middle-schoolish kidding, and derisive contempt for what had started out as a pretty good sermon.
Nothing has changed.
As we approach the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, I encourage you preform a gospel heart check.
- Is there some part of you, Christian, that is still astounded and borderline confused by the apparently preposterous good news of a risen dead guy?
- Has the resurrection of Jesus become so blasé to you, so normal that it no longer rests as the sine qua non of the gospel message?
- Does the resurrection drive you to worship the God who provided the only possible way for your salvation—the death and resurrection of his own son, Jesus the Christ?
Make it your prayer this Easter that God would lay a new foundation in the basement of your soul poured out of the cement mixer of orthodox resurrection theology. Be amazed, humbled, and lifted to glory filled worship by the truth of an empty tomb.
