Easter is the celebration of the pinnacle of human history. It is at this point and time on the calendar that we celebrate an event that changed all other events. Shortly after man was created, sin entered the world and through sin – death (Genesis 2:17; Romans 3:23; 6:23). However, when Jesus died it was not a normal death (Matthew 27:45-55). When Jesus died, it was God’s Son dying. But why would God send His own Son to die? The simple answer is for you and for me, for love (John 3:16-17).

So, what happened on Easter? If you have heard the story, you know that Jesus has risen and the tomb is empty (Matthew 28:1-10). This truth means more than an empty tomb 2000 years ago. This truth is the pinnacle of human history and it has implications for our lives now. It means that when Jesus rose He defeated death and through that act changed human history (Ephesians 2:1-10; Revelation 1:18). The curse, which was on all of mankind, was reversed. He came to give life (John 10:10; 14:6) and while we were spiritually dead in our sin He gave us life. If you have that life (1 John 5:13) then you have reason to celebrate.

The question is what does Easter mean to you? It is more than a story that the tomb was empty and He has risen – the truth of that event has changed human history. It is more than a nice meal, neon eggs and even attending a religious service. Easter changes everything. The question is: has it changed you?

For some pastors and regular attenders it may seem frustrating that these Creaster’s only attend once maybe twice a year. For this crowd, many churches will spend extra money, time and human resources (extra volunteers) for a one-time encounter with these people. It can seem like a lot of work for a one-time event. However, my hope is that these one-timers may get a glimpse of the love that God has for them. It could happen in a lot of ways: through the friendliness of a greeter, usher, or parking lot worker, the attentiveness of a children’s ministry volunteer, something that is said in the sermon or sung through the music, or even through the person they sit beside.

My hope is that, somehow in some way, God would reveal Himself and His immense love for them in such a way that they would be forever changed. Some may come to the place where they see past religion and begin a genuine relationship with God. Others, who may have trusted Christ as their Savior in the past, may see some genuine believers trying to live out their faith and be drawn back into a faith community. A few may be in town and take what they see back to their church.

Regardless, on Easter we get a shot. Maybe it is only one shot, but we get a shot to show off the love that Jesus Christ has for us all. We get a shot to say or do something that could have an eternal impact in someone’s life. Someone who may be open to God one day a year in a way they are not open any other day of the year. I hope that this Easter God will use me and you to reveal Himself to the one-time attenders that may give us a shot. I will be praying for these one-time attenders this week. Please join me in praying that God gives us eyes and opportunities to see what He wants us to see and do what He desires for us to do.

Part two of this blog entitled: What is Easter? will be coming this Friday.

God had given Adam one rule to live by: Genesis 2:16-17 ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;  ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

God gave a command then a promise:

Command: You are free to eat from ANY tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (So just ONE tree you cannot eat from, just one rule).

Promise: for when you eat of it you will surely die.

What happens next is very intriguing. Satan comes in the form of a serpent and speaks to Eve. Notice the first words out of his mouth:  “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (3:1)

His first words to humanity call into question what God has said. When God spoke, He did not say that they must not eat from “any” tree, but rather that they could eat from “any” tree except one. Satan’s first words twist God’s truth. Every believable lie has enough truth to suck us in. Instead of saying the opposite of what God says, causing the lie to be openly obvious, he instead twists God’s words. After Eve clarifies that it is just one tree (and adds her own rules about not even touching the tree), then Satan says, Genesis 3:4-5 ⁴ “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.  ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

In verse 4, Satan surmises that God cannot be trusted and will not keep His promises. What was God’s promise? “for when you eat of it you will surely die.” What was Satan’s direct opposition? “You will not surely die.” He is basically saying that God does not keep His promises.

This is exactly what happens to us when we believe lies and we begin to falsely believe that God does not keep His promises.

In the next verse, Satan unveils the lie for Eve, and says that God is holding out on her. He leaves her with the ideas such as: there is more, but God doesn’t want you to have it, so go get it yourself. Now, she had to decide.

That was the lie that “got” Eve. What is the lie that “gets” you? We all have lies that we are more prone to believe than others. Our lies may not be the same as the one Eve believed, but we all hear them. I have made a list of ones that I struggle with or believe are popular with people I know and love. These lies include things like:

• If they knew the truth they would reject me.
• I have to do certain things or God will not love me.
• If I do enough I will have better status with God.
• There is something other than God that will bring me satisfaction.
• If enough people approve of me that will be enough.

What lie do you believe that impacts your life?

Satan’s strategy is still the same and alive today:

1. Get you to doubt. Get you to doubt what God has said. Get you to doubt whether God will or can keep His promises.
2. Twist the truth to sound believable. This is usually customized for each individual based on the lies we are more prone to believe.
3. Bait us with a lie that will change how we live, how we relate with God and with one another.

Our response must be to know God’s promises and live by them. That is what it means to live by faith. Are you living by the promises of God or does a lie control your life?

You may know exactly who you want to vote for, or you may not love either candidate and you may not think writing in who you think should be the next President is a good idea. Regardless of where you are at, how do you decide who to vote for?

Often times we talk about value based voting. What does that mean? I assume when we say value based voting we are saying that we will vote for the guy who has our values. What are our values? Since I am writing this to Christians I will say that we have to agree with Jesus that our most important values are to love God and love people (Matthew 22:37-40).

Both candidates claim they love God. One even overtly tries to use evangelical language when talking about Jesus, while the reality is he does not worship the same God that Christians worship. Some Christians have a problem voting for a candidate who is overtly involved in a false religion called Mormonism. While he has made a great effort (much like Mormonism as whole) to sound like an evangelical Christian by using phrases like “Jesus is my personal Savior,” the reality is that Mormonism and Christianity are not the same thing. We could discuss the differences, but at the heart of them is that Mormons do not believe that salvation is by grace (Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). Anyone who does not understand this will not be leading our country to worship the one true God. So how can we say that voting for someone involved in a false religion is consistent with our values if our primary value is to love God with all that we are (Matt 22:37)?

However, there is another candidate who has professed to be a Christian, but has values that are far from biblical. While he will claim to love people, he will not fight for their right to live beyond the womb if their biological parents decide they shouldn’t. In the Old Testament there is a false god that was worshiped named Molech. One of the ways this god was worshiped was through child sacrifice. God through the prophet Jeremiah says how He feels about people sacrificing to these kinds of gods then claiming to worship Him (Jer 7:9-11; 19:4-13). It was highly offensive to say the least. I read a few weeks ago that 50 million people have been legally murdered since 1973 through abortions. None of them will be voting today. I wonder how they would vote if they were given the chance. We have a candidate who thinks that this mass genocide is a good idea. If the second greatest commandment is to love people, how can we say that voting for this person is consistent with our values?

In my desire to love God and love what He loves (i.e. people), I do not see how it would be possible for me to vote for a candidate that will not stand up for the rights of unborn people. So when I voted two weeks ago, that was the key issue for me. Some people may argue that I am a one issue voter. I would respond that if that one issue is people, than yes I am a one issue voter. I think jobs are important, I think our military is important, I think health-care is important, but none of that matters if someone is never given a chance to live. I do not believe (apart form a radical conversion in their lives) that either candidate will be leading our nation to repent and turn to God, but I cannot vote for someone who will not defend the defenseless. How will you decide who to vote for?

The things I have said in this post are my views and do not necessarily reflect the views of everyone in my church or the church’s leadership.

There is no doubt that if you surveyed 100 Christians that 100 Christians would say that we want religious freedom. We are all grateful for the fact that we can assemble openly and speak freely the name of Jesus. However, most people would acknowledge that the American church has also become soft. Our greatest concerns often revolve around issues of preference and comfort rather than changing the world. Things have not always been that way. In fact, the early church seemed to have been just the opposite. It doesn’t appear that Christianity began with great religious freedom. We read in Acts 2:47 that early believers had the favor of all the people. However, it did not take long for that to change. God starts doing some amazing things through men like Peter and John and in Acts 4 we see that not everyone was excited about that. The Sanhedrin (the most powerful court in the land) arrests Peter and John for teaching about Jesus. After spending the night in jail Peter and John stand trial before the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin commands them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. Look how they respond:

Acts 4:19-20 But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.  20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

How many of us as believers currently speak boldly about Jesus? The reality is that far too many of us fail to speak boldly about Jesus, and we have the freedom to do so. Here we see Peter and John being commanded by the highest court in the land to cease speaking His name and they essentially say, “Sorry, we will defer to a higher court. The one who will judge us for eternity.” It reminds me of the passage when Jesus was speaking to these very disciples and He said: “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him” (Luke 12:4-5). It appears that these disciples were listening. Are we?

In next part of chapter 4 they have a powerful prayer meeting (Acts 4:23-31). What would we pray for after an encounter like that? Safety? Protection? Changed government? New laws? Our guy to get elected? They did not pray for any of those things. Do you know what they prayed for? They prayed for boldness (Acts 4:29). Maybe we shouldn’t be praying for religious freedom. Maybe we should be praying for personal boldness with the gospel. God answered that prayer in Acts 4:31. However, in chapter 5 the disciples get arrested again, and again have to appear before the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin wants to kill them, but instead they end up having the disciples flogged. It says in Acts 5:41-42 that they left rejoicing because they were counted worthy of suffering for the Name. They never stopped proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ. Now that is a perspective we do not see very often. They REJOICED that they were counted worthy of suffering for Christ (Phil 3:10).

Many of us fail to proclaim the name of Jesus while having incredible freedom to do so. So the question has to become: Do we NEED persecution? Do we NEED to have our freedoms removed? Would it actually benefit Christianity for us to lose our rights?

Listen, I don’t want persecution. I am very grateful for our freedoms and the men and women who have fought for us to have those freedoms. I just wonder if we have become too soft. I wonder if we would be more effective with fewer rights. I wonder if persecution would shock the church back into focusing less on our comforts and preferences and more on our mission of reaching a dying world with life saving good news. I wonder…

SCOTT LEHR THE NINES 2012B – Computer from Southbridge Fellowship on Vimeo.

Very simply the term disciple means a learner. However, we know from looking at the New Testament pattern that the kind of disciple we are commanded to make is more than someone who simply learns information. We can see it is someone who experiences transformation. I believe when we look at the pattern of the New Testament we see four key characteristics of a disciple.

1. Saved: A disciples has trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. As Jesus says to Nicodemus, they have been born again (John 3:1-21). That is the reason John wrote his gospel (John 20:30-31). There is saving power in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12). The invitation is for everyone (John 3:16-17, Romans 10:9-13; Titus 3:5). The first mark of a disciple is that they are saved.

2. Surrendered: The decision to trust Jesus as Savior is not the final decision to surrender to Jesus Christ. The life of a disciple is characterized as a life of faith (Hebrews 11:6), which is a life of continual surrender. The first step of surrender after salvation is baptism. The very passage that commands us to make disciples commands that we baptize them (Matthew 28:18-20). Baptism is the New Testament way of declaring to the world that you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ. The second mark of a disciple is that they are surrendered.

3. Relating: What we see naturally happens as a pattern in the New Testament after someone trusts Jesus as their savior is that they get into relationships that are grounded in God’s Word. Acts 2 is an excellent example. In one day 3,000 people had repented of their sin, trusted Jesus as their Savior, been baptized and then we see that they were meeting together regularly (Acts 2:40-47). They were in relationship with one another. As you look through the New Testament you see command after command that requires that we are in close relationships with other believers. They are called the one anothers of scripture. Things like “Be devoted to one another” (Romans 12:10), “confess sin to one another” (James :16). These types of commands can only be fulfilled when a disciple is in authentic relationships with other followers of Jesus. The third mark of a disciples is that they are in relationship with other disciples of Jesus. This is one of the reasons why being a part of a local church is so important.

4. Reproducing: We also, see that a genuine disciple is reproducing themselves by sharing their faith. The easiest passage to demonstrate this from is Matthew 28:18-20, but we see it everywhere. That is what the book of Acts is all about. That is why you see Paul starting so many churches after his conversion. This is the reason why God leaves us here after we trust Jesus as our Savior. He could beam us straight to heaven, but instead He leaves us here to seek and save the lost. It goes beyond merely leading them to the saving knowledge of Jesus though, we are to help them grow as well. Part of the Great Commission is that we teach them everything Jesus has taught us. The fourth mark of a disciples is that they are sharing their faith with others so they too can be saved and in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

For more on making disciples you can watch a sermon I preached on this here: Engage

These are the four key marks of a disciple that I see when I study the New Testament. I will conclude with two simple questions:

1. Are you a disciple who demonstrates all four of these characteristics? Are you saved, baptized, in biblical relationships with other believers and sharing your faith with people who are yet to know Jesus then teaching them to grow in that new relationship?

2. Do you see more or less characteristics of a disciple as the New Testament pattern of discipleship?

Let’s talk about high taxation first. No one wants to pay high taxes. In Jesus day I believe the taxation was 80% to 90% of your income. When He was asked about what to do regarding money, He did not say to elect anyone new. He simply said to pay to Caesar what is Caesars. Now I realize Caesar is not running for office today, but I think the principle still applies.

So what is the problem here? The problem is that many conservative voters will argue to vote for a candidate based on moral beliefs, but the reality is that the most important topic to many of us is money. Most Christians are very interested in the economy. Is the economy important? Yes. However, most Christians also don’t tithe. I have heard stats as low as 2% to 3% of Christians actually tithe (give 10% of their income). So, the problem is that we are not honest. If we do not tithe then can we really say we are interested in God’s agenda? (In order to justify not tithing some people will argue that the tithe is no longer required. To that I will respond with two questions: 1. Why would anyone give less than the law requires under grace? 2. Abraham was a tither and he lived before the law. Why did he tithe?)

We say we vote based on our values and the truth is that many who claim the name Christian vote based on finances. I am afraid that when we look at our finances they would indicate we are NOT interested in God’s agenda. So what are we interested in? Money. We care about taxation because we care about our money. So let’s at least be honest about that fact. We don’t care about God’s agenda for our money and we do care about who is elected because of how that decision affects our money. So what is it that drives our decision? Our god. We are value-based voters; the problem is our values are not God’s values.

Jesus’ next line after saying to give to Caesar what is Caesars is, to give to God what is God’s (Matthew 22:21). If Christians were serious about God’s agenda we would be using the resources we have already been given for a Kingdom agenda (Matthew 28:16-20). Our goal with our resources would be to fund the gospel and make a true eternal investment (Matthew 6:19-21). What do you think Jesus would say if asked about taxes in America today?

Future blogs regarding Jesus and the election: Religious freedom, Why we have authority issues, what we should expect from government, and how I plan to vote.