1) Thanksgiving is to be thankful for every little thing we have in our lives.Sometimes we mourn what we have lost or what we do not have. Paul in Eph.5:20 writes, “Giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Surely the pilgrims and the Native American’s had lost friends and families.Pilgrims had lost much in the raging waters of the sea, and the Natives had lost much in the hands of the cruel slave traders. Yet, that Thanksgiving Day they gave thanks to God for what has survived, and what they had. Can we be thankful for everything that we have, everything that has survived through our life’s many storms?
2) Thanksgiving is to be thankful for the lot we have. Some think that it is so easy to be thankful when you have a lot or everything.Well, it is not. Deut.8:11-12 warns us in this regard, “Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. 12When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them..” When the pilgrims celebrated the Thanksgiving there were eleven houses in Plymouth Colony.Today that Plymouth Colony has grown to be the United States of America, one of the richest nations in the world with many houses and many Sky Scrapers lining the streets of our cities.But, the question is, "Are we still thankful?"Or has our plenty taken away our thankfulness to God?
In Ephesians Paul writes that when you believed you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit. Seals in the ancient world were used in the same way as today. The New Testament scholar LindaBelleville points out that in West Texas a Rancher would round up all his year old caves each spring for branding. The brand, which is placed on the flank of a calf with a heated brand iron is the rancher’s seal of ownership.“To seal” means to stamp onto something a sign of ownership, and God sealed the believers with His Holy Spirit in order to make them His own. In Romans 8:9 the Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Christ, because Paul regarded Jesus as fully God, and in that same verse Paul writes, “And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ they do not belong to Christ. The presence of the Holy Spirit in us serves, therefore, as a seal of God’s or Christ’s ownership of us. I like to see the seal more as an engagement ring rather than brand placed on us, because the Bible tells us that Christ is Church’s bridegroom. Just as an engagement ring points to the fact that a person is taken or belongs to someone, the Holy Spirit placed in us does the same, the Holy Spirit points to the fact that we belong to God and to Jesus. In the May, 2008 issue of the Time Magazine, among the 100 most influential people mentioned you will find the name of a Brazilian soccer star by the name Kaka. He has been named both FIFA World player of the year and European football player of the year in 2007. Kaka, 26 helped his club, Italy’s AC Milan, to European and World titles last year. There is, however, more to him than sport. In 2004, Kaka became the U.N. World Food program’s youngest ambassador. He is also an evangelical Christian who talks openly about becoming a minister when he retires from the game. After winning the European Champions League final last year, he took off his jersey to reveal a T shirt that read, I BELONG TO JESUS. What that jersey proclaimed about Kaka the seal of the Holy Spirit does for us. The seal proclaims that WE BELONG TO JESUS.
A deposit from God: Ephesians 1:14
Another term that Paul uses to define the Holy Spirit is a “deposit.” Ephesians continuing the thought of states that the Holy Spirit is a “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession.” The Greek word arrabon translated deposit in the NIV translation of the Biblewas used as earnest money that a buyer would give to a seller before the actual transaction in the Greek society. It also referred to the first payment that a hired person would receive from his or her employer before actually beginning the work. Arrabon, finally was and still today is also used for “engagement ring.” In essence, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christian acts as an arrabon, a deposit thatguarantees their future redemption, their future glory and eternal life. Once again it helps to imagine an engagement ring as a guarantee in order to understand what arrabon means in this context. The engagement ring guarantees not only a wedding in the future, but also commitment, it guarantees consummation of a relationship, of living and sharing life together. In ancient Rome the early version of the "engagement ring" were thought to have carved keys on them. It has been debated that this could have been to symbolise the woman's right to access and own half of everything following marriage. However, the more sentimental like to think that the key may have been a key to her husband's heart. The purpose of engagement rings is more than just a guarantee of physical comfort, it is to convey deep emotions of eternal love, eternal happiness, eternal commitment, and eternal togetherness. In fact, these rings signify eternity - between the giver and the recipient. A ring is a complete circle with no break and no end or beginning, which means that it just goes on and on - it is eternal. The Holy Spirit also as a deposit functions as such a guarantee. The Spirit not only serves as seal symbolizing God’s ownership of us but it also as a guarantee of God’s eternal commitment to us, and fulfillment of all his promises. The presence of the Spirit guarantees that he will complete the process of our salvation by bringing about the resurrection of our bodies, that one day we will be with God eternally and share in His glory. I once saw a bumper sticker behind a really rusty, old, rundown car that said, “My real treasure is in heaven.” No matter what your life looks like now, no matter what you are going through, no matter whether you are rusty or rundown, God gives you His Holy Spirit as a guarantee that your treasure is indeed ahead.
Our Sanctification from God: 2 Thessalonians 2:13
Lastly, in 2 Thess.2:13 Paul writes that the Christians are saved through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and through believing in the Truth. Therefore, the third term that defines another function of the Spirit is the term Sanctification which means to make Holy. The Holy Spirit is a sanctifier whose function is to make us holy and righteous. The term sanctification is taken from the Old Testament where utensils for religious rites are sanctified unto God. God in the Old Testament said, “Be Holy because, I the lord your God is Holy (Lev.19:2) and the Lord Jesus in Matt. said, “Be perfect, therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Paul’s common address for the people of God is “the saints” meaning holy people of God. In 1 Corinthians 1:2 Paul starts his letter with this greeting: “To the Church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in ChristJesus and called to be his holy people.” People of God are to be holy people set apart for God, to be holy and righteous. And it is the purpose of the Holy Spirit to help us be just that.
The engagement ring in a way has a sanctifying affect on the one who wears it. It is not only a seal pointing to the one to whom you belong; it is not only a guarantee of what will come to belong to you eventually, but it is also a reminder of your responsibility, of who you are and how you should behave and act as a person engaged to be married to someone. Engagement was more serious in Jesus day than ours. Once you were engaged you were practically considered married and you were expected to behave in a certain way. And for that reason Mary was accused of adultery when she was found pregnant even though she was only engaged to Joseph. An engagement should be and meant to be a life changing experience. Many after getting engaged change the way they used to live and think. Their engagement rings accuse them when their eyes begin to wander. It reminds them of their fidelity to their spouses. Their engagement ring reminds them of the end of one type of life and beginning of another. Many people quit smoking after being engaged, because their spouses have said that they do not want to kiss an ashtray. Many work out in order to get healthy and become conscious of their financial state. Many even stop doing crazy things they used to do with their friends. The presence of the Holy Spirit is also more than just a seal symbolizing God’s ownership of you, it is more than a deposit guaranteeing God’s promises to you, the presence of the Spirit is also a life changing experience reminding you how to live and behave in relationship to whom you belong- Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 5:25-27 the Church is portrayed as Jesus’ bride made holy by the self sacrificial love of Jesus in order to present her to himself without stain, wrinkle and blemish. The Holy Spirit of God as the sanctifier provides that spiritual extreme-makeover for us- his church and his bride. He is the one helps straighten out every wrinkle, remove every stain and blemish to make ready the church for his bridegroom.
It is Saturday Agonizing cry of Friday has been stifled by death It is a day of pensive waiting A day of doubt, despair and fear
We too are waiting As our dawn turns to dusk Sometimes doubting, despairing in fear
It is Sunday A strong wind of life Blows over this land of death A single drop of water on a thawing leaf Speaks of a new beginning, of life stirring everywhere.
Apparent Death Theory:In order to come up with an answer for the empty tomb, some skeptics who challenge the validity of the resurrection actually claim that Jesus did not die. In fact, the Koran, the holy book of the Muslims written in the 7th century teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross and that he fled to India.[1] Although the Koran does say that Jesus was virgin born, it does not mention resurrection; as if the same God who did the miracle of a virgin womb cannot do a miracle of an empty tomb. Also as the 19th century dawned some came up with what is called “the swoon theory” that says that the Lord Jesus did not really die on the cross, that he just fainted or went into coma and later recuperated in the cave where he was buried. We have all heard of cases in which someone who had been declared dead started breathing again a few hours later. If this can happen in our time what could have prevented it from happening 2000 years ago? However, there are two reasons that seriously undermine this idea that Jesus did not die. First of all, the fact that Jesus was crucified is not only found in the New Testament but also in non-Christian sources. The Roman historian Tacitus refers to Crucifixion as the extreme penalty that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate. Also the Jewish Talmud reports that on the eve of the Passover Jesus was hanged. Now, given the nature of scourging and crucifixion it is highly unlikely that any one survived. In the March 21, 1986 issue of the Journal of American Medical Association, a team of three, including a pathologist from Mayo Clinic studied the procedure of scourging and crucifixion and their effects on the victims. The description of scourging and crucifixion is violent and not worth mentioning here in detail. Scourging which was merely a preparation for crucifixion was enough to kill a man. The sharp pieces of sheep bones and iron balls that were tied into the leather thongs of a whip were enough to cause serious damage to a man’s bareback, tearing open the flesh. Crucifixion just added an agonizing finishing touch to the whole process. Crucifixion was so torturous that in the first Century B.C. Roman philosopher/orator Cicero calls it the most horrendous torture and says that “the very word cross should be far removed not only from the person of the Roman citizen but from his thoughts, his eyes and his ears.”[2] Jesus simply could not have survived crucifixion.
Secondly, “the German Scholar D.F. Strauss points out that it was not plausible that, having been scourged and crucified, Jesus pushed the heavy stone away from the tomb with his pierced hands and walked blocks on pierced and wounded feet. Even if such a ridiculous scenario were possible, when he appeared to the disciples in his pathetic and mutilated state, would this convince them that he was the risen prince of life?”[3] Could a bleeding man with pierced hands and feet, and torn back inspire such a movement that has lasted for over 2000 years? A man with dislocated shoulders and outstretched limbs from hanging, his back torn by brutal beating, and nail pierced hands and feet could not have raised the glorious cry, “He has risen.”They more likely would have said, “He is barely alive, get a doctor.” Jesus died, and that was a fact.
The second evidence for resurrection of Jesus is the empty tomb.About 75% of the scholars who deal with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus believe that the tomb was indeed empty. Here are the two reasons why they believe that: 1) The Jerusalem Factor:The disciples did not run up north to Galilee or anywhere else to proclaim the resurrection of the Lord. They did it right where the Lord was crucified and killed, in Jerusalem. If the Lord Jesus’ body had been in the tomb, all that the Jewish authority had to do was produce the body and that would have put an end to Christianity. But, they did not because there was no body to produce. In fact, the Jewish leaders claimed that the disciples stole the Lord Jesus’ body. That also shows that there was no body to produce. Also Celsus, a second century Greek philosopher and a critic of Christianity in his critic of Jesus’ resurrection mentions nothing about a body being there to prove the Christians wrong. The tomb was indeed empty. 2)The Testimony of Women: Secondly if the disciples made up the story they certainly would not have added data that would have damaged the credibility of their story such as the women as the primary witnesses.If the gospels were made up then the person who made them up was not very smart. In our culture when a lawyer fights a legal battle he or she tries to find witnesses who would be found credible. If one can discredit a witness in a legal battle one can pretty much undermine one’s opponent’s case. Therefore, if the disciples of the Lord Jesus were trying to make a false case for resurrection, why would they use the testimony of women as a proof when women were not considered credible witness in that sexist culture? Jewish historian Josephus in Antiquities forbids letting the testimony of women being admitted (Ant. 4.8.15) and the Rosh Hashanna, the text of Jewish laws compared a woman’s testimony to that of a robber.[1] But, all the gospels despite the reputation of women in that culture mention that the women were the first witnesses to the empty tomb. The reason why the gospel writers use women as their prime witnesses is simply because that’s exactly what happened. Therefore, we can trust their account that the tomb was indeed empty.
[1] Habermas, Gary L. Licona, Michael R. The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, pp. 70-72.
This month as we celebrate Easter, we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and His victory over death. I will spend next few days or so posting evidences for the resurrection of Jesus. The greatest evidence for the resurrection is that the disciples really believed and were willing to die for it, and that the Church persecutor Paul as well as skeptic James came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of the disciples of the Lord Jesus went into hiding when the Lord Jesus was captured because they feared persecution.Peter, one of the disciples, out of fear even denied knowing the Lord Jesus three times. Another disciple Thomas refused to believe that the Lord Jesus had risen from the dead until he had put his fingers into the very physical wounds of the risen Lord (John 20:25). James, the brother of our Lord Jesus along with other brothers did not believe in the Lord (John 7:5). And lastly Apostle Paul had violently persecuted the Christians and gave approval as a Christian named Stephen was stoned to death (Acts 7:58-8:1, 9:1-2). But what happened on that Easter morning that a few months later those same disciples were found in Jerusalem preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ under the very nose of the Jewish leadership that crucified their Master? There was no fear in their behavior, they did not hide, but right in the courtyard of the temple they preached that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah who had risen from the dead. There was something that happened that Easter morning that changed those uneducated poor Galileans who once ran away in fear. Something happened that Easter morning that made doubting Thomas fall on his knees and cry out to the Lord Jesus saying, “My Lord, My God (John 20:28),” and later turned Paul the persecutor of Christians into a Christian (Acts 9:1-19). Something happened that Easter Sunday morning that sometime later James, the brother of our Lord Jesus became a believer and a leader in the Jerusalem Church (Galatians 1:19). Something happened, and that something was the resurrection. As 1Corinthians 15:5-9 tells us, Jesus first appeared to Peter, then to five hundred brothers and sisters, then to James, and lastly to Paul who once persecuted the church.
The impact of this resurrection event was such that at the end, Peter was crucified upside down by Roman authority. Andrew, the brother of Peter was also crucified, Matthew was beheaded in Ethiopia. James probably was stoned to death.Doubting Thomas, who became a missionary in India was thrown into the fire in an oven by the natives. And last, but not the least, Apostle Paul, who become a missionary to the Gentiles was beheaded by Emperor Nero. They all suffered and died because of their testimony to the resurrected Lord. These apostles suffered and met horrible ends not because the whole resurrection thing was a lie, but because it was the truth. These disciples did not fear death because they knew that immortality awaited them. They knew that the same God who had resurrected the lord Jesus Christ would also resurrect them one day. Ignatius, the bishop of the church in Antioch in Syria in the early 2nd century when the many disciples of the apostles were still alive, said that “having seen the risen Jesus the disciples were so encouraged that they also despised death or disregarded death as their Master.” The disciples’ willingness to put their lives in danger proves that the resurrection was not a lie that they made up. They believed that Jesus rose on the third day. Now, a good question to ask is what do we make of the Muslim terrorists who also die for their beliefs? Does that not mean that their beliefs are true also? The difference between the Muslim terrorists and the disciples of Jesus is this; the terrorist die for false beliefs that someone has taught them. The disciples died for a belief that nobody taught them. They died for something they personally experienced, the resurrection of Jesus. Terrorists die for what they believe to be true while the disciples died for what they knew to be true. People do not die for what they know to be a lie.
2John 6 states, "And this is love; that we walk in obedience to his commands.....His command is that you walk in love." Notice this verse does not say anything about feelings. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity wrote that God is more interested in our obedience than in our feelings. Feelings are very important. But we also know that in this imperfect ever changing world our feelings come and go. Therefore, true love is a time-tested phenomenon. It lies in acts of care that goes beyond feelings. It not only brings flowers on Valentines day, but also takes out the garbage or prepares supper the next day.
