Phil. 3:1-11, The Significance of Easter for Christians (1)

What is the significance for Christians as we celebrate Easter?  I have heard many people express “happy Easter” to people they run across.  Not a problem.  Except that add the same thought to a New Year as well as many other holidays (Thanksgiving, Independence Day, etc.)  I’m saying it doesn’t get at the actual significance of these days.  I think it makes more sense to say, “have a thankful Thanksgiving.”  If I say “happy Easter” it seems I am more telling them to eat a nice meal with family or something like that.

I just read an “opinion” piece by a Catholic Cardinal that Holy Week reminds us of life with its combination of sadness and joy.  True, it reminds us of that, but only if we emphasize Jesus as our “example.”  We realize He went through amazing “ups and downs” from the joy of the Triumphal Entry, to the tragedy of “crucify Him,” to the angels announcing “He is not here for He is risen!”

Of course, in our secular world, Easter is often the epitome of “Spring.”  It speaks of new life, not eternal life, but the life of plants, trees, birds and animals.  It is best celebrated by the Easter Egg Hunt!

But if we ask, specifically, how we as Christians are to think on this holy day, and what it signifies, certainly we are taken in a different direction.  It might sound like any of the above ideas, but it is really none of them.  Easter is the resurrection of Christ, and thus it is the conclusion of the “Gospel” (the good news of salvation).  Christ died for our sins, was buried, and He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:3-4).  This is the gospel by which you are saved, Paul told the Corinthians (1 Cor. 15:1-2).

Now, if you are a Christian, a follower of Christ, this must not be new truth.  This is how you “got saved.”  You believed in the Christ of the gospel!  There is no other way.  But (how can there possibly be a “but” at this point?), it is possible that as a Christian you have forgotten that “salvation” is both a once-for-all experience which can never be taken from us; and is also a daily process by which we are being saved from sin’s power, even as we were saved from sin’s penalty.

Here is proof of this truth about the process.  We will begin sharing some familiar (I hope) passages, and will carry over to “Easter Monday” where we will talk about the “how” … how do we experience what these passages describe?

·       Romans 6:4: Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life.  His resurrection is tied to our walk/lifestyle.

·       1 Cor. 15:49: As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man.  We are saved that we might be conformed to the image of Christ, a process that won’t be finished until we stand in His presence.

·       2 Cor. 13:4: For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God.  For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.  The power of God in the resurrection of His Son is at work in us for the purpose of giving us life!

·       Gal. 2:20-21: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.  Christ lives in me!  How does that happen?  And note v21: righteousness, the “newness of life” in Rom. 6:4, does not come by law-keeping!  Here is the frequent issue Christians have if we forget the significance that Easter has with respect to our day-to-day lives.

·       Eph. 1:19-21: …and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead …

And lastly, today, the reading from Phil. 3.  To have the righteousness of faith we must know Him (Christ) and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.  Easter has a profound significance for how we “work out your own salvation” (Phil. 2:12).  The power for this is in the resurrected Christ who lives in you.  Lord willing, we will be back together on this page on Monday to remind ourselves how we access this power!