Did It Really Happen?
No doubt, this is the most important holiday in the Christian calendar.Maybe that’s why you’re in church today. Not so much because you believe it, but it is Easter. You’re supposed to go to church on Easter.And it’s a family thing. Mom or Dad wanted you to go. Maybe it’s Grandma and Grandpa all the way down to you and a bunch of cousins.So for you, church is a family or social thing. It’s Easter!But do you believe it? Do you believe that a crucified man came back from the dead?If it’s not true, then all of us here at church are just playing religion. If it’s not true, then there’s nothing to anything else that we believe either, and this whole Christian thing is a scam. As one of our founders put it, “If Christ was not raised, we are the most miserable of all people” (The Apostle Paul of the first century).So if it’s not true, none of this Christian stuff is true and none of it matters.But if it is true, it matters more than anything.If Jesus really did come from God to reconcile us to him. If he was really crucified as an innocent man, and buried. If he really came back from being dead after three days, that IS a big deal! Right?It would mean that everything that he said about himself was also true. (Like, those who believe in me have everlasting life, but those who don’t, DON’T!) It would mean that Jesus is worthy of a lot of our time and attention, that we’d better pay attention to him and what he taught. If Jesus really came back from the dead, then that’s the most important thing in history!If it really happened.If you’re new to Christianity, or you gave up on it years ago, or you’re just ambivalent about it, please don’t let this Easter celebration be just a religious festival without real-life ramifications. Look into what it is actually about. If you do an honest inquiry, you’ll find that some of the greatest minds in history did just that. They approached Jesus’ resurrection with honest skepticism and came away convinced that there was no other feasible explanation to all that happened that day, other than God’s supernatural intervention. Some great books have been written by intelligent skeptics who themselves became convinced that Easter was true. I’d suggest, “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel, "The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus" by Gary R. Habermas, and “Who Moved the Stone?” by Frank Morison.I’m not asking you to believe. I’m asking you to look into it.After all, everything is at stake.