A Son For A Vineyard

Scott McFarland
04/17/22 - Sun AM Worship

He is Risen!

In our fellowship of the Churches of Christ, we haven’t traditionally been big on celebrating the major Christian holidays as a part of our worship gatherings.  Historically, the thinking was that we should celebrate Christ every Sunday, not just Christmas or Easter.  While I can certainly appreciate that sentiment, there is something significant about Christmas and Easter, especially from our perspective as believers.  While the world uses celebrations involving Santa Claus and the Easter bunny, we know the real meaning of these holidays is Jesus!  Today we celebrate his victory over sin and death by his own death on the cross and the resurrection.  This is huge!

I love what Paul has to say in passing about Jesus in Colossians 1:18—“And he is the head of the body, the church.  He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”  Did you catch that?—the “firstborn from the dead.”  This means that, while Jesus was not the first to be raised to life (there were others both in the Old Testament and in Jesus’ ministry in the New Testament), He was the first to be raised NEVER TO DIE AGAIN.  There is something different about Jesus’ resurrection, and it is ultimately what gives us the power for our own resurrection.  Other resurrections never defeated death, because those individuals died again.  Jesus defeated death at the cross and tomb, becoming the first to be raised never to die again.  This gives us hope!  We know that eventually we too will be raised like him, to a resurrection like his!  Not a resurrection to a few more years of life, but a resurrection for eternity.  Praise God!  He is risen!

        -Scott McFarland