Easter Experts: The Foundation

If Christianity rises or falls on Easter, then it’s time we all became Easter Experts

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G’day Everyone and welcome back to The Holy Go!

We’re kicking off a new series, Easter Experts: Understanding the cross, trusting the resurrection, and sharing the story of Jesus with confidence.

Today we begin by raising the alarm bell. The way we have explained Easter to our young people has been too weak and shallow to stand up against scrutiny and has resulted in a wave of youngsters departing the Church and deconstructing their faith.

This series will help you grasp the theology behind the cross, the meaning of Jesus’ death, the evidence for the resurrection, and how to defend and share this life changing message with clarity and confidence.

Equip

Departing and Deconstructing

When I first started Bible College we studied the differences between the Synoptic Gospels. As we lined up the same stories side by side, we began to notice differences between the accounts.

Many of these could be explained easily. But then we saw something that unsettled us… Even the resurrection story had multiple versions that seemed to contradict each other!

This sort of textual criticism is normal in Bible study and can uncover beautiful insights about what the authors were trying to communicate. But for many students it was deeply unsettling. Some had been taught that the Bible was perfect in every detail, and when they encountered problems their faith collapsed.

Put simply: Their foundation had been the Bible and when the Bible was questioned, everything fell apart.

And this isn’t just something I saw at Bible College. Many young adults arrive at university and lose their faith. Research from the Barna Group suggests that 64% of students who identified as Christians in high school will walk away from their faith or significantly disengage once they reach university.

Today “deconstruction” is a hot topic. People are asking difficult questions about the Bible: Did these stories really happen? What about the contradictions? How do we deal with the violent passages that seem to condone things like rape or genocide? Can we really trust a God like that?

These are serious questions. But too often the answers we’ve given have been shallow.

According to research from Pew, the most common reason these young people leave their faith is simple: they stop believing the teachings of their religion.

In other words, we have failed to disciple people in a way that equips them to trust the faith, defend the faith, and share the faith.

Jesus the Foundation

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, he said that he resolved to know nothing among them “except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

The Easter story is the foundation of the Christian faith.

Sadly, much of modern evangelicalism has made The Bible the foundation instead. Of course The Bible is “God-breathed and useful for teaching,” but it only exists because Jesus came first.

Imagine buying a car but never driving it. Only studying the owner’s manual. You memorise it, discuss it, even form clubs around it… but never actually drive the car.

As strange as that sounds, we Christians sometimes do something similar. We centre our faith on the book that points to Jesus rather than on Jesus Himself.

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for doing exactly this. They searched the Scriptures thinking they would find life in them, yet they missed the One the Scriptures pointed to.

The clearest picture of God is not found in a text, it is found in Jesus on the cross.

At the cross we see that God is good.
We see that God is self-giving love.
We see that God is reconciling the world to Himself.

And the resurrection proves that Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be. He is the image of the invisible God, the one who triumphs over sin, death, and the powers of darkness.

If our faith rises and falls on anything, it rises and falls on Easter.

Easter Experts

If the Easter story is the foundation of our faith, then our discipleship strategies should be aimed at raising up Easter Experts.

Disciples who can explain what God is really like.

Disciples who can show why the resurrection is credible and why it matters.

Disciples who can understand the Easter story, defend it with confidence, and share it with passionate clarity.

Pastor Andy Stanley writes:

“When we anchor our faith to the person of Jesus rather than the entire Bible, Christianity becomes far more resilient.”

That’s the kind of faith we need: resilient faith, grounded in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Looking back, I can see why my faith survived when my perception of the Bible was challenged. My confidence was never built on “the Bible tells me so.” It was built on the person and work of Jesus.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to show you how the Easter story can help us explain and defend the Christian faith.

We’ll explore The Cross, The Lamb, and The Resurrection.

If Christianity rises or falls on Easter, then it’s time we all became Easter Experts.

Activate

This weeks challenge: Get a note pad and pen and answer this question: What does the Easter story reveal about God? How many answers can you come up with?

Do you know some people who may benefit from this series? Why not share this with them and invite them to subscribe?

Let’s Go!