What is Easter All About?

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

We are fast approaching Easter, which is celebrated this year Sunday, March 27th. Many churches are already sending out their notices to let people know of this very important celebration of the Christian faith.

Let me ask you a question, which church would you be more likely to attend based on the following?

You receive a card in the mail, over-sized that has the following information announced on it (with full color graphics of kids play area, a building, and various artistic impressions):

• Egg dash (at all services! with name of church)
• $1,000 cash prize
• Chance to win food at a local fast-food restaurant for one year
• Glow-in-the dark eggs during evening services

The above information was included on one side of the large card. The other side of the card has this information:

• Easter at (name of church)
• Reserve your seats at (church website)

Here’s another card that we received, the size of a normal post card, which had the following information on one side of the card:

• Easter Sunday (name of church), Christ is Risen!
• Continental breakfast 9:00am to 10:15am
• Worship celebration 10:30am

On the opposite side of the card, the following information appears:

• Join us Good Friday for a special communion service featuring music & testimonies about the power of the Cross.
• Good Friday Service, March 25th, 7:00pm (with three crosses on a hill clip art illustration)
• This statement from Oswald Chambers: “All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.”

In the first example, there is no cross, no Scripture, no description of Easter except the mention of “egg dash,” and no real explanation of what Easter is all about and not even the name”Jesus” is mentioned. The second, smaller postcard expresses something in the way of the importance of the event and that Jesus had something to do with it.

The fact that more and more churches are becoming like the one described in Revelation 3:14-20 – the Laodicean Church – is appalling, but not to be unexpected in these last days. Ever since the establishment of many “Emergent” or “Postmodern” Churches in America, the focus has been on having “fun” at church. No longer should people be expected to attend church where the concept of actually growing faith is taught; the kind of faith the Bible says that each true believer should have. No, today’s average church is designed to cater to people, to children, and to our particular wants and likes, while dutifully avoiding our “dislikes.” The focus has been taken off God and placed on people.

Many churches today are all about making people feel good. To do that, quite a bit of the Bible has to be ignored.

The goal of too many churches today is to get people in the door and “wow” them with music that rocks, preaching that entertains, and people who are so excited to be there that it makes you want to jump out of your socks. The problem with this type of church – and by its nature, this type of Christianity (if you can call it that) – is that there is nothing real, nothing stable, nothing sure. There’s no solid foundation because it’s all built on emotional virtue so that people will “feel” good about church in spite of the fact that they are no closer to knowing the Living God after one of these church services than your pet.

There is a point in which church should make people at least a bit uncomfortable. What I mean by that is simple: as we attend church, the music, while being uplifting, should cause our hearts to lift toward the One who has set us free. At the same time, it should cause us to understand how woefully short we fall before Him and His grace. Yet, it is due to His incomprehensible love for us that we are drawn to Him because He draws us!

The preaching in such a church should motivate us to live lives that bring Him great glory because of all that He has done and continues to do for us. Most of the time, we act as though this life and this planet are truly our final resting place. This is in spite of the fact that in the next life, most of what exists here will not exist there. Yet, too often, people are so preoccupied with their own lives that they have no time to learn what salvation is or what fellowship with Him after we receive salvation is all about.

Of the two churches whose postcards I described above, the first one is, by and large, the average church today. The names of those churches are “inspired” or meant to draw you in. No one wants to call their church 1st Baptist Church anymore. It’s got to have a catchy name like, “relevant,” “restoration,” “journey,” “humble pie,” or some other nonsense that makes people believe that attending that particular church is all they need to put them on the road to a huge “adventure.”

I wonder what the original apostles would think of many churches today. I have an idea I know what Paul would say and he wouldn’t hesitate to say it either.

Easter is coming. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and He died so that you and I might live. Christ is risen. It’s not about eggs, fast food, cash prizes, kidz (sic) games, or anything like that. It’s a very solemn, yet praiseworthy event because it proves the perfection of Jesus since death could not hold Him (Acts 2:24).

Death could not hold Him because He was perfect, the Victor over your sin and mine. He died, giving up His own life that He might provide salvation for everyone who trusts in Him.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” (Romans 1:16-17)

The one requisite for receiving salvation is believing in the finished work of Jesus. The fact that He rose from the dead seals the deal. This is what Christians celebrate. We don’t celebrate eggs, a cool-sounding name for a church or anything else. We celebrate Jesus and Him resurrected.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective