Foundational Faith - The Whats and Whys / Part III - The Resurrection of Jesus

02/01/20 • 31 min

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Salvation and Stuff

Three Crucial Truths That Support the Resurrection

1. The Tomb of Jesus was Empty.

PLACE - Preached in Jerusalem / Jesus’ tomb was never venerated as a shrine

PEOPLE The Jews believed the tomb was empty / The tomb was discovered by women

TIME - Early account of the resurrection

2. The lives of Jesus’ Disciples were radically changed after the resurrection.

The disciples and many others had real experiences with a resurrected Jesus.

The disciples before and after the resurrection

The martyrdom of the disciples

3. The Church began and grew with the resurrection of Jesus as its central message.

The genesis of the church

The continuing growth and spread of the church

The personal testimony of Christians then and now.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

1. What does this study tell us in regards to the rather popular but poorly supported theory that the divinity of Jesus was essentially invented by the church hundreds of years after the time of Jesus?

2. It is easy to relegate the promise of eternal life and our resurrection to the unknown of the celestial future. But how, if at all, do you suppose the resurrection of Jesus applies to your daily life in the here-and-now?

3. In John 11:25-26 Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” Besides personally answering Jesus’ question, try to explore these words giving particular attention to the words “who lives and believes in Me”. It seems most people are aware of what it means to “believe” in Jesus but maybe not “live” in Jesus. Are they the same - similar - different - opposed...etc.?

CONTRIBUTORS:

I am adapting my notes from an article by John Piper - https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/historical-evidence-for-the-resurrection. This is a good article that summarizes and encapsulates much of the larger work available mainly from Habermas, William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland, N.T. Wright, Josh McDowell, Hank Hanegraff and more.

TEXT:

Main Text: John 20:30-31

Sub Text: Romans 6:4, 1 Corinthians 6:14, 1 Corinthians 15:19

Books: 1. The Case For Easter by Lee Strobel. 2. The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol. 3) by N.T. Wright. 3. The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona. 4. The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus during the Deist Controversy, by William Lane Craig.

SPONSOR:

FBC INSURANCE, BENEFITS AND CONSULTING - FBC is one of Arizona’s oldest and largest locally owned Insurance and Benefit Consulting Firms. Established in 1983, and licensed in over 21 states, they have grown to serve the needs of over 300 major employers both in Arizona and across the country.

14201 N 87th Street

Scottsdale, AZ 85260

(602) 277-8477

www.fbcserv.com

Three Crucial Truths That Support the Resurrection

1. The Tomb of Jesus was Empty.

PLACE - Preached in Jerusalem / Jesus’ tomb was never venerated as a shrine

PEOPLE The Jews believed the tomb was empty / The tomb was discovered by women

TIME - Early account of the resurrection

2. The lives of Jesus’ Disciples were radically changed after the resurrection.

The disciples and many others had real experiences with a resurrected Jesus.

The disciples before and after the resurrection

The martyrdom of the disciples

3. The Church began and grew with the resurrection of Jesus as its central message.

The genesis of the church

The continuing growth and spread of the church

The personal testimony of Christians then and now.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

CONTRIBUTORS:

TEXT:

Main Text: John 20:30-31

Sub Text: Romans 6:4, 1 Corinthians 6:14, 1 Corinthians 15:19

SPONSOR:

14201 N 87th Street

Scottsdale, AZ 85260

(602) 277-8477

www.fbcserv.com

Previous Episode

Alberta

She was born September 13, 1904 in Atlanta, Georgia. She was named Alberta Christine Williams. She would be an only child. Her father was the Reverend Adam Daniel Williams, or A.D. - the preacher at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Alberta lived a relatively normal life for the time and age. She went to church faithfully and learned to play the piano. As Alberta was nearing her last days in High school, her parents started to board a girl at their house whose name was Woodie. Woodie’s brother was named Michael. Even if it was something in their minds, some sort of attraction was shared between Michael and Alberta.

Yet, college was calling and Alberta left the state to attend school. Not long after, at the young age of 20, Alberta earned a teaching degree from what is now Hampton University in Hampton Virginia. Upon graduating, Alberta and Michael began courting. They were married on Thanksgiving Day, 1926. Alberta was twenty-two years old. They were married in her father’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. Encouraged by his new father in law A.D., Michael began his schooling in ministry in the same year. Alberta was raised by a preacher and now married to one in training.

Within four short years the newly weds had three children. The oldest daughter Willie, Middle son Michael Jr., and youngest son, Alfred. But shortly after Alberta gave her father three grandchildren, he died on March 21, 1931. Because of this Alberta’s husband and green minister became the new pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in March of the same year.

Within a relatively short time, in 1934 Michael was one of ten Baptist ministers who after being able to visit the Holy Land, traveled to Germany. That was the same year the President of Germany (Hindenburg) would die. Hitler would then assume centralized power of the German people becoming the Führer - being both Chancellor and President. Despite the present mess Germany found itself in, Michael was mesmerized by the country’s religious history - Undoubtedly, Martin Luther. Seeing the sites where Protestantism was birthed, had a profound impact on the young minister. And upon arriving home in Atlanta, Michael King changed his name to Martin Luther King. He then changed his middle child’s name from Michael to Martin Luther King Jr. The boy was five years old at the time.

During all this, Alberta remained a close and caring mother to all her children. Martin Jr. would later write, that she “was behind the scenes setting forth those motherly cares, the lack of which leaves a missing link in life.” King, “An Autobiography of Religious Development,” 12 September 1950–22 November 1950, in Papers 1:359–363.

While Alberta was in the midst of raising her family, her own mother died in 1941 of a heart attack. During these years, Alberta served in the church she was raised in becoming president of the Ebenezer Women's Committee from 1950 to 1962. Besides this, Alberta’s talent in music was put to use as directer and organist of the church choir. By this time, her husband had become a mature preacher and civil rights activist becoming the head of the NAACP and her middle son was following close in his steps. Martin Jr. graduated with a doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955. Both father and son were now serving as Ebenezer’s preaching ministers. Martin Jr. had become prominent enough that the FBI under Hoover, began monitoring him by the end of the same year.

But as Luther became more of a figurehead in both Christian and political activity, Alberta found the joy of her son’s success mixed with real fear. Martin Luther Jr. was arrested on numerous occasions and went to jail twenty nine times, sometimes months at a time. His determination to see a part of God’s Kingdom arrive here on earth by people not judging others based on the color of their skin but their character was gaining more support from all people. Luther’s non violence demonstrations influenced greatly by Mahatma Gandhi, was beginning to make their point and people, black and white were being won over. But not without great cost.

The political landscape at the time was ripe with upheaval, and at times violence. Just four months after, Martin’s “I have a dream” speech in Washington ( August 28, 1963), the president of the United States was assassinated (on November 22, 1963), in Dallas, TX. The nation mourned. If the leader of the country was not properly protected, what chance did a black civil rights leader have of safeguarded?

Little did Alberta know, and although it wasn't too personal, JFK’s assignation was just the beginning of deaths that she would soon face.

Her fears increased, when on February 21, 1965, Malcom X was murdered by Nation of Islam radicals. No one, black or white, was safe from anyone. As her son Martin became more prominent and spoke out against the Vietnam War, the FBI strengthened its surveillance on Luther concerned that he ...

Next Episode

Octavia

Even though the usual cold weather had set in on the eve of Lupercalia, Octavia was determined to sleep well. Thoughts of the coming festival put a smile on her face as the young woman warmed her body under the blankets. She still lived with her parents basically at the center of Rome, near Palatine Hill. And Palatine Hill just happened to be at the center of the upcoming annual celebration.

Lupercalia had not only been a tradition that Octavia had grown up observing, but one that her family, and indeed most of Rome had celebrated every February for centuries.

But this year was special in that Octavia had really matured into a young beautiful woman. Her body had developed and her mind was not only more aware of the opposite sex but at times preoccupied with it. Before this time without her parents approval, Octavia could really only look on at the events and watch the older women run around and flirt with the other young men, hoping that one of the Luperci, (the group of Roman priests who administered the good luck lashing) found their body to strike.

You see, after the priests sacrificed some goats and dogs to Lupercus, (the Roman goddess of fertility), they’d cut the skin of the goats into long strips. After smearing goat blood on their foreheads and then removing it with milk, the priests would then grab the ribbons of goat hide and run around laughing, whipping any female within range. While all the women obviously wanted to be touched by the goat hide turned to playful whip, no woman wanted to look desperate and run towards the priests, but away from them. It was like an innocent game of boys and girls chasing each other, where the girls acted like they didn't want to be pursued, but really enjoyed it, while the boys likewise feigned being burdened by running after the girls but were themselves, loving it. The women wanted to be lashed with the goat skin because it was legend that it would help them become more fertile - if the woman was already pregnant it was a sort of added blessing for a healthy pregnancy and delivery. In reality, only a few really believed in this consecration of fertility whereas most just wanted to have fun and potentially find a mate - even if it was just for a night or two. That was the other part of Lupercalia - the men would randomly chose a female’s name from a jar and be paired up with them for the remainder of the celebration. Few couples stayed together for the whole year.

All of this celebration was made even more provocative by both the priests and women being somewhat scantily clothed. Octavia had heard stories from her grandparents that when Lupercalia was observed in their day, the priests were actually naked, but as time past, for whatever reasons, full nudity had become unpopular. It probably had something to do with Rome officially changing from pagan to Christian worship over a hundred years ago in A.D. 380. Nonetheless, Octavia had her outfit picked out and ready to go - the perfect mixture of concealing and revealing. Although she had tried it on numerous times in the weeks before, Octavia fell asleep imagining what she’d look like with it on tomorrow among all the other girls in the crowd.

As the sun rose, so did Octavia - a bit earlier than normal. The excitement of the upcoming day, was difficult for the young woman to hide. It was the morning of February 13th in the year four hundred and ninety-six - the first of the three day celebration and excitement was in the air. That is, until Octavia overheard her father talking to her mother in a hushed voice. They knew Octavia was desperately looking forward to Lupercalia, so they both looked a bit dumbstruck when their daughter abruptly approached and asked what they were talking about.

Her father, at least with some grace then preceded to inform his daughter that Lupercalia had been essentially cancelled - outlawed would be more correct. Unbeknown to everyday people, the Pope had been trying to do away with pagan practices for years now. Rumors that Lupercalia was going to be banned by Pope Gelasius the first had briefly circulated years ago - but nothing materialized and they were forgotten as fast as they were spread.

Before Octavia could voice her disappointment and anger her mom quickly interjected assuring her that the Feast would still happen. The name was just going to be changed and some of the rituals involved. It would now be celebrated on the fourteenth of February and be called The Feast of Saint Valentine.

The Feast of Saint Valentine? This is going to be a Christian celebration now? Why? And who was Saint Valentine? And Can I still wear my dress? These questions filled Octavia’s mind.

Throughout the day, Octavia learned through her mother who seemed more keen on Christianity than her father, about this Saint Valentine. He had lived over two hundred years ago in a time when anyone who called themselves a Christian was systematically pers...