When it Comes to Faith What's Your Bottom Line?

S - Acts 1:21-22, 2:21-24,32 (NIV): "Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from John's baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection."  … And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. … God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact."

O - The bottom line for replacing Judas and the bottom line for the focus of apostolic ministry is the same … the resurrection of Jesus not his crucifixion.  The crucifixion is not minimal but it is not the proof of anything.  What sets Jesus apart is the resurrection.  Paul would affirm this awesome reality and says (1 Corinthians 15:17) "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins." What is the bottom line in our faith and focus on/of Jesus?  Resurrection or crucifixion?  Do we view his purpose in coming as establishing amnesty with God OR adoption by him?  Salvation and adoption, according to Scripture, begins with (Romans 10:9) "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

A - The cross is absolutely essential and absolutely not the point. Resurrection is the point because life is the point … eternal, irrepressible, vibrant, now.  Jesus has called me/us to himself today and in this day his resurrection is THE point of witness, of assessment, of confession, of faith, of death defying life.  It is the proof of his person, Lordship, word, relationship to the Father and his relationship to us.  "Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:   He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. [1 Timothy 3:16]"

P - Living God,

I praise you for your defiant mercy, relentless love, awesome brilliance, limitless power and extreme goodness.  I praise for the resurrection of Jesus from dead.  Death could not hold him but it would hold me without his willingness to come and be the friend, savior and life of sinners.  I am overjoyed to be among your adopted children because of Jesus.  I gladly confess that he is Lord and I do believe that you raised him from the dead.  Today, cause your life to come into and out of me that I might be a reason someone else would believe.

I love you back,

Steve