Read Now-What Does the Resurrected Body Means For Each of Us?

In my long life as a Christian, I have witnessed substantial changes in the beliefs in our culture.   Always there has been a search for truth, morality, identity and hope.  Always there has been a longing for meaning and purpose.  With the gradual turning of our country into a Post-Christian age we have seen different eras trying to find answers to these questions.  Yet these answers have either failed or contradict one another.  The central question remains:  What is the answer to these questions?

I have observed the following in the shift away from Christianity.  Christ was depicted as a great moral teacher or at best just a prophet among others. That view is still held by some.  With the elevation of science and reason in the Enlightenment we enjoyed unpreceded progress in all phases of our standard of living.  This led to the belief in unending human progress in all areas of life.  With the carnage of WWI and WWII this idea was shattered.  Then, we  replaced it with the philosophy of relativism.  No longer was there absolute truth.  “Truth” was then whatever power group defined it to be.

I have seen two different results of this reasoning in our present age.   We see and hear about both in different forms in the media today.  One type is radical personal autonomy. Here, one determines his own morality and even his own sexual identity.  The other is an old philosophy repackaged.  It divides society into oppressors and victims.  Today the division is by race or sexual orientation. In past decades it was by economic class.

All these human constructions have failed.  They attempt to answer the fundamental questions.  What if the answer is not a philosophy, some human system, or ideology? What if the answer is something that happened outside of us?

That event is and was the bodily resurrection of Christ.  It proves Christ was indeed the Son of the Living God, The Lord of Lords and King of Kings. It proves he is the reigning King and creator of everything including us.  We  then, were created in the image of God to fulfill His will and purposes. It validates that sin is real and the solution is redemption through Christ.

 How do we know what this means for us? He said “ I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me.” Therefore, there are not multiple paths to God, the Father.  There is only one Way and that is through Christ.  Truth is not relative nor self-created. Morality cannot be self-defined but is defined by God’s precepts and commands.  The redemption of mankind is not found through some man-made program, ideology,  or philosophy.  Instead, the way for meaning and purpose is given by Christ.  Evil behavior is not defined by any particular social justice ideology but defined by God.   Final justice  to right wrongs in society will be taken by God not by man. Since the Spirit of God resides in us, what we do in our bodies matters.  Finally, Christ’s resurrection means death is not final. Christ has the final victory over death.

So, what does the resurrection mean for each of us?   It means our faith should and must be in Christ alone.  We are to share the good news—redemption is through Christ alone.  The love that Christ showed us should motivate us to love others as Christ loved us.  This life of service IS our spiritual worship.

“We know many human answers have been tried and failed. The resurrection means Christ’s Way is not just one more idea. Christ as the way for meaning is verified by the historical fact of his resurrection. It is the decisive answer in history for our lives. So, the question is no longer, ‘What works?’ but, ‘Will you and I respond to the Christ who gave us the answer?’”