(This is the sixth of eight posts in which I’ll answers questions that come up often in our church.)

Scripture's story centers on an historical event that stands up to critical scrutiny: Jesus’ resurrection. In discussing the trustworthiness of the Bible, I never start with the Bible, but with Jesus, and particularly Jesus’ resurrection. I believe with very good reasons that Jesus rose from the dead. I believe that this is the most historically likely way to explain the facts: Jesus was crucified under the authority of Pontius Pilate; his tomb was later found empty (otherwise the movement would never have gotten off the ground); the disciples believed Jesus appeared to them in a new physical body (they wouldn’t even have thought to make up the story, since they never expected Jesus to be resurrected alone within history, and it is very unlikely that they would have died for something they knew was a lie); the Christian movement was founded and took off, centrally based on this event. There have been many attempts to account for this evidence, but the only historically tenable conclusion is that something did, in fact, happen on Easter morning, and that this something was Jesus being resurrected from the dead. And this validates the rest of the story; Jesus’ resurrection proves that Jesus was God’s Messiah, and thus the world’s true Lord, which affirms the central lines of Old Testament hopes and promises. Jesus is likewise validated as the clearest revelation of Israel’s Creator God.

Its description of the world tells the truth about our world. To put it differently, it’s story fits. It describes the world truly. This is a huge point, so let me just offer an example or two. Take the story of Adam and Eve. When we free this story from questions like, ‘How did the serpent talk?’ or ‘Did Adam and Eve have belly-buttons?’ or ‘Why can’t we find the garden of Eden?’, we see that it accurately describes the human situation. We have all – as individuals and societies – listened to the voices in our world and in our heads, and chosen not to trust that God loves us and is out to do us good. We have all taken our destiny into our own hands, rejecting whatever it is we know of God’s command. We know that something is wrong with the world, and that it manifests itself in relational strife, toil, labor, and frustration from the ground (famine, drought, etc), and pain in childbearing. This story describes our world truly. There are many more ways this is true, both in general and of specific stories.
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Wow, what a delay! We have had a very busy few weeks at Real Life and in my own home - preparing for and having our Easter services, entertaining and guiding an Ozark team who spent Spring Break helping us out, catching up on meals with friends we haven't sat down with in a while, hosting my mother-in-law, etc. I fully intend to continue posting through The Change of Conversion and the Origin of Christendom, as well as N. T. Wright's Resurrection and the Son of God (maybe!). But I want to issue a very brief easter plea to all those out there who consider themselves followers of Jesus.

My plea is this: may we live in ways that don't make sense apart from the resurrection. It seems very clear to me that this is a central truth that must be emphasized time and again: our lives should not make sense without the resurrection. We should be living and loving and laughing and losing and dying in a way that forces people to ask questions about us, questions to which "Jesus rose from the dead" is the only adequate answer. Let me offer a few particulars and a few examples.

The way we grieve should not make sense apart from the resurrection. We believe that "resurrection" reveals to us the pattern of God's eventual renewal of all things. This means that our deceased loved ones will receive back their bodies - renewed, transformed, incorruptible bodies. And this means that we will live together with them on a renewed earth - planning, learning, building, singing, leading, playing, and doing whatever else you do on a new earth.

The way we pray should not make sense apart from the resurrection. We believe that God has made us part of his new creation here and now, so that our whole lives are (or can be) touch-points of heaven and earth, places where the curtain separating the two is drawn back a bit. When we pray, we are participating in the process of the world's renewal (which has something to do with what Paul said in Romans 8), and most of all, we are looking forward to a time in which God's presence will be our immediate atmosphere. We are anticipating God's future here and now.

The way we work should not make sense apart from the resurrection. I don't know exactly how this works, but Paul ends his longest exposition of resurrection with a call not to sit back and wait for God to finish the job, but to work tirelessly even now since we know our labor in the Lord is not in vain (see 1 Corinthians 15).

Perhaps most of all, the way we love should not make sense apart from the resurrection. Jesus' resurrection validated his person and message - he was and is God's anointed king sent to deliver the world from sin. He is thus one to be listened to above all else; this alone calls us to a unique kind of love - for the enemy and attacker. Moreover, we know that death cannot keep us (as it could not keep Jesus) and we therefore need not fear it; we are thus freed to love to the point of death, suffering at the hands of (and perhaps on behalf of) whoever might seek our lives to protect their own power. In some mysterious way, we believe in resurrection, which means we believe in God's power to reverse the normal sequence of things and use even our deaths to further his plan to redeem the world.

Those are a few (quickly put together) specifics; now for an example. I can't help but think of my friends in Japan right now, or of my siblings elsewhere in East Asia. They packed up their bags and headed to a country with very few Christians because they believe Jesus is the world's only true Savior and Lord. They are calling all people to faithfulness to this new Lord, and announcing the offer of a new way of life, a new salvation. Why are they doing this? Because Jesus rose from the dead. Their lives don't make sense apart from the resurrection. May this be true of us all.

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My favorite author in the world came out with a new book this week, which means I am very excited and very busy. It is called Surprised by Hope, and in the book Wright helps us rethink virtually all of our assumptions about the afterlife, heaven, hell, the resurrection, and how it all impacts us today. I have just started and I already love it.

I also came across this interview on his webpage, and since I shared a much less important interview a while back, I thought I'd share this one today. Here it is.

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Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop
By David Van Biema

N.T. "Tom" Wright is one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought. As Bishop of Durham, he is the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England and a major player in the strife-riven global Anglican Communion; as a much-read theologian and Biblical scholar he has taught at Cambridge and is a hero to conservative Christians worldwide for his 2003 book The Resurrection of the Son of God, which argued forcefully for a literal interpretation of that event.

It therefore comes as a something of a shock that Wright doesn't believe in heaven — at least, not in the way that millions of Christians understand the term. In his new book, Surprised by Hope (HarperOne), Wright quotes a children's book by California first lady Maria Shriver called What's Heaven, which describes it as "a beautiful place where you can sit on soft clouds and talk... If you're good throughout your life, then you get to go [there]... When your life is finished here on earth, God sends angels down to take you heaven to be with him." That, says Wright is a good example of "what not to say." The Biblical truth, he continues, "is very, very different."

Wright, 58, talked by phone with TIME's David Van Biema.

TIME: At one point you call the common view of heaven a "distortion and serious diminution of Christian hope."

Wright: It really is. I've often heard people say, "I'm going to heaven soon, and I won't need this stupid body there, thank goodness.' That's a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional.

TIME: How so? It seems like a typical sentiment.

Wright: There are several important respects in which it's unsupported by the New Testament. First, the timing. In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state. St. Paul is very clear that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead already, but that nobody else has yet. Secondly, our physical state. The New Testament says that when Christ does return, the dead will experience a whole new life: not just our soul, but our bodies. And finally, the location. At no point do the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels say, "Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven." It says that Christ is coming here, to join together the heavens and the Earth in an act of new creation.
( Read the rest of the interview )

If true freedom is not about liberty to do what we want but rather service to the right Lord, what does this authentic freedom actually look like? How would we describe a life – a person – that is free?

Today, I’m going to give it my best shot. And I’m once again going to follow the lead of the Apostle Paul (though I’m afraid Bob Dylan will have to sit this one out). Very early in Paul’s ministry, when he began writing letters to young churches instructing them on how to live a life of freedom, he developed a simple formula for describing the lives of Jesus-followers. Let’s see if you notice the pattern:

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13.13)

But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor circumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5.5-6)

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all his people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven. (Colossians 1.4-5)

We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1.3)

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. (1 Thessalonians 5.8).

Do you see it? According to Paul, a life that pleases God consists of faith, hope, and love. Elsewhere (in this week’s memory verse), Paul specifically especially ties the third one to freedom: You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge your sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Today I want to briefly examine faith, hope and love. But I want to explore them in reverse because I think that’s the way they best make sense.

So let’s start with love. We actually talked about love last week when we discussed Jesus’ death on the cross as a pattern for our lives. Here is what we concluded: “If we want to know how to live to please God, if we wonder what God’s will is for our lives, we need look no further than Jesus laying down his life for others. Apparently, love means sacrificing yourself for someone else, placing their needs above your own, dying so they might live.” We then looked at specific ways the Scriptures call us to love everyone – our neighbors, people in need, people who are poor and oppressed, people we lead, people who betray our trust, even our enemies and people who attack us.

To live a life of love, and therefore freedom, is to be the type of persons who can and will sacrifice our lives for all of these people. As Paul once put it, we “look not to our own interests but each of us to the interests of others” (Philippians 2.4).

Um, can I just state the obvious? That’s really hard!!! It is easy to love those who love us and do good to us. It’s not too much harder to love people who are in need, as long as they don’t pester us. It’s a little more demanding to love people who are indifferent to us. And it’s downright difficult (and dangerous!) to love those who attack us. If we’re going to love like this, we’re going to need some help.

And that’s where hope comes in. It’s helpful to begin by thinking about it in the extreme. The ultimate expression of love is to give our lives so that someone else might live. The only way this is possible – as an expression of love, not self-centered heroism or psychologically unhealthy “giving in” – is if we know that something else makes this sacrifice worth it. More specifically, we can give our lives away if we believe that we will get them back again.

This is where the resurrection comes in. Our hope is based in the resurrection, the belief that God will one day raise us from the dead and give us new bodies for new life on a new earth (not disembodied souls floating on the clouds! See 1 Corinthians 15 & Revelation 21). Because we believe that God is faithful and will do this for us as he did for Jesus, living Jesus’ way now makes sense. By raising Jesus from the dead, God was saying, among other things, that Jesus’ life of sacrificial love really is the truly human way to live. Our love, which looks ridiculous to the world, is anchored firmly in our hope.

But how do we know that our hope is real? Well, for starters there are good historical reasons for believing that the early Christians’ reports that God raised Jesus from the dead are credible. First, they weren’t expecting this to happen (which is why it surprised them). Second, the details of the resurrection reports are notoriously jumbled. While some people claim this is proof that the documents are corrupt, it actually points to the opposite! If they made up the story, you can bet they’d get together and nail down the details. When children get into trouble and lie about it, your first clue is that they each tell the story in exactly the same way. The less confusion, the more collusion, as they say. And the opposite is true as well: the more confusion, the less collusion. Like painters whose portraits of the same person are all different but nevertheless recognizably similar, the Gospel writers’ resurrection reports have the realistic ring of historical truth about them. Third, if they were making up the stories, they’d be better stories! In their world, you certainly wouldn’t have had women be the first to see Jesus. (Women weren’t even considered credible witnesses in a court of law!) And you’d make the actual resurrection a bit more glamorous – we hear nothing of Jesus’ new body glowing like the sun, or anything like that.

But even with all this “evidence,” it’s a hard pill to swallow. You want me to live a life of unconditionally sacrificial love just because God raised a guy from the dead (even if it did happen)?!?! I just don’t know if I can do it.

And that’s where faith comes in. Faith is not believing the absolutely in-credible; it’s committing ourselves to what may be credible but still seems ridiculous. Faith is trusting – not just once but every moment of every day – that our hope is real, that it is anchored in a trustworthy God who always keeps his promises. There is no certainty in this life, whether you follow Uncle Sam, Muhammad, Nietzsche, the Almighty Dollar, Jesus, or whomever else. There’s no way around it; each of us will make a decision to trust that some way of life is best. Either we keep our money for ourselves or we use it to help those in need. Either we maintain powerful control of the people around us or we serve their needs before our own. Either we attack back those who attack us or we bless and pray for they who hate us.

What I am asking you to consider is that Jesus’ way is worth the risk. I am suggesting that a life of true freedom is found when we commit ourselves to Jesus’ pattern of love, hope and faith.

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Most of you probably know that the last few weeks have been tumultuous for Beth and me. On Thanksgiving Day we learned (after ten hours in two hospitals) that our unborn baby had no heartbeat. We were devastated at first, as you might imagine, but we are moving forward and are doing okay. I'll probably right more about some of my feelings through this time later on, but in the mean time, and since I haven't had many original thoughts lately, for the next week or so I'll be posting past questions I've received from people at my church. The topics will vary as much as the questions people ask. I don't know if any of this will be interesting to anyone, but I feel the need to post something (unlike my friend Thom), and who knows which of you may either (a) share similar questions or (b) have better answers to these questions than my own. I won't change my responses at all, but I may add comments about what I might now say differently.

For lack of a better method, I'll post them in chronological form as I've received and answered them. The first one I got over a year ago. Here is the email (I'll leave out the names for anonymity's sake):

Hi Michael,

I really appreciate when you get a chance to speak @ church. I have been reading Matthew for the last couple of weeks & have come across a verse that has me a little confused. (Matthew 16:28) What did Jesus mean?

Thanks for your time,

MZ

In case you don't have a Bible, here's Matthew 16.28: I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

And here was my response (unfortunately at the time I was apparently into not capitalizing things; now this strikes me as incredibly annoying, but I'm not going to take the time to fix it all):

mz,
that's a great question, and a very difficult passage to understand! i will give you my thoughts on it, and we'll see if they help. i think that the problem is that we assume we understand the meaning of the phrases Jesus uses here, when in reality our assumptions are (at least to some degree) off base. most of all, we think it obvious that "the son of man coming in his kingdom" is a reference to what we call "the second coming"--the time when Jesus comes back at the end of history to right all the wrongs and usher in the new world ("heaven" as we often call it, though the Bible uses that word a bit differently). if that is the case (that this language refers to an event still in the future even today), Jesus' statement that some of those present would witness it seems ridiculous. ( Read more )