Nothing Else Matters

“Jesus was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 1:4)

Food For Thought: The late Jaroslav Pelikan, one of the world’s leading scholars in the history of Christianity and medieval intellectual history, wrote, “If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters.”

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the fulcrum of our Christian faith and indeed, the pivotal point in all of human history. As C.S. Lewis said, “If the thing happened, it was the central event in the history of the earth.” If Jesus rose from the dead, then he is Lord of all. If he didn’t rise from the dead, the our faith is useless and, as Paul says in I Corinthians 15, Christians are hopeless and to be pitied above all people.

But we believe he rose from the dead. We have staked our faith, our lives, and our eternities on the scriptural and historical evidence that Jesus broke the chains of death that bound him in that garden tomb and rose again to life, thus defeating death, hell and the grave. Since that is true, nothing else matters—Jesus is the Son of God and Lord of all! And…

Since that is true, we can place our complete trust in Jesus Christ to save us from our sins and deliver us to eternal life.

Since that is true, we can have confidence in Jesus Christ to be with us every step of the way in our earthly journey, knowing that he will never leave us nor forsake us.

Since that is true, we can experience the same resurrection power that coursed through the body of Jesus Christ coursing through our mortal bodies, enabling us to live the abundant life that he came to give us—God’s favor in the physical, emotional, relational and spiritual dimensions of living.

Since that is true, we can experience the same overcoming life that Jesus Christ lived, living above sin and in holiness to God.

Since that is true, we can boldly share the Good News with lost people of how Jesus Christ has made a difference in our lives. We do not need to be ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). We do not have to be timid about our faith—in fact, if he is truly risen, to be timid would simply not be an option.

If Jesus is risen, then he is either Lord of all, or not Lord of all. And since the resurrection is true, we can place our lives squarely in God’s sovereign care, get busy fulfilling his purposes through our lives, and commit all of our energies, efforts and resources to glorifying him in everything we say and do.

He is risen! He is risen indeed! And nothing else matters.

The story is told of a Muslim who became a Christian in Africa. “Some of his friends asked him, ‘Why have you become a Christian?’ He answered, ‘Well, its like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn’t know which way to go, and there at the fork in the road were two men, one dead and one alive—which one would you ask which way to go?’”

Since Jesus Christ is risen… You fill in the rest of the sentence today!

Prayer: Lord, you are risen—you are risen indeed! And nothing else matter. Enable me today to live in the reality of your resurrection. Enable me today to live as if nothing else matters, because nothing else matters. Since the tomb is empty and you have been proven to be the Son of God and Lord of all, and since you have chosen me as one of your own, I will live above sin, resist temptation, give enthusiastically, serve selflessly, trust completely, go boldly, pray expectantly, love unconditionally, forgive completely, and share the Good News through my words and by my life. At the end of the day, my life will be even more living proof that you have risen indeed.

One more thing… Watchman Nee said, “Our old history ends with the cross; our new history begins with the resurrection.” The best news the world has ever had came from a graveyard near Jerusalem, so go tell someone who hasn’t heard!