April 2004

A Look Beyond the Surface: You Can't Keep The God-Man Down - by Samuel Smith

1st

What is Good about Good Friday?

by Josiah Smith

Thank God it’s Friday (TGIF). I’ve often heard people use that expression to show their readiness for the weekend refreshment to come. This Friday, today, has significance far beyond the promise of a relaxing weekend. Today is Good Friday. We know it’s good Friday, because Easter (or Resurrection Day) is on Sunday. But what is so good about Good Friday? Good Friday is our annual reminder of the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Depending on your perspective on the punishment and death of Jesus, you may wonder why this day of remembering is called Good Friday. Many languages use different terminology for what we call Good Friday. In Romance languages it is called “Holy Friday” and “Sorrowful Friday” in German. However, here’s one reason why this Friday can be called good. Without Jesus’ death on the cross, no one could be made right (good) in the eyes of God. God sent Jesus to suffer, and to die, so that our sins (violations against the Holiness of God) could be paid for. Today, we should TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday). Because, on this day we remember the goodness, the mercy, and the grace God in his sacrifice for the world.

- Josiah

josiah@lifestrat.com

2nd

A Look Beyond the Surface: You Can't Keep The God-Man Down

by Samuel Smith

“He has forced open a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought, and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because He has done so.”

- C.S. Lewis

Over the past month Christians, and others, have flocked to see Mel Gibson’s new movie; “The Passion of the Christ”. This film recounts the historical account of Christ’s suffering and death as a sacrifice for sins, roughly as recorded in Scripture. Many millions have focused intently on this realistic recreation of what was clearly a torturous death. But the time of year now approaches where we celebrate another event, the day that believers “hang our hats on”; Resurrection Day. The Bible teaches that if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ died in vain. But part of the Good News is that he did die, and another part is that he did not stay dead. He rose to live again in his physical body. He rose because death could not beat him; he had in fact and for all time, beaten death. And so we do have hope. We have hope that those who have died in Christ will themselves be raised. We have hope that upon our deaths we ourselves, if we are in Christ, will be raised. The reason we hang our hats on the Resurrection is because the whole thing falls apart if it never happened. Thankfully, we have good reason to have genuine faith that this event really took place in history. Jesus, fully God and fully man, kept his promise and demonstrated that he was more than a “good moral teacher”, more than a mere Prophet. Try as they may, liberal revisionists cannot change the historicity of the Resurrection. Read 1 Corinthians 15:1-8. Note that at one time, more than 500 people saw the once-dead, now-living Jesus. Note also that at the time this letter (1 Corinthians) was written, most of those witnesses were alive and able to be questioned. There are many other reasonable evidences that Jesus truly died and literally rose from the dead. So what response does the fact of the Resurrection cause in you? Part of my reaction is to smile. It is the outward evidence of the inward reality of joy. I recommend joy.

- Samuel

sam@lifestrat.com