Many Christians today would say that the Puritans had some pretty strange views/practices. One of the most famous would obviously be that of refusing to celebrate Christmas, Easter, etc. But it wasn't because they were dry people who believed having fun was sinful. One of the real reasons was because they didn't want to join the Catholics - or Papists as they called them - in celebrating holidays which had become so much like the Roman Church: a showy, hollow religion which stood for only the shells of the glorious doctrines of the Bible. The ghastly burnings of their ancestors at the stake were still fresh in their memories.
But there was another reason. Why take one Sunday out of the year to remember Christ's rising from the dead when you ought to be mindful of it every day? In the New Testament, they didn't refer to the first day of the week as Sunday, but the Lord's Day - named because that was the day on which the resurrection took place. For the early church, every Sunday was an Easter Sunday! Think of it this way - we all hear about those little "holidays" that organizations create, one of them being Family Day. Well, isn't it ridiculous to set one day out of the year to "celebrate" being a family when you ought to be thankful for it every day? Lame.
This morning my pastor obviously preached on the Resurrection. In his sermon, he stressed the need for Christians to understand what it is that Christ did for us. Yes, we all know that He died on the cross, but there's more to it than that! Before He came to earth, Christ lived in unimaginable glory in Heaven. When Moses left Mount Sinai to go back to the Israelites, his face shone so brightly from being exposed to God's glory that he had to cover it. People can't bear to look at the reflection of God's glory! The God of unimaginable holiness came to the people of unimaginable vileness. We are so depraved, we try to convince ourselves and others that this God doesn't exist - we can't bear the thought of a righteous God. People killed God's prophets whom He sent to them. People, in their natural state, with all their hearts, hate God. And He descended from His glory to live with us for 33 years. "Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:6-7)
And while He lived here, how did we treat Him? The same way the Jews did His prophets. We killed Him. Back in the Middle Ages, the biggest reason why the Catholics persecuted the Jews was because they believed they killed our Lord. Some blame the Romans. But the truth is, we Christians are responsible. Why did He die? To take our sins upon Himself. It's for our sake that He died. Each time we sin, we might as well have hammered a nail into His hand or foot. Christ came to save His murderers! And He came because He loves us!
He came because we in our wretchedness could never save ourselves. No matter how hard we try, we'll never get it right. Even if we did manage to get by without ever sinning in our lifetimes, we would still have Adam's guilt upon us. We are utterly helpless. Jonathan Edwards illustrated this by saying that its like we're hanging by a spider's web over hell. There's nothing we can do. But that's what's so magnificent about Christ's work! The God of all the universe came here to take our filthy sins upon Himself so that we wouldn't have to do it ourselves! And if we repent of our sins, and have faith that Christ took them upon Himself, this salvation is ours. That's the pure, simple gospel!
As Christians, we ought to live every day of our lives in the remembrance of this. The Puritans had a point. We shouldn't forget about this until Easter shows up, and spend 1 in 365 days being thankful for what Christ has done. The Bible commands us to grow in grace, and we can't do that if we're too distracted to work at it. Reflecting on our salvation will make us thankful to God, and that thankfulness will quickly turn into a consuming desire to be more like the glorious God who accomplished all this for us.
Soli Deo Gloria
But there was another reason. Why take one Sunday out of the year to remember Christ's rising from the dead when you ought to be mindful of it every day? In the New Testament, they didn't refer to the first day of the week as Sunday, but the Lord's Day - named because that was the day on which the resurrection took place. For the early church, every Sunday was an Easter Sunday! Think of it this way - we all hear about those little "holidays" that organizations create, one of them being Family Day. Well, isn't it ridiculous to set one day out of the year to "celebrate" being a family when you ought to be thankful for it every day? Lame.
This morning my pastor obviously preached on the Resurrection. In his sermon, he stressed the need for Christians to understand what it is that Christ did for us. Yes, we all know that He died on the cross, but there's more to it than that! Before He came to earth, Christ lived in unimaginable glory in Heaven. When Moses left Mount Sinai to go back to the Israelites, his face shone so brightly from being exposed to God's glory that he had to cover it. People can't bear to look at the reflection of God's glory! The God of unimaginable holiness came to the people of unimaginable vileness. We are so depraved, we try to convince ourselves and others that this God doesn't exist - we can't bear the thought of a righteous God. People killed God's prophets whom He sent to them. People, in their natural state, with all their hearts, hate God. And He descended from His glory to live with us for 33 years. "Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:6-7)
And while He lived here, how did we treat Him? The same way the Jews did His prophets. We killed Him. Back in the Middle Ages, the biggest reason why the Catholics persecuted the Jews was because they believed they killed our Lord. Some blame the Romans. But the truth is, we Christians are responsible. Why did He die? To take our sins upon Himself. It's for our sake that He died. Each time we sin, we might as well have hammered a nail into His hand or foot. Christ came to save His murderers! And He came because He loves us!
He came because we in our wretchedness could never save ourselves. No matter how hard we try, we'll never get it right. Even if we did manage to get by without ever sinning in our lifetimes, we would still have Adam's guilt upon us. We are utterly helpless. Jonathan Edwards illustrated this by saying that its like we're hanging by a spider's web over hell. There's nothing we can do. But that's what's so magnificent about Christ's work! The God of all the universe came here to take our filthy sins upon Himself so that we wouldn't have to do it ourselves! And if we repent of our sins, and have faith that Christ took them upon Himself, this salvation is ours. That's the pure, simple gospel!
As Christians, we ought to live every day of our lives in the remembrance of this. The Puritans had a point. We shouldn't forget about this until Easter shows up, and spend 1 in 365 days being thankful for what Christ has done. The Bible commands us to grow in grace, and we can't do that if we're too distracted to work at it. Reflecting on our salvation will make us thankful to God, and that thankfulness will quickly turn into a consuming desire to be more like the glorious God who accomplished all this for us.
Soli Deo Gloria
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