Letter 4/8

April 8, 2010
Pastor Steve Mathewson
  

What a great celebration we had on Easter Sunday! Later that day, I posted this on Face book: “We had one of the most moving, Christ-honoring Easter services I've attended in years. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” I pray that God’s Spirit will continue to stir us as we think about all that God has provided for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I pray that it will stir us to fulfill our mission. We exist to build a loving community of Christ-followers to reach a culture in need of God’s presence.

I’d like to share something with you which I felt moved to do last Friday. I had just finished my reading in Fifty Reasons Why Christ Came to Die, and I was thinking ahead to Jesus’ resurrection. So I decided to make a list of “Fifty reasons why Christ was raised from death.” Three hours later, I combined a few items and trimmed my initial list to fifty. The Lord willing, I’d like to write book on these fifty reasons so that people can use it the fifty days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost Sunday to reflect on the significance of the resurrection. Just reading the list fills me with awe at what Christ accomplished. So here are the first twenty-five reasons why Christ was raised. I’ll share the rest in next week’s letter.

1. To provide his followers with life after death (John 11:25-27; 2 Cor. 4:14, 5:8; Phil 1:21, 23; 1 Cor. 15:18)

2. To show his power over death (Acts 2:24; Rom. 6:9)

3. To provide for our healing (Acts 4:10)

4. To give him the blessings promised to David (Acts 13:34)

5. To provide through him the forgiveness of sins (Acts 13:37-38; 1 Cor. 15:17)

6. To make a powerful declaration that he is the Son of God (Rom. 1:4)

7. To justify sinners who come to him in faith (Rom. 4:24-25)

9. To enable us to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4-11)

10. To enable us to bear fruit to God (Rom. 7:4)

11. To give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit (Rom. 8:11)

12. To end our obligation to the sinful nature (Rom. 8:12)

13. To give us the experience of future glory (Rom. 8:18)

14. To set creation free from its bondage to corruption (Rom. 8:21-22)

15. To make possible our adoption as sons, that is the redemption of our bodies (Rom. 8:23)

16. To intercede for us at the right hand of God (Rom. 8:34; cf. Hebrews 4:14-16)

17. To fulfill the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:4; Luke 24:44-47)

18. To make our faith and preaching worthwhile (1 Cor. 15:12, 15)

19. To guarantee our future resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20-23; 1 Thessalonians 4:14)

20. To destroy all other powers through his reign (1 Cor. 15:24-27)

21. To destroy the enemy of death (1 Cor. 15:25, 54-57; Luke 20:36)

22. To give us a reason to endanger our lives and die (1 Cor. 15:30-31)

23. To deliver us from self-indulgence (1 Cor. 15:32)

24. To give us heavenly, imperishable bodies (1 Cor. 15:40-48)

25. To enable us to bear the image of the heavenly man (1 Cor. 15:49)

I am excited about our “Parenting Myths” series which begins this Sunday, April 11. Pastor Rick will handle the first myth – “Good parents are content to help their children live moral, upright lives” – by taking us through Philippians 3:1-11. This is going to be a tremendous message! I plan to listen to it online because I am leaving this Saturday, April 10, for Montana. I will preach Sunday at the church I served before coming here, and then I plan to spend Monday through Thursday fly-fishing! I will return on Friday evening, April 16. A long-time friend of mine from Wheaton, Dave Goetz, will join me. Fly-fishing Montana rivers is the form of recreation which restores and refreshes my spirit the most. So I am thankful for this opportunity. I will miss having Priscilla and Luke with me, but I don’t feel too sorry for them! They get to attend a Cardinals-Brewers game this Saturday while I am flying! Several high school baseball players in our church family have been selling tickets to this game as part of a fundraiser. But please pray for Priscilla and Luke, as well as for me, while I am gone. I’ll see you next Sunday!