St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

Easter - a matter of life and death

"Now, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you," begins the last part of Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth.

Paul had a lot of trouble with this church. After he had founded it, other preachers had come, with a variety of views and ideas. So the church sent him a long list of questions, which he works through in the letter. Which one will be the one which is so important that Paul says it is "the gospel"? Will it be sex, or money, or the nature of communion, or charismatic gifts, or orderliness in worship, or apostleship (ministry) ... all of these are live questions in the church today, and all of them figure in his letter. But it's none of these. Instead it is ...

Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he was raised from the dead. This is the one crucial issue - if we hold onto it firmly we are saved, if not we have believed in vain.

Why is Christ's death and resurrection the crucial thing for being a Christian, and how can we be quite sure? Here's what Paul says about the death and resurrection of Jesus:

1. It saves us - because sin cuts us off from God, and without being rescued from our sins, we can't get back to God. On the cross Jesus paid the penalty that should have been mine. Christianity is a rescue package for people who would be lost without it.

2. It's according to the scriptures - that is, it's the fulfilment of what God had been telling the Jews in their bible, the Old Testament, for the last 1500 years. It's the whole point of what God has come to do.

3. There is solid evidence for it - the eye-witness testimony of more than 500 people at different times and places. In an age when people saw death first-hand a lot more than we do, there were lots of people who knew Jesus was alive again.

4. It gives real certainty to people like us, who know that one day we will die. If our hope was for this life only, we'd be pitiable. But if Jesus really was raised, we can be confident of life beyond the grave for ourselves through him.

John Hartley

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. April 2004, Page 1.
Home Page. Index of articles: by subject, by date. In this issue: (April 2004) Easter, Passion Play, Pink Custard, Democracy.	Easter - a matter of life and death "Now, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you," begins the last part of Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth. Paul had a lot of trouble with this church. After he had founded it, other preachers had come, with a variety of views and ideas. So the church sent him a long list of questions, which he works through in the letter. Which one will be the one which is so important that Paul says it is "the gospel"? Will it be sex, or money, or the nature of communion, or charismatic gifts, or orderliness in worship, or apostleship (ministry) ... all of these are live questions in the church today, and all of them figure in his letter. But it's none of these. Instead it is ... Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he was raised from the dead. This is the one crucial issue - if we hold onto it firmly we are saved, if not we have believed in vain. Why is Christ's death and resurrection the crucial thing for being a Christian, and how can we be quite sure? Here's what Paul says about the death and resurrection of Jesus: 1. It saves us - because sin cuts us off from God, and without being rescued from our sins, we can't get back to God. On the cross Jesus paid the penalty that should have been mine. Christianity is a rescue package for people who would be lost without it. 2. It's according to the scriptures - that is, it's the fulfilment of what God had been telling the Jews in their bible, the Old Testament, for the last 1500 years. It's the whole point of what God has come to do. 3. There is solid evidence for it - the eye-witness testimony of more than 500 people at different times and places. In an age when people saw death first-hand a lot more than we do, there were lots of people who knew Jesus was alive again. 4. It gives real certainty to people like us, who know that one day we will die. If our hope was for this life only, we'd be pitiable. But if Jesus really was raised, we can be confident of life beyond the grave for ourselves through him. John Hartley
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