For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 15, 57
In 2013, my husband and I spent three months in Ghana, managing a guesthouse for missionaries. We attended several different churches during that time, but my favorite was, unfortunately, too far away for us to attend every week. On the one occasion that we were able to attend, the message was so impactful that I jotted down notes and later wrote about it in my blog. As I was thinking about the life-changing significance of Jesus’ resurrection, which we will celebrate on March 31, I decided to share that impactful and dramatic message with you.
Please travel with me to First Baptist Church of Tema, Ghana. Come inside the large, comfortable sanctuary. It’s hot and the church is not air conditioned, but you will forget about that as the singing begins. The man leading the music has a beautiful deep voice and he is singing in Twi, a local dialect. The congregation is joyful. Some of the men are dancing around while twirling a white handkerchief above their heads. Later the congregation sings several songs together in English, then the choir sings another song in Twi.
When we are seated, the Rev. Dr. Dora Bortey, guest speaker for the morning, comes forward. She explains that she wants to tell us about her First Love, Jesus. Imagine her speaking now. She tells us:
The story begins with Adam and Eve in the garden. All was well; they were beautiful; they had fellowship with God and had access to every tree in the garden, except one. Then they disobeyed God's instruction and ate fruit from that tree and Genesis 3:7 says, “the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”
Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves, but they were still naked! (At this point, Dr. Bortey pulls off her long, colorful, loose outfit to reveal a dirty, torn, ugly outfit.) We think we can cover our nakedness! We think we can cover our problem! Our problem is sin! We try to cover it with money! We try to cover it with many other things! But God has set eternity into the hearts of men (Ecclesiastes 3:11) so that other things will not satisfy. Every day people are passing by who have tried to cover their sin. What is the solution? Who is worthy to take away our nakedness, our sin?
In Revelation 5:2-5, the Apostle John asks, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll? But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.” But there was someone! “See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Jesus is the worthy one!
We needed someone who is perfect! Jesus alone fit that criteria. John 1:1 tells us who he is. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Jesus is God! II Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus was not just spotless and sinless, he was willing to go to the cross, a place of shame. (Dr. Bortey places a spotless white garment on a wooden cross. She then applies “blood” to it). Jesus did not use cedis (Ghanaian money) to purchase me! He did not use dollars to purchase me! He did not use euros to purchase me! He used his blood! (She then removes the bloody garment from the cross and places it on herself.)
Now when Jesus looks at me, he sees his righteousness on me, not my sin. This garment fits everyone! One size fits all when Jesus clothes us in his robe of righteousness! Now we can have fellowship with God! Now we can have eternal life! I Timothy 2:5-6 says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.” This is why “there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) If you are here this morning and you are not wearing this Jesus, I encourage you to put him on! I invite you to say, I want to put this on; I cannot cover my nakedness myself. Amen.
Are you covered by the blood of Christ? Just as the Hebrews in Old Testament times were told to apply the blood of a spotless, perfect lamb on the doorposts of their house in order to escape the wrath of God; so we can escape by having the shed blood of Jesus’ symbolically applied to our hearts. The only way to get to heaven is through him, as he said of himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Once we repent, ask for forgiveness and submit to Jesus, then we have an unshakeable hope. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.” (Hebrews 6:19) We don’t need a priest; we can go directly to God! That’s why the curtain in the temple was torn, from top to bottom, when Jesus died on the cross. “Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:35-37) Do you want to be more than a conqueror; to be secure even in this frightening, evil world? Turn to Christ. I promise you will never regret it.
Thank you Anne , Rejoice 🙌🏼